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Show JXnz Thursday, June 07, 2007 DAILY UTAH CHRONICLE 8 You're on, LeBron: James arrives on NBA's ultimate stage the Cavaliers within four victories of Cleveland's first major sports AP SPORTS WRITER title since 1964. His appearance in the best-of' SAN ANTONIO —Headphones tilted back on his head, seven series should do wonders LeBron James walked the Cleve- for the NBA's globalization plan. land Cavaliers through the shad- Undoubtedly, he'll also boost TV owy tunnel and into the arena's ratings, perhaps tempting casual gleaming lights—and their first viewers interested in seeing if he can match his jaw-dropping, NBA finals. "We're here now!" James shout- 48-point performance in Game 5 ed. He brought them. And he will of the Eastern Conference finals against Detroit. decide how far they'll go. It's as if Michael Jordan, the Tagged as the face of the league and saddled with huge expecta- more famous tongue-wagging No. tions, James arrived at basketball's 23, has resurfaced. Not quite. Not ultimate stage Wednesday as the yet. With most of the attention foCavaliers and San Antonio Spurs practiced for the last time before cused on James, the other team in Thursday's Game i at AT&T Cen- this LeBronian lovefest isn't getting its proper due. But hasn't that ter. The climactic setting is a new always been the case for the Spurs, one for the Cavaliers. It was only standing at the edge of their fourth four years ago when they won 17 championship since 1999? "The league is about new, exgames while playing in front of as many empty seats as filled ones at citing things," said Spurs forward Michael Finley. "And LeBron is home. "It was like we weren't even in that thing right now." The Spurs are still, well, the the NBA," said center Zydrunas Ilgauskas, drafted by the club in Spurs; basic, boring and bland— 1996. "We were in a deep depres- just how their humble star center Tim Duncan and the Western sion as an organization." Those gloomy days were B.LB— Conference champs like it. They have always won with deBefore LeBron. The 22-year-old has been a fense, and still do. The league's household name in the U.S. since stingiest defensive squad during he was an Akron, Ohio, high school the regular season must figure phenomenon, and his growing out how to slow James, who sliced popularity has made him just as up the Pistons for 25.7 points, 9.2 •well known on the playgrounds of rebounds and 8.5 assists, putting him with Oscar Robertson C1963), Beijing. In these playoffs, his second John Havlicek (1968) and Larry trip to the postseason, James has Bird (1986) as the only players to elevated his multidimensional reach those averages in a confergame to a higher level, pushing ence finals. Tom Withers UTES IN BRIEF continued from Page 6 way around. She played for the U from 1991 to 1994. Actually, she didn't just play— she dominated. Just check the record books. Hogue, who is taking over the job vacated by Angie Jacobs' recent resignation, earned second Detroit tried to double- and triple-team the 6-foot-8, 245-pound James, whose ability to pass over the top of defenders allowed him to find wide-open teammates for easy shots. Spurs forward Bruce Bowen will be assigned to guard James, but he'll need help, especially when James decides to post him up near the basket. "Any way I can gain 40 pounds overnight?" Bowen joked. "He's so strong and young; it's hard to believe that he's 22 with the body of a 30-year-old. That creates problems. There's nothing you can do about that. There are certain things you can do to adjust, but when people are just physically gifted and that talented, it creates a difficulty." On his last visit deep in the heart of Texas, James scored 35 points with 11 rebounds and four assists on the Spurs, crowning his Nov. 3 performance with a monstrous dunk over a defenseless Duncan, who stood under the basket with his arms raised overhead as if being held up by bandits. James won't have it easy as the Spurs likely will blitz him wherever and whenever he touches the ball. "Defensively, they're one of the best teams in the NBA," he said. "They work well together on the defensive end. You know if you beat one guy, another guy steps up. They've been pretty good throughout the years on the defensive end. But it's no added pressure for me." Finally, the Cavaliers seem to team All-American honors in her senior year at the U in 1994. Hogue holds the following school records: best single season batting average (.455), most triples in a season (seven) and most ;,* t¥ R E E A D M I SSI O N ! STAND UP COMEDY comedi Qmtdu Cen4r*l twi IA1W! have a supporting cast James can count on. Sometimes unselfish to a fault, James followed up his 48-point extravaganza with a more typical Game 6. He scored 20 points on 3-of-n shooting. But it was his ability to draw defenders and feed rookie Daniel Gibson, who made four 3-pointers and scored a season-high 31, that helped the Cavs advance. Not long ago, the thought was that James needed a superstar sidekick, a player like Jordan had in Scottie Pippen. Turns out, James might have all he needs. "We've had different guys step up in different games," Ilgauskas said. "So LeBron hasn't had to count on just one guy. There's always somebody else scoring, somebody else rebounding. We might not have other superstars, but we got other guys who play good basketball." . Ceaselessly confident, James isn't showing any pre-finals jitters. The whole world might be watching to see what he'll do, but that's nothing new. In the past, the spotlight has been a warming place—not one to shun. Before the Cavaliers boarded their team bus, James paused to sign autographs for fans waiting outside the team's hotel and then danced his way on board to the music in his headphones. He was playful, behaving like a kid and not the father of one son (and soon two) about to play in the higheststakes game of his life. "Sometimes he acts like he's 18," Cavs coach Mike Brown said. "He's just a good-natured, goodspirited individual. He likes to have fun, but when it gets time to lace the shoes up and get out on that hardwood, he's a pretty focused individual." The Associated Press hits in a season (101). In addition to her single-season accolades, Hogue is in the top five in school history in career stolen bases, hits and runs scored. Hogue, who got her start as a graduate assistant at Utah in 1994, headed the Salt Lake Community College softball program from 1999-2004, where she amassed a winning percentage of .706. "I'm just as competitive as a coach as I was as an athlete, and I think the kids can relate to that," Hogue said. "I learned when I got into coaching that I have the tools to lead a team, and I have the knack of putting my arms around the kids and getting the very best out of them." Natalie Dicou UTAH, BYU PRESIDENTS IMPROVE MWC COVERAGE continued from Page I "SATURDAY NIGHTS • ". reins . . . Pifferenl Comtdms flijh-Hy! £' Some blackout dates apply. Call for details. iffl ', LOUNGE is undoubtedly why schools in the Mountain West signed on to the idea the mtn. network carried. The reality, however, is that more than half the fans of MWC schools have limited or no access to football and basketball games that were once available to anyone with a TV and an antenna on broadcast television. ForquaBfed plasma donations TUE-SUN The Sports Sideline $ Scoreboard 1 ^ Stanley Cup Anaheim Ducks 62 Ottowa Senators Finals :' MM^ | f ^Scoreboard American MIN8 LAA5 KC 4 CLE3 NYY5 CHW1 BOS 2 OAK 3 League BAL9 SEAS TB 6 TOR 2 DET10 TEXO National FLA 7 ATL4 PIT 5 ON 4 STL 6 SF 0 League CHC6 MIL 2 PHI 4 NYN12 HOI17 COL 8 LAD 2 ARM SD5 WAS 6 B f j l Standings American League East w 37 28 28 26 25 W Central 35 Cleveland Detroit 33 Minnesota 29 Chicago Sox 26 Kansas City 22 W West 38 LA Angels 30 Seattle 31 Oakland 21 Texas Boston Toronto Baltimore NY Yankees Tampa Bay L PCT GB 21 GiS 30 .463 9 32 .'167 10 31 .45610.5 32 .43911.5 L PCT GS 22 .614 25 .569 25 29 .500 6.5 29 .473 8 38 ,367 14.5 L PCT GB 23 .623 26 536 5.5 27 .534 5.5 38 .356 16 Home 19-10 18-14 15-11 12-13 16-17 Home 20-7 15-11 15-14 13-13 9-21 Home 24-9 17-13 18-14 12-16 Away Strk 18-11 L4 10-16 L1 13-21 Wl 14-18 W2 9-15 Wl Away Strk 15-15 LI 18-14 Wl 14-15 Wl 13-16 L2 13-17 Wl Away Strk 14-14 LI 13-13 LI 13-13 W5 9-22 LI L10 4-6 6-4 5-5 5-5 6^ L10 5-5 4-6 6-4 2-8 3-7 L10 7-3 6-4 7-3 3-7 National League East NY Mels Atlanta Philadelphia Florida Washington W 35 33 30 30 24 W Milwaukee 33 St. Louis 26 ChicaqoCubs25 Pittsburgh 25 24 Houston 22 Cincinnati W West San Diego 35 Arizona i6 LA Dodgers 34 28 Colorado San Francisco 27 Central For the mtn. to even touch upon that kind of distribution, it would take major digital television providers DirecTV and Dish Network to start making the mtn. available as part of their service, as well. The process to procure that support has gone on for a year, bearing no fruit. The mtn. encourages Dish Network and DirecTV customers to conta'ct their satellite television provider and voice their requests to have better coverage. "It's our desire and intention to secure satellite distribution," Fitzpatrick said. Dish Network declined to state whether customers had contacted the satellite company regarding the mtn., and declined to release a comment or information involved in channel or network negotiations. L PCT GB Home Away Strk L10 22 .614 - 17-15 18-7 L3 5-5 27 .550 3.5 16-14 17-13 L2 5-5 29 .508 6 15-15 15-14 W2 5-5 3] .492 7 12-15 18-16 W2 6-4 35 .407 12 14-18 10-17 Wl 4-6 L PCT GB Home Away Strk L10 27 .550 22-12 11-15 LI 5-5 30 .464 5 13-13 13-17 W3 6-4 32 .439 6.5 11-17 14-15 W1 3-7 34 .424 75 11-19 14-15 LI 3-7 34 .414 8 13-16 11-18 L1 3-7 38 .367 11 10-18 12-20 L4 4-6 L PCT GB Home Away Strk L10 23 .603 - 19-9 16-14 W4 8-2 24 .600 19-11 17-1: W3 9-1 25 .576 15 17-10 17-15 L2 6-4 31 .475 75 15-17 15-17 Wl 64 31 .466 8 13-18 14-13 L2 3-7 . "This is a standard growth process for any new network," Fitzpatrick said. "Typically, networks launch with a solitary source of distribution and grow over time." While it's possible to concede that what has happened over the past year is just part of the "growth process" as Fitzpatrick said, it's clear that the schools in the Mountain West are exploring all options to rectify the situation for fans immediately "I think that, first and foremost, fans are a little bit frustrated right now with the lack of accessibility by the mtn.," said U head football coach Kyle Whittingham. 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