NBA
Notebook: Shot clock started ticking in '54

By The Associated Press

MICHAEL OKONIEWSKI / AP The late Danny Biasone was an innovator of the 24-second shot clock for pro basketball. He is shown in this March 8, 1992, photograph at a gym in Syracuse, N.Y. Behind him is a modern shot clock. Biasone and other NBA owners or governing-board members met in Syracuse in 1954 and tested the 24-second clock at a pickup game in a local school. Today, Syracuse city officials mark the 50th anniversary of that game.

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SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Dolph Schayes and some teammates scrimmaged in a small, stuffy high-school gym exactly 50 years ago. The short workout helped rescue the NBA and transform pro basketball from a chess-like contest into a fast-paced, gravity-defying game.

"I remember we were all huffing and puffing," the 76-year-old Hall of Famer said. "It was summer, so we were out of shape anyway. It certainly changed the tempo of play. It was all running. No standing around.

"It made the game more fun to play."

It was Aug. 10, 1954, and a group of team owners and governing board members in the fledgling league — Danny Biasone, Red Auerbach, Ned Irish, Eddie Gottlieb and Clair Bee — sat in the bleachers at a high school in downtown Syracuse and watched as the 20-minute pickup game was played with a 24-second shot clock.

"There wasn't really a clock," recalled Schayes, a 12-time NBA All-Star who played from 1949 to 1964 with the Syracuse Nationals and Philadelphia 76ers and was the league's all-time leading scorer when he retired. "There was a guy on the sideline keeping it with his watch and yelling out the time. Twenty. Ten. Five, four, three ...

"None of us at the time realized the significance of it. Arguably, it can be said it's been the most important rule change in the history of the game."

Today Schayes will help Syracuse city officials mark the 50th anniversary of that game at a ceremony at the school, now Blodgett Elementary School.

In Springfield, Mass., at the National Basketball Hall of Fame, a display case explains the clock's history, said Dean O'Keefe, a museum spokesman. The clock's history also is included in the biography for Biasone, a Hall of Famer who owned the Syracuse Nationals and was one of the league's founding members.

The Hall of Fame has nothing special planned this year for the shot clock's golden anniversary, O'Keefe said. Neither does the league, a spokesman said.

Before the shot clock, a team with a lead in the fourth quarter often stalled until the game clock ran out.
 
After years of lobbying, Biasone finally persuaded his associates to come to Syracuse to watch an exhibition game.

In a 1992 interview with The Associated Press, Biasone explained that he came up with his magic number through simple arithmetic. At that time, each team was averaging 60 shots a game, which meant that each game featured 120 shots. Since each league game lasts 48 minutes, or 2,880 seconds, that total divided by 120 equals 24.

The 24-second shot clock made its NBA debut on Oct. 30, 1954, with the Rochester Royals defeating the Boston Celtics 98-95.

Accuser's attorneys criticize judge in Bryant case

DENVER — Attorneys for the woman accusing Kobe Bryant of sexual assault have launched a startling attack on the trial judge, accusing him of trying to protect himself by imposing an unconstitutional gag order only after their client was "devastated" by some of the evidence in the case.

John Clune and L. Lin Wood said the gag order threatens their client's reputation and her right to a fair trial of her allegations against the Los Angeles Lakers' guard.

The filing was released the same day state District Judge Terry Ruckriegle rejected a motion by the prosecution and the woman's attorneys asking that documents in the case not be posted on the court's Web site.

In both instances, the release of material from closed-door, pretrial hearings is the core issue.

Jury selection begins Aug. 27 in Eagle, Colo.

Notes

• The Minnesota Timberwolves re-signed point guard Troy Hudson, a month after the two sides agreed to terms on a contract worth up to $37 million over six years.

Complicated provisions in the deal regarding Hudson's health — he missed the playoffs and all but 29 regular-season games with a severely sprained ankle — were the source of the delay.

• The Houston Rockets tried to help their backcourt by signing Charlie Ward, previously with San Antonio, and Bob Sura, previously with Atlanta.

• Reserve forward Darvin Ham re-signed with the Detroit Pistons. He averaged 1.8 points and 1.7 rebounds last season.