- 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.