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Tehama Tracker Today's games MLB L.A. Dodgers Athletics LAD— Kershaw 5-3 OAK— Blackley 1-2 NBA FINALS Oklahoma City Miami Miami leads series 3-1 On the tube COLLEGE BASEBALL 2 p.m. ESPN2 — World Series, game 11, Arizona vs. Florida State, at Omaha, Neb. 6 p.m. ESPN2 — World Series, game 12, ARKANSAS vs. KENT STATE OR SOUTH CAROLINA, at Omaha, Neb. DIVING 7 p.m. NBCSN — Olympic Trials, synchro finals: women's 3m, men's 10m, at Federal Way, Wash. GOLF 6 a.m.TGC — European PGA Tour, BMW International Open, first round, at Cologne, Germany 9:30 a.m.TGC — LPGA, Manulife Financial Classic, first round, at Waterloo, Ontario Noon TGC — PGA Tour, Travelers Championship, first round, at Cromwell, Conn. MLB 4 p.m. MLB — Regional coverage, Miami at Boston or Colorado at Philadelphia SOCCER 11:30 a.m. ESPN — UEFA, Euro 2012, quarterfinal, Czech Republic vs. Portugal, at Warsaw, Poland 49ers sign top draft pick wideout A.J. Jenkins SANTA CLARA (AP) — The San Francisco 49ers have signed top draft pick wide receiver A.J. Jenkins to a four-year con- tract. 6 p.m. ABC 12:35 p.m. CSNC Sports MIAMI (AP) — Okla- homa City was more than OK at the start. At the end, not so much. The Thunder got an epic performance from Russell Westbrook. They ran out to a huge early lead. They watched LeBron James get carried off the court in the fourth quarter, and took the lead shortly after he depart- ed. Somehow, it still wasn't enough in Game 4 of the NBA Finals. Even after getting 43 points from Westbrook, 28 more from Kevin Durant and staking itself to a 17- point lead by the time the first quarter was over, Okla- homa City is now officially on the brink. James finished with 26 points, 12 assists and nine rebounds, Dwyane Wade and Mario Chalmers each scored 25 points and the Miami Heat beat the Thunder 104-98 in Game 4 to take a 3-1 lead in the best- of-seven title series. ''I can guarantee this,'' Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. ''We have fight in us.'' Game 5 is in Miami tonight, where James and the Heat can capture the NBA title that they were assembled to get two years ago. Reigning NFC West champion San Francisco announced the signing of its 30th overall draft pick out of Illinois Wednesday. The 6-foot, 192-pound Jenkins had 90 catches for 1,276 yards and eight touchdowns in his senior season for the Fighting Illini and led the Big Ten Conference with an aver- age of 6.92 receptions per game. He caught 19 TD passes during his four-year college career. He also returned 33 kickoffs for 773 yards and a TD. His 1,276 receiving yards last season were the second-highest single-sea- son total in school history. The 49ers have signed all seven of their 2012 draft picks heading into the start of training camp late next month. contributing artist at Play- boy magazine for many years and official painter of five Olympiads. LeRoy Neiman, the painter and sketch artist best known for evoking the kinetic energy of the world's biggest sporting and leisure events with bright quick strokes, died Wednesday at age 91. Neiman also was a Artist LeRoy Neiman dies in NYat 91 NEW YORK (AP) — MCT file photo Wih the 2012 summer games approaching, remember to savor the moments. Gail Parenteau confirmed his death Wednesday but didn't disclose the cause. Neiman was a media- His longtime publicist savvy artist who knew how to enthrall audiences with his instant renditions of what he observed. In 1972, he sketched what's left of the stadium where Harold Abrahams won his ''Chariots of Fire'' Olympic 100 meters, where Paavo Nurmi won the 1,500, caught his breath and then lined up 55 minutes later to win the 5,000, it is almost as if their feats at the Summer Games of 1924 never happened. Column: Olympians no more 'immortal' than we are COLOMBES, France (AP) — At tators in their berets and straw boaters whooping from the terraces now thick with weeds and fenced off as unsafe. The Olympics came here? To this bedraggled arena, on the outskirts of Paris, that town planners now hope to demolish? Surely not. Forget the notion that Olympians and the world chess tourna- ment between Boris Spassky and Bobby Fis- cher in Reykjavik, Ice- land, for a live television audience. Follow us on Twitter for live game cover- age, exclusive online articles and more. @TehamaSports There is no plaque to commemorate the students from California who won the last Olympic gold in rugby and humiliated France 17-3, infuriating the 40,000-strong home crowd that burned the American flag, knocked an Illinois spectator unconscious and booed ''The Star-Spangled Banner'' during the medal ceremony. are now in deep, deep trou- ble. No team in NBA histo- ry has rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the finals. No team has even forced a Game 7 in the title series when faced with that scenario. Westbrook took 32 shots, as many as James and Chris Bosh tried combined. He made 20 — half of Oklahoma City's field goals on the night — and finished with seven rebounds and five assists as well. For a guard who struggled many times against Miami, it was a breakout night that the Thunder desperately need- ed. History says the Thunder ''I thought Russell was terrific tonight,'' Brooks said. ''The guy played relentless. He was aggres- sive. He kept us in this game and he gave us a chance to win.'' Battier: ''The kid brought it. He's taken a lot of heat in this series, but he's not the reason why the game turned out the way it did tonight.'' There was one huge blip Said Heat forward Shane in Westbrook's night, and it was a play that helped the Heat seal the outcome. After a jump ball with 17.3 seconds remaining, West- brook fouled Chalmers even though the Thunder would have gotten the ball back because there were less than 5 seconds on the shot clock. Chalmers made both free throws, the lead was five, and Heat fans in the sold-out building knew their team was moments from a 3-1 series lead. After hearing the whis- tle, Westbrook took a look at the scoreboard and held out his hand, a look of dis- belief across his face. ''Just a miscommunica- tion on my part,'' West- brook said. ''Nothing I can do about it now.'' Durant's mother grabbed her son by both arms as he walked off the floor, hug- ging him and then using her right hand to turn his face back toward her, trying her best to console the scoring champion. It was a night when the Thunder ran out to a 33-16 lead to buck a trend of slow starts, where Durant and Westbrook were scor- ing at will, and where Durant threw the Heat an early curve ball by opening the game guarding Chalmers, the Heat point Perhaps he should have stayed on Chalmers, given how good he was in the sec- ond half. For the final 16-plus minutes, the Thunder were reduced to playing 2-on-5 basketball. Serge Ibaka made a jumper with 4:46 left in the third quarter, cut- ting Miami's lead to 68-66. After that, it was either together,'' center Kendrick Perkins said. ''It's not over.'' Sure, the stars were superb, again, just not superb enough to take down Miami. After that Ibaka jumper, no other Thunder player besides the team's two superstars scored a point. ''It's not disappointing. all Westbrook or all Durant, all the time. ''We just have to stay 1B Thursday June 21, 2012 Thunder feels heat, vows to fight MCT photo The Heat's LeBron James could clinch his first NBA championship tonight against the Thunder. guard. It's just, it happens that way,'' Brooks said. ''Russell had a great game. We were going. We were going with him. He was making terrific plays at the basket. He was attacking, he was getting into the teeth of their defense and made basket- ball plays.'' Sixth Man of the Year James Harden struggled yet again, shooting 2 for 10 for the second straight game, though he did finish with 10 rebounds. Nick Collison scored six points, but the other three Oklahoma City starters — Ibaka, Perkins and Thabo Sefolosha — combined for a mere 13 on 6-for-16 shooting. ''We're going to stay aggressive, keep trying to find guys,'' Westbrook said. ''Guys are going to stay confident.'' Senator satisfied with NFL's actions to curb bounties WASHINGTON (AP) — A high-ranking senator is calling off a proposed hearing on bounties in pro- fessional sports because he is satisfied with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's response to the issue, including setting up an anonymous hotline. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, met with Goodell on Wednesday. The meeting came about three months after Durbin first said he wanted Congress to examine whether feder- al law should make it a crime to have a bounty sys- tem such as the one the NFL says the New Orleans Saints ran from 2009-11. ''What I hear from them now is, it's going to be clear: The actions that have been taken against some are going to be taken against others if they violate these basic rules that are being established,'' Durbin said. ''What more could I accomplish with a law? This is better.'' There are no statues of William DeHart Hubbard, the Cincinnati-born chauffeur's son whose long jump of 24 feet, 5 inches (7.44 meters) made him the first black athlete to win an individ- ual Olympic gold, or of Johnny Weiss- muller, the U.S swimmer who won three golds and then became bigger in a Hol- lywood loincloth as Tarzan. Even with your eyes closed, it is almost impossible to imagine the spec- their exploits invariably shine forever. It's not true. They are no more immortal than any of us. How could they be? Because the Olympics, more than mere bricks, mortar and commemorative ste- les, are a human communion — between the athletes and us, the people of the world who will be wowed by them again this July and August. And neither we, they nor our collective mem- ory will be around forever. Among the steps that persuaded Durbin to aban- don a hearing: Posters will be put in locker rooms about bounties and will include information for a hotline so players can report bounty-related activi- ty, and there will be a new bounty section in the players' handbook. So feast on London 2012 while you can, because the emotions will be over in a flash. Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps or whoever grabs our imagination will be filmed, photographed, tweeted and Facebooked as never before. The records, winning times, throws and point totals, the medal winners' names, all that stuff, will again be squirreled See OLYMPIAN, page 2B Goodell will also write a letter to all league and team employees and an email to registered NFL fans regarding bounties. And a bounties section will be part of the new NFL Players Handbook, which is given to each NFL player. ''The results that we've come up with in 90 days are better than anything we could have achieved with a congressional hearing, the markup of a bill, an amendment on the floor and everything that might have followed,'' Durbin said. The NFL Players Association, in a written state- ment, called for a hearing. ''We thank the Senator for his interest on these important issues. Given this keen interest, the play- ers hope and expect that the Commissioner and the Senator will commit to a hearing on health and safety in the NFL in the near future,'' the statement said. See BOUNTY, page 2B