Fri, Dec 26, 2003 page24

• Shareef Abdur-Rahim still has game

  • NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE
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  Hawks forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim says he won't get down on himself or dwell on his predicament, though he appears destined to have another season that will yield individual accolades amid team failure.

  Abdur-Rahim, 27, has played 563 regular-season games without a postseason appearance, more than any other active NBA player, and he probably is headed toward his eighth consecutive season without playoff glory. He isn't seeking pity, and he wouldn't get it, anyway.

  "I don't think anybody feels sorry for anybody in this league," Golden State Warriors coach Eric Musselman said.

  "I don't take the 'Woe is me' attitude -- in this or in life," Abdur-Rahim said. "You're faced with adversity, and you deal with it. I'm positive I'm going to win in this league. I'm not worried about that."

  In an Eastern Conference that has a power shortage at power forward, Abdur-Rahim is putting up the kind of numbers -- 20.4 points, 9.5 rebounds -- that could earn him his second career All-Star Game appearance come February.

  Meanwhile, the Hawks are a disappointing 8-22, next-to-last in the Central Division and only a half-game ahead of the Orlando Magic and Chicago Bulls for the worst record in the NBA. For that reason, Abdur-Rahim said, he would feel uncomfortable if the coaches selected him to the NBA's greatest stage, as they did two seasons ago.

  "It wouldn't even feel right, honestly," Abdur-Rahim said of the possibility of making the All-Star team. "Success, as far as I'm concerned, is winning games. Success is not scoring points. From a statistical standpoint, those things -- I hope -- are done in the effort toward winning and not done in the effort toward anything else. If it starts to be something else other than that, then I have to examine myself and look at myself."

  Abdur-Rahim has dealt with difficult seasons before. As a rookie, he won just 14 games with the expansion Vancouver Grizzlies and never won more than 23 games before he was dealt to his hometown team after five seasons in Canada. But Abdur-Rahim admitted that this, his third season with the Hawks, may be the most disconcerting.

  The Hawks are losing, and some haven't handled it well. He has seen one teammate (Stephen Jackson) suspended for a clash with the coaches in the locker room after a loss, and he has seen two others (co-captain Theo Ratliff and Jason Terry) openly express their displeasure with moves by coach Terry Stotts.

  Frustration levels rising

  "It is frustrating when you have the bickering in the media and the friction within the team," he said. "Because it's difficult enough because you're not doing what you want to do on the court. You're already frustrated, your mood is already down and hearing the bickering only makes it worse. But for me, I'm able to keep a positive attitude about the game and what I have to do in the game."

  Abdur-Rahim ranks seventh in the NBA -- and first in the East -- in efficiency rating, 11th in rebounding and 15th in scoring. He is fifth in the league in double-doubles with 15 and leads the Hawks in scoring, rebounding and field goal percentage (49.8).

  "He's bringing it for them this year," Cleveland Cavaliers general manager Jim Paxson said after Abdur-Rahim scored a season-high 43 points against his team Dec. 5.

  A player who prefers to lead by example, Abdur-Rahim called his teammates together in the locker room and poured out his soul after a 39-point loss in San Antonio Nov. 21. He told them that winning is all that counts in this league, and he asked his teammates to "man up" and give their best effort on the court.

  "He tried to get across that he's been on bad teams most of his career and people look at you as nothing," Ratliff said. "Although you're able to go to All-Star games, score a lot of points and be a good player in the league, people still don't respect you because you're on a bad team."

  Abdur-Rahim's heartfelt five-minute speech inspired only one win -- the next night against the Cavaliers -- with the Hawks losing six of the next seven games.

  When the season hit its most sour notes this month, Abdur-Rahim kept quiet (sometimes avoiding the media altogether following the more unsightly losses) and still went about his business. Abdur-Rahim spoke, as he usually does, with his play -- as he did Tuesday night, when he scored 25 points to help the Hawks end a seven-game losing skid with a 93-88 win against the Boston Celtics.

  "He's a guy who, when the team isn't winning, doesn't mumble or anything -- he just plays," said Musselman, who was a Hawks assistant coach the last time Abdur-Rahim made the All-Star team.

  "It's just within him to perform at a high level," Stotts said. "He handles it all admirably. He's at practice every day. He plays through pain. He's done all he can. He's always been the consummate professional."

  But that hasn't resulted in wins for his team. Abdur-Rahim has the worst winning percentage of any player since he entered the league as the No. 3 pick in 1996 (.282). Since he has always been the most talented player on his teams in Vancouver and Atlanta, the 6-foot-9 Abdur-Rahim also has been the primary target -- fairly or unfairly -- for blame.

  Automatic man

  "It's not through any fault of his," said Hawks general manager Billy Knight, who traded Abdur-Rahim to the Hawks in 2001 when Knight was general manager of the Grizzlies. "He's an automatic player. He automatically gives you good numbers every night, and sometimes he'll give you great numbers. He just needs more people to be more consistent around him and we can start winning more."

  Said Musselman, "His personality is a winning personality. He adds to a team winning. I don't think there is anything about him that detracts. I don't know if there are too many players in the league that work harder than he does in the offseason."

  Abdur-Rahim played through severe back pain the second half of last season and had surgery in July in hopes that he would regain his All-Star form and help the Hawks return to the playoffs for the first time since 1999.

  "I know that means a lot to him, to prove that he is the type of player who is capable of helping to take a team to the postseason," said Brian Hill, who coached Abdur-Rahim for two seasons in Vancouver. "I hope he eventually gets there, because I know how much he wants it [and] he deserves it."

  "I feel bad for him, that he hasn't made it to the playoffs," Stotts said.

  Minnesota's Latrell Sprewell was fined US$25,000 by the NBA for cursing at New York Knicks chairman James Dolan and screaming at the team's bench during the Timberwolves' 98-92 win earlier this week.

  The penalty was issued Wednesday by NBA senior vice president Stu Jackson.

  Sprewell, who was traded from the Knicks to Minnesota and scored 31 points in his return to New York, turned to Dolan and unleashed a stream of curses after his 3-pointer gave Minnesota a 94-89 lead with 1:14 left on Tuesday night.

  Referee Dan Crawford came over and warned Sprewell to stop during the ensuing timeout, but Sprewell kept it up anyway and directed his next rant at the Knicks' bench. The tirade earned him a technical foul.

  Sprewell began screaming at Dolan during the first quarter, the first expletive-filled harangue making Dolan blush. Sprewell turned and shouted at Dolan several more times during thegame. Dolan eventually smiled at the taunts.

  "All the little games he's been playing this year, I let him do the talking earlier. I'm just glad I could do the talking now," Sprewell said after the game.

  In 1999, Sprewell was fined US$10,000 for making profane remarks to fans during a Knicks' win at Golden State. That game was the first time Sprewell faced former coach P.J. Carlesimo, whom he choked as a member of the Warriors in December 1997.

  Official contact

  Peja Stojakovic of the Sacramento Kings was suspended for one game by the NBA on Wednesday for making improper contact with a game official.

  Stojakovic, who scored a career-high 41 points in the Kings' 114-97 victory over Memphis in Tuesday's game, brushed official Bernie Fryer with 1:17 remaining in the second period and received a technical foul.

  "I overreacted on that," Stojakovic said. "I apologized to him at halftime."

  Stojakovic will miss a game on Christmas Day against Dallas.
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