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2B – Daily News – Saturday, November 6, 2010 Curry’s late surge helps lift Warriors Utah 78 Warriors 85 OAKLAND (AP) — This is the kind of game the Gold- en State Warriors might not have pulled out a year ago. ‘‘We would have given up and lost by 20,’’ leading scor- er Monta Ellis said. Now, they’re doing the little things — like getting key rebounds when the first shot doesn’t fall. Stephen Curry returned from an ankle injury to score nine points over the final 2:35, lifting the Warriors to an 85- 78 victory over the short-handed Utah Jazz on Friday night to stay unbeaten at home. David Lee had 14 points and 15 rebounds for his fifth double-double in as many games, tipping in a miss with 21.8 seconds left to help clinch it. Lee is showing the War- riors he is very much the reliable player on both ends of the court they expected after acquiring him in a July trade with the New York Knicks. Ellis added 23 points and a career-high seven steals and Andris Biedrins grabbed a season-best 20 rebounds for Golden State (4-1), which under first-year coach Keith Smart is off to its best start since the Warriors began 5-0 in 1994-95 only to falter to a 26-56 finish a year after making the playoffs. ‘‘To be 4-1 with the losing they’ve had here and the los- ing I had in New York ... it’s very exciting,’’ Lee said. ‘‘It’s something that sets us up.’’ Golden State is 4-0 at Oracle Arena for its best home start since 1990-91. Raja Bell’s uncontested layin tied the game at 72 with 3:17 to play, then Lee missed two free throws with 3:02 remaining. Curry, who was back in the starting lineup after missing two games with a mild right ankle sprain, then came up big. He hit a go-ahead 18-footer with 2:35 to play and then con- verted a steal into a spinning layin and a three-point play the next time down to make it 77-72 with 2:11 left. Curry, last season’s runner up for Rookie of the Year, went through his pregame routine and deemed himself good to go. Wearing a brace on the tender ankle, he finished with 20 points on 7-for-17 shooting and dished out six assists in 33 minutes. Ellis nailed a 20-footer with 54.8 seconds to go. The Warriors scored their fewest points in a win since an 83-81 victory at New York on Nov. 6, 2005. Deron Williams scored 23 points for the Jazz after he came within two rebounds of a triple-double in a 125-108 victory over Toronto on Wednesday. Williams committed eight of his team’s 21 turnovers. ‘‘We just didn’t seem to have the energy to compete with them,’’ Utah coach Jerry Sloan said. ‘‘When you give up 21 turnovers for 27 points, that’s almost a goodbye kiss.’’ Al Jefferson added 16 points and 15 rebounds and Paul Millsap 12 points and 11 boards. The Jazz also missed some key fourth-quarter opportu- nities. Ronnie Price bricked a breakaway dunk attempt with 9:08 remaining that would have pulled Utah within one, then C.J. Miles airballed a 3-point try from the top of the arc on the next Jazz possession. Curry tossed a behind-the-back pass to Lee for a pow- Intensity up for 9 World Series of Poker finalists LAS VEGAS (AP) — When 26- year-old poker professional Jason Senti recently got a cold, he did something he wouldn’t normally do — he planned a visit to the doctor. Given that he’s in the running to win $8.94 million at the World Series of Poker main event, he was being extra careful. Senti and his eight opponents have had nearly four months to think about, prepare and recover from the series in Las Vegas, where they outlasted 7,310 players in the game’s richest no-limit Texas Hold ’em tournament. But two more sessions starting Sat- urday await the so-called November Nine, who’ve waited with increasing anticipation as weekly television cov- erage catches up to this moment. Eight professionals and one ama- teur. A well-known pro who won one bracelet in July looking to cap off an incredible series. Hundreds of thou- sands of hands played, hundreds more to go in front of a theater crowd at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino. And the youngest final table in series history, rearing to get things restarted. ‘‘In the few weeks leading up to the final table, everything is just a little heightened,’’ Senti said. ‘‘I’m finding myself staying up because I’m think- ing about all these scenarios.’’ The series will start exactly where it GIANTS (Continued from page 1B) doval hit .268 in 2010 with 13 homers and 63 RBIs while striking out 81 times. The 24-year-old has bat- tled his weight and the Giants consider condition- ing to be one of his problems at the plate and on defense. This offseason, he isn’t headed home to Venezuela to play winter ball. Instead, he will work out in San Diego and then report to the Giants’ Scottsdale, Ariz., training complex in January. A year ago, San Francis- co embarked on an ‘‘Opera- tion Panda’’ fitness and nutrition routine for the out- of-shape slugger — after his nickname of Kung Fu Panda. The new health habits were hard to main- tain, though Sabean also points to some tough times in Sandoval’s personal life. He went through a divorce and custody fight that took him back home for a few days during the season. Sabean said the Giants won’t put the same kind of offseason expectations on other young players in the future. Namely: rookie catcher Buster Posey. ‘‘I think we learned a les- son as an organization that we probably put him too far out there in our offseason with the ‘‘Panda Inside’’ banner and we learned that can put a lot of pressure on a MLS Playoffs — First Round Home-and-home San Jose advanced on aggregate 3-2 Game 1:New York 1, San Jose 0 Game 2: San Jose 3, New York 1 Colorado 1, Columbus 0 Game 1:Colorado 1, Columbus 0 Saturday: at Columbus, 1 p.m. FC Dallas 1, Real Salt Lake 0 Game 1:FC Dallas 2, Real Salt Lake 1 Saturday: at Real Salt Lake, 7 p.m. Los Angeles 1, Seattle 0 Game 1:Los Angeles 1, Seattle 0 Sunday: at Los Angeles, 6 p.m., ESPN left off when Kansas auto dealer Bran- don Stevens was eliminated in 10th place after sunrise July 18. That halted play for 112 days, ending a nutty day when the tournament field trimmed from three tables to one. It took nearly six hours to go from 10 players to nine. Nobody wanted to budge and two players, 23-year-old Jonathan Duhamel and 24-year-old John Dolan, aggressively bet to build dominating chip stacks. Duhamel, a Boucherville, Quebec- native who starts the final table as chip leader with 30 percent of the total chips in play, said he built up his stack by raising with mediocre hands, betting that opponents wouldn’t want to gam- ble all their chips. He was right. ‘‘I think they knew what I was doing but the thing is, even if they know that, they still can’t risk it,’’ Duhamel said. Duhamel said he expects play at the final table to be far different, even though the game conditions will be exactly the same from where they left off. ‘‘There should be a lot of action in the first hours, that’s for sure,’’ he said. The extended play in the session leading up to the final table leaves the last nine players with an average of fewer than 49 big blinds — minimum player or, in fact, maybe in some ways it worked against him having to live up to that hype,’’ Sabean said. ‘‘The reason I mention this is we’re not going to make that same mistake with Posey. We’re going to try to let these guys fly under the radar, because we know the second time around they are marked men. ... This kid right now is a hole card and he doesn’t really have a position until he gets his act in order.’’ Manager Bruce Bochy, who still lives in San Diego, said he will be in close con- tact with trainers working with the infielder in the com- ing months. Sandoval played in six games this postseason, start- ing at designated hitter in Game 3 of the World Series and going 0 for 3 with a strikeout and also grounded into a double play. He made two starts in the NL division series against Atlanta and two more in the NLCS ver- LOCAL City of Red Bluff Rec League Basketball McGlynn 49, Dominicks’s 44 Mt. Lassen 58, Brewer’s Arena 27 Corning Glass 82, Slammit 40 R&D Old School 82, The Vineyard 71 bets used to dictate the betting. The blinds go up every two hours, and play- ers will start Saturday with nearly one hour and 15 minutes left at the current minimums. Players generally need 50 to 70 big blinds in their stack, or more, to comfortably maneuver and play hands without feeling pinched, tourna- ment director Jack Effel said. Effel said everyone plays with dif- ferent strategies, but if they’re low on chips, they can’t always wait to bet until they’re dealt pocket aces, the game’s best starting hand. ‘‘At this point, I’d be trying to get some chips however I can get them,’’ he said. Only Duhamel and Dolan have above-average chip stacks. Senti is shortest with 7.6 million chips, 3.5 per- cent of the chips in play and just over 15 big blinds. Duhamel leads with just under 66 million chips. The winner gets $8,944,310 and the gold bracelet, each of the top eight fin- ishers will win at least $1.04 million. Also competing are 26-year-old Fil- ippo Candio of Cagliari, Italy; 24-year- old Joseph Cheong of La Mirada; 26- year-old Matthew Jarvis of Surrey, British Columbia; 29-year-old Michael ‘‘The Grinder’’ Mizrachi of Miami; 37- year-old Cuong ‘‘Soi’’ Nguyen of Santa Ana; and 24-year-old John Racener. sus the Phillies. Sandoval grounded into an NL-high 26 double plays during the regular season for the NL West champs. ‘‘It’s obvious it didn’t quite work out like we had hoped. And there comes a time where he’s got to take responsibility to get himself into the type of shape he needs to be in,’’ Bochy said. ‘‘His priority is to get back in the type of shape he needs to be in to play third base or wherever he plays. He knows what’s at stake and there was some tough love involved here. I think the world of Pablo, but at the same time, he’s got some work to do. He knows it. If he wants to play in the major leagues he’s got to get in bet- ter shape. I was up front with him and he understands.’’ While Sabean didn’t rule out making a run at left- ODDS Glantz-Culver Line For Nov.6 NFL Sunday Chicago-x at Houston 3 (40.5) New Orleans 6.5 (41) at Minnesota 8 (40.5) at Atlanta N.Y.Jets at Baltimore New England 4.5(43.5) N.Y.Giants at Oakland 7 (41) NCAAFOOTBALL Saturday's Top 25 games No.1 Oregon vs.Wash., 12:30 p.m., ABC No. 2 Boise State vs.Hawaii, 12:30 p.m. No.3 Auburn vs. Chattanooga, 10 a.m. No. 4 TCU at No. 6 Utah, 12:30 p.m. No.5 Ala.at No.12 LSU, 12:30 p.m., CBS No. 7 Wisconsin at Purdue, 9 a.m. No.9 Nebraska at Iowa State, 12:30 p.m. No.10 Stanford vs.No.13 Ari., 5 p.m., ABC No.11 Okla.at Texas A&M, 4 p.m., CSNB No. 14 Missouri at Texas Tech, 5 p.m. No. 15 Iowa at Indiana, 9 a.m. No.16 Michigan State vs.Minnesota, 9 a.m. No.17 Ark.at No.18 S.Car., 4 p.m., ESPN No.19 Okla.St.vs.No.22 Bay., 9:30 a.m., CSNB No.23 North Carolina State at Clemson, 9 a.m. No.24 Florida State vs.N.Carolina, 12:30 p.m. No.25 Nevada at Idaho, 2 p.m. Saturday’s other televised games Florida at Vanderbilt, 9 a.m., CSNC Illinois at Michigan, 9 a.m., ESPN Penn at Princeton, Noon, VERSUS Northwestern at Penn St., 12:30 p.m., ESPN2 Cal at Washington State, 1 p.m., CSNC Oregon St.at UCLA, 4 p.m., VERSUS Texas at Kansas State, 5 p.m., ESPN2 Arizona St.at USC, 7:30 p.m., CSNB at Philadelphia 3 (6.5) at Green Bay 7.5(45.5) Monday 5 (41.5) Pittsburgh x-at Toronto NBA Saturday Orlando 5 at Washington 4 at Miami 6 17 at Milwaukee 3.5 at San Antonio 5 at Dallas at Utah 13 at Portland 12.5 at Sacramento 4.5 NHL Today at Los Angeles-175 at Boston -145 at Toronto -145 at Montreal -120 Philadelphia -150 atN.Y.Islanders at Carolina -150 Chicago -140 at Columbus -160 at Colorado -135 Pittsburgh -120 at Vancouver -145 at San Jose -165 Nashville +155 St. Louis +125 Buffalo +125 Ottawa+100 +130 Florida+130 at Atlanta +120 Minnesota+140 Dallas +115 at Phoenix+100 Detroit +125 TampaBay +145 at Charlotte Cleveland NewJersey NewOrleans Houston Denver L.A. Clippers Toronto Memphis Buffalo 3 (50) San Diego at Carolina Arizona 8.5 (44.5) Tampa Bay 4 (41.5) 5.5 (40.5) at Detroit Miami at Cleveland at Seattle 1 (40.5) KansasCity Indianapolis Dallas at Cincinnati West Seattle WL T Pct PF PA 4 3 0 .571 123 140 St. Louis 4 4 0 .500 140 141 Arizona 3 4 0 .429 133 198 49ERS 26 0 .250 137 178 East WL T Pct PF PA N.Y. Giants 5 2 0 .714 175 153 Philadelphia 4 3 0 .571 172 157 Washington 4 4 0 .500 155 170 Dallas South 1 6 0 .143 154 187 WL T Pct PF PA Atlanta 5 2 0 .714 169 133 Tampa Bay 5 2 0 .714 136 163 New Orleans 5 3 0 .625 167 148 Carolina 1 6 0 .143 85 150 North WL T Pct PF PA Green Bay 5 3 0 .625 176 136 Chicago 4 3 0 .571 126 114 Minnesota 2 5 0 .286 129 144 Detroit ————————————————— Sunday’s games Kansas City at Oakland, 1:15 p.m.,CBS Arizona at Minnesota, 10 a.m., FOX Chicago vs. Buffalo at Toronto, 10 a.m. Miami at Baltimore, 10 a.m. New England at Cleveland, 10 a.m. New Orleans at Carolina, 10 a.m. N.Y. Jets at Detroit, 10 a.m. San Diego at Houston, 10 a.m., CBS Tampa Bay at Atlanta, 10 a.m. N.Y. Giants at Seattle, 1:05 p.m. Indianapolis at Philadelphia, 1:15 p.m. Dallas at Green Bay, 5:20 p.m., NBC Monday’s game Pittsburgh at Cincinnati, 5:30 p.m. 2 5 0 .286 183 165 handed hitter Carl Crawford, he doesn’t see the Giants being able to compete with the front-runners of the Angels, Red Sox and Tigers. Still, he hopes players will consider San Francisco a desirable spot following the team’s first title since moving West in 1958. ‘‘I’ll start by saying what the nation saw from our crowds, our fans and how it worked both ways between the NFL AFC West WL T Pct PF PA Kansas City 5 2 0 .714 163 122 RAIDERS 44 0 .500 212 168 Chargers 3 5 0 .375 210 174 Denver East 2 6 0 .250 154 223 WL T Pct PF PA New England 6 1 0 .857 205 154 N.Y. Jets 5 2 0 .714 159 110 Miami Buffalo South Indianapolis 5 2 0 .714 193 142 Tennessee 5 3 0 .625 224 150 Houston 4 3 0 .571 170 197 Jacksonville 4 4 0 .500 165 226 North WL T Pct PF PA Baltimore 5 2 0 .714 149 129 Pittsburgh 5 2 0 .714 147 102 Cleveland 2 5 0 .286 118 142 Cincinnati 2 5 0 .286 146 163 NFC 4 3 0 .571 133 149 0 7 0 .000 131 211 WL T Pct PF PA erful two-handed dunk with 7:39 to play, putting the War- riors up 66-61. Smart, who took over in late September for the depart- ed Don Nelson, has the new-look Warriors playing with emotion and energy — even if it doesn’t always look pret- ty. Golden State won this one shooting 37.6 percent, including 2-of-14 showing from 3-point range. But the Warriors crashed the boards to create second chances to help make up for it, outrebounding the Jazz 52- 46 — the first time doing so against Utah since Nov. 25, 2006. Golden State snapped a three-game losing streak to the Jazz overall and a three-game skid in the series at home. The Warriors will take some momentum onto the road for a five-game East Coast trip starting Sunday at Detroit. ‘‘We have a saying ‘D.T.W. — defense travels well,’’’ Smart said. ‘‘If you can lock into your defense, that’s what they’ve done and that kept us in the game.’’ Utah held the Warriors below 100 points — 89 and 94 — in both their visits to Oracle Arena last season. Sloan, Utah’s 20th-year coach, remained four wins from passing Pat Riley (1,195) to become the third all-time win- ningest coach in the NBA. Nelson is the leader with 1,335 victories in 31 seasons coaching Milwaukee, Golden State, New York and Dallas. The Jazz played without Kyrylo Fesenko for the second straight game after he showed up for Wednesday’s shootaround but wound up sidelined with a gastric ailment. Mehmet Okur is still sidelined after rupturing his Achilles’ during the first round of the playoffs last season. Jeremy Evans missed his second consecutive game with a sprained right wrist. END (Continued from page 1B) The two Spartans hooked up again two more times in the third quarter as Hill finished with five catches for 148 yards and three touch- downs. The first touchdown was a 39-yard pass with 5:21 left in the period. The second score, a 14- yarder, came with 42 sec- onds left in the quarter. Red Bluff went for the 2-point conversion and an 8-point lead on the second score, which proved piv- otal. The Thunderbirds’ defense stiffened keeping the Spartans out of the end zone this time, keep- ing the score 20-13. Las Plumas responded on the ensuing drive, scor- ing on Thomas Jones’ 10- yard run with 8:11 left in the game. Quarterback Joe Will started right on an option play, appeared to be tackled low but before he went down people in the clubhouse and the fans and the fact that we take great pride in saying San Francisco’s a baseball town,’’ Sabean said. ‘‘It can only be bigger and better and help. It’s not only keep- NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE Pacific Division Kings Dallas Ducks WL OT Pts GF GA 9 3 0 18 35 25 8 4 0 16 43 32 6 7 1 13 35 46 SHARKS 55 1 11 29 28 Phoenix 4 5 3 11 30 38 Central Division Detroit WL OT Pts GF GA 8 2 1 17 35 26 St. Louis 7 1 2 16 28 17 Columbus 8 4 0 16 30 29 Chicago 7 7 1 15 44 45 Nashville 5 3 3 13 26 29 Northwest Division WL OT Pts GF GA Vancouver 7 3 2 16 34 28 Minnesota 6 4 2 14 29 28 Colorado 6 5 1 13 40 42 Calgary 6 7 0 12 35 38 Edmonton 3 6 2 8 32 40 EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division WL OT Pts GF GA Philadelphia 8 4 1 17 41 30 N.Y. Rangers 7 5 1 15 38 36 Pittsburgh 6 7 1 13 39 36 N.Y. Islanders4 7 2 10 34 48 New Jersey 4 10 1 9 25 48 Northeast Division WL OT Pts GF GA Montreal 8 4 1 17 32 30 Boston Ottawa 7 3 0 14 32 18 6 6 1 13 33 38 Toronto 5 5 2 12 29 31 Buffalo 3 9 2 8 34 46 Southeast Division WL OT Pts GF GA Washington 9 4 0 18 44 32 Tampa Bay 7 3 2 16 37 34 Atlanta Carolina 6 7 0 12 38 42 Florida ————————————————— Friday’s results Anaheim 3, Pittsburgh 2 Dallas 6, Phoenix 3 Detroit 3, Edmonton 1 Florida 7, Carolina 4 Minnesota 2, Calgary 1 Montreal 3, Buffalo 2 N.Y. Rangers 3, New Jersey 0 Washington 5, Boston 3 Saturday’s games Tampa Bay at San Jose, 7 p.m. Buffalo at Toronto, 4 p.m., NHLN Chicago at Atlanta, 4 p.m. Florida at Carolina, 4 p.m. Minnesota at Columbus, 4 p.m. Ottawa at Montreal, 4 p.m. Philadelphia at N.Y. Islanders, 4 p.m. St. Louis at Boston, 4 p.m. Dallas at Colorado, 6 p.m. Pittsburgh at Phoenix, 6 p.m. Detroit at Vancouver, 7 p.m. Nashville at Los Angeles, 7 p.m. Sunday’s games Philadelphia at Washington, 2 p.m., NHLN St. Louis at N.Y. Rangers, 4 p.m. Edmonton at Chicago, 4 p.m. Nashville at Anaheim, 5 p.m. Thursday’s late result Los Angeles 1, Tampa Bay 0 Saturday’s games Memphis at Sacramento, 7 p.m.,CSNC Orlando at Charlotte, 4 p.m. Cleveland at Washington, 4 p.m. New Jersey at Miami, 4:30 p.m. New Orleans at Milwaukee, 5:30 p.m. Houston at San Antonio, 5:30 p.m. L.A. Clippers at Utah, 6 p.m. Denver at Dallas, 6 p.m., NBATV Toronto at Portland, 7 p.m. Sunday’s games Golden State at Detroit, 3 p.m.,CSNB Philadelphia at New York, 9 a.m. Phoenix at Atlanta, 2 p.m. Minnesota at Houston, 4 p.m. Boston at Oklahoma City, 4 p.m., NBATV Portland at L.A. Lakers, 6:30 p.m. Thursday’s late result Oklahoma City 107, Portland 106, OT 6 5 2 14 40 46 5 6 0 10 34 29 NOTE: Two points for a win, one point for overtime loss. Lakers pitched the ball back to Jones. "I saw end zone and just turned on the jets," Jones said. The Thunderbirds lined up for an extra point, but the snap went directly to Kreamer the kicker who started to bolt to the right. The play was stopped immediately after he took the snap as Red Bluff was called for an offsides penalty. Las Plumas lined up for the extra point, but it seemed like everyone in Harrison Stadium knew it would be a fake — includ- ing the Spartans. Kreamer took the snap, spun around to the left and threw to the sopho- more Matheson. Kreamer’s pass was high and behind Mathe- son, but the sophomore jumped, spun back and reached behind him — and somehow still got a foot down for the conver- sion and the final dagger into a long Red Bluff sea- son. ing our own players that we want to re-sign, but it’s got to be a destination for a lot of people. It can only help. We hope that’s a factor.’’ NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE Pacific Division WL Pct GB 6 0 1.000 — WARRIORS 41 .800 1.5 KINGS 32 .600 2.5 Phoenix 2 3 .400 3.5 Clippers 1 5 .167 5 Southwest Division WL Pct GB New Orleans 5 0 1.000 — Dallas 3 1 .750 1.5 San Antonio 3 1 .750 1.5 Memphis 2 4 .333 3.5 Houston 0 4 .000 4.5 Northwest Division WL Pct GB Portland 4 2 .667 — Denver Minnesota 1 5 .167 3 EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division WL Pct GB 5 1 .833 — Boston New York 3 2 .600 1.5 New Jersey 2 3 .400 2.5 Toronto 1 4 .200 3.5 Philadelphia 1 5 .167 4 Southeast Division WL Pct GB 6 0 1.000 — Atlanta Orlando 3 1 .750 2 Miami 4 2 .667 2 Washington 1 3 .250 4 Charlotte 1 4 .200 4.5 Central Division WL Pct GB Chicago 2 3 .400 — Cleveland 2 3 .400 — Indiana 2 3 .400 — Milwaukee 2 4 .333 .5 Detroit Okla. City 3 2 .600 .5 Utah 3 2 .600 .5 2 3 .400 1.5 1 5 .167 1.5 ————————————————— Friday’s results Golden State 85, Utah 78 Atlanta 113, Minnesota 103 Boston 110, Chicago 105, OT Cleveland 123, Philadelphia 116 Denver 111, L.A. Clippers 104 Detroit 97, Charlotte 90 L.A. Lakers 108, Toronto 103 Milwaukee 94, Indiana 90 New Orleans 96, Miami 93 New York 112, Washington 91 Orlando 105, New Jersey 90 Phoenix 123, Memphis 118,2OT