NATIONAL SPORTS
Braves derail Subway Series
ATLANTA - They already have carved a significant place in base
ball history because decade - long success stories can't be ignored.
Now, the Atlanta Braves are working on their closing chapter.
The Braves earned the right to finish the '9os in the World Series
after finally clinching the National League pennant - rallying to es
cape potential embarrassment by defeating the equally resilient New
York Mets, 10-9, in 11 innings on Andruw Jones' bases-loaded walk
in Game 6 of the Championship Series Tuesday night.
Kenny Rogers, the Mets' eighth pitcher, walked Jones on a full
count to force in Gerald Williams with
the winning run, ending the 4-hour 4-
minute marathon
Jones was engulfed by teammates
after reaching first base, igniting wild
celebrations on the field and in the
crowd of 52,335-the largest ever at
Turner Field.
The Braves captured their fifth pen
nant during the decade, winning the
series, four games to two, after becom
ing only the second team forced to play
a sixth game after taking a 3-0 series
lead. They thwarted another stunning
comeback attempt by the new-edition
Amazin' Mets, who faced 5-0 and 7-3
deficits in the clincher. Then it was the
Braves who had to come back from 8-
7 and 9-8 deficits.
Atlanta overcame losing key players because of injuries and ill
ness, remaining focused through the hurdles. The Braves will face
the American League champion New York Yankees, who defeated
them in six games in the 1996 World Series.
Atlanta catcher Eddie Perez, who batted .500 in the series and drove
in two runs Tuesday night, was selected the Most Valuable Player.
The Braves nearly stumbled among the path to their ultimate goal
this season - but they found a way again.
"This is just too awesome, too awesome," Jones said between be
ing showered with champagne during the Braves' typically wild club
house celebration. "We had the lead, then they had the lead, and we
just kept going at each other, again and again."
"But even when they got the lead again, everyone still believed we
would win. Everybody said just to be patient and we could do it."
Tom Glavine has been part of the Braves' run since it began in
1991. Glavine said this championship is probably the Braves' most
significant.
"1991, the first one, that's going to be awfully hard to top," said
the left-hander, who w9uld have pitched Game 7. "But when you
look at everything that'slhappened this year, when you look at every
thing we went through, we always found a way to come through. So
for all of that, this one probably is (the most satisfying)."
Chipper Jones agreed.
"Yeah, this one is real sweet," he said. "We lost lost guys who
were tough to have out of any lineup, and we kept overcoming things
just to get here."
Jose Hernandszcontributed to victory with a two-run, pinch-hit
single in the sixth inning that gave the Braves a 7-3 lead.
- I didn't get a chance to start," he said. "I was on the bench, and
1 )
9
YWORLD SERIES '99
ANKEES VS. BRAVES
CkAl: a@ Atlanta
Lakers adopt a triangle offense that has L.A. roots
by Mark Heisler
Los Angeles Times
LOS ANGELES _ It's a new chapter in
Laker history, with a new coach who
brings with him an exotic new offense
that comes all the way from ...
Jefferson and Figueroa?
There in the Shrine Auditorium,
USC's basketball team played most of
its home games in 1946 with a squad
that included a little senior guard named
Tex Winter, a hot-shot freshman named
Bill Sharman and a returning Army vet
eran named Alex Hannum.
The coach was Sam Barry, who ran
something called "the center option,"
a forerunner of the offense Winter
would devise, the "triangle," that he
taught the Chicago Bulls under Phil
Jackson, after which they won six NBA
titles in the '9os.
Hannum also used it with the Phila
delphia 76ers, who won an NBA record
68 games in the 1966-67 regular sea
son. Sharman's Los Angeles Lakers
then won 69 five years later, using some
triangle, a record that stood until the
Bulls won 72 in 1996.
"The funny thing was, we didn't win
with it," says Sharman, remembering
their days at USC. "We were 10-14."
"Then Hannum plays it with the
76ers, and they win 68 games. Then we
used it a little bit with the Lakers, and
we win 69. Then Tex runs it with the
Bulls, and they win 72."
Of course, the 76ers had Wilt Cham
berlain, Billy Cunningham, Chet
Walker, Luke Jackson and Hal Greer.
The Lakers had Wilt, Jerry West and
Gail Goodrich. The Bulls, who eclipsed
both, had Michael Jordan, leading some
skeptics to describe the triangle as
"three ways to get the ball to Jordan."
by Jason Reid
Los Angeles Times
Nor were skeptics hard to find in a
league in which almost everyone runs
the static "pro set," in which the offen
sive team throws the ball to its best
post-up player -an easy matter since
the rules limit sagging and bar double
teaming off the ball - hopefully forcing
a double-team which leaves three de
fenders on four offensive players. In
practice, few players move and teams
go deep into the clock, as the defense
waits as long as it can to double-team,
running the offense out of time.
Also, in practice, scoring went into
a steep, decade-long decline in the '9os
when the pro set became the standard.
Nevertheless, it's easy to run, com
pared to the fluid triangle, which has
no set plays, only passes and cuts, with
players constantly forming triangles, all
based on reading the defense.
In recent years, Jim Cleamons, a
former Bull assistant who has rejoined
Jackson with the Lakers, installed it in
Dallas and was fired soon thereafter.
Cotton Fitzsimmons, a Winter disciple,
put it in in Phoenix, started 0-8 and
promptly retired for good.
"You can't run a continuity offense
in the NBA,"says a former assistant
coach. "The problem is the 24-second
clock."
"The Bulls couldn't have done that
without Jordan. How many times did
you see the 24-second clock run down
at the end and then Michael save them
- 15 times a game?"
Nevertheless, purists love the tri
angle. San Antonio Coach Gregg
Popovich, who uses the standard NBA
dump-it-in scheme, once sneered at his
own offense, noting one of his reserves,
former Bull Steve Kerr, had recently
run "a real offense," as opposed to "this
pro thing" the Spurs were using.
everyone on the bench believed we were going to win. Nobody ever
got down. We always knew we could do this, even when the Mets
went ahead. I just wanted to go up there and help us."
The Mets took the lead, 9-8, in the 10th on backup catcher Todd
Pratt's sacrifice fly against Atlanta closer John Rocker. The Braves
tied the score, 9-9, on pinch-hitter Ozzie Guillen's run-scoring single
against Met closer Armando Benitez.
That set the stage for the show-ending moment
Rogers entered in the 11th. The left-hander has struggled through
out his career in the playoffs, being labeled a guy who fails under
pressure.
His outing Tuesday won't help his reputation
going to give in."
The Braves came under fire from Atlanta batting instructor Don
Baylor because of their free-swinging approach in a 4-3, 15-inning
loss in Game 5 on Sunday. They were determined to perform better
Tuesday.
"We all knew we had to do a better job at the plate to beat these
guys," Jordan said. "This was what it is all about. All the hard work
and everything we've been through. This is what it's about."
The Mets also overcame a lot during their season-changing, heart
racing ride. Tuesday was no exception.
The Braves couldn't preserve a 5-0 first-inning lead, helping the
Mets almost escape from the postseason cliff again.
Banged-up catcher Mike Piazza tied the score, 7-7, in the seventh
with a two-run home run to complete a four-run inning against John
Smoltz, pitching in relief on two days' rest because the Braves fi
nally realized tomorrow isn't guaranteed against this unyielding
bunch.
After the former Cy Young Award winner failed, Met rookie Melvin
Mora continued his starring role on the postseason stage. His eighth
inning, run-scoring single provided the go-ahead run.
The Braves tied the score, 8-8, in their half of the inning on Brian
Hunter's run-scoring single after Piazza's second throwing error
helped Otis Nixon advance to third.
That was it until the 10th.
"You have to give the Mets a lot'of credit," Chipper Jones said.
"They kept coming back at us too. Every time we would try to pull
away, they would be right there again."
"It was that type of game the whole series. Fortunately for us, we
just had a little more at the end."
"It (the triangle) is the best offense
in the NBA from my point of view,"
says Pete Newell, former California
coach, now a Cleveland Cavalier con
sultant.
"Offensively, players are moving all
the time. That makes it hard to double
the ball. It makes it difficult to help out
because you're worried about some
body picking you off."
"One of the reasons Michael was was
as great as he was, the spacing was al
ways so good, it was very difficult to
double-team him. You have to go quite
a distance to get a second man on him."
"Of course, Michael would make any
offense look good but no other offense
wound have made him look as good."
In fact, the Bulls' opponents found
they were doomed if they double
teamed, and also if they didn't.
After Jordan made a last-second 20-
footer in Game 1 of the 1997 finals,
Utah's Jerry Sloan was criticized for
playing him one-on-one. In a similar
situation in Game 6, Sloan sent a sec
ond man at Jordan, who quickly passed
to Kerr, who knocked down the series
winning shot.
OK, now all the Lakers have to do is
become the second team in the '9os to
successfully put the triangle in, and
time's running out.
After USC, Winter became an assis
tant at Kansas State under Jack
Gardner, another Ban) , pupil, and ulti
mately the head coach there. Tex started
refining his theories of offense, based
on things he had learned from Barry,
Newell and another great, Everett Dean
and published "Triple Post Offense" in
1962.
His later career included stints coach
ing the San Diego Rockets (hired by
Newell, then GM) and Long Beach
Williams doubled down the left
field line to get things started. He ad
vanced to third on Bret Boone's sacrifice
bunt.
Chipper Jones and Brian Jordan
- the Nos. 3 and 4 batters, respectively -
were walked intentionally.
Enter Andruw Jones.
The gifted player, who made his
mark as a rookie in the 1996 series against
the Yankees, had struggled during the se
ries, batting only .167 before Tuesday.
Jones singled twice and scored three runs,
and his biggest contribution occurred be
cause he was patient.
"He (Rogers) always wants to try
to make you chase pitches," Jones said.
"I just told myself I was going to go up
t here and have a good at-bat. I wasn't
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23
8:05 p.m. on NBC
State. He was semi-retired in 1985
when Jerry Krause, a young scout he
had befriended, became the Bulls' GM
and brought the 63-year-old Winter to
Chicago.
Krause's enthusiasm for the triangle
wasn't shared by Krause's pro-style
coaches, Stan Albeck and Doug
Collins. However Jackson, taking over
in 1989. had played for the New York
Knick champions in 1970 and 1973 that
were known for unselfishness and
movement. In Chicago, where Jordan
owned the ball, Jackson wanted an of
fense that would engender a new spirit.
"We were together as assistants,"
Winter says, "and we used to talk about
how stereotyped pro offenses were get
ting. He was looking for a system that
was similar to the way they played in
New York, when he played there, when
they won those championships. That
was a team that read defenses beauti
fully and moved the ball."
"I just think I happened to be at the
right place at the right time. He em
braced it. I was very fortunate to be
there or I probably would have been
long ago retired."
Jordan, who couldn't understand why
it was better to have the ball in Horace
Grant's hands than his, called it an
"equal opportunity offense," which he
didn't mean as a compliment. Never
theless, Jordan tried it, and the Bulls
caught on.
"It was very simple," says West, who
ran the triangle in the '7os. "This of
fense to some degree is simple, but
players have to change their thought
process a little bit. It becomes a little
more of an instinctive thing...."
"It was an offense we really designed
more for centers, because centers touch
the ball a lot. Chicago didn't use it that
OCTOBER 22 1999 THE BEHREND BEACON PAGE 1
Curses, foiled again: Sox
bow out to Yanks, 6-1
BOSTON - Whether he is 30 or 34 or 44 years old, whether he escaped
Cuba rowing a leaky wooden raft or a having mai-tais served to him
on the deck of a 78-foot luxury yacht, none of this matters to the New
York Yankees.
All they care about is that Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez is wear
ing a Yankee uniform and a navy blue cap with the interlocking "NY"
insignia, and not a uniform that says Indians, Mariners or Angels across
the chest.
The Yankees won a bidding war for the crafty right-hander with the
outrageously high leg kick before the 1998 season, and they continued
to reap the benefits of that investment when Hernandez pitched them
to their 36th American League pennant Monday night.
Braving chilly temperatures and a biting New England wind,
Hernandez gave up one run on five hits and struck out nine in seven
innings Monday night in a 6-1 AL championship series-clinching Game
5 victory over the Boston Red Sox before 33,589 in Fenway Park.
The Yankees drove yet another dagger into the hearts of Red Sox
fans - on top of eliminating the Sox in their home park, they did it with
1978 playoff hero and Fenway villain Bucky bent watching from the
stands - and they'll go for their 25th World Series title, and second in a
row, against either the New York Mets or Atlanta Braves beginning
Saturday. It may take them a day or two to shake the
Red Sox from their memories, though, especially after Boston gave
the Yankees a major scare in the bottom of the eighth of a marathon
that took 4 hours 9 minutes to complete.
Jason Varitek led off with a homer off Hernandez, and Boston, trail
ing, 4-I, loaded the bases with one out off a trio of Yankee relievers,
Mike Stanton, Jeff Nelson and Allen Watson.
Manager Joe Torre summoned Game 2 hero Ramiro Mendoza, who
escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the eighth inning of a 3-2 Yan
kee victory Thursday night, and the right-hander pulled off Houdini 11,
striking out pinch-hitter Scott Hatteberg on a full-count pitch in the
dirt and getting Trot Nixon to hit a pop foul to third.
Jorge Posada then gave the Yankees some breathing room in the
ninth, blasting a two-run homer to right for a - I lead, and Mendoza
retired the side in order in the bottom of the ninth, touching off yet
another pennant-clinching Yankee celebration.
"I can't say enough about what Mendoza has meant to this team,"
Torre said. "We call him the Ice Man. He has saved our you-know
whats a number of times."
Torre thought it interesting that Mendoza got the save for Hernandez
Monday night, because it was Mendoza who had to yield his spot in
the rotation to Hernandez last season.
A No. 4 starter in 1998, his first season in New York, Hernandez
emerged as the Yankees' ace this past June. He now has a career 4-0
record and 0.97 earned run average in five playoff starts, and he earned
ALCS most valuable player honors Monday night.
"It seems like 100 years ago when I saw him throw on the side in
spring training in 1998," Torre said. "I thought, 'Wow, this big leg
kick, I don't know if he can do this.' Then you watch him grow."
"Ever since Game 4 (of the 1998 ALCS against Cleveland, a 4-0
win) he has dared people to beat them. That first inning tonight was
phenomenal." _
Hernandez, the Man With a Thousand Arm Angles, was an escape
artist Monday night, pitching his way out of a first-and-third, no-out
jam in the first, a first-and-second, two-out jam in the second, and a
runner-on-third, one-out jam in the sixth.
After Chuck Knoblauch opened the game with a single and Derek
Jeter homered off Red Sox starter Kent Mercker for a 2-0 lead in the
top of the first, it appeared the Red Sox would rebound quickly in the
bottom of the first, when Jose Offerman singled and took third on John
Valentin's hit-and-run single.
But Hernandez struck out Varitek, got Nomar Garciaparra - who
admitted to having five cortisone shots in his right wrist since getting
hit with a pitch on Sept. 25 - to pop to third and Troy O'Leary to fly to
left, snuffing out the rally.
way because when it got down to it,
Michael Jordan really was kind of a
post player for them."
Of course, instincts aren't what they
used to be since NBA players are so
rarely asked to read defenses and think
on their feet any more.
The Lakers last season traded Elden
Campbell, a big, talented player, be
cause he couldn't figure out how to
complement Shaquille O'Neal. When
the defense rotated toward O'Neal, all
Campbell had to do was cut to the bas
ket for a pass, crash the boards or drift
to an open spot. Instead, mostly, he
watched.
In Chicago, as the Bulls eventually
learned, some players picked the tri
angle up right away. Some would be
lost for a few weeks. And one or two
who were never found.
"I think it's pretty simple," says Kerr.
"It's just so different from what
everybody's used to playing. Most
teams come down, call a play and ev
erybody runs to their spots and they
make the pass where everybody knows
it's going to go."
"In the triangle, five guys get to their
spots but you can pass to any of the four
guys. When you make the pass, there's
a cut. It depends on how the defense
plays you."
And if Jordan still winds up with the
ball whenever the clock runs down or
it's crunch time?
"That's kind of the beauty of it, even
though people kinda laughed at it, it al
lows players to get into a position to
bail their teammates out," Kerr says. "I
think Kobe (Bryant) is going to enjoy
that, and Shaq
will enjoy it as well."
Well, after a while they may anyway.
by Mike DiGiovanna
Los Angeles Times
NFL SCHEDULE
Week 7
Sunday, October 24
Detroit@Carolina 1:00
Cincinnati@lndianapolis 1:00
Denver@New England 1:00
New Orleans@NY Giants 1:00
Philadelphia@Miami 1:00
San Francisco@Minnesota :00
Cleveland@St. Louis 1:00
Chicago@Tampa Bay 1:00
Washington@Dallas 1:00
Green Bay@San Diego 4:05
NY Jets@Oakland 4:15
Buffalo@Seattle 4:15
Monday, October 25
Atlanta@Pittsburgh 9:00
Bye Week: Arizona
Jacksonville
Tennessee
GAME OF THE WEEK
"COWBOYS AND INDIANS"
WASHINGTON VS.
DALLAS
SO, k
fei
• •
CRAIG HAZELWOOD
DALLAS 24-17
JASON SNYDER
WASHINGTON 34-10
MATT WIERTEL
WASHINGTON 36-24
KATIE GALLEY
WASHINGTON 24-7