Hawks Even Series with Bullets

Mar. 27, 1965 - The third-quarter letdown — a disconcerting habit the Hawks got into the last week of the regular season — is something the St. Louis team must concern itself with as the NBA playoffs continue in Baltimore tonight.

A 129-105 triumph at Kiel Auditorium last night enabled the Hawks to even the Western Division best-of-5 series with the Baltimore Bullets at 1-1, but it wasn’t as easy as the score might indicate.

In the first half, the Hawks did everything right. St. Louis had a .500 field-goal percentage for the half and a 65-45 lead.

Then came the third quarter. Hawk fans were able to shrug it off last week when the team sagged after building top-heavy leads in the first two periods in games against Stan Francisco, New York, and Detroit. St. Louisans took it in stride because second place was already clinched, and the Hawks went on to win with ease anyway.

But no halftime lead is safe when Baltimore outshot and outran the Hawks in the third period tonight, 32-18, and there were no smiles among the home-team followers.

The Bullet rally didn’t stop at the end of the quarter, despite player-coach Richie Guerin’s chewing-out of his team during the break. Baltimore pulled within four points with 10:30 remaining.

And who came to the rescue? Bob Pettit.

Pettit, struggling valiantly to regain the touch that got away during a month-long absence because of a knee injury, came through when he was needed most. Held to just eight points until then, Pettit fired in three jump shots as the Hawks rebuilt their lead to 96-86 in the next two minutes.

Then Zelmo Beaty went on a 15-point spree, and Guerin added nine more as the Hawks poured it on. So completely did the Hawks gain control that Bullet coach Buddy Jeannette removed his starters with 3:45 left, and Guerin soon did likewise.

Guerin had no explanation for his team’s third-quarter sag.

“I can understand it in those games last week because it is hard for a team to stay up when it really doesn’t matter, but this is different,” said Richie. “I was playing as bad as anybody. I took myself out and sent in Chico Vaughn, but Chico couldn’t do much either.

“I don’t know what the explanation is, but I know we’d better not let it happen again. This Baltimore club is plenty tough.”

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