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      New Sports Books About the Knicks, Rickey Henderson and More

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      Baseball, basketball, Formula One: Six new books take readers on a tour from Madison Square Garden to Monza, Italy.Millie von PlatenOne day this spring, Gregg Giannotti showed up to work dressed as a leprechaun. Giannotti, better known as Gio, is one half of WFAN’s morning show “Boomer and Gio.” He supports the New York Knicks, who finished the season 37-45, safely out of playoff contention. Dejected, Gio channeled his energies into rooting against the crosstown Nets in their opening-round series against the Celtics. Boston was once itself a formidable Atlantic Division rival. But the Celtics and Knicks haven’t played much meaningful basketball this millennium; since 2001, no N.B.A. team has lost more games than the Knicks. So Gio donned the green pants, green vest and green hat of Lucky, the Celtics mascot. He even found himself a shillelagh.Such is the sad state of New York Knick fandom in 2022. The faithful may take some solace in BLOOD IN THE GARDEN: The Flagrant History of the 1990s New York Knicks (Atria, 368 pp., $28.99), Chris Herring’s new book about the franchise’s last golden era. Of course, those Knicks came up short — repeatedly, painfully short. Six times in the ’90s New York was eliminated from the playoffs by the eventual N.B.A. champion. In 1991, they were trampled by a Bulls team charging toward the first of six titles; in 1999, New York lost in the finals to the rising Spurs dynasty. In between came a now-mythic series of missed opportunities. Charles Smith’s futile put-backs in 1992. John Starks’s leaden 2-18 performance in 1994. Patrick Ewing’s errant finger roll in 1995.Michael Jordan vs. the New York Knicks, 1993.Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE, via Getty ImagesHerring covers the Knicks the way Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein covered the Nixon White House in “The Final Days” — the book spills over with delicious detail. In one scene, the executive Dave Checketts has the unenviable task of dismissing a trusted lieutenant. Checketts arranges dinner at a favorite restaurant. The men split an order of penne vodka, Herring reports, then cuts of steak. Only when dessert arrives does Checketts find the resolve to drop the ax.More ruthless was the man Checketts hired as coach in 1991. Pat Riley had developed champagne tastes while winning four titles with the Lakers: Herring writes that among his contract demands were that his team-issued polo shirts be manufactured by Ralph Lauren and that the team cover his dry-cleaning bill. (Checketts drew the line at the latter request.) But Riley had a different vision for the Knicks. They would be bullies.It was a style of play well suited to the Knicks’ musclebound roster and to a more permissive era of professional basketball. It also suited Riley, a son of blue-collar Schenectady and a natural martinet. He drilled the team relentlessly, stressing conditioning, defensive intensity and unapologetic toughness. This group would win, Herring writes, by “making teams pay for having the audacity to wander into the paint.”When the Knicks failed in this regard, Riley saw to it that his own team paid dearly. In Game 5 of the 1992 Eastern Conference semifinals, Michael Jordan cut the Knicks defense to ribbons. Before Game 6, Riley wheeled a television set and VHS player into the locker room. The team watched a clip of a single play in which Jordan beat Starks off the dribble, juked Charles Oakley and dunked over Ewing. Then the clip started again. And again. The tape contained only this one play, on loop. “This makes me sick to my stomach,” Riley pronounced, when the tape finally stopped. “One of you is gonna step up, knock Michael Jordan to the floor and not help him up.”No player embodied the swaggering ethos of the ’90s Knicks more than Oakley, whom Herring describes as “the most physical player in perhaps the N.B.A.’s most physical era.” In 1992-93, he led the league in flagrant fouls, racking up more such calls individually than 15 entire teams.Some athletes melt under Broadway’s stage lights; Oakley thrived. His gritty play befitted the city’s “if I can make it there” self-image. He could be as brash as Mike Tyson and as cryptic as Casey Stengel. (“Just because there is some glass in the road doesn’t mean there was an accident,” he once said, after being fined $10,000 for leveling Reggie Miller.) He was even something of a gourmet, notorious among teammates for sending back food when it failed to meet his discerning standards. “This isn’t German chocolate cake!”A childhood friend calls Oakley “arrogantly honest,” a description he embraces, and that captures the appeal of his new memoir, THE LAST ENFORCER: Outrageous Stories From the Life and Times of One of the NBA’s Fiercest Competitors (Gallery, 288 pp., $28.99), written with Frank Isola. Oakley is a great perceiver of slights, holder of grudges and all-around curmudgeon. “I think that 20 percent of today’s guys would be tough enough to play in our era,” he writes. “Maybe not even that many.”Charles Oakley looking displeased, 1998.Barton Silverman/ The New York TimesSuch crankiness ought to be more grating, but Oakley (mostly) punches up, and even in high dudgeon he has a sense of humor. “I’ll admit that we do share some common ground,” he writes of Charles Barkley, an old nemesis. “I’m better looking, but we both wore number 34.” (The rivalry merits its own chapter, titled “Barkley and His Big Mouth.”) Oakley makes a point of defending Charles Smith, noting that Starks and Ewing also had key misses down the stretch in what is still known as “the Charles Smith game.” “How are you going to put that on Charles Smith? This was a team loss. A bad team loss.”If Oakley is the quintessential ’90s Knick, he has also experienced the team’s tragic arc most acutely. Whereas many of his peers remain fixtures at Madison Square Garden, Oakley was exiled, thanks to a long-running feud with James Dolan, the team owner who has presided over two decades of Knick futility. In 2017, Dolan had Oakley ejected from the Garden for alleged belligerence. Oakley was escorted out of the building in handcuffs and charged with counts of assault, harassment and trespass. “The organization has this saying, ‘Once a Knick, Always a Knick,’” Oakley writes. “But it only applies to certain players.”The Knick fan base, however, honored the credo. The Times’s Scott Cacciola reported that “a police officer at the Manhattan precinct where Oakley was being processed stood on the steps and shouted ‘Free Charles Oakley!’” Even Reggie Miller took his side. In the end, the ejection may have been a small mercy. The charges were eventually dropped, and all Oakley missed was a 119-115 loss to the Clippers.“A baseball life is fragile and absurd,” Ron Shelton says. “It’s also wondrous and thrilling.” Shelton is the writer and director of “Bull Durham,” the 1988 film that Sports Illustrated has called the best sports movie of all time. The movie plays as a broad satire, but in THE CHURCH OF BASEBALL: The Making of Bull Durham: Home Runs, Bad Calls, Crazy Fights, Big Swings, and a Hit (Knopf, 256 pp., $30, to be published in July), Shelton’s new memoir, we learn that it is firmly rooted in the author’s experience playing in the Orioles farm system. When he reports for rookie ball, the first player he meets is another guy named Ron Shelton. It only gets more absurd from there.A pitcher for the Durham Bulls.Paul A. Souders/Corbis, via Getty ImagesShelton’s love of film was nurtured as a young ballplayer. With time to kill before games in dusty towns, he would repair to the movies, taking in whatever matinee happened to be playing. “There’s a kind of film education in going indiscriminately to movies, whatever the rating, whatever the reviews,” he writes. “‘Rio Lobo’ to Russ Meyer to Alain Resnais.”His appreciation of the high and the low shaped the writing of “Bull Durham.” Crash Davis, the veteran catcher played by Kevin Costner, is based on a stock figure from the western, the hired gun. The idea that a sex-starved pitcher might throw nastier stuff came from Aristophanes.That anyone agreed to make this movie is a credit to Shelton’s talents as a writer, but also a stroke of dumb luck. When he makes his unlikely elevator pitch — “‘Lysistrata’ in the minor leagues” — it’s to Thom Mount, perhaps the only producer in Hollywood who would appreciate it. “He knew ‘Lysistrata’ and he knew the infield fly rule — that’s a small group to find in Hollywood — and he owned a piece of the Durham Bulls baseball team in the Carolina League.”For the part of Nuke LaLoosh, the cocky pitching prospect eventually portrayed by Tim Robbins, Shelton wanted Charlie Sheen, but he was already attached to “Eight Men Out.” A year after the release of “Bull Durham,” Sheen would play a different pitcher with control issues, in “Major League.” Costner’s next role was Ray Kinsella, in “Field of Dreams.” It’s a measure of baseball’s diminished cultural capital that such a slate is impossible to imagine in the present.A funny thing, though, about “Bull Durham”: There’s not all that much baseball in it. This reflects a maxim of Shelton’s: “The biggest mistake a sports movie can make is to have too much sports.” At the movie’s heart is the love triangle of Crash, Nuke and Annie, the sultry Bulls booster played by Susan Sarandon; command of the infield fly rule is not required to appreciate their chemistry. Shelton was pleased that his former peers in the minors liked the movie, but he knew he had a hit when Billy Wilder, master of the sex farce, summoned him to his table at a restaurant on Sunset Boulevard. “Great picture, kid,” he said.At the end of “Bull Durham,” Crash is thinking about taking a job as a manager — there may be an opening next season in Visalia. What would have awaited him in the California League? Visalia was an early stop for the umpire Dale Scott, the author of a rollicking new memoir. The games were sparsely attended, he reports, save for one couple who never missed an inning, or an opportunity to rain abuse on the umpires.One night, Scott and a crewmate go out for ice cream after a game, only to discover that the couple are the proprietors of Visalia’s ice cream parlor. The umpires decide to exact a bit of sweet revenge: “You call that a scoop?” they heckle. “That’s not a scoop.” The couple is duly chastened. “The rest of our games in Visalia, we didn’t hear a word.”It’s a rare victory for the blue. In THE UMPIRE IS OUT: Calling the Game and Living My True Self (University of Nebraska, 312 pp., $34.95), written with Rob Neyer, Scott is cheery yet candid about the indignities of umpiring. Sparky Anderson sprayed tobacco juice on his face. Billy Martin once attempted to kick dirt on him, but struggled to dislodge a clod equal to his ire. “Billy then bent down, scooped as much as he could with both hands and shoveled it right on my classy American League sweater.” In Baltimore, Scott was hit below the belt by a wild pitch, requiring a trip to the E.R. The bright side: Taking a ball to the groin “might be the only time when every player on the field, no matter which team, actually sympathizes with you.”Dale Scott in action, 2001.via Dale ScottScott had a long, illustrious run in the majors, calling All-Star games, playoff games, World Series games. But he’s an important figure not just for his work behind the plate. He was also M.L.B.’s first openly gay umpire.For decades, however, Scott kept his sexuality to himself, fearful that his secret could cost him his career. “I was so in the closet when living my baseball life that I would take what now seem like ridiculous and (frankly) demeaning precautions,” he writes. At one point, he enlists a beautiful woman, a flight attendant, to meet him for dinner at an umpire hangout in Tempe, Ariz. Scott’s peers are duly impressed, unaware that his date is in fact the sister of his longtime partner, Mike.Scott came out publicly in 2014, shortly after he and Mike were married. Between innings during his first spring training game after the news broke, the Cincinnati Reds’ Marlon Byrd ran up to Scott and gave him a bear hug: “Buddy, I’m so proud of you. You’re free! You’re free!”Perhaps few players in baseball history have taxed the umpire ranks as severely as Rickey Henderson. His batting stance, a tight crouch, shrank the strike zone. “The guy is impossible to pitch to,” said a pitcher for Visalia, who faced Henderson when he was coming up with Modesto. “He drives me crazy, and the umpires too.” Then there was his distracting habit of chattering to himself — in the third person — in the batter’s box. “Come on, Rickey. He can’t beat you with that. … Is that all he’s got? … He better hope it isn’t. Ooooohhh, he better HOPE it isn’t.” The umpire manning second base had it easier. Henderson was usually safe by a mile.“Baseball is about homecoming,” A. Bartlett Giamatti famously wrote. “It is a journey by theft and strength, guile and speed.” By that definition, is there any question that Henderson must be considered one of the best to ever play the game? No player has had more guile or speed: Henderson holds the career record for stolen bases. He also journeyed by strength, hitting 297 home runs, more than many of the sluggers he competed against over his long career. Indeed, no player has had more homecomings than Henderson. He holds the record for runs scored, with 50 more than Ty Cobb.Henderson is the subject of RICKEY: The Life and Legend of an American Original (Mariner, 448 pp., $29.99), by Howard Bryant. Bryant’s most recent books, “Full Dissidence” and “The Heritage,” have been studies of sports and race, an intersection he covers with moral urgency. While his new book is a biography, it is remarkable for the way in which it tells a broader story about the social and political forces — starting with the segregation that divided Oakland, where Henderson grew up and made his name — that shaped this player and the way he was perceived by his peers, the media and the fans.Rickey Henderson at bat, 1995.Brad ManginDespite his unimpeachable numbers, Henderson was routinely accused of privileging flash over substance. Bryant sees instead a man unwilling to bend to tradition. “The Black fans and players knew that pitting charisma against winning was a false, often racist choice — and a way to punish the Black players for playing with Black style. More than any other sport, baseball demanded that Black and brown players adapt to the old ways of playing the game, which is to say, the white ways.”Henderson did things at his own pace (“Rickey Time”) and in his own way (“Rickey Style”). “Rickey was all legs and thrust and ferocity,” Bryant writes. “Batting leadoff, a position in the order that was supposed to be largely inconspicuous, the table-setter for bigger things to happen, he demanded to be recognized.” The sportswriter Ralph Wiley coined a term for the damage Henderson could do all on his own: the “Rickey Run.” He could “walk, steal second, either steal third or reach it on a grounder, then come home on a fly ball. With Rickey, the A’s could score without even getting a hit.”After watching a Rickey Henderson highlight reel, a Yankees executive once remarked, “I’ve never seen a guy look so fast in slow motion.” The same might be said of a Formula 1 driver as he maneuvers through a chicane, the elegance of the alternating turns belying the car’s speed. The success of the Netflix series “Drive to Survive” has led to an explosion of interest in F1 in the United States, a country long immune to its charms. It is said that the seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher loved to vacation in the States — because no one ever recognized him.The suddenness of this change in fortunes has left the publishing industry on the back foot, as they say in the paddock. Surely waves of books are in the making: a collection of earthy wisdom from Kimi Raikkonen, perhaps, or a behind-the-mic memoir by the beloved Sky Sports commentator David “Crofty” Croft. For now, F1 HEROES: Champions and Legends in the Photos of Motorsport Images (Skira/D.A.P., 192 pp., $42) isn’t a bad way to bide the time. Though largely a compendium of photographs, the book, edited by Ercole Colombo and Giorgio Terruzzi, also offers capsule histories of each of F1’s seven decades — a helpful cheat sheet for those newly minted fans who can’t yet tell the difference between Phil Hill, Graham Hill and Damon Hill, former champions all.Spanish Grand Prix, 1951.LAT PhotographicFormula 1 is a fantastically photogenic sport, owing to the beauty of the cars, the globe-spanning venues of the races and the glittering people it has traditionally attracted. Here is Juan Manuel Fangio in Pedralbes, Spain, in 1951, in an Alfa Romeo that looks like a soap box compared with today’s menacing machines. Here is Jim Clark in Riems, France, in 1963, strips of plaster affixed to his face to provide protection from flying debris. Here is Jochen Rindt with his wife, the Finnish model Nina Rindt, in Monza, Italy, in 1970, looking philosophical in the moments before the practice session that will claim his life. Here is Pope John Paul II granting an audience to Team Ferrari; here is George Harrison granting an audience to Damon Hill. One hopes the Motorsport photo pool was on assignment at this spring’s Grand Prix in Miami, where American royalty — Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, the Williams sisters — saluted the nation’s new favorite sport.John Swansburg is a managing editor at The Atlantic. More

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      in Boxing

      NBA star Glen ‘Big Baby’ Davis, 36, to make boxing debut on undercard of Jake Paul’s next fight against WWE heavyweight

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      EX-NBA star Glen “Big Baby” Davis is set to make his boxing debut on the undercard of Jake Paul’s next fight. YouTube star-turned prizefighter Paul returns to the ring on August 13 for his sixth professional bout.
      Glen ‘Big Baby’ Davis is set to make his boxing debutCredit: Getty
      Jake Paul is set to return on August 13Credit: Rex
      And according to ESPN, his Most Valuable Promotions banner are seeking an ex-WWE heavyweight as Davis’ opponent.
      The former power forward stands at 6ft 9in and weighs over 21 STONE.
      He featured in the NBA for nine seasons, most recently in 2015 with the LA Clippers and started his pro career with the Boston Celtics.
      Davis, 36, last played in 2019 with St John’s Edge in the Canadian league.
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      The American was in talks to fight 6ft 11in Larry Sanders, 33, who left the NBA five years ago.
      But after the bout collapsed, Paul, 25, tweeted: “Any NFL or NHL players willing to step in the ring with Big Baby?”
      Paul in November 2020 knocked out retired basketball player Nate Robinson, 37, in his second fight.
      He has since beaten UFC pair Ben Askren, 37, and Tyron Woodley, 40, twice, firstly on points and then by knockout.
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loss as legend, 43, shows off transformation
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      Paul’s brother Logan, 27, in June boxed Floyd Mayweather, 45, in an exhibition in Miami.
      On the undercard, NFL legend Frank Gore, 39, lost to basketballer Deron Williams, 37, on points in four rounds.
      Gore has since made his professional debut and knocked out Olaseyinde Olorunsola, 29, in May.
      Frank Gore during his fight with Deron WilliamsCredit: AP More

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      Golden State Headed to NBA Finals After Beating Dallas Mavericks

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      Injuries helped end a streak of five straight finals runs, but Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green are back after beating the Dallas Mavericks in the West.SAN FRANCISCO — When the game ended and the celebration began, Klay Thompson’s emotions overtook him.He thought about the past three years of his life, the two serious leg injuries that required surgery, the days when he went to rehab even though he couldn’t bear it any longer. He thought about how this time last year he was just starting to jog again, and how his Warriors teammates sank to the worst record in the N.B.A. from the best in their conference while he couldn’t help. He thought about how lucky he was to have regained his explosiveness this season, how lucky he was to be able to play basketball for a living again.He thought about it all as he sat at the podium after the game, wearing a 2022 N.B.A. finals hat that bore Golden State’s logo and a T-shirt that said they were the Western Conference champions. He said it felt surreal.“I’m just grateful,” Thompson said.Golden State will return to the N.B.A. finals for the first time since 2019 after defeating the Dallas Mavericks, 120-110, in the Western Conference finals on Thursday.Golden State won the series with a victory in Game 5 behind 32 points from Thompson, and 10 points and 18 rebounds from Kevon Looney. They never trailed in the game, and staved off every Mavericks run.Klay Thompson missed two seasons with injuries, but had 32 points in Golden State’s Game 5 win over the Dallas Mavericks to advance to the N.B.A. finals.Cary Edmondson/USA Today Sports, via ReutersBecause of injuries, the Warriors had spent a couple of seasons wandering through the N.B.A. wilderness. But their celebrated core — Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green — is together again and playing some of its best basketball, no small achievement considering the team’s triumphant past.“We are all extremely proud of what it took to get back here,” Curry said. “Yeah, it’s definitely sweet based on what we went through.”Golden State won three championships and advanced to five straight finals from 2015 to 2019, before it all began to come unglued. While falling to the Toronto Raptors in the 2019 finals, Thompson tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee and Kevin Durant ruptured his right Achilles’ tendon.It would get worse. A few weeks later, Durant, who had helped Golden State win two championships, left for the Nets. Four games into the subsequent season, Curry broke his left hand. Golden State finished with the worst record in the league, a humbling blow for a franchise that had seemed on the cusp of establishing itself as a dynasty.Earlier this season, in a podcast interview with the former player JJ Redick, Green acknowledged his uncertainty about the future — both the team’s and his own — as Golden State labored through that listless 2019-20 season. Without Thompson, who spent much of his time rehabilitating away from the team, and Curry, who appeared in just five games, Green did little to hide his frustrations. He mentored some of the team’s younger players, but he also sulked and shot terribly.“I couldn’t get myself going,” Green told Redick. “It was never a point where I felt that my window was closing because of my skills or because of what I bring to the table. But if we’re going to suck like this every year, then my window is closed because I can’t get up for these meaningless games.”Thompson suffered another misfortune when he tore his right Achilles’ tendon in a private workout before the start of the 2020-21 season.“You go through one injury: ‘All right, cool. We’ll get our guy back. We’ll pick up where we left off,’” Green said. “Then you go through another one. When I say you go through another one, I mean, Klay. Then there it is, it’s two years off. You realize how fragile it is.”Draymond Green holding the Western Conference trophy. Green has won three championships with Golden State.Ezra Shaw/Getty ImagesBehind the scenes, though, Golden State’s decision makers were building toward a future — one they hoped would resemble the team’s not-so-distant past. In February 2020, General Manager Bob Myers traded for Andrew Wiggins, the No. 1 draft pick in 2014, who had never quite fulfilled his seemingly vast potential with the Minnesota Timberwolves.With Golden State, Wiggins would prove he could do a bit of everything: shoot, pass, rebound, defend. On Monday, Kerr described the trade for Wiggins as “the key to all of this.” Golden State’s depth at the wing position had evaporated after the 2019 finals. Thompson was injured. Shaun Livingston had retired. And Andre Iguodala had been traded to the Memphis Grizzlies.“So the Wiggins trade allowed us to start to rebuild that wing defense,” Kerr said, “and Wiggs has just been so good. He’s gotten so much better over the last couple of years. He’s a perfect fit next to our guys.”Thompson said he told Wiggins after Thursday’s game how grateful he was to have him on the team.This season, Wiggins was a first-time All-Star as Golden State went 53-29, good for the third-best record in the West. There were other meaningful moments along the way. Curry broke the league record for career 3-pointers. Thompson, after 941 days away, made his long-anticipated return from injury, scoring 17 points — and even dunking — in a win against the Cleveland Cavaliers.But Golden State did not exactly race into the playoffs. It took time for Thompson to regain his familiar feel for the game, and Curry missed the final 12 games of the regular season with a sprained foot. Over one particularly lean stretch at the end of March, the Warriors lost seven of eight games. It was far from assured that they were capable of making a deep run in the playoffs.They needed just five games to eliminate the sixth-seeded Denver Nuggets in the first round, then six to take care of the second-seeded Grizzlies in the conference semifinals.The Mavericks, despite the best efforts of Luka Doncic, were little more than a speed bump.Dallas stole Game 4 of the series behind 30 points from Doncic, then Golden State returned home on Thursday to close out the series.“It’s a beautiful story,” Wiggins said.Andrew Wiggins’s defense on Luka Doncic throughout the series was a key factor in Golden State’s victories.Kelley L Cox/USA Today Sports, via ReutersKevon Looney, center, had 18 rebounds for Golden State in Game 5.Cary Edmondson/USA Today Sports, via ReutersThe celebration began with about a minute and a half left in the game. Golden State took its starters out so the crowd could shower them with love. Curry sat on the bench looking almost like he couldn’t believe it, then the buzzer sounded and he jumped up and down waving a towel in the air.As streamers fell from the rafters, the Western Conference championship trophy was brought onto the court, along with the new Western Conference finals’ most valuable player trophy, which is named after Magic Johnson and was awarded to Curry. Thompson went around giving powerful hugs to his teammates. Green rushed into the stands with a stack of N.B.A. finals hats to give them to members of his family.After the trophy presentation on the court, Green walked toward the Warriors’ locker room yelling, “We back!”The core’s first playoff appearance together came in 2013, when they beat the Denver Nuggets in the first round before falling to the San Antonio Spurs in the second. They played in Oracle Arena in Oakland back then — all five of their prior finals series happened there.“It’s like kind of time stopped there where you kind of understand what real basketball is like in the playoffs,” Curry said. “We were pups at the time, but definitely great memories of playing in Oracle, the Warrior chants 25 minutes before a tipoff, the haze in the building, if you know what I mean.“To know where we’ve come from that year, everything that’s happened since — I can pretty much drop myself into any series and know what it felt like because we rely on those experiences so much.”Thompson remembers the 2013 playoffs well, too.“We were so young. We took an experienced and dynastic San Antonio team to a hard-fought series,” Thompson said. “After that I was like, gosh, we’re going toe-to-toe with Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. If we build on this, we could have a great future.”If someone had told him then that he would spend more than a decade with this team and that they would make six finals appearances together?“I would have never believed you,” Thompson said.Now, he wants more. More

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      Dallas Mavericks Save Season With Win Over Golden State

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      Dallas staved off elimination by Golden State behind Luka Doncic’s near triple-double. But the mass shooting in Uvalde loomed over the game.DALLAS — After a second-quarter stoppage in play, Luka Doncic of the Mavericks rose from one leg and tossed up a meaningless shot from beyond the 3-point line whose sole purpose seemed to be to entertain Doncic himself. It was a skyscraper, the ball hurtling toward the rafters before plummeting to Earth. It took one hard bounce off the court and then rattled through the hoop.As they waded into Tuesday’s playoff game against the Golden State Warriors, the Mavericks had to be wondering whether they could make shots with any consistency. Their season depended on it.While Doncic’s circus shot didn’t count, the degree of difficulty was outrageous. (Welcome to Luka’s World.) The crowd roared. And for a team on the ropes, it was a sign of good things to come.A major comeback can only begin with a modest first step, and Dallas is banking on the hope — however remote — that its 119-109 win over Golden State on Tuesday night in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals is a building block for a miracle.“We’re going to believe until the end,” said Doncic, who made several more conventional shots as the game moved along, finishing with 30 points, 14 rebounds and 9 assists. “We got more to do, you know. This is nothing.”You may have heard this before, but no team has overcome a three-games-to-none deficit in N.B.A. history. After avoiding elimination, Dallas, which now trails in the series, 3-1, wants to become the first. Game 5 is on Thursday in San Francisco.Stephen Curry led Golden State with 20 points but sat for most of the fourth quarter, with the game seemingly out of reach.Jerome Miron/USA Today Sports, via Reuters“We want to do something special,” the Mavericks’ Dorian Finney-Smith said. “It’s going to be very hard, but we can do it. We just got to stick together.”If nothing else, Tuesday’s win was a credit to the Mavericks and their resilient young core. They could have folded up for the season after polluting Game 3 with a buffet of ugly jump shots. In the loss, they went 13 of 45 from 3-point range. Reggie Bullock missed all 10 of his field-goal attempts.On Tuesday, the Mavericks shot 20 of 43 from 3-point range, assisted on 30 of their 41 field goals and unboxed a new-and-improved version of Bullock, who made 6 of his 10 3-point attempts.“It was almost like an ego win,” Golden State’s Stephen Curry said, referring to the Mavericks. “You come out and you really have nothing to lose, so that confidence started early. We didn’t really do nothing to slow it down, and that’s when the avalanche starts. So it’s a good lesson learned. You tip your hat to them because they made a lot of shots.”After scuffling through a couple of injury-marred, playoff-free seasons, Golden State remains one win from its first conference championship since 2019. But throughout the postseason, the team has faltered — at least momentarily — when it has come to eliminating its opponents.In the first round, the Denver Nuggets avoided a sweep by defeating Golden State in Game 4. In the conference semifinals, the Memphis Grizzlies prolonged their series with a 39-point win. For both the Nuggets and the Grizzlies, the reprieve was temporary: Golden State closed out each series in the subsequent game.The Mavericks present a different type of challenge. For long stretches of Tuesday’s game, Golden State went to a zone defense, which Dallas Coach Jason Kidd took as a compliment.“Because they can’t play us one-on-one,” he said.It was an odd game, both somber and then celebratory in its own muted way. It was played hours after at least 19 children and two adults were killed by a gunman at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, about 350 miles southwest of Dallas. At his pregame news conference, Golden State Coach Steve Kerr made an emotional plea for gun control legislation, while Kidd declined to answer questions about basketball.“We’re going to try to play the game,” Kidd said. “We have no choice.”Afterward, Kerr struggled to put the night into any sort of palatable context.“It’s too much to fathom, too much to comprehend,” he said. “We move on and we hope that someone actually decides to value our citizens’ lives more than they value money and power.”On a rainy evening, the start of the second half was delayed by leaks in the roof. By then, the Mavericks had a 15-point lead and were looking to build their momentum.It was not going to be easy: Golden State has a well-deserved reputation for pulverizing teams coming out of halftime. In fact, through the first three games of the series, the Warriors had outscored the Mavericks by a total of 31 points in the third quarter. Kidd was not overly concerned.“This group doesn’t let anything faze them,” he said.Sure enough, Dallas shot 8 of 13 from 3-point range in the third quarter to extend its lead to 29. Golden State made a late run with its reserves, but fell short.It is an obvious observation, but Doncic cannot do it alone — not against Golden State. He certainly tried to do his part in Game 2, when he scored 42, and in Game 3, when he scored 40. The Mavericks lost both.On Tuesday, he got help from lesser lights like Bullock and Finney-Smith, and even from Maxi Kleber, who came off the bench to snap his series-long nightmare by shooting 5 of 6 from the field.“If they make shots,” Doncic said, “I think it’s tough to beat us.”The Mavericks just need to do more of the same three more times. No circus shots required. More

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      Boston Celtics Romp Over Miami Heat

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      Boston and Miami keep trading blowout wins in their playoff series.BOSTON — The Miami Heat did not score their first basket until there was 3 minutes 22 seconds left in the first quarter Monday night, the longest period without a field goal to start an N.B.A. playoff game in almost three decades, according to ESPN.It got only worse from there, the result of yet another bizarre game in this Eastern Conference finals series against the Boston Celtics. From game to game, like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get.In Game 3 on Saturday night, the Heat went up by 26 points in the first half. In Game 4, it was the Celtics’ turn to go up 27 before halftime, despite missing their starting point guard, Marcus Smart, because of an ankle injury from the previous game. Most of the starters were out of the game for good by early in the final quarter.Through the first four games, the series has been mostly a sequence of wild, uncharacteristic swings by both teams. On Monday, Boston led by 32 at one point before winning, 102-82. Neither team has been able to carry momentum into the next game, despite looking dominant for long stretches.“It’s wild, right? I’m not really sure how to explain it,” Heat guard Victor Oladipo said.The series is tied, 2-2, but not because it has been especially competitive. Amazingly, the last time there was a lead change was in Game 2, in which the Celtics led by as many as 34. It was the only lead change of the game. Each team has apparently conveniently forgotten the tipoff time every other game. In three of the four games, a team has been leading by double digits at the end of the first quarter.“It’s an inconsistent series from both teams at times, and it’s an odd one, honestly,” Celtics Coach Ime Udoka said.It hasn’t been a question of being home or away, since each team has won a game on the road. The Celtics and the Heat have either been at their best or their worst. There have been very few in-betweens.“Sometimes when you have two really competitive teams, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be a 1-point game,” Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra said. “It means that it can be flammable either way. Both teams are ignitable.”He continued: “Both teams can really defend and get teams out of their comfort zone and distort a lot of things offensively, and that can fuel big runs on the other end.”On Monday, the advantage belonged to Boston from the start. The Celtics were quicker to loose balls, more active in disrupting passing lanes and more coordinated in switches, limiting quality looks for Miami. They were more urgent in getting back on defense and rotating in the paint, not allowing the Heat to push for fast breaks as they did on Saturday. Boston’s defense was so effective that Miami shot only two 3-pointers in the opening quarter, limiting its chance at making up the deficit until it was too late. It was the exact kind of energy that Boston sorely missed in the first half of Game 3. Miami’s starters combined for 18 points.What made the game even stranger is that the Celtics didn’t play well offensively. They were only 5 for 27 on 3-point attempts when they entered the fourth quarter up 24 points and the game was effectively over. They ended the game shooting 39.7 percent from the field, a percentage that would result in a loss on most nights, not a blowout win. They also won in spite of a poor game from guard Jaylen Brown, who shot 5 for 20 from the field for 12 points.Miami, a team that likes to pride itself on its hustle culture, gave up 10 offensive rebounds in the first half. Heat center Bam Adebayo, who finally broke out for 31 points in Game 3, reverted back to being tentative, shooting the ball only twice in the first half. He finished with 9 points. In large part, this was because of the presence of Celtics center Robert Williams III, who missed Game 3 because of knee soreness. Williams, who was named to the All-Defensive second team last week, made life difficult at the rim for Miami. He had 12 points and 9 rebounds in only 19 minutes.“We shouldn’t have to get punched in the mouth to respond,” Williams said of the team’s poor starts in its losses.Perhaps this game was inevitable. The Celtics have not lost two games in a row the entire postseason. In their semifinal matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks, Boston responded to letdowns with three strong performances. No one has been more indicative of the Celtics’ fortunes this postseason than their top player, Jayson Tatum — a Jekyll and Hyde superstar.There are nights when Tatum looks like one of the best players in the league. Those nights are often coming off Boston defeats. Including Monday night’s 31-point performance, Tatum has averaged 32.6 points after the Celtics’ losses during the postseason. He was aggressive in attacking the basket, getting to the line 16 times, more than any other game in this playoff run.But when Tatum plays poorly, he looks more out of sorts than most superstars. His shoulders slump. He settles for difficult step-back jumpers, complains to referees and doesn’t get back as aggressively on defense. In Game 3 against the Bucks, Tatum had only 10 points and shot 4 of 19 from the field. On Saturday night, Tatum had a similar performance — scoring 10 points on 3-of-14 shooting.“I think I do a really good job of sleeping it off, regardless if I have 10 points or 46 points,” Tatum said, adding, “I’m a big believer in you can’t change what happened.”Jimmy Butler, the Heat’s top playmaker, looked slow and lacked explosiveness.Paul Rutherford/USA Today Sports, via ReutersBut the Heat may have a star problem of their own going forward in the series. For the second straight game, Jimmy Butler, their top playmaker, looked slow and lacked explosiveness. He missed the second half of Game 3 because of knee inflammation. On Monday, he didn’t look any better, missing almost all of his shots at the rim. He didn’t go to the free-throw line once in 27 minutes, a sign that something is off. He averaged eight free throws a game in the regular season, among the best in the league. In Game 1 alone, he had 18.Asked about his knee, Butler said: “I’m straight. No excuse for how I played tonight. It don’t got nothing to do with my knee. I’ve just got to be better. I will be better. I’m not too worried about it.”Miami was already prone to offensive droughts. But without Butler at peak effectiveness, the Heat will have a difficult time scoring against one of the best defenses in the N.B.A. His absence was felt Saturday, when the Heat nearly blew their 26-point lead in that second half. His ability to penetrate and pass creates shots for others.But maybe the Heat will be fine either way. There hasn’t been much rhyme or reason for why the teams have alternated unleashing torrents on each other on a given night. And Game 5 at home, if this series is any indication, is Miami’s turn.“We’ve proven that we can do it,” Spoelstra said. “The margin for error for either team — whatever they have done to us, we can do to them. None of us are happy about what happened tonight.” More

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      The Dallas Mavericks Just May Not Be Good Enough Yet

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      With Golden State one win from the N.B.A. finals, Dallas is already talking about the off-season. Luka Doncic said he was “still learning.”DALLAS — Jason Kidd, the coach of the Mavericks, had a concise message for his players before Game 3 of the N.B.A.’s Western Conference finals on Sunday night.Open shots, he reminded them in the locker room, are easier to make than contested shots, so get into the paint and draw Golden State defenders. Do that, and space will open up on the perimeter.“Attack, attack, attack,” said Kidd, his voice betraying no small amount of urgency. “Make them work.”It was a smart strategy, and sure enough, it worked. The Mavericks generated a respectable number of clean looks at 3-pointers. The problem? They couldn’t make many of them. Luka Doncic, the team’s star point guard, offered a synopsis.“Sometimes you feel like you’re open and everybody knows you can make a shot, and then just miss,” he said. “It gets you quite a little bit down.”It was the latest installment of a series-long nightmare for the Mavericks, whose 109-100 loss put them on the brink of elimination. Golden State can complete a four-game sweep on Tuesday, and if that isn’t dire enough for Dallas, there is also this heavily recited piece of trivia: No team in league history has come back from the three-games-to-none series deficit the Mavericks are facing.“It’s not over yet,” Doncic said, “but it’s not going to be easy.”Not against an opponent that Kidd described as a “dynasty.” Not against the likes of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, together again after wading through two injury-ravaged seasons to lead the Warriors to the cusp of their first N.B.A. finals appearance since 2019.But Golden State is also a potent blend of new and old. For a stretch of the third quarter, the Warriors went with a box-and-1 defense as Moses Moody, the first-year guard, defended Doncic after receiving guidance from Green. In the fourth quarter, Andrew Wiggins, who has been playing his finest basketball since joining the team in 2020, nearly dunked Doncic into oblivion.“That was impressive,” Doncic said, “I’m not going to lie.”And Jordan Poole, the third-year guard who took advantage of the team’s lean seasons to develop into an explosive playmaker, sealed the win with a late-game 3-pointer.“They just stay connected throughout the entire game, whether they’re down 20 or up 20,” the Mavericks’ Jalen Brunson said. “You can see that. It’s just very evident.”Jalen Brunson, center, has been one of Dallas’s best performers in the playoffs. He had 20 points on 7 of 12 shooting on Sunday.Tom Pennington/Getty ImagesIt must be small consolation for them right now, but the Mavericks are learning some valuable lessons — many of the same lessons that the Memphis Grizzlies learned in the last round when they succumbed to Golden State’s experience and wisdom and all-around cohesive play. While Kidd stopped short of conceding the series, he acknowledged as much.“As we reflect this summer, whenever that starts, we’ll understand what we did and how we can get better,” he said. “We’re going to keep fighting, but we’re also going to get better from this experience.”Give the Mavericks credit for trying to adjust their approach after blowing a 19-point lead in Game 2.That adjustment was on display early in the second quarter of Game 3, as the Mavericks — once, twice, three times — penetrated into the paint, continually sending passes to the perimeter in search of a quality shot. It was only when they dribbled into the teeth of the defense for a fourth time that Dorian Finney-Smith spotted Brunson behind the 3-point line. He drained the shot.Later in the quarter, Brunson repaid the favor when he picked up his dribble near the left elbow. As a slew of Golden State defenders converged on him, Brunson whipped the ball to Finney-Smith for another 3-pointer, which pushed Dallas’s lead to 6.But that was as good as it got for the Mavericks, who were otherwise woeful from the 3-point line, shooting 13 of 45. Reggie Bullock missed all seven of his 3-point attempts. Maxi Kleber was 0 for 5.“We just didn’t shoot the ball well,” Kidd said. “We’re getting good looks, and they’re just not dropping.”There were other problems. One of them was named Stephen Curry, who collected 31 points and 11 assists while shooting 5 of 10 from 3-point range. The Mavericks also gave up too many offensive rebounds, and they wasted another valiant effort from Doncic. After scoring 42 points on Friday, he went for 40 on Sunday. The Mavericks lost both games.“I’m still learning,” he said.Stephen Curry had 31 points — including five 3-pointers — in Golden State’s win.Tom Pennington/Getty ImagesIf nothing else, the Mavericks are going to win or lose by being themselves — and unapologetically so. There is no greater illustration of this phenomenon than the behavior of their players on the bench, who have been treading a fine line between enthusiastic and obnoxious. They cheer. They dance. But they also stand precariously close to the court, which has caused issues.On Friday, for example, Curry threw a pass to an open player who was calling for the ball. The problem was that the open player was Theo Pinson, an inactive player for the Mavericks. Curry had mistaken Pinson’s white shirt for a Golden State jersey.“It was a good pass,” Golden State Coach Steve Kerr said, deadpan. “He was open.”The league subsequently fined the Mavericks $100,000 for continuing to violate league rules regarding “team bench decorum.” On multiple occasions, the league said in a statement, players and at least one member of the coaching staff had encroached on the playing surface. It was the third time the league had fined the Mavericks in the postseason for the extracurriculars of their bench.“We’re not going to sit,” Kidd said before Game 3. “We’re going to cheer.”By the end of night, Golden State had rendered them silent. More

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      At 36, Candace Parker Posts a Triple-Double, a W.N.B.A. Rarity

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      The Chicago Sky player became the third W.N.B.A. player to have multiple triple-doubles in a career. It was only the 11th one in the league’s 26 seasons, and she was the oldest to do it.Retirement may have been on Candace Parker’s mind before this season, but on the court she is showing no signs of being done.Parker on Sunday became the third player in W.N.B.A. history to record multiple triple-doubles in a career, finishing with 16 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists in the Chicago Sky’s 82-73 win over the Washington Mystics. At 36 years 33 days old, Parker is the oldest player to record a triple-double in the league.She completed the triple-double in the final minute with an assist to Courtney Vandersloot, who last year joined Sheryl Swoopes as the only player in league history with more than one triple-double. Vandersloot’s effort, only the second postseason triple-double in W.N.B.A. history — Swoopes had the first — helped Chicago beat top-seeded Connecticut in a semifinal series.“She was adamant about me getting my 10th assist,” Parker said of Vandersloot in her postgame news conference. “So you know that’s why I love this group. You know, I think we play for another, we get hype for others’ successes and we celebrate it, and I think that’s huge.”Parker nearly went out as a champion last year. After playing 13 seasons with the Los Angeles Sparks, she returned to her home state and helped deliver a W.N.B.A. title to the Sky. But her daughter, Lailaa, persuaded her to play in 2022, Parker said in an interview with Kristen Ledlow on NBA TV’s “WNBA Weekly.” Through five games, Parker is averaging 14 points and 8 rebounds and shooting 49.1 percent from the field.Parker’s feat Sunday is all the more impressive given the scarcity of triple-doubles in W.N.B.A. history: Sunday was the 11th in the league’s 26 seasons. The Liberty’s Sabrina Ionescu became the youngest player to record a triple-double last season.With two college national titles at Tennessee, two Olympic gold medals and two W.N.B.A. titles, Parker has won at every level, and her Chicago team looks poised to contend again this year. The Sky retained much of last year’s roster, including Kahleah Copper, the 2021 finals most valuable player who made her season debut Sunday, and they added Emma Meesseman, who won finals M.V.P. in 2019 with Washington.Chicago prevailed Sunday in a matchup featuring two Most Valuable Player Award winners: Parker (2008 and 2013) and Washington’s Elena Delle Donne (2015 and 2019). Delle Donne finished with 17 points, 7 rebounds and 3 steals. Six Chicago players, including Copper and Meesseman, finished in double figures. More

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      Boston Celtics Provide the Drama. Miami Heat Deliver the Win.

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      A strange playoff series keeps getting weirder with injury scares and furious comebacks. It’s difficult to tell who is best prepared to adapt.BOSTON — On the first possession of the game, Miami Heat point guard Kyle Lowry made a statement.He snatched a rebound off a Boston Celtics miss and sped the ball up the court before finding Max Strus for an open 3-pointer.Thus began an avalanche against a typically stolid Celtics defense. Miami’s dominant first quarter on Saturday provided enough cushion to withstand Boston’s furious comeback and emotional in-game returns from Celtics players who had appeared to be seriously injured. But it was the return of two Heat stars that made possible Miami’s 109-103 win in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals.The first star was Lowry, who has been absent for most of the playoffs because of a hamstring injury. The other was Bam Adebayo, who has only seemingly been absent from the series. Adebayo’s 16 points in the first half matched his combined total in Games 1 and 2. He finished Game 3 with 31 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists. Miami leads the series, 2-1.“In the previous game, as everyone knows, they beat us like we stole something,” Adebayo said of Miami’s 25-point loss in Game 2. “That should wake anybody up.”This has been an undoubtedly strange series. In 12 quarters, the Heat have outscored the Celtics only twice, yet they lead the series overall, two games to one. Those two quarters have been series-defining. The first was in the third quarter of Game 1, when the Heat outscored the Celtics, 39-14. The other was in Saturday night’s opening frame, when the Heat jumped out to a 39-18 lead. The matchup has mostly featured wild swings and stretches of uncharacteristically poor defense from two teams who typically count that as a strength.Miami’s Bam Adebayo came alive for the first time this series with 16 first-half points in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals.Michael Dwyer/Associated Press“The margin for error on either side is so small that you’ve just got to stay the course through all the emotions and the ups and downs,” Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra said.The Heat had a new strategy for Game 3: Move faster.Miami continuously pounded the Celtics defense in the first half by pushing the ball. That put the Celtics on their heels without time to adjust. In the case of Adebayo, sometimes that meant receiving a pass in the half-court, then immediately sprinting up the court and going to the basket against the slower Al Horford.“I’ve seen Bam play like that a lot, but tonight was special,” Strus said. “Just because of all the noise and all the criticism that he’s been getting, for him to step up like that was huge.”In the case of Lowry, pushing the ball meant receiving an inbounds pass after a Celtics basket and throwing it up the court to a streaking Jimmy Butler for a wide-open layup.But it wasn’t just fast breaks: When Adebayo received the ball in the post, he would immediately pivot into the paint, rather than hold the ball and wait for the defense to respond. That was not how the Heat were accustomed to playing: During the regular season, they were near the bottom of the league in pace.The Heat led by as many as 26 points in the first half. They entered halftime up by 15.The Heat forced 23 turnovers, which helped them push for fast breaks. The Celtics’ ballhandlers couldn’t find space to dribble because the Heat defense was so adept at stripping the ball. Boston’s Jaylen Brown, one of the better slashing guards in the N.B.A., repeatedly lost the ball to Victor Oladipo, who had four steals off the bench. Lowry and Adebayo also had four steals each.“We made it too easy on them in that regard,” Celtics Coach Ime Udoka said. “Obviously, getting stops or scoring the basketball, they can’t get out and run to that extent, but scoring 33 points on our 24 turnovers is hard to overcome.”Brown, who had seven turnovers, put at least some of the blame on officiating, despite Boston having 30 free throws to Miami’s 14.“They let a lot of stuff go tonight, especially when I feel like I drive and I get to the basket. I feel like it’s two hands on me all the time,” Brown said. “I never get those hand-checking calls.”The Heat even spoiled what would have been a dramatic story arc for the Celtics. In the third quarter, Marcus Smart, the Celtics guard who won the Defensive Player of the Year Award, left the game after appearing to sustain a gruesome right leg injury on a rebound attempt. He crashed to the floor, writhing in pain, and was helped off the floor and into the locker room.Within minutes, he re-emerged from the tunnel to deafening roars from the Celtics crowd and checked into the game. He immediately hit a corner 3-pointer to cut the Heat deficit to 10. Then came another dramatic moment in the fourth quarter, when Boston’s best player, Jayson Tatum, also collapsed to the ground, holding his right shoulder. Like Smart, he had to be helped off the floor. But he, too, re-emerged moments later.Boston’s Marcus Smart seemed to seriously injure his leg in the second half, but he was soon back in the game.Bob Dechiara/USA Today Sports, via ReutersBoston’s Jayson Tatum left for the locker room with an apparent shoulder injury, but, like Smart, he soon returned.Michael Dwyer/Associated PressThe Celtics seemed primed for a storybook comeback. They ferociously attacked the basket, while an arena full of fans in green T-shirts shouted themselves hoarse. Brown’s 3-pointer with 2 minutes 40 seconds left cut the Heat lead to 1 in a game Boston had never led. All the makings were there for a Hollywood movie, almost assuredly starring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.A rescue plan for Miami came in the form of Strus, the undrafted third-year guard, who has taken minutes from the higher-profile guards Duncan Robinson and Tyler Herro. He answered Brown’s jumper with a 3-pointer of his own, deflating the Celtics crowd. Lowry, putting a period on his game-opening statement, provided the assist for the stat sheet and a separate one in the huddle.“In the timeout, Kyle said, let’s run a pin-down for Max,” Strus said. “Let’s get him open. So when he said that, I had all the confidence in the world to step up and make a shot.”Health will be a defining factor going forward in the series. Butler missed the second half of Game 3 because of knee inflammation. The Celtics were missing Robert Williams III, their starting center, because of knee swelling. He is considered day-to-day. Udoka said after the game that Smart had rolled his ankle and Tatum had a shoulder stinger.“I’m assuming they’ll be OK,” Udoka said.Lowry was a pest on defense, with heady play on offense and a calming influence, resembling the player he’d been when he won a championship in 2019 with the Toronto Raptors. He finished with 11 points, 6 assists and 4 steals. It wasn’t always pretty, but it worked. He said he felt “fine” after the game, despite struggling to find a rhythm.“No matter what happens, at the end of the day, if you put your heart out there and play hard, you’ve got to be happy and just live with the results, and that’s what we do,” Lowry said. More