10
SPORTS
Wednesday, June 9, 1993
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
For Barkley, lessons to continue in finals
The Associated Press
PHOENIX — Charles Barkley heard from Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson last summer about what it meant to have your private life under constant scrutiny.
Tonight, Barkley, and the Phoenix Suns use their first lesson from Jordan and the Chicago Bulls about the NBA Finals.
"This was the first year I've had the limelight like Michael and Magic." Barkley said yesterday after practice for the series opener "Hakked to them last summer about what it was like. This is the first time I've really experienced it. Basically, it was because the Phoenix Suns were winning."
Barkley, for years one of the NBA's best and most outspoken players, got a taste of what Jordan's life outside of basketball is like when reports linked him with rock star Madonna.
Jordan has proved time and again he can put aside distractions and play at a championship level. Barkley will be put to that test starting with tonight's opener.
Barkley said the Bulls status two-time defending champions is not an advantage against Phoenix, which is making its first appearance in the finals since 1976.
"We don't believe that we are underdogs," Barkley said. "Whoever says we're underdogs or whoever picks the betting line hasn't played basketball. We had the best record in the NBA. We're confident in our ability. Being in the finals for the first time doesn't mean anything. The Bulls won it the first time they went to the finals. It didn't bother them."
The Bulls and Suns split their two regular-season games, each winning on the other's home court.
"We're good, and they're good, and
we'll see who's better." Barkley said.
we'll see who's better. Barkley said Jordan and Barkley share more than stardom. They have a common interest in golf, played on the Olympic team together and endorse some of the same products.
"Of course, people are making this out to be a Michaelvs. Charles series," Barkley said. "He's my friend, but it's special to me that he's here. I'm just glad that I'm here. I've waited a long time to be here."
The Bulls are coming off a 4-2 victory over New York in the Eastern Conference finals, with the series having ended Friday.
"The time we had away from basketball on Saturday and Sunday was a good break for us," Bulls coach Phil Jackson said.
The Suns have been off since Saturday and have played five more playoff games than Chicago.
Barkley, who had 44 points and 24 rebounds in the Suns' victory over Seattle that put them into the finals, said that with a 2-3-2 home-court format in this series, it's important the team with the first two games at home protect its advantage before going on the road for three games.
Each game you play is a strain."
"You don't want them thinking they can finish off the series at home," he said.
Jackson said, "But now they've had some days off too, and it takes away from the effects."
However, for the last three years, the team with the home-court advantage split the first two games, then took control on the road.
In 1990, Detroit swept three road games in Portland, and Chicago did the same thing to the Los Angeles Lakers in 1991. Last year, the Bulls split with the Trail Blazers at Chicago, then won two of three in Portland.
Native Croat NBA star dies as league, Nets mourn loss
The Associated Press
Drazen Petroie, a raw European talent who developed into one of the NBA's top shooting guards in two plus-seasons with the New Jersey Nets, died in an automobile accident. He was 28.
Police said Petrovic was killed about 5.20 p.m. Monday, 15 miles north of Ingolstadt on a highway going to Munich. He was traveling in a Volkswagen Golf with two women and was sitting in the front passenger seat.
In heavy rain, the Golf slammed into a trailer truck that had skidded on the slippery road.
On the day after Petrovic's death
the Nets held a news conference to discuss the tragedy.
And just about everyone had a hard time coping. They remembered Petro's dedication and exuberance, two traits that helped him become one of the NBA's best shooters and its top european star. Willis Reed, the Nets general manager, said it was like "losing a son."
"He left no stones unturured trying to make himself the best player he could." Reed said, mentioning Petro's frequent weight room visits on road trips and extra shooting practice. "We don't have enough players in this game that care that much about it."
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