Show 4C NBA playoffs Friday April 19 2002 r Standa'd-Examine- Lewis bumps Starks from playoff roster Johnson will be back By TOM McEACHIN the final Standard Examiner staff son playing seven times and averaging 15 points on shooting SALT LAKE CITY - The Jazz set their playoff roster on Thursday with two decisions and one surprise Quincy Lewis and Rusty LaRue get to play on while the season ends for John Starks and John Crotty The decision of which backup point guard to keep for the postseason was clear-cuCrotty had been bothered by knee injuries over the second half of the n LaRue games of the when he scored 10 points in 11 minutes on shooting sea- “Quincy was ready to play” coach Jerry Sloan said “He stayed within the offense he came out and was comfortable with what he Lewis was a starter at shooting guard the first 19 games of the season but he rarely played after that He spent 40 games on the injured list including a stretch near the end of the season Lewis was activated for the final two games of the season and played well especially in the finale against San Antonio on Wednesday was doing 25-ga- Lewis season and wasn’t healthy enough to play so LaRue got the nod But the veteran Starks getting left off was a bit of a surprise although he faded over t: 10 “That’s the best Quincy Lewis has played for us He came out and looked like he was involved in the game” Crotty Starks Lewis ad LaRue are all free agents at the end of the season to coach young Suns The Associated Press Eastern Conference I’ve made more turnovers in certain games trying to make the extra pass A lot of different things go into that We didn’t do a good job as a team as the season went on -- Jazz First round turnovers per game Conference Finals Conference Semifinals First round (best-of-fiv- (best-of-seve- 1 583? New Jersey — Saturday Sacramento — Utah 8 4 Charlotte Dallas 4 j Saturday 33 5 Orlando JJ Finals 2 Detroit Jazz Seattle 7 Los Angeles 3 — Sunday — Sunday 6 Philadelphia turn-over- SOURCE Associated Portland 6 Press AP the Lakers went into the Alamodome and took Games 1 and 2 of the Western Playoffs From 1C And we all remember how the Lakers responded to that right? They won the next four finishing with a 15-- 1 postseason record that was the best in NBA history A whole new season begins this weekend and a good way to start is by throwing out everything that happened during the regular season OK not everything The point here is that the proposition of beating the Lakers in a five-- or seven-gam- e series is more formidable than the optimists in other Western Conference cities would have people said Malone led the team in turnovers averaging 33 a game the most for him since the 1989-9season “I’ve made more turnovers in certain games trying to make the extra pass” Malone said “A lot of different things go into that We didn’t do a good job as a team as the season went on” But Stockton insists the Jazz have gotten better Utah started the season with a record and av- turnovers in 188 eraged those games Over the ‘ nal 15 games of the season they averaged just 136 turnovers “Now I think it’s a matter of concentration” Stockton said “When we have the off night in terms of turnovers it’s concentration - and that goes both on passer and receiver” Coach Jerry Sloan says concentration has been a factor all season long There have been games all season where the Jazz have played well for the most part yet a few costly lapses have done them in “We’ve gotten better in some cases but in some cases when you don’t have great concentration that’s what has hurt us” Sloan said “There have been times we haven’t had the concentration to be able to finish games” 0 ‘ — 3 Boston s Stockton had 25 per game this season about average for him He said part of the problem for the team was adjusting to having two rookies in the starting lineup and having other new faces in the rotation “That was a part of the learning process as the season went on” Stockton L" San Antonio 2 — Saturday 7 Toronto From 1C “So I think turnovers are going to be a big part of it” he said - Sunday Minnesota 5 NBA Sunday believe The two-tim- e defending champions bring a mental edge into this postseason a unique sense of confidence in themselves that no other NBA team - East or West -comes close to matching 6-- fi-- Take for instance the Sacramento Kings who finished the regular season with the best record in the league They have pretty much spent the past 5 12 months knocking the daylights out of everybody except one team which of course is the Lakers (61-2- Shaquille O’Neal Kobe Bryant and their cohorts beat the Kings thce times and lost once Other teams quake in the Kings’ raucous arena The Lakers go in there expecting to win In the last eight games between the teams the Lakers are Then there are the San 7-- 1 Antonio Spurs who have changed 60 percent of their starting lineup but are still anchored by Tim Duncan whom we all remember (turning to jelly along with the rest of his team last May as ON THE WEB: Keep track of the Utah Jazz throughout the 2002 NBA playoffs at wwwstandardnet 1 Saturday 8 Indiana forward Karl Malone on his team-leadin-g Conference Finals Conference Semifinals (best-of-fiv- Western Conference Conference finals The Dallas Mavericks also check into the postseason with a most interesting team a Don Nelson Gimmick Special run by everyone’s favorite Dairy Queen clerk Mark Cuban Lots of folks out West think the Mavs just might be crazy enough to confound the mighty Lakers with wave after wave of offense from a phalanx of the league’s best point pair of shoot-firguards and a pair of would-bin Greg Buckner and Adrian Griffin And we didn’t even mention outside-shootin- g st e series it’s hard to argue with the oddsmakers who have made Los Angeles a favorite to win a third straight title The biggest longshots are Utah and Seattle at 50-- 1 while the pick of the litter in the East is New Jersey at Oh yes the East Have we mentioned the East? Keeping with past practice the NBA is conducting a playoff competition in the Eastern and Central time zones too The New Jersey Nets reportedly are the No 1 seed But enough of that Let’s get back to the Lakers seven-gam- 6-- 5 8-- rs Michael Finley Problem is the Mavericks need to get past the ' Minnesota Timberwolves and then the winner of the Sacramento-Utaseries Perhaps Karl Malone said it best Wednesday night: “No one expects us to do anything of course” That’s right Karl because as they say down in h Louisiana y’all got whupped Sacramento swept the season Feb when Scott Skiles 17 left by mutual agreement with the franchise The Suns under Johnson went but the team played with noticeably more emotion and energy 'Johnson will oversee a rebuilding project that will center on four young players - Stephon Marbury Shawn Marion Joe Johnson and Jake Tsakalidis Marbury is the oldest at 25 “We certainly have our work cut out” the coach said at a news conference “We have a nucleus of young talent here and we will be bringing in more young talent in this year’s draft We will work very very hard to get it back to where we are accustomed to seeing it” Potapenko to miss first round: Vitaly Potapenko Boston’s 0 49S&‘ 10306 Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday at 3:30 pm MDT The playoffs begin Saturday with Indiana-Ne- Jersey at 10:30 at 1 pm Antonio at 3:30 Seattle-Sa- n pm and 6:30 pm am Orlando-Charlott- at e at pm Minnesota-Dalla- s pm and Toronto-Detro6:30 pm 599 Select Mode® Financing vehicles and paynerts pijs OAl “GS300 lax icense 12 000 Sees rues Moonroof Sim 10826 CD Leather Heated Seats! year 48 mos tees All $400000chTveaP Leases tsased on residua Horry’s status uncertain: Robert Horry’s status for the Los Angeles Lakers’ playoff opener against Portland was uncertain Thursday following the discovery of a hematoma - a pooling of blood -under his abdominal muscle The Lakers said recommended treatment consists of rest medication and therapeutic exercises Mavs’ Johnson makes playoff roster as coach: Avery the only Dallas player with championship ring won’t the Mavericks during the Instead he’ll be coaching Johnson the guard who was on San Antonio’s championship team three years ago was one of three playoff players left off the roster released Thursday Don Nelson then added Johnson who has a left calf injury to his coaching Johnson an NBA play for playoffs 89-8- 1 staff 1 TOURING 20555R16 WHILE THEY LAST! mn(E oTt’ETDElCES BOUNTIFUL LOGAN BRIGHAM OGDEN 4th CENTERVILLE OGDEN NORTHVICW CLEARFIELD OGDEN SO HARRISON DOWNTOWN OGDEN WAU CITY EVANSTON ROY KAYSVHLE TREMONTON son and dnw aDtxwai ES300 S2086608 OAC finanang STREET LAYTON This 3 Yeekend At- '-yLa!p’ If Miller m&r 4691 2 Par Hot MSRP: MSRP: 36383 SALE PRICE: 39700 SALE PRICE: SALE PRICE: 599 0A C 599 Financing Also Available For Up To 60 Months OAC 35100 mSLLER In Murray After alL OOOmilespetyear deDosA Wle $19 97265 38048 you know this guy 264 - 3600 aluetdes and incente if any Petra tor iHusMion on( tenures may vary Paynentspluslar (pluaor mctuoes searty 48mos $3500 00 One oil iesidaai$1746384 OAC ””RX300 12 000 me per tear 18 tios $3500 00 drive of residua OAC Dealer retains tees) IS 3CD 12000mteferyea39mos OAC &HMAdwtang2002 MapraWOT and A r Johnson was hurt when he was s kicked during a game a week ago ' ’ agamst Houston HjamETIIDOT £ LEXUSwwwlhmlexuscom documenaior Celtics on March 22 943A71 To 60 Months — and dealer the playoff opener against Boston won’t be clear until he practices with the Philadelphia 76ers today Iverson who led the league in scoring with 31 4 points per game missed the last 14 games of the regular season after breaking a bone m his left hand in a game agamst the at Financing Also Available For Up 60 Months OAC 5701 South State sijjecf !o pnor sale Prices $350000anwoff resrta$179B979 All NEW BODY STYLEU 40721 4 LRRRY H Also Available For Up To against the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday in Phoenix 10:30 at it MSRP! 31982 Phoenix coach Frank Johnson watches from the sideline during the Suns’ season finale Sunday’s slate includes Philadelphia-Bosto- n toMof SALE PRICE-- Financing Also Available For Up To 60 Months OAC DABNERThe Associated Press rs 43® 599 ROY backup center who injured his left knee in a meaningless game on the last night of the regular season will miss the first round of the NBA playoffs against Philadelphia - and perhaps more Potapenko has a partial tear of his anterior cruciate hgament and will be out for 10 days to two weeks “to be most optimistic” coach Jim O’Brien said after practice on Thursday a day after Potapenko limped off m an victory over the Atlanta Hawks The Celtics could not rule out surgery though they were hopmg the knee could be rehabbed without it A fully tom ACL requiring surgery typically takes a year to recover from Iverson’s availability unknown: Allen Iverson’s status for ss 39S if “ series against the first-roun- d NBC will televise the first three games each day with series against Utah 4--0 the late games on TNT The second games of each winning by an average series are spread out over margin of almost 23 points So at least there’s a high next week two every night probability that there will be Monday through Thursday a Western Conference Game 3 of the Nets-Pacesemifinal series between series is Friday night with Dallas and Sacramento that the other seven Games 3s set shapes up in theory as one of for next Saturday and the most entertaining playoff Sunday series possible The winner The playoffs will last for would get the Lakers the next eight or nine weeks with Game 4 of the NBA assuming they take care of the Spurs Finals tentatively scheduled On paper it all looks fairly for June 11 - the night the Lakers finish their sweep promising in terms of OK it doesn’t go compelling basketball But looking at it from the that way But at this point in time remembering what the perspective of trying to Lakers did to everybody a justify the probability of someone actually knocking year ago it’s hard to envision off the Lakers four times in a any other scenario PREMIUM PACKAGE' NICELY EQUIPPED! Stk xrfpr as coach next season The teaqiannounced on Thursday that Johnson had contract signed a three-yea- r Johnson 43 took over on Los Angeles opens its e Kobe-stoppe- 1 Johnson Frank back 11-2- U Lia PHOENIX - The Phoenix Suns who failed to make the NBA playoffs for the first time in 11 years will bring CY M Pflyg j |