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      Regular People Keep Challenging N.B.A. and W.N.B.A. Players

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      There’s confidence, and then there’s thinking you can beat one of the 500 (N.B.A.) or 150 (W.N.B.A.) best basketball players in the world.Of the millions of people around the world who play basketball, fewer than 500 are in the N.B.A. at any given time. Fewer than 150 are in the W.N.B.A. Before retiring in 2012, Brian Scalabrine spent 11 seasons in the N.B.A., far more than the majority of players who have made it to that level. He won a championship as a reserve for the Boston Celtics in 2008. He is 6-foot-9 and roughly 250 pounds.Yet strangers cannot seem to stop challenging Scalabrine to one-on-one games. Last month, a video that went viral showed Scalabrine being challenged at a gym by an overeager high schooler in Taunton, Mass. Scalabrine, playing the teenager for a pair of sneakers, beat him 11-0.These high school kids bet Brian Scalabrine a pair of shoes they could beat him 1-on-1 😅 @brkicks(via joshlopesss/IG) pic.twitter.com/FX2NjbD4Sa— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 23, 2021
      Scalabrine, who averaged 3.1 points per game for his career, said this happens to him regularly, and conversations with other unheralded former players revealed that it’s the same for them. By his own account, Scalabrine, 43, looked “pudgy on television compared to some of the best athletes in the world” and wasn’t known as much of a rebounder or scorer.Even so, Scalabrine survived in the league by developing a reputation for rarely making mistakes, being versatile on defense and shooting the 3.“Being a white N.B.A. player from the suburbs, I have to level up,” said Scalabrine, who is from Long Beach, Calif., and was often referred to as the White Mamba, a play on Kobe Bryant’s Black Mamba nickname.“People don’t understand how a little bit nuts you have to be to sustain an N.B.A. career,” Scalabrine said. “Especially when you’re not that talented. You have to be ready. You have to be up for the fight. You have to be like that every day. And if you’re not, you lose your livelihood.”Scalabrine has, to some degree, invited the ongoing challenges. Shortly after retiring, he took part in a Boston radio station’s “Scallenges” promotion in which top local players played him one on one. Scalabrine won every game by a large margin.Of course, even the top players in the N.B.A. get challenged, often at youth camps they run. Those clips go viral as well, with the stars gleefully blocking shots of children and teenagers several feet shorter than them. Rarely, the challenger will win, as in 2003, when John Rogers, who was then the 45-year-old chief executive of an investment firm, beat the recently retired Michael Jordan in a game of one on one at Jordan’s camp after Jordan had beaten 20 other people in a row.But for players who aren’t, or weren’t, the face of a franchise, they get challenged in a different way, as Michael Sweetney can attest. The former Knick, who played in the N.B.A. for four seasons from 2003 to 2007, said in an interview that he was challenged “all the time.” In fact, Sweetney, 38, said it happened just a few weeks ago by two former high school basketball players who happened to be at a gym in Florida where he was working out with children at a basketball camp.Michael Sweetney playing for the Knicks at Madison Square Garden in 2005.Frank Franklin II/Associated Press“I guess they were thinking that since I was far removed and retired that, ‘Hey, I can probably challenge him,’” said Sweetney, who averaged 6.5 points a game in 233 games. “It was funny because they tried to catch me off guard.”Sweetney added: “I was like: ‘I’m just letting you know, I’m not going to take it easy. You challenge me, it’s going to be competitive. It ended up being a situation like Scalabrine. I beat one like 11-2 and the other one was like 11-1.”The two challengers were surprised, said Sweetney, who is now an assistant coach at Yeshiva University. It was another reminder: When a player makes the N.B.A., no matter for how long, he is, in that moment, one of the 500 best basketball players in the world.“Yes, I’m removed,” Sweetney said. “I’m probably not in N.B.A. shape. But you still have talent and people just think if you’re not a superstar, they might have a chance against you.“They don’t know that even the 15th guy on the bench is better than the average person walking down the street.”Scalabrine, who is a television analyst for the Celtics, has taken pleasure in reminding the public of that. End-of-the-bench N.B.A. players may even have to work harder than stars to stay in the league because one missed assignment could be the difference between having a job or not.“I can go into any gym right now and I can find some of the best players going through the motions sometimes,” Scalabrine said. “Can you imagine 15 straight years? Maybe even more like 17, 18 straight years of never going through the motions?”He said professional athletes, even retired ones, have an extra gear that an average person cannot tap into. He referred to it as the “dark place.”“I would always say things, like in a game, ‘If I miss this next shot, my kids are going to die,’” Scalabrine said. “I would say that to myself, just to get through, just to put the pressure so I can lock in and make the shot.”Many W.N.B.A. teams bring in nonprofessional men to play against in practice, which Cheyenne Parker, a 28-year-old forward for the Atlanta Dream entering her seventh season, diplomatically described as “great competition” because “they are strong and fast.”She added, with a laugh: “But skillwise? Yeah.”Parker said she was challenged often — “especially being a tall woman.” She was playing pickup last month in Chicago, where she lives, when a cocky man started trash-talking her.Cheyenne Parker, left, said unfounded confidence leads some people to think they could outplay professional athletes.Mike Carlson/Associated Press“We start the game and I get my first chance to touch the ball. I like to work on my moves during pickup so I do this nice little Kyrie move. I juked him real bad,” Parker said, referring to Kyrie Irving, the Nets star known for his ball-handling skills. “I scored it in his face. Everybody went, ‘Ohhh!’ It was funny.”When asked why amateurs were so willing to challenge journeymen basketball players, Parker said: “The same reason why a guy that I would never, ever give a chance to, still has that confidence to come and approach me and ask for my number. You know? It’s the same type of confidence that these people have to even think that they can beat a professional.”Adonal Foyle, who played in the N.B.A. from 1997 to 2009, mostly as a reserve for Golden State, said he has faced similar challenges in retirement when he goes home to the Caribbean. Basketball players are more likely to be challenged than other athletes, Foyle said, because they are more visible. They don’t wear masks while playing, and fans can sit courtside. But there’s also a misconception among amateurs that athleticism keeps players in the league, he said.“Basketball players at the end of their career are like Chinese movies,” Foyle, 46, said. “You have this Silver Fox. He walks in and he looks like he’s the one from the grave. And then he starts doing karate. And you’re like: ‘Oh my goodness. I didn’t know he could do all that.’”What Scalabrine referred to as “the dark place,” Foyle calls “the stupid gene” — the switch that professional athletes have when their competitiveness is tested.“You go to the gym. You try to play with regular folks. You’re having a good time,” Foyle said. “Somebody tries to dunk over you. Immediately, you flip that switch of, ‘OK, you’re going down.’ To me, what I always worry about is not beating the other person. It is how much my body can take of this stupid gene.”Foyle said he hasn’t played pickup basketball in seven years. Instead, he prefers racquetball, where he “gets beat by 75-year-olds who see themselves as geniuses.”Adonal Foyle during a game against the Denver Nuggets in 2000.Jon Ferrey /Allsport, via Getty Images“Part of the reason for doing it is because I got hurt almost every time I went out and played pickup ball because of that stupid gene,” Foyle said. “You think you can do the things you did 15, 20 years ago and you can’t. You don’t get to turn that person off that has defined your life. I thought it was best not to enter the field.”For Scalabrine, the reason he gets his skills continually questioned goes beyond the confidence of the challengers.“Joakim Noah said it best,” Scalabrine said, referring to his former teammate on the Chicago Bulls. “He said, ‘Scal, you look like you suck, but you don’t suck.’” 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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      N.B.A. Postpones Two More Games Because of the Virus

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The NBA SeasonThis Is for Stephen Curry’s CriticsAre the Knicks Back?A Year of Kobe and LeBronMarc Stein’s Fearless PredictionsAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyN.B.A. Postpones Two More Games Because of the VirusThe N.B.A. has now postponed four games because of the virus, and said it would be meeting with its players’ union on Monday to discuss changes to health protocols.N.B.A. Commissioner Adam SilverCredit…Jae C. Hong/Associated PressJan. 11, 2021Updated 5:48 p.m. ETThe N.B.A. cited its coronavirus health protocols in postponing two games on Monday, bringing the total number of games postponed for this reason to four.The affected games were Monday night’s matchup between the Dallas Mavericks and the New Orleans Pelicans, and Tuesday’s Boston Celtics game against the Chicago Bulls. The league also said that it would be meeting with the N.B.A. players’ union on Monday “about modifying the league’s health and safety protocols.”On Sunday, after the league postponed a game for the second time this season, an N.B.A. spokesman told The New York Times that there were “no plans to pause the season” and that the league had accounted for postponements when designing the schedule. Beyond the postponements, several teams have played short-handed when multiple or key players were out because of virus protocols.With three games postponed in less than 24 hours, the N.B.A. is seeing an early but notable challenge to its attempt to finish its 72-game schedule, and it’s happening before the season is a month old. Over the summer, the N.B.A. did not report that any players had tested positive after clearing quarantine to enter its bubble on the Walt Disney World campus in Florida. Since play began this season, with no bubble and cross-country travel, there had been six reported cases through Wednesday.That number should rise when the N.B.A. puts out its next weekly report. Philadelphia 76ers guard Seth Curry and Boston’s Jayson Tatum are reported to have tested positive in recent days. Subsequent contact tracing and injuries led to the Sixers using just seven players in a loss to the Nuggets on Saturday. The Celtics were scheduled to play the Miami Heat on Sunday, but the game was postponed after contact tracing left Miami without the minimum eight players required to compete.But Boston was in poor shape as well: The team said on Sunday that seven players would not be available for the game as a result of the protocols, including their two stars, Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Multiple outlets reported that Tatum had tested positive for the coronavirus after playing the Washington Wizards on Friday night.A league spokesman said the same issue — contact tracing — caused the latest postponements. Boston would not have had enough players to take the floor Tuesday, and Dallas, which is missing four players, was not cleared to resume team activities after closing its practice facility over the weekend.According to the league’s protocols, players who test positive must isolate for at least 10 days, or test negative in two consecutive tests at least 24 hours apart. If a player could have been exposed to someone with the coronavirus, the league or team may mandate a quarantine after a risk assessment.So far, five teams have been significantly affected by virus-related player absences: Boston, Dallas, Chicago, Miami and Philadelphia. The Sixers said Monday that they would be without five players for that night’s game against the Atlanta Hawks as a result of coronavirus protocols. On Saturday, in addition to those players, the Sixers were without Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, their two best players. The team said they were dealing with injuries unrelated to the virus. Sixers Coach Doc Rivers said before Saturday’s game that he didn’t think his team should have to play with so few players, citing injury concerns.The Heat said Monday evening that they would be without eight players, including their stars, Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, for their Tuesday matchup against the Sixers.The league has said that, because of the wide community spread of the virus, it expected cases and potential exposures among players. Commissioner Adam Silver also has said that he did not want N.B.A. players to “jump the line” to be vaccinated, meaning that teams’ missing players because of protocols may be the norm for the rest of the season.Players and team staff members have agreed to a number of restrictions on their professional and private activities to help reduce infections, like not going to bars and clubs, or indoor social gatherings with 15 or more people. James Harden, the Houston Rockets star, was fined $50,000 by the league for attending an indoor party with more than 15 people on Dec. 21, the day before the season began.Instead, the league has recommended that players take up “cycling, hiking, boating, golfing, frequenting parks or beaches, or like activities.”But the latest wave of infections and contact tracing suggests more may need to be done. Before the season, Silver said at a news conference that the season could be paused if the league thought the protocols weren’t working, “meaning that not only did we have some cases of Covid but that we were witnessing spread either among teams or even possibly to another team, that would cause us to suspend the season.”He added: “I think we are prepared for isolated cases. In fact, based on what we’ve seen in the preseason, based on watching other leagues operating outside the bubble, unfortunately it seems somewhat inevitable.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      N.B.A. Postpones Heat-Celtics Game

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The NBA SeasonThis Is for Stephen Curry’s CriticsAre the Knicks Back?A Year of Kobe and LeBronMarc Stein’s Fearless PredictionsAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyN.B.A. Says ‘No Plans to Pause the Season’ as Virus Cases IncreaseA game between the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics was postponed and several teams have been left without key players because of players’ testing positive for the coronavirus and contact tracing.Boston’s Jayson Tatum was one of seven Celtics ruled out for Sunday’s game against the Miami Heat because of virus protocols. The game was then postponed when the Heat, also because of the protocols, did not have enough players.Credit…David Butler II/USA Today Sports, via ReutersJan. 10, 2021Updated 6:43 p.m. ETThe N.B.A. postponed a game on Sunday night between the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics when the Heat did not have enough available players because of the league’s coronavirus health and safety protocols. It was the second game of the season postponed after the protocols left a team short-handed.“Because of ongoing contact tracing with the Heat, the team does not have the league-required eight available players to proceed with tonight’s game against the Celtics,” the league said in a statement.The Celtics on Sunday were also missing a significant portion of their roster, including their stars. Less than a month in, the season is trending in the wrong direction, with a growing number of players missing games after testing positive for, or potentially being exposed to, the virus.“We anticipated that there would be game postponements this season and planned this season accordingly,” Mike Bass, a league spokesman, told The New York Times. “There are no plans to pause the season. We will continue to be guided by our medical experts and our health and safety protocols.”Along with the Celtics and the Heat, the Philadelphia 76ers, the Dallas Mavericks and the Chicago Bulls listed at least three players on their injury reports over the weekend in connection with the league’s virus protocols. Multiple other teams also had at least one player listed, a marked contrast from the N.B.A.’s conclusion to the 2019-20 season at the Walt Disney World campus in Florida over the summer. No games were postponed then, and no players were said to have tested positive.The N.B.A. postponed a game between the Houston Rockets and the Oklahoma City Thunder on just the second day of the season when the Rockets did not have enough available players because of injuries and virus protocols.The league’s injury reports do not say whether a player is out because he has tested positive or was just potentially exposed. A player who tests positive could be isolated for at least 10 days, and one who is exposed could be in quarantine for several days. Each week, the N.B.A. announces how many new players have tested positive. In its most recent report on Wednesday, four players had tested positive, up from zero the week before and two in the first week of play.“We’re all dealing with a vast set of circumstances, so we’ve got to remain calm, and we’ve always got to have a plan for adversity,” Coach Rick Carlisle said before the Mavericks’ game against the Orlando Magic on Saturday, when Dallas was missing three players because of virus protocols. “We’ve been expecting that this sort of thing was certainly a realistic possibility, and now we’re dealing with it.”The Sixers used only seven players against the Denver Nuggets on Saturday after Philadelphia guard Seth Curry tested positive. Four players missed the game because of virus protocols. Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, the Sixers’ stars, also missed the game, although Coach Doc Rivers said their absences were because of lingering knee (Simmons) and back (Embiid) injuries. Before the game, in response to a question about whether he had told the league he did not want to play with so few players available, Rivers said he was concerned.“I don’t think we should,” Rivers said. “It’s not for me to express that. I do worry about our player health on the floor.”The Nuggets won Saturday’s game, 115-103. Tyrese Maxey, a Sixers rookie, scored 39 points in his first career start to help Philadelphia keep the game competitive. But the Nuggets overwhelmed the Sixers in the second half.The Celtics, who were scheduled to play the Heat on Sunday at 7 p.m., Eastern time, would have been without seven players because of virus protocols. Before the postponement, the only player the Heat said would be out because of the protocols was Avery Bradley. The Heat’s next game is against the Sixers on Tuesday.The Celtics played the Washington Wizards on Friday night. Afterward, the Celtics’ Jayson Tatum and the Wizards’ Bradley Beal stood near each other having a conversation on the court. The Athletic reported that the conversation, with Beal’s exposure to Tatum, was what led to Beal’s having to miss a game against the Heat on Saturday night. According to multiple reports, Tatum learned after Friday’s game that he had tested positive for the virus.Even before the weekend, some teams had played games without key players because of the protocols. Kevin Durant of the Nets missed most of the last week, but he was available for Sunday evening’s game against the Thunder. The Nuggets have been without forward Michael Porter Jr. all month, and it is unknown when he will return.Commissioner Adam Silver said at a preseason news conference that he was confident that the N.B.A. would be able to finish its planned 72-game season.“If we weren’t, we wouldn’t have started,” Silver said.But as to what it would take to suspend the season, Silver said: “The view is, I think, if we found a situation where our protocols weren’t working, meaning that not only did we have some cases of Covid but that we were witnessing spread either among teams or even possibly to another team, that would cause us to suspend the season.”He continued: “I think we are prepared for isolated cases. In fact, based on what we’ve seen in the preseason, based on watching other leagues operating outside the bubble, unfortunately it seems somewhat inevitable.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Paul Westphal, N.B.A. Hall of Famer and Coach, Dies at 70

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyPaul Westphal, N.B.A. Hall of Famer and Coach, Dies at 70Drafted in the first round by the Celtics, he played for 12 seasons before leading teams in Phoenix, Seattle and Sacramento.Paul Westphal, left, drives past Bobby Wilkerson during a game against the Denver Nuggets in 1978.Credit…Mark Junge/Getty ImagesJan. 2, 2021Updated 6:58 p.m. ETPaul Westphal, the Basketball Hall of Fame guard who played for the Boston Celtics’ 1974 N.B.A. champions, became a four-time All-Star with the Phoenix Suns and coached them to the league playoff final in 1993, died on Saturday. He was 70. Westphal, whose death was confirmed by the Suns, was found to have brain cancer in the summer of 2020.Westphal was an outstanding shooter with both hands and a fine playmaker and defensive player. He played in the N.B.A. for 12 seasons, also with the Seattle SuperSonics and the Knicks. He was a head coach for all or part of 10 seasons, with the Suns, Seattle and the Sacramento Kings, and an assistant coach with the Dallas Mavericks and the Brooklyn Nets.He was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., as a player in 2019.The Celtics selected Westphal in the first round of the 1972 N.B.A. draft, the 10th player chosen over all.One of his finest games with Boston came in the 1974 N.B.A. championship finals against the Milwaukee Bucks.Westphal scored 12 points in Game 5 and played stifling defense against Oscar Robertson, one of the N.B.A.’s greatest players, who made only 2 of his 13 shots. The Celtics won, 96-87, on the Bucks’ court and captured the series, four games to three.But Westphal was mostly a reserve in his three seasons with the Celtics, since they had outstanding guards in Jo Jo White and Don Chaney. They traded him to the Suns in May 1975 for Charlie Scott, the future Hall of Fame forward, and draft picks.Westphal was back in the playoff finals in 1976, this time playing for Phoenix against Boston. He scored 25 points in Game 5, though the Suns were beaten, 128-126, in triple overtime in what has been called “the greatest game ever played.” The Suns lost the series, 4 games to 2.Westphal played for the Suns from 1975 to 1980 and again in his final season, 1983-84. He played with the SuperSonics in 1980-81, when he gained his fifth All-Star selection. The Knicks signed him midway through the 1981-82 season, though he was still recovering from a stress fracture of his right foot incurred when he played for Seattle.Westphal was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019.Credit…Elise Amendola/Associated PressIn November 1982, Westphal got a taste of the New York-based television world when he had a small role as a police officer on ABC’s daytime drama “The Edge of Night.”“I’ve never had any acting experience, except for trying to draw fouls during basketball games,” he told The New York Times. But, as he put it, “since basketball players and actors are both pampered and spoiled, I think I would have no trouble making the change to acting.”He never did pursue an acting career, but he won the N.B.A.’s Comeback Player of the Year Award for 1982-83, when he helped take the Knicks to the second round of the playoffs, appearing in 80 of their 82 games and averaging 10 points a game, having recovered from his injury with Seattle.Westphal averaged 20.6 points a game in his six seasons with the Suns and had career averages of 15.6 points and 4.4 assists per game. He won 318 games and lost 279 as an N.B.A. head coach.After his playing days, Westphal coached at several western colleges, including Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, taking the school to the 1988 NAIA national championship.He was an assistant coach with the Suns for four seasons before he was named head coach in 1992-93, when they posted the N.B.A.’s best regular-season record at 62-20, led by Charles Barkley, the league’s most valuable player, along with Dan Majerle, Kevin Johnson and Danny Ainge. But the Suns lost to Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls in a six-game championship final.Westphal coached several outstanding Suns team afterward but was fired in January 1996 when the Suns, riddled with injuries, were playing poorly.He coached the SuperSonics and the Kings for all or parts of three seasons each and closed out his coaching career as a Nets assistant from 2014 to 2016.Paul Douglas Westphal was born on Nov. 30, 1950, in Torrance, Calif., a son of Armin and Ruth Westphal. His father, an aeronautical engineer, and his older brother, Bill, shot hoops with him in the family’s driveway when he was a youngster.He was a basketball star at Aviation High School in Redondo Beach, then played for the University of Southern California for three seasons. He averaged 16.4 points a game and was voted as a second-team all-American in The Associated Press poll for 1971.Westphal’s survivors include his wife, Cindy; their daughter, Victoria, and a son, Michael. A complete list of survivors was not immediately available.“In training camp, he told us his greatest asset would be his ability to relate,” Kevin Johnson told The Seattle Times in February 1999 when Westphal was in his first season as the Sonics’ coach. “He was a rookie, he was an All-Star, he was a free agent, he got waived, he was traded, he got old. He’s been through every possible experience.”“I hoped to be a player, but always planned on being a coach,” Westphal said. “I was able to play for 12 years and postpone my coaching career.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      K.C. Jones Never Got His Due in Boston. Race Played a Part.

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The NBA SeasonThe Warriors Are StrugglingVirus Upends Houston RocketsMarc Stein’s Fearless PredictionsThe Reloaded LakersAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyOn Pro BasketballK.C. Jones Never Got His Due in Boston. Race Played a Part.Jones, who was Black and won eight championships as a player and two as a coach with the Boston Celtics, was underappreciated as one of the N.B.A.’s most successful coaches.K.C. Jones head coach, of the Boston Celtics talks with his team during a timeout an NBA game in 1986.Credit…Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE, via Getty ImagesDec. 29, 2020, 5:00 a.m. ETIn early December 1990, K.C. Jones sat in a hotel suite overlooking the New Jersey Meadowlands before a game with the Nets, trying to explain why a coach who won 75 percent of his games and two N.B.A. titles with Boston, and who reached four league finals over five seasons, had been shoved upstairs into a toothless front-office position before ultimately departing his beloved Celtics to coach in Seattle.His new team, whose roster featured the very young Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp, had lost the previous night by 33 points to Larry Bird and the Celtics, with eight Celtics scoring in double figures. On the bench, Jones pointed out the opponents’ superior ball movement, hoping his players might learn something from the drubbing.“See that — there’s no N-E-G-A-T-I-V-E,” he recalled telling the Seattle wannabes, who may or may not have appreciated that Jones’s selfless, unpretentious approach to the game was still as much a part of the Celtics as their parquet floor.Teachable moments, those obvious or subtle, were not to be wasted. At one point during the hotel interview with two reporters, Jones excused himself to dial another room. “Quintin, what time is the bus tonight?” he asked. After a pause, Jones replied, “OK, see you there.”The two reporters looked at each other, confused. What kind of coach needed to call Quintin Dailey, a player known for, shall we say, poor conformity habits to ask about when the bus would be leaving for the arena? Then it hit them — this was classic K.C., tactfully checking on Dailey, purposefully understated.Jones returned to his seat and said, “Where were we?”He was, as it turned out, nearing the end of a decades-long love affair with the game that was best defined by championship celebrations.With Bill Russell, he won two N.C.A.A. titles at the University of San Francisco and an Olympic gold medal. With Russell in Boston, as a point guard specializing in defense, he won eight N.B.A. titles. As an assistant coach to his former Celtics teammate Bill Sharman in Los Angeles, he sprinkled championship dust on the Lakers in 1971-72. He won another ring in 1980-81 as Bill Fitch’s assistant in Boston and two more as the head coach during the prime years of the Bird era.Sad to say, to the day he died at 88, on Christmas last week, Jones never got the credit he deserved.Or put it this way: In a sport that defines its champions by the superstars who drive them, Jones never had the self-promotional skills or ego-driven desire to muscle his way onto a pedestal. He never overcame the news media stereotype of him as some hybrid shepherd/spokesman for the collective genius he sent onto the floor each night.Consider that in the five years Jones coached the Celtics to a higher winning percentage, regular season and playoffs, than Red Auerbach, Russell, Fitch or anyone else, Jones never was voted coach of the year. His 1985-86 team won 67 games and went 40-1 at home — that wasn’t good enough.“People saw him as this nice, quiet guy,” Danny Ainge said after Jones left the Celtics. “But he’s so intense, so competitive.”It wasn’t as if Jones hadn’t played a winning coaching hand before replacing Fitch on the Celtics bench in 1983-84 (and promptly beating Pat Riley’s Lakers in the finals): In 1974-75, he coached Washington to a 60-22 record, a 13-game improvement over the prior season, beat the Celtics in the playoffs and made the finals. He lost the coach of the year vote to Phil Johnson and his 44 wins in Kansas City.Of course, racial typecasting was part of this. Just one Black head coach won the Coach of the Year Award in its first 28 years — none in the 1980s. In those days, the N.B.A. was only marginally better at developing and honoring Black coaching talent than other professional sports. The most reliable path for a Black man to the hot seat was, by and large, being a brand-name star in his playing market — a Russell in Boston, a Willis Reed in New York, a Lenny Wilkens in Seattle.K.C. Jones, right, wasn’t given as much credit as he deserved for coaching the Boston Celtics to four N.B.A. finals and two championships in five seasons during the 1980s.Credit…Mike Kullen/Associated PressJones was certainly no headliner as a player — an unreliable shooter who averaged 7.4 points and 4.3 assists per game over nine years. He was a Celtics loyalist, however, and that got him the job, in part because Fitch sometimes objected to Auerbach’s heavy front-office hand. Jones was hired with such fanfare that he learned of the appointment from a flight attendant. Auerbach confirmed it later and told him: “Come in tomorrow — and don’t bring an agent.”That made Jones something of a precedent-setter, for this was how the network served so many white journeymen players, even Riley, who, like Jones, was handed a team that had already won a title (under Paul Westhead). And while Riley didn’t win coach of the year until the 1989-90 season, his last in Los Angeles, he parlayed his excellent work with the Lakers into best-selling motivational books and lucrative banquet speaking fees.Before long, rare was the assertion that all Riley had to do was hand the ball to Magic Johnson, enjoy the view from the bench, as was the case with Jones and Bird in Boston.Jones was no doubt obscured by the rise of the celebrity coach, on the pro and college levels. By men who had polished nightly monologues and celebrated systems. If they won, they were hailed as brilliant. If they lost, the players didn’t fit the system. Some wise old heads considered this to be self-serving nonsense. Red Holzman was one of them. While Hubie Brown lectured the world with a bullhorn (on his way to a sub .500 career record) as Holzman’s replacement with the Knicks, Holzman quietly admired Jones’s work in Boston.Jones’s teams, he would say, played beautiful situational ball, exploiting the weaknesses of their opponents. His players weren’t fast, but they ran perfect positional fast breaks. Like Holzman with the championship Knicks of the early 1970s, Jones was good with them getting all the credit. He was a company man who accepted, without public rancor, the front-office plot to replace him with Jimmy Rodgers, a longtime Celtics assistant.Jones’s last season in Boston, when injuries and age were taking a toll, produced 57 wins and a conference-finals loss to the rising Detroit Pistons. It was his first failure there to make the finals. Letting the reporters come to their own conclusions in that New Jersey hotel, he said, simply: “And here came Jaws.”Under Rodgers, the Celtics didn’t make it out of the first round for the next two years. But sharks leave reputational scars, too. Though Jones made the playoffs in his one full season in Seattle, he was fired in early 1992 with an 18-18 record, as management brought in George Karl as its preferred teacher for Payton and Kemp.Draw your own conclusions on that.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      N.B.A. Eastern Conference Preview: Will the Nets Reign Supreme?

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyN.B.A. Eastern Conference Preview: Will the Nets Reign Supreme?The Bucks got better, but the Nets with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant might be too much for Milwaukee — or any other team in the East — to overcome.With Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant healthy, and a strong supporting cast, the Nets are poised to make a run to the top of the Eastern Conference.Credit…Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty ImagesDec. 21, 2020, 3:00 a.m. ETIs it already the most wonderful time of year again? With LeBron alley-ooping and referees demanding we be of good cheer? There’ll be dunks used for posting, Kawhi laughs for roasting and trash talking out in the snowwwww.Yes, the N.B.A. season is upon us, beginning Tuesday, with a much different landscape from any other season. Most arenas won’t have fans in the stands because of the pandemic. At the same time, several top stars who missed most or all of last season will be returning, shifting the balance of power in the N.B.A.And all eyes are on James Harden to see where he ends up, whether he has to stay in Houston for the season or gets sent to one of his preferred destinations, like Milwaukee, Philadelphia or Miami.The Eastern Conference is wide open this year. Here’s a look at where it stands.The ContendersNow that Kevin Durant, left, and Kyrie Irving are finally able to play together, they should make the Nets the best team in the East.Credit…Kathy Willens/Associated PressBrooklyn Nets2019-2020 record: 35-37 (No. 7 playoff seed)Key additions: Jeff Green, Landry ShametKey subtractions: Wilson Chandler, Garrett TempleOutlook: On paper, this is the most talented team in the East, if not the league. The only new players this season are key reserves, but the real addition is Kevin Durant, who is ready to play after missing last season with an Achilles’ tendon injury. His friend and fellow perennial All-Star Kyrie Irving also will be returning, from a shoulder injury that limited him to 20 games last season. If they are close to the players they were before their injuries, this team is a threat to win the finals, especially considering its dynamic supporting cast.The Nets have elite shooting in Shamet and Joe Harris; rebounding and shot-blocking in DeAndre Jordan and Jarrett Allen; quality playmakers in Caris LeVert and Spencer Dinwiddie; and bench sparkplugs like Green and Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot.Getting Giannis Antetokounmpo signed to an extension was a victory of its own kind for the Milwaukee Bucks.Credit…Pool photo by Ashley LandisMilwaukee Bucks2019-2020 record: 56-17 (No. 1 seed)Key additions: Jrue Holiday, D.J. Augustin, Bobby Portis, Torrey CraigKey subtractions: Robin Lopez, Eric Bledsoe, Marvin Williams, Wesley Matthews, Ersan IlyasovaOutlook: The Bucks enter the season without the cloud of whether Giannis Antetokounmpo will sign an extension hanging over Wisconsin. That’s a huge win in itself. But now the focus will be on whether this team will vie for a championship or disappear early in the playoffs again.Trading for Holiday, a former All-Star, was a great start. Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton and Holiday are a fearsome trio. The Bucks also revamped their bench, adding Augustin, a veteran who can shoot the ball, to make up for the loss of players like Matthews and Ilyasova. (Side note: Antetokounmpo has the opportunity to become the first player since Larry Bird in 1985-86 to win the Most Valuable Player Award for a third straight season.)Repeating as the Eastern Conference champions could be tough for the Miami Heat.Credit…Kim Klement/USA Today Sports, via ReutersMiami Heat2019-2020 record: 44-29 (No. 5 seed)Key additions: Avery Bradley, Maurice HarklessKey departures: Solomon HillOutlook: After last year’s Cinderella run to the finals, the Heat enter this season with the same team more or less, led by Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic. You can expect Tyler Herro, who mostly came off the bench last season and delivered many strong performances in the playoffs, to have a bigger role. You do wonder whether Miami will be able to take teams by surprise again, with many teams in the East making significant moves to get better or having players return from injury.The MaybesThe Sixers brought in two elite shooters, but they still need Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons to improve to avoid last season’s disappointment.Credit…Matt Slocum/Associated PressPhiladelphia 76ers2019-2020 record: 43-30 (No. 6 seed)Key additions: Seth Curry, Danny Green, Dwight HowardKey departures: Al Horford, Josh RichardsonOutlook: Daryl Morey, the new team president, already left his mark on the roster, shipping out the ill-fitting Horford for Green, who will provide Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons some much needed spacing, as will Curry. The team is better balanced than the disappointing one last season, but Embiid and Simmons still must elevate their play. (And let’s not forget: The Sixers are in play to trade for Houston’s James Harden.)The Celtics are counting on Jayson Tatum’s improvement to go deeper into the playoffs this season.Credit…Matt Slocum/Associated PressBoston Celtics2019-2020 record: 48-24 (No. 3 seed)Key additions: Jeff Teague, Tristan ThompsonKey departures: Gordon Hayward, Brad WanamakerOutlook: This was a bad off-season for the Celtics, who lost Hayward, an All-Star talent, in a free-agency-related trade that netted Boston a record trade exception, which the franchise could use to acquire a solid rotation player. To contend, the Celtics will need Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown to make another leap, plus better-than-expected contributions from their stable of young players like Grant Williams, Robert Williams and Romeo Langford, especially given Kemba Walker’s knee troubles.The dynamic guard Trae Young and a much-improved roster make the Hawks a must-watch this season.Credit…Dale Zanine/USA Today Sports, via ReutersAtlanta Hawks2019-2020 record: 20-47Key additions: Danilo Gallinari, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Rajon Rondo, Kris Dunn, Solomon HillKey departures: Vince Carter, Evan Turner, Jeff TeagueOutlook: The Hawks are a team primed to make The Leap. Aside from having an elite talent like Trae Young, the team signed several strong veterans to surround a dynamic core that includes John Collins, Clint Capela, Kevin Huerter and Cam Reddish. Melding so many new faces will be difficult, and this team will probably be poor defensively. But Atlanta will be a must-watch on League Pass.Russell Westbrook was a surprise addition to a Wizards team that struggled last season.Credit…Sarah Stier/Getty ImagesWashington Wizards2019-2020 record: 25-47Key additions: Russell Westbrook, Robin Lopez, Raul NetoKey departures: John WallOutlook: Both of the team’s stars — Bradley Beal and Westbrook — will be playing this season with chips on their shoulders: Beal, for being snubbed for All-N.B.A. teams despite his stellar last season and Westbrook for the narrative surrounding his campaign in Houston, despite making an All N.B.A. team. Look for Rui Hachimura to be in the conversation for the Most Improved Player Award after a strong rookie season.The Indiana Pacers had a quiet off-season, but at least Victor Oladipo is still with them.Credit…David Liam Kyle/NBAE via Getty ImagesIndiana Pacers2019-2020 record: 45-28 (No. 4 seed)Key additions: NoneKey departures: NoneOutlook: The biggest acquisition the Pacers made this off-season was a new coach, Nate Bjorkgren. Aside from that, they’ll have a healthy Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis to build around, as well as Malcolm Brogdon and TJ Warren, who had a great run in the Florida bubble. Hard to see this team making any real noise as the season progresses, though.Pascal Siakam wasn’t great in the playoffs, but he still has value for the Raptors this season.Credit…Kim Klement/USA Today Sports, via ReutersToronto Raptors2019-2010 record: 53-19 (No. 2 seed)Key additions: DeAndre’ Bembry, Alex Len, Aron BaynesKey departures: Serge IbakaOutlook: This might be the toughest team in the East to peg. Pascal Siakam’s stock took a dive after his performance in the playoffs, and replacing Ibaka with the combination of Baynes and Len might not be enough. Kyle Lowry turns 35 this season. Toronto was knocked out of the playoffs in the second round and didn’t upgrade much in talent. Even so, the Raptors are never to be counted out.The Non-ContendersThe Magic sneaked into the playoffs last season and look to be only so-so again.Credit…Kevin C. Cox/Getty ImagesOrlando Magic2019-2020 record: 33-40 (No. 8 seed)Key additions: Cole AnthonyKey departures: D.J. AugustinOutlook: The only reason to watch this team is to see what kind of player Anthony, drafted 15th over all last month, will be. Otherwise, the team is set up to be average again, especially with Jonathan Isaac likely to miss the year with a knee injury. It’s time for this franchise to start over. Building around Aaron Gordon and Evan Fournier is just not good enough.LaMelo Ball, the Hornets rookie, has already made waves during the preseason with his playmaking skills.Credit…Chris Carlson/Associated PressCharlotte Hornets2019-2020 record: 23-42Key additions: LaMelo Ball, Gordon HaywardKey departures: Nicolas BatumOutlook: This team could challenge for the playoffs. Hayward had a great year in Boston last season, and Ball is showing himself to be a talented playmaker during the preseason. Devonte’ Graham (18.2 points a game in his sophomore N.B.A. campaign) is a solid young talent poised for a leap.Zach LaVine can put up big numbers for the Bulls, but this season they need him to be consistent.Credit…Nam Y. Huh/Associated PressChicago Bulls2019-2020 record: 22-43Key additions: Garrett Temple, Patrick WilliamsKey departures: NoneOutlook: The Bulls have a new coach, Billy Donovan, who has a penchant for squeezing production out of less-than-stellar rosters. Zach LaVine put up all All-Star numbers (25.5 points a game) last season, but will need more consistent playmaking to actually become one. If the Bulls want to be competitive, they’ll need Lauri Markkanen to recover from a down year.Obi Toppin will give Knicks fans something to cheer about this season.Credit…Raj Mehta/USA Today Sports, via ReutersKnicks2019-2020 record: 21-45Key additions: Obi Toppin, Alec BurksKey departures: Bobby Portis, Wayne Ellington, Maurice HarklessOutlook: The Knicks, aside from hiring Tom Thibodeau as coach, didn’t make any major moves this off-season, which is fine. They sat out a weak free-agent class and kept their flexibility. Barring any major star trades, this is another development year for the franchise. It’s a chance to determine what exactly RJ Barrett, Kevin Knox and Mitchell Robinson can do. Separately, Toppin may be the most exciting Knicks draft pick in years.Blake Griffin’s future with the Detroit Pistons is uncertain.Credit…Raj Mehta/USA Today Sports, via ReutersDetroit Pistons2019-2020 record: 20-46Key additions: Killian Hayes, Mason Plumlee, Jahlil Okafor, Josh Jackson, Jerami Grant, Saddiq BeyKey departures: Luke Kennard, Christian WoodOutlook: It was an odd off-season for Detroit, as the team stocked up on big men who can’t shoot, while trading away talented pieces like Kennard and Wood. But Blake Griffin is healthy, and the franchise is hoping Hayes is ready for big minutes. This is probably not a playoff team right now, but players like Hayes offer hope for the future. Will Griffin be on the team come season’s end?The Cavaliers were at the bottom of the East last season, and their prospects now don’t look much better.Credit…Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty ImagesCleveland Cavaliers2019-2020 record: 19-46Key additions: Isaac Okoro, JaVale McGeeKey departures: Tristan ThompsonOutlook: Collin Sexton, going into his third year, is one of the few guaranteed bright spots on the team. He’s a proven scorer. But Andre Drummond and Kevin Love on the frontline are … an interesting pairing. It wouldn’t be shocking to see Cleveland last in the conference again.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More