Show l1y"imMrncypniMyvi CIO The Salt Lake Tribune m&w NBA BASKETBALL Sunday March 15 1998 ASSISTS INSIDE THE LEAGUE 0 SHcJtksid Wosfi 64 63 44 63 62 63 61 61 64 58 KkfcUhoo Stockton Utah Jackson lod Payton Sea Matoury fclnn Knight dev BACK IN TIME Johnson SA Hardaway Mia Cosset NJ Motivation comes from different sources for professional athletes For Steve Kerr it came from knowing that time may be running out Kerr returned to the Chicago Bulls lineup last week after missing 22 games with a fractured left clavicle What I thought about was this is the most fun team to play for and I might have only 20 games left with this crew said Kerr who missed both of Chicagos losses to the Jazz They might break us up The whole time I was thinking when I come back I'm going to have some fun and be loose and aggressive and enjoy myself Kerrs first two games back were against Eastern Conference rivals New York and Miami He didnt miss a beat scoring a combined 21 points as the Bulls won both games In 28 minutes against Miami Kerr had 13 points off the bench to go with four assists and no turnovers I suppose I would rather have come back against Denver joked Kerr It might have been a little easier But the mce thing about this stretch is it got my attention in a hurry I played against probably the two best defensive teams in our conference in New York and Miami It was a rude welcome back but a great way to get me ready During another tumultuous season the Bulls appear primed for a sixth NBA not counting Thursdays championship loss to Dallas Along with MJ Scottie and the Fruit Cake Coach Phil Jackson now has the services of his favorite reserve Kerrs shot came back quickly He credits intense workouts with two former college players When I was injured I knew I would only have 20 games or so until the playoffs Kerr said So I made it my focal point to really work on my shooting The key though was not only did we shoot n but we made everything stuff So I was running like crazy and wearing myself down and still forcing myself to shoot And it worked Bad news for all the other would-b- e title contenders CambyTor Ratliff m O'Neal Lakers Robinson SA Duncan SA Stewart Soc Mourning Mia Ostertag Utah O No Avg 52 134 258 61 157 257 58 142 245 40 95 2 38 62 141 227 59 130 2 20 60 125 208 62 123 198 63 120 1 90 64 119 186 Blaylock Alt Kmghf Clev Chnsite lor Brandon MS Payton Sea Iverson Pht Jones lakers Kidd Phoa GWNJL Hardaway Mia BY PATRICK K1NAHAN THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE If he should ever face a new situation in a game Sacramento Kings Coach Eddie Jordan has no reason to worry Pete Carril has been there and coached that The legendary Carril has coached basketball about as long as the Jordan has been alive He has seeD it all from both extremes Carrils career has spanned 29 years as coach at Princeton which does not award athletic scholarships to two years as an assistant coach in the NBA where players make about $10000 a point Theres not much difference said Carril All the ones in college that can dribble pass and shoot are the best And its the same in the NBA Carril built a powerhouse in the Ivy League winning 525 games and 13 conference titles He had just one losing season and made 11 NCAA Tournament appearances He retired in 1996 weeks after guiding Princeton to an incredible 43-4- 1 tournament win over defending champion UCLA The game winner came on Carrils signature play a backdoor layup He s been an assistant the last two years at Sacramento He brings a different way of playing basketball than the normal traditional NBA way said Jordan Its a combination of the old Celtics the old Knicks the ones that won championships the new Jazz and the new Bulls Carrils connection with the Kings is through Geoff Petrie the teams vice president of basketball operations Pe- trie a two-tim- e NBA All-St- is a 1970 Princeton graduate Carril inducted in the Hall of Fame last September coached Petrie for three years in college He made such an incredible career as a coach basically by outsmarting people with the way he taught and coached his players Petrie said Hes trying the same thing in the NBA As with most college coaches who make the jump Carril has dealt with the This is the NBA not Princeton stuff from the players Carril gets his message across one-on-o- Sometimes their ego and their pride gets in the way when he may talk to two or three of them Jordan said A1 BY DAVID MOORE T THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS DALLAS Most of those who follow the NCAA Tournament are consumed by the pulsating endings Cinderella stories and brackets that have been filled out for the office pool Its the only time of year when Valparaiso will be mentioned in the same conversation with North Carolina and Kansas The fate of certain schools fuels this three-wee- k roller-coastride But NBA personnel directors and scouts are more concerned with individuals than schools vidually and them eyes get so big like kids Thats when he gets the most out of them and they get the most out of him Thats when he can teach effectively The players really take to him on an individual basis Carril focuses mainly on offensive schemes player development and pregame scouting He also tries to instill what he takes to win During Sacramentos visit to Utah last week Carril used the Jazz to illustrate his point I know they have some of the best players in the league but its also the way they play said Carril emphasizing Utahs team play I dont think many of the players owners and GM's general managers are looking for guys that make you win Carril said Theyre not interested in guys that are mindful of their stats Theres a different set of motivations If you run into a guy whos only worried about money youve got problems The Kings have problems After los22 ing to the Jazz they were 26-3games behind Seattle in the Pacific Division Incredibly they have not had a winwhen they ning season since 1982-8- 3 were based in Kansas City Jazz assistant coach Phil Johnson went 0 during parts of three seasons and later 8 81-12- The draft is three months away March Madness provides a peek into how some of the sports top players perform under pressure This will be followed by camps in Portsmouth Phoenix and Chicago that will give personnel directors a chance to dissect an athletes game even more In the eyes of pro scouts four of the top five players in this tournament are underclassmen Heres a look at those five players: North Carolinas Antawn Jamison 228 Jr Theres a good chance hed be the first player selected if he comes out Jamison is an unbelievably ex 6-- 9 52 16 10 18 injury-'plague- i Compiled from wire service reports big-nam- plosive athlete who impresses the scouts with how hard he plays every time he takes the floor small forward Pierce has a picture-perfestroke E Kansas Raef LaFrentz Sr 240 Projected more as a power forward than a center in the pros LaFrentz has classic post moves He has a good drop step a nice hook shot and can turn and shoot facing the basket North Carolinas Vince Carter Jr 6 210 Carter is a superb athlete who would be asked to make the transition from forward to shooting guard in the NBA Hes not as good a prospect as Jamison and hasnt shown much of an outside shot 6-- Arizonas Mike Bibby Soph 2 185 Scouts believe Bibby can step in and run an NBA team right now Hes a true point guard and a gifted passer Bibby doesnt possess the passing flair of Phoenix point guard Jason Kidd but hes a much better shooter and a solid defender B Kansas Paul Pierce Jr 7 210 Pierce may be the most polished athlete in this draft He's a versatile talent whos effective inside and out A prototypical 6-- 6-- 6-- NBA BY THE NUMBERS Games the Seattle SuperSonics had gone before outrebounding an opponent Seattle the leagues worst rebounding team outrebounded the Toronto Raptors 55-4- 5 last Tuesday NBA players who have appeared in 1000 games during their career Houstons Kevin Willis and Charles Barkley accomplished the feat last week Lineups Rudy Tomjanovich has used this season for the Houtson Rockets Don Nelson has used 24 lineups in 45 games as head coach of the Dallas Mavericks Technical fouls that Chicago Bulls forward Dennis Rodman has received this season Wins the Phoenix Suns have this season when they hold opponents to less than 80 points Kings Since moving to Sacramento in 1985 the Kings have made the playoffs twice and won a total of one postseason game Jordan who replaced the fired Garry St Jean with 15 games left last season has called on Carril to help teach his system Youve got to sell your core players on the way you want to play Jordan said If your core players dont accept then youre a lame-duc- k coach Players would be foolish not to listen to Carril Jordan points out Carril goes back to the days of Red Auerbach and e yet still has the respect of current coaches such as Phil Jackson and Pat Riley Hes a very good teacher Jordan said Hes showing us how to teach College Underclassmen Make Best Pro Prospects JAZZ THIS WEEK L 14 HartmannThe Salt Lake Tribune Fame Coach Pete Carril came to the Sacramento Kings after spending 29 years coaching at Princeton He takes them over to the side indiIve talked to understand that coaches returned to coach the Hall of No Different This Year H Charles Barkley expects the Jazz to be among the teams bidding for his ser-vices when he becomes a free agent this Z summer but he told the Houston Chronicle he wont leave the Rockets if the Rock- - ets do what he expects Houston will have a good bit of room under the NBA salary cap and Barkley figures the team will "sign a player who could be its next super-sla- r If that happens Barkley says he will 'stay with the Rockets If not he figures "the Jazz will join the Lakers Knicks and Heat at least in trying to land him After Corliss Williamson of the Sac- Z - ramento Kings lit up the Detroit Pistons for 40 minutes Brian (Mr Quote) s had this to say: We set the game back 50 years We might as well have been playing with peach baskets and had Z a jump ball after every score V Si San Antonio media members be-sieged New Jerseys Keith Van Horn asking him about the Rookie of the Year race with the Spurs Tim Duncan I dont think I really care about it said Van Horn and I dont think he real-- l ly cares about it either I think were fo- cused on our teams It never enters my mind Nor will the trophy enter his house Duncan seems to be a lock for the award r Through 46 games Van Horn was averaging lft6 points and 66 rebounds a game He was only shooting 39 percent from the field far below what he shot at the University of Utah r Through 62 games Duncan was averaging 199 points and 109 rebounds a He was shooting 54 percent ' game Van Horn also has had an d first season He missed the first 17 games with a foot problem and now - has a broken toe 0 No Avg 61 209 143 46 155 3 37 47 153 326 63 199 116 40 105 263 57 148 260 63 163 259 65 168 258 42 101 240 45 105 233 Mutombo A!t BrocSey Oat Legendary Carril Brings His Ivy League Knowledge to a Higher Level BAD COMPANY The New Jersey Nets Kendall Gill can sympathize with Latrell Sprewell Gill had some strong neg- - - BRIEFLY No At 692 IQB 575 91 393 89 547 87 532 86 524 83 499 82 498 82 513 80 464 80 MASTER COACH game-simulatio- ative feelings toward George Karl when he played in Seattle People used to de- scribe me the same way they talk about a malcon- Latrell tent selfish Gill said You never really lose that reputation Gill developed a feud with the Sonics coach He eventually left the team and was treated for depression STEALS Sunday: Jazz at Detroit Pistons 10 am Palace of Auburn Hills e The Jazz kick off their second road trip of the month against She Pistons who have lost 13 of the last 15 meetings and are nowhere near a playoff berth In the Eastern Conference The Jazz won 9 at the Delta Center on Jan 19 before Coach Doug Collins was fired and replaced by assistant Alvin Gentry But Gentry Isn't Inspiring such great play that hes a shoo-i- n to stick around as head man next season The Piston are however reasonably tough at home Monday: Jazz at Minnesota Tlmberwolves 6 pm Target Center The first meeting was astonishing with Tlmberwolves guard n Marbury erupting for 38 points to lead Minnesota back from a 21 point hole and Into over4 time before losing But that was earty In the season and before the Wolves lost forward Tom for the rest of the year to an ankle Injury Minnesota is fighting to hold onto the seventh spot for the Western Conference playoffs which could mean a match with the Jazz Wednesday: Jazz at Charlotte Hornets 6 pm Charlotte Coliseum Probably the toughest game In the road trip on account of the Hornets are playing well and one of the toughest blopt teams in the Eastern Conference at home Glen Wee lit the Jazz for 30 in the last meeting the Jazz though won at the Delta Center on Feb 16 Utah has won three In a row and four of the last five as a matter of fact But MARCH 8UND4V MONDAY TUESPAV WEDRESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY 98-8- Q HOME GAMES: Delta Center away GAMES Ste-pho- fourth-quart- er 133-12- Gug-llott- o first-rou- 96-9- 0 Rice Is one of the leagues best scorers and the Hornets have six other players who average 10 or more points per game Mday: Jazz at Philadelphia 7oers 5:30 pm CoreStates Arena Allen Iverson might not be that bad as a magazine suggested last week but the flashy point guard hasri t had much luck leading his 76ers over the Jazz After losing the first meeting In which last year's Rookie of the Year played Utah has won four straight meetings though the last two have required overtime The Sixers arent having much of a season either bringIn the NBA's Atlantic Division rear ing up the (Pay attention too whether Chris Morris Is on the Jazz bench He has been suspended for the fourth game of both of the Jazzs e road trips this mm season) NBA QUOTES - Its starting to get around that time where everybody is jockeying for posi- tion Every game now is real crucial Seattles Hersey Hawkins "During halftime Scott came up to and said Thanks a lot for getting tossed I get to coach on TV and I have a bigzit on my face and Im wearing one of my worst shirts " Suns Coach Danny Ainge after me assistant Scott Skiles guided Phoenix to a win ofer the Denver Nuggets "We beat a team that we should beat Im not going to get excited about beating a team like Dallas Im glad its Its positive that we toon but its not something you can get excited about " Houstons Charles Barkley after tje Rockets beat the Mavericks over "I told him hes a punk head "I really wasnt listening to him I think he gets to the media more than he gets to me because you all continue to talk about it Is he getting into yall heads?" 1 Im not trying to get into Zos Im just having fun with Zo " Dennis Rodman after whispering Into Alonzo Mournings ear during free throws in Miamis game last week against Chicago 't j A 4 5 a-- tl Alonzo Mourning responding to Dennis Rodmans tra?h talking ' V - -- I XI K ft Zl |