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      After Helping Her Husband Gain Freedom, Maya Moore Savors Her Own

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      Moore, the 2014 W.N.B.A. M.V.P., is reveling in married life and continuing a fight for criminal justice reform alongside Jonathan Irons, whom she married after helping him win his release from prison after 23 years.When you speak with Maya Moore and her husband, Jonathan Irons, a single word comes up with drumbeat constancy.Freedom.“It’s everything to us,” Moore said during an interview last week.She wasn’t talking just about the fact that Irons is out of prison after serving 23 years for a crime he always insisted he did not commit. She was talking about how, after struggling to overturn his conviction, she has more time and energy to fight for criminal justice reform.“There is life we want to live, things we want to do, things we feel called to do together to help make our world a better place,” she said. “This sense of freedom is huge for both of us now.”Here’s the shorthand version of their journey — part love story, part against-the-odds battle to right a terrible wrong. Still in the prime of a brilliant career, Moore left the Minnesota Lynx, the W.N.B.A. team she helped lead to four championships, before the 2019 season. Burned out, she wanted to focus her energy on helping Irons.Irons was Inmate No. 101145 at a maximum-security prison in Missouri. He had been locked up since his teens, when he was sentenced in 1998 to 50 years for a robbery and assault that he denied committing.After getting to know him through a prison ministry, Moore and her family believed in Irons’s innocence. They investigated his case on their own, hired lawyers to help and stood behind his last-ditch appeal. In March 2020, a Missouri judge vacated the convictions, citing evidence that was “weak and circumstantial at best” and flaws in how the case was investigated and tried.Prosecutors fought the decision, but three months later, Irons walked out of prison with Moore and her family there to whisk him away. A day later, at a hotel near the prison, he proposed. Weeks later, they married.“It’s a miracle that we’re sitting here together,” Moore said as she and Irons spoke to me over a video call. “I mean, there’s no glass between Jonathan and me, no chains, no security guards walking around. A miracle.”They were inside their suburban Atlanta home, discussing their life together and her future in basketball. I had a question, the one asked most often by people who have followed their story.I detailed Moore’s quest for justice in a series of articles. I interviewed Irons in a bare-walled prison conference room and spent days with Moore. Throughout that time, they described their relationship as a nearly familial bond.So why didn’t they admit there was more to the connection?“It would have been too much to navigate telling a love story on top of Jonathan’s fight for freedom,” Moore said.She is exceedingly careful in all she does. She answers questions with a measured cadence that lets you know she’s considering the weight of every word. She has rarely opened up her private life to the world.“We felt like it was best to wait before we talked about that part of our story,” Moore said. “He was in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. The urgency of Jonathan’s fight took precedence over everything else.”Life since Irons’s release has been full of emotion, exploration and discovery.Moore, center, celebrating as Irons greeted family and friends after his release from prison in July 2020.Julia Hansen for The New York TimesThere was much to learn — about each other, about a life full of freedom. You have to remember, he said, “our relationship had consisted of phone calls, letters and prison visits.” He noted that he and Moore could barely hug during those visits, which were rare and held in a large, heavily guarded room full of other inmates and their loved ones.Irons, now 41, grew up in stifling poverty. He had never ventured far from the St. Louis area, where he was born. Now he is married to a globally renowned basketball star and living with her in a recently purchased home. Everything is new. How do you use an A.T.M.? Where do you go to buy clothes? What’s it like to have a driver’s license or fly on a plane?He has been dogged by internal agony, the result of being stuck for years inside a prison that could turn violent in a second. He has endured sleepless nights, tossing and turning, his mind working to cope with the past. He has struggled to relax around people he doesn’t know.“The trauma is very real,” Moore explained. Her goal is no longer winning championships. It’s being present emotionally, physically and spiritually, “to help my husband through that pain.”In January, Moore lost her 84-year-old great-uncle, Hugh Flowers, after a long illness. It was Flowers who, while teaching music to inmates at the Jefferson City prison, first took Irons’s claims of innocence seriously. Without Flowers prodding other family members to get to know Irons and start investigating, Irons might still be in prison.Moore and Irons remember the tears they shed as they held each other tight after hearing that Flowers had died.Life, though, has also been stuffed with joy. Their faces lit up as they spoke of simple pleasures. Playing Frisbee. Hiking. Exploring Atlanta in Moore’s 2006 Honda Civic. Flying to the West Coast, where Irons saw a desert for the first time and they kayaked in Santa Barbara.Another highlight: Watching the Connecticut women’s basketball team, which Moore led to national titles in 2009 and 2010, play in this year’s N.C.A.A. tournament.“Oh man, she’s into it!” Irons said. “She’s up there shouting, calling the players by their nicknames!”Moore leaned toward him, a look of embarrassment spreading across her face. “Nobody needs to know that!”They laughed.As we spoke, I could see their closeness. Sometimes he rested his head on her shoulder. Sometimes she touched his arm, light and reassuring.“I still can’t believe I get to spend time with him every day,” she said.“And I get to kiss her 100 times a day,” he added.What about the future?They plan to use storytelling to inspire change. Podcasts, speeches, films. Anything to “shine a light on injustice,” Moore said, starting with their own story. An ESPN documentary will feature their battle for Irons’s release and their life together.They want children. When? Moore, a Christian, says she will leave that up to God.What about basketball? Moore is 31. Though her game these days is limited to occasional driveway shootarounds with friends, she could return to the W.N.B.A. and play for years. But she won’t commit to that. Not now.“The first year of marriage requires a lot,” she said. “It’s a whole big thing. I know right now my priorities are where they need to be. I’m in a place where I can actually enjoy life and my husband’s freedom without the burden of being in a fight for his freedom.” More

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      For Jrue Holiday, It’s a Good Game When His Wife Says So

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      The pressure is on as the Bucks head to the N.B.A. playoffs, but Holiday has somebody at home who understands competition: his wife, Lauren, who faced high expectations on the U.S. national soccer team.It was not until May, which the Bucks began with back-to-back victories over the Nets, that Milwaukee loudly announced it was still an N.B.A. championship contender. Jrue Holiday scored 14 points in the first quarter of the second win, and in a contented home locker room, one of the league’s foremost defensive players let his guard down.As he made his usual postgame scan of his phone for messages, he was greeted by a text from his wife, Lauren. It included the words that will get any spouse’s attention: “We need to talk.”“You could have done more,” Lauren Holiday wrote.After his productive first quarter, Jrue Holiday scored only 1 point in nearly six minutes in the second quarter. Lauren Holiday, who won two Olympic gold medals and the 2015 World Cup as a bustling midfielder with the United States women’s national soccer team, did not regard the sweep of the Nets or her husband’s play as a significant statement. She said she “felt like he took the quarter off.”“It’s not that I think he did poorly,” Lauren Holiday said. “I just wanted to know what his thinking was — just help me understand. At first he said, ‘I took what the defense dictated,’ and I said, ‘No, I don’t agree.’ Those are the conversations he has to have just because I’m also a competitor.”The Holidays have been a tandem since they were athletes at U.C.L.A., and only grew closer after doctors found she had a brain tumor in June 2016, six months into her pregnancy with their daughter, Jrue Tyler. They have two children now, and maintain deep rooting interests in each other’s sports. They also oversee a seven-figure social fund that supports Black-led nonprofit organizations and Black-owned businesses, after deciding last year that they could be doing more as a couple, too.They relocated to Milwaukee from New Orleans in November. The Bucks viewed Jrue Holiday as the sort of marquee addition whose arrival would persuade Giannis Antetokounmpo to make a long-term commitment to the small-market franchise, so the Bucks surrendered the veteran guards George Hill and Eric Bledsoe, three future first-round draft picks and the rights to swap two more first-round picks to get him as part of a four-team trade.After a nervy wait for Bucks fans, Antetokounmpo signed a five-year, $228 million contract extension, the so-called supermax, 21 days after the trade, only for Holiday to quickly discover that business matters were merely a part of the burden.The Bucks have not won a championship since the 1970-71 season. Antetokounmpo shoulders the weight of expectations more than anyone in town, after winning back-to-back Most Valuable Player Awards and last season’s Defensive Player of the Year Award, but Holiday is next in line. He was billed as the Bucks’ missing piece who, despite just one All-Star appearance and 31 playoff games on his 11-year résumé entering this season, would lift them to a new level. And that talk began months before he signed a four-year contract extension in April worth at least $134 million.“It is something that you don’t get used to but you have to accept if you want to be in this line of work,” Holiday said.Lauren Holiday celebrated with teammates after defeating Japan in the final of the 2015 Women’s World Cup.Michael Chow/USA Today Sports, via ReutersLauren Holiday agreed. She played in four major competitions in her eight-year career with the national team, helping the United States win three of them. Although the 2011 World Cup final slipped away on penalty kicks against Japan, she said she only ever imagined going four for four.“The N.B.A. is like a different world,” she said. “They try to manage their bodies. That part of basketball, how they rest, that’s all foreign to me. I’m 110 percent all the time. That’s all I know. That was instilled in us on the national team: ‘You are winners. We win. We don’t lose.’”Lauren Holiday’s expertise in coping with lofty expectations makes her a helpful sounding board for her husband as he heads into a postseason in which the Bucks will be immediately confronted by some demons, thanks to a first-round matchup against the Miami Heat. Milwaukee was dominated by Miami in five games last summer in a second-round series in the N.B.A. bubble at Walt Disney World, crashing out early after posting the league’s best regular-season record for the second consecutive year.She was also the primary source of counsel when Jrue, still with New Orleans, gave strong consideration to skipping the N.B.A. restart. Their JLH Fund was inspired by her suggestion that he finish out the Pelicans’ season and donate the remainder of his 2019-20 salary ($5.3 million) to help Black communities ravaged by the pandemic and a summer of social turmoil after the May 2020 murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.The initial focus of the grants were the cities closest to the Holidays: New Orleans, Indianapolis (her hometown) and Los Angeles (his hometown). On Monday, they will donate an additional $1 million to the fund to begin a second round of grants and add Milwaukee to the list of featured cities.“I’m not going to lie: I didn’t really want to go to the bubble,” Jrue Holiday said. “It didn’t feel like it was the time for basketball. My wife was pregnant. I just felt like me leaving my family wasn’t the best for my family. I also wanted to go out and protest, but I couldn’t do that because I had to protect my family from Covid. I felt like I needed something to motivate me to go.”The new season, in a new city, predictably brought fresh challenges. Hendrix, the Holidays’ son, was 5 weeks old when the trade to Milwaukee went through. They chose a house, Lauren Holiday said, largely by scrolling through “pictures on Zillow.” It was the first house Jrue has lived in with a basement — which proved a vital utility when he had Covid-19 in February and missed 10 games.He said he moved into the basement for nearly two weeks of “isolation in my house.” Contact with the children peaked with FaceTime calls and pictures that 4-year-old J.T., as her parents call her, drew for her father and left at the top of the basement stairs.“I got to at least hear my kids,” Jrue Holiday said.He said he had “all the symptoms — chills, fever, headache, body aches, and I lost my taste and smell.” Yet Jrue, who will turn 31 next month, has recovered to assemble the best season of his career. He was shooting a career-high 50.3 percent from the field and 39.2 percent from the 3-point line entering Sunday’s season finale against Chicago, while only adding to his reputation as one of the game’s top two-way players. Respected veterans like Portland’s Damian Lillard and Miami’s Andre Iguodala have anointed him as the N.B.A.’s best individual defender. His strength, anticipation and aggression enable him to guard four positions on the floor, despite standing at just 6-foot-3.Jrue Holiday, guarded by Kevin Durant, during one of Milwaukee’s matchups against the Nets this season.Stacy Revere/Getty Images“He’s special on that side of the ball,” the Nets’ Kevin Durant said.Lauren Holiday said: “He’s playing with such freedom. And I feel like that was what he needed. I think change can be good sometimes, and this change has been just tremendous for him.”External judgment will naturally depend on how much Holiday can help the Bucks in the playoffs. After dominating the past two regular seasons and then having humbling playoff eliminations inflicted by Toronto in 2019 and Miami last year, Bucks Coach Mike Budenholzer heeded calls to experiment offensively (more screening) and defensively (more switching). The target was increased versatility, in support of a more top-heavy roster after relying for years on depth around Antetokounmpo, but the experimentation came with a cost.Sinking to No. 3 in the Eastern Conference means the Bucks’ path, just to earn a berth in the N.B.A. finals for the first time since 1974, could require them to eliminate Miami, the Nets and top-seeded Philadelphia in succession. Holiday’s presence theoretically eases pressure on Antetokounmpo and the sharpshooting Khris Middleton, but the trade assets and contract he commanded require Holiday to deliver All-Star production — whether or not he ever formally regains the All-Star status he achieved in 2012-13 with Philadelphia.An undaunted Holiday insisted that he was “ready to go,” and that he wished the playoffs “were here already.” Welcoming more pointed postgame critiques from Lauren, he added, is wrapped up in that readiness.“She’s literally the athlete and the winner in our family,” Jrue Holiday said. “Getting that from her means a lot to me. It’s real, and she backs it up.” More

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      Basketball Hall of Fame to Enshrine 16 More

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      The next class will include Chris Bosh, Paul Pierce, Ben Wallace, Chris Webber, Toni Kukoc, Bill Russell (as a coach this time), Yolanda Griffith, Lauren Jackson and Jay Wright.SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Jay Wright used to sell tickets to games in the United States Football League. Ben Wallace was passed over by every N.B.A. team, some of them twice. Yolanda Griffith got a job repossessing cars so she could take care of herself and her infant daughter while playing community college basketball.For all of them, those days are long gone. Basketball’s highest honor has come their way.Wright, Wallace and Griffith were part of a 16-person class that was announced Sunday as the 2021 inductees for the Basketball Hall of Fame. The longtime standout N.B.A. forwards Chris Bosh, Paul Pierce and Chris Webber were among those selected, along with the former coaches Rick Adelman and Cotton Fitzsimmons and the three-time W.N.B.A. most valuable player Lauren Jackson.“It’s not anything you ever even dream of,” Wright said on the ESPN broadcast of the announcement. “It’s pretty cool.”The class even includes someone who has been a Hall of Famer for 46 years. The 11-time N.B.A. champion Bill Russell, enshrined in 1975 as a player, has been selected again as a coach. Russell becomes the fifth Hall of Famer who will be inducted as both a player and a coach, joining John Wooden, Lenny Wilkens, Bill Sharman and Tommy Heinsohn.“Special is only reserved for a few,” Celtics Coach Brad Stevens said of Russell, the N.B.A.’s first Black head coach, who was a player and coach after Red Auerbach retired. “And Bill Russell is as special as they come.”Fitzsimmons was selected as a contributor, as were the former W.N.B.A. commissioner Val Ackerman and Howard Garfinkel, a founder and longtime director of the Five-Star basketball camp, which revolutionized how players were recruited and how coaches taught the game.Toni Kukoc, a three-time N.B.A. champion with Chicago and two-time Olympic silver medalist, was selected by the international committee. Clarence Jenkins was chosen by the Early African-American Pioneers Committee.The four-time All-Star Bob Dandridge was the pick of the veterans committee, and Pearl Moore — a 4,000-point scorer in college in the 1970s, most of those points coming at Francis Marion — was selected by the women’s veterans committee.Wright said he never imagined when he started coaching at Division III Rochester that the Hall of Fame would be a possibility, and he has championed the candidacy of one of his Villanova predecessors — Rollie Massimino — for years.But now, the two-time N.C.A.A. champion coach who was on the hot seat at Villanova after a slow three-year start to his tenure there is in the Hall himself. He had the ticket-selling job before getting into coaching at Rochester and turned that chance into a career like few others.“Jay is one of the best coaches I’ve ever had, and one of the best people I’ve ever known,” said the former Villanova guard Kyle Lowry, now with the Toronto Raptors. “He treated me like a son, and he helped me become the man I am today. He is truly a special person.”Bosh and Pierce were selected in their first year of eligibility; Webber had been a finalist in each of the last five years before finally getting the call. Bosh was a two-time champion in Miami whose résumé was still considered Hall-worthy even after his career ended abruptly — and with him still at an All-Star level — because of blood clots.“Chris Bosh was the ultimate leader, teammate and winner,” Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra said. “He was a huge part of our success and always did it with real class, selflessness and professionalism. His accomplishments on the court earned him this great honor, but he is also a Hall of Fame quality person.”Bosh was an 11-time All-Star, Pierce a 10-time selection and a 2008 N.B.A. champion with Boston, and Webber was a five-time All-Star pick after a college career in which he was part of the University of Michigan’s Fab Five.“I’m just thankful, man,” Webber said.Adelman’s teams won 1,042 games in the N.B.A., the ninth most in league history. Fitzsimmons was a two-time N.B.A. coach of the year who coached, among others, Charles Barkley, Jason Kidd and Steve Nash.Of the now 140 players from the N.B.A. and A.B.A. that are enshrined in the Hall, none of them averaged fewer points than Wallace, who managed 5.7 per game for his career. He never had a 30-point game as a pro; his regular-season high was 23 points, his playoff high was 29 points.He was a four-time defensive player of the year, making that end of the floor his specialty.“To have that type of journey, to have it end the way it’s ending, it’s an awesome feeling,” Wallace said on the broadcast.Griffith once accepted a scholarship to Iowa, then had a baby and wound up at Palm Beach Community College in South Florida, followed by Florida Atlantic — then a Division II school. Those were the days when she had the repo job, but she still got into the W.N.B.A., won an M.V.P. Award in 1999 and now will be listed among the greats.“My journey was like a rocky, roller-coaster ride, but I owe it all to my family,” Griffith said. “Without my family, none of this would be possible.”Also Sunday, the Hall said ESPN’s vice president for women’s sports programming, Carol Stiff, is this year’s recipient of the John W. Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award. She will be honored at Hall of Fame weekend, which is scheduled to be capped with the enshrinement ceremony on Sept. 11.Sunday’s announcement came one day after the 2020 class — including Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett — was enshrined in a ceremony delayed from last fall because of the Covid-19 pandemic. More

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      Vanessa Bryant Delivers Emotional Hall of Fame Speech for Kobe

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      Kobe Bryant, the former Los Angeles Lakers star who was killed in a helicopter crash last year, was posthumously inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday.Vanessa Bryant, the wife of the late Kobe Bryant, accepted induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame on her husband’s behalf on Saturday, saying that his absence made writing a speech all the more challenging.“If my husband were here tonight, he would have a long list of people to thank that helped inspire him and equip him to be in the Hall of Fame,” Bryant said. “Family, friends, mentors, the Lakers, teammates, muses and opponents.”She continued: “This is one of the many hard parts about not having him here. At the risk of leaving anyone out, I can only say thank you. To all those who helped him get here, you know who you are, and I thank you on his behalf.”Kobe Bryant, who played for the Los Angeles Lakers from 1996 to 2016, was the biggest name in one of the most anticipated Hall of Fame classes in history, alongside other basketball luminaries, such as the players Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett and Tamika Catchings and the coach Kim Mulkey. The induction ceremony, which took place at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn., was supposed to have been held last year but was postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic. Bryant, who was killed in a helicopter crash in January 2020, was announced as a posthumous inductee last spring.Now, what has long been seen as a formality is now official: Bryant, an 18-time N.B.A. All Star, a five-time champion and one of the most influential basketball players ever, is a Hall of Famer.Vanessa Bryant, right, with her daughters Capri, left, and Bianka.Kathy Willens/Associated PressVanessa Bryant gave a poised speech in her husband’s place, with Michael Jordan, whom Vanessa referred to as Kobe’s “favorite player,” standing off to the side. Each inductee had a presenter, and Jordan served as Kobe’s. Vanessa said that she “wished my husband was here to accept this incredible award.”“He and Gigi deserve to be here to witness this,” she said, referring also to Gianna Bryant, their 13-year-old daughter, who also died in the helicopter crash last year outside Los Angeles that killed nine and sent shock waves through the basketball world.Before she started her speech, Vanessa Bryant said to someone in the crowd: “I’m OK. Love you.”Members of the crowd could be heard shouting back, “Love you, Vanessa!”Bryant continued: “I used to always avoid praising my husband in public, because I felt like he got enough praise from his fans around the world and someone had to bring him back to reality. Right now, I’m sure he’s laughing in heaven because I’m about to praise him in public for his accomplishments on one of the most public stages.”She added: “I can see him now — arms folded with a huge grin saying, ‘Isn’t this some …’” followed by a profanity, spurring a ripple of laughter from the crowd.Bryant was also praised in other speeches. Garnett, referring to Duncan and Bryant, both of whom were often obstacles in his quest for a championship, said that it was an honor to enter the Hall of Fame with them. Duncan returned the favor in his speech, saying: “You guys demanded the best out of me, and it brought the best of me. Thank you.” Rudy Tomjanovich, who coached Bryant in 2004-5 with the Lakers and was also inducted on Saturday, said that Bryant “thrilled us for 20 years right down until the last game.”Vanessa Bryant, in her speech, nodded to her husband’s infamous competitive streak.“I do know that he would thank everyone that helped him get here, including the people that doubted him and the people that worked against him and told him he couldn’t attain his goals,” she said. “He would thank all of them for motivating him to be here. After all, he proved you wrong.”She also spoke about Jordan’s influence on her husband, and the work ethic he had inspired.“People don’t know this, but one of the reasons my husband played through injuries and pain was because he said he remembered being a little kid sitting in the nosebleeds with his dad to watch his favorite player play,” Vanessa said, looking at Jordan. “He could recall the car ride, the convos and the excitement of being lucky enough to have a seat in the arena.Tim Duncan said playing against Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant had brought out his best.David Butler Ii/USA Today Sports, via ReutersGarnett said it was an honor to be inducted with Kobe Bryant.Kathy Willens/Associated Press“Kobe didn’t want to disappoint his fans, especially the ones in the 300 sections that saved up to watch him play — the kids with the same excitement he once had.”Vanessa Bryant ended her speech by paying homage to her husband’s retirement letter, titled “Dear Basketball,” which he published in 2015. It was then turned into a short film and won an Academy Award in 2018 for best animated short film.“Dear Kobe, thank you for being the best husband and father you could possibly be,” Bryant said. “Thank you for always trying to be better. Thank you for never giving up on us.”She closed with her voice cracking slightly.“You did it. You’re in the Hall of Fame now,” Bryant said. “You’re a true champ. You’re not just an M.V.P. You’re an all-time great. I’m so proud of you. I love you forever and always, Kobe Bean Bryant.” More

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      Alex Rodriguez and Partner Reach Deal on Timberwolves and Lynx

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      The agreement, which is pending league approval, lets Glen Taylor run the teams for two more years. Taylor believes the teams will stay in Minnesota.The baseball star Alex Rodriguez and his business partner Marc Lore have reached terms on a deal to purchase the N.B.A.’s Minnesota Timberwolves and the W.N.B.A.’s Minnesota Lynx for $1.5 billion.Glen Taylor, the lifelong Minnesotan who moved from a career in politics to become the owner of both franchises, announced on Friday that the sides have agreed to terms just a few days beyond the 30-day exclusive negotiating window they entered on April 10. The sale requires approval from the N.B.A.’s Board of Governors to formally begin “the transition of ownership and a new chapter,” Taylor said in a statement.As part of what has been billed as a 50/50 partnership with Lore, Rodriguez will bring a newfound level of star power to the Timberwolves, something they’ve lacked in any measure since trading Kevin Garnett to the Boston Celtics in July 2007. The team badly needs leadership that can make a true impact on the court with its stewardship, spending and commitment; Minnesota is 22-48 this season and has reached the playoffs only once in Taylor’s last 17 years of ownership.The Minnesota Timberwolves have performed poorly this season but the team has several talented players. Harrison Barden/Getty ImagesTaylor, who turned 80 last month, has engaged in negotiations to sell the team numerous times in recent years, only to repeatedly balk. He openly advertised a desire to sell in July 2020 and, in Rodriguez and Lore, Taylor appears to have found buyers who were not only willing to meet his purchase price but also grant his well-known wish for a slow exit from his post. The untraditional deal terms call for Taylor to serve as controlling owner for two more seasons, with Rodriguez and Lore assuming operational control entering the 2023-24 season.Rodriguez, the former Yankee and three-time winner of the American League Most Valuable Player Award, and Lore, an e-commerce mogul who left his full-time position with Walmart in January, headed a group that made a serious run at purchasing the Mets and also featured Rodriguez’s former fiancée, Jennifer Lopez. They withdrew from that process in August 2020 as the Mets closed in on selling the franchise to the billionaire hedge fund manager Steven Cohen for $2.4 billion.If the sale is approved at league level, as expected, Minnesota would become the second N.B.A. team to be sold this season. Gail Miller, whose family owned the Utah Jazz for 35 years, sold a majority stake in the team to the tech entrepreneur Ryan Smith in October for nearly $1.7 billion, with league approval following in December.Neither Rodriguez nor Lore has yet to speak in depth about their plans for the teams, but speculation about a move to Seattle is certain to swirl given that Rodriguez began his Major League Baseball career there — and since Seattle has been actively seeking a new N.B.A. team to fill a void created by the SuperSonics’ move to Oklahoma City in 2008.Taylor, who served as a Republican senator in Minnesota from 1981 through 1990, purchased the Timberwolves in 1994, ensuring that the franchise stayed in Minneapolis amid a serious threat of relocation to New Orleans. He said in an interview with the Minneapolis Star-Tribune last month that Rodriguez and Lore have pledged to keep the Wolves and Lynx in Minnesota.Marc Lore built his fortune with websites like Diapers.com and Jet.com. He recently left a post a Walmart.Cole Wilson for The New York TimesMinnesota has declined sharply since a trip to the playoffs in 2017-18, with the star guard Jimmy Butler (now in Miami) traded to Philadelphia soon after that breakthrough and Coach Tom Thibodeau (now coaching the Knicks) subsequently fired. But Rodriguez and Lore will not inherit a barren roster.The Timberwolves have two No. 1 overall draft picks in Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards, as well as a former No. 2 overall draft pick in D’Angelo Russell. Their immediate challenge is securing a favorable outcome in the next N.B.A. draft lottery, as Minnesota, which entered Friday’s play in a tie with Cleveland for the league’s fifth-worst record, loses its top pick in the July 29 draft to Golden State unless it lands in the top three as part of its trade with the Warriors for Russell in February 2020.Rodriguez, 45, is a prominent baseball analyst for ESPN in addition to his various business pursuits. He hit 696 home runs in a 22-season career with the Seattle Mariners, the Texas Rangers and the Yankees — winning a World Series ring with the Yankees in 2009 — but also faced heavy criticism and served a yearlong suspension in 2014 for his admitted use of performance-enhancing drugs. Lore, 49, served as the chief executive of U.S. e-commerce for Walmart after founding major e-commerce firms such as Diapers.com and Jet.com. More

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      ‘No Smile, No Trash Talk’: Behind Tim Duncan’s Quiet Excellence

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      A bank shot carried Duncan from St. Croix to Wake Forest, five championships with the Spurs and now the Hall of Fame.Tim Duncan stoically spent 19 fundamentally sound seasons allowing his play to speak for him.Nineteen playoff appearances. Fifteen All-Star selections. Five championships. Five total Most Valuable Player Awards, three in the finals, two in the regular season. And this week, he’ll be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in a heralded class alongside Kevin Garnett and the late Kobe Bryant.“You always get the question: What would you change? What would you do differently?” Duncan said in a video released by the Hall of Fame after his selection was announced last year. “Honestly, I don’t think there’s a change I would do differently.”Duncan’s journey was one of happenstance and perseverance. He grew up a talented swimmer in St. Croix and left the sport when Hurricane Hugo devastated the island in 1989, destroying the pool where he competed. He started playing basketball in the ninth grade, setting him on a path to Wake Forest University, San Antonio and, now, Springfield, Mass.The New York Times asked a group of his friends, teachers, teammates and coaches to speak about his journey.Chris King (Wake Forest, men’s basketball, 1988-92): We had a group of guys that played in the N.B.A. they wanted to take down to the Virgin Islands because there was a lot of violence going on at the time.The group of guys that we had was myself, Alonzo Mourning and Mark Tillmon from Georgetown, and we played games against guys from the islands.The guys were getting ready to play one night and the whole place was packed. Here comes this skinny kid, walks in the gym — I didn’t know who he was — named Tim Duncan.That was the first time I ever laid eyes on him.The first thing I noticed about him was he had something that I had developed in high school: He could use the glass. I was very impressed.Dave Odom (Duncan’s coach at Wake Forest): [King] came back early in September and was walking by my office and I just hollered at him: “Chris, come in here. I want to talk to you. Tell me about your trip.”King: I said, “There was this kid down there.”Odom: And I said: “Well, who was he? What was his name?”He said, “I don’t know.”I said, “Well, what island was he on?”“I don’t know.”So, he didn’t give me a lot other than there was a kid who had some skill. There was a coach on my staff at the time, Larry Davis, and he had coached a kid from the islands, maybe even St. Croix.He came back the next day in our staff meeting and threw Tim Duncan’s name on the desk and said, “Coach, this is the kid.”Odom was sold on Duncan after a trip to St. Croix. Wake Forest went 97-31 in his four years and finished 26-6 in two of those seasons, 1994-95 and 1995-96.Duncan during a conference tournament game during his senior year at Wake Forest.Doug Pensinger/Getty ImagesRandolph Childress (Duncan’s teammate at Wake Forest): It was a cold slushy, rainy day outside, and he didn’t have a jacket. So, he pulled his arms inside the short sleeve shirt and just walked around. That was my first image of him. So, I just thought: “Wow, this kid doesn’t have a coat. This skinny kid, is he going to be able to help us?”I saw him play. And then I thought, “OK, he can definitely help us.”Tracy Connor-Riddick (Wake Forest Sports Hall of Famer for women’s basketball and Duncan’s longtime friend): The first time I met him, he was in the cafeteria area and he just looked lost to me. So, I just went up to him and I asked him if there was anything I could help him with, and because my country accent was so strong, he couldn’t understand me and I couldn’t understand him. And I thought, huh, this is not going well.Odom: We played him against Vanderbilt. He scored something like 9 points and had five or six blocks and probably almost 10 rebounds. And it was at that point, I’m talking to my staff, I’m saying, “We might want to look at this kid a little more closely and let’s see which way this thing takes us.”Deborah Best (chairman of the Wake Forest psychology department and Duncan’s academic adviser): They were playing on a Sunday afternoon game, and my son and husband and I sat and watched the game on television and there was Tim playing. Later that evening, I had to go into our building to get something out of my office.This was back in the day when we had computer labs and I had to walk past the computer lab and the door was opened and I thought, Oh. Who is in there? I leaned in and it was Tim. I said, “You were just on TV.”He says, “Yeah, I’ve got a research methods lab report due tomorrow.”As a senior, Duncan won the men’s basketball John Wooden Award, given to the nation’s most outstanding player. The Spurs also landed the top overall pick in the draft lottery.Duncan the day before the Spurs drafted him in 1997.Chuck Burton/Associated PressSean Elliott (Spurs teammate, 1997-2001, current Spurs television analyst): Back when we won the lottery, I was at home watching it and I swear, I could feel the ground physically shake.Avery Johnson (Spurs teammate, 1997-2001): I’ll never forget watching the lottery with my wife and kids. We were positioned to be the fourth pick and boy, when our name wasn’t called, my heart just started beating fast.Elliott: One minute later, Avery Johnson called me and he said, “We’re back.” And this is when we just won the lottery, so we knew we were going to draft Tim. It was a no-brainer.Mike Budenholzer (Spurs assistant coach, 1996-2013. Current head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks): You have those things, Where were you when this happened? What were you doing? It might be the only thing in my life where I can tell you exactly where I was and exactly what I did and just how impactful it was.Elliott: The first time I met Tim, he came over to the house. I had these big video games there that I used to play, it was Mortal Kombat. I used to beat up on the neighborhood kids. I was like the master.Tim, he came in and he’s like, “Oh, what’s this?”I said, “Oh, yeah, come on over here,” thinking I was going to give him a whooping. He proceeded to thoroughly annihilate me. And it was the first time he had played the game and I just could not understand it.Outwardly, I was very gracious, but in my mind, I couldn’t believe it. So what struck me about him is that it has been proven time and time again, he’s the type of guy, you can be doing it your entire life and you show it to him and in five or 10 minutes, he’s actually better than you are.Tim Duncan and David Robinson blended harmoniously, guiding the Spurs to the franchise’s first two titles in 1999 and 2003. “Tim, he’s a humble guy,” Robinson told TNT’s Ernie Johnson. “I always thought I was kind of quiet, and Tim made me feel like I was loud.”Duncan and David Robinson celebrated their 2002-3 championship win over New Jersey.Barton Silverman/The New York TimesElliott: David wasn’t threatened by Timmy. Whereas a lot of franchise players in David’s position, they would maybe have some animosity or resentment toward the new No. 1 pick coming in, the new franchise-type player. But David wasn’t like that.Timmy came in with a lot of humility too. He wasn’t coming in like he was a big shot. He was willing to learn from everybody, and guys can sense that in the locker room.James Borrego (Spurs video coordinator/ assistant coach, 2003-10 and 2015-18, Current head coach of the Charlotte Hornets): What was so surprising to me was one of the first few days of that summer, he invites me to play pickup. We’re coming back, he doesn’t know my name. He just knows I’ve been hired to be in the video room.He goes, “You’re in.”He puts me in a game to play five-on-five with the group. That day, the way he made me feel welcomed and comfortable in his space, in his facility, that’s when I knew he was different.Speedy Claxton (Spurs teammate 2002-3): Everybody knows Tim was a great guy, but he’s a funny guy as well, and likes to have fun. I remember when I first got there, the first day we worked out as a team, we played pickup. After that, he got all of us to go play paintball together, because Tim was a big paint baller.But he was a great teammate. He was always encouraging. No matter if you missed two or three shots in a row, he’ll get the double-team and he’ll still kick it out to you no matter if you missed three shots in a row and tell you to shoot the ball every time you’re open.Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had the skyhook. George Gervin, the finger roll. Allen Iverson, the crossover. Duncan is forever known for his fundamentals, especially his bank shot.“When we were playing together,” Steve Kerr said, “he’d come in after a loss and he’d be like, ‘That’s my fault guys.’ And you’d look at the box score, he’d have 30 and 17 and 6 blocks.”Mark D. Smith/USA Today Sports, via ReutersGregg Popovich (Spurs Coach, 1996-present): It wasn’t like an eight-footer or 10-footer. He did it from 18 to 20 feet, and his footwork was great, and he knew how to land it on the backboard. It was a rarity, it still is as a matter of fact, but that was his first signature move that I think everybody realized there was probably something pretty special about this guy.Antonio Daniels (Spurs teammate, 1998-2002): Tim Duncan on that box was utterly unstoppable. I remember sitting on a bench watching like, this is his second year, like: This dude is incredible. He’s incredible.He was able to do it with such a stoic mannerism. No smile, no trash talk, no nothing. Just go out and put up 30 and 15, 40 and 12. Like it was nothing, so efficient. Just footwork and fundamentals.He couldn’t jump over a piece of paper, but he could not be defended.The Spurs were on the precipice of winning a championship in 2013 in Game 6 of the finals before Ray Allen’s dagger 3-pointer for the Miami Heat. Duncan had 24 points and 12 rebounds in the deciding game, but misfired at the free-throw line in the clutch. It was one of several heartbreaks for San Antonio.The Spurs lost to the Miami Heat in the 2013 N.B.A. finals in part because of the play of Miami’s Ray Allen, right.Kevin C. Cox/Getty ImagesBorrego: We always felt like we had a shot because of 21.He didn’t have to say anything. We just knew it and you could feel it. It was his confidence, his spirit, his fire, and his focus that we all drew from. That was obviously a devastating shot [from Allen], a tough moment for all of us.Steve Kerr (Spurs teammate, 1998-2001, current head coach of the Golden State Warriors): I’m watching all these games on N.B.A. TV and Game 7 of the 2005 finals came on, the Detroit, San Antonio [series]. I started texting Tim.I had retired already, but I texted something like, “Watching Game 7, I’m nervous.”That’s how those Game 7s are. And his immediate response was, “I was so bad in that game.”Meanwhile, he’s dominating the game and it may not have been his best game statistically or anything, but the Spurs were throwing him the ball on the block every single time. And Detroit had to respond to that. The whole game was going through him and typical Tim, he lamented in his texts that he had a lousy game. And that was Tim. When we were playing together, he’d come in after a loss and he’d be like, “That’s my fault guys.” And you’d look at the box score, he’d have 30 and 17 and 6 blocks.George Karl (Opposed Duncan, while coaching the Seattle SuperSonics, Milwaukee Bucks, Denver Nuggets and Sacramento Kings): He was a “we” player, so Tim Duncan would be happy getting 15 points and 10 rebounds. Tim was never going out to get 35 or 40 [points]. He was just going out to beat you and so the game plan was trying to disrupt their offensive efficiency more than anything else.It’s not one person. It was how do you make them not make shots? Because they got the best shots in basketball for over 10 years. Their shot selection was impeccable and a lot of that was because of Popovich, but a lot of that was also because of Duncan, and then [Manu] Ginobili and [Tony] Parker would be in there and they were always on the same page. They never could be disrupted from a standpoint of game plan.Duncan and Popovich bonded on and off the court. “We’re more soul mates in life than we are in basketball,” Popovich told reporters leading up to Duncan’s jersey retirement ceremony in 2016.Popovich said he was “fortunate” to be able to coach Duncan.Barton Silverman/The New York TimesBrett Brown (Spurs coaching staff, 2002-13): It was almost a ritual where at halftime, he’d come out from the locker room and Pop, he’d go out earlier than us. Timmy would be sitting on the bench and Pop would just go sit down with him.As I remember it, oftentimes nothing was said. Sometimes, they’d share a comment, but it seemed to be just a ritual that the two would meet every halftime on the bench.And what was discussed?I don’t know.Popovich: Any coach who has their best player as a leader who is respected by everybody and who can handle criticism makes the job much easier, so I was very fortunate in that regard.Duncan announced his retirement in the summer of 2016, through a team news release. Over his 19 seasons, San Antonio went 1,072-438 in regular-season games, the best winning percentage over that time among all N.B.A., N.F.L., N.H.L. and M.L.B. franchises.Daniels: I remember saying this on national radio and Spurs fans killed me for it. I said, “The moment Tim Duncan walks out that door, the culture is going to walk out with him.”You hear people say all the time and I think it’s the most overused cliché statement in sports, “I’m willing to do whatever it takes to win the championship.” And what’s missing at the end of that sentence is “unless.” “Unless I can’t get the minutes I want, unless I don’t get the contract I want, unless I don’t get the role that I want.” Tim Duncan actually took the “I’m willing to do whatever it takes to win a championship” and lived by it. More

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      ‘We’re Hungry’: The Liberty Aim High in a Bounce-Back Season

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      The Liberty had the worst record in the W.N.B.A. last year. But the return of Sabrina Ionescu and the addition of league veterans could turn things around.Liberty Coach Walt Hopkins and his staff reviewed last season’s film looking for answers beyond the box scores and advanced analytics. Why was their defensive rating so low? Who was getting burned on screens? It was a trying year for a first-year head coach and his team, which ended with the second-worst winning percentage in W.N.B.A. history and a 2-20 record.The Liberty were young and inexperienced, playing as many as six rookies. Sabrina Ionescu, the 2020 No. 1 overall pick, severely sprained her ankle in her third game and missed the rest of the season. Key contributors such as Rebecca Allen, Marine Johannes and Asia Durr opted out of playing.Wins weren’t everything for a franchise rebuilding without Tina Charles, the 6-foot-4 center who had led the team in scoring every season since 2014. The Liberty made strides reinventing their style of play. On offense, the focus was on spacing and 3-point shooting. On defense, players were instructed not to over-help on picks. The Liberty shot 41.5 percent of their field goals from 3-point range, the most in W.N.B.A. history, after shooting 28.2 percent of them from there the year before.While expectations were tempered then, the franchise will introduce four veterans new to the team in its debut season at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.Here’s what you need to know:Best Addition: Natasha HowardSpotlight on Offense: Sabrina IonescuSpotlight on Defense: Betnijah LaneyThe Rookie: Michaela OnyenwereBiggest LossesReason for OptimismCause for ConcernBest Addition: Natasha HowardNatasha Howard, acquired in a trade with Seattle, was a major off-season addition because of her defense and on-court leadership.Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated PressThe Liberty tried to speed up their rebuild by trading the 2021 No. 1 pick, a 2022 first-round pick from the Phoenix Mercury and their own 2022 second-round pick to the Seattle Storm to acquire Natasha Howard. A 6-2 forward, Howard is a three-time W.N.B.A. champion and was a starter during the Storm’s 2018 and 2020 title runs, but her career year was 2019.With Sue Bird and Breanna Stewart sidelined with injuries, Howard, alongside guard Jewell Loyd, carried Seattle while notching career highs across the board. She averaged 18.1 points, 8.2 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 2.2 steals a game and won the Defensive Player of the Year Award after blocking 1.7 shots per game. She has proved she can lead a team. With the Liberty, she will have that opportunity again.Spotlight on Offense: Sabrina IonescuAll eyes will be on Ionescu, the 5-11 University of Oregon sensation. She will run a free-flowing offense designed around her passing ability and shooting range.In 80 total minutes before her injury, Ionescu scored 55 points on 19-of-42 shooting, including a highlight-filled 33-point game in which she sank six 3-pointers and had seven assists and seven rebounds. That was without running sets with a player as accomplished as Howard. How will teams guard their quickness and savvy in a pick-and-roll?“I don’t know,” the Liberty assistant coach Jacki Gemelos said. “How does one guard a pick-and-roll with other duos in the league like Chelsea Gray and Candace Parker, or whoever? You just kind of got to cross your fingers and: ‘Let’s hope they just don’t score this play. Let’s try and get the ball out of their hands.’ It’s going to be scary. And again, as a spectator, as a coach, I’m looking forward to it as well.”Spotlight on Defense: Betnijah LaneyBetnijah Laney, right, won the Most Improved Player Award with the Atlanta Dream last season.Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated PressBetnijah Laney was the Liberty’s biggest free-agent signing of the off-season, which is an improbable designation for someone cut by the Indiana Fever eight months earlier.Over 22 games with the Atlanta Dream last season, Laney more than tripled her scoring average from the previous season in just 7.7 additional minutes. She posted 17.2 points per game on 48.1 percent shooting from the field and 40.5 percent shooting from 3-point range. She won the Most Improved Player of the Year Award and earned all-defensive first team honors.“I think Betnijah’s whole setup is going to be just so different from Atlanta,” Gemelos said. “I think she’s going to have more people setting her up. It’s going to make things a lot easier for her.”Gemelos was Laney’s teammate with the Chicago Sky in 2015.“To see how her game has developed from then until now, it’s just scary,” Gemelos said. “She’s just one of those players who can play multiple positions. She’s fearless offensively and defensively. I would let her guard anyone in the league, and I’d be completely confident that she’s going to get the job done.”The Rookie: Michaela OnyenwereMichaela Onyenwere, a rookie out of U.C.L.A., has the shooting touch to contribute from distance and the strength to get to the rim.Carmen Mandato/Getty ImagesForward Michaela Onyenwere, the No. 6 pick in this year’s draft, should find a place in the Liberty’s rotation. At U.C.L.A., she had 19.1 points and 7.2 rebounds a game in her senior season. She has the shooting touch to contribute from distance and the strength to get to the rim. If she can relieve Laney as a defensive stalwart who crashes the boards and stretches the floor, she’ll make a considerable first-year impact.Biggest LossesKia Nurse, Amanda Zahui B. and the No. 1 pickTwo Liberty mainstays won’t be at Barclays. Kia Nurse was traded to the Mercury, and Amanda Zahui B., who spent five years with the Liberty at center, signed with the Los Angeles Sparks in free agency.Nurse showed promise in a breakout sophomore campaign that included an All-Star selection. Zahui B. started 20 of the team’s 22 games last season, averaging career highs in points (9) and rebounds (8.5).Reason for OptimismThe roster is much improved.It’s reasonable for fans to doubt the franchise with the worst record last season will be able to rebound quickly, but the roster has drastically improved.Sami Whitcomb, a two-time champion with the Storm who was part of the Howard trade, is solid from 3 (38.1 percent last season). Even better is Rebecca Allen, who made 42.6 percent of her 3-pointers in 2019 and is back after opting out last season. Plus, Jazmine Jones, who was named to the all-rookie first team last season, can build off her stellar campaign. She averaged 10.8 points a game off the bench.Laney is confident that the inclusion of new veterans will make a difference.“We’re hungry,” she said, adding, “We’re not going to back down and roll over for anyone.”Cause for ConcernCan a franchise turn around this quickly?Though a significant roster overhaul can be a good thing, it won’t be an easy transition. Hopkins will have to teach his system to different groups in waves. Howard, Allen and Kiah Stokes, for example, are latecomers because of overseas commitments.Best OutcomeThe Liberty make the playoffs.If the new team gels, the Liberty could set its sights on the postseason.Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated PressThe Liberty aren’t likely to compete for a championship, but if Ionescu can play consistently at the level she showed in her 33-point game last season, Laney can keep shooting well and Howard can thrive as a go-to scorer the way she did in 2019, the Liberty can be in the playoff hunt.Worst OutcomeToo many new pieces slow development, and the team returns to the W.N.B.A. basement.With players arriving late, and so much change from last season’s group, maybe the transition into a 3-point-heavy offensive system won’t go to plan. Precision is everything, and despite shooting so many 3-pointers last season, the Liberty made a league-low 27.7 percent of their looks from distance. They also scored the fewest points per 100 possessions by a mile, finishing 11.7 points per 100 possessions below the next-worst team, Atlanta.This offense isn’t foolproof.Ionescu for Rookie of the Year (Again)?Hopkins isn’t trying to start a fire over the discussion, but if Ionescu plays to her potential, she won’t have the chance to win the Rookie of the Year Award despite playing just two full games and leaving her third with an ankle injury.“She’s a rookie,” Hopkins said when asked. “I mean, she played two games and had to leave the bubble. She didn’t even get to spend the whole season with us. She’s by all accounts in her fourth week of being a W.N.B.A. player. Yeah, I feel strongly about that one. I don’t think it’s fair that she doesn’t get to be in contention.”Hopkins added: “So she never gets to be in contention for rookie of the year? What experience did she get? I don’t believe she was going to be on people’s ballots last year after playing two games. I don’t think anybody would have thought that was reasonable. So why do we think it’s reasonable that she doesn’t get to play her rookie year now?” More

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      Brace Yourselves: The Knicks Are Going to the Playoffs

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      New York’s seven-year postseason drought ended when the Celtics lost on Wednesday.Let’s keep this simple: The Knicks — the Knicks! — are going back to the playoffs.When the Boston Celtics lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night, the Knicks clinched a top-six seed in the Eastern Conference.That means the Knicks will avoid the N.B.A.’s play-in round. And while their final playoff seed is still to be determined, they know they will make their first playoff appearance in eight years.WE HERE.The New York Knicks are headed to the Playoffs. #NewYorkForever pic.twitter.com/kpp3Pu3RJr— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) May 13, 2021
      “Check it off the list. We not close to done #NYWEHERE,” Julius Randle, the Knicks star, said on Twitter on Wednesday.Immanuel Quickley, the team’s rookie guard, expressed his emotions in a single word: “CLINCHED!”This will be the Knicks’ first postseason trip since the 2012-13 season, when Mike Woodson was coaching the team and Carmelo Anthony was its franchise player. That was an outlier burst of competitiveness in which the team made the playoffs in three consecutive seasons. For most of the 21st century, the Knicks have been defined by the carousel of coaches, public drama, underachieving players and late-spring vacations. Since the 2000-1 season, the Knicks have made the playoffs only five times, including this season, and won just one series so far, after a decade of deep playoff runs led by Patrick Ewing.Returning to the playoffs is another step in a remarkable turnaround for the Knicks. Last season, they were one of the worst teams in the league and fired their coach, David Fizdale, after a 4-18 start, the worst one in team history. Once again, the Knicks were a punchline.But two months after Fizdale’s firing, the Knicks named Leon Rose as their team president. One of Rose’s first moves in the summer was to hire Tom Thibodeau as coach, and Thibodeau has established a competitive team culture in which effort on the floor is paramount.This year, the drama-free Knicks have a chance to host a playoff series in the first round, thanks in part to the growth of players like Randle and the second-year guard RJ Barrett. Rose has made several other savvy additions, including trading for guard Derrick Rose, who has offered a scoring boost, and acquiring Quickley in a draft-day trade.The Knicks’ playoff seed will be determined over the final three games of the regular season. At 38-31 entering Thursday’s games, they are battling with the Atlanta Hawks (39-31) and the Miami Heat (38-31) for the fourth, fifth and sixth seeds. Getting the fourth seed would mean the Knicks would not only have home-court advantage in the first round, but they would also avoid the Nets, the Milwaukee Bucks and the Philadelphia 76ers — currently the conference’s top three seeds — in an opening-round matchup.But if the Knicks do meet Brooklyn, it will be the first playoff meeting between the teams since 2004, when the Nets, based in New Jersey at the time, swept the Knicks in the first round.The Knicks have been one of the hottest teams in the league over the last month of the season, going 13-4 in their last 17 games. More