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T he P ortland O bserver • O ctober 25, 1995
P age B3
2
lazers
Open
Season
Annual
Holiday
Scratch it
for Charity
B y E ric N oon
With change comes uncertainty
and for the 1995-96 Trail Blazers, the
outcome of its many changes can only
be tested as the team tries to rebui Id on
the run.
G one are the faces D rexler,
Kersey, Porter, Bryant, Edwards and
Henson. And who’s next to finish
their career with a new team? Change
is good, but for a while it’s going to be
hard to judge the results.
Over the summer, the NBA had a
contact dispute that almost disbanded
the players union. The league locked
out the players and contract between
players, general managers and coaches
was put in limbo. Bob W hitsitt and his
staff found enough time after the settle­
ment to sign the Blazers three draft
picks. Randolph Childress of Wake
Forest is a 6-2 guard who essentially
was what the Blazers ended up with
after the dust settled from Drexler
deal to Houston last winter. Gary Trent
of Ohio University was acquired by a
draft day trade and the 1986 draft
choice A rvydas Sabonis, the 7-3
Lithuanian, finally signed with the
team.
Last year’s Blazers had problems
with consistency and effort, but had
the talent to win more games and
possibly go further than the first round
of the playoffs, which capped coach
P.J. Carlesimo’s first year.
This year’s squad with the new
Rose Garden and the new faces should
play harder and give the fans plenty to
cheer about, but the fans are in for a
long season with the team possibly
losing more games than they win.
The Los Angeles Lakers rebuilt their
franchise fast and they even had a losing
season. Blazer fans can expect this team to
give some quality effort.
Portland’s Pod Strickland lines up against former Trail Blazer Terry Porter during last week's opening
Sabonis is one of the biggest
night of the new Pose Garden arena. Porter was released by the Blazers during the off season.
names in international basketball over
(Photo by Michael G. Halle)
the past 16 years and was considered
the best player in Europe in the mid good passing center can make a lot of becomes Portland's next big test at up their games for the Blazers to be
point guard after James Robinson had competitive for 48 minutes. Look for
1980s. If he can stay healthy and that’s players get a whole lot better real quick.
Trent
looks
to
be
a
sold
forward
little success filing in for Rod Harvey Grant to play some off-guard,
a very big if, the Blazers have a good
for
the
future.
The
question
is
if
the
6-
Strickland
last year. Childress brings a position he’s not comfortable with,
shot at the playoffs. The 31-year-old
8,
21-year-old
can
step
up
and
play
Portland
shooting
and gamesmanship. during the early part o f the season.
rookie has some serious talent and it
power
forward
in
the
NBA
after
domi­
This
man
wants
the
ball and wants to
Strickland and Clifford Robinson
just’s a shame we couldn't get him
nating
that
position
in
college.
shoot
and
the
good
thing
about that is are Portland’s go to guys and for the
over here sooner.
Childress was a prime time guard the it goes in.
Blazers to be able to rebui Id on the run
Sabonis doesn’t run the court real
in
college
and
once
scored
107
points
The
Blazers
are
not
real
deep
on
with
any success, these two players
smooth, but at 7-3 with hands like a guard,
in
three
games
in
an
Atlantic
Coast
the
bench
and
players
like
the
rookies
will
have
to step up into more o f a
he has a wide array of offensive skills. One
Conference
Tournament.
At
6-2
he
and
James
Robinson
will
have
to
step
leadership role than in the past.
of his best weapons could be passing and a
B
game at London Arena. Clyde
D rex ler led the R ockets with
25 p o in ts and 10 a ssists to earn
to u rn am en t M ost V aluable P lay er
h onors.
Sam Cassell scored 23 points in
22 minutes off the bench and Chucky
Brown added 22 points on 10-of-l3
shooting from the field for the Rock­
ets.
Form er NBA player Orlando
Woolridge led Buckler Bologna with
34 points and set a tournament record
with 91 points. Arjan Komazec had
21 points for Buckler Bologna.
The Rockets held a 64-57 half­
time lead and increased the advantage
to 96-77 -----
after
— three quarters.
iv io .
usin w illy o to the, charity o f y o u r choice,.
Salem Center- Dec. 7
Clackamas Town, Center-Dec,. 8
g a tew a y M a ll, Springfield-D ec,. 14
Kogue, Valley M a ll, M edford-D ec,. 15
fo r a, chance to participate, f i l l o u t a ,3 x 5
card w ith th e following information,:
Your nam e:
The Golden State W arriors have
signed former Blazer forward Jerome
Kersey to a one-year contract and
waived former Blazer forward-center
Alaa Abdelnaby.
The 33-year-old Kersey played
11 years for Portland and will be
reunited with former Blazers coach
Rick Adelman, who was named W ar­
riors head coach during the summer.
Kersey was selected by Toronto
last June in the NBA expansion draft,
California
Squeaks Out
Victory
Quarterback Pat Barnes' two-
yard touchdown runs lifted Cali­
fornia to a 13-12 victory over O r­
egon Statein a Pac-10 matchup
Saturday in Corvallis. Barnes was
I l-of-28 for 134 yards as Califor­
nia (2-5, l-3)defeated Oregon State
(1 -6,0-4) for the third straight time.
The two teams last met in 1992
and California has won 12ofthelast
18 meetings.
I
but was released by the Raptors in
October due to salary cap limitations.
Kersey totaled more than 10,000
points and 5,000 rebounds with the
T rail B lazers. He ranks am ong
Portland’s all-time leaders in 15 cat­
egories, including games played (831),
points (10,067), rebounds (5,708),
blocks (622), steals (1,059) and as­
sists ( 1,762). Kersey has career aver­
ages of 12 .1 points and 6.1 febounds.
Kersey appeared in 63 games last
season and averaged 8.1 points and
4 .1 rebounds in 18 .1 minutes. He av­
eraged 12.7 points in Portland’s first
round playoff loss to Phoenix.
“Jerome has been to the playoffs
11 straight years, so he obviously
brings a tremendous amount of expe­
rience to our team," said Adelman.
“He is one of the hardest working
players I have ever been around and is
extremely tough both physically and
mentally.”
The 6-10 Abdelnaby appeared in
only one of Golden State’s three pre­
season games and totaled two points
and one rebound in four minutes.
Abdelnaby has played for three
teams in five NBA seasons. He spent
his first two seasons in Portland with
Adelman. Abdelnaby has career aver­
ages of 5.7 points and 3.3 rebounds,
including marks of 4.7 points and 2 .1
rebounds in 54 games with Sacra­
mento and Philadelphia last season.
Oregon Intercepts Cougs For Win
Paul Jensen and Isaac W alker
each
re tu rn e d
in te rc e p tio n s
fortouchdownsas 12th-ranked Oregon
defeated Washington State, 26-7, in a
Pac-10 showdown Saturday.
“Those two picks for touchdowns
were really the di fference in the game,”
Washington State head coach Mike
Price said. “They just made plays
today and we didn’t, that’s really the
difference. Other than that, our will to
win was there, our spirit was there.
We tried awfully hard but they made
big plays and we didn’t.”
Oregon (6-1, 3 -1 Pac-10) stayed
in contention for the conference title
and a second consecutive berth in the
Rose Bowl. The Ducks trail W ashing­
ton and Southern California, who are
unbeaten in conference play.
"(Because of the win) We have a
winning season now, which is always
our first goal - and I’m happy that
things arc falling into place,” Oregon
head coach Mike Bellotti said. “We
have to do our part the rest of the way,
but that was one step back to the
championship.”
Address:
Day tune, Phone,:
Houston’s win marked the sev­
enth time in as many M cDonald’s
tournaments that an NBA team has
won the championship.
The R ockets w ere the first
reigning cham pions from the NBA
to play in the ev ent, w hich fea­
tured six title-w in n in g clu b s from
a around
iu u iiu U
IC w
W orld
U IIU .
the
Kersey Joins Adelman At Golden State
Jensen picked off a pass from
Chad Davis and returned it 35 yards
for a score with 8:41 left in the first
period to pull Oregon within 7-6. A
two-point conversion failed.
Tony Graziani’s 15-yard touch­
down pass to Blake Spence with 2:29
left in the first quarter gave the
Ducks the lead for good at 13-7. Joshua
Smith kicked a 19-yard field goal
seven seconds before halftime, giving
as Oregon a 16-7 bulge.
Graziani completed 2l-of-36 passes
with one interception and 204 yards
charity. i f y o u r team is drown, to
scratch o ff Scratch-its, a ll the money you,
Drexler, McDonald’s Tourney MVP
Even without superstar center
H akeem O lajuw on, the tw o-tim e
champion Houston Rockets had no
problem s m aintaining the N B A ’s
dominance of the M cDonald’sCham-
pionship.
The Rockets cruised to a 126-
112 victory over Buckler Bologna of
Italy Saturday in the championship
righten, th e holidaysforyourfavorite
Charity name,:
C harity’s address:
C harity’s phone:
C harity’s Tax ID number:
a n d send i t to:
H oliday S cra tch 'd fo r Charity
c /o Oregon, Lottery
PO Box 12649
Salem,, OK 97309
E
ntries m u s t be received a t the Lottery
office in Salem, by 5pm, Thursday,
November 9, 1995. A random, draw ing to
select th e two-person, teams w ill be h e ld
a t the, Lottery office on, November 13,
1995. Charities m ay be
represented by only one,
te a m a t each, event.
PAStlUfMMti HUUt
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