SundayNewspaper

2 R SUNDAY, MAY 12, 2019 | | Sports C9 The quality of the NBA has never been better. The only thing it was missing was parity. Now, if only for a few games, it has it. I don’t want this to come across as a personal attack on KD. He seems like a good dude who regularly endears himself to Seattle. He donned a Sonics jersey when the Warriors played here this preseason. He helped renovate a basketball court at Powell Barnett Park. I understand why he would want to join an uber-talented team in a big city after repeatedly falling short in Oklahoma City. But that doesn’t mean I agree with the decision. Early reports say that Durant could come back to theWarriors by Game 5 or 6 of the conference finals. Personally, I wouldn’t mind if it were longer. The former Sonic may very well be the best basketball player in the world. But right now, basketball is better without him. Matt Calkins: mcalkins@seattletimes.com ; on Twitter: @matt_calkins felt a thing. This was the epitome of manufactured. That’s why Durant’s latest injury might be the best thing to happen to basketball this postseason. I never root for a player to get hurt, but if it were to happen, I’d want it to be a mild calf strain on a guy who’s already won two titles and was likely to coast to a third. Did you see Game 6 against the Rockets on Friday? That was everything that drew the world to the Warriors in the first place. Thompson scored 21 in the first half and knocked down seven threes. Curry dropped 33 in the second half after scoring zero in the first. Everyone who had deemed them underdogs had forgotten that this was the nucleus that won a title five seasons ago before notching 73 wins. I believe that this is theWarriors group that most people want to see. I believe that I’mnot alone in thinking that adding Durant was good for the Bay Area but bad for basketball. to the Cavs in an equally epic series. I didn’t mind the loss. I just wanted the ride. And I figured I’d be getting it for several years to come. Then Kevin Durant came along… and ruined everything. I imagine that Durant is Seattle’s favorite active basketball player. He shined as a rookie with the Sonics and speaks fondly of this city whenever he’s asked about it. But when one of the league’s top three players joined a team that just went 73-9, it wiped the suspense out of the NBA. The next two years were predictable. TheWarriors went 16-1 in the playoffs in 2017 and 16-5 the next year. They’d open up as a better- than-evenmoney favorite to win the championship every season. There’d still be highlights, controversy and blowups fromCurry or Thompson—but my couch never < Calkins FROM C1 Sunday’s races First race: 2 p.m. 1 6furlongs,purse$7,800,3-year-oldsandup, filliesandmares,maidenclaiming$8,000/$7,000 PP Horse Jockey Line Wt. 1 SweetSophieGrace JZunino 5/1 123 2 Julia'sRose PHenry,Jr. 8/1 119 3 Energica LLopez 4/1 119 4 LinchpinsJewel GWales 7/2 119 5 Preachinsnowinrio HMartinez 5/2 119 6 JinnWin JCarreno 3/1 123 2 5furlongs,purse$7,800,3-year-old,maiden claiming$8,000/$7,000 PP Horse Jockey Line Wt. 1 CoastalSon GWales 9/2 122 2 WaveCatcher JCarreno 5/1 122 3 PrinceofLuck PHenry,Jr. 6/1 122 4 FrenchCandy HMartinez 3/1 122 5 DevilDog JGutierrez 9/5 122 6 StrategicHour RBarber 6/1 122 3 6furlongs,purse$8,800,3-year-oldsandup, WCL$5,000 PP Horse Jockey Line Wt. 1 RoaminEffort JCarreno 5/2 120 2 ShotGunGary PHenry,Jr. 8/1 120 3 Thunder JZunino 6/1 120 4 Barasso GWales 9/5 120 5 RyanWalt HMartinez 9/2 120 6 RoxtheFox KOrozco 5/1 120 4 6furlongs,purse$9,000,3-year-oldsandup, WCL$7,500 PP Horse Jockey Line Wt. 1 BrahmsForest JMatias 5/2 124 2 ZiggyCarDust GWales 7/2 121 3 Don'tbeshywillie JWhitaker 3/1 124 4 Bernie JGutierrez 9/2 124 5 RoughandReady RBarber 4/1 124 6 CatsChamp PHenry,Jr. 12/1 124 5 5 1 / 2 furlongs,purse$21,500,3-year-oldsandup, AOC$50,000 PP Horse Jockey Line Wt. 1 HittheBeach HMartinez 6/1 120 2 ElliottBay JWhitaker 12/1 120 3 Cody'sChoice JCarreno 8/1 120 4 SippinFire GWales 2/1 120 5 OhMarvelousMe JZunino 8/1 120 6 Barkley JMatias 1/1 120 6 6furlongs,purse$7,600,3-year-oldsandup, filliesandmares,Startersallowance$3,500 PP Horse Jockey Line Wt. 1 BlazinBB JLeon 8/1 114 2 NationalBrowser AAnaya 20/1 119 3 Zanab KOrozco 7/2 119 4 ByeByeSal HMartinez 12/1 119 5 Milady'sSecret PHenry,Jr. 6/1 119 6 Choteau JCarreno 3/1 119 7 Targa FCeballos 6/1 119 8 DizzyDiva GWales 9/2 121 9 LittleJoker JMatias 10/1 119 7 6furlongs,purse$11,200,3-year-oldsandup, Startersallowance$10,000 PP Horse Jockey Line Wt. 1 Guardingthemoney JGutierrez 15/1 120 2 He'sNotGrey GWales 3/1 124 3 AwesomeReturn JLeon 8/1 115 4 Bob'sAllIn KOrozco 5/1 122 5 IronRob HMartinez 6/1 120 6 RideHardKowboy JCarreno 10/1 124 7 HelloBourbon JZunino 8/1 120 8 ArchieGraham FCeballos 6/1 120 9 WineAtNine JMatias 4/1 120 8 6furlongs,purse$50,000,3-year-old,fillies, Stakes PP Horse Jockey Line Wt. 1 KillarneyLass KOrozco 9/2 118 2 Lulu'sLightening HMartinez 10/1 116 3 SomethingAboutMe JCarreno 8/1 116 4 TimberlakeGage JGutierrez 12/1 116 5 NorthwestFactor GWales 4/1 120 6 SlingshotMistress RBarber 15/1 116 7 FortySixCarats JMatias 6/1 116 8 MuchoAmor JHernandez 9/5 120 9 Alittlelesstalk LLopez 20/1 116 9 6furlongs,purse$6,800,3-year-oldsandup, filliesandmares,claiming$4,000 PP Horse Jockey Line Wt. 1 AttaGirlMisty FCeballos 7/2 123 2 OneSmartGal JMatias 3/1 123 3 GoldenChariot HMartinez 9/2 123 4 BrooksHarbor JCarreno 4/1 123 5 FormalChoice FDiaz-Lopez 15/1 123 6 MissWineTopper JZunino 15/1 123 7 Dakota'sTango AAnaya 8/1 123 8 RaspberryPunch JEstrada 20/1 123 9 PepperChrome PHenry,Jr. 6/1 123 Emerald Downs Racing results and entries The Associated Press SAN JOSE, Calif. – Timo Meier scored twice and set up one of Logan Couture’s two goals with a hard hit, sending the San Jose Sharks to a 6-3 victory over the St. Louis Blues in Game 1 of the best-of-sevenWestern Con- ference final Saturday night. Meier’s hit on Alex Pi- etrangelo led to Couture’s goal that opened the scoring in the first period and he then scored twice in the second to give the Sharks a comfort- able lead and their third straight Game 1 victory this postseason. Couture added an empty- net goal to give him an NHL- leading 11 in the postseason. Joe Pavelski and Kevin La- banc also scored for San Jose andMartin Jones made 28 saves. Of Meier, Couture said, “He was a bull. When he skates and his strength, he’s tough to defend. We’re fortu- nate enough to play with him on our line, and I thought he was really, really good. Good stick, strong on pucks, you saw the talent on the one where he was able to walk around the d-man and finish. He’s a really good player and he’s coming into his own right now.” Game 2 is Monday night, also at the Shark Tank. Joel Edmundson, Ryan O’Reilly and Tyler Bozak scored for the Blues, but the teamgave little help to rook- ie goaltender Jordan Bin- nington to get off to a rough start in the conference final. Binningtonmade 19 saves but was left exposed by his defense on numerous occasions. “There were a few too many mistakes out there,” Edmundson said. “Whenev- er there was, they capital- ized on them. They really capitalized on every chance they got.” This series is a matchup between two franchises seeking their first titles after years of playoff disappoint- ments. They endured tough roads to get here, with the Sharks needing to win a pair of seven-game series and the Blues needing a double-overtime victory in Game 7 against Dallas to make it to their fourth con- ference final in the past 49 years. Summary, schedule > C11 Sharks open West final with victory over visiting St. Louis NHL PLAYOFFS Meier, Couture each score 2 goals for San Jose J O S I E L E P E / A P San Jose’s Joe Pavelski (8) scores a goal against fallen St. Louis goaltender Jordan Binnington in the first period of Saturday’s NHL playoff game. San Jose won 6-3. B E N MA R GO T / T H E A S S O C I A T E D P R E S S Kevin Durant limps off the court during the second half Wednesday. He could be back in action before the West- ern Conference Finals are done, but the Warriors have advanced without him and could continue to do so. Saturday’s results (Track fast) 1 6furlongs,purse$6,600,claiming$4,000,3- year-oldsandup. Horse/Jockey ¼ Str Fin Odds FrontRowFriends/Gutierrez 2-31-1½ 1-1¼ 9.50 DQ-BrownTiger/Lopez 4-8 3-½ 2-2¾ 3.20 DQ-AllPoweredUp/Barber 1-½ 2-3 3-1¼ 3.70 Kopitar/Carreno 3-1 4-4 4-3 .60* VictimlessCrime/Martinez 5 5 5 14.80 6 FrontRowFriends 21.00 5.80 3.40 3 Kopitar 2.40 2.10 2 VictimlessCrime 4.20 Exacta(6-3)$23.50;Superfecta(6-3-2-1)$42.45; Trifecta(6-3-2)$157.10 Claimed— Kopitar Off— 2:15p.m. Time— :22.26 :45.33:57.881:11.47 Winner— DkB/BrHorse 2014,byDecarchy-SeizetheMomentby Bertrando Owner— H.R.(Pat)Mullens,R.A. LarsonandEdZenker. Trainer— H.R.Mullens. Scratched— GoBobbyGo. 2 ½furlongs,purse$18,500,maidenspecial weight,3-year-olds,fillies. Horse/Jockey ¼ Str Fin Odds LastingLight/JMatias 1-½ 1-3½ 1-6 6.30 SuddenlyAwesome/Ceballos 2-1½ 2-4 2-¾1.10* LadyCampbell/Lopez 3-½ 3-2½ 3-2 3.60 LaPrincipessa/Orozco 5-4 5-5 4-2¾ 4.10 Oursugarshack/Zunino 4-½ 4-hd 5-310.30 FortyFourCarat/Gutierrez 6 6 6 9.20 3 LastingLight 14.60 5.40 3.40 5 SuddenlyAwesome 2.80 2.20 2 LadyCampbell 2.60 DailyDouble(6-3)$48.20;Exacta(3-5)$21.60; Superfecta(3-5-2-6)$18.24;Trifecta(3-5-2)$31.35 Off— 2:45p.m. Time— :22.18:45.14:57.361:03.92 Winner— Bfilly2016,bySecondinCommand- LastingRosebyRosberg Owner— I.M.Gorashtand JeffMerriman-Cohen. Trainer— TerryGillihan. 3 6furlongs,purse$13,600,WCL$15,000- $12,500,3-year-oldsandup. Horse/Jockey ¼ Str Fin Odds MikeMan'sGold/Wales 2-3 1-1½ 1-3½ 2.00* SoLucky/Whitaker 1-hd 2-1½ 2-3¾ 6.90 Levitation/Carreno 3-2 3-203-21½ 2.70 MauriceCode/Orozco 4 4 4 3.40 Huya/JGutierrez 5-99 5-99 5-99 3.00 3 MikeMan'sGold 6.00 3.00 2.20 2 SoLucky 6.40 3.00 6 Levitation 2.20 DailyDouble(3-3)$18.30;Exacta(3-2)$15.20; Superfecta(3-2-6-7)$8.45;Trifecta(3-2-6)$23.75; Pick3(6-3-3)$109.00 Claimed— MikeMan'sGold,MauriceCode Off— 3:15p.m. Time— :22.42:44.71:56.991:09.39 Winner— DkB/BrGelding2010,byLibertyGold- ChedoodlebySlewdledo Owner— GregConley, ChuckConleyorTerraFirmaFarm. Trainer— Joe Toye. Scratched— WineAtNine,BlameItOn Royce. 4 ½furlongs,purse$6,800,WCL$3,500,3-year- oldsandup. Horse/Jockey ¼ Str Fin Odds MisterBreeze/Zunino 5-1 2-2½ 1-¾ 5.80 DudleyStudley/Leon 1-2 1-1½ 2-4½ 1.70* T.D.'sGold/Ceballos 3-½ 4-4 3-¾ 5.10 CatsGulch/Lopez 2-1½ 3-hd 4-2½ 5.60 MikeMan'sBro/Wales 8-hd 5-2½ 5-4¼ 7.00 DelineatorExpress/Orozco 7-½ 6-3 6-4 34.50 BobbyMagic/Carreno 6-1½ 8-2 7-hd 6.60 Mr.JayD/Martinez 9 7-½ 8-1¾ 15.90 LuckyCleric/Anaya 4-hd 9 9 29.70 4 MisterBreeze 13.60 5.40 3.80 1 DudleyStudley 3.40 2.60 7 T.D.'sGold 3.60 DailyDouble(3-4)$21.40;Exacta(4-1)$28.00; Superfecta(4-1-7-3)$32.91;Trifecta(4-1-7)$42.65; Pick3(3-3/5-4)$68.85;Pick4(6-3-ALL-4)$811.75 Off— 3:44p.m. Time— :21.76:44.85:57.201:03.63 Winner— DkB/BrGelding2011,byHamptonBay- SkylarMaybySantiagoPeak Owner— WinforFun. Trainer— MaryPirone. 5 ½furlongs,purse$6,400,claiming$2,500,3- year-oldsandup. Horse/Jockey ¼ Str Fin Odds PrivateBoss/Lopez 1-½ 1-4 1-3 2.90 Prevail/Wales 5-½ 2-½ 2-1¼ 1.90* Dustin'sPassion/Zunino 3-½ 3-4½ 3-3¾ 8.20 AffluentAsset/Carreno 8 6-2 4-hd 14.00 FormalJoker/Whitaker 2-1 4-4 5-3¾ 9.20 CocoLoco/Anaya 4-½ 5-½ 6-6½ 12.00 Trelawny/Ceballos 6-½ 7-2½ 7-¾ 3.40 OneTuffMinister/Leon 7-6 8 8 35.20 5 PrivateBoss 7.80 3.60 2.80 1 Prevail 3.20 2.60 3 Dustin'sPassion 3.60 DailyDouble(4-5)$47.40;Exacta(5-1)$11.40; Superfecta(5-1-3-9)$20.18;Trifecta(5-1-3)$23.55; ConsolationDouble(4-7)$5.70;Pick3(3/5-4-5) $65.00 Off— 4:14p.m. Time— :22.99:46.151:11.14 1:17.84 Winner— BGelding2012,byPrivateGold- Irene'sBonusBabybyFreeAtLast Owner— Blue DiamondStable,EstateofDelKellyandMort Robbins. Trainer— RoyLumm. Scratched— Ryan Walt,CleElumPhil. 6 6furlongs,purse$7,600,Startersallowance $3,500,3-year-oldsandup. Horse/Jockey ¼ Str Fin Odds GeneralMachFour/Martinez 3-2½1-2½1-2½ 1.10* PartyforOne/Carreno 1-½ 2-1½2-3¾ 4.30 MysticalImage/JMatias 2-1½ 3-4 3-¾ 5.70 MyChief/Whitaker 6 5-2 4-½ 5.40 NiceGuysFinish/Zunino 4-½ 4-½ 5-3 3.80 StayinPower/Barber 5-5 6 6 26.50 5 GeneralMachFour 4.20 2.80 2.40 3 PartyforOne 4.00 3.20 7 MysticalImage 4.20 DailyDouble(5-5)$9.50;Exacta(5-3)$9.20; Superfecta(5-3-7-2)$5.68;Trifecta(5-3-7)$17.20; Pick3(4-5-5)$50.90 Off— 4:44p.m. Time— :22.17:45.20:57.311:10.42 Winner— BGelding2014,byToHonorandServe- MyMachFourbyMachiavellian Owner— Rosales RacingF1andRickSouthall. Trainer— Jorge Rosales. Scratched— RoaminEffort,RoxtheFox. 7 6furlongs,purse$18,500,AOC$30,000,3-year- oldsandup,filliesandmares. Horse/Jockey ¼ Str Fin Odds JerretoCarrie/Orozco 5-4 3-3 1-hd 3.10 GuardianOne/Wales 2-1 1-1 2-2 8.50 BrilliantBird/JMatias 3-1½ 2-½ 3-hd 4.00 PapaMambo/Martinez 4-hd 4-3 4-8½ 5.40 Judicial/Carreno 1-hd 5-6 5-6¼ 1.20* ForbiddenMaria/Zunino 6 6 6 19.20 2 JerretoCarrie 8.20 4.00 2.60 6 GuardianOne 9.60 4.80 3 BrilliantBird 3.20 DailyDouble(5-2)$14.60;Exacta(2-6)$27.00; Superfecta(2-6-3-1)$25.35;Trifecta(2-6-3)$44.90; Pick3(5-5-2)$22.00 Off— 5:12p.m. Time— :22.03:45.20:57.441:10.39 Winner— ChMare2013,byCongrats-KidsKooler byFirstSamurai Owner— CasaLomaStable. Trainer— KayCooper. 8 ½furlongs,purse$6,400,maidenclaiming $5,000,3-year-oldsandup,filliesandmares. Horse/Jockey ¼ Str Fin Odds AllStarAllie/Leon 1-1 1-5 1-8¾ 1.60* RoxStarBeauty/Carreno 3-1 2-3½ 2-1 6.20 HotandSassy/Ceballos 4-1 3-3 3-5½ 4.40 Delusionist/Wales 2-1½ 4-3 4-3 3.80 Oreosong/Estrada 7-1 6-3½ 5-1 29.30 PrincessApsara/Martinez 5-½ 5-2½ 6-9 8.30 Billyinthefridge/JMatias 6-3 7-8 7-9 11.00 She'sOurFavorite/Anaya 8-3 8-4 8-¾ 33.40 LuckyAgain/Henry, Jr. 9 9 9 28.60 1 AllStarAllie 5.20 3.40 2.20 9 RoxStarBeauty 5.40 3.40 4 HotandSassy 2.80 DailyDouble(2-1)$18.70;Exacta(1-9)$15.10; Superfecta(1-9-4-2)$16.96;Trifecta(1-9-4)$25.30; Pick3(5-2-1)$20.75;Pick4(5-4/5/8-2-1)$82.25; Pick5(4-5-4/5/8-2-1)$1,387.00;(3- ALL-4-5-4/5/8-2-1) $679.00 Off— 5:40p.m. Time— :22.23:45.72:57.811:04.35 Winner— Bfilly2015,byCoil-AllStarCastby Theatrical(IRE) Owner— MarjorieAvery. Trainer— JorgeRosales. Totalhandle— $0 Payoffslistedarefor$2betsforwin-place-show; $1betsfordailydoublesandexactas;50-centbets fortrifectas,pick3s,pick4sandpick5s;20-cent betsforpick7s;and10-centbetsforsuperfectas. FROM THE SPORTS FRONT HOCKEY