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May 13, 1992...The Portland Observer...Page 3
Clyde Will Join The USA
Basketball Olympic Team In
Barcelona Spain
THE Greatest Playoff Game Ever
by B ill B a r b e r
When Clyde D rexler is silting on
the plane that w ill take him to Barcelona
Spain, w ith the rest o f the dream team,
he w ill no doubt take a moment to
reflect on the game that took place on
Monday. M ay 12th, 1992. That N B A
history-making p la yo ff game w ill be
talked about for years. Before Monday,
the most points ever scored by the Port
land T ra il Blazers in a p la yo ff game
was 138. Maybe you remember that
game against San A ntonio on M ay IS,
1990.
W hile Clyde is fly in g east, down
the Colum bia River flig h t path on his
way to Spain, I w ould like to think he
would look out his window and see
Kevin Duckworth in his boat. There is
Duck, doing what he likes best, fishing
fo r sturgeon. Kevin is just below the
Bonneville Dam, sitting in the summer
sun, enjoying the quiet solitude, th ink
ing about the game he called “ The
greatest game o f my life .” That train o f
thought, broken only by the almost
inaudible whoosh o f the lone passenger
je t overhead. Maybe they would think
o f each other, for ju st a moment. They
would th ink back to that momentous
day when Duck got to play the heroes
role one more time in his career; and
Clyde would remember that he was
asked to represent his country as one o f
the best it had to offer. Maybe one o f the
best to ever play the game.
Last week’ s Blazer column in the
Portland Observer stated that the Blaz
ers-Suns p la yo ff series would be TH E
series. That was a m outhful, consider
ing that Portland had set a new firs t half
record o f 75 points against L A . In
M onday’ s game w ith the Suns the
records fe ll like trees in a clear cut
fo re st In all the history o f the N B A no
tw o teams had ever scored 304 points.
The Blazers-Suns tilt shattered the pre
vious mark o f 285 , set by San Antonio
(152) and Denver (133) in 1983, and
equaled by Boston (157) and New Y ork
(128) in 1990.
The Portland T ra il Blazers record
books w ill have to be altered big time
after Mondays game. I t was a trivia
lover’ s delight. The old high scoring
night o f 138 points gained against San
Blazer Photos By Veronic Green
Antonioon May 15th, 1990waseclipsed
by a ton when the Blazers combined for
153 points total. That was the same
night in San Antonio that Portland scored
41 points in the first quarter. The new
high water mark is now 42. The Sun’ s
players and fans must s till be in shock.
Who ever heard o f a team scoring 151
points and still losing the game. The
previous mark was set by Dallas on
A p ril 18, 1985. Danny Ainge w on’ t
have to hold his ears shut when the
Phoenix fans start yelling in Portland’ s
Memorial Coliseum on Thursday night.
It w ill be as quiet asDuckworth’ s fish
ing boat. Portland shot 53 free throws
(the Suns had 50 themselves). On May
8th 1990, the Blazers only had 51.
The T ra il Blazers were 39 o f 53
from the charity suipe Speaking o f
free throws, you can imagine Blazer
announcer B ill “ Y o u ’ ve got to make
your free throws” Schonely was going
nuts when the perennial “ M r. C lutch”
Terry Porter missed his fifth in a row.
“ I ’ ve never seen me miss five before,
either,” said Porter. “ I ’ ve been in that
situation before and never had that hap
pen. A couple o f them were short and
the others I just missed. I felt good, my
routine was pretty good. I just missed.’
Thank goodness it’s a team sport Kersey
and Ainge were hot. Duck was a savior
by making the free throws that Terry
was missing. D uckworth had to quiet a
lo to f detractors after that game. I t takes
a lot o f heart and confidence to throw up
a left hand jum p shot at crunch-time.
American humorist W ill Rogers used
to say “ I ’d give m y rig h t arm to be
Kevin Duckworth was one of the heroes Monday night. He scored 8
points in the second overtime to help Portland beat Phoenix 153-151.
Game 4 of this Western Conference semi-final was the highest scoring
game in playoff history. Duckworth and the Trail Blazers can wrap up the
series with a win Thursday night in Portland. Game time is 7:30pm.
Clyde Drexler makes the Olympic team.
Congratulations, Clyde!
ambidextrous.”
As time goes by, this game w ill be
remembered as one o f the greatest play
o ff games ever played. Most o f us w ill
forget that the home-town team h it on
over 58% o f their shots. We probably
w ill not remember that we were out-
rebounded 64 to 59. Pordand coach
R ick Adelman said “ Y o u ’ ve got to be
lucky as w ell as good to w in a game like
this.”
It is a safe bet that Clyde w on’ t be
thinking about the Olympics fo r a while.
I doubt i f Duck is ready to break out his
fishing gear yet either.
!
If your bank
has passed
a
thoughtful
card.
.
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Cliff Robinson scored 16 points in 20 minutes of play to help the Blazers
win in double overtime over Phoenix Monday Night. The Blazers will need
another solid performance by Robinson on Thursday.
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