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      Boston Celtics Dominate Milwaukee Bucks in Game 7 Win

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      Boston, with a surprise 27 points from Grant Williams, led by as many as 28. The Celtics will face the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference finals.BOSTON — It was no secret that Grant Williams was hesitating when he had open looks from the 3-point arc. The Milwaukee Bucks were offering him acres of real estate on Sunday afternoon, but Williams had reached the point, after a few early misses, when he was questioning himself. Doubt had crept in. His Celtics teammates told him to knock it off.“It’s tough to get into your own head when 15 people walk up to you saying: ‘Let it fly. Keep shooting,’ ” Williams recalled.Emboldened by their support, Williams decided to do what they told him to do. It hardly mattered that it was Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, or that the Celtics were facing one of the planet’s best players in Giannis Antetokounmpo, or that Williams had drifted in and out of the team’s rotation last season. It was his job to shoot. So he suppressed his nerves and delivered in a big way as the Celtics went about their business of eliminating the N.B.A.’s reigning champions.“We just said: ‘Why not now? Why not put it together?’ ” Williams said.In a tightly contested series that was stretched to its limit, the Celtics added to their season-long comeback story by defeating the Bucks, 109-81. They will face the top-seeded Miami Heat in the conference finals beginning Tuesday. It was not necessarily surprising that Boston won — the Celtics were a deeper, more explosive team than the Bucks — but no one expected Williams, a third-year forward, to clinch the series by scoring 27 points or by shooting 7 of 18 from 3-point range or by outshining Antetokounmpo.Anyone who predicted as much two weeks ago?“I would’ve called you a liar for sure,” the Celtics’ Jaylen Brown said.Jayson Tatum had 23 points for the Celtics in the win. Winslow Townson/USA Today Sports, via ReutersThen again, the playoffs have a way of pushing unsung actors into starring roles. On Sunday, the Celtics turned to Williams, an understudy no more as the Bucks crowded the paint on defense to cut off avenues to the rim. Ime Udoka, the Celtics’ first-year coach, told Williams that the Bucks were disrespecting him by leaving him so open. Brown resorted to yelling at him: Shoot the ball!“That’s what they were giving us,” Brown said. “He came through, man.”Last month, Nets guard Kyrie Irving told reporters that the Celtics’ window was now. And he made that proclamation even before the Nets’ first-round series with the Celtics ended. It ended soon enough, as the Celtics completed a four-game sweep.Irving and Kevin Durant in the first round? Antetokounmpo in the conference semifinals? By now, the Celtics are fearless. And make no mistake, their series with Milwaukee posed a big challenge, especially after they blew a 14-point lead to lose Game 5 at home. Facing elimination on the road in Game 6, they sailed to a win behind Jayson Tatum’s 46 points, setting the stage for Game 7.“Two games where our season was on the line, and we didn’t want it to be over,” Brown said. “We didn’t overcome all the stuff we did earlier in the season for this to be it.”Their whole season has been a test. The Celtics had a losing record in late January, before they found their chemistry. They began sharing the ball. They played tenacious defense. Tatum and Brown started to fulfill their twin-pronged potential as the Celtics emerged as the league’s best team over the second half of the regular season.They made a statement by sweeping the Nets. They showed it was no fluke against the Bucks. Now, they will face the East’s best regular-season team with a trip to the N.B.A. finals on the line.“I’d be dumb to say I don’t feel a little banged up, but everybody does this time of year,” Williams said.Antetokounmpo, a two-time winner of the N.B.A.’s Most Valuable Player Award, inflicted a lot of that damage. Because the Bucks were without the floor-spacing presence of Khris Middleton, the All-Star forward, who was sidelined for the series with a sprained left knee, Antetokounmpo had to shoulder even more of the load than usual. On Sunday, that meant collecting 25 points, 20 rebounds and 9 assists.Giannis Anteokounmpo did a lot of everything for the Bucks in Game 7 — 25 points, 20 rebounds, 9 assists — but it wasn’t enough for the win.Adam Glanzman/Getty ImagesBut there were moments — small moments — when seven games of nonstop aggression seemed to have taken a toll. After Antetokounmpo missed a 3-pointer in the opening seconds of the second half, he got the ball back for a finger-roll layup that he left on the front of the rim. As the ball caromed out of bounds, Antetokounmpo doubled over in disbelief: How? How had he missed? How was it possible?“It felt like we started to grind him down a little bit tonight,” Udoka said, adding: “It’s an extremely hard task because of the way he attacks and doesn’t settle.”As the Celtics’ lead swelled, the fourth quarter turned into a party that masqueraded as the closing minutes of a playoff game, replete with rhythmic chants from the crowd: “Beat the Heat! Beat the Heat!”The Celtics did most of their damage from behind the 3-point line, where they shot 22 of 55. The Bucks were just 4 of 33. At his postgame news conference, Udoka scanned Milwaukee’s side of the box score and noticed all the zeros — from Jrue Holiday, from Pat Connaughton, from Grayson Allen. None made a 3-pointer. They combined for 15 attempts.Tatum, who had 23 points in the win, was struck by a different statistic: Williams’s 22 field-goal attempts.“I told him, ‘Don’t get used to that,’ ” Tatum said, laughing. “But obviously tonight we needed it.”Williams, who was a first-round draft pick out of Tennessee in 2019, has shaped himself into one of the Celtics’ more versatile players. His ability to shoot from the outside stretches defenses. And at 6-foot-6 and 236 pounds, he has the strength and agility to guard multiple positions. Against the Bucks, he helped out against Antetokounmpo, a thankless job.“He’s just relentless in his approach,” Brown said of Antetokounmpo.But Williams seemed to be determined to fight until the very end. The Celtics’ lead was 21 points in the fourth quarter when the Bucks’ Bobby Portis escaped in a transition and elevated for a dunk. But Williams met him at the rim and swatted the shot away. He turned to the crowd — his crowd — and pumped his fists.The stage belonged to him. More

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      Jayson Tatum Saves the Boston Celtics’ Season With 46 Points

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      Was it the 46 points? The crushing 3-pointers? The clutch free throws? Tatum, the Boston forward, was feeling it against the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday.There was a time when the Boston Celtics’ season seemed in danger of crumbling into a pile of fine dust. They had a losing record in late January. They were scuffling through a series of injuries. There were questions about whether Jayson Tatum could coexist with Jaylen Brown — was it time for the team to consider trading Brown? — along with inevitable critiques of Ime Udoka in his first season as coach.It is familiar history at this late stage of the season, but worth reiterating, especially now. Why? Because on Friday night, in the wake of a late-game meltdown earlier in the week, the Celtics were facing elimination in Milwaukee. Outside of their cocoon, as they braced themselves for Game 6, the questions swirled: Had they blown their chance? Could they somehow find the resolve to extend their Eastern Conference semifinal series with the Bucks?The Celtics, though, seem to embrace adversity. Perhaps they are conditioned to play at their best when everyone else thinks they are finished, a sandcastle about to be swept to sea. Down? Out? Their sandcastle is apparently reinforced with steel beams, and they proved as much with their 108-95 win.“This was a big moment for all of us,” Tatum said just minutes after assembling one of the finer individual performances of the N.B.A. postseason. “I think we showed a lot of toughness and growth.”There was no doubt about that after Tatum finished with 46 points and 9 rebounds to help even the series at three games apiece. In the process, he somehow overshadowed Giannis Antetokounmpo, who tried to drag the Bucks across the finish line with 44 points, 20 rebounds and 6 assists. It was a series that deserved a seventh game, and the Celtics delivered. Game 7 is on Sunday afternoon in Boston.“I believe in everyone in that locker room,” Tatum said. “We have what it takes.”Giannis Antetokounmpo (34) had a big night of his own: 44 points, 20 rebounds and 6 assists.Jeff Hanisch/USA Today Sports, via ReutersThe Miami Heat, who ousted the Philadelphia 76ers from the postseason on Thursday, are awaiting the winner in the Eastern Conference finals, with the opening game of that series set for Tuesday. The Heat must have been delighted to see the Celtics extend their series with the Bucks: Now those teams have time to bludgeon each other some more.“You got two juggernauts going at it,” the Celtics’ Marcus Smart said. “We’re beating each other up.”The Celtics are grateful to be in this position after collapsing in the fourth quarter of Game 5 on Wednesday. That game could have haunted them after they blew a 14-point lead. Smart, in particular, was furious with himself for making a couple of late-game gaffes. He recalled going straight to the team’s practice facility after the game, and then tossing and turning through two sleepless nights ahead of Game 6.“I feel like I let my team down,” he said.The good news, Udoka said, was that the Celtics had played well in Game 5 — until they stopped playing well. The winning components were there. And they were on display again in Game 6, this time for a full 48 minutes.Smart was terrific, finishing with 21 points and 7 assists without a turnover. Brown scored 22 points. And consider the contributions of Derrick White, a former Division II player and trade deadline acquisition who was all over the place in the final three minutes of the first half. He followed up a 3-pointer with a short jumper. He drew a charging foul on Antetokounmpo. And then he made two free throws, lifting the Celtics to a 10-point lead at halftime.But the reality was that Smart, Brown and White were a part of the supporting cast. The stage belonged to Tatum.“He went into another mode,” Smart said. “We seen it in his eyes.”From the start of the playoffs, when he christened the Celtics’ first-round series with the Nets with a game-winning layup, Tatum has gone about his business of elevating his stature as one of the league’s most ferociously skilled players.No, he has not been immune from the occasional clunker. In a narrow loss to Milwaukee in Game 3, he shot 4 of 19 from the field and missed all six of his 3-point attempts. But in the three games since, he has averaged 36.7 points, 9.3 rebounds and 4.3 assists while shooting 47 percent from the field.On Friday, Tatum played a brilliant all-around game. He did more than score. Coming out of a timeout in the third quarter, he stripped the Bucks’ Bobby Portis in the post, leading to a layup for Brown and a 17-point lead.Tatum also was able to counter everything that Antetokounmpo could throw at the Celtics, which was a lot. The Bucks were threatening in the fourth quarter when Antetokounmpo sank a 3-pointer. Tatum proceeded to score the Celtics’ next 10 points, a flurry capped by a deep 3-pointer over the top of the Bucks’ Pat Connaughton.“Obviously, I know when I have it going,” Tatum said. “You feel that rhythm.”No one is counting out Milwaukee, of course. The Bucks are the defending champions, and Antetokounmpo is capable of intergalactic feats. But without the floor-spacing presence of Khris Middleton, an All-Star forward who has been sidelined with a sprained left knee, Antetokounmpo has had to do even more Antetokounmpo things than usual.He clearly needs more help from his teammates on Sunday, especially against the likes of Tatum, a star in his own right.Now, after a season of surviving and growing, the Celtics see nothing but opportunity ahead of them.“We still have a chance,” Udoka said, “to make it a better story.” More

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      The Phoenix Suns Weren’t Supposed to Get Pushed to Game 7

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      The Suns have been off their game against Dallas. (So. Many. Turnovers.) But the Mavericks are flawed, too. They have one last game to get it together.If one believes in trends, it seems likely that the Phoenix Suns will win Sunday’s do-or-die Game 7 against the Dallas Mavericks in their Western Conference semifinal series.After all, the home team has won every game of this playoff series.But it wasn’t supposed to come to this for Phoenix. Not for the team that had the best regular-season record in the N.B.A. by far, and especially not after the Suns dominated their first two games against a Dallas team with limited playmaking outside of its star, Luka Doncic.On Thursday night, the Suns had a chance to send the Mavericks home for the summer, only to lay an egg. Dallas got hot from 3-point range, shooting 16 for 39 (41 percent), while Doncic bullied his way to the rim for easy dunks. Doncic also repeatedly backed down and overpowered the smaller Suns point guard Chris Paul in a matchup Dallas had been eager to exploit the entire series. Doncic ended the game with 33 points, 11 rebounds, 8 assists and 4 steals.“I don’t have enough time to talk about everything that’s eating at me,” Suns Coach Monty Williams told reporters after the game. “I didn’t think we understood the desperation they were going to play with.”This has not been a typical seven-game series. It hasn’t been a slugfest with stars from both teams exchanging clutch baskets. None of the contests have been particularly competitive or come down to the final minutes. The only constants have been chippiness and trash talk.But there are precedents for a playoff series like this. In 2008, the No. 1-seeded Boston Celtics faced the No. 8-seeded Atlanta Hawks in the first round. Boston won the first two games at home in blowouts, but Atlanta repeatedly and unexpectedly held serve at home. The Celtics won Game 7 by 34 points. A similar trajectory shaped Boston’s next series, against the LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers, but those games were more competitive. Boston would go on to win the N.B.A. championship.But precedent is no guarantee, and the Suns could certainly be on their way to an embarrassing second-round exit after last year’s run to the N.B.A. finals. Last year, the Bucks and Nets traded home wins for six games in the second round, then the Bucks won the finale on the road. One more off game from Paul, or a hot game from a Mavericks role player, and the Suns could be shown the door.If the Mavericks win, they will have dethroned a Suns team that won a franchise-record 64 games, including an 18-game win streak. That kind of success is rare and difficult to repeat. For one thing, Paul, a 12-time All-Star, is 37 years old. He is still elite as a point guard and led the league in assists per game. But the list of players who excelled at age 38 is small, populated by generational players like Karl Malone, John Stockton, Michael Jordan and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.Paul is a generational player, too, but this has not been a particularly strong postseason series for him, particularly after Games 1 and 2. Since then, he’s been dogged by foul trouble, had difficulty defending Doncic, and has only dished out six assists a game for the series after averaging 10.8 per game during the regular season.Not having a championship is a prominent hole in Paul’s illustrious résumé. He is 3-4 in Game 7s, not including the 2018 Western Conference finals against the Golden State Warriors, when he missed the final game because of injury as a member of the Houston Rockets.The Suns would also be at a crossroad with the 23-year-old Deandre Ayton, who is one of the best centers in the league and set to enter restricted free agency. Phoenix did not offer him a maximum contract offer before the season, and an early playoff exit could hurt his chances of getting one now.But the Suns have the edge entering Sunday’s game in Phoenix. They had the N.B.A.’s best home record at 32-9. They’re tested, having made the finals last year and with the experienced Paul at the reins. They’ve shown that they can withstand Doncic, who in his third playoff run and has torched the Suns, averaging 32.2 points, 9.8 rebounds and 7.5 assists through six games. Doncic has faced elimination three times in his short playoff career — including on Thursday — and he’s come up big each time, though in defeat. In a first-round Game 7 came against the Los Angeles Clippers last year, he scored 46 points in the loss. In 2020, he had 38 points in a Game 6 loss to the Clippers.The Suns have won three games despite not being able to guard Doncic.But what they may not be able to withstand are their own turnovers, which have bedeviled the Suns on the road. In Game 3, Paul and Devin Booker combined for 12 of them, more than the Mavericks. In Game 4, Booker had five. Paul had two, but played only 23 minutes because of foul trouble. During Thursday’s Game 6, Booker had eight, Paul had five and the Mavericks combined for just six.The Mavericks’ strategy to beat Phoenix has been relatively simple: Match up Doncic against Paul, or spread the floor and have Doncic or his backcourt partner, Jalen Brunson, drive and find shooters. It has mostly worked. Role players like Maxi Kleber have often come through by hitting 3s.One adjustment the Suns can counter with is stacking the paint with defenders to encourage Doncic to shoot 3s. He’s a below-average 3-point shooter, at just 29.6 percent for the series. And if he gets to the paint, the Suns need to close out on shooters to disrupt their rhythms. In Game 5, Phoenix’s best defensive performance of the series, Dallas shot 8 for 32 from 3-point range, a dismal 25 percent.Outside of Game 5, the Suns have been consistently bad on defense and only occasionally have they been able to overcome that with strong offense. It has often looked as if the Suns were rushing their offense — unusual for a Paul-led machine.“Best thing about all these playoff games is you don’t carry a 20-point lead into the next game,” Paul said Thursday. “You know what I mean? Each game has a personality of its own and now it’s down to one game.” More

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      Jimmy Butler and the Heat Close Out the 76ers in Game 6

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      Philadelphia traded Jimmy Butler to Miami after falling short of the conference finals in 2019. Now he’s going, and they’re going home.As soon as their playoff game ended Thursday night, Jimmy Butler of the Miami Heat found Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers to embrace him and say goodbye. The two stars were teammates in Philadelphia during the 2018-19 season, and there was a time when Butler thought he might remain in the city longer. The 76ers had other plans, though, and that slight has stayed with Butler.Moments after he embraced Embiid, Butler was asked what he had said.“That I love him; I’m proud of him,” Butler said in a television interview. “Yes, yes, yes, I still wish I was on this team. I definitely love the Miami Heat though, man. I’m glad that I’m here.”The Miami Heat are glad, too.In the three seasons since he moved south from Philadelphia, Butler has led the Heat to the Eastern Conference Finals twice. The 76ers, who were on the cusp of a conference finals berth with Butler and Embiid, are still trying to figure out how to get past the second round.“He wasn’t going to let this go to seven,” Coach Erik Spoelstra said of Butler, who scored 32 points as the Heat eliminated the 76ers.Matt Slocum/Associated PressOn Thursday, Butler scored 32 points to help his Heat eliminate the 76ers with a 99-90 victory in Game 6.“He gets incredibly desperate in close games or when he sees the light at the end of the tunnel to close out a team,” Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra said. “He’s not going to leave it to chance. He saw the opportunity — ‘Hey we have an opportunity to end this tonight’ — and he wasn’t going to let this go to seven.”It was a game that felt more lopsided than its final score indicated. With 1 minute 8 seconds left, and Miami leading by 14 points, the 76ers pulled their starters, leaving Embiid and James Harden to watch their season end from the bench.The game closed a disappointing spring for the 76ers, who had hoped to compete for a championship this year after they traded for Harden in February.Harden looked disinterested at times as he committed four turnovers while also contributing 11 points, 9 assists and 4 rebounds. After Philadelphia had tied the series at 2-2, Harden said his team was only then starting to jell in a way that could propel them to a championship. Two games later, they were out.Embiid, who had missed the first two games of the series with a concussion and facial injuries, played with that fracture still healing and a thumb injury starting in Game 3. He scored 20 points and had 12 rebounds on Thursday, but his injuries cleared the way for Butler to be the best player in the series.“Jimmy’s always been this for us in the playoffs,” Spoelstra told reporters before the game as he was prodded about Butler’s role. “Whatever’s needed. And it might be different game to game.”Butler is known for a lot of things, not all of them flattering. On his best days he provides stifling defense and potent offense, but he also has a reputation for irritating his teammates and coaches, and forcing his way out of teams. He can work himself to the point of exhaustion in the service of winning a game, or launch into a screaming fight in a sideline huddle.That happened in March, when he and Spoelstra had to be separated by other players and coaches multiple times. Spoelstra laughed it off after that game, attributing the moment to tempers flaring during a loss.In the playoffs, Butler has shown his best side.“Jimmy is a great competitor,” Spoelstra said Thursday. “I think he’s one of the ultimate competitors in this profession. I think a lot of things get lost in translation.”Joel Embiid had 20 points and 12 rebounds in Game 6 but was limited by injuries in the series.Tim Nwachukwu/Getty ImagesGame 6 took place on the third anniversary of a painful day in Philadelphia sports history. On May 12, 2019, the 76ers were tied with the Toronto Raptors in Game 7 of an Eastern Conference semifinal series when Kawhi Leonard, then with the Raptors, launched a final shot from in front of the Raptors bench as time expired. The ball hit the rim in three different places before finally falling through the net, ending the 76ers’ season.Butler was on the court that day, watching helplessly from the lane as Leonard’s shot danced around the rim and then dropped, but he never got a chance to answer it the following season. The 76ers were not willing to commit to Butler over the long term, and he left that summer and joined the Heat in a sign-and-trade deal.He carried Miami to the N.B.A. finals in the bubble in his first playoff run a year later, and now, after a first-round exit last year, he is headed back to the conference finals after helping the Heat post the best record in the Eastern Conference this season.He’s also keeping score. After finishing off his old team, Butler was caught on the camera by a Miami television station exclaiming, “Tobias Harris over me?”Like Butler, Harris, who still plays for the 76ers, was acquired by Philadelphia during the 2018-19 season. But the 76ers signed him to a five-year deal worth $180 million the same summer the team sent Butler to Miami.Later, Butler spoke like a man at peace.“Now I’m where I belong,” he told reporters. “I guess, where I should have been a long time ago. A place where I’m welcome.” More

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      Kyrie Irving Wants the Nets, but Do the Nets Want Him?

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      Brooklyn needs its star guard to be more than a part-time player next season, General Manager Sean Marks said, without clearly stating the team wants Irving back.As the Nets’ disappointing season reached its end after they were swept by the Boston Celtics in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs, Kyrie Irving made clear that he was committed to the Nets for the long term.But after a season in which Irving played only 29 of the 82 regular season games because of his refusal to comply with a local vaccine ordinance, do the Nets want him back?That question loomed over the team’s season-ending news conference on Wednesday held by General Manager Sean Marks and Coach Steve Nash. While Marks was reluctant to give a clear answer, that he didn’t immediately say “yes” spoke nearly as clearly as anything he could have said. The Nets haven’t decided yet if Irving can and should be part of their future. “I think we know what we’re looking for,” Marks said. “We’re looking for guys that want to come in here and be part of something bigger than themselves, play selfless, play team basketball, and be available. That goes not only for Kyrie but for everybody here.”That theme of availability persisted throughout Marks’ remarks, and has been challenging for the Nets’ star players. Irving and Kevin Durant signed with Brooklyn to great fanfare in 2019, but the Nets have yet to reap the benefits of adding two multiple-time All-Stars who had each won championships by themselves. Durant missed all of the 2019-20 season while recovering from an Achilles’ tendon injury he sustained in the 2019 finals with Golden State.Last season, they added James Harden through a trade with Houston, creating what was supposed to be a formidable lineup. They lost to Milwaukee in the Eastern Conference semifinals last season despite 48 points in Game 7 from Durant, who hit a buzzer-beating 2-pointer to tie the game in regulation. His toe was on the 3-point arc — the shot was mere millimeters from being a game-winner.Rather than building on that near miss, the Nets went backward this season.Irving declined to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, which meant he would not be able to play in games in Brooklyn or at Madison Square Garden for most of the season. The Nets initially decided they didn’t want a part-time player, and said Irving would not play until he was eligible for all of their games. They abruptly changed course in January and Irving began exclusively playing in road games outside New York and Toronto.On Wednesday afternoon, Marks declined to reconsider that decision, while again stressing the importance of a player’s availability.“When you have a player of Kyrie’s caliber, you try and figure out: How do we get him in the mix and how long can we get him in the mix for?” Marks said. “Because the team was built around saying, ‘Well, Kyrie and Kevin are going to be available.’”Irving’s absences made the Nets’ margins that much slimmer. Any time Durant or Harden were injured, that meant the team was down two starters instead of just one. As they dealt with coronavirus-related absences, like many teams did, they had fewer players on whom to rely. Irving, right, with Kevin Durant in a playoff game in April.Brad Penner/USA Today Sports, via Reuters“There were a variety of teams out there and the teams that are still playing to this day, they may not have had quite the extent of the excuses that we can come up with, but they had to navigate Covid as well, they had to navigate injuries,” Marks said. “And if I’m going to be brutally honest, they navigated it better than we did.”Harden tired of Irving’s absences and the challenges they posed. He was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers, who play in Game 6 of their second-round series against the Miami Heat on Thursday night.In the trade, the Nets acquired Ben Simmons, who didn’t play a game for them. Simmons had back surgery on May 5 after magnetic resonance imaging showed a “herniation had expanded,” Marks said.In talking about the team’s big stars, Marks mostly spoke of Durant alone. He said Durant was a draw for other players around the league — that people wanted to play for him. He said Durant is the team’s best player development coach. He talked of wanting to involve Durant in personnel decisions, without asking him to actually make those decisions.“People think player empowerment means you just let them do whatever they want to do,” Marks said. “That wasn’t the case when Steve was a player. That wasn’t the case when I was a player on any of the teams we’ve been on. That’s not the case here. I think involving players on key decisions at particular points in the season is the right way to do it. There’s nothing worse than having players surprised by something.”Whether Irving returns to the team is not just in the Nets’ hands. He has a player option for next season worth $36.5 million and is also eligible for an extension worth $200 million over five years. Should he decline his player option, he would become an unrestricted free agent.He showed his dynamism on the court in several games this season, scoring 50 points against the Charlotte Hornets in March and then 60 a week later against the Orlando Magic.But what use is that explosiveness if he isn’t playing?“I think there’s been far too much debate, discussion, scuttlebutt — whatever you want to call it — about distractions, and about things that really are outside of basketball,” Marks said. “Whereas we’d like to focus on doing some of the things that got us here in the first place.”Marks made that comment in his opening remarks during Wednesday’s news conference, before anyone had asked him about Irving. It fit, though, with the message he seemed to be sending throughout his news conference. It was a message to Irving about committing in a real way, not just contractually, to a team that could have used more of him this season. More

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      Bob Lanier, a Dominant Center of the 1970s and ’80s, Dies at 73

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      Playing for the Detroit Pistons and the Milwaukee Bucks, he held his own against titans of the era like Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Willis Reed.Bob Lanier, who as a center for the Detroit Pistons and Milwaukee Bucks in the 1970s and ’80s parlayed a deft left-handed hook shot, a soft midrange jumper and robust rebounding skills into a Hall of Fame career, died on Tuesday in Phoenix. He was 73.The N.B.A. said he died after a short illness but provided no other details.Lanier, who stood 6-foot-11 and weighed about 250 pounds, excelled in an era of dominant centers like Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Nate Thurmond and Wes Unseld.“Guys didn’t change teams as much, so when you were facing the Bulls or the Bucks or New York, you had all these rivalries,” he told NBA.com in 2018. “Lanier against Jabbar! Jabbar against Willis Reed! And then Chamberlain and Artis Gilmore and Bill Walton! You had all these great big men, and the game was played from inside out.”He added: “It was a rougher game, a much more physical game that we played in the ’70s. You could steer people with elbows. They started cutting down on the number of fights by fining people more. Oh, it was a rough ’n’ tumble game.”As a Pistons rookie in the 1970-71 season, Lanier shared time at center with Otto Moore. In his second season, as a full-time starter, he averaged 25.7 points and 14.2 rebounds a game, putting him in the league’s top 10 in both categories.“He understood the small nuances of the game,” Dave Bing, a Pistons teammate and fellow Hall of Famer, said in a video biography of Lanier shown on Fox Sports Detroit in 2012. “He could shoot the 18-to-20-footer as well as any guard. He had a hook shoot — nobody but Kareem had a hook shot like him. He could do anything he wanted to do.”Lanier wore what were believed to be size 22 sneakers. In 1989, however, a representative of Converse disputed that notion, saying that they were in fact size 18 ½. Whatever their actual size, a pair of Lanier’s sneakers, bronzed, is in the collection of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.During nine full seasons with the Pistons, Lanier played in seven All-Star Games. He was elected most valuable player of the 1974 All-Star Game, in which he led all scorers with 24 points.But the Pistons had only four winning seasons during his time with the team and never advanced very far in the playoffs. The roster was often in flux. Coaches came and went. Lanier dealt with knee injuries and other physical setbacks.“It was like a life unfulfilled,” he told Fox Sports Detroit.In early 1980, with the Pistons’ record at 14-40, the team traded Lanier to the Milwaukee Bucks for a younger center, Kent Benson, and a first-round 1980 draft pick. Frustrated by the Pistons’ lack of success, Lanier had asked to be sent to a playoff contender.“I’m kind of relieved, but I’m kind of sad, too,” he told The Detroit Free Press. “I’ve got a lot of good memories of Detroit.”Lanier averaged 22.7 points and 11.8 rebounds a game with the Pistons.Lanier in his college years at St. Bonaventure, resting during a game against Marquette in 1969. A pair of his exceptionally large sneakers is in the collection of the Basketball Hall of Fame.AP PhotoRobert Jerry Lanier Jr. was born on Sept. 10, 1948, in Buffalo to Robert and Nannie Lanier. Young Bob was 6-foot-5 by the time he was a sophomore in high school, and he played well enough there to be wooed by dozens of colleges. He chose St. Bonaventure University in upstate Allegany, N.Y.He was a sensation there, averaging 27.6 points and 15.7 rebounds over three seasons.In 1970, the Bonnies defeated Villanova to win the East Regional finals of the N.C.A.A. men’s basketball tournament, sending them to the Final Four. But Lanier injured his knee during the game, forcing the Bonnies to face Jacksonville in the national semifinal game without him. St. Bonaventure lost, 91-83.“I didn’t even know at the time I tore my knee up,” Lanier told The Buffalo News in 2007. “But when I ran back down the court and tried to pivot, my leg collapsed. I didn’t know at the time I had torn my M.C.L.”Lanier was still recuperating from knee surgery when the Pistons chose him No. 1 overall in the N.B.A. draft; he was also chosen No. 1 by the New York (now Brooklyn) Nets of the American Basketball Association. He quickly signed with Detroit.Although he had statistically better years with the Pistons, Lanier enjoyed more team success with the Bucks (and also played in one more All-Star Game). Under Coach Don Nelson, the Bucks won 60 games during the 1980-81 season, and they advanced to the Eastern Conference finals in 1982-83 and 1983-84.Lanier was also president of the players’ union, the National Basketball Players Association, and helped negotiate a collective bargaining agreement in 1983 that avoided a strike.Lanier at an N.B.A. roundtable discussion before Game 5 of the 2005 finals between the Pistons and the San Antonio Spurs. In retirement, he worked with the N.B.A. as a global ambassador and special assistant to the commissioner.Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE via Getty ImagesEarly in the 1983-84 season, his last as a player, Lanier became angry with Bill Laimbeer, the Pistons’ center, for riling him under the boards at the Silverdome in Pontiac, Mich. Lanier retaliated with a left hook that leveled Laimbeer and broke his nose.The act not only earned Lanier a $5,000 fine; it also delayed the retirement of his No. 16 jersey by the Pistons until 1993. The Bucks retired his number in late 1984.He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1992.In retirement, he owned a marketing firm and worked extensively with the N.B.A. as a global ambassador and special assistant to David Stern, the league’s longtime commissioner, and Adam Silver, his successor. Lanier was also an assistant coach under Nelson with the Golden State Warriors during the 1994-95 season and replaced him as interim coach for the final 37 games of the season after Nelson’s resignation.Information on survivors was not immediately available.Lanier said that after he retired, he was less likely to be recognized by the public than when he was a player. After Shaquille O’Neal, one of the league’s most dominating centers, came along in the early 1990s, people figured he must have been O’Neal’s father, he told NBA.com in 2018.“‘You’re wearing them big shoes,’” he said people would tell him. “I just go along with it. ‘Yeah, I’m Shaq’s dad.’” More

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      Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets Wins Second NBA MVP Award

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      A 6-foot-11 center, Jokic stands out among N.B.A. big men with his ability to score from inside and outside and bang the boards while finding open teammates.Nikola Jokic, the Denver Nuggets center with the passing touch and shooting stroke of a guard, won the N.B.A.’s Most Valuable Player Award for the second consecutive season.Jokic, 27, received 65 of 100 first-place votes. Last season, he was the top choice of 91 of 101 voters from members of the news media and a fan vote.The 6-foot-11 Jokic stands out among big men with how he can score from inside and bang the boards, yet also hit from outside and find open teammates. He averaged 27.1 points per game during the regular season, the second most among centers, behind Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid, who was the league’s overall scoring leader and finished second with 26 first-place votes. Jokic was best among centers in assists, with 7.9 per game.His ability to palm the ball and execute passes, rebounds and floaters with one hand has been likened to a player in water polo, a game Jokic enjoyed as a child in Serbia, where the sport is phenomenally popular. His combination of skills has made him the focal point of the Nuggets’ sixth-ranked offense.Jokic’s stats during the regular season were consistent with last season’s M.V.P. figures, and he increased his defensive rebounding to 11 a game from 8. He ranked in the top 10 in points, assists and rebounds.He became the first player in N.B.A. history with 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 500 assists in a season. Only Wilt Chamberlain, Kevin Garnett and Oscar Robertson have come within 10 percent of those three figures in statistics for a single season.Jokic was a 19-year-old playing for Mega Basket of Serbia in the Adriatic League when the Nuggets drafted him in the second round in 2014. Jusuf Nurkic and Gary Harris, Denver’s first-rounders that year through a trade with Chicago, drew the attention, while Jokic was considered a speculative pick.He came to the N.B.A. in the 2015-16 season and finished third in the rookie of the year voting, averaging 10 points a game. By his fourth season, in 2018-19, he was averaging 20.1 points per game and had been named an All-Star. That season, he led the Nuggets to their first playoff berth in six years and their first playoff series win in 10. Denver made it to the conference finals in 2019-20.The loss of guard Jamal Murray for the 2021-22 season to a knee injury was a blow to the Nuggets, and as a sixth seed in the Western Conference playoffs, they lost in the first round to a hot Golden State team that was peaking at the right time, four games to one.The Nuggets’ future is always going to look bright with Jokic on the roster. He said last month that he expected to sign a supermax contract extension with the team. “If offer’s on the table of course I’m going to accept it,” Jokic said. More

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      Ja Morant’s Injury Isn’t the Only Problem for the Grizzlies

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      A young Memphis team is getting a crash course in high-stakes basketball from championship-tested Golden State.Dillon Brooks of the Memphis Grizzlies returned from his one-game suspension determined to leave an imprint on his team’s Western Conference semifinal series with the Golden State Warriors. He was going to make things happen Monday night in Game 4. Unfortunately for the Grizzlies, his imprint largely entailed chucking errant 3-pointers off the back of the rim and dribbling the ball off his foot.Brooks is (typically) one of the better players on one of the N.B.A.’s most exciting young teams, but there is no substitute for postseason experience. The Grizzlies are getting some, and it will pay off for them in the future, but the future is not now. Their championship-tested opponent is making sure of that.On Monday, the Grizzlies had every opportunity to even the best-of-seven series at two games apiece — in San Francisco, no less. But they were trailing by 3 points when Brooks ceded the spotlight to Jaren Jackson Jr., a teammate who had plenty of time — about 15 seconds remained in the game — to exercise patience. Instead, Jackson launched a 3-pointer with three defenders in his vicinity. Golden State’s Draymond Green got a hand on the ball, and Jackson missed.“We rushed a couple of plays there,” Memphis Coach Taylor Jenkins said after his team’s 101-98 loss. “We’ve just got to learn from it and get better for the next game.”Golden State was losing for almost the entire game Monday, but came out on top when it mattered: in the end.Kyle Terada/USA Today Sports, via ReutersAhead of Game 5 on Wednesday, the Grizzlies are coping with yet another new experience: the possibility of elimination. They trail in the series, 3-1, after Ja Morant, their All-Star point guard, missed Monday’s loss with right knee soreness. On Tuesday, the Grizzlies announced that Morant was doubtful for the rest of the postseason after testing revealed he had a bone bruise. It is looking bleak for them.Against a lesser opponent, perhaps the Grizzlies could have more easily overcome their youthful exuberance — combined now with Morant’s absence. The Warriors are not a lesser opponent. They proved as much in Game 4, even after they missed their first 15 3-point attempts, and even after they scored just 38 points in the first half, and even after they trailed by as many as 12.“Gutted it out,” said Stephen Curry, who recalled his impassioned exchange with Green after Green disrupted Jackson’s shot in the final minute. “Something to the effect of, ‘That’s what you do.’ Every opportunity we have to appreciate his greatness on that end of the floor, especially at this stage, that’s what it’s all about.”Not so long ago, there was an expectation that the series would offer up some 21st century basketball at its finest. Here were two teams capable of filling box scores with offensive fireworks.Beyond that, the series seemed like it had the potential to shape up as a delightfully entertaining generational skirmish. The Grizzlies, behind Morant, were the new kids on the block, contenders ahead of schedule. Golden State, of course, had reassembled its core after two injury-marred seasons.Both teams have increased the intensity and physicality during the series.Kyle Terada/USA Today Sports, via ReutersThe series, then, was supposed to be an aesthete’s treat, crammed with soaring dunks and deep 3-pointers and mutual respect. Instead, through four games, it has been more Royal Rumble than Alvin Ailey. Green was ejected for committing a flagrant foul in Game 1. Golden State’s Gary Payton II fractured his elbow in Game 2 after Brooks clubbed him across the head as Payton went up for a layup. And after limping off the court in Game 3, Morant took to social media to accuse Golden State’s Jordan Poole of making a dirty play of his own.About an hour before the start of Game 4, a disjointed series got even stranger when Golden State announced that Steve Kerr would not be available to coach because he had entered the league’s coronavirus health and safety protocols. Instead, Mike Brown, one of his assistants, would call the shots. The oddest part of all? Earlier in the day, the Sacramento Kings had named Brown as their new head coach. (He will remain with Golden State for the duration of the postseason.)Kerr’s absence added to the series’ sense of attrition. Payton could be gone for the rest of the postseason. Morant was sitting behind the Grizzlies’ bench in a sweatshirt. And now Kerr had to watch the game from home, part of a television-viewing audience that settled in for an evening of cornea-wrenching theater.Golden State has a well-deserved reputation for playing a refined brand of basketball. But this is a team that can also win ugly, no small asset in the postseason.“We’ve been here before, and we know how to pull off games like this,” Curry said.Without Morant, Memphis wanted to muck it up. After supplying limited minutes in recent weeks, Steven Adams started at center and was solid, finishing with 10 points and 15 rebounds. The problem was everyone else. Brooks shot 5 of 19 from the field. Kyle Anderson went 2 of 7 from the free-throw line. And Jackson missed all seven of his 3-point attempts.“It’s tough when that happens,” he said. “I wanted more of myself than that.”The question is whether Memphis has much more to give. What these young Grizzlies seem to need is a postseason cram session — a rapid infusion of the secrets to winning high-stakes games. They won a lot during the regular season, ending with the second-best record in the N.B.A. But winning when each game is emotional, when critical foul calls won’t go their way, when the defense makes easy shots difficult and difficult shots impossible, when free throws don’t feel so free? It can take years to learn all of that, and many players never do. The Grizzlies may have to try to play as though they have — without their best player.Morant has not been immune to knee issues. In November, during a torrid start to the regular season, he sprained his left knee and then entered the league’s health and safety protocols, missing 12 games. He missed several more games toward the end of the regular season with knee soreness.Still, Adams said the team was capable of making fixes for Game 5, fixes that he said were both “simple” and “reassuring.” And what were they?“I can’t disclose that information, mate,” he said. “Keep it under wraps. But it’s not a complicated thing. It’s not something that we can’t do. Put it that way.”Memphis still has time to figure it out. But not much, especially against Golden State. More