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      NBA Commissioner Adam Silver Defends 1-Year Suspension for Owner’s Misconduct

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      Adam Silver, the league’s commissioner, said the suspension and $10 million fine were fair, considering the “totality” of the career of Robert Sarver, who owns Phoenix’s N.B.A. and W.N.B.A. teams.N.B.A. Commissioner Adam Silver on Wednesday defended the one-year suspension and $10 million fine assessed to Robert Sarver, the majority owner of the Phoenix Suns, who was found after an independent investigation to have mistreated employees over more than a decade.Despite calls for harsher penalties, Silver said the suspension and fine were fair punishments for Sarver’s misconduct, which included using racial slurs, yelling at employees and treating female employees unfairly, according to the report. Silver said he had not talked to Sarver about his voluntarily selling his team because of his behavior, nor had the league’s board of governors discussed terminating Sarver’s ownership.“From a personal standpoint, I was in disbelief to a certain extent about what I learned that had transpired over the last 18 years in the Suns organization,” Silver said. “I was saddened by it, disheartened. I want to again apologize to the former, and in some cases current, employees of the Phoenix Suns for what they had to experience. There is absolutely no excuse for it. And we addressed it.”Sarver is also the majority owner of the W.N.B.A.’s Phoenix Mercury.Silver spoke to reporters one day after the league released a 43-page report from the New York-based law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz that detailed Sarver’s repeated use of racial slurs, mistreatment of employees, bullying and unfair treatment of female employees over nearly two decades as the owner of the Suns and the Mercury. Silver said the investigative group was diverse in race and gender, but he was unsure of the demographic breakdown. The law firm reviewed thousands of pages of documents and interviewed hundreds of current and former employees.Chris Paul, the Suns’ All-Star point guard, said in a post on Twitter late Wednesday that he was “horrified and disappointed” by the actions outlined in the report.“This conduct especially towards women is unacceptable and must never be repeated,” he said. “I am of the view that the sanctions fell short in truly addressing what we can all agree was atrocious behavior. My heart goes out to all of the people that were affected.”Silver used the firm’s findings to determine what punishment Sarver deserved. He meted out the maximum fine allowable by the league’s constitution, but not the longest suspension.“I had the option to go longer,” Silver said. “I landed on one year. I will say it’s the second-longest suspension in the history of our league, just to put it in some sort of context.”Robert Sarver, center, the majority owner of the Suns and the Mercury, was found to have used racial slurs and treated women unfairly over several years.Ralph Freso/Associated PressThe harshest penalty the league has ever levied on a team owner came in 2014 when Donald Sterling, then the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, was barred for life after he made racist remarks about Black people in a private conversation and a recording of his comments was made public.At the time, Silver said the punishment was based solely on that one incident, and that he would recommend that the board of governors vote to terminate Sterling’s ownership. Ultimately, though, Rochelle Sterling sold the team, despite her husband’s efforts to prevent her from doing so.Asked why he did not go as far with Sarver, Silver called Donald Sterling’s and Sarver’s situations “dramatically different.”“What we saw in the case of Donald Sterling was blatant racist conduct directed at a select group of people,” Silver said.When it came to Sarver, Silver said, the “totality of circumstances over an 18-year period in which he’s owned these teams” didn’t warrant the same punishment.Later Wednesday, LeBron James wrote on Twitter, “I gotta be honest … Our league definitely got this wrong.”James, who stars for the Los Angeles Lakers, continued: “I love this league and I deeply respect our leadership. But this isn’t right. There is no place for misogyny, sexism, and racism in any work place. Don’t matter if you own the team or play for the team. We hold our league up as an example of our values and this aint it.”Silver said he had heard from players in the last 24 hours but would allow them to speak for themselves.“It’s beyond the pale in every possible way to use language and behave that way,” Silver said of Sarver’s behavior. But he added: “Remember, while there were these terrible things, there were also many, many people who had very positive things to say about him through this process.”Despite detailing several instances in which Sarver made women and Black people feel demeaned, the investigators said they did not find that Sarver’s actions were motivated by “racial or gender-based animus.”Silver paused when asked if he agreed with that assessment.“I accept their work,” Silver said. “To follow what we believe is appropriate process here, to bring in a law firm, to have them spend essentially nine months on this, to do the extensive kinds of interviews they can, I’m not able to put myself in their shoes. I respect the work they’ve done, we’ve done.”The public report did not explain how the investigators determined that Sarver’s actions were not motivated by racial or gender-based animus, but Silver said that the report represented only part of the findings. He said he was given more information, but to protect the privacy of those who had participated in the investigation he could not reveal more.“Let me reiterate: The conduct is indefensible,” Silver said. “But I feel we dealt with it in a fair manner, both taking into account the totality of the circumstances, not just those particular allegations but the 18 years in which Mr. Sarver has owned the Suns and the Mercury.”Silver was speaking after a meeting of the league’s board of governors in Manhattan. The board typically meets three times a year, including once before the start of the regular season. This week’s meeting lasted three days and included discussion about the investigation.When asked about the discrepancy between how Sarver is being treated, in being allowed to remain an N.B.A. owner, and how employees of most companies would be treated had they behaved similarly, Silver pointed to a different standard for team owners.“There’s no neat answer here, other than owning property, the rights that come with owning an N.B.A. team, how that’s set up within our constitution, what it would take to remove that team from his control is a very involved process, and it’s different than holding a job,” Silver said. “It just is, when you actually own a team. It’s just a very different proposition.”When asked what standards he would expect league owners to meet, Silver said each case must be considered individually.Silver made references to Sarver’s misconduct having been part of his past, and spoke of the positive changes he felt had been made in the Suns organization. But many of the incidents confirmed by investigators happened recently. For example, the report found an incident of Sarver making inappropriate sexual remarks in 2021, and one of the instances in which investigators confirmed that Sarver had used a racial slur occurred in 2016.Although the investigation has closed, Silver said this will not be the end of the league’s concern about Sarver’s actions.“In terms of future behavior, he’s on notice,” Silver said. “He knows that.” More

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      The NBA’s Investigation of Robert Sarver Reveals More Abusive Behavior in Sports

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      An investigation’s finding that Robert Sarver used racist and sexist language as owner of the Phoenix Suns and Mercury is another exhausting entry to the list of sports figures using their power abusively.I don’t want to write this column, and you don’t want to read it.Sports fans are tired of the whole subject matter: the people in sports who give the games we love a terrible name.I’m talking about the entitled bullies. The misogynists and miscreants. The racists and those who walk the line between being utterly ignorant and outright hate.I’m talking about the players and team owners who wield their power like a cudgel and act as though they can do anything they want to anyone they want.But here I am again, this time addressing Robert Sarver, the owner of the Phoenix Suns of the N.B.A. and the Phoenix Mercury of the W.N.B.A., whom the N.B.A. suspended for a year and fined $10 million after it found that he mistreated employees over his 18-year tenure. According to the N.B.A., that abuse of staff included Sarver’s repeated use of a racist slur for Black people, making sex-related comments in the workplace and inequitable treatment of women.The league’s report did not conclude “that Mr. Sarver’s workplace misconduct was motivated by racial or gender-based animus.”In a statement Tuesday, Sarver said that while he disagreed “with some of the particulars” of the N.B.A.’s report, he apologized for his words and actions.It feels like a constant drumbeat. This week, I’m writing about a guy — and yes, it’s almost always a guy — whose actions are just the latest blight on sports, one of the essential parts of our cultural life.Sarver is not well known to the run-of-the-mill fan, but the teams he owns and oversees are. The Suns and Mercury are longtime pillars in their leagues. The Suns nearly won the N.B.A. championship in the 2020-21 season and were among the league’s best last season. The Mercury have won three W.N.B.A. titles — and have drawn the world’s attention because Brittney Griner, their star center, is imprisoned in Russia and at the center of a geopolitical storm.Over the last year, Sarver and his teams have been under a microscope. While the Suns and Mercury were trying to win championships, lawyers hired by the N.B.A. began peering into the behavior of the 60-year-old owner after ESPN reported his misdeeds and the toxic work environment he spawned.The type of behavior investigators reported is so familiar, having happened in so many other instances, that it won’t take long to guess what they entailed. Misogyny? Check. Bullying and browbeating employees? Check.What to Know:Robert Sarver Misconduct CaseCard 1 of 6A suspension and a fine. More

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      Plum Finds Her Way as Aces Move One Win From W.N.B.A. Title

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      A scorer shakes off her struggles after a scolding, and helps Las Vegas take a 2-0 lead in the finals.LAS VEGAS — A’ja Wilson approached her teammate Kelsey Plum after their Las Vegas Aces narrowly won Game 1 of the W.N.B.A. finals with a simple message. To win the series, Wilson made clear in a hail of shouts and expletives, the Aces need Plum to play better.“We need her to make shots,” Wilson said. “And I know it sounds harsh, but K.P.’s a pro, and she went out there and took care of business.”In Game 2 on Tuesday night, Plum responded to Wilson’s rebuke with arguably her best game of the playoffs, scoring 20 points and adding 7 assists in the Aces’ 85-71 win over the Connecticut Sun. The victory gave the Aces a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five finals, putting them in position to close out the series — and win their first W.N.B.A. title — in Game 3 on Thursday night in Connecticut.Plum said Wilson’s diatribe was not the only message she had received in recent days, but she acknowledged all of the exhortations — however they were delivered — had made a difference.“I got people trying to encourage me, I got people cussing me out,” Plum said. “But everyone wants to win, you know? So I really, actually, welcomed it very much.”Plum had 20 points and 7 assists in the Aces’ Game 2 victory.Lucas Peltier/USA Today Sports, via ReutersFor anyone who watched the Aces play this season, the idea that Plum would need a scolding from a teammate to raise her game might seem strange. She was the Aces’ leading scorer in the regular season, averaging 20.2 points, and finished third in M.V.P. voting behind Wilson and Seattle Storm Forward Breanna Stewart.But the regular-season version of Plum had vanished for much of this playoffs, and she quickly became an afterthought behind the dominance of Wilson and Chelsea Gray. Scoring suddenly seemed to be a challenge for Plum, beginning in the Aces’ semifinal series against the Storm. She scored in double figures in each game of that series, but the points came inefficiently as she made only 38 percent of her shots.“She wasn’t K.P.,” Wilson said. “I felt it in the locker room. She wasn’t herself.”The most startling element of Plum’s struggles was her inability to hit 3-point shots. Plum had established herself as one of the best long-distance shooters in the league in the regular season, making 42 percent of her 3s while attempting 7.5 per game. But since Game 1 of the semifinals, Plum had been abysmal from behind the 3-point line, making only 18 percent of her shots going into Tuesday’s game.The dreadful stretch was unlike any Plum has had in her career. Her scoring ability in college was what had made her the No. 1 overall pick in the 2017 W.N.B.A. draft. She was one of the best players in women’s college basketball history at the University of Washington, where she set an N.C.A.A. record with 3,527 career points and averaged 31.7 points a game as a senior.“I don’t remember a period where I ever felt like she was in a slump,” Mike Neighbors, her coach at Washington, said before Tuesday’s game. “She’s like no other human being I’ve ever been around. She developed this ability to focus more than anybody I’ve ever seen.”On Tuesday night, that focus took the form of Plum’s attacking the basket fearlessly. Her 3-point shooting woes continued (she shot 1 of 6 on 3s), but she masked that by attacking the Sun’s physical and tall frontcourt for layup after layup, repeatedly contorting her 5-foot-8 body around bigger defenders like Jonquel Jones (6-foot-6), DeWanna Bonner (6-foot-4), Brionna Jones (6-foot-3), and Alyssa Thomas (6-foot-2).Plum’s most impressive finish came with just over four minutes left in the third quarter, when she finished a drive around the outstretched arms of Bonner while drawing a foul.The play drew roars from the Aces’ white-knuckled fans, and when she made the free throw Las Vegas had an 8-point lead. Wilson, who led all scorers with 26 points and also grabbed 10 rebounds, followed with a jumper to extend the advantage to 10, and by the end of the quarter the Aces’ lead had grown to 14. They never looked back.“I’ve been a little bit, you know, frustrated with how I’ve performed throughout the whole playoffs,” Plum said, “so I’m just glad that they’ve been carrying it, and I decided to join the party.”The Suns’ length and physicality, which had flustered the Aces in Game 1 on Sunday, proved ineffective on Tuesday night. Missing, too, was the excitement the Sun had been oozing after their narrow loss that night, a matchup that Jonquel Jones, who led her team with 16 points and 11 rebounds on Tuesday, had said was “our game for the taking.”“They were just extremely aggressive,” Jones said of the Aces after Game 2, though she might have been describing Plum specifically.It was that version of Plum that Wilson had hoped to bring out with her message after Game 1. It is also the version the Aces still will need to close out the series.“This is a statement game for K.P.,” Wilson said. “I don’t care how she sees it. It’s a statement game. It puts a lot of people notice.” More

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      NBA Fines and Suspends Phoenix Suns Owner Robert Sarver

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      An investigation found that the owner, Robert Sarver, had used racial slurs and treated female employees inequitably. The N.B.A. fined Sarver $10 million.The N.B.A. is suspending Robert Sarver, the majority owner of the Phoenix Suns, for one year and fining him $10 million after an investigation determined that he had engaged in misconduct, including using racial slurs, yelling at employees and treating female employees unfairly.“The statements and conduct described in the findings of the independent investigation are troubling and disappointing,” Adam Silver, the N.B.A. commissioner, said in a statement.He added: “Regardless of position, power or intent, we all need to recognize the corrosive and hurtful impact of racially insensitive and demeaning language and behavior. On behalf of the entire N.B.A. I apologize to all of those impacted by the misconduct outlined in the investigators’ report. We must do better.”Sarver said in a statement that he accepted the consequences of the N.B.A.’s decision.“While I disagree with some of the particulars of the N.B.A.’s report, I would like to apologize for my words and actions that offended our employees,” he said. “I take full responsibility for what I have done. I am sorry for causing this pain, and these errors in judgment are not consistent with my personal philosophy or my values.”Sarver also owns the W.N.B.A.’s Phoenix Mercury.N.B.A. Commissioner Adam Silver said the findings of the investigation into Robert Sarver’s conduct were “troubling and disappointing.”Jeff Chiu/Associated PressThe N.B.A. began the investigation in response to a November 2021 article by ESPN about accusations of mistreatment against Sarver. After the article’s publication, the league retained the New York-based law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to conduct an independent investigation.On Tuesday, the firm and the N.B.A. released a 43-page report that found that Sarver “had engaged in conduct that clearly violated common workplace standards,” which included inappropriate comments about female employees’ appearance and bullying. He also engaged in inappropriate physical conduct toward male employees on four occasions, according to the report.More than 100 individuals who were interviewed by investigators said they witnessed behavior that “violated applicable standards.” There was a general sense among employees that Sarver felt that workplace rules did not apply to him, according to the report.Sarver also made crude jokes, cursed at employees and told a pregnant employee that she “would be unable to do her job upon becoming a mother,” according to the report. Witnesses recalled Sarver saying that the employee would be busy “breastfeeding” and that a “baby needs their mom, not their father.” The employee cried in response to Sarver’s comments, according to the report. Sarver later asked why women “cry so much.”Sarver also “repeated the N-word when recounting the statements of others,” according to the report. Sarver was in the presence of players, coaches and members of the front office when he used the word during a team-building exercise during the 2012-13 season.What to Know:Robert Sarver Misconduct CaseCard 1 of 6A suspension and a fine. More

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      Dawn Staley Is Still Coaching A’ja Wilson

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      Staley and Wilson won a college championship at South Carolina. Now the coach is a “second mother” who harps on Wilson’s game as she stars for the Las Vegas Aces in the W.N.B.A.LAS VEGAS — The day still haunts A’ja Wilson.She was competing with her University of South Carolina women’s basketball teammates in an intrasquad scrimmage, but Coach Dawn Staley didn’t think Wilson was playing with enough effort. Staley stopped the practice, told Wilson to stand on the sideline and replaced her.As the scrimmage continued, Staley told Wilson that she was “blending in” — looking merely average on the court. Wilson’s team began losing and she begged the Gamecocks’ other coaches to talk Staley into putting her back on the court, but Staley never did. Wilson and her losing team had to run the length of the court multiple times after practice, with Wilson cursing and muttering in frustration the entire way.“She looked like everybody else,” Staley said. “And A’ja Wilson? Like, come on now. I don’t care if we are in college. That’s not what we’re going to do. That’s not what I’m going to be a part of. I ain’t one of your friends that’s just going to let you fail and let you exist.”Wilson shunned Staley for the next two days, not saying a word to her at practice or in meetings. Eventually, they made peace with some help from Wilson’s mother, whom Staley called for help during their brief silence. But even while Wilson was upset, she knew that Staley was right.“She showed me that I can never be average,” Wilson said. “I can never blend. I should always stick out whenever someone’s watching a basketball game.”That moment became a turning point for Wilson, who is now one of the best players in the W.N.B.A. at only 26 years old. She is in the W.N.B.A. finals with the Las Vegas Aces, who drafted her No. 1 overall in 2018. She has won the league’s Most Valuable Player Award twice, including this season, when she was also named the defensive player of the year. She has yet to win a championship, but the Aces were leading the Connecticut Sun, 1-0, in the best-of-five finals series heading into Game 2 on Tuesday.Staley has been in her ear the whole time.Wilson, left, became the best women’s basketball player in South Carolina history under Staley, right. They won a national championship together in 2017.Frank Franklin Ii/Associated PressWhat began as a coach recruiting a top high school player has blossomed into Wilson claiming Staley as her “second mother” and Staley accepting that role with her version of tough love, which includes providing equal amounts of affection and rebuke.“We have lots of laughs,” Staley said. “I’ve wiped tears. I’ve hugged on her. I’ve loved up on her. I’ve criticized her. We are just authentic, and it just organically happened.”Wilson thinks about being pulled from that college scrimmage almost every day, she said. “Never blend” has become somewhat of a motto for her, and it was top of mind after a disappointing performance in the Aces’ loss in Game 1 of the semifinals against the Seattle Storm.Wilson scored just 8 points on 3-of-10 shooting and was outplayed by the star Seattle forward Breanna Stewart, who scored 24 points.“There’s no reason people should be like, ‘Oh, A’ja played today?’ I should be making myself known,” Wilson said.She responded by averaging 30 points and 12.3 rebounds over the next three games of the series to help the Aces advance to the finals.Wilson played all but 4 minutes 6 seconds of the 165 possible minutes during that series, a stat that, along with her response to Game 1, showed Staley how much Wilson had evolved since her time at South Carolina.“She could have never done that in college,” Staley said while laughing. “I mean, she could’ve but wouldn’t have been as effective or great.”Wilson is the best player in South Carolina women’s basketball history. She was the national player of the year as a senior, finishing first in points, blocked shots and free throws made in a career at South Carolina. In 2021, the college erected a statue of her outside of the basketball gym.She seamlessly transitioned to the W.N.B.A., averaging 20.7 points per game in her first season, when she was unanimously selected for the Rookie of the Year Award.But there are still times when Staley has to remind Wilson that she is blending in, most recently during halftime of Game 1 of the finals Sunday. On paper, Wilson wasn’t having a bad game; she scored 12 points in the first quarter, and despite a difficult second period, the Aces were losing by just 4 points. But when she got to the locker room, Wilson checked her phone and saw a message from Staley: “One rebound, seriously?”Wilson had two rebounds, but she knew Staley’s underlying point was right. “So I had to go out there and get me more,” Wilson said while laughing. “Seriously because I’m like, ‘No, she’s not going to disrespect me like that.’” (Wilson finished with 11 rebounds and the win.)Texts like those are normal from Staley, who has been Wilson’s biggest critic since her South Carolina days but says she’s also Wilson’s biggest “hype man.” Staley talks to Wilson at least once a week about basketball and strategy ahead of matchups.“I tell her when she sucks, but I also tell her ‘ain’t nobody can stop you,’” Staley said. “She’s too agile. She’s too quick. She’s too strong. She can score baskets; her midrange is wet.” She added while laughing: “Her 3-ball is, you know, under construction, but it’s solid. There’s no reason she shouldn’t average a double-double.”Wilson and Staley’s bond started when Wilson was a senior at Heathwood Hall Episcopal School in Columbia, S.C., just a few miles south of the University of South Carolina campus. Staley had been recruiting Wilson, then the No. 1 high school player in the country, and she used to call Wilson weekly — so much so that she had scheduled separate weekly calls with Wilson and another with her mother, Eva. So when Wilson arrived as a freshman at South Carolina, she and Staley already had a bond beyond basketball that intensified as they argued, lost big games and won South Carolina women’s basketball’s first national championship together.Wilson and Staley reunited as (official) player and coach with the U.S. women’s national team during the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images“I can talk to her without being politically correct,” Wilson said. “I can be me. Like, I can just be myself, and she’s helped me out a ton.”Their relationship often spills onto social media, like when the two were on Instagram live last year, and Staley needled Wilson about her rebounding. “I’m just glad you rebounding the ball. You can’t even get to a double-double!” Staley said to Wilson and nearly 700 viewers. “I mean, you’re averaging like nine. How can you be short of a double-double with like nine rebounds? Who does that? Even that thing out!”Or after the Aces defeated the Storm in the semifinals, and Staley told Wilson on Twitter that they would be going to a popular shopping mall in Las Vegas, seemingly implying that it would be her treat. But she apparently meant it would be Wilson’s.“I love hard, and I show tough love,” Staley said. “I try to create a balance so that players like A’ja can get an understanding of how to go from good to great. If you want to be great, and you tell me that, I’m going to hold you up to that as best I can — and she knows that.” More

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      Aces Score Just Enough to Take W.N.B.A. Finals Lead

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      The Las Vegas Aces’ high-powered offense scored a season-low 67 points, but a double-double from A’ja Wilson, the league’s most valuable player, helped them outlast the Connecticut Sun.LAS VEGAS — The W.N.B.A. finals have many compelling story lines: two franchises, and two coaches, looking for their first title; a high-powered offense taking on a stingy defense.But those story lines faded into the background Sunday afternoon, and it quickly became A’ja Wilson’s day as she led the Las Vegas Aces to a 67-64 victory over the Connecticut Sun in Game 1.Before the game, Wilson received this year’s Most Valuable Player Award at halfcourt with her family and the league’s commissioner by her side. The M.V.P. honor was the second of her career, making her the seventh player in the W.N.B.A.’s 26 seasons to win the award more than once. As the public-address announcer called out the Aces starters’ names, Wilson ran out, high-fiving teammates amid the loudest roars for any player.Then, when the game began, she got to the basket with ease, missing only one shot on the way to 12 first-quarter points. The Aces ended the first quarter leading by 8 points, then were buoyed throughout the game by Wilson’s dominant play. She met the moment with 24 points, 11 rebounds, 4 blocks and 2 steals. Game 2 of the best-of-five series is scheduled for Tuesday in Las Vegas.“She can score the ball, ultimately,” Sun center Jonquel Jones said of Wilson, with a laugh. “She’s able to score on different levels. I think that’s a tough challenge. She’s attacking the rim really aggressively right now. So it’s tough.” Aces guard Chelsea Gray added 21 points, and Alyssa Thomas led the Sun with a double-double of 19 points and 11 rebounds. Las Vegas’s win came on one of its worst offensive nights of the year, with the team’s lowest point total of both the regular season and playoffs. And Aces guard Kelsey Plum, who averaged 20.2 points per game in the regular season, struggled with just 6 points on 1-of-9 shooting.“Credit to their defense, and give credit to us for missing,” Aces Coach Becky Hammon said with a smile.Despite the loss, Coach Curt Miller and the Sun players did not seem dejected afterward, as some teams would be after losing a W.N.B.A. finals game. Miller said he was “really pleased” with how the Sun dictated the style of play to one that they were more comfortable with, forcing the league’s highest-scoring offense to struggle to find baskets. The Sun lost by a close margin despite shooting only five free throws to the Aces’ 19. “Ultimately, I’m happy with the game that we played,” Jones said, “and we gave ourselves a good opportunity to come out there and get a win. And it just didn’t go our way, but we’re excited about Game 2.” But the Aces were looking at the game from a similar perspective. They held the Sun to their lowest scoring total of the playoffs and, even while playing arguably their worst offensive game of the season, they still won. “We do take a lot of pride in getting it done on the defensive side because that’s the most important side,” Wilson said. “They can hold us to however many; we have to also hold them down as well. So if we can play on both sides of the basketball and execute on the defensive end, I got us all the way.”Two years ago, Wilson won her first M.V.P. Award, leading the Aces to their first finals appearance since moving to Las Vegas in 2018 and the franchise’s second overall. But Wilson and the Aces quickly looked like a team unprepared for the moment, as the Seattle Storm beat them by double digits in each game, including a 33-point drubbing in Game 3 to win the 2020 title. Wilson said that they were “happy to be there” in 2020 but that now they were less overwhelmed by the aura of the finals and more focused on the basketball. The Aces’ defense limited the Sun’s Courtney Williams and DeWanna Bonner, not pictured, holding them to a combined 8 points on 3-of-18 shooting.L.E. Baskow/Associated Press“We know that feeling,” Wilson said. “It sucks getting swept. It’s the worst thing ever, but that’s the chip on your shoulder. That’s the fire. That’s the grind that you want to say, ‘I don’t want to get swept anymore. I don’t even want to have a gentleman sweep.’ You want to go out there and play for your teammates because you felt the way that you felt in 2020, and you hate it.”On Sunday, the Aces showed their evolution in the two years since that finals appearance. After the Aces’ strong first quarter, the Sun responded by slowing the game down and using their physicality and height to make scoring arduous. The Sun outscored Las Vegas in the second quarter, 21-9, to take a 4-point lead into halftime.Hammon was furious in the locker room at halftime, more “lit” than she had ever been this season, she said, because “everything we talked about, we didn’t do any of it.” “I don’t even yell in my real life,” Hammon said, adding: “But when you go out there, and you don’t execute, it’s frustrating, but at the end of the day, they know it, OK. They’re smart, they get it. But they beat us in every hustle category. And that can’t happen. You can’t lose a championship or a game or quarter on hustle — that can never be the case.”Gray and Wilson began shaking their heads and laughing before they were even finished being asked to share what Hammon had said to the team. “We cannot. It is unedited. We got children watching,” Gray said with a smile, as Wilson laughed next to her, nearly uncontrollably shaking her head. “But she was just on us to play our style defensively. We were letting them get offensive rebounds, easy scores, turning over the ball,” Gray added. “That’s the edited version. I can’t give you everything.” But the Aces had been in that position before during these playoffs. In their semifinal series win against the Seattle Storm, nearly every game featured dramatic lead changes and comebacks. Hammon said the Aces’ ability to “take a punch” in that series was significant.And it showed Sunday as the Aces reclaimed the lead in the second half and held on, despite a furious rally from Connecticut down the stretch. The Aces found a way to beat the Sun at their own style of basketball to move closer to their first title.“Tonight we struggled a little bit, and we’ll be better Game 2,” Hammon said. “I already know what we’re going to do. My mind is reeling.” More

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      WNBA Finals Preview: Las Vegas Aces and Connecticut Sun Vie for First Title

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      Stars from both teams have been to the finals recently, but neither franchise has ever won a championship. A’ja Wilson of Las Vegas said the “vibe” is different this time.Twenty-three years ago, Becky Hammon and Curt Miller helped lead Colorado State to the round of 16 in the N.C.A.A. Division 1 women’s basketball tournament. Miller was an assistant coach, and Hammon was one of the best players in the country. On Sunday, they’ll match up in the W.N.B.A. finals as opposing coaches, hoping to win their first titles as Hammon’s Las Vegas Aces take on Miller’s Connecticut Sun.“I have an unbelievable personal relationship with Becky,” said Miller, who credits Hammon for his rise in coaching.Hammon, in her first season with the Aces, and Miller, in his seventh with the Sun, go into the finals leading teams with boatloads of success in the W.N.B.A. but without any championship hardware to show for it.The Aces have three former No. 1 draft picks on their roster (A’ja Wilson, Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young) and had four players named to the All-Star team, none of whom were Chelsea Gray, who has been the Aces’ most important player this postseason. On Wednesday, Wilson was named the league’s most valuable player for the second time.Las Vegas Aces guard Chelsea Gray had 31 points and 10 assists in the decisive Game 5 of the semifinals against the Storm.Steph Chambers/Getty ImagesThe Aces have had one of the best rosters in the league for years and finished with the best regular-season record in two of the past three seasons — and finished second in the year they didn’t finish first. But the regular-season success hasn’t translated into the postseason.The Aces reached the championship round in 2020. Wilson has said she was mesmerized by the moment and how thrilling it felt to see the finals logo stitched onto her jersey. But she also can’t forget how it felt to be defeated by the Seattle Storm. The Aces never won a game, and the Storm won the final game of the series by 33 points.Wilson and Young are the only Aces who played in the 2020 finals and are still with the team. (Plum and forward Dearica Hamby did not play because of injuries.) Wilson said the “vibe is different” this time, but for the top-seeded Aces to win the matchup against the third-seeded Sun, they’ll need to get out of their own way.“We get sometimes in our own mind because we’re so talented,” Wilson said, adding: “We want to be that superhero. We want to put that cape on and just win it all and not because for selfish reasons, but because we just feel like we want to do that for our team.”That superhero impulse has often led to isolation play, which the Aces can be great at because of their offensive skill. But it hasn’t translated to winning a championship. Throughout the playoffs, Hammon has praised her team for moving away from that style and “choosing each other.”Wilson said, “I think that’s going to be the difference.” She added: “It’s going to take all of us locked in for 40 minutes on the defensive end more so than the offensive end to win a championship.”An arduous semifinal series against the Storm has helped prepare the Aces for the stakes of the finals. Las Vegas won in four games, but each game came down to the final plays. The Aces found ways to respond to everything the Storm threw their way: a corner 3 from Sue Bird that gave Seattle a lead at home with under 2 seconds left in Game 3; a playoff-record-tying 42-point game from Breanna Stewart in Game 4. Somehow, the Aces came away with wins in both games, often paced by Gray and Wilson in crucial moments.“We developed how to take a punch. Like, that can’t be understated,” Hammon said. “In the scheme of games, of series, there’s going to be these moments that are like make-or-break moments, and you got to decide in those moments where you’re going to be, and earlier we took some punches, and I saw us fall apart.”The Aces’ finals opponent has also responded to proverbial punches to get to the championship round.The Sun scored just 8 points in the third quarter of the decisive Game 5 of the semifinals against the Chicago Sky and entered the fourth quarter down 10 points. They responded by outsourcing the defending champions 24-5 in the final quarter to advance to their first finals since 2019. (That year, the Washington Mystics beat the Sun in five games.)The Sun’s Jonquel Jones, Courtney Williams, Brionna Jones and Natisha Hiedeman all played in that 2019 finals series (along with guard Jasmine Thomas, who has been out with an injury since May). This time, they are leaning on the wisdom of one player who wasn’t on that team to guide them to the title that has long eluded them: DeWanna Bonner.The Connecticut franchise has the second-most wins in league history but has never won a title.The Sun have leaned on DeWanna Bonner’s championship experience. She won titles with the Phoenix Mercury in 2009 and 2014.LM Otero/Associated PressBonner, 35, won titles in 2009 and 2014 with the Phoenix Mercury, who she was with for a decade before joining the Sun in 2020. Because of Bonner’s championship experience, her voice is respected in the locker room, and many believe her inspiring leadership in the playoffs is why the Sun are in the finals, Hiedeman said.“Her speeches been on point lately,” Hiedman said, adding: “We’ve been feeding off of that. She’s a champion. She knows what it takes. So she leads the way, and we follow.”After winning Game 1 of the semifinals against the Sky, the Sun dropped two straight games, and they couldn’t slow down Candace Parker. Miller, the Sun coach, had planned a typical film session for their next practice to analyze mistakes, but Bonner told Miller she wanted to speak to the team instead of watching film. And what followed was one of the famous speeches Hiedeman mentioned.Bonner told the team that they seemed nervous when they were playing and that despite their history — the Sky had beat the Sun six straight times coming into the series — they could win the series if they got off to better starts. In Games 4 and 5, the Sun outscored the Sky in the first quarter 54-38, winning both games to close out the series.Miller said Bonner’s speech was “probably the best decision.” He added, “In that moment, D.B. having a heart-to-heart with our team is what they needed, and they’ve absolutely thrived off of it.”Miller continued: “There will be a new champion in this league. There’ll be a first-time franchise champion. There’ll be a new coach. Once again, that will be a first-time champion. And you know that I’m just, I’m really, really excited about the challenge.” More

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      U.S. Men’s Basketball on 1972 Munich Olympics: ‘We Deserve Gold Medals’

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      Fifty years after a painful, and controversial, loss to the Soviet Union in the 1972 Olympics, some American men’s basketball players still hope to be declared the rightful winners.It was after 2 a.m. on Sept. 10, 1972, when Tom McMillen and Tom Burleson made their way to the Hofbräuhaus, the famed beer hall in central Munich, so they could commiserate in the dark over German sausage and pilsners.“We were there for quite a long time,” Burleson said.They were teammates on the United States’ men’s basketball team, and by the time they headed back to the Olympic Village, it was past dawn and the daylight seemed blinding. But nothing was clear, and much of the haze from that window of their lives has remained.“I remember when I came home, I kind of had to slap myself because I had gone to the Olympics thinking it was the most hallowed ground,” McMillen said. “And I came away from it feeling much different: ‘Wow, this is a very human institution.’”Fifty years after its controversial loss to the Soviet Union in the gold medal game at the 1972 Olympics, the U.S. men’s basketball team still steadfastly refuses to accept its silver medals. Instead, the players wait — for the elusive truth about what happened in the game’s closing seconds, and for the International Olympic Committee to redress what the team has long considered an injustice.“We deserve gold medals,” said Ed Ratleff, 72, a forward-guard on the team.The memories are vivid for players like McMillen, Burleson and Ratleff, who have gotten used to reliving the experience every few years, on anniversaries when the public’s curiosity is piqued. McMillen, 70, always appreciates the renewed interest. It is a piece of history that ought to be remembered, he said, especially given the current state of geopolitical affairs.The American player Mike Bantom (No. 7) was surrounded by Soviet players in the paint.Rolls Press/Popperfoto via Getty Images“The Ukrainian conflict brought this into new perspective for me,” said McMillen, who spent 11 seasons in the N.B.A. before he became a three-term congressman representing Maryland. “We were in the middle of the Cold War when we played the Soviets in ’72, and here we are, back in the same kind of world conflict.”Just 20 at the time, McMillen went to the Olympics believing it was “the most idealistic thing in the world,” he said. His perception was shattered on Sept. 5, 1972, when eight Palestinian terrorists scaled a fence at the Olympic Village, killing two members of the Israeli delegation before taking nine others hostage. Early the next morning, amid a botched rescue attempt at an airport outside Munich, all were killed.“I remember we had to practice on the day of the attack on the Israelis, and it was incredibly difficult,” McMillen said. “Some of us were talking about how maybe the game should be canceled.”The Games went on, a decision that organizers described as a repudiation of the terrorist attack. And in the semifinals, the United States overpowered Italy to run its record in Olympic play to 63-0.Facing an older and more experienced Soviet team in the final, the Americans trailed until Doug Collins made two free throws to put the Americans ahead, 50-49, with 3 seconds left. Those 3 seconds would be re-examined for years to come.After Collins’s second free throw, the Soviets inbounded the ball, but one of the officials stopped play because of commotion at the scorer’s table: Had the Soviet coach tried to call a timeout? Was he even allowed to call one?In sum, the Soviets got a do-over, with 3 seconds put back on the clock. They even managed to make an illegal substitution. But when their subsequent full-court pass was deflected and the buzzer sounded, the Americans began to celebrate, believing they had won.Henry Iba, left, coach of the U.S. men’s basketball, looks over the shoulder of referee Artenik Arabaijan as the final seconds of the game are discussed.Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesAnd then things really got crazy. William Jones, the head of international basketball, emerged from the stands to rule that the Soviet team should get a third chance to inbound the ball. Why? Because the scoreboard operator had neglected to reset the clock. The Americans, who were coached by Henry Iba, were furious and threatened to leave the court. Amid the chaos, a pickpocket filched Iba’s wallet. (Yes, someone really stole his wallet.)Burleson, 70, said the U.S. team was left with no choice.“They told us that if we didn’t go back out on the court, we’d forfeit the game,” he said.As the Soviets readied themselves for yet another attempt at a last-ditch miracle, the referee along the baseline seemed to motion for McMillen to back off Ivan Edeshko, who was set to inbound the ball. That gave Edeshko more room to make a court-length pass to Aleksander Belov, a center who brushed off two smaller defenders for the game-winning layup.After an appeal failed, the U.S. team unanimously agreed to boycott the medal ceremony. For 50 years, the team’s silver medals have remained in a vault in Lausanne, Switzerland.In 2012, when the team reunited for the first time since Munich and participated in a televised round table, all 12 players said they remained steadfast in their decision to reject their silver medals. One player, Kenny Davis, said he had even added a clause to his will barring any of his family members from posthumously accepting it on his behalf.McMillen and others on the team have spent decades wondering whether the game was fixed.“But we could never find anything definitive,” McMillen said. “I think it was incompetence combined with complicity, meaning there was a comedy of errors, but I think there was also some complicity with Jones and some of the East Bloc nations to arrange an outcome.”As Ratleff put it, “Once it got close at the end, I don’t think there was any chance they were going to let the Americans win.”Soviet basketball players celebrated after their victory against the Americans in 1972.Associated PressWhile the game disillusioned many of the American players and helped foster a general sense of cynicism about the Olympics themselves, it also demolished the perception that the Americans were unbeatable at basketball. That the United States lost — no matter the circumstances — gave hope to other countries that they, too, could vie for gold. In its own way, the game may have helped grow the sport.“I think it motivated European clubs to step up and become a part of the international game,” said Burleson, a center who played seven seasons in the N.B.A.The American players no longer entertain the possibility of the I.O.C. overturning the result of the game, said Ratleff, a small forward who spent five seasons with the Houston Rockets.“I don’t think you’re ever going to take the gold medals away from Russia,” he said.McMillen, though, suggested that the team would be willing to accept a duplicate set of gold medals. He felt encouraged in July when the I.O.C. restored Jim Thorpe as the sole winner of the decathlon and pentathlon at the 1912 Stockholm Games, decades after he had been stripped of his medals for violating rules against professionalism. The I.O.C.’s announcement came 40 years after it declared him the co-winner of both events, a compromise that had done little to appease his supporters, who kept campaigning on his behalf.“If Jim Thorpe can get his medals posthumously, I’m still hoping that some shoes will drop and we can get our medals — hopefully not posthumously, but sometime down the road,” McMillen said.During the medal ceremony for the basketball competition, the second-place step of the podium remained empty as the U.S. men’s basketball team protested the decision to award the gold to the Soviet Union.Rich Clarkson & Assoc. via Getty ImagesAn I.O.C. spokesman responded to a request for comment, but did not address questions on the Americans’ desire for gold medals.In Russia, the gold medal final continues to be celebrated. A 2017 film, “Going Vertical,” was one of the most popular Russian-made movies in the country’s history.In the United States, meanwhile, McMillen fears that the game — and what he considers a wrong that has never been righted — is slowly being forgotten, its significance eroded by time.“It’s unfortunate because that’s exactly what the I.O.C. wants,” he said. “Our medals sit in Lausanne, and there are going to be fewer of us around for the 60th anniversary. History fades into the ether.” More