Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Trail Blazers Willing To Let Malone Take His Shots

Associated Press

If anything’s certain in tonight’s NBA playoff game between the Portland Trail Blazers and Utah Jazz, it’s that Karl Malone will get his shots.

The Blazers have, for the most part, resisted the temptation to double-team Malone. So make them or miss them, Utah’s prototype power forward will keep shooting. His success rate will say a lot about whether Utah clinches the best-offive first-round series 3-1 or Portland pulls even at 2-2.

“I don’t care where they’re at, I’m taking them,” Malone said. “If they’re close or not close, I’m not going to be passive. I’m just going to read what the defense does and if they don’t play me, I’m going to shoot it.”

So far in the playoffs, Malone has taken 74 shots, more than twice as many as anyone else on the Jazz. He’s made 57 percent of them, while averaging 32.7 points, second only to San Antonio’s David Robinson in the playoffs.

His worst shooting night was in Monday’s 94-91 overtime loss, when he was 13 for 30 and scored 35. The Blazers like it when Malone shoots that many times, as long as he misses more than he makes.

“To get him to shoot that many shots and miss as many as he did, it’s going to take shots from other guys,” Portland’s Clifford Robinson said. “It’s playing into our hands.”

Robinson appreciates Malone’s “don’t quit shooting” attitude.

“That’s a scorer’s mentality,” Robinson said. “I’m with him when it comes to that.”

Robinson insists he’s going to keep shooting, too, even though he’s mired in a playoff slump. In three games, he’s made 14 of 44 shots (32 percent). He blames his problems, in part, on the Blazers’ decision to focus their offense on Rod Strickland and Arvydas Sabonis.

“It’s not that I don’t have the confidence in my shot. I know I’m capable of making a shot. I know I’m capable of making the play,” he said. “But the flow of the offense has been going through Rod and Sabas, and I’ve been trying to pick my spots. But I’m not in any way losing confidence in my game.”

Sabonis is enjoying his first taste of NBA playoff intensity.

“Every game is like your last game,” he said. “All players play very hard and strong. It’s another story, I think. It’s interesting. You need to play 100 percent.”

In the first three games, the 31-year-old Lithuanian rookie averaged 26.3 points and 10 rebounds. His minutes of play, held down during the regular season because of his long history of leg problems, have inched upward. Monday night, he had 27 points and 12 rebounds in 38 minutes, his longest time on the court so far.