NEW YORK (AP) — A video game simulation of the NBA playoffs sees the Golden State Warriors beating the Cleveland Cavaliers, after getting by what would have been an exhausted San Antonio team.

The 2K Sports simulation Friday culminated with the Warriors topping the Cavaliers in six games, with Stephen Curry winning NBA Finals MVP after scoring 46 points in the clincher.

To get to the finals, the Warriors ousted the Spurs in seven games in the Western Conference finals. That was the third seven-game series for the defending champions, who went the distance to beat the Clippers and Houston Rockets in the previous two rounds.

The Cavaliers had a much easier time on their side of the bracket, dropping just one game each to Boston and Chicago before ousting top-seeded Atlanta in six games.

NEW YORK (AP) — The NBA will include referee names in its official play-by-play feeds alongside all calls reported to the table starting with the playoffs.

The league says Friday the calls will include fouls, technical fouls and all violations, such as goaltending, lane violations and 3-second violations.

The officials’ names will be included into the game reports and box scores that appear online.

It’s the latest initiative by the league to make its officiating program more transparent. It recently began posting “last 2 minutes reports” online that detail the accuracy of all officiating calls made in the last 2 minutes of close games.

The league also opened a replay center this season, which it says reduced the average time of reviews to 42 seconds. There were 1,596 replays that were upheld or overturned, with 80.8 percent being upheld.

(AP)–USA Cycling replaced two-time Olympic gold medalist Kristin Armstrong on its roster for next month’s Pan Am Championships on Friday after questions surfaced about the criteria used in picking the four-member women’s team.

Up-and-coming star Tayler Wiles took Armstrong’s place in the time trial. The rest of the team heading to Leon, Mexico, remained the same with Carmen Small riding in the time trial, then joining Lauren Hall and Coryn Rivera in the road race.

Armstrong, who retired after the 2012 London Games, recently announced a comeback with an eye on defending her Olympic time trial title at the Rio Games next year.

The dispute over the Pan Am roster began when USA Cycling used recent modifications to its selection criteria that placed greater emphasis on quantifiable metrics, such as a rider’s power output. But some argued the changers were not published in a timely manner, so USA Cycling agreed to reconsider the team using more subjective criteria put in place in 2008.

Under those criteria, the sport’s national governing body considered three broad categories: medal capability, the ability to enhance team performance and future medal capability.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Royals and A’s picked up right where they left off.

In their first meeting since last September’s dramatic wild-card game, Paulo Orlando delivered a go-ahead triple in the eighth inning Friday night to help Kansas City to a 6-4 win over Oakland in another back-and-forth affair.

Omar Infante also drove in a pair of runs for the Royals, whose 12-inning victory over the Athletics last year ultimately spurred them all the way to Game 7 of the World Series.

Kelvin Herrera and Wade Davis (2-0) each pitched a scoreless inning in relief of the Royals’ Jeremy Guthrie, and Greg Holland breezed through the ninth for his fourth save.

Dan Otero (0-1) gave up both runs in the eighth inning for Oakland.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Clayton Kershaw got his first victory despite giving up two home runs and Adrian Gonzalez hit a pair of RBI doubles as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Colorado Rockies 7-3 on Friday night.

Kershaw (1-1) allowed three runs — one earned — and six hits over six innings with 12 strikeouts. The reigning NL MVP is 21-2 with a 1.69 ERA in his last 24 regular-season starts.

Kershaw, who has won three consecutive Cy Young Awards, wasn’t nearly as dominating against the Rockies as he was when no-hit them last June. He surrendered a fourth-inning leadoff homer to Troy Tulowitzki and a two-run shot by Charlie Blackmon with two out in the fifth.

Nevertheless, the 27-year-old left-hander is 12-2 with a 3.11 ERA in his last 19 starts against Colorado.

Kyle Kendrick (1-2) gave up six runs in the loss.

 

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission is seeking reaction to proposed changes to duck zone and goose unit boundaries for the 2016-17 hunting season.

Duck zones and goose units provide an opportunity to coordinate the birds’ migration patterns and hunter preferences with hunting season dates for different areas within a state.

Hunters can find more information and provide reaction online at https://1.usa.gov/1anaXVf . Or they can go online at OutdoorNebraska.org and click on “Hunting” and then “Waterfowl.”

Game and Parks will accept people’s reactions until April 30.

Lincoln – The No. 23 Nebraska baseball team picked up its 29^th win of the season on Friday afternoon with a 5-2 victory in its series opener with the Ohio State Buckeyes (24-10, 7-3 Big Ten). The Huskers, who are now 29-11 on the year and 6-4 in the Big Ten, have won six straight games over the Buckeyes dating back to the 2013 Big Ten Tournament.

Senior Tanner Lubach led the Huskers at the plate with a 2-for-3 performance, including a two-out RBI double in the third that gave Nebraska a 1-0 lead. Eight Huskers recorded a hit on the night, and sophomore Wes Edrington notched his first home run as a Husker with a leadoff shot in the seventh.

On the mound Chance Sinclair, who improved to 5-4 on the year in the win, and three NU relievers limited the Buckeyes to eight hits and three walks, while combining for nine strikeouts. Senior Josh Roeder closed out the game with his 12^th save in 13 chances, matching his save total from last season. Roeder now has 30 career saves and is two saves away from breaking Brett Jensen’s school record.

The Buckeyes got 7.0 innings out of starter Tanner Tully, who was the Big Ten freshman of the year last season. The sophomore lefty fell to 3-2 on the year after giving up three runs on seven hits and no walks, while striking out three Huskers.

OSU looked to have the game’s first scoring opportunity in the second when Craig Nennig roped a two-out single that was going to give the Buckeyes runners at first and third, but on the play Ronnie Dawson got too far off third base on a fake throw by Blake Headley and the Huskers ended the inning with a 7-5-6-2 putout.

With the game scoreless heading into the bottom of the third, the Huskers got a leadoff single from Ryan Boldt and then Jake Placzek moved Boldt into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt. Tully then struck out Headley and the Huskers need a two-out hit from Lubach. The Lincoln native delivered with a double off the right-field wall, his eighth two-bagger of the season. The two-out hitting continued when Ben Miller came through with a RBI single that gave Sinclair a 2-0 lead.

Sinclair allowed just two hits over the first five innings, but then ran into a jam in the sixth when the top of OSU’s lineup notched three straight singles, including a RBI single by Pat Porter that cut NU’s lead to 2-1. Sinclair then struck out Dawson and got Nick Sergakis to fly out, before Aaron Gretz loaded the bases with OSU’s fourth hit of the inning. The Huskers turned the ball over to Jeff Chesnut and on his first pitch to Nennig he got a 5-3 putout to end the threat.

With the Huskers hanging on to a one-run lead, Edrington led off the seventh and got behind in the count 1-2 to Tully before launching a solo shot into the left-field berm to put the Huskers ahead 3-1.

The two-run lead didn’t last long, as the Buckeyes plated a run in the eighth on a RBI groundout. Then with two outs and a runner on Chesnut hit Nennig and the Huskers brought Jake Hohensee, who walked Tre’ Gantt to load the bases. With OSU’s No. 9 hitter up, L Grant Davis, and nowhere to put him, Hohensee got a ground ball to first base that left the bases loaded for the Buckeyes for the second time in the game.

The Huskers went to work on OSU’s bullpen in the eighth and tacked on two insurance runs, including one on a RBI double from Christian Cox. Facing the top of OSU’s lineup in the ninth Roeder didn’t end up needing the extra support though, as he sat the Buckeyes down in order to seal the win.

Nebraska and Ohio State will continue the three-game series tomorrow at 2:05 p.m., and the game will be carried statewide on NET.

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (AP) — This isn’t your grandparents’ baseball game.

Minor league teams from New York and Connecticut will play an experimental game this weekend aimed at finding ways to speed their pace. The Long Island Ducks and Bridgeport Bluefish will play an exhibition game Saturday, limiting every batter to just five pitches.

Some fans have complained baseball games take too long.

The rules in the Atlantic League experimental game call for a batter to be called out if he fouls off a pitch with two strikes. Ordinarily a batter remains at the plate until he gets a hit, makes an out, strikes out on three pitches, is hit by a pitch or walks.

The rules also give batters a walk after three balls, not four.

Game time is 1 p.m. Don’t be late.

CHICAGO (AP) — An attorney says a reworked settlement with the NCAA over concussions is just as bad as the original because thousands of brain-damaged former athletes still won’t get just compensation.

Jay Edelson made the arguments Friday during a court hearing in Chicago. The hearing was the first since a new settlement was reached in a class-action lawsuit against the NCAA. The judge overseeing the case rejected the first settlement in December.

Edelson, who represents plaintiffs opposed to the new settlement, said after the hearingt the revamped agreement doesn’t do enough.

The has NCAA pledged to set aside $70 million to test current and former athletes for brain trauma.

The lead attorney representing plaintiffs, Steve Berman, says the new settlement fixes multiple flaws, including forcing NCAA schools to make major concussion-protocol changes.

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — ESPN has suspended reporter Britt McHenry after a video surfaced of her insulting a towing company clerk’s intelligence, job and appearance.

ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz said Thursday that McHenry has been suspended for a week. McHenry tweeted an apology, saying she let her emotions get the best of her “in an intense and stressful moment.”

In a Twitter exchange with ARLnow.com earlier this month, McHenry says her vehicle was towed from the lot in front of the Arlington restaurant where she ate dinner.

The edited video posted this week to video sharing site LiveLeak claims to show McHenry berating the clerk on April 5. McHenry tells the woman she is “in the news” and will sue the company. At one point a woman off-screen warns McHenry she is being recorded.

*Warning: Video contains uncensored profanity.*