Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 21, 2017)
SPORTS Tuesday, February 21, 2017 East Oregonian NBA Page 3B Women’s College Basketball Lack of defense deterred the All-Star excitement Washington’s Plum just 78 points away from NCAA all-time mark By TIM REYNOLDS Associated Press NEW ORLEANS — It was the fourth quarter of the All-Star Game, and a few fans started yelling loudly enough for DeAndre Jordan to hear them from his spot on the Western Conference bench. Their cry: “De-fense! De-fense!” Jordan’s shout back: “No, no, no!” The moment was both hilarious and fitting. Defense was in short supply on Sunday night during the NBA’s showcase game, one where Anthony Davis smashed a 55-year-old record with 52 points and the Western Conference beat the Eastern Conference 192-182. And it prompted some questions afterward on whether the glorified exhibition really needs to see at least the appearance of defense return. “All-Star is about offense and giving the crowd a show, but if they want to see a little more defense as fans and everything — I mean, nobody wants to go out here and get hurt,” said Davis, the game’s MVP in his home arena. “It’s all about fun. ... I love it. I don’t really care. I’ll go out there and have fun. I didn’t play any defense.” Few did. There were 33 steals in the game, sure, but most of those were the byproduct of bad passes than picked pockets. There were 16 fouls, mainly ones players were taking to stop the clock and allow substitutions; only four were of the shooting variety. Stephen Curry laid down on the court at one point while Giannis Antetokounmpo was driving in for what became one of his 12 dunks. “I’m going to play hard no matter what,” Antetokounmpo said. “That’s the only thing I know how to do.” Davis took 39 shots, making 26, both of those now All-Star records. The game also estab- lished records for total points Associated Press Bob Donnan/USA Today via AP, Pool Western Conference forward Anthony Davis of the New Orleans Pelicans (23 ) slam dunks during the first half of the NBA All-Star basketball game in New Orleans, Sunday, Feb. 19, 2017. (384), most field goals (162), most assists (103), most assists by one team (West with 60), most points in one quarter (101, first) and so on. The East set a rather dubious record, establishing a new high score by a losing team for the third consecutive season. Put simply, it’s not a real game, and real-game thinking doesn’t apply. LeBron James made a shot from nearly half-court, something he would never try in a competi- tive situation. He loves defense. He wasn’t missing it on Sunday. “I think the biggest thing coming out of the game is that everybody leaves injury-free,” James said. “We gave the fans what they wanted to see and everyone left injury-free. Another successful All-Star weekend for myself and everyone.” West coach Steve Kerr said he and East coach Brad Stevens had jobs on Sunday night akin to the person who played the role of the title character in “Weekend at Bernie’s,” that being a deceased man who gets dragged from place to place and propped up to somehow give others the illusion that he’s still actually alive. Kerr’s point: How All-Star games are played isn’t up to the coaches, but rather it’ll be the players who decide if they want defense back. “It would be good to possibly incentivize the guys somehow,” Kerr said. “I don’t know if you can maybe get their charities involved or winner-take-all type thing, but I think it’s possible to play a lot harder without taking a charge. We know what silly is out there, if you’re undercutting guys, but it’s almost gone too far the other way where there’s just no resistance at all. I think there’s a happy medium in there somewhere.” East guard Kyrie Irving expects that the game will change. Like many, he said avoiding injury in the All-Star Game is paramount and that’s certainly understandable. But he also expressed a wish that the games had a bit more of a competitive aspect. “I think going forward, the All-Star experience will probably get a little harder in terms of defense,” Irving said. Down the stretch, the East did apparently try to raise the defensive bar. Stevens said it was discussed in the fourth quarter, with hopes of putting the East in position to win the game. He almost sounded disap- pointed in how the flow went. “We talked about trying to get back in it at the end and talked about how, obviously, the one way to do that is keep people in front of you,” Stevens said. “But, no, it probably should have been a bigger emphasis in retrospect now.” LOS ANGELES — Washington guard Kelsey Plum’s postgame celebration Sunday consisted of hugs with family and friends, pictures with kids, autographs and then she was headed to ESPN’s nearby studios for a SportsCenter appearance, her second in two days. Such is life for the nation’s leading scorer. Plum scored 35 points to move into second place on the NCAA’s career scoring list and help No. 9 Washington beat Southern California 87-74. Plum needed Plum just three points to tie former Baylor star Brittney Griner on the list, and she hit a 3-pointer with 3:35 left in the first quarter to tie for second. Her free throw with 2:04 left in the first lifted her to second place behind former Missouri State star Jackie Stiles. Stiles had 3,393 points, and Plum has 3,315. She needs 78 points to tie Stiles. Asked about the list, she did what she always does in giving credit to the Huskies first. “I was excited to get the win,” Plum said. “USC had been playing great. We lost to UCLA on Friday so we knew we needed to finish strong this weekend. Any split in the Pac-12 is a good split. It’s an honor. I’ve watched a ton of these amazing women on this list growing up as a kid. Obviously, they’re some of the best people to play. It’s just really cool.” JENNINGS: Set a personal record in both the 50 yard and 100 yard races Continued from 1B East Oregonian photo by Mike Weber Pendleton’s Jon Jennings, in silver cap on left, dives from his starting post in the 50 yard freestyle swim at the OSAA state swim championships on Saturday at Mt. Hood Community College. Jennings finished sec- ond in the race. very efficient swimmer.” Jennings, the defending 50 yard free- style champion, had hopes of capturing a second consecutive state title and he swam hard while clocking a personal best time of 21.38 seconds. Jennings was a close second to Lebanon’s two-time state champion junior Casey McEuen, who won with a state record time of 20.60. The two good friends swam to a one-two finish again in the 100 free. McEuen won the gold medal with another new state record time of 45.47 and Jennings took second with a personal-best of 47.19. “It feels amazing to be a two-time state champion,” said McEuen, who took third in both events of Friday’s prelims. “I was holding back a little bit yesterday and I wasn’t too concerned about where I finished, but I just focused on making the top-six to reach finals. “I knew that I would have a good battle with Jon. He’s such a great competitor and I have all the respect in the world for him. I was more surprised with our times, than I was with the outcome. I’m proud of how well Jon did and he really pushed me to have a good race and I pushed him as well.” Jennings was glad that the two enjoyed the camaraderie of the pres- tigious event as they both swam hard while competing together in the special atmosphere of the state meet. “I love Casey, he’s such a good sport and I’ve been swimming with him throughout my Pendleton High School career,” said Jennings. “Racing with Casey helped me to get a PR in both events, so I really couldn’t ask to have a better performance. I thought that I might have a chance to stay up with him in the 100, but he was tough. I thought that I could do a little better, but I’m happy with what I got. I’ve had a good career at Pendleton High and I couldn’t ask to have better coaches.” The state meet also capped the careers for boys team member senior Avery Madril and girls seniors Oceane Schreier, Sam Schmitz and alternate’s MaKayla Lee, Brooke Lapp and Olivia Broker. “It was a really good accomplishment for Jon to reach the finals, especially when you consider how difficult it is to do that,” said Pendleton assistant Nick Lapp. “Jon swam really well and he performed up to the best of his ability. I enjoyed working with all the kids and we had a pretty good season.” SCOREBOARD Local slate PREP BOYS BASKETBALL Today Hermiston at Pendleton, 5:45 p.m. Echo at Prarie City (Class 1A first round), 7 p.m. Thursday Pendleton at Hood River, 7 p.m. Friday #9 Horizon Christian, Tualitin at #8 Umatil- la (Class 3A first round), 6 p.m. #15 Oakland at #2 Stanfield (Class 2A first round), 6 p.m. #13 Irrigon at #4 Salem Academy (Class 3A first round), 7 p.m. #13 Weston-McEwen at #4 Santiam (Class 2A first round), 7 p.m. Hermiston at Hood River, 7 p.m. Nixyaawii vs. TBD (Class 1A second round), TBD PREP GIRLS BASKETBALL Today Hermiston at Pendleton, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday North Clackamas Christian at Arlington (Class 1A first round), 6 p.m. Thursday Hood River at Pendleton, 7 p.m. Friday Hood River at Hermiston, 7 p.m. Saturday #11 Grant Union at #6 Pilot Rock (Class 2A first round), 5 p.m. #13 Weston-McEwen at #4 Faith Bible (Class 2A first round), TBD Nixyaawii vs. TBD (Class 1A second round), TBD PREP WRESTLING Friday-Saturday Hermiston, Pendleton, Mac-Hi, Irrigon, Riverside, Heppner/Ione at OSAA State Championships COLLEGE MEN’S BASKETBALL Wednesday Warner Pacific at Eastern Oregon (CCC Tournament), 7 p.m. Blue Mountain at North Idaho, 8 p.m. Saturday Wenatchee Valley at Blue Mountain, 4 p.m. COLLEGE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL Today Corban at Eastern Oregon (CCC Tourna- ment), 7 p.m. Wednesday Blue Mountain at North Idaho, 6 p.m. Saturday Wenatchee Valley at Blue Mountain, 2 p.m. COLLEGE BASEBALL Friday Columbia Basin at Blue Mountain, 11 a.m./2 p.m. Sunday Blue Mountain at Columbia Basin, 11 a.m./2p.m. COLLEGE SOFTBALL Friday Eastern Oregon vs. Northwestern Naza- rene (at Nampa, ID), 2/4 p.m. Saturday Eastern Oregon vs. Northwest Nazarene (at Nampa, ID), 12/2 p.m. Blue Mountain at Walla Walla, Noon/2 p.m. Sunday Walla Walla at Blue Mountain, Noon/2 p.m. Prep Standings BOYS BASKETBALL 5A Columbia River Conference Conf. Ovr Rank Pendleton 7-0 12-4 10 Hermiston 5-2 15-6 11 Hood River 1-5 6-12 29 The Dalles 1-7 4-15 27 GIRLS BASKETBALL 5A Columbia River Conference Conf. Ovr Rank Hermiston 6-1 12-9 11 Pendleton 6-1 10-7 12 The Dalles 2-6 7-11 22 Hood River 0-6 6-10 28 Basketball NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE W L 1. Cleveland 39 16 2. Boston 37 20 3. Washington 34 21 4. Toronto 33 24 5. Atlanta 32 24 6. Indiana 29 28 7. Chicago 28 29 8. Detroit 27 30 —— Milwaukee 25 30 Miami 25 32 Charlotte 24 32 New York 23 34 Philadelphia 21 35 Orlando 21 37 Brooklyn 9 47 Pct GB .709 — .649 3 .618 5 .579 7 .571 7½ .509 11 .491 12 .474 13 .455 .439 .429 .404 .375 .362 .161 14 15 15½ 17 18½ 19½ 30½ WESTERN CONFERENCE W L Pct GB 1. Golden State 47 9 .839 — 2. San Antonio 43 13 .768 4 3. Houston 40 18 .690 8 4. L.A. Clippers 35 21 .625 12 5. Utah 35 22 .614 12½ 6. Memphis 34 24 .586 14 7. Oklahoma City 32 25 .561 15½ 8. Denver 25 31 .446 22 —— Sacramento 24 33 .421 23½ Portland 23 33 .411 24 New Orleans 23 34 .404 24½ Dallas 22 34 .393 25 Minnesota 22 35 .386 25½ L.A. Lakers 19 39 .328 29 Phoenix 18 39 .316 29½ ——— Sunday’s Games 2017 NBA All-Star Game Western Conference 192, Eastern Conference 182 Monday-Wednesday No games scheduled. Thursday’s Games Portland at Orlando, 4 p.m. Charlotte at Detroit, 4:30 p.m. Houston at New Orleans, 5 p.m. New York at Cleveland, 5 p.m. Denver at Sacramento, 7:30 p.m. L.A. Clippers at Golden State, 7:30 p.m. Friday’s Games Memphis at Indiana, 4 p.m. Washington at Philadelphia, 4 p.m. Boston at Toronto, 5 p.m. Dallas at Minnesota, 5 p.m. L.A. Lakers at Oklahoma City, 5 p.m. Miami at Atlanta, 5 p.m. Phoenix at Chicago, 5 p.m. Utah at Milwaukee, 5 p.m. Brooklyn at Denver, 6 p.m. San Antonio at L.A. Clippers, 7:30 p.m. NCAA Men’s Top 25 Record Pts Pvs 1. Gonzaga (29) 28-0 797 1 2. Villanova (3) 26-2 768 2 3. Kansas 24-3 738 3 4. Arizona 25-3 665 6 5. UCLA 24-3 654 5 6. Louisville 22-5 620 7 7. Oregon 24-4 618 8 8. North Carolina 23-5 566 9 9. Baylor 22-5 534 4 10. Kentucky 22-5 493 11 11. Duke 22-5 446 14 12. Florida 22-5 421 13 13. West Virginia 21-6 413 12 14. Purdue 22-5 392 16 15. Wisconsin 22-5 354 10 16. Cincinnati 24-3 331 17 17. Notre Dame 21-7 250 20 18. Saint Mary’s 24-3 211 21 19. Virginia 18-8 196 15 20. Florida State 21-6 195 18 21. SMU 24-4 186 23 22. Butler 21-6 153 25 23. Creighton 22-5 111 22 24. Maryland 22-5 95 24 25. Wichita State 25-4 52 — Others receiving votes: South Carolina 37, Southern Cal 26, Northwestern 19, Iowa State 15, Miami 11, Xavier 11, Middle Ten- nessee 10, Dayton 6, California 4, Kansas State 1, VCU 1. ————— Monday’s Games No. 12 West Virginia 77, Texas 62 Miami 54, No. 18 Virginia 48, OT No. 19 Florida State 104, Boston College 72 Tuesday’s Games No. 9 Baylor vs. Oklahoma, 4 p.m. No. 11 Kentucky at Missouri, 6 p.m. No. 13 Florida vs. South Carolina, 4 p.m. No. 14 Purdue at Penn State, 3 p.m. No. 25 Wichita State vs. Evansville, 5 p.m. PAC-12 Standings Arizona Oregon UCLA California USC Utah Colorado Arizona St. Stanford Washington St. Washington Oregon St. Conf. 14-1 13-2 11-3 9-5 8-6 8-6 6-9 6-9 5-9 5-10 2-13 1-14 Ovr. 25-3 24-4 24-3 18-8 21-6 17-10 16-12 13-15 13-13 12-15 9-18 5-23 Women’s Top 25 1. UConn (33) 2. Maryland 3. Mississippi St. 4. Baylor Record 26-0 26-1 27-1 25-2 Pts Prv 825 1 788 2 755 3 731 4 5. Notre Dame 25-3 682 7 6. Texas 21-5 608 8 7. South Carolina 22-4 602 6 8. Florida St. 24-4 583 4 8. Stanford 24-4 583 10 10. Oregon St. 25-3 528 11 11. Washington 25-4 494 9 12. Ohio St. 23-5 469 12 13. Duke 24-4 467 13 14. Louisville 23-6 414 14 15. UCLA 20-7 350 18 16. Oklahoma 21-6 340 19 17. Miami 19-7 274 16 18. NC State 20-7 232 15 19. DePaul 22-6 208 17 20. Syracuse 18-9 162 21 21. Drake 22-4 123 25 22. Kentucky 19-8 110 - 23. Temple 21-5 99 - 24. Missouri 19-9 62 - 25. Michigan 21-7 53 20 Others receiving votes: Texas A&M 45, Kansas St 45, Creighton 32, South Florida 27, Tennessee 9, Belmont 7, Green Bay 4, West Virginia 4, Arizona St. 3, Tulane 2, Colorado St. 2, Wright St. 1, Marquette 1, LSU 1. ———— Monday’s Games No. 12 Ohio State 98, No. 2 Maryland 87 No. 4 Baylor 70, No. 6 Texas 67 Tuesday’s Game No. 16 Oklahoma at Kansas State, 5 p.m. Wednesday’s Game No. 1 UConn vs. No. 23 Temple (at XL Center, Hartford, Conn.), 4 p.m. Pac-12 Standings Oregon St. Stanford Washington UCLA Oregon Arizona St. California Colorado USC Washington St. Utah Arizona Conf. 14-2 14-2 13-3 11-5 8-8 8-8 5-11 5-11 5-11 5-11 4-12 4-12 Ovr. 25-3 24-4 25-4 20-7 18-10 17-10 17-11 15-12 14-13 10-17 15-12 13-14 Hockey NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division GP W L OT Montreal 59 31 20 8 Ottawa 57 31 20 6 Florida 58 28 20 10 Boston 59 30 23 6 Toronto 58 27 20 11 Buffalo 60 26 24 10 Tampa Bay 58 26 24 8 Detroit 59 24 25 10 Metropolitan Division GP W L OT Washington 58 39 12 7 Pittsburgh 58 36 14 8 Columbus 58 37 16 5 N.Y. Rangers 58 38 19 1 N.Y. Islanders 58 27 21 10 Philadelphia 59 28 24 7 New Jersey 59 25 24 10 Carolina 55 24 23 8 WESTERN CONFERENCE Central Division GP W L OT Pts 70 68 66 66 65 62 60 58 GF GA 166 153 156 152 149 162 159 156 181 173 147 168 160 166 149 175 Pts 85 80 79 77 64 63 60 56 GF GA 195 126 204 165 187 143 196 152 174 174 154 179 138 170 141 162 Pts GF GA Minnesota 58 39 13 6 84 195 133 Chicago 59 36 18 5 77 172 151 St. Louis 60 31 24 5 67 170 173 Nashville 58 28 22 8 64 164 159 Winnipeg 62 28 29 5 61 180 194 Dallas 60 23 27 10 56 165 193 Colorado 57 16 38 3 35 113 190 Pacific Division GP W L OT Pts GF GA San Jose 60 35 18 7 77 166 144 Edmonton 59 32 19 8 72 171 152 Anaheim 61 31 20 10 72 156 154 Calgary 59 29 26 4 62 153 167 Los Angeles 58 28 26 4 60 143 145 Vancouver 60 26 28 6 58 142 172 Arizona 58 21 30 7 49 140 183 NOTE: Two points for a win, one point for overtime loss. ———— Monday’s Games Florida 2, St. Louis 1 Arizona 3, Anaheim 2 Tuesday’s Games Ottawa at New Jersey, 4 p.m. Pittsburgh at Carolina, 4 p.m. Montreal at N.Y. Rangers, 4 p.m. Edmonton at Tampa Bay, 4:30 p.m. Winnipeg at Toronto, 4:30 p.m. N.Y. Islanders at Detroit, 4:30 p.m. Calgary at Nashville, 5 p.m. Chicago at Minnesota, 5 p.m. Los Angeles at Colorado, 6 p.m. Auto Racing Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Daytona 500 Qualifying Sunday At Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach, Fla. Lap length: 2.5 miles (Start position in parentheses) 1. (24) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 192.872 mph. 2. (88) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 192.864 mph. 3. (2) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 192.691 mph. 4. (14) Clint Bowyer, Ford, 192.571 mph. 5. (78) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 192.308 mph. 6. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 192.213 mph. 7. (4) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 192.189 mph. 8. (5) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 192.090 mph. 9. (20) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 192.016 mph. 10. (31) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 191.996 mph. 11. (18) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 191.767 mph. 12. (13) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 191.453 mph. 13. (17) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 192.004 mph. 14. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 191.898 mph. 15. (19) Daniel Suarez, Toyota, 191.877 mph. 16. (42) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 191.804 mph. 17. (22) Joey Logano, Ford, 191.779 mph. 18. (21) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 191.746 mph. 19. (6) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 191.718 mph. 20. (77) Erik Jones, Toyota, 191.693 mph. 21. (27) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 191.534 mph. 22. (41) Kurt Busch, Ford, 191.420 mph. 23. (1) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 191.396 mph. 24. (10) Danica Patrick, Ford, 191.318 mph. 25. (43) Aric Almirola, Ford, 190.990 mph. 26. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 190.973 mph. 27. (34) Landon Cassill, Ford, 190.335 mph. 28. (47) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 190.283 mph. 29. (32) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, 190.054 mph. 30. (95) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 189.721 mph. 31. (37) Chris Buescher, Chevrolet, 189.422 mph. 32. (38) David Ragan, Ford, 189.402 mph. 33. (75) Brendan Gaughan(i), Chevrolet, 189.294 mph. 34. (72) Cole Whitt, Ford, 189.107 mph. 35. (15) Michael Waltrip, Toyota, 189.080 mph. 36. (7) Elliott Sadler(i), Chevrolet, 188.561 mph. 37. (55) Reed Sorenson, Toyota, 187.332 mph. 38. (96) DJ Kennington, Toyota, 186.819 mph. 39. (23) Joey Gase(i), Toyota, 185.843 mph. 40. (83) Corey LaJoie, Toyota, 185.246 mph. Failed to Qualify 41. (33) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Chevrolet, 184.767 mph. 42. (51) Timmy Hill(i), Chevrolet, 184.102 mph. Golf PGA Tour Upcoming Schedule Feb. 23-26 — Honda Classic, PGA National (Champion GC), Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. March 2-5 — WGC-Mexico Champion- ship, Club de Golf Chapultepec, Mexico City March 9-12 — Valsapr Champion, Innisbrook Resort (Copperhead), Palm Harbor, Fla. March. 16-19 — Arnold Palmer Invitation- al, Bay Hill Golf Club and Lodge, Orlando, Fla. World Golf Rankings Through Feb. 19 1. Dustin Johnson 2. Jason Day 3. Rory McIlroy 4. Henrik Stenson 5. Hideki Matsuyama 6. Jordan Spieth 7. Adam Scott 8. Justin Thomas 9. Sergio Garcia 10. Alex Noren 11. Patrick Reed 12. Justin Rose 13. Danny Willett 14. Rickie Fowler 15. Bubba Watson USA AUS NIR SWE JPN USA AUS USA ESP SWE USA ENG ENG USA USA 10.28 9.77 9.13 8.64 8.59 8.47 5.80 5.52 5.18 5.07 5.07 4.83 4.61 4.54 4.36 LPGA Tour Upcoming Schedule Feb. 23-26 — Honda LPGA Thailand, Siam Country Club (Old Course), Chonburi March 2-5 — HSBC Women’s Champions, Sentosa GC (New Tanjong Course), Singapore
