Castroneves, Patrick move on to next week’s Indy 500
Indianapolis — IndyCar’s marquee names turned a day of qualifying for the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” into a throwback, nail-biting, bumping affair.
Helio Castroneves, seeking a redemptive record-tying fourth victory, was fastest around Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Danica Patrick was fast, too, and she averaged 227.610 mph to snag the ninth and final spot in the next round of qualifying, the Fast Nine. But this was a full field for the first time in years, and it meant two drivers weren’t making next Sunday’s show.
Never did the renewed bumping expect to be a threat to James Hinchcliffe, one of IndyCar’s top drivers, a popular Canadian, and a celebrity from his stint as runner-up on ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” show.
Add in this is the final Indy 500 on ABC, ending a partnership that started in 1965 and is second in sports only to CBS and the Masters. The network has been a strong partner for tiny IndyCar, and it helped turn Hinchcliffe and Castroneves into crossover stars.
And no one expected trouble for Pippa Mann, a perennial presence in the Indy 500. The British driver spends her entire year working to raise the money to run the Indy 500.
Yet after a day of bumping, it was Hinchcliffe and Mann who were surprisingly sidelined.
“It was devastating in every way possible,” said Hinchcliffe, who is fifth in the IndyCar standings and a full-time series racer for an anchor team. “We came here with big expectations and high hopes. We didn’t have Fast Nine speed but we didn’t think we’d miss the race.
“It’s Indy and we finally have bumping again and everyone was thrilled about it. Well, I’m a lot less thrilled about it.”
Hinchcliffe nearly lost his life at Indy in a 2015 crash in which he was pierced in an artery and would have bled to death if not for IndyCar’s standard-setting medical staff. He missed the race that year, but otherwise is a staple of the series.
Mann is a one-off. She races whatever events she can scrape together the funds to buy an open seat, and Indy is her yearlong pursuit. Without her in the field, the Indy 500 will have just one woman in the field, Patrick, at the time her return to American open wheel’s crown jewel event is being celebrated. Patrick is retiring after this Indy 500, her first since 2011 because of a brief and unsuccessful move to NASCAR. Back for the second leg of a farewell in “The Danica Double” she’s bookended Indy with the Daytona 500 on a two-race goodbye tour.
Oakland, Calif. — One good beating per series is plenty for Draymond Green and Golden State.
The Warriors got it in Game 2 at Houston, and now the defending champions plan to do what they seem to do best: bounce back with brilliance.
As the Western Conference finals showdown shifts to Oracle Arena for today’s Game 3, tied at one game apiece, the Warriors have spent the past few days discussing their Game 2 troubles and what they’re striving to do in order not to be dominated again. It’s time to play. “I think we’re at our best when we feel threatened,” Green said Saturday. “Game 1 we felt threatened, we came out with a sense of urgency. Game 2 we maybe didn’t feel as threatened and the sense of urgency wasn’t there. I think you’re allowed one of those a series. We’ve had our one, now it’s time to lock in for the remainder of the series.”
And for the Warriors that starts on the defensive end against Chris Paul, James Harden and Co., because when they get stops it allows Golden State to get going in transition and find open looks from 3-point range that weren’t there during a 127-105 Game 2 defeat Wednesday night at Houston. That was largely because the Rockets had ample time to set their defense following made baskets.
Houston is making sure not to get too high from its impressive result. The Rockets lost Game 1, 119-106. ROCKETS AT WARRIORS 8 p.m. Oracle Arena, TNT
“Feels like Game 2 was a week ago now. That’s how it is in the playoffs,” Paul said. “I heard somebody say when you lose a game in the playoffs, you feel like you’re never going to win again, and when you win, you feel like you’re never going to lose again. We’ve done a great job all year staying even-keeled.”
The task gets tougher for the Rockets at one of the league’s most imposing venues.
Golden State has won an NBA record-tying 15 straight postseason home games, matching the Chicago Bulls’ mark from April 27, 1990-May 21, 1991.
“The Warriors at Oracle are a different story for sure,” Stephen Curry said.
Coach Steve Kerr spoke last week to former Warriors coach Mark Jackson about Golden State’s resiliency over years now.
Just as they did in losing once in each of the first two rounds, the Warriors hardly looked strong in Game 2. Kerr insists that rebounding from a bad loss is hardly about coaching, patting his chest to note that his players take it upon themselves based on their passion to respond from defeat.
“It’s a series. We’re not going to knock them out in one game,” Kevin Durant said. “Bad games happen throughout playoff series, throughout a season, throughout a career. So just move on, keep getting better and see what happens next game.”