BRAMA, January 18, 2003, 10:00 am ET
Near Heartbreaker Repeat and Watching the Meeting of the Giants
— by Max Pyziur
Friday (1/17/2003) both Ukrainian nationals' teams - Vitaly
Potapenko's Seattle Supersonics and Stanislav Medvedenko's
Los Angeles Lakers - saw action. The former hosted
the less than stellar though unpredictable Memphis Grizzlies
and the latter participated in one of the more hyped up
games of the season.
The Sonics' playing over the course of recent games has been falling
into a pattern - they come out strong in the first half, dominating
the score at the break then collapse in the second half with
the opposing team coming from behind to win. That certainly
was the case on Thursday against the Jazz in Utah and it
almost was the same on Friday with the Sonics holding on long enough to
force the game into overtime.
In the overtime period Sonic Gary Payton sent the score decisively
in the team's favor finishing it 103-97. He contributed a total of 27
points, followed by teammates Rashard Lewis' 24 and Desmond Mason's 20.
Though he didn't start, center/power forward Vitaly Potapenko made strong contributions
to his team's efforts - playing 33 minutes shooting 5 for 8 in
field goals and making 7 rebounds for a total of 10 points, putting
him fourth in scoring behind his aforementioned team members.
Peja Drobjnak, Vitaly's counterpart, by
comparison, was 0 for 8 in field goals, having one of his worst nights.
... and the clash of the giants
Houston hosted the much anticipated, strongly-
hyped, and well-worth-waiting "Meeting of the Giants" -
the Rockets' 7' 5", 290 lb. rookie center Yao Ming and
the Lakers' veteran superstar 7' 1" 350 lb Shaquille
O'Neal. This was no mismatch of veterans overpowering
youth. Like the Memphis-Seattle contest this one
too went into overtime and only then being decided in the final
seconds of play.
As for statistics, Shaq's night was better than
Yao's - 31 points, 13 rebounds, 4 assists vs. 10 points,
10 rebounds, 6 blocks. However in the first 4 minutes,
Yao quickly set the tone for the game blocking O'Neal's
first 3 shots. Also with 10.2 seconds left in the
game, Yao's dunk was one of the critical factors in
finishing the match in Houston's favor 108-104.
As exciting as it was, just like the fans, Stanislav Medvedenko
saw the game from the sidelines with coach Phil Jackson
favoring using other players on his team.
Slava's playing time has been limited after sustaining
an injury to the pinky of his shooting hand (torn tendon causing him to
wear a small splint) on December 4th
against the Utah Jazz.
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