

DELL CURRY, RANDY BROWN, RICK MAHORN

The Specialists













By Charley Rosen t seems an impossible mission. At some point in every game, the starters on a team will get into trouble. Their shots won't drop. The defense will need stiffening. A little experience will be needed to settle things down. It's time for the specialists. You'll find them near the end of the bench. They're not the stars. They're marginal players with special skills. They also have the league's hardest job, to go into the game cold and have an immediate impact. Here, three of the best describe how they do what they do. NAME: Dell Curry

TEAM: Charlotte Hornets

MISSION: Instant Offense



Dell Curry "Game after game, my job is to score points in a hurry," says Dell Curry. The 6-foot-5 guard begins most games sitting on the edge of his seat. "In the NBA, every ball possession is so critical that I always have to be ready to go out there," he says.

His specialty is the easiest to chart, yet the hardest to perform on the court. Immediate points. Curry is justly proud of his consistency: Over his 10-year career, he has averaged 13 points while playing only 23 minutes per game. He attributes that performance to strong wrists and to careful preparation.

"I'm strictly a rhythm shooter," he says. "As long as my shoulders are square to the hoop, it doesn't matter if my elbow is flying out or if my feet aren't set. I've developed the knack of starting my shooting motion while the pass is still in the air. A good pass right into my hands and bang! The shot's gone."

Curry's jumper is so quick that he seems to defy the shot clock. Normally, a player needs at least three-tenths of a second to catch the ball and shoot. But Curry just laughs at that.

"With a good pass, I can snap off an accurate shot in just two-tenths," he says. "Easy."

Experience has taught the 32-year-old Curry that a substitute gets fewer calls from the refs, so he gets fewer free throws. And because he often plays with the second unit, the defense can concentrate on stopping him without worrying as much about other scorers. So while he may get a lot of shots as a specialist, he gets fewer good shots.

Still, he isn't complaining. "I'm usually on the court at the end of the game," he says. "I'm very proud of the fact that last season I was among the leading fourth-quarter scorers in the NBA. And to me, it's not who starts a ball game that counts. It's who finishes it." NAME: Randy Brown

TEAM: Chicago Bulls

MISSION: Instant Defense



Randy Brown My job is to shut down a scorer who's hurting us," says Randy Brown. "What I do best is pressure the ball."

The 6-foot-2, 190-pound guard is relentless in his task. "I never know when I'm going to play," he says. "But I'm a professional and I pride myself on always being ready, even if it's only for a 30-second stint."

Good defense, he says, depends on anticipation, quick feet and fast hands. "I keep my feet under my shoulders for balance," he says. "I want to keep my man in front of me, and I focus on his chest. When I sense he's uncomfortable or maybe careless, I'll attack his dribble."

He is not necessarily trying to steal the ball. His goal is to disrupt the forward movement of the ball handler and slow him down. Ideally, Brown tries to force his opponent to turn his back on the play so he can't pass.

Brown spends hours watching game tapes. "Lots of guys don't want to play defense," he says, "because it's hard work." He has a specific plan for each of his key opponents.

For example, against Seattle's Gary Payton: "I like to attack his dribble because Payton doesn't like to be pressured or touched," Brown says. "All I want to do is turn him, frustrate him a little, and try to shorten the shot clock."

And against Miami's Tim Hardaway: Brown pressures him early, at halfcourt. "If Hardaway can get a running start, then I'm forced to retreat," he explains. "Then Hardaway has room to execute that great crossover dribble and I'll be at his mercy."

The good news about getting limited playing time, Brown knows, is that it allows him to be particularly aggressive. "I don't have to worry about foul trouble," he says. NAME: Rick Mahorn

TEAM: Detroit Pistons

MISSION: Instant Muscle



Rick Mahorn My body is my weapon," says Rick Mahorn. No kidding. At 6-feet-10 and a burly 260 pounds, Mahorn is infamous for being an especially physical defender. His starting days as a center are long past, but at age 38 his role as ruler of the paint is still going strong.

Mahorn's job on the Pistons is to come off the bench to provide leadership for his younger teammates, and to intimidate his opponents. That means setting hard picks on offense and, especially, muscling up on D. "My attitude is that the lane belongs to me," he says. "If a guard wants to bang with the big boys, then bang, I'll knock them down."

Yet Mahorn provides more than just muscle. "I study every center in the league," he says. "I first learned what was what from Wes Unseld on the Bullets. Wes was only 6-foot-6, and he played center against Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain, guys who were five to six inches taller. Wes taught me to use leverage and a lower center of gravity to push bigger players off their favorite spots."

Take Shaquille O'Neal, for example. "You want to force him out of the box, toward the baseline," Mahorn says. "But he's 7-foot-1, 300. You can't move him if you attack his upper body. He has a high center of gravity, so I try to get under him and move him that way."

Mahorn will his forearm into an opponent's hips or the small of his back. And keep pushing and bumping so that his man can never get set. "I use every part of my body to make my opponent uncomfortable," he says.

As one of the more veteran players in the league, Mahorn thinks the refs let him stretch the rules a bit. "After 16 years, I get some leeway," he admits. "I'll take the rules to the absolute limit. But never beyond."

A professional, in other words. A specialist. For this article and others on the NBA and its players, pick up the current issue of Inside Stuff magazine. To order a subscription, call 1-800-249-4NBA.