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    Short-Handed Americans Lose to Germany in World Cup Semifinals

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    The Americans, perennial favorites but without many top N.B.A. stars, were stopped short of the gold medal game. The team will look much different at the Paris Olympics.As the final buzzer sounded Friday night, the American players looked dejected. Hands on hips. Jerseys over faces. Sagging shoulders. Expressions of disbelief as they watched Germany’s players leap and hug in celebration at midcourt.Germany had shocked the United States, 113-111, in the semifinals of the FIBA World Cup in Manila. The United States, perennial gold medal favorites in this men’s tournament, looked a step behind the whole game, done in by a porous perimeter defense and a lack of rebounding. And Germany, led by guard Andreas Obst with 24 points and forward Franz Wagner with 22 points, had earned the biggest basketball win in German history.The loss on Friday served as a humbling status check on the U.S. men’s national program heading into the Paris Olympics next year. This was the first FIBA World Cup under the leadership of Steve Kerr, who has won four N.B.A. championships as coach of the Golden State Warriors. He has marquee assistant coaches, including Erik Spoelstra, who has won two N.B.A. titles coaching the Heat, and Tyronn Lue, who coached the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers to a championship.But on the court, there was far less experience. The World Cup does not hold the same prestige as the Olympic tournament, which meant fewer players were willing to spend part of their summer abroad after a grueling N.B.A. season. This roster did not feature a single All-N.B.A. player and was a combination of role players and up-and-comers. There were four total All-Star appearances combined (Tyrese Haliburton, Brandon Ingram, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Anthony Edwards). Only one player on the team had an N.B.A. championship, Bobby Portis.Germany repeatedly pummeled the United States in the paint, exploiting the United States’ choice to play with smaller lineups. Germany grabbed 12 offensive rebounds, compared with seven for the United States. It also shot well from outside, 13 for 30 from 3-point range.Germany outscored the United States by 35-24 in a pivotal third quarter, and maintained a double-digit lead for much of the rest of the game. But a late flurry by the United States, led by the forward Edwards, cut Germany’s lead to 3 points with just over three minutes left. Edwards led the Americans with 23 points but missed a 3-pointer that would have tied the game with two minutes left.Germany is the only unbeaten team in the tournament. It was the second loss for the United States, which had also been upset by Lithuania earlier this week.For the United States, the tournament did not attract many of the top stars from the N.B.A. But the team will almost assuredly look different for the Paris Olympics in 2024. This edition of the team will play only for a bronze medal against Canada, while Germany clinched a spot in the gold medal game against Serbia on Sunday.In the most recent tournament, in 2019, the United States had an even more disappointing run, failing to get a medal after a quarterfinal loss to France, after having won the tournament in 2014 and 2010. Before the loss to France, the United States had won 19 straight World Cup games.In many ways, the high expectations for the United States are of its own making. The standard was set by the 1992 team at the Olympics — the Dream Team led by Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, David Robinson and Patrick Ewing — and carried forward in subsequent Games, including the 2008 squad nicknamed the Redeem Team, which included LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony. For years, the Americans have been expected to romp through any and all international competitions.But as basketball has grown exponentially in other countries, the gap between the United States and the rest of the world has narrowed, meaning that if Americans aren’t sending their best players, they can no longer expect to glide to a gold medal.For the Olympics, the United States will still be a heavy favorite, and it is likely to have more perennial All-Stars. Stephen Curry, the Golden State star, has expressed an interest in joining the team in Paris.The past two World Cups have shown that stars of Curry’s caliber would be welcome for the Americans.“These games are difficult,” Kerr told reporters after the game. “This is not 1992 anymore.” More

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      NBA Fines Anthony Edwards $40,000 for Anti-Gay Remarks

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      Edwards, a Minnesota Timberwolves guard, used homophobic language to refer to a group of people as they stood outdoors. A video of the remarks was posted to Instagram.The N.B.A. fined Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards $40,000 on Tuesday for anti-gay remarks that he made in an Instagram video that circulated online this month.In the video, which has since been deleted from his account, Edwards used homophobic language to describe a group of people he was filming as they stood on a sidewalk. Edwards has 1.2 million followers on Instagram.Edwards, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 N.B.A. draft, used his Twitter account to apologize on Sept. 11.“What I said was immature, hurtful and disrespectful, and I’m incredibly sorry,” he said in a post. “It’s unacceptable for me or anyone to use that language in such a hurtful way, there’s no excuse for it, at all. I was raised better than that!”The N.B.A. said in a statement that Edwards had been fined for using “offensive and derogatory language on social media.”Entering his third N.B.A. season, Edwards is one of the league’s rising stars. Last season, he averaged 21.3 points, 4.8 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game while helping lead the Timberwolves to the playoffs for the first time since the 2017-18 season.On Sept. 12, Tim Connelly, the Timberwolves’ president of basketball operations, released a statement through the team, saying he was “disappointed” in Edwards’s actions.“The Timberwolves are committed to being an inclusive and welcoming organization for all and apologize for the offense this has caused to so many,” Connelly said.The league has typically fined players for using profane or homophobic language.In 2021, for example, Kevin Durant of the Nets was fined $50,000 for using homophobic and misogynistic language in a private social media exchange with the actor Michael Rapaport, who then publicly shared screenshots of some of the conversation.N.B.A. teams regularly have Pride nights to celebrate the L.G.B.T.Q. community. But Jason Collins, who came out in 2013, is still the only active N.B.A. player to have said that he is gay, feeding the perception that there remains a stigma about homosexuality in men’s professional sports.Bill Kennedy, an N.B.A. referee, said that he was gay in 2015, not long after guard Rajon Rondo, then with the Sacramento Kings, directed a gay slur at him during a game. Rondo was suspended one game for his conduct.Six months later, Kennedy represented the N.B.A. on its float at the New York City Pride March. The N.B.A. and the W.N.B.A. have since become staples of the parade, one of the largest in the world. Players, referees and officials from both leagues have taken part. More

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      Anthony Edwards Will Dunk on You. And Beat You in Ping-Pong?

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      The Minnesota Timberwolves are not good this season. But Edwards, their rookie No. 1 draft pick? He is giving fans many reasons to watch (and listen).As a senior at Holy Spirit Preparatory School in Atlanta, Anthony Edwards commuted about an hour each way from his home in the southern reaches of the city. In addition to the geographical distance, the challenge was that he had no reliable mode of transportation. So he would lean on friends, family members, neighbors and coaches to ferry him back and forth. They wanted to help.“People just enjoyed being around him,” said Tysor Anderson, Edwards’s coach at Holy Spirit, who was among those who gave him occasional rides.Anderson, though, was more impressed that Edwards somehow made it work — that he was resourceful enough to find his way to school each morning. “He figured it out,” Anderson said.Edwards’s ability to figure things out is a skill that he has been working to apply this season as a first-year shooting guard for the Minnesota Timberwolves, a longtime fixer-upper franchise. As the top overall pick in last year’s N.B.A. draft, Edwards, 19, has been the center of attention for a struggling team, offering the Timberwolves’ fans some hope for the future.Glimpses of that future have come in the form of a 42-point performance against the Phoenix Suns and highlight-reel plays, including a dunk against the Toronto Raptors that was so explosive Edwards immediately peered toward the Jumbotron above center court so that he could watch a replay.“I was like, ‘Damn, that’s crazy,’” he said.Edwards, who appears to be 6 feet 4 inches and 225 pounds of tightly coiled springs, is averaging 18.3 points and 4.3 rebounds for the Timberwolves, who are 16-44 ahead of their game against the Utah Jazz on Saturday night.Edwards has come to be seen as an interesting character off the court as well.Steph Chambers/Getty ImagesEdwards has already revealed himself to be one of the league’s more engaging personalities, a player who has managed to elevate humdrum, pandemic-era video conference calls to high art. There was an interaction with an Irish reporter that went viral after his accent drew admiration from Edwards — “I want to learn how to talk like that,” he said — and, more recently, the rookie’s introduction to Alex Rodriguez, who is nearing a deal to become one of the Timberwolves’ new owners.“I don’t know who that is,” Edwards said in a call with reporters this month.Edwards has since familiarized himself with Rodriguez’s body of work (he used to play baseball), and they even had an exchange on social media.“He was like: ‘What’s up, Anthony? I’m Alex,’” Edwards said. “And I was like, ‘What’s good?’”There are also moments when Edwards sounds like the most confident person on the planet. He is convinced, for example, that he could have played professional baseball. Or football, for that matter. (Once upon a time, he said, he was the best 10-year-old running back “in the world.”) Mere months into his career in amateur table tennis, he considers himself the best player on the Timberwolves. He would like to get involved in the rap game — as a producer and a performer, because why not?“I love music,” he said with a disarming smile.In a way, Edwards seems unaffected by the pressure that comes with being a top pick who will go a long way toward dictating the future of an N.B.A. franchise. And those who know him best say that his temperament makes him uniquely equipped for the role.“I’ve always been struck by how effortlessly himself he is,” said Anderson, now an assistant coach at Jacksonville State. “He laughs. He talks. If he has questions, he asks. If he has an opinion, he opines. And if he doesn’t know about something, he won’t pretend that he does.”Edwards during his career-high 42-point performance against the Suns.Michael Gonzales/NBAE, via Getty ImagesIt has not been an easy season for N.B.A. rookies. Summer league was canceled because of the pandemic, and training camp was abridged. Now the schedule of games is compressed. Timberwolves Coach Chris Finch, who replaced Ryan Saunders on Feb. 22, said that he had been able to organize about a half-dozen practices since he took over and that half of those had been walk-throughs without much on-court activity.In other words, Edwards is learning on the fly against a buffet of far more experienced opponents. Finch, though, has found him to be highly coachable — perhaps too coachable at times.A few weeks ago, Finch stressed to his players that he wanted them to “play through” Karl-Anthony Towns, the team’s starting center and another former No. 1 overall pick. Edwards took the message to heart.“He kind of went through this period where he wasn’t aggressive at all because he was just trying to get the ball to KAT all the time,” Finch said, referring to Towns by his nickname.Edwards, though, is still a teenager who is not all that far removed from Holy Spirit, where he established himself as a star. Shortly after Anderson was hired by the school in 2018, Edwards attended the Pangos All-American Camp in California and made an impression.“Just destroyed everybody,” Anderson said.Edwards was soon on his way to another elite summer showcase, the National Basketball Players Association’s Top 100 Camp, and Anderson knew he had to be there — if only so he could actually meet Edwards. He wanted to make sure that Edwards did not transfer to another high school before the start of his junior season. But the camp was a tough ticket. Anderson called his grandfather, the longtime college coach Lefty Driesell, who had connections.Edwards while he played for Holy Spirit Prep.Gregory Payan/Associated Press“Granddad,” Anderson recalled telling him, “I don’t ask you for much, but I’ve got to get in the building.”Driesell delivered, and Anderson took Edwards to dinner, where they bonded over a conversation about the video game Fortnite. Anderson soon learned more about Edwards and the hardships he had experienced. When Edwards was 14, his mother, Yvette, and his grandmother Shirley both died of cancer. They were enormous figures in his life.“They made me happy,” Edwards said. “So I just try to stay happy.”Edwards wound up staying at Holy Spirit, but only for a season. He was so dominant that he reclassified as a senior so that he could graduate early and enroll at Georgia.“You didn’t have to be a genius to watch one of his games and figure out that this guy didn’t need any more high school basketball,” Anderson said. “He barely needed college basketball.”With the Timberwolves, Edwards has discovered that each game presents a fresh challenge. The N.B.A. is not the N.C.A.A.’s Southeastern Conference.“Everybody on the court is good,” he said. “That’s the difference. Everybody can go.”After Finch got the job, he talked to Edwards about eliminating some of the low-percentage shots cluttering his games — the midrange pull-ups and the 3-pointers that he was launching off the dribble. Finch wanted him to get to the rim, seek contact and attempt more catch-and-shoot 3-pointers, because he was already making a solid percentage of those.“We wanted him to be more efficient,” Finch said. “So much about being a good shooter is getting rid of the bad shots.”Timberwolves Coach Chris Finch has been trying to help Edwards become a more efficient scorer.Stacy Bengs/Associated PressEdwards feels more comfortable now than he did through the first few months of the season, when rookies “don’t know anything,” he said, and his production reflects it. Since the N.B.A. All-Star break in March, Edwards has averaged 23.3 points while shooting 43.5 percent from the field and 34.5 percent from 3-point range — solid numbers that reflect improvement over the season and still show room for development.For his part, Edwards said he did not have specific goals other than to “be the best version of myself.” And what does that look like? “I don’t know,” he said. “I’m just 19.” More