UIL will implement replay for 2018 season

James Harden predicted Chris Paul would “come back and drop 30” after not playing his best in Houston’s playoff opener. Close enough. Paul had 27 points and Gerald Green came off the bench to score a playoff career-high 21 as the Rockets used a huge second quarter to cruise to a 102-82 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night that gave them a 2-0 lead in the firstround playoff series.

Paul, a nine-time All-Star, scored 14 points and tied a season high with six turn- overs in the first game. Early on, it was clear that Paul wouldn’t struggle again as he had 15 points, three assists, two steals and a block by halftime.

Paul, who joined the Rock- ets in an offseason trade from the Clippers, finished with eight assists and three steals.

“I know he was beating himself up after Game 1, he called me and we talked a little bit and I said: ‘Don’t worry about it, the win’s all that matters so just come back and be aggressive,’” Harden said.

Paul seemed to listen to his teammate.

“Just tried to push the tempo, tried to be aggres- sive ... getting into the lane and getting a couple of easy ones early helped us,” Paul said.

The top-seeded Rockets won the opener by three behind a 44-point perfor- mance from James Harden on a night when most of the team struggled offensively. Things were much different Wednesday when Harden went 2 for 18 and had just 12 points as one of four Rock- hits financially, losing all his major sponsors and being forced to pay more than $20 million in damages and settlements in a series of lawsuits. The government’s lawsuit would have been the big- gest by far.

Armstrong is still believed to be worth millions based on a vast investment portfolio and homes in Austin, Texas, and Aspen, Colorado. He also owns a pair of bicycle shops in Austin and WeDu, an endurance events company. He also hosts a regular podcast in which he interviews other sports figures and celebrities and has provided running commen- tary on the Tour de France.

Armstrong had built a world-wide following during his career winning races and fighting cancer.

His personal story of recovering from testicular cancer that had spread to his brain, while forcefully denying per- sistent rumors of doping, had built his Lance Armstrong Foundation cancer charity into a $500 million global ets who finished in double figures.

The Rockets were up by 15 at halftime and opened the second half with a 10-2 run to make it 65-42 with about nine minutes left in the third.

The Timberwolves had scored seven straight points later in the third when Green, the hometown player who was signed off the street in December, hit his fifth 3-pointer to leave the Rock- ets up 74-53 with about 2 1/2 minutes left in the quarter.

He was thrilled to be able to star in a playoff game in the city where he grew up.

“This moment that I’m living right now is everything that I’ve dreamed of since I was five or six years old,” Green said.

The Timberwolves led by as many as nine early and the game was tied with about eight minutes left in the second quarter before Houston scored 16 straight points, highlighted by three 3-point- ers from Green, to take a 46-30 lead with about 4 1/2 minutes left in the first half.

Cavaliers 100, Pacers 97: LeBron James scored 46 p oints and added 12 rebounds as Cleveland bounced back from a poor performance in the opener by holding off the Indiana Pacers 100-97 on Wednesday night to even their Eastern Conference series at one game apiece. brand and turned him into a celebrity. The foundation, which removed him from its board and renamed itself Livestrong, has seen donations and revenue plummet since his confession.

Armstrong’s team was already under the Postal Service sponsorship when he won his first Tour de France in 1999. The media frenzy that followed pushed the agency to sign the team for another five years. Arm- strong and his teams dom- inated cycling’s marquee event, winning every year from 1999-2005.

Armstrong’s cheating was finally uncovered in 2012 when the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, armed with sworn testimony from Landis and other former teammates, moved to strip Armstrong of his titles.

Landis, himself a former doping cheat who was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France title, sued Arm- strong under the federal False Claims Act, alleging Armstrong and his team committed fraud against the government when they cheated while riding under the Postal Service banner. According to

Kevin Love scored 15, but Cleveland’s All-Star center injured his left hand, the same one he broke earlier this season, with 3:43 left. Love’s status could affect the remainder of this series — and perhaps Cleveland’s season.

Oladipo scored 22 — he was in early foul trouble — and former Longhorn Myles Turner 18 for the Pacers.

Jazz 102, Thunder 95: Rookie Donovan Mitchell scored 13 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter to help the Utah Jazz defeat the Oklahoma City Thunder and tie their Western Conference playoff series at one win game apiece.

Derrick Favors had career playoff bests of 20 points and 16 rebounds for the Jazz, and Ricky Rubio had 22 points, nine assists and seven rebounds.

Wife of Sp urs coach Gregg Popovich dies: The Spurs confirmed the death of Erin Popovich Wednesday. She was 67.

“We mourn the loss of Erin,” Spurs general manager RC Buford said in a team statement. “She was a strong, wonderful, kind, intelligent woman.”

The Popoviches have two children and two grandchil- dren. They met at the Air Force Academy in the 1970s when he was an assistant coach there and her father was the athletic trainer. court records, the contract paid the team, which was operated by Tailwind Sports Corp., about $32 million from 2000 to 2004. Armstrong got nearly $13.5 million.

Under the lawsuit, the government could have pursued treble damages, which could have reached the $100 million range. As the person who filed the original lawsuit, Landis is eligible for up to 25 percent of the settlement, which will include an additional $1.65 million paid to Landis’ attorneys.

Armstrong had claimed he didn’t owe the Postal Ser- vice anything because the agency made far more off the sponsorship than it paid; his lawyers introduced inter- nal studies for the agency that calculated benefits in media exposure topping $100 million. The government countered that he had been “unjustly enriched” through the sponsorship and that the negative fallout from the doping scandal tainted the agency’s reputation.

Armstrong had been the target of a federal criminal grand jury, but that case was closed without charges in February 2012.

Count Hank Carter among the Texas high school football coaches who understand how significantly a referee’s call can affect a state championship game. The head coach at Lake Travis since 2010, Carter has been on the sideline for nine state-title games as either an assistant or head coach.

Based on his experiences, Carter said Thursday he was cautiously optimistic that the University Interscholastic League’s decision to implement instant replay for all state championship football games, beginning with the 2018 season, will only improve the biggest contests of the season.

“I’m excited that the UIL wants to make our game better,” said Carter, who guided Lake Travis to the Class 6A, Division I championship in 2016. “I wouldn’t want to slow the game down too much, but I do like that the college and pro game use instant replay. They fix mistakes.”

The new UIL policy also concerns some coaches because it represents a departure from the officiating protocol in play for the rest of the season. Replay will not be used during regular-season games or playoff games preceding the state finals.

“I don’t necessarily like it,” said Cedar Park’s Carl Abseck, who has coached in three state championship games as a head coach or as an assistant. “It seems kind of silly to do something all season and then change it up for the title game.

“There’s always gripes about officials, but that’s the nature of the game. They’re human; they make mistakes. And our officials work hard and do the best they can, and we trust them for 15 games to make all the calls. I just don’t know why we change that for one game.”

Abseck said he understands that the centralization of state-titles games this past decade makes reviewing plays feasible, given available resources and technology. This past December, all 12 UIL state championship games — from Class 6A, Division I through six-man, Division II — took place at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.

UIL executive director Charles Breithaupt said having each 11-man title game in the same stadium played a major role in adapting the new policy.

“With all UIL state championship football games at a single location, we have the technology and ability to utilize these powerful tools to make the state championships the best possible experience for coaches, players, officials and fans,” said Breithaupt in a news release issued Thursday. “Instant replay will help ensure that the calls during the biggest games of the year are as correct as possible.”

The University Interscholastic League follows NCAA rules for high school football, and each year a UIL committee reviews possible exceptions to those rules. The UIL stated that it will follow NCAA rules for instant replay with two exceptions: There will be no coaches’ challenges, and all reviews will be initiated by the replay officials.

All reviews will take place in a replay booth, with a collegiate replay official reviewing plays.

“We’ve studied this topic thoroughly and have had many conversations with officials and coaches,” said UIL athletic director Susan Elza in the news release. “The consensus we’ve heard is that our game is ready for this, and it will be a valuable addition.”

Additionally, targeting will not be called because of a review. Targeting will continue to be called by the officials on the field.