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Show Standard-Examiner SPORTS Sunday. March 13, 1994 5D Spurs dump Rockets again Hawks 104, Pistons 92 The San Antonio Spurs showed their victory over Houston five days ago was no fluke, dumping the Rockets once again on Saturday night and putting themselves back in first place in the Midwest Division. The Spurs beat the Rockets 109-98, their first victory in Houston since 1991. And it came despite the benching of Dennis Rodman, the league’s leading rebounder, who missed his plane from San Antonio to Houston and showed up for the game just moments before tipoff. Rodman never played Saturday but the Spurs got 40 points from David Robinson, including 12 in the final quarter, plus a season-high 23 off the bench from Negele Knight. Robinsen also had 16 rebounds as the Spurs went one game up on the Rockets. “I don’t think we can play anybetter,” Spurs coach John Lucas said. “David Robinson really stepped up. But the key to the game was the play of Negele Knight.” Knight had eight points down thestretch that helped San Antonio pull away after Houston Danny Manning scored 18 ofhis 24 points in the second half as visiting Atlanta preventing the Pistons from winning threestraight for the first time since Nov. 17-21. Detroit led 49-48 at halftime, and Joe Dumars helped the Pistons take a 61-53 lead early in the third quarter. Manning led the Hawks in scoring, while Kevin Willis finished with 19 points and 18 rebounds after a big first quarter. Joe Dumars led all scorers with 32 points, his third straight 30point game. By DAVID MOORE NBA NOTES Dallas Morning News arch Madnesswill hold a populace anda large contingent of NBA scouts in its hypnotic grip. College basketball uses the next three weeks to determineits champion. NBA teams usethis tme to help determine which players are worthy of their multimillion-dollar trust. Right now, two seniors — Duke’s Grant Hill and North Carolina’s Eric Montross — are assured of being taken in the lottery. Temple's Aaron McKie, Auburn’s Wesley Person and Texas’ B.J. Tyler all have a chance. Those chances depend on the numberof quality underclassmen who decide to come out. “Like past drafts, this one will be enhanced by underclassmen,”said Seattle President Bob Whitsitt, whose team should have a lottery pick since it gets the worst pick between Philadelphia and Charlotte through a trade. “There could, and probably will, be a good numberof lottery picks from the underclassmen.” Publicly, NBA scouts and general managers are prevented from discussing players who are notin their senior season. Privately, there’s no doubtthat Purdueforward Glenn Robinson would be the first player selected if he decides to pass up his final year ofeligibility. “He’s Number One,” a general manager said. “He's an outstanding offensive player with a rare combination ofstrength and finesse. He’s a ternfic shooter. He's going to lead the league in sconng before his career is over.” California’s Jason Kidd and Connecticut's Donyell Marshall are regarded as the top underclassmen after Robinson and are projected to follow him in the draft order if they decide to comeout. The one senior who could insert himself into that order is Hill. “He does a little bit of everything,” said Dallas’ director of scouting, Keith Grant. “He’s a jack-of-all-trades. He has a good, solid basketball background, and he knows howto play. His shooting appears to have gotten better.” The reviews of Montross are mixed. Marty Blake, head of the league's scouting service, Compares him to the Mavencks’ Greg Dreiling. Most believe that’s too harsh. Scouts say that while Montross doesn’t have ideal quickness or athletic ability, he is a 7-foot presence who can play. “He hassize, strength and a good work ethic,” Washington General Manager John Nash said. “He made himself into a top college player. “It doesn’t look like he has the foot quickness laterally to be a top NBA player. But can he be an effective center? Sure.” The gap between Hill and Montross and the rest of the senior class appears significant. That gap could encourage even more underclassmen to declare. Two other factors are at work here. One is the new rule adopted by the NCAA that allows a player 10 declare for the draft, see where he’s selected, then take the next 30 days to determine whether he wants 10 return to school The other factor is the threat of a rookie salary cap. The collective-bargaining agreement between the NBA and the Players Association expires at the end of this season. Management has made rumblings that it wants a rookie cap. It's unlikely that the Players Association would agree, but some underclassmen may not be willing ’ ; to take the chance. “Myguess would be anytime you have a newrule and things change, that only means more will come out, not less,” Whitsitt said. Louisville's Clifford Rozier. Wisconsin’s Michael Finley. Michigan’s Juwan Howard andJalen Rose. Georgia Tech’s James Forrest. George Washington’s Yinka Dare. Clemson’s Sharone Wright. Those are just some of the underclassmen who could dislodge McKie, Tyler and other seniors from thelottery. “It’s very hard to determine what seniors will be in the lotteryat this point,” Nash said. “You mayhave an inordinate amountof underclassmen as a result of the new Tule. Because of that, I hesitate to say anyseniors other than Hill and Montross are lottery picks. “There could be some veryinteresting developments.” One on one Toward the end of San Antonio’s victory over Orlando, the crowd at the Alamodome began to chant, “M-V-P, M-V-P.” in honor of Spurs center David Robinson. A few secondslater, the Spurs’ Willie Anderson and the Magic’s Shaquille O'Neal exchanged words. “Shaquille’s words were something like: ‘David isn’t a real MVP. I'm the MVP,’ ” Anderson said. “I said: ‘Who played like the MVP tonight? You or David? “That ticked him off. It got to him.” Robinson had 36 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists and six blocked shots. O'Neal had 32 points, 11 rebounds, two assists and no blocks. The Spurs won, 111-103. Robinson's team is now 4-0 in head-to-head matchups with O'Neal. Three days later, Robinson had this to say when a reporter asked him about O'Neal. “It’s amazing to me that we get so many Shag questions,” Robinson said. “... We hear talk about how people are jealous of Shaq. He has nothing we would want. He has a world of potential, but that’s not worth a whole lot. What has he done? “I just have to laugh. I feel bad if he’s upset about something. But I'll let you guys know when I lose some sleep overit.” Power Trip Whenofficial Steve Javie called a technical on Portland's Cliff Robinson in a recent Blazers’ loss, Mike Rice, the Trail Blazers’ radio color commentator, threw up his hands in disgust. Javie then rushed the table and began yelling at Rice. “He said, “Whothe hell are you” and I said, “Who the hell are you?’ ” Rice related. “Then he said, “You just go back to doing your piddly little job or I'm going to kick you out of here.” “At that point, the war is over. I see who has the power.” A few minutes later, Indiana's media relations director tapped Rice on the shoulder and informed him that he had been ejected by Javie. Rice watched the rest of the game from the stands “I basically told him that he cost us the game because we didn’t get a call after that,” Blazers’ coach Rick Adelman said. “I hope this doesn’t start another trend “They used to say we always complained about the officiating. Now we can say it's not us. It's the Portland media.~ li should be pointed out that Nets 117, Homets 92 Derrick Coleman scored 20 points as he showed up Larry Johnson in the battle of the NBA’s highest-paid players East Rutherford, NJ _ Johnson, who just returned to the Hornets’ lineup Friday night after missing 31 games with Bulls 111, Kings 94 Scottie Pippen scored 20 points, and Chicago used a 15-4 run starting the fourth quarter to beat visiting Sacramento. Toni Kukoc and Scott Williams each added 17 points for Chicago, 22-8 at home this season., and B.J. Armstrong scored 16. Chicago capped its decisive fourth-quarter surge 7:14 when the Kings were called for consecutive technical fouls on Randy Brown, coach GarrySt. Jean and Lionel Simmons. For Simmons, who had 21 points, it was his second technical, an automatic ejection. Steve Kerr madeall three free throws, giving Chicago a 95-76 lead. SNOW TIRE CHANGEOVER $16.99 PER PAIR WITH THIS AD. MOST CARS, MAGS EXTRA. EXPIRES 3/19/94 Ze — Xl HEELS! SELECTION < <—\A P165/80R13._ P175/80R13. P185/80R)3 P18S/75R14 PI9S/TSRI4. P20S/75R14. P205/75R15. P2IS/75RI5 P225/75RI15_ P235/75R15_ 35,000 MILE —~ p165/B0R13..-p175/80R13_ p1gs/B0R13 pigs/7SRi4 pygs/7SRi4 205/75R14 p205/75R15 p215/7SRI5 P225/7SR15 p735/TSRIS 45,000 Mile BUY 3 GET 1 FREE Gos charged . Lifetime worronty. Instollotion avoilable. not volid with other offers. With this od. Expires 3/19/94 Vaternoun | ANDSPIN BALANCE - Other sizes soic © oO @ Whost vebicles, Not wold with other offers Expires 3/15/94 ae a os oe ome one on ROTATIONS ROAD HAZARD RUBBER COVERAGE VALYE STEMS WITH BIG 0 BRAND TIRES THERE ARE WO ADD ONS! OVER 400 LOCATIONS IN THE U.S. AND CANADA oat 735 Monn 544-4476 CLEARFIELD 548 Worth Whom 773-8158 ROY 5140 Se. 1900 W 774-6300 S. OGDEN 3675 Riverdale Bd. 394-2647 OGDEN 3163 Wol Ave 399-4449 N. OGDEN 458 Wowk 393- 1 BRIGHAM CITY 390 Sowth Moin 734-9429 TREMONTON 163 West Moin 257-3395 Javie is the same official who once ejected Hoops, the Washington Bullets’ masoot, from a game AELELhae at March Madness Miller got his 800th 3-point goal with 3:19 to play at Indianapolis, giving the Pacers a 97-85 ead. Derrick McKeyscored 24 points for the Pacers. Eric Murdock scored 26 points for the Bucks. NAME BRANDS + LOW PRICES °« NBA goes shopping The loss was Houston’s fourth in seven games. Hakeem Olajuwonled the Rockets with 27 points and 18 rebounds but played much of the game in foul trouble. Vernon Maxwell ad- NAME BRANDS ¢ LOW PRICES »* Spurs’ David Robinson (50) and Rockets’ Otis Thorpe duelfor a rebound in game at Houston. Thorpe emerged with the ball. ter. * AMERICA’S LARGEST FRANCHISE TIRE CO. * NAME BRANDS + LOW PRICES - = The Associated Press 800 3-pointers. At New York, the Knicks held the opposition below 90 points for a team-record sixth straight game, beating injury-riddled Cleveland. Patrick Ewing led the Knicks with 29 points, benefiting from the absence of Cleveland’s Brad Daugherty, out for the next month with herniated disk. It was Ewing’s eighth straight game with at least 20 points. The Cavaliers also were without Mark Price, held out with leg and back injuries after going 1-for-12 from the field in a loss Friday at Detroit that ended Cleveland’s 11-game winning streak. * AMERICA’S LARGEST FRANCHISE TIRE CO. > NAME BRANDS + LOW PRICES + A outscored the Rockets 25-13 in the final six minutes, shooting 73 percent in the fourth quar- Reggie Miller scored 23 points and became only the fourth player in NBAhistory to record Knicks 96, Cavaliers 86 shitmoh MMhat MeLAd) MeteoBe TFbefd] PTRTTAR took an 85-84 lead with 6:15 to go. The Spurs Pacers 104, Bucks 97 half Johnny Newman added 21 points for New Jersey, including 15 in a seven-minutestretch bridging thefirst and second quarters. eeeltme eset ROOSe atatee oo lead to e VanSeniors : 5-unind. or 18th led by The Associated Press sd MO1 ¢ SGNVUE IWYN a 68 ded 23 for the Rockets. t half. With Charlotte trailing 56-43 at mission, Johnson didn’t return for the se eo nm er way a back injury, had just 8 points in 16 minutes 1 NBA ROUNDUP ooo ournarst-day San Antonioisback in first place in division aQq SU oo o and a ie Bur- 3 were bogeys und at e-3 on r third |
