The Charlotte Observer from Charlotte, North Carolina • 25

Ii SPORTS 1 Zt he Charlotte Observer Friday June 7 1985 Section For Scores Call Score Phone (704) 379-6535 Inside: (Comics Page 8B) Inside: (( It ecoming A Habit 1111 11 If A French Open Final Has Familiar Foes: Lloyd Navratilova Fret Has Lloy Bird Boston In Control For Game 5 A Bird Boston :1 In Control -zi i': 'e: A' For Game 5 -1 04 'oi? i- 1 fl 77743 5 00 4i 4 k4 9 4 0 s- 4 ''''4 4 4 4 4 '1 44 1 4: '4: ''t p'4'447 4 ft -5 4 4 4 'Ft4 11 '''4-1'40' 0' 4 0P' zt- 7' at k514 (fT 44 '44" 44" 'j'' mopoo01 1 114 i ir2 '41 1 ''''''4177'7711ri i 51' 4 it ip414f 't-' '''''4 kr s'': 9 0 4 osioo''''' 1 i et: -01 400 1 1 tt if I te' 4- 4- 1 -s -----5 '''(f 44i t- 1 11 7 451 'r-i ''''1 'V-'' -4' 5 5 '47 'i -5'----' i-'- i 01011! litZfir A VC otit "444 '4 '40''' i18'' '1 I t- '0' jee ---Ai -1 -4L ee07 1 l'''--- '-'4 "cf( ''44'' 4 't41'c Associated Press INGLEWOOD Calif Although there is one more game in California tonight the Boston Celtics have reestablished a home-court advantage thanks to three slumping players who came to life in time Dennis Johnson Larry Bird and Danny Mnge all of whom had poor performances in Game 3 as the Los Angeles Lakers took a 2-1 lead in the NBA champion ship series were brilliant down the stretch Wednesday night The Celtics evened the best-of-seven series 2-2 with a 107-105 victory climaxed by Johnson's long jumper at the final buzzer Or "We have a whole bunch of players who aren't iy'': afraid to take a big shot" Boston coach KC Jones said Thursday "Without even thinking regardless of 46' 'r the situation they will go up and take a shot if it's l'4y there" ti f5 Johnson who had made just 15 of 46 field-goal r' attempts in the first three games was a clutch performer in Game 4 not even counting the game- winner He hit eight of 12 shots and scored 17 of his total $: 4 4: 27 points in the first half then made only two of seven in the second half before letting the ball go with two seconds left and the game tied at 105 "With that time left on the clock I didn't have time to think" Johnson said "I just let it fly I'm a 50 -NI shooter and I figureo I had a 50-50 chance" 4 seasoBirndsthhaedNconnected BA' 1 osto valuable a only ua 3e 9player the ei last shots ttswi 1 the last five playoff games But he scored 26 points 12 of them in the fourth quarter on Wednesday -51 "We sort of live or die by the way I play" Bird 41 i'''' said "I enjoy fourth quarters If you play terrible the 0 Ndt whole game and do well in the fourth quarter people remember that and think you played a great game I 1 fool a lot of people by playing well in the fourth i quarter" Los Angeles led by seven points with nine minutes r5 left but Bird scored eight straight Boston points -N before Johnson hit two free throws to give the Celtics i a 93-92 advantage "That was a big lift for me since I wasn't playing 4 "kr 't that well" aidwBhoirdhad a whochhaandcelOtoowf ihnisfolr2thfoeufrtirhst- quarter points in a span of less than three minutes "'A' The lead changed hands six times and was tied on k4 fsapstro five occasions before the game ended r4t 0- time in nine championship series meetings with the 4 Celtics by winning at home Wednesday and today Ire A now must beat them in Boston at least once Games 6 and 7 are scheduled for Sunday and Tuesday "They can't afford to lose Friday" Bird said -Sbt' "They'll know that if it comes to the end and they uPI Photo have to hit a shot But they've won in Boston before in Game 4 and I'm sure they feel like they can win there again" Associated Press INGLEWOOD Calif Although there is one more game in California tonight the Boston Celtics have reestablished a home-court advantage thanks to three slumping players who came to life in time Dennis Johnson Larry Bird and Danny Mnge all of whom had poor performances in Game 3 as the Los Angeles Lakers took a 2-1 lead in the NBA champion ship series were brilliant down the stretch Wednes- day night The Celtics evened the best-of-seven series 2- long with a 107-105 victory climaxed by Johnson's jumper at the final buzzer afraid have a whole bunch of players who aren't to aid to take a big shot" Boston coach KC Jones said Thursday "Without even thinking regardless of '5 the situation they will go up and take a shot if it's t-'' there" tic io Johnson who had made just 15 of 46 field-goal attempts in the first three games was a clutch 1 winner performer in Game 4 not even counting the game- He hit eight of 12 shots and scored 17 of his total 27 points in the first half then made only two of ''''d seven in the second half before letting the ball go with two seconds left and the game tied at 105 "With that time left on the clock I didn't have time to think" Johnson said "I just let it fly I'm a 50 shooter and I figureo I had a 50-50 chance" '4 Bird the NBA's most valuable player the last tw seasons had connected on only 393 of his shots it the last five playoff games But he scored 26 points 12 of them in the fourth quarter on Wednesday "We sort of live or die by the way I play" Bird -5 said "I enjoy fourth quarters If you play terrible the whole game and do well in the fourth quarter people remember that and think you played a great game I fool a lot of people by playing well in the fourth Los Angeles led by seven points with nine minutes 5 left but Bird scored eight straight Boston points kt' before Johnson hit two free throws to give the Celtics a 93-92 advantage '''1 "That was a big lift for me since I wasn't playing 4 that well" said Bird who had 10 of his 12 fourth- 1 11 quarter points in a span of less than three minutes The lead changed hands six times and was tied on i-441i4 five occasions before the game ended The Lakers who had a chance to win for the first s44 6 time in nine championship series meetings with the Celtics by winning at home Wednesday and today 1 A 1C''' musi beat them in Boston at least once Games 6 and now 7 are scheduled for Sunday and Tuesday "They can't afford to lose Friday" Bird said la "They'll know that if it comes to the end and they Associated Press PARIS Two old adversaries Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert Lloyd are ready to battle again this time for the French Open women's singles title Saturday's championship match will be a repeat of last year's It also will be a repeat of their first Grand Slam final confrontation which took place in the 1975 French Open In the 10 years since Lloyd beat Navratilova 2-6 6-2 6-1 at Roland Garros Stadium the two have met in nine other Grand Slam title I matches This is their third clash in Paris 1I 14 Navratilova the defending ''''C champion and No 1 seed ad- i vanced Thursday with a rain-inter- SIN rupted 6-4 6-4 triumph over No 7 seed Claudia Kohde-Kilsch Lloyd '-voe 4J seeded No 2 crushed 15-year-old ir Gabriela Sabatini 6-4 6-1 As Navratilova has lost just 21 games in six rounds of the tourna- Navratilova ment Ranked first and second in the mIss'llw7711A-71 world Navratilova and Lloyd Vi Iv AA: 1 Itt N''' clashed last year in the champion- ship matches at Wimbledon and the US Open Navratilova win- 411 7 ning both times But Navratilova 1'4'7 was upset by Helena Sukova in the ti IL Australian Open which was won 1 by Lloyd iiiBetween them they have won every Grand Slam tournament Wimbledon and the French US Lloyd and Australian Opens starting with the Australian in 1981 Today the men's semifinals will pit top-seeded John McEnroe against Mats Wilander the 1982 French Open champion while 32-year-old Jimmy Connors seeking the only Grand Slam crown that has eluded him will face defending champion Ivan Lendl The men's final on Sunday will be televised by WPCQ (Channel 36) beginning at noon Navratilova is in the final at Roland Garros for the third time in four years Although she rarely reached peak form on Thursday she produced some brilliant shots late in the match against Kohde-Kilsch The match stuttered into life after a delayed start caused by a thunderstorm and Navratilova after opening with a love game lost three of her first six service games as both players continually double-faulted Kohde-Kilsch tied the first set 4-4 but Navratilova forged ahead again on her serve and clinched the set by breaking Kohde-Kilsch the final point coming on a spectacular passing shot Both players seemed to lift their games at the same time around the middle of the second set and they thrilled the crowd with brilliant exchanges Lloyd a five-time winner of the French title reached her 30th Grand Slam final by crushing Sabatini one of several up-and-coming stars But whenever Sabatini struck one of her fierce low forehands Lloyd would match it Five of the eight players competing in Thursday's men's doubles semifinals were from Sweden But only one Swede reached the final as Hans Simonsson teamed up with Shlomo Glickstein to defeat Sweden's Davis Cup team of Stefan Edberg and Anders Jarryd 6-3 6-4 6-1 In the other semifinal Mark Edmondon and Kim Warwick downed the Swedish pair of Wilander and Joaldm Nystrom 6-4 6-1 7-5 Complete results Page 2B PARIS lova and again this I title Saturday last year's Slam final 1975 Frenc In the 1( 6-2 6-1 at I T1 01' 1144k Navratil r77171" A 1 tit 3 41 t4 Lloyd Today John McEi French Op Connors se eluded him The men WPCQ (Ch Navratilc third time i peak form shots late il The mat( caused by opening wi service gar faulted Kohde-K forged aheE by breakini a spectacuL Both pla) time arc they thrille Lloyd a reached hE Sabatini whenever forehands Five of men's doul only one SI teamed up 1 Davis Cup 6-3 6-4 6- In the oi Warwick Joakim Ny! rxr-7 1647:74 szl 11 -N 4ilo: 14t1 Celtic teammates Larry Bird Greg Kite celebrate victory i 4" i i': 049'4- 4 1 t44 i' i 1 1 7 I i i i 1 Main OMMEOPIW 40 41:: i( (ter If Back Home Jordan Walking On Air CHAPEL HILL Michael Jordan walked in smiling wearing a black-and-blue selection from the Air Jordan clothing line that looked like a sleeveless jump suit There were no visible scars from his first season in the NBA Ron 9 Green "That's close" He says now that turning pro was a scary prospect particularly with all the fanfare that surrounded him "When I signed it was a very scary moment I didn't know what to expect I was afraid I would go into Chicago and be a flop because so much was expected of me "When I went to camp I felt I had to prove myself to my teammates So much was written about Michael Jordan I felt I had to show them I could compete After the first couple of weeks I felt I had won their respect and they certainly had mine" Then came the testing by the rest of the league See JORDAN Page 5B Olympics had to undergo a trial by fire from opposing players and had to strap the Bulls a losing club onto his back and carry them to better things Heavy load huh? Jordan said "I think this is one of the easiest jobs you can have It's not nine-to-five You just play a game "A lot of people may treat it as a job but I don't I treat it as a game or a hobby It's easy You play two hours The rest of the time you do what you want There aren't even any classes" And if you're Michael Jordan you get rich quickly When it was mentioned that his income in his rookie season counting money from appearance and endorsement fees was reported to be $17 million Jordan said Jordan was back Thursday in the North Carolina Tar Heels' basketball dressing room that he adorned for three years as an all-America player and Olympic star before giving up his senior season to join the Chicago Bulls of the NBA He's in summer school playing a little basketball and a lot of golf and dashing off to make personal appearances or to shoot commercials Jordan was the sensation of the league this season probably the most talked-about and written-about player in the game And he did it the hard way under intense pressure He not only bore the burden of simply being a rookie he had to try to live up to huge expectations born of his success at North Carolina and in the In Baseball Bandys Girls After Elusive State Title Southern Wayne Downs Ashbrook For 4A Crown Sot As1 Thursday's Best Ex-Clemson player Jimmy Key pitched eight hitless innings as Toronto beat Detroit 2-0 in 12 innings Key worked 10 innings leaving with a two-hitter and no decision Bert Blyleven posted his 199th career victory as the Cleveland Indians downed Seattle 9-1 Leon Durham's double in the 12th inning gave the Chicago Cubs a 3-2 victory over Pittsburgh Here And There A group trying to obtain a major league franchise for Indianapolis has begun taking reservations for season tickets for the proposed team the Indianapolis Arrows Kevin Koch the Pittsburgh Pirate Parrot since 1979 has resigned as the club's mascot but the popular character will still perform team officials said More baseball Page 3B ball seasons Bandys has lost only one game Both were in the Western 2A Regionals a step away from the state championship game and the Trojan softball team is drawing some of its determination from those crushing experiences "It hurt everybody bad" said Flowers the starting point guard on both of those basketball teams "We had to go to softball practice (three days after last season's regional final loss to Southwest Guilford) and nobody wanted to go We didn't want to do anything" Eight of Bandys's 10 softball starters played basketball five of those started at one time or an By CHRIS HOBBS Staff Writer Bandys second baseman Lisa Flowers has waited more than two years for the opportunity she gets tonight a chance to play in an NC high school softball championship game The Trojans (17-1) start a bestof-three series for the NC 1A 2A softball title tonight against Eastern NC champion Southwest Onslow (18-2) The game is at 5 pm at Balls Creek Optimist Park near Catawba Game 2 is Saturday at 5 pm followed if necessary by a third game For Flowers a senior It's a first and last chance at a state championship after two years of near misses in basketball In each of the last two basket a jam that had Haynes at third with no outs then struck out the side in the seventh on 11 pitches "It (losing) hurts it really hurts" said Ashbrook coach Jerry Carpenter "We just played against a good ball club" The Saints won after a two-out throwing error by pitcher Doug Carpenter who also allowed only four hits The error in the fourth put Heath Whitfield aboard After John Cox walked and stole second Randy Hood singled for two runs Ashbrook led 1-0 in the first when Eric Duncan walked with the bases loaded But the Saints tied it in the third on a two-out single by Eric Weeks Southern Wayne (27-1) won the opening game 3-2 in eight innings Tuesday Ash-brook (21-5) won 4-1 Wednesday In a rain-shortened game that stirred a controversy between the coaches over the suspended game rule See WAYNE Page 211 By CHRIS HOBBS Staff Writer DUDLEY Southern Wayne's Billy Joyner was equal to the pressure Thursday night pitching the Saints to a 3-1 victory over visiting Gastonia Ashbrook for the NC 4A high school baseball title Joyner the No 3 pitcher on the Saints staff had thrown only 10 innings before Thursday's game the third in the best-ofthree series Twenty minutes before the game Joyner a Junior right-hander got the starting nod from Southern Wayne coach Doyle Whitfield who had used aces Jake Jacobs and Glenn Fortner in the first two games "I just wanted to do it for the team" said Joyner who combined with Jacobs on a four-hitter "I had a few butterflies but once you throw a few pitches the adrenaline takes ow Joyner pitcled unel Andy Haynes doubled in the sixth Jzcobs in relief got out of DLIDLE) ner was night pitcl over visiti NC 4A hi Joyner staff had Thursday's three seric Twenty 1 a Junior ril from Souti field who Glenn Fort "I just Joyner wl four-hitter once you line takes Joyner bled in the 1 See BANDYS Page 4B 1 Belmont Could Everybody's In Be Princely If A 44410:: 17: if 7 't 2 44:1:: 'ft: 1 'le i1" it 4 lit 0 25 seconds after a blazing first three quarters in 1:09) I don't think there's any chance he'll get a mile and a half" Stephens will try to win an unprecedented fourth straight Belmont with the entry of Stephan's Odyssey the Kentucky Derby runner-up and Creme Fraiche Stephan's Odyssey will be ridden by Laffit Pincay who will be trying to become the first jockey to win four straight If Chief's Crown goes to the post as the favorite and fails to win he would be the third horse to lose as the favorite in au i three Triple Crown races The others were Correlation in 1954 and My Dad George 1111970 a possibility the colt would skip the Belmont and run in the 114-mile Ohio Derby June 15 at Thistledown But Lenzini said "It looks pretty good that we'll go (in the Belmont)" Missing from the $350000-added Belmont which drew an 11-horse field will be Spend a Buck who will be the first Kentucky Derby winner to miss both the Preakness and Belmont since Tomy Lee in 1959 Asked how Spend a Buck might do in the Belmont off his Jersey Derby performance in which he struggled home a neck in front of Creme Fraiche Woody Stephens said: "Finish last He couldn't get a mile and a half off his last half-mile in the Jersey Derby (53 Associated Press NEW YORK Tank's Prospect Chief's Crown and Eternal Prince the 1-2-3 finishers in the Preakness are scheduled to hook up v444 again Saturday in the 1 th-mile Belmont Stakes They will be the only 3-year-olds to run in all three Triple Crown races Chief's Crown finished third in the Kentucky Derby while Tank's Prospect was seventh and Eternal Prince 12th The 117th Belmont with a 5:38 pm post time and worth $512900 $307740 to the N000r winner will be televised by CBS Eternal Prince had not been expected to be UPI Photo entered Thursday and trainer Butch Lenzini smile and co-owner Brian Hurst said there remained g'''' 0 K41 -001m if: Tank's Prospect flashes that winning a ig Tar li 6.