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Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Page A-23
ABOVE: The
Mason County
Timberwolves, a
Special Olympics
basketball team
from Shelton,
recently won
its division
at a regional
tournament in
Bremerton.
RIGHT: The Mason
County County
Lumberjacks,
standing, and
Mason County
Climbers also
competed at the
tournament, and
finished third
and second,
respectively.
Courtesy photos
Three 5heiton-area teams place at regional 5pedal Olympics tourney
By Justin Johnson
justin@masoncounty com
Winning was great, but. accomplishments
were secondary for a trio of Shelton-area Spe-
cial Olympic basketball teams that competed
recently at a regional-level competition in
Bremerton.
Each team finished in the top three of its di-
vision.
The Mason County Timberwolves, coached
by Nate Sartori, won its division at the tourna-
ment. The Timberwolves earned a berth in the
second-round of regional play, but this week-
end's snowstorm cancelled that portion Of ac-
tion, and this year's state tournament partici-
pants were instead drawn randomly from a hat.
"I was especially impressed with my team's
sportsmanship and teamwork. We won by a
wide margin in each of our three games. Each
game, my team tried to exercise sportsmanship
by allowing the other team a chance to make
baskets, in the spirit of the Special Olympics,"
Sartori said. "They also passed the ball around
very well. In each of the games, every player
scored at least one basket. They worked well
as a team to make that happen. For example,
if someone hadn't scored yet, they would keep
passing the ball to that individual to give them
a chance to score."
Sartori's team went 3-0 at the tournament.
A second team, the Mason County Climb-
ers, coached by Scotti Crump, finished second
in its division. The Climbers won their first two
games, one by two points and the second in over-
time, before falling in the championship game.
Crump's team was drawn to compete at the
state tournament.
The third team, the Mason County Lumber-
jacks, coached by Ron Wilks, finished third, go-
ing 1-1 in two games.
"For me the spirit of Special Olympics
(is) providing everyone a chance to succeed and
have fun, including the opposing team. I was
very proud and impressed with how my athletes
competed at this competition."
Sartori also wanted to thank the members of
the community that made the drive to Bremer-
ton to support the teams. Students from Shel-
ton High School, along with school staff and
parents, cheered on the three teams, including
making signs to show their support.
Rockets' point guard Chris Paul
took a step up the National Basketball
Association's (NBA) career assist charts
on Monday night against Dallas
Paul had 11 assists in the game, giving him
8,972 for his career - a mark that sits in eighth
place on the NBA's career list.
That leaves Paul over 6,800 assists behind
all-time leader John Stockton.
Stockton, a Gonzaga University graduate
and Washington native, racked up incredible an
15,806 assists in a legendary 19-year Hall-of-
Fame career with the Utah Jazz.
After Monday's game,
Paul -- in his 14th NBA
season -- took a jab at the
B .
N A s all-hme assists king.
"I don't like saying never,
but ,ain't nobody catching
that, Paul told-the Wash-
ington Post's Ben Golliver of
Stockton s record .after the
game. "I don't know who did
By JUSTIN the statistics in Utah."
JOHNSON (I digress here, I'm a Utah
native and came of sports
age at the height of Stock-
ton's career as he helped
propel the Jazz to back-to-back NBA Finals ap-
pearances in 1997 and 1998.)
That being said, suggesting that Stockton's
record is somehow tainted by a home scorekeep-
er cooking the books is irksome to say the least.
Chris Paul missed 23 games this season.
That's more games than John Stockton missed
in his entire 19-year NBA career.
Stockton played the full 82-game NBA sched-
ule, plus playoff games, in 17of his 19 seasons
suiting up for the Jazz. In all, during the course
of 19 years, he missed just 22 games, and 18 of
those came at the start of the 1997-98 season-
as he recovered from an injured MCL in his left
knee, suffered in a preseason game.
Paul on the other hand has only had one sea-
son in which he played the full 82 games.
If there was one way that Stockton was
blessed on the court, it was that fellow Utah
Jazz superstar Karl Malone was the No. 2 scorer
in NBA history, and the duo played more than
1,400 games together through the course of 18
seasons. Only four other NBA players have ever
played more than 1,400 games.
Paul's suggestion that somehow the Utah
Jazz team statisticians favored Stockton doesn't
seem to hold much weight.
An user on Reddit came up witha list that
measured home and away assists differential
for the top 50 all-time assist leaders in the NBA.
According that table, Stockton averaged
10.88 assists in 751 home games and 10.14 in
753 road games.
Keep in mind, however, that for much of
Stockton's career, the Jazz were one of the
NBA's best home teams and several times had
the best home-court record in the league. That
means extra points and extra possessions.
ls it fair to say that Stockton never got the
benefit of a "homer" assist? Definitely not, but
one can likely say that about any player.
According to the same chart, Paul actually
has a larger differential percentage between
home' assists and away assists.
Chris Paul is a great NBA player, one of the
best guards in the game today.
His failure to reach John Stockton's lofty re-
cords, however, aren't due to some cooked books.
It's because Paul is Mr. Glass compared to
Stockton's Iron Man.
Justin Johnson is the sports reporter for the
Shelton-Mason County Journal and is quick to
take offense if someone disses his favorite players.
He can be reached at justin@masoncounty.com
4