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      Kevon Looney Leads Golden State in Comeback Win Over Dallas Mavericks

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      Looney had the best night of his career to fuel his team’s comeback from 19 points down to the Dallas Mavericks in Game 2 of the Western Conference finals.SAN FRANCISCO — The day before Kevon Looney produced the best game of his professional career, he sat in a hallway at Chase Center in San Francisco, thinking about the way his role had changed since Golden State drafted him in 2015.This was a team known for its smaller lineups; that’s how it had won a championship that year. At 6-foot-9, and despite a wingspan of more than seven feet, Looney was considered undersized.Looney chuckled at the thought, then he considered it a little bit more.“The league’s kind of changed, and now I’m more the traditional center now in the N.B.A.,” Looney said, as he thought about the way people sometimes talk about Golden State. “So it kind of is weird to me. Sometimes it feels like a slap in the face when they’re like, ‘They don’t have any size.”Looney typically is not the most talked-about member of the Warriors. He was drafted less than two weeks after Golden State won its first championship with Steve Kerr as coach, and was part of the team for four consecutive appearances in the N.B.A. finals and two championships. After overcoming early injury woes, he became a critical part of Golden State’s roster, and this year was one of only five players leaguewide to play in all 82 regular-season games.In the playoffs this year, Golden State has been able to count on him. He didn’t start in Games 1 through 5 of their Western Conference semifinal series against the Memphis Grizzlies, then started and grabbed 22 rebounds in the Game 6 win that clinched the series.Golden State turned to Looney in Game 6 of its series against the Grizzlies, and his play was crucial. He grabbed 22 rebounds in the win.Ezra Shaw/Getty ImagesOn Friday night in Game 2 of the Western Conference finals series against the Dallas Mavericks, Looney scored 21 points with 12 rebounds in the 126-117 comeback win. It was the first time since his only season at U.C.L.A. that he had scored more than 20 points in a game. It was also the first time a Warriors center had scored 20 points with at least 10 rebounds in the playoffs since 1977.“We see the work that he’s put in to make that a reality,” Golden State guard Stephen Curry said. “Now, in the playoffs, just taking that next step. He brings a lot of joy to what we do in the locker room. I’ll call him, like, the muse in the locker room. He kind of just has a great demeanor about him. He’s the bridge between the vets and the young guys. Pretty awesome to see him adapt to that role.”Kerr called Looney “everybody’s favorite guy.”Forward Draymond Green called him a master of professionalism.“The same professional he is today, he was when he came in the league,” Green said.Looney may have projected professionalism and levelheadedness to Green, but the truth was that when Looney was drafted, he was a wide-eyed 19-year-old just trying not to break anything.This team was riding high after its championship, and his job was to fit in, not to stand out. As the only rookie, he didn’t have anyone with common experiences to talk to about what that was like and what he should do.“Definitely was intimidating,” Looney said.That July, he was in Las Vegas after playing in the N.B.A.’s Summer League tournament, where teams field rosters of their young players and N.B.A. hopefuls. The veterans on his team were in Las Vegas for a players’ union awards show, and one night Andre Iguodala texted, asking him to bring over some doughnuts.“It’s like 1 in the morning,” Looney said, laughing. “I didn’t even know if he was serious. First day, I’m already scared. I don’t want to mess up on my first day.”He attended the awards show, but when the team went up onstage together, he said he was too shy to join them. That shyness persisted during the early part of the season as the team went 24-0 on its way to an N.B.A.-record 73 wins.“They used to joke that I didn’t talk for the first six months,” Looney said.In addition to requesting doughnut deliveries at 1 a.m., Iguodala took Looney under his wing and helped him adapt. Green would invite Looney to spend time with him just to make him feel more comfortable in this new setting.That helped in the locker room, but Looney would experience other challenges. He had hip surgery before his rookie year began. Then he had another hip injury in his second season.Looney had never missed a game in college or high school, and called the injuries “devastating.”“We didn’t know what we had,” Kerr said, noting that the team did not pick up Looney’s contract option for a fourth season because he had not played much. He continued: “And then his third year he has a great year, it’s like, uh oh, we might lose this guy.”Looney is relishing the chance to have an impact during the playoffs. He had 10 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists in Game 1 against Dallas, also a Golden State victory.Kyle Terada/USA Today Sports, via ReutersLooney was keenly aware of the questions the organization had about him, but he took solace in the support from his teammates.“Always got the respect from my teammates, and that made me keep going, that made me feel good about myself and know that I’m doing the right thing,” Looney said. “Even if the fans — you might have a bad game, the fans might say you’re not good enough, somebody might say you’re not good enough — but when you’ve got your teammates saying, like, ‘Man I don’t care what the stat lines say, I want to be out there with Loon,’ it’s a great honor.”Looney was inactive throughout the playoffs for his first two seasons. But in his third season, he began to have a significant role for the Warriors and contributed to their 2017-18 championship run. He often defended the best players.Now 26, he’s a veteran on a team that has incorporated young guys who are experiencing their first playoff runs. Looney knows what that felt like and tries to help guide them through the process.And if Golden State wins another championship this year, it will feel a little bit more special, given his contributions.“To make an impact, and start a lot of these games, playoff games, be there for the team, have some big roles in playoff moments, this’ll mean a lot to me,” Looney said. “It’ll just be kind of like the cherry on top to be able to close it out and win and be there for my team.” More

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      NBA Preview: Miami Heat and Boston Celtics Fight to Win the East

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      Miami and Boston will meet in the Eastern Conference finals, with each team rightfully confident in its ability to win. The series may be too close to call.A group of mostly 20-something out-of-towners heading to Miami this time of year typically would be called spring breakers.But for our purposes, we’re referring to the Boston Celtics. Their reward for outlasting the Milwaukee Bucks in a grueling seven-game Eastern Conference semifinal series is a date in the conference finals with the No. 1-seeded Miami Heat, starting Tuesday.The series is a rematch of the 2020 conference finals, except then the Celtics had the higher seed and the games were at Walt Disney World — another spring vacation destination in Florida.Many of the key characters are the same. The No. 2-seeded Celtics are once again led by their top guards, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart, while the Heat will counter with their top stars, Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo.But even though the rosters haven’t changed much, there are significant differences from two years ago. The Celtics are now coached by Ime Udoka, who morphed Boston’s defense into the league’s best in his first season. Boston’s Grant Williams and Miami’s Tyler Herro were rookies in 2020 and have since developed into indispensable role players.Here is what to look out for in the Eastern Conference finals.Wait. Before we get to that, wasn’t there something important that happened in the 2020 series?Yes. At the end of Game 1, Adebayo blocked a Tatum dunk attempt that would have tied the score in overtime. It was one of the most important blocks in N.B.A. history and it changed the trajectory of a series that Boston was favored to win. The series was close: Three of the Heat’s four wins were by less than double digits.How did each team do this year?The Heat went 53-29, their best regular-season record since 2013-14, when LeBron James was on the team and they lost to San Antonio in the N.B.A. finals. This season provided their seventh highest win total in franchise history.Boston finished hot on their heels. On Jan. 28, the Celtics were 25-25. Since then, including the playoffs, they’ve lost only nine times. They ended the regular season with 51 wins for a remarkable turnaround.Both teams were strong defensively, but not as proficient offensively.The playoffs are a different animal, though.The Celtics opted not to try to avoid the Nets in the first round, even though that meant Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving — two A-list stars — would await them. It turned out they didn’t have to worry. The Celtics swept the Nets, solidifying their status as a team to be feared.Also in the first round, Miami faced the Atlanta Hawks, who employ one of the N.B.A.’s best guards in Trae Young. The Hawks were hampered with injuries, and the Heat easily dispatched them in five games, in part because of a suffocating defense on Young.In the second round, the Celtics exchanged haymakers with the Bucks, who were missing a perennial All-Star in the injured Khris Middleton. The Celtics withstood 44 points and 20 rebounds from Giannis Antetokounmpo in Game 6, one of the greatest playoff performances ever. Tatum countered with 46 points to carry the Celtics to Game 7, where Milwaukee ran out of gas.Miami caught a break in its semifinal series against the Philadelphia 76ers. Joel Embiid, the second-place finisher in the voting for the Most Valuable Player Award, missed part of the series because of a concussion and an orbital bone fracture. The Heat took the first two games at home. Embiid unexpectedly returned for Games 3 and 4 in Philadelphia, spurring two wins for the Sixers. But Miami adjusted and took the final two contests, and the series.Who is favored in this series?It’s a toss up. Miami has home-court advantage, but the Celtics were a different team in the second half of the season.Both teams are strikingly similar in that they employ efficient, active, switching defenses, while occasionally struggling with offensive droughts. Both teams will have a welcome break from having to deal with a physically bruising center like Antetokounmpo or Embiid.The Celtics have Tatum, who at 24 has blossomed into one of the most complete players in the N.B.A. He has also shown a penchant for delivering in big moments — like the 46-point performance against the Bucks, or his 50-point showing in a first-round playoff win against the Nets last year. During the regular season, Tatum averaged 26.9 points, 8 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game — all career highs. He has also improved at creating opportunities for teammates.The Heat have Butler, a versatile six-time All-Star. He averaged 21.4 points, 5.9 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game during the regular season. In the postseason, Butler has been dominant, averaging 28.7 points, 7.6 rebounds and 5.4 assists in 10 games.In addition, the Heat have the 22-year-old Herro, who averaged 20.7 points a game off the bench and was named the sixth man of the year. He can, every now and then, take over a game by himself. One of his best performances came against Boston in the 2020 playoffs, when he scored a career-high 37 points.Any X factors?Health, for one thing. The Celtics said Monday that Marcus Smart, their starting point guard and the league’s defensive player of the year, is questionable for Game 1 because of a foot sprain. The Heat’s starting point guard, Kyle Lowry, a six-time All-Star, is unlikely to play in Game 1 because of a hamstring injury. He’s missed most of the playoffs so far.The Celtics’ starting center, Robert Williams III, will be available for Boston, a huge boost after he had missed most of the postseason because of a knee injury. His athleticism and shot-blocking skills will be a necessary counter to Adebayo.The Celtics were buoyed by spurts of offense from Grant Williams, Al Horford and Payton Pritchard against the Bucks, while for the Heat, the third-year forward Max Strus has been a strong scorer off the bench.Miami is slower and more methodical on offense than Boston and less reliant on 3-pointers. Heat guard Victor Oladipo, after missing most of the regular season recovering from an injury, has emerged as a playmaker in the postseason. He has reached double figures in scoring four of his eight playoff games.Why will Boston win?The best defensive team in the N.B.A. will limit Butler’s effectiveness. Because Butler is a weak 3-point shooter, Boston will crowd the paint and muck up Miami’s spacing. With the Williamses and Horford, Adebayo won’t be able to roam on defense as easily.Also, Tatum is the best offensive player on either team.Why will Miami win?Miami is the more physical team, and Butler won’t be fazed by the Celtics’ defense. While his defenders sag off him from the perimeter, he is skilled enough to force his way into the paint and create space for shooters like Strus and Herro.The Celtics will rely too much on deep 3s because of Adebayo’s strong rim protection and they’ll have cold shooting nights. Miami has the more reliable bench with Herro and Oladipo, a two-time All-Star. And if they need shooting in a pinch, they’ll dust off Duncan Robinson, who has been in and out of Miami’s rotation in the playoffs after starting 68 games in the regular season.And if Miami doesn’t start off by winning games, Udonis Haslem, who has been on the Heat roster since the Big Bang, will yell at them until they do. More

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      Rafael Nadal Falls Apart on Clay, Just in Time for the French Open

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      Nadal, playing in pain in a loss to Denis Shapovalov at the Italian Open, came away downbeat and pensive with the year’s second Grand Slam event less than two weeks away.ROME — Quick and dominant in the first set against Denis Shapovalov, Rafael Nadal was quite the opposite down the stretch at the Italian Open on Thursday night.Late to the ball. Limping between points. Grimacing and wincing even on changeovers. His distress was so visible as the double faults and unforced errors piled up late in the final set that even the Canadian fans sitting high in the center court stands were offering up sympathetic applause for Nadal as their compatriot Shapovalov put the final touches on his victory, 1-6, 7-5, 6-2, in the round of 16.Shapovalov, an elastic and explosive left-hander ranked No. 16, has the tools to trouble even a healthy Nadal. He beat him in their first match in 2017 when Shapovalov was still a teenager, and should have beaten him in last year’s round of 16 at the Italian Open when he failed to convert two match points. He also pushed Nadal to five sets at this year’s Australian Open.But this was far from a healthy Nadal, with his chronic left foot problem, known as Müller-Weiss disease, resurfacing on his favorite surface. With the French Open looming, his mood in the aftermath was as downbeat and pensive as I can recall in nearly 20 years of following his career.“I imagine there will come a time when my head will say ‘Enough,’” Nadal, a 10-time Italian Open champion, said in Spanish, pursing his lips and shaking his head. “Pain takes away your happiness, not only in tennis but in life. And my problem is that many days I live with too much pain.”Nadal said he also had to live with taking “a ton of anti-inflammatories daily to give myself the ability to train.”“That is my reality,” he said. “And there have been many days, like today, when the moment comes that I can’t do it.”Nadal struggling in the third set against Shapovalov.Fabio Frustaci/EPA, via ShutterstockHe finished with 34 unforced errors and just 13 winners on Thursday, and the question now is whether the most successful clay-courter in history will even be able to play at the French Open, the Grand Slam tournament he has won a record 13 times.“I’m going to keep dreaming about that goal,” Nadal said of the tournament. “The negative thing is today it’s not possible to play for me, but maybe in two days things are better. That’s the thing with what I have on my foot.”The French Open will begin in nine days on May 22, although Nadal might not have to play until May 24 because the French Open, which starts on a Sunday, stages its first round over three days.Though Nadal, who will turn 36 next month, has often shown astonishing fighting spirit and recuperative powers, this will be a challenge like no other for him in Paris in the springtime.“Definitely tough to see him in pain there at the end; I never want to see that, especially with a great legend like Rafa,” said Shapovalov, who still had to produce bold tennis and big serves to win on Thursday. “Hopefully he’s OK. He brings so much to our sport. Hopefully he’s fit and ready to go for the French.”The only time Nadal has triumphed at Roland Garros without winning a clay-court tournament earlier in the year was in 2020, the pandemic-shortened season when the start of the French Open was moved to October and nearly the entire clay-court season was canceled.This year, the schedule has been back to normal but not for Nadal. After a torrid start to the season, with 20 straight victories and a record 21st Grand Slam singles title at the Australian Open, his clay-court campaign was delayed by a stress fracture in his ribs that kept him from competing or practicing normally for six weeks.He returned for the Madrid Open this month and was upset by the 19-year-old Spanish sensation Carlos Alcaraz in the quarterfinals and has now experienced his earliest defeat at the Italian Open since 2008, when Juan Carlos Ferrero, a former No. 1 who is now Alcaraz’s coach, surprised Nadal in the second round.Nadal went on to win the 2008 French Open anyway, overwhelming his archrival Roger Federer in the final, but Nadal had already won the titles in Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Hamburg that year.This season, he is short on matches and victories on clay while established threats like Novak Djokovic and Stefanos Tsitsipas, and new ones like Alcaraz, have established firmer footing.Shapovalov, left, chatting with Nadal at the end of their match. “Definitely tough to see him in pain there at the end,” Shapovalov said.Alessandra Tarantino/Associated Press“Ultimately even the greatest players can’t beat Father Time,” said Brad Stine, the veteran American coach now working with Tommy Paul. “It’s getting to that point for Rafa. What he did in Australia was beyond exceptional, but I think we have been seeing the collateral damage of his great start to the season. If healthy, he is still a favorite week in and week out, but that if is a big one. ‘If the body breaks down’ is not included in Kipling’s poem.”That is a reference to “If,” an excerpt from which is posted at the players’ entrance to Wimbledon’s Centre Court.It is difficult after 15 years of watching Nadal nearly always prevail over adversity and the opposition at Roland Garros to imagine that he truly won’t find a way to pose a challenge.“I will fight for it,” he said grimly. “I will continue to believe during this week and a half.”What is clear is that, for a change, he should not be the favorite. “No way,” said Mark Petchey, the veteran coach and analyst. “Lots of co-favorites and players with genuine chances to win.”His longer list includes the defending champion, Djokovic; last year’s other finalist, Tsitsipas; Alcaraz; Alexander Zverev; Casper Ruud; and the young Italian Jannik Sinner.Nadal, since losing to Djokovic in a four-set semifinal in Paris last June, has played just five matches on clay, losing two of them.Watching him struggle, then eventually hobble on Thursday, was a reminder that nothing is eternal, not even Nadal on the surface that he has made his own. 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      Ja Morant’s Injury Isn’t the Only Problem for the Grizzlies

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      A young Memphis team is getting a crash course in high-stakes basketball from championship-tested Golden State.Dillon Brooks of the Memphis Grizzlies returned from his one-game suspension determined to leave an imprint on his team’s Western Conference semifinal series with the Golden State Warriors. He was going to make things happen Monday night in Game 4. Unfortunately for the Grizzlies, his imprint largely entailed chucking errant 3-pointers off the back of the rim and dribbling the ball off his foot.Brooks is (typically) one of the better players on one of the N.B.A.’s most exciting young teams, but there is no substitute for postseason experience. The Grizzlies are getting some, and it will pay off for them in the future, but the future is not now. Their championship-tested opponent is making sure of that.On Monday, the Grizzlies had every opportunity to even the best-of-seven series at two games apiece — in San Francisco, no less. But they were trailing by 3 points when Brooks ceded the spotlight to Jaren Jackson Jr., a teammate who had plenty of time — about 15 seconds remained in the game — to exercise patience. Instead, Jackson launched a 3-pointer with three defenders in his vicinity. Golden State’s Draymond Green got a hand on the ball, and Jackson missed.“We rushed a couple of plays there,” Memphis Coach Taylor Jenkins said after his team’s 101-98 loss. “We’ve just got to learn from it and get better for the next game.”Golden State was losing for almost the entire game Monday, but came out on top when it mattered: in the end.Kyle Terada/USA Today Sports, via ReutersAhead of Game 5 on Wednesday, the Grizzlies are coping with yet another new experience: the possibility of elimination. They trail in the series, 3-1, after Ja Morant, their All-Star point guard, missed Monday’s loss with right knee soreness. On Tuesday, the Grizzlies announced that Morant was doubtful for the rest of the postseason after testing revealed he had a bone bruise. It is looking bleak for them.Against a lesser opponent, perhaps the Grizzlies could have more easily overcome their youthful exuberance — combined now with Morant’s absence. The Warriors are not a lesser opponent. They proved as much in Game 4, even after they missed their first 15 3-point attempts, and even after they scored just 38 points in the first half, and even after they trailed by as many as 12.“Gutted it out,” said Stephen Curry, who recalled his impassioned exchange with Green after Green disrupted Jackson’s shot in the final minute. “Something to the effect of, ‘That’s what you do.’ Every opportunity we have to appreciate his greatness on that end of the floor, especially at this stage, that’s what it’s all about.”Not so long ago, there was an expectation that the series would offer up some 21st century basketball at its finest. Here were two teams capable of filling box scores with offensive fireworks.Beyond that, the series seemed like it had the potential to shape up as a delightfully entertaining generational skirmish. The Grizzlies, behind Morant, were the new kids on the block, contenders ahead of schedule. Golden State, of course, had reassembled its core after two injury-marred seasons.Both teams have increased the intensity and physicality during the series.Kyle Terada/USA Today Sports, via ReutersThe series, then, was supposed to be an aesthete’s treat, crammed with soaring dunks and deep 3-pointers and mutual respect. Instead, through four games, it has been more Royal Rumble than Alvin Ailey. Green was ejected for committing a flagrant foul in Game 1. Golden State’s Gary Payton II fractured his elbow in Game 2 after Brooks clubbed him across the head as Payton went up for a layup. And after limping off the court in Game 3, Morant took to social media to accuse Golden State’s Jordan Poole of making a dirty play of his own.About an hour before the start of Game 4, a disjointed series got even stranger when Golden State announced that Steve Kerr would not be available to coach because he had entered the league’s coronavirus health and safety protocols. Instead, Mike Brown, one of his assistants, would call the shots. The oddest part of all? Earlier in the day, the Sacramento Kings had named Brown as their new head coach. (He will remain with Golden State for the duration of the postseason.)Kerr’s absence added to the series’ sense of attrition. Payton could be gone for the rest of the postseason. Morant was sitting behind the Grizzlies’ bench in a sweatshirt. And now Kerr had to watch the game from home, part of a television-viewing audience that settled in for an evening of cornea-wrenching theater.Golden State has a well-deserved reputation for playing a refined brand of basketball. But this is a team that can also win ugly, no small asset in the postseason.“We’ve been here before, and we know how to pull off games like this,” Curry said.Without Morant, Memphis wanted to muck it up. After supplying limited minutes in recent weeks, Steven Adams started at center and was solid, finishing with 10 points and 15 rebounds. The problem was everyone else. Brooks shot 5 of 19 from the field. Kyle Anderson went 2 of 7 from the free-throw line. And Jackson missed all seven of his 3-point attempts.“It’s tough when that happens,” he said. “I wanted more of myself than that.”The question is whether Memphis has much more to give. What these young Grizzlies seem to need is a postseason cram session — a rapid infusion of the secrets to winning high-stakes games. They won a lot during the regular season, ending with the second-best record in the N.B.A. But winning when each game is emotional, when critical foul calls won’t go their way, when the defense makes easy shots difficult and difficult shots impossible, when free throws don’t feel so free? It can take years to learn all of that, and many players never do. The Grizzlies may have to try to play as though they have — without their best player.Morant has not been immune to knee issues. In November, during a torrid start to the regular season, he sprained his left knee and then entered the league’s health and safety protocols, missing 12 games. He missed several more games toward the end of the regular season with knee soreness.Still, Adams said the team was capable of making fixes for Game 5, fixes that he said were both “simple” and “reassuring.” And what were they?“I can’t disclose that information, mate,” he said. “Keep it under wraps. But it’s not a complicated thing. It’s not something that we can’t do. Put it that way.”Memphis still has time to figure it out. But not much, especially against Golden State. More

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      The Liberty Are Reinventing Themselves

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      The team enters the 2022 W.N.B.A. season with a new coach and center, returning players who were hampered by injuries last year, and the desire to become full-fledged title contenders.The Liberty are not sure what the full identity of their revamped team should be. But they are certain about one aspect of it.“I want teams to kind of be scared of us when they have to be on offense,” said forward Natasha Howard, who won the W.N.B.A.’s Defensive Player of the Year Award in 2019, when she was with the Seattle Storm.This will be Howard’s second season with the Liberty, but in many ways, and for many reasons, it seems unlikely to be much like her first. The team has a new head coach (Sandy Brondello), a new veteran center (Stefanie Dolson) and, players said, a new commitment to becoming a championship contender once the season begins May 6.“There’s a sense of urgency,” guard Sabrina Ionescu said during the Liberty’s media day on Thursday. She added that the team did not want to wait years to become better, and had a “Why not us?” mentality.The Liberty finished last season with a 12-20 record and slid into the playoffs as the eighth seed. They lost to the fifth-seeded Phoenix Mercury in a first-round single-elimination game. The team had injury woes all season: Jocelyn Willoughby tore an Achilles’ tendon in a preseason scrimmage; Howard missed 15 games because of a knee injury; Ionescu dealt with a lingering ankle injury.All three are back and said they are feeling good.“I’m way ahead of where I used to be,” Willoughby said.Another returner is guard Asia Durr, who goes by AD. Durr, the second overall draft pick in 2019, missed the past two seasons as they recovered from Covid-19. On Thursday, Durr said they were still dealing with confusion and brain fog but that Liberty teammates had been helpful.“It’s pretty challenging to stay patient every single day,” Durr said, punctuating the last three words.Like Howard and several others, Durr mentioned defense as the focus of this year’s team. Brondello, who coached the Mercury to the finals last season in her eighth year with the team, said she wanted the Liberty to have an “aggressive mentality.”More points in the paint. Fewer turnovers. Not settling for outside shots. Drawing more fouls.“We’re trying to develop a tough team,” Brondello said.At the core of the team are players like Ionescu; Howard; Betnijah Laney, who was named to her first All-Star team last season; and Michaela Onyenwere, the 2021 W.N.B.A. rookie of the year. “I’m always looking to grow,” Laney said, adding that she’s surrounded by great players.Joining them is Dolson, who won a championship with the Chicago Sky last year.Dolson, a 6-foot-5 center entering her ninth season, said she likes to post up — even though people don’t think she does — and that it will be difficult for teams to face off against her and the 6-foot-2 Howard.“It’s hard to scout when both post players can kind of do everything,” she said.Dolson averaged 7.5 points and 3.5 rebounds per game last season, and shot 40.4 percent from 3-point range. Howard averaged 16.2 points and 7.2 rebounds in 13 games last season.Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu had a double-double in the team’s playoff loss to Phoenix.Rebecca Noble for The New York TimesVeterans like Howard and Dolson will be key to the Liberty’s success, but so will the younger players, who spoke on Thursday about how they’ve grown and what they still need to improve.“I was so lost last year,” said DiDi Richards, a second-year guard-forward.Richards said she often was in her own head while on the court, instead of being vocal, but she is working on changing that as coaches ask her to take on a bigger leadership role. “I’m ready for it,” she said.Onyenwere spoke confidently about defense — “not really a skill; it’s all effort” — but also said she wanted to improve on offense after shooting just 32.7 percent from 3-point range last season.Guard Sami Whitcomb, who went 42.5 percent from 3-point range last year, is the team’s most prolific and best long-range shooter. She came to the Liberty last year after four seasons in Seattle, and she said she was excited about helping the team create a new identity. But, she said, it won’t happen “overnight.”Some things do happen quickly in sports, though — like going from W.N.B.A. prospect to Liberty rookie.The Liberty traded with the Storm to get the 18th pick in the draft on April 11 and used it to select Lorela Cubaj, a 6-foot-4 forward from Georgia Tech. Four days later, she signed a rookie contract with the team. Three days after that, training camp began.On Thursday, she said that she had developed as a facilitator while at Georgia Tech and hoped to use that skill with the Liberty. “I just want to put my teammates in the best position to score,” she said.One thing she wants to leave in Georgia: the food. Cubaj, who is from Italy, joked that she would not miss the pizza from Atlanta now that she is in New York. More

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      Steph Curry Returns, and Golden State Beats the Nuggets

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      Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, Golden State’s championship core, are back together in the postseason for the first time since 2019.Klay Thompson was splashing 3-pointers. Draymond Green was making stops and deftly finding open cutters. Stephen Curry drew several defenders any time he touched the ball.The threesome who redefined basketball en route to winning multiple championships with the Golden State Warriors reunited in the playoffs on Saturday for the first time since 2019. And like in many games of that era, the high-octane Warriors were dominant, defeating the Denver Nuggets in the opener of their first-round playoff matchup, 123-107.In a surprise move, Curry began the game on the bench. In his place, Coach Steve Kerr started the third-year guard Jordan Poole, who made a leap this year. The move appeared to be aimed at keeping Curry on a strict minutes limit. This was his first game since March 16, when he injured his left foot against the Boston Celtics.The swap paid off. Poole was exceptional in his first career playoff game, scoring 30 points — a game high — on 9 for 13 shooting, electrifying the Chase Center crowd in San Francisco. He played as if he had long been a mainstay of postseason basketball. At one point, he did a dance after scoring a difficult basket. It was that kind of night. On a team of stars who had played on some of the most talented teams in league history, it was a 22-year-old selected with the 28th pick of the 2019 draft who stole the show as Golden State attempted to recapture the N.B.A. throne.Jordan Poole has been a key source of offense for Golden State this season, with injuries keeping top stars off the court for months at a time. He had 30 points on Saturday.Ezra Shaw/Getty Images“Jordan Poole, wow, what a playoff debut,” Thompson raved to reporters after the game, adding: “We should be very grateful for Jordan’s development and the type of player he’s become because he’s just incredible. I mean, what a star in the making.”The last time Curry came off the bench during the playoffs was May 1, 2018, the second game of the Western Conference semifinals against the New Orleans Pelicans, when he was returning from a knee injury. Saturday against Denver was only the third playoff game of Curry’s career in which he played but didn’t start.He entered the contest about halfway through the first quarter to a loud ovation. Almost immediately, Curry made his presence felt, finding Thompson for an open 3-pointer from the corner and sneaking a pass between two defenders to an open Green for a dunk. Otherwise, he struggled, shooting 5 for 13 from the field for 16 points. But his presence alone still drew outsize attention from the Nuggets, and the Warriors outscored Denver by 17 points with Curry on the floor.“It was nice to feel the playoff vibe again, and obviously it is different coming off the bench and trying to make the most of the minutes that are appropriate right now,” Curry said.Poole’s strong play presents a dilemma — of the good kind — for Kerr going forward. With Curry back, can he send Poole to the bench for the rest of the playoffs?“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Kerr said.Poole’s strong play will give Kerr more options for the rest of the series. For one thing, he can deploy a three-guard lineup of Curry, Thompson and Poole — three playmakers and shooters. It’s reminiscent of the closing small-ball lineups that the Warriors used to deploy at their best during their championship runs of the last decade — except with Poole playing the part of Andre Iguodala, who now has a smaller role.An added benefit of Poole’s emergence is that it allows Golden State to ease Curry’s ramp up coming off the foot injury. Kerr declined to say whether Curry would come off the bench again for Game 2 on Monday.Klay Thompson had 19 points, including 5 of 10 3-pointers, in Golden State’s win over the Denver Nuggets on Saturday. He injured his knee in his last playoff game, in 2019.Jeff Chiu/Associated PressThompson, meanwhile, looked like the player he was before he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during the 2019 N.B.A. finals. He moved swiftly to find open looks for himself, en route to five 3-pointers and 19 points overall.“Before the tip I thought about all the days in the gym, the days in a doctor’s office, on the surgery table and then just to be flying up and down the court, knocking shots down and playing solid defense, it was a surreal moment for me,” Thompson said after the game.Denver, on the other hand, will have to go back to the drawing board.Golden State was able to flummox the Nuggets’ top star, Nikola Jokic, who is the favorite to win his second Most Valuable Player Award. The Warriors constantly forced Jokic into difficult shots and frustrated him with a steady stream of double teams. They also attempted to tire him out defensively by setting up possessions with him as the primary defender. On possession after possession, Jokic was sent scurrying after the speedy Golden State ballhandlers.“They were just better than us in every aspect of the game,” Jokic said.But the Warriors also have Green, who won the Defensive Player of the Year Award in 2016-17. He was able to do something most defenders can’t: guard Jokic one on one for multiple possessions, freeing his Golden State teammates to stay attached to other Nuggets players Jokic might pass to.By the time the fourth quarter came around, Jokic looked exhausted. He finished with 25 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists. He went to the free throw line two times, despite attempting 25 shots. Denver appeared to be frustrated with the officiating.“I think there were some times where, you know, his jersey was getting pulled out a lot,” Nuggets Coach Mike Malone said. “So I don’t know. We got to see how they’re guarding him and how we can make them pay for how they’re guarding him.”Golden State’s Draymond Green had 12 points, 6 rebounds and 9 assists against Denver on Saturday. He missed dozens of regular-season games with a back injury.Ezra Shaw/Getty ImagesWhen Jokic was asked about the officiating after the game by a reporter, he said, “My friend, I think I’m going to get fined if I answer.”The playoff opener was a return to the postseason spotlight for the core Golden State players who won championships in 2015, 2017 and 2018. Curry, Green, Thompson and Iguodala are the top four leaders in franchise history for postseason games played. But this was the first time, in large part because of injuries, that the Warriors had made the playoffs since 2019, when the team lost in the finals to the Toronto Raptors in six games. The only time all four of them played in the same game this year was on Jan. 9, Thompson’s first game back after missing two seasons with leg injuries. Green only started that game briefly, to support Thompson, before sitting the rest of the night.Both teams had significant injury issues during the season. Green missed more than two months of the regular season for Golden State with a back injury. For Denver, Michael Porter Jr. and Jamal Murray missed most or all of the season; they often can take the pressure off Jokic for playmaking.This was Denver’s fourth straight year making the playoffs; the team has made it out of the first round each of the past three seasons.There is a source of solace for Denver: In each of those series, the Nuggets lost the first game. The Nuggets will attempt to tie the seven-game series at one game apiece on Monday. But they looked overmatched on Saturday night.“We can’t beat ourselves and the Warriors in the same game,” Malone said. “We did that tonight.” More

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      Paul George, Victor Oladipo Talk Return From Injury as Playoffs Begin

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      Paul George is back for the Los Angeles Clippers; Victor Oladipo, for the Miami Heat. The road to return was long but has them back in time for the playoffs.For about a month after he was sidelined with a torn ligament in his right elbow, Paul George could do nothing but wait.He had been through serious injuries before, but the waiting process for this one, in December, was new to him.No activity for a few weeks. He couldn’t get back on the court for more than two months. His body, doctors told him, just needed rest.George would watch N.B.A. games at home with his fiancée, young daughters, newborn son. The children would watch sometimes, but mostly stayed occupied with their iPads while George focused on work.He would pay close enough attention to offer suggestions or words of encouragement to his Los Angeles Clippers teammates via text message. After a while, though, he felt an acute sense of regret.“Early on they did a great job of kind of rallying and keeping together and having a strong season, but as the season went on, they kind of hit a wall and ran out of gas,” George said. “It was very noticeable. It was tough. It was tough to watch that and not be able to help them. I think that was probably the hardest part for me — watching.”When George finally returned on March 29, he promptly scored 34 points to help the Clippers to a comeback win against the Utah Jazz.George is among an unusually large group of players with proven talent who were injured for a considerable part of the 2021-22 regular season. He and others sustained serious injuries, and watched their teams go on without them, while embarking on an often lonely road back. Like George, some of them are returning to their teams just in time for the playoffs and have a chance to change their team’s fortunes dramatically.Victor Oladipo said he had to be be his own “best friend” in motivating himself to push through the long recovery from a leg injury.Marta Lavandier/Associated Press“Having one of our best players back, one of the best players in the league, a guy who’s tremendous on both sides of the ball, does absolutely everything that we ask him and more,” Clippers guard Reggie Jackson said. “Just having him back, having more of our leaders back, you know, face of the franchise and one of the best players in the world, it just gives us more confidence.”George’s teammate Kawhi Leonard has been spotted shooting at the team’s practice facility, having missed the entire season while recovering from A.C.L. surgery. Denver’s Jamal Murray, who had the same surgery, has shown positive signs of recovery, though it is unclear if he will return.Center Brook Lopez returned to the Milwaukee Bucks on March 14 for the first time since the season opener. He had back surgery in December and was listed as “out indefinitely.”“I’ve been through injuries a few times. It’s always just made me appreciate basketball and love it even more,” Lopez told reporters after his first game back. “I try never to take my time on the court for granted, whether it’s practice, shootaround or a game.”He smiled brightly when asked about being back.“I missed it so much,” Lopez said.Miami Heat guard Victor Oladipo knows well the pangs of being away for so long. He had support from friends and family after injuries, but the road back still wasn’t easy.“It can get lonely at times,” Oladipo said. “You’ve got to be your own biggest fan. You’ve got to be your own motivation. You’ve got to self-motivate, you’ve got to talk to yourself, you’ve got to be your best friend.”Oladipo was an All-Star with the Indiana Pacers in 2017-18 and 2018-19. He ruptured his quadriceps tendon in January 2019 and had surgery shortly thereafter. A year later he returned to play but still didn’t feel right.“It feels like it’s you hindering you from being where you need to be,” Oladipo said. “Or that this is your norm and you can never get back to playing freely.”He said he realized soon after his surgery that it had been done incorrectly. He needed a second surgery in May of last year; he did not make his debut this season until last month.Oladipo spent about a month and a half in a cast after the second surgery before restarting the process of learning how to use his legs properly.When he could not be with the team for games, he would sometimes rent out a movie theater at the Brickell City Centre in Miami to watch games by himself, or with his assistant or manager.“The screen is so big, it makes you feel like you’re actually in the game,” Oladipo said.He watched critically, while sitting in the front row, trying to guess how the action would unfold. Sometimes he thought through what decisions he might make if he were the coach.“You want to help the team,” Oladipo said. “If the team is doing well, you want to be part of that. You’ve got to just focus on you and focus on doing the things that you can do in order to get healthy and get right so that you can affect winning and help them the best you can.”Unlike for Lopez and George, Oladipo’s role with the Heat going forward has not been fully established. He has played in only eight games since returning on March 7. On April 3 in Toronto, he scored 21 points.“These are things we have seen daily, behind the scenes,” Chris Quinn, an assistant coach for the Heat, told reporters after the game, while filling in for Coach Erik Spoelstra, who was out because of coronavirus protocols. “It’s the hard work, it’s the grit, it’s the grind. Coming off what he came off injury wise, and for him to get to this point, it’s still part of the process of him becoming what he can be.”The Heat did not play Oladipo in their next two games, but he scored 40 points in the team’s regular-season finale on Sunday.“I’m still capable of doing a lot of good things out there, a lot of great things out there,” Oladipo said in an interview in late March. “Right now, I think my purpose for this team is to do whatever needs to be done in order for us to win.”Bucks center Brook Lopez said he tries not to take basketball for granted after enduring multiple injuries in his career.David Banks/Associated PressThe need for patience doesn’t end once a player returns from injury. Minutes restrictions and nights off are common after a long layoff.For George, that meant that during his second game back — an overtime loss to the Chicago Bulls — he couldn’t play at all in the overtime period.“He tries to lobby, but it’s not up to him,” Clippers Coach Tyronn Lue said of George’s minutes restriction. “Our medical staff is the best in the league, so we give them full responsibility, and allow the player to protect him from himself because he wants to play. All players want to play when they’re on the floor.”As George looks back on the months he spent without being able to play basketball, he acknowledges it was challenging to be forced to stay off the court. But overall he is comfortable with how it went.“I think that’s what made the process so good and that’s what made me feel mentally so great about it,” George said. “There was no low points. I listened to my body; my body was hurt. I knew I needed some time off.”There was a silver lining as well.“I think the positives I took away from it was extended time being with my family,” George said. “Being with my kids. My girl. It was just a lot of time that I got to spend that I don’t usually spend because I’m playing on the road.”The Clippers exceeded expectations without him. While across town the Lakers could not overcome losing LeBron James and Anthony Davis to injury for long stretches, the Clippers qualified for the play-in tournament without having George for most of the season and without having Leonard at all.While Oladipo and the Heat are locked into the top seed of the Eastern Conference playoffs, the Clippers, at No. 8 in the West, will have to fight through the play-in tournament to get either the seventh or eighth seed. They won four of the first five games after George returned. He will get to do a lot more than watch as their postseason begins. More

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      Playoff Makeovers May Upend the N.B.A. Championship Chase

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      Injured stars could return for the postseason, creating an undercurrent of unpredictability for their opponents.Stephen Curry appeared at a recent practice for the Golden State Warriors without a walking boot on his sprained left foot. In Los Angeles, the Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard, who has not played all season, was spotted by local reporters participating in shooting drills. And the Denver Nuggets’ Jamal Murray, also sidelined since last season, is again soaring for dunks, according to some impeccable sources: his own teammates.“Just a matter of time, I guess,” Nuggets guard Monte Morris told reporters recently, “so hopefully we can get him back and make that push.”Ahead of the start of the N.B.A. playoffs on Saturday, a slew of teams, many of them contenders, could be primed for makeovers. Golden State could stage an on-court reunion of its Big Three — Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green — for the first time in the playoffs since 2019. The Nuggets have left the door ajar for Murray’s long-awaited return from knee surgery. The Clippers only recently reintroduced Paul George to their starting lineup after he had been absent since December with a torn ligament in his elbow, and is it possible that Leonard, who injured his right knee last June, could make a surprise appearance in the coming weeks?The list goes on. Ja Morant, the All-Star point guard of the Memphis Grizzlies, just returned from injury over the weekend. And there are teams like the Nets, who now have the luxury of playing Kyrie Irving in home games, and the Milwaukee Bucks, the defending champions, who have been building Brook Lopez’s minutes after he missed 67 games with a bad back. Chris Paul of the Phoenix Suns is getting back into rhythm after missing a month with a thumb injury.What does it all mean? Potential headaches for opponents, and an undercurrent of unpredictability that will run through the early rounds of the postseason.Suns guard Chris Paul missed a month down the stretch because of a thumb injury. He averaged 12.7 points and 11.2 assists per game in his first six games back.Joe Rondone/USA Today Sports, via Reuters“I think it’s unusual that we’re waiting to hear about that from so many teams,” Stan Van Gundy, the former N.B.A. coach, said in a telephone interview, “and that guys could come back in the playoffs who either haven’t played all year or for a good part of the year.”Facing teams with stars who may or may not play creates a unique set of challenges for opposing coaches, said Eric Musselman, a former coach of the Warriors and the Sacramento Kings who now coaches the men’s basketball team at Arkansas. On the one hand, he said, you want to relay to your team that the injured player will be a threat if he actually appears in uniform.“I’ll never say, ‘This guy might be out of sync,’ or, ‘He’s going to be rusty,’” Musselman said. “It’s always: ‘This guy is an All-Star, he’s been working out, and he’s in playoff shape.’ You need to be ready for anything.”On the other hand, Musselman said, you need to guard against a letdown in focus and intensity if that player winds up sitting out. Uncertainty, in its own way, can create a competitive advantage.So even if the Nuggets decide not to play Murray in the playoffs, or the Nets officially pull the plug on Ben Simmons and his balky back, it might behoove those teams to keep that information to themselves, Van Gundy said. There is no harm, he said, in leaving opponents guessing. Force them to concoct multiple game plans. Make them plan for something that will never happen.“I’m going to want to add to your preparation time,” said Van Gundy, now an analyst for TNT and Turner Sports.Van Gundy cited the Orlando Magic’s 2009 playoff run when they faced the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Kevin Garnett, the Celtics’ star center, had been sidelined for several weeks with an injured knee, and Van Gundy, who was the Magic’s coach at the time, said he knew there was “virtually no chance” that Garnett would make an appearance in the series. But Garnett was still a presence on Orlando’s scouting report, and the team still studied film of him.Jamal Murray has yet to play this season after injuring his knee last year, but he could be a difference-maker for the Nuggets in the playoffs.Ethan Mito/Clarkson Creative/Getty Images“If he came back, we didn’t want to lose a game in a seven-game series because we got caught by surprise,” Van Gundy said.Over the coming days and weeks, opposing coaches will overprepare for the possibility that long-injured stars could return, said Brendan Suhr, a former longtime N.B.A. assistant. And if one does?“I’m immediately going to trap him,” Suhr said. “I’m going to try to do stuff he’s not used to seeing. I would make it very difficult for him. Because his workouts, especially his noncontact workouts, were very soft — coming off pick-and-rolls, getting into rhythm, making shots. And now I’m going to force him to make very tough, under-pressure decisions.”At the other end of the court, make that player defend. “Especially if he’s coming back from a leg injury,” Suhr said.With all that in mind, teams with stars on the mend must weigh the delicate calculus about whether to bring them back at all — and if so, when. Will they be ineffective? Susceptible to further harm? Van Gundy recalled a conversation he had with Tyronn Lue, the coach of the Clippers, last month, before George returned to the team’s lineup on March 29.“He was talking about how there would be a cutoff point in terms of bringing Paul George back,” Van Gundy said. “If he couldn’t get in X amount of regular-season games, he wouldn’t want to play him in the playoffs.”There are, of course, cautionary tales from playoffs past. Consider Golden State’s tortured postseason experience in 2019, when Kevin Durant, who was then one of the team’s stars, strained his right calf in the Western Conference semifinals. After missing nine straight games, he returned for Game 5 of the N.B.A. finals against the Toronto Raptors and ruptured his right Achilles’ tendon. The Warriors lost the series, and Durant missed the entire 2019-20 season after signing with the Nets.Michael Malone, the coach of the Nuggets, told reporters this month that Murray “wants to be back” and that the team was “keeping hope alive.” Nikola Jokic, the Nuggets’ do-everything center and a favorite to repeat as the league’s most valuable player, sounded more cautious about the situation.The Grizzlies have been fearsome with and without Ja Morant, center, who is expected to return for the playoffs.Petre Thomas/USA Today Sports, via Reuters“I told him, ‘If you’re not 100 percent ready to go, don’t come back,’” Jokic said. “It’s stupid. You’re going to get injured. I mean, if you’re not 100 percent ready to go, especially for the playoffs …”His voice trailed off.After getting past the Garnett-less Celtics in 2009, the Magic advanced to the N.B.A. finals that year against the Los Angeles Lakers. Ahead of Game 1, Van Gundy decided to activate Jameer Nelson, his starting point guard. Nelson had missed the previous four months with a torn labrum in his right shoulder. Van Gundy opted to bring him off the bench against the Lakers.“He was our leader, and he was having an All-Star year until he got hurt,” Van Gundy recalled.And because Nelson was returning from a shoulder injury, that meant that he had been able to run and stay in relatively decent shape during his long layoff.“That’s a little different than if you’ve got a knee injury and you’re limited in what you can do,” Van Gundy said.Still, even with Nelson back in the rotation, the Magic lost the series in five games. Van Gundy has never regretted the move.“You want to go into the biggest games with your best people,” he said. More