Honolulu Star-Bulletin from Honolulu, Hawaii • 25

I I. r- ai'H I bj urn; vKCDKHiiun i nere no sucn tning as a blase Blazer tan. Portland tans whoop it up after the Trail Blazen captured the National Basketball Association championship. AP Photo. 'Had a Whole Lot of Fun Says Walton brf land inishes in a Blaze of Glory Star-Bulletin- 'We would guards get BUT.

HE ADDED, have liked to see the more involved." day with a hair-raising, 109-107, victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. "We had a whole lot of fun," grinned Blazer team captain Bill Walton, who was named the series' Most Valuable Player after he scored 20 points, grabbed 23 rebounds and blocked eight shots in the victory. "I feel good all over." PORTLAND (AP) The Pacific Northwest is known for rain and clean air. Now, it's also known for the best basketball played anywhere. The Portland Trail Blazers, who until this year had never had a winning season, claimed the National Basketball Association title yester ySBK rr Philadelphia guard Doug Collins, the team's second-leading scorer through the playoffs, hit just 3-of-9 from the field for six points.

Lloyd Free, who came off the bench to re place Collins, was 0-for-6 from the Monday June 6, 1 977 Honolulu field. PHILADELPHIA Im It I7J IMJ pts 24 14 20 t) 20 WHEN THE BUZZER sounded, Walton, who suffered through two injury-plagued seasons and considerable criticism before leading his team to this championship, ripped the No. 32 jersey from his back and hurled it into the crowd. The Blazers had dropped the first two games of the best-of-seven championship series, then won four in a row to win the title. Yesterday's contest was the only game that was close.

Portland led by as many as 15 points, but the Sixers repeatedly challenged the Blazers. They nearly caught them at the finish. Joe Bryant's two free throws with 51 seconds left sliced the Portland lead to 108-105. Portland's Maurice Lucas sank one of two free throws with 27 seconds to make it a four-point game. GEORGE MCGINNIS, whose shooting touch returned for the final game, sank a 20-footer to slice the lead to 109-107 with 18 seconds to go.

Then McGinnis tied up Portland's Bob Gross and controlled the subsequent jump ball. ft 0-0 912 4 5 St 01 0 0 0-0 3 00 Srvln McGinnis C. Jones Blbbv Collins Mn Dawklnt Free Gross Lucas Walton Davis Hollins Calhoun Neal Twardtlk R. Jones 12 IS 3U MS 11 10-21 3-1 2-4 25 0-1 he played nearly the entire game. "I really don't think he was concentrating on me on defense," Gross said, "and there's no way he can run it i-7 oo oo 00 00 0 I IJ 0-0 00 00 Catching up and down the court with me for, Bryant Dunieaw 48 minutes and not get tired.

I Totals 44 91 19-27 107 u-tt 3110 0 Totals 27 Philadelphia 3 27 25-107 40 34 It 100 Portland 27 bounds rniiaaeipnia (': wtcGinms is. Erving Collings 5. C- Jones 4, Free 3. Bryant 3. Bibbv 2.

Dawklns Team Portland (59): Walton 23. Lucas 10. Crossl. Hollinsl, Davis 3. Neal 3, Twardiik I.

Team 4. ASSISTS Philadelphia OS): Erving I. Bibbv S. McGinnis 2. C- Jones 3.

Collins 2. Free 7, Bryant 2. Mil 1. Calchlngs Portland 1231: Walton 7. Lucas 5.

Gross J-Davis3. Hollins 3. Neal 2. FOULED OUT C. Jones TOTAL FOULS-Phlladel-phia 28, Portland 23.

OFFICIALS Richie Powers and JakeO'Donneil. A 12.951. IN THE FINAL game, it was the play of Portand's guards particu-1 larly Hollins and the team's rugged superiority on the backboards that made the difference. Hollins scored 20 points, including several key baskets in the final quarter. Portland outrebounded the Sixers, 59-47.

Still, Philadelphia needed just one basket at the end to send the game into overtime: "We almost did it," said McGinnis who hit 12 of 23 field goal attempts, scored 28 points and grabbed 16 rebounds. "We fought back. It was a great ball game, a great finish, the best game of the series." Cubs Down LA. CHICAGO (UPI) Rick Reuschel and Bruce Sutter combined for a four-hitter in pitching the Chicago' Cubs to a 3-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers today. Unhappy Landing PHILADELPHIA (AP) About 250 young fans greeted the Philadelphia 76ers early today when they returned from Portland, where they lost to the Trail Blazers in the NBA final playoff series.

One observer said there were no speeches when the players got off the plane. "They sort of just ran for their lives," he added. said exhausted Philadelphia Coach Gene Shue. "It was a tough game." The tenseness of the game evaporated in the euphoria of the post-game Portland dressing room, where guard Dave Twardzik jokingly dumped beer down the shorts of Walton and Lionel Hollins as they were being interviewed on television. CHAMPAGNE FLOWED freely and so did compliments.

"I'm a very good friend of everybody on this team," Gross said. "I can say anything I want to any of them. You can't say that about very many teams." "They play team ball, unselfish ball. They are the embodiment of the best in professional basketball," said champagne-drenched team owner Larry Weinberg. "These guys have played great all season," said the usually reserved Walton.

The big Portland center normally avoids post-game interviews, but he talked at length after the game. "IN MY OPINION." he said, "they (the Sixers) lost because they played a better team. I don't mean to take anything away from them. They're a fine team. I just think they ran into a better one.

"This was one of the best games I've ever played in," Walton said. "A lot of guys played well and it was exciting." Walton won a new car from Sport Magazine when a panel of writers selected him MVP. Blazer Coach Jack Ramsay couldn't argue with the choice. "I've never coached a better player. I've never coached a better competitor.

I've never coached a better person than Bill Walton," said Ramsay. WHILE ERVING grabbed his usual place in the spotlight by sinking 17 of 29 field goal tries from a variety1 of angles, Gross the man who was guarding him hit 12 of 16 field goal attempts and grabbed five timely offensive rebounds. Gross wound up with 24 points, tops for the Blazers, and he said after the game that Erving relaxed on defense and became tired because Suzuki's Second Earns PGA Card it of competition in ninth place, after dropping from the lead with a third-day round of one-over-par 73. He suffered a double-bogey six on 13th hole yesterday but finished with four consecutive birdies and a par. Hancock, a one-time Ail-American from the University of Florida, went into the final round in second place but overtook leader Bill Pelham, of Houston With a three-under-par 69 on the Pinehurst No.

2 course. He birdied the 14th and 16th holes to seize the lead for good. Pelham dropped to fifth place, a stroke behind last year's winner, Curtis Strange, of Kingsmill, who closed with a 419. PINEHURST, N.C. Lance Suzuki finished with a flourish, shooting a six-under-par 66 on a sunny day at the Pinehurst Country Club yesterday, to place second in the PGA Tour Qualifying School.

Suzuki, of Laie, Hawaii, had a four-day total of 418 which left him one stroke behind Phil Hancock, of Greenville, Alabama, who led the qualifiers with a 14-under-par total of 417. Wayne Levi, of Lutz, Flal, finished in a tie for second with Suzuki. All told, 26 of the 86 golfers in the final round earned tour cards which enable them to join the $9 million PGA Tour. One-under-par totals of 430 or better were required to gain the cards. Suzuki entered the final day The Sixers got three shots in the final eight seconds, but none found its target.

The first was by Julius Erving, who led all scorers with 40 points, but his 18-footer bounced off the rim. Lloyd Free grabbed the rebound, but his shot was blocked by Walton. McGinnis grabbed the ball and fired from 12 feet, but the shot was short. Walton tipped the rebound to Portland's Johnny Davis and the game was over. THE CROWD OF 12,951 swamped the court in what looked like a scene from a Cecil B.

DeMille epic, and the immediate postgame hysteria was tame compared with the celebration that followed downtown. A parade through downtown was planned for noon "The sun was shining in Portland. I thought that was a good omen," ON THE BALL Bill Walton, the big wheel horse of Portland's NBA title drive, goes up to block a Philadelphia shot, with teammate Maurice Lucas (20) at his side and the 76ers' Julius Erving looking on from below. AP Photo. or Lance Suzuki the Real Grind Begins Now BillKwon Sports Editor W.

When Lance Suzuki finished in a tie for fifth in the Hawaiian Open in January, the biggest thing for him wasn't the $8,310 he won. That helped to pay his bills, of course. But the biggest thing was that it gave him incentive to try for a sixth time to earn his PGA tour playing card. "The shewing in the Hawaiian Open gave me confidence. It showed that I could play with the best," Suzuki said in a telephone interview yesterday from Pinehurst, N.C, where he earned his PGA Tournament Players Division card after finishing second in a 414-man field that started out in the six-day grind.

Suzuki shot a six-under-par 66 at the No. 2 championship course, considered the toughest of the five at Pinehurst. He tacked together nine birdies in his final round to finish with a 418 total, one stroke behind winner Phil Hancock of Greenville, Ala. THE NINE BIRDIES matched the number in his opening-round 63 at the easier No. 3 course when he took the first-day lead.

Suzuki was among the leaders throughout the demanding six-day schedule, although he slipped to ninth going into the final day when he turned in his torrid 66 despite the mounting pressure. Suzuki, the former Kahuku High School All-Star basketball player who went on to win Ail-American honors in golf at Brigham Young University, didn't play conservatively yesterday. That's how come he got a double-bogey six on the short par-four 13th hole, costing him a chance for an even lower-scoring round. He went for the pin even though it was tucked in the corner right in front of a sand trap. He bunkered his wedge shot in going for the pin.

He blasted out of the bunker over the green, got on and two-putted for his only, bad hole of the day. He also bogeyed the 11th hole, but otherwise it was birdie time for the 25-year-old golfer from Laie. "Perseverance finally paid off," Suzuki told one of his staunchest supporters, Bob Tom, calling him right after he had called his wife, Gail, to break the good news. FIVE PREVIOUS TIMES Suzuki failed to get his TPD card. The showing in the Hawaiian Open gave him the incentive to try again.

And. as far as Suzuki was concerned, it was a matter of timing, "and the timing was right this time." "What happened the other five times had to have helped. It's all part of the learning experience. It's a matter of adding and adding to your game. It's all a part of golf," Suzuki said.

This time, though, he also had an added psychological lift when he brought along his caddy, Kahuku buddy Glenn Takemoto, the 1974 Ha- It's too late to try to qualify for the U.S. Open next week, but Suzuki says he'll try to play in the Western Open the week after at Oak Brook, 111. "If not the Western, then the Greater Milwaukee Open for sure," he said. "Now it's a matter of trying to find some money somewhere." He's looking forward to joining fellow Hawaiian Steve Veriato on the PGA tour. "I don't know Steve that well, but I'm sure he'll clue me in on what I need to know," Suzuki said.

"When I heard he finished second (in the Atlanta Open) that gave me an added lift to do well here," he said. BUT EVEN THOUGH he finally gained his TPD card, Suzuki is a realist. He knows it won't be an easy going from now. The card and 35 cents will only buy him a cup of coffee. He has to go and chase the big boys on the tournament trail, becoming one of those Monday qualifying rabbits.

"The real grind begins now," Suzuki said. "And I don't expect to have an easy time. It'll take a lot of hard work." A lot of hard work got Suzuki to where he is now, and everybody who' knows him, knows he won't stop now. "But all along I felt that I could play with the best," says Suzuki. Now he has the chance to prove it.

waii State junior match play champion. Takemoto also caddied for him in the Hawaiian Open. The decision to bring his caddy was a costly but it was worth it to Suzuki. It turned out to be a wise investment. With more than 400 golfers trying out for the tour card (Suzuki was one of 26 to get one), the PGA Qualifying School officials decided to allow the golfers to ride a cart if they wanted since there weren't enough caddies to go around.

Suzuki decided against riding a cart, since he felt he couldn't pace himself properly by using a cart. BUT SUZUKI SAID he had decided to bring Takemoto after he had made up his mind to try again for his TPD card. Caddies, however, don't swing the clubs. It was all up to Suzuki and he delivered the goods. "I hit my woods good, my irons very good and was putting was excellent," Suzuki said.

Actually, it was like more out of his world. In the six rounds (108 holes), Suzuki had only one three-putt green, that coming on Saturday when he shot a 73. But his over-all game was so steady that he didn't have a single one-putt birdie of the nine that he shot yesterday. Suzuki didn't think that was the best he ever putted. He said that in the Taiyeho Masters in Japan last year, he didn't miss a single putt under 10 feet in that tournament.

"And it's funny. Before the tournament (in Pinehurst) began, I wasn't satisfied with my stroke," Suzuki said. SUZUKI WILL REMAIN in Pinehurst until Wednesday to go over some business matters involving the pro tour. He expects to be home Thursday and raise some finances to go on the PGA tour immediately. Lance Suzuki Finally Gets His Card asSSV 4SS.1.