NBA
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Draymond Green had 18 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists, and made a key 3-pointer in overtime as the Golden State Warriors advanced to the NBA Finals for the fifth straight year with a 119-117 victory on Monday night to sweep the Portland Trail Blazers.
Stephen Curry added 37 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists. He and Green became the first teammates to have triple-doubles in the same playoff game.
The Warriors will face the winner of the Eastern Conference finals between Toronto and Milwaukee.
Damian Lillard, playing with separated ribs, had 28 points and 12 assists for Portland.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - The Minnesota Timberwolves have chosen Ryan Saunders as their full-fledged head coach - and the first millennial to hold the job in the NBA.
The team announced Monday that the 33-year-old Saunders will stay in the post he held on an interim basis during the second half of this past season, the role long held by his father. The widely expected decision was made by new president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas.
OBITUARY
BERLIN (AP) - Three-time Formula One world champion Niki Lauda, who won two of his titles after a horrific crash that left him with serious burns and went on to become a prominent figure in the aviation industry, has died. He was 70.
The Austria Press Agency reported that Lauda’s family said in a statement he “passed away peacefully” on Monday. Walter Klepetko, a doctor who performed a lung transplant on Lauda last year, said Tuesday: “Niki Lauda has died. I have to confirm that.”
Lauda won the F1 drivers’ championship in 1975 and 1977 with Ferrari and again in 1984 with McLaren.
In 1976, he was badly burned when he crashed during the German Grand Prix but made an astonishingly fast return to racing just six weeks later.
Lauda remained closely involved with the Formula One circuit after retiring as a driver in 1985, and in recent years served as the non-executive chairman of the Mercedes team.
APEX, N.C. (AP) - Jim Burch, the first black man to officiate a basketball game in the Atlantic Coast Conference, has died at his home in North Carolina. He was 91.
ACC official Jamie Luckie says Burch, whose career spanned 60 years, died at his home in Apex, outside of Raleigh, on Sunday.
Burch’s officiating career actually began in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association in 1959. Ten years later, he was added to ACC staff, although Luckie said he didn’t officiate any games until the next season.
In addition to the ACC and the CIAA, Burch officiated games in the Southern Conference and the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. He was also coordinator of officials for the CIAA before retiring last year.
NFL
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Dallas Cowboys star Ezekiel Elliott was handcuffed by police, but not arrested, after a scuffle involving event staff at a Las Vegas music festival, officials said Monday.
The 23-year-old running back was detained briefly about 3 a.m. Saturday near a gate to the overnight Electric Daisy Carnival at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway after police officers saw him “push a security officer to the ground,” Officer Laura Meltzer said in a statement.
“The security guard who was the victim of the misdemeanor battery refused to press charges,” the statement said, and the officers released Elliott. He was not charged with a crime.
Cellphone video posted by celebrity website TMZ appeared to show Elliott speaking with a woman and then with several security and event staff members, including one who falls backward over a metal parking area barricade before police arrive. Elliott is handcuffed and led away.
AUTO RACING
AVON, Ind. (AP) - Retired two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Al Unser Jr. was arrested early Monday in central Indiana and charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated.
Unser, 57, was stopped in Avon, just west of Indianapolis.
He was jailed about 3:20 a.m. in Hendricks County on a charge of operating a vehicle while intoxicated. Unser’s attorney declined to comment Monday.
BOXING
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Manny Pacquiao will get back into the ring on July 20 to face unbeaten welterweight champion Keith Thurman in what could be a highlight fight of the summer.
Pacquiao, 40, dominated Adrian Broner to retain his portion of the welterweight title in January. He will take on Thurman for the WBA belt. Thurman outpointed Joselito Lopez in January.
The fight will be on Fox pay-per-view from the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Pacquiao has won titles in eight weight classes and has 61 wins in 70 fights. Thurman, 30, is 29-0 with 22 knockouts, but came off a 10 1-2-month layoff to beat Lopez.
HORSE RACING
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Santa Anita had its second horse death in four days when a gelding pulled up during a race Sunday and was euthanized a day later.
Twenty-five horses have now died in racing or training at the Southern California track since Dec. 26.
The Los Angeles Times reported that Spectacular Music was running in a six-furlong maiden claiming race when the jockey pulled the horse up on the backstretch shortly after leaving the gate.
The horse was taken off the course with a pelvis injury and the decision to euthanize him was made Monday morning.
WINTER SPORTS
LAKE PLACID, N.Y. (AP) - Olympic skeleton gold medalist Jimmy Shea leads a class of six that will be inducted next month into the USA Bobsled and Skeleton Hall of Fame.
Shea won gold at the 2002 Salt Lake Games and is a third-generation Olympian.
Others in the 2019 class are: 1932 Olympic two-man gold medalists and brothers Curtis Stevens and Hubert Stevens; 1936 Olympic two-man gold medalists Alan Washbond and Ivan Brown; and three-time Olympic medalist Jack Heaton.
COLLEGE VOLLEYBALL
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) - Iowa put women’s volleyball coach Bond Shymansky on paid administrative leave Monday after reporting what its athletic director called serious rules violations to the NCAA.
Athletic director Gary Barta said he took those steps after a two-week investigation by an outside law firm into allegations raised by a former athlete.
Barta declined to elaborate on the nature of the allegations at a news conference, citing the pending NCAA investigation. But he said they were likely to be considered Level 1 or Level 2 violations, meaning they gave at least a minimal recruiting, competitive or other advantage to the Hawkeyes.
LAW
VISTA, California (AP) - Prosecutors at the rape trial of Kellen Winslow Jr., a former first-round NFL draft pick and the son of a Hall of Famer, said Monday he was a man with fame and riches who “took what he wanted” - raping three women and exposing himself to two others.
The 35-year-old Winslow was once the highest-paid tight end in the NFL, earning more than $40 million, before his career was sidetracked by injuries.
Winslow wore a suit and glasses and did not show any emotion during opening statements at the trial. His father, Kellen Winslow, a former star with the San Diego Chargers, sat behind him and did not react when prosecutors described the attacks.
Winslow has pleaded not guilty to 12 counts in the case. He could face life in prison if convicted.
His attorney, Brian Watkins, urged jurors not to be swayed by public opinion and to look at the evidence or “lack of it.”
NEW YORK (AP) - The sister of former NBA player Sebastian Telfair was accused on Monday of threatening a woman who testified against him at his New York City gun-possession trial.
Octavia Telfair was charged in federal court in Brooklyn with transmitting an interstate threat and released on $100,000 bail. She is also subject to home detention and must wear an ankle bracelet. There was no immediate response to an email seeking comment from her lawyer.
Sebastian Telfair - a once highly touted point guard with a disappointing NBA career and a history of brushes with the law - was convicted last month of carrying loaded guns in his pickup truck. Witnesses included his estranged wife and a girlfriend.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Gov. Mike DeWine declared the late Ohio State team doctor Richard Strauss a monster Monday as he ordered a review of the state medical board’s handling of his case decades ago and called for lawmakers to lift the statute of limitations on rape charges.
The Republican governor signed an executive order at a Statehouse news conference creating a group to review a complete, unredacted version of an investigative report released last week to see what the board knew about Strauss, who took his life in 2005, and when. Portions of the report involving the board’s actions had been blacked out.
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