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Page 4- 1 he Portland Observer- May 22, 1991
ÄSÖTHE LOCKER ROOM
Blazers Win Game Two
Series Tied 1-1
Trail Blazers Head To Los Angeles
Organizational Leader
Terry Porter
BY ULLYSSES TUCKER, JR.
Photo by Veronica Green
N BA S u p ersta rs Magic & Drexler
Photo Veronica Green
M agic Jo h n so n lead his te a m to victory in g a m e one, but the Blazers
c a m e b a ck in g a m e 2 to b e a t the Lakers.
Dr. Chuck Kunert’s
CONCORDIA BASKETBALL CAMPS
High School Team Camp
June 23-28. 1991
Individual Girls' Camp
June 30-July 3, 1991
Teaching fundam entals and team
play in a Christian environment.
Resident and Commuter
Reasonable Fees
Dr. Chuck Kunert
Concordia College
2811 N.E. Holman
Portland, OR 97211
Call 288-9371 ext. 7137
or 282-4495 or write:
Mike D unleavy is the
organizational leader, ie h e a d
coach o f the Lakers, but s o m e
insiders s u g g e s t that Magic
Jo h n so n runs the show . A
marginal NBA player at best,
D unleavy h a s n ever participated in
a NBA Final or a C onference
Final. H e is relying on the
experience o f Magic Johnson,
Byron Scott, J a m e s Worthy, A.C.
Green, a n d M ychal Thom pson for
leadership
The African
Corner
Check our a new lunch sport and
nightclub opening in the Pine St. Thea
ter Building. The African Comer fea
tures healthy African lunches, soup and
salad at a bargain plus African and
Reggae music at night. Open from
11:00am to 2:00pm for lunch Monday
through Friday and 9:00pm to 2:20am
Thursday through Saturday for fun and
dancing. Also check out the Sunday
Brunch from 11:00am to 3:00pm.
The Portland Trail Blazers want
to hear your thoughts on their
plans tor a new arena.
“...the Lakers and Magic Johnson
are like buzzards circling around some
poor soul dying in the desert o f dehy
dration and thirst. They ju st stick to
their game plan and wait fo r the op
portunity to strike.”
Overheard statement made by a
frustrated blazer fa n in the fourth
quarter o f Saturday’s 111-106 loss.
The Portland Trail Blazers have
and will have a pretty tough hoop to
loop when facing a team like the Los
Angeles Lakers. There is something
about their leader. Magic Johnson-five
NBA championship rings and all the
trimmings associated with being one
of the greatest players in basketball
history. Magic is poised, most confi
dent, and he does an excellent job of
keeping his teammates focused on their
mission.
In some respects, the Blazers know
that their objective is to win the NBA
championship in 1991, but do they
know how to go about bringing it home
to Portland? Il is one thing to want to
win “ the ring” and knowing how to
win is another. Worthy, Scott, Thompson,
and A.C. Green have all lived through
the dream, attended the rallies with
Mayor Tom Bradley, and walked on
the White House lawn with various
presidents. Il’s all part of a magical
lifcsllyc in La La Land. Portland is
very capable of living the same dream
if they improve in their shot selection,
eliminate turnovers, show patience, and
learn to put teams away when they arc
down; even Rick Adelman can im
prove on his judgement during very
critical moments. “ One tiling about
the Lakers,” said Magic Johnson, “ is
that we always slick to our game plan
and wc never lose our composure. We
know what our objectives arc.” Like
those buzzards, the Lakers, will hang
Jero m e K ersey
around until the Blazers weakest
moment or fly away because there is
no chance of choking or falling face
down in the desert.
Like Michael Jordan and the Chi
cago Bulls need to do with the Detroit
Pistons, the Blazers need to do to the
Los Angeles Lakers and send them
home for the summer. Both Portland
and Chicago need these psychological
victories to purge themselves of de
mons from the past. Can you imagine
the self-doubt, finger pointing, and
criticism that will occur over the sum
mer if both Portland and Chicago fal
ter? To both franchises, it’s time to
move to the next level and be consid
ered an elite team. Winning the East
ern and Western Conference Titles
will do just that for both, regardless of
who wins it, because it will be new
blood. Boston, and Los Angeles (Philly
got lucky in 1983) clearly dominated
the 80’s as Detroit came up the rear
after years on the bubble. Now they,
like Boston, are old and battered. Buck
Williams wore a tee-shirt during pre-
game warm-ups that says “ Everyone
can talk the game, but can you play the
game?” All of his teammates wore the
shirt also. It’s time to go to L.A. and
play the game.
* Best Tee-Shirt Award goes to
designer Mike Lee of 1EE/.-2-PLEE7.
Creative Shirt Co. Lee, Ala Late Night
with David Letterman came up with a
shirt entitled “LateNight In Portland.’’
On the back, it lists the: Top Ten Rea
sons Portland Will Win The Champi
onship. They are: 1) This is our year;
2) Kiki is in New York; 3) Cliff’s head-
band; 4) L.A. Sucks; 5) We get so
much respect, yeah right; 6) Wc have
3-Point Range; 7) Riley picked L.A.;
8) Clyde walks on AIR; 9) Magic is a
crybaby; 10) Lickcty Brindlc Up the
Middle Bingo, Bango, Bongo! It’s the
best one directed this way during the
Thursday, May 23rd • 7 pm to 11 pm
Georgia Pacific Room at Memorial Coliseum
NBA play-offs. For details, call Mike
at 629-9484.
* James Worthy on whether or not
the Lakers received a gift in winning
the first game of the Western Confer
ence Finals. “ No, we felt like we played
hard enough to win the game. We
don’t feel like we were given a gift.
We executed and stuck to our game
plan. We earned it,” said Worthy. “ I
don’t look at it like a gift.”
*The Atlantic Coast Conference
is the big winner in the NBA Western
Conference Finals with seven of the 24
players on the roster of Portland and
Los angcles. They are Buck Williams
(Maryland), Walter Davis, Sam Perk
ins, and James Worthy of North Caro
lina; Danny Young of Wake Forest,
Alaa Abdelnaby of Duke, and Elden
Campbell of Clemson. “ The ACC has
always been a strong conference,” said
Laker Assistant General Manager Mitch
Kupchak, a product of North Carolina
himself.
“ There are a bunch o f confer
ences that are very strong and every
now and then there are independent
players that come from schools that
are not as big or affiliated with a con
ference and it just so happens that there
are that many ACC players in this
series,” he continued. “ It’s great to
sec and it’s great for the guys and those
guys who just so happen to play in the
conference.” Just in case you’re won
dering about ACC players in the East
ern Conference Finals, Air Jordan
(UNC) rookie Scott Williams (UNC)
and/o/w Salley (Georgia Tech) are the
only ones. Dean Smith coached (in
cluding Kupchak) six of them.
j
Short Shakes: TimJackson, please
contact me at 284-3117 or 321-4239-
you’ve got two Blazer tickets coming
your way compliments of Double-Tee
Promotions. Better hurry and bring
some ID to confirm your identity.
Damon Stoudamire Stars in Soviet/AII-Stars Game
photo by Michole Jensen
ou are invited to attend an open meeting on
issues concerning the Portland Trail Blazers'
new arena project. This meeting will be the first
of a series, and Senior Vice President of
Marketing, Marshall Glickman, will be on hand to
hear your input. If you would like to voice your
opinion, mark your calendar for the date below:
Buck Williams
BY BILY DON MOORE
U.S.
On May 15th the Multnomah Ath
letic Foundation brought the Soviet Na
tional Junior Basketball Club to the
Pacific Northwest to play Oregon Se
lect AAU All Stars featuring Oregon
Prep Player of the Year, Damon Stou-
damirc. This exciting event took place
at the Chiles Center on the University
of Portland campus. The preliminary
game featured Oregon All time Greats,
Willie and Charles Stoudamire, Ray
Blume, Billy Moore, and Criss Win
kler. The All Time Greats put on quite
a show, but the real stars were a scrappy
group of undersized Oregon AAU All
Stars who did not knuckle under the
presence of the Soviet team touring the
The Oregon coach, Nick Robertson
of Beaverton High said, “ After the two
teams exchanged gifts at center court,
you could see a big size difference in
the teams, and why we would have to
shoot well. Rebounds would be hard to
come by against this Soviet team.”
The Oregon team seemed to be a
bit confused and with Damon Stou-
damire having a poor shooting first
half, the Oregon team is lucky to be
down by only a 28-21 margin at the
6:28 mark.
Good defense by Oregon All Stars
forced a turnover and after Ray Ross
knocked down a jump shot the tempo
seemed to change a bit. However Ray
Ross, the senior from Parkrosc headed
to OSU, took a bad shot the next time
down and the Soviets got the rebound.
Oregon just can ’ t beat the Soviets play
ing that brand of basketball. With Damon
on the bench for a brief rest, Kasey
Flicker gives a nice pass off to Jason
Liebal for a bucket.
The second half gets underway with
a shot blocked by the Soviet team and a
Soviet run. The Russians are playing
aggressive defense and take a com
manding lead 45-31 with 17:25 left in
the game. Oregon All Stars have to
force the tempo in order to get back in
the game. Damon leaves the game but
returns with 12 minutes left and the
score 55-42 USSR. Damon has to change
the tempo with his quickness. After a
steal by Damon and a breakaway layup
by Ray Ross off of a Stoudamire feed,
Oregon is within 2 at 61-59. A basket
by JD Vetter ties the game at 61-61.
Damon hits a big basket and puts the
U.S. up for the first time.
The final score is 7^-74 for the
Soviet Union, but this was an exciting
basketball game. The fans and citizens
of the state can be proud*of their team.
This was a great event in Oregon
Sports History, let’s hope the MAC
Club Foundation and the terrific spon
sors come together and make this an
annual event, and something very posi
tive, for the city and slate and a great
time for the basketball fans and kids.
Thanks MAC...looking forward to the
next game.
S u p p o r t o u r A d v e r tis e r s --
Portland trailblazer/
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