Friday, May 6, 1977
'BLAZERS, LAKERS BATTLE:
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Page Fifteen
THE ICHGAN AIL Pag Fitee
Ex-Bruin stars meet
By The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES-Don't call it
a National Basketball Associa-
tion playoff series. Call it
UCLA's All-American reunion.
The teams involved in the
best-of-seven Western Confer-
ence final opening tonight in
los Angeles are the Lakers and
the Portland Trail Blazers. But
they and their meetings are be-
ing overshadowed by their two
mammoth centers, the Lakers'
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar-former-
ly Lew Alcindor, class of 1969-
and the Blazers' Bill Walton-
class of '74.
The Lakers posted the best
won-lost record in the NBA to
gain the home-court advant-
age against the Blazers. Dur-
ing the regular season the
Lakers were 53-29. Portland,
finishing second in the same
Pacific Division, was 49-33.
Coach Jack Ramsey of Port-
land, whose club beat Denver
in six games, said his club
wanted to lay Los Angeles be-
cause the Blazers "want to
prove we are a better team."
In the decisive seventh game
>f the Los Angeles-Golden State
series on Wednesday night at
the Forum, the Lakers over-
came a 14-point deficit early in
the second quarter and went on
to a 97-84 triumph. Abdul-Jabbar
scored 36 points and grabbed a
season-high 26 rebounds.
"He's a good center and
they're a good team," Abdul-
Jabbar said of Walton and the
Trail Blazers. "There's no
They are by far the quickest
team in the league. We must
execute well and have good floor
balance and, most of all, put the
ball in the hole better than we
did against Golden State.
"If we don't, their outlet pass-
es will kill us."
During the regular season,
the Lakers won three and lost
one in head-to-head meetings
against the Trail Blazers.
West took note of the Abdul-
Jabbar vs. Walton match-up, but
also noted, "They have as much
talent as any team in the league
with' Maurice Lucas and Lionel
Hollins."
Against Portland this year,
Abdul - Jabbartaveraged 26.2
points and 13.3 rebounds. Wal-
ton, who played three games
against the Lakers, averaged
18.6 and 14.4 rebounds.
Casey Stengel was the winning-
est manager in World Series
history. He won 37 as pilot of
the New York Yankees.
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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
doubt the home court is an
advantage - at least it has
been for us this year-but I've
seen t h i n g s turn around
quickly."
Coach Jerry West, in his first
season directing the Lakers af-
ter starring for them 14 seasons,
said defense was the key to his
club's showing after being fig-
ured among the also-rans before
the season started.
"When I first took the job in
Los Angeles, I didn't like play-
ers thit weren't interested in
defense because you can't put
the ball through the hoop every
night," West said. "As the final
game against the Warriors went
on, their defense got weaker and
ours got stronger.
"To beat Portland, we simply
must stop their running game.
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Hubbard, two others
make anti-drug pitch
Michigan's Phil Hubbard was
one of three college basketball
players named this week to take
part in anti-drug television com-
mercials sponsored by the Fies-
ta Bowl and the NCAA.
HUBBARD, the leading scorer
(19.6 points per game) and lead-
ing rebounder on Michigan's Big
Ten championship basketball
team this season, will be joined
by Freeman Williams of Port-
land State and Mercer Univer-
sity's Cindy Brogdon.
Williams was the nation's lead-
ing scorer last season, and
Brogdon helped the U.S. wo-
men's basketball team to a sil-
ver medal in the Montreal
Olympics.
THE THREE stars will be
guest of honor at the Fiesta
Bowl Spring Banquet in Phoe-
nix, Arizona on May 15. While
there, they will join National
Football Coach of the Year
Johnny Majors of Tennessee in
producing the anti-drug spots
aimed at the youth of the nation.
Production of the drug spots
is part of the fight against drug
abuse that the Bowl has staged
since its founding in 1971. Over
the past six years the Bowl has
made more than $60,000 in cash
contributions to the NCAA Drug
Education Committee.
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