SPORTS UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Monday, May 1, 1995
3B
Phoenix, Charlotte strong in first round
Hornets sting Bulls 106-89
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Larry Johnson scored 25 points and Alonzo Mourning had 23 plus 20 rebounds to help lead the Charlotte Hornets past the Chicago Bulls 106-89 yesterday and even their first-round playoff series.
Both players overcame slow starts to key a big second half by Charlotte as the best-of-five series moves to Chicago for Game three tomorrow night.
A Chicago team that seemed to be hitting everything in the first half lost its shooting touch in the second. In the second half, the Bulls missed 30-of-42 field goal attempts, and even 32 points from Michael Jordan couldn't help them.
With a 79-74 lead entering the fourth quarter, Charlotte scored 12
straight points to go up 91-76 with 7:18 to play. Dell Curry capped the run with a three-pointer and an 18-footer.
Meanwhile, the Bulls missed six straight shots during a stretch in which Jordan shot an air ball from behind the three-point line with nobody near him.
He came back with three straight three-pointers to cut the lead to seven with 3:31 remaining, but Chicago couldn't get any closer. As the clock wound down, Mourning and Johnson were hugging and slapping hands.
Scottie Pippen, who scored only eight points in the Bulls' 108-100 overtime win on Friday, finished with 18. B.J. Armstrong added 13 for Chicago.
NBA PLAYOFFS
Johnson and Mourning took control of the game in the third period, leading a 14-3 spurt that gave the Hornets a 73-67 lead with 2:37 left in the quarter. Charlotte went to its big lineup, adding Robert Parish on the front line, and the Bulls didn't make a field goal for 5 1/2 minutes.
Western
1st rnd. Semifinals Finals
Finals Semifinals 1st rnd.
Orlando S. Antonio
SERIES TIED 1-1 *S. ANTONIO LEADS 1-0
Boston Denver
Charlotte Seattle
SERIES TIED 1-1 SERIES TIED 1-1
Chicago L.A. Lakers
Indiana Phoenix
INDIANA LEADS 2-0 PHOENIX LEADS 2-0
Atlanta Portland
New York Utah
SERIES TIED 1-1 NOTE: "Denotes a late game last night that would affect series. First round is best-of-five games; all others are best-of-seven. Team with better regular season
Cleveland SERIES TIED 1-1 Houston
Blazers burnt lose 103-89
The Associated Press
PHOENIX — Charles Barkley and A.C. Green punished Portland on the backboards, and Kevin Johnson led the way down the stretch as the Phoenix Suns beat the Trail Blazers 103-94, pushing Portland to within one game of elimination from the playoffs.
The Suns lead the first-round series, which moves to Portland on Tuesday night for Game three, 2-0.
Barkley had 25 points and 13 rebounds, and Green had 20 and 15. Each had six on the offensive boards as the Suns, outbounded in each meeting with the Blazers during the season, held a 47-35 edge in this game.
Johnson, who scored 28 points,
had seven rebounds of his own to
help Phoenix win its seventh
straight against the Blazers.
Gerry Fey and Knight-Ridder Tribune
Rod Strickland had 26 points and 12 assists for Portland, and Harvey Grant scored 21.
The Blazers came from nine points down in the second period to lead 57-53 at halftime and went up 63-53 in the first 1:10 of the third quarter.
But Johnson, who had 11 points in the quarter, scored seven during a 19-6 Phoenix surge.
Wayman Tisdale got the lead back for Phoenix, 70-69, with a jumper in the lane with 4:06 to play.
In the final minutes, Barkley had three baskets and Johnson hit four free throws to send the Suns to an 80-74 lead entering the fourth quarter.
After the teams matched baskets over the first part of the period, Green hit a basket and four free throws for a 95-85 lead with 4:18 left.
In a 44-second span, Johnson made the Suns' only basket of the final five minutes, then four free throws for a 103-89 lead with 1:09 to go.
Cavs tie series with Knicks
The Associated Press
CLEVELAND — Given that the overmatched Cleveland Cavaliers have been overcoming long odds all season, their playoff victory in New York should have come as no surprise to people that have followed the team this far.
The Cavs, all but given up for dead after New York dominated them 103-79 in the playoff opener Thursday night, tied the series 1-1. Cleveland beat up on the Knicks 90-84 at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, stealing away the
momentum as well as the home-court advantage in Game three in the best-of-five series.
Games three and four will be at Gund Arena on Monday and Thursday nights.
"It's turned it into a best 2-out-of-3," Cavs coach Mike Fratello said. "You still have to go out and win your games at home, and New York beat us here twice this season."
Perhaps the Cleveland victory will serve only as a wake-up call for New York, clearly the superior team on paper.
The Knicks' 55-27 record during the regular season was 12 games better than Cleveland's 43-39 mark, and they are far more seasoned in big games.
The Cavs had lost eight straight playoff games before winning Saturday.
Yet the Cavs have parlayed the role of underdog into an advantage all year, particularly during the first few months before opponents grew accustomed to their painfully deliberate offense and the relentless, double-teaming defense.
The Associated Press
ORLANDO, Fla. — Anybody who didn't give Boston a chance against Orlando was dead wrong.
The Celtics rebounded from the worst defeat in the franchise's storied 49-year history with a stunning 99-92 victory yesterday that not only evened the first-round playoff series 1-1 but wrested the homecourt advantage from the heavily favored Magic.
Games three and four of the best-of-five matchup will be played at Boston Garden on Wednesday and
Celtic magic strikes in Orlando
Friday, meaning at least two more games are left at the storied arena, which is being closed after the season.
Orlando had the best record in the Eastern Conference during the regular season, but lost its last seven road games. The loss was only the third at home this season for the Magic, who were 29-0 at Orlando Arena against Eastern Conference opponents before yesterday. But that didn't mean anything to the Celtics, who have a proud tradition that includes a record 16 NBA championships.
Dominique Wilkins, Bee Brown and Sherman Douglas paced the turnaround less than 48 hours after the Magic destroyed the Celtics 124-77 on Friday night.
Wilkins scored 24 points on 10-for-17 shooting, Brown added 21 and Douglas finished with 20 points and 15 assists. The Celtics held the Magic to one field goal in the last five minutes, Dennis Scott's three-pointer with five seconds to go.
Anfernee Hardaway led Orlando with 26 points. Shaquille O'Neal had 22, but the Magic never got O'Neal into the offensive flow.
The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — Even though he's been booed, pitcher Tom Glavine says he'll stay on as the Atlanta Braves' player representative until there's a new collective bargaining agreement.
"I don't think it would be fair for me to abandon that position and put somebody else in as the player rep before something was resolved," he said Friday night at Dodger Stadium.
"I plan on seeing it through until there is an agreement," Glavine said. "And once there is one signed, I'll probably look long and hard about giving up my player rep duty on a daily basis. I'm still the alternate National League rep, and I think I would continue in that role."
Glavine was booed Thursday in Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium before his first start of the season.
"I'm not real sure I could get somebody to do it, anyway," he said. "But it's my obligation to see it through and then, when there is something done, hopefully sell somebody else
on the fact that we've got a four-, five- or six-year agreement and they won't have much to do for that period of time."
Glavine, a three-time 20-game winner as a pitcher, replaced Dale Murphy as the Braves' player representative after the 1990 lockout. Glavine was the only player who wanted the job.
"I didn't get into it to get into a strike situation and I certainly don't want to go through what I went through again," he said, "but I don't have a problem with being a player rep."
"I've actually enjoyed the learning process of being a player rep." Glavine said, "and the reasons I got into it were to learn about a lot of the different things that go on that affect players off the field and when their careers are over."
Glavine, 29, admitted he had entertained thoughts of quitting last summer.
"I didn't think it was fair to thrust somebody into that situation who wasn't familiar with it," he said.
Baseball salaries drop following strike; expected to rise
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — The average salary in baseball declined nearly 10 percent following the players' strike, but the drop was caused largely by expanded rosters.
A study released Saturday by The Associated Press showed the average was $1,073,582, a drop of 9.7 percent from the $1,188,679 average on opening day last season.
But following the strike, teams began this year with 28-man rosters instead of the usual 25. Most of the extra players earn the major league minimum of $109,000. Subtracting three players a team at the minimum raises the average to $1,173,498, a drop of just 1.3 percent.
Only once since free agency has the average salary dropped for an entire season. In 1987, during the owners' conspiracy against signing free agents, it dropped $86 to $412,454.
"Obviously," acting commissioner Bud Selig said, "the clubs have made some adjustments to their losses and the economics of the past year, and in many clubs' case the last two, three and four years."
Under the salary-cap system owners implemented from Dec. 23 to Feb. 5, 21 teams over their caps would have been forced to cut their payrolls by $56.2 million. But owners rescinded the cap under pressure from the National Labor Relations Board.
Usually the average salary declines during the season as veterans are released and replaced by younger players. But it figures to rise this year because the rosters will go back to 25 on May 15.
Top Baseball Salaries
the 1995 salaries for the 32 major league baseball players making $5 million or more. Figures were obtained by The Associated Press from management and player sources. Figures include salaries and pro-rated shares of signing bonuses.
Player, Club Salary
1, Cecil Fielder, Det $9,237,500
2, Barry Bonds, SF 8,000,183
3, David Cone, Tor 8,000,000
4, Joe Carter, Tor 7,500,000
(tie) Kerr Griffey Jr., Sea 7,500,000
6, Frank Thomas, WSox 7,150,000
7, Mark McGwire, Oak 6,900,000
8, Jeff Bagwell, Hou 6,875,000
9, Cal Ripken Jr., Bal 6,871,671
10, Lenny Dykstra, Phi 6,200,000
(tie) Kirby Puckett, Min 6,200,000
(tie) Ruben Sierra, Oak 6,200,000
13, Jose Canseco, Bos 5,800,000
(tie) Matt Williams, SF 5,800,000
15, John Olerud, Tor 5,750,000
16, Barry Larkin, Cin 5,700,000
17, Roger Clemens, Bos 5,655,250
18, Will Clark, Tex 5,647,726
19, Gary Sheffield, Fla 5,625,000
20, Roberto Alomar, Tor 5,500,000
(tie) Greg Maddux, Atl 5,500,000
22, Juan Gonzalez, Tex 5,400,000
(tie) Jack McDowell, NYY 5,400,000
24, Bret Saberhagen, NYM 5,362,990
25, Bobby Bonilla, NYM 5,300,000
(tie) Danny Tartabull, NYY 5,300,000
27, Darren Daulton, Phi 5,250,000
28, David Justice, Atl 5,200,000
29, Jose Rijo, Cin 5,125,000
30, Robin Ventura, WSox 5,100,000
31, Doug Drabek, Hou 5,000,000
(tie) Mark Langston, Sea 5,000,000
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Featuring two speakers who work with sexual abuse survivors and towards the rehabilitation of sex crime offenders; and one speaker who is nationally recognized for research in this area.
Monday, May 1, 8:00 p.m. Jayhawk Room, Kansas Union
Sponsored by:
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