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Show t JSbflS- - tijjr m fli(iim ny Hail falu Lex Hemphill Lloyd Five R g (liM Sailin': Vi liil- Walton ( - r ih n n o Salt Lake City, Utah Section October 23, Tuesday Morning ar o r t s 1979 ins i )ut 'I i .v ..Si Iaye t tin 'ow The San Diego Clippers have been m something pattern waiting for Bill Walton to come and play, but nobodys been able to put Lloyd Free on hold. of a holding Free is the remarkable the NBA in scoring with a 35.6 2 guard who led average through five games coming into Mondays contest at the Salt Palace. No guard in NBA history has ever averaged that many points through a whole season, and Free, in a rare departure from his renowned bravado, says he wont be averaging that many all year either. Free's trying to keep the Clippers above water until Walton returns, but he's too exuberant about the game (and his game) to just throw away these games waiting for San Diegos $7 1 X. Falls '5 T& f c 25 early-seaso- n million man. d ' "Some guys had the attitude ot waiting until Hill comes back, but Im the captain and I told them wove got to be together, whether Bill comes back or not, for him. said Free. "We could bo (MM waiting 4 Walton, of course, hasn't played for the Clippers this year, saying he cant put pressure on the left toot that was encased in a cast all last v Jw J v ' . Mt Jk By I'x Hcmpluil Tribune Sports Write! The I tab Jazz is in the win column Bernard King, gradually working himself into a team he joined only two and a half weeks ago, scored a basket with 12 seconds remaining Monday night, and then the J azz trusted a rookie to hold off the NBAs leading scorer at the end in posting a victory over the San Diego Clippers at the Salt Palace. King, who scored 16 points and had 14 rebounds in his second strong game in a row, banked one over Nick Weatherspoon for the winning points, enabling the Jazz to snap a season-openinlosing streak. Adrian (Dantley) and 1 work so well said King, who got his together, winning basket after the Jazz, the ball with 2H seconds remaining. "1 was able to get free, and he made a great pass." Nof Out of Woods While King gave the Jazz a one point lead, Utah certainly wasnt out of the woods. It had to hold off Lloyd Free, 33 points, at the who had a game-higoilier end, and the job for doing that was assigned to Paul Dawkins, the sparkling rookie who apparently has become the teams reserve big guard to Pete Maravich as well as a reserve forward. Free, driving down the right side of the court, got past Dawkins and had baseline jumper to put himself a the Clippers ahead. It didnt fall, and neither did taps by Weatherspoon and Swen Nater. Free finally got the ball back with three seconds left and missed another short jumper, giving the Jazz its victory. That was my shot." said Free of his initial jumper. "1 was just trying to make Lloyd take an honest jumper, said Dawkins, who contributed 14 points. "1 wanted to 1 didnt want to throw him foul him. I got picked off, but Adrian picked him up and went right up on him. . id tllt-10- i i vear ' I'm not knocking the man, but I feel, if you can walk, youve got to get out there and play, said Free. "I've played with broken ribs and a collapsed lung. A lot of other guys have played hurt. If it's not that bad, you should be out there four-gam- playing." For his own part, Free is doing some amazing playing this year. He's shooting just over 511 percent from the floor. Hes second in the league in steals with 3.4 per game. And for those w'ho feel he shoots too much, it should be noted that he averaged 28 8 points per game last year on 21.2 shots per game, and hes doing 35.6 points this year on 24.6 shots. Thats a good ratio. 5 I do a lot of things "I play the big guards guys my size dont do, said Free. "Ive been playing a lot of defense the last two years; it shocks me. Im leading the team in assists this year. Im playing the whole game." Free is not modest about his ability. But he has been able to back up his talking ever since he came to San Diego from Philadelphia just prior to draft last season. The Sixers got a 1984 choice for Free in what is one of the more lopsided first-roun- & ; ;i 1 if of recent deals in the e, ClijHrs Come Apart The Clippers came out of nowhere last year to record. But challenge for the playoffs with a that team began to come apart when Walton signed last spring; at least, everyone knew it would have to come apart because there would obviously be compensation involved. Wtien the word came down that Kermit 43-3- Washington ;t and Kevin a, s AsjN -- 'V "That guys NBA basketball. Excitement is what Free plays for. "I like to make the people get excited. he said. "Im disappointed if they dont get a show. And so he gives them the best individual show in basketball, even though he knows that, his team could be in a lot better situation than it is now. team-wis- (Wa d probably playing in some junior high school right now, mused Free. Frees reputation with the Sixers as an uncoachable player who shoots too much obviously wasnt accepted by current San Diego Coach Gene Shue, who had Free with Philly and w ho was glad to snarf him up last fall for the Clippers. Of course. Free admits he did a lot of talking. "I always ran my mouth, said Free. "They called me a hothead who talks a lot but doesn't back it up. But I never had the opportunity, sitting on the bench in Philadelphia. You cant play from the bench, but I did a lot of talking from the bench. Now', instead of World, Im "World is the nickname Free acquired in his high school days in Brooklyn around the time he was learning to dunk. An incredible leaper for his size, Free figures he first dunked a basketball when he was 15, but that he started trying when he was 13 or 14. "I told myself, Once you learn to dunk, youll dunk every chance you get, said Free, who does so now. "1 think its the most exciting play in Kunnert 9 day night. Adrian Dantley (4) hacks off while Clipper Nick Weatherspoon watches. Bernard King of Utah Jazz stuffs ball against San Diego at Salt Palace Mon Steelers Mash Broncs Claim 42-- 7 Triumph PITTSBURGH (UPIl Terry Bradshaw passed for 267 yards and two touchdowns and Franco Harris rushed for 121 yards and two other scores Monday night to power the Pittsburgh Steelers to a 42-- rout of the Denver Broncos. Completes Passes Bradshaw completed scoring passes of 11 and 17 yards to Lynn Swann and Sidney Thornton to help the defending Super Bowl champions rebound from a stunning 0 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals a week earlier and maintain sole possession of first place in record. the AFC Central with a runs of two and Harris scored on second-period four yards as he ran for the 32nd game of his d career. Thornton also scored on a plunge in the second quarter. Rookie Tony Anderson delivered TD run with 26 seconds left in the game. a 7 "Dawkins The Broncos fell to and into second place in the AFC West behind San Diego. 5-- 3 The first half of the game was distinguished by a series of game-breaker- The Steelers first touchdown, scored on Brad- TD pass to Swann. came three plays shaws run to the alter Harris broke loose for a Denver 17. 6-- 2 d 100-yar- one-yar- Score Only TD with one Bradshaw completed passes the interception for a 75 percent completion rate second best completion performance of his career. Bradshaw hit 81.3 percent of his passes in a game against Houston in 1975. His total passing yardage of 267 yards was the seventh best of his career. The Broncos scored their only touchdown in the TD pass from Craig Morton first period on a to Haven Moses. d Morton Ties Score A little more than one minute later, on a from his own 36, Morton tied the score with a strike to Moses. It was the longest pass play completed against the Steeler defense all season. 2nd-and-- 5 The second of Pittsburghs three second-quarte- r dash, touchdowns, scored by Harris on a four-yar- d came three plays after Bradshaw connected with Swann on a pass play to Denvers 16. The Steelers final TD of the first half, coming on Thorntons plunge, was the fifth play after Bradshaw-openethe drive with a completion to Randy Grossman, putting the Steelers on the Denver 22. pre-playo- r . night. fresher; Pete (Maravich, who was on Free most of the night) played more minutes than 1 said Utah would have preferred, Coaeh Tom Nissalke of his decision to put Dawkins on Free at the end. If Free came off a screen, we wanted to double on him, because we didnt think hed pass off. Make Big Plays And so, with King and Dawkins making big plays down the stretch and with Dantley and Maravich combining for 54 points, the Jazz got its historic first victory before a crowd of 6,122. "Its always nice to get your first one, said Maravich, who had 28 points, including his second straight fourth quarter. But you dont try to stop with one. Im getting my rhythm back, said King. "Were getting better every game. We played a good second half against Portland (last Thursday), we played well Saturday night (against Golden State). Were building a quiet confidence on our team. Of course, with any game in the NBA, the victor gets a little bit of luck. For the Jazz, that constituted foul trouble for Free, who sat out the last 9:32 of the third quarter and wound up with only 33 minutes, and a controversial technical foul against the Clippers in the closing minutes of the game. Freeman into Game With the score tied at 107 after a Dantley pop over Joe Bryant with 1:04 left, the Clippers rushed Freeman Williams into the game for Brian Taylor. The Jazz protested that it was an illegal substitution, but referee Bob Rakel let play continue. The Clippers were then called for a violation (they didnt get the ball across the time line) with 54 seconds left. San Diego Coach Gene Shue argued that his team couldnt have been responsible for that violation, since the clock had been stopped during the Utah protest. In the ensuing confusion, it was decided that Williams was an illegal substitution, and the Jazz got a technical foul shot from Dantley for a lead. So, while the Clippers got the ball back and the clock was set back from 54 to 1:01. thus nullifying their violation, they did lose a point, and that turned out to be critical. When play finally resumed after the one-poi- d The second half was sloppier than the first as each team committed three turnovers. The Broncos, however, were unable to take advantage of Pittsburghs mistakes the way the Bengals had the week before to stage the biggest upset of the season fji pr- r Mitt iyiPfV6X : ? v KussILs Show V v-L'- Vs , Sees Change XV sc rf 1 r 4 ' (p A 4, , 'i t PHOENIX, Ariz. (APi The Frank Kush Show on Phoenix television station KPNX is no more its now the Sun Devil Report. KPNX Sports Director Bill Denny says the re- cently deposed Arizona State University football coach didn't want to continue the show since he was relieved of his Tempo coaching duties Denvers Haven Moses, left, catches a touchdown pass in prst quarter against Pittsburgh. Steeler delenders are J.T. Thomas No. 21 and Donnie Shell No. 31. Says Denny, "It would have been clumsy y life r I f. 108-10- 7 hearts." Frees still doing it, getting the Clippers through their Bill Walton waiting days and getting the NBA through its long winter with some needed excitement. was ex-N- nt 34-1- would go to Portland (and Randy Smith went later to Cleveland for one of the top draft choices the Clippers had lost to Portlandi, the team was stunned. "It was rough," said Free. "When it happened, we were in camp, and that just closed it down. And Kermit is one of the best friends I had in the league besides Darryl Dawkins. The way the Clippers played at the end of last year, Free thinks about what might have been, about what that team could be doing now. We would have been in the playoffs, and we would have gone far with the team we had last year," he said. With the reputation he earned in Philadelphia, one might think it strange to hear Free talk altout the team. But hes never been on a loser. He won at Canarsie High in Brooklyn, he won an NAIA championship at Guilford College with M.L. Carr, and, although hes never been on a championship team in the NBA, his teams have won 59 percent of their games in the four years hes been in the league. What Free does, in an entertainment field, is walk the thin line between providing excitement on his own and enabling his team to win games. lie felt he was a scapegoat in Philadelphia, where they say he crossed the line. On his time with the Sixers, he said: That team was as good as any team ever to hit a basketball court. Everywhere we went, we sold out. It was a travelling dunk show. We may not have won anything, but we won over peoples e h Playing the Whole (Janie ) 9 terhnu ;d. Mann n h made a big dcfeti sue play, stripping Taylor (who was reinserted of the bail while the was going up for a baseline jumper However. Dantley was called for an offensive foul at the other end, and the Clippers had the hall hack with 35 seconds to go. trailing by one Free wasted little time, popp ng in a long left angle jumper ov er Dawkins to give San Diego the lead bai k with 28 seconds left Free, who scored San Diego's last eight xmts, had done what the Clippers wanted, scoring quickly to insure that his team would get the ball back even if Utah used its full 24 seconds to score The Jazz used cnly 16 seconds to get "You just take the first Kings basket and the good shot," said Nissalke ClijH'rs had plenty of tune (and four good tries) to gel the winning basket. II didnt fall for them, and they were sadd'ed with tlu-ifourth loss in six games. The Jazz led throughout the third quarter, but the Clippers stayed in the game, with Free cooling on the bench with four fouls, the first time this year he's been in foul trouble. Free came hark to light things up in the fourth quarter, when he got 14 points in what sometimes seemed like a personal shootout between him and Maravich. He felt he should have had a chance at two more points at the end, when he was knocked to the floor on his follow shot as the final buzzer sounded. "1 know I got fouled," he said. "1 wasnt just thinking about it. I know it. But it called, and the exuberant Jazz players raced to the locker room with a victory . that theyll take with them to Los Angeles for a 9 p.m. MI)T game against the Lakers Tuesday Jk. - i if IB 4, aTribune SMff Photos bv Lvnn Utahs R johnsor "Pistol" Pete Maravich sends off a jump shot Monday. |