Johnson City Press from Johnson City, Tennessee • 31

1 Johnson City Press WMAt IHI MOH! OON'I KNOW Will HURT THCM Wednesday June 22' 1988 SECTION- Life irs Jinx remainchamp Nervous Worthy still earns MVP By Hal Bock AP Sports Writer INGLEWOOD Calif On the day before the seventh came of the NBA finals James Worthy of the Los Angeles Lakers took a Eersonal inventory and decided was worried "I was restless and nervous I had more butterflies than I ever did before Worthy said "I was too nervous to play a baketball game I didnt think I could be poised and thats what you have to be Luckily for Worthy he had 24 hours to calm down Luckily for the Los Angeles Lakers they had Worthy on their side in Tuesday nights Game 7 of the NBA finals Worthy scored 36 points as Los Angeles beat Detroit 108-105 to become the first team in 19 years to repeat as champion Worthy was named most valuable player of the series "It feels great to repeat Worthy said "Im elated The challenge made us mentally alert and focused From the beginning of training camp we had something to prove Worthy won the award by producing when the Lakers sorely needed a valuable player On Sunday with the Lakers staring at a 3-2 deficit Worthy had 28 points eight rebounds and four assists as Los Angeles prevailed 103-102 to force Tuesday nights seventh game With the season on the line Worthy hit 15 of 22 shots Tuesday night added 16 rebounds and passed out 10 assists "I try to be mentally alert Worthy said "A lot of times you bump players on backdoor plays and you get fouls that way Tonight I didnt have any silly fouls None of his 36 points was more important than the last one a free throw with 14 seconds to go that gave the Lakers a four-point lead and meant that Detroit would need two possessions to Please see WORTHY Page 40 By Bill Barnard AP Basketball Writer INGLEWOOD Calif The Los Angeles Lakers the team of the 80s lived up to their coachs promise and guaranteed they would be a team for all time The Lakers the NBAs first repeat champions in 19 years took a 15-point lead midway through the fourth quarter Tuesday night then held on for a 108-105 victory over the Detroit Pistons in Game 7 of the championship series James Worthy the series Most Valuable Player scored 36 points and had 16 rebounds and 10 assists Just as Coach Pat Riley guaranteed when his team beat the Celtics last year the Lakers repeated as champions the first time any team has done so since Boston in 1969 Asked if hed guarantee a third title Riley was about to answer when Kareem Abdul-Jabbar stuffed a towel in the coachs mouth Finally Riley said "No more guarantees "My only guarantee is that were going to thoroughly enjoy this championship all summer It took 115 games to get this job done They worked for it They -won They deserve the credit he said "I cant believe we did it Magic Johnson said "We worked so hard against Utah against Dallas and now against Detroit We kept coming back back back This was the hardest championship weve ever won "I want another one Johnson said Yes the Lakers made history but it wasnt easy They became the first team to win three seven-game series in one year beating Utah and Dallas 4-3 in the Western Conference playoffs Pistons Coach Chuck Daly said the Lakers "came out in the third quarter and seized the game with some ferocious defense They scored on the break threw a 37-point quarter at us "At that point I said Tights out and it could get worse But we went to our speed team and we got back into it "It was a gallant courageous effort by our guys he said But it wasnt enough "Give credit to the Lakers they did what they said they would do Detroits Bill Laimbeer elbows series MVP James Worthy they Jiirepeat Daly said The Lakers who trailed 52-47 at halftime hit their first 10 shots of the third quarter on the way to a 15-point lead then held off a furious rally by the Pistons in the final 12 minutes Led by Worthy the victory gave the Lakers their fifth title in this decade And they won despite just four points and three rebounds from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar the NBAs all-time leading scorer Byron Scott scored 12 of his 21 points during the Lakers 23-7 rally in the third period which spanned the first 6:25 of the second half and gave Los Angeles a 70-59 lead Scott capped the spurt with a 3-point goal "We worked so hard to get tc this moment he said "We werent thinking about history we were just worried about just winning this game tonight The Lakers led 94-79 with 7:24 left before the Pistons rallied Vinnie Johnson had three baskets and John Salley five points' as Detroit used a 17-4 spurt to close within 98-96 with 2:50 left The Pistons got within two on two other occasions before Magic Johnson hit a free throw with 1:16 to go to make it 103-100 Bill Laimbeer then missed a 3-point attempt and was unable to save the rebound The ball went out of bounds with 1:05 to go After a missed shot by Los Angeles Dennis Rodman missed a jumper with 39 seconds left With a sellout Forum crowd of 17505 screaming "Repeat re- Eeat during every timeout Scott it two free throws to make it 105-100 The Lakers missed three of their next four attempts at the line however and the Pistons then trailed by only 106-105 when Laimbeer hit a 3-pointer with six seconds remaining But AC Green clinched it with a layup with two seconds on the clock When the game ended delirious fans swarmed over the court Magic Johnson added 19 points for Los Angeles Joe Dumars had 25 points for the Pistons Salley 17 and Adrian Dantley 16 Isiah Thomas despite a badly sprained ankle that had him on crutches just an hour before the game played 19 minutes and scored 10 points in the first half Please see TITLE Page 40 The former University of Illinois pitcher set a single season record of 108 strikeouts in 87Vs innings at Illinois and tied the record for the most strikeouts (18) as he posted a 7-0 record "Im a totally different pitcher Hitt said of his second appearance this season He struck out five batters in a re-lief appearance at Eli-zabethton Hitt said "Hub (Kittel) has worked to change my motion around Hes getting me to drop down three-fourths and it makes the ball sink pitting more 'on my fastball I really feel 100 percent this year Hitt said his curveball is also getting better with Ritters help Hitt a St Louis native also said "this team gets along and will play well as a team At first I thought we might not have the power we had last year but I believe it will improve" Cardinal coach Jorge Aran-zamendi said he likes the Cardinal pitching and defense adding "I think if our pitching and defense continue to do well and give our hitters some time to adjust that we could be very competitive this season Aranzamendi complimented Grimes debut "He (Grimes) itched real well and kept the all down John Erricks fastball was alive and Dan (Hitt) came in and did a good job Grimes who was 9-3 at Arkansas Tech (an NAIA school) this season admitted to "being a little nervous coiming in with the bases loaded ana said he was glad the double play waa made Grimes said he used his sinker most of the time but "I had one slider and a changeup" The Cardinals and Mete play again here tonight at 7-Uhe new starting time for this Pleasa see CARDS Page 40 Johnson City rallies to beat Mets Coaching legend Bobby Dodd dies AP LaserPhoto on an inside basket VT vjr By Jimmy Smyth Press Executive Sports Editor Good pitching and three seventh-inning rims provided the Johnson City Cardinals with a 5-3 victory on Mitchell Thorp Night Tuesday at Howard Johnson Field Cardinal starter John Erricks St Louis first pick in the amateur draft had a solid three innings before being tagged with three runs with one out in the fourth Tim Howards two-run double scored both Vince Zawaski and Tim Hines with Tito Navarros groundout plating James Mor-risette Centeriielder Charlie White a Floridian who played college ball at the University of New Orleans launched the Cardinal attack in the fourth with a double to right-field and with one out Emilio Belbru who played here last season narrowed the Mets lead to 3-2 with a home run over the left-field fence Both starting pitchers eventually had problems The Mets seemed to be on their way to scoring more runs in the fifth inning but the Cardinals put David Grimes of Greers Ferry Ark into the game with one out and the bases loaded Grimes who played at Arkansas Tech got Hines to hit into a double play to end that threat Dan Hitt a left-hander who was here last year was called to relieve Grimes in the eighth with two runners aboard and blanked the Mets the rest of the way Grimes got the victory and Hitt the save The Cardinals mixed hitting and Mets miscues to score three times in the seventh while the Johnson City defense was coming up with another timely double play Julian Vasques yielding four hits and striking out four "Coach Dodds impact upon college football and the young men he coaches was close to the best said current Tech Athletic Director Homer Rice "He has to be one of the very few that came to a major college and remained there his entire career and life Dodd built a reputation not only as a good coach but as a lucky one "Lucky? Bet your life Im lucky Dodd said once "Im lucky and so are my teams Its a habit You know if you think youre lucky you are Butts said once "If Bobby Dodd -were trapped at the center of an H-bomb explosion hed walk away with nis pockets full of marketable uranium" "He was like my second daddy I feel like weve lost a member of my family said Alabama Coach Bill Curry who played for Dodd in the early 1960s and was Techs head coach before taking the Alabama job "Coach Bryant told me hed rather look across the field on Saturday and see anybody on the other side except Bobby Dodd He thought Coach Dodd was the best game-day coach hed ever seen" Curry recalled that Dodd often told his players to outthink bigger and stronger teams "He told us we have an advantage because were smarter than they are The amazing thing was that we were stupid enough to believe him "Coach Dodd was a positive example to me as a young football coach and I am greatly thankful for the many lessons I learned from him both on and off the field said Georgia Coach Vince Dooley who beat Dodds Tech team 23-14 in Dodds last regular-season game "Even though we were competitors on some days the competition was always on the highest plane and I valued his friendship and advice over many years he said Pleas sea DODD Pag 40 By Bill Schulz Associated Press Writer ATLANTA Robert Lee "Bobby Dodd the legendary football coach and athletic director at Georgia Tech died Tuesday afternoon after a battle with lung cancer He was 79 Dodd had a record of 165-64-8 in 22 seasons as Techs head football coach His teams went to 13 bowl games winning nine He retired as coach after the 1966 season and as athletic director in 1976 Dodd who survived a bout with prostate cancer in 1975 was diagnosed in Much as having lung cancer Dodd was a native of Kingsport and starred at Dobyns-Bennett High School He was also a charter member of the Upper East Tennessee Hall of Fame He was admitted to West Paces Ferry Hospital June 6 suffering from shortness of breath and side effects from chemotherapy He died at 5:45 pm Tuesday hospital officials said Dodds teams were powers during an era of great teams and great coaches in the South including Alabamas Paul "Bear Bryant Clemsons Frank Howard Georgias Wallace Butts Tennessees Robert Neyland and Auburns Ralph "Shug Jordan Tech once ran up a 31-game unbeaten streak which started with the last two games of 1950 and ran through the fifth game of 1953 The streak included a pair of ties Under Dodd Tech became the first team to win six consecutive major bowl games starting with the 1952 Orange Bowl victory 17-14 over Baylor The Yellow Jackets won the 1953 Sugar bowl 24-7 over Mississippi the 1954 Sugar Bowl 42-19 over West Virginia the 1955 Cotton Bowl 14-6 over Arkansas the 1956 Sugar Bowl 7-0 over Pittsburgh and the 1956 Gator Bowl 21-14 over Pittsburgh v- 4 vv- ''I'wCakL Erricks said he wasnt disappointed about his performance "Its been a month and a half since 1 last pitched com- petitively he said "I expect my next game to be better and then the next one better 1 a 5 I yr 7 7 Staff Photo by Ron Campbell Cards David Grimes picked up the win in relief Cardinals in 6 Vi innings was the losing pitcher Vasques gave way to left-hander Jon Hudson with two Johnson City runners on base and one out in the seventh and finished the game I I.