Bucks Win Series and End an Era : Milwaukee Eliminates Philadelphia, 102-89, and Retires the Doctor

MILWAUKEE —  Since 1980, the Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers have met in 34 NBA playoff games, but it’s doubtful that any of the previous contests could match the pressure going into Sunday’s game at the Mecca:

--The fifth of a five-game series.

--Possibly the final game as Bucks’ coach for Don Nelson, should Milwaukee be beaten.

--Ditto for 76ers’ Coach Matt Guokas should his club go home to Philadelphia a loser.

--Perhaps the last contest in Julius Erving’s illustrious 16-year career.

By the end of the afternoon, two of the day’s subplots had been settled. The Bucks advanced to the Eastern Conference semifinals against Boston with a 102-89 victory, leaving Erving, who scored 24 points, to ponder his next steps.

The best-of-seven Milwaukee-Boston series will start Tuesday night in Boston.

“Traditionally this is a time to salute the winners, regroup and plan for next season,” said the man called Dr. J. “For me, this will be a very long off-season, the longest I’ve ever had.”

The man who effectively ended Erving’s career was Milwaukee guard Craig Hodges. A former starter relegated to the bench when NBA veteran John Lucas joined the team in January, Hodges scored all of his 14 points in the fourth quarter to break open the intense--at times vicious--game.

There were 45 personal fouls called and perhaps just as many that were ignored by referees Earl Strom and Ed Rush. In the end, Milwaukee’s depth prevailed. Seven players scored in double figures, led by Jack Sikma, who had 18 points and a career-high 21 rebounds.

Hodges’ outburst helped push Milwaukee’s 76-69 lead to 94-75 with 4:56 remaining. A minute later, he added insult to injury with a behind-the-back pass to Paul Pressey for a dunk that crushed any lingering Philadelphia hopes.

“When the playoffs started, Nellie (Nelson) told me not to throw any behind-the-back passes,” Hodges said. “But since he wasn’t out there I thought I’d try one.”

The reason Nelson wasn’t out there wasn’t because he had departed for New York or Dallas or any of the other NBA jobs with which his name has been linked. Instead, he was huddled near a television in the Milwaukee locker room after being ejected by Strom with 2:14 left in the first half for protesting an offensive foul called against Pressey by Rush.

“I think I should say that I wasn’t smart enough to be thrown out on purpose,” Nelson said. “It was a big error on my part. I told the team at halftime that they had to bail me out.”

There was some doubt whether that would happen. The Bucks blew most of an 11-point lead by halftime, when they led, 53-50. Philadelphia was unable to get closer than one in the opening seven minutes of the third period but seemed to catch a major break when Sikma (then with 18 points and 18 rebounds) was forced to the bench with his fourth foul.

Milwaukee led, 67-61, at the time, its last basket coming on a shot by Pressey at the 4:38 mark. The Bucks wouldn’t get another field goal for 6:10, yet at the end of the stretch they were ahead, 76-69, and the stage was set for Hodges’ heroics.

“We didn’t let Doc keep going along on his retirement tour,” Hodges said. “It was a great game to be a part of and have a major influence on.”

Guokas could only forlornly second that emotion.

“They picked the right day to have their best game of the series and, unfortunately for us, today was our poorest day,” he said. “It seems when we’ve been able to hold (Hodges) down or keep him from going crazy we’ve been able to control the games down the stretch. Today, he was our undoing.”

To what extent things will unravel is hard to say. The weather here was gloomy, an apt reflection of the prevailing mood surrounding both teams.

According to Bucks’ vice president John Steinmiller, when the press room opened at the Mecca 1 1/2 hours before the noon game, the main course was “chipped rumors on toast.”

The 76ers weren’t immune from that hearsay. There was talk that Guokas would be dismissed if his team didn’t come up with a win in Game 5. Chances are he couldn’t have been heartened by the pre-game words of Philadelphia General Manager John Nash:

“If we were to lose today, I would imagine that Matty and (76ers owner) Harold (Katz) and I will be meeting sometime later this week. Is it a must game? Probably more so for us than for them. Nellie has more years to go on his contract--Matty’s is up after the last game, whenever that is.”

That proved to be Sunday, a fact that Erving said left him “with a sense of relief.

“I was thinking about my teammates, my family and the fans,” he said. “I was wishing that somehow it could be a happy moment even though it was a very crushing one. There’s always a place inside of you that’s troubled by a loss of any kind.”

A year ago, in one of those many Milwaukee-Philadelphia contests, Erving missed a last-second shot that could gave given the 76ers a berth in the conference finals. Sunday, there was no such agony.

The Doctor scored 10 fourth-quarter points but, the game well in Milwaukee’s hands, he was replaced by Andrew Toney with 40 seconds remaining and received a standing ovation from the sellout crowd of 11,052, plus an on-court hug from Lucas.

Walking along the visiting bench, he received hugs from each of his teammates.

“It was obvious which team was going to win today but maybe that was good,” Erving said. “I won’t be haunted by any miscues; a missed shot, a missed free throw--maybe that’s good.

“Without a doubt I’ll look back on the outpouring of affection by the organizations, fans and players around the league, from Portland to Washington, in this last season. I never saw anything like it, never read about anything like it.

“It was something special, certainly larger than me.”