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Show Celtics, Rockets, Compete f o rW o rl dChampionship The Boston Cell ics are on a The men in gieen. who alas basketball in a place called i he Gulden. are literally eating up their opponents. It all started vvav back at the beginning of the NBA playoffs ast month. The Celtics, on the year, 46-- 1 at home, met the lowly Chicago Bulls and superstar Nlicheul Jordan. The series was no contest, as Boston eliminated the Bulls in three straight games, despite 49 and 63 points by Jordan in games two and three. Larry Bird and Kevin MoHale were as usual the two main men for the ' oil 67-1- 5 Beantown bombers, with Robert Chief Parrish and Danny Ainge contributing in their own, quiet wav. After Chicago, Boston again faced a team with one prominent superstar, Dominique Wilkins, the leading scorer in the NBA this past year, and leader of the Atlanta Hawks. The Hawks were somewhat more of a challenge for the Celts, but again Larry Bird and Co. were just too much, for Nique and Spud Webb, and the Hawks fell in five games, losing the Eastern Conference semifinal series four games tp. one. It seemed as if Boston were unstoppable, but the experts still had their doubts. mean and Atlanta? really, Chicago Hey, Bo Diddely Tech can beat those teams. Wait until Boston 1 runs into companion. some real Well, the Celts did get to play a real opponent, the Milwaukee Bucks. All the Bucks had done to reach the Eastern Conf. Finals was eliminate the Philadelphia 76eis in one of the most tin tiling, non-stocoast-to-coa- series in st playoff history. The Sixers has beaten the Bucks four of the last five times ho two teams had met in ilay olfaction. But Milwaukee ncld tough, and took the seventh and deciding game after Julius Ervings was long off the iron 113-11- wall two seconds icmammg. So the Bucks mod their luck against the hottest team m the league, and guess what happened, they got binned. Burned so bad they 're still putting out the fire. That's correct. The Celtics won the East going away, winning the series In the fourth and final game e in Milwaukee, Bird buried in four tinal the pointers, five minutes of the game, as Boston won But as dominating as Boston has been lately, thats just how surprising the Houston Rockets are playing. Led by two guys named Akeem and Ralph, also known as the Twin Towers, the Rockets earned the right to meet the Celtics in the finals of the the NBA playoffs on account of their stunning 14-- 1 12 victory over the defending world champion Los Angelas Lakers Wednesday night in the Forum, in Inglewood. The win boosted the Rockets to a 1 Western Conference series win, after they dropped The the opening game four consecutive losses by L. A. is the first team this season it has happened to Pat Rileys club. Akeem Olajuwon and Ralph Sampson, 61 and 74 respec4-- five-thre- 1 1 1 game with 29 points and 5 rebounds. The Lakers grabbed the lead early on in the opening period, 3 and led at the end of the first. Houslon fought back somewhat, and cut the deficiet 4 lo by halftime. In the third period, L.A. iw ice built up leads by as many as 14 points, only to see the Rockets come back like they had all series long, and cut the margin to two. The third quarter ended with the Lakers 5 lead. clinging to an The fourth and final quarter saw Los Angelas take a 99-9- 0 lead with 8:30 remaining, thanks to a 12-- 5 run keyed by Magic Johnson. But again Houston answered back, this time with a 0 run of their own and with 7:11 on the clock, the Rockets trailed 99-9The game back and forth over the next minute and a half, when Olajuwon and 35-2- 61-5- 87-8- 7. see-saw- Kupchack started throwing punches at each other. Both benches cleared, and after order was restored, the two were ejected with 5:14 left. The loss of Olajuwon was a severe blow to the Rockets. Akeem had already scored 30 points, 17 of which came in the third quarter, and his aggresive style of play had terrorized L.A. at both ends of the floor. But like CBS commentator Dick Stockton said, If one doesnt get you the other on will, referring to the Twin Towers. With the Lakers holding a 9 lead and the ball, Magic again delivered in the clutch, and buried a jumper with :32 on the game clock, and only six on the one. Once again Houston dipped into the well, and when Robert three-pointReid canned a with :15 left, the Rockets had tied the game for only the second time since the 110-10- 20-fo- 23-fo- opening quarter. But L.A. still had time for one last shot, or so they thought. After working the ball around, Byron Scott found himself open for a with only :03 showing. But Scotts jumper was long, and Allen Leavell grabbed the rebound and immediately called time-ou- t. Only one tick still remained, and with the score knotted at it appeared as if the two clubs would be headed for overtime. But that was just not the case, and when the ball came into Sampson, he jumped, caught the pass, whirled in the air, and tossed up a prayer that bounced once, twice, and three times, before finally dropping through. So the Rockets travel to Boston, where they try and capture their first-evNBA world title. Game one is scheduled for Monday, 3:00 eastern time, in Boston. 112-11- er 4-- 1 1 tively, dominated play throughout the series, especially Akeem, who averaged 31 points, 12 rebounds, and 4 blocked shots in the series. Sampson was the hero in game 5, as he sparked a Rocket comafter eback in the fourth-perio- d Olajuw'on was ejected along k with Laker reserve Mitch for fighting at the 5:14 Kup-chac- maik. Ralph scored Houstons final 13 10 points, cluding a miraculous, of ine, fallaway shot with d remaining, giving win. It Houston the two-poiwas the only time the Rockets led in the entire game. Its the best Ive ever felt in said career, my basketball Sampson, who finished the one-secon- Dont Wait! Reserve a Room for Your Parents During Graduation 850 S. Bluff Phone 628-423- 5 J |