Maurice Lucas, Forward for Trail Blazers, Dies at 58

RIP to 'The Enforcer'

I'll always remember him squaring off against Darryl Dawkins in the 1977 Finals.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/01/sport ... &src=twrhp

Only 58, far too soon. RIP.

Damn cancer... Hope we find a cure someday.

RIp.

RIP. Perhaps the best Blazer ever.

Some memories of Lucas and a piece with thoughts from Jack Ramsey.

Ramsay said Lucas “significantly” changed the momentum of the 1977 NBA Finals when he clocked Philadelphia big man Darryl Dawkins for throwing Blazers forward Bobby Gross to the floor. After a skirmish and both players being ejected, the fight became the talk of the series, even as the Blazers trailed 0-2.

But with the series coming to Portland, Lucas devised a plan. He would nip the controversy in the bud, and play a mind trick in the process.

During player introductions, after Dawkins was booed unmercifully by the Memorial Coliseum crowd, Lucas was introduced. But instead of running to where his teammates were standing, Lucas ran to the Philadelphia bench and found a stunned Dawkins.

He grabbed Dawkins’ hand and shook it, later saying he told him “No hard feelings.”

“I don’t think he said or told anybody what he would do, and I was startled myself when I saw him go over to Dawkins,’’ Ramsay said. “But it was a great tactic.’’

The Blazers never lost again, winning four straight to win the series in six games.

RIP.

Mike Dunleavy Sr., a member of the 76ers team that lost to the Blazers in the 1977 championship series, referred to Lucas as Bogie when both were playing. As Dunleavy told The Los Angeles Times in 1985, “Maurice treats all of us like Bogart treated his women — with the back of his hand.”

Bitches remember.

R.I.P.

RIP. 58 is too early an age to go.