NBA Notes : Portland’s Branch Is Philosophical About His Reserve Status

Former Maryland star Adrian Branch was embarrassed that the media flocked to him after Portland dropped a last-second game in Washington last week. “But it’s home,” he said.

Branch is a reserve for Portland, after NBA stops in Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles and New Jersey. You may remember the last time you saw Branch.

It was right after the Lakers had beaten Boston for the 1987 title, and if you looked closely, you could see Branch in the champagne-shower celebration. But even then, he knew he wasn’t long for Showtime.

“I was treating every game like it was my last,” said Branch, who has appeared in 57 games this season for the Trail Blazers and averages eight points a game as a reserve, “not having the comfortable cushion of having an extended contract. But it’s been fun while it lasted, and give or take one or two things I did or didn’t do, I’ve maxed out on my opportunity.”

Portland took a look at Branch this summer and invited him to camp. He was not given much of a shot to make the club and wasn’t put in the team’s media guide. But he has shot 47 percent from the floor and is the Trail Blazers’ instant-offense type.

“You don’t worry about what you can’t do, just concentrate on what you can do,” he said. “And take it from there, just go out there and boogie.

“It’s just the coaches deciding to take a chance on me. And they liked what they saw. I always felt I was ready to come out of the blocks, but what I saw and what other people have seen was sometimes different.”

Dallas Mavericks forward Roy Tarpley has been cleared to resume practicing with his teammates as part of a continuation of his after-care program, a team official said Tuesday.

Tarpley, on suspension for a drug-related violation, will attend the Mavericks’ practice Thursday morning, said Kevin Sullivan, director of media services for the team.

Dr. Dave Lewis of the ASAP Family Treatment Program in Van Nuys, Calif., gave the okay for Tarpley to practice, Sullivan said.

“Roy to date has been in complete compliance with his after-care plan and we want him to continue that recovery plan,” Lewis said.

“We want him to begin to practice with the team and see how he handles that situation. We will continue to assess his progress. If he continues to be in compliance, we’ll go to the next step.”

Tarpley was suspended from NBA action Jan. 5 for failure to comply with his league-mandated after-care program. Tuesday night’s game against the Utah Jazz is the 46th he has missed since the suspension. He has lost $6,300 for each missed contest.

Although Tarpley can practice with the Mavericks, he cannot be removed from the suspended list, Sullivan said. He cannot travel with the team nor can he attend home games.

A nice touch from the Phoenix Suns when Kareem Abdul-Jabbar played his last regular-season game there: among the farewell gifts given to Abdul-Jabbar was a Kennedy 1964 half dollar mounted on a plaque.

Not much, until you recall Abdul-Jabbar’s history involving Phoenix and Kennedy half dollars.

On March 19, 1969, the Milwaukee Bucks and Suns flipped for the rights to the first pick overall, using a Kennedy half dollar.

Then-commissioner Walter Kennedy flipped. The Suns called heads. It came up tails. Milwaukee took the then-Lew Alcindor. Phoenix took Florida’s Neal Walk. The rest is history.

Now that Michael Jordan is tearing it up at point guard, triple-doublewise and otherwise, might the Chicago Bulls be rethinkig their draft strategy?

Before the move, it was almost a certainty that Chicago would be looking for someone to replace Sam Vincent, someone who could hit a jumper and distribute the ball to Jordan and friends, or a power forward.

Now, they’ve found the point guard -- Jordan.

“I would like to see Michael play point guard the rest of his career,” Bulls Coach Doug Collins told the Chicago Tribune. “Of course, that would change our draft picture. But that’s my opinion, and the draft is up to Jerry” Krause, the general manager.

Speaking of rearranged priorities, the Clippers sound more and more like a team that will deal its lottery pick, which, if things continue the way they are, will be no worse than fifth or sixth.

Their first priority is finding a jump-shooting guard, though, and there probably aren’t any in the league available better than Michigan’s Glen Rice or Arizona’s Sean Elliott. But if you’re the New Jersey Nets, and you don’t have a first, do you make a call out west about Buck Williams? Larry Brown has already said the Spurs would consider dealing their first pick if Williams’ name came up.

In another for-instance, Brown mentioned another Williams. Name of John. Plays for the Bullets.

The Celtics are playing very well right now, especially at home, but unless things change drastically they’re going to be playing either Detroit (3-1 against Boston this season) or Cleveland in the first round. Despite the Pistons’ manhandling of the Celtics in the playoffs last season, it may be worse for Boston to play the Cavaliers.

After Cleveland pounded Boston in the Richfield Coliseum Sunday, the Hartford Courant noted that Cleveland has held Boston to its two worst shooting performances of the season, has beaten Boston seven straight times in the Coliseum by an average of 17.4 points and that Boston is 0-20 against winning teams on the road.

Add Portland: It’s obvious that firing Mike Schuler and trading Kiki Vandeweghe haven’t provided the spark the Trail Blazers were hoping for.

When Portland fired Schuler Feb. 18, the team was 25-22. It proceeded to lose three in a row. On Feb. 23 they traded Vandeweghe to the Knicks for New York’s 1989 first choice, after Vandeweghe nixed a deal that would have sent him to Indiana. Since then, the Trail Blazers are 8-13 and in danger of being caught by Dallas for the final Western Conference playoff spot.

Coach Rick Adelman was upset after Friday’s loss because of lapses that, he said, contributed greatly to the Trail Blazers’ recent six-game losing streak.

“When you keep giving up offensive rebounds, you have to be perfect at the end,” he said. “That’s real frustrating. I just feel until our team realizes it, that you have to do it for 48 minutes, you can’t just do it for six or seven minutes at a clip, we’re going to keep having disappointments.

“We had lapses in each game. The only game that was different was the Knick game, when we were ahead, and then we had a lapse in the middle of the fourth period that got them in the game. We’ve been playing well enough in stretches but not consistently for 48 minutes.”

Yes, that is the Sacramento Kings who have gone 7-8 since starting the season 15-41. A .467 pace doesn’t sound like a lot, until you consider they were playing at a .275 clip beforehand. And in those seven wins are victories over Houston, Golden State, Phoenix and Utah.

The trades bringing Wayman Tisdale and Danny Ainge west are more than just coincidentally related to the upsurge. Ainge has averaged 21.7 points since coming to the Kings, almost six more than he had been averaging with Boston. Tisdale’s shooting percentage has come down, but not greatly (48.5 percent from 50 percent), and his scoring average is at 19 points, three above his Indiana totals.