Section B · Page 6
The University Daily Kansan
NBA Playoffs
Tuesday; April 25, 2000
Hornets sting 76ers in playoffs
Coleman's 29 points leads team to victory
The Associated Press
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Back in the playoffs after a five-year absence, Derrick Coleman scored eight of his 29 points in overtime, leading the Charlotte Hornets to a 108-98 victory against the Philadelphia 76ers to tie their playoff series last night.
Charlotte went back to the basics in overtime, using its huge front line of Coleman, Anthony Mason and Elden Campbell to dominate the 76ers. The Hornets hit their first six shots and eight of nine in the extra period.
Mason opened the OT with a bruising layup that gave the Hornets a 93-91 lead. Coleman then took control, scoring six
straight points on a layup and two 15-foot jumpers for a 99-85 lead with 2:47 to play
Coleman took away a rebound at the other end from Tyrone Hill, and Charlotte capitalized when Eddie Jones hit a three. Coleman added a turnaround jumper and Mason and Campbell dunked to even the series 1-1.
Campbell finished with 20 points, Jones had 19 and Mason
Allen Iverson was held in check the entire night by Jones, who unlike in Game 1 stayed out of foul trouble and in Iverson's face.
Iverson was horribly off early, missing badly on a three-point attempt and bricking a layup in the first half. He had just seven points at the break on two-for-eight
He wasn't any better in the second half, either.
shooting.
He missed a three-point attempt with under a minute to play in overtime and shot just five for 21 for the game.
What shots Iverson did take either rattled off the rim or grazed the glass and bounced into Charlotte's hands.
His first shot of the third quarter didn't even hit the rim, and as he struggled to get anything off on Jones — who has a six-inch height advantage on Iverson — he ended up passing the ball more than shooting it.
But the rest of the Sixers picked up the slack for him and had an 89-84 lead with four minutes to play.
But David Wesley hit a three, and the Hornets tied it at 89 when Mason dunked with one second left on the shot clock and 1:01 to play in regulation.
Atlanta Hawks coach retires after 27-year career
The Associated Press
ATLANTA — Lenny Wilkens resigned yesterday from the Atlanta Hawks after the worst season of a 27-year career.
Wilkens' resignation was announced at a news conference at Philips Arena.
Wilkens had two years left on his contract, which would pay $10.4 million. But the decision was not unexpected after the Hawks struggled to a 28-54 record, their worst mark since moving to Atlanta in 1968.
The team missed the playoffs for the first time since 1992, losing 25 of its final 31 games.
"This year was a disaster," said team president Stan Kasten late in the season. "It's truly beyond anything I could have imagined."
The 62-year-old Wilkens coached seven years in Atlanta after previous stints in Cleveland, Seattle and Portland. His career record is 1,179-981 and his lone NBA championship came with the Sonics in 1979.
Wilkens, an All-American guard at Providence and a nine-time NBA All Star, was the second person elected to the Hall of Fame as a player and coach.
In 1997, Wilkens was honored as one of the 50 greatest players in NBA history and one of
the 10 greatest coaches, the only person on both lists.
He got his 939th victory in early 1995, passing former Boston Celtics coach Red Auerbach. In 1996, Wilkens coached the U.S. Olympic team to a gold medal in Atlanta after serving as an assistant in the 1992 Games.
The Hawks had at least 50 victories in three of Wilkens' first five years, then he finished second in the Central Division after battling with Indiana until the final week of the strike-shortened 1999 season. Wilkens signed a four-year, $20 million contract extension in 1997.
But in a bid to shake up a stale franchise and get past the second round of the playoffs for the first time since moving from St. Louis, general manager Pete Babcock engineered a controversial deal that sent leading scorer Steve Smith to the Portland Trail Blazers for Isaiah Rider and Jim Jackson.
Rider's discipline problems were well documented, but the Hawks were in need of a makeover as they moved into the new 19,445-seat Phillips Arena. They wanted to dump Smith's long-term contract and switch to an up-tempo offense with younger, faster players.
team flight. Finally, after two suspensions and the threat of another for repeatedly showing up late, he was waived with 18 games left in a lost season.
Rider didn't show for the first day of training camp, missed a practice and skipped a
Wilkens blamed chemistry, while clearly pointing the finger at Rider for leading the tean down the wrong path with his distracting behavior
behavior
in the past Atlanta Hawks
Wilkens always had
"All I know is we've had a tremendous amount of distractions and a lot of young guys who are impressionable," Wilkens said. "Maybe they don't know what it takes to get to this level night in and night out."
self-motivating veterans such as Grant Long and Tyrone Corbin to police the locker room. The Hawks had no such players this season, just a bunch of youngsters like Jason Terry, Dion Glover, Roshown McLeod, Cal Bowdler and Chris Crawford.
Players defended Wilkens most of the year. "The way we've played this season has got nothing to do with the coaches," said center Dikembe Mutombo. "Lenny didn't make all the decisions here, all the changes. All he could do was coach who was brought here."
Charlotte 108,
Philadelphia 98,
series tied 1-1
LAST NIGHT'S NBA GAMES
Seattle 101,
Utah 87,
Utah leads series 2-0.
Spurs put on new face; Suns rely on experience
The Associated Press.
SAN ANTONIO — Samaki Walker is trying to control his nerves and prove he belongs in the NBA playoffs.
Kevin Johnson has been there before, and he wants to show he still belongs.
Walker will start in place of Tim Duncan when the San Antonio Spurs play the Phoenix Suns in Game 2 tonight. The Suns expect playoff-hardened Johnson to buy them time while Jason Kidd recovers from a broken ankle.
At 23 and with all of one playoff game to his credit, Walker knows this is his moment. He had 13 points and 16 rebounds in his first playoff game Saturday, but it wasn't enough to keep
the Suns from winning the opener of the best-of-five series 72-70.
"You walk out there see the NBA logo, and you know this for real," Walker said. "You hear guys talk about it the
whole season. But until you experience it, it's something totally different.
"It's overwhelming. You have to come out and calm yourself down. Some games you come out and try to work yourself up to get the energy. But in the playoffs, the energy is there."
The Spurs won home-court advantage, despite Duncan missing the final four regular-season games with a torn cartilage in his left knee. But they couldn't overcome Phoenix's defense in Game 1, and they missed Duncan inside.
“It's changed them a lot,” said Suns guard Penny Hardaway. “All the plays they're running for Samaki and Malik [Rose] are the plays that Tim would get. They can't score like him. They are hustle players and they play hard, but his
[Duncan's] lack of presence is very noticeable."
The Suns miss Kidd, too. And they are trying to squeeze another postseason out of Johnson, who's been in 97 playoff games.
Johnson is making an improbable return to the Alamodome, where his career seemingly ended two seasons ago in a playoff loss to the Spurs. Johnson jumped at the chance to return when Kidd was injured March 22.
Johnson played 25 important, calming minutes for the Suns in Game 1.
"My last NBA game was here." Johnson said. "We get put out of the playoffs in the first round and I leave the arena on the bus feeling like the end of my career.
"Two years later, I'm coming back to the same place to continue my career right where I left off, basically against the same ball club. It would be great to get out of this first round somehow, but it's very pleasing to be returning to San Antonio." Phoenix coach Skills intends
Phoenix coach Scott Skiles intends to use Johnson cautiously.
"He's been out for a long time, you can't just throw him out there and expect him to play 35 minutes then he gets hurt and we lose him the rest of the time," Skiles said. "I try to be a little smart about it, put him in and when I take him out, not put him back the rest of the half. I don't want him coming in and out, getting stuff."
Johnson has asked for at least two minutes' notice when Skiles plans to put him in a game. He then loosens up in the hallway behind the bench.