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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 28, 2000)
- quit using cliches, but for now... - use every experience at the uo to enhance my education - find the beauty in everybody and everything - be the queen of the world before I die encourage my friends and other uo students to drink responsibly ... or not at all. 11 Sabonis is the key By Landon Hall The Associated Press PORTLAND (AP) — Scottie Pippen has hurt the Minnesota Timberwolves with his quick moves to the basket, timely jump shooting and punishing defense. Yet the Portland Trail Blazers will be counting on the more reli able, even plodding style of cen ter Arvydas Sabonis when they try to eliminate the Timberwolves in Game 3 on Sunday. Sabonis scored 19 points Wednesday night as the Trail Blazers built a big fourth-quarter lead and withstood a late charge to win 86-82 and take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series. Sabonis had missed his first six shots and*, scored just five points in Sun day’s 91-88 Game 1 victory. “Arvydas was the difference in the game,” teammate Greg Antho ny said of Wednesday’s perform ance. At 7-foot-3 and 292 pounds, the 35-year-old Sabonis looks like a giant compared with the 7-foot, 250-pound Nesterovic. But the 23-year-old from the former Yu goslav province of Slovenia has hung in there. He hit both of his shots in the fourth quarter Wednesday night, and had two big blocks — on a layup try by Sabonis and a dunk attempt by Wallace that helped the Timber wolves stay close in the final two minutes. “He’s a good player,” Sabonis said of Nesterovic. “He’s young, but for his time in the playoffs, I think he plays good defense. He causes me problems.” It’s hard to imagine now, but when Sabonis was drafted by the Blazers in 1986, he was booed by fans at the team’s draft party at Memorial Coliseum. Sabonis was an unknown commodity in this country. And Walter Berry, the college player of the year that sea son out of St. John’s, got all the cheers as the other Portland first round pick. Berry played just seven games before he was traded to San Anto nio for Kevin Duckworth, and Berry has been out of the league since the 1990-91 season. Sabo nis, in his fifth NBA season after years of success in Europe, is still around, lumbering up the court and playing a pivotal role in the Blazers’ quest for their first title since 1977. Scottie Pippen has been the undisputed star of the playoffs for Portland, averaging 24.5 points in the two games—nearly twice his season average of 12.5. After his season-high 28 points in Game 1, Pippen came back with 21 Wednesday night. During the reg ular season, he scored at least 21 points only six times, and just twice in the last 29 games. But the offense starts with Sabonis, who can bull inside and draw a foul, put up a soft hook shot, pass the ball deftly out of traffic or, when he’s away from the basket, knock down a perime ter shot. “He’s so big that he gets double teams,” Portland guard Steve Smith said. “He passes so well, he causes so many problems. When he misses the shot, he usually is standing right there to tip it back in.” Sabonis also might be helped more than anybody by the long layoffs between games. He wears black sleeves on his creaky knees, and his agility was further slowed by a right foot sprain that knocked him out of 10 games late in the season.
