The News Tribune from Tacoma, Washington • 28

I A C4 The News Tribune Monday February 10 1997 1997 NBA All-Star Game VP Rice: Tm for reap hired gun continues his shooting streak By hrat lUr The Boston Globe husband a look at halftime that Rice couldn't possibly misinterpret "She is my best Rice said "She tells me the right things She lets me know when I'm doing something wrong TTratk what I needed I wasn't being aggressive I needed to focus and concentrate He also got a boost when East coach Doug Collins decided to makes change in the lineup that started the second half He saw most of his Btarters already had played a lot so he went to his bench That not a bad bench either Rice Vin Baker Christian Laettner Tferrell Brandon not like your 10th 11th or 12th player in a regular game" Collins said Collins also turned on the TV in the locker room at halftime so the players oould watch the parade of the top SO players was Rice said were watching the game and we were in awe of these guys Wb had to go out there and step And he moet definitely did He buried three 3-pointers in less than a minute He added a fourth 90 seconds later He added three more dunks and a short jumper to dose out a quarter in which he was 8 including 4 of 6 from 3-point land The 20 points surpassed the record of 19 set in 1968 by Hal Greer As Rice was doing the damage the East had taken control of the game and did not give it up The East trailed by 23 with 5:58 left in the first half After third MVP Christy Beth A KbkbDe Astocwm Press Glen Rice gets a postgame hug from hlsflancAe Fernandez my best critic' he says CLEVELAND -The crush had come and gene and Glen Rice was still seated in front of hjslocker in Gund Arena Hie All-Star Game Moet Valuable Player trophy was his a fitting tribute to a player who has been on a mission for the past month Since the end of December there may not have been a hotter scorer than the Charlotte hired gun Game after game he lit it up In one seven-game stretch he scored 40 or more three times He had 30 or more in 12 of 19 games including five straight In the apace of five week he twice was selected as the player of the week None of that guaranteed him a spot in the 47th AO-Star Game on Sunday but it didn't hurt He could speak to the coaches in the only language he knew "I tried to go out and make a statement not only for Glen Rice but also for my team" he said alter scoring 26 points and setting two scoring records as the Eastern Conference took a 132-120 victory that statement is that Glen Rice is for real" No argument here The coaches noticed Charlotte boss Dave Cowens went to the trouble of writing letters to his fellow coaches urging them to vote Rice and Anthony Mason onto the Eastern team He could have saved the postage because Rice was not going to be denied and Mason wasn't going to make it In so many ways Rice was the perfect MVP candidate for this game He was the consummate scorer in a scorer's game He was the dead-eye shooter in a glorified shooting contest He had 2 points at the half then exploded in the third quarter setting a record tor points (20) in a quarter He added 4 more in the fourth to set a record for points in one half All this was done in front of a capacity crowd that included most of the top 50 players of all time as well as the usual corporate bigwigs shakers and movers and league executives Also in the crowd was Cristina Fernandez She is fianc6e She gave her future was a conscioua Collins said you looked at the guys on our team they wanted him to do it too" Things got a little scattered Rice was only 1 of 6 in the quarter but Kevin Garnett did his bit fer history mid fouled Rice with 116 seconds left Rice made both freebies giving him 24 in the halt The previous record of 23 had been set by Wilt Chamberlain in 1962 and Tbm Chambers in 1987 By that time he was pretty much a lock for the MVP The nine-person panel gave him Beven votes Michael Jordan who had the first triple double (14-11-11) in All-Star history got the other two think this trophy is going on the shelf just above the Three-Pant trophy Rice said really an honor But just because I got the MVP itk not going to make G9en Rice stop working I am still going to woik hard to get to that next 3-pointer the East led 70-60 with 9:44 left in the third That's a 40-7 run over a span of 8:14 This was what Rice was supposed to have done the day before One of the NRAk premier long-distance shooters he won the 1996 Three-Point Shot Contest He had dropped to sixth last year and he wanted his title back Instead he finished third As the game progressed through the fourth quarter Collins pul Rice back in with 4:28 left well aware of what was at stake Payton on Karl: BrRssCoHsoni The News Tribune CLEVELAND Seattle SuperSonics guard Gary Payton on Sunday denied a published report that he is unhappy with coach Georgs Karl's decisions about playing time and that he hopes the team makes amqjor trade The Seattle Times reported Sunday that Payton was unhappy with Borne of derisions on when Payton played in a loss to the Bulls two Sundays ago and that he hoped the team would make a trade for someone sudi as Sacramento guard Mitch Richmond or Detroit forward Otis Thorpe All of this comes on the heels of the Sonics1 recent struggles -they have lostfouroftheir past Bix-and controversy over Shawn play on the court and his actions off it don't have any friction with Payton said know where that came fiom I don't have any friction with Coadi or anybody else I dont have any problems with anybody on my Payton however did say the Sonics accused by Karl last week of engaging in too much bickering and finger-pointing would hold a team meeting today apparently the first of the season going to nave a tram Payton said these guys to start working harder Me Shawn Detlef (Schrempf) everybody on our team we need to work a little harder I think we know Asked specifically about the Bulls game Payton said he would have mentioned it after the game if he had been unhappy about when he played and when he rested Pay-ton say anything of that nature after the loss to Chicago About a possible trade Payton said the decision They make trades Gary ain't got nothing to do with Because of the salary cap and other factors a trade for any major player would be hard to make without trading Payton Kemp or Schrempf which would seem highly unlikely Richmond will make more than $3 million in each of the not two years and Thorpe will make roughly $18 million over the next throe years Fitting anyone of that nature under the cap would be impossible with trading a high-salaried player Payton however acknowledged he enjoyed playing with Richmond in the All-Star Game feel real comfortable with Payton said see me give him the ball three four times in a row out Richmond had nine points including cme 3-pointer oft a feed from Pay-ton in the first quarter 50 greatest honored Much of the weekend was devoted to honoring the SO greatest players in NBA history a group that was selected earlier this season as part of the 50th anniversary All but three of the players were in attendance Pete Maravich died in 1988 Jerry West has an ear infection and was told not to fly and Shaquille has a knee injury and was also evidently warned against flying When name was announced there was a loud boa Maravich was represented by his two sons The players each had letterman-style jackets made up in the colors of the team they wanted to represent and there were some interesting choices The NBA made up a Houston Rockets jacket for Charles Barkley who then requested to wear one representing the 76ere fin whom he first played mid was traded after a year of bashing the organization Lenny Wilkens who played for four teams including the Sonics wore a St Louis Hawks jacket the team he began his career with Moms Malone who played for about half the NBA wore a 76era jacket Bill Walton a Blazers jacket and Wilt Chamberlain a Lakers jacket Julius Erving and Larry Bird seemed to get the loudest applause Why Cleveland? That the All-Star Game was held in Cleveland in the leagued 50th year appears to have been a coincidence particularly since the NBA didnt really make a big deal about its 50th year until after the game had been awarded Sane think the league should have put more thought into it and planted this All-Star Game in a city with more tradition say Boston or New York Next game is scheduled to be in New York at Madison Square Garden The site of the 1999 game has not yet been announced but one of the contending cities is Portland Seattle played host to the game in 1974 and 1987 and probably isnt due to do so again any time soon Michael alert Oh nol Kemp might have given Michael Jordan some motivation fa the game at Chicago next month considering the feet that Jordan will take even the tiniest of slights and tiy to work up a good hard anger over it Remember Jordan used a remark by Karl that Jordan like he wasn't trying to get as apparent drive to go off for 45 points against the Sonics last Sunday After the All-Star Game Kemp good-naturedly questioned the validity of some of assists Jordan was credited with 11 in becoming the first player in All-Star history to achieve a triple-double 14 points 11 rebounds) want to count the dribbles (by the player who eventually scored) on some of the assists they gave Kemp said No Mail here Cleveland fens booed Utah forward Karl Malone during piagame introductions at halftime when he was introduced as one ofthe 50 greatest players and again whenever he did anything during the game It was apparent retaliation fer some anti-Cleveland remarks attributed to the Madman Malone basically said he want to go to Cleveland for the All-Star Game and would have a taxi waiting for him by the end of the third quar ter Loom balls first name was spelled on the chalkboard in the loiker room before the game -apparently by one ofthe Houston coachea-then quiddy (hanged when it was pointed out by a reporter Kemp said the one legendary player he wanted to meet was Wilt Chamberlain He was hoping to get the chance after the game Pay-ton meanwhile said he was glad to meet former New Yak Knicks great Walt Frazier and said the two will talk more next week when Frasier now a part of the broadcast team is due to interview Payton when the Knicks visit Seattle Anihoiw OnchakThe Assocmeo Press i' Michael Jordan leaps to snare a flrit-quarter rebound away from Shawn Kemp while Hawks' DUcamba Mutombo left moves In fast 132 West 120 All-Stars rsContinuedfrom Cl one good thing is to have three days to take your mind off things and the 10 assists in 28 minutes Schrempf had 11 points and four rebounds in temational media It is essentially the NBAb Super Bowl since the site of the game is known for in advance while the site of the NBA Finals ia often not known until a few days in advance gotten bigger and said Schrempf who has now payed in three AliStar Games can hardly even meet anybody else because itis gotten so big I never thought come into a town at 3 in the morning (aa Schrempf did last Friday) and there would be 20 kids under the age of 12 just waiting for situation you are Shawn Kamp -rawFTsmwrtowi miam (TSctaoirt 1-4 SMrtn Kmr 14 SpmNl 1-1 1 14 hun 14 QygMi SI Jam ML Wan -11 Mad 1 tlMl Oml Mm famm- (hflai 4 Sudan anas snyi mbmi nraii IctompQ 8M-11 (FqmEGugMnE Opmrti I Amp MrtMiOndMi June OMRS- minutes All three were on the floor at the 'same time for just over a minute late vrin the second quarter but couldn't do much to stave off the Easts raDy had told (West coach Rudy Tbm- janovich of Houston) that I waited to play with Det and Gary because we were all there (in IMS) and didn't get a chance to play together I The highlight for Kemp was anifty behind-the-back pass down the baseline in the third quarter that led to a 3-pointer by Mitm Richmond had seven points and four: in the quarter The highlights fur Payton were playing alongside good friends Mitch Richmond and Latrell Sprewell who he hangs out with in the Bay Area during the summer and finishing the game with a slam dunk something he rarely does during the regular season a lot different than this team Payton said got to save more energy on nqr Schrempf meanwhile couldn't get over how big a deal the All-Star Game has become with fens and me- The busy weekend was a diversion fer the Sondes from the problems that await when they get bade to Seattle today The SuperSonics have lost three of five The moet recent was a home loss to Utah after which coach Geaige Karl said there was too much bickering and fingerpointing going on one good thing is to have three days to take your mind off things and the situation you are Kemp said There is so much going on around here I haven't had too much time to think about going on back than Itk been good just The lowlight for Kemp was attempting to guard Rice at the beginning ofthe third quarter Rice had an All-Star Game record 20 points in the quarter hitting eight of 11 shots jrv-liwting 4-for 5 on 3-pointers He finished with a game-high 26 paints and received Beven of the nine votes for MVP Jordan who has won the award twice including last year -got the other two 1 told him since half his points were scored on me he should give meat least half of die a ward Kemp said -F0 ASX FT 70 Start Oertl-1541: A14 (ttaa 44 AMrtaupi 54 Santa 54 UMrw 5 sown tataM) I tart rtoa-1 (ML MMa UrtMI Rama- dn NWbir tap THBtaW iarttar It rtaba Ufeaqt tart Start-11 IMn ANadaaf Bn" tad WWe Urtrtei a -us a ia Orta A IMS ua dia In particular the game attracts to get away for a few days and go a lot of corporate sponsors and in- bade to a fresh start I.