3B
SPORTS/The Charlotte Post
T’wolves finally finding some respect
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Continued from page 1B
pass. They all have the ahUity to
do other things. They’re not
what you’d caU one-dimensional
players.”
Saunders also has been a big
reason for the turnaround.
A longtime CBA coach, he
became Minnesota’s fifth coach
in just over six seasons when he
replaced Bill Blair early last sea
son. He has instilled confidence
and enthusiasm in the Wolves
while challenging them to assert
themselves at home.
Minnesota is 22-21 at Target
Center imder Saunders, com
pared to a 50-125 home record in
the four-plus seasons before
Saimders took over. The sub-6-
foot coach also asserted himself
this week, engaging in shouting
matches with Karl Malone and
Ewing.
“You try to do what you can,”
Saunders said. “If your team’s
not where you want them to be
you try to get them over the top.”
'The Wolves aren’t there yet.
'They still have a gaping hole at
center and in the next 18
months will be faced with the
critical business of signing
Garnett to a long-term contract
that almost certainly will be
worth more than $100 million.
But for now, Minnesota simply
is enjoying its rebirth.
“Slowly but surely,” Marbury
said. “It’s going to take us time.
Maybe it’ll take us another year,
maybe two years. But we’re
going to be a team that people,
they’re not going to want to play
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Panthers’ lair part of home field excellence
Continued from page 1B
establishing one eveiy time we
go out there,” Carolina coach
Dom Capers said. “We’ve talked
finm the beginning of the year
that we want to make this a spe
cial place. We want people not
wanting to come into Ericsson
Stadium to play. The only way
you do that is you’ve got to crank
it up, play at a high level.”
In only their second season
and their first in their new sta
dium, the Panthers allowed just
80 points at home on the way to
a 12-4 record, winning the NFC
West and earning a first-round
playoff bye.
Carofina was especially
impressive in the second half of
its games at 72,685-seat
Ericsson, holding opponents to
13 points, including just one
touchdown, and shutting out
five teams.
How could a teeun with virtual
ly no tradition establish itself as
such a force so fast in a new sta
dium?
The players smile. Look
around the facilities, they say.
‘This is just an unbehevable
place,” fullback Howard Grififith
said. “They spared no expense.”
For starters, there’s the
Panthers’ locker room. At nearly
8,000 square feet, it’s easily the
largest in the NFL. It’s carpeted
and weU-ventilated. Each player
has a spacious stall and em
upholstered armchair. No bench
es.
An adjoining lounge has plenty
of leather couches, telephones, a
big-screen
television and
an upright
cooler stocked
with cans of
juice and soda.
Want to
come at the
crack of dawn
and study
film? The staff
wUl fix break
fast to order.
Davis
Limch is served daily as well.
After practice on cold days,
homemade soup is served in the
locker room.
“It makes a difference because
you don’t get that everywhere,”
said Pro Bowl comerback Eric
Davis, who joined the Panthers
this year after spending his first
six seasons with San FVandsco.
“Those little things do help.”
Davis said team owner Jerry
Richardson and the Panthers’
fi'ont-office persormel are to be
commended for putting together
a facility that lets the players
concentrate fully on their jobs.
“I think it adds into that fear
factor, and I think a little fear is
good,” Davis said. “Guys need to
understand that certain things
are expected of you, and that’s
why you’ve been given this.”
While the results indicate the
players have responded quickly
to their new surroundings, the
fans remain a work in progress.
The fact that the Panthers
made the purchase of perma
nent seat licenses a requirement
for those wishing to buy season
tickets created somewhat of a
white-collar, laid-back fan base
at the stadium.
Many of those fans initially
viewed halftime as a sort of 30-
Gill goes down, Nets pick it up
Continued from page 1B
The Nets trailed the Pacers,
84-82, with 9:28 to play but GUI
and Xavier McDaniel ignited a
nine-point spurt that gave New
Jersey the lead for good at 91-84.
Shawn Bradley started the
decisive spurt with a jumper
from the key and GUI foUowed
with a three-point play.
Twenty-one seconds later GUI
went down clutching his right
ankle after stepping on Eddie
Johnson’s foot.
After Gill was sidelined,
McDaniel scored twice on assists
from Robert Pack to put the
Nets in control with 7:05
remammg.
MUler puUed the Pacers within
91-87, but GUI re-entered the
game with 4:46 remaining and
the Nets scored 14 of the game’s
last 21 points.
GUI had 14 points in the first
period as the Nets scored the
first eight points of the game
and led through most of the first
half taking a 53-48 edge at the
intermission.
Pack finished with 22 points
and added 13 assists while
Bradley just missed a triple dou
ble with 19 points, 10 rebounds
and nine blocks. Kittles added
17 points for the Nets.
Antonio Davis led the Pacers
with 22 points whUe Travis Best
finished with 20.
Cowboys confident in playoffs
Continued from page 1B
ment in the NFL. That sounds
good, but that’s not reality.”
Nonetheless, the Cowboys
did finally show some sem
blance of their former selves,
gaining 438 yards on offense
and creating six turnovers.
Maybe they are able to “turn
it on” in the postseason, or
maybe it was the week of rest
most of the starters got by
skipping the regular-season
finale.
Whatever it was, something
finally clicked.
“It’s more focus,” Newton
said. “We don’t want to make
mistakes early that will give
them momentum. We took
ceire of the little things and
covered up our weaknesses.”
Newton and his offensive
line mates were a big reason
the Dallas offense broke out.
They blasted holes that
allowed Smith to run for 116
yards.
and we weren’t taking advan
tage of it,” Irvin said. “Today,
we turned some into touch
downs.”
As efficient as was the Dallas
offense. Smith would like to
see some more.
“We showed a better side of
our offense than we have all
year,” he said. “But we also
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Sherman
Williams
for 67
and
Herschel
Walker
for 62.
“ W e
just got
on our
blocks
and
stayed on
‘em,” Pro
Bowler
Larry
Smith
Allen said. “We’re the Super
Bowl champs, and we’ve got to
get back. We did what we had
to today.”
The domination up front
enabled the Cowboys to keep
the ball twice as long as the
Vikings, which meant some
much-needed time off for the
defense.
“'The defense has been giving
us opportunities all year long.
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minute social in which they
would gather under the stands
and sip mixed drinks or bou
tique beers and chat with other
lawyers and bankers. Halftime,
however, lasts only 12 minutes,
and the result was that many of
the high-dollar seats would
remain empty well into the third
quarter.
'That gradually changed, and
the Panthers now get boisterous
support throughout the game.
Further evidence of Ericsson
Stadium’s evolution came
Saturday morning when thou-
samds of fans lined up to enter a
lottery for the last 8,500 tickets
for next Sunday’s playoff game
against the Dallsis Cowboys. All
the tickets were scooped up in 10
minutes.
Capers broke into a wide grin
when word of the quick sale was
relayed to him.
‘TlayofiF fever. 1 Uke hearing
that,” he said. “They know they
have their tickets now. That
gives ‘em a week to get into
game form. Hey, it’s a collective
effort, right?”
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have a lot of room to improve,
especially in the red zone.”
Aikman, who improved to 11-
1 as a playoff starter, wanted
to consider Saturday as mere
ly a good first step.
“We won today, but they’re
not ready to hand us an3fthing
yet,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of
work to do.”
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