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Auto RAcing Formula one Racing, uBS chinese grand Prix, Qualify- ing: 11 p.m., NBCSP. MLB BASeBALL Houston Astros at oakland Athletics: 7 p.m., CSN. San Francisco giants at San Diego Padres: 7 p.m., CSNBA. PReP BASketBALL Jordan Brand classic: 4 p.m., ESPN2. Boxing Boxcino tournament, Middle- weight semifinals: 6 p.m., ESPN2. goLF champions tour golf, greater gwinnett championship, First Round: 9:30 a.m., GOLF. PgA tour golf, RBc Heritage, Second Round: noon, GOLF. LPgA tour golf, Lotte cham- pionship, third Round: 3:30 p.m., GOLF. nHL Hockey conference Quarterfinal, Montreal canadiens at tampa Bay Lightning: 4 p.m., CNBC. conference Quarterfinal, Detroit Red Wings at Boston Bruins: 4:30 p.m., NBCSP. conference Quarterfinal, Dal- las Stars at Anaheim Ducks: 7 p.m., NBCSP. On the air Scoreboard Major League Baseball AMERICAN LEAGUE WEST DIVISION W L Pct GB Oakland 10 5 .667 _ Texas 9 7 .563 1 ½ Los Angeles 7 8 .467 3 Seattle 7 8 .467 3 Houston 5 11 .313 5 ½ CENTRAL DIVISION W L Pct GB Detroit 7 5 .583 _ Minnesota 8 7 .533 ½ Chicago 8 8 .500 1 Kansas City 7 7 .500 1 Cleveland 7 8 .467 1 ½ EAST DIVISION W L Pct GB New York 10 6 .625 _ Toronto 8 8 .500 2 Baltimore 7 7 .500 2 Boston 7 9 .438 3 Tampa Bay 7 9 .438 3 Wednesday's games Baltimore 3, Tampa Bay 0 N.Y. Yankees 3, Chicago Cubs 0, 1st game N.Y. Yankees 2, Chicago Cubs 0, 2nd game Cleveland 3, Detroit 2 Texas 3, Seattle 2 Boston 6, Chicago White Sox 4, 14 innings Kansas City 6, Houston 4, 11 innings Toronto at Minnesota, ppd., rain L.A. Angels 5, Oakland 4, 12 innings Thursday's games Detroit 7, Cleveland 5 Minnesota 7, Toronto 0, 1st game Texas 8, Seattle 6 N.Y. Yankees 10, Tampa Bay 2 Minnesota 9, Toronto 5, 2nd game Boston 3, Chicago White Sox 1 Kansas City 5, Houston 1 Friday's games Toronto (Hutchison 1-1) at Cleveland (Masterson 0-0), 4:05 p.m. L.A. Angels (Weaver 0-2) at Detroit (Smyly 1-0), 4:08 p.m. Baltimore (Tillman 1-1) at Boston (Lackey 2-1), 4:10 p.m. N.Y. Yankees (Kuroda 2-1) at Tampa Bay (Bedard 0-0), 4:10 p.m. Seattle (C.Young 0-0) at Miami (Eovaldi 1-1), 4:10 p.m. Chicago White Sox (Paulino 0-1) at Texas (M.Perez 2-0), 5:05 p.m. Minnesota (Nolasco 1-1) at Kansas City (Vargas 1-0), 5:10 p.m. Houston (Cosart 1-1) at Oakland (Gray 2-0), 7:05 p.m. Saturday's games Toronto at Cleveland, 10:05 a.m. L.A. Angels at Detroit, 10:08 a.m. Baltimore at Boston, 10:35 a.m. Minnesota at Kansas City, 11:10 a.m. Houston at Oakland, 1:05 p.m. N.Y. Yankees at Tampa Bay, 4:10 p.m. Seattle at Miami, 4:10 p.m. Chicago White Sox at Texas, 5:05 p.m. Leaders AMERICAN LEAGUE Batting AlRamirez, Chicago, .381; Solarte, New York, .373; Ellsbury, New York, .364; Colabello, Minnesota, .357; Callaspo, Oakland, .357; Wieters, Baltimore, .341; Kubel, Minnesota, .340. RBI Colabello, Minnesota, 19; Moss, Oak - land, 15; Abreu, Chicago, 14; Brantley, Cleveland, 14; AlRamirez, Chicago, 14; Ibanez, Los Angeles, 12; DavMurphy, Cleveland, 12. Home runs Bautista, Toronto, 6; Dozier, Minnesota, 5; Trout, Los Angeles, 5; Abreu, Chicago, 4; Beltran, New York, 4; MeCabrera, Toronto, 4; Hart, Seattle, 4; Pujols, Los Angeles, 4; AlRamirez, Chicago, 4; ASoriano, New York, 4. Pitching Gibson, Minnesota, 3-0; FHernandez, Seattle, 3-0; Sale, Chicago, 3-0; Buehrle, Toronto, 3-0; 27 tied at 2. ERA Darvish, Texas, 0.82; Tillman, Baltimore, 0.84; Buehrle, Toronto, 0.86; Gibson, Min - nesota, 0.93; Gray, Oakland, 0.95; Ross Jr, Texas, 1.00; Pineda, New York, 1.00. Strikeouts FHernandez, Seattle, 39; Lester, Boston, 29; Sale, Chicago, 29; Price, Tampa Bay, 28; Tanaka, New York, 28; Sabathia, New York, 27; Shields, Kansas City, 26. Saves Axford, Cleveland, 5; Holland, Kansas City, 5; Kelley, New York, 4; TomHunter, Baltimore, 4; Balfour, Tampa Bay, 4; Santos, Toronto, 4; Perkins, Minnesota, 3; Rodney, Seattle, 3; Uehara, Boston, 3. NATIONAL LEAGUE WEST DIVISION W L Pct GB Los Angeles 10 6 .625 _ San Francisco 10 6 .625 _ Colorado 8 9 .471 2 ½ San Diego 7 9 .438 3 Arizona 4 14 .222 7 CENTRAL DIVISION W L Pct GB Milwaukee 11 5 .688 _ St. Louis 10 6 .625 1 Pittsburgh 8 8 .500 3 Cincinnati 6 9 .400 4 ½ Chicago 4 10 .286 6 EAST DIVISION W L Pct GB Atlanta 10 5 .667 _ Washington 9 7 .563 1 ½ New York 8 7 .533 2 Philadelphia 7 8 .467 3 Miami 6 10 .375 4 ½ Wednesday's games Cincinnati 4, Pittsburgh 0 N.Y. Yankees 3, Chicago Cubs 0, 1st game Milwaukee 5, St. Louis 1 N.Y. Mets 5, Arizona 2 Atlanta 1, Philadelphia 0 N.Y. Yankees 2, Chicago Cubs 0, 2nd game Washington 6, Miami 3 San Diego 4, Colorado 2 San Francisco 2, L.A. Dodgers 1 Thursday's games Philadelphia 1, Atlanta 0 L.A. Dodgers 2, San Francisco 1 Colorado 3, San Diego 1 Pittsburgh 11, Milwaukee 2 St. Louis 8, Washington 0 Friday's games Cincinnati (Simon 1-1) at Chicago Cubs (Samardzija 0-1), 11:20 a.m. Milwaukee (Lohse 2-1) at Pittsburgh (Morton 0-1), 4:05 p.m. St. Louis (Wacha 2-0) at Washington (G.Gonzalez 2-1), 4:05 p.m. Atlanta (Harang 2-1) at N.Y. Mets (Niese 0-1), 4:10 p.m. Seattle (C.Young 0-0) at Miami (Eovaldi 1-1), 4:10 p.m. Philadelphia (Pettibone 0-0) at Colorado (Chatwood 0-0), 5:40 p.m. Arizona (Miley 2-2) at L.A. Dodgers (Greinke 3-0), 7:10 p.m. San Francisco (M.Cain 0-2) at San Diego (T.Ross 1-2), 7:10 p.m. Saturday's games St. Louis at Washington, 10:05 a.m. Cincinnati at Chicago Cubs, 11:20 a.m. Milwaukee at Pittsburgh, 4:05 p.m. Atlanta at N.Y. Mets, 4:10 p.m. Seattle at Miami, 4:10 p.m. Arizona at L.A. Dodgers, 5:10 p.m. Philadelphia at Colorado, 5:10 p.m. San Francisco at San Diego, 5:40 p.m. Dodgers 2, Giants 1 Los Angeles San Fran AB R H B AB R H B DGordn 2b 4 0 0 0 Arias ss 4 0 0 0 JuTrnr ss 3 1 1 0 BCrwfr ph 1 0 0 0 Puig rf 4 0 1 0 Pence rf 3 0 2 0 AdGnzl 1b 4 0 2 1 Sandovl 3b 4 0 0 0 Kemp cf 4 0 0 0 Posey c 4 0 0 0 VnSlyk lf 3 1 1 0 Morse lf 3 0 0 0 Uribe 3b 3 0 1 0 Belt 1b 4 1 1 0 Fdrwcz c 3 0 1 1 B.Hicks 2b 2 0 0 0 Ryu p 3 0 0 0 Petit p 0 0 0 0 BWilsn p 0 0 0 0 Pagan ph 1 0 0 0 Crwfrd ph 1 0 0 0 Affeldt p 0 0 0 0 Jansen p 0 0 0 0 HSnchz ph 1 0 0 0 Blanco cf 3 0 0 0 Bmgrn p 1 0 0 0 Adrianz 2b 3 0 3 1 Totals 32 2 7 2 34 1 6 1 Los Angeles 010 010 000 — 2 San Fran 000 000 001 — 1 DP: San Francisco 2; LOB: Los Angeles 7, San Francisco 9; 2B: Ju.Turner (2), Ad.Gonzalez (6), Van Slyke (3), Adrianza (2); SB: Pence (3). IP H R ER BB SO Los Angeles Ryu W,3-1 7 4 0 0 1 3 B.Wilson 1 1 0 0 1 1 Jansen S,5-7 1 1 1 1 1 2 San Francisco Bmgrnr L,2-141/3 6 2 2 3 6 Petit 22/3 0 0 0 1 1 Affeldt 2 1 0 0 0 1 WP: Jansen. T: 3:08; A: 42,890 (41,915). NATIONAL LEAGUE Batting Utley, Philadelphia, .462; Blackmon, Colorado, .411; Freeman, Atlanta, .389; Pagan, San Francisco, .377; Uribe, Los Angeles, .375; DGordon, Los Angeles, .373; ArRamirez, Milwaukee, .369. RBI Stanton, Miami, 21; Trumbo, Arizona, 18; AdGonzalez, Los Angeles, 15; ArRamirez, Milwaukee, 14; PAlvarez, Pittsburgh, 13; CGonzalez, Colorado, 13; McGehee, Miami, 13. Home runs PAlvarez, Pittsburgh, 6; Trumbo, Ari - zona, 6; Belt, San Francisco, 5; AdGon- zalez, Los Angeles, 5; Stanton, Miami, 5; Walker, Pittsburgh, 5; 8 tied at 4. Pitching Ma ch i, S an Fr an cis co , 3 -0 ; L ynn , S t. Louis, 3-0; Greinke, Los Angeles, 3-0; Avilan, Atlanta, 3-1; Ryu, Los Angeles, 3-1; Wainwright, St. Louis, 3-1; 29 tied at 2. ERA Harang, Atlanta, 0.96; Simon, Cincin - nati, 1.20; Cashner, San Diego, 1.27; Samardzija, Chicago, 1.29; Gallardo, Milwaukee, 1.46; Cueto, Cincinnati, 1.50; AWood, Atlanta, 1.67. Strikeouts Cueto, Cincinnati, 35; Strasburg, Washington, 33; Fernandez, Miami, 33; Wainwright, St. Louis, 32; Liriano, Pittsburgh, 28; ClLee, Philadelphia, 28; Cashner, San Diego, 27. Saves Street, San Diego, 5; Jansen, Los Angeles, 5; Kimbrel, Atlanta, 5; Romo, San Francisco, 4; Hawkins, Colorado, 4; Rosenthal, St. Louis, 4; FRodriguez, Milwaukee, 4; Grilli, Pittsburgh, 4; Papel - bon, Philadelphia, 4. Basketball NBA PLAYOFFS First round (x-if necessary) Saturday, April 19 Brooklyn at Toronto, 9:30 a.m. Golden State at L.A. Clippers, 12:30 p.m. Atlanta at Indiana, 4 p.m. Memphis at Oklahoma City, 6:30 p.m. Sunday, April 20 Dallas at San Antonio, 10 a.m. Charlotte at Miami, 12:30 p.m. Washington at Chicago, 4 p.m. Portland at Houston, 6:30 p.m. Monday, April 21 Memphis at Oklahoma City, 5 p.m. Golden State at L.A. Clippers, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 22 Atlanta at Indiana, 4 p.m. Brooklyn at Toronto, 4:30 p.m. Washington at Chicago, 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 23 Charlotte at Miami, 4 p.m. Dallas at San Antonio, 5 p.m. Portland at Houston, 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 24 Indiana at Atlanta, 4 p.m. Oklahoma City at Memphis, 5 p.m. L.A. Clippers at Golden State, 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 25 Toronto at Brooklyn, 4 p.m. Chicago at Washington, 5 p.m. Houston at Portland, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 26 Indiana at Atlanta, 11 a.m. San Antonio at Dallas, 1:30 p.m. Miami at Charlotte, 4 p.m. Oklahoma City at Memphis, 6:30 p.m. Sunday, April 27 Chicago at Washington, 10 a.m. L.A. Clippers at Golden State, 12:30 p.m. Toronto at Brooklyn, 4 p.m. Houston at Portland, 6:30 p.m. hockey NHL PLAYOFFS (x-if necessary) First round (Best-of-7) Thursday, April 17 N.Y. Rangers 4, Philadelphia 1, N.Y. Rang- ers lead series 1-0 Chicago at St. Louis, (n) Minnesota at Colorado, (n) Los Angeles at San Jose, (n) Friday, April 18 Montreal at Tampa Bay, 4 p.m., Montreal leads series 1-0 Detroit at Boston, 4:30 p.m. Dallas at Anaheim, 7 p.m., Anaheim leads series 1-0 Saturday, April 19 Chicago at St. Louis, noon Columbus at Pittsburgh, 4 p.m. , Pitts- burgh leads series 1-0 Minnesota at Colorado, 6:30 p.m. Sunday, April 20 Philadelphia at N.Y. Rangers, 9 a.m. Detroit at Boston, noon Tampa Bay at Montreal, 4 p.m. Los Angeles at San Jose, 7 p.m. Monday, April 21 Pittsburgh at Columbus, 4 p.m. Colorado at Minnesota, 4 p.m. St. Louis at Chicago, 5:30 p.m. Anaheim at Dallas, 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 22 Tampa Bay at Montreal, 4 p.m. Boston at Detroit, 4:30 p.m. N.Y. Rangers at Philadelphia, 5 p.m. San Jose at Los Angeles, 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 23 Pittsburgh at Columbus, 4 p.m. Anaheim at Dallas, 5 p.m. St. Louis at Chicago, 6:30 p.m. Golf RBC HERITAGE PAR Friday At Harbour Town Golf Links Hilton Head, S.C. Purse: $5.8 million Yardage: 7,101; Par 71 (36-35) First Round a-denotes amateur Matt Kuchar ............................. 33-33—66 -5 Scott Langley........................... 31-35—66 -5 William McGirt ........................ 31-35—66 -5 Harris English .......................... 33-35—68 -3 Russell Knox............................. 34-35—69 -2 Rory Sabbatini..........................32-37—69 -2 Billy Horschel........................... 34-35—69 -2 Matt Every................................ 35-34—69 -2 Robert Allenby......................... 36-33—69 -2 Bo Van Pelt............................... 35-34—69 -2 Brian Harman ...........................37-32—69 -2 Ben Martin ............................... 33-36—69 -2 Tim Herron ............................... 34-35—69 -2 Brian Stuard............................. 35-34—69 -2 John Mallinger ......................... 35-34—69 -2 Lucas Glover ............................ 36-33—69 -2 Jordan Spieth........................... 35-34—69 -2 Kevin Streelman...................... 35-34—69 -2 Charles Howell III.................... 35-34—69 -2 Jeff Maggert ............................. 33-37—70 -1 Scott Brown ..............................35-35—70 -1 Ted Potter, Jr.............................34-36—70 -1 Brian Gay ...................................36-34—70 -1 Richard H. Lee ..........................35-35—70 -1 Tim Wilkinson...........................36-34—70 -1 Nicholas Thompson................. 37-33—70 -1 K.J. Choi ..................................... 37-33—70 -1 Stewart Cink ............................. 33-37—70 -1 Davis Love III.............................34-36—70 -1 Luke Donald ..............................38-32—70 -1 Ch ar l S ch wa rt ze l .. .. .. .. . . . . . . . .. .. ..3 4- 36 —7 0 - 1 Erik Compton ............................ 37-33—70 -1 Billy Hurley III ........................... 37-33—70 -1 Andrew Loupe ..........................35-35—70 -1 Kevin Tway ................................35-35—70 -1 Brian Davis .................................35-36—71 E Stephen Gallacher .................... 34-37—71 E Vaughn Taylor............................ 37-34—71 E John Huh .....................................35-36—71 E Kevin Stadler ............................. 34-37—71 E Chris Kirk....................................33-38—71 E Jim Furyk ....................................35-36—71 E Graeme McDowell .................... 34-37—71 E Johnson Wagner........................ 37-34—71 E Hideki Matsuyama.................... 34-37—71 E Chris Stroud ...............................38-33—71 E Robert Garrigus ........................35-36—71 E Jonathan Byrd............................36-35—71 E Zach Johnson.............................36-35—71 E Patrick Reed...............................35-36—71 E Jason Kokrak .............................36-35—71 E Aaron Baddeley......................... 34-37—71 E Mark Anderson..........................35-36—71 E a-Matthew Fitzpatrick .............36-35—71 E Steve Marino........................... 36-36—72 +1 John Rollins ..............................37-35—72 +1 Spencer Levin ......................... 36-36—72 +1 Vijay Singh ...............................37-35—72 +1 Chesson Hadley.......................35-37—72 +1 Ernie Els ................................... 36-36—72 +1 Brandt Snedeker .....................35-37—72 +1 Bill Haas................................... 36-36—72 +1 Tommy Gainey........................ 36-36—72 +1 Danny Lee................................ 38-34—72 +1 Camilo Villegas .......................35-37—72 +1 Briny Baird ...............................35-37—72 +1 J.B. Holmes...............................35-37—72 +1 Martin Laird .............................35-37—72 +1 Ken Duke.................................. 38-34—72 +1 Geoff Ogilvy ............................ 36-36—72 +1 Marc Leishman........................37-35—72 +1 Ke vi n N a ...... .... .......... ...... .... ...... 35 -3 7— 72 + 1 Tim Clark ..................................37-35—72 +1 James Hahn..............................35-37—72 +1 Ricky Barnes ........................... 36-36—72 +1 Brendon de Jonge ...................37-35—72 +1 Dudley Hart ............................. 38-35—73 +2 Brice Garnett .......................... 34-39—73 +2 Boo Weekley ............................37-36—73 +2 Justin Leonard ........................ 35-38—73 +2 Stuart Appleby ........................36-37—73 +2 Charley Hoffman.................... 34-39—73 +2 Martin Kaymer ........................36-37—73 +2 Cameron Tringale .................. 38-35—73 +2 Stephen Ames ........................ 35-38—73 +2 Charlie Wi.................................36-37—73 +2 Charlie Beljan ......................... 38-35—73 +2 David Toms...............................36-37—73 +2 Mike Weir ................................ 38-35—73 +2 Chad Collins .............................36-37—73 +2 Kevin Kisner ............................ 35-38—73 +2 Paul Casey................................35-39—74 +3 Woody Austin .......................... 37-37—74 +3 Hunter Mahan......................... 38-36—74 +3 Glen Day....................................39-35—74 +3 Trevor Immelman.................... 37-37—74 +3 John Daly ..................................35-39—74 +3 Shawn Stefani..........................39-35—74 +3 Bryce Molder ........................... 37-37—74 +3 Mark Wilson............................ 36-38—74 +3 Josh Teater ...............................33-41—74 +3 Gonzalo Fdez-Castano........... 37-37—74 +3 Jason Bohn .............................. 36-38—74 +3 Pat Perez .................................. 37-37—74 +3 a-Hunter Stewart....................35-39—74 +3 David Hearn ............................ 38-37—75 +4 Roberto Castro....................... 37-38—75 +4 Will MacKenzie....................... 39-36—75 +4 Carl Pettersson ...................... 39-36—75 +4 Scott Verplank........................ 38-37—75 +4 Steven Bowditch .................... 40-35—75 +4 Justin Hicks............................. 38-37—75 +4 Paul Goydos ............................ 36-39—75 +4 Jim Renner............................... 38-37—75 +4 Tom Watson ............................ 36-39—75 +4 Brendon Todd ......................... 38-37—75 +4 Kevin Chappell........................ 36-39—75 +4 Chris DiMarco......................... 38-38—76 +5 Ben Crane................................ 38-38—76 +5 Jerry Kelly................................ 38-38—76 +5 Tyrone Van Aswegen ............ 39-37—76 +5 Rick Lewallen.......................... 40-36—76 +5 Russell Henley ........................ 37-39—76 +5 John Peterson......................... 40-37—77 +6 Michael Putnam ..................... 42-35—77 +6 Nick Faldo ................................ 37-40—77 +6 Wes Roach............................... 37-40—77 +6 Ryo Ishikawa........................... 38-39—77 +6 Kyle Stanley ............................ 40-37—77 +6 James Driscoll ........................ 39-38—77 +6 Ben Curtis................................39-40—79 +8 Greg Chalmers ....................................... WD Odds GLANTZ-CULVER LINE For April 18 Major League Baseball NATIONAL LEAGUE Favorite Line Underdog at Chicago -115/+105 Cincinnati St. Louis -115/+105 at Washington at Pittsburgh -110/+100 Milwaukee at New York -105/-105 Atlanta at Colorado -150/+140 Philadelphia San Francisco -115/+105 at San Diego at Los Angeles -170/+160 Arizona AMERICAN LEAGUE at Cleveland -120/+110 Toronto at Detroit -130/+120 Los Angeles at Tampa Bay -110/+100 New York at Boston -135/+125 Baltimore at Texas -175/+165 Chicago at Kansas City -160/+150 Minnesota at Oakland -200/+185 Houston INTERLEAGUE at Miami -110/+100 Seattle NBA TOMORROW Favorite Line (O/U) Underdog at Toronto 2½ (194) Brooklyn at Okla. City 7 (192½) Memphis at Indiana 7½ (186) Atlanta at Clippers 7 (210½) Golden State SUNDAY at San Antonio 9 (206½) Dallas at Miami 10 (189½) Charlotte at Chicago 5 (182) Washington at Houston 5 (215) Portland ODDS TO WIN SERIES Brooklyn -130/+110 Toronto Oklahoma City -350/+290 Memphis Indiana -600/+450 Atlanta Clippers -350/+290 Golden State San Antonio -700/+500 Dallas Miami -2000/+1200 Charlotte Chicago -190/+165 Washington Houston -190/+165 Portland NHL Favorite Line Underdog at Boston -200/+170 Detroit at Tampa Bay -110/-110 Montreal at Anaheim -175/+155 Dallas ODDS TO WIN SERIES Boston -280/+230 Detroit transactions BASEBALL Major League Baseball MLB: Suspended Seattle 1B Ji-Man Choi 50 games following a positive test for a performance-enhancing substance. American League Chicago White Sox: Selected the contract of RHP Zach Putnam from Charlotte (IL). Designated LHP Donnie Veal for assignment. Kansas City Royals: Placed OF Lorenzo Cain on the 15-day DL. Recalled LHP Justin Marks from Omaha (PCL). Seattle Mariners: Reinstated RHP Stephon Pryor from the 15-day DL and assigned him to Tacoma (PCL). National League Milwaukee Brewers: Placed 1B Lyle Overbay on the paternity leave list. Recalled INF-OF Elian Herrera from Nashville (IL). St. Louis Cardinals: Placed RHP Joe Kelly on the 15-day DL. Optioned RHP Keith Butler to Memphis (PCL). Recalled RHP Eric Fornataro and RHP Jorge Rondon from Memphis. FOOTBALL National Football League Indianapolis Colts: Signed OL Joe Reitz. Jacksonville Jaguars: Released LB Rus- sell Allen. Minnesota Vikings: Signed S Kurt Coleman. Oakland Raiders: Signed LB Kaelin Burnett. Canadian Football League Montreal Alouettes: Signed WR Chad Johnson to a two-year contract. The high-f lying front- court of Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan, coupled with point guard Chris Paul and 3-point shooters al l ove r th e ro st er m ak e th e Clippers one of the most fan-pleasing spectacles in sports. Los Angeles led the NBA in scoring this sea - son, averaging 107.9 points per game. "Incredible offensive jug- gernaut," Van Gundy called them. T h e q u i c k- s h o o t i n g Stephen Curry and Klay Th om pso n fo r Go ld en S ta te are as dangerous a scor - ing tandem as the league has ever seen. They com- bined to make 484 3-point- ers this season — eclipsing their NBA record of 483 set last season — and showed in the playoffs a year ago ho w to ug h th ey ar e to c ove r when they get going. "The greatest shooting backcourt in NBA history," Warriors coach Mark Jack - son has repeatedly labeled them. What both coaches be- lieve separates their teams — and often gets lost in the shoot-first-and-shoot-often approach they employ on of- fense — is the importance they place on defense. The Warriors held oppo- nents to 43.6 percent shoot- ing, tied with Oklahoma City for third-best in the league — though Golden State's defense could be hampered with center Andrew Bogut out with a fractured right rib. Opponents shot 44.1 percent against the Clip - pers, ranking fifth. "There's certain teams that you can slow down, and then there's certain teams that they're going to get it going in transition," Jack- son said. "The one thing about us is we defend at a high level, which creates transition opportunities." Th e Cl ip pe rs a nd W ar- riors also have something rare these days: real ani- mosity that could fuel phys- ical play. "They hate one another," said former Indiana Pacers guard and current TNT an- alyst Reggie Miller. The last major squab- ble came in Golden State's win on Christmas Day in Oakland, when Griffin and Warriors reserve Dray- mond Green were ejected and Bogut had dust-ups with Griffin and Paul. Ear- lier this season, the Clip- pers even refused to hold pregame chapel with the Warriors in Los Angeles — something every other team do es i n t he le ag ue . The verbal accusations heated up again on the air waves this week when Thompson was asked to describe Griffin's antics. He said the Clippers' All- Star forward is "out of con - trol" and compared him to a "bull in a china shop." "Like how can a guy that big and strong f lop that mu ch ?" T hom ps on t ol d KGMZ. There have been several other incidents, of course, including seven techni - cal fouls in the teams' first meeting last season. In the next, the Warriors beat the Clippers by 21 and got more than 300,000 views from a YouTube video that showed the bench jeering Grif - fin's 3-point attempt that bounced off the side of the backboard. The Clippers came back three days later by overemphasizing cele - brations during a 26-point win. "Both organizations were kind of irrelevant for a while when it comes to playoff basketball and playing im - portant games. The last three years it's kind of been a progression to where we are now," Curry said. "You play each other four times a year, sometimes in the pre - season, and you understand you'll probably have to go through them at some point to get to where you want to go and the goals you set for yourself. And all that kind of comes out each time you play them." The next phase in that evolution is a playoff series and, for the one surviving team, a chance to make the kind of deep run both fran - chises have long lacked. The teams have been to- gether in the Pacific Divi- sion since 1978, when the Clippers played in San Di- ego. They have never met in the playoffs — until now. "I think to really develop a great rivalry, there has to be incidents and there has to be meetings in the play - offs in close proximity," said Van Gundy, whose Knicks teams produced one of the best rivalries in NBA history against Miami in the 1990s. "With Miami, we had a few things in games, little flare- ups, and then we met four straight years in the play - offs and they all went to a de- ciding game. You need those things to develop rivalries." AP Sports Writer Anne M. Peterson in Portland, Ore., contributed to this story. Warriors FrOM PaGe 1 streak against the Dodgers snapped with just his sec- ond loss in the past seven outings against Los Ange- les. The left-hander allowed two runs, six hits and three walks with six strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings but threw 99 pitches. Opponents are batting .326 off Bumgarner, com - pared to a .203 average against that ranked third- lowest in the NL last year. "Not a whole lot went in our favor. I'm not trying to change anything," Bumgar - ner said. "That was some of the best stuff I've had so far. It's been tough getting deep into games right now." Ryu stretched his road scoreless streak to 26 in - nings this season and 28 in all. Ryu (3-1) struck out three and walked one on a season- high 112 pitches in seven in - nings, helping his club move into a tie with the Giants atop the NL West at 10-6. Yasiel Puig returned to the Dodgers starting lineup and went 1 for 4 with a strikeout. He dropped a routine fly ball in right early on but recovered to throw out Brandon Belt at second. He then made a nice over- the-head catch on the next batter and a running grab in shallow center in the eighth with a runner on second. He said the ball hit his thumb area on the play he missed and he didn't close his glove quickly enough. The Cuban star said be - fore the game he will stay focused on baseball despite reports smugglers who got him out of his country threatened his life. He made two baserunning blunders in the season-opening se - ries at Australia, then ar- rived late at Dodger Sta- dium for the home opener and was scratched. He vowed to remain fo- cused on baseball and not the off-field issues "so those things that are happening don't torment me." Tim Federowicz hit an RBI single in the second to put the Dodgers ahead, and Adrian Gonzalez singled in a run in the fifth to chase Bumgarner. Former Giants closer Brian Wilson gave up a lead - off double to Ehire Adrianza but escaped the eight inning unscathed. Kenley Jansen gave up a two-out RBI sin - gle to Adrianza in the ninth before finishing for his fifth save. "There's a little added Adrenalin and emotion here," Wilson said. Ryu had surrendered a career-high eight runs in a career-short two in - nings against the Giants in the Dodgers' home opener April 4. L os A n geles played without shortstop Han - ley Ramirez, a day after he was hit by a pitch on the top of his left hand. The Dodg- ers said there is no fracture, and Ramirez said he had iced the hand eight times and planned to play today against Arizona to begin a 10-game homestand. NOTES: Giants SS Bran - don Crawford was given an extra day off to rest his ten- der right hamstring. He was available to play and took ground balls before the game. ... CF Angel Pagan didn't start because of knee soreness but appeared as a pinch-hitter. "He banged his knee into a wall a few days ago, so we're giving him a break," Bochy said. Giants FrOM PaGe 1 It begins Saturday with four games: Top-seeded In- diana hosts Atlanta, and Brooklyn visits Toronto in the Eastern Conference, while the West series open - ers include Golden State at the Clippers, and Oklahoma City against Memphis. On Sunday, No. 1 over - all seed San Antonio opens against Dallas, right before Miami welcomes Charlotte. Washington at Chicago, and Houston hosting Portland round out the action. The postseason came to a thrilling conclusion last year, with the Heat rally - ing from a five-point defi- cit in the final 28 seconds of regulation to win Game 6. They went on to take a tight Game 7, helped when Tim Duncan missed over Battier from point-blank range down the stretch, to hand San Antonio its first loss in five NBA Finals ap - pearances. Many thought that was the last chance for the Spurs' core of Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. Instead, San Antonio won a league-high 62 games in perhaps the franchise's fin - est all-around season. Even the Spurs are im- pressed with the way they left disappointment behind, but all that matters now is what's ahead. "We are No. 1 overall and can't be better than that. But it doesn't mean anything," Ginobili said. "The playoffs starts from scratch." And it starts with a Dal - las team that won 49 games, which would have given the Mavericks the No. 3 seed in the weaker East. Houston and Portland tied for fourth with 54 wins — the same amount as the Heat earned to finish No. 2 in their con - ference. Miami lost 14 of its final 25 games, often while play- ing without Dwyane Wade, and finished two games be- hind the Pacers. ABC ana- lyst Jeff Van Gundy is pick- ing Indiana to win the East, in part because the Heat just don't quite resemble the team that lost only three times after the start of Feb - ruary last season. "I think they have a lot of guys who are not in their prime right now and their ability to consistently play well individually is just not there," Van Gundy said Thursday during a confer - ence call. "And then you have the health issues that to me, if they didn't have some of those health issues, they'd be a 60-win team and they'd be the favorite." Still, the betting site Bovada gave 3 to 1 odds of another Spurs-Heat fi - nals, best of any possible matchup. If it happens again, San Antonio would get the deci - sive game at home this time — though that may not even come into play if the Spurs have to face either the Rock - ets or Thunder, who both went 4-0 against them. Playoffs FrOM PaGe 1 | SPORTS | REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM FRIDAY, APRIL 18, 2014 2 B