P«a* 8 Portland Obiarver Thursday. March 8. 1979
Sports Talk
by Ron Sykes
Sports Editor
The Ten Commandments
of "Moses" Malone
by Ullysses Tucker, Jr.
1. Thou shall not give me baseline,
for 1 will reverse slam dunk it.
2. Thou shall not forget to check me
off the boards, for I lead the lea
gue with ,7.0 rebounds per con
test.
3. Thou shall not attempt to drive
down the lane, for 1 am among the
blocked shot leaders in the NBA.
4. Thou shall not try to clog up the
middle against me, for Rudy T,
Calvin, Mike, and Rick will fire
you down with jumpers.
5. Thou shall not try to cut-off our
outside shooters, for you will only
make them m ad, thus making
them pass to me inside with your
helpless post-man.
6. Thou shall not attempt to block
my left handed dunk, for I will
only switch it to my right.
7. Thou shall not hold on to my
trunks, and grab me this season,
for the refs are watching you clos
er this season.
8. Thou shall not forget that I am
only a youth in the NBA who is
still learning the game. Therefore I
will be a terror for years to come.
9. Thou shall not forsake me as a
scorer, for I have moved up to
sixth in the league at the expense
of those guilty of this sin.
10. Thou shall not forget the first
nine commandments . . .
What else can be printed about the
prophet ‘‘Moses” (Malone)? Except
that he could retire at the tender age
of twenty-three, and become the
youngest athlete to enter basketball’s
Hall of Fame.
Without a doubt, “ Moses” is the
greatest rebounder to emerge in the
history of basketball. Currently he
has 470 offensive rebounds, surpass
ing his own NBA record of 437 set
back during the 1976-77 season.
‘‘All I do is try to play as hard as
possible,” said the 6’,0” native of
Petersburg, Virginia. “ If 1 happen
to grab twenty boards or score
twenty points, it> fine. But if I fail
to, life still goes on.”
A modest statement for a young
supercenter who has rebounded in
double figures 32 straight games, and
scored in double figures 53 straight
times. “ Moses” is first in the league
in rebounding by a large margin and
sixth in scoring with a 23.0clip.
He has also pulled down 20 or
more rebounds 24 times this season.
Convinced? Listen to Rocket coach
Tom Nissalke, “ All he needed was
someone who would allow him to
play out his wrinkles,” he said. “ The
talent was there from the beginning,
he just matured and worked hard to
be what he is.”
In a recent trip to the Pacific North
west, “ Moses” scored 65 and gang-
stered 36 rebounds against the Sonics
and the Blazers. The Rockets came
away with a split at the cost of Port
land.
“ You have to be mentally into the
game when Moses is your responsi-
bility,” said Blazer center Tom
Owens, who was a teammate of
“ Moses” in Houston. “ Because if
you’re not, he will crash the boards.
I must always remember to check
him o f f . . . ”
According to Rudy Tomjanovich,
“ We’ve the best open shooters in the
game, guys with unbelievable range.
And if we’re missing our shots,
we’ve got the best guy close to the
basket.”
The Rockets who are serious con
tenders for the NBA’s champion
ship ring came very close last season
when they were eliminated by a “ fat
lady” from the eastern seaboard.
When questioned about his success
this season over last year, “ Moses”
quickly replied, “ There’s no hand
checking now, and that’s given me a
great deal of freedom. It makes a big
difference when you do not have
someone holding you or your trunks
all the time.”
In a couple of seasons, “ Moses”
will be a free agent. He means so
much to his team and city that
Malone could become the first player
to ever sign a contract for a million
dollars a year. Moses only smiled at
the thought.
“ Moses,” after leading Peters
burg High School to the Virginia
State AAA Championship in 1974-
75, accepted an athletic grant-in-aid
at the University of Maryland. How
ever, he decided to go hardship three
weeks later with the Utah Stars of the
old ABA.
“ Moses” feels that even though he
did not attend college like many prep
stars, turning professional was the
best thing for him at the time. Would
you encourage a young athlete to go
hardship?
“ It depends on the circumstances
on the individual involved, I can only
speak for myself,” he said.
Moses also said, “ People think
that I’m not intelligent because 1
failed to go to college. But if a per
son has common sense, he can sur
vive in this world.” Can you walk on
water?
“ Come on,” he smiled, “ Let’s be
serious.”
It’s a long way from Irving Park to
the AAA boys’ State Basketball
tourney for Howard “ Sugar Bear”
Jenkins.
Some will remember Howard for
his baseball exploits in the park,
which he was one of the most herald
ed player ever to don a Pacific North
west Bell uniform. Jenkins was a
part of probably the best Senior Lea
gue team to play at Irving.
“ I thought going with that team to
California was the biggest thing to
happen to me,” Jenkins said. “ But
this, playing in two consecutive State
Tourneys just has to be my biggest
sports thrill.”
Howard has been a winner in sports
all of his life, and the three sport
Jefferson star believes this team
possesses the ability to go all the
way.
“ We’ve practiced hard for this. I
spent tny entire summer working to
become the lead guard.
“ Sugar Bear” has apparently
learned his lesson well because this
year he has controlled Je ffs control
offense in a manner that would make
“ Magic” Johnson proud.
“ I'm happy playing our control
game,” states Jenkins, “ Coach has
given me confidence and 1 enjoy
penetrating and dishing off. Usually
1 look for Phil Hopson, Je ffs all-
state guard, on the wing, and if he
isn’t there 1 have the option to take it
on in.”
Jenkins has great speed, and along
with Hopson, has been the most con
sistent outside shooter for the Demo
crats.
Jefferson is in a tough bracket and
even if they should get by slightly
favored Hillsboro they still must face
tourney favorite, McMinnville.
“ They’re taller,” Jenkins says,
“ but we’re much quicker and they’ll
Grant takas the first step
toward the AAA boy's basketball
championship with a 76 57 win
over Estacada.
(McMinnville) have to worry about
that.”
The 5’8” Jefferson backcourt ace
is anxious to get underway and not
looking past Hillsboro, but looking
forward to playing the best . . . Mc
Minnville.
Maybe, just maybe Chicken Little
was right? And perhaps the sky
really is falling, and after losing to
Oregon and Stanford on the road,
then one would have to think that the
sky had certainly fallen on the
Beavers.
But the NIT has seemingly put an
umbrella around the Beavers protect
ing their heads from the falling sky
and giving them a chance to redeem
themselves.
OSU, a powerful team earlier, has
played recently like they no longer
care, or maybe they’ve just tried to
keep from making mistakes.
Ralph Miller, one of the top 10
most winningest coaches in the
nation probably has to shoulder
much of the blame for the sudden
demise of the Beavers.
It seems to be Ralph’s policy to
pull a player whenever that player
makes a turnover or takes a bad
shot.
Now you can imagine how that
could destroy a young players confi
dence. And to win the Pac-10 one
must play aggressively not passively
as the Beavers have in their last
outings.
Mark Radford, the 6 ’4 ” all
stater, from Grant normally u good
shooter has been passing up too
many shots lately and appears to be
playing too carefully. Mark is too
good not to be assertive, and that’s
bad.
Oregon State has drawn a “ tuffy”
in Nevada-Reno but the home court
Howard Jenkins
advantage should be enough to pull
them through. The Beuvers by five.
Grant 76 - Estacada 57
No surprises here. The much taller
and experienced Generals handled
the Rangers like the laiollah Koh-
meini handles Iranians’ affairs —
pretty much as he pleases
Kevin McMillan, G rant’s 6 '1 ” ,
all-state guard selection ran the
Grant offense with all the precision
ot u well-oiled swiss clock David
Lewis, 6’4” forward, came off the
bench early to supply the power up
front and Grant was now headed on
their way to their opening round
lead.
Ranger ( enter Mark Miller led
Estacada with 30 points, but without
much help from his friends his effort
proved to be one in futility.
Darryle Tanner and Gil Flowers
also turned in line performances for
the Generals.
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