Maurice Lucas

Maurice " The Enforcer " Lucas ( born February 18, 1952 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, † October 31, 2010 in Portland, Oregon) was an American basketball player at the position of power forward in 1977 with the Portland Trail Blazers to the NBA championship won.

Biography

Lucas first played the basketball team of the Pittsburgh High School and then Marquette University in Milwaukee. In 1974, he led the team of Marquette to win the championship in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA ) against the North Carolina State University and was selected along with his later teammates with the Portland Trail Blazers Bill Walton for the All - Final Four team. In the 1973/74 season he scored an average of 15.8 points and rebounds in each game.

Subsequently, he was player of the Spirits of St. Louis and the Kentucky Colonels of the American Basketball Association ( ABA) and there was an average of 15.2 points and 10.8 rebounds per game.

In the merger of the National Basketball Association (NBA ) with the ABA in 1976, the 2.06 -meter Lucas player with the Portland Trail Blazers and was in his first season, 1976/77 an average of 20.2 points and 11.2 rebounds per game. With a 4-2 win over the Philadelphia 76ers, the team of Jack Ramsay 1977 he won the first NBA championship.

In 1980 he moved to the New Jersey Nets and later was playing for the New York Knicks (1981 /82), Phoenix Suns (1982-1985), the Los Angeles Lakers (1985 /86) and the Seattle SuperSonics (1986 /87). Most recently, he played in the 1987/88 season again with the Portland Trail Blazers. During the twelve years in the NBA Lucas had called not only an average of 14.4 points and 8.8 rebounds per game, but was also five times to the NBA All- Star Games.

His jersey number 20 was retired in 1988 after retiring as an active player and not reissued. From 2004 until his death he was assistant coach Nate McMillan head coach, although he was most recently since November 2009 no longer at all training sessions and games present because he had to undergo surgery for his bladder cancer.

The Marquette University not later forgave Lucas shirt number 20 and also took Maurice Lucas into their Hall of Fame. Bill Walton named his son Luke Walton, a player at the LA Lakers, after him.

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