European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 17, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse Monday. May 17, 1q93 sports the stars and stripes b Pago 33 ii .1fi Leafs put an end to the blues. I Toronto a bring on Wayne Gretzky and the los Angeles Kings the Toronto Maple Leafs Are in the Stanley cup semifinals for the first time in 15 years. Win Del Clark scored two goals and Rookie goaltender Telix Potvin stopped nil playoffs 25 St. Louis shots saturday night in a lop sided 6-0 Victory that eliminated the blues. Trtat sent the Maple Leafs into the Campbell conference final starting Mon Day night in Toronto against Gretzky Kings winners of the Smythy series. We did t think it would be 6-0 but that s the Way the playoffs Are you can never predict anything said Clark the Maple Leafs Captain. We be made the semifinals and that s very Gratifying As a team the longer we play in the playoffs the closer Well get and the better Well be come As a hockey Doug Gilmour Dave Andreychuk Mike Krusic Znyski and Kent Mandy Rvilla added goals As the Maple Leafs won in the biggest rout of the seven game series. Gilmour accumulated three Points to improve his total to 22. That eclipsed the previous club playoff High of 21 by Darryl Sittler in 1977. This was a big game for us and i could Tell before the game the Guys Fereall focused said Gilmour. We were teed off because we wanted to finish it in St. Louis last thursday. We had one game left to regroup and All the Guys did that Gretzky the Only player with More Points than Gilmour in the postseason will play the first playoff game of his nil career in Maple Leaf gardens. The capacity crowd of 15,700, saved from the Nail biting anxiety that usually accompanies seventh game showdowns was Able to spend most of the night Cele Brating a Norm division championship by a club that has far exceeded expect Toronto players mob Dave Andrychuk after he scored the Leafs first goal in 6-0 Victory that eliminated St. Louis saturday night. Tons this season. It would be unrealistic to say we expected something like this said club president general manager Cliff Fletcher. We had hoped to earn a playoff spot and maybe try for a first found upset. To have this happen Well it s beyond our wildest dreams. The blues also had dreamed. It s history now said St. Louis coach Bob Berry. We had so Many positive things happen during the year and to come up in the seventh game the biggest game we play All year and not perform the Way we thought we were capable of performing it s very disappointing. That s by no Means to take anything away from coach Pat Burns and the to Ronto Maple Leafs. They played their game. They shut us Toronto put away St. Louis with a four goal first period that started the Early goers with Flag waving and Horn poking outside on Yong Street the City s main drag near the gardens. It was almost a shame said Jamie Macoun said of the on sided game. A that was left after that was for one team to try not to Tetany More embarrassed and for the other to try and not get injured. But what the Heck Well take blues goaltender Curtis Joseph whose outstanding play earlier in the series was responsible for stretching it to seven games could not Cope with the hard shots firing off Leaf Sticks from every direction on this night. Andrychuk opened the scoring at 5 02with his 12th goal of the playoffs. Bret Hedican was off for interference when Andrychuk backhanded a rebound Over Joseph s right shoulder with the goalie on his Knees. Clark got credit for the second Coal. He Slid the puck into the crease Hedican tried to slap it away but it hit St. Curt Giles s knee defender and into the net at 10 02. I d like to see us go another step or two further and Surprise a few More teams said Toronto Bob Rouse. The Stanley cup is up for grabs said dec Nicman Lodd Gill. There Are four teams left and i think All of them arc fairly equal going into the next hand capped Jordan lifts bulls to 3-0 by the associated press Richfield Ohio even with one hand tied behind his Back Michael Jor Dan beat the Cleveland Cavaliers. Playing with a sprained right wrist Jor Dan scored 32 Points saturday including 10 of Chicago s last 13, As the bulls won 96-90 for a 3-0 Lead in their Eastern con Ference semifinal series. No team has Ever overcome a 3-0 Defi Cit in the Aba playoffs and the Cavaliers have been eliminated by the bulls three times since 1988. Game 4 will be played monday night at Richfield coliseum. Jordan put the bulls ahead for Good with 5 26 to play stealing Brad Daugherty s Cross court pass to Start a fast break that Jordan finished with a Layup for an 87-86 Lead. Scottie Pippen followed with a Dunk that made it 89-86. The cars got within a Point twice after i that both times on jumpers by Larry i Nance before Jordan s three Point play i widened the bulls Lead to 94-90 with 2 50 i to play. I Cleveland did not score again. I Jordan Sank 12 of 24 floor shots and 8f of 10 free throws in spite of the sprain \ sustained in the third Quarter thursday i night in Chicago. I Pippen had 28 Points and nine re 1 Bounds and b. J. Armstrong scored 12 for the dulls. Aba playoffs Nance led Cleveland with 24 Points on ll-of-12 shooting before fouling out late in the game. Mark Price scored 18, and Gerald Wilkins and Daugherty had 16 each. The Cavaliers showed More emotion and rough play than they did in the first two games of the series frequently Hack ing and grabbing Chicago players to pre vent easy layups. Price and Pippen Jot into a Brief shoving match after Price fouled Pippen in the third Quarter and Daugherty was called for a flagrant foul on Armstrong a few minutes later. With Jordan testing the limits of his injured wrist the bulls fell behind by a Many As 13 Points in the second Quarter before closing to 53-50 at the half. Pippen kept Chicago in it scoring 19 Points and grabbing six rebounds in the first two periods. Jordan dribbling mostly with the left hand at that Point mixed uncharacteristic hairballs with spurts of his usual excellence. He had 10 Points at the , who had 13 second Quarter Points gave the cars their last double digit Lead with a three Point play that made it 51-41 with 2 20 to go. But the dulls closed the half with a 9-2 flurry highlighted by Armstrong s Wale open 3 Pointer. In the other playoff game saturday rockets 97, supersonics 79 Houston the Houston rocket rediscovered their defense and Otis Thorpe recaptured his shooting touch saturday night resulting in a rout Over the Seattle supersonics. Thorpe criticized for his play earlier in the series hit 12 of 14 shots scored 28 Points and grabbed 14 rebounds leading the rockets to a 97-79 Victory in their Vestern conference playoff series. I wanted to be very visible that was the main thing Thorpe said. I d heard some talk that i d disappeared and i wanted to show up Good the loss left the sonics with a 2-1 Lead in the Bestrof-7 Western conference series with the fourth game scheduled Sun Day night at the Summit. The one thing that got us going was our defense Thorpe said. We Carne out Early and took care of the basketball from the Start and we maintained that throughout the Thorpe 1 for 6 with four Points in wednesday s 111-100 loss to the sonics silenced his critics in saturday s game with 10 Points in the second Quarter including eight in the final live minutes when the rockets of scored Seattle 18-5. Matt dullard capped the burst with a 3 Pointer in the final second giving hous ton a 4 j-34 halftime Lead. The sonics were humbled but they re still confident. "1 think we showed in Seattle that s we re very close to them Seattle coach George Karl said. I said before these Ries that it would go six or seven games and it still looks like that to the rockets continued the assault in the third Quarter scoring the first two baskets before Seattle hit the next Sevenpoints. Then Houston outscored the Visi tors 23-6 Over the rest of the period for a 76-47 Lead. A 14-0 surge Over a 4 28 Span during the 23-6 run scaled the outcome. The rockets who ranked no. 3 in the Aba in defense held the sonics to 13 Points in the third period. Seattle hit 26 percent of its shots in the Surur tar and 39.5 percent for the game. Houston s big Lead allowed rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich to rest his Start cars in Thea fourth Quarter for sunday s game. We had to play our Bench that was a big part of our game Tomjanovich said. You can t just sacrifice the next game. I m glad it was t a two Point game so i d have to make a hard Hakeem Olajuwon honoured before the game As the Nua s defensive player of the year had 22 Points and 10 rebounds for the rockets Robert Horry and Kenny Smith each had 11 Points
