Page 6, The Portland Observer, May 9, 1990 .^llM^SPORTS/E VENTS P eninsula P ark L ittle L eague The Locker Room TEAM OF THE WEEK by Ullysses Tucker, Jr. H ello O regonians, it’s a wonderful day in the neighborhood, w on’t you be my neighbor? Mr. Robinson, David that is, found out the hard way that his neighbors in San Antonio appreciate him more than the ones at M emorial Coliseum. The neighbors, Cliff Robinson, Buck W illiam s, W ayne Cooper, and Mark Bryant did a serious m uscle job on Mr. Robinson as the Blazers opened the best of seven NBA playoff series with a 107-94 victory before a rowdy sell-out crow d. No cookies and punch to w el­ com e this visitor; only bumps, pushes, bruises, hacks, taunts from the fans, a bloody nose, and a rare technical foul. The Trailblazers cam e at R obinson in droves and it was established from the opening tip that he would have his work cut out for him. He was visibly upset and frustrated. Robinson acknow ledged that the gam e was very physical, but he likes it that way. He also likes fouls to be called when they are made. The T rail­ blazers shot thirty more free-throws than the Spurs (45-15) and lost by only thirteen points and grabbed nine re­ bounds. He averaged 24.0 and 12.0 during the regular season respectively. * ‘M aybe we were beating them up a little bit more than they beat us up,’ ’ he laughed about the difference at the free throw line. “ They got some bloody noses over there too? I do n ’t know ..it’s ju st som ething you’ve got to bounce back from and get a little tougher.” R obinson, know n more for his dom i­ nating play and not ‘ ‘running o ff at the m outh” , surprised the fans when he drew a technical foul from official Earl Strom. Itw as only the second technical foul called on him this season and the first for his conversation with an offi­ cial. Robinson says that the Naval Academy taught him poise, and the two year wait to play in the NBA brought him greater m aturity. He, how ever. will question authority. “ If something happens on the court that you do n ’t like, y o u ’ve got to stand u p fo ry o u rse lf,” hesaid. “ Itrie d to d o it in a diplomatic way and I think refe­ rees appreciate that for the m ost pan, but there was a lot o f intensity out there today. You c a n ’t blam e the refs getting me the way he got me. I was a little excited so maybe it cam e off some way that I didn’t intend for it to com e o ff.” Spurs’ coach Larry Brown agreed with Robinson. He said that Robinson is a class guy and not the type who baits officials. “ I thought Earl m isunder­ stood his actions,” said Brown. “ It re­ ally bothered David and affected his play. E arl’s the best, but he definitely m isunderstood David on this one.” Currently ranked as a lieutenant J.G. in the U.S. Naval, Robinson holds a bachelor’s degree in m athem atics and hopes to attend graduate school som e­ day. A m em ber of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Robinson scored 1,320 on his college board exam ina­ tions (SAT). As a college senior, he led the nation (4.5) in blocked shots, finished third in scoring (28.2), and fourth in rebound­ ing (11.8). He won the W ooden, Rupp, and Naismith post-season awards. He was everyone’s All-American and holds 33 records at the Naval Academy. W hen questioned about the last time he played such a terrible game, Robin­ son was quick to bring up his perform ­ ance against the Sacram ent Kings late in the season. He scored only five points that game. Robinson said that it will be easy to forget about the first game against the Trailblazers, but only after he watched the sports report on local news and the video o f the game. “ You just go back to the hotel and drop this one in the garbage,” he said. “ W e’re on the road and all you want to do is put yourself in a position to win. I think we put ourselves in the position to win, but we just didn’t perform at crunch time. I ’ll watch this tape and see what 1 need to work on or do different. We didn ’ t play our game for the m ost part. ’ ’ Clyde Drexler, who missed a triple­ double (23 points, 11 assists, and nine rebounds) by a rebound was pleased with the victory and defensive effort against Robinson. “ I think the team did a great jo b on him ,” he said. “ The team was there to help out every time Robinson received the ball. It was a great effort. We expected to win. W e all knew that we had to up our game another level since Kevin (Duckworth) was out and we d id .” Despite the defensive effort by the Trailblazers, Robinson is confident of one thing, that he will not play two gam es in a row like the series opener. “ I ’ve never had two terrible games in a row ,” he said. Mr. Robinson will be back in the neighborhood soon, he is going to be a persistant neighbor. L A t i J PENINSULA LITTLE LEAGUE 1990 Jay Hernandez, Coach Row 1 - William Booker, Norman "Bo" Grant, Jacqueline Johnson, Lawson Taylor, Damien Warner, Carl Warner, Charles Fitz Jr., Corey Pitman, Andre Lawerence; Row 2 - Jay Hernan­ dez, George Reed, Stanaford Blacknail, Martin Lockett, Michael Thompson, Milton Lockett, Shawn Ollison, Coach Milton Lockett. S*H*O*R*T**S*H*A*K*E*S Mr. Robinson came back to the rough neighborhood (M emorial Coliseum), again, trying to convince the Trailblaz­ ers that he is a good neighbor. ‘ ‘The Nasty B oys” (C liff Robinson, Mark Bryand, Buck Williams, and Coooooop!) did not w elcom e him. As prom ised, Mr. Robinson played a much better gam e (31 points and 8 boards), but they were still blasted by the Blazers 122-112 to fall behind in the best o f seven series 2-0. If the Spurs are serious about their quest for an NBA title, W illie Anderson and Rod Strickland had better pick up their play another notch. So should Sean Elliott, who has been “ dogged” by Jerome Kersey. The third game is tonight, in Mr. R obinson’s neighborhood. Stay tuned, ladies and gentlemen. **.. ROBINSON NAMED MINUTE MAID ORANGE SODA NBA ROOKIE OF THE YEAR David Robinson of the San Antonio Spurs, the No. 1 pick ot the 1987 NBA Draft who waited two years to begin his pro basketball career w hile serving a com­ m itment in the L'.S. N aw , was named the unanim ous w inner of the Eddie Gottlieb T rophy as the 1990 Mi­ nute Maid O range Soda NBA Rookie of the Year. Robinson, who received all 92 votes from a nation­ wide panel of sports w riters and broadcasters, ranked 10th in the league in scoring w ith a 24.3 ppg average, second in rebounding with 12.0 rpg and third in blocked shots with 3.89 bpg. His .531 EG percentage led all rookies. T he Spurs, in large part due to Robinson’s contribu­ tions, were 56-26 this season — a franchise record for wins — and champions of the Midwest Division for the first time since 1983. The 56 wins represented an NBA record turnaround of 35 games from the 1988-89 campaign, when San Antonio struggled with a 21-61 mark. “What's happened is that, in one season, this has be­ come David’s team ,” said San Antonio Coach Larry Brown. “He is its heart and soul. I ’m not sure he real­ izes that yet because every thing happened so quickly.” Earth Day Reflections ¿ 9 »A. \,i, .r y I ;• / 1: — J Í ' / \ V , «i \ t !■ 1 -V. h c 'p V 4 - ri? J N & V'.' .• > -A 4,i m e z?e C ' PQ h ÎÂ à ' 1 ' a.-', J I ... ( . 'C ' to tMv ' li II, ' \ \ \ t if p ii N : T*” - \ * lite. pi ctDCV Ccirth N A z Andrea Vucinich 1st Prize August Bodine Grand Prize \ (’- r •> ( _ I ,s Jamila Allen Grand Prize .VW, V Jennifer Vogel Grand Prize a, VW Sel J r-r.6 WttlC \L Ashleigh E. Weitzel Grant Prize 6\