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      The Miami Heat Might Blow a 3-0 Series Lead

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      No N.B.A. team has lost a best-of-seven playoff series after winning the first three games, but the Heat are one loss from being the first.When a team takes a three-games-to-none lead in a best-of-seven series, it is time to start looking ahead to the next round or to a championship parade.Most of the time.In the history of sports, a few teams with 3-0 series leads have managed to lose three straight games before recovering. Some of them lost one more game — and the series — as well.That’s the history facing the Miami Heat, who won the first three games of their N.B.A. Eastern Conference finals series against the Boston Celtics, then lost the next three, including Game 6 at home on Saturday night.Game 7 is Monday night in Boston, and the Heat are 48 minutes away from historical ignominy. No N.B.A. team has ever blown a 3-0 series lead dating to 1947, when the N.B.A. was called the Basketball Association of America and had teams like the Cleveland Rebels and the St. Louis Bombers. This year, in the Western Conference finals, the Denver Nuggets took a 3-0 series lead against the Los Angeles Lakers, then finished them off in a four-game sweep.A collapse after taking a 3-0 series lead has happened in other leagues, though. Let’s relive some of those dark moments (for one team in those series anyway).BaseballDavid Ortiz’s home run in the 12th inning of Game 4 of the 2004 American League Championship Series put an all-time comeback in motion.Barton Silverman/The New York TimesThe most famous 3-0 comeback in sports certainly came in 2004 when the Boston Red Sox stunned their hated rivals, the Yankees, and made Major League Baseball history.The victory in the American League Championship Series, snatched from the jaws of defeat, came in defiance of the fabled Curse of the Bambino that had supposedly consigned the Red Sox to perpetual defeat after they sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees in 1920.“This is obviously crushing for us,” said Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez, a sentiment the Heat may soon be feeling.The only other time a major league team battled back from 3-0 down, it didn’t finish the job. The Tampa Bay Rays raced to a 3-0 series lead in the 2020 A.L.C.S., played at a neutral site in San Diego because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Houston Astros claimed the next three games, but Tampa Bay pulled out a 4-2 victory in the decider before losing the World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers.“I don’t know if I went to bed,” Rays Manager Kevin Cash said about the aftermath of Game 6. “It was tough, there’s no doubt. A lot of anxiety.”No team has blown a 3-0 series lead in the World Series, but in the Japan Series, the Nishitetsu Lions came back from 3-0 down to win in 1958 against the Yomiuri Giants and the Giants managed the same feat against the Kintetsu Buffaloes in 1989.HockeyThe N.H.L. has treated fans to the most four-game collapses, and one of those came in the Stanley Cup final.In 1942, the Detroit Red Wings won the first three games, but the Toronto Maple Leafs came roaring back with four straight. The Cup had switched to a best-of-seven format in 1939 and this was the first series to go the distance.“By Jiminy” was the postgame reaction of the Leafs great Syl Apps.Four-game comebacks were also achieved in earlier rounds by the Islanders over the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1975, the Philadelphia Flyers over the Boston Bruins in 2010 and the Los Angeles Kings over the San Jose Sharks in 2014.BasketballAlthough no N.B.A. team has — yet — lost a series it led by 3-0, a few, like this year’s Heat, have lost three straight to get to 3-3.It happened once in the finals, in 1951. The Rochester Royals (now the Sacramento Kings via Cincinnati, Kansas City, Mo., and Omaha) took a 3-0 lead over the Knicks, who rallied with three wins. The final game came down to the last seconds before Bob Davies of the Royals sealed it with two free throws.It is the one and only championship for the Royals/Kings franchise, in any city. The Knicks would have to wait until 1970 for their first.A three-game collapse followed by Game 7 redemption was also achieved in earlier rounds by the 1994 Utah Jazz against the Denver Nuggets and the 2003 Dallas Mavericks against the Portland Trail Blazers.So the full collapse has never happened in the N.B.A. But in all of basketball?How could you forget the classic Beermen-Aces series?In the 2016 Philippine Cup final, the Alaska Aces looked set to claim the title after three straight wins. (Their name came from their sponsor, Alaska Milk, not their home base.)But it was a mistake to count out the reigning champion San Miguel Beermen, who won four straight to do what no N.B.A. team has ever done.The Celtics will be hoping to match the Beermen on Monday night. More

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      The Humble ‘Sticky Pad’ Keeping N.B.A. Sneakers on the Court

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      Players across the league have long relied on a pad of translucent sheets of adhesive known as a Slipp-Nott to ensure they have enough traction during games.Gabe Vincent and Max Strus of the Miami Heat sat in their side-by-side lockers at Madison Square Garden an hour before a game against the Knicks. Strus was eating vegetables and rice, and Vincent was changing into his uniform after practicing shots.But Vincent paused when he overheard Strus talking about wiping the bottoms of his shoes with the palm of his hands.“Oh,” Vincent said incredulously, “you’re a lick-and-wipe guy?”“I don’t lick,” Strus said, dropping his fork to reply. “I don’t lick. No, no, no.” His voice was tinged with indignation, as though Vincent had accused him of a crime. Vincent laughed.Many players around the N.B.A. are particular, some even superstitious, about how they ensure their sneakers have enough traction for the court. Some use various wiping methods: the maligned lick-and-wipe, in which they rub their saliva on their shoe soles, or a dry wipe, in which they use only their bare hands. Still, most rely on a wiping pad that sits on the sidelines of N.B.A. arenas. It’s officially called the Slipp-Nott, but most players refer to it as a “sticky pad” or a “sticky mat.”“I feel like the sticky mat is ritual at this point,” Sixers guard Shake Milton said. “It just feels like what you’re supposed to do.”The Slipp-Nott was created in 1987 by Jorge Julian, who left a cushy job at Northrop Grumman in hopes of making basketball courts everywhere squeakier with the sound of sneakers holding firm.There are translucent sheets on the top of the Slipp-Nott slathered with adhesive substances (Julian declined to share the specifics lest he aid his competitors). Once a sheet absorbs too much dust or dirt to work properly, the user can rip it off for a fresh one.The sticky pad comes in different sizes, but the standard is 26 by 26 inches, so that large humans who play basketball can fit their feet on it. Some teams whose arenas have narrower sidelines, like the Utah Jazz, order a small- or medium-size version. The pads can be as small as 15 by 18 inches, which is just big enough for a size 20 men’s shoe.Julian’s first N.B.A. buyer was the Los Angeles Clippers, who purchased the Slipp-Nott in 1988 for a discounted rate of $70 per pad and gave Julian a staff pass to the arena. Back then, players used wet towels and wiping methods to gain traction, so many were skeptical about the pad. To ease their concerns, Julian, using his staff pass, went around to locker rooms with a VHS tape recorder to capture testimonials from athletic trainers and players about the pad’s effectiveness.Larry Bird wiping his sneakers in 1991. Before use of the Slipp-Nott became widespread, players often used their hands to gain traction — some still do.Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE, via Getty ImagesToday, most teams use a Slipp-Nott and have customized pads with their team logos, but the price for those pads is now $588.“That’s like my lifesaver,” Golden State Warriors forward Anthony Lamb said. “I always play in the same shoes, so sometimes when I’m running out of shoes, and my shoes are beat up, I’m going to need that sticky pad.”Lamb plays in the black colorway version of Nike’s Paul George 6 sneakers; worn-down pairs sit near his locker, with fresh pairs in boxes. Sometimes he wears the shoes “five games too long,” he said, and they become slippery.When the Warriors played the New Orleans Pelicans in November, Lamb said, he didn’t make it to the sticky pad before he entered the game and Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram made a move that sent him falling backward on the court. Lamb was on the wrong end of a highlight and the butt of jokes in the Warriors locker room.“My foot didn’t go down,” Lamb said while laughing and putting his face in his palms, “and I was thinking like, Damn, I should’ve hit the sticky pad.”Golden State forward Jonathan Kuminga might have the most shoes of anyone on the team, with innumerable pairs often sprawled in front of his locker and inside his locker drawers.While many players either use the pad or a wiping method, Kuminga doesn’t typically rely on either. He wipes the bottom of one shoe on the top of the other, partly because it saves time, he said, and because he has been doing it since he was a child. Because of that, many of the shoes in Kuminga’s locker look brand-new except for the laces, which are ripped and covered in dirt and dust.“Hopefully, one day, if I get my own shoe, I can maybe add something on my laces so anytime that I’m wiping, I don’t have to mess up my laces anymore,” Kuminga said while holding a pair of shoes with blue laces that had been stained black.The Knicks big men Isaiah Hartenstein and Obi Toppin always end their pregame routine by wiping their shoes on the Slipp-Nott. Hartenstein sprints to the pad first, typically after the starters are announced, and Toppin follows shortly after his teammate, ripping a sheet off when he is done.Knicks forward Obi Toppin always ends his pregame routine by wiping his sneakers on a Slipp-Nott.Hiroko Masuike/The New York TimesHartenstein nearly forgot to do his part of their routine before Game 5 against the Heat in the Eastern Conference semifinals, but Toppin tapped him on the chest and pointed him toward the pad.“It’s a ritual for us for sure,” Hartenstein said. “We have to do it before every game, and I always go first. We almost got into a fight once because he went first. That won’t ever happen again.”After Slipp-Nott’s creation in the late ’80s, Julian dominated the court-traction market in the N.B.A. That changed in 2011 with the introduction of Court Grip, a bottled liquid product developed by Mission Athletecare that users could rub on the bottoms of their shoes. Dwyane Wade, then a star for the Heat, was a partner.Mission Athletecare’s founder and president, Josh Shaw, said then that it would “probably take six to 12 months for people to realize that it’s obsolete,” referring to Slipp-Nott. A brief rivalry for court-traction supremacy began, but it was Court Grip that ultimately became obsolete. The gray bottle disappeared from the sidelines, and for now, the sticky pad has the hearts and soles of players across the N.B.A. More

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      Denver Nuggets Sweep Lakers to Head to NBA Finals

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      Denver dominated in the regular season but still had not been favored to make it to the championship round.LOS ANGELES — As the Denver Nuggets’ historic celebration began, LeBron James, the Los Angeles Lakers’ star forward, walked off his home court, his face expressionless.On Monday night, the Nuggets stamped out the final gasps from the Lakers, who had kept their season alive for weeks after it was presumed finished. Even after the final buzzer, some of Denver’s players looked as if they couldn’t believe the series was over and that they had actually done it.The Nuggets are going to the N.B.A. finals for the first time in franchise history after completing a four-game sweep of the Lakers in the Western Conference finals with a 113-111 win on Monday.Denver will face the winner of the Eastern Conference finals, in which the Miami Heat have a 3-0 series lead over the Boston Celtics. Game 4 in the East is Tuesday in Miami.Nuggets center Nikola Jokic was named the most valuable player of the Western Conference finals. He smiled warmly as he held his trophy and his teammates surrounded him on the court and patted his head. He had 30 points, 14 rebounds and 13 assists on Monday.“Even when you guard him for one of the best possessions that you think you can guard him, he puts the ball behind his head Larry Bird style and shoots it 50 feet in the air and it goes in,” James said, then he smiled wryly. “Like he did four or five times this series.” He added, as he took off his hat and tipped it: “So you do like this to him.”Jokic, left, was averaging a triple-double in the postseason and had another one in Game 4, with 30 points, 14 rebounds and 13 assists.Gary A. Vasquez/USA Today Sports Via Reuters ConDenver had not been to the N.B.A. finals in its 47 seasons in the league. Now the longest drought belongs to the Sacramento Kings, who have not been since 1951, when they were known as the Rochester Royals. The Pelicans, Timberwolves, Clippers, Grizzlies and Hornets have never been.“I’m really happy for the guys and for the organization and just how we fight through,” Jokic said. “I remember the days when nobody was in our — you could hear the ball bounce on the floor and there was no fans.”For the Nuggets, the win on Monday culminated a yearslong process in which their core players grew together, weathered challenging injuries and faced questions about their ability to even compete in the West. Jokic won the league’s M.V.P. Award twice, but could get to the conference finals only once.Denver lost the star guard Jamal Murray in April 2021, when he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. Nuggets Coach Michael Malone said the day after the injury Murray tearfully asked if the Nuggets would trade him, calling himself “damaged goods.”“I hugged him,” Malone said. “I said: ‘Hell no, you’re ours. We love you. We’re going to help you get back, and you’re going to be a better player for it.’”Murray missed the rest of that season and all of 2021-22. In this year’s playoffs, Denver’s patience paid off.Jamal Murray averaged 35 points in the first three games on hallowed shooting splits, exceeding 50 percent from the field, 40 percent from 3-point range and 90 percent from the free-throw line.Allen Berezovsky/Getty ImagesMurray tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in April 2021 but returned to form this season, especially in the playoffs. He had 25 points and 5 assists Monday.Gary A. Vasquez/Usa Today Sports, via Reuters ConMurray began looking like the player he was before the injury and Jokic continued playing at an elite level, perfectly complemented by Denver’s cast of talented role players.The Nuggets rose to first in the West in December and never fell out of the top spot. In the playoffs, they beat the Timberwolves, 4-1, in the first round and the Phoenix Suns, 4-2 in the second round. Despite Denver’s dominance all season, oddsmakers did not favor them to win the championship. The Nuggets embraced that.“We’re the underdogs,” guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope said. “We don’t get enough credit for what we do.” He continued: “Not being talked about a lot, we take that personal. We just use that energy, continue to prove everybody wrong.”Even after the first two rounds, some thought the Lakers were dangerous enough to be the team that finally upended the Nuggets.That confidence in the Lakers had developed only during the playoffs.For a while, the Lakers seemed doomed because of roster issues and injuries to their stars, James and Anthony Davis. They began the season with a 2-10 record. In December, when the Nuggets were solidifying their spot atop the West, the Lakers were in 13th.Guard Russell Westbrook, who struggled with the Lakers last season, still wasn’t fitting in and was pulled from the starting lineup after three games. Davis injured his foot on Dec. 16 against the Nuggets and missed 20 games while he recovered. Not long after Davis returned, James missed several games with a foot injury that some doctors he consulted said would require surgery.But changes at the trading deadline in February helped. The Lakers shipped out Westbrook and brought in role players — Jarred Vanderbilt, D’Angelo Russell and Malik Beasley. They had also traded for Rui Hachimura in January.They rose to seventh in the West by the end of the regular season, and beat Minnesota in overtime in the play-in tournament to secure the seventh seed for the playoffs. In the first round, they quieted a boisterous Memphis team, which had spent most of the season in the top three in the West, beating them, 4-2. Then they upset the defending champion Golden State Warriors, 4-2, dominating them in the clinching game of the second round.The Lakers’ LeBron James and Denver’s Aaron Gordon were called for technical fouls in the first half of Game 4 after they got tangled up. James had 31 first-half points.Ashley Landis/Associated PressAll the while, Darvin Ham, their first-year head coach, reminded them how few people expected them to even make the playoffs.But the Nuggets turned out to be a different type of opponent. They were more cohesive, less dramatic and stronger at center than Memphis and Golden State.“We competed every night,” Ham said. “We competed every game in this series. I just told the guys to take stock of what this meant, what this feeling feels like right now, what we went through in an entire season and what we had to do to get to this point.”In the Lakers’ first two series, their opponents sniped at them verbally, whether it was Grizzlies guard Dillon Brooks calling James, 38, old, or the Warriors accusing them of flopping for favorable calls. The Nuggets took a different approach, showing deference off the court until the very end.“I’m not going to say that I’m scared, but I’m worried,” Jokic said after Denver’s Game 3 win. “Because they have LeBron on the other side, and he is capable of doing everything.”James had looked more fallible in this series than he had in the past. He went 0 for 10 from 3-point range in the first two games, made costly mistakes late in Game 1 and drew ridicule for missing a dunk in Game 2. He had dragged the team through Davis’s postseason inconsistency so far, but the Nuggets wouldn’t let him do it again.Even when the Lakers’ Anthony Davis played well, he wasn’t the best big man on the court because of Jokic.Ashley Landis/Associated PressA few hours before Monday’s game, James was going through his pregame warm-up when a group of broadcast workers staged a rehearsal for the Western Conference championship trophy presentation on the court a few yards away. James said he used that as motivation.He scored 31 points in the first half, making all four of his first-quarter 3-point attempts.“It was scary,” Caldwell-Pope said. “We know who LeBron is.”James finished with 40 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists. On the game’s final play, James drove to the basket and tried to shoot a game-tying shot through a swarm of Nuggets. Murray was there, and as James gathered to shoot, Murray put both hands on the ball and didn’t let go.“I knew I had to be there,” Murray said.The clock expired and the Nuggets bench emptied in celebration.“It’s almost like shock a little bit,” Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon said. “You’re just, like, unsure, like, are you sure we don’t have more time on the clock? Are you sure we don’t have another quarter to play or another game to play? It’s just another chance at them winning? Then it’s like: ‘Oh. No. We won.’” More

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      Carmelo Anthony Retires From NBA After 19 Seasons

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      Anthony, known as one of the top scorers in league history, had struggled in recent years and did not play the 2022-23 season.Carmelo Anthony, the former Knicks star and one of the greatest scorers in N.B.A. history, announced his retirement on Monday, calling the farewell after 19 seasons “bittersweet.”Anthony, 38, last played in April 2022 as a reserve for the Los Angeles Lakers and spent the final few seasons of his career in more limited roles.“Now the time has come for me to say goodbye, to the court where I made my name, to the game that gave me purpose and pride,” Anthony said in a glossily produced video posted to social networks on Monday. The video included career highlights, with the song “All That I Got Is You” by Ghostface Killah featuring Mary J. Blige in the background.Anthony said he was “excited about what the future holds.”Thank you #STAYME7O pic.twitter.com/4au8cOd13s— Carmelo Anthony (@carmeloanthony) May 22, 2023
      The Denver Nuggets drafted Anthony third overall out of Syracuse in 2003 after he led the school to a Division I N.C.A.A. national championship. Anthony might have been drafted higher if not for a player he would form a close friendship with: LeBron James, who went first overall to Cleveland.Anthony immediately demonstrated his prowess for scoring. His elite footwork, burly physique and quick release on his jumper from anywhere on the court made him difficult to guard. Paul Pierce, the Hall of Famer, said earlier this year that he would have rather guarded Kobe Bryant or James than Anthony.Anthony led the Nuggets to the playoffs in his rookie year. He jab-stepped, up-faked and posted up his way to 10 All-Star Games and six All-N.B.A. teams. Anthony ended his career with 28,289 total points — good for ninth in N.B.A. history. He also won three Olympic gold medals and one bronze.Anthony against LeBron James in 2012. Both players were drafted in 2003, with James picked first overall and Anthony picked third.Barton Silverman/The New York TimesMany Knicks fans are particularly fond of Anthony, who was born in Brooklyn and pressured the Nuggets to trade him to New York in 2011 so he could team up with a fellow All-Star, Amar’e Stoudemire. The move gave the fan base some optimism after a decade of incompetence from the front office.The partnership never fully bore fruit, thanks mainly to injuries to Stoudemire. But Anthony did provide memorable performances at Madison Square Garden, including a game in 2014 in which he scored 62 points, a franchise record. Anthony also led the Knicks to one of their only playoff series wins of the century, in 2013 against the Boston Celtics.All told, Anthony played for six teams: the Nuggets, Knicks, Oklahoma City Thunder, Houston Rockets, Portland Trail Blazers and Lakers.Anthony’s career had several speed bumps.He developed a reputation for lax defense and hogging the ball. His former Nuggets coach, George Karl, wrote in his 2017 memoir that Anthony “only played hard on one side of the ball.” And while Anthony’s teams reliably made the playoffs, he made it as far as the conference finals only once, in 2009 with the Nuggets.Anthony with the Denver Nuggets in 2011.Amy Sancetta/Associated PressLike many All-Stars before him, Anthony struggled to adjust to a drop-off in his game as he entered the back half of his career. After the Knicks traded him to Oklahoma City before the 2017-18 season, he appeared to have the best chance of his career to win a championship because he was teaming up with Paul George and Russell Westbrook, perennial All-Stars. But he scoffed at the idea of coming off the bench, and many fans blamed him when the team fizzled out early in the playoffs.Soon, Anthony’s career was hanging in the balance. He appeared in just 10 games for Houston in the 2018-19 season before he was sidelined and later traded to Chicago, though he never played in any games for the Bulls and was quickly waived. He revitalized his career in Portland over the next two seasons by accepting the bench role that he had laughed at in Oklahoma City. He ended his career playing next to James in Los Angeles.Off the court, Anthony became increasingly outspoken on social issues, including police violence, after appearing in a homemade video titled “Stop Snitching” early in his career. The video discouraged people from talking to the police about crimes.After George Floyd was murdered by a police officer in 2020, Anthony formed a philanthropic investment fund with Chris Paul and Dwyane Wade to invest in communities of color, as well as to push for causes like changes to the criminal justice system.In his retirement video, Anthony said that he did not believe his legacy to be his on-court feats because his “story has always been more than basketball.”“My legacy? My son,” Anthony said, addressing his teenage son, Kiyan Anthony. He added: “Chase your dreams. Let nothing hold you back. Let nothing intervene. My legacy now and forever lives on through you.” More

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      Nikola Jokic Has Mastered the Art of Slowness

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      Providing unhurried but timely play, Jokic, the two-time most valuable player, has the Denver Nuggets on the cusp of the N.B.A. finals.LOS ANGELES — After watching Nikola Jokic repeatedly lumber down the court, hold a basketball above the defense like a freshly picked grapefruit, wheel, pause, and sling a tightrope pass that led a teammate to an open shot, a question came to mind.What is the best one-word descriptor for this guy, a player steadily distinguishing himself as unlike any in N.B.A. history, now on the verge of taking the Denver Nuggets to the finals?Is Jokic …Fundamental? Yeah, that partly hits the mark.Is Jokic …Efficient? Hmm, there’s more than a kernel of truth in that.Is he …Intelligent? That’s true, though it’s an assessment that comes with baggage. Jokic is white, and, yeah, he’s a physicist on the court, but so are LeBron James and a host of Black players who do not get nearly enough credit for their smarts.What about …Slow? Well, now we are on to something. Here we find his special sauce.It is the speed with which he plays, or, rather, the lack of it, that sets him apart in the fast-twitch N.B.A. Jokic, the two-time league most valuable player, could write an instructional book about the game he has come to master: Basketball and the Fine Art of Slowness.This particular faculty is not entirely about sprinting pace. Jokic can move fairly quickly in spurts. It is just as much qualitative. When he is on the court, no matter the circumstance, he seems to control time. He moves where he wants, when he wants, while every other player is slicing around the court in a frenzy.On Saturday night, as the Nuggets and Lakers starters gathered on the court at Crypto.com Arena before tipoff in Game 3 of the Western Conference finals, it seemed like every other player was jumping up and down or fiddling nervously with their uniform or hunting for someone to high-five.Jokic just stood at center court, focused, waiting. It brought to mind something Jeff Van Gundy, the former N.B.A. head coach who is now a television analyst for ESPN, told me before the game, describing the towering Serb. “He looks completely unruffled. Jokic is the epitome of the John Wooden quote, ‘Be quick, don’t hurry.’”“He’s an absolute marvel,” Van Gundy added.Wait, this guy, a marvel? Jokic is muscular but hardly ripped. He stands nearly 7 feet, weighs almost as much as a subzero refrigerator, and has arms that might as well be pterodactyl wings. He is 28, still in the middle of the prime years for physical prowess, but he might trip while trying to jump over the Sunday paper.And yet he dominates the N.B.A.He has been a presiding force in this season’s playoffs, his consistently high level of play matched only by Miami Heat guard Jimmy Butler. Seven triple-doubles in 14 games. Six games with more than 30 points. A 53-point masterpiece against Phoenix in the conference semifinals. Then he practically won Game 1 against the Lakers by himself.But as Game 3 of that series began on Saturday, Jokic struggled to find a rhythm. Uncharacteristically, he scuffled for a while, and was saddled by foul trouble. Then, with the Lakers briefly taking an 85-84 lead early in the fourth quarter and James beginning to recall his younger self, a switch went on inside Jokic.Suddenly, there it was, the whole arsenal. Deflections, rebounds and orbital jump shots. Scooping, angling passes. Jokic dribbled up the court, a commanding, surveying point guard. He methodically backed down a Lakers defender. Time seemed to grind to something near a standstill. Then Jokic spun, twirled, and sped briefly to the basket to knock in a soft layup as if it were a one-inch putt.This was Zen: Wait patiently, clear the mind, calm the body, see the opening, strike. That’s Jokic.When Jokic is on the court, no matter the circumstance, he seems to control time. Jayne Kamin-Oncea/USA Today Sports, via Reuters ConDenver pulled away, Jokic (and his sidekick Jamal Murray) in full flight. When Jokic catapulted in a 25-foot 3-pointer with about three minutes left, the Nuggets surged ahead by 10 points. Eventually they won, 119-108.How did he become such a master?Jokic turned pro 11 years ago in his native Serbia when he was a rawboned 17-year-old. His coach, Dejan Milojevic, now an assistant with the Golden State Warriors, recalls Jokic operating in those days with the same uncanny understanding. He moved without haste, at what Milojevic prefers to call “the speed optimum for Nikola.”What Jokic needed, at least at the start of his professional career, was the strength or stamina to prosper. His old coach claims that Jokic had to undergo a crash conditioning course because he couldn’t complete even two push-ups. Once he got in shape, the blossoming began.But getting in shape and being well coached can’t be the whole story. If so, there would be 1,000 players like Jokic.Is there something about how he is wired?“The way he tracks information around him, knowing where everybody is on the court, making perfectly timed passes all the time to open teammates, takes a special mental ability,” said Greg Appelbaum, director of the Human Performance Optimization Lab at U.C. San Diego, where scientists study athletes’ cognition.“Prospective inference” Appelbaum called Jokic’s capacity to stay one, two, and sometimes three steps ahead of the action on a 94-by-50-foot hardwood swath.Prospective what?An analogy can be found in a cheetah’s amplified ability to scan terrain and extrapolate the possible escape routes of prey. In sports, it’s the skill to predict the future movements of opponents and teammates, said Appelbaum, shortly after watching Denver’s Game 3 win. “It sure looked like Jokic did that tonight.”It did, indeed.Of course, no matter the cause of his mastery, none of it happens if Jokic takes himself off balance by rushing. That’s the foundation.Speed defines our society. Faster, faster, faster is the mantra — sometimes for the better and, as it is becoming increasingly clear, often for the worse. But watching Nikola Jokic provides an antidote: the enduring power of taking one’s time. More

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      What Gilbert Arenas Wants Ja Morant to Know

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      Gilbert Arenas’s N.B.A. career never recovered after he brought guns into a locker room. Now he’s puzzled by the gun troubles of Morant, the star Memphis Grizzlies guard.Gilbert Arenas figured it was an old video. There was no way, he thought, Ja Morant could have done the same thing so soon after his mea culpa. Not with all that was at stake.“Once I realized it was a new one, there was nothing else to say,” Arenas, the former Washington Wizards star, said, adding: “The fact that you keep wanting to do the things you’re doing, then you must want to see how invincible you think you are.”Morant, a 23-year-old Memphis Grizzlies guard, is facing criticism for the second time in just over two months for a social media video that appeared to show him playfully but recklessly waving around a gun in public. The N.B.A. verified the first video, in March, but is still investigating the second, which went viral last weekend. Morant apologized Tuesday.Arenas, 41, can relate to Morant’s turmoil better than almost anyone. In the 2009-10 season, the N.B.A. suspended him for 50 games for bringing guns into his team’s locker room and mocking the situation by making finger gun gestures at a game while the league was still investigating. Arenas, who had made three All-Star teams by then, said he got in trouble in a space where he felt comfortable — perhaps too comfortable.Gilbert Arenas was a three-time All-Star before he brought guns into his team’s locker room. He now hosts the “No Chill” podcast, where he often talks about lessons from his career.Richard Perry/The New York TimesThe N.B.A. suspended Arenas after he mocked the locker room incident with finger gun gestures during a game.Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE, via Nbae, via Getty Images“It’s different for me because I am not getting in trouble in my everyday life,” Arenas said. “I’m getting trouble at my workplace. The invisible cloud that I thought I had was removed.”Morant’s trouble has played out on social media, where he has millions of followers, and with much more at stake for his career and for the N.B.A. His otherworldly athleticism has made him a nightly highlight reel with legions of fans who have made his jersey one of the league’s best sellers. Morant released his first signature shoe with Nike this year, and was leading a new advertising campaign for Powerade. He was poised to be one of the young stars the N.B.A. relies on to carry the league forward after LeBron James and Stephen Curry retire. Now all of that is in jeopardy.Two videos. Two apologies, each with Morant vowing to be better.N.B.A. Commissioner Adam Silver suspended Morant for eight games after the first video, and said in an interview on ESPN on Tuesday that he was “shocked” when he saw the second. It’s unclear whether Morant broke any laws, but Silver, as he did in March, can suspend him for conduct deemed detrimental to the league. The Grizzlies, who were eliminated from the playoffs last month, have suspended Morant from team activities indefinitely.“He’s not only done a disservice to himself, but to the franchise,” said Larry Parnell, the director of the strategic public relations program at George Washington University. “And I think people take that more personally than they do politicians or actors who misbehave.”He explained why: “If you’re a celebrity and you make movies and I don’t like what you’re doing, I’m not emotionally attached to your movie, but I’m emotionally attached to the Celtics. I’m emotionally attached to the Grizzlies.”Arenas said that his situation contrasted with Morant’s because he was more aware that he was a public figure and acted accordingly, such as by not wearing flashy jewelry in public to avoid being robbed. “I understood I am not normal,” Arenas said.Nevertheless, Arenas’s gun incident overshadowed the rest of his N.B.A. career, which lasted only two more seasons, in part because of injuries. He was seen as immature.“I think it affected — I don’t even want to say legacy — my name,” said Arenas, who co-hosts the “Gil’s Arena” show for Underdog Fantasy. “It affected it really bad. I said it back then, where the most disappointing part of it all is I did 100 things right. I did one wrong thing and that’s all everyone remembers. That’s what really hurts you the most.”There have been other cautionary tales about star athletes and guns. Plaxico Burress accidentally shot himself in 2008 at a nightclub in Manhattan less than year after catching the game-winning touchdown for the Giants in the Super Bowl. He spent nearly two years in prison, and his career never recovered. In March, he was asked about Morant in an interview on “The Carton Show.”“If I was speaking to him, it would just be, ‘If you can’t learn anything, learn from me,’” Burress said. “Just make better decisions because you really don’t want for him to have that label moving forward, being that he’s so young. He has the opportunity to be the face of the N.B.A. He’s that great of a player and you want to continue to see him, you know, mature as a person as his game is getting better.”Morant, in his signature Nike sneakers, has been seen as one of the brightest young stars in the generation after LeBron James, left.Gary A. Vasquez/Usa Today Sports Via Reuters ConNegative reputations can be hard to shake, and the reactions to Morant’s behavior have been mixed. JJ Redick, the ESPN analyst and former N.B.A. player, has argued, like many others, that Morant shouldn’t face harsh punishment if he hasn’t broken the law. Charles Barkley, the TNT analyst and former N.B.A. player, has teed off on Morant, saying that the rules are different for public figures. Nike did not respond to a request for comment, but Morant’s shoes no longer come up in searches for his name at nike.com. A spokesperson for Powerade said the company had “no update” about Morant’s contract.Arenas lost his shoe deal with Adidas because of his gun incident. He also pleaded guilty to one count of felony gun possession and was sentenced to 30 days in a halfway house. That was more than a decade ago, but Arenas has become the go-to voice when athletes are in trouble. Still, in November, the Wizards honored him with a framed jersey at halftime of a game on “Throwback Night.”“We all throw out the word: ‘Be accountable for your actions,’” Arenas said. “But do we actually allow that person to really be accountable? When we see: ‘OK, he never touched a gun ever again. He’s never showed that same behavior to want to be around guns. Never looked at a gun.’ Why would you keep reminding the world that that’s what he did?“We want the person to change their behavior, but we don’t want to accept it when they do.” More

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      Ja Morant Apologizes After New Video With Apparent Gun

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      The NewsThe star Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant apologized late Tuesday after receiving days of backlash for a social media video that appeared to show him brandishing a gun in public for the second time in just over two months.“I know I’ve disappointed a lot of people who have supported me,” Morant said in a statement. “This is a journey and I recognize there is more work to do. My words may not mean much right now, but I take full accountability for my actions. I’m committed to continuing to work on myself.”N.B.A. Commissioner Adam Silver said in a televised interview with ESPN on Tuesday that he was “shocked” by the video, which Morant’s friend reportedly streamed live on Instagram.Ja Morant said in a statement Tuesday night that he takes “full accountability for my actions.”Brandon Dill/Associated PressWhy It Matters: Morant is influential as a major rising N.B.A. star.Morant, 23, is one of the best young players in the N.B.A. He has already made two All-Star teams and one All-N.B.A. team just four years into his career. He won the Rookie of the Year Award in 2020. He is best known for high-flying dunks and has made the Grizzlies a strong contender in the Western Conference as the No. 2 seed in back-to-back seasons.He is also part of a new generation of N.B.A. stars the league hopes will help the game transition from aging figures like LeBron James, 38, and Stephen Curry, 35. He has a new signature sneaker with Nike and had been announced as the new face of Powerade in March.Background: He was suspended in March because of a gun video.Morant faced criticism in March when a live video on his Instagram account showed him waving around a firearm in a Colorado nightclub. The N.B.A. suspended him for eight games. Morant also apologized then, taking “full responsibility” for his actions. Morant vowed to “work on better methods of dealing with stress” and went to a counseling facility in Florida.Silver, the N.B.A. commissioner, called Morant’s actions “irresponsible, reckless and potentially very dangerous.”The video was posted as other Morant-related controversies swirled.In a lawsuit, Josh Holloway, then 17, had accused Morant of punching him during a pickup basketball game last summer. Morant told the police that it was self-defense. A mall employee had also accused Morant of assaulting him after Morant’s mother had a dispute at a shoe store. Another person accused Morant of intimidation when Morant came to his sister’s high school volleyball game because she was involved in a dispute. Morant has not been charged with a crime in any of these incidents.Recordings of the new video went viral on Sunday. The Grizzlies quickly suspended Morant from all team activities, though the team was eliminated from the playoffs last month.What’s Next: The N.B.A. will decide whether to discipline Morant again.Silver told ESPN on Tuesday that the league was investigating the new video.“The videos have been grainy and all that,” Silver said. “But I’m assuming the worst.”As part of the N.B.A.’s collective bargaining agreement between the players’ union and team owners, players agree to “not to do anything that is materially detrimental or materially prejudicial to the best interests” of the team or the league. In suspending Morant the first time, the N.B.A. said his conduct had been detrimental to the league. More

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      NBA Draft Lottery: Spurs Get No. 1 Pick and Right to Select Wembanyama

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      The top pick is widely expected to be Victor Wembanyama, a 19-year-old French basketball star.The San Antonio Spurs won the 2023 N.B.A. draft lottery on Tuesday, giving them the No. 1 pick in June’s draft and the right to select the most anticipated prospect since LeBron James: the 19-year-old French star Victor Wembanyama.Peter J. Holt, the chairman of the Spurs, jumped up to celebrate the moment it became apparent the Spurs had obtained the top pick. The lottery was held in Chicago, and the draft order was revealed during an ESPN broadcast.“I might faint,” Holt said on the broadcast. “I’m so excited. The city of San Antonio, our fans, man — we just have so many people that love the Spurs so we’re pumped.”The No. 2 pick went to the Charlotte Hornets, the third to the Portland Trail Blazers and the fourth to the Houston Rockets.Wembanyama, in an interview from France, told ESPN: “My heart is beating. I got everyone I love, everyone I know around me. It’s really a special moment I’m going to remember for the rest of my life.”A 7-foot-3 center with an eight-foot wingspan, Wembanyama can handle the ball and shoot like a guard. He plays for Metropolitans 92, a professional French league team, where he is averaging 21.6 points and 10.5 rebounds per game. The N.B.A. G League hosted his team for a two-game exhibition near Las Vegas in October, and the N.B.A. has broadcast some of his games. The hype about him rivals that surrounding James in 2003, when the Cleveland Cavaliers drafted him No. 1 overall out of high school.“He clearly, you know, appears to be a generational talent,” N.B.A. Commissioner Adam Silver said on ESPN before the lottery. “And, you know, there’s lots of other examples of generational talents who come in this league who’ve met expectations and some who haven’t. But I have no reason to believe he won’t.”Wembanyama is certainly not the only potentially franchise-altering prospect available in this year’s draft, set for June 22 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Scoot Henderson, a 19-year-old guard who played for the G League Ignite and faced Wembanyama in the October exhibitions, is widely expected to be drafted at No. 2 overall. Henderson averaged 16.5 points, 5.3 rebounds and 6.8 assists in 19 games with the Ignite this season.For the Spurs, this is the third time they have won the lottery. In 1997, they used the No. 1 pick to select Tim Duncan, who became one of the best big men in N.B.A. history. Ten years before, they also picked a big man in David Robinson, a 10-time All-Star. Both players are in the Basketball Hall of Fame.The draft order is decided by a lottery that grants teams with worse regular-season records better odds for the No. 1 pick. This system has led to teams being accused of tanking — not prioritizing winning to position themselves for high draft picks. The three teams with the best chance — 14 percent — to get the top pick this year were San Antonio, Houston and Detroit, which got the fifth pick. The 11 other teams in the lottery had lessened odds, ranging from Charlotte at 13 percent to the New Orleans Pelicans at 0.5 percent.In recent years, the N.B.A. has moved to curb tanking by introducing a postseason play-in tournament to decide the seventh and eighth seeds in each conference and by flattening the chances for the No. 1 pick among the three worst teams.But with Wembanyama’s N.B.A. arrival on the horizon, Silver told reporters in the fall, “I know that many of our N.B.A. teams are salivating at the notion that potentially through our lottery, they can get him, so they should all still compete very hard next season.”The N.B.A. fined the Dallas Mavericks $750,000 last month for resting several players in the final days of the season even though the team still had a chance to make the play-in tournament. They missed the playoffs and received the No. 10 pick through the lottery. They had a 3 percent chance of getting No. 1.They weren’t as lucky as San Antonio.The Spurs’ Gregg Popovich is the longest tenured coach in the N.B.A. He took over in December 1996 and has since led the Spurs to five championships, most recently in 2014. But in recent years, the Spurs have been rebuilding and stockpiling young talent. The team has not made the playoffs since 2019. They were tied with Houston for the worst record in the Western Conference this season at 22-60. Wembanyama could immediately change that.“I’m trying to win a ring ASAP,” Wembanyama told ESPN on Tuesday. “So be ready.” More