S. Korea may feature N. Korea taekwondo team

To bolster ties, group could perform before opening ceremony.

South Korean Olympic organizers say it’s too late to include a North Korean taekwondo performance in the opening ceremony of the Pyeongchang Winter Games, but it might still occur at the Olympic Stadium on Feb. 9.

Song Seung-hwan, creative director of the opening and closing ceremonies, said Tuesday there are discus- sions on whether to include the North Korean taekwondo demonstration team in a program ahead of the opening ceremony. A Pyeongchang organizing committee official said nothing has been decided.

Song said a North Korean presence at the Pyeongchang Olympics would make the peace-themed opening and closing ceremonies more meaningful, but it would be impossible to introduce new elements into the ceremonies this late.

“North Korea’s participa- tion will bring no changes to the concept of the opening and closing ceremonies,” Song said at a news confer- ence in Pyeongchang.

The opening and closing ceremonies will be at Pyeo- ngchang’s 35,000-seat Olympic Stadium, a steely pen- tagonal arena that will be torn down after the games to reduce costs.

Spectators in the outdoor stadium will have to prepare for hours of exposure to cold winter temperatures in an area notorious for strong winds. Organizers plan to provide each spectator at the Olympic ceremonies with a raincoat, a small blanket and heating pads. Polycarbonate walls will be installed above the highest seats across the two northwest sides of the stadium to block the strongest winds. About 40 portable gas heaters will be placed in aisles between the rows of plastic seats.

“There are people who say they wouldn’t come to the opening ceremony because it would be too cold,” Lee Heebeom, president of Pyeongchang’s organizing commit- tee, said at the news confer- ence. “(But) we are making all kinds of preparations for the cold weather. There’s no need to be excessively worried.”

North Korea agreed earlier this month to send a delega- tion to the Olympics, in the first formal talks between the Koreas in about two years. Its delegation at the Feb. 9-25 games is to include officials, athletes, a cheering group, journalists, an art troupe and the taekwondo demonstra- tion team. South Korea has also sent a group of officials to North Korea to inspect preparations for a joint cul- tural event at the North’s scenic Diamond Mountain and a practice session for the countries’ non-Olympic skiers at the North’s Masik ski resort. The Koreas plan to hold the two events before the start of the Olympics.

South Korea hopes to use the Olympics as an opportu- nity to improve cross-border ties following a period of tension over the North’s rapidly expanding nuclear weapon and missile programs. The resumption of inter-Korean talks is key for the policies of liberal South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who wants Seoul in the driver’s seat in interna- tional efforts to deal with the North Korean nuclear threat. The Rockets But once they cranked up the defense, after giving it most of the fourth quarter off, they made the Heat’s kind of game their own.

For much of the game, the Rockets worked the clock as much as the Heat, often putting the ball in James Harden’s or Chris Paul’s hands

generate looks late in the shot clock.

The Rockets made just two fast-break shots all game, none in the second half, but

then, they had embraced the idea of having to win in a different way. “You just had a feel for it,”

said. “It was going to be a grind-out game.

“Shots weren’t falling. We dug ourselves a hole early. It was one of those games.”

Though Paul did not want to read too much into a win taken “by any means necessary,” especially against

shorthanded opponent, there was a sense it will not be the last time the Rockets

to win the way they did Monday. The Rockets had failed score 100 points in just three games this season, losing them all.

They have won six of their past seven games, but in the previous five wins, they had averaged 117 points.

Through three quarters Monday, they had managed

of 71, but seemed to relish a chance to win with defense, only in part because they had no choice.

“When you win low-scoring games like this, it’s a step to being able to win all kinds of games,” forward P.J. Tucker said. “That’s the key to finishing the season strong and going into the playoffs.

“Obviously, we don’t want those kind of games. It took us a while to figure it out.”

After a terrible start defensively, when Hassan Whiteside made his first six shots and the Heat made nine of their first 10 on the way to a 14-point, first-quarter lead, the Rockets’ defense stepped up.

With the Heat playing without Goran Dragic and Tyler Johnson, the Rockets seemed to wear down the rotation players remaining.

In the final three quarters, the Rockets allowed just 57 points on 39.3 percent shooting.

“After the initial hit, the 33 points we took from them, I thought our defense really stepped up,” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said. “We played hard as heck.

“We get an emotional victory on Saturday, and then we didn’t come out of the gates very well. But after that, our defense was solid.”