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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (March 18, 1982)
Portland Observer, March 18, 1982 Page 15 Lakers work their Magic ------------------------- by Ullysses Tucker, Jr. It was an evening o f no-look pas ses, lo b dunks, high fives, sky hooks, smiles, deadly jumpers from the co rn e r, fake behind the back passes, aggressive defense, and it was sim ply magical. Yes, “ M agic” Johnson, the six-fo o t-n in e p ro to type fro m M ichigan State led the Los Angeles Lakers traveling show to Portland and trounced the locals 120-108. According to Johnson, the Lakers are playing some very good basket ball fo r this time o f the year and it should carry over into the Western Division playoffs. “ O ur rh y th ir is b e autifu l,” said Johnson after confusing the Blazers w ith 24 points, ten rebounds, nine assists, four steals, and he one o f six Lakers in double figures. “ A team needs this type o f flo w going in to the p la y o ffs and we have it. W ith us, we started on defense very ag gressively and that carried over to the offense but we’ re s till playing tough D. I feel pretty good about the team and the way we’ re going,” (smiling). “ M a g ic ,” also believes that the reason why the Lakers are so suc cessful is because everyone on the team knows their roles and under stands role-playing. “ W hen you have players going out o f their assigned roles it spoils the entire chemistry o f a team,” he said seriously. “ For any team to be co m petitive as well as successful, every player must accept their role and do their job. We do it w ell.” C urrently, “ M agic” is second in the N .B .A . in assists and th ird in steals. He was ranked in the top ten in re bound ing but his average slipped slightly, yet he still leads all guards in this category. W ith his ten rebounds against the Blazers, John son needs only fo rty-five assists to NBA expands Pro Am teams by Ron Sykes Jim M c M illia n , H a rth o rn e W in g o , John W illia m s o n A1 Skinner, Dick Garrett, Frankie San ders, Johnny H ig h , W illie N o r wood, Sam W orthen, O llie T aylor Ralph Simpson and Wali Jones.. . . Once N B A starters, but where are they now? They are all playing in the N B A / Pro A m leagues, th a t’ s where. These city leagues, which consist o f anywhere from six to 12 teams in 10 N BA franchise cities, are the brain c h ild o f Joe A xelson, the N B A ’ s Vice President, Operations, and are being developed by Cecil W alkins, N B A Referee Development adm in is tra to r. A ll leagues are indepen dently organized adult leagues run by state or city agencies, civic organ izations and top independent ama teur basketball leagues. Last season, the NBA established six p ilo t training programs fo r ref erees in Denver, Houston, Los A n geles, M ilw aukee, New Y ork and San Francisco. A fte r a recent Pro Am E re c to rs meeting in Chicago, the various city league d ire cto rs decided to allow other Pro-Am cities to participate in this national N B A program on an associate membership basis. Leagues w ill function at their own expense under m odified N B A /P ro Am league guidelines fo r the firs t tw o years in Chicago, D etroit and Greater O hio (C leveland-C olum - bus-Toledo). Plans for San Antonio to link up with Dallas and Waco to fo rm a Southwest Texas Pro Am league are now in progress, while on the West Coast, Seattle and P o rt land A A U teams w ill com bine to fo rm a S e a /P o rt Pro Am league. Finally, New York City has consoli dated w ith Westchester and New Jersey to fo rm the Greater New Y ork/N ew Jersey Pro Am league. The purpose o f the Pro Am league is to provide organized lei sure tim e basketball a c tiv ity fo r young adults, competing alongside top am ateur, collegiate, sem i-pro and exprofessional athletes in NBA local franchise cities. The program also serves as a “ grass roots” part o f the NBA Ref eree A c q u is itio n program , and is also being used as an additional pro motional outlet to aid the local NBA team in selling basketball in its hometown city. Although the latter w ill not apply to the T railblazers, w ho re g u la rly draw th e ir 12,666 fans. Look fo r Portland/Seattle entry to begin play next season. become the firs t N .B .A . player in ten years to have 600 rebounds and 600 assists in the same season (Havlicek, Boston, 1971-72). John son’ s 19.0 scoring average is th ird behind A bdul-Jabbar and Jammal Wilkes. When questioned about whether the Lakers could win w ithout K ar eem Abdul-Jabbar as suggested by sevral sp o rtsw rite rs around the country, “ M agic” was quick to as sess the value o f the “ Big Fella” in spite o f his being close to w inding up his wonderful career. “ Listen B ro, Kareem means a great deal to me and this organiza tio n . People th in k th a t we d o n ’ t need him because we won a few basketball games w ith o u t him and th a t’ s not true. W’e need him bad. Kareem is a big money player. He blocks shots, rebounds, scores, and he is a w inner. Sure, we can go a stretch o f games and w in w ith o u t him but there’ s no way we can go 82 hard games w ithout him . He’ s our leader and inspiration,” said John son. Earlier in the season, a frustrated “ Magic” told sportswriters in Utah that he wanted to be traded or then- coach Paul Westhead had to be ter m inated because he did not agree w ith his coaching philosophy. A t the time, Johnson believed that the team was to “ ro b o tlik e ” and not fa s tbreaking enough. A few days later Westhead was relieved o f his duties and replaced by former Laker Pat Riley even though Laker owner Jerry Buss contended th a t Jo h n son’ s comments had nothing to do with it. To “ M agic’ s” disbelief, sports w rite rs c iritic iz e d him and fans booed him at every arena the Lakers perform ed in, even at the Forum . He was labeled as the spoiled brat w ith the lo n g -te rm m illio n d o lla r contract and a cry baby. Now that , In te rs ta te T a x S ervice Are you paying too much to have your income tax return prepared? We offer competent service at economical price«. • Personal Returns • Business Returns • Out Of State Returns Open 11 am-5 pm. Call for appt. Same-Day Service 2-3 Day Service Short Form Long Form 1O4OA&4OS (including earned income credit 1040 &40 Sch. A -D eductions Sch. B —Interest etc. $10°° Since 1966 • Licensed Tax Consultant 5510 N. In te rs ta te A ve . Portland, OR 97217 • 283-6014 r JIM FISHER 10115 S.E. STARK* • 226-^260 (Photo: Jim m y Robinson) the smoke has cleared from the inci dent, and the Lakers are standing alone on the to p o f the N .B .A . Western D ivisio n — the nasty cries and critical articles are gone. “ Yeah, people are starting to fo r get about i t , ” he said. “ They used to treat me so bad and boo me but now they are just into good basket ball. I guess you could say that I ’ m winning them back over around the league and our fans respect good basketba ll. 1 hated fo r people to have passed ju d g m e n t on me so q u ic k ly . Some p ro b a b ly s till have that negative perception about me but 1 d o n ’ t w o rry about it. They don’ t know me. As long as I can re late to the young people o f the world, I could care less about what they th in k. They’ re the ones I care about. They respect me. I just want to relate to the young folks out here — that’ s who I care about.” _ . If What iheWrek Never BUDS' OUR PARTS and SERVICE DEPARTMENTS ARE OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK TIL 5:30 PM On the road to New Orleans h in d Sam P erkins and James- W o rth y should have little tro u b le beating A labam a at Raleigh. The Midwest being played at St. Louis w ill see H ouston beating M issouri in a squeaker and Kansas St. flying past Boston College. Then Kansas St. should outlast H ouston in the final. In the mideast being played at B irm in g h a m .. .U A B should beat Ralph Sampson’ s Virginia team and the Louisville Cardinals get the nod over M innesota o f the B ig-ten. L o u is v ille w ill beat U n iv e rs ity o f A labam a at B irm in g h a m fo r the mideast title . In the west being played at P ro v o .. .Fresno State w ill take on the num ber one seed G eorgetown. The Hoyas are on a ro ll, but i f they aren’ t careful Fres no w ill roll them right back to D.C. We see this as a good one. But i f y o u ’ re be ttin g take Fresno w ith points. 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