Sports
8A
Tuesday, October 6, 2020
Th e Observer
Butler’s triple-double helps Heat get within 2-1 in fi nals
By Tim Reynolds
AP basketball writer
LAKE BUENA VISTA,
Fla. — Biggest moment of
his career. Best game of his
life.
Jimmy Butler is clearly
not ready to go home quite
yet. With a triple-double,
he joined NBA Finals lore
— and the short-handed
Miami Heat might have
made this title matchup a
series after all.
Butler fi nished with 40
points, 11 rebounds and 13
assists, and the Heat beat
the Los Angeles Lakers
115-104 on Sunday night
to get within 2-1 — doing
so with starters Bam Ade-
bayo and Goran Dragic still
unable to play because of
injury.
“I tell Coach all the
time, ‘’I’m ready for this,’”
Butler said. “The biggest
stage, whatever you ask me
to do, I can do.”
His coach, Erik Spoel-
stra, has clearly listened.
2020 NBA
FINALS
L.A. LAKERS LEAD SERIES
2-1
Game 1: L.A. Lakers 116,
Miami Heat 98
Game 2: L.A. Lakers 124,
Miami Heat 114
Game 3: Miami Heat 115,
L.A. Lakers 104
Game 4: Tuesday, Oct. 6,
6 p.m.
Game 5: Friday, Oct. 9,
6 p.m.
*Game 6: Sunday, Oct. 11,
4:30 p.m.
*Game 7: Tuesday, Oct. 13,
6 p.m.
*-if necessary
Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press
Miami Heat’s Jimmy Butler (22) passes the ball against Los
Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James (23) during Game 3 of the
NBA Finals Sunday, Oct. 4, 2020, in Florida.
“This is what he wanted,
this is what we wanted,”
Spoelstra said. “It’s really
hard to analyze or describe
Jimmy until you actually
feel him between the four
lines. He’s a supreme, elite
competitor and we needed
it.”
It was the third 40-point
triple-double in fi nals his-
tory. Butler was 14 for 20
from the fi eld and, after the
Heat surrendered a dou-
ble-digit lead early in the
fourth, he made sure this
one wouldn’t get away.
“He’s one of the best
competitors we have in our
game,” the Lakers’ LeBron
James said. “Love that
opportunity. For me, per-
sonally, I don’t know how
many more opportunities
I’m going to have so to be
able to go against a fi erce
competitor like that is
something I’ll look back on
when I’m done playing. I’ll
miss those moments.”
James had 25 points,
10 rebounds and eight
assists for the Lakers,
while Kyle Kuzma and
Markieff Morris each had
19 points off the bench.
Anthony Davis had 15 for
the Lakers.
Game 4 is Tuesday
night. Tyler Herro and
Kelly Olynyk each had 17
points for Miami, which got
13 from Duncan Robinson
and 12 from Jae Crowder.
“We had players step up
this whole playoffs, and it’s
no different now for us,”
Crowder said.
Whenever the Heat
looked ready to pull away
and grab control of Game
3, the Lakers always found
a way to fi nd their best
gear.
A 13-point Heat lead in
the early going? The Lakers
had the lead back in less
than fi ve minutes.
A 14-point Heat lead
after a 10-0 run to start the
second half? The Lakers
scored the next eight.
A 12-point Heat lead
late in the third? It took the
Lakers less than fi ve min-
utes to put together a 20-6
run, taking the lead back at
91-89 with 8:55 left.
“We were almost
fi ghting back the entire
game,” Morris said.
The last punch went to
Miami, Butler unwilling to
let his team go down 3-0.
Hawks 4-0 for the fi rst time since 2013
Associated Press
Ronald Bond/The Observer, File
The EOU women’s cross-country team, shown last season at its home meet, was just out-
side the NAIA top 25 coaches poll which came out last week. The men’s team was ranked
21st. Both teams were selected to place fi fth in the Cascade Collegiate Conference.
EOU men’s cross-country ranked
21st, women just outside poll
The Observer
LA GRANDE — The
Eastern Oregon University
men’s cross-country team
was ranked 21st in the NAIA
preseason top 25 coaches
poll, which was released
Thursday, Oct. 1, while the
women’s team was rated two
spots outside of the rankings
in a tie for 27th.
The men are just shy of
where they wrapped up last
season, when they fi nished
19th at the NAIA National
Championship meet, while
the women are two spots
ahead of their 29th place
fi nish from nationals a
year ago. The women are
25 points out of the rank-
ings, while the men are nine
points away from being in
the top 20.
Both teams were selected
to place fi fth in the loaded
Cascade Collegiate Con-
ference’s coaches poll, and
there were several other
CCC squads in both polls.
For the men, CCC newcomer
Lewis-Clark State College
was the highest rated school
in the conference at third,
and was joined in the top
10 by seventh-ranked Col-
lege of Idaho and No. 10
Southern Oregon University.
Oregon Tech broke into the
top 20 at 16th.
For the women, College
of Idaho led the way as the
nation’s top-ranked team.
Lewis-Clark State College
came in 13th, and Oregon
Tech, like on the men’s side,
was 16th. Southern Oregon,
which was ranked one spot
ahead of EOU in the CCC
preseason poll, was not in
the national rankings.
Bank of
Eastern Oregon.
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MIAMI GARDENS,
Fla. — The unbeaten
Seattle Seahawks revived
their blueprint from
years past, winning with
repeated defensive stops
and one pivotal pass.
Russell Wilson’s record
production pace slack-
ened slightly, but his long
completion in the fi nal
seconds of the fi rst half
helped the Seahawks
begin to pull away, and
they beat the Miami Dol-
phins 31-23 Sunday.
Wilson threw for 360
yards and two touch-
downs, and Seattle
improved to 4-0.
“For us to be 4-0 is a
huge thing,” Wilson said.
The Seahawks swept
their fi rst four games only
one other time in fran-
chise history — in 2013,
when they won their only
Super Bowl. They’ve
scored 30 or more points
in four consecutive games
for the fi rst time since
2015.
But it was defense
that made the difference
against the Dolphins (1-3),
who fell behind as they
settled for Jason Sanders
fi eld goals on their fi rst
fi ve scoring drives.
“We kept them in front
of us all day long and
made them earn their
way,” Seattle coach Pete
Carroll said.
Wilson connected with
David Moore for 57 yards
in the fi nal seconds of the
fi rst half to set up a touch-
down that gave Seattle a
17-9 halftime lead.
First-round draft pick
Noah Igbinoghene blew
the coverage on the play.
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