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MAY 27, 1998
¡Lije JJ n r Ha tth (ftbeertier
UNITED STATES 2, KUWAIT U
Reyna is a fan o f the formation, in
which Brian Maisonneuve and Chad
Deering play defensive midfield, al­
lowing Stewart and Reyna to go on
offense.
"The midfield guys real ly have now
the freedom to just get forward with­
out worrying that (opponents) are
going to track back,” he said. “Just
B y LANDON HAI L
having so many guys coming out o f
It was hard to tell what a 2-0 vic­
the midfield is very difficult for oppo­
tory over Kuwait meant for the U.S.
nents."
soccer team.
Regis, who became a U.S. citizen
David Regis, an American for all
on Wednesday, looked sharp in his
ot five days, looked like a sure World
international debut. T he form er
Cup starter as he made his interna­
F renchm an, w ho w as born in
tional debut.
Martinique, said he was misty eyed
I ah Ramos, back from his second
during “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
serious knee operation, scored and
He then played the full 90 minutes,
continued to impress in his light to get
just missed a goal in the 18th minute
back in the starting lineup.
on a shot that went wide.
Ernie Stewart scored, too, and the
Stewart, who missed last week’s
Americans created plenty o f chances
scoreless tie against Macedonia,,
- outshooting Kuwait 25-4. But they
scored in the 37th m inute when
failed to connect on most o f them.
Maisonneuve found an opening in
‘T h e U.S. thoroughly outplayed
front of the penalty area and looped a
Kuwait, but we failed to capitalize on
pass to the right in front of him. Stewart
our scoring opportunities," American
caught up to the ball and drove it into
coach Steve Sampson said after
the net, ending a 128-minute score­
Sunday’s game. “It’s nice that we
less streak for the Americans.
converted two chances, but we had 14
Ramos, who played just the last 15
in the first half alone. We need to do
minutes, connected in the 82nd minute
better in front o f the goal.”
from a severe angle off a pass from
With just next Saturday’ game
Preki Radosavljevic. Ramos worked
against Scotland remaining before the
the ball in close on goalkeeper Khalid
trip to France, the Americans (6-3-2)
Al-Fadhi and sent the ball into the left
don’t have much time left to find their
side o f the net, his seventh goal in
rhythm.
international play.
“I fwe would’ve played on a smooth
Ramos, expected to challenge for a
field, we would’ve won 5-0,” said
starting spot at the World Cup, was
( ’laudio Reyna, who claimed the rain-
playing his second international game
sodden temporary Held slowed U.S.
since surgery last fall to repair a tom
midfielders. “Hopefully, next week
knee ligament.
against Scotland we’ll really be able
Eric W ynalda, the A m ericans’
to press and run."
regular starting forward, played the
Some players are put o ff by the
second half and moved well on the
system o f three d efen d ers, six
slippery field in his first game since
midfielders and one forward, which
arthroscopic knee surgery on April
has left slow-footed Alexi Lalas and
16. Wynalda had three shots, none of
Marcelo Balboa on the bench. But
them difficult.
Sonics coach fired two weeks
after team ousted in playoffs
B y J IM CO UR
Two weeks after his Seattle
SuperSonics were elim inated by
the Los Angeles Lakers in the
playoffs, G eorge Karl was tired
as coacn on Tuesday.
Karl, 47, coached the Sonics
for 6 1 seasons and had the best
winning percentage (.719, 384-
150) in the team ’s regular-season
history Linder Karl, the team had
three 60-victory seasons.
“ I’ve had an interesting couple
ot weeks," team president and gen­
eral m anager W ally W alker said
in announcing K arl’s tiring. “ It
wa.. an extrem ely difficult deci­
sion to m ake.”
It might have been difficult but
it w asn’t unexpected - after the
Sonics w ere beaten four straight
by the Los Angeles Lakers in the
George Karl
W estern Conference sem ifinals,
the first four-game losing streak
the Sonics into the NBA Finals, in
o f K arl’s tenure in Seattle.
which they lost in six games to the
Karl was paid $3.2 m illion in
Chicago Bulls.
the last season o f a contract that
W hile W alker said the decision
expires July I .
not to retain Karl w asn’t about
“Our decision is based entirely
m oney and w asn ’t personal, those
on what we believe in the te a m 's
w ere two factors that w eren’t on
best interest o f going forw ard,”
K arl’s side o f staying in Seattle.
W alker said. “ I t’s not a b o u t
He isn ’t expected to stay unem ­
money. It’s not personal.”
ployed long and probably will com ­
W alker said the decision to fire
mand a salary o f $5 million from
Karl was his alone, and not that o f
some team next season.
ow ner Barry A ckerley. W alker
A ckerley and W alker were un­
made it during the weekend and
happy w ith Karl because they
told Karl on Tuesday m orning.
view ed him as a loose cannon who
He said he b e lie v e d K arl
leaked inform ation to the ’ Jia.
wanted to stay in Seattle and “was
“ I d o n ’t think G eorge is about to
disappointed” when he found out
change," W alker said. “ I don’t want
he w asn’t going to be re-hired.
to be in a position where I c a n ’t
Two years ago, Karl coached
trust him to keep secret inform a­
the W est in 1994 and lost in 1995
to the Lakers in another upset.
A fter the Lakers beat Seattle in
1995, then team president and
general manager Bob Whitsitt was
fired by Ackerley. W hitsitt now
is president and general m anager
o f the Portland Trail Blazers un­
der ow ner Paul Allen and also is
president o f the NFL Seattle
Seahawks, a team A llen owns.
"W e’re ultim ately m aking this
decision for the right reasons,”
W alker said o f K a rl’s firing.
“W e’re doing it to have a chance
to attain our prim ary goal - that of
winning the cham pionship. We
need a different approach.”
A ssistants Bob W eiss, Tim
G urgurich, D w ane C asey and
Terry Stotts were also fired.
W alker said he met with Karl
tion that is very sensitive and c a n ’t
get o ut.”
W alker deliberately d id n ’t tell
Karl before the Sonics w ere in­
volved in a three-team trade that
brought Vin Baker to Seattle and
sent Shawn Kemp to Cleveland
before last season.
Still, K arl’s departure from Se­
attle probably was m ore about the
S onics’ playoff failures than any­
thing else.
A ckerley com plained before the
playoffs that h e d id n ’t haveacham -
pionship ring.
U nder Karl, the Sonics had a 40-
40 p lay o ff record, losing to H ous­
ton in the W estern C onference
sem ifinals in 1997. They were up­
set by D enver as the No. 1 seed in
for “a couple o f hours” on May
15, three days after the season
ended. He said he ended his con­
versation with Karl by asking him
“ for a num ber that it would take
in order for him to be satisfied as
the Sonics coach.”
He said subsequent inform a­
tion he received convinced him
that he was not going to keep Karl
happy in Seattle.
Karl, who took over for K.C.
Jones on Jan. 23, 1992 after leav­
ing the Real M adrid team in
Spain, got the Sonics to the play­
offs in all seven o f his seasons in
Seattle.
It was the third time that Karl,
a form er player with the San A n­
tonio Spurs in the ABA and then
NBA, was fired as a coach.
PACERS RESERVES DOMININATING RULLS
B y HANK LOWENKRON
Chicago’s road to a sixth NBA
championship in eight years has been
stalled by Indiana’s depth.
The Pacers evened the best-of-7
Eastern Conference finals with vic­
tories at Market Square Arena on
Saturday and Monday. In both games,
Indiana's reserves were a big reason.
In Game 3, Jalen Rose had 15
points to lead three Indiana reserves
in double figures as the Pacers posted
a 107-105 victory. Indiana's back­
ups outscored Chicago's reserves 43-
25 in that game.
On Monday, Indiana scratched out
a 96-94 victory with a 3 2 -13 scoring
advantage o ff the bench and a strong
defensive effort by Derrick McKey
as a reserve.
‘T h e bench came through," Indi­
ana coach Larry Bird said. “They’ve
been doing it thoughout the playoffs.
Today, they stepped up, especially
when we needed them.”
Travis Best led the scoring by the
reserves with 10 points. Antonio
Davis and Rose had eight apiece, and
McKey added six, including a 3-
pointer that gave Indiana its first lead
o f the second half at 88-87.
“Travis played an outstanding ball
game. He forced the issue a lot o f
times, made some key baskets for
us,” Bird said. “McKey did as good
ajob as you could do against Michael
Jo rd an .... Antonio is Antonio. H e’s
going to give you everything he’s
got.”
The Bulls have struggled against
the quickness o f Best.
“We were just taking what was
there," said Best, who hit a 3-pointer
that gave Indiana a 91-89 lead and a
layup to cut Chicago's lead to 94-93
with 33 seconds to go, setting the
stage for Reggie Miller’s winning 3-
pointer in the final second.
“ I came down, nobody was guard­
ing me,” Best said o f the layup. “ It
was a shot I put up a lot in college. I
felt comfortable shooting it.”
Best knows Chicago will be even
tougher when the series resumes
W ednesday night in the United C en­
ter, where the Bulls have won 11
straight in the conference finals. The
last two o f those have been by six-
point margins over Indiana.
CLOSE CALL:@ Michael Jor­
dan just missed hitting the winning
shot when his 26-footer at the buzzer
w ent in the basket, but spun out.
“I don't know if any camera fell to
the ground, but I fell to the ground (in
agony),” Best said. “ I thought it was
good. It went in and out. 1 hat would
have been a tough way to lo se .... He
put up a great shot. He’s made so
many in his career, that you never
count the Chicago Bulls out when
Mike is putting up a shot.”
NBA Suspends Rose; Miller Can Play
B y C H R IS S H E R ID A N
Reggie Miller and Ron Harper
escaped suspensions today for their
scuffle late in the fourth quarter of
M onday's B ulls-Pacers playoff
game, but Jalen Rose o f Indiana
was suspended one game for leav­
ing the bench area.
Rose will be banned from the
United Center when the series re­
sumes Wednesday night, tied at two
games apiece.
“I’m sincerely sorry Jalen was
suspended since I thought that, while
he w as removed from the bench, he
was (under the) control ofourcoach­
ing staff and never entered the fray,”
Pacers president Donnie Walsh said.
“Additionally, I didn’t feel like
either Reggie Miller or Ron Harper
deserved suspensions for what oc­
curred and the incident never really
turned into an altercation. Neither
team wanted a fight. It was just the
emotion o f the game,” Walsh said.
Rose declined comment on his
suspension.
Harper was fined $3,500 for initi­
ating the fracas by yanking Miller
into the C’hicago bench area and shov­
ing Miller.
Miller was fined $2,500 for retali­
ating and pushing Harper.
Chicago coach Phil Jackson was
fined $10,000 for his comments
about the officiating, including com­
paring the refereeing to the 1972
Olympic gold medal game in Munich
when the United States lost to the
Soviet Union.
By not suspending M iller or
Harper, the league determined that
neither threw a punch.
“There were no punches thrown,"
said Miller, one day after his 3-
pointer with 0.7 seconds left gave
the Pacers a 96-94 victory over the
Bulls.
Official results o f Sunday's Indianapolis 500, with finishing position, starting position in parentheses, driver,
hometown or country, car number, chassis-engine, laps completed, average speed and reason out where available, and
prize money announced Monday night at the annual Victory Dinner (r-rookie):
1. (17) Eddie C heever, Tampa, Fla., No. 51. Dallara-Aurora, 200 laps, 145.155 mph, $1,433,000.
2. ( I I) Buddy Lazier. Vail. Colo., No. 91, Dallara-Aurora, 200, 145.118, $483,200.
3. (23) r-Steve K napp. Salem, Wis., No. 55, G Force-Aurora, 200, 145.076, $338,750.
4. (8) Davey H am ilton, Las Vegas. No. 6, G Force-Aurora, 199, running, $301,650.
5. (21) r-R ohhy U nser. Santa Fe. N.M., No. 52, Dallara-Aurora, 198, running, $209,400.
6. (3) K enny B rack. Sweden, No. 14. Dallara-Aurora, 198, running, $310,750.
7. (16) Jo h n Paul J r ., West Palm Beach, Fla., No. 81, Dallara-Aurora, 197, running, $216,350.
8. (19) r-A ndy M ichner. Ann Arbor, Mich , No. 17, Dallara-Aurora, 197, running, $182,050.
9. (13) r-.l.J. Veley. Phoenix. No 44, Dallara-Aurora, 197, running, $198,550.
10. (18) Buzz C alkins. Denver, No. 12. G Force-Aurora, 195, running, $248,500.
IL (26) r-Jim m y Kite. Stockbridge,G a., No. 7, Dallara-Aurora, 195, running, $287,300.
12. (22) r-J a c k H ew itt. Troy, Ohio, No. 18. G Force-Aurora, 195, running, $265,800.
13. (27) Je ff W ard . San Juan Capistrano, Calif.. No. 35, G Force-Aurora, 194. running. $242,050.
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