European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 27, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Friday april 27,1990 the stars and stripes a a a Page 23 spurs better be Robinsons team against nuggets Aba playoffs by John Maher Cox news service to David got your team ready for the Aba playoffs that a right big Guy san Antonio has got to become or. Robinsons neighbourhood. The squad has to become David steam. They can to be the san Antonio spurs any longer. That a Fine for the regular season when Aba teams just try to survive the tour of Texas that three Stop grind of Houston Dallas and san Antonio. It s great for the 82-game season when fans in opposing Arenas hold a Little in Reserve unless the los Angeles lakers Are in town. They want to chant a beat l.a.,�?� not a beat but now its the playoffs where every Road game will be raucous. Its the second season when its time to find out who s really the Best. And what makes the Aba playoffs so wonderful and so different from the no aah a is that the Best teams Are usually extensions of the Best players. The lakers Are magic Johnson steam especially when it comes Down to the last two minutes which he Calls winning time. Without magic the lakers Are just the los Angeles clippers in purple uniforms. That a Why he deserves to be the league map every bit As much As you deserve the Rookie of the year award. While the Boston celtics now creak up the parquet floor be Tough in the coming weeks because they re still Larry Birds team. Nobody hates losing As much As Larry does. Over in Philadelphia Charles Barkley is definitely in charge. Anyone who messes with any of his teammates is Messing with him. And Charles does no to mind paying fines for brawling. In Houston Akeem Olajuwon is the rockets Only Hope against the lakers. Commentary Over in Chicago Michael Jordan is obviously the Man. And in Denver a Well maybe that a Why the nuggets pose much of a first round threat to your team in the playoffs. The nuggets Aren t really fat s boys. The Best player on the team fat lever does no to really own the team. In fact any time the nuggets Start making noise about being a team that can win at sea level As Well As in the ratified air of Denver levers name usually gets mentioned in the Trade rumours. That a no Way to run a team in the Aba which is a players league not a coaching showcase like the Mcaa tournament. That tournament can be about who shot who a Lucky or who happens to take the Best advantage of College s cheap three Point shot. In the Aba playoffs there a Only one question to be answered who s the Best the great ones know that be measured not by their statistics but by the Success of their teams. A they know that winning is the thing. So far you be had a great season David. You be averaged 24.3 Points a game and led the team in everything from rebounding to steals. But you be still been the teams Center not the Center of the team. As a Rookie you had to fit in. To gauge just How far your talents could take you and the team in the worlds Best league. Well now you should know. It can be a Long Way if you Block shots in the key moments and slam Home some momentum changing dunks. You be already got As much respect from the Aba refs As any player in the league. Now a the time to prove you really Are one of the games superstars. Figures Don t help the map muddle final regular season player Barkley. 8ird. Boston Chambers Phoenix Drexler. Portland Ewing . E. Johnson. Lakers Jordan. Chicago Malone. Utah Olajuwon Houston Robinsons a. Stockton Utah by the associated press statistics of the leading candidates for the Aba s most q Fig Fra pct. It fat pct. 79 706-1177 .600 557-744 .749 75 718-1517 .473 319-343 .930 81 810-1617 .501 557-647 .861 73 670-1357 .494 333-430 .774 82 922-1673 851 502-648 .775 79 546-1138 .480 567-637 890 82 1034-1964 826 593-699 848 82 914-1627 862 696-913 .762 82 806-1609 801 382-536 .713 82 690-1300 831 613-837 .732 78 472-918 814 354-432 819 Vai acae player a Mars of 361-sc9 90-712 121-571 208-507 236-893 123-522 143-555 232-911 299-1149 303-383 57-206 asst. 307 552 Iso 432 152 927 519 226 234 164 u34 pts. 1959 1520 2201 1703 2347 1765 2753 2540 1995 1993 1345 avg 25 2 243 27 2 233 23.6 22.3 335 31 0 243 243 172 san Antoaio Rose this season because David Robinson soared through his Rookie matchup is Battle of big winners by Bill Barnard a basketball writer not since 1973 have two teams met in the first round of the Aba playoffs with so Many combined victories. The Utah jazz who finished the season 55-27, and the Phoenix suns third in the Pacific division at 5428. Are the first 50-win teams to meet in a playoff opener since the Aba expanded the playoffs to 16 teams in 1984. In 1973, the los Angeles lakers 60-2.2 heat Chicago 51-31 4-3 in a first round series. Utah the fourth seed in the Western conference behind the los Angeles lakers san Antonio and Portland meets fifth seeded Phoenix in the opener of their Best of five series Friday. The playoffs were to Start thursday with Indiana at Detroit new York at Boston and Cleveland at Philadelphia in the East and Denver at san Antonio and Dallas at Portland in the West. Fridays other openers have Houston at the lakers in the West and Milwaukee at Chicago in the East. The jazz lost eight of their final 13 games to fall out of first place in the Midwest division behind san Antonia Phoenix after a 7-10 Start righted itself in the Middle of the tease winning 19 consecutive Home games at one . Then finished 10-9 to fall out of division Conte Lac i Beix Sini the lakers who won 63 games. Bus Cecaci. Gas of Fitzsimmons said the suns Are beat or nor car. Season despite winning one less game. 1 a Vox y4 of. A Row at Home to set an All time club Roi Rocc Ami 12 Road wins Tor another record a Fitzsimmons skin. A Atli is is. A better team. to have won the 54 d they weren to a better a it Moring injury to All Star guard Kevin Johnson Hurt the suns Early and injuries to Jeff Komacek and Dan maj Erie hampered Phoenix at the end of the season. The suns believe their fans had much higher expectations this season than last it ear because the team had a poor record in 1987-88. A last year we finished the regular season and there were people All Over the place when we got off the Lane. There Wasny to anybody there this year a Center Lark West said. A a it a almost like we be spoiled the Community. Maybe people think they Only won 54 games instead of55. Maybe they re not As a a a a it a just a matter of getting Back in synch a Johnson said. A we did no to have any injuries last year. This year we a if you look Back at last year we started off slow too 6-7. It takes time to get a feel for each Johnson said. A now we got everybody Back healthy and people think we should be playing great. But it lakes a Little time to get the feel of each other again. A we got a few Days this week to build on things before the playoffs Start. Every body will be turning up their game a notch and right now i think we can turn it up a notch
