Page 22-Wednesday, May 2, 1979-The Michigan Daily
SPORTS OF THE DAILY
urs look to shake playo inx

By The Associated Press
SAN ANTONIO, Texas'-- The San
Antonio Spurs, one of pro basketball's
best teams at qualifying for the playoffs
and perhaps the worst once they get
there, will be facing more than
Philadelphia in tonight's decisive
game.
They'll also face their own miserable
playoff past, says veteran guard and
team captain James Silas.
The Central division champions have
frittered away a 3-1 lead in the best-of-
seven Eastern Conference semifinal
series.
"We can't deny the past," said Silas.
"It's staring us right in the face. The
pressure's on. We have to respond to it.
If we lose, people will say the same
things - about how we get in the
playoffs and choke."
In its 12-year history in two cities and
two pro leagues, the franchise has
qualified for the playoffs 11 times. But,
it has won only one series - its first, a
1968 three-game series over Houston as
the American Basketball Association's
Dallas Chaparrals.
They lost in the next round that year,
later falling in first-round series seven
times in the ABA and twice in the
National Basketball Association.
San Antonio turned a home-court ad-
vantage to a 3-1 lead in this year's
series. But Philadelphia trounced the
Spurs 120-97 here last Thursday and
won again 92-90 in Philadelphia on Sun-
day.
San Antonio's 6-foot-11 center Billy

Paultz, suffering from a pulled ham-
string, is "doubtful" for tonight's
game, said Coach Doug Moe. That
means pencil-thin Mike Green, 6-10 and
barely 200 pounds, will start against
massive 6-11, 260-pound Darryl
Dawkins.
Bassall crowds up
NEW YORK - Major League
baseball attendance set a record of
4,990, 675 for the month of April, accor-
ding to figures released yesterday by
Commissioner Bowie Kuhn.
The total represents an increase of
nearly 10per cent over the same period
in 1978, when attendance for the season
reached a record of more than 40
million.
The largest increases were enjoyed
by the California Angels and
Philadelphia Phillies. The Angels are
up by 184,961, compared with last year
and the Phillies are up 101,227.
Philadelphia leads the majors in at-
tendance with 412,971, averaging 36,691
per opening. In all, 17 of the 26 major
league clubs have shown increases in
their first month's figures.
Badgv'r icer honori'd
NEW YORK - Forward Mark John-
son of Wisconsin, the No. 2 career
scorer in school history, was selected
College Player of the Year by the
Hockey News yesterday.
George Crowe of Dartmouth was
picked as coach of the year.
Johnson, whose father, Bob, is

Wisconsin's coach, scored 28 goals and
41 assists for 69 points this season, run-
ning his career total to 256.
Crowe led Dartmouth into the ECAC
and NCAA playoffs for the first time
since 1965 ang has a 58-57-4 record since
becoming the school's hockey coach in
1975.
Fri'dmnan atisfacltor
NEW YORK - Benny Friedman,
Mark "The Bird" Fidrych will
be restored to the Detroit Tigers'
roster and will start against Min-
nesota on Saturday, marking the
first time in almost a year that
Fidrych has taken the mound for
Detroit. Fidrych was on the
disabled list since April 1 due to
tendonitis in his pitching arm.
FIdrych will either pitch bat-
ting practice or throw on the
sidelines today before the Tigers'
game at Chicago, in preparation
for his debut.

who helped develop the forward pass at
Michigan in the 1920s and later played
in the National Football League with
Detroit, Cleveland and the New York
Giants, remained in satisfactory con-
dition at New York Hospital yesterday
following amputation of his left leg.
Friedman, 74, underwent the surgery
last week but hopes to be released from
the hospital in time to attend a Hall of
Fame dinner on May 20 in California.


GILBERTO GIL
Oneof South America's foremost
exponents o atin pprck
makes his North American debut.
Appearing at the
University of Michigan
May 7, 1979
N IGHTINGALE A N N A R 8 O R
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