Harry Redman spears the fast ring in senior ring spearing competition at the Totem Saddle Club gymkhana Sunday. NBA CHAMPS Portland cops the cup as Walton leads team PORTLAND (AP) — Portland Trail Blazers completed their stunning rise to the top of the pro basketball world Sunday by defeating Philadelphia 76ers 109-107 behind another . brilliant all-around - per: formance by centre Bill Walton, Tt was the culmination of a remarkable season for the Blazers, born of expansion, nurtured through six losing years marked by bickering and frustration and never before in the playofis. Portland, under the masterful direction of coach Jack Ramsay, used teamwork, poise, a pressure defence and a disciplined —* TEAM PLAY WORKED PORTLAND (AP) -- Bill Walton’s smile shone above the insanity of the Portland Trail Blazers’ locker room, “This was one of the best games I've ever played in,” Walton said. “A lot of guys played well and it was ex- . citing. We proved. we were better.” The big, quiet Portland team captain was selected the Most Valuable Player of the National Basketball Association championship series, which the Blazers ended Sunday with a 109-107 victory over Philadelphia 76ers. ‘Pye never coached: 8 better player. I’ve. never coached a better com- petitior. I've never coached a better person than Bill Walton,’' said Blazers’ coach Jack Ramsay. Ramey, Walton, team owner Larry Weinberg and everyone else in the vicinity were doused with cham- ghe as the championship Ophy was presented by NBA Commissioner Larry O’Brien, - “They played team ball. - They played unselfish ball. They are the embodiment of what is best in professional baseketball,’’ said Wein- rg. Ramsay had the entire team come into the in-. terview room for the presentation of the trophy. “Tts the finest team I’ve ever coached,”’ he shouted. “They are the finest people I've ever coached, If we hadn't won it, I’d have felt the same way.” attack to overcome the multi-talented 76ers four games to two in the best-of- seven National Basketball Association championship series. _ Walton, who scored and rebounded in double figures in every game of the series, had 20 points, 22 rebounds, seven assists and eight blocked shots in Sunday’s final. He was named the Most Valuable Player of the championship series. Bob Gross added 22 points and Lionel Hollins 20 for the Blazers to offset another re- markable effort by Phila- delphia’s Julius Erving, the game's high scorer w ith 40 points. The Blazers built a 15- point lead in the second - quarter, then saw Philadelphia move to within: two points on George McGinnis’s jumper with 18 seconds to go. After an inbounds pass by Portland, McGinnis tied up Gross for a jump ball and controlled the tap to Lloyd Free. But the Sixers missed three shots at tying the seore—Erving had a jumper e back rim ‘pounce off Free had a shot blocked by Walton and MeGinnis missed a short jumper with two seconds left. ; The Blazers won the title the hard way, losing the first two games of the final series but then regrouping to become only second team in the NBA’s 31-year history to erase a 2-0 deficit and win — the title. They also were the first team to come back and win it in four straight games, - In-1969, Boston Celtics lest — itg first two games to Los Angles Lakers, but rallied to win the series in seven games. © Portland’s victory came before a wildly enthusiastic, record Memorial Coliseum crowd of 12,951, which has helped Blazermania become a phenomenon in the Pacific Northwest. Both teams came out running and there were 15 lead changes before Walton put the Blazers ahead to Stay 42-40 with a jump hook wi re to go in the second quarter. That started a 10-point run by the Blazers that was topped by Hollins,who hit a twisting jumper off one of Portland’s many fast breaks to make it 50-40 with 5:10 remaining in the half. Portland went on to build the lead to 59-44 with 3:00 left and took a 67-55 ad- vantage into the locker room at halftime. Hollins led the scoring with 14 points but Walton—his jersey smeared with blood from a small cut he suffered in the first quarter— was the key man for the Blazers with 13 points and 12 rebounds. _ SATURDAY BASEBALL Red Sox return to winning groove Fred Lynn singled twice to drive in two runs and made a sensational catch in centre field as Boston Red Sox defeated Minnesota Twins 5-2 behind southpaw Billi Lee's _ six-hitter Saturday. Lee did not walk a batter and was aided by three double plays and Lynn's sensational play in the American League contest. Lynn made a leaping catch against the centre field fence in the bottom of the seventh to rob Minnesota’s . Dan Ford of a home run. Lynn brought home the first run of the game in the third inning when he lined a two-out single to right to score Denny Doyle, who had doubled. Carl Yastrzemski tripled and scored on a two- out single by Bernce Carbo in the fourth to put Boston ahead 2-0. Minnesota's Larry Hisle. made it 2-1 in the bottom of the fourth when he belted his 12th home run of the season and -increased his league leading runs-battedin total to 47. . The Red Sox scored again in the sixth against starter Paul Thormedsgard, who failed to finish for the 11th consecutive time this season. Carlton Fisk singled. and took third on a single by George Scott. Fisk scored on a wild pitch. Lynn put Boston ahead 4-1 in the seventh when he singled to score Doyle, who had singled and stolen second, ' Inother American League gamer Toronto Blue Jays feated the Oakland A's 4-2 with a three-run rally in the eighth inning. Olto Velez brought home two runs with a: bases-loaded single and another came home on an error, - “the accolades as TORONTO (CP) — Ron Lancaster doesn't. often make mistakes. When he does, he's the first to. admit it, \ . ” He did make one Saturday night and it cost the West dearly”-in the annual Canadian -Football League all-star game before a modest crowd of fewer than 5,000 at Exhibition Stadium. The quarterback-coach of Saskatchewan Roughriders shouldered the blame for-the 20-19 loss: to the East after missing gn attempted two- int pasS conversion in the nal minute of play. | “It was my fault,’’ the 38- year-0ld veteran of 17 pra seasons admitted later. “Instead of going to the wide receiver (Tom Forzani) I tried to go to fhe inside receiver (Rudy _Linter- man).”’ His intentions were good, , but Linterman, the veteran Calgary Stampeder running back, ran inte heavy bumping in the East end zone and was ‘forced to go outside. “Rudy broke out and I underthrew him. It cost us the game,” Lancaster said. Earlier he had steered the West to two fourth-quarter touchdowns that. brought them back from a 13-0 halitime deficit. However, it was Hamilton Tiger-Cat quarterback Jimmy Jones who Fained all e tossed two scoring passes for the East, the first going 18 yards The Toyota Liftbacks are perfect examples of international styling. Classic blends of performance and visual design. All are built to Toyota's exacting standards, then exhaustively tested to provide to Tony Gabriel of Ottawa Rough Riders to open the scoring in the first Petiod, the second a 69-yard bomb to Hamilton team-mate Terry Evanshen to break a 19-13 deadlock*early in the final quarter. . Toronto Argonauts’ Zenon Andrusyshyn converted * poth scores and had second- quarter field goals of 20 and 49 yards. After two field goals by Winnipeg's Bernie Ruoff in the third quarter narrowed the gap, East's L. d. Clayton, last year with the Argos but since dealt to Ottawa, opened the way for some late Lancaster heroics when he bobbled a Ruoff nt that was recovered by e West's Dan Kepley at the East two-yard line. - Power-running up the - middle by Jim Washington of .the Blue Bombers and Mike Strickland of British Columbia Lions failed to penetrate the East goalline, but Lancaster had everybody moving into the centre again on a third-down gamble, held onto the ball and went over untouched. Ruoff added the convert. Lancaster came -on in relief of Ralph Brock of Winnipeg in the closing moments to engineer a drive from the East’s 38-yard Jine that ended with a five-yard scoring strike to Calgary's elusive Tom Forzani, who- grabbed an all-star game record 10 passes, with 22 seconds to play. . That’ set the. stage for Laneaster’s efforts to pull out a victory.-rather than settle for a tie by. letting: Ruoff - kick his secon convert. ‘ Despite the presence of some of the deague’s premier runners, it was a passing game with the — East’s Jones connecting on 12 of 17 for 190 yards and Montreal Alouettes’ Sonny Lade good on 10 of 21 for 127 yards for the East. Lan- caster hit on 12 of 21 and 190 yards and Brock on 11 on 22 for 227 yards for the West. Willie Burden of Calgary was the game’s top runner with 32 yards aff seven carries as the West rushed a total of 60 yards to 48 for the East, including 22 by Jones—named the game’s offensive player-—the oO y time he ran with the ball. It was a hard-hitting encounter fer an all-star matchup, particularly in- side where Montreal Alouettes’ Chuck Zapiec— selected the game's out- standing defensive player— and _Hamilton’s Mike Samples were very muchin evidence for the East and JohnnHelton of Calgary, Saskatchewan’sBill Baker and Wayne Smith of British Columbia Lions fer the West, - Winnipeg safety Brian Herosian also turned in a stirling performance by picking off two Jones passes in the opening half and THE HERALD, Mondsy June,6, 1977, PAGE AS FOR WEST’S ALL-STAR LOSS Lancaster takes the rap Sports 4 a , Knocking down another, re- covering a fumble and Teading both clubs with six indevidual tackles. But much of the post- game talk centred on the erowd—or lack of it—in 55,000-seat Exhibition Stadium. About 10,000 tickets were sold for the contest but CFLPA president George Reed had expressed con- fidence there would be a late rush for seats.. The rush didn’t materialize. It was the smallest tur- nout since the players’ association deccded to take over production of the all- star game in 1970. The Jprevious Jow was9,000 at the Autostad in Montreal in 1071, roots “It was a tremendous dis- appointment," Evanshen admitted, speaking for many in the association who have been invested with the responsibility of making it a ying proposition to benefit e players' pension fund. “I have never felt so bad. “1 think it’s not fair, it’s you with some of the finest automobiles possible. Corolla: The Toyota Corolla Liftback is available. with a 1600 cc -engine and now, a brand new economical 1200 cc powerplant. 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