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SPORTS Thursday, January 29, 2015 Super Bowl XLIX Patriots not dwelling on last Super Bowl loss in Arizona Past defeat not a deterrent for New England By HOWARD ULMAN Associated Press CHANDLER, Ariz. (AP) — The road to perfection reached a dead end in the Ar- izona desert. Now the New England Patriots are back where a Super Bowl cham- pionship — and an unbeat- en record — barely eluded them seven years ago. Not that they dwell on their return to the place where the best season in NFL history slipped from their grasp. “It’s not where we play, it’s how we play,” Tom Brady said Wednesday, “and I’m glad we’re here with the opportunity to do something really special.” A win Sunday night against the Seattle Seahawks would even the Patriots re- cord in Super Bowls at Uni- versity of Phoenix Stadium at 1-1. New England is seek- ing a championship, not clo- sure for its 17-14 loss to the New York Giants in 2008. “I’m sure it will be a cool story if we win, saying we came back to the same place,” kicker Stephen Gost- kowski said, “but I don’t (AP Photo/Gene Puskar, File) FILE - In this Feb. 3, 2008, file photo, New York Gi- ants receiver David Tyree (85) catches a pass while in the clutches of New England Patriots safety Rodney Harrison (37) as James Sanders (36) watches during the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl XLII football game in Glendale, Ariz. A win Sunday night, Feb 1, against the Seattle Seahawks would even the Patri- ots record in Super Bowls at University of Phoenix Stadium at 1-1. think about that stuff. I’m MXVWORRNLQJWRPDNHWKH¿UVW kick that they send me out for.” So when a receiver leaps for a pass at the opponent’s 23-yard line, don’t expect WKH 3DWULRWV WR KDYH ÀDVK- backs to David Tyree trap- ping the ball against his hel- met at that spot with Rodney Harrison draped over him. That 32-yard completion with just over a minute left, after Eli Manning kept the play alive by breaking free with defensive end Rich- ard Seymour tugging at his jersey, set up the winning 13-yard touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress. It took Patriots players a long time to get over how close they came to a 19-0 re- cord. Then coach Bill Beli- chick met with his assistants. “One day Bill walks in,” running backs coach Ivan Fears said. “He says, ‘we got to move on guys, start smiling.’” It’s a cornerstone of Beli- chick’s philosophy. Lament- ing misfortunes leads to more of them, Fears said. Fears, offensive coor- dinator Josh McDaniels and defensive coordinator Matt Patricia remain from the staff at the 2008 Super Bowl. Brady, Gostkowski and defensive tackle Vince Wilfork are the only players from that game still on the Patriots. “It was a heartbreaker,” Gostkowski said, but “we’ve already played in (and lost) another Super Bowl since then, so I don’t even sweat that. I have two kids and a wife and two dogs, and I didn’t have any of that sev- en years ago. So life has changed a lot since then.” The Patriots are staying in a different hotel, meeting in different rooms and prac- ticing at a different site than in 2008. The retractable roof on the stadium was closed for that game. The current plan is to have it open Sun- day. “Everything is different,” McDaniels said. “That was a great season and we were trying to obviously win an incredible game and the Giants made one more play than we did. But I don’t think that has anything to do with this week.” BLAZERS: Irving nails go-ahead 3-pointer Continued from 1B Irving broke the previous scoring record at Quicken Loans Arena held by Allen Iverson. His point total was also the highest in the league this sea- son, bettering the 52 scored by Golden State’s Klay Thompson and Minneso- ta’s Mo Williams. Irving, who scored 38 on Tuesday in Detroit, made a team record 11 3-point- HUVDQG¿QLVKHGRIIURPWKHIUHH throw line in a tour-de-force perfor- mance. He scored 24 of Cleveland’s ¿QDOSRLQWVDQGRIWKH&DYV¶ in the fourth quarter. But it was his long MXPSHULQWKH¿QDOVHFRQGVWKDWVKRRN the Q. With the score tied at 94-all, Irving IUR]HIRRWIRUZDUG1LFRODV%DWXP with a move toward the basket before stopping and sinking his 3-last 3-point- er. After the Trail Blazers called time- RXWDQGDVWKHIDQVVFUHDPHG -DPHVUDQRQWRWKHÀRRUDQGJUHHWHGKLV teammate with a chest bump. James sprained his right wrist on Tuesday, when he fell hard after trying to block a shot against Detroit. James reached out with both arms to brace his fall and said afterward he was scared after breaking his left wrist on a similar play while he was in high school. The team said an MRI revealed the sprain and that James is doubtful for Friday’s game against Sacramento. Until he’s ready, Irving is ready to carry the load. LaMarcus Aldridge, playing his second game since deciding to delay Irving beat Lillard with a cross- over dribble and then stepped back behind the line to drain a 3, giving Cleveland a 54-38 lead. James was out of his seat speaking to coach Da- vid Blatt when Irving launched his shot and James returned to the bench screaming about his teammate’s on- court eruption. Portland spent two days in Cleve- land, arriving earlier than planned after Monday night’s game in New York was postponed by the massive snowstorm in the Northeast. “I was glad we could get out of New York when we did,” coach Terry Stotts said. “The travel could have been much worse. With the way the forecasts were, if we had played the game we would AP Photo/Tony Dejak have been in New York for a little bit Cleveland Cavaliers’ Kyrie Irving (2) longer.” shoots over Portland Trail Blazersí Stotts said Aldridge’s decision to de- Damian Lillard (0) during the sec- lay surgery didn’t surprise him. ond quarter of an NBA basketball “He’s been a consummate pro since game Wednesday in Cleveland. I’ve been here,” he said. “I like the fact thumb surgery until after the season, he was very aggressive. He didn’t shy scored 38 to lead the Trail Blazers, who away from contact. He didn’t show have dropped six of seven. Lillard add- any ill effects of the hand bothering ed 14 on just 4 of 19 shooting. him at all.” Irving was nearly unstoppable in the Kevin Love’s shooting woes con- ¿UVWKDOI tinued. He missed 11 consecutive shots +HVFRUHGSRLQWVLQWKH¿QDO DIWHUVWDUWLQJRIDQGRILQKLV RIWKH¿UVWTXDUWHUDPHUHDSSHWL]HUIRU past two games. his scoring spree. He drove past Lillard Once James returns, David Blatt in- for several layups and when Portland’s tends to keep a close eye on the min- speedy guard gave him some space utes he plays going forward. Irving made him pay by dropping six “We’re doing our best to keep him 3-pointers, including one that had fresh,” Blatt said. “We will try not to James ranting on the sideline. overplay him in any game.” PAC-12: Hot-shooting Devils take down Beavers Continued from 1B over the Ducks Wednesday night. “That shows just how lethal we can be,” said Arizona point guard T.J. Mc- &RQQHOOZKRKDGSRLQWVDQG¿YHDV- sists. “That was one of our best games all year.” Arizona (19-2, 7-1 Pac-12) routed 2UHJRQLQWKHWHDPV¶¿UVWPHHWLQJEH- hind its defense. The Wildcats gave the 'XFNV¿WVDWWKDWHQGDJDLQSDUWLFXODU- O\RYHUWKHJDPH¶V¿QDOPLQXWHVEXW added a dose of share-the-ball offense that made this rout even worse. The Wildcats had their way with Or- egon inside and out, building a 15-point OHDG LQ WKH ¿UVW KDOI DQG FUXVKLQJ WKH Ducks’ hopes with a big run midway through the second to win their 33rd straight home game. Gabe York provided the big lift GXULQJWKHVHFRQGKDOIUXQDQG¿QLVKHG ZLWKSRLQWV%UDQGRQ$VKOH\VFRUHG 13 and freshman Stanley Johnson add- ed 12 while showing off his all-around JDPH¿QLVKLQJZLWKVL[UHERXQGVDQG ¿YHDVVLVWV 2UHJRQKLWLWV¿UVWWKUHH shots of the second half to cut the lead to 10, but collapsed under Arizona’s SUHVVXUH KLWWLQJ RQH ¿HOG JRDO ZKLOH EHLQJ RXWVFRUHG RYHU WKH ¿QDO “It was a lack of organization that hurt us,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said. “We needed to get in the right spots and we didn’t do a good job executing it. Arizona did a good job taking away some looks from us. We had a hard time getting shots tonight, that’s it.” (OJLQ &RRN KDG SRLQWV DQG -R- seph Young added 12 for Oregon. ARIZONA STATE 73, OREGON STATE 55 — At Tempe, Ariz., A key streak of 3-point shooting - against the best 3-point defense in the Pac-12 - proved the difference for Arizona State. Shaquielle McKissic scored 17 points and Arizona State made eight ¿UVWKDOISRLQWHUVLQDFRQIHU- ence win Wednesday night over Ore- gon State. “It’s good to make outside shots against the zone,” Arizona State coach Herb Sendek said. “But we didn’t nec- essarily want to live and die by that. But like we’ve said all along, when the ball is going in, it makes a big difference.” Gary Payton II had 23 points to lead WKH%HDYHUVZKRKDGZRQ three straight. Arizona State (11-10, 3-5) used an 18-3 run early to take a 40-23 lead into the break and extended it to as many as 22 points in winning its third game in the last four. Oregon State never got closer than 15 in the second half. “We’ve been leading this league in SRLQW ¿HOGJRDO SHUFHQWDJH SOD\LQJ D ODUJH PDMRULW\ RI ]RQH ² \RX ¿QG VKRRWHUV \RX FRPPXQLFDWH \RX ¿QG who is in your area and you get to him,” said Oregon State coach Wayne Tinkle. “Tonight we didn’t. We short-closed on guys that stuck them in our face and we lost them in transition.” $UL]RQD 6WDWH KLW ¿YH VWUDLJKW 3-pointers in one stretch to open up a OHDGLQWKH¿UVWVHYHQSOXVPLQ- utes of the game. The Sun Devils made 9 of 24 from beyond the arc on the night. The Beavers missed 9 of 12 shots GXULQJ D ¿UVWKDOI VWUHWFK WUDLOLQJ 18 at that point. Malcolm Duvivier added 14 points for Oregon State before fouling out ZLWKOHIW “Disappointed in our effort, in our lack of focus, and I thought our leader- VKLSRXWRQWKHÀRRUZDVQ¶WZKHUHLW¶V been,” said Tinkle. “We had too many guys who had off nights. But you can’t have off nights offensively and carry it to the defensive end.” STANFORD 84, WASHING- TON 74 — At Seattle, Anthony Brown scored 23 points and Stanford took advantage of Washington’s deplet- ed inside game for an 84-74 victory Wednesday night. ,WZDV:DVKLQJWRQ¶V¿UVWJDPHVLQFH dismissing 7-foot center Robert Up- VKDZIRUXQVSHFL¿HGYLRODWLRQRIWHDP rules. That left little inside resistance for Cardinal 7-foot center Stefan Nastic, who scored 15 of his 17 points in the ¿UVWKDOI Chasson Randle added 20 points and Marcus Allen had 12 for Stanford 3DF Nigel Williams-Goss had 17 points WR OHDG :DVKLQJWRQ 0LNH $QGHUVRQ KDG SRLQWV DQG 4XHY\Q Winters added 13. 6WDQIRUG OHG E\ SRLQWV at intermission and Washington could draw no closer until pulling within 10 LQWKH¿QDOPLQXWH East Oregonian Page 3B Australian Open AP Photo/Vincent Thian Serena Williams of the U.S. yells during her semifinal match against compatriot Madison Keys at the Austra- lian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Austra- lia, Thursday. Williams, Sharapova WRPHHWLQ2SHQ¿QDO Top seeds to square off again By JOHN PYE Associated Press MELBOURNE, Australia — Serena Williams weath- ered a barrage of big serves and heavy groundstrokes early and needed nine match points before beating Madi- VRQ .H\V WR VHW XS DQ$XVWUDOLDQ 2SHQ ¿QDO against second-seeded Maria Sharapova. Top-ranked Williams, bothered by a cold in recent days, dominated the second set of the all-American semi- ¿QDO EUHDNLQJ .H\V¶ VHUYH twice. The 19-year-old Keys, SOD\LQJ LQ KHU ¿UVW *UDQG 6ODP VHPL¿QDO VDYHG VHYHQ match points on serve in a penultimate game that lasted more than 11 minutes. Wil- liams kept her cool, wasting one match point on her serve before closing with an ace to UHDFKKHUUGPDMRU¿QDO “She pushed me really KDUGWKH¿UVWVHWDQG,KDG to really dig deep mentally to get through that,” Williams said, pausing to cough. “It was a little frustrating, I had like nine or 10 match points and couldn’t close it out. That doesn’t happen so much. She played like she didn’t have anything to lose.” Sharapova, who beat No. 10-seeded Ekaterina Makaro- YDLQDQDOO5XVVLDQ VHPL¿QDOHDUOLHU7KXUVGD\WR reach her fourth Australian 2SHQ ¿QDO KDV ORVW KHU ODVW 15 head-to-head matches to Williams. Her only two wins in their 18 career meetings were at Wimbledon and the tour-ending championship in 2004. ³, WKLQN P\ FRQ¿GHQFH should be pretty high going LQWRD¿QDORID*UDQG6ODP no matter who I’m facing and whether I’ve had a terrible re- cord, to say the least, against someone,” Sharapova said. “It doesn’t matter. I got there for a reason. I belong in that spot. I will do everything I can to get the title.” Williams, an 18-time ma- MRUZLQQHULVEDFNLQWKH¿QDO KHUH IRU WKH ¿UVW WLPH VLQFH ZLQQLQJ KHU ¿IWK $XVWUDOLDQ title in 2010. $QGKHUVHPL¿QDOZLQHQ- sured she will retain the top ranking, regardless of the RXWFRPHRIWKH¿QDO The 33-year-old Ameri- can said she was nervous at the start, and it showed. Keys broke her serve to open and dictated many of the longer rallies with her heavy ground strokes, forcing Williams to defend more than usual. Keys, who beat Venus :LOOLDPVLQWKHTXDUWHU¿QDOV to reach a Grand Slam semi- ¿QDO IRU WKH ¿UVW WLPH KDG control until she was broken in the sixth game. She held in the 12th game, closing with an ace to force a tiebreaker, but quickly fell EHKLQGZLWK6HUHQD¿ULQJ two aces. She saved two set points with aces but had no chance of extending the tie- breaker when Williams hit another unreturnable serve, and started jumping for joy behind the baseline. Williams broke early in the second set and raced to a 5-1 lead before Keys held, denying victory for one more game the woman who in- spired her to take up tennis. Sharapova needed 10 minutes to hold in her open- ing service game, fending off two break points, in the ear- OLHUVHPL¿QDOV6KHUHVSRQG- ed to the only service break DJDLQVWKHULQWKH¿UVWVHWE\ winning six straight games and seizing control of the match from the 10th-seed- ed Makarova, who had only WDNHQ RQH VHW RII KHU LQ ¿YH previous matches. Sharapova won the Aus- tralia Open title in 2008 but was comprehensively beaten in the championship matches in 2007, by then unseeded Williams, and in 2012 by Victoria Azarenka. 7KH ¿YHWLPH PDMRU ZLQ- ner opened the 2015 season LQFRQ¿GHQWVW\OHE\ZLQQLQJ the Brisbane International ti- tle but had a close call in the second round here, having to save match points against No. 150-ranked Russian TXDOL¿HU $OH[DQGUD 3DQRYD Since then, she hasn’t faced a set point. “It’s been a strange road IRUPHWRJHWWRWKH¿QDOVEXW I’m happy,” said Sharapova, who is now into her 10th *UDQG 6ODP ¿QDO ³&DPH from behind in a few, real- ly behind in one — saving match points. I felt like I was given a second chance. I just wanted to take my chances.” Irish shock Blue Devils “We have to regroup and try to do the little things.” Duke coach Mike Krzyze- SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Duke missed too many op- wski said a key was the Blue portunities to knock off No- Devils’ inability to extend the lead after opening a 10-point tre Dame. The No. 4 Blue Devils lead with less than 13 min- had 13 offensive rebounds utes left, with a turnover EXW WKH\ ¿QLVKHG ZLWK MXVW and allowing Notre Dame to nine second-chance points, rebound after a missed free were 10 of 20 from the free- throw and make a basket. “Those are the critical throw line, and didn’t make D VKRW IURP WKH ÀRRU LQ WKH plays that if you make then ¿QDO DV WKH 1R ,ULVK you don’t have the end of the rallied for a 77-73 victory on game,” Krzyzewski said. The end of the game was Wednesday night. “There were just some DOO-HULDQ*UDQW+H¿QLVKHG small things, and if we had with 23 points and 12 assists, capitalized on them, things DQG LQ WKH ¿QDO VHFRQGV could have swung our way,” hit a jumper just as the shot Duke guard Tyus Jones said. clock expired. Associated Press
