Oregon daily emerald., May 13, 1999, Page 13, Image 12

NBA Playoffs
Portland breaks playoff jinx by sweeping Phoenix
First Round of
the NBA Playoffs:
■ PortlandKB, PHOENIX 93
(3-0 Prtlnd. wins)
■ SACRAMENTO 84, Utah 81
{2-1 Sac.)
■ NEW YORK 97, Miami 73
{2-1 N.Y.)
■ DETROIT 79, Atlanta 63
{2-1 Atl.)
■ Indiana at Milwaukee
■ Orlando at Philadelphia
■ San Antonio at Minnesota
■ L.A. Lakers at Houston
By Bod Baum
The Associated Press
PHOENIX — Character, poise.
Not exactly words that have de
scribed the turbulent Portland
Trail Blazers in recent years past.
They fit perfectly, though, in
their 103-93 victory over Phoenix
Wednesday night as the Blazers
swept the Suns in three games for
their first playoff series victory
since 1992.
Just when the Blazers seemed
ripe for the emotional meltdown
many had predicted would come,
the team regrouped behind Brian
Grant and Greg Anthony to pull
away in the final four minutes.
“I think this is a good testament
of our character. I think this was a
growth game for us, a growth se
ries,” Anthony said. “You don’t
see a lot of teams sweeping a short
series with the parity we have to
day. It shows a lot because let me
tell you to put up with what we
did in the third quarter and part of
the fourth, a lot of teams would
have folded.”
While Grant and Anthony pro
vided the offense, Isaiah Rider
provided the inspiration, at least
according to Rider.
Phoenix outscored the Suns 22
6 while Rider left the game for 6:45
of the third quarter with a
sprained right knee. Rider came
back, reentering the game and lat
er cheering from the sidelines.
“I was the motivation. I was the
reason that we woke up and start
ed playing good with five minutes
to go,” Rider said. ‘‘I looked my
team in the eye and challenged
them. I got us in the huddle and
said, “What are we doing? So what
that they’re making a run. Don’t
fold. Don’t give up.’ I kept us to
gether. I waved my towel from the
bench. I was definitely Willis
Reed.’”
Grant scored six of his 20 points
as the Blazers outscored Phoenix
24-10 in the final four minutes.
Anthony scored all eight of his
points in the late outburst, includ
ing a 3-pointer that started it all.
Rider added 18 points. Arvydas
Sabonis had 14 points and 11 re
bounds. Rasheed Wallace and Jim
Jackson scored 13 apiece for the
deep Pacific Division champions,
who will play the winner of the
Utah-Sacramento series in the
Western Conference semifinals.
“I think this was as much a
mental win as it was a physical
win,” Portland coach Mike Dun
leavy said. “It’s something we’ve
talked about since training camp,
that we wanted to learn. Even
though we’re a young team, we
wanted to learn how to win, win
big games, stay poised, face adver
sity and still come back and win.”
Cliff Robinson, who carried a la
bel of playoff flop in his eight sea
sons in Portland, led the Suns
with 24 points, but had three
turnovers and missed two free
throws in the final 2 1/2 minutes.
Jason Kidd had 16 points and 12
assists.
“They were just better than us.
That’s the bottom line,” Robinson
said.
Coach Danny Ainge agreed.
"They manhandled us in every
physical aspect of the game,” he
said.
The Blazers, a playoff series
winner for the first time since they
went to the 1992 NBA Finals, led
by as many as 18 points in the first
half.
But the Suns came back after
Rider left the game in the third
quarter for treatment of a sprained
right knee. Phoenix led 83-79
when Jason Kidd made one of two
free throws with 4:15 to play.
Anthony, again the choice of
coach Mike Dunleavy to play
point guard ahead of Damon
Stoudamire in the fourth quarter,
sank a 3-pointer from the top of
the key to cut the Suns’ lead to 83
82 with 3:47 to play. Wallace’s
three-point play put the Suns up
for good 85-83, and Anthony’s
fastbreak basket with 2:47 to go
put Portland ahead 87-83.
Robinson’s baseline reverse
stuff cut it to 87-85, but Grant
made two free throws and hit a
jumper, Robinson missed two free
throws, Grant scored again and
the Suns were finished.
The Suns vowed to get tough in
this game, and their target was
Rider. Danny Manning was called
for a flagrant foul against Rider on
a breakaway dunk attempt in the
final minutes of the first half.
Then Tom Gugliotta, scram
bling to get the ball, sent Rider to
the locker room with a sprained
right knee in the third quarter.
When Rider returned, he got
into a confrontation with the
Suns’ Pat Garrity, grabbing the
Phoenix rookie by the collar and
drawing a technical.
“I was the target obviously,”
Rider said. “But it’s going to take
more than you hacking me. It’s go
ing to take more than you, when I
have a dunk, and you jumping on
my head. I’m mentally tough and
it’s going to take more than that.”
Kings upset mighty Jazz again
By hod uiosier
The Associated Press
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sacramento’s Vlade
Divac blew kisses to the crowd after a 3-pointer.
Teammate Jason Williams mugged for the cameras
after a flashy assist. And the upstart Sacramento
Kings pushed Utah to the brink of elimination.
Divac, his left eyebrow stitched and bandaged,
hit two key shots in the final 47 seconds of overtime
as the Kings defeated the Jazz 84-81 Wednesday
night to take a 2-1 lead in their best-of-5 first-round
playoff series.
The Kings can wrap up the series with a win at
home Friday night.
Divac’s two jump-hooks gave Sacramento, which
had never before won a home playoff game, an 83-81
lead with 22 seconds remaining in overtime. Todd
Fuller missed two potentially tying free throws for
Utah with 4.2 seconds left, and John Stockton
missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Divac had 22 points and Corliss Williamson
added 18 for the Kings, who had not won a home
playoff game since 1981 — when they were based
in Kansas City.
Karl Malone scored 14 of his 22 points for Utah
in the fourth quarter and overtime of a brutally
physical game in which Divac was cut in the
fourth quarter while diving for a ball.
Howard Eisley had 21 points and Shandon An
derson added 17 for the Jazz, who trailed by 16
points in the second period. But Stockton was held
to five points.
Leading 41-37 at halftime, the Kings maintained
their lead throughout a scrappy third period that
featured Stockton shoving Divac during a stoppage
in play and several scrums as players fought for
loose balls.
Divac’s 3-pointer from the top of the key, which
he celebrated with kisses, gave the Kings a 50-40
lead with 8:24 remaining in the third period.
A 3-pointer by Anderson pulled the Jazz within
56-53 with 3:30 left in the quarter, but Williams re
sponded with a bullet pass to Williamson for a
layup and feigned a look of disbelief for the cam
eras.
Sacramento led 60-56 entering the fourth quar
ter, but the Jazz tied the game at 68 with 6:12 left on
two straight layups by Malone. A few seconds lat
er, Divac was cut when Stockton’s arm hit him in
the face as both dived for a loose ball.
Utah built a 75-71 lead on six straight points by
Malone, but Williams hit a jumper and Divac hit
four free throws in the final minute of regulation
time as the game went into overtime tied 77-77.
The Kings began the game at a frenetic pace,
turning an early 5-0 deficit into a 15-7 lead as the
Jazz went 6:03 without a basket. Utah was missing
Malone, who got his second foul 4:11 into the
game, for most of that drought.
Sacramento built its lead to 13 points late in the
first quarter while hitting 11 of its first 16 shots,
and held a 28-17 lead at the end of the period.
Sonics plot return to prowess, playoffs
By Jim Cour
The Associated Press
SEATTLE—The Seattle Super
Sonics are sitting these playoffs
out. They want to make sure they
don’t miss any more.
With that in mind, the Sonics
will try to keep Vin Baker, a four
time All-Star power forward who
can opt out of his contract and be
come a free agent.
“We want him to be back,” team
president and general manager
Wally Walker said Wednesday.
“Vin’s still not a free agent, and he
has to make a decision. But I think
we ’re all assuming he will opt out. ”
An overweight and out-of-con
dition Baker didn’t expect the
NBA lockout to end in time for a
season to be played. When the
lockout did end, he wasn’t ready.
Injuries caused him to miss 16
games, and he averaged 13.8
points, shot 45 percent from the
field and 45 percent from the free
throw line. For the first five years
of his pro career, he averaged 18.5
points, while shooting 50 percent
from the floor and 63 percent from
the line.
Under the league’s new basic
agreement, the maximum the Son
ics can pay Baker is $87 million for
seven years. The team sounds
willing to pay him that amount.
“I talked to him at long length
yesterday,” Walker said. “Vin is
disappointed in his season, and
he’s a proud guy. He’s down work
ing out today getting ready for next
season, and he’s going to bounce
back strong.”
The Sonics will judge Baker on
what he did prior to this season.
“With Vin, you have to look at
what he’s done in his career,”
Walker said. “We know who he is.
We know what kind of guy he is,
what kind of player he is. He’s go
ing to get back to being one of the
better inside players in the game.”
With Baker not playing like the
Baker of last season, when he aver
aged 19.2 points and the Sonics won
61 games, the team missed the play
offs for the first time since 1989-90.
They wound up ninth in the
Western Conference standings
with a 25-25 record.
Walker and coach Paul West
phal might be staking their jobs on
Baker’s future although team own
er Barry Ackerley hasn’t said any
thing publicly.
Last season, before the playoffs,
Ackerley complained he didn’t
have a championship ring under
coach George Karl. Despite having
the best winning percentage of any
coach in Seattle’s history, Karl was
fired after 61/2 seasons.
Hardaway loses cool
as Knicks stifle Heat
By Chris Sheridan
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — If it were a prize
fight, they’d have stopped it in the
third quarter.
The New York Knicks unleashed
one of the most dominant flurries
imaginable Wednesday night, us
ing an incredible 32-2 run to take
control of the game — and their
first-round series—in defeating the
frustrated Miami Heat 97-73.
“We took a hit, and I think we
quit on the game,” Miami’s Dan
Majerle said.
The game was the most con
frontational of the three so far, but
the only physical altercation came
when Alonzo Mourning shoved
teammate Tim Hardaway toward
the locker room after Hardaway
was ejected with 8:45 left and the
outcome already certain.
The victory gave the Knicks a 2
1 lead in the best-of-5 series and
left Miami on the brink of first
round elimination at New York’s
hands for the second straight sea
son.
If the Heat have any fight left,
they’ll need it Friday to save their
season and avoid becoming just
the second top-seeded team in
NBA history to lose to a No. 8 seed.
“The series is not over yet. It’s
far from being over,” Mourning
said. “If you remember, last year
we were up 2-1 (against New
York). So it’s far from being over.”
It was a multi-pronged offense
that boosted the Knicks as Latrell
Sprewell scored 20 off the bench,
Allan Houston had 18, Patrick Ew
ing 15 and Marcus Camby 13.
And despite being outrebound
ed 16-6 in the first quarter, New
York finished with a 43-35 advan
tage on the boards.
Pistons prolong series
with 16-point victory
By Hariy Atkins
The Associated Press
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. —
For the third straight time, there
was a blowout in the Atlanta
Detroit series. Only this time,
the Pistons came out on top.
Detroit, which lost the first
two games by 20 points each,
routed the Hawks 79-63
Wednesday night to stay alive
in their best-of-5 series.
“We knew the Pistons
weren’t going to lay down,” said
Atlanta guard Steve Smith, who
scored 15 points. “Now we
have a fight on our hands.”
The 63 points were the
fewest ever scored by the
Hawks in a playoff game and
the second-lowest in NBA his
tory, topped only by the 54
points by Utah in last year’s fi
nals against the Chicago Bulls.
The Hawks’ previous low
was 71 in 1950 when they were
the Tri-Cities Black Hawks.
Still, the Hawks, with a 2-1 lead,
can finish off Detroit in Game 4
at The Palace on Friday night.
“They were facing the
prospect of going home if they
lost,” Atlanta guard Mookie j
Blaylock said. “They came out
and did the job they had to do,
and I tip my hat to them.”
Bison Dele scored 12 points
and pulled down nine re
bounds in Detroit’s balanced
scoring. Christian Laettner had
15 points, Lindsey Hunter 12,
Grant Hill 12 and Joe Dumars
11 for Detroit.
Dikembe Mutombo, who
dominated the first two games,
was held to eight points by
Dele and the rest of Detroit’s
defense — aimed at shutting
Mutombo down. Ty Corbin led
Atlanta with 16 points.