Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, June 4, 1990 TAG: 9006040307
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: CLIFTON BROWN THE NEW YORK TIMES
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Tom Chambers had the ball, he was isolated one-on-one against Williams, and he was preparing to make his move toward the basket.
If Chambers had scored, the Portland Trail Blazers would have lost their one-point lead and they might have lost the sixth game of the NBA Western Conference championship series to the Phoenix Suns, and Williams might have lost his best chance ever to play on a championship team.
Williams would not let any of that happen, not in the most important game of his life.
He looked Chambers in the eye, and before Chambers could make his move, Williams made his. He went for the steal and got it.
"I had dreamed of being in that situation 1,000 times," Williams said. "It reminded me of being alone on the court practicing during the summer, and dreaming of making the big play. But this time it was happening for real."
Right now, reality for Williams is as sweet as he ever dared to dream.
The Trail Blazers are preparing to meet the Detroit Pistons in the best-of-seven National Basketball Association championship series beginning Tuesday night at The Palace of Auburn Hills, Mich.
The Trail Blazers are appearing in the championship series for the first time since 1977, when they won their only NBA title. And for all 12 Trail Blazers, plus the entire coaching staff, it is their first appearance ever in the final.
After Williams' clutch steal, he passed to Clyde Drexler, who made two free throws to seal the Trail Blazers' 112-109 victory that gave them the Western Conference championship. When the final buzzer sounded, Williams was lying on the floor, a place where the 6-foot-8, 225-pound power forward spends a lot of time.
But on this occasion, Williams was not diving for a loose ball, securing a rebound, or wrestling with an opponent. He was savoring a victory that put him a step closer to realizing his career-long dream.
"I was so emotionally drained I couldn't get off the floor," he said. So he stayed still for a moment, perhaps afraid to move, for fear that his dream would end.
When Williams finally made it to the locker room, he was embraced by teammates.
"Buck's abilities on the floor are important, but the spirit of the man is what's really important," said Bucky Buckwalter, the Trail Blazers' vice president of basketball operations.
"He has been much more than we could have hoped. He and Clyde have meshed to give us leadership, and it has made a big difference in this team.
"We needed a power forward badly, a night-in-and-night-out guy who could stop people. That was one of our biggest problems: we couldn't stop anybody. But with Buck here, from day one of fall camp, I felt we were going to be a pretty good team."
Perhaps only Williams understands how much disappointment he endured to reach this position. He spent the first eight seasons of his career playing for the New Jersey Nets, who never advanced past the second round of the playoffs during Williams's stay.
Through all the losing seasons, Williams produced memorable games, persevered when some of his teammates gave up, and prayed that the Nets would improve.
Instead, they got worse. In Williams' last two seasons in New Jersey, the Nets won a total of 45 games, 14 fewer than Portland won this season alone. Williams realized he was in danger of finishing his career without coming close to winning a championship.
Making the All-Star team three times, being named the league's rookie of the year in 1982, making the all-defensive team, and perennially finishing among the league's top rebounders were honors that meant less and less to Williams as the Nets continued to lose.
Yet, he never asked to be traded. He wanted to remain loyal, and his strong religious faith gave him the inner peace to believe that somewhere, someday, things would get better.
"I never went in and demanded a trade because I thought I'd be traded to the wrong team," Williams said. "Destiny and the Lord have a way with things. He worked it out so that I could play with a contender."
In Portland, Williams is doing the things he always did in New Jersey: playing strong defense, rebounding, scoring inside, and playing with an intensity that is contagious. Almost all of Williams' points are a direct result of hard work.
He is not a good outside shooter, and he is a below-average free-throw shooter. But he scores on the tail end of fast breaks because he runs the floor as well as any power forward in the league. He scores off missed shots because he is a tenacious offensive rebounder. And he scores when he receives the ball in post-up position.
Williams has expanded his repertory of moves to the point that at the age of 30, he is as clever an offensive player as he has ever been.
In the playoffs, Williams is averaging 13.5 points and 9.2 rebounds. His primary defensive assignments in Portland's three previous series have been Roy Tarpley of Dallas, Terry Cummings of San Antonio, and Chambers. Williams held his own against them all, and against Detroit, he will spend much of his time defending James Edwards, another serious challenge.
Keywords:
BASKETBALL
by CNB