OCR Text |
Show Page B6 Thursday, December 2, 1982 Park City News by Jim Murray Park City rewspapeir 'Like watching an elephant knit' In the seasons from 1973 to 1976, people came from all parts of the country to see Bob McAdoo shoot a basketball. Not just fans, other players. It was like watching Babe Ruth hit home runs, Red Grange sweep ends. Jack Nicklaus putt, Dempsey throw a left, or Paderewski play a piano. Lots of big men score in pro basketball. But their points are stuffs, dunks, Iayups, tip-ins, sky hooks, garbage points or brute strength baskets. McAdoo, 6'10", shot like a guard. He lifted off softly, paused in midair, and swished in swift baskets by the score. "It's like watching an elephant knit," one coach marveled. "Imagine Oscar Robertson sitting on Wilt Chamberlain's neck, and you got it," another suggested. He used the glass, he shot from the corners, he almost never hit iron. For three straight years, he led the league in scoring and he was not the master of the six-inch basket, the driving layup, or the rim shot. It was a recital, not a rumble, basketball as Dr. Naismith envisioned it. McAdoo rolled up 15,000 points almost quicker than anyone who had played the game. He was as devastating as a railroad gun to enemy morale. Usually, with a 6'10" shooter, the defense lays off and dares him to shoot from the perimeter. Not with McAdoo. "McAdoo could score from the balcony," the league's hatchet men were warned. Also you couldn't foul him. McAdoo made 641 free throws in the 1974-75 season. That would be a good career for most big men. McAdoo made eight out of every 10 free throws. Sending him to the line was like walking the pitcher. And, then, all of a sudden, the music stopped. McAdoo was playing for the Buffalo Braves and, one night, he pulled down 29 rebounds and the next day he was traded to New York. The Buffalo fans had become vicious. His contract negotiations had broken down and the writers began calling their star "Bob McAdon't" or "Bob McAlose." "If he ain't got the basketball, he ain't interested," a teammate told the press. "Between him and Ernie D, we're a basketball short out there." Still, the New York Knicks paid $3 million for Big Mac and the first year, McAdoo threw in his usual 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds. The next year, the record got stuck again. McAdoo found himself being shipped off to Boston for future draft choices and that ultimate indignity, the player "to be named later." English translation: "Please take him pay us whatever you like, just get him out of here." Recalls McAdoo: "The situation was getting bad. They had all sorts of whispers about me. They said I was a malingerer when I was hurt. Yet they never called Bill Walton 'malingerer.' I sure played a lot more than he did. I was really the first of the free agents, and they didn't know what to do with me." The playing time dipped. So did the scoring. The league finally found a place McAdoo couldn't score from the bench. Boston shipped him to Detroit for some more pieces of paper, future draft choices. "That (Detroit) was really bad," recalls McAdoo. "Discouraging. That was the last-place team that had guys who had played 10 or so years and never been in a championship, and some guys who had never been anywhere." All of a sudden, Bob McAdoo, fifth-leading all-time scorer among active players, and 24th in history, was being put on waivers. A man who had scored over 40 points in 56 season games and over 50 four times in his career, who had pulled down 7,000 rebounds and had once blocked 246 shots in a season, was being shopped around like a fake diamond. Only six players, the registered legends of the game Chamberlain, Jabbar, Robertson, Baylor, West and Pettit had a higher per-game scoring average than McAdoo's 25.3. The scorer who had once had 2,831 points in a season now was to have only 165. And this is why he was available last Christmas Eve when Mitch Kupchak of the L.A. Lakers fell and tore a knee ligament in half. The Lakers got him for a future draft choice and cash. At first, McAdoo creaked a bit when trying to follow the Laker fast break. But the first thing the Lakers noticed was that the shooting touch was not rusty. It was undamaged. It was like roller skating, it all came back to him. "McAdoo could be on a desert island for three years and come out and start sinking 25-foot baskets," Laker GM Jerry West marveled. Last June, in the championship playoffs' sixth game, the Lakers had brittered away a 9-point lead to Philadelphia in the third quarter and Julius Erving, no less, was streaking down the key with the ball and an easy layup to put the 76ers in front for the first time that night. Bob McAdoo materialized mater-ialized out of nowhere at his back, reached over and blocked the shot. The Lakers bolted into a fast break, got the ball to Jabbar, who dunked and the championship was L.A.'s. McAdoo blocked two other shots that night, got 16 points and 9 rebounds. He was back. "It's nice to be with a team where all the pressure isn't on you, where you're not even the 'sixth man' because they have a whole lot of 'sixth men' besides you," he enthused. It's nice, also, to be "Bob McAwin" after all those years. 1982 Los Angeles Times yJL X Atretic ffilub Y J? (EljnBtmaB (ElaflBtc December 10, 11 & 12th Entry fee: $10 members, $12 nonmembers Special juniors category (8-15 years!!) Enter our Christmas Bake Off. Held during the tournament, for added excitement, baked goods will be judged by a famous chef. Winners will receive prizes. Ladies Come in for a beginning Racquetball Clinic every Monday at 7 p.m. Pre-tourney tips to be given on Dec. 61 Don 't miss this one. SPECIAL CHRISTMAS GIFT IDEA!! Massage Gift Certificate For that active person in vour life. On sale now: &1 hr. $lbV6 hr. Members: $20hr. St. Joseph humbles Miners in season opener by John Kinch At the final buzzer it was St. Joseph 58, Park City 36. But Park City basketball coach Bruce Reid believes that the one-sided score in the Miners' season opener last Friday was not a true indication of the team's abilities. "We should have won that game," said Reid. "We are a better team than they are." The game was played in Ogden at St. Joseph High School's ancient gymnasium. gymnas-ium. There were only two feet separating the out-of-bounds lines and the gym walls. The court floor had dead spots in it, the lighting was dim, and the cheering from the crowd amplified off the walls in the tight quarters. The gymnasium was everything that a basketball bas-ketball court is not nowadays, nowa-days, yet it generated excitement, excite-ment, and Reid said that he always enjoys playing there. "It's what 1-A basketball is all about, although the (Park City) players are always somewhat intimidated by it." The Miners' intimidation was evident in the first quarter. Park City managed only four points to St. Joseph's 13. The Miners were clumsy, throwing passes away, travelling, and turning the ball over. The Jays, on the other hand were poised like a team halfway through the season, rather than in its first game of the season. "Their passing was crisp, their plays were precise, and their shooting was deadlyrl could tell that they have been practicing for some time," said Reid. (St. Joseph has no football program, whereas the Miners had just finished football only two weeks before Friday's basketball opener.) In the second quarter Park City settled down. Forward Pete Gilvarry began rebounding, re-bounding, and finished with 10 for the game. Forward Chris Cooper swished a couple of 15-footers to bring the score to 15-9. The Miners put on a full-court press with two minutes left before the half. The press worked as the Miners got the ball back, only to turn it over when a Cooper pass to Tim Tebbs sailed out of bounds. St. Joseph capitalized on the mistake and scored making it 19-11. Another bad pass by Park City resulted in two more points for the Jays. At the half it was 24-13. At the beginning of the third quarter the Miners put on another full-court press, and again Park City got the ball back. This time point guard Bill Simmons brought the ball down and took it in for a lay-up. Simmons then alertly stole the ball on the in-bound pass and added two m am " .;: I ! 1 I 3 TV ' ' - , -:i v. rm yo'l - ZjfZ. L,:: -J jt.l . ., I ,,,.,,,., J (Above) Miner Tim Tebbs shoots the ball over a St. Joseph defender, as Park City teammate Tom Flinders watches. Tebbs, coming off the bench, added seven points to the Park City effort. (Below) Coach Bruce Reid (right) advises his team during a Park City time-out. Hf 1 , v. more. However, St. Joseph matched the Miners point for point and led 34-24 going into the fourth quarter. With time running out, the Miners pressed St. Joseph to try to force a turnover. Instead, they fouled the Jays, and St. Joseph put the game out of reach at the free Men's basketball league to begin If you plan to play in the men's basketball league this winter but you don't care for the confines of the Memorial Building gym, the news is good. The league will hold its games at the new Treasure Mountain Middle Mid-dle School this year. The Park City Recreation Department is now accepting accep-ting applications from teams wishing to play in the league this winter. Play is scheduled to begin Jan. 5. Games will be played Monday and Wednesday evenings. The entry fee is $175 per team. The league is open to all Park City residents. Nonresidents are welcome to play for an additional registration fee of $5 per person. Officiating will be provided by members of the Salt Lake Basketball Officials' Association. Games will consist of two 20-minute halves, with the clock running continuously except during the last two minutes of each half. All teams will be required to wear uniforms. For more information, contact the Park City Recreation Department, 649-9461. throw line, 37-26, 41-28, 47-28. Cooper found the distance in the corner, scoring six points (he had 13 for the game) but it was not enough as St. Joseph won 58-36. Park City shot 14 for 46, 30 percent to St. Joseph's 21-27, 40 percent. Park City turned the ball over 20 times, but the statistic that bothered Coach High Rollers Reid the most was the Miners lack of rebounding. Park City pulled down nine out of a possible 32 offensive rebounds. According to Reid, Park City did little well, but there were no glaring errors. He said that they should iron out some of their problems as the season continues. photos by John Kinch The home-town fans will get their first glimpse of the team tomorrow night when the Miners host Wasatch, a traditional powerhouse in 2A basketball which has already al-ready beaten Carbon, a 3A team, by 16 points. The junior varsity is scheduled to play at 5:45 p.m. and the varsityat7:30p.m. Loss to Provo wraps up '82 season Thank God it's winter! More than a couple of the members of the Park City High Rollers must be saying something like that after a late-season slide which saw the team go 0-4-2 since the beginning of October. Oc-tober. The High Rollers' Major Division team closed out the fall season Saturday, losing a 3-0 decision to Provo in Provo. "We were basically playing a lot of defense," observed ob-served High Roller fullback Greg Dollhausen. "The only one who helped us keep the score down was the goalie (Matt York). He has to be the best goalkeeper in the league." Dollhausen said Park City help Provo scoreless until the half, but then "they came out and scored a quick one, and it was all over after that." Provo scored a second goal on penalty kick, then added an insurance tally late in the game. According to Dollhausen, several High Rollers were playing with injuries, and the team was also hampered by a lack of outdoor practice time. "You really can't do too much indoors, and not too many people were showing up." The Park City Reserve Division team was also scheduled to play Saturday, but had to forfeit because of alack of players. League play is scheduled to resume in the spring with the second half of the season. Dollhausen pointed out that, unless they improve their record, the High Rollers will be in danger of being demoted back to the First Division. Ironically, one of the players most responsible for Park City's promotion to the Major Division this season, forward Pat Carley, was unable to play in most of the fall games because of schedule conflicts. Dollhausen said his scoring touch has been missed. "We do need someone up front to put in one or two," he said. |