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    A Tough Start in Texas Turned Jimmy Butler Into an NBA All-Star

    Butler is impossible to miss as the fiercely competitive star of the Miami Heat. But he got his start at a small junior college in Texas after bigger schools overlooked him.TYLER, Texas — Jimmy Butler and Joe Fulce knew enough to find a basketball hoop that was a safe distance from anyone else who happened to be working out at Wagstaff Gymnasium. Sometimes, they would play to 11. Sometimes, the player with the ball would be permitted only one dribble. Sometimes, they’d go for hours. The rules? Depended on the day. As for calling fouls?“Had to be a straight hack,” said Fulce, an all-American forward who would try to use his long arms to neutralize Butler’s strength.At Tyler Junior College, a leafy two-year school about 100 miles southeast of Dallas, Fulce was among the teammates who came to understand how seriously Butler treated the combative art of one-on-one basketball. It was the most pure distillation of his competitive drive.“If you ask him to play one-on-one and you’re not really ready to play one-on-one with him, don’t do it,” Fulce said, “because it’ll mess up your relationship with him.”Before he went to Marquette and then entered the N.B.A. as a late first-round draft pick, before he famously eviscerated teammates at a practice in Minnesota and then fashioned the N.B.A.’s Covid-era bubble into his personal stage with the Miami Heat, Butler spent one season at Tyler that set the foundation for everything that followed.“It was the first time,” Butler said, “that someone actually took a chance on me.”By now, Butler has cemented his reputation as one of the league’s best two-way players, a six-time All-Star with an eight-figure salary who has positioned Miami as a perennial title contender. In his spare time, he works as a global pitchman for a low-calorie beer and drinks expensive coffee.Butler is a six-time All-Star and led the Miami Heat to the N.B.A. finals in 2020. Michael Dwyer/Associated PressThough the Heat have been uneven so far this season — they were 2-3 ahead of their game against Golden State on Thursday — Butler, 33, figures to have them in the mix again. He knows better than most that a strong finish is more important than a tough start.At Tyler, there are reminders of the year he spent there. Outside the gym is the “Jimmy Butler Lobby,” replete with a trophy case that includes photographs, magazine covers, his old jersey and a box of Corn Flakes with his image on it.But back when he arrived at the school in the summer of 2007, he seemed acutely aware of what was at stake: his future.As for his past? He could not go back. Even now, he has no interest in rehashing his childhood outside of Houston. On only a couple of occasions has he spoken about how his mother kicked him out of the house when he was 13, about how he survived by couch-surfing for several years before a friend’s family took him in.“I’m not personally going to talk about his business,” Fulce said, “but if you take everything away from somebody and you have to learn what that feels like at a young age, that would drive anybody to be like, ‘Yo, I’ll never go back to where I was.’ And a lot of people will never understand what that’s like because they can’t even imagine it.”Joe Fulce, right, said he told Marquette that he wouldn’t join the men’s basketball team unless Butler came, too.John Dunn for The New York TimesButler spent three seasons at Marquette before he was selected with the final pick of the first round of the 2011 N.B.A. draft.John Dunn for The New York TimesComing out of Tomball High School, Butler had a scholarship offer from Centenary, a small college in Louisiana that has since transitioned to Division III, and a partial offer from Quinnipiac. One afternoon, he got a phone call from Mike Marquis, the longtime coach at Tyler, who had heard about Butler from a Houston-area scout named Alan Branch.“He thought Jimmy was a better player than had been reported,” Marquis said. “So, we raced down and picked him up and brought him in for a visit. It didn’t take long to realize he had something special about him, just the way he carried himself.”On his daylong visit to Tyler, Butler toured the campus, asked lots of questions and participated in an open gym. He said in an interview that he had no biases about the quality of play at the junior college level — “I didn’t really have any offers, so how could I have preconceptions about anything?” he asked — but he came away impressed.“Those guys were really good,” Butler said, “and I don’t think I’d ever played worse.”Mike Marquis, who coaches the men’s basketball team at Tyler Junior College, said Butler would spend hours in the gym.Cooper Neill for The New York TimesStill, Marquis loved his attitude and his potential, and Butler signed his scholarship papers that day. At the first team meeting, a phone rang from one of the lockers, which was a violation of team rules. Butler was among those who could have identified the guilty party but no one gave him up, and Marquis had the team run sprint after sprint.“We were some loyal dudes,” Fulce said.It was, in its own way, a sign of early togetherness.“I think that rallied them more than any sort of team-building exercise we could have done,” Marquis said.The team lived at Bateman Hall, a red brick building that also housed the men’s soccer team. The players attended class, ate at Whataburger and roamed the aisles at Dollar General. They otherwise lived in the gym, Fulce said, and kept one another out of trouble. Ricky Williams, the team manager, enforced curfew as if it were the most important thing in the world.“Oh, my goodness, Ricky,” Fulce said. “If you didn’t get into a fight with Ricky, then you wasn’t trying to live.”Fulce got the sense from Butler that he was determined to absorb everything he could from everyone around him. Each day was an opportunity to learn and improve. In the preseason, Marquis said, Butler would come to practice early and stay late so that he could spend hours — yes, hours — working on his footwork.“All that pivoting,” Marquis said, “which is the sort of stuff he uses nightly now.”Tyler had a terrific season behind Butler, Fulce and Jamie Vanderbeken, a forward who would go on to play at Iowa State. Known as the “Three J’s,” they led the team to a 24-4 record ahead of a regional tournament game against Panola College, a team that Tyler defeated by 27 points the previous week.Playing at the Wagstaff Gymnasium at Tyler Junior College.Cooper Neill for The New York TimesButler spent one season, 2007-8, at Tyler Junior College. He scored 43 points in his final game, a triple-overtime loss.Cooper Neill for The New York TimesA trophy case in the Jimmy Butler Lobby at Tyler’s gym includes a cereal box with a photo of Butler, who was part of the U.S. men’s national team in 2016.Cooper Neill for The New York TimesFulce heard rumblings during warm-ups that a scout from the San Antonio Spurs was in the building — it was an indication, he said, that he and his teammates were on the right track — and they put on a show. In a game that went to triple overtime, Butler scored 43 points and collected 10 rebounds in a 123-121 loss that ended Tyler’s season.“It was Joseph Fulce’s fault and it was Jamie Vanderbeken’s fault because they fouled out of the game,” Butler said. “Joe fouled out at like halftime. And then Jamie fouled out two minutes after halftime. Two of our top-three scorers were gone.”Butler’s memory was rusty: Fulce and Vanderbeken both fouled out in the first overtime.“We actually argued about this a couple of weeks ago, and that was the first time we’d ever talked about the game,” said Fulce, a former college assistant who now runs his own player-development company. “I was like, ‘Bro, I didn’t foul out in the first half!’”After the season, Butler was weighing several Division I offers, including one from Kentucky. Fulce, who had already committed to Marquette, called Buzz Williams, the team’s new coach, and urged him to sign Butler.“If you don’t take Jimmy, I’m not coming,” Fulce recalled telling Williams.A week later, Butler and Fulce made their way to a McDonald’s near campus so that they could use the restaurant’s fax machine. Butler fed his national letter of intent to attend Marquette into the machine.“He really didn’t know what was coming next,” Fulce said. More

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    Brittney Griner’s Prison Term Is Upheld by Russian Court

    The W.N.B.A. athlete is facing nine years in a Russian prison on a drug charge. A prisoner swap may be her only path home.A Russian appeals court on Tuesday upheld a nine-year prison sentence imposed on Brittney Griner, the American basketball star arrested after she arrived in the country carrying a small amount of hash oil.Ms. Griner has been jailed since her detention in February, and the new ruling may now pave the way for her transfer to a prison colony, although it was not clear when that might happen. Her lawyers said they might ask a higher court to intervene.“We need to discuss this with our client,” they said in a statement on Tuesday. “We generally think that we must use all the available legal tools, especially given the harsh and unprecedented nature of her sentence.”But higher courts in Russia are loath to overturn verdicts, especially if a case involves foreign policy and the interests of the Kremlin, experts say, and the athlete’s fate may now be in the hands of Russian and American officials feeling each other out about a possible prisoner exchange.President Biden, asked what the United States would do now in the wake of the court ruling, said: “We are in constant contact with the Russian authorities to get Brittney and others out, and so far we have not been meeting with much positive response. But we’re not stopping.”The negotiation comes at a time of extraordinary tensions between the two countries over the war in Ukraine, and the ruling by the three-judge appeals panel Tuesday did nothing to change that.“We are aware of the news out of Russia that Brittney Griner will continue to be wrongfully detained under intolerable circumstances after having to undergo another sham judicial proceeding today,” Jake Sullivan, the American national security adviser, said in a statement.The State of the WarFears of Escalation: Western officials said Moscow was seeking to create a pretext for escalating the war by making false claims that Kyiv was preparing to detonate a dirty bomb on its own territory.Anti-Drone Warfare: Since Russia began terrorizing Ukrainian cities in recent weeks with Iranian-made drones, Ukraine has turned its focus to an intense counter-drone strategy. The hastily assembled effort has been surprisingly successful.A Devastated Land: Ukrainians who are returning to liberated towns are encountering destruction on a staggering scale, vital services cut and the prospect of a lethal winter ahead.A New Front?: Russia is massing thousands of troops in its western neighbor Belarus, raising fears that Moscow might plan to open another front in the war. But officials in Kyiv and Washington are casting doubt on whether the buildup represents a serious threat.Russian officials have said that prisoner exchanges cannot be considered until the legal process has concluded.From the very start, Ms. Griner’s case has become entangled with global tensions over the Russian invasion of Ukraine.On Tuesday, as Ms. Griner appeared remotely in a Moscow courtroom, Russian and Ukrainian forces were battling over territory and concerns were rising that Moscow might be considering detonating explosives laced with radioactive material and blaming Ukraine.Days before Russia invaded Ukraine in February, Ms. Griner, an All-Star center with the W.N.B.A.’s Phoenix Mercury and a two-time Olympic gold medalist, was detained at an airport near Moscow after customs officials found two vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage. She had been en route to Yekaterinburg, a city near the Ural Mountains, where she played for a women’s basketball team.Ms. Griner, who recently turned 32 in Russian custody, pleaded guilty to drug-smuggling charges and apologized for what she called an inadvertent offense. She apologized again on Tuesday before the appeals court ruled.From the very start, Ms. Griner’s case has become entangled with global tensions over the Russian invasion of Ukraine.Alexander Zemlianichenko/Associated Press“I did not intend to do this,” she said via a video link from a detention cell, “but I understand the charges against me, and I just hope that that is also taken into account.”Addressing the court, she protested her unusually long sentence.“I’ve been here almost eight months,” she said, “and people with more severe crimes have gotten less than what I was given.”Since Ms. Griner was sentenced in August, her lawyers have argued that the nine-year prison term — near the 10-year maximum for such a conviction — is too harsh for a first-time offense and was politically motivated.“We are very disappointed,” her lawyers said in their statement Tuesday. “The verdict contains numerous defects, and we hoped that the court of appeal would take them into consideration. We still think the punishment is excessive.”Before the court ruled, the lawyers had appeared to be lowering expectations.“Brittney does not expect any miracles to happen,” they said, “but hopes that the appeal court will hear the arguments of the defense and reduce the number of years.”American officials contend that Russia, struggling under the weight of international sanctions imposed over the war, is hoping to use the athlete and another imprisoned American, Paul Whelan, a former Marine held since December 2018, as bargaining chips.Mr. Sullivan said on Tuesday that American officials had “continued to engage with Russia through every available channel” to secure the freedom of Ms. Griner and other Americans wrongfully detained in Russia.“The president has demonstrated that he is willing to go to extraordinary lengths and make tough decisions to bring Americans home,” Mr. Sullivan said.On the day a Russian appeals court upheld Brittney Griner’s sentence on drug smuggling charges, President Biden said that his administration would not stop trying to secure the basketball star’s release.Network PoolOne person briefed on the talks between Moscow and Washington this summer said that the United States had proposed exchanging Ms. Griner and Mr. Whelan for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer serving a 25-year federal prison sentence for charges including conspiring to kill Americans.Mr. Biden and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia are expected to attend a summit of Group of 20 leaders next month in Indonesia, but Mr. Biden has said he would speak with the Russian leader there only if it were to discuss Ms. Griner’s case.For American basketball players, playing in Russia during the off-season can be lucrative, but since Ms. Griner’s arrest, most W.N.B.A. players have shunned the country, and on Tuesday, the organization denounced the court decision.“This appeal is further verification that B.G. is not just wrongfully detained — she is very clearly a hostage,” it said.Ivan Nechepurenko More

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    The Lakers Can’t Make a 3-Pointer

    Russell Westbrook is getting most of the heat, but the Lakers’ problem is its roster.LOS ANGELES — As Lakers guard Russell Westbrook went up for a 3-pointer against the Clippers, his home crowd groaned before the ball even left his hand. The shot clanked off the rim, justifying the fans’ apprehension.Westbrook missed all six of his 3-pointers in the game on Thursday. It was a microcosm of the two biggest issues facing the Lakers this season: Westbrook and shooting. Again and again on Thursday night, the Lakers faithful remained subdued as the team kept shooting. And missing. And shooting. And missing some more. There were enough bricks that the Lakers could offer themselves up as an infrastructure project.Through the first two games of the season, the Lakers have shot an almost unfathomable 19 for 85 from 3-point range (22.4 percent). That was the biggest factor in a blowout loss to Golden State in the season opener on Tuesday and in a 103-97 loss to the Clippers on Thursday night.In a league where deep shots have evolved from being quirky additions to being the driving force of contemporary scoring, the Lakers constructed their roster without enough players equipped to maximize that style of play. This summer, the Lakers let more formidable shooters like Wayne Ellington and Malik Monk walk, and instead opted to bring in the athletic guard Lonnie Walker IV and Dennis Schröder, neither of whom is known for perimeter prowess.It’s not that the Lakers are in a shooting slump. If someone put tap dancing shoes on a flamingo, one would not say the flamingo was struggling to be Fred Astaire. It’s that — as LeBron James factually noted after Tuesday night’s drubbing by Golden State — the Lakers just don’t have many good shooters. They weren’t built for this.LeBron James had 20 points on Thursday, but, like everyone else, he was cold from outside. He was just 2 of 8 from 3.Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press“We’re getting great looks, but it could also be teams giving us great looks,” James said. “To be completely honest, we’re not a team that’s constructed of great shooting. That’s just the truth of the matter. It’s not like we’re sitting here with a lot of lasers on our team.”And yet the Lakers have launched a bevy of 3s. The penetration skills of Anthony Davis and James have generated open looks outside for other Lakers, but both Golden State and the Clippers also continuously dared the Lakers to shoot.“They want to give us those shots?” Lakers Coach Darvin Ham said Thursday. “We will accept it wholeheartedly. That’s the way we want to play. We want to play fast, physical and free.”He added: “We see these guys making shots in practice and shootaround. They’ve got to do it on game floor. It’s as simple as that.”The Lakers climbed back from multiple deficits on Thursday to keep the game close down the stretch. But they weren’t able to sustain their periods of strong play. After the game, James was asked about his “laser” comments.“I love the way we’re playing basketball right now,” James said. “We’re really sharing the ball offensively. We’re moving bodies. And I think we will begin to knock down shots.”James does have good reason for optimism, but it has to do with the other side of the ball. In the loss to Golden State, the Lakers had a defensive rating of 107.0, which would have been good for fourth in the N.B.A. last season, a fact that guard Patrick Beverley pointed out after the Thursday morning shootaround. The Lakers were even better on Thursday with a rating of 100.0. When the Lakers fell into deficits against the Clippers, they turned up the defensive intensity and forced several turnovers to get out in transition to get back in the game.“I’m definitely not going to sit here and harp on what we can’t do every single game,” James said. “That’s not leadership. What I know we can do: We can defend our ass off.”The Clippers turned the ball over 22 times Thursday, contributing to some of the Lakers’ 15 fast-break points. This is where Westbrook’s skills can be useful to the Lakers. He had five steals Thursday, and as he is known to do, immediately focused on pushing the ball down the floor off those forced turnovers.Anthony Davis had a scary fall against the Clippers, but he returned to the game and led all scorers with 25 points. He was 2 of 4 from 3.Mark J. Terrill/Associated PressBut Westbrook remains a lightning rod for criticism, at times unfairly. He missed all 11 of his shots against the Clippers, much to the chagrin of the crowd. But through another lens, Westbrook played the exact type of game that the Lakers need from him.“We’ve all had bad shooting nights,” James said. “I’ve had bad shooting nights. Everybody in this league has had bad shooting nights. Who cares? I thought he played a great game. Defensively, he was in tune. He was locked in. He pushed the tempo. He just didn’t make any shots. That’s OK.”A key criticism of Westbrook last season was his penchant for turnovers and for playing out of control. He had only one turnover on Thursday while quarterbacking the offense. Westbrook has also been bashed for his shot selection. He has, so far, focused on taking fewer shots of higher quality. Almost all of his 11 shots on Thursday were strong looks.Westbrook is not the issue for the Lakers; that would be roster construction. But if the 33-year-old Westbrook cannot be at least a passable shooter, defenders won’t have to pay him much attention, leaving James and Davis with less room to operate. And if the Lakers want someone other than Westbrook to be their starting point guard, there aren’t many better options on the bench. (And Westbrook has grumbled about coming off the bench.)The Lakers and Westbrook are, for now, stuck with each other. However, Westbrook’s frenetic energy could be a boost for a team suddenly reliant on fast-break points to counter its bad shootingThe Lakers are a work in progress, and while the team lacks shooters, the 3-point shooting percentage will almost surely increase from the low 20s. That improvement, combined with their defensive effort, left Ham upbeat despite the difficult start to the season.“The way we stepped out there and scrapped, even when we did get down, to be able to get back in the game, make it a game, that’s the definition of identity building,” Ham said.He added: “I’ll sleep well. I won’t be angry or depressed. And we still have 80 games left, but we’re trending in the right direction.” More

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    The Milwaukee Bucks Are Betting on Déjà Vu

    Of course Giannis Antetokounmpo is back this season — but so is almost everyone else. Continuity could give Milwaukee an edge amid the N.B.A.’s roster upheavals.PHILADELPHIA — After Khris Middleton spent his first season in professional basketball with the Detroit Pistons and the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the N.B.A. Development League, he was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks. At the time, he was merely hoping for steady employment.A few weeks later, when Middleton arrived in Milwaukee for training camp before the start of the 2013-14 season, he was not the only fresh face. He was joined by Giannis Antetokounmpo, a precocious draft pick who proudly professed his love for fruit smoothies and was similarly awe-struck to be in the presence of veteran teammates like Caron Butler, O.J. Mayo and Zaza Pachulia.“They were basketball gods to us at the time,” Middleton said, “just because they’d been so successful in the league for so many years and we were trying to learn everything we could from them.”Even then, Middleton was savvy enough to understand that it would take time to build winning habits. Milwaukee went 15-67 that season to finish with the worst record in the league while ranking last in home attendance. The Bucks were not a product that many people wanted to buy.“It wasn’t going to be an overnight success story,” Middleton said. “We settled in for the long haul.”On Thursday night, as the Bucks christened their new season with a 90-88 win over the 76ers, their days of hard-won habit-building were the stuff of ragged memories. Milwaukee has made six straight playoff appearances, winning a championship in 2021, and figure to be in the mix to win it all again this season.Brook Lopez is in his fifth season with the Bucks. He’s been a steady scorer and defender.Matt Slocum/Associated PressIt helps that Antetokounmpo is one of the best players in the world. After a busy summer that included the release of “Rise,” a Disney+ biopic about his life, and a run in the EuroBasket tournament with Greece’s national team, Antetokounmpo crammed 21 points, 13 rebounds and 8 assists into 36 minutes against the 76ers.“They know how to play with their star,” Sixers Coach Doc Rivers said.But that only comes with continuity, patience and stability — concepts that are increasingly foreign in pro sports.Antetokounmpo and Middleton have been with the Bucks since the dark ages. Brook Lopez and Pat Connaughton, two other members of the team’s core, came to Milwaukee before the start of the 2018-19 season, which was also Mike Budenholzer’s first season as coach. And 14 of the 17 players on the current roster were with the team last season. One of them, Wesley Matthews, made the go-ahead 3-pointer against Philadelphia.“I think it helps us to start the season when other teams have new players, new additions, new coaching staff — all those kinds of changes,” Matthews said. “For the most part, we’re the same team. So being in moments like this, we’ve been there before.”Now in his 15th season, Lopez has played for teams where it took time “to figure stuff out,” he said. Where players needed weeks, or even months, to feel comfortable in new systems. Where training camps included exercises designed to enhance chemistry.“They’re good things, and that’s why people do them,” Lopez said. “But we don’t necessarily need to make people do team bonding or anything like that. It’s very natural around here. We have people hanging out, enjoying each other’s company, and we’re all glad to be a part of this.”Not that the Bucks have been immune to disappointment. In 2018-19, they had the league’s best regular-season record, then lost to the Toronto Raptors in the Eastern Conference finals. It was more of the same the following season: best record, early exit (this time to the Miami Heat in the conference semifinals).“We were disappointed in ourselves,” Lopez said. “We knew we had more to give and more to achieve as a group. We knew we could be better.”After a period of uncertainty for the team and collective anxiety for the Milwaukee area, Budenholzer returned as coach, the Bucks bolstered their backcourt by trading for Jrue Holiday, and Antetokounmpo agreed to a mammoth contract extension. Several months later, the Bucks were N.B.A. champions for the first time since 1971.“The fact that the franchise stuck with us and kept the team together shows that they believed in what they were trying to build,” Middleton said. “And we all wanted to stay and get the job done.”They all were part of Milwaukee’s championship team in 2021: Jrue Holiday, center; back, left to right: Khris Middleton, Lopez, Antetokounmpo, Bobby Portis.Morry Gash/Associated PressThe Bucks have that feeling again after losing to the Boston Celtics in the conference semifinals last season. It hardly helped that Middleton missed the series with a knee injury. And they are not yet whole this season, either: Middleton is rehabilitating from wrist surgery, and Connaughton has a strained calf.Still, the Bucks have their foundation in place.“We’re not talking about our basic defensive or offensive principles,” Connaughton said. “Everybody already knows them. Instead, we’re talking about how to improve.”This is a critical season for Milwaukee. Lopez is in the final season of a four-year deal, and Middleton, who signed a five-year contract with the Bucks in 2019, has a player option for next season. Their futures are uncertain. But nothing lasts forever, and the Bucks want to capitalize while they can. It has taken a long time for them to reach this stage, to have so much familiarity with one another.“It’s rare,” Middleton said. “It’s definitely rare.”On Thursday morning, as the team wrapped up a pregame workout, Middleton was accosted by Joe Ingles, one of the team’s newcomers. After edging Middleton in a friendly shooting competition, Ingles wanted to make sure everyone knew it: “We’ve got 81 more games, and it’s 1-0 to Joe.” Middleton shook his head and laughed.“This,” he said, “is one of the reasons I wish we didn’t make any changes.” More

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    Ben Simmons Finally Plays, but the Nets Lose

    A rusty Ben Simmons isn’t the difference maker in his first appearance for Brooklyn.Ben Simmons smiled and chuckled about the way he had been acting all day. Wednesday was the first time in 16 months that he had played in a meaningful basketball game, and he seemed positively effervescent.“I think I was just too excited, honestly,” he said Wednesday night at Barclays Center. “It was just great to be out there.”The outing did not go especially well. Simmons scored only 4 points and fouled out, perhaps a function of his enthusiasm, and his team lost, 130-108, to the New Orleans Pelicans in the N.B.A. season opener for both teams. He was a bit rusty having missed all of last season with mental and physical health problems, starting in Philadelphia before he was traded to Brooklyn. But just the fact that Simmons played in the game was momentous.His availability is emblematic of where the Nets find themselves at the start of this season. Kevin Durant is still on the team. Kyrie Irving should be available all season. And now Simmons is healthy. This season could offer a final word on what the Durant-Irving Nets can be, and how they respond to the pressure of having the pieces in place to be real contenders.“Now you can see who we really are,” Nets forward Markieff Morris said. “Would you rather be a team where you have championship aspirations and a lot of pressure on you to win? Or would you rather be a team that’s tanking trying to get the No. 1 pick? You got to pick your poison in this league. Playing with pressure is a good thing.”It has been three years since Durant and Irving chose to join the Nets in free agency. Their arrival demanded patience, at first because Durant was working through an Achilles’ injury that would cause him to miss the entire 2019-20 season. That season was also interrupted by the onset of the pandemic, and when the season finished in the N.B.A. bubble, Irving did not join the team as he recovered from an injury.Zion Williamson looked fairly sharp on Wednesday, scoring 25 points in his team’s win.Monique Jaques for The New York TimesThe 2020-21 season was short, but the Nets finished it with the second-best record in the Eastern Conference. James Harden had joined them through a trade in January. They lost the conference semifinals in seven games to the eventual champion Milwaukee Bucks.Then everything unraveled.Irving decided he would not get vaccinated against the coronavirus, which meant he could not play any home games because of a local mandate. The Nets said they did not want a part-time player, until they did. They later did not agree to a maximum contract extension with Irving when they could have, and Irving affirmed his player option to stay in Brooklyn for the final year of his contract.Frustrated by Irving, Harden asked for a trade and got it, swapping places with Simmons, and then more patience became necessary. Simmons, who hadn’t felt mentally able to play until the trade, missed the rest of the season with a back injury that required surgery. He spent the off-season healing and said he felt fully healthy at the start of training camp.This summer’s final drama for the Nets came when Durant requested a trade in July. The Nets never found the right offer, if such a thing even existed for a player of his caliber. Reports surfaced that Durant had wanted General Manager Sean Marks and Coach Steve Nash fired. Durant has not confirmed those reports, and Nash referred to the whole episode as though it were a family disagreement.The silver lining of an off-season that threatened the team’s stability was that the Nets were returning with two of the best players in the game and a third more talented than most in the league.All that’s left is for them to prove they can actually do this.Wednesday’s game offered an inauspicious start to that quest. The Nets trailed the Pelicans by as many as 26 points and were outscored by 36-4 on second-chance points, a symptom of inconsistent effort.“The same plays that demoralize the fans at home, demoralize us as players,” Irving said.Pelicans forward Zion Williamson, like Simmons, returned after missing all of last season, in his case with a foot injury. He looked less rusty than Simmons did, scoring 25 points, and New Orleans took advantage of his play.“I think they beat us in every category tonight,” Nash said. “Clearly, we started the game a little hectic, a little bit rattled to start the year. Sometimes that’s normal. First night out excitement. New group. It was a little clunky at times.”Durant led all scorers with 32 points, making 11 of 21 shots, with four blocks, a steal, two assists and three rebounds.If one were to overreact to an opening night result, one might say these Nets are in big trouble. But the way they played Wednesday didn’t match how they played in preseason games, perhaps hinting at their ability to play much better.There were flashes of positivity in Wednesday’s game as well. On one play, Irving darted in front of Larry Nance Jr. to steal the ball and throw it to Simmons for a dunk.The Nets finally had the full team together on Wednesday night.Monique Jaques for The New York TimesBut to compete in the East this season will be no easy task. Milwaukee, led by Giannis Antetokounmpo, is still as formidable as it was two years ago when it won the N.B.A. championship. The Boston Celtics seem determined to improve upon last year’s finals loss to Golden State. The Philadelphia 76ers, led by Joel Embiid and Harden, will also challenge for supremacy in the conference.In the waning seconds of Wednesday’s game, Durant sat all the way back in a seat on the bench with the hood of his sweatshirt pulled up tightly over his head. Occasionally, he turned to Simmons, who sat next to him, and said something as they watched the Pelicans complete their 22-point victory.“We got 81 more of these,” Durant said later. He added: “It’s about just bouncing back, coming to work tomorrow and figuring it out.” More

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    Why Draymond Green May Soon Be the Odd Man Out at Golden State

    The shadow of Green’s punch looms over the team, even as Golden State shows it still has what it takes to compete for a championship.SAN FRANCISCO — As Golden State posed in front of a banner destined for its arena’s rafters, all looked fine and well for the team. The players were beaming and dancing, flashing their new championship rings toward a photographer.The Tuesday evening scene was a déjà vu of sorts. Golden State has gone through this pomp and circumstance four times in the last eight seasons as part of a ceremony to celebrate winning an N.B.A. title by raising a championship banner. Tribute video. Inspirational music. Cheering fans.“I’ve never had a bad ring night,” Golden State Coach Steve Kerr said. “They’re all awesome.”Just ignore the reality show that aired on TNT hours earlier starring and produced by Golden State’s Draymond Green, who in the show briefly addressed punching his younger teammate Jordan Poole in the face in an incident that threatened to rupture the franchise on the doorstep of the season.Oh, that. Awkward.Golden State began its pursuit of a fifth championship for its current dynasty by dismantling the Los Angeles Lakers, 123-109, on Tuesday, easily dispatching a team with no shortage of its own drama and championship aspirations. Golden State’s Stephen Curry, the most valuable player of last season’s finals, effortlessly dropped 33 points. But his team began the season under the shadow of Green’s swing at Poole at a practice, a video of which was obtained by TMZ.Golden State’s Jordan Poole, right, had 12 points and 7 assists off the bench in Tuesday night’s win against the Lakers.John G Mabanglo/EPA, via ShutterstockAnd in part because of Green, the Golden State dynasty — at least as the world has known it — faces the potential of great upheaval.Golden State has long been defined by the greatness of Curry. But it has also been marked by a rare continuity. This is Kerr’s ninth season as head coach, the third-longest tenure behind that of San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich and Miami’s Erik Spoelstra. Green, Curry and Klay Thompson have played together for more than a decade. Bob Myers, the team president, has been with the franchise since 2011.Green’s value to the team is undoubtable: He can defend all five positions at an elite level, and he is an excellent passer, particularly adept at finding Curry in the right spots. He had 5 assists Tuesday to go with 4 points and 5 rebounds.At 32, he has also been known as a leader on and off the floor. Younger players like Moses Moody, James Wiseman and, at one point, Poole have spoken about the encouragement they received from Green when they were struggling on the court.Without Green, there is no Golden State dynasty.He has spent his whole career in Golden State and has a player option after this year worth roughly $27.5 million. Green is a four-time All-Star who, according to The Athletic, believes he’s deserving of a maximum contract extension. And in many situations, this would be a no-brainer, both as a reward for his past service to Golden State and in recognition of his current abilities.But his role as a leader is in question after what happened with Poole this month. He has a reputation for impulsive behavior like the Poole incident, yelling at coaches and teammates, and racking up silly technicals. One wonders if Myers and Joe Lacob, the team’s owner, may look at Green entering the twilight of his career and wish him the best playing somewhere else.Golden State has long been defined by Stephen Curry’s greatness. He had 33 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists Tuesday.Ezra Shaw/Getty ImagesThey have locked in the 23-year-old Poole for years to come, recently signing him to a four-year extension worth up to $140 million, according to ESPN.Poole was diplomatic Tuesday when asked whether the rift with Green had healed.“It was ring night and that’s really what we were focused on,” Poole said. “Finishing the first game. Huge win against a really good team.”Golden State also recently signed forward Andrew Wiggins, 27, to a pricey extension after he proved crucial to the team’s finals win last year and cemented himself as a building block for the team’s future. Not signed to an extension so far: Green.Golden State may be liable for almost $500 million in salaries and luxury tax next year. To put that in perspective, the minimum team salary for this season is about $111 million. Lacob has been willing to spend more than any other team in the N.B.A. to keep the team’s core together, but from a cold business perspective, Green soon may be the odd man out.Golden State has cited the organization’s strong culture as a reason for its success. But professional sports have long been a haven where bad behavior is overlooked for players who contribute to wins, which perhaps explains why Golden State chose to fine but not suspend Green for the punch.That is, however, a short-term solution to keep the peace. And Green, who won the Defensive Player of the Year Award in 2016-17, certainly contributes to wins. On Tuesday, his ball-hawking skills made life difficult for Anthony Davis, the Lakers’ star big man, and offensively, Green flashed his versatility.But the shadow of his punch still looms.Green, in publicly apologizing for the incident on Oct. 8, told reporters that the he regretted the embarrassment his punch caused Poole and his family. Yet he chose to air the video again Tuesday in a self-serving “all-access” show called “The Countdown” on TNT, which also broadcast Golden State’s game. He turned the incident into profit and a glossily produced opportunity for image rehabilitation. He addressed the Poole incident by saying that he hadn’t paid much attention to the social media backlash. He also tried to use the show to reassert himself as a leader of the team.“You can’t change the events that happened, but we can control what happens moving forward and that’s where we are,” Green said straight into the camera during the segment. “And myself as a leader of this team, it’s on me to make sure we’re headed that way.”Golden State’s Andre Iguodala, left, Curry, Green and Klay Thompson have won four championships together.Ezra Shaw/Getty ImagesWhatever becomes of Green, Golden State is strongly positioned for the future. Aside from Poole and Wiggins, young talents with like Wiseman, Moody and Jonathan Kuminga are waiting in the wings for more playing time (and their own contract extensions) without the drama that Green brings.That Golden State faces upheaval is not the same thing as Golden State facing an end. This isn’t the first time that the team’s run has seemed seriously threatened. As a result of injuries, Golden State was among the worst teams in the league the two seasons before last year, which left many wondering if they could recapture their greatness. That didn’t escape Curry.“I heard it back in 2019,” Curry told The Mercury News in an interview published Tuesday. “I heard during the pandemic. We hear it a little louder now because we won again. We would have heard it louder had we not won. Nobody has any idea what’s going to happen.”As Tuesday night showed, the team is positioned for another ring chase. Poole and Green showed they can coexist on the court: Poole slipped Green a slick pass in the second quarter for an easy layup. But if Golden State hosts another banner-raising ceremony next fall, it may be the last one featuring Green. More

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    Celtics Shake Off N.B.A. Finals Loss With Season-Opening Win

    A tough loss to Golden State ended Boston’s championship hopes last season. The lessons from that series are already showing.BOSTON — The Celtics talked an awful lot in training camp about the value of experience. Last season, they got loads of it by surviving a brutal start, and by ousting intergalactic celebrities in the early rounds of the playoffs (Kevin Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo) before advancing to the N.B.A. finals.The process made them tougher and wiser, with a reservoir of resilience that may have equipped them to handle the news, essentially on the eve of camp last month, that their coach, Ime Udoka, had been suspended for the season for violating team policies. His sudden absence could have been disruptive.Instead, the Celtics seemed to rededicate themselves to their singular goal of winning a championship. Why not them? Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are two of the league’s brightest stars. The team’s supporting cast includes Marcus Smart, last season’s defensive player of the year. And if Joe Mazzulla, the team’s 34-year-old interim coach, is daunted by the task ahead of him, he hardly showed it Tuesday night as the Celtics opened their season with a 126-117 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers.“These guys have been through a lot together,” said Mazzulla, whose players celebrated his first career N.B.A. coaching win by dousing him with water.Brown shot 14 of 24 from the field on Tuesday, a key to Boston’s strong performance. The Celtics shot 56.1 percent for the game.Cj Gunther/EPA, via ShutterstockThe last time the Celtics played a meaningful home game was back in June, when Golden State’s Stephen Curry gave them the business — yes, the business — in Game 6 of the N.B.A. finals. Curry left Boston with another championship, and Tatum and Brown were left to contemplate how they could take the next step.“We both had bad summers after losing to the Warriors on our home floor,” Brown said. “Having to answer for it all summer long — it was tough. So going into this season, we kept all of that in mind.”On Tuesday, Brown and Tatum each scored 35 points to eviscerate the 76ers, who have title dreams of their own. Brown shot 14 of 24 from the field, while Tatum shot 13 of 20 and grabbed 12 rebounds. The Celtics used their speed to run the 76ers off the parquet floor, outscoring them by 24-2 in transition.“I think the group that was together last year knew how they wanted to approach this year,” said Malcolm Brogdon, who scored 16 points off the bench in his Celtics debut after they traded for him in July. “And I think playing with pace was one of the things they wanted to improve.”It can be easy to read too much into training camp and season openers. Most teams have high hopes. Optimism runs amok. The Celtics are no different. For weeks, the players have expressed confidence in Mazzulla, who joined the Celtics as an assistant in 2019 and whose only previous head coaching experience was at Fairmont State, a Division II program in West Virginia.For now, at least, Mazzulla has gotten the players to buy into his message — by striking that delicate balance between being demanding of them while giving them the freedom to do what they do best, Brogdon said. The Celtics appear determined to play hard and play fast. Catch them if you can.Their opener against the 76ers was an immediate litmus test.Joe Mazzulla, the Celtics’ interim coach, had been an assistant coach with the team since 2019.Maddie Meyer/Getty Images“I’m not sure what you learn,” Doc Rivers, the coach of the 76ers, said before the game. “Opening night is its own beast. Guys have worked all summer to show not only us but everyone what they’ve done, what they’ve worked on. And as a coach, you want to make sure they don’t show everything — because they may not be ready to show that.”Remember: The Celtics were 18-21 at one point last season before they found their footing under Udoka. With that in mind, plenty can happen between now and June, or even between now and December.“It’s just one game,” Brown said.For the players this season, there will be constant reminders of the franchise’s illustrious past. On the team’s home court, silhouettes of the number 6 fill both lanes — a homage to Bill Russell, the iconic Celtics center who died in July. Tuesday’s game was preceded by a ceremony to honor him that included remarks from Brown — “Our gratitude is endless,” he said — and a new work by Porsha Olayiwola, Boston’s poet laureate.The Celtics wore special jerseys embroidered with 11 diamond patches, a nod to the 11 championships that the team won with Russell. And the script on the front of the jerseys was said to be inspired by the aesthetics of Slade’s Bar & Grill, which Russell owned in the 1960s. In their pregame huddle, the Celtics reminded one another to “honor the man” with their work that evening.The Celtics made some modest changes over the summer, trading for Brogdon and signing a twilight-era Blake Griffin, both of whom received big cheers when they entered the game in the first quarter. Griffin immediately endeared himself to the crowd by grabbing two offensive rebounds on his first possession.The Celtics opened the season with several tributes to Bill Russell, the franchise icon who died in July. He wore the No. 6, which has been retired across the N.B.A. in his honor.Charles Krupa/Associated PressThe entire team was surprisingly sharp, committing just 11 turnovers while shooting 56.1 percent from the field. They were also without Robert Williams, their starting center, who underwent knee surgery last month, and they should be even more fearsome when he returns.In his absence, a conga line of teammates took turns mixing it up with Joel Embiid, Philadelphia’s All-Star center. Early in the third quarter, Embiid got tangled up with Smart, who said he stopped himself from escalating the situation. (Again, meet the older, wiser Celtics.)“It’s maturity,” Smart said. “I could’ve cracked his head open, but I didn’t.”In the waning seconds, as the crowd began a familiar chant — “Let’s go, Celtics!” — Mazzulla allowed himself to savor the moment.“When they’re cheering for you,” he said, “it means you’re doing something right.” More

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    What to Know About the New NBA Season

    Much of the conversation around the league the past few months hasn’t been about basketball.The N.B.A. will begin a new season Tuesday under a cloud of scandals and drama that has distracted from the basketball and that has challenged the progressive image the league has long cultivated.“I think right now the best thing that can happen is the season start on the court,” said Chris Mullin, a Hall of Fame former player.Last season’s finals teams — Golden State and Boston — are navigating internal crises. Two teams in top media markets — the Nets and the Los Angeles Lakers — are trying to integrate their stars.And a situation in Phoenix has brought the league’s leaders and image under scrutiny. The majority owner of the Suns and the W.N.B.A.’s Mercury, Robert Sarver, was found to have used racial slurs and engaged in sexist behavior over many years, but the league’s punishment — a $10 million fine and one-year suspension — was immediately criticized by players and fans as being too light. Soon, under public pressure, Sarver said he would sell the teams.Though there are still many things for fans to be excited about, such as a new rule to speed up games and the improved health of some injured stars, several issues are lingering as the season gets underway.Here’s what you need to know:How will Draymond Green’s punch affect Golden State?Suns owner Robert Sarver’s misconduct casts a shadow.Celtics Coach Ime Udoka’s suspension is a mystery.The trade rumors of the summer aren’t over yet.A new rule and stars’ returns could up the excitement.How will Draymond Green’s punch affect Golden State?Golden State’s Jordan Poole, left, and Draymond Green, right, played together Friday for the first time since an altercation during practice this month.Jeff Chiu/Associated PressAfter defeating the Celtics in six games to the win the N.B.A. championship in June, Golden State looked poised for a strong campaign in pursuit of a repeat. Then TMZ posted a video of forward Draymond Green punching his teammate Jordan Poole during a practice this month.“I don’t think anyone could watch that and not say that it’s upsetting,” said Mullin, who spent most of his 16-year career with Golden State and is now a broadcaster for the team. “It’s unacceptable behavior.”After Green was fined and agreed to stay away from the team for about a week, Golden State welcomed him back and publicly put on a “Nothing To See Here” face. Green apologized privately and publicly, and Poole said Sunday that they would coexist professionally.What to Know: Robert Sarver Misconduct CaseCard 1 of 7A suspension and a fine. More