SLO Rundown: Warriors on the ropes, big win for U.S. soccer

▪ Look on the bright side, Warriors fans. At least you’ll get to see your beloved team in person one more time. And hey, if you have a cool $100,000 lying around, you’ll be able to land two court-side tickets. Bad news? Well, the once unstoppable force is looking very stoppable right now after the Cleveland Cavaliers won very convincingly 115-101 in Game 6 to send the series back to Oakland for what should be an epic Game 7. Steph Curry even blew his top and was ejected for the first time in his career, sparking a flurry of claims that the fix was in. Bottom line, LeBron James has been historically dominant — and when that happens there’s really not much anybody can do about it. If you happened to miss it — or want to watch again — here are some highlights with some thoughts from Bay Area News Group columnists Marcus Thompson and Tim Kawakami, who have brought us great coverage of the playoffs over the last month:

▪ Someone who is definitely looking on the bright side today is Cavaliers guard J.R. Smith. A habitual line stepper, his daughter is even aware of it. In an interview before Game 6, she said, “I’m just proud of him because he made the championship without getting kicked off the team.”

▪ In the other “big game” Thursday night, the US national team advanced to the semifinals of the Copa America for the first time since 1995 with a thrilling 2-1 win over Eucador in Seattle. It’s a big win and milestone for the Yanks and head coach Jurgen Klinsmann, who was under considerable heat after their tournament-opening loss to Colombia. File this under the vindication category:

▪ Across the pond, Wales faced England on Thursday, in an all-British Euro 2016 match. Gareth Bale scored a tremendous free kick to give Wales an early lead before Jamie Vardy tied the score at 1-1. It was too much for one Welsh supporter, who was caught on camera exhibiting all seven stages of grief in a few short seconds.

Daniel Sturridge then slotted home the winner in stoppage time to make it 2-1 for England. There were some, um, pleased England fans:

▪ In the wake of Steph Curry’s shoe debacle, Minnesota Timberwolves’ Andrew Wiggins made his own foray into the world of shoes. Like with the Curry’s, the internet gave its opinion loud and clear.

▪ In case you missed it, Templeton’s Ashley Daugherty was named The Tribune Softball County Player of the Year and the All-County team was released earlier this week.

▪ And Cal Poly softball player Amanda Sandoval was selected to play for Mexico’s National Team during the World Cup of Softball and the Women’s Softball World Championship later this month.

This story was originally published June 17, 2016 at 1:29 PM with the headline "SLO Rundown: Warriors on the ropes, big win for U.S. soccer."