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Sabonis turns back the clock

by Ailene Voisin | Nando Media | June 3, 2000 10:13 a.m.

PORTLAND, Ore. (June 3, 2000 10:13 a.m. EDT http://www.sportserver.com) - In the Cold War days he was just another tall tale, 292 pounds of Soviet basketball propaganda. It was said that he possessed the size of a center (7-foot-3), the passing skills of a point guard, the edgy competitiveness of a Bird or a Magic, of all the great ones. And what he really was -- what we later learned -- is a Lithuanian patriot who dreamed of the day when he would be free and famous and muscling his team through the NBA playoffs.

He wished this as a young man, and, finally, experienced it as an older man.

For one night, one grand, glorious night, the man known as "Sabas" was the most effective center on the court, if nothing like what he was. "The most talented player you guys have never seen," offered teammate Detlef Schrempf, a German native who began competing against Arvydas Sabonis when the two were in their teens. "I've seen him play a lot better. People here can't appreciate how great he was. Of course, he was about 100 pounds lighter, too."

No matter, because Sabonis not only carried his weight, he was good enough to neutralize the Los Angeles Lakers' own giant center, 7-foot-1, 330-pound Shaquille O'Neal, and to help his Portland Trail Blazers to a 103-93 victory in Game 6 of the best-of-seven Western Conference finals Friday night at the Rose Garden.

Who would have believed it?

Suddenly, we have a series, a seventh game Sunday, a grand finale. Back at you, L.A., for the curtain call.

If the Lakers owned this matchup while claiming a 3-1 advantage, the Blazers have countered by decking their opponents in consecutive games now, twisting the triangle offense into a mass of stagnant confusion, exploiting the supposedly impenetrable defense by attacking the basket, swooping in for offensive rebounds, leaping at loose balls.

Just like that, Glen Rice can't hit a jumper. Robert Horry and Kobe Bryant can't avoid foul trouble. A.C. Green can't keep the long, lean Blazers off the boards. The Lakers' bench can't do anything right. Shaq? Well, it isn't often that he dances with someone his own size. "The reason Sabonis stayed out of foul trouble is because they (referees) weren't calling anything," sniffed O'Neal, showing absolutely no respect for his 36-year-old elder.

Maybe someday when he's older, wiser, more mature, Shaq, who takes tremendous pride in his grasp of basketball history, will turn on his VCR and marvel at his lumbering counterpart's effort on this particular night. Long ago, he heard the stories of Sabonis as a teenager -- already 7-feet tall at the age of 15 -- and has a vague recollection of the Sabonis/Sarunas Marciulionis-led Soviet Team that beat the highly regarded Americans en route to the 1988 Olympic gold medal. And he knows, too, all about Marciulionis and Vlade Divac leading the influx of Europeans into the NBA a year later, without Sabonis.

Sabas, he wasn't ready. He wanted to wait a few years, but he waited too long. He ruptured one Achilles, then the other.

Then he feared he would be too slow, too hobbled, to compete in the 48-minute, 82-game NBA, so he remained overseas and became a European legend.

Yet ultimately the temptation was too great, the money too good. He joined the Blazers five years ago and, to his own surprise, has enjoyed a satisfying, if unspectacular, career. "I should have come much sooner," Sabonis will say now, and the Blazers won't disagree. They won't complain, especially after Friday night. Friday night was magical.

After struggling much of the series, in foul trouble most of the time, Sabonis stayed on the floor for a career-best 45 minutes, scored 10 points, matched Shaq with 11 rebounds, passed for six assists, blocked one shot and disrupted countless others. An immobile man, he was an immovable object in the lane, denying the Lakers time and again, daring them to leave him open for jumper after jumper.

If there was one sequence that spoke to his importance, it would be the start of the fourth quarter. First he drilled a 20-footer, then as O'Neal spun into the lane, he slapped the ball out of Shaq's hands, leading to a Pippen layup at the other end. "Sabas made Shaq work," noted Damon Stoudamire. "That's all you can ask."

Sabas? He doesn't say much. He said nothing about his contribution Friday night. But as Pippen's layup settled into the net, an exhausted, elated Sabonis raised both arms high, high above his head.

Then, for the briefest moment, he smiled.

He had his night, one grand, glorious NBA night.

(Ailene Voisin writes for the Sacramento Bee.)

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