Lakers Moments: Bob McAdoo steps up as the big man

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Give me that: Lakers forward Bob McAdoo battles Celtics forward Larry Bird for a rebound in Game 4 of the NBA Finals at the Forum on June 5, 1985.

McAdoo found success off the bench with the Lakers in the early 1980s, playing a key role for teams that reached four straight finals and won two championships.

A season-ending injury to Mitch Kupchak midway through the 1981-82 season sent the club scrambling for another big man. On Christmas Eve, 1981, the Lakers sent a second-round draft pick to the New Jersey Nets for McAdoo and he was the first man off the bench for the Lakers’ 1982 NBA championship team.

In 1982-83 he averaged 15 points per game but the Lakers lost to the Philadelphia 76ers in the finals.

In 1983-84 McAdoo’s 13.1 scoring average led all nonstarters in the NBA and he averaged 14 points per game in a losing effort against the Boston Celtics in the finals.

The Lakers returned to the finals after the 1984-85 season, for the fourth time in McAdoo’s four seasons with the team. This time McAdoo averaged 11.4 points in the playoffs as the Lakers won the title.

Read more about Bob McAdoo in All Things Lakers, the L.A. Times’ interactive database of all things purple and gold.

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-- Houston Mitchell