FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT
A5
S PORTS
THE BULLETIN • THURSDAY, JANUARY 7, 2021
bendbulletin.com/sports
FOOTBALL
Clemson’s Lawrence
declares for draft
Clemson quarterback
Trevor Lawrence has
made it official — he’s
heading to the NFL.
Lawrence, the 6-foot-6
QB with the power arm
and flowing hair, released
a video on social media
Wednesday announcing
he was leaving school
and declaring for the NFL
draft.
“I really feel like I’m a
man now and I’m ready to
take on those challenges,”
Lawrence said. “Super
excited for life ahead. I’m
grateful for Clemson and
I’m going to miss it.”
Lawrence had said in
September he planned
to play his junior season,
graduate in December
and move on to the NFL.
However, in October, Law-
rence discussed keeping
his options open, which
included possibly return-
ing for another year of
college .
The Jacksonville Jag-
uars finished 1-15 and
have the top pick in the
draft and are expected to
take Lawrence.
He finished 34-2 in his
college career, leading
Clemson to three Atlantic
Coast Conference titles
and the national title af-
ter the 2018 season. He
finished second in the
Heisman Trophy race
Tuesday night to Alabama
receiver DeVonta Smith.
On the field, Lawrence
finished his college career
with 10,098 yards passing
with 90 touchdowns and
17 interceptions.
NBA
‘A sad day’: NBA reacts to Capitol protest, Blake decision
BY TIM REYNOLDS
AP Basketball Writer
MIAMI — With words and
actions, several NBA teams
showed dismay Wednesday
hours after a violent mob loyal
to President Donald Trump
was able to storm the U.S. Cap-
itol and in response to a deci-
sion by a Wisconsin prosecutor
not to charge a police officer
who shot a Black man last year.
In Miami, the Heat and
Boston Celtics released a joint
statement saying they were
playing “with a heavy heart” in
a game where most players and
coaches knelt for the national
anthem. In Milwaukee, the
Bucks and Detroit Pistons both
took turnovers on their first
possessions — intentionally,
with all 10 players on the court
kneeling.
And in Phoenix, the Suns
and Toronto Raptors stood in
a circle and linked arms for the
American and Canadian an-
thems.
Earlier in the day at the Cap-
itol, a mob delayed Congress
from certifying the results of
November’s election and pav-
ing the way for President-elect
Joe Biden to be sworn in later
this month.
“It’s an embarrassing and
shameful day in our country,”
New Orleans coach Stan Van
Gundy said.
Wednesday’s events came
one day after the decision to
not bring charges against the
officer who shot Jacob Blake in
Kenosha, Wisconsin last year
was announced.
Blake’s shooting was one
of the many issues players fo-
cused on last season in the
NBA restart bubble, where the
issues of racial injustice and
police brutality were a constant
focus.
See Protest / A7
Marta Lavandier/AP
Most Miami Heat players kneel during the playing of the national anthem
before Wednesday night’s game against the Boston Celtics in Miami.
NFL PLAYOFFS
NBA COMMENTARY
Blazers’ coach, GM a stale act
BY DAVE CAMPBELL
AP Pro Football Writer
For the eight NFL teams
guaranteed to host at least
one game in the playoffs
this month, the comfort of
familiar surroundings sure
can’t hurt their quest to
reach the Super Bowl.
Staying in the same time
zone and avoiding airplanes
and hotels ought to help
players stay fresh.
For the far-north teams,
namely Green Bay and Buf-
falo, the cold, wind and po-
tential snow could provide
a timely boost against an
opponent from a warm-
er-weather city or one who
plays its home games in a
dome.
— Associated Press
LPGA GOLF
Whan steps down
as commissioner
Mike Whan has been
commissioner longer
than anyone in the 70-
year history of the LPGA
Tour. Guiding it through
its toughest year amid
the COVID-19 pandemic
made him realize the tour
was strong enough for
him to move on.
In a surprise announce-
ment Wednesday, the
high-energy, fast-talking
Whan said he will be leav-
ing after 11 years.
Whan said he had been
thinking about stepping
down for the last few
years and always found
unfinished work, even as
the self-sustaining LPGA
Tour kept increasing its
schedule and prize money
and expanding the partic-
ipation of junior girls.
Without guaranteed
network TV money amid
the pandemic, the LPGA
leaned on the relation-
ship with sponsors to get
through 2020 and still de-
liver a 34-event schedule
for 2021 with record prize
money approaching $80
million.
“Watching us work
through the pandemic of
2020 was the visualization
I needed to know that it
was not only time, but it
was right,” Whan said in a
conference call.
Diane Gulyas, chair of
the LPGA board of direc-
tors, said a search commit-
tee has been formed, with
hopes of having a new
commissioner as early as
the second quarter. She
said it would be “terrific”
to have a woman leading
the LPGA, but “we’re not
going to rule anybody
out.”
“Mike Whan has been
positive proof that you
pick the best person, and
you’ll have amazing re-
sults,” she said.
The LPGA Tour starts its
new season in two weeks
at the Diamond Resorts
Tournament of Champi-
ons, one of several new
tournaments created in
recent years .
— Associated Press
No place like
home? Host
advantage
vanishes in
year of virus
See NFL / A6
Craig Mitchelldyer/AP file
Portland Trail Blazers coach Terry Stotts, right, gestures during a preseason game against the Sacramento Kings in Portland on Dec. 13.
Are coach Terry Stotts and GM Neil Olshey wasting the prime of star Damian Lillard?
BY JOHN CANZANO
The Oregonian
I
can’t help but wonder what
late Trail Blazers owner Paul
Allen would have thought
about Tuesday night’s basketball
debacle. His beloved NBA team
got outworked, out-schemed and
outplayed by the Chicago Bulls.
Portland fell under .500 for the
season.
Anyone think Paul would have
Blazers blow big lead in loss to upstart Bulls on Tuesday night
PORTLAND — Zach LaVine was blunt: The Chicago Bulls of the recent past wouldn’t have
come back to beat the Trail Blazers like this.
The short-handed Bulls rebounded from a 20-point first-half deficit to down Portland
111-108 on Tuesday night.
Coby White had 21 points and a career-high 10 rebounds, while Otto Porter Jr. added 19
points and 13 rebounds. The Bulls had seven players in double figures.
“We didn’t stop playing,” said LaVine, who finished with 18 points and nine assists. “After
the first quarter, they came out hitting a lot of tough shots. It’s not like we were playing bad,
it just happens in a game. We got to a timeout and we just said we’re going to keep playing
regardless, and we got back into it.”
Asked point-blank if it was a game last season’s Bulls would have won, LaVine emphati-
cally said “No.”
C.J. McCollum led the Blazers with 26 points, including six 3-pointers. Damian Lillard had
24 points and nine assists. The Blazers led by as many as 20 points early in the game, but the
Bulls chipped away at the lead, tying it in the fourth quarter at 91 on Porter’s 3-pointer. Gar-
rett Temple’s 3 gave the Bulls a 96-94 lead with 6:36 left.
After going 0-3 to start the season, the Bulls have improved with wins in four of their last
five games, including a 118-108 victory over the Mavericks, paced by LaVine’s 39 points.
The Bulls were without Lauri Markkanen, Ryan Arcidiacono, Chandler Hutchinson and To-
mas Satoransky for the fourth straight game because of the league’s COVID-19 protocols.
BY MITCH STACY
Associated Press
wasted. C.J. McCollum deserves better,
too. I’d like to see what this franchise
might become with a new coach and
GM. I’m just not sure, amid the financial
uncertainty of a pandemic, if Jody Al-
len will do what her brother might have
done — clean house and give someone
else a chance.
I was alarmed on Tuesday by the post-
game comments from Stotts, who said:
“Chicago outplayed us. They played
harder than us.”
A big piece of that is on you, coach.
The metrics for this team, in season No.
9 for Stotts, suggest defense still isn’t a
high priority. Also, I’ve wondered for a
while if Olshey’s primary focus isn’t as
much about winning games as it is craft-
ing the narrative about his own job per-
formance.
See Blazers / A7
See Sermon / A6
— Associated Press
Food gets stale. Fuel degrades. So does
the business of basketball. Stotts may be
right for some other upstart franchise,
one in need of an offensive spark. Ol-
shey may be perfect for some other NBA
city, maybe one with more valet parking.
But the duo currently feels like it’s out of
good answers.
Since Christmas, Portland defeated
three former Most Valuable Players —
LeBron James, Steph Curry and James
Harden. But it followed that up with a
15-point loss to the Warriors (Curry
scored 62 points). Then came the short-
handed Bulls, who trailed on Tuesday
night by 20 but came back to win.
That kind of disappointing swing en-
capsulates the current era of Blazers bas-
ketball. Portland is occasionally fun, but
isn’t anything resembling a contender.
Damian Lillard’s prime years are being
Buckeyes
RB Sermon
breaks out
COLUMBUS, Ohio —
During the first four games
of Ohio State’s pandem-
ic-shortened season, trans-
fer running back Trey Ser-
mon was easy to overlook
on a team full of big names
and future NFL draft picks.
Nobody is overlooking
him now.
Astonishing efforts in the
past two games — includ-
ing a 331-yard, two-touch-
down performance in the
Big Ten championship
game that earned him a
Twitter shoutout from
Lakers star and Ohio na-
tive LeBron James — have
brought Sermon the level
of national attention he
sought while playing three
solid years at Oklahoma.
“When I came here, my
goal was to do whatever I
can to help this team out
and play for a national
championship,” Sermon
said this week as the Buck-
eyes prepared to play top-
ranked Alabama in the title
game on Monday night.
“It’s all happened, and it
does kind of seem like a
dream.”
been pleased?
I’m thinking Allen might have woke
up today frustrated as any fan, ready to
do something about it. Neil Olshey, the
general manager, ran back a weary roster
for this season. Terry Stotts, the coach,
feels like a good guy who needs a change
of scenery. Together they’ve become a
stale act, adequate enough for the last
eight years, but nowhere near what this
franchise needs for its future.
Olshey’s new contract runs through
2024. Stotts, the fourth-longest tenured
coach in the league, is locked up through
the summer of 2022. Be sure, those two
worked together to glue themselves to
Trail Blazers, Inc. in the wake of Allen’s
passing. They sold the notion that the
franchise needed stability, and it proba-
bly did, but now the operation feels like
it needs a batch of fresh ideas and new
energy.
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