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Standard-Examin- Sunday December 3 2000 er Fall of Westphal the wake of Hurricane which stormed Seattle the past two weeks two things are clean Nate McMillan one of the good guys in sports is deserving of an opportunity as a head coach and by all indications will be a great one The way the opportunity came to him is a great example of what’s wrong with the NBA The situation in Seattle which had been precarious for more than a year came to a head on Nov 21 in Dallas when Gary Payton shouted profanities and threats at coach Paul Westphal in a team huddle The next morning in San Antonio Westphal ordered Payton off the team bus and suspended him for that night’s game Then after meeting with Payton that afternoon Westphal rescinded the suspension Insiders say it was Westphal’s lifting of the suspension that cost him his job After the blow-u- p Westphal called GM Wally Walker who was scouting in Hawaii and told Walker that he and Payton had their most productive meeting In Jazz writer Tom look at how the NBA’s 29 teams stack up this week (records are through Fnday): Standard-Examin- McEachm's Utah 1 ) (13-3- The Comeback Kids Uh make that the Comeback Fogies Starks furallies even from els the bench with his Eastern Conference mentality fourth-quart- 2 LA Lakers ) (12-5- Kobe is happiest when the offense flows through him but the Lakers are better when it flows through Shaq 3 Sacramento Pea (11-- 4) power: Stojakovic breakout season 4 San Antonio (10-5- ) at home with victories Jazz Lakers Kings and Sixers over 8-- 0 5 Philadelphia Only a having ) (13-2- vs the West 6 Phoenix ) (10-5- Suns hope to see Backcourt 2000 on the floor together sometime before 2001 7 Portland 5C a sad commentary ever and asked the general manager to revoke the suspension Walker was surprised but didn’t want to argue with Westphal in front of Payton So Walker relented - and soon it was clear ' Westphal lost whatever dwindling respect he had with his players The countdown started when the Sonics were embarrassed 112-8- 5 by the Spurs - with Payton in the “I guess what left a bad taste in my mouth was the comments that Payton made during the game and then afterward he said ‘he disrespected me’ ” Phoenix coach Scott Skiles said “It’s an environment now where you’re disrespecting a guy if you tell him to get back on defense It’s like ‘How dare you coach me’ “And then we sit around wondering why nobody wants to come to the games In my opinion part of it is the attitude of the players themselves” Added Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy: “It shows you again that your best players lead you and you have to have the right best players” The bottom line is Westphal was fired because he was the wrong coach for that team And McMillan wasted little time establishing himself as the right coach He benched Olympian Vin Baker to limit the time he and Patrick Ewing are on the court together and he moved Payton from point guard to shooting guard so he and Emanual Davis can play together and raise the defensive intensity The result: victories over Portland and the Lakers in McMillan's first two games Tom McEachin covers the NBA He can for the Standard-Examinor he reached at 625-42tmceachinra standardnet 1000 2000 REEL QUICK FIRE GRAPHITE FRAME REAR DRAG 1 STAINLESS STEEL BALL BEARING ALUMINUM SPOOL Back-to-ba- WAS $2999 er 1000 2000 (10-6- ) Addition of Laettner development cfNowitzki helps Mavencks play big 9 Cleveland Good start too good to be true 10 New York (10-7- ) Knicks are only 4 at the Garden s not tough here anymore Teams come in and do what they want to do - dunk get leads shoot high percentages What we did in the past has no effect on teams that come in here now" Chns Childs says 4-- ' It Charlotte 11 Had snapped ) (10-7- winning streak e 12 Toronto Charles Oakley got a suspension for hitting an opponent at the morning shootaround Shaquille O'Neal got one game for hitting Greg Ostertag in the same situation The difference? One guy's Shaq the other one isn t e 13 Minnesota (9--7) Without Malik Sealy (killed in car crash) Joe Smith (contract voided by league) and Bobby Jackson (signed with Sacramento) the Wolves lost three of their top four defenders from last season 14 Houston The (9-- 7) Show o roomwearing thin in Rockets locker 15 Denver - (8-- 8) Issel calls his team quitters 16 Seattle (8-- 9) McMillan starts with victones over Lakers Blazers 17 Indiana (7-- 8) LA bombed away from 3 point line hitting against them 18 Miami (6-1- Riley's first losing November in 19 years of coaching 19 Boston ) (7-- 9) Celtics get first road win of the year with Antoine Walker starting at point guard 20 Detroit (7-- 9) Stackhouse a show one-ma- n 21 Milwaukee Snapped a (6-- 9) losing e four-gam- then used a run to nip Miami streak at Orlando fourth-quarte- r 22 New Jersey Crashed start (6-1- 21-- 0 0) hard after promising 23 Orlando (6-1- 1) Loss to Jazz just one in senes of meltdowns fourth-quart- 24 Vancouver Snapped streak a point guard Baron an appreciation history that is lost on a lot of young players ' When he wasn’t playing in one of three summer leagues in Los Angeles he was often at home watching tapes of John Stockton Jason Kidd Gary Payton and Mark Jackson He even called the NBA office looking for tapes of Isiah Thomas and he worked out and talked with retired Los Angeles Lakers All-StMagic Johnson “The more you talk about basketball the better you become” Davis said “It’s not all about coming in the gym and shooting all the time “I’ve got tons of tapes in my house I work out with Magic Johnson and pick his brain And the moves he makes even at his age now (41) I think I stole a lot of stuff from him” After his sophomore season at UCLA Davis 21 was selected with the third pick in the 1999 NBA Draft He spent most of his rookie season on the bench watching veteran David Wesley partly because Wesley played well and partly because Davis looked confused and indecisive much of the season But this year he is making his mark Wesley shifted to shooting guard with the departure of Eddie Jones allowing Davis to start at the point That allows them to play interchangeably with Wesley often handling the ball and Davis attacking Davis averages 138 points and 67 assists this season and was named the NBA Player of the Week last week after recording the first two of his career “I wanted this to be my team” Davis said “I got drafted here last year and I didn’t have a great year “I learned a lot but mostly I’m happy being here and I know I want this to be my team for this year and the years to come” ar (9-- 7) triple-doubl- es Around the league Van Horn on the run: Keith Van Horn who broke his leg in the preseason ran for the first time on Wednesday “I ran for five minutes on the treadmill” Van Horn said “It hurt but that’s what the doctors (6-1- 0) 25 Golden State Beat Pacers everybody? 26 LA Clippers (5-1- expected’’ Noting how much the Nets’ offense struggles without him he said “1 can help out in a lot of ways I look at every game and I see how 1 can help the team in certain situations This is my fourth year and I’m starting to get the experience and that will help out as well” Bad chemistry: Tariq Abdul-Waha- d a player some thought should have been on Utah's shopping list when the Jazz were looking for a shooting guard to replace Jeff Homacek last summer signed in Denver for seven years and $433 million He also was benched by the Nuggets last week Athlete inflation: How much does $39 million get you in today’s NBA? How about an overweight forward who averages 53 points a game this season The Heat used their salary-ca- p exception granted in the wake of the kidney ailment that is expected to sideline center Alonzo Mourning for the season draft pick trading a second-roun- d to Detroit for Cedric Ceballos Familiar face: The Jazz might have gotten the sense Ceballos was tailing them having faced him in two different cities for two different teams on the same road trip Ceballos played for the Pistons in the first half against the Jazz last Sunday then got traded to Miami at halftime only to face the Jazz yet again on Friday Whoa Nellie: Dallas coach Don Nelson missed Thursday’s game at Portland in order to have a biopsy on his prostate Nelson 60 has a swollen prostate and should know the results in about a week Assistant Del Harris coached the team in his absence Asked if it’s anything serious Nelson said: “Well we'll find out" Merry Christmas: ah nba players soon will be getting the second installment of their group licensing money which is part of the latest collective bargaining agreement But unlike their paychecks which vary greatly every player will be receiving an identical check this week Every player on every roster from last season will be getting an estimated $17000 which is half of their annual share The first came just before the season started - Tom SfcEachin WAS $3199 QUICK FIRE 5 2 1 GEAR RATIO FRONT DRAG 2 STAINLESS STEEL BALLBEARINGS PRECISION ALUM SPOOL Tuesday vs Toronto When: 7 pm Where: Delta Center vML o: KJZZ-T- v SIDESTAB KFNZ-A- 1320 WAS QUICK FIRE II 5 2:1 GEAR RATIO 3 STAINLESS STEEL BALL BEARINGS STRONG LIGHT GRAPHITE BODY ALUMINUM SPOOL 6-- 2 When: 7 Where: Delta Center IjSk o: WAS No TV $3999 KFNZ-A- 1320 a KLO-A- 1430 QUICK FIRE II 52:1 RATIO 2 STAINLESS STEEL BALL BEARINGS EXTRA SPOOL INCLUDED One to watch: Shareef Abbur-Rahiaverages 207 points and 1 04 rebounds to lead Vancouver Notebook: The Grizzlies are against the Jazz but their lone victory came in their last appearance at the Delta Center on Jan 16) (11 9 e SAHARA When: 7 Where: Delta Center ' No TV KFNZ-A- 1320 4000 SPINNING 2 STAINLESS STEEL pm KLO-A- 1430 One to watch: Antawn Jamison leads the Warriors averaging 206 points per game Notebook: Utah's Dortyell Marshall and Golden State’s Adam Keefe get their first looks at their old teams They were part of deal that hinged on a four-tea- & REEL BALL BEARINGS 1 ROLLER BEARING 6 01 GEAR RATIO NO PLAY SUPER STOPPER II ANTIREVERSE EXTRA ALUMINUM SPOOL INCLUDED 200 & 201 CD BAIT r to Howard Eisley's The Jazz have a Dallas 1 winning streak over the Warriors CASTING REEL "v 494 LEVEL WIND SUPER STOPPER RIGHT & LEFT HAND 4 STAINLESS STEEL BALL BEARINGS SHIMANO VARIABLE BRAKE SYSTEM 1 (5-1- 2) New coach Lon Kruger hasn't had healthy lineup aU season (4-1- 2) Lost to Atlanta At home By 27 29 Chicago 1000 2000 Saturday vs Golden State (3-1- 3) 28 Washington 4000 REEL Tyrone Nesby deemed locker room problem so he s shipped out 27 Atlanta & SPINNING hasn't Jazz stats through Dec $3699 2000 SYT1COPAT6 1000 pm 4000 REEL One to watch: Vince Carter the league's leading scorer (275 ppg) is nursing a strained quadriceps muscle Notebook: Charles Oakley is suspension serving a three-gam- e for attacking the Clippers' Jeff Mclnms in a morning shootaround The Jazz are on Friday e against the Raptors Thursday vs Vancouver & SPINNING 1430 1) but looo 2000 KLO-A- CD losing seven-gam- e 4000 REEL Charlotte point guard learns from the best Charlotte (9-- 6) & SPINNING Rasheed Wallace 8 Dallas 4000 SPINNING (11-6- ) who has already extended his shooting range and polished his ability to draw technical fouls this season is now blocking shots & (2-1- 4) Fortunately for them they get to play Atlanta three more times t I |
