6 September 7, 2020 Nuggets Thump Clippers, Raptors IOC ‘Carefully Optimistic’ About Down Celtics to Even NBA Series Tokyo 2020, Beijing 2022 pre-recorded speech at the World Winter Sports Expo 2020 here on Sunday. “But we are optimistic because we know we can do it because we have a fantastic partnership with Tokyo and an equally strong partnership with Beijing,” he add- ed. The 2020 Tokyo Olympics was post- poned by one year for the first time in Olympic history, and Dubi admitted a lot of work remained between now and the rescheduled summer of 2021 for Tokyo organizers. Denver’s takes aim over Ivica Zubac of the Los Angeles “We have a task force that is looking at Clippers in the Nuggets’ 110-101 NBA playoff victory all aspects of Games organization in or- WASHINGTON (AFP) - The Den- Leonard finished with 13 points on der to help Tokyo to simplify the delivery ver Nuggets bounced back with a ven- four-of-17 shooting with 10 rebounds for two main reasons,” Dubi further ex- geance on Saturday, powering to a and eight assists. plained. 110-101 victory over the Los Angeles The NBA champion Raptors, who “One, it will be good economically. But Clippers to even their NBA playoff se- won game three against the Celtics on also it will make sense in a context where ries 1-1. Thursday on OG Anunoby’s buzzer- BEIJING (Xinhua) - The International Olym- “We are carefully optimistic. And when we might still face a COVID situation. To It was all-square between the To- beating three-pointer, clamped down pic Committee (IOC) is hopeful that Tokyo 2020 I say carefully optimistic, it’s because we what extent we don’t know, but at least ronto Raptors and Boston Celtics, defensively to win again, holding the and Beijing 2022 can proceed in good order de- don’t know what the sanitary situation will we’ll have thought about what it takes to too, after the Raptors notched a sec- Celtics to 20 percent shooting from spite the disruption caused by the global COV- be a year from now,” said Olympic Games deliver an event like the Games in such an ond straight win, 100-93, to knot three-point range while draining 17 ID-19 pandemic. executive director Christophe Dubi in a environment.” their Eastern Conference semi-final three-pointers themselves. series 2-2 in the NBA’s quarantine shook off a slow bubble in Orlando, Florida. start to score 23 points as the NBA Thiem Sees Off Cilic to Reach U.S. Open Fourth Round The Nuggets, routed 120-97 in champion Toronto Raptors levelled NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sec- each of the first two sets. game one of the Western Conference the series. ond seed Dominic Thiem staved “I think the quick start was series on Thursday, turned the tables Kyle Lowry scored 22 points and with a blistering first half in which grabbed 11 rebounds with seven as- off a spirited fightback from more because of him,” the they led by as many as 23 points. sists for the Raptors, who won their Marin Cilic to beat the former Austrian said of Cilic, who Nikola Jokic added 26 points and second straight game and will try to champion 6-2 6-2 3-6 6-3 on was taken to five sets in his 18 rebounds for Denver, who had gain the upper hand in the best-of- Saturday and reach the fourth opener and four in the last rallied from a 3-1 deficit to beat the seven Eastern Conference series for round of the U.S. Open. round. Utah Jazz in seven games in the first the first time in game five on Mon- round. day. Thiem had won both his “He had two very tough open- The two -- who combined for 27 Lowry echoed the theme, saying previous meetings with the ing rounds, long matches.” points in game one -- had a total of the Raptors can’t afford to get com- 31st seeded Croat and quickly Cilic regrouped in the third 26 between them by the end of the placent after two straight wins. stamped his authority on the set, however, and once the first quarter as the Nuggets took a connected on seven of 44-25 lead. nine shots from the floor to score 18 evening’s final match on the former world No 3 found his Dominic Thiem, of Austria, returns a shot to Marin Cilic, It was 72-56 at half-time, and the points off the bench for Toronto and Arthur Ashe Stadium court of Croatia, during the third round of the U.S. Open tennis range the winners started to Nuggets were up by 12 going into the Fred VanVleet added 17 points, six with two service breaks in championships, Sept 5, 2020, in New York. flow. final quarter. rebounds and six assists for the Rap- The Clippers managed to cut the tors. deficit to five early in the fourth and Jayson Tatum scored 24 points and they got it to seven on Marcus Mor- pulled down 10 rebounds for the Hamilton on Pole at ris’s three-pointer with two and a half Celtics. Kemba Walker added 15 minutes remaining. Murray promptly points answered with a three-pointer and the But Boston connected on just seven Monza With Fastest Nuggets were away again. of 35 three-point attempts. Jaylen scored 22 points for Brown struggled mightily, mak- Lap in F1 History the Clippers and Ivica Zubac added ing just two of 11 from beyond the ROME (Dispatches) - Six-times world champion Lewis 15. arc and just four of 18 overall in a Hamilton smashed the Monza track record to take pole posi- Two-time NBA Finals MVP Kawhi 14-point performance. tion for the Italian Grand Prix with the fastest lap in Formula One history on Saturday. Mbappe Magic Gives France While Mercedes soared, Ferrari slumped to further hu- miliation with neither of their cars starting their home race Gritty 1-0 Win Over Sweden in the top 10 for the first time since 1984. Hamilton’s lap was simply sensational, a prodigious one minute 18.887 seconds at an average speed of 264.362kph Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain steers his car during the (164mph) to lead Finnish team mate Valtteri Bottas in an- qualifying session at the Monza racetrack in Monza, Italy, Sept 5, 2020. other front row lockout. France’s Best Hope to Win Tour de France Cracks PARIS (Dispatches) - The Tour de France’s first day in the Pyre- nees cost the host nation its best hope to end its 35-year title drought. Frenchman Thibaut Pinot was dropped on the penultimate climb on stage eight, the first of back-to-back mountain days. He fin- ished 25 minutes behind stage winner and countryman Nans Pe- ters and fell nearly 19 minutes behind in the overall standings led by Brit Adam Yates. “I could not pedal, that’s the way it is,” Pinot said. “I want to France’s Kylian Mbappe, right, scores a goal, and to the left, apologize to my teammates and all my supporters.” Sweden’s Sebastian Larsson, in action during the UEFA Nations Pinot began Saturday in good position, ninth place with the same League soccer match between Sweden and France at Friends time as defending champion Egan Bernal, 13 seconds behind Arena, Sept 5, 2020, in Stockholm, Sweden. Yates. But Pinot, third at the 2014 Tour, was seen sitting up, stretch- STOCKHOLM (Dispatches) - A tion’s top tier after their group vic- ing his back on multiple occasions after losing contact with the slice of luck and a moment of indi- tory last year, frustrated the world peloton. vidual brilliance during a mazy run champions for the first 40 minutes Ahead, Yates and the pre-Tour co-favorites, Bernal and Slove- from Kylian Mbappe gave France until Mbappe proved to be the dif- nian Primoz Roglic, finished in the same time. Yates keeps his 1985, making this the longest drought for the host nation. Before a gritty 1-0 win away to Sweden ference. three-second lead over Roglic. this, the longest span between French wins in Tour history dating in their Nations League A Group The 21-year-old Paris St Ger- Pinot, a 30-year-old for team Groupama-FDJ, crashed in the to 1903 was seven races. 3 clash on Saturday with Antoine main striker got a fortunate bounce Tour’s first stage in Nice the previous Saturday. He failed to fin- France had three other cyclists in the top 11 overall going into Griezmann even missing a last-min- off a defender’s legs as he danced ish the Tour in each of his last three starts. Last year, he tearfully Saturday — Guillaume Martin in third, Romain Bardet in seventh ute penalty. through the right side of the Swed- abandoned during stage 19 with a leg injury while in fifth place and Julian Alaphilippe in 11th. But none were expected to hold France coach Didier Deschamps ish defense before beating goal- overall. up in the Pyrenees and Alps as well as Pinot. Alaphilippe also tried a new 3-4-1-2 system but the keeper Robin Olsen from a very The last Frenchman to win the Tour was Bernard Hinault in cracked Saturday, falling to 26th place, nearly 12 minutes behind. Swedes, promoted to the competi- tight angle at his near post.