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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 8, 2000)
Pippen leads Portland to easy win By Landon Hal! The Associated Press PORTLAND — The Utah Jazz were exhausted. Then Karl Mal one was tired of hearing about ScottiePippen. Pippen scored nine of his 20 points over the final nine min utes as the Portland Trail Blazers pulled away for an easy 94-75 victory Sunday in Game 1 of their best-of-seven Western Confer ence semifinals. “It took us three quarters before we could really get a good feel for this team, but in the fourth quar ter ouil defense took over,” said Pipperi, who averaged 6.8 points in four regular-season games against the Jazz. Pippen may once again keep Malone from getting a champi onship ring. Pippen and Michael Jordan helped the Chicago Bulls beat the Jazz in the NBA Finals in 1997 and 1998. When asked whether these kinds of games were the reason Pippen was acquired by the Blaz ers from Houston, Malone snapped: “I don’t want to hear that,” followed by an expletive. “I don’t care about that. End of in terview. I’m done here.” The Jazz were playing on less than two days’ rest after struggling past Seattle in Game 5 of their first-round series Friday night. The Blazers had four days off, and Utah’s exhaustion showed. The Jazz missed nine of their first 10 shots in the fourth quarter and shot 33 percent for the period — slightly worse than the 37 per cent they shot for the game. But Jazz coach Jerry Sloan dismissed that the lack of rest had anything to do with his team’s dismal per formance. “Our guys didn’t come to play,” he said. “I’ll tell you right now, we didn’t come to play, and this series will be over real quick if they’re going to accept that. “They had 24 hours to sleep. That’s their own fault if they can’t get the rest and get ready to play. We had too many days off last week. Now we get a little rest. Who cares? I don’t care, because they get paid to play, and they’re supposed to.” The Blazers led 65-61 to start the fourth quarter, but Pippen’s aggressiveness helped put the game away. His short turnaround jumper e x - tended t h e lead to 71-63 with 8:36 remaining. Pippen hit a 3-pointer to make it 80-67, and Greg Anthony sealed it with two free throws, a layup and 3-point er for an 87-71 lead with 3:48 to go “This is just one game. We don’t want to read too much into it,” Pippen said. “We have to do the job that we have do in this se ries, and that is defend the home court in all games.” Utah has lost its last 12 playoff games in Portland dating to the 1991 conference finals. Malone scored 22 points de spite straining a ligament in his left knee on a freak play late in the second quarter. Malone was sit ting on the bench when team mate Armen Gilliam dived for a rebound and crashed into Mal one’s chair. Malone came out limping slightly in the third quar ter, but played the rest of the way. Damon Stoudamire added 14 points, 10 in the first quarter, as six Blazers scored in double fig ures. Arvydas Sabonis had 14 re bounds and Brian Grant added 10. The Blazers had a tremendous advantage at the line, hitting 26 of 27 free throws after making just eight of their first 14. Utah got to the line just 23 times, hitting 16. The Blazers pulled away from a 12-all tie with a 10-0 run as Utah missed nine straight shots over a nearly six-minute span. The Blazers didn’t make a shot over the final 3:50, and managed a 23 15 lead after one quarter. “Our guys came out with the right intensity, the right defensive mindset, and we got off early,” Portland coach Mike Dunleavy said. Get Ready for Summer! Plan Your Classes Now The UO Summer Session Catalog with Schedule Classes is now available on campus. The Catalog contains important information about courses and special programs offered this summer, registration, housing, and fees. Telephone and DuckWeb registration starts May 1. re Now! Pick Up Your Free Copy Today. Pick up your copy today in the Summer Session office, 333 Oregon Hall, or at the UO Bookstore Telephone (541) 346-3475 http://uosummer.uoregon.edu/ Shaq, La ke rs coast LOS ANGELES — Just about every member of the Phoenix Suns, or so it seemed, took a turn guarding Shaquille O’Neal on’ Sunday. After the first quarter, no one had much luck. O’Neal overcame a slow start to score 37 points, grab 14 rebounds and block four shots as the Los Angeles Lakers trounced the Suns 105-77 in the opener of their West ern Conference semifinals. Game 2 will be played Wednes day night at the Staples Center. Kobe Bryant added 25 points for the Lakers. Anfernee Hard away led the Sims with 25 points, while Cliff Robinson, who battled foul problems, added 13. Jason Kidd, playing just his sec ond game since breaking his left ankle March 22, was held to three points, seven rebounds and seven assists. O’Neal made the game’s first shot before missing his final six attempts in the first quarter, when he scored four points. After that, with the likes of Luc Longley, Robinson, Corie Blount, Oliver Miller, Rogers, and occa sionally others, trying to defend him, the Suns had minimal suc cess. O’Neal’s dominance was never more evident than one sequence early in the third quarter. He missed from close range, got the re bound over Longley, missed again, got the rebound again, and scored. The Associated Press Heat wins Game 1 MIAMI — The start of the Mia mi Heat-New York Knicks series was worth the wait. After a week of hype, the bitter rivals lived up to the buildup in Game 1 Sunday, when Miami won a thriller 87-83 thanks to two baskets by Alonzo Mourning in the final 42 seconds. * The lead changed hands seven times in a five-minute stretch during the fourth quarter, and the score was tied at 79, 81 and 83 before Mourning came through. He got position inside on Patrick Ewing, took a feed from Dan Majerle and scored for an 85 83 lead with 41.8 seconds to go. Miami regained possession when P.J. Brown tipped a pass by Allan Houston, and Mourning swished a 17-footer with 5.6 seconds left. Miami, eliminated in the open ing round of the playoffs by New York each of the past two years, will try for a 2-0 lead in the best of-seven matchup Tuesday night. “It was just the beginning of the series,” Mourning said. “We’ve got to come back in the second game with the same in tensity.” Ewing boasted earlier this week that he’s the best center in the Eastern Conference, but the best center Sunday was Mourn ing, who had 26 points and six rebounds. Ewing also played well, with 17 points and nine rebounds in 40 minutes. The Associated Press
