May 17, 2000
Page B2
(Tije 'JjJurtlanb ©baeruer
purttani)
(Oli,
Metro/Sports
Trail Blazers 81, Jazz 79
A ssociated P ress
All Scottie Pippen needed was a
few feet o f space between him and
Bryon Russell. And just like that,
the Utah Jazz’s season was over.
Pippen, dazed for several minutes
after being inadvertently knocked
down from behind by teammate
Arvydas Sabonis, hit a 3-pointer
with 7.3 seconds left Tuesday
night, lifting the Portland Trail
Blazers to an 81-79 victory. The
loss eliminated the Jazz 4-1 in the
best-of-seven series.
“It was my opportunity to take the
shot, and 1 made it,” Pippen said. “I
was looking to go inside to Rasheed
(W allace) to try to get something
quick. They played it pretty good.
Russell jumped back in the passing
lane, and 1 just looked for the shot.”
Pippen created just enough room
to get o ff the game-winner after
moving Russell back with a head
fake.
“He was so deep," Russell said.
“And he’s not a good 3-point
shooter anyway, so I felt good
about it. He looked like he prayed
it in anyway, but it went in.”
Even after that, Pippen’s work
wasn’t done. Trailing 80-79, Utah
had a chance to take the lead when
Russell was fouled by D etlef
Schrempf with three seconds left,
but R ussell m issed both free
throws.
Russell complained that someone
was “shaking and jumping down
might be able to succeed in her
ambition of establishing a new league
for Portland after Sunday’s win
against the Utah Starzz.
Fans o f the now disbanded ABL
However, the initial win was still an
team Portland
exhibition game.
Power recently
Only 11 Portland
saw former All-
Fire starters must
ü
b
■
S tar N a ta lie
still make the cut
W illiam s play
to
remain on the
again
last
W
NBA
team ,
Sunday with the
which is now still
Utah Starzz man
c o n s id e re d
exhibition game
inexperienced and
a g a in st
th at
untried. It will be
te a m ’s local
able to seriously
successor.
te st its m ettle
H o w e v e r,
ag ain w hen it
w h a te v e r
opens re g u la r
e x c ite m e n t
season
play
formerOlympian
a g a in st
the
W illia m s ’
Houston Comets
a p p e a ra n ce
May 3 1. Portland
caused there, it
Fire
will then be
was in reality a
in its final form
swan song for
w hen
coach
herand that team Sophia Witherspoon
Hargrove cuts 7
that night. For
members from the
the first tim e,
16 players now in training camp to
Williams played against a new local
end up with 11 starters by May 28.
WNBA team hoping to establish a
Until that timeall 16 are fighting to win
league o f their own here— Portland
a final spot on
Fire.
the team, which
In an exciting first demonstration o f
—
desires to have
their prowess, the new WNBA team
a league o f their
defeated their m ore experienced
g j g |
own in the City
opponent 84-74. Another exhibition
o f Roses. Each
game will take place May 26 versus
one o f the
M innesota in R ochester, Minn.,
P ortland F ire
before Portland Fire ’s regular season
p la y e rs now
begins against the Houston Comets
have something
May 31.
■
to prove in order
Portland Fire coach Linda Hargrove
to rem ain for
hoped tw o A ll-S ta rs, S ophia
regular season
Witherspoon and Point Guard Tully
play. T ension
Bevilaqua, would help fill the void left
runs high.
by the departure o f the once popular
“ We have
ABL team, Portland Power, before
several players
the game.
on the team who
T hough W ith ersp o o n p a rtia lly
w ere on other
realized that hope, it was another
teams, and were
player, Vanessa Nygaard, who led
either waived or Tully Berilaqua
scoring with 15 points. Witherspoon
w ere
left
scored 10. Portland fans expecting to
unprotected in the expansion draft. I
see Williams got to. But they also got
would say those players all feel like
to see Portland Fire.
this is a fresh start for them.
“A lot o f people know who Natal ie is,
“T hey have an
she w as an
opportunity here to
O ly m p ia n ,
start with a new team,
she’s an All-
and hopefully prove
Star, she was
to the old team that
th e
best
they were on that
p la y e r on
they shouldn’t have
P o r tla n d
left
them
P ow er, so
u n p ro te c te d
or
they want to
waived now,” Coach
haveachance
Hargrove said.
to
com e
Sophia Witherspoon
w atch her
ta lk e d about the
again,” coach
tension behind the
H a rg ro v e
currently scheduled
said in a
cuts.
practice held
“There’s 16 of us that
befo re the
are out here, you can
game
have 18 in a camp.
On Sunday it
None of our jobs are
w
a s
Vanessa Nygaard
s e c u r e , ”
P o r tla n d
Witherspoon said.
F ire,
not
A fte r g ra d u a tio n
W illia m s ,
fromUniversityofFloridain 1991,the
who took center stage, at least this
African-American player played 6
time. Hargrove surely felt more
years overseas in Switzerland. France,
confident that her new WNBA team
By Gideon Lantz,
For The Portland Observer
on” the basket support, altering his
first shot. There was brief confusion
as the officials decided what to do,
but they didn’t award him another
try.
Pippen grabbed the rebound of the
second m iss, w as fouled
immediately and hit one o f two free
throws for an 81 -79 lead.
Doris' Cafe honors PIL champs
yris' Cafe sponsors a succulant awards dinner, not to be forgotten, fo r the 4 A Boys Basketball State
lampions Jefferson Democrats.
Housing award from page 1
In 1998, the Portland metropolitan
area was estimated to have more than
4,000 individuals living with HI V and
some, 1,300 living with AIDS. More
than a third have substance abuse
problems and 15 percent deal with
homelessness. In the last several
years, however, housing needs for
HI V/AIDS population havechanged
d ram atically from hospice and
intensive medical-care facilities to a
need for affordable housing market
and sk y ro c k e tin g re n ts. CCC
addressed these complex issues by
taking a derelict motel frequented by
drug dealers and prostitutes and
tu rn in g it into the Rose Wood
Apartments, a beautiful, affordable,
safe haven and the only known
Portlands WNBA team Portland
Fire hoping to establish strong
berth in a league of their own
supportive alcohol-and drug-free
com m unity for low -incom e and
homeless individuals with HIV/AIDS
in the country.
“The people ofCentral City Concern
have spent the last two years helping
the most needy in our state live,” said
US Senator Ron Wyden. “Becauseof
their tireless work, these children and
families who are fighting the AIDS
virus don’t have to struggle with
homelessness too.”
T he F an n ie M ae F ou n d atio n
introduced the Maxwell Awards
(originally named the Awards of
Excellence Program for the Production
ofLow- Income Housing and renamed
in tribute to former Fannie Mae
Chairman andCEODavidO. Maxwell
for his commitment to the housing
needs o f low-income people) in 1988.
(Ehi' JJiirtlauh (Oh scruer
call today «/ - 288-0033
f
Portland.
“They had the Portland Power here
for two and a hal f years, a very popular
women’s professional team that the
fans here really, really enjoyed,”
Hargrove said.
Now a new WNBA Team, Portland
Fire, will seek to fill the void left by
Portland P ow er’s departure from the
scene.
Perhaps Portland Fire leader Sophia
Witherspoon and point guard Tully
Bevilaqua are hoping their team will
be as popular as the song, Girls Just
Wanna Have Fun, by Cindi Lauper,
as they anticipate their future in the
WNBA. If Portland F ire ’s WNBA
women just wanna have fun, maybe
they will.
E-M at
Come visit us on the web at
www.portlandobserver.com
Eliot Café
Standard Dairy Bldg. At MLK Jr. Blvd.
and Stanton
Cleo Lilliann Social Club INC.,
“Cleo’s is now open for lunch and dinner. Try
our daily $2.50 special. We are located at 3041
N. Williams. Open daily at 11:00 in the morning.
Private club, new member applications
welcome.
Advertise in
Italy, Turkey, and Hungary. She then
coached for 2 years and started in the
WN BA in 1997, when she was drafted
by New York Liberty, and traded out
here last season.
Witherspoon has been around a bit.
The problem is, so have the other
professional WNBA players she’s
competing against. “You’ve got 16
people out here fighting for 11 spots,
and we don’t know who’s going to be
where. None o f us are secure, so
w e’re just working hard each and
every day, and w e’re busting our
butts to try and get it out, fight and
get a job.
“When you go to interview for a job,
you have yourresume. Well, they’ve
seen our resume, now w e’re going to
in te rv ie w for a jo b , and by
interviewing for that job, w e’re
actually out here on the court each
and every day, displaying what we
can do,” Witherspoon said.
Portland Fire's coach Hargrove also
knows about the tension.
“There’s 16 players in camp right
now, w e’ll get another one in camp
w h o ’s p la y in g in the Ita lia n
championship. She’ 11 be here as soon
as her team loses or wins the Italian
C h a m p io n sh ip ,
and so yeah,
they’re all fighting
for a job. It’s very
c o m p e titiv e in
practice, and it will
be up until May
28,whenwedothe
final
c u t,”
Hargrove said.
H a rg ro v e
c o a c h e d
professionally for
2 years, in USA
Basketball for 12
years, w as an
Assistant on the
1992 O lym pic
W o m e n ’ s
Basketball Team
and the 1990
W
o r l d
Championship Team, and has been
in v o lv e d w ith m any o f U SA
Basketball National and International
Teams. She also coached college
basketball for 29 years before moving
to the WNBA.
Sunday’sexhibitiongame was merely
an initial test as part o f the crucible of
Hargrove and Portland Fire’s, efforts
to establish a league o f its own in
One Stopping where convenience is
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