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

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

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

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

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      Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets Wins Second NBA MVP Award

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

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

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

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      Celtics’ Horford Turns Back the Clock and the Bucks

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      Horford, Boston’s 35-year-old center, delivered 30 points and one big dunk as the Celtics tied their series, 2-2.Early in the second half of Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals on Monday night, Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Milwaukee Bucks star, rumbled down the floor and dunked the ball on Al Horford, the 35-year-old Boston Celtics center who has been tasked with slowing him down.The Bucks had all the momentum in the game and were on the verge of putting the Celtics on the ropes in the series.And then Antetokounmpo, the two-time Most Valuable Player Award winner, miscalculated. He followed up his dunk by staring daggers at Horford and received a technical for taunting. Horford stared right back, nodding his head several times.Giannis got a tech for this.. pic.twitter.com/gZpEsXPsTf— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 10, 2022
      “The way he was looking at me and the way that he was going about it really didn’t sit well with me,” Horford told reporters after the game. “And at that point I think just something switched with me.”Horford turned in one of the best performances of his career. He scored 16 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter, carrying the Celtics to a 116-108 win that tied the series, 2-2.At least two of his points were a bit of payback directly on Antetokounmpo: a dunk in the fourth quarter over the Bucks star that saw the typically reserved Horford let out a scream.In Horford’s previous 131 playoff games, he had never scored 30 points in a game. In doing so, though, he may have saved the Celtics season.“We love Al,” Celtics guard Marcus Smart said. “He’s the best vet we’ve ever had. Best vet I’ve ever had. You know, he comes in and it never changes with him. Things going bad or good, he’s going to be him. Nine times out of 10, it’s going to work in our favor.”Monday’s performance was made all the more remarkable by the fact that entering the 2020-21 season, Horford was in the basketball wilderness.He had just finished a disappointing season with the Philadelphia 76ers after signing a contract worth more than $100 million. Horford, a five time All-Star, was offloaded to the rebuilding Oklahoma City Thunder, who had little use for an aging center in his mid-30s. The Sixers had to attach a first-round draft pick just to get the Thunder to consider the deal. And then Horford was shut down in midseason. Not because he was injured or playing that poorly. But because he didn’t fit in Oklahoma City.Brad Stevens, the new Celtics president, traded Kemba Walker, another former All-Star with limited productivity in recent years, for Horford, a player he had coached in Boston for three seasons from 2016 to 2019.While Horford made 5 of 7 3-pointers, his teammates struggled to connect from distance.Michael Mcloone/USA Today Sports, via ReutersIt was thought to be a low impact move. What could a past-his-prime, slow-moving center provide to a young Celtics team looking to get more athletic?Quite a bit, it turned out. Horford started 69 games for Boston in the regular season, helping to anchor one of the league’s best defenses. In the first round against the Nets, Horford averaged 13 points and 7.5 rebounds and shot 60 percent on 3-pointers.“I feel like this past summer, I understood that I needed to take it to even another level,” Horford said. “We really started with the summer and just continued in season. And now these are the moments that I want to be a part of.”His motivation, he added, was simple: “That’s from sitting at home. That’s from watching the playoffs. That’s from not knowing what my future was holding and really just hoping to have an opportunity to be in this type of environment.”Against the Bucks, Horford has been the primary defender on Antetokounmpo. It’s a more challenging matchup than one might expect: Antetokounmpo cannot as easily bully Horford in the paint the way he can most defenders. And Horford, even at this stage in his career, is mobile enough to limit Antetokounmpo from speeding past him with long strides.Antetokounmpo scored 34 points on Monday, but he needed 32 shots to get them.Horford’s biggest contribution, meanwhile, has been his shooting. On Monday, Horford made 5 of his 7 3-point attempts. The rest of the team combined to shoot 9 for 30. In several instances, Horford’s baskets came when it seemed the Bucks were on the verge of pulling away.For the Celtics to win this series, they will need to continue to hit their deep jumpers since they are not getting consistent access to the basket because of the rim protection of Antetokounmpo, a former defensive player of the year, and Brook Lopez, the Bucks’ towering center.In Game 2, the Celtics shot 20 of 43 from behind the 3-point line — an exceptional 46.5 percent. They won the game in a blowout. With Horford hitting his shots in Game 4, the Celtics were able to stretch the floor again, and that allowed Jayson Tatum to find more room to navigate in the paint. He recovered from a dismal Game 3 to match Horford with 30 points on Monday, including several key baskets down the stretch.There remain some red flags, though, for Boston in the series. Both of its wins have required uncommon performances — unusually good 3-point shooting, and Horford’s brilliance in Game 4 — and the Bucks still have the best player on either team in Antetokounmpo.Milwaukee, because of its size, also has been able to get into the lane more easily. That produces a more reliable offense, and it puts pressure on officials to call fouls.And other Boston players will need to hit shots. It’s unlikely that Horford, 35, will be able to keep up Monday’s pace, either in shooting or scoring. And in most games, if Horford is the best player on a Boston team with Tatum and Jaylen Brown, something is amiss.Just not Monday night.“Al, man,” Smart said, heaping even more praise on Horford. “He’s been doing this for a very long time, and he understands what he brings to the game and to the team. And we need every last bit of it every night we can. So it’s a big, big, big, big, big, and I mean this, big key, Al being with us.” More

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      Don’t Be Fooled by Tyrese Maxey’s Smile. The Sixers Guard Can Ball.

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      Maxey, the second-year Philadelphia 76ers guard, is showing a maturity beyond his 21 years during the playoffs. And the Sixers need him.Many of the key members of the Philadelphia 76ers have become jaded by the realities of life in the N.B.A.Their mettle has been questioned at times, even though they have collectively played professional basketball for decades. Sometimes their ability and their durability have been questioned, too. They approach the season with a guarded demeanor that offers little hint of the joy they might find in the game they play for a living.Then there’s Tyrese Maxey.He laughs. He giggles. His most common facial expression is a smile. He teases his teammates.On the court, though, Maxey’s play betrays little of that. On a team with veteran stars and a coach who all have something to prove, Maxey is a linchpin whose steady play has given cover for the team’s lapses every once in a while.On Sunday night, the 76ers did not need a heroic performance from Maxey to tie their best-of-seven second-round playoff series with the Heat at two games apiece, even as Miami’s Jimmy Butler scored 40 points in Philadelphia’s 116-108 win. But Maxey still made a difference in Game 4: He scored 18 points, hit all six of his free throws and helped the 76ers maximize strong performances from their stars.The Sixers’ best players — center Joel Embiid and guard James Harden — combined for 55 points, with Embiid scoring 15 points in the first quarter, Harden scoring 13 in the second, and both making important plays as the game wound down. Harden’s 18 second-half points included four 3-pointers.Maxey has established himself as part of the team’s engine.Maxey opened the playoffs with a 38-point game against the Raptors, and he averaged 21.3 points per game for the first-round series.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press, via Associated PressThe 76ers are driven by their stars, but when the stars are limited by injuries or the ebbs of the game, Philadelphia has been able to count on Maxey. This was his second season in the N.B.A. and first as a full-time starter. He was an occasional part of Philadelphia’s starting rotation last year, and played limited minutes in the 2021 playoffs.This postseason, though, he made an immediate contribution. Maxey scored 38 points in Game 1 of the 76ers’ opening-round series against the Toronto Raptors, lifting Philadelphia when Harden’s play was inconsistent.“I saw growth,” Harden said about Maxey that day. “I saw, like, from being up and down, not really having consistent minutes last year in the postseason to starting and having a huge role on a championship-contender team. He just was calm out there and took his shots when they were open. He took his attacks when they were available. He just made the right play, which he does.“He’s ultra-confident. That’s what we’re going to need going forward.”Maxey nearly had a triple-double in Game 2 of that series, with 23 points 9 rebounds and 8 assists. Philadelphia beat Toronto in six games, and Maxey scored 25 points in the clincher.His next-best playoff performance came in Game 2 against the Heat. Although it’s said that young players and role players usually shoot better at home, Maxey made 54.5 percent of his field goals and scored 34 points in Miami. Philadelphia played without Embiid for a second straight game because of a concussion and a facial injury.In the 76ers’ Game 3 win over the Heat, with Embiid back in the fold, Maxey scored 21 second-half points after not scoring in the first. He was 5-for-5 from 3-point range after halftime, and made seven of his eight second-half field goals.“I just started being aggressive,” Maxey said of his shift in the second half. “I kind of let the game come to me.”He averaged 17.5 points per game during the regular season, and is averaging 22 points per game in the playoffs while playing more minutes. The higher stakes and heavier workload — about 41 minutes per game now versus 35 minutes per game during the regular season — could prove too much for many young players. But it hasn’t been for Maxey.The 76ers have come to expect this kind of play from him, so much so that guard Danny Green referred to Maxey in the same breath as Embiid and Harden when discussing production from Philadelphia’s key players during a recent postgame interview on TNT.Maxey showed his on-court maturity late in Sunday’s game, with Philadelphia ahead by 6 and holding off Miami’s final push.Less than two minutes remained in the game when Harden missed a driving floater and Embiid grabbed the rebound and passed to Green. He got the ball to Maxey outside the 3-point arc, and Maxey surveyed the court with the kind of studied gaze that often comes more easily to veterans. He saw Tobias Harris free on the baseline clear across the court and threw him an alley-oop pass with 1 minute 40 seconds left.“He’s ultra-confident,” Sixers guard James Harden said of Maxey. “That’s what we’re going to need going forward.”Matt Slocum/Associated PressAfter the game, Maxey’s youthful exuberance was back. He conducted his postgame interview beside Harris, a forward eight years older than Maxey. Before the interviews started, Maxey joked about how he’d been sitting in the locker room thinking about life.A reporter asked a question and Harris began speaking. His voice was hoarse and Maxey jumped back in his seat. Harris laughed before continuing, later explaining that he lost his voice when he was hit in the throat.A few minutes later, something tickled Maxey so much that he covered his mouth with both hands to stifle his giggles.In those moments, it was easy to remember that Maxey is only 21 years old. That he plays beyond his years on the court has given the 76ers hints of a third star for the future. More

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      Anybody Can Dribble a Basketball. But Few Can Do It Like This.

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      There’s hardly a more exciting play in basketball.A player is pounding the ball up and down with eyes darting left and right, deciding a point of attack. The player feints with one hand, and leans that way, so the defender follows. The ball flicks the other way, and the hapless defender slips, or in an even more embarrassing outcome, falls. The crowd oohs and aahs.Few basketball skills require more consistent creativity than ball-handling. The opportunities for flashy dunks and showy passes come and go. But innovative ball-handling is a constant need, particularly in the N.B.A., where athletic defenders are primed to close off every point of attack.This year’s N.B.A. postseason has featured some of the best dribblers in basketball history, including Kyrie Irving, James Harden, Chris Paul and Stephen Curry. Curry creates space for deep 3-pointers while defenders swarm him. Harden baits defenders into fouling him all over the court. Irving is a wizard at misdirections and spin moves to get to the rim. Paul operates the ball like it is on a string. All four can get by defenders with ease.The New York Times asked three generational dribblers to discuss ball-handling: God Shammgod, Tim Hardaway and Oscar Robertson.Shammgod, an assistant coach for the Dallas Mavericks, had a brief N.B.A. career, but his dribbling became a thing of lore on New York City’s outdoor courts. His signature move — the Shammgod crossover, in which he pushes the ball forward with one hand and then pulls it across with the other — influenced a generation of players.Hardaway, who played in the N.B.A. from 1989 to 2003, was one of the league’s best point guards. His notable move was a double crossover called the UTEP Two Step, nodding to the college he played for, the University of Texas at El Paso.Oscar Robertson was an early purveyor of the crossover dribble in the 1960s.Focus on Sport, via Getty ImagesRobertson, a Hall of Famer and the first player to average a triple-double for an entire N.B.A. season, was an early purveyor of the crossover dribble in the 1960s.This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.What makes for a great ballhandler?SHAMMGOD Most of all imagination. Just learning how to manipulate the ball and manipulate angles. To be an elite dribbler, I would say you have to know how to use your body, use your footwork. Because dribbling is all footwork.HARDAWAY Not turning the ball over. Being under control. Knowing when to take your man and how to set your man up.ROBERTSON Experience and time. I started playing when I was young. I was a guard. I started hammering the ball, dribbling and making a lot of mistakes. And then, literally, you get involved and you learn different players, and what they’re trying to do to you. And you have the confidence in going inside at just anyone.Shooting is a skill that has evolved over time. Centers are now launching 3-pointers. How has the approach to ball-handling changed?SHAMMGOD It’s changed a lot by hiring different coaches to help. I like to say there’s a difference between teaching somebody moves and teaching somebody how to dribble. Most people, when they come and they work with somebody, they want to learn moves. They want to learn the Tim Hardaway UTEP Two Step. They want to learn the Shammgod crossover or [Allen] Iverson crossover. But to me, that’s really not dribbling. That’s learning how to do moves.Tim Hardaway, creator of the UTEP Two Step, in 1993.Brian Drake/NBAE, via Getty ImagesHARDAWAY You know, back when we were playing, there weren’t that many cameras. There wasn’t social media. So now they catch every little tidbit from each angle so it can be five different angles where you see a guy shaking his man and getting to the hole or crossing somebody over and getting to the hole. Five different angles where you see the guy slip or fall.ROBERTSON Guys who can handle and dribble the ball are the most successful athletes. If you cannot dribble the ball around anybody, you’re not going to do very well in basketball.How did you develop your crossover?SHAMMGOD Growing up, I used to just look at every dribble move I could imagine. And then I would go practice it in slow motion. I would have two-pound ankle weights on my wrist.I would dribble in slow motion. I would watch film in slow motion so I could watch the point guard’s footwork or how they do a move. And then the biggest thing for me is when I used to take the weights off my wrist, it’s just like when you punch with wrist weights off. You take them off your hands, they’re flying everywhere.HARDAWAY I’m from Chicago. My parents’ basement wasn’t finished, and so I used to go down there when it was cold outside. I just used to go downstairs and just dribble and just work on my game. Dribbling, pretending the man was in front of me. In and out moves between my legs, crossovers behind my back — I used to just spend hours downstairs at a time. Just dribble, dribble, dribble.ROBERTSON Just watching guys that I played with in Indianapolis, a place called the dust bowl, which was outside. It was on concrete, but they called it the dust bowl. And there were some really great basketball players. It’s almost unbelievable. I’m sure they have these players in all parts of the country who played great outdoors but didn’t do very well when they went inside.Who are your favorite ballhandlers?SHAMMGOD Of course, the ones that easily come to mind: Kyrie. Steph. James Harden, Chris Paul.HARDAWAY I grew up watching a great person named Isiah Thomas, great ballhandler. It moved on to myself. And then, it moved to Rod Strickland. Oh, man, Rod Strickland had crazy handles that nobody even recognizes anymore. And then, you know, you had guys that were coming up after us. Shammgod. And he’s out of New York. Derrick Rose had some nice handles out of Chicago. Then you look at these guys. Chris Paul, you know, at 37, still doing what he’s doing with the ball is amazing. Of course, Kyrie. Steph Curry, [Ja] Morant. James Harden.ROBERTSON I think Curry is very adept at handling the basketball. And also Ja Morant.They understand what the defense is trying to do to them. When you’re going out there, you’ve got to control your speed. To a certain extent, you can’t go 100 miles an hour because you don’t want to run into anybody. So these guys go in, they’re watching the defense.Stephen Curry fending off another skilled ballhandler, Ja Morant, last week during Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals.Justin Ford/Getty ImagesWhat’s your most memorable crossover in a game?SHAMMGOD The game against Rutgers University. It was against Geoff Billet at Madison Square Garden at the [1997] Big East tournament. It was on the right side of the court. That was when I first did the move. I threw it out to go to the basket and he tried to run to steal the ball. And the only thing I could do is pull it back on my left hand.HARDAWAY It’s a crazy story. I’m driving, and my son said: “Dad, I know you don’t like talking in the car while you drive to the game. But I want to ask you. Everyone is talking about the crossover. What is a crossover?”I said, “Boy, you’ve never seen me do the crossover?” He said, “No!” I said: “OK, I see it, but you can’t go nowhere. You’ve got to stay in your seat.” Because he liked to roam and walk around. Go back to the play room, play PlayStation and all this and all that. I say: “You’ve got to stay in your seat for the whole game. At halftime, you go use the bathroom. Other than that, you’ve got to stay in your seat the whole game because I don’t know when it’s going to happen, but I guarantee you it’s going to happen.”And sure enough, like the second play of the game against New York Knicks, Game 7 [of the 1997 Eastern Conference semifinals]. I came down and I said, “I’m going to point to you.” And I did a crossover, laid it up and I pointed to him. I could see him jumping up and down, point blank, being like: “Yeah, OK, I see it. I understand.” So that was one of those memorable moments when you would talk to your son and then show him in action what was the crossover and how you do it.ROBERTSON I didn’t think about it, to be honest.To what extent is ball-handling an art?SHAMMGOD I think it’s art to the fullest extent. It’s crazy, because right now, even if you say my name to a dictionary, it won’t bring up me. It will bring up a move and it will bring up the way the move is done.HARDAWAY Man, it’s like rhythm. It’s like dancing. Isiah used to do it. Nate Archibald used to do it. I used to do it. Dribbling a ball is like dancing and keeping up with the beat of a song. And if you watch Kyrie, that’s how he dribbles. If you watch Rod Strickland, that’s how he dribbles.You watch Kemba Walker and if you watch Steph Curry, it’s like dribbling to a beat of a song. When you see those basketball commercials and they’re bouncing a ball, it is like going to the beat of the song. That’s how it is. And it’s just gracefully just moving with the basketball and really having that confidence that nobody can guard you. Nobody can stick you, and you get around them and you look at them in their eyeballs, and you will see that fear in their eyes, “Damn, I’m in trouble.” That’s the art of dribbling right there.ROBERTSON I just think you either have it or you don’t.Source photographs: Focus on Sport/Getty Images; Joe Murphy/NBAE, via Getty Images; Dale Tait/NBAE, via Getty Images; Jeff Chiu/Associated Press; Cary Edmondson/USA Today Sports, via Reuters; Daniel Dunn/USA Today Sports, via Reuters; Mark J. Rebilas/USA Today Sports, via Reuters More

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      An N.B.A. Star Who Can’t Watch N.B.A. Games? It’s About Bad Habits.

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      “I have principles when it comes to this game,” Phoenix Suns center Deandre Ayton said. So when others don’t seem to, he said, “I don’t watch it at all.”Do not ask Phoenix Suns center Deandre Ayton to watch the N.B.A. away from work. He doesn’t want to see other teams play.“I just can’t watch it because I have principles when it comes to this game,” Ayton said in a recent interview after practice. “And, you know, I’ve just seen too many principles and bad habits that it messes with me. So I don’t watch it at all.”This is a far cry from early in Ayton’s career. He was selected with the first pick in the 2018 N.B.A. draft and was, at first, receiving attention for not matching the production of two players drafted soon after him: Luka Doncic at No. 3 and Trae Young at No. 5. It didn’t help that in his second season, Ayton was suspended for 25 games for testing positive for a diuretic, a violation of the league’s antidrug program.Since then, Ayton has blossomed into one of the best centers in the N.B.A. and a key part of Phoenix’s quest to win a championship. Ayton is one of the few throwback big men who have thrived in the contemporary N.B.A. by focusing on post-ups and rebounding, one who could’ve fit in just as well in the 1990s as he does now.The Suns raised eyebrows by not offering Ayton a maximum contract before the season, making him a restricted free agent this summer, one year after he helped them make the N.B.A. finals. Outwardly, Ayton shrugged it off and went on to have the best regular season of his four-year career, averaging 17.2 points and 10.2 rebounds on a career-high 63.4 percent shooting. He has expanded his offensive game beyond just dunks and has been a key partner for Chris Paul, the team’s All-Star point guard.Ayton, right, sets a screen for Chris Paul against the Pelicans during the first round of the playoffs.Gerald Herbert/Associated PressAyton, who grew up in the Bahamas, has been a fixture in the Phoenix area since he was a teenager at Hillcrest Prep Academy for part of high school. He then went to the University of Arizona, in Tucson, for one year. Now the Suns are facing the Dallas Mavericks in the second round of the N.B.A. playoffs.In an interview, Ayton discussed his impending free agency, one particular challenge of chasing a championship with Paul and how fatherhood has changed him.This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.Are there watch parties going on in the Bahamas right now? How is your playoff run being viewed at home?Some of my friends that are still back home down there, they have their watch parties. Everybody gets together and watches some of the games during work. They send you pictures of newspapers, so they’re definitely tuned in, for sure, because I represent the Bahamas everywhere I go.How does this playoff run mentally compare to last year’s run for you?It’s a lot more different. At first, last year, I was building confidence as we got further and further in the playoffs and going to the finals. But this, confidence isn’t a thing no more. That’s out the window. I’ve seen it all. I know what I can do.How much, if any, extra motivation do you have going up against Luka Doncic, given that you were both drafted in the same class and that you’re constantly being compared to him?There’s not motivation. I’m happy for the man, regardless of wherever it takes us, because I take pride in being a part of this class and us being the best draft class of all time. Obviously, through the competing, we’re trying to beat each other up, but at the end of the day I’m never motivated by somebody else’s success.You became a father last year. What has fatherhood taught you about yourself?I definitely stopped a lot of bad habits early.Like what?Like the way I eat. The way I sleep at night. Just being mindful of time. I’m very, very cautious about time and knowing time and place, especially with a child. And just representing myself the best way I can, on and off the court.Is your son going to play ball like you?Oh, yes! Once he sees a ball, he’s looking for his hoop, like: “Where’s the hoop? Where’s the hoop? I’m ready.” Then you pass it to him. I say: “Go to alley oop. Go to alley oop.” And he catches it and dunks it at 1 year old.Do you ever see Jayson Tatum and go, “Listen, my kid’s going to be a better baller than Deuce?” [Deuce — Jayson Tatum Jr. — is the toddler son of the Boston Celtics star.]I say that about all the dudes. All the players’ kids: “My son, we’re going to see your son. Regardless, you’re going to see him. You’re going to have to see him, man.”Devin Booker, left, Ayton, Paul and Suns Coach Monty Williams are the core of the team’s new identity as a tough, disciplined team.Gary A. Vasquez/USA Today Sports, via ReutersYou’ve talked in interviews about how pride is an identifying feature of being from the islands and how much confidence you have in yourself. Honestly, how upset were you that the Suns weren’t willing to give you a maximum contract before the season?I’ve been at the bottom of the barrel in my life so many times, and I’ve been through so many disappointments. And it wasn’t nothing to me. I was more motivated with my back against the wall, knowing who I truly am. And the decision they made, it was out of my control, and all I can do is really just continue to play because at the end of the day, you can be mad all you want. But negotiating, that’s a business at the end of the day. So what? You’ve still got to go play.I had teammates around me that put a smile on my face every day. Coaches would put a smile on my face every day. Front office, it was still the same energy. Nothing changed. It didn’t happen. All right. On to the next one. Now we’re here. No. 1 team in the league. And now we’re on a mission.Given how you played this year, what is your optimism on getting the contract that you feel that you deserve from Phoenix?I put that in God’s hands and my agent’s hands. I’ve just got to do my part and make sure we’re the last team standing in this thing when it is all said and done. The only thing I can control is getting a dub.How has your relationship with Chris Paul evolved now that you’re more experienced in the league?That’s big bro. That’s my brother because we come to each other with anything, to be honest, and we have a huge chemistry going on in the pick-and-roll and to where we don’t even have to talk.Let me ask it this way: Does he yell at you less now?Oh, hell yeah, he still yells. What?! He yells. He yells, man. He’s yelling with you more than at you, but he’s yelling for sure. You’re going to hear what he has to say, period. Nothing changes about C.P.Is there anything you want to do off the court outside of basketball?I’m a gamer.Who’s the best gamer on the Suns? Is it you or Devin Booker?Me. Book doesn’t play games I play. Book plays “Call of Duty.” I play the game we play in real life. I play basketball. I play NBA 2K. He wants to freaking jump out of airplanes and have parachutes and shoot.Do you play as yourself in 2K?I have imagination. I’m playing as a 6-foot-3 point guard who got unlimited dribble moves and beyond shooting like Steph Curry, period.You’re, at this point, a pillar of the franchise. With the allegations that were made against the owner of the team, Robert Sarver, do you have any discomfort with remaining for the franchise if it is owned by him going forward?[Sarver, the owner of the Suns, is under investigation by the N.B.A. after several current and former employees accused him of saying racial slurs and making other inappropriate comments.]I’ve never had any problem with Sarver. He’s never shown me any of those ways, to be honest. He’s always treated me well. And I’ve been to his house for dinner and, you know, just sometimes he’ll call me over his house just to chop it up and see how I’m doing. He always asks about my family. So, I mean, Sarver has never done me wrong. Me, I was just blinded by all that stuff that came out, to be honest. More