European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 6, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 22 the stars and stripes thursday March 6, 1986 healthy Bird at top of game a photo celtics Larry Bird. Third straight map by William r. Barnard a basketball writer Larry Bird who won t make excuses when he has physical problems acknowledges that the aches and pains Are healed. And now that a healthy Bird is playing a Brand of basketball that other players Only dream about it should come As no Surprise that the Boston celtics have won 26 of their last 29 games. Although he shrugged off his injuries at the time he admits now that my Elbow and Back Hurt at the beginning of the sea son. Now i have a therapist who has helped a lot. I always knew i could play better than last year if i started feeling after winning the most valuable player award for the 1984-85 season with an aver age of 28.7 Points 10.5 rebounds and a .522 shooting percentage Bird started 1985-86 with a Clang. Twenty games into the season he was averaging 22.9 Points 9.4 rebounds and a .447 Field goal percentage and his chances of joining Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain As the Only Aba players with three consecutive map awards did not look right. Statistics of course never Tell the whole Story with Bird but his intangibles Proba Bly could t overcome his being 12th in the Aba in scoring and a 75 percentage Point drop in his shooting percentage. In the last 38 games however Bird is averaging 26.5 Points 10.6 rebounds is hit Ting 49.2 percent from the Field and scored 20 or More Points 36 times. In 11 games since feb. 13, he has posted double figures in Points rebounds and assists six times. I can perform this Way when i m healthy Bird said. This is the toughest part of the season when you have nine game Road trips and Guys Are tired. But mentally and physically i feel great. I can t say i be Ever Felt better this late in the he s feeling Good physically and when that happens he s going to go wild Boston coach . Jones said. He s going to score pass and rebound. There have been times when he s just flowing moving always around the Ball. Now is one of those Jones said he was t Overly concerned about Bird s Early season shooting slump. Shooters go through those periods Jones said. I would Only have been concerned about him if he was passing up there s room for 64 basketball teams the celtics who mathematically clinched a playoff spot last week when they still had 26 games left have five fewer losses than the los Angeles lakers in the race for Home court advantage throughout the playoffs. The games Are getting less and less important for Boston to win yet Bird continues to Excel. There s a determination in him Jones said plus a love for this game. He enjoys being out he s an unbelievable combination of Jerry West and John Havlicek with the additional part of his game that he can play inside said Center Bill Walton in his first season with the celtics. He can do All these things on the court and people forget he s a huge Guy under the asked what criteria he would place on the league s map if he had a vote Bird said you can make a Case for a lot of people but my map would have to be a Winner. I Don t think he can be a great player on a team that wins 35 games. You can t just look at stats. He has to be a Guy who helps the most to make his team a Winner and magic Johnson does so much to make the lakers a Winner. That s my Pickford map. I would t pick now the big game pushing for tourney spots re John Milf com i n n _. _. By John Nelson a sports writer already the politicking has begun. The mane vering the psyche game the posturing it s All aimed at getting a berth in the Mcaa s 64-team col lege basketball tournament beginning March 13. No one knows the routine better than West Virginia coach Gale Catlett. One year ago West Virginia won the regular season title in the Atlantic 10 conference and finished 20-9. But the mountaineers lost in the first round of their conference tournament and had to Settle for a berth in the National invitation tournament As Temple represented the atlantic10 in the Mcaa s. Even before the mountaineers lost sunday to St. Joseph s in this year s Atlantic 10 tournament s title game 72-64, with an automatic Mcaa berth at stake Catlett had started to lobby like taking out insurance. No matter what happens Catlett said before the loss three teams from the Atlantic 10 West Virginia 22 10st. Joseph s 25-5 and Temple 24-5 belong inthe tournament. This conference does t get credit for the outstanding Caliper of basketball it plays Catlett said. The pure truth however is that the Mcaa almost certainly will take no More than two and perhaps just one team from the Atlantic 10. There Are 29 conferences whose champions get Auto Matic Mcaa berths. The Mcaa uses a computer to rank teams based on the difficulty of their schedules to help separate the big fish from the Little ones. The Atlantic coast conference is Likely to place four or five big fish in the Field. Another four each Likely will come from the big East and big eight. The Southeastern big ten and metro conferences probably will contribute another three apiece. Allot at least one More berth for an Independent like notre Dame and another spot for a team like Cleveland state the 24-3 Winner of the mid continent conference which does not get an automatic berth. And already 47 Blanks have been filled in the tournament Chart leaving 18 spots for the non winners of 23other conferences. Those kinds of numbers have teams like Michigan state a Little worried. The spartans have just six losses and 20 victories once thought the ultimate criteria us for an Mcaa tournament team but they Are third in the big ten with two games left in one of those conferences that settles its championship without a tournament. It does t really mean anything to win 20 if you Don t win 22," Michigan state senior Scott Skiles says. We be got to win the next two games for it to mean anything. If we Don t win these last two we won t have a Chance for the despite recent expansion of the tournament the squeeze still results in at least a few oddities each year. For exam ple the Ivy league which has no tournament will Send 16-10 regular season Champion Brown to the Mcaa for the first time in 72 years. At the same time teams like Purdue 21-8 of the big ten and Louisiana state 21-10 of the Sec easily could find themselves in the nit. It has been a bizarre year leu coach Dale Brown says of his team s fifth place finish in the Sec after being picked second. The tigers suffered the loss of Tito Hor Ford considered the Best big recruit last year lost second leading scorer Nikita Wilson to academic problems and had to postpone a game and play two More without Lead ing scorer John Williams after an outbreak of Chicken pox on the team. There has been a Long line of problems yet this team has won 21 the metro Atlantic athletic conference whose tournament Winner almost certainly will get the league s Only berth is Ripe for another oddity. Fairfield went 23-6 and won the regular season Crown but had to scramble to beat holy Cross 67-64 in the conference finals monday night. The fact that Fairfield beat holy Cross twice during the season would have meant nothing had the Stags not beaten the crusaders in the tourney showdown. Louisiana state s Williams says no to pros in 86 Baton Rouge la. A basketball Star John Williams of Louisiana state has squelched rumours that he might apply for hardship and turn professional. Williams said tuesday that he intends to stay at leu and wants to try for the 1988 . Olympic team. I finalized my decision. It seemed like All the stuff we went through we stuck together and we won 21 games. That motivates me. Plus the olympics Are coming up and i want to be part of it. I have decided to play two More years at leu and Complete my collegiate eligibility Wil Liams told reporters. Coach Dale Brown said he was delighted calling Williams not Only a magnificent basketball player but a wonderful human being to be Williams a 6-foot-8 Sophomore finished the regular season with 540 Points an average of 18 a game and 238 rebounds and 97 assists along with 38 steals and 31blocked shots. Ski from Page 21 the senior race. The Sembach skier had to climb Back to make a Gate on his 55.62 first run. Benson finished As the unchallenged win Ner with a 1 34.29 time compared to Smith s 1 39.72. Benson s second run of 44.46 was second fastest Overall. His first run of 49.83 had trailed Baird by Only three one hundredths. Rich Turk of we Bruecken who won the seniors . Tuesday and was the open slalom runner up last year was disqualified on his first run. He protested strongly say ing that after straddling a Gate he brought his trailing foot through it. But he was Over ruled by the Gate judge. Mike Minard of Hahn finished third in the seniors with a 1 41.15. He was followed by Ben Waters Andy Garratt in 1 42.86. Minard also finished third in last year s senior slalom. Carter won his second straight masters division race with a 1 41.24. He beat. Ramstein s Alan Daines by just .28 Overall. Daines uncorked a Swift 46.81 second run that picked up nearly two seconds on the Winner. Norm Hershfield of Sembach nipped Daniel Cooley of Neu Bruecke for third by just .06. Betke who was second in last year s women s slalom triumphed wednesday with a 1 49.16 total. She had do s in the giant slalom tuesday which was won by Deborah Namdar of Rhein main. Namdar finished second in the slalom with a 1 50.83 that included the fastest women s run of 48.98 in the second heat. Some confusion with second course Gates lost Namdar time on her second run. Sembach s Monica Powell added a third place to her second in the giant slalom. Wiesbaden s Barbara Heiler finished fourth. Wednesday s race was run under Over cast skies with warming temperatures making the second run slightly Slushy. The super giant slalom thursday tentatively scheduled for the same slope will conclude the Safe Alpine meet. Ski trails former Usa eur ski racer Mike Anthony now stationed at fort Bragg n.c., was the top american Fin Isher in the Conseil International do sport Militare giant slalom the Only Alpine event in cism ski championships in Ruh polding Germany last week. Anthony placed 25th among the Best military Al Pine racers from Europe and North Ameri Ca. The French West German and Swiss were very Strong said Anthony who stopped by Garmisch after the cism meet. Most of the cism Competition was biathlon and Cross country events. But the one Alpine race had two runs and a very Strong Anthony won a number of Usa eur and All service ski medals while stationed in Heilbronn in 1982-84. His last race in Garmisch was a third place finish in the 1984 All services slalom. Safe women beat systems to stay alive Chanute fab 111. Stepha Nie Hall and Shaunelle Harrell kept Safe alive in the air Force worldwide basketball tournament. Hall a Center from Hahn scored 18 Points and Harrell a guard from Sembach hit 14 in Safe s 77-64 Victory Over systems come tuesday. The decision evened Safe s re Cord at 1-1 and ousted systems 0-2. Ramstein s Lois Pierce contributed 11 Points for Safe. Air training come 1-1 knocked out air Force Academy 0-2 101 52, logistics come 2-0 beat Pacific air Force 1-1 78-62 and Strate Gic air come 2-0 topped military Airlift come 1-1 114-57
