Lakers Win, Baylor Hurt

Apr. 3, 1965 - The Lakers opened the Western Division playoffs with a victory, but the price they had to pay was prohibitive.

Four minutes after the start of tonight’s battle with the Baltimore Bullets, Elgin Baylor went up for a jump shot and came down limping.

An L.A. Sports Arena gathering of 14,579 moaned as if one, but the rest of the night they screamed in approval as magnificent Jerry West poured in 49 points to lead the Lakers to a 121-115 triumph over the fired-up Bullets.

An unhappy Dr. Robert Kerlan diagnosed Baylor’s injury as a pulled tendon on his left knee. X-rays will be taken tomorrow to determine the extent of the injury. It’s almost a certainty Baylor will be out of Monday’s second game and probably the next two in Baltimore.

Coach Fred Schaus, who also got tremendous play out of Jimmy King and Leroy Ellis, bravely forced a smile and said: “Thank God for No. 44.”

No. 44 is West. Until he tired from a physical beating dished out by Wally Jones in the third period, the all-pro guard was on his way to a 60-point performance in an effort to make up for the loss of half of the famous one-two punch.

West had 31 points by intermission and, though obviously weary at the end, staved off a roaring Bullet rally with six straight free throws in the closing minutes.

“[Don] Ohl and [Bailey] Howell almost shot us out of it,” said Schaus, “but in a way, I’m glad it wound up close. We should have known this was going to be a tough series. We sure do now.”

Ohl, scoring 15 points in the first 5½ minutes of the fourth quarter, then turned it over to Howell, who pumped in 10 more to make it a real battle.

While West hit the free throws, Jim King and LeRoy Ellis each made a pair of clutch field goals that kept the Lakers in front.

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