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Weekend SAT —Belmont Stakes, 2 p.m., NBC MLB— A’s at White Sox, Sat, 4 p.m; Sun, 11 a.m., CSNC MLB— Reds at Giants, Sat, 1 p.m., FOX; Sun, 5 p.m., ESPN PGA— St. Jude Classic, Sat and Sun, Noon, CBS SUN—NBAFinals — Mavericks at Heat, 5 p.m., ABC SUN—NASCAR —Pocono 500, 10 a.m., TNT Sports 1B Weekend June 11-12, 2011 Jackson talks big, bold as Warriors coach SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Mark Jackson was every bit the bold and boisterous personality on his first day as coach of the Gold- en State Warriors that he was as a player and a broadcast analyst. Only time will tell if he can be equally successful. Declaring that ‘‘the Bay Area will never be the same,’’ Jackson promised sweeping changes Fri- day to the perennially under- achieving franchise. He was intro- duced by the Warriors at a swanky San Francisco hotel across the bay from where the team plays in Oak- land that had all the flair of the area’s new coach. The Brooklyn native and for- mer New York Knicks point guard said the Warriors will make the area ‘‘New York City West’’ in NBA circles, attracting the coveted free agents the franchise has always struggled to sign. He even predicted championship banners would follow. ‘‘When you look at the success of the teams in this area, the A’s have had theirs. The Niners have had theirs. The Giants have had theirs. The Raiders have had theirs. And now we’re looking forward to ours,’’ Jackson said. ‘‘So, there- fore, it’s about time. Sorry it took so long, but now we’re at the party.’’ Well, not quite. The Warriors have made the playoffs just once since 1994 and haven’t won an NBA title since 1975. About the only success the franchise has enjoyed is that fans in the basketball-crazy Bay Area regularly sell out Oracle Arena and ‘‘When you look at the success of the teams in this area, the A’s have had theirs. The Niners have had theirs. The Giants have had theirs. The Raiders have had theirs. And now we’re looking forward to ours. So, therefore, it’s about time. Sorry it took so long, but now we’re at the party.’’ — Golden State Warriors coach Mark Jackson can be as vocal as any in a market saturated with sports teams. Jackson agreed to a $6 million, three-year deal to take over a team that went 36-46 last season. That was a 10-game improvement from the previous season but not enough to save Keith Smart’s job. ‘‘We’re not going to accept mediocrity,’’ Jackson said, slipping into his Brooklyn accent and friendly slang that made him a broadcasting favorite. ‘‘You might as well hitch onto the bandwagon because things gone be a chang- ing.’’ Jackson was adamant that the team’s backcourt duo of Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry can be as successful defensively as it has been offensively. He said he looks forward to coaching Ellis — always the subject of trade talk — and wouldn’t move the team’s star guard for anything less than one of the league’s top players. There’s still no telling what Jackson values most on the floor or what his coaching style will be. For all of Jackson’s accolades, he has never been a coach. Not in college. Not in high school. Not even as an assistant or an understudy anywhere. He See COACH, page 2B Canucks edge Bruins, take 3-2 lead A’s snap losing streak VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Every other scoring tactic had failed over the last three games, so Vancouver defenseman Kevin Bieksa made something up. He deliberately put a shot wide of the net in Game 5, know- ing Boston goalie Tim Thomas couldn’t stop him- self from reacting to it. The next moment was a study in hockey geometry. The puck caromed off the boards behind Thomas’ net to the far side, where Maxim Lapierre gratefully banged it into the only sliver of net Thomas couldn’t cover. That’s how goals are scored against two goalies who look unbeatable. That’s why the resource- ful Canucks are one win away from hoisting the Stanley Cup for the first time. Lapierre scored the only goal with 15:25 to play, Roberto Luongo stopped 31 shots in a stirring shutout after getting pulled from his last game, and the Canucks took a 3-2 series lead with a 1-0 victory over the Bruins in Game 5 on Friday night. The Canucks have scored just six goals in five Stanley Cup finals games against the brilliant Thomas, yet they’re one victory away from their first NHL cham- pionship. Thomas was almost perfect in Game 5 after shutting out the Canucks in Game 4, but Luongo was thrilled after Bieksa and Lapierre used the Boston star’s aggressive style against him to manu- facture a historic goal. ‘‘It’s not hard (to stop) if you’re playing in the paint,’’ said Luongo, who rebound- ed after allowing 12 goals in just over four periods in Boston. ‘‘It’s an easy save for me, but if you’re wander- ing out that’s going to hap- pen.’’ Ouch. With just a few days to go, even the goalies are getting chippy in these fantastic finals. Game 6 is Monday night CHICAGO (AP) — Scott Sizemore hit a go-ahead three- run double in the ninth inning to rally the Oakland Athletics past the Chicago White Sox 7-5 Friday night, ending a 10- game losing streak. The A’s won their first game under Bob Melvin. Oakland made the majors’ first managerial change of 2011 by firing Bob Geren after four-plus seasons Thursday and replacing him with Melvin. Trailing 5-3 in the ninth, White Sox closer Sergio Santos (2-3) retired the first two batters and had Josh Willingham in an 0-2 count before walking him. Hideki Matsui followed with an RBI single to cut the White Sox lead to a run. San- tos then walked Daric Barton and hit Kurt Suzuki with a breaking ball to load the bases. Sizemore then split the left- center gap to give the Athletics a 7-5 lead. Santos allowed three runs in Wednesday’s loss to the Mariners. Grant Balfour (4-1) pitched a scoreless eighth for the vic- tory and Andrew Bailey pitched a perfect ninth for his first save of the season. Paul Konerko hit a two-run homer and A.J. Pierzynski had three hits for the White Sox, who failed to gain ground in the AL Central despite Cleveland and Detroit both losing. The A’s had had 13 hits in avoiding losing 11 straight for the first time since a 12-game slide April 19-30, 1994. Oak- land came into the game batting .219 (75 for 343) during the 10-game losing streak. Cliff Pennington and Sizemore led the A’s with three hits. White Sox starter Edwin Jackson pitched six innings and MCT photo Boston’s Shawn Thornton and Vancouver’s Sami Salo fight for the puck. in Boston, and the Stanley Cup will be there. Luongo posted his fourth shutout of the playoffs and second of the Stanley Cup finals after a pregame walk on Vancouver’s picturesque seawall to clear his mind. Luongo was pulled from Game 4, but coach Alain Vigneault stuck with him for Game 5. The Olympic champion was only occa- sionally spectacular, but he still narrowly outplayed Thomas, who has received just two goals of support from his teammates in three games in Vancouver. ‘‘There was something about him before the game,’’ Bieksa said. ‘‘He just seemed so comfortable, so confident. He was vocal, and usually he’s not a vocal guy. We thought it would be something special.’’ Neither team found an offensive flow in a Game 5 nail-biter, but Luongo kept Vancouver in it until Lapierre’s goal set off a crazy celebration among tens of thousands of fans thronging downtown Van- couver. After Vancouver’s Tanner Glass missed a back- hand on an open net one period earlier, Lapierre was more than ready to put it behind Thomas for just his second goal of the postsea- son, pumping both fists fre- netically in celebration. A few Bruins — and even Vancouver’s Alex Bur- rows — wondered whether Bieksa meant to miss. ‘‘I hope I was trying to miss the net, because I missed it by about 8 feet,’’ Bieksa said. ‘‘I didn’t have a real good angle to the net, so I just put it up there and got a good bounce.’’ Lapierre was a late-sea- son acquisition who largely serves as an agitator for the Canucks, not a scorer. He’s never managed more than 15 goals in a season, and he had just six this season while playing for Montreal, Ana- heim and Vancouver. ‘‘It’s been six months I’m thinking about a goal,’’ Lapierre said. ‘‘We got lucky. Good bounce. It was challenging there for us, right spot at the right time.’’ Thomas made 24 saves in Game 5, but lost his shutout streak of 110 min- utes, 42 seconds dating to Game 3. With injured for- ward Nathan Horton’s jer- sey hanging in the visitors’ locker room, the Bruins’ power play regressed to its previous postseason strug- gles, going 0 for 4. Thomas made only one See CUP, page 2B allowed two runs on eight hits. Graham Godfrey made his major league debut with Brett Anderson sidelined by elbow soreness. Godfrey allowed five runs on nine hits over 4 1-3 innings. Godfrey was 7-1 with a 2.50 ERA for Sacramento. The 26-year old right-hander started one game for Double-A Midland before being promoted to Sacramento. Trailing 1-0 in the first inning, Carlos Quentin drew a two-out walk, then Konerko followed with his 16th home run and second in as many days to put Chicago ahead. It was Konerko’s ninth straight game with an extra-base hit, setting a franchise record. The White Sox left the bases loaded after Godfrey struck out Gordon Beckham. Konerko is 20-42 with six doubles, six home runs and 14 RBIs during his 11-game hitting streak, raising his average from .287 to .321. He has hit six home runs in his last nine games. Jemile Weeks led off the third with a triple. Center field- er Alex Rios had a bad read on the ball and initially turned in the wrong direction as the ball went over his head. Weeks later scored on Pennington’s infield single to tie the score at two. The White Sox got the lead back for Jackson in the fifth. Alexei Ramirez led off with a double, then Quentin followed a slow bouncer to third baseman Scott Sizemore. Sizemore made an off balanced throw to first which got away from Barton at first. Ramirez ended up scoring on the throwing error. Godfrey was chased after giving up a single to Pierzynski. Quentin hustled into third on the hit to right and Pierzynski took second on the throw. Quentin ended up scor- ing on Rios’ groundout and Adam Dunn drove in Pierzyns- ki on a single to give the White Sox a 5-2 lead. With one out in the first, Pennington doubled down the left-field line. One out later, Pennington scored on Willing- ham’s single. Coco Crisp scored on pinch-hitter Conor Jackson’s groundout in the seventh. Belmont Stakes may be true ’Test of the Champion’ NEW YORK (AP) — Even without a Triple Crown on the line, the 143rd Belmont Stakes may indeed be the ‘‘Test of the Champi- on.’’ The final leg of the Triple Crown features not only the rubber match between Ken- tucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom and Preakness winner Shackleford on Sat- urday, but the top seven fin- ishers from the Derby for the first time as well. ‘‘Why did everyone pick this year to come back?’’ wondered a smiling Graham Motion, who trains Animal Kingdom. After watching his Derby winner gallop around the 1 1/2-mile main track at Bel- mont Park on Friday morn- ing, Motion declared his colt in ‘‘great form’’ and up to the challenge of taking on a slew of rivals for the third time in five weeks. ‘‘To have seven horses come back from the Derby, and to have the winner of the Preakness and Derby, what more can you want?’’ Motion said. ‘‘Everyone wants to see a Triple Crown winner, but ultimately this is the test of champions and I think this really is going to be that test.’’ Animal Kingdom is the 2-1 favorite in a field of 12 3-year-olds as he attempts to become the 12th horse to complete a Derby-Belmont double. The last to succeed was Thunder Gulch in 1995. Derby runner-up Nehro is the second choice at 4-1, with Shackleford next at 9-2 as he tries to become the 19th horse to take the Preak- ness and Belmont. Ahmed Zayat, who owns Nehro, can’t wait to see what happens. Of course, he’s hoping his colt will shed his bridesmaid reputa- tion after second-place fin- ishes in the Louisiana, Arkansas and Kentucky der- bies. ‘‘This race will be some- thing special,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s another Derby at the test of champions.’’ The matchup of a Derby winner against a Preakness winner in the 1 1/2-mile Belmont doesn’t occur often. This will be the 22nd time it’s happens, and first since 2005, when Preakness winner Afleet Alex defeated Derby winner Giacomo. Preakness winners have won 10 times, Derby win- ners five times. Short of a Triple Crown bid, ‘‘this is going to be one of the most exciting Bel- monts I can remember,’’ Shackleford’s trainer Dale Romans said. The New York Racing Association is hoping for a crowd of 60,000, far less than the record 120,139 that showed up for Smarty Jones’ Triple Crown try in 2004. Weather could be a factor with forecasts calling for a 60 percent chance of rain, with thunderstorms possible by late afternoon, and temperatures in the high 60s. Motion and Romans have said a wet track should- n’t be a problem for their horses, while long shot Ruler On Ice has won over a sloppy dirt track before. Post time for the race on NBC is 6:35 p.m. With one long lap around the only 1 1/2-mile track in North America, the Bel- mont has been full of sur- prises. Since Thunder Gulch won as the favorite in ’95, only two others have done the same — Point Given in 2001 and Afleet Alex in ’05. Long shots have been com- ing home first on a regular basis. Last year it was 13-1 Drosselmeyer, two years ago Summer Bird at 11-1, and three years ago Da’ Tara at 38-1. Birdstone spoiled See STAKES, page 2B Chi. White Sox 5 Athletics 7 Golden State Warriors Boston 0 VAN Vancouver 1 3-2 Belmont Stakes