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SPORTS Tuesday, May 7, 2019 East Oregonian B3 Truex wins second career Monday NASCAR race at Dover By DAN GELSTON Associated Press DOVER, Del. — Mar- tin Truex Jr. stood next to the 60-pound metallic gold Monster trophy on the vic- tory lane stage and was uncertain about how many fi ngers he should fl ash for his celebratory photo. “Two for the season or three for Dover?” Truex asked. How about one of each? Truex solved his snapshot situation about as effi ciently as he weaved through traf- fi c from the back of the fi eld to win a Monday race at Dover International Speed- way for the second time in his Cup career. Truex won his fi rst career NASCAR Cup race on June 4, 2007, at Dover and 12 years later used another Sunday rainout to take the checkered fl ag. “I’m going to lobby for all Dover races to be on Mondays,” Truex said with a laugh. He knows how to win AP Photo/Will Newton Driver Martin Truex Jr. (19) celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series auto race on Monday at Dover International Speedway in Dover, Del. on Sundays, too. Truex is warming up in his fi rst sea- son with Joe Gibbs Racing and won in the No. 19 Toy- ota for the second time in three races. Truex, the 2017 Cup champion, won at Rich- mond three weeks ago and is hitting his stride as the summer stretch approaches. “We’ve had some really strong race cars at a lot of racetracks,” Truex said. “For a lot of reasons, we haven’t been able to show it, been having issues that set us back. It’s been tough. The last couple weeks I just feel it’s execution. We’re doing all the little things right.” Truex and crew chief Cole Pearn didn’t let rain, an inspection failure that dumped the car to the rear or even a maligned race pack- age affect their push toward the fi nish. Truex, who is from Mayetta, New Jersey, has long considered Dover his home track, led 132 laps and dominated runner-up Alex Bowman by a breezy 9.5 seconds to win at Dover for the fi rst time since 2016. He had no complaints about the new high drag, high downforce, 750 horse- power package that led to track-record speeds posted in qualifying. Kyle Busch, the 2015 NASCAR champion, pep- pered his comments on the package with profan- ity and said his complaints to NASCAR would fall on deaf ears. Kevin Harvick said cars are “hard to race” under the package. Team owner Bob Leavine tweeted he agreed with Busch and wrote “this package sucks.” Truex brushed off the complaints. “We all had to deal with the same thing,” Truex said. “Obviously, we dealt with it better than everybody else.” Bowman fi nished sec- ond for the second straight week in the No. 88 Chev- rolet. Kyle Larson, Harvick and Chase Elliott rounded out the top fi ve. Elliott gave Hendrick Motorsports and Chevrolet their fi rst wins of the season at Talladega last week. Bowman and Elliott made it another solid race for a manufacturer that was in dire need of a boost. “We at least had a shot at it. It’s really all you can ask for,” Bowman said. “We had a miserable start to the rea- son. We really did a good job resetting in the off week.” But all the teams are chasing Gibbs. JGR has seven wins in 11 races this season and has established itself as the team to beat. “It’s a big deal for us,” Gibbs said. “As everybody knows, in pro sports these things can go and come very quick.” Nuggets even series with Blazers at two with 116-112 victory Sunday and drew the ire of the Moda Center fans, Jokic added a bank shot. By ANNE M. PETERSON Associated Press PORTLAND — The Denver Nuggets have been good at bouncing back all season. Not even a draining four-overtime defeat could keep this team down. Nikola Jokic had 21 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists for his second straight triple-double and fourth of the playoffs, and the Nug- gets evened their Western Conference semifi nal series against the Portland Trail Blazers at 2-2 with a 116-112 victory Sunday. It was less than 48 hours after Portland’s epic 140-137 quadruple-overtime vic- tory to take a 2-1 lead in the series. It was only the sec- ond game in playoff history that went to four OTs. The other was in 1953. “I think it’s not quitting. We have a lot of competitive guys who don’t want to lose. I think we don’t want to lose more than we like to win — which is weird,” Jokic said. “We just didn’t want to have the excuse that we lost because of four overtimes, because we were tired.” Jamal Murray led all scorers with 34 points and made all 11 free throws for the Nuggets, who handed Portland its fi rst postsea- son loss at home this season. The series now heads back to Denver for Game 5. CJ McCollum had 29 points and Damian Lillard added 28 for the Blazers, who missed out on taking a 3-1 lead in a conference semifi nals for the fi rst time since 2000. “Our guys are tough. We’re resilient,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “I mean, to come in here and win this game 36 hours after losing in four overtimes, speaks to just how tough we are.” Malone cited regular-sea- Tip-ins AP Photo/Craig Mitchelldyer Portland Trail Blazers forward Al-Farouq Aminu, center, shoots between Denver Nuggets forward Paul Millsap, right, and center Nikola Jokic, left, during the fi rst half of Game 4 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series on Sunday in Port- land. GAME 5 Trail Blazers Nuggets Tuesday, 5 p.m., at Denver The series is tied 2--2. son statistics to back up his claims: Denver was 12-1 in the second game of back-to- backs, best in the NBA. The Nuggets were good in close games, too: 13-3 in games decided by three points or less, he said. “We just said to our- selves, ‘If we win today then the last game doesn’t really matter that much,’” Jokic said. “Yes we played a four-overtime game, it was exhausting, but we won tonight so the last game doesn’t really matter.” Denver outscored the Blazers 27-14 in the third quarter to take an 84-77 lead into the fourth. Malik Beasley kicked off the fi nal period with a 3-pointer for the Nuggets. Rodney Hood’s 3-pointer got the Blazers within 110- 107 with 52 seconds left and Lillard’s layup got the Blaz- ers even closer at 112-110 with 7.7 seconds to go. But Murray’s free throws gave Denver a four-point lead. McCollum hit a long jumper that after a video replay was ruled a 2 and Denver prevailed. “It is disappointing. You go up 3-1 and you have a lot of momentum and obvi- ously that would be a great position to be in. But they’re a good team, they came out Nikola Jokic showing off all his skills By PAT GRAHAM Associated Press DENVER — Earlier in the playoffs, he was draw- ing comparisons to Wilt Chamberlain. This week, it’s Magic Johnson. As fans are fi nding out, Denver Nuggets big man Nikola Jokic has no direct comparison. The All-Star center is turning the NBA playoffs into his own grand stage with each triple-double he piles up. “Nikola Jokic is a great player, because you know why? He makes every one of his teammates better,” said Nuggets coach Michael Malone, whose team is tied at 2 games apiece with the Blazers heading into Game 5 on Tuesday in Denver. “He’s a basketball purist, if you will. He’s always going to make the right play.” The “pudgy” body and that awkward gait hardly fools anyone anymore. The 7-footer sees the court like a point guard, scores every way imaginable and is help- ing turn the Nuggets into legitimate contenders. The player nicknamed Joker recorded his fourth triple-double of the postsea- son Sunday night. His name may be a tongue-twister — pro- nounced ni-KOLA YO-kitch — but it’s his game that truly ties teams up in knots. “It’s really tough to stop him because he’s not out there running super-fast, not jumping super-high,” Blaz- ers guard Damian Lillard said. “Just a smart, crafty player.” He has MVP-caliber skills — passing, shoot- ing, rebounding, and deci- sion-making. And he’s put- ting up numbers that has him in select company. On Sunday, he helped Denver to a 116-112 win at Portland with 21 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists. He’s the seventh player to register four triple-doubles in a single postseason, join- ing Chamberlain, Johnson, Oscar Robertson, LeBron James, Rajon Rondo and Jason Kidd, according to Elias Sports Bureau. There’s more: Jokic had 14 assists in his playoff debut against San Antonio on April 13 to join Cham- berlain as the only two cen- ters with 14 or more assists in a postseason contest. And more still: Jamal Murray and Jokic are the fi rst teammates to regis- ter a 30-point game (Mur- ray) and a triple-double (Jokic) in back-to-back play- off contests since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Johnson in 1980, according to Elias. and played well,” Blazers coach Terry Stotts said. “We had a bad third quarter and that kind of made the dif- ference. We made a good comeback, but now it’s a three-game series.” Jokic played 65 minutes in the quadruple-overtime loss, the fourth-most min- utes in NBA playoff history and just two short of the record. McCollum led the Blazers with 60 minutes. Fatigue was more of a concern for the sec- ond-seeded Nuggets, who had just one day off after their seven-game, fi rst- round series against San Antonio. The Blazers dis- patched of fi rst-round oppo- nent Oklahoma City in fi ve games, clinching their fi rst trip to the conference semi- fi nals since 2016 on Lillard’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer. Enes Kanter started for Portland despite ongo- ing concerns about his left shoulder, which he injured in Game 5 against the Thun- der. He and Jokic have been physical adversaries through the fi rst three games, and Kanter said after Friday’s game that the shoulder sepa- ration was worse and wasn’t sure he could play. Seth Curry made three straight 3-pointers — all in the space of a minute — to put Portland up 53-46 in the second quarter. Curry added a 3 at the buzzer to send Portland into halftime with a 63-57 lead. Curry had 14 of his 16 points in the sec- ond quarter. The Nuggets opened the second half with an inspired 10-2 run to go up 67-65. Paul Millsap’s 3-pointer gave Denver a 78-72 lead, and after a couple of calls that went against Portland Nuggets: Torrey Craig, who got a bloody nose in Game 2 and wore a mask in Game 3, didn’t wear it on Sunday. ... The Nuggets fi nished 3-1 in the regu- lar-season series against the Blazers. Trail Blazers: Jusuf Nurkic, who broke his leg late in the season, was at the game and got an ova- tion when he showed up courtside late in the open- ing quarter. Kanter, who signed with the Blazers just before the All-Star break after he was waived by the Knicks, replaced Nurkic in the starting lineup. Nurkic was awarded with the Mau- rice Lucas Award for the player that best represents Lucas’ indomitable spirit both on the court and in the community. Murray makes the difference Malone praised Murray, who also had 34 points in the 4OT loss. Murray has been tasked with guarding Lillard. “You think about how young we are and what we are doing, going on the road and winning a tough game in a hostile environ- ment, and for Jamal to be the centerpiece of that has been phenomenal,” Malone said. Scare Jokic went to the bench late in the game holding his right knee, but later came back and appeared fi ne. Asked about it later, he said it was a bit numb. “I just got hit on the side of the knee but it’s OK,” he said. Up next The series moves to Den- ver for Game 5 on Tuesday.
