Show N 11 IIII i j 11 Ii 5 m By Andy Crow Sports Editor Are players big me mea or just big babies In watching games this season season season sea sea- son players have displayed more cowardice than courage at times on the court Sure Phoenix guard Rex Chapman Chapman Chapman Chap Chap- man whose worth at least three or four million in today's market took t the e minimum salary to stay with the playoff bound Suns Sure Spurs forward Tim Duncan the rookie of the decade carried San Antonio like an aged veteran while David Robinson nursed injuries during during during dur dur- ing the middle of the season Karl Malone played without John Stockton for the first 18 games of the season then he played the rest of the season with an injured right middle finger And Michael Jordan had to endure more than half the season without Star All-Star sidekick Scottie Pippen Those are a few of the good stories stories stories sto sto- sto- sto ries from this year But the bad stories stories stories sto sto- sto- sto ries clearly outshine the good ones year in and year out This year was no different Maybe it was a humiliating verbal backlash but Latrell had no right to headlock and choke head coach PJ P.J. Carlesimo I know Ive I've wanted to choke my boss before but butI I I mean Latrell Latrell- come on lets be reasonable reasonable reasonable rea rea- rea- rea here r Just about everybody on the Portland Portland Portland Port Port- land Trail Blazers has had problems with the law at least once this year Chris Webber and J Juwan Howard of Washington need to be separated before things really start getting out of hand Those two have done everything everything everything every every- thing except win basketball games which is why Washington signed the two players And what's up with all these players play play- ers deciding not to play for the team that traded to get them If you have been traded to a bad team deal with it and show everyone by making it a better team The current playoffs has brought out the best of the cowardly Play Play- Anytime the Houston Rockets started to fall behind the Jazz some some- one started dishing the elbows the pushes from behind the back what what- ever And the Heat Heat series as entertaining as it is has a little scuffle scuffle scuffle every night Those nightly little tittle scuffles always lead to huge scuffle in at least one of the games as we saw this last weekend What always seems to be the trend is the team that thatis thatis thatis is losing is always the instigator What happened to just plain admitting you had a bad game and going home to sleep on it to come comeback comeback comeback back the next day a different day Lets Let's just pray that Karl Malone doesn't start spouting off in the media about Larry Miller and his business tactics and Greg and his lazy work ethic Lets Let's just pray that everyone including Karl Malone decides to ply play basketball That's what they are all paid for |