European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 22, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday february 22,1990 the stars and stripes army ski Irv cautious Hughes tops lonely slalom by Bucky Fox staff writer Garmisch. Wisl Germany Here was the set Ling Tor he army european ski championships tuesday you have a slalom on Snow More suited for skates than skis. You re racing against a Field that could tit into a Fiat. You re boiling under a Sun that surely was meant for surfing not skiing. So How do you go for the Alpine Gold very carefully. You do if you re Stephen Hughes anyway. Hughes admitted he look nary a Chance on the Way to his slalom Gold medal in the men s open division. The Stuttgart skier clocked 41.68 seconds in the first run. Hen went i own the same 41 Gates and 250 meters for a 42.20 second run. His 1 23.88 Totaj easily beat inc 1 30.35 of fellow Stuttgart Soldier Mica Imamura. I was skiing fairly conservatively said Hughes. I just wanted to  Hughes said that after his first run. That s when he still Felt the heat and not just from the Sun. Brad Mcclave. A Young speedster from the tiny Community of Philipsburg. Sizzled Down the first run in 41.97. Just .29 of a second behind Hughes. Bui Mcclave caved in on run 2. He missed a Gate near the Start. By the time he climbed Back around it. Inc race was lost. He finished the run in 51.97 for a 1 33.94 total. That allowed Hughes to mosey Down his second run with All the zip of a ski week student. Said Mcclave. Well there s always  indeed. And not just wednesday s giant slalom which will conclude these army ski championships. Mcclave is just 18. He s from Stephcn town n.y., and started racing when he was 7. He joined the army last july and Here he is. The course was Good. A fast turny course said Mcclave. But i was just out of  for Hughes a 27-year-old specialist from Spring Field vt., this surpassed his 1989 slalom when he took second at Usa eur. Then again he Felt the Pang of second place tues Day. Wiesbaden s Jim full Clec the former Safe Champion fresh from Landing a spot on the . Cism team froze the clock at 1 16.65. That was seven plus seconds faster than Hughes. But this was an army race so Oulette would have to wait to win medals at the cism meet next month in Austria. Hughes also Felt the Pang of slim Competition. With Gen. Crosbie Saint having killed Usa eur sports and recreation championships last october. Army skiing is trying to hang on with the help the armed forces recreation Center and commercial sponsorship. At to dialled a few thousand Bucks to help pay for these races with each skier entering $10 per race. Only 12 skiers signed up for Friday s army nor Dic championships which forced arc to cancel them. The All service Alpine championships an army air Force meet scheduled for March 1-2, has about As much life As a snowman in August. Why not enough army skiers. There Are better army skiers in Europe. There have to be Hughes said after his Victory. Tuesday s slalom Drew 33 racers. One of them was an airman Oullette and two were sailors John mar tin stationed in Stuttgart and Frederick Walkley who drove 10 hours from Naples. The trek looked Worth it for most of Walkley s first run. But he crashed into a Gate three rows from the finish. If this 26-year-old medic from Bellevue wash., Felt bruised he was t showing it. The Snow is perfect said Walkley. This is what the pros ski on hard As a Rock. I be got nothing to fault but  Walkley s Wip cout was the kind that vaulted Tim Sweeney to the men s seniors 30-39 years title. Robert Heckman of Schweinfurt looked like a cinch to grab seniors Gold. He clocked a 46.79 first run and needed Only a Safe second run to Clinch it. But As the last senior to race he wiped out. That gave the Gold to Nurnberg s Sweeney. He was timed in 50.33 and 50. 28 for a 1 40.61 total. Not enough skiers laments top master John Wotch. Two conservative runs said Sweeney a 33 year old Captain from san Jose Calif. This was my first slalom of the year. I just wanted to finish the first run and Sec How it  Stuttgart s John Wotch Brec cd to another Gold medal in the masters division 40 and Over. The 48 year old lieutenant colonel clocked runs of 50.92 and 53 09 for a 1 44.01, adding to his Usa eur slalom titles of 1983 and 84. He also won Usa eur giant slalom in 1983, 84 and 89. Still winning said Wotch. But the enjoyment is not As much As last year. Not enough  the women s title went to Stuttgart s Lori Bond. It better have. She was that division s Only skier. Pistons have whole league pushing  Bill Barnard up to basketball writer scores in the 70s1fti�-Bppping up everywhere teams arc getting shut out for Anke overtime periods and Dennis Rodman makes the we Star game averaging less than nine Points. What s going on Here defense is in in the Aba. With the defense minded Detroit pistons inc Aba finals twice and winning a title by holding teams under 100 Points in is of 17 playoff games the rest of the league has discovered that defense wins games and championships. The closer Ever body gels to parity and teams fed like they have a shot at winning they re going to do whatever it lakes to get Over that Hump says Joe Dumars. A pistons spark plug at both ends of the court. They realize thai playing defense gets you Over that  4 in the Early 80s, we knew we could outrun Juk outscore  inc lakers magic . That s not the Way we look at the game  teams have found out you can win Frlich  Detroit coach Chuck Daly said. A fun teams with not As Good offensive players a a to  the pistons arc Scadin Ganv league by giving up fewer than 98 Points Nof am this season but it s  that defense has spread beyond the de fending champions. Five year Vigo. No Aba team allowed fewer than 104 Points argame. At mid season this year 12 were giving upor Var than 104. Twelve teams gave up fewer than in Points in 1985-86, 23 of 27 Are allowing fewer Ihan 110 this year. There were Only three games in 1985-86 in which team scored fewer than 80 Points with a Low of 76. Halfway through this season there already were 21 games in which a team scored under 80, with a Low of 68. Analysis an average of 220.4 Points were scored per game five years ago nine More than this season. Only Denver has scored More than 90 Points in every game this season. The pistons and los Angeles lakers who met i Najj last two finals Are making defense glamorous. The first time they met this season Onjo to at the in the pistons held the lakers writ less in Over 108-97 Victory. It a my the second sbjrf6ut in Aba history since the 24-Secakttjhpt clog cute started in 1954, although it happened agh shirt week when Philadelphia beat Seattle Loos film cilia up teams combined to go 0 for-14 frag�1nelield m inline lakers pistons Remtul at Auburn Hills ttst., los Angeles held Detroit 1points in the icon half of a 107-97 Victory. I was stunned by the Way the lakers took a us inthe second half Daly said. They have mad same commitment to defense that we  Detroit has created a defensive mind set around the league and teams copy Success lakers coach Pat Riley said. In the Early 80s, transition defense was non existent. When a team was running a coach would say just get Back now there s sophistication to de sense. Points scored and shooting percentages have dropped and it s not because of a decline in Talent it s a Rise in  Johnson said defense has changed dramatically in the 11 years since he came into the Aba. Detroit won because of defense and once somebody wins using a style everyone wants to use that style Johnson said. You can t run free through the Lane. The last couple of years you find you la be body checked when you do that. Bodies arc bigger  defences in the 1980s became More sophisticated by necessity to keep up with the  Talent coming into the Aba. When i  league there was a lot More individual  individual  10-year Quotin Mchale said. That s changed and i Thirki Boston had a lot to do with that because we had Ruch Good Low Post players that teams had to defend it with a team  Mihalc s celtics teammate. Robert Parish agreed. The game was More physical years ago because you were allowed to hand Check Parish said. Teams Are playing defense As a team now. We had to learn to play team defense or we d get run off the  teams Are getting better at rotating and helping out and they re understanding that that s what wins basketball games nine year vet Tom Chambers of Phoenix said. Teams also arc getting stronger at re bounding. Thai s Why scoring is Down because of the Overall work ethic on defense and the importance that coaches Are starting to put on  but perhaps the most outstanding Symbol of the increased emphasis on defense was the selection of Man by Eastern conference coaches As an All Star. As an Honor to be named among the top 24  Aba said Rodman a career nine Point scorer. Tamu Cly made the All Star team because of my defense. I twi Oachs respect my work ethic but i d like to Sec  specialists in the  Rodman is  on on on defender in the Aba. Although Datty recently made him a starter he considers Rodman Mai in a Sable. I Don t think i could win a Gam without him dal said. A Rodman said that As Aba teams discover they can win with defense specialists like him will become More common. We knew we could t outscore anybody so we tried to outscore them with defense always limiting them to one shot Rodman said