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ByAntonioGonzalez TheAssociatedPress OAKLAND Stephen Curry hit two free throws in the final sec- onds to finish with 34 points, and the Golden State Warriors rallied from 16 points down in the sec- ond quarter to beat the Houston Rockets 110-106 on Tuesday night in Game 1 of the Western Confer- ence finals. With the Rockets seemingly ready to rout the home team, the Warriors went to a smaller lineup and closed the first half on a 21-4 run. Shaun Livingston scored 14 of his 18 points in the quarter, helping Golden State go ahead 58-55 at halftime. The Warriors held off Houston in the final minute of the fourth. James Harden, the runner-up to Curry in the MVP voting, nearly brought the Rockets back after Dwight Howard departed with a left knee injury. Harden finished with 28 points, 11 rebounds, nine assists and four steals. Game 2 is Thursday night in Oakland. Harden, serenaded with chants of "Over-rated!" from Warriors fans, mixed in a series of step- back jumpers and driving layups to help Houston even the score at 95-all midway through the fourth. But the Warriors shut down Houston for long stretches, and Curry kept hitting shots. He con- nected on a 3-pointer and con- verted a layup to put Golden State up 108-97 with 2:01 remaining. The Rockets never relented, though, with Trevor Ariza mak- ing a 3-pointer that trimmed the Warriors' lead to 108-106 with 14.6 seconds to play. Curry twice caught the in- bounds pass, and the Rockets were forced to foul him both times. He hit both free throws to seal Golden State's win. Curry added six rebounds and five assists, and Green had 13 points, 12 rebounds and eight as- sists to boost the Warriors when they needed it most. Ariza scored 20 points and Josh Smith had 17 points and seven re- bounds for Houston, which played without Howard for most of the fourth. The center's status mov- ing forward is unclear. In the conference finals for the first time since 1976, the Warriors hardly looked like the league's top-seeded team at the outset. In- stead, the Rockets rode the mo- mentum from a stunning 3-1 se- ries comeback against the Los An- geles Clippers that ended with a Game 7 win in Houston on Sun- day. NBA PLAYOFFS BIGRUNWARRIORS GROUND ROCKETS Golden State rallies from 16 points down for Game 1 conference finals win BENMARGOT—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Golden State Warriors' Stephen Curry celebrates a score against the Houston Rockets during the first quarter of Game 1of the NBA Western Conference finals on Tuesday in Oakland. For results of last night's Gi- ants game against the Dodg- ers at AT&T Park, check out www.redbluffdailynews.com/ giants NATIONAL LEAGUE Giantsvs.Dodgers results online DAVID J. PHILLIP — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Oakland's Max Muncy is tagged out at home plate by Houston Astros catcher Jason Castro while trying to score during the second inning. By John Hickey Bay Area News Group HOUSTON On a night full of good news on surgeries and bad news on injuries, one constant that has dogged the A's stayed with them in a 6-4 loss to Hous- ton Tuesday. The A's once again couldn't find a way to win back-to-back games, not even with ace Sonny Gray doing the start- ing. The A's had two men thrown out at the plate in the second inning alone, ei- ther one of whom might have changed the flavor of this game had the safe call come down. For Oakland, which won back-to-back games in Houston on April 13-14, there was no repeat magic. Max Muncy hom- ered to get the A's to within a run in the sixth, but that was as far as things went. And the game got out of hand when Fer- nando Abad allowed a two-run homer to Colby Rasmus and a solo shot to Jason Castro in the eighth. Those three runs proved to be back- breakers, because Oakland tried to rally in the ninth against former A's reliever Luke Gregerson. Down 6-2, Brett Law- rie singled home a run, but with men on the corners and no one out, Mark Canha grounded into a double play. It got a run home, but quashed the rally. The A's would get the tying run to the plate again, but Billy Burns struck out against another former A's reliever, Pat Neshek. The game was costly for the A's in that left fielder coco Crisp had to leave with a neck injury, reminiscent of his neck problems throughout 2014. Be- fore the game, the A's said that starting pitcher Drew Pomeranz might wind up on the disabled list after coming down with shoulder trouble in his start Mon- day. The good bit of news came from Flor- ida, where starter Jarrod Parker had sur- gery performed on his fractured me- dial epicondyle by Dr. James Andrews. Andrews was able to make the repair and was further able to report that the Tommy John-style ligament replacement surgery of 2014 hadn't been impacted by the fracture. There had been considerable con- cern that Parker, who had been rehab- bing from his second Tommy John sur- gery, might need a third. AMERICAN LEAGUE A'scan'tshakeinconsistency Haven't won consecutive games in over a month The Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO Now that Patri- ots owner Robert Kraft is not ap- pealing his team's punishments in the deflated footballs scandal, only his quarterback's challenge remains. Moments after Kraft said Tues- day he won't oppose the $1 million fine and loss of two draft choices the NFL penalized the team for its role in using underinflated footballs in the AFC champion- ship game, the players' union re- asserted that Tom Brady's appeal will go forward. Brady, the MVP of February's Super Bowl and one of the league's biggest stars, has been suspended for the first four games of the 2015 season by the NFL. Later Tuesday, the owners voted 30-2 to move the snap for extra-point kicks from the 2-yard line to the 15. Two-point conver- sion tries will remain at the 2. But defensive teams will be al- lowed to return blocked kicks or turnovers on the extra points to the other end zone to earn two points. NFL Pats won't appeal fine, dra penalties The Associated Press NEW YORK The Minnesota Tim- berwolves won the NBA draft lot- tery Tuesday night, the first time since 2004 the team with the worst record won the No. 1 pick. After years of bad luck in the lottery, things finally worked out for the Wolves, who can perhaps choose between big men Karl- Anthony Towns of Kentucky and Jahlil Okafor of national cham- pion Duke to put next to Rookie of the Year Andrew Wiggins. The Los Angeles Lakers moved from the fourth spot to second, keeping a pick they would have sent to Philadelphia if it fell out- side the top five. The 76ers are third followed by the New York Knicks, who had the second-best odds of winning but instead fell to fourth 30 years after winning the first draft lottery and draft- ing Hall of Famer Patrick Ewing. The lottery sets the top three picks. The remainder of the 14 non-playoff teams follow in in- verse order of their won-loss re- cord. NBA T'wolves win dra lottery, Lakers No. 2 Coverage of the Northern Section CIF Division II baseball semifinal matchup between Red Bluff High and Pleasant Valley played Tuesday can be found at the Daily News web- site at redbluffdailynews.com. BASEBALL PLAYOFFS Coverage of Spartans- Vikings available online The third-seeded Corning High so ball team hosted No. 6 Central Valley on Tuesday in the first round of the Northern Section CIF playoffs. Read coverage of the game at red- bluffdailynews.com. SOFTBALL PLAYOFFS First-round coverage of Lady Cards on website Get your puzzles fix with the NEA Crossword, 7Little Words and Celebrity Cipher, start your day off right with your horoscope, and read the latest advice doled out by Amy Dickinson. YOUR DAILY BREAK Fun and games inside today PAGEB2 SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Wednesday, May 20, 2015 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1