Page 624 - Demo

JSPORTS:tT S . M I %u00ab 4 ^ . *%u2014%u2022 . %u00ab%u25a0 mv a M K T n u t m u aBottomLineThe Knick game at Phoenix the other night provided we insomniacs with an unusual sight: The five guys on the court for Phoenix in the fourth quarter, while the Suns were blowing the Knicks off the court, were all white guys. That%u2019s right, folks, all five. My frantic phone calls woke up more sensible Knick fans, but they confirmed that this tied an N.B.A. record not equalled since 1964, the last time five white guy?on one team won a pro basketball game.No criticism is intended toward John McLeod, the Phoenix coach and his team, who managed before it folded in the playoffs, and which has looked good in the early going this season. But one has to wonder whether it%u2019s racial makeup (there are seven whites on the Suns' roster) in a league that is better than 60 percent black, isn%u2019t at least partially connected with the demographic profile of the Phoenix area. Phoenix, a town in the middle of the Sun Belt explosion, is mostly white, and many of those are people who left urban areas to escape high crime and deteriorating neighborhoods that they associate with blacks and other minorities. And there is evidence elsewhere, though league officials don't like to talk about it, that the dominance of blacks in this game has alienated the blue collar fan in other cities, and has hampered basketball%u2019s efforts to establish itself as the blockbuster sport, doilarwise, it was supposed to become in this decade.In the early seventies, when New York was in love with the Knicks, and when CBS and ABC were engaged in a furious bidding war to sign the pros to a long-term television contract, league officials were pricately confident that pro basketball, long a distant third to baseball and football as certified American compulsions, would soon take its place near the top of the old ratings/dollars league. But something happened along the way. Now attendance at Knick games is down, way down, and some team officials privately admit that even if the team wins more than it loses this year, they%u2019re not sure they%u2019ll get back all the fans thev%u2019ve lost. Management is so concerned, it is now advertising a ball give-away game, a scam commonly used by baseball teams to fill the seats, hut one never employed by the Knicks.Around the league, several franchises have trouble drawing more than six or seven thousand to their games, although certainly winning franchises always seem to pack them in. More significantly, television ratings for the CBS game of the week telecasts are sagging badly, and though the league has a lucrative network contract that extends into the next decade, it has to be concerned with the ratings numbers.Sure, higher ticket prices are part of the problem. And the wholesale movement of star players from one team to another, a temporary aberration prompted by the introduction of the free agent rule, has made it difficult for a fan to truly identify with the home team, since today%u2019s hero may turn'out to be the bum that drops in a layup to beat the homers tomorrow.But the fan in the seats sees a game that%u2019s fallen back to a run and shoot playground style, and he sees players complaining about playing time and shots per game, and he sees an average salary (that%u2019s right, average), that has climbed to $145,000 and he%u2019s quite willing to draw the basest of conclusions: The players seem stupid, childish, and greedy; most of the players are black; ergo, those blacks are ruining basketball, just like they%u2019re ruining my neighborhood. He sympathizes with coaches like Billy Cunningham and Gene Shue, not players like LLoyd Free and George McGuinness, when teams like Philadelphia fall short of their promise.The fan doesn%u2019t want to, nor should he have to look beyond the surface of the situation. But the truth is that many N.B.A. coaches, including some of the blacks, are from a different era, when players didn%u2019t automatically get six-figure contracts, and when most were better schooled in the fundamentals of the game, because they had to be to survive. Most coaches make only a rudimentary effort to teach the game. And most, if the truth be known, feel uncomfortable when dealing with black players.The problem filters back through the high schools and colleges. The coaches freely recruit talented blacks from the playgrounds, but often make little effort to school them in the basics of their trade, never fnind the larger life skills that many ghetto kids don%u2019t pick up on the streets. Then they throw up their hands when the kid flings up a wild 30-footer in a key situation, or when he goes after an opponent with his fists after being tripped on the way to the basket. It%u2019s a credo in the schools, as well: Don%u2019t blame the teachers, blame the kid.No one is suggesting that only black coaches can motivate black players, or that black players are the only ones with serious emotional or professional deficiencies in the pro game. But if the owners reallv want to overcome fan resistance to the game, populating the court with occasional white faces won%u2019t cut it. Try hiring people to coach who know how to teach, how to motivate people, how to communicate with them. Many N.B.A. coaches areOn The Lighter Sideof the HoopLocaiAction:Moving Intothe SemisSaturday%u2019s P.S.A.L. playoffs ran pretty much to form, with Jefferson, Bayside, South Shore and Adams moving into the semifinals. Jefferson had the toughest time, nearly blowing a 20-6 fourth quarter lead to gutsy Lehman, which moved to 20-18 with 57 seconds remaining, only to watch a two-point conversion attempt fail to preserve Jeff%u2019s victory. %u201c Dizzy%u201d James scored three times for Jefferson, but Mike Martin was the leading rusher. Quarterback Mitch Russo sparked the Lehman comeback with a pair of touchdown passes to Miguel Cruz (70 yards) and Scott Levy (14 yards).Howie Brown scored three times for South Shore, twice on the ground and once on a pass, as they swamped a disappointed Clinton squad, 34-14. As expected, Bayside and Adams had little trouble with the Staten Island teams, Port Richmond and Tottenville. Adams coasted to a 27-15 victory over Tottenville, while Joe DiGirolomo%u2019s 20-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter lifted Bayside, last year%u2019s champs, to a 22-14 victory over Port Richmond.Bayside meets Jefferson in next week%u2019s semis, while South Shore takes on Adams. The South ShoreAdams contest probably pits the two toughest teams in the city against one another, with the winner a prohibitive favorite to take the city championship. Look for an Adams-Bayside final.In other games last Saturday,Brooklyn Tech defeated Wagner, 28-6, Madison crushed Washing-------AC\\ \-4 D _________t u n , ~rvz a -, u u u m m m t u c u i m j u m ,28-8.*****As mentioned in this column two weeks ago, two of Brooklyn%u2019s college teams, St. Francis and Long Island University, are awaiting decisions from state tournament officials to determine whether they will play in the statewide N.C.A.A. playoffs later this month. The decision from the four-man committee should have come Wednesday. St. Francis has the inside track, having defeated the Blackbirds 2-0 earlier this season, and having closed their season with a convincing win over Manhattan. L.I.U. needed a win over a tough New Haven squad (12-1-4) to enhance its chances, but could only manage a 1-1 tie. Odds for a playoff spot have to be regarded as remote. Two other local teams, Adelphi and Columbia, have already clinched playoff spots, and are waiting to find out who they will be playing.The Last Round-Up:Jets, Giants,Knicks, NetsA last look at the local teams in this space, at least on a week-toweek basis. Go back to those dull pretenders who write for the Manhattan Rags, and see if we care:JETS: Matt Robinson to Wesley Walker for 75 yards, and get out those size 15 Cinderella Slippers for the Jets. Down 28-7 to Orange Crush, and Crush went Crash, for 31-29 Jets victory. Credit Jet offense that wouldn%u2019t quit, and a patient Robinson who bluffed Denver until he was ready to bomb away. Defense made big plays when it had to, with good games formj |JOHN WILLIAMSON: Throws it up, but he%u2019s strongenough to make the toughest shots (Jim Cummins Photo).glib-talking hustlers who spend as little time with their players as possible. Coaches like Dick Motta and Jack Ramsey are successful because they are good teachers, because they have developed asuccessful system for winning that they can show the player%u2019s how to implement. Teachers make good players, and good players make winning teams. And winning teams draw fans, at the stadium and in front of the tube.And in the end, the fans don%u2019t care whether winning players are black or white.Isafeties Suggs and Owens, and linebacker Larry Keller. Great fer ChucY ^nniSv1 r punting complemented Coach Michaels patient, mistake-free strategy. Game seemed a certain disaster after two quirky interceptions and a big fumble by Kevin Long, only his second of the year, gave Denver four quick scores. But Long and Dierking piled up 174 yards between them, as Jets held Denver scoreless for second half and scored first fourth quarter touchdown Denver has yielded this year. Next week: Philly, only 5-5 and with no running backs but a letdown is always a possibility. Still, young Jets, at 6-4, with fourth best record in conference, may have grown up on Sunday.GIANTS: Jet offense and Giant defense combined might be unbeaten this year. In 20-10 loss to 1-8 Cards, Golsteyn was as bad as Pisarchik has been, and though defense shut out Cards in second half, game was clearly over when Cards went ahead 20-0. Giants couldn't get 21 points in half of a basketball game. Jimmy Robinson made big effort to bring Giants back with TD catch and long punt return in fourth quarter. Doug Kotar played good game. Rest of Giant offense should have stayed home. No one would have noticed. Giants (5-5) now play rematch with Redskins at Washington after two straight losses following big victory over Skins two weeks ago. Bye-bye, playoffs.KNICKS: Oh, those West Coast road trips. Shoorout at San Diego Thursday Knicks only win thus far, and they have not looked good in any other games. Adrian Dantley (41, a career high) and picture perfect fast break led by Laker%u2019s Norm Nixon rang up 147 points in Friday%u2019s Knick loss. Maurice Lucas played first minutes of season Sunday and racked up 30, including 17 fourth quarter points, as Blazers, like Lakers, blew Knicks away in closing minutes after three quarters of a close game. Bob MacAdoo, back after an injury, looks very rusty, and is a liability right now'. Glen Gonrezick has played himself off starting team (three consecutive scoreless games, no defense), with Toby Knight replacing him at small forward. Team defense is atrocious; offense consists of hot shooters doing I heir thing. Bright spots: Knight, a surprisingly steady Jim Cleamons, who is gradually taking over team leadership, Haywood, who has taken much of the scoring load, and Marvin Webster. Ray Williams will be as good as he wants to be, and right now that varies from quarter to quarter.NETS: Loughrey up for an Oscar this year: Best director of team impersonating a contender. Second place Nets 8-5 after overtime victory over Atlanta, 118-117, Saturday, on Eric Money jumper. Wilson Washington the big surprise, with superb work opposite Bernard King at forward. Only loss last week was blowout by Seattle, but Sonics (remember Lonnie Shelton?) have only lost once this year. King and John Williamson throw it up shamelessly, but because both are so physically strong, they can actually handle fling up wild bank shots with people hanging on their arms. Loughrey%u2019s swarming defense and constant ball-hawking pressure takes advantage of soft spots in opponent%u2019s concentration. Only problem is crowds at Piscataway, (which might as well be Philly for New York fans), are running a thousand below last year%u2019s meager levels. Nets must hope they generate crest bv season%u2019s end. and can sustain level of play until they move into iheir new quarters at Meadowlands.Page 32, THE PHOENIX, November 9, 1978