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TONYDEJAK—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) drives on the Golden State Warriors' Festus Ezeli (31) and Andre Iguodala (9) during the first half Wednesday in Game 3of the NBA Finals in Cleveland. ByTomWithers TheAssociatedPress CLEVELAND LeBron James scored 32 points, Kyrie Irving added 30 and the Cleveland Cav- aliers, pushed for 48 minutes by a delirious, championship-starved crowd, hammered the Golden State Warriors 120-90 in Game 3 on Wednesday night to pull within 2-1 in the NBA Finals. On their home floor, where they have been dominant all postsea- son, the Cavs pulled their season from the brink of disaster follow- ing back-to-back blowout losses in the Bay Area. "Coaching staff gave us a great game plan and we executed it for 48 minutes," James said. They did it without starting forward Kevin Love, little help from their bench and by keeping Stephen Curry penned in. The league's MVP was mostly MIA, scoring 19 points — two in the first half — on 6-of-13 shoot- ing. Harrison Barnes scored 18 and Klay Thompson 10 for Golden State, which had won seven straight over Cleveland — the first two finals games by a combined 48 points — and came back to the birthplace of rock and roll looking to party like they did after win- ning the title in Quicken Loans Arena last year. The Cavs, though, have made this a series after it appeared the Warriors were on the fast track to another crown. James had called it "do or die" for Cleveland. Well, done and living. "We've got to give the same ef- fort on Friday," James said. "It started defensively and it trick- led down to the offensive side." Irving bounced back from two rough games out West, J.R. Smith made five 3-pointers and Tristan Thompson did the dirty work in- side, getting 13 rebounds for the Cavs, who improved to 8-0 at NBA FINALS CavswallopWarriorsinGame3 James scores 32 points as Cleveland keeps Golden State in check CAVALIERS120,WARRIORS90 Series: Golden State leads 2-1. Game 4: Golden State Warriors at Cleveland Cavaliers, 6p.m. Friday, TV on ABC. THESCORE PITTSBURGH LEADS SERIES 3-1 Game 5: San Jose Sharks at Pittsburgh Penguins, 5p.m. Thursday, TV on NBC. TUNEIN By Curtis Pashelka Bay Area News Group PITTSBURGH The San Jose Sharks went through one of their typical high-tempo practices on Wednesday. Skating and passing drills, odd man rushes, special teams work. Considering the do-or-die cir- cumstance they face Thursday in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Pittsburgh Penguins, they looked like they were hav- ing fun. "That was their usual," Sharks coach Pete DeBoer said. "(Brent Burns) was an ass out there run- ning around. It was business as usual." To have another practice just like it, the Sharks, down three- games-to-one, will need to come up with their best overall perfor- mance of the playoffs. The regular season saw the Sharks finish with the best road record in the NHL and dem- onstrate an uncanny ability to STANLEY CUP FINAL Sharks ready for do-or-die challenge now Staff Report CORNING If you want to know how it feels to lose a Little League game, don't bother ask- ing a member of the Red Bluff Giants 11-12 girls softball team, which completed a perfect 24-0 season Tuesday evening with a 12-1 win over the Corning Al- abama team at Estil C. Clark Park. The win was not unusual for the Giants, many of whom have played together for years, end- ing after just four innings due to a lead of 10 runs or more. The same thing happened in all but one game this season, a match- up against the Corning Michi- gan team, said Manager Chad Vaillette. "If there's one thing I have to say about the team is it plays as a team," Vaillette said after Tuesday's win. "It's not one per- son, it's 12 playing as one." Perhaps feeling some pres- sure in the final game of a per- fect season to date, the Giants bobbled some infield balls and hurried throws. After the first inning the teams were knotted at 1 and the Giants were only able to put up one more run in the second. Alabama threatened in the bottom half, with runners at first and second, but the Gi- ants escaped unscathed. The bats and base running started to click in the top of the third inning, though, and the Gi- ants put up five runs. In the bot- tom of the third, pitcher Paige Gorden settled down and got a strikeout and two ground outs to set Alabama down in order. In the top of the fourth, third baseman Abbey Lair broke the game open with a two-run tri- ple to deep left and the Giants piled on another three runs to go up 12-1, meaning they were three outs away from the per- fect season. The girls are no strangers to lopsided victories. Coach Jamey Benson said prior to Tuesday's game they had outscored oppo- nents 300 to 49. Coach Travis Gorden said his daughter, Paige, has been playing on the same team with Vaillette's, Kayley, and Benson's, Elysa, since the girls were 8. Next year they will play on mid- dle school and traveling teams. The team will play Cotton- wood in Cottonwood at noon Saturday as part of the Tour- nament of Champions before hosting a game, most likely against Foothill, at 6 p.m. Mon- day at Jackson Heights School. Another game is set for 6 p.m. Wednesday, most likely a re- match with Michigan, Vaillette said. The Giants are third base- man Abbey Lair, pitcher Paige Gorden, second baseman Em- ily Wagner, center fielder Elyse Benson, catcher Kayley Vaillette, first baseman Grace Mitch- ell, shortstop Alley Strole, left fielder Kaydence Mora, right fielder Lilly Desmet, center fielder Kaylee Bosetti and left fielder Mackenzie Bradley. LITTLE LEAGUE RED BLUFF GIANTS FINISH 24-0 SEASON So ball team's 11- and 12-year-olds end regular season unbeaten before TOC CHIP THOMPSON — DAILY NEWS Grace Mitchell slides safely into third Tuesday evening for the Red Bluff Giants. CHIP THOMPSON — DAILY NEWS The Red Bluff Giants' Elyse Benson (8) slides safely into home Tuesday night against the Corning Alabama team. PHOTO COURTESY OF BILL TREAT PHOTOGRAPHY The Red Bluff 11-12Giants Little League team is pictured. SHARKS PAGE 2 By Chris Lehourites and Howard Fendrich The Associated Press PARIS Maria Sharapova was sus- pended Wednesday for two years for failing a drug test, labeled "the sole author of her own mis- fortune" because she hid regular pre-match use of a newly banned substance from anti-doping au- thorities and members of her own entourage. The tennis star said she would appeal what she called "an unfairly harsh" punish- ment to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. T h e b a n , handed down by a three-person Tennis Anti-Dop- ing Program tribunal appointed by the International Tennis Fed- eration, is backdated to Jan. 26, when Sharapova last played. She tested positive for meldonium that day after losing to Serena Williams in the Australian Open quarterfinals. The panel said var- ious elements of Sharapova's case "inevitably lead to the conclusion" that she took the substance "for the purpose of enhancing her per- formance." Sharapova, who faced up to a TENNIS Sharapova suspended 2 years for PED use Sharapova SHARAPOVA PAGE 2 WARRIORS PAGE 2 SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Thursday, June 9, 2016 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1