The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current, November 08, 2018, Image 12

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The times., November 08, 2018, Image 12

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Newspaper Page Text2B Thursday, November 8, 2018 The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com SPORTS KNICKS 112, HAWKS 107 NASCAR New York outlasts Atlanta The loss is Hawks’ sixth in the last seven games BY GEORGE HENRY Associated Press ATLANTA — Tim Hard away Jr. scored 27 of his 34 points in the second half, reserve Enes Kanter added 17 points and 11 rebounds, and the New York Knicks beat the Atlanta Hawks 112- 107 on Wednesday night. In a matchup of rebuild ing clubs, Allonzo Trier finished with 16 points and Noah Vonleh had 11 points and 13 rebounds to help New York snap a two-game skid. Omari Spellman scored 18 points for the Hawks, who have lost two straight and six of seven. Alex Poythress’ basket cut the lead to four with 22.8 seconds remain ing, but the Hawks blew their next two possessions when Poythress dropped an inbound pass and Tau- rean Prince missed two free throws. Trae Young finished with 15 points and eight assists for Atlanta, but the NBA’s fifth- overall draft pick missed 13 of 19 shots and went just 1 for 7 on 3-point attempts. Hardaway, who had career highs of 16 free throws made and 20 attempted, took charge in the third as one of the few veteran players on the floor. He was 5 for 8 from the field and had 15 points, two steals and one blocked shot. The Knicks never trailed after Emmanuel Mudiay’s 3 made it 65-63 midway through the third. They took their biggest lead at 16 on Ranter’s two free throws in the final minute of the period. Kanter got tangled up with Hawks reserve center Miles Plumlee on a rebound attempt early in the fourth. He flipped over and landed on his head after both play ers fell to the floor. Kanter stayed in the game. TIP-INS Hawks: Coach Lloyd Pierce said rookie F Kevin Huerter, the 19th overall pick, was not with the team because of a family matter. Young, Huerter and Spell man started at Charlotte, marking the first time since April 1,2005 that the Hawks started three rookies, when Josh Smith, Josh Childress and Royal Ivey were in the lineup. Knicks: Kevin Knox, the No. 9 overall draft pick, was 0 for 6 from the field and did not score in nine minutes. It was his second game back after missing seven with a sprained left ankle. He had two points in five minutes of Monday’s loss to Chicago. TECH ■ Continued from 1B getting better at it.” Still, Johnson is reluctant to heap praise on a defense that has been the Yellow Jackets’ chronic weakness. Despite the big plays, the Yellow Jackets rank 78th nationally with their average of 28.2 points allowed. The unit fal tered late even in last week’s win. One weak spot is the team’s 13 sacks, good for only 13th among 14 ACC teams. “I think Nate has had a pretty good history of cre ating some turnovers with what they do,” Johnson said. “So I certainly don’t want to diminish that, but at the same time it’s like I can promise you we’re not doing anything in practice that we didn’t do before. I think it could be a function of maybe we get a little more pressure, but still our sacks numbers are not very good. We do have way more tack les for loss.” Johnson also is looking for better results on third down. There is room for improvement, but the leap in takeaways is a good start. “We know if we want to be a top defense, if we want to be a good defense and we want to win games we have to win the turnover battle,” Saint-Amour said. “That’s what we try and do. ” SCOREBOARD Football/NFL AMERICAN CONFERENCE East W L T Pet PF PA New England 7 2 0 .778 270 202 Miami 5 4 0 .556 187 225 N.Y Jets 3 6 0 .333 198 213 Buffalo 2 7 0 South .222 96 241 W L T Pet PF PA Houston 6 3 0 .667 216 184 Tennessee 4 4 0 .500 134 141 Jacksonville 3 5 0 .375 134 170 Indianapolis 3 5 0 North .375 231 213 W L T Pet PF PA Pittsburgh 5 2 1 .688 227 188 Cincinnati 5 3 0 .625 221 237 Baltimore 4 5 0 .444 213 160 Cleveland 2 6 1 West .278 190 247 W L T Pet PF PA Kansas City 8 1 0 .889 327 226 L.A. Chargers 6 2 0 .750 220 180 Denver 3 6 0 .333 205 213 Oakland 1 7 0 .125 141 252 NATIONAL CONFERENCE East W L T Pet PF PA Washington 5 3 0 .625 160 172 Philadelphia 4 4 0 .500 178 156 Dallas 3 5 0 .375 154 151 N.Y. Giants 1 7 0 South .125 150 205 W L T Pet PF PA New Orleans 7 1 0 .875 279 218 Carolina 6 2 0 .750 220 180 Atlanta 4 4 0 .500 228 226 Tampa Bay 3 5 0 North .375 229 275 W L T Pet PF PA Chicago 5 3 0 .625 235 153 Minnesota 5 3 1 .611 221 204 Green Bay 3 4 1 .438 192 204 Detroit 3 5 0 West .375 180 210 W L T Pet PF PA L.A. Rams 8 1 0 .889 299 200 Seattle 4 4 0 .500 188 156 Arizona 2 6 0 .250 110 199 San Francisco 2 7 0 .222 207 239 Today’s Game Carolina at Pittsburgh, 8:20 p.m. Sunday’s Games Arizona at Kansas City, 1 p.m. Buffalo at N.Y. Jets, 1 p.m. Detroit at Chicago, 1 p.m. Jacksonville at Indianapolis, 1 p.m. Washington at Tampa Bay, 1 p.m. New Orleans at Cincinnati, 1 p.m. New England at Tennessee, 1 p.m. Atlanta at Cleveland, 1 p.m. L.A. Chargers at Oakland, 4:05 p.m. Miami at Green Bay, 4:25 p.m. Seattle at L.A. Rams, 4:25 p.m. Dallas at Philadelphia, 8:20 p.m. Open: Minnesota, Denver, Baltimore, Houston Monday’s Game N.Y. Giants at San Francisco, 8:15 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 15 Green Bay at Seattle, 8:20 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 18 Houston at Washington, 1 p.m. Pittsburgh at Jacksonville, 1 p.m. Tampa Bay at N.Y. Giants, 1 p.m. Dallas at Atlanta, 1 p.m. Cincinnati at Baltimore, 1 p.m. Carolina at Detroit, 1 p.m. Tennessee at Indianapolis, 1 p.m. Denver at L.A. Chargers, 4:05 p.m. Oakland at Arizona, 4:05 p.m. Philadelphia at New Orleans, 4:25 p.m. Minnesota at Chicago, 8:20 p.m. Open: Buffalo, San Francisco, Miami, New England, Cleveland, N.Y. Jets Monday, Nov. 19 Kansas City vs L.A. Rams at Mexico City, MX, 8:15 p.m. Football/High School Class AAAAAAA 1. Colquitt County 2. Parkview 3. Grayson 4. Hillgrove t5. Walton t5. North Gwinnett 7. Roswell 8. Archer 9. Milton 10. Westlake Others Receiving Votes: McEachern 4, Lowndes 1, Marietta 1. Class AAAAAA 1. Lee County 2. Creekview 3. Stephenson 4. Harrison 5. Sequoyah 6. Tucker 7. Douglas County 8. Valdosta 9. Dacula 10. Allatoona Others Receiving Votes: John’s Creek 12, Coffee 10. Class AAAAA 1. Rome 2. Buford 3. Warner Robins 4. Wayne County 5. Dutchtown t6. Stockbridge t6. SW DeKalb 8. Jones County 9. Kell 10. Ware County Others Receiving Votes: Carrollton 5. Class AAAA 1. Blessed Trinity 2. Cartersville 3. Mary Persons 4. Eastside 5. St. Pius X 6. Marist 7. Pickens 8. Flowery Branch 9. Troup 10. Ridgeland Others Receiving Votes: North Oconee 2, Cairo 1, Burke County 1. Class AAA 1. Calhoun 2. Cedar Grove 3. Monroe Area 4. Peach County 5. Greater Atlanta Christian 6. Benedictine 7. Pierce County 8. Dawson County 9. Jefferson 10. Westminster Others Receiving Votes: North Hall 2, SE Bulloch 1. Class AA 1. Hapeville Charter 2. Rabun County 3. Rockmart 4. Callaway 5. Brooks County 6. Dublin t7. Bremen t7. Heard County 9. Dodge County 10. Jefferson County Others Receiving Votes: Washington County 6, Vidalia 1. Class A t1. Irwin County t1. ELCA 3. Athens Academy 4. Prince Avenue 5. Clinch County 6. Pelham 7. Mount Zion-Carroll 8. Fellowship Christian 9. Calvary Day 10. Mount Paran Others Receiving Votes: Marion County 4, North Cobb 4, Commerce 2. Transactions BASEBALL American League BOSTON RED SOX — Promoted Brian O’Halloran and Eddie Romero to executive vice presidents/assistant general managers, Zach Scott to senior vice president/assistant general manager, Raquel Ferreira to senior vice presi- dent/major and minor league operations, Brian Abraham to director/minor league operations, Joe McDonald to director/baseball analytics, Mike Regan to director/baseball administration and special projects, Marcus Cuellar to coordi- nator/player personnel, Alex Gimenez coordina- tor/major league operations, Patrick McLaughlin to coordinator of Florida baseball operations/ minor league video, Justin Horowitz to amateur scouting crosschecker/special projects, Todd Claus and Rolando Pino tlo co-director/inter- national scouting and Brandon Henry to major league assistant trainer. Named Matt Davis area scout/Ohio Valley, JJ Altobelli area scout/ southern California, Chris Becerra special assis tant/international scouting and Mike Silvestri international crosschecker. NEW YORK YANKEES — Re-signed LHP CC Sabathia to a one-year contract. National League ATLANTA BRAVES — Named Mike Fast spe cial assistant to the general manager. MIAMI MARLINS — Named Adrian Lorenzo special assistant/baseball operations and scouting and Nate Adcock, Dana Duquette and Scott Fairbanks area scouts. MILWAUKEE BREWERS — Named Derek Hyde vice president of information technology and Sharon McNally vice president of marketing. SAN DIEGO PADRES — Assigned RHP Kazuhisa Makita outright to El Paso (PCL). BASKETBALL National Basketball Association NBA — Fined Denver C Nikola Jokic $25,000 for using derogatory and offensive language during a postgame interview. DETROIT PISTONS — Assigned F Henry Ellenson and G Khyri Thomas to Grand Rapids (NBAGL). FOOTBALL National Football League ARIZONA CARDINALS — Released 0L Kyle Friend from the practice squad. Signed WR Montay Crockett to the practice squad. ATLANTA FALCONS — Signed DE Bruce Irvin to a one-year contract. CLEVELAND BROWNS — Placed LB Christian Kirksey and DB E.J. Gaines on injured reserve. Waived DB Denzel Rice. Released 0L Jake Eldrenkamp from the practice squad. Signed DB Juston Burris from the N.Y. Jets practice squad and DB Arrion Springs to the practice squad. Claimed DB Phillip Gaines off waivers from Buffalo and DB Jermaine Whitehead from Green Bay. DETROIT LIONS — Released TE Hakeem Valles from the practice squad. Signed WR Andy Jones to the practice squad. HOUSTON TEXANS — Waived RB Tyler Ervin. Claimed WR DeAndre Carter off waivers from Philadelphia. MINNESOTA VIKINGS — Claimed RB Ameer Abdullah off Detroit waivers. Waived RB Roc Thomas. NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS — Signed 0L Matt Tobin. Signed RB Josh Ferguson to the practice squad. NEW ORLEANS SAINTS — Agreed to terms with WR Dez Bryant. HOCKEY National Hockey League NHL — Fined Edmonton F Milan Lucic $10,000 for roughing Tampa Bay F Mathieu Joseph. ARIZONA COYOTES — Recalled G Hunter Miska from Tucson (AHL). BOSTON BRUINS — Recalled F Joona Koppanen from Atlanta (ECHL) to Providence (AHL). CALGARY FLAMES — Placed F Dillon Dube on injured reserve, retroactive to Saturday. Recalled F Anthony Peluso from Stockton (AHL). CAROLINA HURRICANES — Assigned F Nicolas Roy to Charlotte (AHL). Recalled Fs Clark Bishop and Phil Di Giuseppe from Charlotte. DETROIT RED WINGS — Assigned C Christoffer Ehn to Grand Rapids (AHL). TODAY ON TV BASKETBALL ■ Rockets at Thunder, 8 p.m., TNT ■ Bucks at Warriors, 10:30 p.m., TNT FOOTBALL ■ College football: North Carolina Central at Bethune Cookman, 7 p.m., ESPNU ■ College football: Wake Forest at North Carolina State, 7:30 p.m., ESPN ■ Panthers at Steelers, 8 p.m., Fox SOCCER ■ Women’s International Friendly Soccer: Portugal vs. U.S., 1 p.m., ESPN2 ■ USL Cup: Louisville City FC vs. Phoenix Rising, 8 p.m., ESPN2 ■ MLS Soccer Playoff: Sounders vs. Timbers, 10:30 p.m., Fox Sports 1 GOLF ■ European Tour Golf: Nedbank Challenge, 3 a.m., Golf Channel ■ LPGA Tour Golf: Blue Bay LPGA, 10:30 a.m., Golf Channel ■ PGA Tour Golf: Mayakoba Classic, 1 p.m., Golf Channel ■ PGA Tour Champions Golf: Charles Schwab Cup Championship, 4 p.m., Golf Channel Harvick suffers major setback LARRY PAPKE I Associated Press Kevin Harvick races into turn one during a NASCAR Cup race at Texas Motor Speedway, Sunday, Nov. 4, in Fort Worth, Texas. Driver stripped of berth in NASCAR title race after winning car failed inspection BY JENNA FRYER Associated Press CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Kevin Harvick’s bid for a second NASCAR title suf fered a massive setback Wednesday when he was stripped of his berth in the championship race because his winning car failed inspection after Texas Motor Speedway. The discovery of an illegally modified spoiler, made during a detailed post-race inspection after the No. 4 Ford returned to NAS- CAR’s Research and Development Center following Sunday’s race, negates the auto matic berth Har vick earned into the final four. The rule violated states that spoil ers must be used exactly as supplied from the manu facturer and not altered. On top of losing his spot in next weekend’s finale at Homestead-Miami Speed way, Harvick must also close out the final two races of the season without crew chief Rodney Childers and car chief Robert Smith. Both were suspended for two races, and Childers also was fined $75,000. Harvick was docked 40 driver points, and Stewart- Haas Racing was docked 40 owner points as well. Har vick enters this weekend’s race at Phoenix fourth among the remaining eight playoff drivers, three points above the cutline. Should there be a tie for the final transfer spot, Harvick would not be eligible to use the Texas victory in the tie breaking procedure. Greg Zipadelli, vice president of competition at SHR, said the team will not appeal the penalties. Tony Gibson will be Har vick’s interim crew chief and Nick DeFazio will be interim car chief. “We work tirelessly across every inch of our race cars to create speed and, unfortunately, NASCAR determined we ventured into an area not accommodated by its rule book,” Zipadelli said. “We will not appeal the penalty. Instead, we will direct our immediate focus to this weekend’s event in Phoe nix and control our destiny on the racetrack.” Harvick’s win at Texas was his series-leading eighth in 2018 and qualified him for Homestead along with Joey Logano. Now, three spots in the finale will be up for grabs Sunday in Phoenix. Harvick won the 2014 Cup Series championship and went to Phoenix that season in a must-win situation to race for the title. He pulled it off and is a nine-time winner at Phoenix, including earlier this year. Harvick has been in NASCAR’s finale three of the last four years. The penalty is disas trous for SHR, which went into the third round of the playoffs with all four of its drivers eligible for the championship. Logano grabbed the first spot, which meant the best SHR could do was qualify three cars for Homestead. Now, SHR could wind up locked out of the finale outright if Harvick doesn’t advance past Phoenix. Aric Almi- rola, Kurt Busch and Clint Bowyer are all below the cutline and likely need to win at Phoenix to advance. The penalty against Har vick also closes a rough race for NASCAR, which erroneously penalized Jimmie Johnson moments before the race began. Johnson was sent to the back of the field because NASCAR believed his car failed inspection three times, but he had failed only twice. NASCAR announced the mistake during the race and said Monday it has updated its procedures to prevent a similar mistake moving forward. Later in the same event, Bowyer was penalized for a crew member being over the pit road wall too early. The crew member was sitting on the wall with his feet touching the asphalt on pit road, which was a violation, even if it seemed extreme. Now Harvick’s team has been rocked by a penalty that may change the com position of the final four drivers racing for the title. Harvick, along with Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr., is part of NASCAR’s so- called Big Three that domi nated the season through a stretch of summer racing. All three were expected to race for the champion ship, and none is qualified for Homestead yet with one race remaining. “It is not our desire to issue any penalties, but we’ll do so when necessary to ensure each race and championship is contested on a level playing field,” said NASCAR senior vice president of competition Scott Miller. “We will now return our focus to Phoe nix, and the battle for a championship.” Also Wednesday, NAS CAR penalized the teams of Ryan Blaney and Erik Jones, who already have been eliminated from the playoffs. Blaney crew chief Jer emy Bullins was fined $50,000, and car chief Kirk Almquist was suspended for the next two races. Jones crew chief Chris Gayle was fined $50,000 and car chief Jason Over- street was suspended the next two races. It took until Wednes day for the penalties to be announced because the cars were in transit Mon day from Texas to North Carolina. Inspection was on Tuesday, and the teams do the actual teardown them selves. Once the Harvick violation was discovered late Tuesday, NASCAR had to examine whether the violation was correct and didn’t release its findings until the next day. Harvick RED ■ Continued from 1B the first time since 2015. It’s a team that has a pen chant for playing mistake- free football, according to Webb. “They don’t turn it over,” he said. “The quarterback’s a solid football player. He doesn’t throw the ball up for grabs. All of his throws are calculated.” The Semi nole’s combine their clean style of offense with a hyper-aggressive defense, and both Webb and Williams empha sized the important role the Gainesville offensive line will have to play in the contest. Williams said Creekside often brings all-out blitzes, opening up the potential for the Red Elephants to hit on explosive plays if they can get the ball out quickly. Any confusion among the team’s trench players could be catastrophic. “Every offensive line men, or every other person we have back there help ing block, we have to block every single per son, because they blitz everybody,” Williams said. “So if one dude messes up, that could eas ily mess up the whole play.” Defensively, Gainesville will focus on stopping the run and forc ing Creekside to beat them through the air. Webb — who believes his defensive line stacks up well against just about any other unit in the classification — said the onus will be on the sec ondary to keep the score low. In his words, “the ball is going to be in the air a good bit.” Webb said that if his squad is going to have a shot at advancing, the Red Ele phants must avoid careless turnovers and milk time of possession whenever they have the ball. After com ing away with zero points on two drives inside of Lanier’s 20-yard line last week in a four-point loss, capitalizing whenever they have chances will be hugely important for the Red Elephants. “If we’re going to beat them, we’ve got to take care of the football, because they are going to take care of the football, and we’re going to have to be able to make one-on-one plays,” Webb said. “That’s going to be the key.” Webb