1998-03-04, By Glenn Rogers
西部季后赛竞争激烈 - 西雅图之后，种子排名悬而未决
西部联盟的季后赛争夺将会是一场火爆的比赛。
西雅图，如果能保持稳定的表现，将锁定西部第一的种子。
从目前的情况来看，这将使他们在第一轮与休斯敦展开对决。这意味着我们应该会在下赛季之前听到更少的来自查尔斯·巴克利(Charles Barkley)和克莱德·德雷克斯勒(Clyde Drexler)的声音。这也意味着，休斯顿即将迎来一个时代，他们将不再是队友，主教练鲁迪·汤姆贾诺维奇(Rudy Tomjanovich)将寻找一支新的火箭队，试图获得第三个总冠军戒指。
季后赛的其余部分则一片模糊。在季后赛中，种子排名是这样进行的：一号种子对阵八号种子，三号种子对阵六号种子，形成一个分组；二号种子对阵七号种子，四号种子对阵五号种子，形成另一个分组。
犹他爵士和圣安东尼奥马刺在中西部赛区并驾齐驱。终点线是季后赛的二号种子，或者是对阵七号种子的关键主场优势，这在五场比赛的抢七大战中至关重要。
马刺队以40胜18负的战绩占据了微弱优势。爵士队一直以来都是一支客场表现不佳的球队，他们比马刺队少打了三场客场比赛。这可能成为决定性的因素。
明尼苏达森林狼队在缺少汤姆·古利奥塔(Tom Gugliotta)的情况下，将难以抵挡波特兰开拓者队争夺六号种子。但马刺队应该能够在第一轮轻松击败这两支球队。
中西部赛区的二号种子最终排名很难预测。
除非西雅图出现重大失误，否则洛杉矶湖人队和菲尼克斯太阳队将在太平洋赛区争夺第二名。他们也与马刺队和爵士队争夺联盟第二好的战绩。
顺便说一下，主场优势是根据第一轮结束后的球队战绩决定的，无论球队在各自赛区获得什么名次。
圣安东尼奥队或犹他爵士队都可能跌至联盟第四或第五的排名。如果赛区输家在联盟中取得第三好的战绩，他们也将面临在第二轮对阵西雅图的可能性。
但是湖人队或太阳队将在任何季后赛中都难以战胜。目前，缺乏经验的湖人队可能是第二轮中最弱的对手。
湖人队和太阳队最终可能会排在第四和第五，这意味着其中一支球队将在第二轮中被淘汰。中西部赛区：格雷格·福斯特(Greg Foster)正在尽力将自己与不幸的奥兰多交易抛在脑后，但克里斯·莫里斯(Chris Morris)却闷闷不乐。
正如你所知，莫里斯和福斯特与一个选秀权一起被交易到魔术队，换取了谢克利(Seikaly)。当谢克利拒绝报到时，爵士队取消了这笔交易。谢克利随后被交易到了新泽西网队。
爵士队是福斯特八年来的第六支球队，他现在正试图安定下来。加入一支有争冠实力的球队并不坏。他因这次交易而受伤，即使它被取消了，但他正在克服它。
“重点是忘记它。它已经结束了，”福斯特说。“如果有人因此而伤心，那太糟糕了。我们只需要打篮球。”
莫里斯将在赛季结束后成为自由球员，他期待着在奥兰多获得大量上场时间，并有机会为一份合同而战。相反，他回到了爵士队的替补席，而且并不高兴。
“那真是令人沮丧，”莫里斯谈到他在奥兰多的两天之旅时说。“我仍然对事件的处理方式感到愤怒。”
但莫里斯已经有很多个赛季为了合同而战。他是否还能做到这一点，很难说。大西洋赛区：交易狂潮：当拉里·布朗(Larry Brown)在与费城76人队达成协议后，获得了篮球运营的全部控制权时，一系列可能性随之而来 - 他会疯狂地交易球员，最终球队会变成一支赢家。
到目前为止，一切顺利。
布朗已经完成了五笔交易，涉及20名球员。现在只有四名球员穿着76人队的球衣 - 艾伦·艾弗森(Allen Iverson)、德里克·科尔曼(Derrick Coleman)、马克·戴维斯(Mark Davis)和斯科特·威廉姆斯(Scott Williams) - 是布朗接手时还在队中的球员。
“说实话，我并不想要这份工作，”布朗说。他在步行者队执教了四年，于去年五月结束，带队两次进入东部决赛，一次进入乐透区。“我真的认为我需要休息一段时间。”
虽然这是布朗职业生涯中第一次负责所有篮球决策，但他建立了自己的制衡系统。如果布朗想要做一笔交易，他首先会咨询他的工作人员。
“我从过去的经验中知道我的能力，”他说。“这就是为什么我有比利（金，篮球运营副总裁）和凯文（奥康纳，球员人事总监）。今年我所做的一切，都是经过他们的同意。我以为我会想做什么就做什么，因为我有这样的权力，但我没有让这种情况发生。”
这就是布朗谈论鲍勃·巴斯(Bob Bass)的方式，当时两人都在圣安东尼奥马刺队。但不同的是，巴斯会阻止一些交易谈判。而在费城，布朗实际上是无法被阻止的。太平洋赛区：年轻球员：洛杉矶湖人队主教练戴尔·哈里斯(Del Harris)希望在赛季的最后阶段，他的年轻球队至少能获得一点紧密比赛的成熟度。
哈里斯拥有一支拥有全明星球员的球队，但在球鞋方面却缺乏经验。他还拥有一支已经被对手视为未来球队的球队。
“当球队现在击败我们时，就像他们刚刚赢得NCAA锦标赛一样，”哈里斯说。“当火箭队击败我们时，我感到很惊讶。那支球队已经赢得过两次NBA总冠军。但当他们击败我们时，（休斯敦主教练）鲁迪（汤姆贾诺维奇）在比赛结束后在球场上跑来跑去。我以为他是在找梯子，好让他能把网剪下来。”中西部赛区：考文斯的痛苦：夏洛特黄蜂队前锋格伦·莱斯(Glen Rice)并没有在这个关键时刻冷静下来，他仍然对主教练戴夫·考文斯(Dave Cowens)怒火中烧。
最近黄蜂队的一场比赛中，两人发生了口角。考文斯对莱斯批评得有些过分。
因此，当莱斯下场时，他对着考文斯大喊：“再也不要那样对我大喊大叫了。”
考文斯回答说，“我想什么时候就什么时候对你大喊大叫。”
这并非夏洛特替补席上的和谐景象。这也表明，考文斯与他最好的两名球员莱斯和安东尼·梅森(Anthony Mason)之间并非一直相处融洽。两人在整个赛季中一直低声抱怨，认为考文斯没有做足够的努力来确定他们的角色。
这可能意味着他们没有得到足够的球权来帮助黄蜂队取得胜利。他们可能是对的。
点击查看原文：West playoff race looking like real shootout - After Seattle, seeding scenario hardly set in stone
West playoff race looking like real shootout - After Seattle, seeding scenario hardly set in stone
This should be quite a barn- burning race to the playoffs in the Western Conference.
Seattle, if it maintains its consistent standard performance, is headed for the top seed in the West.
From the looks of it now, this will set up a first-round tussle with Houston. That means we should be hearing a great deal less from Charles Barkley and Clyde Drexler until next season. It means, too, that Houston is fast forwarding to the time when it will no longer be teammates and Coach Rudy Tomjanovich will be looking for a new Rockets team to try to bag that third title ring.
The rest of the playoff picture is blurred. In the postseason, the seeds play this way: 1 vs. 8 and 3 vs. 6 in one bracket; 2 vs. 7 and 4 vs. 5 in the other.
Utah and San Antonio have entered the stretch neck-and-neck in the Midwest Division. At the finish line lies the playoffs’ No. 2 seed, or the vital right to home- court advantage against the No. 7 seed in the always- dangerous five- game first round.
The Spurs, with their 40-18 record, seem to hold a slight edge. The Jazz, always a team that experiences problems on the road, have played three less away games than San Antonio. That could prove decisive.
Minnesota, without Tom Gugliotta, will have trouble holding off Portland for the No. 6 seed. But the Spurs should be able to whip either team in that first go-around.
There is no telling where the second-place finisher in the Midwest will land in the standings.
Unless Seattle stumbles badly, the Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix are duking it out for second-place honors in the Pacific. They also are battling the Spurs and Utah for the second-best conference record.
Home-court advantage, by the way, goes by team records after the first round, regardless of how a team finishes in its division.
Either San Antonio or Utah could fall to the fourth-or fifth-best record. The division loser also would face the prospect of playing Seattle in the second round if it has the third-best conference record.
But the Lakers or Suns will be tough to beat in any playoff contest. Right now, the inexperienced Lakers just might be the weakest second-round playoff foe.
The Lakers and Suns might just finish 4-5, meaning one will be a distant memory Round 2. Midwest Division Two views: Greg Foster is trying his best to put his ill-fated trade to Orlando behind him. But Chris Morris is sulking.
As you recall, Morris and Foster were traded to the Magic, along with a draft choice, for Seikaly. When Seikaly failed to report, the Jazz voided the deal. Seikaly later was shipped to New Jersey.
The Jazz are Foster’s sixth team in eight years and he’s trying to settle down a bit. Being with a title-contender is not a bad place to be. He was hurt by the trade - even if it was nullified - but he’s getting over it.
“The point is to forget about it. It’s over,” Foster said. “If feelings got hurt, that’s too bad. We’ve just got to play basketball.”
Morris, who becomes a free agent at the end of the season, was expecting big minutes in Orlando and a chance to play for a contract. Instead, he’s back on the end of the Jazz bench - and not too happy about it.
“It was frustrating,” Morris said of his two-day trip to Orlando. “I’m still angry about how it was handled.”
But Morris has had many seasons to play for a contract. It’s doubtful he has it in him. Atlantic Division Trading crazy: When Larry Brown was given full control of basketball operations as part of his deal with the Philadelphia 76ers, a string of probabilities followed - he’d trade like crazy and, eventually, the team would turn into a winner.
So far, so good.
Already, Brown has consummated five trades involving 20 players. Just four of the players in uniform now - Allen Iverson, Derrick Coleman, Mark Davis and Scott Williams - were with the team when Brown took over.
“I didn’t want this job, to be honest,” said Brown, whose four- year run with the Pacers ended last May after two trips to the Eastern Conference finals and one to the lottery. “I really thought I needed to get away for a while.”
Although this is the first time in Brown’s career that he’s responsible for all basketball decisions, he set up his own system of checks and balances. If Brown wants to make a deal, he consults with his staff members first.
“I know from past experience what I’m about,” he said. “That’s why I have Billy (King, vice president of basketball operations) and Kevin (O’Connor, director of player personnel). Everything I’ve done this year, it’s been with their blessing. I thought I would do whatever I wanted because I have that authority, but I haven’t allowed that to happen.”
That’s just the way Brown talked about Bob Bass when the two were in San Antonio. The difference, though, was that Bass would stop some trade talks. Brown really can’t be stopped in Philadelphia. Pacific Division The youngsters: Los Angeles Lakers coach Del Harris hopes the stretch run will provide his youthful team with at least a dash of tight-game maturity.
Harris has a team loaded with All-Stars, but light on sneaker wear. He also has a team already marked by opponents as the team of the future.
“When teams beat us now, it’s like they just won the NCAA Tournament,” Harris said. “I was amazed by the Rockets when they beat us. That’s a team that already has won two NBA titles. But when they beat us, (Houston coach) Rudy (Tomjanovich) was running around on the court after the game. I thought he was looking for a ladder so he could cut down the nets.” Central Division Cowens’ pain: Charlotte forward Glen Rice, instead of settling down at this crucial juncture of the season, still boils over at Coach Dave Cowens.
The two exchanged verbal blasts during a recent Hornets game. Cowens was jabbering a little too critically at Rice.
So as Rice came out of the game, he screamed at Cowens, “Don’t ever yell at me like that anymore.”
Cowens replied, 'I’ll yell at you anytime I want."
Not a sign of social rest on the Charlotte bench. It’s another indication that things aren’t lovely all the time between Cowens and his two best players, Rice and Anthony Mason. Both have mumbled and brayed throughout the season that Cowens doesn’t do enough to establish roles.
That probably means they aren’t getting the touches they deem necessary to produce Hornets victories. Could be they’re right.
By Glenn Rogers, via San Antonio Express-News