10A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2017
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Gary Henley | Sports Reporter
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Braves beat
Mariners in
combined
shutout
BOSTON BOUND
By PAUL NEWBERRY
Associated Press
ATLANTA — Ozzie Albies
got caught in a rundown, and it
worked out just fine for the Atlanta
Braves.
Then two of his teammates
also found themselves trapped
between bases, a daffy play that
overshadowed a dominating start
by Lucas Sims.
The rookie right-hander com-
bined with three relievers on a
five-hitter Tuesday night to lead
the Braves to a 4-0 win over the
Seattle Mariners, whose shoddy
defense in the interleague series
was epitomized by a slapstick
sequence that closed out the sixth.
With two outs and two runners
aboard, Ender Inciarte grounded
sharply up the middle. Short-
stop Jean Segura made a stop on
his knees, didn’t have a play at
first but spotted Albies rounding
third. Segura threw behind the
runner, catching Albies in a run-
down. But third baseman Kyle
Seager dropped a throw, allowing
Albies to race home with a head-
first slide.
Seager’s error was one of six
committed by Mariners in the first
two games at SunTrust Park.
“We just haven’t played clean
baseball,” Seattle manager Scott
Servais said. “We’ve got to tighten
that up.”
But this play wasn’t done. Not
by a long shot. First baseman Yon-
der Alonso, who wound up cover-
ing home as Albies slid across on
his belly, spotted Inciarte lingering
between first and second. Alonso
ran straight at him before noticing
Adams heading toward third. His
attention diverted by yet another
wayward runner, Alonso made the
fifth throw of the play to catcher
Mike Zunino — yes, he was now
covering third — who tagged out
Adams to finally bring it all to an
end.
Braves manager Brian Snit-
ker doesn’t mind his team being
aggressive on the basepaths, but
this was ridiculous.
“You can take that to the
extreme,” he said. “We can’t con-
tinue to do that. We’re lucky we
got away with it tonight.”
In reality, the nutty play was a
mere afterthought.
Sims (2-3) won his second
straight start after starting his big
league career with three losses in
a row. Seattle only got two runners
as far as second base against the
23-year-old right-hander, a native
of suburban Atlanta who won for
the first time in front of the home
folks.
AP Photo/Ron Schwane
Cleveland Cavaliers’ Kyrie Irving, right, looks to drive against Boston Celtics’ Isaiah Thomas during a game in Cleveland.
Cavs trade Irving to Celtics for Thomas, more
By TOM WITHERS
Associated Press
C
LEVELAND — Kyrie Irving was
tired of being teammates with
LeBron James.
Now he has to figure out how
to beat him.
Cleveland’s All-Star guard, who asked
owner Dan Gilbert to trade him earlier this
summer, was dealt Tuesday night to the Bos-
ton Celtics for fellow All-Star Isaiah Thomas,
forward Jae Crowder, center Ante Zizic and
the Brooklyn Nets’ unprotected 2018 first-
round draft pick.
“It’s extremely rare to trade for a 25-year-
old player that’s done what he’s done, the
offensive weapon that he is,” Celtics president
Danny Ainge said. “We feel like his best bas-
ketball is still ahead of him.
“We have a player that’s proven to be a
sure thing. We know how unpredictable the
draft can be. You do pay a heavy price for a
player of that age and that caliber.”
Irving, whose late 3-pointer helped Cleve-
land win the 2016 NBA championship — and
the city’s first title since 1964 — is on his way
to Boston, where he’ll join a Celtics team that
lost to the Cavs in last season’s conference
finals.
And as fate will have it, the Cavs will host
the Celtics in their season opener on Oct. 17.
“Of course we know who our competition
is, and we know who our biggest threats are
each year,” Ainge said. “But we feel like this
is a trade that can make us better, and that’s
why we did it.”
The blockbuster deal caps a wild sum-
mer for the Cavs, who lost their title defense
in five games to Golden State in June. Since
then, general manager David Griffin left, the
team failed to convince Chauncey Billups to
join its front office and James has played with
fans’ emotions with veiled postings on social
media about his future.
Irving’s trade demand cast a shadow over
the entire organization.
But Cleveland may have salvaged its
offseason.
“This trade needed to include both players
and assets that we felt strongly could help us
continue to compete for championships and
we believe it does,” said new general manager
Koby Altman, who pulled off a deal that pro-
tects Cleveland’s present and future.
In Thomas, they’re getting a proven play-
maker with a stellar reputation. The 5-foot-9
guard is one of the league’s most dynamic
backcourt players, with an uncanny ability to
get to the basket. Irving may be the only better
finisher among point guards.
The 28-year-old Thomas was taken with
the final selection in the 2011 draft — 59 picks
after Irving was picked first overall. But he
has steadily scaled his way up to elite status.
Thomas’ reputation in Boston was
cemented when he led the Celtics through
the playoffs last season despite the death of
his sister on the eve of the postseason. He also
had a front tooth knocked out during the sec-
ond-round series against Washington and a
hip injury eventually forced the team to shut
him down early in the East finals, won by the
Cavaliers in five games.
“Isaiah had just an amazing season this
year and entertained us all, the whole city of
Boston. And everybody fell in love with him,”
Ainge said. “He’s such an underdog because
of his size and his heart and his spirit which
he plays.”
Thomas is eligible for free agency next
summer and believes he is worthy of a max-
imum contract. He has been quoted saying,
“They better bring out the Brinks truck.”
Cleveland also is getting Crowder, a solid
perimeter defender, and a first-round pick
that Boston got from Brooklyn. The package
could help the Cavs reload if James opts out
of his contract next summer and leaves Cleve-
land for a second time.
QB Falk ready for final chapter at WSU
By TIM BOOTH
Associated Press
PULLMAN, Wash. — Back when
Luke Falk was a freshman walk-on
at Washington State, struggling to
strike a balance between being a first-
year college football player, school
and trying to have a few dollars of
his own, he picked up a part-time job
working for a catering company.
One of his assignments was work-
ing a high-end booster event where
Falk was asked to serve, of all peo-
ple, Washington State athletic direc-
tor Bill Moos.
“Here I am serving our athletic
director. He didn’t know me at the
time, probably. But, he’s heard the
story now,” Falk recalled. “He was
one of the only guys that said, ‘Thank
you, and please, and thank you.’”
Years later, everyone associ-
ated with Washington State knows
Falk. He’s no longer overlooked. He
doesn’t work with catering compa-
nies on the side anymore either. His
serving happens on the field, and
he’s done it quite well, to the tune of
nearly 11,000 yards passing already
in his career.
For a nightcap, Falk bypassed
early entry into the NFL and returned
for his senior season with a chance to
complete one of the greatest careers
in the quarterback-rich Pac-12
Conference.
If all goes to plan, Falk will rewrite
AP Photo/Denis Poroy
Washington State quarterback Luke Falk passes in the Holiday Bowl
in San Diego.
the Pac-12 record book by the end of
the season, the result of being the dis-
tributor in Mike Leach’s Air Raid
offense. Falk needs just 2,700 yards
passing and 28 TD passes to overtake
the all-time Pac-12 leaders in those
categories — Oregon State’s Sean
Mannion (13,600 yards passing) and
USC’s Matt Barkley (116 TD passes).
While the cast around him has
improved throughout his career, Falk
is a major reason No. 24 Washington
State has morphed into a contender.
Not bad for a former walk-on.
“To be perfectly honest, I think he
kind of assumed he was going to be
the starter a little before I did,” Leach
said. “I’d figured it was a battle, and
we had a kid that we recruited ahead
of him. But I was definitely going to
allow it to be and make it a battle.
Then he ends up beating the guy out,
and off we go, you know?”
Falk has brought Washington State
to a place of relevance that’s been
elusive for the program. The Cou-
gars have gone to two straight bowl
games and getting to a third in Falk’s
senior season would be just the sec-
ond time Washington State has gone
to three straight bowl games. A year
ago, they played in a de facto Pac-12
North championship game, the result
of eight straight wins, before losing to
rival Washington.
He’s the next in a long line of
great quarterbacks to make their way
through Pullman, a list that includes
the names of Thompson, Rypien,
Bledsoe, Leaf and Gesser. Yet none
of them were asked to run a system as
intricate as Leach’s, which is why the
coach regularly lauds his quarterback
for his smarts and comprehension.
“I think he watches more film than
anybody else I’ve ever dealt with,”
Leach said. “He watches a ton of film.
Sometimes, I think, too much. He’s
about the only quarterback I’ve con-
sidered shutting off the film.”
Leach raves about how steady
Falk is on the field, believing team-
mates respond to that. Yet, the quar-
terback has his quirks. He revamped
his diet about a year ago, even if it
means eating foods he despises like
kale.
During the early stages of his
college career, it was Falk’s musi-
cal sisters — Alexa and Natalee —
who were more well-known than
their pass-slinging younger brother.
“They’ve got the most talent in the
family,” Falk said.
And there is his odd timing for
jokes, which also speaks to his per-
sonality. Last year, the Cougars trailed
24-6 at Oregon State before rallying
for a 35-31 win. Down by more than
two scores, Falk was cracking jokes
on the sideline, trying to keep his
teammates from feeling stressed.
“He was kind of relaxed and
poised and I wouldn’t call that weird,
but it’s one of those things you’re in a
high pressure situation against a Pac-
12 team that we’re losing to and he’s
out there making jokes and having
fun,” teammate Cody O’Connell said.
“It was kind of interesting.”
Now remember that Falk has
accomplished all this because he was
willing to take a risk. There was no
guarantee of a scholarship or even
an opportunity when he arrived at
Washington State. At one point in his
high school career, Falk seemed des-
tined for Florida State, only to have
that opportunity dissolve. In the end,
his choices appeared to be Cornell,
maybe Idaho and maybe Wyoming.
If not for Leach’s arrival in Pull-
man, Falk likely would have headed
for the Ivy League and received lim-
ited football exposure. As it stands,
Falk is considered one of the top NFL
quarterback prospects for the 2018
draft after passing on a chance to
leave after his junior season.
“It felt right to come back. Felt
like I had some things, growing up to
do in life, not football,” Falk said. “I
felt football-wise, I could. But there’s
still a lot to learn this year and I really
want to finish off with the guys I
came in with.”