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      Giannis Antetokounmpo Couldn't Miss at the All-Star Game

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyon pro basketballGiannis Antetokounmpo Was the All-Star Who Couldn’t MissA 16-for-16 night highlighted a game that many players didn’t really want to play.While Giannis Antetokounmpo banked in a couple of 3-pointers, most of his damage came at the rim.Credit…Curtis Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, via Associated PressMarch 8, 2021Updated 9:23 a.m. ETATLANTA — Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks unintentionally banked in two of his three 3-pointers. He took 11 shots in the first half, and five more in the second half, without missing one. He also made a priceless memory with his infant son before the game even started, leaning down to Liam Antetokounmpo at courtside for some quick ball-handling work as the opening tip approached.When the N.B.A.’s 70th All-Star Game was over Sunday night, Antetokounmpo seized the game ball without waiting for anyone’s authorization, cradled it with his left hand and collected the Kobe Bryant Trophy as the occasion’s most valuable player minutes later. It was, at least for Antetokounmpo, about as perfect as an All-Star Game gets.That the sentiment could be applied to even one participant at State Farm Arena was a grand surprise given how the N.B.A.’s All-Star Sunday started. Weeks of unease and second-guessing about the league’s decision to summon 24 players from 18 teams to Georgia for an All-Star Game, in the ongoing clutches of a pandemic that caused 31 game postponements in the first half of the season, seemed to be validated some eight hours before tipoff, when it was announced that Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons of the Philadelphia 76ers would not be allowed to play.Antetokounmpo had a sweet moment on the sideline with his son Liam.Credit…Kevin C. Cox/Getty ImagesExposure in Philadelphia to a barber who had tested positive for the coronavirus caused Embiid and Simmons to be barred from playing, even though their coach, Doc Rivers, said both players tested negative on Sunday in Atlanta. League officials thus had to be relieved, at night’s end, to see Antetokounmpo so giddy about his 35 points on 16-for-16 shooting — albeit almost all of that from at-the-rim range — and to hear the Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James speaking so excitedly about the rare opportunity to play beside Golden State’s Stephen Curry.As the captain of the victorious Team LeBron, James benched himself for the second half of a 170-150 victory after scoring a modest 4 points in 13 minutes. He spent the rest of the evening encouraging Portland’s Damian Lillard (32 points) and Curry (28) to “back up further and further to shoot,” as James explained via his Twitter feed. Lillard and Curry duly drained eight 3-pointers each, including back-to-back flings from halfcourt to close out a 60-point second quarter (yes, 60) that looked laughably effortless.It was a marked change in tone from the afternoon, when the Nets’ James Harden, among numerous players dismayed by the Embiid and Simmons developments, said this All-Star Game had essentially been “thrown upon us.” James, remember, called the concept a “slap in the face” a month ago, explaining that he and many other players had been led to believe they would get an All-Star break free of basketball after the league postponed its originally scheduled 2021 All-Star Weekend in Indianapolis to 2024.The uniforms used Sunday night were those designed for Indianapolis, inspired by an old Pacers scheme from the 1980s in yellow and blue, adding to the night’s “forced” feel — to use another Harden description. No matter how many times Commissioner Adam Silver has insisted that the league’s motivations for staging the game were to reward its global fan base and bring a needed spotlight to historically Black colleges and universities, as much as the obvious “economic factors,” this was one instance where players voiced more (and louder) skepticism than members of the news media.“All in all, obviously the league did a hell of a job of being able to put this together still,” James said afterward, withholding any further criticism. He had just improved to 4-0 as an All-Star captain, helped along by the stunning array of M.V.P. candidates he drafted (Antetokounmpo, Curry, Lillard, Denver’s Nikola Jokic and Dallas’s Luka Doncic), as well as the absences of Embiid and the injured Kevin Durant, the other team’s captain.“There’s always a lot of back and forth on these different decisions, but once guys get here, I think they’re grateful for it,” said Chris Paul of the Phoenix Suns. Paul, of course, doubles as president of the National Basketball Players Association and is James’s close friend, which made for an uncomfortable month after James was so forceful in initially questioning the wisdom of holding even this scaled-down version of All-Star Weekend.To try to make this venture as safe as possible, league and union officials agreed that the players would spend no more than 36 hours in Atlanta, flying in and out via private jet and maintaining the daily coronavirus testing that has governed the season so far. Traveling parties were required to check in at the league’s hotel by 7 p.m. Saturday and then stay at the hotel until departing for the arena Sunday afternoon, with an array of private postgame flights scheduled Sunday night. Players were allowed to bring up to four guests. Teams were allowed to send three club representatives with them — one each from the athletic training staff, team public relations and team security.LeBron James gushed on Twitter about finally getting a chance to play a game as Stephen Curry’s teammate rather than his rival. “Well overdue and I loved every single second!”Credit…Kevin C. Cox/Getty ImagesThe idea, Silver said, was to create a “mini bubble” and keep everyone granted access to the league’s inner sanctum away from the bustling nightlife that swirled around them. League officials were well aware that many Atlantans had shown little interest in heeding recent pleas from Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms to stay home and treat this as the made-for-television event that the N.B.A. intended. The N.B.A., in fact, was moved to send roughly 200 letters containing cease-and-desist orders to local party organizers who used the event name or logo to promote unaffiliated events across the weekend, according to a league spokesman.Beyond the $20-plus million that Turner Sports was projected to generate in advertising and sponsorship revenue through Sunday’s broadcast, estimates for precisely how valuable this substitute All-Star experience would be for the N.B.A. have been difficult to come by. It was widely reported late last year that starting the 2020-21 season during Christmas week rather than mid-January would result in a $500 million revenue gain. No such projections have been released in connection with the All-Star Game, but one league insider with a firm grasp of money matters told me last week that just keeping a valuable partner like Turner happy, by preserving the network’s most valuable N.B.A. content of the year, was worthy of any trouble.Fake crowd noise was pumped in to amplify the understandably modest buzz generated by an invitation-only crowd of 1,500. TNT likewise had concerns of its own to contend with, competing for viewers against Oprah Winfrey’s interview on CBS with Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex.Commissioner Adam Silver said of the game, “It would have been a bigger deal not to have it.”Credit…Kevin C. Cox/Getty ImagesSilver insisted at a news conference on Saturday that he had weighed it all before deciding that “we should do it for our fans and for our business” once the league “got to the point where we felt we could do it safely.”“For me,” Silver said, “it would have been a bigger deal not to have it.”Atlanta’s previous All-Star Game, in 2003, when the Hawks’ home was known as Philips Arena, was Michael Jordan’s final All-Star Game. This one will take its own place in league history, thanks to the unusual circumstances, but Silver proposed that “maybe it should be judged when people are looking back as to what this meant to them as opposed to what some of the initial reactions were.”Maybe.“It was more fun than I thought it would be,” Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics said.Lillard, who on another night might have wrested M.V.P. honors from Antetokounmpo with his repeated splashes from 40 feet and beyond, said: “It just didn’t have the All-Star Weekend feel, just because it was so quick, it was so quiet, it was empty. But I think once we got on the floor, that was like the only time it snapped into like, ‘This is the All-Star Game.’”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Two Players Out of N.B.A. All-Star Game Because of Virus Protocols

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The NBA SeasonVirus Hotspots in the N.B.A.LeBron and Anthony DavisThe N.B.A. Wanted HerMissing Klay ThompsonKobe the #GirlDadAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyTwo Players Out of N.B.A. All-Star Game Because of Virus ProtocolsPlayers were again questioning the decision to stage an exhibition amid the pandemic after Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons of the Philadelphia 76ers were ruled out of Sunday’s game in Atlanta.Joel Embiid, left, had been named to his fourth All-Star Game. Zion Williamson of the New Orleans Pelicans was set to replace him in the starting lineup.Credit…Matt Slocum/Associated PressMarch 7, 2021Updated 9:07 p.m. ETATLANTA — The N.B.A. All-Star Game was rocked just hours before tipoff on Sunday when the league announced it would sideline Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons of the Philadelphia 76ers after they had contact with an individual who was confirmed to have tested positive for the coronavirus.Numerous top players in recent weeks had questioned playing the exhibition at all during a pandemic, and some eight hours before the game’s scheduled 8 p.m. start, Embiid and Simmons were ruled out — with the league also saying their removals would have no impact on other All-Stars or 76ers Coach Doc Rivers and his staff.Their participation would not be affected, the league said, because those people “were not exposed to the individual in Philadelphia” before traveling to Atlanta. The Sixers’ staff earned the right to coach the team captained by the Nets’ Kevin Durant because Philadelphia held the East’s best record at the All-Star break.The news broke as numerous players were conducting video conference interview sessions from their hotel rooms. Bradley Beal of the Washington Wizards, Paul George of the Los Angeles Clippers and the Nets’ James Harden were among those who responded by again questioning the wisdom of staging an All-Star Game amid a pandemic, as LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers and other stars had last month.“I don’t want to say we didn’t have a choice, but it’s in our C.B.A., and our C.B.A. says there has to be an All-Star Game every year,” Beal said of the league’s collective bargaining agreement. He added that “there’s still guys” with reservations, and he counted himself among that group.George said he “personally didn’t agree with the game.” Harden described Sunday’s events, which were to include a 3-point contest and a skills competition before the game and a dunk contest at halftime, as “forced.” James, who is captain of one of the teams, called the situation “very unfortunate” and said “it’s all something that we thought could possibly happen.”The N.B.A. flew the All-Star participants to Atlanta on private planes from their cities and required them to stay inside the league’s official hotel Saturday night — preferably in their rooms — after checking in by 7 p.m. Players were permitted to bring up to four guests, but it was not immediately known how many guests accompanied Embiid or Simmons. The players traveled on separate planes and without other 76ers personnel, according to two people briefed on the situation who were not authorized to discuss it publicly.Before arriving in Atlanta, Embiid and Simmons were exposed to a barber in Philadelphia who has since tested positive for the coronavirus. The Athletic first reported their exposure, which was confirmed by the two people. Having both registered negative coronavirus tests on Sunday, Embiid and Simmons returned to Philadelphia on separate private planes before the All-Star game began, the people said.The first scheduled team meetings to bring players from the two All-Star teams together were not until Sunday at State Farm Arena. Both teams were scheduled to meet with Adam Silver, the N.B.A. commissioner, and Michele Roberts, the executive director of the National Basketball Players Association, within three hours of the opening tip. The schedule called for All-Star participants to leave Atlanta via private transportation immediately after the game.Ben Simmons was selected to his third consecutive All-Star Game.Credit…Matt Slocum/Associated PressEmbiid, a prime Most Valuable Player Award candidate this season, had been selected to his fourth All-Star team and was to start at center for Durant’s team. Simmons, making his third All-Star team after being voted into the game as a reserve, was selected by James. Rivers chose Zion Williamson of the New Orleans Pelicans to start in Embiid’s place, but the league did not pursue replacements for either player with only hours remaining before the opening tip, opting for 11-man All-Star rosters instead of the usual 12.The 2020-21 regular season started on Dec. 22 after last season, delayed four months by the coronavirus pandemic, went all the way into October and required three months on a restricted-access campus at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Fla., to complete.In November, the league postponed its traditional All-Star Weekend, giving Indianapolis hosting rights in 2024 instead of this year. But the N.B.A. never ruled out the prospect of resuscitating a game for 2021. The league then hatched the idea to hold several All-Star events on one day, closed to the public apart from 1,500 invitation-only guests, and staged in Atlanta so Turner Sports could broadcast it all in its backyard.Silver said in a news conference on Saturday that “economic interests” were a factor in going ahead with a scaled-down version of All-Star festivities, but he also said that tremendous global fan interest had motivated the league just as much. League officials have said that a specific projection for revenue generated Sunday could not be immediately pinpointed, but various industry estimates have forecast Turner to make more than $20 million in advertising and sponsorship revenue through Sunday’s broadcast.The league, having worked closely on the plans with Roberts and Phoenix Suns guard Chris Paul, the president of the players’ union, also dedicated its All-Star festivities to promoting awareness of historically Black colleges and universities, pledging to donate at least $3 million to those institutions as well as communities of color affected by the pandemic.“It’s my job to look out for the overall interest of the league,” Silver said on Saturday. “As I said earlier, I haven’t made it a secret out of the fact that economic interests are a factor. I’ll add, though, when I say ‘economic interests are a factor,’ it’s less to do with the economics of one Sunday night on TNT in the United States. It has more to do with the larger brand value of the N.B.A.“We feel we’ve struck the appropriate balance here, looking out for the interests of everyone involved,” Silver said.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Why the Nets May Be the Most Feared Team in the N.B.A.

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The NBA SeasonVirus Hotspots in the N.B.A.LeBron and Anthony DavisThe N.B.A. Wanted HerMissing Klay ThompsonKobe the #GirlDadAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyOn pro basketballWhy the Nets May Be the Most Feared Team in the N.B.A.At the midpoint of the season, the Nets are clicking, whether or not all three of their big stars are on the floor. That’s good for them, and frightening for all other contenders.The Brooklyn Big Three — Kyrie Irving, James Hardin and Kevin Durant — have worked out better than expected this season.Credit…Jed Jacobsohn for The New York TimesMarch 6, 2021, 12:00 p.m. ETSo it turns out that when you put three elite players together in their primes, the result is some elite basketball.The Nets’ grand experiment combining Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant and James Harden in one on-court souffle is a work in progress. But at the halfway point of the season, the Nets may be the most feared team in the league. They are 10-1 in their last 11 games and 17-7 since trading for Harden in January.In some ways, it is a challenge to draw any lasting conclusions from the Nets’ first half, in the same way it would be to assess Thanos’s powers early in the Marvel universe films. They aren’t fully formed.The most jarring data point is that the Nets have barely scratched the surface of their super trio. Durant, Irving and Harden have played together in only seven games, as a result of nagging injuries and rest. The Nets are 5-2 in those games. One of those losses — a close one against the Toronto Raptors — was with Durant coming off the bench.All three are playing some of the best basketball of their careers, and they have barely been able to do it together. It’s possible that being apart is what has allowed them to thrive. Even so, the Nets are just a half-game behind Philadelphia for the top spot in the Eastern Conference.The Nets are title favorites right now. In recent history, trios featuring multiple Most Valuable Player Award candidates have won titles (the Durant-era Golden State Warriors, the LeBron James-led Miami Heat). And there is a legitimate argument to be made that these three are the most talented threesome in N.B.A. history.Here is a look at what to expect from the Nets in the second half of the season and what they’ve done right so far.The Rich, as Usual, Might Get RicherBlake Griffin is on his way to being a free agent after reaching a buyout agreement with the Pistons.Credit…Carlos Osorio/Associated PressThe way that championships have been deemed by the public (and the media) to validate a player’s career incentivizes talented players to join already talented teams, even for lesser roles. This often shows itself in midseason when productive players get bought out and land on contenders to try to chase a championship.The trade deadline is March 25. Two players on the Nets’ radar are surely Andre Drummond of the Cleveland Cavaliers, who is on track to become one of the greatest rebounders in league history, and Blake Griffin of the Detroit Pistons, who is one season removed from one of his best years. The Pistons announced Friday that they had reached a buyout agreement with Griffin, and the same could happen for Drummond in Cleveland.The Nets are likely to be serious contenders for their services, and that of other players who could be on the move because of their age and their team’s priorities, such as Al Horford and George Hill of the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Thunder are in the middle of a youth movement.The Nets are in a position where they don’t have to give up anyone. They just have to be patient. (And even if they wanted to, they don’t really have many attractive trade pieces, especially with Spencer Dinwiddie injured.)A Happy Harden Is Sad News for OpponentsHarden facing the Golden State Warriors last month.Credit…Jed Jacobsohn for The New York TimesIn Harden’s eight games with the Houston Rockets this season, it was clear he was not putting in the effort. He was often jogging, uninvolved in the offense and otherwise lethargic.But it goes to show you: Sometimes being petulant pays off. In Brooklyn, Harden has been motivated and, as a result, exceptional. In 23 games, Harden is averaging 11.4 assists (on pace for a career high and to lead the league), shooting 49.7 percent from the field and 42.2 percent on 3-pointers. Harden would be a top M.V.P. candidate right now if not for the stellar play of Irving and Durant.He has flowed seamlessly with Irving on and off the ball, often creating easy opportunities not just for role players, but also for Irving, who has thrived in the shooting guard role.Since the Harden trade, the Nets have had the league’s best offense, without the team’s stars playing all together much.And this isn’t surprising for a team with Harden and Irving, but the Nets are near the top of the league in isolations. When you have so many elite scorers, as Coach Steve Nash does, you have the luxury of letting them go to work and break down defenses one-on-one.What to watch out for with Harden is whether his conditioning will cause a drop-off later in the season. But for the first time in a long time, Harden won’t be expected to carry an entire offense by himself, so it may not matter.The Nets’ Defense Is Bad — and That’s OK?Luka Doncic of the Mavericks put up 27 points against the Nets last month. Dallas shot 52 percent.Credit…Wendell Cruz/USA Today Sports, via ReutersBefore Harden arrived, the Nets were 13th in defense. Not great, but just above average. With Harden, the team’s defense has tanked, all the way to 26th, among the worst in the league. Even over the Nets’ recent 10-1 stretch, the defense was still below average.Some of this can be chalked up to injuries. Durant is the team’s most versatile defender, and he has missed roughly half the season and hasn’t taken the floor since Feb. 13 because of a left hamstring strain.So can a team with a bad defense win the championship? Yes, actually. But it’s rare.The 2015-16 Cleveland Cavaliers had the 10th-best defense, as did the 2005-6 Miami Heat. Those are still above-average, if not elite, defenses.A truly bad defensive team that won a championship was the 2000-1 Los Angeles Lakers, led by Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant. That team was 22nd. Incidentally, the year before, when they also won the championship, the Lakers led the league in defense. Go figure.The Schedule Looks PromisingThe Knicks, hovering around .500, are part of the Nets’ start to the second half.Credit…Pool photo by Brad PennerThe Nets will start the second half with a fairly soft schedule: 11 of their first 20 games will be against teams below .500. Of the other nine contests, four are against the Boston Celtics, the Miami Heat and the Knicks, three teams hovering around .500.The Nets’ Big Three should be able to use this time to jell, at the expense of less-talented teams.The Role Players Are Getting It DoneThe Nets have gotten production from all over the roster.Credit…Jed Jacobsohn for The New York TimesIt’s easy to keep all the attention on the stars, but Sean Marks, the general manager, has also assembled a solid surrounding cast.Jeff Green, the 34-year-old veteran, has been a bargain. He has started 16 of his 33 games this season and averaged 9.5 points per game on a career-high 50.7 field-goal percentage. And he is also shooting 42.2 percent from 3, which is essential to take pressure off the Nets’ main scorers. He is the kind of player who knows his limits and rarely makes mistakes. Green also has 72 playoff games under his belt, including a trip to the finals — experience that should come in handy in the spring.Joe Harris is also having a career year, fresh off landing a big contract. He is shooting a whopping 50.6 percent from 3-point range. That is ridiculous. Last year, no one finished above 46 percent. In fact, no one has since Kyle Korver in the 2009-10 season.Bruce Brown has been a revelation for the Nets, both as a fill-in starter and otherwise. He is averaging 8.6 points per game and 59 percent shooting. In his last six games, he is averaging 18 points, which has helped fill some of Durant’s absence. He dropped a career-high 29 points against the Sacramento Kings on Feb. 23.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      The Knicks Are Like Blink-182. Let Us Explain.

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The NBA SeasonVirus Hotspots in the N.B.A.LeBron and Anthony DavisThe N.B.A. Wanted HerMissing Klay ThompsonKobe the #GirlDadAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyon pro basketballThe Knicks Are Like Blink-182. Let Us Explain.Hot in the 1990s and early ’00s. A source of joy and pain for a wildly devoted fan base. An unexpected resurgence. Yep, the parallels are there.“As a team, we all really support each other,” Knicks guard RJ Barrett, left, said.Credit…Pool photo by Sarah StierMarch 5, 2021, 5:35 p.m. ETIn the 1990s and early 2000s, Blink-182 was huge. With songs like “What’s My Age Again?” and “All the Small Things,” the rock trio’s blend of pop punk and unapologetic juvenility propelled them to an influential stature in American culture, with a loud, dedicated fan base.Hang with us for a second. We know you’re here to read about basketball.Then, in 2005, the band disappeared for a while, returning in 2011 with its first album since 2003. It was a flop; internal acrimony hurt the recording process. Next came “California,” in 2016, an album met with low expectations because of the past acrimony and the likelihood that this band, like many before, would struggle to regain its mojo after so many years away.Except the album turned out to be great, a success that fired up the fan base. The music felt fresh while still offering enough of what made the band so popular in the first place.The cover for the Blink-182 album “California,” which was released in 2016.If that sounds familiar, and not just because you learned to play the guitar riff in “Dammit,” you just might be a Knicks fan watching the team make a serious run this year for home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.The Knicks are Blink-182.They are 19-18, a half-game behind the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference. And fans are optimistic. “Yelling outside Madison Square Garden” optimistic. “Spending a bunch of money on coronavirus tests just to attend a game” optimistic. It seems like ages since the Knicks have had this much excitement. Except we must now remind you that the Knicks were 18-18 not so long ago, in the 2017-18 season, and then the wheels fell off.That can happen this season, too. But the feeling around these Knicks is different.“As a team, we all really support each other,” said RJ Barrett, the team’s starting guard. “Always happy for each other. Whoever’s night it is, we’re always cheering. We really like each other off the court.”So midway through the season, is this team for real? Enough to make the playoffs? Or will this season go the way of 2017-18, when they won only about a quarter of their games after the All-Star break?Here’s a look at what to expect from the Knicks in the second half of the season.A Tougher ScheduleThe Knicks have had one of the easiest schedules. They are last in strength of schedule, a measure of the difficulty of a team’s opponents, but the second half stands to be harder. Coming out of the All-Star break, three of the Knicks’ next four games will be against finals contenders: the Nets, the Milwaukee Bucks and the Philadelphia 76ers. When only a handful of games are separating the fourth seed from the 11th seed, those games are crucial. There’s also a brutal road trip in May that will take the team to Denver, Phoenix and Los Angeles, where they will play the Lakers and the Clippers.Julius Randle’s DominanceJulius Randle is leading the Knicks in total points, rebounds and assists. The only other players doing that for their teams are Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks), Nikola Jokic (Denver Nuggets) and Luka Doncic (Dallas Mavericks).Forward Julius Randle is leading the Knicks in points, rebounds and assists.Credit…Craig Mitchelldyer/USA Today Sports, via ReutersThat’s a heavy load that Randle has to carry night in and night out. He’s also top-three in the league in minutes played. Randle is only 26, but you have to wonder if fatigue will become a factor in the second half.RJ Barrett’s Stephen Curry ImpersonationRJ Barrett is undoubtedly having a better year than he did his rookie season, but it has still been a strange one. In December, he shot a terrible 12.5 percent from 3, including an 0-for-8 performance against the Toronto Raptors. The next month, Barrett raised his percentage to a passable 35.1 percent. In February, though, Barrett turned into an elite shooter at 47.4 percent from outside. Oddly, it’s inside where Barrett struggles the most, sometimes forcing midrange shots.He doesn’t take many 3-pointers — only 3.3 a game — but if Barrett remains a legitimate weapon out there, it will help the Knicks offense, which is below average.Frank Ntilikina Is Coming in From the ColdFrank Ntilikina, who the Knicks drafted eighth over all in 2017, hasn’t worked out as expected. His minutes have waned, and he hasn’t shown he can be a consistent scorer. But on Tuesday night, in his first start of the season, Ntilikina broke out for 13 points. New York Knicks guard Frank Ntilikina has played in only nine games this season.Credit…Daniel Dunn/USA Today Sports, via ReutersThe performance inspired euphoria among Knicks fans. It spurred several memes and a donation to charity from overjoyed devotees on Reddit.File this under “Possible Correlation, Not Causation”: Ntilikina has played in only nine games this season. In two of them, he entered in garbage time when the Knicks were well on the way to losing. But in the other seven, all of which Ntilikina played at least 11 minutes, the Knicks are 6-1. This includes the game on Thursday night against the Detroit Pistons, when he scored 9 points in 13 minutes.It’s a limited sample size, but Ntilikina might be earning himself more playing time in the second half of the season. He’s hitting his shots (61.9 percent from 3) and has always been a tough defender. He even had a game-sealing steal against the Indiana Pacers at the end of February.Alec Burks and Julius Randle of the New York Knicks fight Nikola Vucevic of the Orlando Magic for a rebound at Amway Center in February.Credit…Alex Menendez/Getty ImagesDE-FENSE! [Clap, Clap] DE-FENSE!The Knicks are the second-best defensive team in the league, which isn’t surprising, because Coach Tom Thibodeau has long been known as a defensive wizard. The last time the Knicks had a top-five defense was in the 2011-12 season. Incidentally, the team made the playoffs that year in another shortened season.To give you an idea of how much more offensive-minded the N.B.A. is today: In 2015-16, the Knicks had a better defensive efficiency than they do this year, but they were just the league’s 18th-best defense. It’s not a question of teams simply playing faster and scoring more points either, since efficiency factors in pace. Offenses are just better now, especially with the focus on the 3.Can Immanuel Quickley Start? Please?The Knicks often struggle offensively, yet one of their best offensive players doesn’t get much playing time.An early victory of the Leon Rose-era Knicks is the play of Immanuel Quickley, who was selected 25th in the draft last year. He is having an impressive rookie season, averaging 12.2 points, while shooting 38.1 percent from 3. His floaters are a thing of beauty. He’s one of the few players on the Knicks, outside of Randle, Barrett and Derrick Rose, who can break down a defense. On top of that, he is automatic from the free-throw line, shooting better than 94 percent.Immanuel Quickley is an active defender and automatic from the free-throw line.Credit…Kevin C. Cox/Getty ImagesQuickley plays less than 20 minutes a game, and it’s high time for that to be increased for a team as offensively challenged as the Knicks. He’s also an active defender and a strong communicator. He’s undersized and is still learning, but he has a better defensive rating than Barrett and Mitchell Robinson — two players who have been lauded for their defense. (Defensive rating is a measure of how many points the team gives up with you on the floor, extrapolated for 100 possessions. It’s an imprecise measure, and is affected by who is also on the floor with you.)Elfrid Payton has been the starting point guard for most of the year. But his poor shooting causes spacing issues, particularly for Randle. Quickley is arguably the team’s second-best offensive player. It’s worth giving him more time.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      ‘Overlooked My Whole Life’: H.B.C.U. Set Stage for an N.B.A. Career

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The NBA SeasonVirus Hotspots in the N.B.A.LeBron and Anthony DavisThe N.B.A. Wanted HerMissing Klay ThompsonKobe the #GirlDadAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story‘Overlooked My Whole Life’: H.B.C.U. Set Stage for an N.B.A. CareerThe only active N.B.A. player from a historically Black college or university, Robert Covington is making a name for himself.Robert Covington, a forward on the Portland Trail Blazers, will participate in the skills challenge during the All-Star festivities this weekend in Atlanta.Credit…Rich Pedroncelli/Associated PressMarch 4, 2021, 3:34 p.m. ETRobert Covington remembers his college basketball practices. He remembers the two-on-one full-court drills where he was the “one” and had to try to defend two teammates. He remembers the endless games of one on one that more closely approximated cage matches. He remembers breaking curfew to sneak into the gym to work on his shot — and the late-night phone calls to his coaches when campus security caught him.But most of all, Covington remembers feeling driven when he was at Tennessee State.“I felt like I was overlooked my whole life,” he said.Now in his eighth N.B.A. season, Covington starts at forward for the Portland Trail Blazers, who traded for him in November, banking on his ability to defend, plug holes, make jumpers and help bind the team. It has been a process — Covington has struggled with his shooting — but he continues to provide big minutes for a team that hopes to contend. Because of injuries, he has even moonlighted at center.“We ask him to do a lot,” his teammate Carmelo Anthony said. “But he’s built for that.”On Sunday, true to form, Covington will play an understated role in the preamble to the N.B.A. All-Star Game when he takes part in the league’s annual skills challenge.Considering that teams have spent the past three months crisscrossing the country with the coronavirus still spreading, many players were not particularly enamored of the N.B.A.’s decision to stage an All-Star Game this season. Covington, though, wanted to go because the league and the players’ union are using Sunday’s festivities to help highlight and financially support historically Black colleges and universities. Covington, 30, is the only active player in the league who attended an H.B.C.U. — a distinction that he said was not lost on him.“Of course, I would love to have a break just to get away and reset,” he said, “but I feel like it’s a life-changing experience, and it’s an opportunity I can’t pass up.”In many ways, Covington said, his time at Tennessee State formed the foundation for a career he never envisioned, and he hopes his presence at All-Star weekend — however modest — is an example to young players who are unsung or overshadowed.Covington said he knew Tennessee State felt right almost as soon as he got to the campus for his first visit.Credit…Wade Payne/Associated PressCovington was not a top-shelf recruit coming out of Proviso West High School in Hillside, Ill., outside Chicago. At 6 feet 7 inches and about 170 pounds, he had a thin frame and a hard-to-define game. His jump shot was alluring, but college coaches wondered whether he had the strength to bang around in the post. After all, that was where someone that tall ought to be playing: down low. But one coach expressed a great deal of interest, and that may have made all the difference.At the time, Dana Ford was an assistant at Chipola College, a two-year school in Marianna, Fla. But he was also a candidate to join the staff at Tennessee State, a Division I university in Nashville, when he first saw Covington and was captivated by his potential.“He was like, ‘I’m applying for this job, but until I get it I’m allowed to call you every day,’” Covington recalled Ford telling him. “So he called every day. I thought he was crazy at first.”Ford soon landed the job as an assistant coach at Tennessee State — and curbed his phone calls — but not before he persuaded John Cooper, the team’s new head coach, to join him on a trip to Chicago to see Covington in a showcase for unsigned seniors. It did not go as planned: Fewer than 10 prospects participated, and Cooper could understand why coaches had concerns about Covington. (What position would he play?) But Cooper had scholarships available.“The one thing you could tell is that he could shoot the ball,” Cooper, now an assistant at Southern Methodist University, said in a telephone interview. “So I told Dana, ‘Well, you know, the one thing for sure is that at his height, he’s a guy who if teams zone us, he can possibly make some shots.’”For his part, Covington said he was sold on Tennessee State as soon as he arrived for his official visit.“I called my parents before the first day was even over and said, ‘I found my school,’” he said. “It just felt right.”When he enrolled, the N.B.A. was a distant fantasy. The more realistic goal, he said, was to eventually get paid to play basketball — somewhere, anywhere. Cooper said he was struck by Covington’s toughness. He was unafraid of contact, and even seemed to seek it. “He just needed some strength and size,” Cooper said.Ahead of Covington’s freshman season, the coaching staff bulked him up by putting him on a weight lifting program — and by having him consume a box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts every day. (“I ate them in increments,” Covington said.) He added about 15 pounds in two weeks. Even now, he said, he has the sort of high metabolism that incinerates calories. He weighs about 228 pounds, he said, with 5.1 percent body fat.Over four seasons at Tennessee State, Covington, right, averaged 14.8 points and 7.4 rebounds per game.Credit…Ethan Miller/Getty ImagesAs a four-year starter at Tennessee State, he did a bit of everything: scoring, rebounding, defending. He shot 42.2 percent from 3-point range, and opposing forwards struggled to contain him on the perimeter.“I think one of the best things that ended up happening for Rob at T.S.U. is that he was never pigeonholed,” Cooper said. “Because of his ability, length and size, he did so many different things and his overall game was allowed to grow.”After Covington went undrafted in 2013, the Houston Rockets offered him a partially guaranteed deal and assigned him to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, their affiliate in the N.B.A. development league (now called the G League).Covington’s presence happened to coincide with a grand experiment for the Vipers. The Rockets’ front office wanted the team to shoot a ton of 3-pointers and layups, treat midrange jumpers as if they were poisonous and switch on defense on every screen. The Vipers were also instructed to keep the paint open on offense by stationing five players around the perimeter. That might sound familiar to anyone who watched the Rockets during the Mike D’Antoni coaching era.Back then, though, those concepts were fairly space age. No team in the N.B.A. had averaged more than 28.9 3-point attempts the previous season. The Vipers launched 45.4 3-pointers a game, and Nevada Smith, then the team’s coach, urged Covington to take his share of them. Covington thrived, averaging 23.2 points and 9.2 rebounds per game while shooting 37 percent from 3-point range. He had room for improvement, Smith said. He was not a terrific passer, and his ball-handling needed work.“But the defense, the shooting, the anticipation and his ability to finish over the rim — you could see all that stuff from early on,” Smith said.Covington’s place in the N.B.A. ecosystem was still far from secure, and after he played poorly for the Rockets in summer league ahead of the 2014-15 season, they waived him.“They just didn’t see me as a part of their future at that point,” said Covington, who turned down what he described as a major offer from a team in China. “I didn’t want to get lost in the shuffle, so I took a gamble on myself.”Covington’s versatility on offense and defense helped him latch on with the Sixers after the Rockets waived him before the 2014-15 season.Credit…Kevin C. Cox/Getty ImagesThe Philadelphia 76ers soon signed him, and he flourished over four-plus seasons, along the way agreeing to a four-year contract extension worth about $62 million. He was named to the league’s all-defensive team in 2018. More than ever, the N.B.A. was valuing versatile players who could stretch the floor, players for whom the idea of being “positionless” was now considered an asset rather than a disadvantage.After stints with the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Rockets (who traded for the player they had once cut), Covington joined the Blazers before the start of the season.“It’s just about getting more and more comfortable in the offense,” said Covington, who scored a season-high 21 points on Monday in a win over the Charlotte Hornets. “Got to keep doing what I’m doing.”He often thinks about the effect that Tennessee State had on him, his late nights in the gym, the coaches who pushed him and the program that believed in him. He recently donated $1 million for the university to build a new practice facility, which will be called Covington Pavilion. He has the blueprints.“Surreal,” he said. “Something I never could have imagined.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Celtics Try to Reset Their Championship Aspirations

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The NBA SeasonVirus Hotspots in the N.B.A.LeBron and Anthony DavisThe N.B.A. Wanted HerMissing Klay ThompsonKobe the #GirlDadAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyCeltics Try to Reset Their Championship AspirationsInjuries have led Boston to start 13 different players this season. But things may be turning around.The Celtics bench enjoyed a dunk by Robert Williams III on Tuesday night.Credit…Elise Amendola/Associated PressMarch 3, 2021, 8:29 a.m. ETBOSTON — At the start of the week, Brad Stevens, the coach of the Boston Celtics, mentioned how his players needed to “accomplish some difficult things.”It was a novel way of looking at a potential reset for his team, just before the N.B.A. All-Star break this weekend. Of course, when it comes to muddling through this bizarre, pandemic-stricken season, the Celtics have had plenty of company. Few teams have excelled. But the Celtics were among a select group that showed up for the delayed start of the league calendar in late December with championship aspirations, and they have been among another select few that have — so far, at least — underachieved.Fresh opportunities to accomplish some of those difficult things continue to present themselves, though, and the Celtics are beginning to put the pieces together. On Tuesday night, with a 117-112 victory over the visiting Los Angeles Clippers, the Celtics managed to do something that they had not done since the middle of January: win a third straight game.Kemba (25 PTS, 6 3PM), @celtics (3 straight Ws) stay hot! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/WwuFgts9ir— NBA (@NBA) March 3, 2021
      “They’ve stayed together when they easily could have been pulled apart by the noise,” Stevens said, “and I think you have to be able to resist that when you’re at this level and you’re going through the roller coaster of the season.”The Celtics, who are 18-17, are hoping to build on their newfound momentum. Not so long ago — last week, to be specific — fans were getting noticeably grouchy about the team’s lack of ball movement, about Jayson Tatum’s seeming insistence on creating scoring opportunities for himself off the dribble (“hero ball,” in the parlance of social media), and about a general absence of game-to-game cohesion.Some of those problems can be explained away. Kemba Walker, the Celtics’ starting point guard, missed the first 11 games of the season while recovering from knee surgery, and he has been sitting out the second game of back-to-backs. (The Celtics are 1-4 in those games.) Tatum missed five games in January after he tested positive for the coronavirus, and he has acknowledged feeling winded at times since his return. Marcus Smart, the team’s do-everything, defense-minded wing, has been sidelined since he tore a calf muscle on Jan. 30.Add it all up, and the Celtics have started 13 players through 35 games, a comprehensive list that includes Tremont Waters and Carsen Edwards. (Last season, which was also — what’s the word? — disjointed, Boston started a total of 14 players.) On Sunday, when the Celtics wound up stealing a win against the Washington Wizards, Javonte Green, a 27-year-old guard who spent the first few years of his professional career hopscotching among leagues in Spain, Italy and Germany, started in place of Jaylen Brown, who missed the game with knee soreness.Nothing about their patchwork roster makes the Celtics unique. Entering Wednesday, seven teams in the Eastern Conference were within three games of .500, including the Miami Heat, who have scuffled along since reaching the N.B.A. finals last season, and the Knicks, whose fans are celebrating their relative resurgence as if it were 1973 all over again. The point being: Not all mediocre records are the same.Consider, too, the Wizards, who are suddenly one of the most dangerous 13-20 teams around. Led by Bradley Beal, an All-Star starter and the league’s leading scorer, they had won seven of their last eight games before losing to the Celtics, having found a bit of rhythm after a nearly two-week pause in their season that was caused by a coronavirus outbreak. Nothing about this season is ordinary, and no team is immune from its challenges.“It’s good to get a win on a day that ends in a ‘Y’ right now,” Stevens said after the Celtics’ win over the Indiana Pacers on Friday night, which ended a three-game losing streak. “That’s all I can say.”Against the Wizards on Sunday, the Celtics engineered some late-game magic after trailing by as many as 5 in the final minute. Tatum made three straight layups, and Beal’s 19-footer at the buzzer was off target after Tatum had helped double-team him in the corner.In a way, Stevens said, the comeback felt to him like some good karma after “the lucky stuff” that had befallen his team in Dallas week, when the Mavericks’ Luka Doncic made two 3-pointers in the final 15.8 seconds to lift his team to a 110-107 win — an especially traumatic result for the Celtics after they had erased a 12-point deficit late in the fourth quarter.On Tuesday, optimism came in the form of more evidence of Walker’s improving play. He finished with 25 points and 6 assists. And the ball moved: Six players scored at least 13 points.“We’ve been playing tough, not letting little things affect us throughout the course of the game,” Walker said. “We’ve been encouraging each other, picking each other up.”As far as these things go, perhaps the win came with an asterisk since the Clippers were without Kawhi Leonard, who left the court during warm-ups after experiencing back spasms. But every game this season seems to come with some sort of asterisk: someone injured, someone limited, someone absent because of contact tracing. The oddities are endless. Stevens said he was just glad that his players had a chance to sleep in their own beds this week, a sunbeam of normalcy.“We’re fresher,” he said. “We’re more ourselves.”Jayson Tatum has been faulted by some fans for creating too many shots for for himself off the dribble.Credit…Paul Rutherford/USA Today Sports, via ReutersThe Celtics, in accordance with local regulations, have announced that they will welcome fans back to their home games starting on March 29, with capacity at their arena limited to 12 percent. Stevens has noticed the contrast when his team plays in front of modest crowds on the road.“It is eerily quiet in here versus other places we play,” he said. “So it is a little bit of an adjustment.”In a way, fans were spared an up-close look at the Celtics’ struggles in recent weeks. They could be arriving at the right time.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      James Harden Is Headed Back to Houston. Too Bad He’s Not Staying.

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The NBA SeasonVirus Hotspots in the N.B.A.LeBron and Anthony DavisThe N.B.A. Wanted HerMissing Klay ThompsonKobe the #GirlDadAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storymarc stein on basketballJames Harden Is Headed Back to Houston. Too Bad He’s Not Staying.Harden is in a groove with the Nets as they head to face his former Rockets team, which is struggling.James Harden returns to Houston reinvigorated and chatty about defense, while his former team is in the midst of a losing streak.Credit…Daniel Dunn/USA Today Sports, via ReutersMarch 3, 2021Updated 7:13 a.m. ETThe Nets haven’t achieved anything substantial yet. Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and the newcomer in their star trio, James Harden, haven’t even played 200 minutes together yet.As flammable as the new Nets have looked at their best, in such an inviting Eastern Conference, what we’ve seen so far does not assure the three alphas and their rookie coach, Steve Nash, of meaningful future success.One notable exception: Harden’s return to Houston on Wednesday, 50 days after his last game there, is certain to be triumphant.Entering his first visit to Toyota Center since the weekslong mutiny he staged to persuade the Rockets to trade him, with his former team in the throes of a relentless losing streak, Harden appears reinvigorated, almost reborn, in the wake of the divorce. That was evident on Monday night in San Antonio, where Harden racked up 30 points, 14 rebounds and 15 assists — without a turnover — in an overtime victory against the Spurs.“He can literally do almost everything there is to do out there,” Nash said.Harden has been on his best behavior as a Net, embracing a much more watchable share-the-ball approach with a vigor some skeptics thought he no longer had at age 31. The result: Harden’s reputation has rebounded dramatically, with a swiftness and flair few predicted when the Rockets shipped him to Brooklyn in mid-January.I say “few” because there were some, as confirmed when I went back and reread my post-trade analysis. I quoted a Western Conference executive who felt that Harden-bashers in the news media, including the guy who curates this newsletter, had gotten so lost in Harden’s various acts of sabotage that we had turned him into the league’s most underrated player.The executive’s point, if somewhat theatrical, resonates pretty strongly now. As natural, and fair, as it was to fixate on the desultory manner in which Harden essentially quit on the Rockets, it was too readily forgotten that he remains an offensive force almost without peer. With these Nets, everyone, including Irving, saw it immediately: Harden had to have the ball.Kyrie Irving and James Harden have blended their games in the way that quickly became the clear solution: by giving the ball to Harden.Credit…Al Bello/Getty ImagesThe notion that he was some sort of luxury addition greeted Harden when he joined the two incumbent scoring machines at Barclays Center. The Nets then assembled an eight-game winning streak last month, with Durant — his spectacular comeback from a torn right Achilles’ tendon suddenly interrupted by a pesky hamstring strain — playing in only one of those games. Irving is on pace to shoot above 50 percent from the floor (.514) for the first time, and he routinely dazzles with his shotmaking, but by mid-February he was openly referring to Harden, rather than himself, as the Nets’ point guard.It’s why Harden is now more commonly described as a durable, dependable necessity who, in the Nets’ dream scenario, just might make them so dynamic offensively that they don’t have to sweat their shortcomings in depth and on defense. He has seven triple-doubles in 22 games and, on the way to Houston on Tuesday, he was named Eastern Conference player of the month.Rockets fans, of course, won’t need the up-close reminder of Wednesday’s game against the Nets to slam home the reality that The Beard is no longer theirs. They feel it every night.Everything this franchise did revolved around Harden for eight seasons. Without him? While Harden was shredding the Spurs, Houston was absorbing its 12th consecutive defeat, squandering a chance to bring a halt to the skid against the Cleveland Cavaliers, who are now 14-21.Still reeling from the news that the city’s beloved football star J.J. Watt had just signed with the Arizona Cardinals, Houston has too many problems these days to know where to look first. The injury-hit Rockets have gone winless since Feb. 4, when their best player this season, Christian Wood, was sidelined by a sprained right ankle. Five of those 12 defeats came by at least 20 points — including a 49-point humiliation at home against Memphis on Sunday.The Rockets are caught between a need to lose for optimum draft position, as they begin a period of heavy reliance on the draft, and the emotional toll of getting reacquainted with losing for the first time in years. This franchise last endured a sub-.500 season in 2005-06, only to get a head start on this season’s theme through a steady stream of high-profile departures that began last September. First it was Coach Mike D’Antoni, then General Manager Daryl Morey, then Russell Westbrook and ultimately Harden.There will probably be more, too, with the March 25 trade deadline looming. The Rockets are weighing whether to shop Victor Oladipo, the former All-Star guard who arrived from Indiana in the four-team Harden blockbuster. The bruising forward P.J. Tucker, one of the few remaining holdovers from a run with Harden that delivered two trips to the Western Conference finals, three scoring titles and one Most Valuable Player Award — but no championships — is eagerly awaiting his own exit in the coming days and a new start with a contender. John Wall replaced Westbrook but watched his close friend and fellow former All-Star, DeMarcus Cousins, negotiate his release last month, so Cousins, too, could search for a job with a playoff-bound team.The Nets’ three big stars haven’t spent much time all together on the court, but individually, and in pairs, they have turned the team into one of the league’s greatest offenses.Credit…Sarah Stier/Getty ImagesTeardowns are never pretty, but this one has even more layers than usual because it wasn’t the only option. The Rockets, remember, could have traded Harden to the 76ers for Ben Simmons, but rumblings persist that Tilman Fertitta, Houston’s owner, pushed for the Nets’ deal built heavily on draft compensation in part because he could not bear to send Harden to Philadelphia, where Morey landed after their frosty parting. Amid the Nets’ surge to No. 1 in the N.B.A. in offensive efficiency (117.9 points per 100 possessions) and the Knicks’ unforeseen rise to No. 4 in the cushier Eastern Conference, I hope you haven’t missed last month’s other major development in the East: Simmons has responded to the sting of bracing himself for a trade to Texas with the best two-way basketball of his life.Last week, Simmons smothered Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks in a way that pretty much nobody else has managed. Simmons hounded Doncic for five of the Dallas star’s seven turnovers in a nationally televised game on TNT. That followed impressive clampings of Portland’s Damian Lillard and Utah’s Donovan Mitchell.“I like taking those challenges,” Simmons said. “Just tell me who to guard.”Ever since I watched Simmons make his case for the Defensive Player of the Year Award so forcefully against Doncic, with his offense also picking up, I’ve been thinking about the Rockets a lot. I was part of the December and January chorus touting Simmons as the ideal return in a Harden deal for Houston’s new front office, led by General Manager Rafael Stone. Now Simmons looks even more like the young franchise cornerstone that Houston had convinced so many rival teams it was holding out for in a Harden deal.For all the inevitable curiosity about what sort of reaction Harden will get from an expected crowd of roughly 4,000 Houstonians, only one question really matters for the Rockets: Did they make the right trade? They can rightfully say it’s too early for final judgments, but the answer, thanks to both Harden and Simmons, is not trending in their direction.The Scoop @TheSteinLineCorner ThreeSome fans wanted Kyle Lowry to play for and coach the Toronto Raptors, but it wasn’t to be.Credit…Todd Kirkland/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.(Responses may be lightly edited or condensed for clarity.)Q: Fun read on Luka Doncic and Larry Bird. But I do have one quibble. You wrote:Another key contrast: Doncic didn’t land with a franchise as close to title contention as Bird and, in Year 3, finds himself in his most challenging stretch since he reached the N.B.A.There is a problem with that statement. Bird joined the Celtics in 1979-80 and immediately led them to a 61-win season after the team went 29-53. They won 32 games the season before that. I’m a lifelong Knicks fan, but I have also long recognized that Bird made his team dramatically better right away and for the duration of his time there. — Bill Dailey (Rye, N.Y.)Stein: You are not the only one, Bill, voicing opposition to this sentence. I worded it without the requisite clarity and, as you suggested, definitely shortchanged Bird for the staggering improvement he inspired in his rookie season in Boston. But I’m going to push back on the idea that Bird alone put Boston back in the title mix, because the Celtics did have some things going for them in 1979-80 that you wouldn’t normally associate with a franchise coming off a 29-win season:Dave Cowens and Tiny Archibald were future Hall of Famers and still quality starters, albeit late in their careers, when Bird showed up. Cowens and Archibald clearly could no longer lead a good team at that point, but Bird accentuated (and benefited from) their veteran know-how.Cedric Maxwell, who inspired last week’s Doncic/Bird piece, was in his third N.B.A. season in 1979-80. The next year, Maxwell won the finals’ most valuable player honors. Dirk Nowitzki was in his 21st N.B.A. season when Doncic was a rookie; none of Doncic’s other teammates has looked like a future Hall of Famer or finals M.V.P.The Celtics had enough draft picks stashed, before Bird played a game, to swing the league-altering trade with Golden State in June 1980 that brought Kevin McHale and Robert Parish to Boston. Before that trade, remember, Red Auerbach also won a power struggle with the Celtics’ owner John Y. Brown that kept Auerbach — perhaps the most successful team-builder in the sport’s history — from leaving Boston to take over the Knicks. Brown sold his stake in the team to go into politics, and Auerbach stayed to make the moves that flanked Bird with McHale and Parish.When you take all that into account, I’d argue that the Celtics were indeed much closer to title contention than the two seasons pre-Bird would have suggested — and certainly closer than Doncic’s Mavericks. Don’t forget that only three of the East’s 11 teams in Bird’s first season had winning records. Philadelphia was a perennial power, but Milwaukee’s ascension, which made the East much more competitive, came later.Q: Tree Rollins was a player/coach for Orlando in 1995. — @theregoeshappy from TwitterStein: This tweet came in response to the history lesson we reviewed on Friday about player/coaches in the N.B.A.Despite the Rollins reference, players’ doubling as head coaches, even on an interim basis, was indeed deemed impermissible by the league office starting in the 1984-85 season after the N.B.A. implemented its first salary cap. The league wanted to ensure that teams could not circumvent the limits and provide extra compensation to players, since coaches’ salaries are not governed by the salary cap.Toronto’s Kyle Lowry, in other words, was not eligible to be the Raptors’ interim player/coach when Nick Nurse could not coach because of virus-related health concerns — no matter how badly N.B.A. Twitter was rooting for that to happen.Some of the game’s greatest players served as player-head coach before the salary cap era, including Bill Russell, Lenny Wilkens, Dave DeBusschere, Bob Pettit and Bob Cousy. The last player who doubled as player and head coach in the N.B.A. was Boston’s Dave Cowens in the 1978-79 season.Rollins functioned as a player-assistant coach for his last two seasons as an active player in Orlando, 1993-94 and 1994-95, but he appeared on the Magic’s payroll as a player in both cases and, again, would not have been allowed to serve as the head coach if asked.Q: The Bucks at roughly the same point last year were 27-4 and had 15 double-digit wins. And the discussion was whether Khris Middleton would make the All-Star team as the Bucks’ second-best player. There was not even a discussion about Eric Bledsoe, who had similar numbers to Utah’s Mike Conley. I don’t think that Milwaukee team warranted a third All-Star, and I don’t think Conley should make it, either. I just don’t understand the double standard. — @JoohnSn from TwitterStein: This reader is questioning why I publicly lobbied for Utah to have three All-Stars this season. I can’t speak for every All-Star voter. I can only share the principles I use when I make my (unofficial) All-Star picks, which are similar to the principles I and many other voters apply in M.V.P. voting. In short: Every season is a story unto itself. The circumstances are never the same, especially on the All-Star front, so what may have applied one year doesn’t automatically apply later.When choosing All-Star reserves, just like when trying rank five candidates on an M.V.P. ballot, many voters are trying to pinpoint who has assembled the strongest “best season” cases to that point of the schedule. I don’t think All-Star voters should be getting bogged down by the granular details about previous years when they make their selections. The number of worthy All-Star contenders in each conference fluctuates season to season, which is partly how Atlanta got four All-Star reserves in 2014-15.I said Utah should have three All-Stars this season because the Jazz have been a runaway force in numerous statistical categories. Whether Milwaukee had three worthy All-Star candidates last season, or if you found it fair or unfair that the Hawks landed their four All-Star reserves six years ago, those seasons are largely immaterial to this discussion.I made the case, in print and on Twitter, that Rudy Gobert, Donovan Mitchell and Conley should claim three of the West’s seven All-Star reserve spots this season because of both Utah’s first-half excellence and the outstanding individual production all three have given the Jazz. I likewise did that lobbying, as stated from the outset, as one last pre-emptive hat tip, because I was expecting Conley to be snubbed and for Utah to get only two All-Stars.There was no double standard at play, just one man’s opinion and voting approach. Western Conference coaches, who picked the reserves, clearly joined you in disagreeing with me.Numbers GameLloyd Pierce was fired as head coach of the Atlanta Hawks on Monday. He was one of seven Black N.B.A. coaches.Credit…Jared C. Tilton/Getty ImagesStats entering Tuesday night’s games..402Tuesday marked one full year on the job for Leon Rose as the Knicks’ team president. The Knicks are 18-17, better than many pundits predicted, but the history stacked against Rose is foreboding: This is the 20th season of James L. Dolan’s ownership, during which the Knicks are 661-982 — resulting in the league’s lowest winning percentage in that span, at .402.3The three best regular-season winning percentages during Dolan’s reign belong to the three Texas teams: San Antonio’s .688 (1,131-512), Dallas’s .599 (988-662) and Houston’s .576 (949-698).19.8When the Knicks selected Obi Toppin with the No. 8 pick in November’s draft, Toppin was billed as Julius Randle’s potential successor in the frontcourt. Instead Randle, who has a very friendly team option for next season at $19.8 million, will play Sunday in his first All-Star Game. Without warning, Randle has emerged as the offensive fulcrum for Coach Tom Thibodeau, who is the closest thing to a marquee signing the Knicks made in the off-season.5The former Knicks team president Dave Checketts will join Burnley’s board of directors in June and make it the fifth club in the 20-team English Premier League club with an N.B.A. connection at ownership level. Arsenal is owned by Stan Kroenke, whose son, Josh, is the Denver Nuggets’ governor and team president and also serves on Arsenal’s board. Aston Villa is co-owned by Wes Edens, one of the primary owners of the Milwaukee Bucks. Crystal Palace is owned by the Philadelphia 76ers’ duo of Josh Harris and David Blitzer. And the Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James has been a minority owner of Liverpool since 2011.16The diversity of the N.B.A.’s big-picture landscape remained largely unchanged after coaching moves in Minnesota and Atlanta over the past nine days. Of the league’s top 60 positions, only 16 are held by nonwhite coaches and heads of front offices.With a player pool estimated at more than 75 percent Black, the league has just seven Black head coaches. Nate McMillan has replaced the ousted Lloyd Pierce in Atlanta as the Hawks’ interim coach and joined Cleveland’s J.B. Bickerstaff, Detroit’s Dwane Casey, Houston’s Stephen Silas, Philadelphia’s Doc Rivers, Phoenix’s Monty Williams and the Los Angeles Clippers’ Tyronn Lue.Charlotte’s James Borrego, who is Mexican-American, and Miami’s Erik Spoelstra, who is Filipino-American, are the league’s other two coaches of color.The six Black executives with lead decision-making authority in the front office are Cleveland’s Koby Altman, Detroit’s Troy Weaver, Houston’s Rafael Stone, Phoenix’s James Jones, San Antonio’s Brian Wright and Toronto’s Masai Ujiri. Minnesota’s Gersson Rosas was the first Latino in league history to run a team’s basketball operations.Rosas hired Chris Finch, who is white and had worked with him in Houston, to replace Ryan Saunders as head coach of the Timberwolves on Feb. 22. Rosas has faced considerable criticism for hiring Finch, an assistant coach from the Toronto Raptors, in the middle of the season rather than promoting David Vanterpool, who is Black, from within, or commissioning a wider search. In the front office, Rosas has hired two Indian-Americans, Sachin Gupta and Robby Sikka, and Joe Branch, a Black former player agent.Hit me up anytime on Twitter (@TheSteinLine) or Facebook (@MarcSteinNBA) or Instagram (@thesteinline). Send any other feedback to marcstein-newsletter@nytimes.com.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      C. Vivian Stringer Is the Thread Between the W.N.B.A.’s Emerging Stars

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyC. Vivian Stringer Is the Thread Between the W.N.B.A.’s Emerging StarsThe Liberty’s Betnijah Laney and Erica Wheeler of the Los Angeles Sparks are coming into their own after winding paths with a key intersection: Stringer’s coaching at Rutgers.Rutgers Coach C. Vivian Stringer is known for her “55” defense, with all five players involved in full-court pressure.Credit…Gail Burton/Associated PressMarch 1, 2021, 12:01 a.m. ETErica Wheeler still remembers vividly what Rutgers Coach C. Vivian Stringer, standing in the Wheelers’ home, told Wheeler’s mother would happen if her daughter came to play for her.“She told my mom, ‘She won’t just be a basketball player,’” Wheeler recalled of the conversation between Stringer and Wheeler’s mother, Melissa Cooper, who died in 2012. “‘She’s going to know how to speak in front of the camera, she’s going to know etiquette, she’s going to know how to carry herself, and she’s going to be a young woman when she graduates college.’”Wheeler, who turns 30 in May, has worked to become the woman Stringer promised Cooper she would be. She has shown a toughness that has carried her on her professional journey to 14 teams overseas after she wasn’t selected in the W.N.B.A. draft, to regular playing time with the Indiana Fever and now a multiyear deal with the Los Angeles Sparks.A parallel story unfolded in the life of Betnijah Laney, 27, in her case a second-generation Stringer player. Laney’s mother, Yolanda Laney, took Stringer’s Cheyney State program to a pair of Final Fours, playing at a level Stringer said would have made her the top pick in the W.N.B.A. draft had the league existed when she graduated.Instead, Yolanda became a lawyer and poured her basketball knowledge into Betnijah, who came to know Stringer like a second mother and chose to play for her as well, at Rutgers. Betnijah Laney, like Wheeler, struggled to find a foothold in the W.N.B.A., getting cut twice before blossoming with the Atlanta Dream in 2020 and winning the league’s Most Improved Player Award. This off-season, she signed a multiyear deal with the Liberty, and she is expected to take on a key role for a revamped team featuring guard Sabrina Ionescu and the newly acquired center Natasha Howard.That’s not to say that Laney’s familiarity with Stringer — from basketball camps where Yolanda coached and visits during family vacations — protected Laney from what she described as “moments she’s testing you mentally.”Betnijah Laney blossomed with the Atlanta Dream in 2020 after struggling to gain a foothold in the W.N.B.A.Credit…Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated Press“You’re either going to come along,” Laney added, “or get left back.”That’s part of the bargain, too, one that both Laney and Wheeler credit for giving them the strength to persevere through some early setbacks in their professional lives. It’s a common Rutgers story: An overlooked Stringer player sticks around and proves herself in the league. Such was the case for Chelsea Newton, picked 22nd over all in the 2005 draft before making an all-rookie team and, two years later, an all-defensive team, and for Tammy Sutton-Brown, who was picked 18th in the 2001 draft and became a two-time All-Star.But Stringer isn’t certain whether a Rutgers player is born or made. She didn’t even set out to recruit Wheeler, before getting a close look at the 5-foot-7 sparkplug in the huddle at an A.A.U. tournament. Wheeler’s teammates had their heads down after the opposing team made a run, but Wheeler was in their faces, reminding them of what they could do.When Wheeler took her official recruitment visit to Rutgers, Stringer wanted to make sure that A.A.U. version of Wheeler would be a part of the package.“I said, ‘Can you speak truth to power?’” Stringer said. “‘Because you’re going to be a freshman. Can you say the things you need to say, as a member of this team?’”Wheeler assured her that she could. Soon, Wheeler’s mother called Stringer while the coach was on vacation at Walt Disney World, and delivered the news for her daughter, asking Stringer to “make her tough, so that she can tackle the world.”It was different for Laney, who had all but decided to play for Sherri Coale at Oklahoma instead. But a phone call from Stringer, Laney said, reminded her: “I know this woman. I’m sure that she’ll take care of me, that she’s going to be everything that I need in a coach.”Laney and Wheeler played together under Stringer for two seasons. Laney knew what to expect because of her mother’s experience, but Wheeler had a rough adjustment period. Stringer asked Wheeler, a longtime shooting guard, to learn to play the point in her sophomore year. Playing time was scarce as she struggled with the new position. Wheeler said she considered transferring.Stringer is known for setting high standards for her players at Rutgers.Credit…Benjamin Solomon/Getty ImagesBut both Wheeler and Laney spoke highly of Stringer’s trademark intensity, and her approach to helping them overcome physical and mental barriers — “breaking them down to build them back up,” Stringer would say, meaning constantly questioning them to make them think and to act with purpose.Stringer recalled Wheeler vociferously objecting to a rare time that Stringer went easy during conditioning drills. Wheeler insisted that she and her teammates finish. And Laney offered to switch positions from the 3 to the 4, simply because, as she explained it to Stringer, “she was the one who could get those 10 rebounds a game we needed.” And she did, averaging 10.7 per game in her senior year.Wheeler and Laney have stayed in close contact since college, with the two texting each other encouragement throughout their free-agent processes, and connecting by FaceTime after each one signed a new contract. And they are there for current Rutgers players. Guard Arella Guirantes, who Stringer said should be the top pick in the 2021 draft, said she hears from Wheeler and Laney all the time.“We like to call it a secret society,” Guirantes said. “Because we understand: You come here, you hold yourself to a standard, really. And those who we have in the league now, we always have our sisters.”That standard led to the Sparks signing Wheeler this off-season to take over starting point guard duties, after she increased her assist percentage for three straight seasons. But Wheeler did not play in the 2020 season after learning she had Covid-19, with complications leading to fluid around her heart. She tested positive for the coronavirus in the spring but wasn’t cleared to resume playing basketball, she said, until October.Erica Wheeler was named the most valuable player in the 2019 W.N.B.A. All-Star Game.Credit…Ethan Miller/Getty ImagesIt was Stringer’s voice in her head reminding her that she could overcome this as she had so much else. Stringer’s voice, too, reverberates in Laney’s head every time she gets into a defensive stance, the fruit of years of drills and operating in Stringer’s famous “55” defense, where all five players are engaged in full-court pressure.The coach’s voice is clear in their minds off the court, too. Wheeler said she could hear Stringer when she achieved her goal last year of buying a house by the time she turned 30. And she channels Stringer whenever her foundation, the Wheeler Kid Foundation, holds another basketball clinic.Is she as demanding of the young players as Stringer is on Rutgers players?“No, I’m not that hard on them,” Wheeler began. But then she sounded an awful lot like her former coach. “I do demand a certain presence when you’re in my camp. When you’re not willing to work, or you want to joke around, you can get out of my gym.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More