I wanted to play a game in 1985-86 Celtics replay but it had been quite a while since I had gotten Replay Basketball to the table and rolled some dice.

I decided to do a warm-up game to remember the rules and get into the flow of how the game played.

I chose another Week #1 game from the 1985-86 season and came up with Denver visiting Golden State.
I didn't remember who was on those teams that season, but when I saw the player cards I remembered Alex English, Purvis Short, Terry Teagle, Fat Lever, Danny Schayes and a young Chris Mullin.

In his season, Denver finished with a markedly better record than Golden State.
I was really interested to find out how these two teams played. This NBA season I had been all about the Celtics and I did not really follow many teams at all in the Western Conference besides the Lakers.

1st Quarter
The first portion of the game was a back-and-forth battle.
Denver was led by forward Alex English and his 7 points while Golden State was keyed by Purvis Short’s 8 points.

Halfway though the period Golden State began to pull away aided by it’s bench play on the boards and substitute guard Chris Mullin’s 8 points in 3 for 3 shooting from the floor and 2 for 2 shooting from the line.

Denver’s bench players went a combined 0 for 5 from the floor in the period.

Score at the end of the First Quarter
Denver              13    
Golden State   27

2nd Quarter
Denver’s Alex English played hard to keep his team within striking distance, but his shots were limited and he earned half of his points from the Free Throw line and ended the quarter with a total of 14 points.

Danny Schayes pulled the Nuggets bench from the doldrums with 11 points in the quarter, mostly from his 7 for 8 mark from the charity stripe.

Denver shot 23 free throws in the first two quarters, making 15 of them.
Golden State did not slow down.

Joe Barry Carroll went into Halftime with 11 points, 5 rebounds and a block.
Chris Mullin kept up his torrid pace going 4 for 5 from the floor and 2 for 2 from the line in the quarter to bring his point total to 16.

The Nuggets scored 28 in the 2nd Quarter.
The Warriors scored 32 in the 2nd Quarter.

The score at Halftime
Denver             41   
Golden State  59

3rd Quarter
Things began to slow down for Golden State.
Forward Larry Smith got into foul trouble early in the quarter. Center Joe Barry Carroll cooled off which got him frustrated and got him into found trouble as well.

Forward Purvis Short could not find any space while guard Terry Teagle continued to have trouble finding his way. For the game, Short has scored 14 points (only 2 points in the quarter) while Teagle has only scored 6 points.

Chris Mullin shifted from guard to small forward in the quarter but still found his range though he only scored 4 points to bring his total for the game to 20 points.

Denver chugged along slowly in the quarter as well.
Alex English continued to shoot, scoring 8 points in the quarter.

Backup guard Mike Evans went 3 for 3 from the floor to finally break onto the scoresheet with 6 points.
The Nuggets were 8 for 8 from the free throw line and that was a big reason they were able to claw a little closer.

The Nuggets scored 24 points in the 3rd Quarter.
The Warriors scored 16 points in the 3rd Quarter.

The score at the end of the Third Quarter
Denver             65    
Golden State  75

4th Quarter
Golden State did not let up in this quarter.
Sleepy Floyd made his presence known and revealed he had been having quite a good game as well. Floyd was 3 for 4 from the floor in the quarter and ended the game with an 8 for 9 mark while adding a free throw for a total of 17 points.

Purvis Short also made his mark in the quarter, going 4 for 6 from the field (including a 3-pointer) and 3 for 4 from the line to total 12 points for the quarter and 23 points for the game. He is also recorded as having 4 blocks but the league may have to review some tape to verify that stat.

Chris Mullin cooled off considerably even though he played a few more minutes due to Terry Teagle’s would trouble. Mullen was 1 for 3 in the quarter to bring his game total to 22 points.

The Warrior bench players, though getting pretty much normal play time in the quarter only scored 2 points in the final 12 minutes.

Denver got a big boost from their bench.
Starters Dunn, Natt and Cooper scored a total of 6 points in the quarter though Dunn added 2 rebounds to his game total of 5 rebounds.

Alex English picked up his 5th could early in the period (trying to slow down Purvis Short) and only scored 4 points, making his total for the game 26.

Bill Hanzlik filled in admirably while English sat out, going 4 for 5 from the field and 1 for 1 at the line for 9 points in the quarter making his total 11 for the game.

The Nuggets scored 34 points in the 4th Quarter.
The Warriors scored 29 points in the 4th Quarter.
…and I have to say, Joe Barry Carroll had a crucial steal as the game was winding down.

Final Score:
Denver               99    
Golden State  104

This was really fun to play out.

I was surprised Dunn and Cooper come up with next to nothing in points for Denver. Calvin Natt had his opportunities but could only come away with 7points.

Golden State got most of its bench help by way of rebounds - grabbing 15 of them.

Some Statistics

Denver
Lever:  10 points  2 REB  2 BLK
English:  26 points 10-18 FG 6-7 FT  3REB  5 FOU
Schayes:  17 points 3-7 FG 11-12 FT 1REB (?)
Rasmussen:  8 points 1-6 FG  6-6 FT  3REB
Hanzlik:  11 points 5-9 FG 1-1 FT  1REB

Golden State
Floyd:  17 points 8-9 FG 1-2 FT  2 STL
Short:  23 points 9-16 (incl. 1-2 3PT) 4-6 FT  2REB  4BLK  5FOU
Carroll:  18 points 6-10 FG 6-9 FT  8REB  1STL  5FOU
Mullin:  22 points 10-13 FG 2-2 FT  1REB
Ballard:  2 points 1-5 FG  5REB  4FOU

Sidney Moncrief had a rotten Fourth Quarter.
He also had a great First, Second and Third Quarter.
Moncrief shot 10 for 13 from the floor in the game's first three quarters.
He was also 10 for 12 from the free throw line in the game's first three quarters.

The visiting Bucks led the Pistons by 12 at the end of the First Quarter, 16 points at Half Time and 14 points at the end of the Third Quarter. The hometown Detroit fans tried to urge on their squad but nothing they did could help close the gap.

Detroit played the final stanza with grit and defense. Sparked by Vinnie Johnson off the bench, the Pistons took the lead for the first time with just over 2 minutes to play at 96-95.

Moncrief was a blank 0 for 3 from the field in the last quarter, checked by Earl Cureton and Kelly Tripucka. Moncrief had spent most of the game having his way with Tripucka. Cureton brought some size against Moncrief in the Second Half and it did seem to impact Moncrief's game as the clock wound down. All Moncrief could manage own the stretch was was one free throw down the stretch.

The Pistons outscored the Bucks 28-15 in the Fourth Quarter. Bill Laimbeer had a chance to give the win to Detroit but his last-second shot clanged off the backboard and bounded away.

Milwaukee held on to defeat Detroit, 101-100.

Some stats:

Milwaukee
Moncrief 31pts 5rebs
Cummings 16pts 2rebs
Breuer 10pts 11rebs
Reynolds 10pts 2rebs

Detroit
Tripucka 17pts 2rebs
Laimbeer 15pts 4rebs
Thomas 10pts (4-5 FT) (3-13 FG)
Benson 6pts 11 rebs

I didn't keep up with assists, turnovers, steals or blocks.

I really thought the Pistons would play better in the first half, but the Bucks were taking it to them. I then thought the Bucks were going to run away with it. I had to try and slow down Mr. Sidney. Put Cureton on him helped in the Second Half. Isaiah Thomas had a bad game. Paul Pressey and Craig Hodges didn't do much over all.

What a Bucks team this is.

You can see the Pistons getting the pieces together for those championships down the road.