Sports Editor
Peter Hockaday
peterhockaday@dailyemeraId.com
Wednesday, May 21,2003
-Oregon Daily Emerald
Sports
Best bet
NBA playoff:
Dallas at San Antonio, Game 2
6:30 p.m., TNT
Lovin ’ it live:
NBA takes over
from reality TV
Now that the Bachelor finale has ended (I knew he’d
choose Jen), and American Idol will wrap up tonight
(Go Ruuu-ben!), I can finally focus my energy on the
NBA Playoffs.
It has been an exciting and suspenseful journey thus far. Al
though, I have to choose another team to give my life to since
my Blazers made me think for the second
time in four years that they could actual
ly win a game 7 just to lose in the last 12
minutes.
But the good news is the Lakers will
not four-peat.
Now c’mon, raise your hand if you
were one of the know-it-alls who was sure
of a Sacramento vs. Lakers Western Con
ference matchup.
I know more people thought that
than the amount of people who know
one plus one is two. My sports editor
was one of them.
Jesse
Thomas
Go the distance
But now the conference race leaves an interesting sce
nario. We have the Texas two-step and the Eastside
brawlers in a fight to see who can lose in the NBA Finals
this year.
And with the Princeton women’s lacrosse championship se
cured, New Jersey fans can again cheer for a squad that has
seen a ray of hope since the Spurs did them a favor in Game
6 of the conference semifinals.
What team would want to go to the NBA Finals two years
and a row and walk away with nothing but a record of 0-8?
Not the Nets.
Nets forward Kenyon Martin said it the best when he told
ESPN, “If it didn’t work out for them, I said teams would be
licking their chops,” in reference to a non-L.A. final, as hard
as it is to imagine.
New Jersey went on to dish up a big old porterhouse Sun
day night when Jason Kidd left Detroit fans in “awww” with a
buzzer-beater that didn’t even look like it had a chance.
So just how good are the Nets this season?
Not to beat the topic of Game 1 like a dead horse, consider
ing it means nothing as the Pistons gave away three of the first
four to Philly, but the Nets are good.
Jersey shot under 40 percent from the field and scored a
playoff low of 76 points and still won. The Mavericks know
how to score that many before halftime.
But that final score gets flushed down the drain when
you consider the Nets scored 18 straight fast break points
in the first quarter (that’s just ridiculous), more than
Allen’s squad could score in any game, against the league’s
No. 1 defensive team.
It’s as clear as a Sunday morning to see the Nets will enter
the Finals after three more games. But let’s get back to the
Texas cock-fight that reminded me of my father’s words in my
young basketball days.
“You’ve got to make your free throws,” he’d always tell me.
And although I didn’t listen, the Dallas Mavericks sure did.
Now, the Spurs should have won Game 1 because that is
what should happen when you lead a game for 47 minutes and
46 seconds.
But when your opponent makes 49 free-throws straight, and
you manage to pull a Portland stunt by giving up in the fourth
quarter, you can and will lose.
Yet, I do not fear the fate of the%purs as they will emerge in
the NBA finals in a matchup with New Jersey. The conference
finals will go to seven games because that’s how Dallas likes it,
and they’ll stick to what works.
Just this time, they won’t be so successful in Game 7. And
when the final rolls around, I want to see the Nets at least win
a few games to attempt a championship feat. But San Antonio
will win in six.
So the madness is long and underway.
And thank god it’s interesting, because if I was forced to
watch the yellow and purple sweep their way to another
NBA title, I would have enjoyed the Mr. Personality
finale more.
Contact the sports reporter atjessethomas@dailyemerald.com.
Emerald
Kevin Toth celebrates his victory last year with the Hayward Field fans. Toth threw 72-9 3/4.
Shot
through
the heart
Kevin Toth and John Godina
return to the Prefontaine
Classic one year after their
record-breaking show
Prefontaine Classic
Hank Hager
Sports Reporter
For one day last year, Hayward
Field lost all its prestige as Track
Town, U.S.A.
The three men who stood in the shot
put ring made fans forget. They did it
with style and grace and something no
one had ever seen on U.S. soil.
Three of the nation’s best threw
the shot put farther than 71 feet.
The 16-pound shot turned into elec
tricity on that sunny Saturday after
noon last May.
“This is shot put town right now,”
Kevin Toth said at the time. “It’s not
Track Town anymore.”
OK, so the name didn’t stand and
most likely won’t be changing any
time soon. But what Toth, John
Godina and Adam Nelson did that
day will go down in American track
and field history.
Better yet, two of the three will
have the opportunity to remake histo
ry this coming Saturday at the 29th
annual Prefontaine Classic.
Nelson had to pull out of the compe
tition because of a back injury, but the
returning duo should give the Hayward
fans something to cheer about.
“Any time you’ve got a trio like that,
you want to get them all back,” meet
director Tom Jordan said.
The shot put competition, the
second event of the Pre Classic, will
begin Saturday at 1:05 p.m. With all
eyes on Hayward, it is conceivable
the group could begin the day with
a bang.
Oh, and maybe they’ll start off anoth
er record-setting performance.
“We hope so,” Jordan said. “The
Turn to Shot put, page 10
Ducks march on
at NCAA tourney
Daria Panova wins her second singles match
and teams with Courtney Nagle to advance
in the doubles bracket at the NCAA Championships
Tennis
Ryan Heath
Freelance Sports Reporter
For three elite Oregon tennis players, suffering through a
cold winter and a disappointing early spring earned them a trip
to the hellish heat and humidity of a late spring in the south.
A day after battling in the sweltering Florida sun to get past
the first round of the NCAA Championships, Duck sophomore
Daria Panova advanced to the Sweet 16 and teamed up with
junior Courtney Nagle to move on to the second round in dou
bles in Gainesville, Fla.
Meanwhile, Oregon’s Manuel Kost is in Athens, Ga., awaiting
his first round match of the men’s NCAA Championships.
“It was a little bit easier to compete twice today because of
Turn to Tennis, page 9
Adam Amato Emerald
Courtney Nagle teamed with Daria Panova to win a first-round
doubles match Tuesday, while Panova also won a singles match.