17 MARCH 2019
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MAGNOLIA,<br />
GINEBRA<br />
FAN HOPES<br />
P18<br />
XI PRODS<br />
MEETING<br />
MILITARY<br />
GOALS<br />
P19<br />
A FAMILY<br />
OF<br />
DANCERS<br />
AND MORE<br />
P21<br />
THE MAN<br />
BEHIND<br />
LECHE FLAN<br />
IN A JAR<br />
P23<br />
Aldrin Cardona, Editor<br />
Sunday, <strong>17</strong> March <strong>2019</strong><br />
Daily Tribune<br />
SUNDAY<br />
SPORTS <strong>17</strong><br />
STREAK CONTINUES<br />
Spurs reach 7th heaven<br />
Friday’s Games<br />
(Saturday in Manila)<br />
We’re a darn good team<br />
SAN ANTONIO — Three weeks after hitting a low point with a<br />
“pathetic” performance on Broadway, the Spurs hit a high note<br />
against the New York Knicks.<br />
LaMarcus Aldridge had 18 points and 11 rebounds, and San Antonio<br />
beat the Knicks 109-83 on Friday night to extend its season-best<br />
winning streak to seven games.<br />
“It’s more of a focus and them understanding that when we play<br />
good defense, we’re a darn good team,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich<br />
said.<br />
DeMar DeRozan and Bryn Forbes each added 13 points for the<br />
Spurs, whose previous season high was five straight victories.<br />
Other NBA games saw Charlotte swamp Washington, 116-110;<br />
Detroit smother L.A. Lakers, 111-97; Philadelphia slide Sacramento,<br />
123-114; Houston sink Phoenix, 108-102; Milwaukee sear Miami, 113-98;<br />
Portland scuttle New Orleans, 122-110; and the L.A. Clippers smear<br />
Chicago, 128-121<br />
New York, which was without injured point guard Dennis Smith Jr.,<br />
lost its eighth straight. Damyean Dotson had 21 points and DeAndre<br />
Jordan added 11 points, 13 rebounds and matched a career high<br />
with nine assists.<br />
The Spurs hold the league’s longest active winning streak and<br />
have won nine straight and 16 of 18 at the AT&T Center.<br />
“It just feels good,” San Antonio forward Rudy Gay said. “Things<br />
are clicking. Playing defense. Even when the ball is not going in like<br />
we want it to, we’re still getting wins and that’s how you know we’re<br />
getting better as a team.”<br />
It’s more of a focus and them understanding that when<br />
we play good defense.<br />
Gay had 12 points in 19 minutes after missing two games and<br />
losing 10 pounds because of the flu.<br />
The Spurs dominated defensively, which was in stark contrast to<br />
what Popovich deemed a “pathetic performance defensively” in their<br />
previous meeting with the Knicks.<br />
New York snapped an 18-game skid at home, routing the Spurs<br />
130-118 on Feb. 24 as part of San Antonio’s worst Rodeo Road Trip<br />
ever. The Spurs have had a greater sense of urgency since going 1-7<br />
on that road trip and it continued against the team with the league’s<br />
worst record (13-66).<br />
New York had 16 turnovers and shot 41 percent from the field.<br />
“When we beat them at our place, we limited our mistakes, our<br />
turnovers and stuff like that,” Knicks forward Kevin Knox said. “So,<br />
they came in with a little bit of a chip and we just didn’t respond.”<br />
San Antonio opened an 11-point lead in the first quarter Friday<br />
and maintained that double-digit advantage for much of the game.<br />
The Spurs had 48 points in the paint behind the starting tandem<br />
of Aldridge and Jakob Poeltl.<br />
The Spurs hold the league’s longest active winning<br />
streak.<br />
Aldridge had 10 points and seven rebounds and closed with his<br />
25th double-double of the season.<br />
“(Having Poeltl start at center) kind of frees me up to float a<br />
little bit and kind of find my shot in different ways,” Aldridge said.<br />
“I’m spacing the floor a little bit more. I’m not the focal point as<br />
the pick-and-roll guy all the time, so it kind of changes it up for me.<br />
He’s been active.”<br />
Poeltl had 12 points, nine rebounds and matched a career high<br />
with five blocks.<br />
Trailing 76-67, New York had an opportunity to pull closer but<br />
Kadeem Allen missed a contested layup as Aldridge raced back on<br />
defense following a turnover. Gay followed with a three-pointer to<br />
extend the Spurs’ lead to 79-67.<br />
AP<br />
RORY McIlroy of Northern Ireland hits his tee shot on the 18th hole during<br />
the second round of The Players Championship golf tournament. AP<br />
NEW YORK Knicks’ Emmanuel Mudiay looks to pass as he is defended by San Antonio Spurs’<br />
Dante Cunningham during their NBA game Friday.<br />
AP<br />
Federer, Nadal in semis path<br />
Nadal stands in the way of<br />
Federer’s pursuit of a record<br />
sixth title at Indian Wells<br />
INDIAN WELLS, California — It’s Federer<br />
vs. Nadal again, only this time it’ll be in the<br />
semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open.<br />
Roger Federer beat Hubert Hurkacz<br />
6-4, 6-4 and Rafael Nadal got by Karen<br />
Khachanov 7-6 (2), 7-6 (2) on Friday to<br />
set up the old rivals’ 39th career meeting<br />
and first in 16 months.<br />
Neither Federer nor Nadal has dropped<br />
a set in four matches in the desert.<br />
Federer has been broken just once,<br />
while Nadal has dropped serve<br />
three times, twice against<br />
Khachanov.<br />
Nadal stands in the way of<br />
Federer’s pursuit of a record<br />
sixth title at Indian Wells.<br />
Still, the Swiss superstar was<br />
rooting for Nadal to advance<br />
against his 22-year-old opponent.<br />
“Playing against young guys<br />
to eventually get to Rafa, that’s<br />
exciting,” said Federer, who also<br />
faced an opponent the same age<br />
as Khachanov.<br />
Nadal’s right knee flared up in the second<br />
set for the first time during the tournament.<br />
He called for a trainer who applied tape just<br />
below the knee. The trainer returned again<br />
with Nadal leading 3-2 in the second set.<br />
Knee problems have dogged the 32-year-old<br />
Spaniard in recent years and they cut short his<br />
2018 season after the US Open in September.<br />
Canadian teenager Bianca Andreescu<br />
rallied past No. 6 Elina Svitolina 6-3,<br />
2-6, 6-4, winning on her fourth match<br />
point to reach the biggest final of her<br />
young career.<br />
Andreescu became the first<br />
wild-card to reach the Indian<br />
Wells final.<br />
Andreescu will play two-time<br />
major champion Angelique<br />
Kerber, who ended<br />
23rd-seeded Belinda<br />
Bencic’s run of upsets<br />
with a 6-4, 6-2 victory.<br />
The 18-year-old<br />
Canadian’s run is<br />
reminiscent of Naomi<br />
Osaka’s path to last<br />
year’s title. Little-known<br />
at the time, Osaka used<br />
her Indian Wells victory<br />
as a launching pad to<br />
beating Serena Williams<br />
for the US Open title and winning the<br />
Australian Open while becoming the world’s<br />
top-ranked player.<br />
AP<br />
Rory, Tommy real chummy<br />
Tiger Woods just made the cut<br />
with a one-under 71<br />
LOS ANGELES — Rory McIlroy charged<br />
up the leaderboard on the back nine, firing<br />
a seven-under 65 on Friday to grab a share<br />
of the lead with Tommy Fleetwood at the<br />
halfway stage of the Players Championship.<br />
McIlroy, of Northern Ireland, went seven<br />
under par on his final 11 holes, making an<br />
eagle on the par-five 16th, a birdie on the<br />
par-three <strong>17</strong> and par on the par-four closing<br />
hole to reach a 12-under 132 total.<br />
He is tied with England’s Fleetwood who<br />
shot a five-under 67 for his sixth straight<br />
round under par.<br />
Ian Poulter (66), Jim Furyk (64), Brian<br />
ANGELIQUE Kerber of Germany<br />
celebrates after defeating Belinda<br />
Bencic of Switzerland at the BNP<br />
Paribas Open tennis tournament. AP<br />
Harman (69) and Abraham Ancer (66) are<br />
tied for third at nine-under 135 at the TPC<br />
Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.<br />
Australia’s Jason Day shot a 66 and is<br />
tied for seventh with Keith Mitchell and<br />
Kevin Kisner at eight-under 136.<br />
Tiger Woods just made the cut with a<br />
one-under 71 but was left hovering along<br />
the cut line after a quadruple bogey<br />
seven on the picturesque par-three island<br />
green. He finished tied for 39th with a<br />
three-under 141 total, nine strokes back<br />
of the leaders.<br />
Teeing off on his eighth hole of the day<br />
after starting on the back nine, Woods’ tee<br />
shot from 146 yards was long and left over<br />
the island green and his next shot from<br />
the drop zone was also long. AFP<br />
Charlotte 116, Washington 110<br />
Detroit 111, L.A. Lakers 97<br />
Philadelphia 123, Sacramento 114<br />
Houston 108, Phoenix 102<br />
Milwaukee 113, Miami 98<br />
Portland 122, New Orleans 110<br />
San Antonio 109, New York 83<br />
L.A. Clippers 128, Chicago 121<br />
EASTERN CONFERENCE<br />
Atlantic Division<br />
W L Pct GB<br />
x-Toronto 49 20 .710 —<br />
Philadelphia 44 25 .638 5<br />
Boston 42 27 .609 7<br />
Brooklyn 36 34 .514 13½<br />
New York 13 56 .188 36<br />
Southeast Division<br />
Miami 32 36 .471 —<br />
Orlando 32 38 .457 1<br />
Charlotte 31 37 .456 1<br />
Washington 29 40 .420 3½<br />
Atlanta 24 45 .348 8½<br />
Central Division<br />
x-Milwaukee 52 <strong>17</strong> .754 —<br />
Indiana 44 25 .638 8<br />
Detroit 35 33 .515 16½<br />
Chicago 19 51 .271 33½<br />
Cleveland <strong>17</strong> 52 .246 35<br />
WESTERN CONFERENCE<br />
Southwest Division<br />
W L Pct GB<br />
Houston 43 26 .623 —<br />
San Antonio 40 29 .580 3<br />
New Orleans 30 41 .423 14<br />
Memphis 28 41 .406 15<br />
Dallas 27 41 .397 15½<br />
Northwest Division<br />
Denver 45 22 .672 —<br />
Portland 42 26 .618 3½<br />
Oklahoma City 42 27 .609 4<br />
Utah 39 29 .574 6½<br />
Minnesota 32 37 .464 14<br />
Pacific Division<br />
Golden State 46 21 .687 —<br />
L.A. Clippers 40 30 .571 7½<br />
Sacramento 33 35 .485 13½<br />
L.A. Lakers 31 38 .449 16<br />
Phoenix 16 54 .229 31½<br />
x-clinched playoff spot<br />
Saturday’s Games<br />
(Sunday in Manila)<br />
Atlanta at Boston<br />
Memphis at Washington<br />
Phoenix at New Orleans<br />
Cleveland at Dallas<br />
Golden State at Oklahoma City<br />
Portland at San Antonio<br />
Brooklyn at Utah<br />
Indiana at Denver<br />
Sunday’s Games<br />
(Monday in Manila)<br />
L.A. Lakers at New York<br />
Charlotte at Miami<br />
Philadelphia at Milwaukee<br />
Toronto at Detroit<br />
Atlanta at Orlando<br />
Chicago at Sacramento<br />
Brooklyn at L.A. Clippers<br />
Minnesota at Houston<br />
Monday’s Games<br />
(Tuesday in Manila)<br />
Detroit at Cleveland<br />
Utah at Washington<br />
Denver at Boston<br />
New York at Toronto<br />
Golden State at San Antonio<br />
Miami at Oklahoma City<br />
New Orleans at Dallas<br />
Chicago at Phoenix<br />
Indiana at Portland