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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

In Brief: Warriors on brink of elimination

nba: Russell Westbrook had 36 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists, and the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Golden State Warriors 118-94 on Tuesday night in Oklahoma City to take a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference Finals and put the defending NBA champions on the brink of elimination.

It was Westbrook’s first triple-double of the playoffs after posting 18 in the regular season. Kevin Durant added 26 points and 11 rebounds for Oklahoma City.

Golden State, which won a league record 73 games in the regular season, lost consecutive games for the first time this season. The Warriors must win Game 5 on Thursday in Oakland to keep their season alive.

Klay Thompson led Golden State with 26 points. Two-time league MVP Stephen Curry was limited to 19 points on 6-for-20 shooting.

Ex-NBA player Washington arrested: Kermit Washington, a former NBA player who notoriously gave a bone-breaking face punch to the Houston Rockets’ Rudy Tomjanovich during a 1977 Lakers game, has been arrested by federal agents.

Washington was arrested on a warrant in Los Angeles. It’s unknown if he has a lawyer.

Officials won’t discuss the arrest, but they have set a news conference for Wednesday in Kansas City, Missouri.

Penguins win to force Game 7 at home

NHL: The Pittsburgh Penguins are headed home for Game 7 of the Eastern Conference final.

Sidney Crosby had a goal and an assist, and Phil Kessel, Kris Letang, Bryan Rust and Nick Bonino also scored in a 5-2 victory that evened the best-of-seven series at three games.

Game 7 is Thursday night, with the Penguins hoping to reach the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2009 and the Lightning looking to advance to the Cup Final for the second straight year.

Blues go back to Elliott for Game 6: The St. Louis Blues are going back to goaltender Brian Elliott for Game 6 of the Western Conference finals against the San Jose Sharks.

“It’s his turn for Game 6”, coach Ken Hitchcock said.

Jake Allen has started the last two games and made 21 saves in a 6-3 Game 5 loss that included two empty-net goals.

NFL doctor responds to House report

NFL: The co-chairman of the NFL’s head, neck and spine committee has sent a letter to Congress stressing that he was not contacted during a government study on the link between football and brain disease.

That study concluded that NFL officials improperly sought to influence the findings.

Ex-NFL player Smith had CTE: Former NFL defensive end Bubba Smith was diagnosed with the brain disease CTE by researchers after his death, the Concussion Legacy Foundation said.

Smith died in 2011 at 66. He’s one of 90 former NFL players diagnosed with Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy since 2008 at a brain bank affiliated with Veteran Affairs, Boston University and the foundation. Out of four stages of the disease, the foundation says Smith had stage 3 CTE.

3 cities selected to host Super Bowls: The NFL awarded Super Bowls to Atlanta, Miami and Los Angeles, three cities that made significant financial investments in new stadiums or recently upgraded an existing one.

Atlanta will host the game in 2019, followed by Miami (2020) and Los Angeles (2021), it was announced at the NFL owners meetings.

Raiders owner considers move to Vegas: Oakland Raiders owner Mark Davis says the team has begun conducting market research studies to gather information about a potential move to Las Vegas.

Davis said at the NFL owners meetings that the initial reports have come back “positive” about the feasibility of such a move. Unable to get a suitable stadium deal in Oakland, Davis wants to move the Raiders to the gambling city.

Sparks use big first half and cruise to win

WNBA: Candace Parker scored 17 of her 26 points in the first half and the Los Angeles Sparks used a decisive second quarter to cruise to a 93-80 win over the Chicago Sky, in Chicago.

Chicago was within two with 3:55 left before halftime, but Los Angeles closed the opening 20 minutes with an 18-2 run for a 53-35 lead. Kristi Toliver started the spurt with a 3-pointer and Parker scored the final six points.

Courtney Vandersloot did not play due to an ankle injury.

Kruijswijk reinforces Giro overall lead

Miscellany: Dutch rider Steven Kruijswijk strengthened his grip on the pink jersey by finishing second to Alejandro Valverde on the 16th stage of the Giro d’Italia in Adalo, Italy.

Pre-race favorite Vincenzo Nibali had another bad day and saw his faint chances of winning a second Giro title all but disappear.

Valverde edged Kruijswijk on the mountainous 133-kilometer (83-mile) leg from Bressanone to Andalo to claim a first stage win in the Giro.

Williams seizes control at French Open: Even before Serena Williams quickly and easily seized control of her first-round match in Paris, things were shaping up rather well for her at the French Open.

Williams’ bid for her 22nd Grand Slam title, which would equal Steffi Graf’s Open-era record, began with a nothing-to-see-here 6-2, 6-0 victory over 77th-ranked Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia in all of 42 minutes. Pac-12 announces changes: The Pac-12 CEO Group has approved provisions to reduce night football games, add fines for court and field storming, and begin eSports competitions in 2016-17.

The conference modified its TV agreements with Fox and ESPN to allow football games on the Pac-12 Networks to start at 2:30 p.m. or 6 p.m. local time and overlap with the other two networks’ exclusive TV windows.

The Pac-12 also added a fine schedule to its court- and field-storming policy, starting at $25,000 for a first offense and going to $100,000 for a third offense.

Stanford tops Oklahoma for tennis title: Stanford’s Taylor Davidson fought off a match point for 3-6, 7-5, 7-5 victory over Oklahoma State’s Vladica Babic that gave the Cardinal a 4-3 win and their 18th NCAA women’s tennis championship in Tulsa.

Babic won the first set 6-3 and had match point at 5-4 in the second, but Davidson rallied for the title-clinching win, the team’s first since 2013.

Stanford edges South Carolina to advance: Mariah Stackhouse won three of four holes to start the back nine and delivered a clutch approach to wrap up a 2-up victory in Eugene, Oregon as defending champion Stanford knocked off South Carolina and advanced to the semifinals of the NCAA Women’s golf championship.