Maurice Lucas ✝

Maurice Lucas (February 18, 1952 – October 31, 2010) was an American professional basketball player. The first two years of his postcollegiate career were spent in the American Basketball Association (ABA) with the Spirits of St. Louis and Kentucky Colonels. He then played twelve seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the Portland Trail Blazers, New Jersey Nets, New York Knickerbockers, Phoenix Suns, Los Angeles Lakers and Seattle SuperSonics. The starting power forward on the Trail Blazers\' 1976–77 NBA Championship team, he was nicknamed The Enforcer because of his primary role on the court which was best exemplified in Game 2 of the NBA Finals that season.\n', ' Lucas played college basketball for head coach Al McGuire with the then-Marquette Warriors for two years, leading it to the NCAA championship game in 1974. Although Marquette lost the title game to North Carolina State (64-76), Lucas played the full 40 minutes of the game, leading his team with 21 points and 13 rebounds.\n', ' In 1973, the Carolina Cougars of the American Basketball Association (ABA) obtained that league\'s rights to Lucas in the first round of the ABA draft. In 1974, Lucas was also selected by the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the 14th pick of the NBA draft. Lucas chose the ABA over the NBA, joining the Spirits of St. Louis team, which had since supplanted the Carolina Cougars in the ABA. During his first season, Lucas averaged 13.2 points per game, and 10 rebounds per game, and he was chosen for the 1974–75 ABA All-Rookie second team.\n', '