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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 19, 1988)
Friday, February 19, 1988/The Battalion/Page 9 Sports Ljcott rockets Lakers past Houston in Summit )f race HOUSTON (AP) — The Houston Klets can’t seem to adjust to the matter blastoffs by the Los An- taiung t( ™ l l the Lakers outscored the Rockets 're set for bat st Super Tiiti i Pont ■w Hampsbiri tnpaign bee isadecbntin »nt said in I lington.M do not prom s, only that«■ ipportunit) it age guas gover ;e compliaiii ice accord, ti scheduled let use floor net House i» dug out detail! as promisttl ? SH6.2 mi •d Feb. I ms 21 in the first quarter Thursday Ht en route to a 11 1-96 victory, eventh in a row over the Rock- he game mirrored Los An- 41-22 first quarter in a 121- jetoryonjan. 18. The Lakers have won 28 of the J games with the Rockets and yle blown 14 games open in the ■uarter. on Scott fueled the Lakers’ lat- Bsi off with 27 points, including points in the first quarter. Magic inson added 26 points, 10 in the [eriod. lejust came out ready,” Scott Bined. “We’ve got so much re- let ior them. We knew we had to come out hard and get ahead early.” The Rockets tried to slow down Johnson and gave Scott his opening. “Every team tries to take some thing away from us, but they can’t because we have so many weapons,” Scott said., “Tonight was just one of my nights.” The Rockets got a 20-point, 20-re bound performance from Akeem Olajuwon, but it wasn’t enough to overcome their sluggish start. “That was the key,” Houston’s Purvis Short said. “We got down and dug a hole and it took too much to try to come out of it. “They always try to get off to a quick start and put you away early, then you have to play run and gun to try to catch up.” The Lakers hit 13 of their first 16 shots from the floor to take a 41-21 lead at the end of the first quarter. Houston, shooting just 35 percent from the field in the first half, rallied to pull within 62-51 at halftime mark. The Rockets got no closer than seven points after the opening pe riod. They cut the Lakers’ lead to 68- 61 with 9:25 to go in the third quar ter. But the Lakers, behind Scott and James Worthy, who had 17 points, stretched the lead to 88-72 entering the fourth period. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar added 16 points for the Lakers. Short added 17 points for the Rockets, as he went 6-for-13 from the field. Allan Leavell scored 13 points. Eric “Sleepy” Floyd added 12, but he ws held to a 4-for-12 in feild-goal shooting performance by the Laker defense. Rocket technology falls short There’s been some revolutionary technological advances in rocketery. Engineers in Houston have changed the the basic blueprint, design and even the tower struc ture of their program. The control towers have been scaled down and the rockets Curtis L. Culberson Soorts viewpoint nee oftheli in London, ns. N.Y, :o's headqtm firm or dec eport. leaves wants ex-Cowboy work as assistant coach Dallas (AP) — it’s too soon now for sure, but Denver icos coach Dan Reeves said links he can hire former Dal is Lowboys teammate Charlie fan s as an assistant coach. m optimistic that we can fort it out if it’s something he oannour ants to do, ” Reeves said anesday. “And it sounds like it ssively it I something he is definitely inter- nos in i steid in doing. sdownstrtar. “[thought at the time he re- etet ManenB that Charlie would be a t wouldbcir,Ht coach,” said Reeves, a for- ssue public! Dallas running back who g those dir Ihed the Broncos to hack-to- 1 Super Bowl appearances, madvice to him then was if he ” H inclination to be successful Bide of coaching, he should try ^whirh ir' | roncos spokesman Barry i 'two bndrefr' 115 saift Thursday that the nid Usuhilaii move “is one of those things that is talked about. It’s not anything I expect any developments in any time soon.” Waters, who played safety for the Cowboys from 1970-81, met with Reeves in Denver Tuesday and will talk to him again next week. Cowboys coach Tom Landry said he has talked to Waters about his desire to get into coaching, but said there are no openings on the Dallas defensive staff. “Charlie will be an excellent coach,” Landry said. Waters considered offers from both Landry and Reeves in 1982, but decided to go into private business instead. The former Dallas safety now works for former Dallas quar terback Roger Staubach’s real es tate company and does color and analysis on televised Dallas Side- kicks soccer games. He also has worked in sports promotion, ra dio and television. Waters told the Dallas Morning News Wednesday he started talk ing with both Landry and Reeves about getting into coaching last season. “Dan and I are real good friends, and we’re just exploring the possibility,” Waters said. “Nothing has happened yet. It’s not so much I turned the jobs down in 1982, it was more turn ing down the coaching profes- Waters applied for the head_ coaching job at Southern Meth odist, but he had no previous coaching experience. SMU even tually hired Forrest Gregg from the Green Bay Packers. are faster, more maneuverable and more powerful. The Summit is their laboratory, and these Rockets aren’t pro grammed for space travel, but they would like to travel to the top of the Midwest division and beyond. In what was probably the Rocket organization’s smartest move since acquiring Moses Malone, the Rockets got rid of one half of the Twin Tow ers and gained two players that can make a legitimate contribution to the team — Sleepy Floyd and Joe Barry Carroll. Ralph Sampson, the taller and weaker of the once Twin Towers, was nothing more than a weak sup porting structure for a program that couldn’t get off the ground. I, and I’m sure many other fans, have been waiting for years for Ralph to play up to his potential. We have heard since his college days that when Ralph reaches his poten tial he was going to be a great one. Get over it folks — the Rockets or ganization finally did. The truth is Sampson is just a little better than average NBA player; if he wasn’t 7- foot-4, he would be simply average. He was hyped in college and he was hyped in Houston. Since the All-Star break the Rock ets have beaten the Celtics, Trailb- lazers, Clippers and, most recently, embarassed Sampson and the rest of the Warrioxs on Sampson’s former home court. But the obvious question is whether these new Rockets are re ady to fly with the perennial power of the Western Conference — The World Champion Los Angeles Lakers. Of course not. It’s going to take a lot more than trimming some dead weight for the Rockets to be a legitimate challenger for the Western Conference title. While the best center who ever played professional basketball slowly heads toward retirement, the best point guard that ever dribbled a Wil son on a wooden floor takes up a little more offensive responsibility. With personnel like Magic and Kareem, the Lakers fine-tuned bas ketball machine can make adjust ments seem effortless. The true Rocket test was Thurs day night in Houston. And although the team is improved, it proved it’s not ready to surpass the Western star. The redesigned Rockets are good, hut the Lakers still own all the air space over the Western Conference. Gooden receives $100,000 payout Dwight Gooden’s effort to resist the New York Mets’ $ 100,000 paycut and get a $150,000 raise for 1988 was denied by an arbitrator Thurs day, but another pitcher, Frank Tanana, won his arbitration with the Detroit Tigers. Gooden, who was out two months for cocaine abuse rehabilitation and missed 11 starts, had to settle for $1.4 million. Tanana, 15-10 last sea son, will get $1.1 million from the Tigers, who had submitted an $800,000 figure to arbitrator Fred erick Reel. Gooden, 23, who received $1.5 million in 1987 when he won 15 games, lost his bid for $1.65 million. He lost seven games and had a 3.21 earned run average as the Mets fin ished second in the National League East to St. Louis. A1 Harazin, Mets vice president, said, “We felt the hospitalization, ar ranged and paid for, and the salary paid demonstrated that we were in his corner. . . . Support and under standing, yes; reward, no.” Asked if he was pleased with the outcome decided by arbitrator Rich ard Bloch, Harazin said, “It’s com petitive and we can’t help but be pleased with a win instead of a loss.” Overall, the owners have won 10 cases, the players five. In other activity, shortstop Steve Jeltz avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year contract with the Phila delphia Phillies for $215,000 plus $25,000 in incentives. They came to terms just before they were to argue their cases before an arbitrator. Two others scheduled for arbitra tion also settled. Mark Langston, who led the American League in strikeouts, accepted the Seattle Mari ners’ offer of $820,000 plus $42,000 in performance bonuses, while first baseman Sid Bream came to terms with the Pittsburgh Pirates for $360,000, plus $25,000 in award bo nuses. In St. Petersburg, Fla., Jim Neader, Gooden’s agent, said, “I thought that we could win the case, but we can live with it. Dwight is up beat and will go out and try to win 20 games and lead the Mets to the World Series.” -Nut, ■ith the eiri- led guilty to eed to payo At Southwestern Bell Corporation, we know a great education doesn’t guarantee you a great job. In the real world, you have to be in the right place at the right time. With the right people. That’s why we’re currently visiting top schools around the country. Offering talented, ambitious students with majors in all areas of study, the opportunity to interview with one of the largest companies in the U.S. Headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, we provide a wide range of career possibilities. From communications services to publishing, to mobile phone services and telecommunications equipment. And with over 64,000 employees and total assets of more than $20 billion, there’s no limit to how far your education can take you. So stop by and visit us at the place and time listed below. If you have what it takes, we can offer you the opportunities to earn the rewards you expect from four years of hard work. And you can count on that. Information meeting, 6:00 - 8:00 p.m., February 21,1988 Rudder Tower, Room 410 Southwestern Bell Corporation Equal Opportunity Employer.