Notes on a Scorecard - May 24, 1993

The Toronto Maple Leafs took the crowd out of the game early Sunday at the Forum. . . .

More important, the Maple Leafs also took the Kings out of the game early. . . ..

Toronto played as though it was the seventh game of the series. . . .

The Kings played as though it was the seventh game of the exhibition season. . . .

Definition of a masochist is a King fan who rushed home to watch the replay on ESPN. . . .

The Los Angeles power play could use a high-scoring point man such as, say, Paul Coffey. . . .

Sunday cocktail-hour starts at the Forum seem to bring out the worst in the Kings, who fell to the Vancouver Canucks, 7-2, in Game 4 of their second-round series. . . .

Whatever happened to Luc Robitaille? . . .

How appropriate that one of Pat Burns’ assistant coaches is named Mike Kitchen. . . .

Both NHL expansion teams, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and the Florida Panthers, are interested in New York Islander announcer Jiggs McDonald, who was the first voice of the Kings. . . .

The Kings are the only Southern California professional hockey team with a chance to win a championship now that Ft. Wayne has swept San Diego for the International League title. . . .

New spiel by Forum public-address announcer Dave Courtney before the start of each period: “Welcome back to the madhouse on Manchester, your Los Angeles Kings.”. . . .

Look-alikes: New York Islander center Pierre Turgeon and actor Daniel Day Lewis. . . .

*

Something is wrong with the NBA draft lottery when a team with a .500 record, the Orlando Magic, gets the first pick. . . .

The old system--flipping a coin between the teams with the worst records in the Western and Eastern Conferences to determine first choice and then go strictly by record--was better. . . .

Despite Michael Jordan’s cold shooting Sunday at Madison Square Garden, I expected him to come up with a last-second, nine-point play to beat the New York Knicks. . . .

The Chicago Bulls lost Game 1 on the boards. . . .

If the Lakers still had Sam Perkins, they probably would have eliminated the Phoenix Suns. . . .

However, the Seattle SuperSonics are the longshots among the NBA semifinalists because they are the only team without a superstar. . . .

The Houston Rockets should have found a way to get the ball to Hakeem Olajuwon inside, instead of Vernon Maxwell outside, in the final seconds of overtime of Game 7 and Seattle leading by one point. . . .

I was surprised that Larry Brown didn’t send the Clippers his resignation by postcard from Hawaii. . . .

The Clippers are looking for someone with NBA head-coaching experience to replace Brown, but University of Utah Coach Rick Majerus would be a lot better selection than some of the retreads being discussed. . . .

Maybe the decision should be left to Danny Manning. Pick a coach, Danny, and then sign a long-term contract to stay with the Clippers. . . .

Craig Ehlo, the Cleveland Cavalier who is about to become a free agent, could help solve the Clippers’ outside shooting problems. . . .

*

I presume that the first all-female group of judges for a heavyweight title fight had Riddick Bowe ahead on points when he knocked out Jesse Ferguson in the second round Saturday night. . . .

It took ring announcer Michael Buffer 2 minutes 45 seconds to make the introductions, only 32 seconds less than it took Bowe to dispose of Ferguson. . . .

Under the tutelage of Eddie Futch, Bowe appears to be improving steadily, although it won’t be known for sure until he is confronted by a live body. . . .

Roy Jones won a clear-cut decision over Bernard Hopkins to win the International Boxing Federation middleweight title that James Toney had vacated, but Jones didn’t live up to his advance billing. . . .

It was remarkable how well the Colorado Rockies drew over the weekend at Dodger Stadium and how many fans wore Rockies’ cap. . . .

That 14-inning, 5-hour 34-minute game won by Baltimore over Milwaukee, 5-4, Saturday really would have been long if they hadn’t stepped up the pace after taking 4:06 to play the first nine innings. . . .

Isn’t it time for Tom Lasorda to move Mike Piazza into the cleanup spot?