Wednesday, April 3, 1974 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Mnnp SPVri rci 4e revert BULLETS TOP KNICKS Buffalo bliste i By The Associated Press THE CELTICS, winners of the first-quarter lead, despite 10 points BUFFALO - The, young Buffalo opening playoff game Saturday, by Boston's Don Nelson and led Braves, getting a superb perform- 107-97, in Boston, went ahead for 51-49 at the half as Celtics reserve ance from seven players, whipped the first time early in the third Paul Westphal came through with the Boston Celtics 115-105 last period, 56-55, on a three-point play 10 second-period points. night and tied their National Bas- by Jo Jo White. The teams battled THE BRAVES, who slowed down; ketball Association Eastern Con- back-and-forth until they were their offense in the fourth quarter ference playoffs at one game knotted at 73-73. Then McAdoo of Saturday's loss, went to the apiece, chipped in a two - pointer with running game in the second play- While Bob McAdoo, the NBA's about 41/2 minutes to go in the third off contest and outscored the Cel- leading scorer with a 30.6 season period to put the Braves ahead to tics, 32-29, in the final period. average was held to 23 points, his stay. White paced the Celtics with 27 teammates took up the slack and Gar Heard added 20 points for points while Dave Cowens, who led the Celtics throughout most of Buffalo. killed the Braves Saturday with 30 the.game..I The Braves jumped into a 21-19 points, was held to 14. M.ets picked to win division flag; d+ose race to mark '74 season rs Bostonl -1 The teams meet in the third two field goals for the Bullets and game Wednesday night in Boston. bulky Wes Unseld followed with a * hook, putting Capital safely ahead 78-71. Knicks numbed Hayes and Mike Riordan added 17 points apiece for the Bullets, NEW YORK - Diminutive Kev- while Walt Frazier topped. New in Porter, the smallest player on York with 20 points. either team, triggered a decisive With the score 50-50 early in the third - period Capital burst and third quarter, the Bullets reeled off 12 consecutive points, before Fraz- Lacrosse today ier broke the spell with a driving The undefeated lacrosse team layup. Then Porter connected on goes after win number five to two field goals and rookie Nick day as they take on the stick- Weatherspoon tapped in a missed men from Michigan State. The shot, providing the Bullets with game will begin at 4:00 p.m. on their 16-point bulge. the tartan turf at Ferry Field. Hayes, who had riddled the Knicks with a total of 74 points in scored 22 points, propelling the the first two games, was held with- Bullets to an 88-79 victory over out a field goal during the opening the New York Knicks in a Nation-I period by the close guarding of al Basketball Association playoff John Cianelli, and he didn't get his gime last night. first basket until the 2:39 mark of the second quarter. THE VICTORY gave the BulletsAfter Hayes' field goal, Riordan a 2-1 lead over the defending NBA followed with a long left-handed champions in the best-of-seven jump shot, giving the Bullets a 33- Eastern Conference semifinal ser- 25 advantage, the biggest lead by ies. Game four will be played Fri- either team in the first half. day night at the Bullets home ither__em t court in Landover, Md. The cat-quick, 6-foot Porter, a I C A TINEY second year pro, fired in six points R as the Bullets broke loose from a 50-50 deadlock in the third period and outscored the Knicks 18-2 dur- ing a 4:29 span for a 68-52 lead.tBt The Knicks, trailing 70-57 at the Bt end of three quarters, surged back cutting the deficit to 72-71 in the fourth period with a 14-2 spurt. But they never could catch up. By JOHN KAHLER By JEFF SCHILLER 1 It is recorded history that the NewYork Mets won the National League East last year with a lack- luster 82-79 record and went on to capture'the National League play- off series and come within a hair- breadth of the World Champion- ship. But it was equally apparent that the N. L. East had no team which was capable, over a full sea- son, of competing successfully with any of the West's first three teams. Indeed it was even more import-; ant that no team in the division was any more than a few lucky breaks better than any other ball- club. So the East's general mana- gers went on a trading spree this winter with the results that all six teams should be improved, but the race will be as close as ever. The only team to emerge from the 'winter meetings relatively in- tact was tlte- defending champion 'New YorkMes The Mets are ap- p rentlyrelying on avoiding in- juries to such key personnel as Bed Harrelson, Cleon Jones, Jer-I ry' Grate, and Rusty Staub (each. out about one quarter of last sea-I son) to account for a significant, team improvement. The Mets' greatest strength is of course their pitching. Tom Seaver, Jerry Kooseman, and Jon Matlock are the best collec- tion of starters in the league, nd rookie Craig Swan is hailed as a potential sunerstar. Should they falter, a bulloen headed by relief ace Tug McGraw is ready to take up the slack. The pitching had better be there: th4tigh, or the Mets will find them- selves in serious trouble. New York as a team hit only 85 home runs last season, and all indica- tions point to a repeat perform- ance. Add the gaping hole the Mets have in center field, and you have a team which will once again! have to: rely on winning an awful lot of 2-1decisions this seasons. The power - hitting Pirates were let down by their pitching last year, so the Bucs went after hurl-. ers in the off-season. Pittsburgh' strengthened itself on the mound with the additions of lefties Jerry; Ruess and Ken Brett but lost niUth of the fabled Pirate depth in the process. This year's edition of the Pi- rates will be keyed by the con- tributions made by both the pitching and the defense. Moundsmen Brett, Blass, and El- lis have all been plagued by arm troubles in the past, and Bob Moose, Bruce Kison, and Jim Rooker have records which' are marked by inconsistency. In addition, the Pirate defense is suspect. Rennie Stennett has never impressed at second. Third sacker Richie Hebner has a weak arm, the first baseman, Dave Parker, is learning a new position, and Willie Stargell is no gazelle in left. Obviously Pittsburgh can score, but wheth- er they can prevent the opposi-I tion from- scoring more is a question which must still be ans- wered. St. Louis dealth away its two most effective starters, Rick Wise and Reggie Cleveland to acquire center fielder Reggie Smith and three mediocre pitchers - Jackie Curtis, Lynn McGlothlen, and Mi- chael Thompson. The additions of Smith and "can't miss" outfield prospect Bake McBride insures good hitting and excellent speed, but the pitching is suspect. Bob Gibson must bounce back to have a big year, and Red Schoendienst must find a stopper in relief as well. j E daily sports NIGHT EDITOR:s BRIAN DEMING Philadelphia seems doomed to finish in the second division albeit within plain sight of the leaders. Their most important addition was' l second baseman Dave Cash for whom they gave up pitcher Ken Brett. The deal looked good until the Phils lost the services of start- ing ace Wayne Twitchell via the injury route. Though capable else-! where, the Phillies lack the pitch- ing to make a serious run at the crown. The unanimous vote for "most changed team in baseball" goes to this season's Chicago Cubs. Anx-4 ious to eliminate the club's 'los- er's image', the Bruins dealt away no fewer than three regulars (San- to, Heckert, Hundley), their top starting pitcher (Ferguson Jen- kins), their top reliever (Bob Locker), and several top reserves. In return, the club got names like Madlock, Harris, Mitterwald, Mo- rales, Frailing, StonesHutson, etc., all players with loads of potential but very little in the way of ac- AP Photo BUFFALO'S BOB McADOO scores over Dave Cowens in NBA playoff action last night. McAdoo, who led the league in both scoring and field goal percentage scored 23 points en route to the Braves' first win of the series and their short playoff history. The former North Carolina star held Cowens to only 14 markers in the game. IEPLACES MANS: rbs defensive aide tual credentials. The big swap in Montreal this This year's Cubs are an enigma. winter was the one whichasent They have gone from the oldest super fireman Mike Marshall to ' team in the league to the young- the Dodgers in exchange for cen- est, and from the slowest team to ter fielder Willie Davis. The trade one of the fastest. Their pitching adds to Montreal's team hitting could be strong and deep, or it and defense, but it forces Expo could lack a stopper.dThe Cubs manager Gene Mauch to search could win it all this year . . . and high and low to find a suitable then too, they might just finish replacement for Marshall. ' dead last. ELVIN HAYES retaliated with Prep eage to enroll At Michigan The Michigan basketball recruit- ers drew their first blood yester- day, with the announcement that Joel Thompson had signed a Big Ten letter of intent to play at Michigan. Thompson, a 6-7 for- ward, led his Flint Beecher team to a perfect regular season re- cord and was selected to the As- sociated Press All-State team. The coaches are very high on this young man, particularly Bill Frieder, who was primarily re- sponsible for recruiting him. Pro- claimed Johnny Orr, "Joel is a young man with good touch and strength, and excellent speed. He may need a while to develop, but he's going to be a great one." shi e Michigan football has long been associated with winning. So it was only a slight surprise when, after George Mans elected tq take the head coaching job at Eastern Michigan, Don Canham selected one of the biggest winners in Mich- igan highschool athletics to take over as the defensive end coach. Bill McCartney, the newest member of Bo Schembechler's coaching staff, helped make Dearborn Divine Child a state power in both football and bas- ketball. In fact, the Falcons won state championships in both sports last year. But the Falcons - came through with a near-perfect performance to top Unity. The stars of that game were a pair of juniors, Gary Fors- tek and Ed Kasperek. This pair also did well as a passer-receiver combination on the gridiron, both, making All - American as Divine; Child won the tough Detroit Catho-1 lic league and the state champion-t neat siigns - The New Orleans Saints offi- cially announced yesterday that Paul Seal has inked a contract with the NFL team, thus con- firming a Daily report of March 22. The former Detroit Pershing star turned down a "substan- tial bid" from the Detroit Wheels before signing the three year pact. about accepting the fob." he not- ed. "This is the best opportunity a high school coach in the State of Michigan can get. Working for Bo is an opportunity that only comes up once in a lifetime." One of McCartney's main areas of responsibility will be in recruit- ing the Detroit area. The Wol- verines have been ineffective in re- cruiting the home state, as Michi- gan prospects have consistently gone elsewhere for their education. Among those who got away are Forsteyk and Kasperek, both of whom signed at Notre Dame. "I would really have liked them to come here," said McCartney sad- ly. Though irrelevant for his pres- ship. a tribute to their dedication." ent position, McCartney's cage "It's hard to compare champion- Though McCartney's hiring was coaching credentials are certain- ship in football and basketball," only announced this week, he has ly impressive. Divine Child was commented McCartney. "Until been coaching the defensive ends considered to be a mere sacrific- they get a playoff system for high unofficially all through spring prac- ial lamb to powerful Hudsonville s c h o o I football, the cham-tice.' Unity Christian in last year's "B" title game. I never had any hesitation titl ga e. .. . ,. . a nnt nr aat~nnthn;no ,n .nb With any luck, the problem may be less than Mauch sup- poses. The Expos' starters have excellent potential, and if they develop as hoped, Montreal may not have to rely nearly so heav- ily on their bullpen this season. The Expos are also counting on rookies Barry Foote and Jim Cox to shore up catching and in- field weaknesses respectively. Blue Daily consensus N 1. NY. Mets , 2. Pittsburgh i 3. Montreal S4. Philadelphia .? S. St. Louise 6. Chicago . g'olfers By BILL CRANE The Michigan golf team swung into action last week and drove its way to a promising showing in the Miami Invitational Golf Tournament. The Wolverines placed sixth in the event hosted by the University of Miami but were only 26 strokes off the pace set by Florida International. Wolverine Coach Bill Newcomb stated it was a "good tournament" even though it was set up "a little differently than what we're used to." He should be pleased. Losing 1196 to 1222 at this time of year is reason to be happy. Although the Wolverines finished sixth, Newcomb informed that "30 strokes off" is really pretty close. Junior Tom McParlin led the Maize and Blue with a four-round total of 302. Newcomb re- marked, "We have as much or more talent as we've ever had individually." The next job for the golfers is to score and work well together according to the Wolverine coach. "We're a pretty old squad," Newcomb reveal- ed and a look at the Wolverine roster bears him out. Wolverine co-captains Rene Demarias and Craig Ghio were second and third for Michigan with totals of 309 and 312 respectively. Louis Meldman was fourth with 312 also. Much experi- ence is evident in Michigan's top men. Senior Jon Dale and junior Brad Harvey round out the "old" men. Perhaps the Maize and Blue's link experience will cause 1973 champion Indiana to cast a glance back over its shoulder. In addi- tion Minnesota and Purdue which also have been recent contenders may heed the Wolverine golf- ers' potential. Indiana made a tremendous showing in a tournament earlier this year and Newcomb re- sponded, "Indiana is looking strong but I didn't know they'd be that strong. It's a little frighten- ing. We've got work to do," he continued. The Wolverines' next competition is April 20-21 at Ohio State. The Blue don't come home until most of us have left-that's May 7 and as of right now that match is unofficial. Anyway between now and then the swings must become grooved and for the Wolverines and the golfers among us there can be only one desire. A chance to play some golf. Fore. BY GEORGE! George Hastings -- Home court advantage .,.. . . not for Pistons, Bulls WELL, SO MUCH for the home court advantage theory. That seemed to be the train of thought runing around the locker and press rooms Monday night after the Chicago Bulls had evened up their playoff series with the Detroit Pistons at Cobo Arena. With their win, the Bulls gained back the home court ad- vantage that they had lost on Saturday, but right now nobody is really still convinced that it means that much. Two games have now been completed in the Bull-Piston skrimish, and both have gone to the visiting teams. If being the home team was ever going to give any team an edge, it seemed that the second game of this best-of-seven National Basketball Association quarterfinal round would have been the time. In contrast to the first game in Chicago, Detroit literally had the house packed. A new Cobo Arena record crowd, 11,499 strong, jammed into the place to root the Pistons on. And this was no ordinary crowd. This was a mob that had been waiting for six years for some playoff action; that had suffered for 25 years through some of the worst professional basketball ever played; and that had seen in the past couple of seasons every other pro team in town-Tigers, Lions, and Red Wings-sink to mediocrity. THIS WAS A hungry crowd, and excitement was in the air. They buzzed when their heroes ambled out on to the court; they roared when a Piston dunked the ball in the pregame warmup; they exploded as Bob Lanier drilled in the game's first basket. When they gave Dave Bing a standing ovation just for coming out of the game midway through the second quarter, you knew that this crowd was fired up. The noise really didn't come until the fourth quarter, though, as Lanier and Chicago's Bob Love dueled for basket after basket, the roaring rose to a crescendo. Detroit coach Ray Scott signalled for time with six and a half minutes left, and I thought the blast from the standing hordes was going to break my eardrums. But all that hometown fervor didn't help a bit. While the Pistons proceeded after that timeout to fall apart, committing turnover after bad shot, the Bulls were anything but intimidated. They hung in, played their own game, and took control of the contest, just as the Pistons had in Chicago Saturday when a Bull comeback and a fired-up Windy City crowd threatened their lead. Frankly, it seems that this idea of a home team advantage in the playoffs has been vastly overrated. In the Piston camp, nobody seems excited that the Bulls "won back the home court edge." The feeling is that each team has won one game, and everything's even despite the fact that a seventh game, if necessary, would be played in Chicago. EVEN BEFORE THE series started, Scott would not admit that the home edge meant very much. "These are the play- offs," he said, "And I know that when we take the floor at Chicago the adrenalin will be flowing regardless of the crowd." And Scott proved that those comments were not just lip service when he refused to tire out his team in an effort to catch the Bulls in the regular season and seize the home court edge for themselves. Chicago coach Dick Motta also seemed to disdain the home factor. "This is big business now," the little Bull general TODAY Vote 'YES' for GEO RACKHAM LOBBY-9 a.m. to 9p.m. MASS MEETING THURSDAY, APRIL 4 8 p.m.-RACKHAM AMPH. AGENDA ITEMS: preparation for bar- gaining, ratification of constitution. pionship depends on the polls. In basketball, you win it outright." "My biggest coaching thrill was winning championships in both sports in the same year. I had a lot of athletes who were good in both sports, and that's m- MAY 20 TO JULY 5, 1974 Albion Sumner College offers a curriculum of more than 30 undergraduate courses. As during Albion's regular school year, the program features personal attention from excellent faculty, small classes and modern educational facilities-but at less cost. Albion's historic campus, bordered by the scenic Kalamazoo River, also offers recreational opportunities for students. t I, amiteete n oe tell me ore : i I am interested in more information about Albion Summer t College. Please send application for admission and Summer * College catalog. t t :, Im M il y ::. " ". ,.:.: .:. :..: :"::....- ',. ,.,. .,n. L"....