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Scoreboard Major League Baseball AMERICANLEAGUE WESTDIVISION W L Pct GB Oakland 17 10 .630 _ Texas 15 12 .556 2 Los Angeles 12 13 .480 4 Seattle 11 14 .440 5 Houston 9 18 .333 8 CENTRALDIVISION W L Pct GB Detroit 13 9 .591 _ Minnesota 12 11 .522 1 ½ Kansas City 13 12 .520 1 ½ Chicago 14 14 .500 2 Cleveland 11 15 .423 4 EASTDIVISION W L Pct GB New York 15 11 .577 _ Baltimore 12 12 .500 2 Boston 13 14 .481 2 ½ Toronto 12 14 .462 3 Tampa Bay 11 16 .407 4 ½ Monday'sgames Oakland 4, Texas 0 Chicago White Sox 7, Tampa Bay 3 L.A. Angels 6, Cleveland 3 Tuesday'sgames Seattle 6, N.Y. Yankees 3 Pittsburgh at Baltimore, ppd., rain Boston 7, Tampa Bay 4 Oakland 9, Texas 3 Detroit 4, Chicago White Sox 3 Kansas City 10, Toronto 7 Washington 4, Houston 3 L.A. Dodgers at Minnesota, ppd., rain Cleveland at L.A. Angels, (n) Wednesday'sgames Detroit (Scherzer 2-1) at Chicago White Sox (Noesi 0-1), 11:10 a.m. Cleveland (McAllister 3-1) at L.A. Angels (C.Wilson 3-2), 4:05 p.m. Pittsburgh (Morton 0-3) at Baltimore (Tillman 3-1), 4:05 p.m. Seattle (Elias 1-2) at N.Y. Yankees (Phelps 0-0), 4:05 p.m. Tampa Bay (Archer 2-1) at Boston (Dou - bront 1-3), 4:10 p.m. Oakland (J.Chavez 1-0) at Texas (Ross Jr. 1-1), 5:05 p.m. L.A. Dodgers (Greinke 4-0) at Minnesota (Gibson 3-1), 5:10 p.m. Toronto (Hutchison 1-1) at Kansas City (Ventura 2-1), 5:10 p.m. Washington (Zimmermann 1-1) at Hous- ton (Oberholtzer 0-4), 5:10 p.m. Thursday'sgames L.A. Dodgers at Minnesota, 10:10 a.m., 1st game Pittsburgh at Baltimore, 4:05 p.m. Seattle at N.Y. Yankees, 4:05 p.m. L.A. Dodgers at Minnesota, 4:10 p.m., 2nd game Tampa Bay at Boston, 4:10 p.m. Toronto at Kansas City, 5:10 p.m. Athletics9,Rangers3 Oakland Texas AB R H B AB R H B Crisp cf 5 1 2 0 Choo dh 1 1 1 0 Lowrie ss 5 1 2 0 DRrtsn pr 1 0 0 0 Dnldsn 3b 5 1 1 0 Andrus ss 4 0 0 1 Cespds dh 1 3 1 0 ABeltre 3b 4 1 1 0 Jaso ph-dh 0 0 0 0 Fielder 1b 4 0 1 1 DNorrs c 5 0 2 3 Rios rf 4 0 1 1 Callasp 1b 3 1 0 1 Choice lf 4 0 1 0 Gentry lf 2 1 1 0 LMartn cf 4 0 1 0 Moss ph-lf 1 1 0 1 Chirins c 4 0 1 0 Reddck rf 4 0 1 3 JoWilsn 2b 4 1 1 0 Punto 2b 4 0 0 0 Totals 35 910 8 34 3 8 3 Oakland 211 050 000 — 9 Texas 000 120 000 — 3 E: Kazmir (1);DP: Oakland 1, Texas 2; LOB: Oakland 5, Texas 7;2B: Crisp (3), Donaldson (10), D.Norris 2 (5), Rios (8); 3B: Gentry (1);SB: Reddick (1), L.Martin (8). IP H R ER BB SO Oakland Kazmir W,4-0 5 7 3 3 1 4 Cook 2 0 0 0 1 2 Abad 1 0 0 0 0 1 Doolittle 1 1 0 0 0 2 Te xa s M.Perez L,4-142/3 8 8 8 3 3 Frasor 1 1 1 1 1 1 Tolleson 21/3 0 0 0 1 1 Cotts 1 1 0 0 1 1 HBP: by Kazmir (Choo);WP: Kazmir, Frasor. T: 3:08;A: 30,221 (48,114). NATIONALLEAGUE WESTDIVISION W L Pct GB San Francisco 15 11 .577 _ Colorado 15 12 .556 ½ Los Angeles 14 12 .538 1 San Diego 13 14 .481 2 ½ Arizona 8 21 .276 8 ½ CENTRALDIVISION W L Pct GB Milwaukee 19 7 .731 _ St. Louis 14 13 .519 5 ½ Cincinnati 11 14 .440 7 ½ Pittsburgh 10 16 .385 9 Chicago 8 16 .333 10 EASTDIVISION W L Pct GB Atlanta 17 8 .680 _ New York 15 11 .577 2 ½ Washington 15 12 .556 3 Philadelphia 13 13 .500 4 ½ Miami 12 14 .462 5 ½ Monday'sgames Chicago Cubs at Cincinnati, ppd., rain Milwaukee 5, St. Louis 3, 12 innings Colorado 8, Arizona 5 San Diego 6, San Francisco 4 Tuesday'sgames N.Y. Mets 6, Philadelphia 1 Pittsburgh at Baltimore, ppd., rain Miami 9, Atlanta 0 Chicago Cubs at Cincinnati, (n) Washington 4, Houston 3 L.A. Dodgers at Minnesota, ppd., rain Milwaukee at St. Louis, (n) Colorado at Arizona, (n) San Diego at San Francisco, (n) Wednesday'sgames Milwaukee (Garza 1-2) at St. Louis (S.Miller 2-2), 10:45 a.m. N.Y. Mets (Colon 2-3) at Philadelphia (K.Kendrick 0-2), 4:05 p.m. Pittsburgh (Morton 0-3) at Baltimore (Tillman 3-1), 4:05 p.m. Atlanta (Harang 3-1) at Miami (Eovaldi 1-1), 4:10 p.m. Chicago Cubs (E.Jackson 1-2) at Cincin - nati (Cingrani 2-2), 4:10 p.m. L.A. Dodgers (Greinke 4-0) at Minnesota (Gibson 3-1), 5:10 p.m. Washington (Zimmermann 1-1) at Hous- ton (Oberholtzer 0-4), 5:10 p.m. Colorado (Lyles 3-0) at Arizona (Col- lmenter 1-2), 6:40 p.m. San Diego (Erlin 1-3) at San Francisco (Hudson 3-1), 7:15 p.m. Thursday'sgames L.A. Dodgers at Minnesota, 10:10 a.m., 1st game Pittsburgh at Baltimore, 4:05 p.m. Atlanta at Miami, 4:10 p.m. L.A. Dodgers at Minnesota, 4:10 p.m., 2nd game Milwaukee at Cincinnati, 4:10 p.m. N.Y. Mets at Colorado, 5:40 p.m. Leaders AMERICANLEAGUE Batting AlRamirez, Chicago, .355; MeCabrera, Toronto, .347; Viciedo, Chicago, .341; Wieters, Baltimore, .338; RDavis, Detroit, .333; Joyce, Tampa Bay, .328; Rios, Texas, .327; Trout, Los Angeles, .327. Runs Dozier, Minnesota, 24; Bautista, Toronto, 23; JAbreu, Chicago, 20; Donaldson, Oakland, 20; Eaton, Chicago, 20; Trout, Los Angeles, 20; Mauer, Minnesota, 19; Pujols, Los Angeles, 19; Semien, Chi - cago, 19; Zobrist, Tampa Bay, 19. RBI JAbreu, Chicago, 32; Colabello, Min- nesota, 27; NCruz, Baltimore, 25; Donald- son, Oakland, 22; Pujols, Los Angeles, 22; Moss, Oakland, 21; Lawrie, Toronto, 20. Hits MeCabrera, Toronto, 41; AlRamirez, Chicago, 39; Rios, Texas, 35; Trout, Los Angeles, 34; Donaldson, Oakland, 32; Zobrist, Tampa Bay, 32; Altuve, Houston, 31. Doubles Donaldson, Oakland, 10; AGordon, Kansas City, 10; Loney, Tampa Bay, 10; Plouffe, Minnesota, 10; Beltran, New York, 9; Colabello, Minnesota, 9; Pe - droia, Boston, 9; SPerez, Kansas City, 9; Solarte, New York, 9; Viciedo, Chicago, 9. Triples 12 tied at 2. Homeruns JAbreu, Chicago, 10; Pujols, Los Angeles, 9; Bautista, Toronto, 8; NCruz, Baltimore, 7; Donaldson, Oakland, 7; Dozier, Min - nesota, 7; Lawrie, Toronto, 6; Trout, Los Angeles, 6. St olen b as es Altuve, Houston, 9; Andrus, Texas, 9; RDavis, Detroit, 8; Ellsbury, New York, 8; LMartin, Texas, 8; Crisp, Oakland, 7; Gardner, New York, 7. Pitching Kazmir, Oakland, 4-0; Buehrle, Toronto, 4-1; MPerez, Texas, 4-1; Gray, Oakland, 4-1; Lackey, Boston, 4-2; 17 tied at 3. ERA Gray, Oakland, 1.76; Ventura, Kansas City, 1.80; Shields, Kansas City, 2.03; Kazmir, Oakland, 2.11; Buehrle, Toronto, 2.16; Tanaka, New York, 2.27; JChavez, Oakland, 2.32. Strikeouts Price, Tampa Bay, 47; FHernandez, Seattle, 47; Tanaka, New York, 46; Scherzer, Detroit, 44; Lester, Boston, 43; Shields, Kansas City, 41; Sabathia, New York, 41. Saves Axford, Cleveland, 8; TomHunter, Balti - more, 6; Perkins, Minnesota, 6; Uehara, Boston, 6; Holland, Kansas City, 6; Soria, Texas, 6; Rodney, Seattle, 5; Santos, Toronto, 5; Nathan, Detroit, 5. NATIONALLEAGUE Batting Blackmon, Colorado, .389; Tulowitzki, Colorado, .366; Utley, Philadelphia, .355; DGordon, Los Angeles, .353; Morneau, Colorado, .351; YMolina, St. Louis, .344; Pagan, San Francisco, .333; Bonifacio, Chicago, .333. Runs Blackmon, Colorado, 22; Tulowitzki, Colorado, 22; Goldschmidt, Arizona, 20; EYoung, New York, 20; MCarpenter, St. Louis, 19; AdGonzalez, Los Angeles, 18; Ruiz, Philadelphia, 18; Stanton, Miami, 18. RBI Stanton, Miami, 31; AdGonzalez, Los Angeles, 23; Morneau, Colorado, 21; Tulowitzki, Colorado, 20; Morse, San Francisco, 19; ArRamirez, Milwaukee, 19; Trumbo, Arizona, 19. Hits Goldschmidt, Arizona, 37; Blackmon, Colorado, 35; Arenado, Colorado, 33; YMolina, St. Louis, 33; Morneau, Colorado, 33; Utley, Philadelphia, 33; 5 tied at 32. Doubles Goldschmidt, Arizona, 11; HRamirez, Los Angeles, 11; Utley, Philadelphia, 11; Lucroy, Milwaukee, 10; Hill, Arizona, 9; Tulowitzki, Colorado, 9; 8 tied at 8. Triples 12 tied at 2. Homeruns AdGonzalez, Los Angeles, 8; Stanton, Miami, 8; Belt, San Francisco, 7; Trumbo, Arizona, 7; JUpton, Atlanta, 7; 9 tied at 6. Stolenbases DGordon, Los Angeles, 13; EYoung, New York, 12; Revere, Philadelphia, 10; Bonifacio, Chicago, 9; BHamilton, Cincin - nati, 9; Blackmon, Colorado, 7; Marte, Pittsburgh, 7. Pitching Wainwright, St. Louis, 5-1; Greinke, Los Angeles, 4-0; Machi, San Francisco, 4-0; Fernandez, Miami, 4-1; Lynn, St. Louis, 4-1; Hammel, Chicago, 4-1; Lohse, Milwaukee, 4-1. ERA Harang, Atlanta, 0.85; Cueto, Cincinnati, 1.15; Wainwright, St. Louis, 1.20; Simon, Cincinnati, 1.30; Teheran, Atlanta, 1.47; Samardzija, Chicago, 1.53; Fernandez, Miami, 1.59. Strikeouts Fernandez, Miami, 55; Strasburg, Wash - ington, 53; Cueto, Cincinnati, 50; Wacha, St. Louis, 44; Wainwright, St. Louis, 42; Greinke, Los Angeles, 40; ClLee, Philadelphia, 40. Saves FRodriguez, Milwaukee, 12; Street, San Diego, 10; Jansen, Los Angeles, 9; Kimbrel, Atlanta, 8; Hawkins, Colorado, 8; Papelbon, Philadelphia, 8; Rosenthal, St. Louis, 7. Basketball NBAPLAYOFFS Firstround (Best-of-7; x-if necessary) Tuesday,April29 Washington 75, Chicago 69, Washington wins series 4-1 Memphis at Oklahoma City, (n), series tied 2-2 Golden State at L.A. Clippers, (n), series tied 2-2 Wednesday,April30 Dallas at San Antonio, 4 p.m., series tied 2-2 Brooklyn at Toronto, 5 p.m., series tied 2-2 Portland at Houston, 6:30 p.m., Portland leads series 3-1 Thursday,May1 Indiana at Atlanta, 4 p.m., Atlanta leads series 3-2 Oklahoma City at Memphis, 5 p.m. L.A. Clippers at Golden State, 7:30 p.m. Friday,May2 Toronto at Brooklyn, TBA San Antonio at Dallas, TBA x-Houston at Portland, TBA Saturday,May3 x-Atlanta at Indiana, TBA x-Memphis at Oklahoma City, TBA x-Golden State at L.A. Clippers, TBA Sunday,May4 x-Brooklyn at Toronto, TBA x-Dallas at San Antonio, TBA x-Portland at Houston, TBA Wizards75,Bulls69 WIZARDS(75) Ariza 3-8 0-0 6, Nene 10-17 0-1 20, Gortat 1-5 0-0 2, Wall 7-19 9-11 24, Beal 6-13 4-5 17, Booker 3-7 0-0 6, Webster 0-2 0-0 0, Miller 0-3 0-2 0, Temple 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 30-74 13-19 75. BULLS(69) Dunleavy 2-8 1-2 5, Boozer 4-12 2-2 10, Noah 3-8 0-2 6, Hinrich 6-11 0-0 16, Butler 6-15 2-2 16, Augustin 1-10 2-2 4, Gibson 3-10 6-7 12, Snell 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-75 13-17 69. Washington 23 18 20 14 _ 75 Chicago 15 26 11 17 _ 69 3-PointGoals: Washington 2-9 (Wall 1-2, Beal 1-4, Webster 0-1, Ariza 0-1, Booker 0-1), Chicago 6-16 (Hinrich 4-5, Butler 2-4, Dunleavy 0-3, Augustin 0-4);Fouled out: Hinrich;Rebounds: Washington 56 (Gortat 13), Chicago 48 (Noah 18); Assists: Washington 16 (Wall, Nene, Beal 4), Chicago 19 (Noah 7);Totalfouls: Washington 19, Chicago 17;Technicals: Chicago defensive three second;A: 21,752 (20,917). Hockey NHLPLAYOFFS (x-if necessary) Firstround (Best-of-7) Tuesday,April29 Philadelphia 5, N.Y. Rangers 2, series tied 3-3 Wednesday,April30 Philadelphia at N.Y. Rangers, 4 p.m. Minnesota at Colorado, 6:30 p.m., series tied 3-3 Los Angeles at San Jose, 7 p.m., series tied 3-3 Secondround Thursday,May1 Montreal at Boston, 4:30 p.m. N.Y.Flyers5,Rangers2 N.Y.Rangers 0 0 2 — 2 Philadelphia 1 3 1 — 5 FirstPeriod: 1, Philadelphia, Simmonds 2 (Hartnell, Giroux), 7:08 (pp). SecondPeriod: 2, Philadelphia, Sim- monds 3 (B.Schenn), 1:32. 3, Philadel- phia, Gustafsson 1 (Coburn), 14:17. 4, Philadelphia, Simmonds 4 (Voracek, Giroux), 15:19 (pp). ThirdPeriod: 5, N.Y. Rangers, Hagelin 2 (Stralman, Richards), 13:26. 6, Philadel- phia, Giroux 2, 15:49 (en). 7, N.Y. Rangers, Zuccarello 2 (Pouliot, Miller), 19:03. ShotsonGoal: N.Y. Rangers 13-10-13=36. Philadelphia 13-10-6=29. Goalies: N.Y. Rangers, Lundqvist, Talbot. Philadelphia, Mason;A: 20,137 (19,541); T: 2:37. Soccer MAJORLEAGUESOCCER WESTERNCONFERENCE W L T Pts GF GA Seattle 5 2 1 16 18 12 FC Dallas 5 2 1 16 18 14 Salt Lake 3 0 5 14 13 8 Colorado 3 2 2 11 9 9 Vancouver 2 2 4 10 12 10 Galaxy 2 1 2 8 7 4 San Jose 1 2 3 6 6 7 Chivas USA 1 4 3 6 8 14 Portland 0 3 5 5 9 13 EASTERNCONFERENCE W L T Pts GF GA Columbus 3 1 3 12 10 7 Kansas City 3 2 2 11 9 6 D.C. 3 2 2 11 10 8 New England 3 3 2 11 7 9 New York 2 2 5 11 13 12 Toronto FC 3 3 0 9 6 7 Houston 2 4 2 8 8 13 Philadelphia 1 3 5 8 9 11 Montreal 1 4 3 6 7 14 Chicago 0 1 6 6 10 11 Note: Three points for victory, one point for tie. Saturday,May3 New England at Toronto FC, 1 p.m. San Jose at Vancouver, 7 p.m. Salt Lake at Chicago, 8:30 p.m. Galaxy at Colorado, 9 p.m. Philadelphia at Seattle FC, 10 p.m. Houston at Chivas USA, 10:30 p.m. D.C. United at Portland, 10:30 p.m. Sunday,May4 New York at FC Dallas, 3 p.m. Columbus at Kansas City, 4 p.m. Odds GLANTZ-CULVERLINE MajorLeagueBaseball NATIONALLEAGUE Favorite Line Underdog at St. Louis -150/+140 Milwaukee at Philadelphia -110/+100 New York Atlanta -115/+105 at Miami at Cincinnati -175/+165 Chicago at Arizona -110/+100 Colorado at San Francisco -180/+170 San Diego AMERICANLEAGUE Detroit -165/+155 at Chicago at New York -135/+125 Seattle at Los Angeles -145/+135 Cleveland at Boston -110/+100 Tampa Bay at Texas -105/-105 Oakland at Kansas City -145/+135 Toronto INTERLEAGUE at Baltimore -140/+130 Pittsburgh Los Angeles (NL) -155/+145 at Minnesota Washington -165/+155 at Houston NBA Favorite Line(O/U) Underdog at Toronto 3½ (190½) Brooklyn at San Antonio 6½ (198½) Dallas at Houston 5½ (213½) Portland NHL Favorite Line Underdog at San Jose -140/+120 Los Angeles at N.Y. Rangers-x -155/+135 Philadelphia at Colorado -140/+120 Minnesota DateTBA at Boston -180/+160 Montreal ODDSTOWINSERIES Boston -230/+190 Montreal Boxing SATURDAY WBA/WBCWelterweightTitle AtLasVegas Favorite Line Underdog Mayweather -1200/+750 Maidana Transactions BASEBALL AmericanLeague TorontoBlueJays: Selected the contract of 2B Chris Getz from Buffalo (IL). Released RHP Mickey Storey. NationalLeague AtlantaBraves: Activated LHP Mike Minor from the 15-day DL. LosAngelesDodgers: Recalled LHP Paco Rodriguez from Albuquerque (PCL). Optioned INF Carlos Triunfel to Albuquerque. MiamiMarlins: Activated INF Ed Lucas from the 15-day DL. Designated 1B Greg Dobbs for assignment. WashingtonNationals: Optioned RHP Taylor Jordan to Syracuse (IL). Recalled RHP Ryan Mattheus from Syracuse. AmericanAssociation LaredoLemurs: Signed OF Harrison Kain. WichitaWingnuts: Released C Chris Matthews. FrontierLeague FrontierGreys: Signed INF Chase Tucker. GatewayGrizzlies: Signed INF Niko Vasquez to a contract extension. JolietSlammers: Traded RHP Zac Treece to Lake Erie for 1B Russell Moldenhauer. LakeErieCrushers: Signed INF Adam Ford and LHP Roberto Padilla. BASKETBALL NationalBasketballAssociation NBA: Banned Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling for life and fined him $2.5 million for racist comments he made in an audio recording. NBA: Suspended Dallas F-C DeJuan Blair for one game, without pay, for kicking San Antonio C Tiago Splitter in the head in their game on Monday. FOOTBALL NationalFootballLeague SeattleSeahawks: Signed S Earl Thomas to a four-year contract extension through the 2018 season. HOCKEY NationalHockeyLeague DallasStars: Reassigned F Chris Mueller and F Dustin Jeffrey to Texas (AHL). FloridaPanthers: Fired interim coach Peter Horachek. AmericanHockeyLeague SpringfieldFalcons: Announced G Jeremy Smith was returned to the team by Columbus (NHL). ECHL ECHL: Fined Fort Wayne's Mike Embach an undisclosed amount for his actions in an April 27 game against Reading. COLLEGE Elon: Named Chris Little men's soccer coach. Illinois-Chicago: Named Deon Thomas men's assistant basketball coach. NorthDakotaState: Named Eric Hender- son men's assistant basketball coach. MLBBaseBaLL Tampa Bay Rays at Boston Red sox:4p.m.,ESPN. Oakland athletics at Texas Rangers: 5p.m., CSN. san Diego Padres at san Francisco Giants: 7p.m., CSNBA. NBa PLayOFFs First Round Game 5, Dallas Mavericks at san antonio spurs: 4p.m., TNT. Game 5, Brooklyn Nets at Toronto Raptors: 4:30p.m., NBATV. Game 5, Portland Trail Blaz- ers at Houston Rockets: 6:30 p.m., TNT. NHL PLayOFFs First Round Game 7, Philadelphia Flyers at New york Rangers: 4p.m., NBCSP. Game 7, Minnesota Wild at Colorado avalanche: 6:30, CNBC. Game 7, Los angeles Kings at san Jose sharks: 7p.m., NBCSP. HORse RaCiNG Kentucky Derby Draw: 2p.m., NBCSP. On THe air The Associated Press neW YOrK Issuing about the strongest rebuke that he could, NBA Commis- sioner Adam Silver banned Los Angeles Clippers owner DonaldSterlingforlifeTues- day for making racist com- ments in a recorded conver- sation, the first step toward forcing a sale of the club and permanentlyremovingSter- ling from the league. Silver also fined Sterling $2.5 million, and again ex- pressed outrage. "I fully expect to get the support I need from the other NBA owners to re - move him," Silver said. Several owners immedi- ately chimed in with support of Silver's decision. Sterling, the league's longest-tenured owner and someone with an estimatednetworthofabout $2 billion, did not offer any immediate comment. Thepenalties,whichwere announced only three days after the scandal broke, are the harshest ever issued by the league and among the stiffest punishments ever given to an owner in pro - fessional sports. Silver said a league investigation found that Sterling was in fact the person on the audiotapes that were released over the weekend and immediately sent out shock waves. "We stand together in condemning Mr. Sterling's views," Silver said. "They simply have no place in the NBA." Sterling acknowledged he was the man on the tape, S il ve r s ai d. Sterling still owns the team, but going forward he is immediately barred from attending any NBA games or practices, being present at any Clippers office or fa - cility, participating in any business or player person- nel decisions involving the team, or being part of any league business. It's unclear how Sterling will respond. "This league is far bigger than any one owner, any one coach and any one player," said Silver, who as commis - sioner has broad powers un- der what's typically called the "best interest of the game" clause of the NBA constitution. nBa League bans Sterling for life Clippers owner also fined $2.5 million for racist comments ries considering how tightly contested this fierce Califor- nia rivalry has been over the last few years. The surprise is how the teams got to toight's win-or- go-home game. The Sharks were dom - inant early, winning the first three games and mak- ing former playoff MVP Jon- athan Quick look rather pe- destrian as he allowed 16 goals in those losses. But the Kings responded to win three straight games by three goals to force the showdown in San Jose for a spot in the second round against Anaheim. "We understand what's at stake," Sharks forward Joe Pavelski said. "There was the possibility the series was going to go to seven. We probably didn't think it was going to get there this way, but we're here now and guys will be ready to play. The Kings are the ninth team to force a Game 7 after losing the first three games. Three of the previous eight finished the job although the Sharks can take solace in the fact that they avoided that same collapse in 2011 when they rebounded from three straight losses to beat Detroit 3-2 at home to ad - vance to the Western Con- ference finals. San Jose jumped on top early that game with two first-period goals before holding on for the win. "We were a confident bunch," Sharks captain Joe Thornton recalled. "We felt like our game was missing in a couple games, but then we slowly got it back. This year is kind of the same way." Getting an early lead to - day would most definitely ease any nerves as the Sharks haven't had a lead at any point in those three losses. That has allowed the normally stingy Kings to tighten things up even more defensively, and eliminate all those odd-man rushes that fueled San Jose's 13- goal outburst in winning the first two games. "I think our attitude has changed within the last three games," Kings for - ward Justin Williams said. "Our backs are against the wall. It's win or go home, so we have a lot of character, we've stepped up so far, and we need to keep doing it." Williams scored two goals apiece in games 4 and 6. He also scored both Los Angeles goals in a 2-1 win in Game 7 of a second-round series against the Sharks last year, giving him five goals and four assists in four career Game 7's that were all won by his team. Another performance like that could help the Kings join Philadelphia (2010), the New York Is - landers (1975) and Toronto (1942) as the only teams to overcome a 3-0 deficit to win a best-of-seven series. "I think history is some - thing we look at, look back when we're done playing and say, 'We did that,' but that's not really something we're thinking about," Wil - liams said. "We've spot- ted them three games, and we've been able to come back to tie it, but it doesn't me an a ny th in g to u s if w e don't win it." This series has played out in stark contrast to last year's roller-coaster seven- game series won by Los Angeles when goals were at a premium and the home team won every game. The Sharks outscored the Kings 13-5 to win the first two games at home and took a stranglehold on the series when Patrick Mar - leau's overtime goal gave them a 4-3 win in Los An- geles in Game 3. But the Kings responded with a 6-3 win in Game 4 and a 3-0 victory in San Jose in Game 5 before scor - ing three goals in a span of 2:46 midway through the third period to win 4-1 on Monday night. Los Angeles has held San Jose's stars like Thornton, Pavelski, Marleau and Lo - gan Couture in check the last three games. "We havetogeta winning performance out of a lot of players who maybe have not had that over the last little bit but we're counting on it tomorrow," coach Todd Mc Le ll an s ai d. McLellan would not say which goalie he will be counting on. Rookie Alex Stalock replaced Antti Ni - emi in goal to start Game 6 and stopped 26 of 30 shots but kept San Jose in the game early. NOTES: McLellan did not have an update on the status of star D Marc-Ed - ouard Vlasic, who missed Game 6 with an upper-body injury. ... The Kings could be without D Willie Mitch - ell, who left in the second pe- riod Monday with an undis- closed injury. Sharks FrOM Page 1 The Associated Press CHiCagO John Wall fin- ished with 24 points, Nene scored 20, and the Washing- ton Wizards beat the Chi- cago Bulls 75-69 on Tues- day night to clinch their first-round series in five games. Bradley Beal scored 17 points, and the fifth-seeded Wizards advanced in the postseason for just the third time since the 1970s. They will meet Indiana or Atlanta in the Eastern Conference semifinals. It's a huge step for a fran - chise that hadn't been to the postseason since 2008, but with Wall and Beal leading the way, they won 44 games during the regular season. The Wizards turned a halftime tie into a nine- point lead heading into the fourth quarter and hung on down the stretch. Chicago's comeback chances took a big hit early in the final quarter when Taj Gibson crumbled to the court clutching his left an - kle after he tried to block a layup by Wall with the Wizards up by six points. He had to be helped off the court and did not return. Jimmy Butler and Kirk Hinrich scored 16 points each and Gibson had 12 for Chicago. Joakim Noah added 18 rebounds and seven assists. Carlos Boozer, a candidate to be amnestied, added 10 points and nine rebounds. nBa PLaYOFFS Wizards eliminate Bulls in 75-69 win Perez and Toronto's Mark Buehrle were the only other AL pitchers who went into Tuesday's games with four wins. When Craig Gentry led off the second with a triple, the A's already had three hits — matching through seven batters what they got against Perez last week. Gentry scored on a ground - out by Josh Reddick, who added a two-run single in Oakland's five-run outburst in the fifth. Perez was gone after is - suing a bases-loaded walk to Alberto Callaspo in the fifth. Pinch-hitter Brandon Moss then drew a bases- loaded walk on an eight- pitch at-bat against re - liever Jason Frasor before Reddick's single made it 9-1. AlexRioshadanRBIdou- ble for Texas in the fourth, but was thrown out trying to come home on a ground- ball. After the Rangers had consecutive singles to start the fifth, Elvis Andrus sent home a run on a groundout and Prince Fielder had an RBI single. NOTES: It was Texas manager Ron Washing - ton's 62nd birthday. The Rangers are 0-6 in games on his birthday. ... Kazmir's ERA rose to 2.11 after he en - tered at 1.62, third-best in the AL. ... Oakland is 11-4 on the road, best in the AL. ... Perez's scoreless streak was the fifth-longest for a Rang - ers starter. ... There was de- lay of 1 minute, 38 seconds in the fifth for Washing- ton's challenge after first- base umpire Laz Diaz ruled a foul ball on Andrus' liner down the right-field line just past the infield dirt. The call stood after replay, meaning there was no clear or con - vincing evidence to over- turn it. A's FrOM Page 1 | SPORTS | REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30, 2014 2 B