Page
March 24, 1999
BRIEF
Tyson Hopeful
W a s h in g to n . M a rc h 18
(Bloomberg) Boxer Mike Tyson
could be eligible for release from
a M aryland jail as early as next
Friday under a proposal from his
lawyers that has been discussed
w ith the ju d g e and prosecutors in
tw o m eetings, the W ashington
P o st re p o rte d . M o n tg o m e ry
C o u n ty D istric t C ourt Judge
Stephen P. Johnson told T yson’s
attorneys and a prosecutor yes­
terday h e’ll rule M arch 26 on
whether to reduce to eight m onths
T yson’s one-year sentence for
assault after a traffic altercation in
G aithersburg, M aryland, the Post
said. If that w ere to happen, the 50
days Tyson w ould have served
by next Friday w ould m ake him
im m ediately eligible for a work-
release program , the Post said,
citing an unidentified corrections
official.
¡Tlie ^Kutiani» (lìheeruer
Blazers May Not Have Subs,
Just a"Rotating Line-up"
Trait Blazers
Notes
BLAZER FANS. SIM PLY THE
BEST The tradition o f outstanding
fan support o f the Blazers continues.
Both Friday’s gam e against San A n­
tonio and S unday’s date with Phila­
delphia were sellouts, m aking a total
o f six in 12 hom e dates. To date,
Portland has draw n 230,069 fans for
the first 12 gam es o f the season, 96%
ofthe Rose G arden’s 19,980 capacity.
How does this com pare to last sea­
son? Last season, Portland’s sixth
sellout came in the 25 th home gam e o f
the season against the Lakers. A lso
last season. B lazers fans filled the
Rose G arden to 95% capacity.
Kwan Unstoppable?
HELSINKI, Finland (AP) —
Just as in the O lym pics last year,
M ichelle K w an is a solid favorite
at the world figure skating cham ­
pionships. But this time, Tara
Lipinski w on’t be around to beat
her out o f the gold medal.
In fact, hardly anyone will chal­
lenge Kwan.
Reflecting
M arch 21 Portland 91, Philadel­
phia 75 Coach Mike Dunleavy ’ s birth­
day present w asn ’t giftw rapped; his
Portland Trail Blazers had to labor
long and hard to build a defensive
wall around league-leading scorer
Allen Iverson to gain the win. The
Blazers again relied on defense in
taking their fifth gam e in six contests
against the Eastern Conference, beat­
ing Philadelphia on the Rose G arden
floor 91-75 in front o f the season’s
sixth sellout crowd. Stacey Augmon,
Sampras Returns
KEY BISC A Y N E, Florida,
March 22 (Reuters) - Pete Sampras
ended Carlos M oya’s brief reign
at the top o f m en’s tennis by beat­
ing Albert Costa after M oya fell to
Sebastien G rosjean in M onday’s
fourth-round action in the Lipton
Championships.
Sampras was bumped from the
top billing by M oya last week at
the Champions Cup tournament at
Indian Wells, but recaptured the
throne M onday evening after dis­
patching Costa 6-4 6-4 to reach the
quarter-finals.
M oya set up his own dow nfall
w hen he allow ed 74th-ranked
G rosjeanofF ranceto upset him 3-
66-47-6(9-7).
Oregon Marches On
The Pac-10 m ay have had a
subpar show ing in the NCA A
tournam ent, but th at's hardly the
case in the NIT.
UCLA. Arizona and Stanford
all had early exits in the NCAA
tournament, but two Pac-10 teams
will battle it out for a chance to go
to the NIT championship game.
Califomia(20-11) meets Oregon
(19-11) in the opening sem ifinal
m atchup at M adison Square G ar­
den on Tuesday. It will be the
third meeting betw een the con­
ference rivals, w ith the D ucks
w inning the first two games.
“Throw out the first tw o,” said
G olden Bears coach Ben Braun,
w hose team reached the semis
w ith w ins ov er Fresno State,
DePaul and Colorado State. “Pride
is on the line. N ow we have a
chance to play for an NIT cham ­
pionship.”
The previous gam es w ere far
from blowouts. The Ducks w on in
Berkeley 71-69 inovertim eon Jan.
2, then w on 93-82 in the regular-
season finale in Eugene.
“W e’ve been in tough, hard
battles w ith them ,” said O regon
coach Ernie Kent, whose squad
beat Georgia Tech, W yom ing and
Texas Christian to make it to New
York. “W e know each other very
well, so w e d o n ’t have to go over­
board on preparation. But w e will
have to com bat that energy burst
th ey ’ll bring having lost to us a
couple o f tim es.”
O regon has m ade a habit o f
playing close games, with 17 ofits
contests being decided by single­
digit margins.
h ttp ://
www. portland
observer.net
G reg
Greg Anthony
Season Results Against Opponent
Portland vs.
Golden State
bounds, (bettering his previous high o f
20 recorded April 3,1998 against Dal­
las) was the key. The 24 rebounds also
marks a league-best game so far this
season.The Blazers ran their current
winning streak to a W estern Confer­
ence best four games and climbed into
a tie with Seattle forthe Pacific Division
lead at 6-2. J.R. Rider clicked for 27
points to lead all scorers in this tightly
Blazers and Warriors This Season
Portland and Golden State have split
th is y e a r ’s se rie s a c c o rd in g to
homecourt advantage: February 20
Portland 90, Golden State 84 The Blaz­
ers completed a four-game sweep ot
their season’s first extended homestand
by holding off the persistent Golden
State Warriors 90-84. The powerful
board work ofBrian Grant. who estab-
Trailblazers vs. Golden State Series
RECORDS:
Record:
Overall:
Eastern:
W estern:
Home:
20-5(0.8)
5-1(0.833)
15-4(0.789)
Road:
11-1(0.917)
3-0(1)
8-1(0.889)
Overtime.
9-4(0.692)
2-1(0.667)
7-3 (0.7)
3-1(0.75)
0-0(0)
3-1(0.75)
STREAKS:
O verall H ome
W on 3 W on 2
Odds On
Road:
W on 1
lue Devils
LAS VEGAS (AP) — This city's
oddsmakers aren’t taking any chances
with Duke’s chances o f winning a na­
tional championship.
The Blue Devils are such a prohibi­
tive favorite in Las V egas sports books
that bettors would have to wager $7 for
every dollar they could win on Duke
winning its last two games.
Odds vary at each sports book, but
most have had to make Duke such a big
favorite to try to discourage bets on the
Blue Devils and get some money het on
the other three teams in the Final Four.
“This is one o f the biggest favor­
ites w e’ve ever had,” said Pete Komer,
who helps set odds for sports books at
Las Vegas Sports Consultants. “W e're
just trying to get some money on the
other teams.”
Komer opened Duke at a I -3 favor­
ite, but most sports books went well
beyond that
At the la s Vegas Hilton, bettors
wanting to put money on I hike on Mon­
day found the Blue Devils a 1-7 favonte.
With Duke the heavy favorite, bet­
tors can get 9-2 on Connecticut win-
rang the title, 10-1 on Michigan State
and 12-1 on Ohio State at the Hilton.
The NCAA tournament generally is
a big betting event at casino sports
books, second in total volume only to
the Super Bowl.
Since the tournament began, bet­
tors could wager not only on individual
games but on which team would win the
national championship.
Gonzaga
Looking
Forward to
Next Year
G onzaga’s Richie Frahm may get
his wish — but the looming question
is whether his coach will be with him
next season. “I want to go out like this
next year, too,” the junior guard told
500 Gonzaga fans w ho gathered on
campus Saturday night to greet the
Bulldogs on their return from the
NCAA West Region finals in Phoenix
/viim ony
and
v a in o n
Stoudam ire all took turns w orking
against Iverson and the schem e paid
dividends as Iverson was held five
points below his seasonal average
with a team-high 24 on 8 o f 21 shoot­
ing and an 0 for 7 effort from down-
Stacey Augmon
>wn. Augmon matched his season’s
est effort with 10 points and set a
Rasheed W allace, a Philadelphia-area
native also set a seasonal standard
Michigan State Feels Ready
L A N SIN G , Mich. (A P) — A few
m onths ago, M ichigan S tate coach
Tom Izzo w as w on d erin g if h e ’d
m ade the right d ecision by having
the S partans play the likes o f C o n ­
necticut and Duke.
But with all three teams now in the
Final Four, Izzo says he thinks those
gam es will help the Spartans in St.
Petersburg — even though M ichi­
gan State lost both m atchups.
In S aturday’s N CA A sem ifinals,
Duke (36-1) and M ichigan State (33-
4) face o ff at 8:17 p.m. at Tropicana
Field after C onnecticut (32-2) takes
on Ohio State (27-8) at 5:42 p.m.
The winners o f S aturday’s gam es
will m eet for the N CA A cham pion­
ship at 9:15 p.m. Monday.
The last time the Spartans and Blue
Devils met, Duke held Michigan State
point guard Mateen Cleaves to 3-of-
17 shooting and only nine points. Izzo
admitted after that Dec. 2 game in Chi­
cago that Cleaves pressed too much.
But Izzo sees a different ability
now in his star point guard. A nd he
says his Spartans are pitching in as a
team to get the jo b done.
“ I think M ateen is a lot b etter now
than he was then," Izzo said. “ I really
think A.J. G ranger has stepped it up
a couple o f notches. I think A ndre
H utson is getting better and better."
G ra n g e r sc o re d 14 p o in ts in
Sunday’s 73-66 win over Kentucky in
the NCAA M idw est R egional, with
three o f those baskets three-point-
ers. H utson also scored 14, w hile
Cleaves had 10 points and 11 assists.
A s in S u n d ay ’s gam e ag ain st
K en tu ck y , the Spartans fell b ehind
by 13 points against w ith D uke. But
in a m ove that has becom e a S partan
trad em ark this season, th ey b attled
b ack , closing to w ithin 58-55 w ith
6:08 to play.
O n S unday, the S p artan s built
on th eir co m eback to beat K en­
tu c k y . T h e y w e r e n 't so lu c k y
ag a in st the B lue D evils, w ho shut
d ow n the S partans after C leaves
m issed sev eral key shots.
Despite losing 73-67, the Spartans
ended the Duke gam e with a 36-20
edge in rebounds, w hich could help
them Saturday if they can repeat the
feat. So far this season, th e y ’ve
outrebounded their opponent in 35 o f
their 37 games while winning 33 times.
They also do a good jo b on d e­
fense. Heading into S aturday’s co n ­
test, th ey ’ve allow ed 60 or few er
points in eight o f their last 10 outings.
In their four N CA A gam es so far,
th ey ’ve held their opponents to ju st
38.5 percent shooting from the floor.
rhat may be tougher against Duke,
w hich has averaged 93 points per
gam e this season. But Izzo, w hile
acknow ledging his team faces a huge
challenge, rem ains optim istic.
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