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December 26, 2015

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ByJoshDubow The Associated Press OAKLAND Even when all those long-range shots aren't falling like usual, the defending-champion Golden State Warriors showed they are quite comfortable grind- ing out wins. Draymond Green had 22 points and 15 rebounds and the Warriors got defensive in their NBA Finals rematch against Cleveland, beat- ing the Cavaliers 89-83 on Friday. "It's good to have one of those every so often," guard Stephen Curry said. "If our defense shows up, we're in pretty good shape to win games. We just show our ver- satility and try to win different ways." Curry added 19 points, Klay Thompson had 18, and the War- riors improved to 28-1 by win- ning their 32nd straight regular- season home game. Instead of doing it with 3-pointers, defend- ing champion Golden State main- tained its edge over Cleveland by limiting the Cavaliers to 32 per- cent shooting. The Warriors were held under 100 points at home for the first time in more than a year in the regular season, however it hap- pened five times in the playoffs. "It's good to practice and get experience in that type of game as well where it's low scoring, get- ting stops, knocking down free throws and executing in the half court," interim coach Luke Wal- ton said. "It's great experience for us." LeBron James scored 25 points to lead the Cavaliers. They had their six-game winning streak snapped. "We gave ourselves a chance," James said. "If we play like that defensively, we're going to be a very tough team to beat. Offen- sively, we just didn't have it. No one had it." The Cavaliers were short- handed when they lost the final to the Warriors in six games, miss- ing power forward Kevin Love the entire series with a shoulder in- jury and losing point guard Ky- rie Irving to a knee injury late in the first game. Having both those players healthy for the rematch did little to help Cleveland. Love scored just 10 points on 5-for-16 shoot- ing, and Irving missed 11 of 15 shots in a 13-point game. With those two struggling, the Warriors built a 10-point lead midway through the fourth quar- ter following a jumper by Thomp- son and a layup from Green. But James responded with a pair of dunks and a blocked shot on Thompson before Love's tip-in made it 81-77 with just over 2 min- utes to play. James missed two free throws after Cleveland got another stop and Curry responded with a pair of layups around J.R. Smith's 3-pointer to make it 85-80 with 57.6 seconds to play. James shot an air ball from 3 with 12.7 seconds to play to end Cleveland's comeback attempt. NBA WARRIORS WIN IN FINALS REMATCH Green leads Golden State with 22 points, 15 rebounds in victory over Cavs PHOTOSBYMARCIOJOSESANCHEZ—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS The Golden State Warriors' Stephen Curry (30) drives past the Cleveland Cavaliers' LeBron James during the second half Friday in Oakland. Golden State won 89-83. The Golden State Warriors' Draymond Green (23) celebrates a er scoring against the Cleveland Cavaliers during the first half Friday in Oakland. WARRIORS 89, CAVALIERS 83 Up next: Sacramento Kings at Golden State Warriors, 7:30 p.m. Monday, TV on CSNBA. THESCORE MARCIO JOSE SANCHEZ — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Oakland Raiders cornerback Charles Woodson (24) addresses the crowd a er an overtime period Thursday against the San Diego Chargers in Oakland. By Josh Dubow The Associated Press OAKLAND Philip Rivers' last pass fell incomplete near Charles Wood- son's feet and the celebration began. Woodson got a Gatorade shower and then led the fans in a chant of "Rai- ders! Rai-ders!" What was Woodson's final game in Oakland — and might have been the last for the Raiders as well — was far from pretty but it ended in a victory. Sebastian Janikowski kicked a 31- yard field goal in overtime and the Raiders got a defensive stop to seal a 23-20 victory over the San Diego Chargers on Thursday night. "I guess it had to end like that," Woodson said. "It was a little much for me. I would have rather it had been a lopsided victory and we blew them out. That's the way it goes some- times." Derek Carr threw a touchdown pass and led the winning overtime drive for the Raiders (7-8), who could be moving to the Los Angeles area af- ter the season. It also made Woodson a winner in his final home game with the Raiders before retiring after his 18th NFL season. "This is my last game in the Col- iseum but just know I'll never leave you," Woodson told the crowd. "Go Raiders!" The Raiders won despite 15 pen- alties, including five on their over- time drive, and being held to one first down of the second half on a 3-yard touchdown drive. But Oakland did move the ball in overtime after winning the toss. Three straight penalties left the Raid- ers with a second-and-29 but San Di- ego's Denzel Perryman bailed them out when he was called for a personal foul for hitting a defenseless Michael Crabtree in the head. Seth Roberts then made a jug- gling 33-yard catch and run to put the Raiders on the 10. After Woodson lost 3 yards on a reverse when San Di- ego covered a possible pass to Carr in the end zone, Janikowski hit the go- ahead field goal. NFL RaidersbeatChargersinOT Woodson plays final home game in Oakland, team may leave town too RAIDERS 23, CHARGERS 20 (OT) Up next: Oakland Raiders at Kansas City Chiefs, 10a.m. Sunday, Jan. 3, TV on CBS. THESCORE By Noah Trister The Associated Press EASTLANSING,MICH. Perhaps it's appropriate that Michigan State's opponent in a playoff semifinal will be Alabama — the one pro- gram that makes pretty much ev- eryone look like an underdog. Throughout the Spartans' rise under coach Mark Dantonio, they have been fueled by an unyielding sense that no matter what they accomplish, there will always be doubters. Sometimes the disre- spect toward Michigan State is obvious for everyone to see, and other times it feels a bit more con- trived — but there's no denying that Dantonio's players feed off it. "I would rather be the under- dog, I guess," Spartans defensive back Demetrious Cox said. "It's a better feeling when you have to prove people wrong." To understand Michigan State's attitude — the perpetual chip on the program's shoulder — you must first look about 65 miles down the road at the school's big- gest rival. Michigan, with all its tradition and national prestige, dominated its series with the Spartans for about 40 years, and the Wolverines do not even con- sider Michigan State their top ri- val. That distinction, of course, belongs to Ohio State. After Dantonio took over in East Lansing, he lost his first meeting with Michigan in 2007. Following that game, Wolverines running back Mike Hart infa- mously compared Michigan State to a "little brother" and the Spar- tans have won seven of eight in the series since. "When you come here, and you're an out-of-state guy, you re- ally don't know about the Mich- igan rivalry like that," said Cox, who is from Pennsylvania. "You know about it, but you don't really know until you get here." COLLEGE FOOTBALL Alabama favored, Spartans underdogs The Associated Press OAKLAND Oakland is pitching five sites as potential homes for a new stadium for the A's. The Oakland Tribune reported Thursday that it had obtained a city report submitted to team of- ficials in November that identified the five sites. They include two on a college campus and one at a U.S. Postal Service facility. The newspaper said A's co- owner Lew Wolff declined to dis- cuss the sites. But he said the team was continuing to take a second look at possible stadium locations in its territory. The A's attempts to move to San Jose were blocked because the San Francisco Giants have rights to that territory. BASEBALL Oakland has 5 sites for new A's stadium SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Saturday, December 26, 2015 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1

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