Tuesday, April 9, 1974 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Rage Seven. Tuesday, April 9, 1974 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Seven Hammerin' Hani clouts th BY GEORGE! George Hastings Vital bench strength . . . ... a Piston plus WHEN BASKETBALL WRITERS speculate about the National Basketball Association playoffs, the talk is usually in terms of t'ie superstars. What players like Kareem Jabbar, Bob Lanier, and Dave Cowens do, of course, is probably the biggest factor in determining who will wear the NBA crown in 1974. But beyond the snierstars, the benches of the various contenders are going to go a tao-g way toward deciding the next pro champion. The value of the bench in pro basketball was never more in evidence than it was Sunday night at Cobo Arena, where the Detroit Pistons blasted their way back into the thick of their , playoff battle with the Chicago Bulls. Lanier, quite predictably, was the high Detroit scorer in that contest, but it was the play of a number of normal benchwarmers for the Pistons that spelled the difference in the game. Stu Lantz, George Trapp, John Mengelt, and Jim Davis are not everyday names even to the rather avid basketball fan. But it was their efforts that enabled Detroit to roll to its mpressive 102-87 victory which tied the series at two games apiece and set up a two-out-of-three series beginning tonight in Chicago. Each of the four made his own contributions. Lantz making his first start since before Christmas, responded by hitting 10 of 14 shots in a 23-point performance. Trapp found his long range shooting touch, and dropped in 11 of 17 himself, good for 22 more markers. Mengelt and Davis, while neither did much scoring, both came into the game in the first half and provided some much- needed spark at points where it looked like the Bulls were about to open up a lead. Both coaches agreed that the Piston bench was the difference. "The bullpen was the key tonight," said Detroit coach Ray Scott, "especially the fact that Lantz came up with such a big game as a starter." Chicago mentor Dick Motta went even further. "They had performances from guys we didn't expect to hurt us," he ex- plained. "Their bench hurt us. They had four people come off the bench that really killed us. You're fortunate if you have people that deep. We hold Dave Bing to 11, and still lose-that's not too good." Indeed, the Pistons are fortunate. They were especially fortunate Sunday night to have Lantz and Trapp, both of whom turned In their best performances in months. Lantz' starting role was a surprise to the 11,287 who packed Cobo Arena. Lantz had played some very good basket- ball early in the season for Detroit, but in a game in Chicago in December one of these same Bulls had flattened him against a basket support and knocked him out of the line-up for two months with a broken wrist. He really.never got back into the swing of things for Detroit until the final few games of the season, and he sat on the bench while Chris Ford started the first three playoff games for the Pistons. But Sunday Stu got the call, as Detroit needed something to avoid a disastrous third defeat in the series. Lantz explained his role in the Piston attack. "The game plan was for me to make Jerry Sloan work a little bit on defense," said Lantz, referring to the Chicago guard who had been covering Ford for the series' first three battles.' "Our weak side guard never shot the ball the last game in Chicago. So tonight, when I got the shot, I took it. After I hit a couple of fifteen footers early in the game, they couldn't sag on Bob Lanier." The strategy worked beautifully for the Detroiters, as Lantz came up with the scoring that Ford had not given them. This forced Sloan to concentrate more on defense, and as a result he had his poorest offensive night of the playoffs, hitting for onlyti eight points. The other happy surprise for the Pistons was Trapp. Unlike Lantz, Trapp has never started a game for Detroit. But during the heart of this season when the Pistons rolled up the majority of their wins, it was the uncanny outside shooting of Trapp, coming off the bench, that accounted for many victories. Trapp also had a late season shmp, and in the first three playoff games had been very ineffective. But Scott brought him in early in the first half Sunday, and then left him in as the second half got underway. Trapp's shot, devistating when it's on, was suddenly there, and he fired in twelve third quarter points to enable Detroit to sprint out to a 21-point lead. Afterward, Bing acknowledged that it was Trapp who made up for Bing's own poor shooting night. "George is a great shoot- er," said the Detroit captain. "We need that kind of performance from him to blow anybody out." What's most significant, though, is the emotional lift that the play of the subs on Sunday has given the Pistons. "This gives the whole team some confidence that we have a solid ballclub," said Scott after the game. "We think this series will go until we win it." ", ? a "r f} / Y i"" r" Y.. ,,,," , :' f Fl "'.'rft''a r ,. t " einte hrdg meo is2ft" he"e krhspic, es etr fed beehr.botoe seairn.:t wash,&11,29th t-bt- pret y e}ram th.t's.'he-oh urte:ra:.. 'u n t r Aao si asth stadig-rom Th epcso ruh attrch 6a congr.atulaory a. .n..yr r"{ ,75 rrget}amas exdus"rfmhe A'ant gramIhadcome,:;te stdium jupe o a1- asbaa y h .a. Itwa madbt hn 1E..'TADUL}.}'. l ANS..T ,r r n}.: r~i.i' "::'l.+"1:.?{'":;i,;:.} a':'x:f,.. ": , {:i :.r andrHe r f Aas~: r':;n; su1.rpasses:r$:%': the:r :' {.'Babe. .: Aaro's.istric:kt ho e::r r he ;;rttr> an {+t .'"futh ini de" I 20 000 had departed:{ .: leaving$%::he came in t e t ird ame of hs 2 s W ef pcs{'':v:;.:"#:}hi;;%;r::.,:.r t:t's:f:.:spit h h s. c nter fied:b.eechrs b ut-e season It washis 11295th t:bat ::etty{ ertain thatrsthe or::"a": '} lie I}:'; quaj' r te'{,r; full nd th :rightcente allt wihtervs-n.i 2,967th I.wants, "?:;Dfroning s5.:"r5a i, y:+' ntigthat I-field stands almost completely game.ยข: Aaron's" his. :";..:":toric blas: t had come I emY}:::}::: . :? ty. :; "Just tank Godit's al over,"on his irst swng of te#nig.-Wthn.0miuts.ferth"hs evr o e abaeal g m"i:Sa ium }' s tnds ;?',? ..:"f.:?"SThe Braves, with the;;'r .help ofi A tlanta-roat} $re' y..any of h e sta . n d : :}{ingr oom -onl:+."}{: y:;it; { Y'^S} A a-- ,' ?{,::'",} ::}:::-:r:# . ; }{; rn'" m m en ou6h m er on o Aaronwho hd walkd on ive crwd styed $i $$; to wat"xch Aa:;ron come: only fou"; }r.."':i r hitsrthey ollected-an pitces, akig th onystike in o bt:3in the. fifth inning": ":a: -,;xbut by .' sixDdgreroswn h gm at second-inning trip to therplate, the end:of the sixth inning, about"'tfr :z':a:>}xt: ::: The powerful swing coneets again ,,, From wire Service Reports ATLANTA -"If God didn't see fit for me to hit the home d aily run here, then I would have hit it somewhere else," Henry Aaron said last night after be-I coming baseball's all - time ; home run king. NIGHT EDITOR: The reserved 40 - year - old BILL STIEG. superstar was obviously re- Th lieved that the chase of the The two-run blast, a 400-foot shot, legendary B a b e R U t h had sailed out ofa jam-packed Atanta finaly eded.Stadium, just to the right of the: finally ended. 385-foot marker in the fourth in-{ It ended at exactly 9:07 p.m., ning, giving the Braves a 3-3 tie EDT. Aaron connected for the his- at the time. toric 715th home run off Al Down- Atlanta went on to win the ing of the Los Angeles Dodgers. game, 7-4. An historic event, The huge crowd began buzzing the moment the ball left Aaron's bat, and when it sailed over the fence, bedlam erupted. As Aaron circled the bases in typical fashion, a massive firE works display wastriggered, send- ing colored sparks into the air along with canon-like noises. Aaron's teammates poured out of the dugout. Relief pitchers streamed in from the left field b u I I p e n to congratulate their hero. It was one of his teammates, pitcher Tom House, who caught the ball and rushed it to Aaron as the game was halted for an 11-minute tribute. I I~~ itjflu. LOS ANGELES Lopes 2b Lacy 2b Buckner Wynn cf Ferguson c W Crawford rf Cey 3b Garvey l1b Russell ss Downing p Marshall p Joshua ph Hough p Mota ph Total ATLANTA ab r 2 1 1 0 3 0 4 0 4 0 4 1 4 0 4 1 4 0 11l l10 1 0 0 0 1 0 34 4 h2 Q 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 7 hi 0 0 0 bi 0 0 0 2 0 0 l 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 4 bi z 0 Aaron It, Office of Baker ef DaJohnson 2b Foster 2b Correll c C Robinson ss Tepedino ph M Perez ss Reed p Oates ph Capra Total S 0 2 3 0 4 0 0 2 2 0 29 2 0 2 I 0 1 0 0 0 0 7 1 0 I I 0 0 0 I 0 0 4 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 The legendary Ruth, who died of cancer in 1948, hit the last three' of his 714 home runs on May 25, BASEBALL 1935 agains. the Pittsburgh Pirates. New York 5 Cleveland 3 At te tin hewaswiththe OS-San Francisco 4, Cincinnati 3 At te tme, e ws wih te Bo- IAtlanta 7, Los Angeles 4 ton Braves. ABA PL AIYF 3 J- Los Angeles Atlanta i 003 001 000-4 010 402 00x-7 E-Buckner, cy, Russell 2, Loes, Fer- guson, LOB-Los Angeles 5, Atlanta 7. 23-Baker,Russell, Wynn. HR-Aaron (2). S-Garr. SF-Garr. IP H R ER BB SO Ruth played in 2,503 games and had 8,399 at-bats during his 22- year career. He quit the game in a dispute with Boston management, about a week after hitting his final homers. The HR leaders Henry Aaron (a) 715j Babe Ruth 714 Willie Mays 660 Frank Robinson (a) 552 Harmon Killebrew (a) 546 Mickey Mantle 536 Jimmy Foxx 534 Ted Williams 521 Ed Mathews 512 Ernie Banks 512 (a)--active players *New York 108, Virginia 96 *Kentucky 128, Carolina 119 (*winners of best-of-seven series) GOT THEIR GOAT ANNAPOLIS, Md. (UPI)-The first goat mascot for Naval Academy teams was an animal named El Cid, presented in 1898 by officers of the USS New York. presents IOLANTHE April 1Oth-13th Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre WEDNESDAY, April 10th-8 P.M.-$3.00 THURSDAY. April 1 lth-8 P.M.-$3.00 FRIDAY. April 12th-8 P M.-- $3.50 SATURDAY, April 13th-2 PM -$2.50 SATURDAY, April 13th- 8 P.M.-$3.50 Box Office 763-1085 i 'Vi Garr rf Lum lb Evans 3b ab 3 5 4 r 0 0 1 Downing L,0-1 Marshall Hough Reed W,1-0 Capra 3 3 2 6 3 2 5 2 2 2 1 0 0 0 7 4 4 0 0 0 4 1 2 1 1 2 l 1 4 8 ERRORLESS BALI DETROIT (UPI) - Al Kaline of the Detroit Tigers holds the American League record for the m o s t consecutive errorless games by an outfielder, with 242 games, without a miscue. The American League record book lists former Cleveland Indians' slugger Rocky Colavito in sec- ond place. Save-Capra 1. WP-Reed. PB-Fer- guson. T--2:27. A-53,775. i 11 Yearbook Mass Meeting Those people interested in working on the 1975 Michiganensian are asked to meet Wed., April 10-7-:30 p.m. 1st floor Student Publications Building Areas of Interest EDITORIAL STAFF, PHOTOGRAPHY, ARTWORK, LAYOUT A "HAPPINESS is serving on UNIVERSITY COMMITTEES U. Court of Appeals A.C.I.R.C.S. Advisory Committee on Intramural, Recreation, and Club Sports Program Evaluation Student Organizations Board OFFICE OF STUDENT SERVICES Unit Committees for Health Service and Special Services and Programs 1I kd' Nl i44;. 4%z ev4u Aw7,t e t e. ., u it t~ s t s 'ce 9 Z4 c Dom. / QG ,G Il r 'MPo y hLt I , if ^ 2t bKStaEt,+or i. 11 III it