Sporting News
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Clippers avoid embarrassment
LOS ANGELES -- Norm Nixon figures the Los Angeles Clippers cost
themselves some fame, and he's relieved that they did.
"If we had tied the record, it would probably have been on the front
page," the Clippers' guard said. "Since we won, it'll probably be on page
seven."
The Clippers missed their shot at NBA history last Wednesday night by
beating the Houston Rockets 114-111.
Had the Clippers lost, they would have tied the NBA single-season
record of 20 straight defeats, set by the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers.
"It's good to genhat monkey off our back," Nixon said after Los Angeles
rallied in the fourth quarter to end its 19-game skid.
In the process, the Clippers broke the eight-game personal losing streak
of Coach Don Casey, the formlr assistant who replaced the fired Gene
Shue on Jan. 19.
'1 kept having a nightmare that I died and the obituary said I was the only
NBA coach who never won a game," Casey said with a smile.
"The darned streak was the worst. No one paid attention to any of the
good things we had done ...
"I'm glad it (the win) came at home against a formidable team, with'
formidable veterans," Casey added.
Ironically, the Clippers' win came over a Rockets team coached by Don
Chaney, who himself had been through hard times as the Clippers' coach
before being fired after the 1986-87 season.
"I know they're glad they're not in the record book," Chaney said. "I
know what it's like, losing a lot of games.
K.C. & Lenny - blue collar HOFers
i
HOUSTON -- K.C. Jones and Lenny
Wilkens, saying they represent the NBA's
"blue -collar" workers, were elected Friday to
? the Basketball Hall ofFame.
&
K.C. Jones
They were joined by William "Pop" Gates,
71, who played with the New York Renais
sance and other teams during the game's barn
storming years in the 1930s and 1940s.
"People will look at the stats and see that
K.C. averaged only six points a game, so you
have that problem," said Jones, here for the .
NIT) A All C tor uii^lrAn/f f,T vuac mr\rA r\f a
blue-collar worker. You had to use what talent
you had."
Wilkens, primarily a playmaker rather than
a scorer, said players with skills other than scoring should be recognised in
the Hall ofFame. t
"You look beyond the points just like a coach looks at more than scoring
when he's putting together a team'' said Wilkens, now coach of the Cleve
land Cavaliers.
Jones said he was surprised at his selection.
"This is the sort of thing that happens to superstars, all-stars and scorers,
and not people who can't shoot," said Jones, who retired last year as coach
of the Boston Celtics, for whom he played earlier in his career.
For years, he was overshadowed by his college and pro teammate Bill
Russell.
"At San Francisco (where he and Russell won two NCAA champi
onships) and the pros, my contribution was my brain, not my scoring abili
ty. I just did the blue-collar-type things," Jones said.
Wilkens ranks third in the NBA in career assists with 7,211, demurred.
"K.C. was a fine player."
Wilkens, a standout at ProvidenceCollege, averaged 16.5 points and 6.7
assists a game during a 15-year NBA career with St. Louis, Seattle, Port
land and Cleveland. Before coming to Cleveland two seasons ago, he^
coached at Portland and Seattle, where his 1979 team won the NBA cham
pionship.
Jones only averaged 7.4 points a game in his nine-year playing career
with the Celtics, during which Boston won eight straight NBA champi
onships, but he contributed an average 4.9 assists and could make his pres
ence felt in clutch games.
In the 1955 NCAA championship, the 6-foot- 1 Jones held LaSalle's 6-6
scoring ace, Tom Gola _ who was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1975 _
without a point for 21 minutes, while edging Russell for game-scoring
honors with 24 points.
"He was more interested in good defense and making the team look good
than in scoring a lot of points," Wilkens said. "When he played you on
defense, it was like wearing a glove."
Bowie comes off injured list
PORTLAND, Ore. -- Sam Bowie, wno has been sidelined for much of
the past two seasons with a broken right leg, was taken off the injured list
Thursday afternoon, the Portland Trail Blazers announced.
Bowie, a 7-foot- 1 center, is expected to be worked gradually into the
Blazers' playing rotation, said team spokesman John Lashway.
"There are not prescribed minutes for Sam to play," said Bucky Buckwal
ter, vice president of basketball operations. "His playing time will be deter
mined by the coaching staff as his physical condition and ability indicate."
Bowie, 27, suffered a fractured right tibia in a game against Dallas on
Nov. 7,1986, and rebroke the bone in the same location prior to an Oct. 17,
1987, pre-season game against Cleveland, Lashway said.
Since the 1987 setback, Bowie received a bond graft and had a metal
plate permanently affixed to his right tibia on March 9, 1988. The same
procedure was used successfully on his left tibia, which also was fractured
twice.
Now those with higher
expectations can also
expect lower monthly
payments.
Lawrence Rucker
? SALES and SERVICE
B01 Jon??town Ro?d ? Wm?ton-S?l?cn. NC 271 03
laaagaaaaBB
Duke Blue Devils rediscover defense
By TOM FOREMAN JR.
Associated Press Sports Writer
Duke'has rediscovered the
meaning of defense, and Mary
land was both witness and victim
to the awakening.
The Blue Devils downed the
Terrapins 86-60 Saturday to con
tinue their climb toward the top of
the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Prior to Sunday's games, Duke
was percentage points behind Vir
ginia and North Carolina, who
were tied for second before their
game in Chapel Hill.
Just as it did in the last two out
ings, Duke used its defense to set
up an offensive outburst.
"The fact of the matter is,
defense wins games," guard Quin
Snyder says. "We're starting to
figure that out."
In their last three games, the
Blue Devils have forced 57
turnovers and held opponents to
an aggregate 37.8 percent field
goal shooting. On the other hand,
Duke's worst shooting effort in its
last three games was the 57.9 per
cent compiled against the Terrap
ins.
Three things are the keys and
they're all interrelated," forward
Danny Ferry says. "We're playing
with a lot more emotion. We're -
playing smarter, and finally, we're
really concentrating on our
defense bccause it's going to cre
ate things for us offensively." ?
All five Blue Devils starters
contributed to a 16-0 run that cov
ered five minutes and helped
Duke take a 22-8 edge. Maryland
was no close than eight points in
the first half and trailed 40-22 at
half time.
Duke, which hit 60 percent of _
its field goals in the first half and
57.9 percent for the game, raised
it s record to 17-4, 6-4 in the ACC.
Maryland dropped to 8-14 and 1
8.
Alaa Abdelnaby started the run
with a tap-in at 15:02 and Snyder
finished it with a layup off a steal
with 10:45 left in the half The
Blue Devils hit seven of nine
shots in the decisive stretch.
Phil Henderson's 3-point field
goal with 16:43 remaining pushed
Duke to a 62-32 lead, and the
advantage grew to 75-42 when
Brian Davis hit the front end of a
two-shot foul.
MDuke played a fantastic game,"
Maryland coach Bob Wade said.
"Defensively, they kepi us out of
everything we were trying to do."
Ferry led Duke with 24 points.
Henderson-finished with 17 points
and Robert Brickey had 14 for
Duke.
Jerrod Mustaf led Maryland
with 18 points and John Johnson
had 17.
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