SPORTS SECTION E
THURSDAY, MAY 17, 2018
TRACK RESULTS
Page 4
Ayton fine candidate for Suns’ No. 1 pick in NBA Draft By RENALDO DORSETT Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net
W
e can speculate on a possible destination for Deandre Ayton when the NBA Draft takes place next month. The league hosted its Draft Lottery Tuesday night in Chicago, Illinois, where the order of selection was decided for all 15 lottery teams. The NBA Draft takes places June 21 at the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn, New York. Ayton is considered a consensus top overall pick by every reputable scouting service in the projection business. The Phoenix Suns landed the number one pick and
came into the lottery with the best percentage of doing so at 25 per cent. Ayton finished his school years at Hillcrest Prep in Phoenix and went on to attend the University of Arizona for a single season. The opportunity to begin his professional career in the state led many pundits to believe the Suns will take advantage and select Ayton. In an interview with ESPN’s Cassidy Hubbarth, Ayton discussed the rise in international acclaim for Bahamian basketball in recent years with the popularity of himself and Buddy Hield. “I wouldn’t say there’s a movement starting but we’re just letting everyone know that we’re representing the 242, which
ARIZONA’s DeAndre Ayton poses for a portrait before the NBA basketball draft lottery on Tuesday in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast) is the Bahamas and we’re coming,” he said. “Not trying to say that basketball is really trending in the Bahamas but we just want more opportunities to be made and to come to the Bahamas. We want more
opportunities to be open and we want to give kids more opportunities so they don’t have to go outside of the country to help be what they want to be. We just want to be able to help give back.”
The second overall pick went to the Sacramento Kings, who had just a 5.3 per cent chance of landing the top overall pick. The Suns hired Igor Kokoskov as its head coach in the offseason, leading the speculation that the team could select 19-year old Slovenian wing Luka Doncic with the top overall pick. Kokoskov coached Doncic to a Eurobasket title with the Slovenian national team last summer. If the Suns draft Doncic, it would allow the possibility of the Kings to select Ayton at No.2 and pair him alongside Hield for the foreseeable future. Atlanta Hawks were awarded the 3rd pick, the Grizzlies have No.4 and the Mavericks were awarded the 5th pick. The Magic,
Rockets even series HOUSTON (AP) — James Harden and Eric Gordon each scored 27 points to lead a balanced attack and the Houston Rockets routed the Golden State Warriors 127-105 last night to even the Western Conference finals at one game apiece. The Rockets didn’t trail after the first quarter and led by double digits for most of the night. They head to Oakland, California for Game 3 on Sunday night feeling much better after rebounding from a deflating 119-106 loss in the series opener. P.J. Tucker added a playoff career-high 22 and Trevor Ariza had 19 as both bounced back after struggling in Game 1. Tucker had just one point in that game and Ariza scored eight, but was limited on defence after collecting his fifth foul early in the third quarter. Kevin Durant had 38 points after scoring 37 in the opener, but Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson combined for just 24 points after the pair went for 46 in Game 1. Houston wasn’t able to slow down Durant, but did a much better job of limiting open 3-pointers by Thompson and Curry, and the two made just 3 of 12 attempts. The Warriors made three free throws to get within 11 early in the fourth quarter before the Rockets scored the next 11 points, with 3s from Gordon, Tucker and Harden to make it 111-89 with about 6 1/2 minutes to play. Durant made a basket after that, but Houston scored the next eight points to extend the lead to 119-91 with about five minutes left. The Warriors got frustrated in that stretch, with Durant getting a technical for shoving Harden in the back and Draymond Green pushing Ariza out of bounds seconds later. It was then that coach Steve Kerr sent all of his starters to the bench for good.
EAST
Cavaliers, Page 5
ROCKETS guard Chris Paul (3) shoots over Warriors forward Draymond Green last night. (AP)
Bulls, Cavaliers, Knicks, 76ers, Hornets, Clippers and Nuggets complete the list of lottery teams in descending order. Ayton declined an invitation to participate in the combine this week in Chicago. During his lone season at Arizona, he averaged 20.1 points and 11.6 rebounds per game while shooting 61.6 per cent from the field, and was “Karl Malone Power Forward” of the year and Associated Press First Team All-American. He was also the First Team All-American from the NABC, USBWA and Sporting News, Pac-12 Conference Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year and Most Outstanding Player of the conference tournament in the same season.
WNBA INSIDERS PROJECT ANOTHER STANDOUT SEASON FOR JONES By RENALDO DORSETT Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net
Gordon came off the bench to make six 3-pointers, Tucker tied a playoff best with five and Harden added three. Houston avoided losing consecutive games for the first time this postseason and the Warriors lost in the second game of a playoff series for the first time since the 2015 NBA Finals, snapping a 10-game winning streak in such games. Houston led by as many as 19 in the first half and was up 64-50 at halftime. The Warriors cut it to 74-64 with five quick points from Durant, but the Rockets opened it back up to 89-72 when Gordon
made an off-balance layup before crashing to the court while being fouled and made the free throw. The Rockets were up by 16 to start the fourth quarter but Golden State got within 98-86 with about 10 minutes left. Curry had five points in that span, including his first 3 after missing his first six attempts of the night. Curry finished with 16 points and Thompson was 3 for 11 for his eight points. TIP-INS Warriors: It was Durant’s 19th straight playoff game with at least 20 points. Curry made one
3-pointer to extend his NBA playoff record of 81 straight playoff games with at least one 3-pointer. Durant and Curry were Golden State’s only players with more than 10 points. Rockets: Houston improved to 8-0 this postseason when leading after three quarters. Houston made 16 of 42 3-point attempts. Paul finished with 16 points. UP NEXT After Game 3, the teams will play Game 4 on Tuesday night in Oakland before returning to Houston for Game 5 on Thursday.
SHE has yet to make a preseason appearance, but WNBA Insiders still consider Jonquel Jones one of the top players in the league and project her to have another standout season. WNBA.com posed questions to the league’s general managers to learn what the people who make the decisions think on a variety of topics. Jones was voted as the league’s top rebounder and received a whopping 58 per cent on the poll ahead of Tina Charles at 25 per cent. Sylvia Fowles and Brittney Griner were tied for third at eight per cent. Jones also received eight per cent of the votes for WNBA MVP (tied for fourth) and best centre in the league (tied for third). Jones was also in a tie for third place among the players best at creating their own shot. Jones finished the year averaging 15.5 points and 11.9 rebounds per game, leading both categories for the Connecticut Sun - a dramatic increase from her rookie season when she averaged 6.8 points and 3.7 rebounds per game. Her record-setting total was 403 rebounds for the season. She also added 20 double doubles. Jones’ historic season included several individual milestones, including becoming just the second player in league history to record three 20-rebound games in a single season. The Sun finished the regular season with a record of 21-13, second in the Eastern Conference. They lost to the Phoenix Mercury in the second round of the playoffs. The Sun were also projected to be successful in the WNBA Insider poll as the team likely to have the most wins in the Eastern
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