Coach Johnny Egan says Ratleff’s presence in the Rocket lineup “became a great stabilizing factor. He is the complete team basketball player. Offensively, he is totally unselfish. He just does whatever it takes to win.”
Tag Archives: 1970s NBA
Gary Brokaw: Potential for Magic, 1974-78
As a youth, Brokaw tried to pattern his play after Walt Frazier and Dave Bing. Little did he know that several years later, it would be Frazier and Bing that would be his workaday opponents.
Maurice Lucas: Roughing It in the NBA, 1977
Lucas plays aggressively, and critics say he plays dirty. “I play very aggressively. I play with intelligence,” he said. He paused a moment and added a footnote. “I play rough.”
Mitch Kupchak: The Game’s Best Sixth Man, 1979
Because Kupchak is so versatile, he poses monumental problems for opposing teams. “He creates favorable mismatches for us,” says Bullet coach Dick Motta, who likes to compare Kupchak with Jerry Sloan, the hellaciously tough guard Motta coached with the Chicago Bulls some years ago.
It’s a New Year for Elvin Hayes, 1971
It’s a new year for a new Elvin, really. It’s all a selfless campaign, hard to imagine for the once-brooding rookie who caused so many problems for himself and his team two years ago.
Goliath Comes to Tinseltown, 1968-1969
Contrary to popular opinion, the Lakers and their opponents, though agreeing that Los Angeles would be formidable, had reservations about the Super-team label and scoffed at the thought that the Lakers had anything locked up.
Dick Barnett: Keep on Keepin’ On, 1972
At 35 years of age, Barnett doesn’t have much time left in the game. It has been only in the past four years that he has really made decent money, and he hates to give it up so soon.
Tom LaGarde: Tendon to Business, 1979-1984
“It’s a business,” he shrugged at a 3 p.m. news conference in the Sonic office. “I’m ready to go.”
The ‘New’ Elvin Hayes, 1973
He knew he had something to prove this season in Baltimore. Leading the Bullets to a championship would be the best way to silence his many critics. That’s why in 1972, the Big “E” stood for Effort.
Are NBA Games Losing Their Excitement? 1979
There has been a great deal of hype since the merger of the two leagues to the effect that things have never been better, either on or off the floor. “All the stars are under one roof,” they say. That’s true, but the question is: What game are they playing?
From Way Downtown 