European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 2, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 22 b the stars and stripes tuesday june 2,1992 non finals Vars Are rolling As Glamour clubs ready showdown by Mike left twin the Baltimore Sun picking a Winner in the Aba finals is no easy trick. Picking a loser though that a simple. Reminds you of the presidential race does no to it Here goes the Portland Trail blazers can twin. Too dumb. Too immature. And the Chicago bulls can twin. Too much bickering. Too Little commitment. That said i can to wait for these finals to Start wednesday. This lose lose proposition is no loser if you like pro basketball the Way 1 like it a which is with a minimum of take Downs in the new York do Troil style and a maximum of takeoffs in the Nasa Michael Jordan Clyde Drexl or style. This is a made for Var series. The Portland Trail blazers . Portland dumb Guys Are Grace with an attitude. If you painted them they a be big Bright splotches of color on a 94-foot Canvas. Drax scr is my favorite player to watch in the non Jordan category. He Isnit As pretty As Jordan but he might be As explosive. He will take the Odd bad shot dumb Guys remember and he will sometimes seem slightly out of control but that a part of what makes him exciting. He a dangerous in a Good Way. Many of the blazers arc. You know they re not dumb individually but they arc team dumb. Their problem is that they be got All this Talent with no one to direct. They need magic Johnson or John Stockton. They need Isiah Thomas or Martin Scorcese. The Point guard is Terry Porter a wonderful shooting guard who can take Over a game but Only for himself. Droxler can take Over a game for an entire team but Only in stretches. When it counts who does take control that a the blazers main flaw other than the whining business. But lets not get carried away on the whining. The biggest whiners used to be the Detroit pistons who did of. No. 1 on the All time personal whining list was Rick Barry and he did of too until he became a whiny broadcaster. As Long a commentary the blazers can keep the technical fouls under lets say three a game they should be All right. Which brings us to the bulls. And to the question of the Day does Scottie Pip pen have a headache you a need some aspirin too if you were Pippen. You want headaches the kicks made the bulls ache All Over. The Cavaliers just scared them. And now they Are asking themselves what a going on. Should we Start with Jordan he a Only the greatest player who Ever lived. Just ask him. Jordan will go Humble on this. A gosh gee Whiz hmm Well you re the problem is Jordan realizes How much better he is than everyone else which must be Why he repeatedly Calls him teammates his a supporting now some of those teammates Are upset. . Armstrong and Cliff Levingston got angry because Jordan ripped the Bench. Horace Grant is always wondering about How much respect he gets from Jordan. You read the Book did no to you it was called a the Jordan rules a which detailed How Jordan plays by his own set. Its gotten worse. He was discovered having written checks to a dead Guy who was being investigated by a Long list of Law enforcement agencies. And yet we All want to be like Mike. That includes Pippen whose problem is that he a a very Good player but not quite As Good As everyone thinks he is. He seems this Good because he plays with Michael Jordan who generally attracts 80 percent of the available defenders. Pippen is to Jordan As James worthy was to magic Johnson. Pippen Isnit going to carry the team. He a going to get migraines. And he a going to feel occasionally As if Jordan is shutting him out and so he yells at the coach in frustration. All i know is that when that much bickering goes Public As it has with the bulls its Safe to guess there a a lot More that never comes out. Like the British Royal family this seems to be a group of Apito Clyde Drexler 22 is. Michael Jordan transforms 92 Aba finals into an airborne event people who i lain done to like each other. I guess it can be hard to be Jordan a teammate. Of course if you ask around the league it might be harder not to be. Jordan has taken the bulls this far simply by being Jordan and also playing smothering defense. But i think being Jordan might not be enough. The Trail blazers Are As talented As the bulls. Jerome Kersey who a also a Little mercurial is a great matchup for Pippen. Neither team is much in the Middle which can to Hurt Portland. Buck Williams is a big time player who will negate Grant. Portland has an Edge coming off the Bench. And the blazers probably want it More. Both teams can claim to have Hurt feelings. But the difference is that the blazers can blame somebody else whereas the bulls can blame Only themselves. Which is Why i say Portland in to Back numbers come up bulls by Bill Barnard a basketball writer matchup in the Aba finals Between the Chicago is bulls and Portland Trail blazers starting backcourt Michael Jordan is the Best player in the Aba but Clyde Drexler might be Secona Best and Terry Porter has been outstanding in the playoffs for the blazers. Jordan is More than willing to take Over a game by himself if he feels he has to a witness that be has taken 195 More shots than Scottie Pippen in the playoffs. Porter meanwhile has taken Only 92 fewer postseason shots than Drexler and either one is equally Likely to get the Ball in a decisive situation. Drexler and Porter have combined for 50.4 Points per game in he playoffs with Porter hitting 52.3 percent of Nis 3-Point attempts. Jordan is averaging 34.0 and Paxson 7.0 on just 5.5 shots per game. Drexler and Porter probably wont be Able to maintain such a wide discrepancy because they have yet to face the defensive pressure Chicago will put on them. Slight Edge to front courts 1 Inch of Chicago a front line players a Scottie Pip p game 1 on the air3 . Thursday get on an seb television and radio in Horace Grant and Bill Cartwright a is scoring Ess in the playoffs than they did in the regular season for a combined total of 6.9 fewer Points. Portland a front court starters a Buck Williams Jerome Kersey and Kevin Duckworth a Are scoring 5.4 More in the playoffs compared to the regular season. Grant and Williams have similar assets a big heart big offensive rebound totals limited offensive weapons. Cartwright and Duckworth Are slow footed wide bodies with strange looking outside shots. Kersey has a history of Strong playoff performances but his career has taken a nosedive with four consecutive seasons of progressively lower production. Edge to Chicago. Quot benches Portland coach Rick Adelina has stuck with a seven player rotation in the playoffs with both backup guard Danny Ainge and Reserve Center Forward Cliff Robinson averaging More than 20 minutes per game. Everyone else on the Bench has sat out at least four postseason games. Chicago coach Phil Jackson has Confidence in no one besides . Armstrong As a Back court Reserve. No front court player on the bulls Bench has the Talent of Robinson but Jackson has Cliff Levingston Scott Williams will Perdue and Stacey King to choose from and All four have at least one double figure game in the playoffs. Slight Edge to i he bulls have found their championship hunger lacking the second time around so the Eastern conferences Streak of eight consecutive Road victories in the finals Likely will come to an end when games 3-5 Are played in Portland. But even without the efficient play of last season Chicago has shown itself filly capable of winning the most important games of the series. If the bulls win the first two at Home look for them to have a letdown and lose two of three at Portland. If the bulls a split at Home they can find a Way to win twice at Portland. Either Way its bulls in 6
