SPORTS
Friday, May 17, 2019
East Oregonian
B3
Bucks seeking 2-0 lead over Raptors in East finals
or Kawhi Leonard to 1 for
23 shooting after halftime,
and outrebounded Toronto
60-46.
Still, Toronto insists it
is not worried about the
offense.
“Everything starts on the
defensive end,” Raptors for-
ward Serge Ibaka said.
Here’s some other things
to know going into Game 2:
By TIM REYNOLDS
AP Basketball Writer
When the season started,
everyone knew the Eastern
Conference would have a
new king.
LeBron James left Cleve-
land, having taken his talents
to Los Angeles.
And even Milwaukee star
Giannis
Antetokounmpo
wasn’t sure who would take
his place.
“I didn’t know we were
going to be in the Eastern
Conference finals or not,”
Antetokounmpo said. “I just
know that he’s a top player
that we always had problems
against him and the Cavs.
Now he’s not playing for
the Cavs, so it’s going to be
a little bit easier. I didn’t see
it as an opening. But when
you look back and see how
everything went, it’s defi-
nitely an opening not having
LeBron in the East.”
The Bucks are three
wins away from taking full
advantage of that open-
ing, and becoming the team
that replaces James after his
eight consecutive seasons
going to the NBA Finals as
a representative of the East-
ern Conference. Game 2 of
the East final is Friday night
in Milwaukee, where the
Bucks will aim to take a 2-0
series lead over the Toronto
Raptors.
“We’re happy,” Antetok-
ounmpo said. “But the job is
Rare loss
AP Photo/Morry Gash
Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo dunks during the first half of Game 1 of the
NBA Eastern Conference basketball playoff finals against the Toronto Raptors on Wednes-
day in Milwaukee.
not done. We’ve got to pro-
tect our home. We’ve got to
be able to get Game 2.”
Toronto got swept out of
the 2017 and 2018 playoffs
by James and the Cavs. Now
they’re already facing a 1-0
deficit against Antetokoun-
mpo and the Bucks, after
dropping Game 1 despite
leading for 37 of the game’s
48 minutes.
“Sometimes, we just
missed some shots,” Raptors
guard Kyle Lowry shrugged.
The way the Raptors see
it, the adjustment to make
finals might not be an adjust-
ment at all. They liked most
everything but the outcome
of Game 1 — a 108-100
Bucks win — and figure that
if they play the same Friday,
they’ll have another chance
at stealing away home-court
advantage.
“This team has handled
downs pretty well and ups
Mid-major to millions: Ja Morant’s
life is changing quickly
By TIM REYNOLDS
AP Basketball Writer
CHICAGO — Here’s
how much everything has
changed for Ja Morant in the
last 12 months: He’s gone
from being considered the
No. 3 option at Murray State
to the possible No. 2 pick in
the NBA draft.
Put another way, he’s
a player from a mid-ma-
jor and will soon be a
multimillionaire.
Even Morant doesn’t fully
understand how quickly it
has all come to fruition.
“It’s been crazy, hon-
estly,” Morant said. “Coming
from being under the radar to
one of the most talked-about
players now, obviously, it’s
been rough. It’s something
I’m getting used to. But I’m
happy for it.”
Morant made his appear-
ance at the NBA’s draft com-
bine Thursday; he wasn’t
playing, but has talked with
a handful of teams since he
arrived in Chicago. With
Zion Williamson seeming
very much like a lock to go
No. 1 overall, a pick held by
the New Orleans Pelicans,
that would seem to point to
AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh
Ja Morant, from Murray
State, speaks with the media
at the NBA draft basketball
combine day one in Chicago
on Thursday.
Morant going No. 2 to the
Memphis Grizzlies.
Morant has met with the
Grizzlies. If they’ve decided
he’s their guy, they haven’t
told him yet.
“I haven’t heard it myself
from Memphis,” Morant
said. “But obviously, I’ve
seen what was on the inter-
net. I’d really be happy with
any team that drafts me. It
means they see something
in me. It’s just an honor to
play this game at the high-
est level and just to be in
the position that I’m in right
now.”
Williamson is not attend-
ing the combine; he met with
teams earlier this week and
left Chicago before the com-
bine technically started.
The NBA invited 77
players to the combine. Of
those, 41 are listed on ros-
ters to compete in games
through Friday. Others will
go through various testing
and have their measurements
such as height, weight and
wingspan recorded — but
won’t be playing any 5-on-
5. Morant is hardly alone in
that regard; most of the top
players who were invited are
doing the same thing, includ-
ing Texas Tech guard and
presumed early lottery pick
Jarrett Culver.
“There are a lot of talented
guys here,” Culver said. “To
be talked about as one of the
top players in this draft, it’s
just an honor.”
They’re already selling
tickets at Murray State for a
draft party to watch Morant,
so Racers fans can cheer him
at least one more time. He
helped them to back-to-back
Ohio Valley Conference
championships and a 54-11
record over the last two
seasons. He averaged 12.7
points as a freshman, then
24.5 points and 10 assists
while shooting 50 percent as
a sophomore.
League of her own: woman in
Puerto Rico baseball tournament
By DÁNICA COTO
Associated Press
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A woman in
Puerto Rico is set for the first time to play in
an otherwise all-male baseball tournament
organized by a popular semi-pro league.
Diamilette Quiles is to take over at first
base in the fifth inning for the Mountaineers
of Utuado.
“I’m leaving it all in God’s hands,” she
said.
The 33-year-old woman joined the team
Thursday just days before the last games of
the season in the Superior Double A League,
which has 42 teams around the island.
The Mountaineers play a key game Sun-
day, and Quiles is expected to make her
debut with jersey No. 53, manager Rafael
Juarbe said.
The team has won four national champi-
onships and is in second place in a five-team
division in Puerto Rico’s northern region.
The Mountaineers are trying hold home-
field advantage in the opening round of the
playoffs.
Quiles has come a long way from when
she first took to the game. As a young teen-
ager, she would grab a broomstick and hit
malt-beverage bottle caps that her brother
and father would lob at her.
She quickly advanced through the ranks
of softball, playing girls ages 17 and 18
when she was just 13 and a starting player.
She joined the island’s female national base-
ball team, and two World Cups later, some-
one told Juarbe about her talent.
pretty well, and that’s been
one of our focuses since day
one of training camp,” Rap-
tors coach Nick Nurse said.
“So let’s hope we can keep
that going a little bit.”
The Bucks won a game
where they shot just under
40 percent and were 11 of
44 from 3-point range. They
made up for that on the defen-
sive end and on the back-
boards — they held every
Raptor not named Lowry
The last time Toronto
had two 30-point scorers in
the same game and lost —
before it happened Wednes-
day — was Feb. 2, 2012.
Game 1 was only the third
time this season that the
Bucks allowed two oppo-
nents to score 30 in the same
game; Brandon Ingram and
LeBron James did it for the
Los Angeles Lakers in a Mil-
waukee win on March 1, and
Leonard and Pascal Siakam
did it in a Toronto victory on
Jan. 5.
Rare win
Before Wednesday, Mil-
waukee had been 0-7 this
season when not shooting
better than 40 percent. The
Bucks shot 39.8 percent in
Game 1. The Raptors had
been 9-1 this season when
holding teams to such a low
shooting percentage; the only
other previous blip came in
Game 2 of the second round
against Philadelphia, when
the 76ers shot 39.5 percent
and won in Toronto.
Brogdon’s impact
Much gets made of Mil-
waukee’s bench mob, and
rightly so, but having Mal-
colm Brogdon back after he
was out for basically all of
the first two playoff rounds
with a heel injury is a huge
plus for the Bucks. Brogdon
played 27 minutes in Game
1; he scored 15 points and the
Bucks outscored the Rap-
tors 57-39 in those minutes.
When Brogdon wasn’t on the
floor, Toronto held a 61-51
edge.
Danger time
Friday isn’t technically
a must-win for the Raptors,
but a loss might conjure up
some unfriendly memories
for the franchise. Toronto
has dropped the first two
games of a playoff series
seven times; the Raptors are
0-7 in those series, and four
of them ended in sweeps —
one of them a 3-0 decision,
the others by 4-0 counts.
Almost perfect
Milwaukee is off to a 9-1
start in these playoffs. It’s
the 24th time in NBA his-
tory that a team has opened
a postseason with at least
nine wins in 10 games; of
the previous 23 to start at
least 9-1, 15 went on to win
the NBA championship.
Only six teams have started
10-0.
McLaren misses entire day
of Indy 500 practice fixing car
By JENNA FRYER
AP Auto Racing Writer
INDIANAPOLIS — McLaren had
another miserable day preparing for the
Indianapolis 500 as the team worked tire-
lessly in a failed effort to get Fernando
Alonso on the track Thursday for practice.
Alonso crashed early Wednesday
at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and
McLaren has frantically been trying to
piece together its spare care to get back on
the 2.5-mile oval. The team worked until
2 a.m. on the car and literally spent all
of Day 3 at the track patching together a
new Indy car for the former Formula One
champion.
“It’s definitely slow going,” said
McLaren head Zak Brown. “We had to
borrow pieces from the one car and move
them to the other car, bring in bits from
an outside location, change the engine. It’s
been a lot of work. We’re just trying to get
it done right, put some extra TLC in it and
make sure it is ready to go.”
McLaren is back at the Indy 500 for
the first time since the 1970s and the first
three days have been a mess. The team was
slowed by electrical problems, Alonso’s
first career crash on an oval, then needed
an entire day to rebuild the car. When the
team felt it was close to getting back on the
track for the final hour Thursday, heavy
rain brought the session to an early end.
Chip Ganassi Racing didn’t have the
same problems getting Felix Rosenqvist
back out following his crash some 18 hours
earlier. The team had its spare car in its
nearby shop and its sports car personnel to
assist in preparations.
McLaren, Brown noted, is a Formula
One team that has undertaken an enor-
AP Photo/Michael Conroy
The team of Fernando Alonso, of Spain,
works on his car in the garage area during
practice for the Indianapolis 500 IndyCar
auto race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
on Thursday in Indianapolis.
mous task in trying to make the Indi-
anapolis 500 as an independent team.
Although McLaren has a technical alli-
ance with Carlin, the small McLaren crew
of mechanics and engineers are on their
own and stretched for time.
Brown is trying to take McLaren full-
time racing in the IndyCar Series and it
will be an embarrassing blow if Alonso,
one of 36 drivers vying for 33 spots in the
May 26 race, fails to qualify.
“I’ve seen lots of drama here before, and
I don’t want any drama,” Brown said. “The
speed in the car (Wednesday) seemed to
be OK, Fernando will get right back up to
speed, he’s not fazed, so I think we are just
trying to put together a car that is ready to
go and ready to perform.”
With nothing to do in the car,
Alonso had time to spend with sev-
en-time NASCAR champion Jimmie
Johnson, who arrived Thursday morn-
ing for his first visit to IMS during
500 activities.
St. Anthony Provider Spotligh t
Michael J. Brunsman, M.D.
is now accepting new
patients.
Obstetrics and Gynecology
AP Photo/Carlos Giusti
Education: Wright State University
School of Medicine
Diamilette Quiles Alicea, first baseman and
member of the National Women’s Baseball
Team, is presented as the first female player
to sign with The Utuado Highlanders, one of
the teams that participate in the Superior
Double A Baseball League, in San Juan, Puer-
to Rico, on Thursday.
“We’re betting on Diamilette,” he said of
his decision to put her in Sunday’s crucial
game.
Quiles has 11 hits in 18 at-bats for a .611
average on Puerto Rico’s national team this
season.
She is only one of a handful of women
signed by all-male baseball leagues around
the world, said Kat Williams, a history pro-
fessor at Marshall University and presi-
dent of the International Women’s Baseball
Center.
“This is huge,” Williams said. “Until
we’re no longer having this conversa-
tion about how big of a deal this is ... those
women are going to be carrying the weight
of being the first women to do it.”
Board Certifi cation: Board Certifi ed
American Board of Obstetrics
& Gynecology
Insurance Accepted: Most major
insurances, Medicare, Medicaid
Special Services: Obstetrics and
Gynecology
Michael J. Brunsman, M.D.
3001 St. Anthony Way
Pendleton, OR 97801
Call for your appointment today
541.966.0535
FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT WWW.SAHPENDLETON.ORG