Valley News from Van Nuys, California • Page 63

Piflt2 VALLEY NEWS Van Nuys, Calif. Thursday, May 5,1977 Frank Mazzeo No love lost with this pair High on your list of people not to invite to your next tennis party should be Tony Trabert and Eddie Dibbs. Ask one or the other, but not both. Trabert, the United States Davis Cup captain, ami Dibbs are not on the best of terms these days following Dibbs' refusal to play in the Davis cup tournament last weekend in Buenos Aires. It would be easy to say--because of problems such as this one which have surfaced over the past lew years that the U.S.

Davis Cup program is in a shambles. But Trabert disagrees with that. "When there are guys like Dick Stockton, Bob Lutz, Brian Gotfried, Stan Smith, Fred McNair, Sherwood Stewart and Roscoe Tanner participating I would never say our program is in a shambles," said Trabert yesterday. The thing that bugs Trabert is the lack of cooperation from certain individuals--such as Dibbs. Dibbs, for no other apparent reason other than that he wanted to rest, backed out of participating in Davis Cup play in Argentina at the last minute, leaving Trabert high and dry.

In fact, Trabert took off for Buenos Aires not knowing who would be the fourth man on the U.S. Davis Cup team and it was not until just hours before the substitution deadline that he was able to confirm that Stockton was en route to play. Compounding Trabert's problems was the fact that Harold Solomon was unable to play after he was scheduled to be one of the singles players. But Trabert has no quarrel with Solomon, who because of an illness, which has since been diagnosed as a slight case of mononucleosis. "He (Solomon) called me and told me he had swollen glands and I don't question his integrity at all on that.

"In fact, he had been openly critical of me before about not being selected, so I feel certain that when he was selected he wanted to play. There is no question in my mind," said Trabert. But it's different story when it comes to Dibbs. "He absolutely backed out at the last minute," said Trabert. Trabert indicated that he and Dibbs had spoken in early January and both Dibbs and Solomon confirmed that they would participate.

Trabert later sent conformation telegrams to Rotterdam and it was not until Dibbs was in London that he began to hedge. "He called me and said that if he qualified for the WCT singles and doubles in Kansas City and played in the Davis Cup, he wouldn't have any time to rest before going to Europe," added Trabert. Even Dibbs' manager attempted to persuade Dibbs to to to Buenos Aires, obviously to no avail, and there even were reports that a rift developed between the two men over the situation. For all the acrimony that has surfaced between the two, Trabert still respects Dibbs' ability and would not rule out the possibility of inviting him to play Davis Cup in the future. 'Til tell you this, though," said Trabert.

"I'd have an understanding with him about it. "This time the guy did not have the integrity, honesty, will, patriotism or guts call it whatever you want to play in the event and he backed out at the last minute. "He made a committment and was not man enough to live up to it," added Trabert. And Trabert feels that a player such as Dibbs -who earns probably in the neighborhood of $500,000 a year playing tennis could at least have the decency to devote a little time to the game and his country. "This is the Olympics of tennis," said Trabert in reference to Davis Cup play, "and you'd think people would want to participate." As far as the future is concerned, Trabert does not see clouds.

In fact, there are two very positive developments that have come about this year. First of all, the United States, by virtue of winning the North American section, will not have to play in the early-round matches in 1978. Secondly, Trabert has talked with the International Men's Professional Tennis Council and that organization has agreed to arrange its 1978 schedule so that there will be dead spots during the time the Davis Cup matches are scheduled. On the negative side, Trabert said, "There always will be the Eddie Dibbs who say they will play and then back out." And Trabert also holds hope that players such as Jimmy Connors will participate next year. "Connors has told me he wants to play, but he's under contract to Caesar's Palace and there were scheduling conflicts this year.

"He might have been able to play in the match against Australia had we won in South America." said Trabert, "but I don't think I would have used him had we gotten to the Challenge Round because it would have created a morale problem." As an overview. Trabert sees what has happened in the last couple weeks as nothingmore than temporary setbacks and he's committed to someday bringing the Davis Cup back to the country where it originated. Philadelphia, Houston ready PHILADELPHIA (UPIl-- Judging from Ihear exhausting sex-en-game series with the Boston Celtics, the Philadelphia 76ers know they can'l take anything for granted in the NBA playoffs. Fresh off their elimination of thedefendingcham- paon Celtics, the 76ers return to the court tonight against the Houston Rockets in the opennng gameof their besi-of-seven Eastern Conference finalssenes. As they had done wilh Boston, the 76ers defeated the Rockets three times in four games during the regular season.

But Philadelphia has learned in a hurry about the unpredictability of the playoffs. "This is no time fora letdown." Philadelphia coach Gene Shue said. "We may have beaten Houston three times during the regular season, but they're a different club now." The Rockets eliminated the Washington Bullets Sunday with a 108-103 victory in the saxth game of their senes. If anything, the 76ers consider the Rockets a tougher club than the Celtics because of the emergence of Moses MaJone as one of the league's leading rebounders, theirstrongfrontcourUand iheirdepth. "We're going to take the bail jnside to our strength," said George McGinnis, who teams with Julius Erving al forward.

"More than ever, this is going to be a series truly won on the boards. They've got the greatest offensive rebounder in the league (in Malone)," Kareem and 'fries rip Warriors in finale, 97-84 From Page 1 Abdul-Jabbar had his glasses knocked awry at the 1:53 markand 18 seconds later he and Parish came close to blows. Following a Laker timeout to cool things down a bit, Lamar, Tatum and Lucius Allen tossed in the next six points to bring the Lakers within eight. Baskets by Barry and Wilkes more than offset one by Abdul- Jabbar to increase the Warriors' advantage to 10. But then Lamar and Abdul-Jabbar tallied four unanswered points to cut the Lakers' deficit to six, 3630, with 8:22 left before halftime and the crowd gave them an ovation as they went to the bench for a Warriors timeout.

The teams matched baskets for the next three minutes, b'ut the Lakers made their move in the final four minutes before intermission. Abdul-Jabbar started an 8-0 Lakers' spurt with a fallaway shot from the baseline and finished it with a 10-foot skyhook from the lane to tie the score at 44 with 1:50 left in the half. Wilkes regained the lead for the Warriors 27 seconds later on a rebound, but Abdul-Jabbar stuffed in a rebound of a Don Ford miss 16 seconds after that to tie the score again. Tatum then gave the Lakers the halftime lead with a jumper from the top of the key with 21 seconds left and the Warriors couldn't get the tying marker down in the clos- ing seconds. The Lakers improved their halftime shooting to while the Warriors slipped to 41.7%.

By halftime, Abdul-Jabbar had 16 points and as many rebounds, with Lamar chipping in 10 points and Tatum eight. Abernethy had two assists, three rebounds and a couple of steals. Wilkes matched Abdul-Jabbar's 16 points, while Barry had only six. Clifford Ray had 11 rebounds for Golden State in the half. The Lakers built their one-point halftime lead to as many as five in the third quarter relinquished it briefly, then had to settle for a three-point edge, 69-66, by period's end.

Cal Lutheran wrestler wins national crown Ed Fleming, a 105-pound freshman wrestler at California Lutheran College, won the national AAU title in that weight class at the Sambo championships. Fleming, who defeated five opponents in a row, thus earned a berth on the United States team that will compete in the world championships at the Canary Islands in September Abdul-Jabbar tallied five of the Lakers' first 10 points of the quarter and when Ford cashed the first of two free throws they had a 59-54 lead with 6:25 left in the period. But the Warriors scored six straight points two by Wilkes and four on fastbreak baskets by Williams to briefly regain the lead, 60-59, with 4:28 left. Two free throws by Abdul-Jabbar and a basket nearly a minute later by Chancy, however, gave the Lakers a three-point edge. Golden State got within one on a basket by Parish with 1:52 left, but two points each by Abernethy and Abdul-Jabbar offset two by Parker to rebuild the Laker lead to three at the end of the quarter.

The Lakers made six of nine free throws during the third period, while the Warriors didn't go to the line at all and that's what kept Los Angeles on top despite shooting from the field. The Lakers extended their lead to five on Tatum's basket at the start of the fourth quarter, but the Warriors tied it at 71 on a three- point play by Barry with 10:38 left. The score was tied twice more before the Lakers moved ahead to stay on a free throw and a tip in by Abdul-Jabbar and two charity tosses by Abernethy. The Warriors kept it within five until the Lakers rattled off 10 unanswered points, six on free throws, to ice the victory. For box score, see Scoreboard, page 7.

WSC king Canyons to battle Compton College of the Canyons' baseball team, fresh from its title-clinching victory over Hancock, resumes Western State Conference action today, playing host to Compton. Moorpark, another WSC entry not as fortunate as the Cougars, has a chance to salvage something from an otherwise frustrating season, needing a win today over Hancock and a Santa Barbara loss to pull into fourth place and the first division of the circuit. In other action, Pierce travels to Bakersfield for a Metropolitan Conference game with the Renegades. Moorpark closed to within one-half game of Santa Barbara with a 4-1 win over the Vaqueros, paced bY the hitting of Willie Hudson. Canyons will be playing to protect its No.

1 ranking for California junior colleges. Pierce, easy winner of the Metro first round but struggling in the second, is flirting with going above the .500 mark with a 5-5 mark going into today's competition. Money man Watson favored in Byron Nelson Classic DALLAS (UPI) Masters champion and leading money winner Tom Watson, having taken a week's rest from the PGA tour, returns to his home away from home this week. He was installed immediately as the favorite in the $200,000 Byron Nelson Golf Classic. Watson, a former champion here who has all but been adopted by Nelson, said making him the favorite might not be a bad idea.

"I'm playing well enough to win," said Watson. "But I would never predict I waa going to win. After all, there are 150 other guys out He has won three tournaments and has been in excellent position to win three others. UCLA netters top rankings SAN ANTONIO, Tex. (UPI) Undefeated UCLA remained atop the Intercollegiate Tennis Coaches Association poll for the third straight week yesterday, based on impressive wins over Southern California and Stanford on their home courts.

Trinity (Tex.) remained at No. 2, while USC jumped to the No. 3 slot with a victory over Stanford. STORES COAST TO COAST Marshall Wilkings Presents Exciting Stock Car Racing at Saugus Speedway THE SUPER This Saturday, May 7 Top Drivers Top Purses SPORTSMAN, STREET STOCK AND FIGURE 8'S! TIME TRIAL 6 PMt FIRST RACE 8PM FRIE PARKING EAST TO (EACH: G.U.n Sl.tt I. V.l»nc.« llvd Turn rifhl I mil.i t.

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