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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (June 2, 1995)
Rockets end home-court jinx, take West finals HOUSTON (AIM Hakeem Olajuwon and Robert Horry finally pul on end to the burnt? court madness in the West, and the Houston Rockets are headed back to the NBA Finals Olajtiwon had 19 points, 17 rebounds and five blocks as the Rockets heat San Antonio 100 95 Thursday night to win the Western Conference finals 4-2. Horry sank six 1-pointers, the last with 1:58 to plav to put the defending champions ahead 97 9.1. then clinched the victors by making two free throws with I t seconds to play He st ored 22 points It took six tries, but a home team Finally won in the Western Conference finals. Rockets coach Rudy Tom janovich leaped in the air at the iinul bu/zer. and the team and cruwd rushed onto the court The crowd had been shouting "MVP, MVP" throughout the game for Ohtjuwon. la«! year's most valuable player who con* sistently outplayed David Robinson in this verms Robinson, tins season's MVP. '< ored 14 for San Antonio but missed two free throws and committed a fatal turnover in the final 1:06 Avery tnhusnn had 14 points and 10 assists for the Spurs Sean Elliott scored 1H Dennis Rodman had l-t points and 1? rebounds fur the Spurs, who had felt anything but a title would be a disappointment after they won f>2 games during the regular-season, the best re< ord in tiie league The Ko« kets open the NBA f inals on Wednesday against Orlando or Indiana on the home court of the Kastern Conference < hampions But that shouldn't bother Houston, which didn't have the home court edge in any of the first three rounds [J1995 ^NBA PLAYOFFS Houston. which Rnlihed sixth in the Wt'si, ties itii> imhi Rock i*ts ,is the lowest seeded team to reach the finals Houston won three games in San Antonio in the conference finals before breaking through with a victory at home Hut as usual, the Kim kets i ooldnt do It the eas\ \sa\ After Drexler stole Robinson s pass and found Mario 1 lie for a layup with S ’ifi to play Hous ton led t The pat ked house at the Sum mit, whii h hadn’t had much to cheer about in two straight loss es lo the Spurs in Houston, was deafening But Doc Rivers, who was in the NBA Final , a year ago with the New ork knit ks. brought San Antonio bw k He scored seven during a 10-0 rut.- Robinson i tipped the rail) bv making one of two free throws to put the Spurs ahead 9,4-92 With 2 42 remaining Robinson drew his fifth foul with 9 4H to play, went to the bench, hut t ame b<» k for what probably were the most miser able t> minutes, 1 *> seconds of his i areer Drexler. who t ame to his hometown of Houston in a Valentine's D.n trade to join Olajuwon. his old Phi Slatno lama college teammate, in the dream of winning ins first title, made two free throws to put the Hoi kets ahead for good 94 9 1 with 2■ minutes to play Robinson, who whs just li for t? from the hold, 0-for-.1 in the final quarter, missed inside, then Horry made his final t pointer to make it 07-0 1 Discounting Horry, the rest of the Ro< kfts were 2-for-tO from t-point range Robinson missed two free throws with l t)t> remaining After Sam Cassell made one ot two free throws, Rodmans rebound basket with 28 set omK to go kept San Antonio's fading hofM's alive Hut Rodman fouled Horn, who made both free throw s Olajliwon made 7 of H field goals and st ored l'> in the third quarter but it wasn't enough to bury the Spurs ( Inn k Person's eight footer to start the fourth quarter put San Antonio ahead 7 7 7ti No team led by more than five points until Houston H O surge put tin* Rot kels up H-t 77 With *i -IH remaining ■ THURSDAY'S TRANSACTIONS BASEBALL AL ■ CHICAGO WHITE SO* Purchased me contact at John Krtrt hrst baseman from Nashvtife of me American Association Designated Chos Sabo, thud baseman to* assignment Nl ■ V 1 ■ ' Mi ’ i ’ legal counsel ■ ST LOUIS CARDINALS— Agreed to lerms with Scon Coopei, thud baseman on a one year contract MID AMERICA LEAGUE ■ ANDERSON LAWMEN Signed Dustin Rggs and Dean Mcnehead. pitchers BASKETBALL U S BASKETBALL LEAGUE ■ ATLANTA TROJANS - Signed and act’va! ed Roo Reniroe. center Activated Anthony Stanford, guard, trom the tarn squad Placed ivano Newt*;:, center and Robed Shannon, 'guard, on the Uu squad ■ MEMPHIS FIRE Signed Marvin Aieiander forward, and placed him on the tao squad FOOTBALL NFL ■ LOS ANGELES RAIOERS- Signed Napoleon Kaufman, running back ■ NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS—Re signed Dwayne Sabb linebacker ■ Philadelphia EAGiES-Re-agned Tommy Jeter defensive back to a on* »ear contract Car alar F ootbafl league ■ CALGARY S T AMPE DE R$~- S*gn«l Stu lai'd. det*n**e ttckie. to a one year contract ■ SAN ANTONIO TEXANS- Signed W . ! Rossiey .wide receiver Kendall Rhyne j backer, lany Dav*. detersive tack's? and I Marcus Gates detersive back ■ ftINNIPEG ft.UE ftOMBE RS- ft; »: tester Wearer and Shannon Garten, deters »ve backs Vngtl Gardnar. quarterback and Ante Skorpui. guard AFtENA FOOTBALL LEAGUE ■ CONNECTICUT COYOTES--Signed Jm Partner. lineman ■ IOWA BARNSTORMERS-Traded Reggie Room son wide receiver-detersive back to Ortando tor Jason Kmpers. .meman ■ l AS VEGAS STING- Signed Jor. -, Femga. lineman, and placed tan on the retused-to-repori list ■ MIAMI HOOTERS—Paced Dor ad ft: * defensive specialist, on m^red reserve ■ ORIANOO PREDATORS—Traded Jasor Kutpers, lineman, to Iowa lor Regg# RoOmson wide receiver defensive back Placed Bobby Samuets. delensive apeoafcst on recailati*' waivers ■ ST LOUIS STAMPEDE -Sgned Carw Shakoor wide receiver defensive back Placed Mae Ccrbns, defer-.,re specialist, on injured reserve HOCKEY COLONIAL HOCKEY LEAGUE ■ QUAO cm MAt lards - Named Brad Bun' * coach P*-» k Ooy‘«‘ assistant genet i •"noager kan Spr-rvj marketing ducto* and Am. Coi drector of Croadcajtmg SOCCER ■ M' ■' 1 * . ■ Ou&art g.akeeper Uk« tapper Cu-t Orvaffo and Tom Soehn. defenders, and Chad Ash sn ton»ard COLLEGE ■ ATLANTIC OtlfGlATf BA t tWli LEAGUE Named Robert H Pertseeoomm . jioner and Henry Burke preuden! ■ al STATE HAYWAHV-Named Gary Stewart men's sasaetbas ooach ■ IASTCAROUHA NamedGmny Qc,e •omen s asa-stant t«i»efurf ooach ■ F L ORf 0 A- Announced Jason Anderson guard, has been sksmtueo ttm m« beakel bail team tar aftfude ptodiems ■ NORTHWESTERN STATE. LA -Named J D Barnet". aSNefic drector. eheetN* June 1996 ■ Q NN ' - An -x'Vled (hr eiii'i.r •omen s keaj hockey ly me 199S 96 scacv me year Named Mecca Ma women s Sed ■ • ■ ST ANStiM Na~«d Bob Kef ^ La baa coach ■ WEST ViHG<N>A N.t • usd Ed CV» r«. me coach, edeewt August t ■ WOOSTER- Named Dean f'w a-, ..slant tac«raB coach Cowboys may ditch double-star uniforms DALLAS (A!') fhtlse double-star jerseys tin* Dallas Cow Ihivs unveiled Iasi season nvav In- forced to go the way of leather helmets Or. the team ( ould be unpet king their "unlucky" traditional blu« outfits fur good licit may he tlii! dm ision ( owboys dwiiit jerry Jones must m ike to comply with a league polit y limiting the number of < lathing changes teams i an make nest season The policy tor lb is year js teams will wear only two uni forms. NIL spokesman Greg Aiello said I bis applies to all teams, mi lulling the Cowboys " When folios brought out the double star jerseys last year, lie claimed they never would raplai n the team's traditional home white uniform. So, assuming that outfit will be one ol the two i holt es. Jones must decide w hether to eliminate the traditional blue road out fits or bis new double star i real ion The seldom worn blue shirts were once i onsidered to be jinxed Imu .lose the Cow boys bad a bad re< ord is bile wearing them Actually. they usually were only fon.ed to use them w hen play mg difficult opponents I he Washington Redskins, bn example, would shelle their maroon and y ellow uniforms when I lallas i ante to town just to make the Cowboys wear the blue outfits (ones had hoped to use new double star jersey s for "spei ml rx i asions such as the playoffs I le also sayv the outfits as anoth er way for the team to market itself, and the items wars hot sell ers around Christmas last year Jones at tually had four uniforms planned for this season the white and blue traditional jerseys, the white double-star and a new blue double-star that was created this off season Exploding car minimized injuries to injured driver Fox INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Stan Fox A race i ar did just what it was supposed to do when it slammed almost head-on into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's cun i.rete wall It exploded into thousands of fragments in a violent shower of debris It also probably saved his life "There are features that lire built into the i.ars to trv and have the driver protected." said Dr Kenneth l. Renkens, a neurosurgeon who removed a blood clot from Fox's brain shortly after the first-lap crash in Sunday's Indianapolis 500 "A helmet alone can't protei t you from a brain injury, but the idea is you let some other mechanical device suf fer the impact," Kenkens said at Methodist Hospital on Wednesday "In the case of c ars, tfie cars disintegrate, or come apart, so they are the vehicle that absorbs the slux k to protect the individual In the case of helmets, the way that helmets are designed, you let the helmet suffer the impact, and it takes the pressure off the bruin and the •.kull itself." Fox remained In critical but stable condition today f ft still has not regained consc iousness, and the treatment now is to prevent swelling, which could cause secondary injury. Kenkens said Wednesday. He said there were encouraging signs "Initially, when he was seen at the track and evaluat ed there, ho was totally unresponsive,’ Kenkens said "His condition has improved with regard to that. The longer that wo go along with his treatment where we don't have problems with increased pressure and hruin swelling. I think, the more encouraging it is 'He seems to Ire responding to pain and seems to he grimacing a little bit in response to that " Aside from the design of the car and helmet, Kenkens said, ipm k medical attention also played a part. "The fm t that he had this injury and was immediately given oxygen, transported, evaluated, had a tremendous impact." Kenkens said "When people are involved in collisions with head injuries out on the road, you can imagine the amount of time it takes for the acc ident to la discovered and all that time if they are w ithout oxygen or have a head injury that's untreated, it's to their detri ment Die sooner you can treat the problem, the hotter the outcome you < an expect " Hut fie said it may take several more days to determine the extent of Fox's brain injury. "In general, with high acceleration itnpac ts. the fillers that are running between the brain cells themselves and the rest of the body < an be injured They can either be d imaged beyond repair; they t an be mildly damaged where they are just not functioning; and tire mildest form of it is sort of a concussion, where it’s a transient event and people regain c onsc iousness very early ." He said it was too soon to tell where Fox fits into that range of possibilities. If it's an Injury where the cells are partially damaged but not completely damaged and they will recover func - turn, thnii improvements will lie made." Kenkens said Normally it lakes five lo seven days after the injury to determine the extent of damage, he said, Knnkons s.ml the blow to the head was the only injury to Fox mi the c.raxh just sei onds after the start of tin? rm e Fox, of Janesville. VVts , was making his eighth start at the Speedway and apparently ran over the rumble strips on the inside of the first turn Ills ear veered sharply to the right, struck the outside wall almost head on and was broadsided by Fddiu Cheover's ear Six i ars were knot ked out of the ra< e Immanise of the collision or from debris from the crash Fox was award ed doth plai e Renkens said the sourr e of the injury still wasn't known "That's being reviewed right now to see if it was the offer t of the hnpm ! against the wall or whether there was some other pier e of (lehris from the track that struck him in the head," the doctor said Sandy Camplrell. a spokeswoman for Memelgam Rac ing, read n note from Fox's wife, Jean, who thanked race fans from all over the country for their "overwhelming concern and land wishes for Stan's condition." "Your kindness lias been o great strength and comfort to all of those close to Stan. Ills family is at his bedside and remains cautiously optimistir fur a full recovery from any injuries he received from doing what he loved must: racing in the Indianapolis 500,” the note from Jean Fox read ' My - ■ bfd • 1 i , f ! 13a
