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      Tony Murray, Moral Support for a Gay N.B.A. Player, Dies at 60

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      Mr. Murray, along with his husband, helped their nephew Jason Collins become the first player in the league to come out publicly. He died of Covid-19.This obituary is part of a series about people who have died in the coronavirus pandemic. Read about others here.When Jason Collins stepped onto the court on Feb. 23, 2014, as a member of the Brooklyn Nets, it was a historic event: He was the first openly gay player in the National Basketball Association, and this was his first time in uniform since he had come out.Among the thousands cheering him on in Los Angeles, in a game against the Lakers, were his uncle, Mark Collins, and Mark’s husband, Tony Murray. “Congratulations,” they said to Mr. Collins over drinks after the game. “We love you.”They were more than just supportive family members. Mr. Collins and Mr. Murray married in 2013, the same year Jason Collins came out in a cover story in Sports Illustrated. In that article, and in many other places, he talked about how important his uncles were to him as examples of gay men — and, as he began to tell people about his sexuality, how valuable they were as guides and advisers.“For a confused young boy,” Mr. Collins wrote, “I can think of no better role model of love and compassion.”They also paved the way for Jason to come out to his family by showing them that gay men were nothing to be afraid of. Some relatives had difficulty accepting that Mark Collins was gay — until they met Tony.“I think once we saw how Mark and Tony were, the love they had for each other, we knew Mark was going to be fine,” Mr. Collins, who played for six teams in a 13-year N.B.A. career, said in a phone interview.Mr. Murray died on March 16 at a hospital in Valley Stream, N.Y. He was 60. The cause was Covid-19, Mark Collins said.Antoine Murray was born on Nov. 16, 1960, in Philadelphia. His father, William Murray, was unemployed; his mother, Phyllis (Turner) Murray, worked as an office clerk at a supermarket.Along with his husband and nephew, he is survived by his sisters Cynthia and Darlene and his brothers William and Brian.Mr. Murray graduated from Pennsylvania State University with a degree in communications and received a master’s in education from West Chester University in Pennsylvania.While in college he interned at WCAU, a TV station in Philadelphia, and was later hired there as a mail clerk. He rose steadily, becoming its manager of community relations.It was that job, which involved a heavy dose of educational outreach, that took him to an educators’ conference in Philadelphia in 1995. Also in attendance was Mr. Collins, who is a social worker for the Hempstead, N.Y., public schools.The two began a long-distance relationship, visiting each other and taking trips to explore their respective home states. They both loved casinos, and traveled to Atlantic City and Las Vegas.They loved food, too. Along with vacations to foodie-friendly cities like New Orleans, Mr. Murray cooked for them at home, lavishly and often. His tastes were eclectic, but he had a spot for making huge spreads of soul food.“When he cooked, he always cooked for 30 people,” Mark Collins said. “He didn’t know how to cook in small portions.”After Mr. Murray moved to New York in the mid-2000s to work in administration for the YMCA, the couple settled in the Far Rockaway section of Queens. There they would host neighborhood barbecues on their front lawn, with Mr. Murray essentially catering the whole spread. He became one of the most popular people in the neighborhood, Mark Collins said.Jason Collins played center for the Brooklyn Nets in a game against the Toronto Raptors in 2014. “Tony was so proud of Jason,” Mark Collins said of his husband. Kathy Kmonicek/Associated PressBoth Jason and Mark Collins described Mr. Murray as an old soul, relaxed and somewhat reserved, committed to his Baptist faith but adamant in defense of gay rights.Mr. Murray and Mr. Collins marched every year in the New York City Pride parade, and in 2013 they traveled to Boston to join Jason Collins in his first Pride march. The basketball player was there at the invitation of Rep. Joe Kennedy III, his former college roommate, who was leading a contingent in the parade.His uncles smiled as the crowd cheered for Jason.“It was a beautiful day,” Mark Collins remembered. “Tony was so proud of Jason. He was just humbled by the whole experience.” More

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      Why These Players Should Start Packing at the NBA Trade Deadline

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      Toronto’s Kyle Lowry, Houston’s Victor Oladipo and Lonzo Ball of the New Orleans Pelicans are popular figures as the league’s trade deadline approaches Thursday.The N.B.A. trade deadline, typically a February enterprise, is uncharacteristically competing with March Madness for the basketball public’s attention this year.The buildup to the deadline on Thursday at 3 p.m. Eastern time has been equally untraditional. Numerous front-office executives have said that trade chatter was slower to percolate this season because they had fewer opportunities to meet face-to-face on the road while scouting college games — and especially with front offices devoting so much attention to the daily challenges of managing their rosters and adhering to Covid-19 health and safety protocols as teams play through the pandemic.The league’s new playoff format, which gives 10 teams in each conference a shot at the playoffs rather than the longstanding norm of eight, has further muddled the marketplace, persuading more teams than usual to keep the status quo. In past years, with fewer teams in playoff contention, teams more naturally fell into place as buyers or sellers.Yet you can safely expect the typical flurry of trades before the buzzer sounds, despite the complications, because deadline day in the modern N.B.A. is known for sparking teams into action and delivering frantic activity. No one is predicting a blockbuster deal on the level of James Harden being traded to the Nets, but there will be action. Our breakdown of what to expect:The HeadlinerWith Harden already in Brooklyn, and Washington adamant it won’t consider offers for Bradley Beal until at least the off-season, there is a strong likelihood that no current All-Stars will be dealt this week.The jockeying between Philadelphia and Miami for Toronto guard Kyle Lowry, six times an All-Star but not this season, is nonetheless significant. Thursday also happens to be Lowry’s 35th birthday, and the signals were getting stronger, as of Monday night, that a trade to the 76ers or the Heat could materialize.The Sixers crave Lowry’s floor leadership and defensive savvy after losing out to the Nets in the Harden sweepstakes. The Heat want to team Lowry, who will be a free agent this summer, with his good friend Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo in what would be a rugged three-man core of noted two-way players. The Raptors could still offer Lowry a new deal but have quietly pledged to help route him to a preferred destination if the sides agree that his long-term future lies elsewhere — provided the trade returns meaningful help for Toronto.The Raptors hope to avoid the criticism they received when they traded DeMar DeRozan, who, like Lowry, was hugely popular among Toronto fans.Darren Abate/Associated PressTyrese Maxey, Philadelphia’s promising rookie guard, is a natural target for Toronto in talks to send Lowry, a Philadelphia native, home. The Sixers, though, made Maxey untouchable in their talks with Houston for Harden in January, refusing to add him to a package that included the defensive ace Ben Simmons, a three-time All-Star. If that stance holds, it could take some creative maneuvering for Daryl Morey, Philadelphia’s president of basketball operations, to get Lowry again. In a 2009 trade as general manager of the Rockets, Morey pried the guard from Memphis in a deal he has pointed to as one of his better moves in Houston.The Heat are trying to win the Lowry race while also keeping the veteran guard Goran Dragic and the promising second-year shooter Tyler Herro out of any deal. The success of Miami’s pursuit of Lowry could thus hinge on Toronto’s interest in a young player like the sharpshooting Duncan Robinson or the rookie Precious Achiuwa packaged with Kelly Olynyk’s $12.6 million expiring contract. The Sixers have the edge when it comes to first-round draft picks to sweeten a trade offer.This much is clear: Toronto won’t just trade Lowry anywhere. He is considered Raptors royalty in his ninth season with the franchise and management treats him accordingly after Lowry’s pivotal contributions to Toronto’s 2018-19 championship run — and with fresh memories of the criticism for trading a devoted DeMar DeRozan to San Antonio for one season of Kawhi Leonard.Although it might be easier, emotionally, for everyone to part ways in the off-season, Philadelphia and Miami are both in need of a forceful response to the moves of other Eastern Conference contenders. The Nets have raised the bar at the top of the East by teaming Harden with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, and the Milwaukee Bucks are finally surging now, too, after their November acquisition of Jrue Holiday and last week’s addition of P.J. Tucker.Marquee Names in PlayHouston badly wants to trade Victor Oladipo, a two-time All-Star who will become a free agent at season’s end. But with Oladipo receiving middling reviews for his play this season, and his durability in question, the Rockets face challenges in generating an encouraging return. Orlando’s Aaron Gordon and New Orleans’s Lonzo Ball, by contrast, are generating considerable interest.While the Magic have talked to several teams about Gordon — most notably Boston — it remains unclear how willing the Pelicans are to trade Ball, even when it is widely believed that Ball is poised to attract offers in restricted free agency this summer that exceed what New Orleans is willing to spend to keep him. I reported on Friday that the Los Angeles Clippers, despite their lack of future first-round picks to offer, have been exploring potential multiteam trade scenarios to get Ball.Lonzo Ball has attracted interest from several teams, including the Los Angeles Clippers.Craig Mitchelldyer/Associated PressThe Celtics and the Clippers rank as the two most desperate teams at the deadline, given the playoff expectations they carried into the season and both clubs’ recent struggles. No less an authority than Danny Ainge, Boston’s president of basketball operations, said in a February radio interview that “we don’t have a good enough team,” essentially putting public pressure on himself to do something about it.Boston has duly pursued a variety of big men whose teams are resistant to deals: Sacramento’s Harrison Barnes, Atlanta’s John Collins and Orlando’s Nikola Vucevic. The Celtics now appear focused on Gordon, or perhaps more affordable options like Sacramento’s Nemanja Bjelica or Toronto’s Norman Powell.The Buyout MarketCleveland’s Andre Drummond and San Antonio’s LaMarcus Aldridge are two more former All-Stars who have been heavily shopped, but their hefty salaries make it difficult for their teams to trade them. Neither the Cavaliers nor the Spurs want to take long-term salary back in a deal. If no trade materializes in either case, Drummond ($28.75 million) and Aldridge ($24 million) could become unrestricted free agents by negotiating buyouts.There is a growing belief around the league that the Los Angeles Lakers have an edge over the Nets to sign Drummond if he makes it to free agency, and the Heat are widely regarded as the leaders to sign Aldridge.The Lakers only can afford to offer Drummond a minimum deal, but they have a bigger role to offer him than the Nets. After he and the Cavaliers mutually agreed a month ago that he would not play while the team sought deals, Drummond needs playing time to enhance his marketability entering free agency. That has given the Lakers confidence they can trump the offers of the Nets, who can use a $5.7 million disabled player exception from Spencer Dinwiddie’s season-ending knee injury or a $5.6 million midlevel exception left over from last off-season.Other players who could soon reach free agency through a buyout if they are not traded in the next two days include New Orleans’s JJ Redick, Cleveland’s JaVale McGee, Memphis’ Gorgui Dieng, Sacramento’s Hassan Whiteside and the Knicks’ Austin Rivers.The Nets and Lakers are interested in signing Andre Drummond if he is bought out of his contract in Cleveland.Tony Dejak/Associated PressSpencer Dinwiddie could still draw significant offers from other teams despite his knee injury, if he opts out of his contract this summer.Michael Dwyer/Associated PressVeterans Likely on the MoveSacramento’s Bjelica, Oklahoma City’s George Hill, Detroit’s Wayne Ellington, Miami’s Olynyk, Indiana’s Aaron Holiday and the Orlando duo of Evan Fournier and Terrence Ross are all prime contenders to be moved. Hill and Minnesota’s Ricky Rubio have been mentioned frequently as secondary targets for the Clippers, after Ball.Thunder General Manager Sam Presti has a well-known aversion to granting buyouts, so expect Hill to finish the season with the Thunder if no trade coalesces.The Nets are working the phones to trade Dinwiddie, who is poised to become a free agent by declining his $12.3 million player option for next season because he is expected to have numerous suitors in spite of his knee injury. Trading Dinwiddie now is the surest way for the Nets to fortify their roster yet again before the playoffs and protect themselves from losing him for nothing in the off-season.The Knicks are likewise bound to be involved in at least one deal, no matter what happens with Rivers, thanks to $15 million in cap space they carried into the season that can help facilitate trades.The Scoop @TheSteinLineHouston is shopping Victor Oladipo, though he has been only so-so this season.Pool photo by Troy TaorminaCorner ThreeLaMelo Ball was having a sensational rookie season for the Charlotte Hornets before he broke his wrist against the Clippers over the weekend.Mark J. Terrill/Associated PressYou ask; I answer. Every week in this space, I’ll field three questions posed via email at marcstein-newsletter@nytimes.com. Please include your first and last name, as well as the city you’re writing in from, and make sure “Corner Three” is in the subject line.(Questions may be lightly edited or condensed for clarity.)Q: I was curious to know if you feel like Charlotte’s recent success (before a difficult West Coast trip) and the excitement of having LaMelo Ball and Gordon Hayward means we’re finally turning a corner. Could this help us in free agency? Will Michael Jordan, as the Hornets’ owner, be willing to break the bank again on a proven player? — Glenn Gibson (Mount Holly, N.C.)Stein: Glenn sent this in early last week. Then came the news on Sunday night that Ball’s sensational rookie season likely came to an abrupt end when he broke his right wrist on Saturday in a hard fall against the Los Angeles Clippers.The turn of events was so deflating that I decided to run the letter anyway to pay tribute to the unexpected playoff bid for Charlotte that Ball was leading.The Hornets have been one of this season’s fun surprises and, thanks largely to the drafting of Ball and the much-criticized signing of Hayward in free agency, quickly became known among NBA League Pass aficionados as the most watchable Charlotte team in decades. No one was ready to proclaim that Charlotte had suddenly become a free-agent destination after one strong half-season from Ball. Yet his arrival helped illustrate why teams relish the ability to put multiple playmakers on the floor — and why Kyle Lowry and Lonzo Ball, LaMelo’s brother, are in such high demand as Thursday’s trade deadline approaches.Along with Terry Rozier, Ball and Hayward gave the Hornets three players who could routinely make good things happen for themselves and those around them. In the East, where the Nets, Philadelphia and Milwaukee look dangerous but conference depth is an issue, that’s enough for Charlotte to overcome a suspect frontcourt and be in playoff contention.It’s no secret that the Hornets have been seeking a quality big man such as Indiana’s Myles Turner in the buildup to Thursday’s trade deadline. They were also one of the teams to register rebuffed interest in the Orlando All-Star Nikola Vucevic. Upgrading their frontcourt remains a priority for the Hornets, and Ball’s injury does not rule out a trade this week, but the wisest course is pursuing deals that align with Charlotte’s bright Ball-led future rather than chasing the short-term high of a playoff berth without him.Q: I have a semantics question about how the N.B.A. views the naming of its teams. When we talk about the New York Knicks or the Brooklyn Nets or the Indiana Pacers, the first part of the team name is the city where the team plays. Is the second part — Knicks, Nets, Pacers, etc. — considered to be a team name or a team nickname? In other words, if I said that the Knicks are finally turning things around, would you say that I used the team’s name or its nickname? Given that you have a degree of access and institutional knowledge most of us don’t have, I’d very much appreciate if you could clarify this matter. — Adam Ginsburg (Toledo, Ohio)Stein: Congratulations, Adam, on posing a question no one has ever asked me. I had to look into it on that basis alone.The league, though, has no official policy on this, based on my checking. Semantics was a good word choice by you, because the distinction you’re seeking can’t be easily made and likely depends on the person — provided there are others who want this matter clarified.Knicks, Nets and Pacers, which you termed nicknames, are also part of the team’s trademarked name. On the league’s official website, you can find a detailed history lesson, for example, about how the Knicks became known as the Knicks. But the word “nickname” doesn’t even appear there.Also: We can’t even say the first part of a team always denotes the city where a team plays as long as Golden State represents a whole region.Q: Love your newsletter, but it was “Run TMC” when the Warriors had their beautiful three-year run with Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond and Chris Mullin — not “Run DMC.” — Mitch Perry (St. Petersburg, Fla.)Stein: Thanks for pointing out one of the most dispiriting typos in newsletter history. A week later, I’m still in a funk over it.Numbers GameDevin Booker and the Phoenix Suns are excelling this season and have a better record than the defending champions, the Los Angeles Lakers.Harry How/Getty Images15Entering Tuesday’s play, home teams had won both games in a two-game, baseball-style series just 15 times in 60 tries, according to data compiled by Ben Falk of the ever-handy Cleaning the Glass website. Home teams have lost both games 12 times and split the two games 33 times. This new scheduling wrinkle — designed to reduce travel amid the pandemic — so far appears to have contributed to a leaguewide erosion in home-court advantage..541Playing in front of reduced crowds — and, often, mostly empty buildings for much of the season — home teams have won 54.1 percent of games this season entering Tuesday, which would represent a new single-season low. Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press reported in February that last season’s 55.1 percent was the lowest. From 2003-4 through 2018-19, according to Falk, that figure was 59.6 percent.8Atlanta won its first eight games after Nate McMillan replaced Lloyd Pierce as head coach but still fell six victories shy of a league record. The Nets won their first 13 games in the 2003-4 season after the rookie coach Lawrence Frank replaced the ousted Byron Scott.34-12Before a surprising home loss to Minnesota on Thursday night, Phoenix was on a 34-12 tear including its 8-0 record in seeding games during last summer’s N.B.A. restart at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Fla. That run also includes an 18-4 stretch going into the Minnesota loss. The Suns, at a surprising No. 2 in the West, are in line for their first playoff berth in 11 seasons.15If you are prepared to write the Suns into the playoffs now, like us, that leaves Sacramento with the league’s only double-digit playoff drought, which appears headed to reach a 15th consecutive season. The Knicks are on course to end the league’s third-longest current drought after seven straight nonplayoff seasons.Hit me up anytime on Twitter (@TheSteinLine) or Facebook (@MarcSteinNBA) or Instagram (@thesteinline). Send any other feedback to marcstein-newsletter@nytimes.com. More

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      The Time Dad Locked Down Elgin Baylor

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      Elgin Baylor’s N.B.A. legacy will loom large in basketball history. But the time our columnist’s father managed to defend Baylor for a half became a cherished part of family lore.Memory fades, but simple tales we hear as children can drill so deep down into us we do not forget. It’s because of such a tale, short and sweet and told with some regularity by my late father as I grew up, that I will always hold tight to the memory of the basketball great Elgin Baylor, who died this week at 86.“Did I ever tell you about the time I played Elgin Baylor?” my father would say as he looked into my eyes, filled with wonder no matter how many times he’d begun this way.“Elgin couldn’t score on me, no he couldn’t. Not in that first half he couldn’t.”There would be more to this parable, which my three older brothers also grew up hearing. It would turn into a lesson about humility and a meditation on witnessing greatness, but that start was how dad hooked me in the years not long after Baylor’s 1971 retirement from basketball, when the Lakers’ great was still widely known as a star. With that opener, and the account that followed, Baylor came to be one of the great pillars of my early imaginings.This week, there will be many fond remembrances told about Baylor. Most will focus mainly on his All-Star years in the N.B.A. This is as it should be for a player who helped revolutionize basketball with his high-flying athleticism and all-around skill. Baylor’s decade of dominance in the 1960s foreshadowed Julius Erving, Michael Jordan and the dazzling, acrobatic game we love today.Less attention will be given to Baylor’s unusual college years in the 1950s, spent far from well-known training grounds like Kansas, North Carolina or U.C.L.A.Raised in Washington D.C., Baylor was overlooked by the major powers during an era when segregation was rampant in basketball and integrated teams tended to have no more than one or two African-American players. He ended up playing for the College of Idaho. Yes, the College of Idaho.Then he transferred to another western school, Seattle University, a small Jesuit university with a lightly regarded basketball team that he promptly led to the finals of the 1958 N.C.A.A. tournament.Memories fade. Baylor, one of the most superb men’s basketball players in history, graced Seattle with his talent for years. But in the city of my birth, the city where I grew up and now live, few outside of old-timers and rock-solid sports fans know of his history here.Elgin Baylor in a game against Gonzaga while he played for Seattle University.Associated PressAlso fading from collective recall are the 1950s years when A.A.U. basketball — then a nationwide league backed by local businesses and stocked with ex-college stars who could hold their own against counterparts in the still-fledgling N.B.A. — was a force.That’s where my father went shoulder-to-shoulder with Baylor.Mel Streeter was a talent in his own right then. He had played at the University of Oregon in the early 1950s, when he was the only Black player on his teams. (Imagine that as you watch the Ducks, bursting with Black talent, in the Sweet Sixteen of the men’s tournament.) After moving with my mom to Seattle, he thrived in the fast-paced, wide-open style favored in Seattle’s powerful A.A.U. league, where games were played in front of packed crowds and were often featured prominently in the sports pages.Baylor was a part of that mix. He suited up for a powerhouse A.A.U. team: Westside Ford.I wish now that I had asked my father more about his one-and-only game against Baylor, more about that league and those times. But dad died 15 years ago. As close as we were, some of his history will always be cut off from me. I don’t know what team he was on when he played against Baylor. I don’t know if it was a big game with high stakes — like the battles that helped decide who would head off to the A.A.U. national championship.Thankfully, I have a firm recollection of the look on my father’s face as he spoke of how, in a head-to-head matchup between two tall, lithe and powerful forwards, he held Baylor to two first-half points. Oh, and dad never let any of his four sons forget that while he was holding down Baylor, he was lighting up the scoreboard. Even before my older brother Jon knew I was writing this column, the moment he heard about Baylor’s death he sent me a text with his own recollections of our family’s well-told tale: “Dad scored 11 in the first half!”But how did the game end?Whenever he came to the story’s backstretch, my dad would always smile and bring me close, letting me know that this short fable was not actually about him.As it turned out, angered at being shown up, Baylor came out in the second half determined to teach Mel Streeter a lesson. As dad told it, the entire back half of the game was essentially a blur as Baylor whipped past my father for layups or arcing, orbital jump shots. Baylor didn’t just turn the tables: He made known that he was simply a different kind of cat. He shut down dad with lockdown defense, and torched dad for 24 points.Whenever my father told this story, which was usually while we shot hoops on the basket that hung over our old garage, he never ended it sounding defeated. His smile widened and his face lit up as looked straight at me and spoke of Baylor with awe. “There was nothing I could do,” dad would say. “He was just too much.”Dad had witnessed true genius, true athletic genius, right up close, shoulder-to-shoulder under the rim inside a packed Seattle gym. And he had loved every second of the opportunity, even as he got scorched.That’s what I’m left with. My father’s thankfulness.If only he’d still been alive to hear about the first time I met Baylor, who I crossed paths with while in my role as a reporter roughly a dozen years back. It happened in Los Angeles, at the old training center for the Clippers, which Baylor struggled to run as general manager for just over 20 years.As I introduced myself, he thought for a moment about my name.“Streeter, huh?”I could see he was thinking back, working his memory to make a connection.I nudged him a bit. Without going into details, I reminded him that he’d played Mel Streeter in an old A.A.U. game.Then he put it all together.“Your dad,” he said, “let me tell you, he could play. He could really play.” More

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      Myles Turner Will Block Your Shot. If T.J. McConnell Doesn’t Pick Your Pocket First.

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      Turner and McConnell of the Indiana Pacers lead the N.B.A. in blocks (Turner) and steals (McConnell), a rare feat for teammates and a headache for everyone else.In some obvious ways, Myles Turner and T.J. McConnell couldn’t be more different as basketball players. Turner is a 6-foot-11 center who does much of his finest work above the rim. McConnell is a 6-foot-1 point guard who plays a more earthbound brand of the game. Turner swats shots, while McConnell picks pockets. One is an ominous presence in the paint; the other, a self-described “pest” who roams the perimeter.But in a challenging season for the Indiana Pacers, Turner and McConnell have come together to press, strip and thwart opponents, a two-man misery machine. In the process, they could become the first pair of teammates to lead the N.B.A. in blocks and steals since the 2000-1 season, when Theo Ratliff (blocks) and Allen Iverson (steals) of the Philadelphia 76ers did it.“The defensive end is just about effort,” said McConnell, who has come off the bench to average a league-leading 1.8 steals per game. “That’s truly what it comes down to, and that’s something I can control. I can always give as much effort as possible.”Turner, who is averaging a league-leading and career-best 3.4 blocks per game, gave the Miami Heat enormous problems in back-to-back wins over the weekend, blocking a total of 10 shots. On Sunday, he had two of them in overtime to help the Pacers seal their 109-106 victory.“No shot is safe around him,” McConnell said.They say they have made each other better players — “Knowing that you have someone who is going to match or even amplify your intensity only helps you,” Turner said — and they have probably played a part in boosting each other’s league-leading totals.McConnell feels that he can jump into passing lanes and be even more aggressive, he said, because he knows Turner is stationed behind him as a safety net. Turner has gone so far as to encourage McConnell and the team’s other guards to funnel players in his direction.“He’s always talking to me about how we can kind of get each other going,” McConnell said. “He’s even giving me angles to send players toward the rim. If I foul someone, he’ll come up and be like: ‘Hey, don’t foul. I got you. I’ll block the shot.’ ”Anything can happen ahead of Thursday’s trade deadline, especially for a struggling team like the Pacers, who fell to 19-23 after losing to the surging Milwaukee Bucks on Monday night. Several teams are reported to have interest in Turner, though the price would be high.T.J. McConnell went undrafted in 2015 but has since ascended to lead the league in steals.Darron Cummings/Associated PressFor now, Turner and McConnell continue to cultivate their on-court bromance — one that began to take shape in 2015 when they found themselves in three of the same pre-draft workouts, including one for the Pacers. They already knew of each other, having both played big-time college basketball — McConnell at Arizona and Turner at Texas.In their workout for the Pacers, they teamed up in a game of three-on-three — and dominated, McConnell said. The Pacers selected Turner with the 11th pick that year. McConnell went undrafted.“He always jokes about it: ‘I’m the one who got you drafted here,’ ” Turner said.McConnell eventually signed with the 76ers, who were wading through the thick weeds of their notorious tanking epoch. It was an experiment that gave McConnell an opportunity to prove himself in the 2015-16 season, one that he did not waste. In addition to operating as a pass-first distributor — he averaged 4.5 assists in 19.8 minutes a game — he collected 95 steals.He stuck with the 76ers for four seasons, and occasionally found himself bumping in to a familiar figure: Turner, who had quickly emerged as one of the league’s most fearsome interior defenders. McConnell considers himself fortunate that he never had any of his shots blocked by Turner. And in a way, McConnell may have one-upped Turner by stealing one of his passes when they were first-year players.“I will make sure he is aware of that stat,” McConnell said.In their second season, though, Turner erased a potential assist for McConnell. The 76ers were playing the Pacers when McConnell ran out in transition and tossed a lob to his then-teammate Robert Covington for what nearly everyone in the arena must have assumed was an easy alley-oop layup. But at the last moment, Turner came from behind to swoop through the lane and rejected Covington at the rim.“A lot of people in that situation would be scared to get dunked on,” Turner said. “But I don’t care if get dunked on. You have to develop that mentality as a shot blocker. All the great shot blockers get dunked on.”McConnell, who signed with the Pacers before the start of last season, and Turner, who has spent his entire career in Indiana, both say that a lot of what they do on defense cannot be taught. Turner described his shot-blocking ability as “a gift.” McConnell said his type of defense was a mind-set.“I just want to make it as hard as possible for guys to get into their offense, for them to get over half court — anything,” he said. “You come into the game, and I’m not physically imposing or all that quick. But I’ll pressure you.”Turner said the key to defense is being “in the right spot at the right time.”Frank Franklin Ii/Associated PressWhile they lean on instinct, timing and effort, they have refined their skills. In college, Turner said, he was often more athletic than the players he defended. But when he entered the N.B.A., he discovered a league populated by decathletes like Russell Westbrook — players who could bound past him or over him. So Turner polished his positioning with the help of Dan Burke, a former assistant coach for the Pacers who now works for the 76ers.“You have to be in the right spot at the right time,” Turner said. “You have to get there first.”McConnell was around basketball from an early age. His father, Tim, was his coach at Chartiers Valley High School outside Pittsburgh, where the players occasionally did defensive slides while holding bricks.“We wouldn’t do it that often,” McConnell said. “But we definitely did it.”As he got older, McConnell would study Chris Paul’s defensive prowess — “He just makes it so hard on guys,” McConnell said — while earning his way into the N.B.A. with the same sort of resolve. McConnell is routinely underestimated by opposing players, Turner said.“Especially by the young guys coming into the league,” Turner said. “They look at him, like, ‘Who is this white boy in front of me?’ But T.J., it’s like he takes that to heart. He loves the challenge — the challenge of people looking at him that way.”Earlier this month, before the All-Star break, McConnell had one of the best games of his career, finishing with 16 points, 13 assists and 10 steals in a win against the Cleveland Cavaliers. During one extraordinary stretch of the first quarter, he had steals on five straight possessions. He set an N.B.A. record with nine steals in the first half.“That’s as good of a game as you’re going to see,” the Pacers’ Malcolm Brogdon said.McConnell also leads the league in deflections, though he doesn’t want to know his tally in real time during games, he said, because he worries that he might become “overzealous.”At the same time, McConnell has managed to block 14 shots. Every time it happens, he said, it comes as a total surprise. And for the briefest moment, he gets a glimpse at what life must be like for his taller teammate.“It’s kind of like, ‘Did I just do that?’ ” McConnell said. More

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      Elgin Baylor, Acrobatic Hall of Famer in N.B.A., Dies at 86

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      Foreshadowing the likes of Michael Jordan, he was a star with the glamorous Lakers and was voted to the all-N.B.A. team for the league’s first 50 years.Elgin Baylor, the Lakers’ Hall of Fame forward who became one of the N.B.A.’s greatest players, displaying acrobatic brilliance that foreshadowed the athleticism of later generations of stars, died on Monday in Los Angeles. He was 86.His death, at a hospital, was announced on Twitter by the Lakers. The team did not specify a cause.In his 14 seasons with the Lakers, first in Minneapolis but mostly in Los Angeles, with another pair of Hall of Famers, Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain, as teammates, Baylor played with a creative flourish that had never been seen in pro basketball.He was only 6 feet 5 inches — relatively short for a forward even then — but he played above the rim when he soared toward the basket. His ability to twist and turn in midair on his way to the hoop previewed the freewheeling shows put on by stars like Julius Erving, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan and LeBron James.When Baylor arrived in the N.B.A. in 1958, an All-American out of Seattle University, the pros usually scored on one-handed set shots or running hooks. Baylor added a new dimension.“You could not stop Elgin from driving to the basket,” the Hall of Fame guard Oscar Robertson recalled in his autobiography “The Big O” (2010), adding, “You sure couldn’t out-jump him, or hang in the air any longer than he did.”“Elgin,” Robertson wrote, “was the first and original high flier.”Baylor’s sturdy 225-pound frame complemented his finesse. He could muscle his way to the basket, and he followed up his missed shots by maneuvering to score over bigger players. He was also an outstanding rebounder and passer.Baylor driving to the hoop against Tom Sanders of the Boston Celtics, the Lakers’ perennial nemesis, in the 1962 championship series. Boston won, as it so often did against the Lakers. Associated PressBaylor was voted to the all-N.B.A. team for the league’s first 50 years. He was a 10-time N.B.A. first-team All-Star selection and averaged more than 30 points a game for three consecutive seasons in the early 1960s.He set a league record by scoring 64 points against the Boston Celtics in November 1959, then scored 71 against the Knicks in November 1960, only to see Chamberlain score 100 points for the Philadelphia Warriors against the Knicks in March 1962.Baylor joined with West and later with Chamberlain to turn the Lakers into a glamour team. He played in eight N.B.A. final series, but the Lakers lost seven times to the Celtics in the Bill Russell era and then to the Knicks in a memorable Game 7 at Madison Square Garden in 1970.He was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1977.But Baylor had little success when he turned to coaching and front-office positions. He coached three losing teams with the New Orleans Jazz (now the Utah Jazz) in the 1970s and later spent 22 mostly frustrating seasons as the general manager of the Los Angeles Clippers.In the days when the N.B.A.’s TV coverage was limited, Baylor had never viewed a pro game before he played in one.“I had never seen anyone else do my moves,” he told Terry Pluto in the N.B.A. oral history “Tall Tales” (1992). “It starts with talent; you have to be able to jump. But more than that, things I did were spontaneous. I had the ball, I reacted to the defense.”And he had a nervous facial twitch that sometimes made defenders think he was setting off in one direction only to find him heading the other way.As the center Johnny Kerr put it, “You didn’t know if it was a head fake or what was going on.”Baylor, second from right, as coach of the New Orleans Jazz in 1979. With him, from left, were Kent Benson of the Milwaukee Bucks and Tommy Green and Jimmy McElroy of the Jazz.Associated PressElgin Gay Baylor was born in Washington on Sept. 16, 1934. He was a high school basketball star, then played for one season at the College of Idaho and two seasons at Seattle University, leading his team as a senior to the 1958 N.C.A.A. tournament final, a loss to Kentucky.The Minneapolis Lakers selected Baylor as the league’s overall No. 1 pick in the 1958 draft. He took them to the 1959 N.B.A. final series, where he averaged nearly 25 points a game in a losing cause, the Lakers being swept by the Celtics. He was named rookie of the year.The Lakers moved to Los Angeles in 1960, the year West arrived to provide an outside game to go with Baylor’s all-around skills.Baylor was eventually hampered by knee surgery that diminished his spring, but he remained an offensive force. He retired after his injuries limited him to two games in 1970-71 and just nine at the outset of the 1971-72 season, when the Lakers went on to defeat the Knicks for the championship.“Winning that championship was marred for me by the sad, conspicuous absence of Elgin Baylor,” West recalled in his memoir “West by West” (2011), written with Jonathan Coleman. “The guy that shared all the blood, sweat and tears wasn’t there to realize what it felt like.”Baylor averaged 27.4 points and 13.5 rebounds for his career and played in 11 All-Star Games.He was fired as the Jazz coach in 1979. He became the head of basketball operations for the Clippers, essentially their general manager, in 1986.The Clippers made the playoffs only four times in Baylor’s tenure, which ended before the 2008-09 season opened. The Clippers said he had resigned, but he filed a lawsuit in March 2009 against the Clippers’ owner, Donald T. Sterling, and the N.B.A., maintaining that he had been fired as a result of age and racial discrimination.The lawsuit contended that Sterling had described Baylor as “a token” and that he had wanted the team to be composed of “poor black kids from the South” with a white head coach. The N.B.A. was accountable, according to the suit, because league officials knew of a large salary disparity between other general managers and Baylor, an African-American.A jury decided in the Clippers’ favor, concluding that Baylor had lost his job because of the team’s poor showings.But in April 2014, the N.B.A. imposed a lifetime ban on Sterling shortly after a recording obtained by TMZ caught him making racist comments in a conversation with a female acquaintance. The team was sold to the businessman Steve Ballmer in August 2014.Baylor is survived by his wife, Elaine; a daughter, Krystal; two children from a previous marriage, Alan and Alison; and a sister, Gladys Baylor Barrett.Long after Baylor’s playing days ended, his reputation endured.Tom Heinsohn, the Hall of Fame forward on Celtic teams that bested Baylor’s Lakers, marveled at his feats.“Elgin Baylor as forward beats out Bird, Julius Erving and everybody else,” Heinsohn told Roland Lazenby in his biography “Jerry West” (2009), referring to the Celtics’ Larry Bird. “He had the total game: defense, offense, everything, rebounding, passing the ball.” (Heinsohn died in November at 86.)Bill Sharman, the Celtics’ sharpshooting guard who coached Baylor in his brief, final season, was even more succinct, telling The Los Angeles Times back then, “Elgin Baylor is the greatest cornerman who ever played pro basketball.”Alex Traub contributed reporting. More

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      LeBron James Leads a Generation of Athletes Into Ownership

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      James is now an owner of the Boston Red Sox and recently helped a W.N.B.A. player, Renee Montgomery, with her group’s bid to purchase the Atlanta Dream.In an age marked by kneeling protests and cross-league walkouts in sports, which gained new traction in 2020, it’s easy to put too much faith in the ability of professional athletes to make social change.True empowerment will only come when more players cross the longstanding divide between management and labor and enter the ranks of team ownership, where the real influence lies. That’s why the latest off-court move from LeBron James, largely overlooked amid the whirling excitement of the N.C.A.A. tournaments, is so intriguing.James, the Los Angeles Lakers star, announced his small but significant stake in the Fenway Sports Group last week. As you might have guessed because of the conglomerate’s name, that makes him a part owner in the Boston Red Sox and gives him entree into baseball’s inner sanctum. The investment also adds to James’s shares in Liverpool of the Premier League and his foothold with NASCAR’s Roush Fenway Racing team, which he bought into in 2011.It is a preview of things to come. Today’s athletes are beginning to realize that true strength lies not only in grass-roots activism and the chase for championships, but also in having a seat in team boardrooms. By doing that, they can sway leagues that remain halfhearted about transformation. Would the N.F.L. have blackballed Colin Kaepernick if a significant number of former Black players were at the owners’ table? Unlikely.Athlete involvement in team ownership isn’t an entirely new phenomenon. Mario Lemieux bought the Pittsburgh Penguins out of bankruptcy in 1999. Eleven years later, Michael Jordan became the first former N.B.A. player to control a majority interest in one of the league’s teams when he purchased the Charlotte Bobcats. (One of his first big moves was to rename his team the Hornets.) Those actions allowed Lemieux and Jordan to reap financial returns that their labor alone could not have produced.But James’s increasing involvement in the corridors of power shows that today’s sports stars — more outspoken than Jordan and Lemieux, more inclined to push against entrenched wealth — are ready to use ownership as a means to push for more than personal gain.With a boost from James, Renee Montgomery announced her retirement at age 32 to become the first W.N.B.A. player to own a part of one of the league’s teams, the Atlanta Dream, after its players rallied against a team co-owner, Kelly Loeffler, the firebrand Republican senator who angered the basketball world when she denounced the Black Lives Matter movement. The outspoken tennis stars Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams have signed up as team owners in the National Women’s Soccer League, as have a number of retired women’s soccer stars, in the wake of the U.S. women’s national soccer team’s fight for pay equity.Renee Montgomery sat out the Atlanta Dream’s 2020 season to work for social justice. In 2021, she retired from playing in the W.N.B.A. and became part owner of the team.Gregory Payan/Associated PressExpect more to come, with this generation’s athletes deeply aware of team owners’ direct power. Buying into the Fenway group allows James a chance to learn the ropes as he draws closer to one of his most cherished goals. I’m not talking about equaling or even surpassing Jordan’s haul of six N.B.A. titles. I’m talking about taking a majority financial stake in an N.B.A. team. For now, James must wait. League rules bar active players from joining ownership.When the time comes, he’ll be ready. Now 36, he’s long been a business mogul, backed by a cadre of high-gloss, well-heeled advisers. If he needs wealthy investors to form a partnership and come along for the ride, he has more than a few options on speed dial. Not that he would need much help. James is said to be a billionaire, or nearly so.Of all of today’s sports stars, James possesses the heaviest clout. He is the one most adept at standing up and speaking out — both inside the boardroom and, through his social activism, at street level.That’s why he offered advice and connections to help Montgomery’s successful bid to purchase a part of the Dream. Montgomery, a two-time W.N.B.A champion, sat out last year’s truncated season to work as a grass-roots activist. After the players called for Loeffler’s ouster from her Senate seat, Loeffler lost a runoff election in January, an outcome that allowed James to flex.“Stick to Sports,” James said in a Twitter post aimed at Loeffler in the wake of the sale to a group that included Montgomery. The barb turned the tables on what James and others have been told for years after they have spoken up on political matters.The two basketball stars know that joining ownership offers them a new and important way to make their voices heard.It’s one thing to kneel during the national anthem, attend marches or even lead teams on walkouts and work stoppages. Such moves are key. They enlighten, draw attention and energize passion. But in sports they are also not enough.The limits athletes face became clear during the protest movement that swept through last summer. Team owners in the major North American men’s sports talked a good game and contributed millions of dollars to causes backed by players. But many of the same owners gave lavishly to President Donald J. Trump, who stood in direct opposition to everything the players were pushing for. Such double-dealing showed that the players might have had a megaphone, but money remains the language that packs the biggest punch.Real transformation isn’t likely to happen unless enlightened athletes continue to cross the divide, enter the ranks of ownership and have their say on everything from the hiring of head coaches to an effort in sports to push for more accountability in policing. It’ll take time to get enough in place to make a consistent difference. Thankfully, owner-activists like LeBron James and Renee Montgomery are creating a road map. More

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      LaMelo Ball Is Out Indefinitely With a Wrist Injury

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      Ball, a rookie guard for the Charlotte Hornets, had been considered the leading candidate for the Rookie of the Year Award.Charlotte Hornets guard LaMelo Ball, widely considered the leading candidate to win the N.B.A.’s Rookie of the Year Award, has a fractured bone in his right wrist and is out indefinitely, the team announced on Sunday night.Ball underwent a magnetic resonance imaging exam on Sunday in San Antonio as the Hornets prepared for a road game against the Spurs on Monday. Ball, 19, had a hard landing on Saturday night in the first half of the team’s road loss to the Los Angeles Clippers and tried to play through the pain in the second half.Drafted third over all by the Hornets in November, Ball is averaging 15.9 points, 5.9 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 1.59 steals per game; he ranks seventh in the league in steals per game. Combined with strong play from the free-agent newcomer Gordon Hayward and the second-year Hornet Terry Rozier — both former Boston Celtics — Ball has helped Charlotte challenge for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference after four consecutive seasons out of the postseason.Ball became a starter on Feb. 1 in Miami and has averaged 19.5 points, 5.8 rebounds, 6.2 assists and 1.7 steals since the move. Amid much skepticism leading up to the draft about his dependability from the perimeter, Ball has shot 46.4 percent from the field and 42.6 percent from 3-point range in his 21 starts.Ball was named the Eastern Conference rookie of the month in both January and February, and was the only rookie over the past 60 years to lead all first-year players in total points, rebounds, assists and steals at the All-Star break.Ball, the younger brother of New Orleans Pelicans guard Lonzo Ball, was selected by the Hornets in the 2020 draft, after Minnesota drafted guard Anthony Edwards and Golden State chose center James Wiseman. More

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      Giannis Antetokounmpo Leads Bucks Past 76ers

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      “I think I’ve been doing a better job this year of enjoying this moment.”An important part of Giannis Antetokounmpo’s daily ritual, in addition to his nap and his workout, is a 20-minute walk. It clears his head, he said, and gives him a bit of distance from his job playing basketball for the Milwaukee Bucks. Sometimes, he chats with one of his brothers or his mother. Sometimes, he simply enjoys the silence. There are also days when he checks the weather and decides to hop in his car for a short drive instead.“Milwaukee is very cold,” he said.He describes his walks as therapeutic, and says they help him stay in the present — a concept that has not always been easy for Antetokounmpo or for the Bucks, whose past disappointments have only fueled speculation about the team’s future.Where to begin? At the end of last season, after the Bucks made a premature exit from the N.B.A. bubble after losing in the Eastern Conference semifinals as the top seed, questions percolated about Coach Mike Budenholzer’s job security and Antetokounmpo’s contract situation. In free agency, the Bucks botched a sign-and-trade for Bogdan Bogdanovic, which led to the team’s forfeiting a draft pick for violating the league’s rules about tampering.A small shift in strategy by Bucks Coach Mike Budenholzer has given Antetokounmpo more room to attack the basket.Matt Slocum/Associated PressThe Bucks proceeded to stumble through the early months of this season, losing three of their first five games, then five straight in February — a difficult stretch that included two losses to the Toronto Raptors. Milwaukee, a team with championship aspirations and one of the most talented players of his generation, seemed mired in mediocrity. But Antetokounmpo, who has won back-to-back N.B.A. Most Valuable Player Awards, went for his walks (and occasional drives) and kept the faith.“I think I’ve been doing a better job this year of enjoying this moment and not letting my mind explore as much and start thinking about playoffs, outcome, championship, no championship,” he said in a conference call with reporters this week. “Because at the end of the day, this is a stressful job that we’re doing, and you don’t want to stress yourself out.”He added, “The outcome — I don’t really care about that. I care about the process, and that helps me here at this moment, talking to you guys.”By all appearances, it has been a useful strategy. And Antetokounmpo, who went a long way toward eliminating a bunch of stress in his own life by signing a five-year contract extension worth about $228 million before the start of the season, suddenly has the Bucks playing their toughest, most determined basketball of the season. Milwaukee has won 10 of its last 11 games, including five in a row — a streak the team extended on Wednesday night by erasing a 19-point deficit on the road to stun the Philadelphia 76ers in overtime, 109-105.After Antetokounmpo scored 7 straight points in overtime, he took a celebratory seat on the court at Wells Fargo Center, where there was a limited number of spectators. Some of them booed.“Is there something wrong with having fun?” Antetokounmpo asked.Antetokounmpo after making a big shot in overtime against the Sixers.Matt Slocum/Associated PressThe Bucks’ resurgence has coincided with the return of Jrue Holiday, their starting point guard, who had missed 10 straight games after testing positive for the coronavirus. He was cleared to play on Feb. 28. More help is on the way: The Bucks, according to multiple reports, made a trade with the Houston Rockets on Wednesday for P.J. Tucker, a veteran forward who will add depth and playoff experience.Tucker would be joining a team that already ranks among the league leaders in offensive efficiency. Budenholzer, as detailed recently by the Athletic, made a small but significant tactical change this season, positioning an offensive player at what is known as “the dunker” spot — an area along the baseline that is just outside the lane. In past seasons, the Bucks would clear the lane and put players in the corners. But because Antetokounmpo spends so much time on the perimeter handling the ball, having a player near the basket drags at least one potential help defender away from him, clearing room for him and the team’s other scorers.“It’s a good move,” 76ers Coach Doc Rivers said before Wednesday’s game. “I thought Golden State did a great job of that. There was a time when Steph Curry was in the dunker spot, which is insane when you think about it, but it worked because it created spacing. If you help, you had to help off him, and then he would pop out to the 3.”Beyond strategic tweaks and personnel moves, Budenholzer has cited the Bucks’ togetherness — that nebulous idea of chemistry — as a factor in his team’s strong play. It was on full display against the 76ers. The Bucks could not have played much worse in the first half, shooting 26.7 percent from the field and 1 of 17 from 3-point range. They had more turnovers (13) than field goals (12). Antetokounmpo attempted only four shots. It was an aberration.Antetokounmpo finished with 32 points, 15 rebounds and 5 assists.Matt Slocum/Associated PressBudenholzer said he could sense energy — among the reserves, and whenever the team was on defense — and that gave him hope. He also knew he could rely on Antetokounmpo, who seems to be having a lot of — what was that word again? — fun. Fun Giannis is bad news for the rest of the league. Against the 76ers, he finished with 32 points, 15 rebounds and 5 assists, ending his string of three straight triple-doubles in fairly spectacular fashion.“There’s going to be times when I’ve got to be aggressive, got to go downhill,” he said. “But there are also times when I need to find my teammates. I choose to do both.”As for the Bucks’ recent legacy of postseason letdowns and all the weighty expectations that will surely greet them again, Antetokounmpo said he was not even allowing himself to think about the playoffs.“You’re going to be worn out and you won’t have any energy if you think about it every day,” he said. “So right now, I’m just trying to enjoy every moment with my teammates, win or lose. Just be in a good place. And I know myself, I know my teammates, and I know we’re going to try to be ready when the moment is right.” More