A9
THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, MAY 18, 2019
SPORTS
Athletes of the Week
MARK
WARREN
Warrenton
GIRLS
RELAY
TEAM
Astoria
Astoria High School
Gary Henley/The Astorian
Left to right: Kelsey Fausett, Andrea Harris, Sophie Long and Nara Van De Grift.
T
I
he junior athlete for the Warriors swept the throwing events in the
District 1/3A track meet at Portland Christian. Warren had a personal best
throw of 131 feet, 6 inches to highlight his meet, in which he also won the shot
put (52-5, nearly six feet over the nearest competitor), and the javelin with a
throw of 155-4. Warren heads into this weekend’s state meet as the top-ranked
thrower in the shot put, third in the javelin. He already holds the Warrenton
school records in the javelin and shot put.
n addition to winning the 400 relay, the foursome of Kelsey Fausett, Andrea
Harris, Sophie Long and Nara Van De Grift combined to win three other
events in the Cowapa League championships May 10. Fausett won the 800 in
a personal best time, Harris captured the 200, and second in the 100 and long
jump (all with PR marks). Long was second in the 800 and Van De Grift won
the triple jump with a PR jump. Fausett, Long and Van De Grift also ran on the
state-qualifying 1,600 relay team.
Will the Blazers hear Durant’s mocking amid noise of Game 2 loss?
By JOHN CANZANO
The Oregonian
OAKLAND, Calif. — The fi nal shot of
the night wasn’t really even one.
A last-second shot has hope in it.
It ties your stomach in a knot.
It has life — and this one did not.
The offi cial box score called Damian
Lillard’s fi nal act on Thursday night a
“29-foot shot” that was blocked by Andre
Iguodala. But let’s be real, it was more of
a strip by Iguodala, followed by a scramble
for the loose ball, followed by the buzzer,
falling confetti, and eventually, a gloating
Kevin Durant in the tunnel.
Golden State beat Portland 114-111 in
Game 2 at Oracle Arena.
“We stole that game,” Warriors coach
Steve Kerr said.
No coach, your team won it. It made
the plays, take the win. Even as Portland
blew a 15-point halftime lead, and an eight-
point fourth quarter lead, and missed a pile
of shots, more than anything Golden State
seized that victory.
That’s what world champions do.
After the game the injured Durant
greeted teammate Draymond Green outside
the home locker room, where he jeered,
“Finals? ... they don’t want to go there.”
Was Durant talking about the Blazers?
If so, it’s a lie. Portland really does want to
go there. Badly. It wants to beat the War-
riors in this series, get to the NBA Finals
and break a 40-plus year title drought.
It just doesn’t have the map. Also, it
happens to be playing a team that is loaded
and has won three championships in four
seasons.
That’s why I hope the Blazers took notes,
and will watch fi lm, and lose sleep. Also,
it’s why I hope they heard what Durant said
after it was over. Because what Portland
really got on Thursday was a lesson about
how to close out a playoff game put on by
the greatest team on the planet at doing so.
I picked Portland to upset the Warriors
in six games. I look dumb after two games.
I made that pick because I believed the
Blazers would split the fi rst two games in
Oakland, then defend home court. But after
letting Game 2 slip away, Portland has no
traction in this series.
AP Photo/Jeff Chiu
Warriors center Kevon Looney reaches for the ball over Blazers guard Damian Lillard.
Lillard also looks exhausted, doesn’t
he?
He’s like a guy on the mound who has
thrown 400 innings and is being asked
to get a couple of more outs. He’s done
so much for this team. On the defensive
end, he’s chasing a line of All-Star guards
through a never-ending line of screens. On
offense he’s fi ghting through traps, pass-
ing, dribbling, scoring, and trying to win
the game.
Portland had a bad third quarter. It
missed too many shots in the fourth.
CJ McCollum said, “It’s just a make-or-
miss league.”
Where were the makes then? Because
in the fourth quarter for McCollum it was:
miss, miss, miss, miss, miss and miss.
Six consecutive McCollum shots missed
the mark in the fi nal quarter. If any one of
them goes in, it’s a different scenario at the
end for Lillard. If two go in, maybe it’s a
win. But that was McCollum’s night and
the Blazers will have to live with it.
At multiple points of Game 2, Portland
looked like a team suffering from a lack
of experience on the Western Conference
fi nals stage. It played much better than it
did in Game 1, but not good enough to win.
Steph Curry outranks Lillard in conference
SEVEN؏DAY FORECAST FOR ASTORIA
TODAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
fi nals games played, 26-2. Also, he’s play-
ing alongside with the core of a team that
has been there with him.
“There isn’t anything they haven’t
seen,” Blazers coach Terry Stotts said.
Portland trails 2-0 in the best-of-seven
conference fi nals series. The Blazers now
live with the fact that they must go home
and win Game 3 and/or Game 4 to extend
the season.
Meanwhile, the rest of the country is
smelling a sweep.
Lillard grew up within a walk of Oracle
Arena. He was asked after the loss whether
he’d thought about Thursday night possi-
bly being the last time he might play a bas-
ketball game there.
You could hear the kid from Oakland
begin to answer as he absorbed the thought.
Last game in this building?
His last shot here?
Blocked?
“Yeah, this is the last season they’re
going to play in this building,” he said. “I
knew that coming in, this was going to be
the last — I mean, this time, I doubt this
will be the last time. You know, we plan-
ning on being back here, so that’s it.”
I’ve never stood beneath one of those
ancient castle walls while a team of royal
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
archers shoots thousands of arrows high
in the air down below at me. But I imag-
ine that’s what it feels like to be on defense
when Curry, Green and Klay Thompson
raise up and let loose toward the arena
ceiling.
In the last four seasons, the Warriors
have trailed by 15-plus points at halftime
on 53 occasions. Golden State has won 21
of those games. That includes Thursday
night against the Blazers, who were feel-
ing good about themselves after a couple of
solid quarters, then not so good.
Green said, “We know we can erase
eight points in a minute.”
This series isn’t over. Not just yet. Port-
land plays its best basketball with a chip on
the shoulder. Also, it demonstrated in the
loss that it could play close with the War-
riors in the playoffs on their home court.
Maybe there was something learned.
There were encouraging developments,
too, including an improved defensive game
plan and the performance of Seth Curry,
who looked like the best player on the court
for a spell. But letting playoff wins slip
through your fi ngers against Golden State
is no way to live.
A line of NBA franchises sitting home,
watching, already know that.
Two more losses. That’s all that’s left
in Portland’s postseason. That’s the sober-
ing truth. And Durant’s taunts hit hard,
even if they’re diffi cult to take from a guy
who won’t make the trip to Portland. Still,
I hope the Trail Blazers heard what Durant
said after Game 2.
If not, I hope they at least remember
what he told McCollum last summer.
Durant said the Blazers “aren’t going to
win a championship.” He told McCollum,
who said he was frustrated with the way the
Warriors were built, not to “worry about
what goes on at the top of things.”
Those six missed shots by McCollum
were huge, weren’t they?
After the game, Durant and Green cele-
brated outside the locker room like a couple
of school-yard bullies. It’s not that Portland
doesn’t want to play for a title, fellas. It’s
that the Blazers fi rst need to get one win in
this series.
Just one win before anyone of us can
imagine them getting a second.
REGIONAL FORECAST
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
Seattle
66 50
Cloudy with a
shower
62 49
59 48
A passing
shower
A couple of
showers
61 49
64 50
64 50
Rain
Showers
possible
Remaining
cloudy
65 50
Partly sunny
Aberdeen
Olympia
67/51
72/54
Wenatchee
Tacoma
Moses
Lake
71/51
ALMANAC
UNDER THE SKY
TODAY'S TIDES
Astoria through Thursday
Tonight’s Sky: Corona Borealis,
the northern crown, soars high
across the sky tonight.
Astoria / Port Docks
Temperatures
High/low ................................ 57/52
Normal high/low .................. 61/46
Record high .................. 82 in 1952
Record low .................... 35 in 1986
Precipitation
Thursday ................................. 0.27”
Month to date ........................ 0.69”
Normal month to date ......... 1.84”
Year to date .......................... 21.04”
Normal year to date ........... 31.88”
Forecasts and graphics provided by
AccuWeather, Inc. ©2019
Time
High (ft.) Time Low (ft.)
1:06 a.m.
2:07 p.m.
9.1 8:00 a.m. -1.0
7.4 7:53 p.m. 1.7
Cape Disappointment
12:43 a.m. 8.8 7:08 a.m. -1.4
1:49 p.m. 7.1 7:01 p.m. 1.7
Source: Jim Todd, OMSI
Hammond
SUN AND MOON
Sunrise today .................. 5:40 a.m.
Sunset tonight ............... 8:45 p.m.
Moonrise today ............. 8:44 p.m.
Moonset today ............... 5:56 a.m.
Full
Last
New
First
12:55 a.m. 9.4 7:29 a.m. -1.3
1:59 p.m. 7.7 7:24 p.m. 1.7
Warrenton
1:01 a.m.
2:02 p.m.
Knappa
1:43 a.m.
2:44 p.m.
Depoe Bay
May 18 May 26 June 3 June 9
1:03 p.m.
none
9.4 7:44 a.m. -0.9
7.8 7:37 p.m. 1.8
9.3 9:01 a.m. -0.9
7.7 8:54 p.m. 1.4
7.2 6:39 a.m. -1.5
6:31 p.m. 1.8
City
Atlanta
Boston
Chicago
Dallas
Denver
Honolulu
Houston
Los Angeles
Miami
New York City
Phoenix
San Francisco
Wash., DC
Sun.
Hi/Lo/W
89/67/s
68/56/pc
81/63/t
81/63/t
58/34/t
87/74/s
88/75/t
71/57/pc
87/76/t
73/58/pc
86/65/s
61/54/r
82/67/pc
88/68/c
72/60/s
72/47/t
87/70/s
61/42/pc
87/74/pc
89/74/t
66/54/sh
88/76/pc
79/67/pc
83/57/c
62/51/r
90/73/pc
Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy,
c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms,
r-rain, sf-snow fl urries, sn-snow, i-ice.
70/48
Hermiston
The Dalles 75/52
Enterprise
Pendleton 62/41
70/48
73/52
La Grande
65/44
70/48
NATIONAL CITIES
Today
Hi/Lo/W
64/45
Kennewick Walla Walla
71/51 Lewiston
74/53
69/50
Salem
Pullman
69/48
Longview
66/50 Portland
72/53
62/46
Yakima 70/49
71/48
Astoria
Spokane
67/51
Corvallis
67/46
Albany
66/46
John Day
Eugene
Bend
67/45
63/38
65/44
Ontario
69/49
Caldwell
Burns
67/49
61/37
Medford
65/42
Klamath Falls
54/32
City
Baker City
Brookings
Ilwaco
Newberg
Newport
Today
Hi/Lo/W
64/42/c
55/46/r
63/52/c
68/47/r
59/48/r
Sun.
Hi/Lo/W
56/41/r
54/44/sh
59/51/c
64/45/c
58/47/c
City
North Bend
Roseburg
Seaside
Springfi eld
Vancouver
Today
Hi/Lo/W
59/48/r
67/45/r
64/51/c
67/45/r
69/50/r
Sun.
Hi/Lo/W
59/47/c
66/43/c
61/50/c
65/44/c
64/48/c