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      He Saw ‘Greatness’ in the Lakers When They Were at Their Worst

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      You’d have to look closely or you’d miss the homemade sign nailed to a telephone pole outside the Lakers’ practice facility in El Segundo, Calif.It’s right outside the entrance to the players’ parking lot, but many of them miss its blue-and-yellow words as they drive in.“I SEE GREATNESS IN YOU,” it says.The sign gives no indication of who “I” might be, who “you” are or what kind of greatness you possess. But in a small yet meaningful way, the message has inspired Lakers Coach Darvin Ham as he leads the team in their Western Conference semifinal series against the Golden State Warriors.Ham has even forged an unlikely friendship with the man who posted the sign: Terrance Burney, a basketball-loving airline employee whose home is filled with inspirational signs. Burney’s unceasing positivity has charmed prominent athletes and entertainers.“It’s not just a slogan he’s trying to get picked up by some corporate sponsor or something,” Ham said. “It’s something he actually believes in. I love it.”Burney lives in Los Angeles with his girlfriend, Crystal Lewis.Allison Zaucha for The New York TimesNeither rich nor widely known, Burney, 40, works for Delta Air Lines and lives in Los Angeles with his German shepherd, Ziva, and his girlfriend, Crystal Lewis.He stands outside of Crypto.com Arena in downtown Los Angeles after most Lakers home games holding a handmade sign bearing his message, hoping that whoever sees it feels happier, lighter or maybe even newly confident.“When I tell people, ‘I see greatness in you,’ it means, ‘I see God in you,’” Burney said. “So this is something that God told me to do, you know?”Burney first held up a similar sign 15 years ago on a street corner in Highland Park, Mich., a small city surrounded by his hometown, Detroit. He said prayer led him to do it.In the years since, he has taken his sign all over the world, flying for free as an airline employee. He has shared his message on street corners and during protest marches, in small gyms and outside professional arenas. He has shouted it as a contestant on “The Price Is Right.”“He’s like the Forrest Gump 2.0,” said Morris Peterson, a former N.B.A. player who grew close with Burney after a charity event Peterson hosted with the rapper Snoop Dogg to support people affected by the water crisis in Flint, Mich. “He’s just everywhere. He’s everywhere. You might see him in Paris with the sign.”Burney played basketball for one year at Prairie View A&M University, and in the years after he’d often get asked to participate in pickup games and workouts. In 2007, he was preparing for a workout with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, then the G League affiliate of the Indiana Pacers and the Detroit Pistons, when he spotted Rasheed Wallace, then playing for the Pistons, sitting at the bar of a T.G.I. Friday’s.Burney said he hoped his signs gave people confidence.Allison Zaucha for The New York Times“Excuse me, sir, your turnaround jump shot is the best in the history of a turnaround jump shot,” Burney recalled telling Wallace. “How do you get it over people who are taller than you?”Wallace got up from his seat and demonstrated his method. The two of them drank a few beers together and a friendship began.Wallace and Ham, the Lakers’ coach, had become close over the years through N.B.A. circles. Early this season, Wallace planned to visit Ham’s home. He asked if Burney could join.The Lakers had started the season 2-10. Ham was struggling to make the most of the team’s two best players, LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Not many people would have used “greatness” to describe anything happening with the Lakers. But Burney did.“He said: ‘Don’t worry, coach. You’re going to be great. We’re going to be great. I see greatness in you,’” Ham said.Ham trusted his read on Burney, so they stayed in touch. Burney sent text messages to Ham to inspire him. The Lakers’ fortunes began to change, which likely had more to do with their dramatic makeover at the trade deadline than with Burney’s sign. But he believes something larger was happening.Before Game 4 of the Lakers’ first-round playoff series against the Memphis Grizzlies, Burney sent a text to Ham that read: “Your PEACE gives PEACE to others!! I SEE GREATNESS IN YOU!!”Burney outside the Lakers’ practice facility in El Segundo, Calif.Allison Zaucha for The New York TimesThe Lakers were 6 points greater than the Grizzlies that day.“Everyone wants to be thought of in a positive light and have — not just in basketball, N.B.A. basketball, in life in general — you need good vibes, good energy, people that believe in you,” Ham said. “And he represents that.”The sign outside the Lakers’ practice facility has been there for weeks. Davis saw it for the first time on May 1, just before the Lakers left Los Angeles for their series against Golden State in San Francisco.He assumed a fan had left it there and gave it little thought.The next day, Davis scored 30 points with 23 rebounds, joining only four other big men in Lakers history with at least 30 points and 20 rebounds in a playoff game. His performance helped the Lakers beat the Warriors in Game 1 of their series.“Sooooo he saw the Sign before he had a RECORD setting win??” Burney said in a text message.He could not be convinced that it was a coincidence.Allison Zaucha for The New York Times More

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      James Harden Finds His Old Groove and Gets the Sixers Back on Track

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      Harden, the Sixers guard, summoned the scoring machine he had been for previous teams but had not been in Games 2 and 3, and Philadelphia tied its second-round series with Boston, 2-2.PHILADELPHIA — James Harden of the 76ers was on his way to Wells Fargo Center on Sunday morning when he received a text message from his coach, Doc Rivers, that included a link to a gospel song, “You Know My Name” by Tasha Cobbs Leonard. It was the first time Rivers had sent Harden a song. His curiosity was piqued.“I tell my homies, ‘Let’s play the song,’” Harden recalled, adding, “I let the whole song play, and I’m like, ‘All right, it’s got to be some kind of good juju in this song.’”It was not some random text, of course. The basketball-watching universe had spent about 36 hours dissecting Harden’s poor play in the past two games of the 76ers’ Eastern Conference semifinal series with the Boston Celtics. The point of sending the song, Rivers said, was to remind Harden of his identity.“James had to get himself back,” Rivers said.Sure enough, with 19 seconds left in overtime Sunday afternoon, Harden sank a baseline 3-pointer that lifted the 76ers to a 116-115 victory and evened the best-of-seven series at 2-2. Harden was brilliant in Game 4, finishing with 42 points, 9 assists, 8 rebounds and 4 steals.“Quite frankly,” Harden said, “today was do or die.”The 76ers have been a staple of the N.B.A. playoffs over the past six seasons, making five appearances in the conference semifinals. But those second-round series are where the road has tended to end for them. The last time they made the conference finals was in 2001, when Allen Iverson led them past the Milwaukee Bucks and into the N.B.A. finals. (The 76ers wound up losing in five games to the Los Angeles Lakers.)The collective patience of Philadelphians seems to be wearing thin. Before Game 3, when N.B.A. Commissioner Adam Silver presented 76ers center Joel Embiid with his first Most Valuable Player Award, it was the fulfillment — on at least one level — of the franchise’s dust-covered, team-building blueprint known as the Process. Without getting into too many of the messy specifics, it involved the team playing abysmal basketball for several seasons while collecting a slew of top draft picks, one of which they used to select Embiid from the University of Kansas.The challenge for the 76ers, of course, is that the Process was never about winning individual honors, though those are nice. The mandate now, on players like Embiid and Harden, but also on Rivers and Daryl Morey, the team’s president of basketball operations, is to vie for a championship. Embiid is 29. The 76ers traded for Harden last season. Before Game 4, Rivers was asked about his team’s level of urgency.“Do I really need to answer that question?” he said, laughing. “You worked on that question for 48 hours, and that’s what you came up with? Whatever high is, I’m going to assume it’s high.”Harden delivered. Early in the first quarter, he made a beeline to the basket and scored on a runner, playfully bopping the ball off his head after it fell through the hoop. It was a sign of more pyrotechnics to come.None of it was easy. The 76ers gave up a 16-point third-quarter lead. Embiid finished with 34 points and 13 rebounds, but struggled from the field, shooting 11 of 26. And Jayson Tatum scored 22 of his 24 points after halftime, nearly leading the Celtics to a crushing comeback victory. Instead, Harden shouldered the load for the 76ers.“I’m always a competitor,” he said. “I always want to win.”During the regular season, Harden operated as a facilitator, averaging a league-best 10.7 assists per game. He was neither the scoring nor the 3-point-shooting machine that he was in a former basketball life with the Houston Rockets. Instead, he formed a potent partnership with Embiid, the team’s centripetal force. Everything and everyone revolved around Embiid, for good reason, including Harden.Game 1 of the 76ers’ series with the Celtics upset that balance in an odd and unexpected way. Embiid had sprained his right knee late in the first round and was sidelined, which meant that Harden apparently felt obliged to board his personal time machine and travel back to his gluttonous, ball-dominant days with the Rockets. He torched the Celtics, scoring 45 points while shooting 7 of 14 from 3-point range to lead the 76ers to a narrow win.Embiid was back in the lineup for Games 2 and 3, and suddenly Harden seemed almost too conscious of his teammate’s presence, too passive and deferential. It hardly helped that Jaylen Brown affixed himself to Harden for long stretches. In those two losses, Harden shot a combined 5 of 28 from the field and 2 of 13 from 3-point range. Game 3 on Friday was particularly gruesome. Harden routinely passed up open shots. When he did launch a 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter, he barely grazed the front of the rim. More than a few fans expressed their displeasure.“I think with anyone, if you’re not making shots, you hesitate at times,” Rivers said.For his part, Harden defended his shot selection, telling reporters: “I’m pretty good on basketball instincts. I know when to score. I know when to pass, so I’m pretty sure a lot of it was the right play.”Center Joel Embiid, left, going up for a shot against Al Horford of the Celtics, scored 34 points on Sunday.Matt Slocum/Associated PressOn Saturday, the 76ers had a lengthy film session at their practice facility. Rivers identified clips from Game 3 where he felt the 76ers needed to play with more pace, where the Celtics outhustled them for rebounds and loose balls, and where his players exhibited poor body language. The Celtics, who advanced to the N.B.A. finals last season and have renewed title aspirations of their own, carried themselves differently.“I think the film yesterday said what we had to be,” Rivers said, “that they’re going to make a run, that we’re going to make a mistake. Things are not going to go well, and just keep playing.”On Sunday, the 76ers made plenty of mistakes. Their offense stalled in the fourth quarter. They stopped moving and settled for tough shots. Harden, though, has playoff experience, and he said he was also inspired by the presence of John Hao, a student who survived the deadly shooting at Michigan State University in February. Harden and Hao connected over FaceTime.Late in regulation, Harden’s runner over the Celtics’ Al Horford tied the game, 107-107. And in overtime, Harden came up with a key steal while defending Marcus Smart. He appeared to have a calming influence on his teammates.He also found himself with the ball in his hands when it mattered most. He knew who he was. More

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      Bronny James Commits to U.S.C. as Father Dreams of N.B.A. Meet-Up

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      The Lakers star LeBron James, 38, has made it clear that he intends to team up with his son in the N.B.A. someday.LeBron James’s immediate goal is to win another N.B.A. championship with the Los Angeles Lakers. But longer term, he wants to play in the league with his older son, LeBron Jr., who goes by Bronny, beginning in 2024.“I need to be on the floor with my boy,” James told ESPN in January, recalling a situation from his childhood in which Ken Griffey and his son, Ken Griffey Jr., played for the Seattle Mariners. “I got to be on the floor with Bronny.”Bronny James, a 6-foot-3 guard, kept that goal on track Saturday by verbally committing to playing college basketball next season at the University of Southern California. He was seated at courtside Saturday night as the Lakers took a 2-1 lead in their Western Conference semifinal series with the Golden State Warriors.“First of all, congratulations to my son on his next journey and picking a great university in U.S.C.,” LeBron James said after posting 21 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists as the Lakers won Game 3, 127-97, in Los Angeles. “I’m proud of him. This is an incredible thing.”LeBron James added that he believed Bronny would be the first member of his family, the “first one out of the James gang,” to attend college.Bronny James made his announcement on Instagram, where he has more than seven million followers. His account had a picture of him standing in the Southern California locker room along with the caption “Fight On #committed.” U.S.C. is sponsored by Nike, which has invested heavily in his father since he entered the N.B.A. as a generational phenom in 2003.At U.S.C., Bronny James plans to join a Sierra Canyon classmate, Juju Watkins, the top-rated girls’ prospect in the senior class. Both players have endorsement deals with Nike, and Bronny James also has one with Beats by Dre.Memphis and Ohio State, the school LeBron has said he would have attended had he gone to college instead of going straight to the N.B.A. from high school as the No. 1 overall pick, were among the other universities linked to Bronny James. He visited Ohio State with his father in September, and fans at the football game that weekend chanted, “We want Bronny.”Bronny James had less fanfare as a prospect than his father did (of course, few high school players get the treatment LeBron James had). He is ranked as a four-star prospect by the recruiting site 247Sports, which rates him as the No. 26 prospect in the senior class.He won’t be the highest-ranked recruit for U.S.C. That honor belongs to Isaiah Collier, a five-star prospect from Marietta, Ga., who is rated as the No. 1 point guard in the class.Still, Collier was busy recruiting Bronny James during the recent showcase circuit.“‘Stay home,’ that’s my pitch,” Collier told reporters at the Nike Hoop Summit last month in Portland, Ore., where both players competed. “Why leave L.A.?”The book so far on Bronny James is that he has a keen basketball I.Q. and an improved jump shot, but that he lacks elite athleticism. He averaged 14 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.8 steals per game last season at Sierra Canyon, but was a second-team all-league selection.“He’s solid,” said Thaddeus Young, who finished his 16th N.B.A. season and sponsored a grass-roots team that competed against James at last summer’s Nike Peach Jam. His assessment was largely echoed by college coaches and N.B.A. scouts. “Obviously, probably not the elite of the elite. But he’s athletic, he’s strong, he plays defense, he can shoot the ball well, he can run the point guard position, he can play off ball,” he said.LeBron James’s older son, Bronny, right, averaged 14 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.8 steals per game last season at Sierra Canyon in Los Angeles.Gregory Payan/Associated PressStill, some colleges were wary of recruiting Bronny James. There were multiple factors in play for any coach that considered taking him. What happens if he doesn’t play well enough to merit significant playing time? What if the team does well but he struggles? What if the team doesn’t do well at all? How will security and locker room access be handled when LeBron James and his wife, Savannah, attend games? Considering Bronny has significant potential for individual endorsement deals, will there be added pressure to play him?Bronny James, who turns 19 in October, is widely expected to spend one season in college before entering the N.B.A. draft in 2024, when his father will turn 40. Under the league’s current rules, players cannot enter the draft until they are 19 and one year removed from their high school graduation class. That rule was renewed in a recent collective bargaining agreement between the N.B.A. players’ union and team owners, despite some campaigning in college sports for athletes to be able to turn pro right out of high school.LeBron James was asked on Saturday if it remained his goal to play alongside his son.“We’re going to support him whatever he decides to do,” he said. “Because that’s my aspiration and my goal doesn’t mean it’s his. And I’m absolutely OK with that. My job is to support my son, whatever he wants to do.”Bronny James is projected as an N.B.A. lottery pick by some draft experts. The Lakers, however, do not have a first-round pick in 2024, and LeBron has a player option for the 2024-25 season.That all makes it unclear how Bronny James can end up on the same team as his famous father.Sopan Deb More

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      Stephen Curry and LeBron James Meet in the Playoffs, Maybe for the Last Time

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      Tim Hardaway knows stars when he sees them. Hardaway, a Hall of Fame point guard, battled against his share of them, including Michael Jordan, during a 14-year N.B.A. career.So when he sees Stephen Curry and LeBron James encountering each other yet again in the N.B.A. playoffs, only one comparison comes to mind.“Michael Jackson and Prince,” Hardaway said. “You must see that. That’s how big of a star they are. They command the crowd.”James, with the Los Angeles Lakers, and Curry, with the Golden State Warriors, have the attention of the basketball world in the Western Conference semifinals. It’s not the biggest stage, like when they faced off in four straight N.B.A. finals from 2015 to 2018, as James played for Cleveland. But in the N.B.A., any stage they are on is the biggest one. Together and apart, they have for a generation defined a league whose individual stars can determine a team’s fate and shift the broader culture more than stars in other team sports can.The Cleveland Cavaliers drafted James No. 1 overall in 2003. He’s been a headline star ever since, winning championships in Cleveland, Miami and Los Angeles. Clara Mokri for The New York TimesA playoff series headlined by Curry and James is the basketball equivalent of the Rolling Stones and the Beatles touring together. Or Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier, except with a touch more gray and way more mutual respect. Or, in basketball terms, this is Magic Johnson vs. Larry Bird in the 1980s.But this year’s matchup is especially significant. James, at 38, and Curry, at 35, are nearing the end of careers that have revolutionized basketball, with no clear heirs to continue the progression. Curry’s mastery of the 3-pointer ushered in a new era of long-distance shooting as a primary offensive attack, at all basketball levels. James, a powerful 6-foot-9 and 250 pounds, has been nearly impossible to duplicate physically, but he changed the way basketball stars viewed their own ability to bend teams to their will and create political and social capital for themselves off the floor.Their playoff matchup this year may be the last time fans see two basketball players of this level of influence competing against each other in the postseason, which may be why ticket prices are breaking records for a non-championship series.“What is it going to be like when those two guys — obviously two of the biggest names in the league, if not the biggest — are gone?” said Dell Curry, Stephen Curry’s father and a former N.B.A. player. “I think the league is very healthy as far as star power, but who takes the lead in that role?”Clara Mokri for The New York TimesFor much of the past two decades, James and Curry have been the N.B.A.’s largest draws, generating revenue through television ratings, sponsorships, and jersey and ticket sales. In 2009, when Golden State drafted Curry, Forbes estimated that the team was worth $315 million — the 18th most valuable N.B.A. franchise. Last year, after Curry led the team to its fourth championship in eight years, Golden State was ranked No. 1 with an eye-popping $7 billion valuation.Tamika Tremaglio, the executive director of the N.B.A. players’ union, said in an email that Curry and James “have fueled economic prosperity in the cities they play in.”“From an equity standpoint, our players are powerful, and Steph Curry and LeBron James are living proof of that truth,” Tremaglio said.New Orleans Pelicans guard CJ McCollum, the president of the players’ union, said, “What they’ve done is astronomical to our game in terms of viewership, in terms of globalizing the game.” He added, “Our league is in a better place because of it.”Curry and James faced off in the N.B.A. finals for four straight years, from 2015 to 2018. Curry’s Golden State teams won three times.Photo by Bob Donnan/Pool/Getty ImagesJames’s presence has been a boon at each stop in his career, from the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Miami Heat and now to Los Angeles. He has become a symbol of modern fandom, in which many fans follow players and not teams. And Curry, whose pregame shooting routines draw even opposing teams’ fans, has shown how transcendent talent can test even the staunchest loyalties.“The basketball impact is like every kid especially that is coming into the league now, those are the two guys you want to be like,” said guard Isaiah Thomas, who has played with James and had to defend Curry. “I’ve seen younger guys come in the league and be in awe of these guys and they’re competing against them.”Jamal Crawford, who recently retired after two decades in the N.B.A., said Curry’s physique — 6-foot-2 and 185 pounds — made him seem like he was like “the boy next door” compared to bigger athletes.“He’s the guy — the kid — that every kid can look up to and say: ‘You know what? If I work hard on my game, if I work on my skills, if I believe in myself, I can accomplish unbelievable things,’” said Crawford, now a TNT analyst. “If you look at LeBron, you say, ‘Wow, he is a force of nature, something we’ve never seen before.’”Curry broke Ray Allen’s career 3-pointers record last season. He is widely considered the greatest shooter ever.Clara Mokri for The New York TimesSince they last met in the N.B.A. finals in 2018, Curry and James have expanded their influence on the culture. Curry spoke at the 2020 Democratic National Convention, and James endorsed Joe Biden for president that year and launched a voting rights group. They have been outspoken against gun violence, and Curry has helped with public health outreach during the coronavirus pandemic. James is the first active N.B.A. player to become a billionaire. And through production companies — James’s SpringHill Company and Curry’s Unanimous Media — both players have found opportunities to bolster their legacies, perhaps veering into hagiography.The documentary “Stephen Curry: Underrated,” directed by Peter Nicks and co-produced by Unanimous Media, debuted at the San Francisco International Film Festival last month and will stream on Apple TV in July. Curry, a top-10 draft pick out of Davidson, has won two Most Valuable Player Awards — one by unanimous vote, for the only time in N.BA. history. To get there he struggled through ankle injuries early in his career, but he is now widely considered the best shooter ever.In June, SpringHill, James’s company, is releasing the feature film “Shooting Stars” on Peacock, based on his high school team, St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio. It is an adaptation of a 2009 book by James and Buzz Bissinger.James has played for the Lakers since the 2018-19 season. He led the Lakers to the franchise’s 17th championship in 2020.Clara Mokri for The New York TimesThe projects underscore the two players’ vastly different paths to stardom. James was already a sought-after star as a teenager. Sonny Vaccaro, the former shoe-marketing executive, once flew James out to a Lakers playoff game in a private plane from Adidas while he was in high school. James was enthralled, recounted Jeff Benedict, who recently released an independent biography of James titled “LeBron.” He said James had long understood that “basketball isn’t just a sport.”“It’s like show business,” Benedict said. “It’s a very high form of public entertainment in the United States.”The cultural impact of Curry and James has also rippled out to the theater in independent plays unaffiliated with the stars. This summer, Inua Ellams, a playwright based in Britain, will debut a play called “The Half-God of Rainfall” at the New York Theater Workshop. The plot combines mythology and basketball: A half-god comes to Earth and becomes the biggest star in the N.B.A. Ellams, a longtime N.B.A. fan, said the character is loosely based on Curry and Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo.In another play, Rajiv Joseph’s “King James,” which makes its Off Broadway premiere this month at the Manhattan Theater Club in New York, James looms but doesn’t appear, an indication of his influence. The piece chronicles the friendship of two Cleveland-based men who idolize James.Joseph, a Cleveland native and lifelong sports fan, said the idea for the play came to him after James won a championship with the Cavaliers in 2016.James and Curry last met in the playoffs in 2018, in the N.B.A. finals.Gregory Shamus/Getty Images“It always felt to me, as I came to think about it, is he was almost like this deity who, when he smiled upon our fair little land in Cleveland, crops thrived and rivers ran clear,” Joseph said. “And then when he left, everything kind of dried up. Now, that is an exaggeration, but from a sports perspective, it certainly felt that way.”Ellams said the N.B.A. will feel a “cavernous” loss when Curry and James are gone. In February, James broke the league’s career scoring record, which had been held by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar since 1984. Last season, Curry broke Ray Allen’s career 3-pointer record in 511 fewer games.“It’s going to be half a century before anyone comes close to what they have done — what they are actively doing,” Ellams said. “This isn’t history in the making. This is punching holes out of mountains.”James is in his 20th season, far past the time when most players’ careers are over. He and Curry, in his 14th season, have staved off the need for the N.B.A. to fully transition into a new era of stardom. But those in and around the league are bullish about its future.Led by Curry and his teammates Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, Golden State won four championships in eight years. The last was in 2022, against the Boston Celtics.Clara Mokri for The New York Times“There’s always a next, even though we can’t see it,” said Candace Parker, one of the most accomplished players in W.N.B.A. history.She added: “That’s what we asked ourselves after Michael Jordan retired. After Magic and Bird retired. It just seems like there’s always that next coming.”Parker, who plays for the Las Vegas Aces and is an N.B.A. analyst on TNT, cited players like Antetokounmpo, Dallas’s Luka Doncic, Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid and Victor Wembanyama, the French prodigy expected to go first in this year’s N.B.A. draft, as possible torch carriers.Oscar Robertson, one of the best guards ever to play in the N.B.A., said part of the reason Curry and James were able to maintain their influence was because of how well they were still playing at their ages.“Some players when they are 29, they’re even too old. Some players when they are 34, they’re too old,” Robertson, 84, said. He added: “Guys try to rise to the occasion to play against these two athletes. And I’m so glad that these two athletes are meeting that challenge every time they go on the court.”But so far, no other current player in the N.B.A. — or likely anyone else in American team sports — is in the same orbit of stardom and influence as James and Curry.“We just have to enjoy these guys in the present because who knows how much longer they’ll play?” Crawford said. “But what we do know is we won’t see two like this ever again. So we should savor every moment.”Clara Mokri for The New York Times More

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      Pat Riley, Once Front and Center, Reigns in the Background

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      Riley’s decades in the N.B.A. have given him plenty of stories to tell. But the formerly flashy coach of the Knicks, Heat and Lakers is keeping a low profile — “the boss he thinks you should be.”The network camera was drawn to Pat Riley after Jimmy Butler’s 22-foot jumper landed like a kick to the collective groin of the Milwaukee Bucks late in Game 4 of Miami’s first-round playoff series upset. While Butler, soon to complete a 56-point masterpiece, pranced in full-throated fashion, there sat Riley, a gray-haired Buddha, arms folded across his suit jacket and tie, smiling without celebrating, blinking but not moving.No surprise, really. By this point in a long basketball life, what has Riley not already seen that would make him compromise on his veneer of calculated, unflappable control?Circulating online, the clip was another striking visual to add to the Riley collection. From the 1966 national championship game in which a Texas Western squad dominated by Black players defeated his all-white Kentucky team to his tenured role as the Heat’s president, Riley has been tethered to basketball history of tectonic magnitude.True, the 1970s version of Riley is most memorably recalled as a role player practically riding piggyback on the great Jerry West while leaving the court upon the Los Angeles Lakers’ clinching of the only title West ever won as a player. From the 1980s on, Riley moved front and center, stylishly coifed.Riley coached the Heat to a championship in the 2005-6 season, with Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O’Neal leading the team on the court. Miami beat the Dallas Mavericks in six games.Rhona Wise/European Pressphoto AgencyHe has played, coached or been chief executive for a team in a championship game or series for an extraordinary seven consecutive decades — the most recent being the Heat’s 2020 N.B.A. finals loss to the Lakers. Had there been an award for most venerable personality, the man who inspired Michael Douglas’s Gordon Gekko look for the 1987 film “Wall Street” would have to be its inaugural designee.Riley’s run as a coach and executive is arguably the most remarkable of all, given the generational shifts he has withstood. West is a front-office Lakers legend but was a reluctant three-season coach. Phil Jackson has more than double the head coaching titles (11-5), but he took on only star-laden rosters and was a bust as Knicks president. Red Auerbach deserves credit for coaching or assembling 16 of the Celtics’ 17 title teams, but most were achieved in a nascent league in which players had no freedom of movement.Riley coached the Lakers from 1981 to 1990, winning four championships with the future Hall of Famers Magic Johnson, right, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, left.Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE, via Getty ImagesRiley didn’t win a championship during his four seasons with the Knicks in the early 1990s, but they made it to the N.B.A. finals in 1994, when they lost to Houston in seven games.Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE, via Getty ImagesRiley did inherit a championship cast in Los Angeles, but he steered it to dynastic prominence and four titles. He made the Knicks matter again in the 1990s, however tortured — his word — he remains from not getting them across the finish line in the 1994 finals. He turned Miami’s nowhere expansion franchise into a contender and three-time champion.But we likely won’t hear much, if anything at all, from Riley on himself, the injury-plagued Heat or the Knicks during their Eastern Conference semifinal series. It’s not breaking news that he has ceded the organizational microphone to Erik Spoelstra, the coach he handpicked to succeed him in 2008 and who has remained in place well beyond the four-year Miami residency of LeBron James and the franchise’s last title in 2013.As far back as 2012, I sampled the Heat locker room for a column on how Riley had stepped away from the spotlight that once couldn’t resist him. Dwyane Wade, who joined the Heat in 2003, said, “For the most part, he stays back, stays out of the way when it comes to the players, and he’s been doing that for a couple of years.”Riley rarely speaks publicly anymore, but he has come out to support Wade, right, who spent more than a decade with the Heat.Michael Reaves/Getty ImagesRiley declined a request to talk about why his once-commanding voice is now seldom heard with rare exceptions — typically to acknowledge revered service, as in the recent cases of Wade’s election to the Basketball Hall of Fame and the Heat veteran Udonis Haslem’s upcoming retirement. Feelers to others affiliated with the Heat were met with a familiar refrain: Riley does not want anyone but Spoelstra and his players speaking publicly during the playoffs.Better then to consult someone whose employment doesn’t depend on him. Jeff Van Gundy, a Riley protégé who became his coaching antagonist after Riley’s stormy departure from New York in 1995, said: “He morphed into the boss that he always wanted, the boss he thinks you should be. Stay behind the scenes. Do your job.”Dave Checketts, who in 1991 hired Riley to coach the Knicks, recalled a phone conversation in which West, with whom Riley occasionally clashed during the Lakers’ Showtime era, warned him, “You’re going to have to figure out how to handle the press because Pat will lose his mind when someone says something he doesn’t want out there.”Said Checketts: “And Pat did say when he came, during hours and hours of conversation, that we needed to speak in one voice. That’s why I give him tremendous credit for what he’s done in Miami — he’s lived by what he’s espoused. And Spoelstra has been a great spokesman, too.”Six years ago, during my last extended conversation with Riley, he did veer off the agreed-upon interview topic — Magic Johnson’s brief ascension to the Lakers’ presidency. When I complimented him for refusing to tank, for remaining competitive despite losing James to Cleveland and Chris Bosh to a medical issue, Riley said:LeBron James, Wade and Chris Bosh spent four seasons together on the Heat, winning two championships. Riley was team president, after handing the coaching reins to Erik Spoelstra in 2008.Hans Deryk/Reuters“Players come and go, great players. When LeBron left, that was the most shocking thing to me — not to say he was right or wrong — and the most shocking thing to the franchise. But our culture is the same. You have your up years and your down years, but what can’t change is the way you do things.”That wasn’t necessarily the whole truth. After the Heat lost to San Antonio in the 2014 N.B.A. finals, Riley, undoubtedly referring to James’s looming free agency, told reporters: “You’ve got to stay together if you’ve got the guts. And you don’t find the first door to run out of.”James still exited, stage left. An old Riley tactic — challenging players’ manhood — fell on deaf, new-age ears. Most spiels grow old. And Riley, 69 at the time, is now a more muted 78, a stealth operator, Godfather Riley more than Gordon Gekko Riley. Yet he remains indisputably relevant, still resplendent, while watching and waiting for the auspicious occasion that will merit his last hurrah. More

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      Anthony Davis Leads Lakers Past Golden State

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      Only Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Shaquille O’Neal previously had 30 points and 20 rebounds in a Lakers playoff game.SAN FRANCISCO — Anthony Davis sat next to LeBron James, watching as James heaped praise upon him.“The Lakers franchise over the years, over the course of their existence, has always had dominant big men, dominant guys that have been a force at the rim,” James said, after a dominant performance by Davis in the Lakers’ Game 1 win on Tuesday night in their Western Conference semifinal series against the Golden State Warriors. “That’s why their jerseys are in the rafters. A.D. will be up there when he’s done playing.”James went on for another minute in the same vein. Once he finished, Davis patted him on the back.“I’ll take my watch next week,” James said, smiling at his joke about a quid pro quo. “Or a car.”This series is one that has stirred nostalgia for the years when James and Warriors guard Stephen Curry used to face off every June for the N.B.A. championship. But it could hinge on Davis, who has the potential to be the best player in the series. On Tuesday night, Davis showed just what his dominance can mean to the Lakers, as he pushed them to a 117-112 win on the road over the defending champion Warriors, wresting away home-court advantage.Curry finished with 27 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists while two other Golden State guards, Klay Thompson and Jordan Poole, also eclipsed 20 points.Davis finished the game with 30 points, 23 rebounds and 4 blocks. With at least 30 points and 20 rebounds, Davis joined elite company in Lakers playoff history: Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Shaquille O’Neal. The most drastic statistical difference between the teams was a direct result of Davis’s play: The Lakers outscored the Warriors inside the paint by 54-28.“He’s everything for us,” Lakers guard Dennis Schroder said. “Defensively, offensively, big part for this organization. I mean, wasn’t an All-Star, wasn’t the defensive player of the year. He’s taking it serious, doing everything for us, and he’s the anchor.”That James and Curry were the narrative center of this series made sense. They are two of the best to have ever played in the N.B.A., and each has won four championships. They played against each other in the finals every year from 2015 to 2018, and each has won a championship since then as well — James in 2020 and Curry last season.This is the first time since 2018 that the two have faced each other in the playoffs, and there were plenty of moments Tuesday night when they commanded the stage.Before the game, the two shared a laugh at the scorer’s table. Midway through the second quarter, while Davis was shooting free throws, James wandered down the sideline with Curry, who was heading to the Golden State bench. James stayed by Curry’s side until he sat down, and even then continued talking to him.“He was just joking around about having to guard me all the way till I got to the bench,” Curry said.But at halftime, James was with Davis. The two of them walked off the court together, shoulder to shoulder, stride for stride.The scene was reminiscent of their first season together, the 2019-20 championship season, when Davis and James hardly went anywhere without each other and waited for each other to finish their on-court interviews after every game.The Lakers gave up a lot to acquire Davis the summer before that season, including players who would become critical pieces for other franchises, and Davis seemed to reward them right away. He was named first-team All-N.B.A. that year, as well as the All-Defensive first team. He was a candidate for defensive player of the year. He fit perfectly on James’s team.Part of what made that partnership work so seamlessly was the way their personalities meshed. Davis never needed to be the center of attention. James didn’t mind it, even thrived in it.“We’re not jealous of each other,” James said during the 2020 N.B.A. finals.That dynamic came into play on Tuesday night when James and Curry were the center of attention.Davis might not seek attention, but on the court he requires it, especially when he plays the way he did in Game 1.“We know that’s what he’s capable of,” Lakers Coach Darvin Ham said. “It’s great. We needed every bit of all those points and rebounds and blocked shots, assists as well.”Despite 27 points from Stephen Curry, Golden State is down, one game to none.Cary Edmondson/USA Today Sports Via Reuters ConThough Davis excelled at defending inside the paint, he made his presence felt all over the court. Late in the game, he thwarted the Warriors shortly after Curry tied the game with a heart-stopping 3-pointer with 1 minute 38 seconds remaining that capped a 14-0 run.Lakers guard D’Angelo Russell scored, getting the lead back for the Lakers. Moments later, Curry tried again, this time driving toward the basket, only to have his shot blocked by Davis. With 39.3 seconds left and the Lakers up by 3, Davis grabbed a rebound off a miss by Poole.Davis was aggressive offensively as well and seemed tireless despite playing 43 minutes 50 seconds, more than any other player. He played the entire second half.Ham credited the load management in which the Lakers had engaged earlier in the year for being able to play Davis big minutes in the playoffs.Davis’s critics have questioned his durability and his consistency, and not without reason. He has missed games because of injury in every year of his career and played in only 56 games this season.“It doesn’t matter to me,” he said. “I don’t care what no one thinks. Only the guys in the locker room, coaching staff, only opinions that I care about. Other than that, I just go out and play basketball, do what I can do to help the team win.”Davis and James were two of the last remaining players on the court Tuesday night, Davis doing a postgame interview with TNT and James speaking with the Lakers’ regional broadcast channel. Davis briefly interrupted James’s interview to do a personalized handshake before leaving the court.“It’s going to be a different game,” Davis said, when asked about Game 2 on Thursday. “They’re going to make adjustments; we’re going to make adjustments.” He added: “I’m going to continue to be aggressive.” More

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      James Harden Scores 45 to Beat the Celtics

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      Asked to shoulder the load, Harden scored 45 points in a playoff game for the first time in eight years.The last time James Harden scored 45 points in a playoff game, it was 2015. His Houston Rockets, down three games to none in the Western Conference finals, were winning a home game for pride against the soon to be champion Golden State Warriors.On Monday night, Harden matched that career playoff high in a much more significant game.With the Philadelphia 76ers’ star and N.B.A. scoring champion, Joel Embiid, out with a knee sprain, Harden scored 45 again, and gave the Sixers an unexpected one-game-to-none lead over the top-seeded Celtics, 119-115, at TD Garden in Boston.Points 43, 44 and 45 were the biggest, coming on a bloodless 3-pointer while closely guarded by Al Horford to give the 76ers a 117-115 lead with just over eight seconds left. On the next play, Marcus Smart of the Celtics threw the ball away in traffic under the basket, and two free throws wrapped it up for Philadelphia.“I was wondering if they were going to put two on the ball,” Harden said of the possibility of a double-team on the go-ahead shot. “It was a one on one. So then I’m looking up, I’m just, all right, this is what I work on every day. Get the best available shot no matter what it is. Raise up and shoot it.”Harden made 17 baskets on 30 shots, both season highs. He made seven 3-pointers on 14 shots, also both season highs. He also had a team-high six assists.From the first possession, Harden, 33, took it upon himself to get Philadelphia points, hitting a 10-foot jumper.“Whatever they gave me, I rose up and took a shot,” Harden said after the game. “Whether it’s a 3, whether it’s a floater, whether it’s a midrange jumper.”Asked why there was no double-team on the last shot, Celtics Coach Joe Mazzulla said: “That was one of our best defenders. He made a big shot.”Paul Reed had 13 rebounds filling in at center for Embiid. He had a career-high 15 in Game 4 of the Sixers’ first-round sweep of the Nets, a game that Embiid also missed.Going into Monday night’s game, the Celtics were favored not just in the series but to win the N.B.A. title. They were 9.5-point favorites to win Game 1 at home in the absence of Embiid.Disquietingly for the rest of the series, the Celtics actually played quite well on Monday, hitting 58.7 percent of their shots and outrebounding the 76ers by 10. But they never seemed to be able to stop Harden.“We have opportunities to bounce back,” a terse Mazzulla said.After three scoring titles and a Most Valuable Player Award with the Houston Rockets, Harden had built an impressive legacy. But it was tarnished somewhat with an abortive and injury-plagued two seasons with the Nets. When he was traded to the 76ers in early 2022, most of the focus was on the Sixers finally getting rid of Ben Simmons rather on their acquisition of Harden.Harden has fit in well as Embiid’s lieutenant in Philadelphia. He led the league in assists per game this season with 10.7 and averaged 21 points.Embiid shot around, but did not run on Monday at practice. Coach Doc Rivers said he didn’t know if Embiid would play in Game 2 on Wednesday.For one game at least, thanks mostly to Harden, the Sixers didn’t need him. More

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      Blue Wigs and Bad Words: Knicks Fans Are Ready for the Playoffs.

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      There was a loud commotion near a hot dog vendor inside Madison Square Garden moments before a playoff game between the Knicks and the Miami Heat on Sunday. A group of Knicks fans spotted another Knicks fan and started cursing. Other people turned their heads, cautiously moving away from the group; a fight seemed to be brewing.But as the fans walked toward each other, locked arms and began jumping around, it became clear that this was not about to be a brawl. At the center was Darryl Thompson, in a blue custom-made Knicks shirt with a four-letter word in orange and the name of the Heat’s best player: Jimmy Butler. All of the cursing? That was just the fans, uh, reading the shirt’s message out loud.“I made it,” Thompson, 37, said proudly. “It took about 30 minutes. I came up with an idea instantly and all that. I called some personal people to get it pressed up for me. We just made one. We don’t want this floating around.”

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      Moments like that filled Sunday’s Game 1 between the Knicks and the Heat, the first second-round playoff game at the Garden in a decade. During the Knicks’ first-round playoff series against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Knicks fans stormed Seventh Avenue outside the arena, climbed poles, danced and drank after victories.But on Sunday, the Knicks lost at home for the first time this postseason, 108-101, after being up by 12 points at halftime. Seventh Avenue was desolate afterward, lined with police officers who were prepared for a raucous crowd but instead watched fans jump through puddles in the pouring rain as they headed for trains home. Game 2 is Tuesday at the Garden.Here’s a look at some of the fans from Sunday.Greg Dell, 48Greg Dell said he loves Knicks fans for their loyalty.Underneath Greg Dell’s Knicks hat is his hairless head, which he uses to show people how long he has been a fan of the team. “Since 12 years old,” he yelled, “back when I had hair.” The Knicks’ shortcomings over his 36 years of fandom have likely contributed to some of the hair loss, but he wouldn’t trade it for anything else, he said. And once you turn 12 years old, he added, you can’t change your team unless you move to a new city.Dell said this has been the most exciting Knicks season he can remember since the team went to the 1999 N.B.A. finals because they finally feel like a legitimate contender. He said he was “throwing away” the Game 1 loss and predicted that the Knicks would wrap the series up in six games.“It’s like dating,” he said. “If you want to find a loyal person — your spouse, your girlfriend — ask them their favorite team. If they say the Knicks, they’re loyal. They’re not cheating on you. They’re not leaving you. That’s us.”Miguel Garcia, 45Miguel Garcia fondly remembers watching Knicks games with his brothers when they were growing up.Miguel Garcia and his two brothers, Danny and John, grew up in the long shadow of the Garden at 43rd Street and Ninth Avenue, close enough to hear some of the noise from around the arena on game days.Their first Knicks memory was from Game 3 of the 1999 Eastern Conference finals when forward Larry Johnson was fouled as he made a 3-point shot and then swished the ensuing free throw to give the Knicks a 92-91 victory over the Indiana Pacers.On Sunday, they entered the Garden clad in different colored wigs they purchased from Party City because they “had to go crazy” for the special day.“You know, I have no hair, so I needed to put something on,” Garcia said.

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      Francis Vasquez, 28Francis Vasquez said he would “die for his Knicks.”Francis Vasquez stopped others nearby from talking, seemingly so they could understand the importance of what he was about to say. Vasquez lifted one hand as they watched: This one was for God, he said, before lifting his other hand just slightly beneath that one, which, he said, was for the Knicks.Greg Dell and Vasquez met on Sunday after the game at a bar, and Vasquez said their relationship was reflective of what he loved about Knicks fandom.“I could feel his energy, and he could feel my energy,” he said, “so that just builds a connection.”Vasquez grew up in Washington Heights in Upper Manhattan, where he built an unrelenting support for a team that has never rewarded him for it with a title. Still, Vasquez said, he would “die for his Knicks.”“Don’t let us win the championship; it’s going to be a riot that day,” he said. “I’ll probably get locked up that day.”The Romito FamilyNick Romito, left, came to Sunday’s game with his wife, Leah Romito, center, and their son, Axel, who is the biggest fan in the family.Leah Romito had never been interested in basketball. But over the last two seasons, her 8-year-old son, Axel, has fallen in love with Knicks forward Julius Randle and guard Jalen Brunson, turning her into a fan, too. On Sunday, she followed her son’s directions, yelling and cheering as if she had been born into Knicks fandom like many of the others in the Garden.It was the first game she had been to with Axel. Brunson scored 25 points, but Randle sat out because of an ankle injury. “It’s sad,” Axel said. “Very sad.”Lakeisha Reid, 46Lakeisha Reid said she appreciated how friendly everyone was at Sunday’s game.Lakeisha Reid paid $1,500 to go to the game with her girlfriend. She said she has been a Knicks fan since she was a teenager, drawn to the excitement that the former star center Patrick Ewing, who attended Sunday’s game, brought her father and to people across New Jersey, where she grew up.Sunday was her first-ever Knicks game, so she planned an eye-popping outfit for the occasion that featured shiny blue pompoms. “You only live once,” she said, “and I was like, ‘We want to do it right.’”Reid said she was most surprised by the friendliness of the crowd, which she described as “crazy but polite.” Reid remembered fans yelling for others to sit down and people listening without debate. One fan switched seats with her girlfriend to make her more comfortable.“Up north we’re known for being a little hard, and sometimes we could be a little loud, but at the game it was just the up-north love, the vibe,” she said. “It was just no drama. It was beautiful.”Satchel Aviram, 27Satchel Aviram said he’s looking forward to Game 2, despite the loss on Sunday.Satchel Aviram grew up in Westchester County, N.Y., loving the Knicks for as long as he can remember. He appreciates the fan base primarily because Knicks fans are loyal through the few ups and the innumerable downs, unlike Nets fans, he said.“The second the Nets lose, they know it’s over. When the Knicks lose, we know we’re going to fight,” Aviram said. “The team is behind the Knicks always, and the city is behind the Knicks.”Aviram said the rain and gray skies could have been reflected in a gloomy feeling among fans after the loss, but instead he said he felt a positive “electricity” in most fans looking forward to Game 2.“We’ve been down for so long that it’s meant so much for the city that we’re finally battling,” Aviram said, “and it seems like we finally have it figured out that we can go forward.”

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