UCLA Lets Cal Make Game of It : Missed Free Throws Spoil 86-81 Victory

Think about what’s free any more. Butterflies are free, of course, but they are about all that is. Everything else costs.

The freeway? It cost millions of dollars to build. There is no free lunch, no free advice that’s any good and no way to win a basketball game if you don’t make your free throws.

When is a free throw not a free throw? When you miss so many that they cost you the game, which is a lesson in supply-side economics that UCLA very nearly learned Sunday when it played Cal in Pauley Pavilion.

The Bruins did not have to pay the ultimate price on checkout, however. UCLA escaped with an 86-81 victory over Cal, even though the Bruins missed seven free throws in the last 3:42.

“If we had made our free throws down the stretch, it was no ballgame,” said UCLA Coach Walt Hazzard, who found himself in one nonetheless.

And so UCLA won it’s fourth straight game to even its Pacific 10 record at 2-2 by somehow surviving a remarkable display of free-throw shooting of rim-bending proportions.

Reggie Miller, who has little trouble with free throws or any other kind of shot, found his touch again and scored a game-high 34 points. Miller got off to a quick start by rainbowing four three-pointers in his first four shots.

But Miller was at his best on the free-throw line, which was where the Bruins were worst. Miller made all 10 of his free throws and seemed genuinely perplexed how the Bruins could miss so many and watch a 73-56 lead dwindle all the way to 84-81, which is where it was with seven seconds left.

“I had faith in them,” Miller said. “I wasn’t getting mad or anything.”

Cal, which lost its first conference game after three straight wins, was not subdued for good until Montel Hatcher made two free throws with a second left.

The strategy of Cal Coach Lou Campanelli was obvious. Keep fouling UCLA and see if they’ll miss something, like the rim.

Pooh Richardson, who was 1 for 5 at the free-throw line Friday night against Stanford, came right back and did the same thing against Cal. Pooh couldn’t believe what wasn’t happening. He could hardly recognize himself.

“That wasn’t me at all,” he said. “I’m just struggling. I think I should relax more in my mind.”

Actually, relaxation might have been too much of a problem for UCLA in the second half. After all, they already had a 49-32 lead at halftime, and Cal’s 6-8 center Leonard Taylor was through for the game because he stretched a nerve in his neck.

“I think we slacked off a little bit,” Miller said.

But at the half, everything looked great for the Bruins. Miller had free-stroked his way to 18 points in 19 minutes and Cal shooters were having difficulty locating the basket.

Forward Dave Butler was 0 for 6 and hot-shooting guard Kevin Johnson was an icy 2 for 8.

Even when UCLA scored only two points in almost six minutes to start the second half, Cal closed no closer than 51-40, still trying to compensate for the loss of Taylor.

Then when Reggie scored inside with 8:02 left, his 27th and 28th points, UCLA’s lead was 69-56. But Miller would not score another field goal the rest of the game, which quickly turned into a competition between Cal’s guards and the Bruins’ free-throw shooters.

A jumper by Richardson on a breakaway and two Miller free throws gave the Bruins a 73-56 lead, but from then on, it was all downhill.

In the next two minutes, Cal outscored UCLA, 12-2, and was suddenly back in the game. Johnson, who led Cal with 22 points, scored on a driving layup to make it 75-68.

Two more Miller free throws and a rebound basket by Earnie Sears kept the difference at seven points. After that, the game was up for grabs, just as long as there were UCLA shooters standing at the foul line.

Richardson missed the first of a one-and-one, then missed the second of a one-and-one (78-70). Trevor Wilson missed two, then missed the second of a one-and-one (81-74).

Richardson again missed the first of a one-and-one and, when Bryant Walton’s three-pointer landed in the bottom of the basket, Cal trailed only 81-78 with 1:34 to go.

The Bruins let the 45-second shot clock roll all the way down to seven seconds before Miller forced up a three-point attempt trying to draw a foul. He didn’t get one.

“I should have driven and dished off,” Miller said. “I shouldn’t have taken that shot, really.”

All Cal had left, though, was Johnson’s three-pointer. Johnson missed twice, Sears and Butler once and, on the other hand, the Bruins finally made a few free throws.

Trevor Wilson, who shot 15 free throws during the game, which means he had plenty of practice from that range, sank a couple for a five-point lead, then got another with 12 seconds left for an 84-78 lead.

“They became an issue,” Wilson said of the free throws. “We let them become an issue because we missed so many of them.”

Adding it all up, UCLA tried 40 free throws and made 27 of them, which isn’t really terrible. It’s just that the ones they missed occurred at the wrong time.

But is there a right time to miss a free throw? Maybe not, but as Campanelli correctly figured out for Hazzard, if you give a team enough chances at something free, they’re eventually going to grab them.

“You hope that if your team shoots 40 free throws, you’d win the game,” Campanelli said.

That was exactly the way it worked out, wasn’t it?