Newspaper Page Text
Monday, April 12, 1999
THE MAROON TIGER
PAGF. 15
The new power generation holds court
The (NBA) world is theirs to own....
Jeremy L. Writt
Staff Writer
When Magic Johnson and
Larry Bird joined the NBA after
their Final Four showdown,
people were sure that the game
would be changed forever. They
were right. But when they both
reached the twilight of their
careers, people wondered if the
league would continue to be
FANtastic.
Right on cue, a young
Michael Jordan took center
stage. He rejuvenated an aging
league with his high flying,
tongue in the wind acrobatics.
The no look pass was replaced
by his no look baseline duck
under lay-up. On his way to
international stardom that rivals
that of another MJ, basketball's
MJ showed us all who's bad. He
transformed the Bulls from the
Piston's doormat into the team
that made league parity a Hoop
Dream. Six championship
seasons later, Jordan retired as
one of the greatest to ever play
the game.
The naysayers have again
surfaced. They say that the NBA
is doomed.
"With
Jordan gone,
the league will
have no one to
bring out the
fans after the
lockout."
Wrong
again.
According to
Sports Ticker
Enterprises,
the Vancouver
Grizzlies, who
are not exactly
known for
sellout
crowds, have
had an eight-
percent
increase in
attendance in
1999.
Many say
the game will
not be able to
survive
without him because Jordan
was the NBA's ambassador.
They claim that there is no clear-
cut successor to the basketball
throne as there was between the
Magic /
Bird era
and the
Jordan
era. This is
true only
because a
republic
led by a
handful of
talented
younger
guards
has
replaced
Jordan's
monarchy.
Allen
Iverson, a
Virginia
native
who
received
national
attention
for twice
breaking
Jordan's ankles, is among this
group of young stars. Partially
because of his switch to the 2
Kobe Bryant is one of the fresh,
new faces set to rule the court.
guard, and partially because of
his continuing maturation,
Iverson is lighting up his NBA
opponents like candles in the
dark. Iverson currently leads
the league in scoring and is
third in steals. His fearlessness
and athletic ability makes him
a triple threat that also plays
defense better than most;
similar to Jordan.
Kobe Bryant is also
emerging as an offensive force.
He began the season sharing
minutes with Rick Fox. Bryant,
who was named after a type of
steak his parents saw on a
restaurant menu prior to his
birth, opened the season with
5 double doubles by averaging
21 points and 10.4 rebounds at
the small forward position.
Since the departure of Eddie
Jones, and his move to starting
shooting guard, Kid Kobe has
emerged as the second
gunman for the Lakers. His
affinity for creative and
thunderous dunks has earned
him frequent appearances on
NBA highlight reels. He and
Shaq are the nucleus of a squad
that sees anything less than the
first post-Jordan title as failure.
Jason Kidd is doing his
best to fill Jordan's role as Mr.
Do It All. He currently leads the
league in triple doubles (5) and
is fourth in double doubles (18).
Kidd is not working his magic
against weak opponents either.
His fifth triple double came
against a Houston Rockets team
that features 3 Dream Teamers,
including Jordan's former
teammate, Scottie Pippen. Add
to that a triple double against
the Spurs and near triple
doubles against the Lakers and
the Spurs again and you will see
that the Kidd is doing his best
to help fans forget the loss of the
man.
Kidd, Kobe and
Iverson are not alone in their
efforts to help the NBA make
this transition. Young stars like
Penny Hardaway and younger
talents like Vince Carter and
Jason Williams continue to give
the NBA much needed mass
marketability. Marketability
that won't stop just because one
of the greatest chose to.
Jonathan Howard
Co-Editor in Chief
There are moments *in
sports, in college basketball
especially, that stand out in the
memory regardless of
outcome. Win or lose, these are
moments so dominating that
they take their own special
place in you past: Vegas
smacks Duke. The Dukies beat
Vegas. The Fab Five. The Fab
Five.become men. The TO....
And now, there's one
more moment:
March 29, 1999. NCAA
Championship Game. UConn
77, Duke 74.
".. .shock the world."
When the overpowered
and undermanned UConn
Huskies went to face that
bastion of Good Faith, that
epitome of all that is Fair and
Right, Duke University, there
was an air about the entire
event. Duke, 37-1 and
possessor of more national
records than any one team has
a right to, was indestructible.
Eventual National Player of
the Year Elton Brand couldn't
be stopped short of poison or
a Mack truck and there were
too many blue-chip Blue
Devils to count: Langdon,
Avery, Maggette- the list
continues. And who was going
to deny Coach Mike
Krzyzewski his national
championship after his "dry
spell?" (Seven years is a hell of
a dry spell)
And when it was
over... the Choirboys were
silent. Duke, for all intents
and purposes, was done.
Finite. Beatable. Done.
This, you see, was
manifest Destiny. Duke,
with their NCAA pedigree
and their Final Four
experience deserved this.
A victory wasn't just
predicted. Hell, it was
Manifest Destiny.
There was only one
problem, though. Connecticut
wasn't there to finish second.
They were there to do the
impossible. They were there to
shock the world.
Khalid El-Amin's bold
pregame statement would
Final Four MOP Richard
Hamilton
ring true at every Brand
turnover or missed shot. For
every Duke strike, there was
the too thin Richard "Rip"
Hamilton having a career
night, hitting shot after
feathery shot. According to
prognosticators, though, he
was to fold under Duke's
Ubermensch defense. But
this wasn't a night for odds
makers, or Duke either, for
that matter.
Seemingly every
Coach K strategy would
wilt under the pressure of
Ricky Moore, UConn and
Augusta, GA's one man
defensive wrinkle. Moore
wound up shutting down
everything except the
concession stands in the
Suncoast Dome.
In the end, though, it
was the "pudgy, little, fat
kid" with the big mouth
and even bigger waistline
icing the game with clutch
play after clutch play. There
was a floater with little over
a minute remaining. Two
free throws to turn the
lights out.
And when it was over,
the effect was like a quiet,
rippling explosion over the
land as the Emperor(Duke)
stood naked and UConn
rejoiced. Hamilton was an
MOP and a champion (two
things former foe Kobe Bryant
has yet to accomplish ) with a
performance for the books (27
points, 7 rebounds, 3
assists).UConn's Jim Calhoun
had his first championship,
and, perhaps most
importantly, the Choirboys
were silent. Duke, for all
intents and purposes, was
done. Finite. Beatable. Done.
This, you see, was
Manifest Destiny. Duke, with
their NCAA pedigree and
their Final Four experience,
deserved this. You see, a long
time ago, in a galaxy far, far
away, there were five
freshman ball players from the
U of M. A tad nervous going
into their first Final Four, they
received a word of
encouragement from one of
the greatest ever: Muhammad
Ali. He told them, the
Parkinson's slowly setting in
on his aging body, to do what
he had done so many years
ago.
"Shock the world," he
whispered.
And the cycle is complete.
Go Huskies.