European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 12, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse I Olajuwon comes to rocket defense thursday april 12, 1990 the stars and stripes a a Page 19 by David Aldridge the Washington Post Washington a the one thing that can Send Houston rockets Center Akeem Olajuwon into peals of laughter is when some dim bulb suggests that there a a controversy Over who is the Best defensive player in the league. Houston May or May not make the playoffs. The rockets May not have the most Well rounded team in the league. They May depend on Olajuwon too much. But Best defender please. When someone suggested that Dennis Lodman is getting consideration for the defensive player of the year award Ola Uwon took a bag of ice off his head and laughed. A a it a up to the voters the reporters a Lesa id. Guard sleepy Floyd tying his shoes Lext to Olajuwon helped out any people ill sitting on the Fence. A a there a no contest a he said. That a the View from the Houston amp but there is indeed a schism As to whether Olajuwon or Rodman will get he award. Rodman has the floor length charges and the pumping and his earn is the defending Champion. His earn is on Cable television almost every week. A a he a a very Good defensive player Olajuwon allowed. A they try to build Jim up As a defensive player. That a his Ole. So i understand his reputation. But that do you Call defense rebounding docked shots steals what else is defense a Olajuwon steam is not particularity telegenic. That is they done to have people Ith reputations for High flying dunks Dost nights Olajuwon puts up an inbred ble double figure game in Points and re funds but More often than not hous it a loses. So from a publicity endpoint he a losing out. But he leads the league in rebounding 4.1 per game and is far ahead of Pat Hack Ewing for the top spot in blocks at j 68 per game. If he finishes the year nth those standings he will be the first player to Lead the league in rebounding ind blocks since Bill Walton did it for Portland in 1977. Tom Nissalke the former jazz coach who does television for Houston told the Houston Post a to say Dennis Rodman is a better defensive player than Akeem Borders on insanity. Detroit has so Many Good defensive players that they can give a Guy like Rodman a specific assignment. All he has to do is guard a there a some truth there. Could Rodman go All out if Joe Dumars Hadnot been around to take the oppositions off guard one on one or it Detroit did no to have such a team approach to defense which demands helping out every time said Houston coach Don Chaney a a in a prejudiced of course. I done to think its close in terms of your Overall value to a team defensively. When you re talking about a defensive player Vou have to look at the Overall game of that player. Olajuwon plays everybody on the court. He san intimidator a shot Blocker. A a it a not easy and in a not discrediting Rodman at All. Its not easy playing a Guy one on one. But when you re responsible for playing your Man and four other Guys and you Excel in that to me there a no with Olajuwon As its Anchor Houston has posted the second Best defensive average 104.4 Points allowed in franchise history and its lowest total since the 1974-75 team held opponents to 102.9. The rockets have won few Road games this season. A you have a lot of players who done to have the respect for the players on the weaker teams a Chaney said. A their level of intensity is lower. This team has a tendency and maybe its because of the veterans not to have respect for certain teams and those Are the teams that give us a hard Olajuwon has been the Rock. With the other superlatives he is the first player in 11 years to grab More than 1,000 rebounds and Block 300 shots in the same year. Kareem Abdul Jabbar did it twice the last time in 1979. Add to this his 23.9 Points per game average and you have a bonafide league Akeem of Suwon blocking Robert parishes shot shoots for the a bad Stop defensive award. Map candidate. But such honors done to usually go to players whose teams Are under .500 and fail to make the playoffs. Still it has been a record setting year for Olajuwon. And then there a the quadruple double. A couple of weeks ago Olajuwon became the third player in Aba history to pull off the feat with 18 Points 16 rebounds 11 blocks and 10 assists against Milwaukee. Only Nate Thurmond and Alvin Robertson had done that. This came after Olajuwon was cred for april 12-18 unless otherwise dated basketball. Army european championships Ead for the semifinals wednesday a this is if the question of civilian players is resolved a other Mili iry players have an easter Date this weekend. The Aster tournament runs saturday through monday in Deburen a German town near the dutch Border. Jill her silent eng one team comprised of players in 2 Wiesbaden a Lamar Oden Wei Brucken a Darryl Eves Oesterberg s William Martin Parma sense Grant Obinson and Van Brooks and Ramstein a a1 Pye and Iid Hpe coach Bob Abbott of Ramstein l7pvl rifry.,n80,iec�,t the rams Bonnie Daye and Obj a a 3 do Naid eams the Only military contingent among e seams be add is dominated by teams from Tim Rwy 1st Ain Ond leagues but teams also come Czechoslovakia Russia England and Denmark. Dave Ric ians i pen a three game Blitz sat on Al ave a eng and at 9 15 ., Denmark at Imes will ?11 team at 4 pm Abbott says those Mes will be Shorter than regulation. The championship game tips off at 4 . league will stage its Habisch in spa pjewaso1? tournament saturday at h Hall and Mannheim with the Consolation and title games taking place at Mannheim sunday. Three games Are scheduled at each site saturday. The pairings at Schwabish Hall pit the Heilbronn masons against the Amsterdam baseball club at 10 30 ., and the bad Tolz twins against the Stuttgart Blue sox at 1 . The winners meet at 4 . At Mannheim a Wood memorial Field its the Mannheim Amigos against the Breda Netherlands Falcons at 10 30 ., and the Mainz rangers against the Frankfurt giants at 1 . Those winners meet at 4 . Saturdays last game losers will vie for third place at noon sunday at Wood memorial Field. Saturdays late game winners play for the championship immediately following the third place the German first division had a scoreless tie Between Frankfurt and Dortmund on wednesday night. The league usually plays on Friday and saturday but Good Friday shifted most games to thursday. Today a list starts with Stuttgart at St. Pauli at 7 30 . Then come seven 8 . Games Kaiserslautern at Munich Hamburg at Nimberg bochum at Bremen Mannheim at monchengladbach Karlsruhe at Dusseldorf Cologne at Homburg Saar and Uerdingen at Leve Kusen. The one monday game Dortmund at Nimberg starts at 6 . In the second division today Berlin visits Darmstadt and Osna Briick goes to Hertha both at 8 . Saturday features five 3 30 . Games Unterbach my at Bayreuth Hanover at Kassel Braunschweig at item with a 10th assist in a game earlier this season which also would have Given him a quadruple double. But the league stepped in and took it away. The one against the Bucks was beyond reproach though As the rockets shot whenever he passed the Ball. His teammates a really cooperated in the last five minutes a Olajuwon said. Quot i would still like to win a championship but this is a Nice individual and team accomplishment. Now that i know How it feels to get that Many assists 1 might dish it out More sports Calendar Wattenscheid Essen at Cologne and Freiburg at Munster. At 8 . Monday Schalck visits Duisburg and Berlin hits Aachen. The v corps season opened last week with two games and the league comes Back with three games at 1 . Saturday. Frankfurt visits Hanau at the High school Field bad Kreuz Nach drives to Mainz a Mcculley Barracks and Darmstadt goes to Baum older. In 21st Talcom Kaiserslautern visits Karlsruhe and Wei Brincken goes to Pir Masens both at 2 . Saturday. On the air Force Side four games Start at 1 . Saturday in the Continental sports conference Sembach at Kreine Brogel Wei Brincken at Ramstein Lindsey at Berlin and Spang Dahlum at the first International adar rally Cross will be staged saturday and sunday on the new half mile rally Cross circuit at the curb urging with racing scheduled from 9 To 5 . Both Days. Admission is 18 Marks for either Day while a combined card for both Days costs 30 Marks. Camping is available near the circuit. To reach the curb urging take the Koblenz Toner autobahn a48 and exit at rally a at a so Nheim circuit Wil Host its annual Adac-1000 Kilometres of Bockenheim motorcycle rally saturday with the full 4.2-mile grand prix course to be used. The City of Bockenheim is located Southwest of Heidelberg off autobahn a5 and a6
