SPORTS
THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2016
1B
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Walker, Hibbert sting Blazers
Three
elected
to Hall
of Fame
MLB
NBA
Charlotte
Hornets’
Roy Hib-
bert (55)
dunks over
Portland
Trail
Blazers’
Shabazz
Napier (6)
and Noah
Vonleh (21)
during the
second half
of an NBA
basketball
game in
Charlotte,
N.C.,
Wednes-
day, Jan.
18, 2017.
The Hor-
nets won
107-85.
Tim Raines, Jeff
Bagwell, Ivan
Rodriguez make
the cut this year
AP Photo/Chuck
Burton
By RONALD BLUM
Associated Press
NEW YORK — Jeff Bagwell,
Tim Raines and Ivan Rodriguez were
elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame on
Wednesday, earning the honor as Trevor
Hoffman and Vladimir Guerrero fell just
short.
Steroids-tainted stars Barry Bonds
and Roger Clemens
were passed over
for the fi fth straight
year by the Baseball
Writers’ Association
of America. But they
received a majority of
votes for the fi rst time
and could be in posi-
Bagwell
tion to gain election in
coming years.
Bagwell , on the
ballot for the seventh
time after falling 15
votes short last year,
received 381 of 442
votes for 86.2 percent.
Players needed 75
percent, which came to
Raines
332 votes this year.
“Anxiety was very,
very high,” Bagwell
said. “I wrote it on a
ball tonight. It was kind
of cool.”
In his 10th and
fi nal year of eligibility,
Raines was on 380
ballots (86 percent).
Rodriguez
Rodriguez
received
336 votes (76 percent) to join Johnny
Bench in 1989 as the only catchers
elected on the fi rst ballot.
Hoffman was fi ve votes shy and
Guerrero 15 short.
Edgar Martinez was next at 58.6
percent, followed by Clemens at 54.1
percent, Bonds at 53.8 percent, Mike
See HALL OF FAME/2B
Charlotte snaps skid, Portland loses third straight
By STEVE REED
Associated Press
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Kemba
Walker is focused on Charlotte’s
record. He isn’t very interested in
the All-Star game right now.
Walker scored 23 points, and
the Hornets stopped a fi ve-game
slide with a 107-85 victory over
the Portland Trail Blazers on
Wednesday night.
“We haven’t been doing a great
job of winning consistently (so) the
All-Star game is the last thing I’m
going to think about right now,”
Walker said.
While Walker is brushing off
talk about next month’s game in
New Orleans, he is making a strong
case for a spot on the Eastern
Conference team. He is averaging
23 points and shooting 41.3 percent
from 3-point range this season.
Walker went 4 for 8 from
behind the arc against Portland
and 8 for 14 from the fi eld overall.
But he said he doesn’t think he has
done enough this year to make the
All-Star game for the fi rst time,
citing the team’s 21-21 record.
“Not really, if you ask me,”
Portland
Charlotte
85
107
Walker said. “Especially because
of where my team is. But like I
said, I really don’t care honestly.”
Coach Steve Clifford said
Walker is playing at an All-Star
level, but doesn’t know if he will
be selected.
“It’s not a question of whether
or not he’s playing like an All-Star
— he’s an All-Star-caliber guard,
no question about it,” Clifford said.
“The factors will be looking at the
other point guards in the East. The
East is loaded. Point guard is the
best position in our league right
now and also, a lot of other guys are
playing on teams with better records
than ours. It’s about winning.”
The Hornets snapped an eight-
game streak of allowing at least
100 points.
Charlotte led 79-72 after three
quarters but blew the game open in
the fourth behind eight quick points
from Frank Kaminsky. The reserve
had all 11 of his points in the fi nal
quarter, including three 3-pointers.
Walker had a big fi rst half, hitting
6 of 9 shots and three 3-pointers to
help the Hornets build a 54-46 lead.
TIP-INS
Trail Blazers: Made all 11 free
throws, but shot 8 of 31 from
beyond the 3-point arc.
Hornets: Bench outscored Port-
land’s reserves 44-22.
HIBBERT’S BIG NIGHT
Charlotte center Roy Hibbert
played what Clifford called the
best game of his season.
The 7-foot-2 Hibbert, who came
in averaging 5.2 points per game,
had a season-high 16 points on
7-of-8 shooting and provided two
of the game’s biggest highlights.
He brought the crowd to its feet
on a drop-step drive through the
lane and an unexpected one-handed
dunk over Meyers Leonard. A few
minutes later, Hibbert threw a back-
door alley-oop pass intended for
Kaminsky that inadvertently went
in. Hibbert didn’t even crack a smile
as he jogged back down court.
“That was a helluva pass, shot — I
don’t know what it was,” Walker said
with a laugh. “I’m just glad it went in.”
Hibbert, who has battled
through knee issues this season,
said he wasn’t trying to score, but
glad it went in.
“That was a bad pass and a bad
shot, that’s all I can say,” Hibbert said.
LOSING WAYS
Damian Lillard scored 21
points and C.J. McCollum had 18
for Portland, which has lost three
straight and 16 of 22 since Dec. 5.
“As a group we have to let last
year go,” Portland center Mason
Plumlee said. “If it was the fi rst 10
games of the season we could talk
about building on last year. This
is a new team, this is a new group
and we aren’t playing how we did
last year so it’s a new season, new
challenges. We have to make the
most of this group and this team,
and the situation we are in.”
TURNOVERS
Charlotte turned 16 Portland
turnovers into 21 points.
“We had some turnovers and
they took advantage of every little
thing,” Lillard said. “It seemed like
they were getting what they wanted.
They played a comfortable game
and we didn’t make them very
uncomfortable.”
NFL
Don’t expect big spending by Seahawks on offensive line
Seattle more likely to
reconstruct position
through draft
By TIM BOOTH
Associated Press
RENTON, Wash. — Being
an offensive lineman for the
Seattle Seahawks this season
was a tough proposition.
No players drew more
ire and more criticism from
analysts and fans than the ones
responsible for protecting quar-
terback Russell Wilson. Much
of the criticism was justifi ed.
The main reason Seattle ranked
25th in the NFL in rushing and
allowed Wilson to be sacked 42
times was issues by a young,
inexperienced group up front.
But all those hoping the
Seahawks would start over
and spend big to bring in a
completely new offensive line
next season were given a dose
of reality by Pete Carroll this
week.
It’s not going to happen.
“We’re going to work really
hard this offseason to make
sure that we make that spot
really competitive again. We’re
not going to rest on anything
or set back, we think we’ve
got it now. We’ll continue to
work,” Carroll said. “There’s
opportunities, of course, in
the draft and free agency and
all of that, that we’re open to.
We’ll never turn away from
any of those chances. But if
nothing happened these guys
are coming back, and they’re
going to get after it.”
That’s not necessarily what
Seattle fans wanted to hear: The
See SEAHAWKS/2B
Seattle Sea-
hawks offen-
sive linemen
Justin Britt,
left, and
Garry Gil-
liam talk as
players clean
out their
lockers at
the Virginia
Mason Ath-
letic Center
in Renton,
Wash., on
Sunday.
Genna Martin/seat-
tlepi.com via AP
Sports shorts
Pliskova cruising at Aussie Open
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — U.S.
Open fi nalist Karolina Pliskova has carried her
title-winning form in the warmup tournament
into the season’s fi rst major, dropping just
four games en route to the third round at the
Australian Open.
Pliskova was leading 6-0, 4-0
against Anna Blinkova in the
second round on Thursday before
the 18-year-old Russian qualifi er,
ranked 189th, held serve and later
held up her arm to acknowledge
the cheers from the crowd.
Pliskova
Fifth-seeded Pliskova fi nished off
the 6-0, 6-2 in less than an hour she won her
fi rst-round match 6-2, 6-0.
“It’s always good to be in the zone,” said
Pliskova, who won the Brisbane International
title earlier this month. “It can always be a bit
better.”
The match lasted just 59 minutes.
“Let’s put the cards on the
table. Real is real. If I was a
different complexion, I think
people and fans would
treat me a different way.“
— Tyron Woodley
UFC welterweight champion during
an appearance on ESPN’s Sportscen-
ter saying that because he is black
the UFC has not promoted him the
same as it would other champions,
and fans have not embraced him like
other champions. Wodley, 34, was
born in Ferguson, MIssouri.
NASCAR throwback race to
honor 1985-1989 era
DARLINGTON, S.C. (AP) — Style
up those mullets and pull out the Guns `N
Roses tapes, NASCAR is celebrating the
late 1980s.
Darlington Raceway offi cials announced
Wednesday they will honor
the 1985-89 era of NASCAR
racing, the third straight
year the track has hosted a
throwback weekend for the Southern 500.
The track began hosting throwback
weekends two years ago when race teams
sported long-ago paint schemes and drivers
dressed in late 1960s and early 1970s
outfi ts. Darlington Raceway President
Kerry Tharp says the weekend was popular
with both fans and race teams.
The Southern 500 will be run on
Sunday, Sept. 3.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1972 — Sandy Koufax
of the Los Angeles Dodgers
becomes the youngest player
elected to the Baseball Hall of
Fame at 36.
2005 — LeBron James
becomes the youngest player
(20 years, 20 days) in NBA
history to record a triple-
double, with 27 points, 11
rebounds and 10 assists in
Cleveland’s 107-101 win
over Portland.
2006 — Tennessee coach
Pat Summitt gets her 900th
victory in her fi rst shot at
the milestone, as the Lady
Vols rally from their biggest
defi cit this season to beat
Vanderbilt.
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