European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 31, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday May 31, 1992the stars and stripes Page 29porter shouldering Load for finals bound blazers a other guard Terry Porter. A underrated All my life by Bob Baum Portland Ore. A he is the a other guard for the Portland Trail blazers. In this years playoffs though Terry Porter has shot himself out of the Shadow of Clyde Drexler. A Terry Porter has just been incredible a Portland coach Rick Adelman said. Porter 29, is bemused by the Surprise people have expressed Over his a a sudden stardom. After All he a been in the league seven years the last six As a starter and played in the Aba All Star game last year. A it does no to matter to me a he said. A a in be been underrated All my life. I done to know Why things should change  Porter always has elevated his game in the playoffs. A i Don t know Why its such a Shock to people a he said. A if you look at my past record my playoff stats always have increased compared to my regular season. Its just that this year its really  in the first two games against Utah in the Western conference finals Porter scored 67 Points and made 20 of 26 shots 10 of 13 from 3-Point Range. He went cold in game 3, hitting Only 3 of 13 from the Field but was perfect in seven free throw attempts. He recovered by hitting 9 of 16 and 12 of 12 in a 34-Point Effort in game 4 and added 24 More Points in game 5. He had an 18-Point game in the the game 6 clincher. In 15 playoff games he a averaging 54.5 per cent from the floor and 23.5 Points per game second on the team Only to Drexl cry a 26.9 average. For the regular season Porter averaged 18.1 Points and shot 39 percent from 3-Point Range. In game 1 against Utah Porter broke his old team record by making 6 of 8 3-pointers. In game 2, he broke his career nigh by scoring 41 Points. All this from a player whose outside shot was suspect when Portland drafted him out of Wisconsin Stevens Point a Small naia school in 1985. A that was not his thing at that time Quot said Bucky Buckwalter the blazers vice president for player personnel. A the was a Strong Driver. I think As time went on it became necessary to modify his game and the 3-Point thing came in he just made himself into a 3-Point  Porter says lie did it with a lot of hard work. In the summer head work with and clean who was then an assistant coach with the blazers. In the fall head work with his old College coach Dick Bennett. A a it a just repetition Type stuff Quot Porter said. A a that a the Only Way you can be sure that in crucial situations your form Isnit going to fall  Buckwalter first saw his teams future Point guard was in the 1984 olympic trials when Porter then a Junior and Charles Barkley were among the last players Cut from the team by coach Bob Knight. The next year Porter was a standout at an All Star tournament in Hawaii. A the was very impressive a Buckwalter said. A this Long suit Over there was defense. He was selected the Best defensive player in the  even though he had played mostly at Forward in College at 6-foot-1, he would have to play Point guard in the pros. Portland used the last selection in the first round to get him. He became the blazers starting Point guard in 1986 and has been alongside Drexler in the backcourt since then. When Porter scored 41 and Drexler 36 in game 2 against Utah Adelman marvelled at their performance. A it was amazing for me to watch a Adelman said. Quot i just kind of sat there in Awe. They were  Adelman is blessed with two guards who can handle the Ball score and pass. This year the team has put the Ball into Drexler a hands More often and when porters Man goes to double team the Portland superstar. Porter often is left open. A there arc very few guards in the league who can score 40 Points in a game especially Point guards a Drexler said. A Terry has that capability and its Good to Sec that come out at this  after game 2, a reporter suggested that people might Start saying Portland has the Best bad court in the league. A they should have been saying that years ago a Drexler said. Porters great season did t Start out that Way. His father died shortly in fore the season began and he struggled throughout the Early part of the season. A your whole team was struggling a Porter said. A it was kind of hard. But that a Over. We re focusing on what a happening  Porter whose wife Susie is expecting the couples first child in August is one of a handful of Aba stars who went to an naia school. Scottie Pippen Dennis Rodman and Jack Sikma Are others. Porters school did no to even give athletic scholarships a fact the play maker characteristically shrugs off. A i May have been the first person to Eay Back a student loan in this league a e said a but so be it. Its not where you Start its where you  is. Blazers answers Many a prayer by Mark Heisler the los Angeles times thank you gods of basketball. If you re the Aba Abc or a basketball fan rejoice. Everything has turned out perfectly bulls is. Blazers. Not Only that it Isnit a mismatch As it would have been at mid season. The blazers have warmed up. The bulls have cooled off and rate Only a Small Edge. The blazers have Good physical matchup at the two key positions a Clyde Drexler to play Michael Jordan Jerome Kersey to play Scottie Pippen. Terry Porter rates a big Edge Over John Paxson. Buck Williams and Horace Grant Are a push. Even with his mood swings commentary Kevin Duckworth gets an Edge Over old or. Bill Cartwright. The Portland Bench is far Superior to the bulls Bench. Bull reserves stood out in the Eastern finals Only when Stacey King committed his $5,000, amazingly stupid fire Mem up in Cleveland flagrant foul of Danny ferry in the closing seconds of a Blowout and when . Armstrong complained that Jordan and Phil Jackson  complain publicly about the Bench. On the other hand the bulls have Jordan. The key matchup pippin Kersey. Normally you a give Pippen a big Edge but lies had a ragged postseason at Best. Pippin a a Blessing and curse As been Dot. H developing in Jordan a Wake. He grew to manhood while defences massed on Jordan but he did no to have to learn to step up. In the crunch Jordan always took Over. Now however the bulls aspire to be a great team and Pippen to be a great player and they can to make it unless he does. For that hell have to be mentally tougher. If Kersey gets a standoff with him the bulls Are going Down. Mansell s pole Streak hits 6 with record run Monaco a Nigel Mansell won the pole position for the sixth straight time this year As he turned in a record clocking saturday to Lead qualifiers for today a Monaco grand prix in which the British Driver will be seeking his sixth straight formula one Victory. Mansell drove his Williams Renault raced around the Monaco grand prix course in 1 minute 19.495 seconds. Mansells time broke the qualifying Mark of 1 20.344 set last year. He averaged 93.648 Mph or 150.711 Kilometres per hour the first time anyone averaged More than 150 Kph on the twisting circuit since it was changed in 1986. A new chicane or Small curve coming out of the Tunnel was added that year. Mansell on saturday became the first Driver to go around the 2-mile Street course under 80 seconds. Second to Mansell was his teammate Riccaro Patrese who led by one thousandth of a second with 1 20.368 until Mansell beat him with about five minutes left. Third Best in qualifications was defending Champion Ayrton Senna in a Mclaren Honda with 1 20.608. Senna has won this race the last three years and four of the last five. Frances Jean Alesi in a Ferrari with 120 895, was fourth. Brett Bodine claims pole for Delaware 500-Miler Dover Del. Apr Brett Bodine came up with his first pole position of the season Friday setting a Budweiser 500 qualifying record with a Lap of 147.408 Mph on the one mile Oval at Dover Downs International Speedway. It was the latest in a series of highlights for car owner Kenny Bernstein who earlier this year became the first drag racer to surpass 300 Mph in a Piston driven car and earlier this month had indy car Driver Roberto Guerrero win the pole for his team in the Indianapolis 500. Bodine who has three career poles a All driving for Bernstein a was the fastest of three Drivers who broke the race qualifying record of 146.681 set by Alan Kulwicki in june 1988. Kulwicki did no to even get a shot at his own Mark on the Cool sunny afternoon after crashing both of his cars during practice prior to the Start of time trials. The owner Driver was expected to have another of his Ford thunderbird brought in by truck from his race shop at Concord n.c., in time for the second round of qualifying saturday. There were several other crashes including one by Dale Jarrett during qualifying but Bodine said a we really Haven to had any trouble Here. We were Quick off the truck and the setup has been  Mark Martin Tho set the Overall track qualifying record of 148.075 in september 1988, gave thunderbird a sweep of the front Row positions Friday with a Lap of 146.999 Only seconds after Bodine s Quick Lap late in the qualifying session