WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12, 2017 SPORTS NHL Oilers ready for Sharks challenge EDMONTON: Jordan Eberle shrugs off the Other players such as Benoit Pouliot, notion that he and the rest of the Patrick Maroon, David Desharnais, and Edmonton Oilers might be a little wide- Mark Letestu have some experience in the eyed when the puck drops in their playoff postseason. And then there’s Milan Lucic, a series against the San Jose Sharks. veteran of 101 playoff games and a Stanley The Sharks are the defending Western Cup in Boston. Lucic said when a veteran Conference champions, with savvy veter- team such as the Sharks gets close to the ans who have been to the postseason plen- Stanley Cup, it’s addictive. ty of times. Eberle isn’t worried about it. “I know what they’re feeling,” Lucic said. “We have enough experience in this “I’ve been a part of teams that have gone locker room to handle the playoffs,” he said. to the final and the next year once you get Eberle is especially looking forward to the to that 50-, 60-, 70-game mark you can’t tournament. He’s in his seventh NHL sea- wait for the playoffs to start again. son, all with Edmonton, and has yet to play “You know they’re confident. You know for the big prize. they passed up on an opportunity (to win it “This is usually the last day (of the sea- all) last year and they’re going to try to do son) for me,” Eberle said. “It’s what you play whatever they can to not pass up on it this hockey for, to get into the postseason and I year.” Oilers coach Todd McLellan and assis- have a chance to do that finally.” tants Jay Woodcroft and Jim Johnson all The stats favor the Oilers when the parted ways with the Sharks two years ago series begins today in Edmonton. The and are back in the playoffs facing their for- Oilers finished second in the Pacific mer team. Division with 103 points. The Sharks “Our coaches probably know that team appeared to have the division locked up in better than anybody in the league, so it will mid-March, only to lose nine of their last 13 help,” Eberle said. “But we’ve played them to tumble to third with 99 points. The Oilers enough during the season that we know beat the Sharks three out of five games, how they play. We know their key guys and including twice in the past two weeks. what they want to do. It’s just a matter of Still, the Oilers have not been in the outworking and outplaying them.” postseason since 2006 when they made a Centers Joe Thornton and Logan surprising run that ended with a loss in the Couture are day to day with injuries for the BOSTON: Brooklyn Nets guard Jeremy Lin, center, threads between Boston Celtics guards Avery Bradley, left, and Isaiah Thomas, right, on a drive to Stanley Cup Final to the Carolina Sharks. Couture has been skating after the basket during the first quarter of an NBA basketball game in Boston, Monday. — AP Hurricanes. Along the way, they beat the being hit in the face by a redirected slap Sharks in six games, the only time the shot March 25. Thornton injured his left teams have met in the playoffs. knee in a collision a week ago against the BASKETBALL Key forwards such as Connor McDavid, Vancouver Canucks. Leon Draisaitl, Jordan Eberle, Ryan Nugent- Couture is a critical piece as he would be Hopkins and defensemen Oscar Klefbom tasked with shadowing and shutting down and Darnell Nurse will play their first NHL McDavid, the NHL’s fleet-footed scoring Celtics clinch title, playoff game on Wednesday. champion. — AP Kings fire Cup-winning coach Miami beat Cleveland Darryl Sutter, GM Dean Lombardi BOSTON: The Boston Celtics clinched the Trail Blazers, and Kawhi Leonard scored 18 Los Angeles won its sixth game in a row. Jamal LOS ANGELES: The Los Angeles Kings on Lombardi, who has run the Kings since Atlantic Division title and moved atop the points for the Spurs, who lost their third Crawford added 19 points off the bench and Monday fired coach Darryl Sutter and gen- April 2006. Lombardi built a Cup-winning Eastern Conference standings with a 114-105 game in a row. DeAndre Jordan added 14 points and 11 eral manager Dean Lombardi, who led the franchise and then undermined it by hand- victory over the Brooklyn Nets. The victory, rebounds. Should the Clippers win the final franchise to its only two Stanley Cup ing out lucrative contracts to underachiev- which completed a four-game sweep of the sea- CLIPPERS 125, ROCKETS 96 game of the season at home against the championships. ing veterans, and most of his recent moves son series with the Nets, moved the Celtics a Chris Paul scored 19 points and registered Sacramento Kings today, they will host the Utah The Kings also promoted defenseman didn’t pan out. game ahead of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the nine assists, and Blake Griffin added 18 points as Jazz in the first round of the playoffs. —Reuters Rob Blake to vice president and general Robitaille has been in charge of the East. Isaiah Thomas scored 27 points, Al Horford manager, while longtime executive Luc Kings’ business operations for the past sev- had 19 and the pair combined for the final 15 Robitaille has been promoted to team eral years. Both Blake and Robitaille are Boston points in the last 4:41. Despite Brooklyn’s NBA Results/Standings president in charge of all hockey and busi- Hall of Fame players. “Words cannot loss, Brook Lopez scored 25 points and became ness operations. Los Angeles won the express our gratitude and appreciation for the leading scorer in franchise history, passing Chicago 122, Orlando 75; Milwaukee 89, Charlotte 79; Washington 105, Detroit 101; Boston 114, Brooklyn 105; Stanley Cup in 2012 and 2014, but hasn’t what Dean and Darryl have accomplished Buck Williams. Jeremy Lin scored 26 points and Miami 124, Cleveland 121 (OT); Indiana 120, Philadelphia 111. won a playoff round since. for the Kings franchise,” Beckerman said. grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds for the Nets. Eastern Conference Western Conference “This was an extremely difficult decision “They built this team and helped lead us Atlantic Division Northwest Division and was made with an enormous amount to two Stanley Cup Championships and HEAT 124, CAVALIERS 121 (OT) W L PCT GB Utah 50 31 .617 - of consideration for what we have accom- will forever be remembered as all-time Miami kept its slim playoff hopes alive, Boston 52 29 .642 - Oklahoma City 46 34 .575 3.5 plished in our past,” said Dan Beckerman, greats in Kings history. But with that level defeating Cleveland in overtime. The Cavaliers Toronto 50 31 .617 2 Portland 41 40 .506 9 NY Knicks 30 51 .370 22 the president of AEG, the sports conglom- of accomplishment comes high expecta- rested LeBron James and Kyrie Irving. The Heat Denver 38 42 .475 11.5 (40-41) will need to win their regular-season Philadelphia 28 53 .346 24 Minnesota 31 49 .388 18.5 erate that owns the Kings. “But the present tions, and we have not met those expecta- Brooklyn 20 61 .247 32 Pacific Division and future of our organization is the high- tions for the last three seasons. With the finale on Wednesday against the Washington Central Division Golden State 66 15 .815 - est priority.” core players we have in place, we should Wizards to have any hope of making the play- Cleveland 51 30 .630 - The Kings (39-35-8) missed the playoffs be contending each year for the Stanley offs. Even with a victory, Miami would need a Milwaukee 42 39 .519 9 LA Clippers 50 31 .617 16 Sacramento 31 49 .388 34.5 this spring for the second time in three Cup. Our failure to meet these goals has loss by Indiana or Chicago. Tyler Johnson had 24 Indiana 41 40 .506 10 points and Hassan Whiteside added 23 points Chicago 40 41 .494 11 LA Lakers 25 55 .313 40.5 years with their worst record since 2009. led us to this change.” Sutter went 225- Phoenix 24 57 .296 42 They finished 10th in the 14-team Western 147-53 after taking over the Kings in and 18 rebounds to help Miami snap a three- Detroit 37 44 .457 14 game home losing streak. Southeast Division Southwest Division Conference, fading down the stretch with December 2011 to reteam with Lombardi, Washington 49 32 .605 - San Antonio 61 20 .753 - a team that struggled to keep up with his friend and former boss in San Jose. BULLS 122, MAGIC 75 Atlanta 42 38 .525 6.5 Houston 54 27 .667 7 faster, younger opponents. Sutter immediately injected discipline and Miami 40 41 .494 9 Memphis 43 38 .531 18 Robin Lopez scored 18 points, and Jimmy The moves bring an emphatic end to passion into an underachieving group, Charlotte 36 45 .444 13 New Orleans 33 47 .413 27.5 Butler and Jerian Grant each had 17 to lead the best era in the mostly ordinary fran- and the Kings shocked the hockey world Orlando 28 53 .346 21 Dallas 32 48 .400 28.5 chise history of the Kings, a Second Six by rampaging through the postseason as Chicago’s rout of Orlando, moving the Bulls clos- expansion franchise. the eighth seed in the West, going 16-4 er to clinching a playoff berth.