31.   The Chinese, coached by old friend Bora Milutinovic, at least should get a playoff with Iran for the third spot.

32.   The Lakers nearly are locked into the third spot, which gets the sixth seed in the opening round.

33.   The only question after that was whether Nikodinov could climb out of sixth place and grab the third spot for Helsinki.

34.   The rookie driver is Todd Hays,who knocked off Tuffy Latour for the third spot.

35.   The scattered surprises at these U.S. trials have mostly been for the third spot in each event.

36.   The third spot is up for grabs.

37.   The third spot likely will go to Jim Courier.

38.   The third spot on the Olympic team is expected to be won by Bobek or Kwiatkowski.

39.   They also, by default, hold the third spot in the conference.

40.   Thirty days ago, they held a five-game lead and were in the third spot.