Blazers kick LA. at home to
keep series alive
By Bob Baum
The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — A celebra
tion seemed inevitable. You could
almost see the Western Confer
ence championship banner hang
i n g
above
the
star
studded crowd at the Staples Cen
ter.
Talk radio was already speculat
ing on who Los Angeles would
face in the NBA Finals.
Then the Portland Trail Blazers
spoiled everything.
Led by Scottie Pippen, playing
most of the game with two dislo
cated fingers on his left hand, the
Blazers stunned the Lakers 96-88
Tuesday night to stay alive in the
conference finals.
With Los Angeles up 3-2, the se
ries shifts back to Portland for
Game 6 on Friday night. In the first
five games, the home team has
won only once.
“We’re going to have to take a
little more time to win this series,”
Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. “I
think that’s good for us as a basket
ball team. This team hasn’t grown
enough to understand the sub
tleties of what we are trying to do
and it is a good measure for us. ”
The Lakers lost two in a row at
home for the first time all season.
A team so poised and confident in
their weekend sweep in Portland
could never get rolling.
Portland never trailed. Despite
injuring his fingers late in the first
quarter when he was called for an
offensive foul against Robert Hor
ry, Pippen had 22 points, six steals
and four blocked shots. In the
process, Pippen broke Michael
Jordan’s record for career playoff
steals with 380. Jordan’s record
was 376.
“That’s just Pip being a warrior.
This is no time to sit out,” Port
land’s Rasheed Wallace said.
“Like the other night when I hurt
my ankle. That team is just too
tough for us to sit out. ’ ’
Jackson said he told Pippen he
shouldn’t even have been playing
in the game after elbowing John
Salley in the back of the head late
in Portland’s homecourt loss in
Game 4 Sunday.
“He shouldn’t have been play
ing in this ballgame,” Jackson
said. “He clearly threw a cheap
shot elbow to the back of the head
and he just got fined $10,000. I
wanted to tell him that he was a
presence who shouldn’t have
been there.”
In the latest of what haw been a
back-and-forth bickering between
the player and his former coach,
Pippen was unimpressed by Jack
son’s opinion.
"Phil is not my coach. I’m not
listening to nothing you tell me
about Phil. Have a good day,” said
Pippen, who then left the
postgame news conference.
Wallace was just 7-for-21 from
the field, but scored 22 points, in
cluding seven of eight free throws,
and grabbed 10 rebounds. Steve
Smith added 13 points, and Arvy
das Sabonis 12. Two reserves who
barely caused a ripple in the se
ries, Brian Grant and Detlef
Schrempf, added nine each.
Shaquille O’Neal did his best to
make it the big night everyone ex
pected with 31 points and 21 re
ii This game validates
for us what it is we're do
ing and that we can get it
done. It's just a matter of
us making it happen for
ourselves.
Mike Dunleavy
Blazers head coach . .
bounds. Ron Harper added 14
points.
But Kobe Bryant made only four
of 13 shots, scored 17 points and
committed six turnovers before
fouling out with 4:45 to play. Glen
Rice was l-for-8 from the field and
0-for-5 from 3-point range, finish
ing with four points.
The Lakers were just 6-for-27
from 3-point range and shot 38
percent from the field.
“I thought we played pretty
good defense. We couldn’t put the
ball in the basket,” O'Neal said. “I
think we tried to put them away
with all 3s. It’s disappointing. We
just have to learn from this.”
Portland coach Mike Dun
leavy’s defensive tactic of double
and triple-teaming O’Neal and
leaving others open worked to
near perfection.
“This game validates for us
what it is we’re doing and that we
can get it done,” Dunleavy said.
“It’s just a matter of us making it
happen for ourselves. It’s a high
risk business, and we’re taking
chances. We’re leaving a lot of
people open.”
Bryant sprained his right foot in
the first half, but said it wasn’t a
big factor in his game. X-rays after
the game were negative.
“If we’re going to be a champi
onship team, we have to go
through some adverse situations,”
Bryant said.
Then he mentioned the noisy
crowd in Portland and the
prospect of facing a deciding
Game 7 Sunday in Los Angeles.
“I think it’s good for us,” he
said.
Even though they never led, the
Lakers were just a short run away
from taking the lead through most
of-thegame.
Trailing 80-67 entering the
fourth quarter, the Lakers mount
ed one challenge. Bryant sank two
free throws with 10:02 to play,
then scored on a layup and was
fouled, making it 82-74 with 9:33
remaining.
O’Neal waved his arms to get
the crowd roaring, but after a time
out, Bryant missed the free throw.
Grant scored inside and was
fouled by Horry for a three-point
play to boost the lead back to 87
76, and the Lakers were finished.
Los Angeles closed to 72-67 on
Harper’s reverse layup with 1:52
left in the third. But the Lakers fol
lowed with three consecutive
turnovers, and the Blazers scored
the final eight points of the period
for an 80-67 lead.
The Lakers are 43-7 at home this
season, but three of those losses
came against Portland.
The Blazers led 52-45 at the
break on Pippen’s 3-pointer at the
halftime buzzer.
The Lakers shot 31 percent in
the first half, 22 percent in the sec
ond quarter (4-for-18).
The Lakers were 3-for-13 from
3-point range in the first half, but
made 14 of 15 free throws, while
Portland was 11-for-l 7 at the line.
Pippen scored 12 in the first
quarter on 5-for-5 shooting, but
was only 2-for-5 at the foul line.
Notes: O’Neal made his first
three free throws to run his string
to 15 without a miss over three
games.... Portland was 9-for-15 at
the foul line in the first quarter,
while Los Angeles was 3-for-3....
The Lakers were called for 11
fouls in the first quarter, three
apiece on Harper and Brian Shaw
and two apiece on Bryant and
Rice.... Smith drew three fouls in
11/2 minutes in the second quar
ter. ... Horry was 0-for-6 from the
field in the first half. ... Midway
through the first quarter, referee
Joe Crawford called a technical on
Wallace, his first since he was
thrown out of Game 1 with two
technicals.
Devils strike first with decisive victory over Stars, 7-3
By Alan Robinson
The Associated Press
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. —
The New Jersey Devils sur
prised the Dallas Stars in nearly
every way possible — with their
speed, their persistence, their
nonstop scoring.
Most of all, they surprised
themselves.
Petr Sykora scored twicenn a
four-point
night and
Ken
Daneyko,
who has
played
every post
season
game in
Devils his
tory, scored his first playoff goal
in five seasons as New Jersey’s
top line embarrassed Dallas’
stars in a commanding 7-3 vic
tory Tuesday night.
“This team worried us,” Dev
ils goaltender Martin Brodeur
said. “We have a lot of respect
for them, and we still do. We
knew we couldn’t let up at all.”
They didn’t. Sykora also as
sisted on Jason Arnott’s two
goals as the Devils, attempting
to become the first Eastern Con
ference team to win the Stanley
Cup since they did it five years
ago, badly outplayed the de
fending champions at their own
game.
The Devils’ top line of Syko
ra, Arnott and Patrik Elias com
bined for four goals and now
have nine in the last five games.
By contrast, the Stars’ Brett Hull
and Mike Modano, the top two
scorers in the playoffs, went
scoreless, with Brodeur making
a key save of Hull’s shot less
than a minute before the Devils
took a 3-1 lead.
“We were flat and a step late
all night,” Stars coach Ken
Hitchcock said. “I think our
whole group really struggled in
our own zone with the quick
ness. I don’t think we’ve played
against a group of forwards this
quick before, and we made a lot
of mistakes because of it.”
The Devils, considered the
underdogs just as they were
when they upset Detroit in four
games in the 1995 finals, can
take a 2-0 lead in the best-of
seven series by winning Thurs
day night at home.
The Stars are 11-1 at home in
the playoffs, but even they can’t
like their chances if they go
back to Reunion Arena down
two games.
“This puts a lot of pressure
on us, but we know we’re going
to play a better game,” Hitch
cock said.
The game was vintage Devils
— vintage 1995, that is.
The Devils followed still-new
coach Larry Robinson’s game
plan to perfection. They seized
the critical early lead, dusted off
the neutral-zone trap that was
so effective in ’95 to shut down
Dallas’ scorers and let Brodeur
stop the shots that sneaked
through their defense.
“We had some goals squeak
through there for a change, and
our guys were skating well,”
Robinson said. “But I don’t con
sider this a 7-3 game. I’ve seen
Dallas come back before, and
we’re in for a game Thursday.”
Dallas goaltender Eddie
Belfour was no better than the
forwards in front of him.
Belfour, who had allowed two
or fewer goals in 12 of his previ
ous 13 games, yielded six goals
on 18 shots before being re
placed by Manny Fernandez
with 16:58 left.
The Stars allowed just 13
goals in the entire Avalanche se
ries — the fewest in 50 years in
a seven-game Stanley Cup semi
final series.
Belfour took a decongestant,
antibiotics and cold medicine
before the game, and wishes
now he hadn’t.
“It affected my judgment,” he
said.
When did he realize it?
“After they scored the sixth
goal,” he said.
Still, the Devils’ oft-over
looked offense obviously am
bushed a baffled Belfour and
the Stars, who looked fatigued
and off their game almost from
the opening minute despite
having three days off since
eliminating Colorado on Satur
day.
“They have a history of slow
starts in the playoffs,” the Dev
ils’ Bobby Holik said. “This is
not surprising, they played a
day later than we did and they
traveled. No one thinks this is
over. They’re too good to feel
that way.”
The Devils, known more for
their give-no-ground neutral
zone trap, were the NHL’s sec
ond-highest scoring team dur
ing the season, but Robinson
reshaped their game after suc
ceeding the fired Robbie Ftorek
with eight games left in the reg
ular season.
Robinson sold the Devils on
returning to their ’95 style, in
which the trapping defense set
up an opportunistic offense,
rather than vice versa. But even
Robinson couldn’t have expect
ed this, not against a deter
mined, defense-driven team
that Hitchcock said was ex
tremely focused on winning a
second Cup.
“This series, just like in 1995,
we have a lot of respect for the
team we’re playing,” Brodeur
said. “We were scared of that
series in ’95, they were sup
posed to beat us bad, and next
thing you know the series is
over. This time around, it’s the
same thing — we know they
have a lot more to give.”
The Stars have already
matched the worst result of the
last four defending champions
— Detroit, Pittsburgh and two of
Wayne Gretzky’s Edmonton Oil
ers teams — who returned to
the finals the year after winning
the cup. All four of those teams
This puts a lot of
pressure on us, but we
know we’re going to play
a better game.
Ken Hitchcock
Dallas Stars
head coach
y±
repeated as champion, and only
one lost even one game in the fi
nals.
After Arnott and Stars de
fenseman Darryl Sydor traded
goals in the first period, the
game quickly got away from
Dallas in the second period.
And the biggest goal of all was
scored by perhaps the least-like
ly player.
John Madden won a face-off
in the Stars’ end that bounced
to Daneyko, who didn’t score a
goal all season. Daneyko teed
up a knuckleball-type shot from
the top of the left circle that
somehow eluded Belfour at 2:52
of the second for his first play
off goal in 49 games since June
5, 1995.
The Stars should have known
then they were done. And they
were, even if the Devils weren’t.
“We wanted (Daneyko’s goal)
to be the game-winner,”
Brodeur said. “He’s been the
heart and soul for New Jersey
for the last 15 years, and it was
great for him to score a goal like
that in the Stanley Cup final.”
Sykora effectively finished
them off at 10:28 with the first
of his two goals, grabbing Elias’
blind pass from behind the net
and slipping it by Belfour, who
began the game with a 1.88
goals-against average:
“He hasn’t had too many
nights like that,” Hitchcock said
of Belfour.
Defenseman Scott Stevens,
whose punishing hits left the
Flyers’ Daymond Langkow and
Eric Lindros with concussions
in the Eastern Conference fi
nals, made it 4-1 at 16:04 with a
soft wrist shot from the left
point, and the rout was on.
“Individuals are playing well,
and that means the team is play
ing well,” Stevens said. “Every
body was expecting a boring,
slow game and I remember
thinking, ‘Geez, this is a lot of
scoring.’”
Sykora and Arnott scored
again in the third period, and
Sergei Brylin added a goal be
fore the Stars’ Jon Sim and for
mer Devils captain Kirk Muller
scored meaningless goals 12
seconds apart.
The Devils, who won all four
games of the Eastern Conference
finals against Philadelphia in
which they scored first, did so
again. Elias’ wraparound at
tempt deflected off Belfour’s
glove to Sykora, who swept a
pass across the slot to Arnott at
7:22 for his fifth playoff goal.
The first goal in the first game
of a Stanley Cup final can be
critical to determining the early
momentum — the Game 1 win
ner has won the cup 79 percent
of the time.
Stars defenseman Derian
Hatcher left in the third period
with a slight hyperextension of
his right knee, but Hitchcock
expects him to play in Game 2.