European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 16, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday june 16, 1987 the stars and stripes Page Corn Mentar the sixth game was just a formality they could have played this one the Waysome a coastal friends play chess putting each move on a postcard. They could have played his one on a computer factoring in the lagging floor softness of the Boston Garden and the Las Vracic hardness of the forum and pressing Lite Button. They could have minimized our dependence on Middle East Oil potentate by lightening the loads on All the red Eye flight Between the East coast and the weal coast before and after sunday s game in Losangeles. Bui the legalist in the National basketball association said come on put look at the taker girls an dancing Barry and his mystery guest in her Bikini and it t do thit the right Way. Therefore the other shoe dropped in a third Quarter of brutal inevitability As the Laken ran away torn the hobbling old celtics by a 30-12 margin to take ail the suspense out of the sixth game and lend every body to the Beach and not a minute too soon. The final score was 106-93 As the celtics Contin Robert Parish and Bill Walton often trailing their offence by a time zone and Larry Bird having a dreadful second halt the taken did t really have much Choice. They could either put the poor celtics out of their misery or succumb to the Gnu will of Larry Bint and there fore appear to be on the verge of a major collapse having barely won one of three games Back in bos ton. This last trip to California took on the ritual aspects of the annual visit to the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center or the egyptian tombs at the metropolitan museum of an you know what to expect but that s not the Point in going. This entire season has seen the celtics stumble on the Road a 20-21 Road record during the season a 5-16 Road record since feb. 21, and dreadful defensive average of 128 Points per game in their last eight Road games. But the rules said the game had to be played any Way so the two teams and their Follower league officials and the army of journalists and electronic technicians and fans packed up and ferried across the country. For some people who have often Schleppey across Victory hug los Angeles Laker James worthy hoists teammate Michael Cooper into the air As the final seconds of game 6 of the Aba championship tick away. The liken Iron the game 106-93 and the series 4-2. The continent for a Seesaw Laker celtics series this latest trip was another reminder that Ravel Ain t what it used to be. It used to be that you could Fly from coast to coast and if you were Lucky enough to be near a window you could stare out at Jie farms and mountains and canyons and Small towns with a restored sense of Awe at the open space and the Beauty glad to remember that All of America is not the Long Island expressway and the Lincoln Tunnel. But in the last couple of years staring out the window has become verboten As the Airliner strongly suggest you pull Dawn your Shade so other people can watch flickering images on the screen. Somewhere along the line they must have taken a Vole turning air planes into movie Heaters but i Don t remember being handed a ballot. In a year or two when we Are even More conditioned to gaping at a screen the next step is sure to be a Strong suggestion that you Lum out the overhead Reading Light and put Down that Book or Magazine and get Normal. These kind of traveler s annoyances May help explain Why the celtics had been flopping on the Road and Why the lakers generally Flop in Boston. For Large athletes most playing with damaged feet and aching torsos each trip involves crowded hotel lobbies autograph requests and the gapes of Strang ers while trying to find restaurant food to match what they know they can find Ai Home. The celtics with a weak Bench with some starters burned out and others injured were blown out in two games in the forum. Then the lakers found themselves unable to perform up to their standards in the Boston Garden. If not for a clutch driving Hook shot by the league s most valuable player. Magic Johnson last tuesday night the lakers would probably have gone into sunday s game facing elimination with one disastrous performance at Home. As it was they still had breathing room. One reason the lakers May have been unable to move the Ball in Boston was the slowness of the parquet floor this is nol an Idle excuse by the Way. Just to walk on the parquet floor is to feet your weight sink to feel Ripples of vibration spreading through each Section of the venerable floor. For the fast breaking lakers it must be like trying to run on Day old jello. The celtics had lost their last five games on the Road three to the pistons and two to the Lakra taking some of the suspense out of the postseason playoffs. In baseball although the Home teams have come from behind to win in the past two world series there is always the understanding that a Good visiting Pitcher can come in and take the game away from the Home team and the Home crowd. In hockey a Superior goalie like Ron Hextall can go out to Edmonton and stun the oilers Al least temporarily As he did in the recent Stanley cup finals. And in football the All or nothing desperation does not allow for any Home and away patterns. But in basketball there is an overwhelm ing sense of Dejavu seeing the lakers race onto their own court seeing the celtics hobbling around in their Road Green uniforms. It took a Tot of Jet fuel just to put those two teams Back in the forum sunday but David Stem the Aba commissioner has a funny aversion to deciding the championship by past performances. Nil acts to reduce fighting violence Detroit a the nil s Board of governors aiming to crack Down on fighting and violence in front of the net sunday gave tentative approval to a Rule they think will help their cause. Meeting at their annual Congress the governors voted for Stifler penalty against i team whose player involuntarily skates into the crease while his team is in Possession of the  in that Case the governors said in whistle will blow the play dead and a face Oft will take place in the Neutral zone thus taking the immediate advantage away from the offensive team. The vote was t even close nil president John Ziegler told a news con Ference following the All Day Board meet ing. The indication was that the governors hoped to prevent a recurrence of Ron Hextall t stick swinging incident during the recently concluded Stanley cup finals Edmonton s Glenn Anderson skated close to the crease of the Philadelphia goal and whacked Hemlall with his stick. Hextall in retaliation slashed the oilers Kent Nilsson on the legs. Ziegler said the Rule would be tried out in training Camp and would be voted on again by the Board before the Start of the season. The Rule was one of two the Board gave tentative approval to sunday. In the other a goal scored with an ineligible player on the ice will be disallowed. Another proposed Rule that a penalized goaltender sit out his own penalty was rejected by the governors. Ziegler said the Board passed a budget set oct. 5 As the Dale of the waiver draft and set up dates for next year s Stanley cup playoffs. He said a change in the playoff format Calls for a two Day interval Between the sith and seventh games should these Ries go that Long. It happened by Accident this year that we were forced to wait an extra Day because the coliseum was not available in Edmonton on saturday night and we decided that the extra Day of rest was a Good thing and that we should keep it that Way in the future Ziegler said. Do is ties miss championship series of 2-2 Dallas up Tatu collected three goals and an assist sunday night to give the Dallas sidekicks a 6-5 Triumph Over the Tacoma stars tying the major indoor soccer league championship so lies at two games each in a penalty and injury fill Elmalch. Tacoma defenders knocked Tatu out of the game three limes in the final Quarter. The third Lime on a boarding Penally against Gary Hill fans at reunion Arena showered the playing surface with cups and debris. Police swarmed through the crowd in an Effort to Stop the littering and Side kicks officials said they would seek additional Security for tuesday night s game5 in Tacoma. Steve Tungul the stars five time most valuable player suffered a Cut lip with nine seconds Fen when sidekicks goalkeeper kids Sobieski pushed him face first into the boards while making a save. The stars Preski who received a Yel Low warning card after a tripping penalty Midway through the fourth period that sent Tatu out of the game had to be restrained by teammates and was pulled from the game in the final seconds. Tacoma won inc first two games of the Besl of seven series before Pallas which fought Back from a 2-4 deficit in the Sec Ond half sunday rebounded to win two at Home. No miss team has Ever come Back from an 0-2 Start to win the championship