INSIDE: COMICS, OPINIONS & CLASSIFIEDS
B
S PORTS
THE BULLETIN • SaTUrday, May 29, 2021
bendbulletin.com/sports
NWSL
Thorns unable to
claim teenager
The Portland Thorns
on Monday filed a discov-
ery claim on 15-year-old
player Olivia Moultrie with
the National Women’s
Soccer League, hours after
a federal judge ordered
the league to temporarily
lifts its age rule that re-
quires players be at least
18 years old.
Yet by Friday, the
league rejected the claim,
saying it was working on
drafting new discovery
rules for young players,
Moultrie’s lawyer con-
firmed.
“The family and the
lawyers are disappointed
in the league’s decision
and think it is inconsistent
with the letter or the spirit
of the court’s ruling,” attor-
ney Leonard Simon said..
Both sides are ex-
pected to be back before
U.S. District Judge Karin
J. Immergut in early June
for a hearing on Moultrie’s
motion for a preliminary
injunction challenging
the league’s age rule.
On Monday, Immergut
granted Moultrie a tem-
porary restraining order,
directing the league to
lift its age rule and allow
Moultrie the opportunity
to compete for a position
on a professional team.
The judge found the age
restriction violated federal
antitrust law and would
cause irreparable harm to
Moultrie, who practices
and scrimmages with the
Thorns. Immergut also
ruled that lifting the age
rule will promote gender
equity in athletics.
Moultrie testified in
court last week, saying
she was asking only for a
chance to play soccer in
the United States profes-
sionally, like girls her age
who can play abroad or
American boys now do in
the United States.
— The Oregonian
SOCCER
Why Nike ended
deal with Neymar
Nike has confirmed
it ended its sponsorship
agreement with Neymar
after he refused to collab-
orate in an investigation
into an accusation that
he sexually assaulted a fe-
male employee from the
company years ago.
The soccer superstar
has denied the accusation
and criticized the com-
pany on Instagram while
training with Brazil out-
side Rio de Janeiro.
Neymar called Nike’s
claims “an absurd lie.”
Nike didn’t give a rea-
son last August when it
parted ways with the Paris
Saint-Germain forward.
But the company said in
a statement on Thursday
that it terminated the
contract because Neymar
refused to participate “in
a good faith investigation
of credible allegations of
wrongdoing by an em-
ployee.”
Nike said it was “deeply
disturbed by sexual as-
sault allegations” and
confirmed the alleged in-
cident took place in 2016.
Nike said it received an of-
ficial notice of the incident
two years later.
The company said it
respected the employee’s
initial desire to avoid an
investigation and to keep
the matter private.
“In 2019, when the
employee later expressed
interest in pursuing the
matter, we acted im-
mediately,” it said. “Nike
commissioned an inde-
pendent investigation
and retained separate in-
dependent legal counsel
for the employee, of her
choosing and at the com-
pany’s expense.”
— Associated Press
PREP GIRLS BASKETBALL
Recalibrating
after COVID
A teamwide exposure has the Bend Lava Bears off
to a late start in an already shortened season
BY BRIAN RATHBONE • The Bulletin
H
er final high school basketball season has not gone as Ava
Dennis envisioned when she was in the gym after school
getting shots up as a freshman.
The only senior on the Lava Bears’ roster could not predict how
different the world would be in her final weeks of high school than
when she first set foot on the Bend High campus.
“When I was a freshman I looked
forward to my senior year,” Dennis
said. “You think about your senior
year and how you want it to play out.”
She had no idea about the realities
of playing high school basketball in
2021, which include starting the sea-
son less than a week before Memo-
rial Day and having the regular sea-
son trimmed to eight games due to a
teamwide exposure to COVID-19.
“It was tough. It was really disap-
pointing because you don’t know you
have it until you have symptoms,”
Dennis said. “Then, everyone has it.”
What was the light at the end of the
COVID-19 pandemic tunnel for most
Oregon high school basketball teams
turned out to be a train barreling
down the tracks for the Lava Bear girls.
A week before the season was set to
start, nearly the entire Bend High girls
program had to go into quarantine.
See Basketball / B2
Ryan Brennecke/The Bulletin
Bend’s Ava Dennis (11) dribbles down court during the first quarter against Summit at
Bend High on Thursday night.
NBA PLAYOFFS | PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS
Bench production wanes in 2 playoff losses
BY AARON FENTRESS
The Oregonian
How much do the Portland
Trail Blazers miss Zach Collins
right about now?
The Blazers have a depth
issue. Although coach Terry
Stotts and Damian Lillard
downplayed the bench’s lack of
production in Games 2 and 3
of their first-round playoff se-
ries against Denver, the stats
don’t lie.
The Blazers lost 120-115
on Thursday night to fall be-
hind 2-1, with their bench of
Carmelo Anthony, Anfernee
Simons and Enes Kanter pro-
ducing six points on 2 of 8
shooting in 32 combined min-
utes through three quarters.
Denver’s bench to that point
had 20 points.
Anthony found his shot in
the fourth quarter and helped
fuel a comeback by scoring 13
points on 4 of 6 shooting. So,
the final bench scoring totals
favored Denver by just 24-19.
That’s far better than in Game
2 on Monday, when Denver
won 128-109 and outscored the
Blazers’ bench 38-21. Seven of
those 21 Portland points came
from non-rotation players late
in the fourth quarter after Stotts
had waved the white flag.
Still, Stotts downplayed the
bench’s lack of production in
the past two games, saying that
he doesn’t much care where the
points come from, as long as
they come.
“It’s good when we get scor-
ing off the bench,” he said. “But
my concern is how we score
as a team and how that comes
about.”
In Game 1, which the Blaz-
ers won 123-109, a large chunk
of points came from the bench.
The Blazers saw Anthony,
Kanter and Simons combine
for 34 points on 12 of 20 shoot-
ing. Simons and Anthony com-
bined to make 8 of 13 3s.
Compounding the overall is-
sue in the losses is that Kanter
is the only big man in the ro-
tation off the bench, and he
appears to be in over his head
against Denver’s Nikola Jokic
or any other player the Nuggets
toss in at center when he is out
of the game.
Kanter, in three games, has
scored six points with 10 re-
bounds in 39 minutes while
backing up Jusuf Nurkic, who
has fouled out of the last two
games. But Kanter’s biggest
problems have come on de-
fense. Kanter played 18 min-
utes in Game 2 and came away
with a plus/minus of minus-14.
Jack Dempsey/AP
Portland Trail Blazers’ Enes Kanter (11) defends Denver Nuggets’ Nikola
Jokic (15) in Game 1 of a first-round playoff series on May 22 in Denver.
Thursday night, he accumu-
lated a minus-15 in just five
minutes of action in the first
half and played only one min-
ute in the second half. During
that short stint, he was called
for a flagrant 1 foul.
Kanter’s poor play led Stotts
to insert Rondae Hollis-Jeffer-
son for five minutes in a move
mainly designed to just get
Kanter off the floor.
“I thought you could feel his
presence out there,” Stotts said
of Hollis-Jefferson. “We were
able to switch when he was in
there with (Robert Covington)
and Melo. So, I thought he was
effective in the minutes that he
had.”
Stotts said he wasn’t sure
what the rotation would be
moving forward.
See Blazers / B2
TOKYO GAMES
Olympics looking more and more like fan-free event
BY STEPHEN WADE
Associated Press
TOKYO — The president of
the Tokyo Olympic organizing
committee hinted Friday that
even local fans may be barred
from venues when the games
open in just under two months.
Fans from abroad were ruled
out months ago as being too
risky during a pandemic.
The prospect of empty ven-
ues at the postponed Olym-
pics became more likely when
the Japanese government de-
cided Friday to extend a state
of emergency until June 20 as
COVID-19 cases continue to
put the medical system under
strain.
The state of emergency was
to have been lifted on Monday.
The extension in Tokyo, Osaka
and other prefectures raises
even more questions if the
Olympics can be held at all.
Organizers and the IOC are
insistent they will go ahead de-
spite polls in Japan showing 60-
80% want them called off.
“We would like to make a
decision as soon as possible
(on fans), but after the state of
emergency is lifted we will as-
sess,” organizing committee
president Seiko Hashimoto said
at her weekly briefing.
Hashimoto promised to de-
cide on local fans by April, then
put it off until early June. Now
the deadline is within a month
of the July 23 opening date.
“There are many people who
are saying that for the Olympic
Games we have to run with-
out spectators, although other
sports are accepting spectators,”
Hashimoto said. “So we need
to keep that in mind. We need
to avoid that the local medical
services are affected. We need
to take those things into con-
sideration before agreeing on
the spectator count.”
Cancellation pressure grows
daily on Tokyo and the IOC as
more questions arise about the
risks of bringing 15,000 Olym-
pic and Paralympic athletes
from more than 200 countries
and territories into Japan, a
country that has been largely
closed off during the pandemic.
The IOC says more than
80% of athletes and staff stay-
ing in the Olympic Village on
Tokyo Bay will be vaccinated.
They are expected to remain
largely in a bubble at the village
and at venues.
In addition to athletes, tens
of thousands of judges, officials,
VIPs, media and broadcasters
will also have to enter Japan.
Earlier this week, the New
England Journal of Medicine
said in a commentary: “We be-
lieve the IOC’s determination
to proceed with the Olympic
Games is not informed by the
best scientific evidence.”
It questioned the IOC’s so-
called Playbooks, which spell
out rules at the games for ath-
letes, staff, media and others.
The final edition will be pub-
lished next month. Also this
week, the Asahi Shimbun —
the country’s second-largest
newspaper — said the Olym-
pics should be canceled.
The British Medical Journal
last month in an editorial also
asked organizers to “recon-
sider” holding the Olympics in
the middle of a pandemic.
On Thursday, the head of a
small doctors’ union in Japan
warned that holding the Olym-
pics could lead to the spread
of variants of the coronavirus.
He mentioned strains in India,
Britain, South Africa and Brazil.
Japan has attributed about
12,500 deaths to COVID-19,
a relatively small number that
has gone up steadily in the last
few months. The vaccination
rollout began slowly in Japan,
but has moved more quickly
in the last few days. Vaccinated
people are estimated at about
5% of the population.
The IOC, which often cites
the World Health Organiza-
tion as the source of much of
its coronavirus information,
has been steadfast in saying the
games will happen. It receives
about 75% of its income from
selling broadcast rights, which
is estimated to be $2 billion-$3
billion from Tokyo. That cash-
flow has been slowed by the
postponement.
Japan itself has officially
spent $15.4 billion to organize
the Olympics, and government
audits suggest the figure is even
higher.
Senior IOC member Richard
Pound told a British newspaper
this week that “barring Arma-
geddon” the games will take
place. Last week, IOC vice pres-
ident John Coates was asked if
the Olympics would open, even
if there were a state of emer-
gency.
“Absolutely, yes,” he replied.