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NBA Finals

NBA Finals: Nuggets, Jokic Stagger Heat

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DENVER – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Well aware of their opponent’s penchant for fast starts, the Denver Nuggets treated their first-ever NBA Finals game as if everything were on the line.

Even with the Game 1 urgency, Nuggets star Nikola Jokic never panicked, finishing off another triple-double with 27 points, 10 rebounds and 14 assists as the Nuggets rolled to a 104-93 victory Thursday against the visiting Miami Heat.

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Jamal Murray scored 26 points and handed out 10 assists for the Nuggets, Michael Porter Jr. added 14 points and 13 rebounds and Aaron Gordon had 16 points as Denver won the series opener without having to lean heavily on Jokic, even as he ended up leading the way.

“Right now, the most important thing is to win a game, and I’m trying to win a game in any possible way,” Jokic said on the ABC broadcast. “I don’t need to shoot and I know I don’t need to score to affect the game, and I think I did a good job today. Everybody contributed.”

Jokic wound up 8 of 12 from the field after taking just five shots through three quarters. He extended his NBA single-year record with his ninth triple-double of the playoffs.

Denver, the Western Conference’s top seed, shot 59.5 percent from the field in the first half and 50.6 percent for the game while improving to 9-0 at home in the playoffs. The Nuggets were sharp, even after a nine-day wait between their conference-final sweep and the start of the NBA Finals.

Bam Adebayo amassed 26 points and 13 rebounds for the Heat, but Jimmy Butler was held to 13 points on 6-of-14 shooting. The No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference failed to win the opener of a series on the road for the first time in four tries.

“I reminded our group, if they didn’t know, that Miami went into Milwaukee (in the first round) and won Game 1,” Nuggets head coach Michael Malone said. “They went into the Garden in New York City (in the second round) and won Game 1. They won Game 1 up in Boston (in the Eastern Conference finals). So we did not want them coming in here, taking control of the series on our court.”

Gabe Vincent scored 19 points while Haywood Highsmith added 18 for the Heat, who shot 37.5 percent in the first half and 40.6 percent on the night. Miami was 2 of 2 from the free-throw line, an NBA Finals record for least number of free-throw attempts in a playoff game.

“They were in a pretty good rhythm, especially in that first half,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of the Nuggets. “Our disposition, the efforts, the resolve in the second half was much better. But (when) you get to this level, it has to be complete games of that disposition.”

Jokic was content to occupy the role of playmaker in the first quarter, not taking his first shot from the field until 3.3 seconds remained. He made the close-range attempt as Denver took a 29-20 lead at the end of the opening period.

The Nuggets opened their first double-digit lead at 32-22 on a 3-pointer by Murray with 10:31 remaining in the first half, and the hosts led 59-42 at halftime.

Denver grabbed its first lead of at least 20 points at 81-60 with 2:08 remaining in the third quarter, on a pull-up jumper from Bruce Brown. The Nuggets went into the fourth quarter with an 84-63 advantage.

The Heat opened the final period on an 11-0 run to get within 84-74 with 9:29 remaining. The Nuggets seized control again, taking a 90-74 lead with 7:16 left on a layup from Jokic, and closed out the victory from there.

“I definitely think (the Nuggets) came out with a lot of physicality, and we have to be able to match that,” said Butler, who insisted he was not affected by the effort expended to win the Eastern Conference finals in seven games. “They did their job on their home floor. You have to say that. But we will be ready, we will adjust and do things differently.”

–Field Level Media

Celtics Dominate in Paint, Win 116-100

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While Tatum, Brown, Smart Score and Do Their Thing, Boston’s Robert Williams III Makes the Difference

By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – Teams that are talented enough to make it to The NBA Finals have their superstar players, maybe three of them. Those players perform at high levels all season long, as every single game might mean a playoff berth and an edge in the all-important race for home court advantage, especially when criss-crossing East to West for The Finals.

For the Boston Celtics, it’s been Jayson Tatum and Jalen Brown, carrying the team with Tatum looking more and more like Kobe Bryant’s student and protege each and every night.

For the Golden State Warriors, it’s been their Splash Brothers, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, although Thompson splished more than splashed when he tore his right Achilles and missed the entire 2020-21 NBA season, a good year to miss if there ever was one.

Quite a few NBA teams have their “regular season” stars. They register their share of points, rebounds and assists, maybe make The NBA All-Star Game at mid-year, but then crap-out at NBA Playoff time. We’ve seen it this spring, as good teams from Utah, Phoenix, Philadelphia, Brooklyn and Memphis didn’t have what it takes to progress through the rough and tumble NBA postseason.

Here in Boston, the Celtics were dealt a rough hand back in April, as their playoff journey was scheduled through a formidable but inconsistent Brooklyn Nets team, then two heavyweight and former NBA champs, requiring a set of skills and size to play as physical as it gets with Boston series wins over 2021 NBA champion Milwaukee (sans Kris Middleton) and then the Eastern Conference top seed, the Miami Heat.

While Tatum and Brown carried the Celtics, key elements of the 2022 Celtics’ personnel emerged. Let us count the ways:

  1. Center Al Horford stepped up to play the best basketball of his career in the September of his career.
  2. Guard Marcus Smart, in many ways, the backbone and spark to the Boston team, as he scored, defended and scrapped.
  3. The difference-maker, center Robert Williams III, returned from a knee injury and nursed his sore knees from April to June to create the secret weapon, the rim protector, the clutch defender and capable finisher, especially when an alley-oop dunk is concerned.

Williams was a risky No. 1 draft pick by the Celtics (GM Danny Ainge) when he fell to the 27th overall slot after two years at Texas A&M. Williams had a bit of a “rep” from college and he even missed his inaugural “introduction” media conference when the lines of communication were somehow crossed on his first day in Boston that June.

But what did Williams turn into?

Despite the injuries, he’s classified by NBA Coaches as a second team NBA All-Defensive player. His presence this spring lifted the Celtics as Williams guarded every player under the rafters, including Milwaukee MVP level superstar, 6-foot-11 Giannis Antetokounmpo and then Miami’s All-Star Bam Adebayo.

While Tatum and Brown earn and deserve their hefty paychecks, Tatum a supermax to be sure, the Celtics would not be in The 2022 NBA Finals if it weren’t for Robert Williams III. In fact, if it weren’t for Williams, the Celtics might be trailing by a game in these Finals instead of their current situation, leading 2-games-to-1 after a through and convincing 116-100 victory over the Golden State Warriors.

Just how and when did Williams make such a difference tonight?

In the first half, he scored only four points with four rebounds and two blocks. He finished the game with eight points, 10 rebounds, three steals and four blocked shots. Down the stretch, when the Warriors were applying pressure after outscoring Boston 33-25 in the third quarter, Williams stepped-up.

When the Warriors were within six points of the Celtics with 11:16 remaining, Williams grabbed a key defensive rebound. From there, he made his mark.

  1. At 10:41, Williams made a steal off of Curry’s bad pass.
  2. At 9:29, he recorded another steal off another bad pass from Curry, the Warriors’ 12th turnover.
  3. At 9:19, yet another steal of yet another Curry bad pass, the Warriors’ 13th turnover.
  4. At 9:11, a rebound and put-back to make it 102-91 Boston.
  5. At 8:53, Williams came up with a key defensive block against Curry.
  6. At 7:10 and 6:45, he controlled two rebounds, one on each end of the floor.
  7. At 3:52 he scored on an alley-top pass from Horford to extend the Celtics lead to 112-98.
  8. He grabbed another rebound at 3:34 and the Celtics’ victory was sealed.
  9. At 2:19, Ume Udoka subbed-in for all his starters and Williams took a well-deserved seat and victory.

“Yeah, it was huge,” said Udoka postgame. “Not only the shots that he did block — I think he got four tonight — but the ones he altered and his presence down there of course deters guys from driving. He was a big part of what we did. Staying big tonight, getting those 15 offensive rebounds and 22 second-chance points.

“So those were much needed. We want to try to impose our will and size in this series. It’s going to be a back-and-forth battle as far as that, but when we get nights like this from him and Al, obviously it pays dividends for us,” said the Celtics coach.

Never a basketball stat to rival points, rebounds and assists, Williams led the Celtics team in +/- with his +21, as he finished the game shooting 4-for-5, with 10 rebounds and eight points.

Flashing back to that summer night in June 2018, there’s not a chance Ainge, then coach, now GM Brad Stevens or current Celtics Coach Udoka thought Robert Williams III, drafted at age 20 and now 24 years old, would be a difference-maker in an NBA Finals game just four years later, providing a little help to the stars.

Oh yeah, Jaylen Brown led the Celtics with 27 points and nine rebounds, Jayson Tatum scored 26 points and added nine assists and six rebounds while Marcus Smart added a significant 24 points, seven rebounds and five assists.

For Golden State, guard Steph Curry led all scorers with 31 points on 12-for-22 shooting. Draymond Green, an older and more experienced version of Williams III, minus the attitude and technicals fouls that come along with it, had two points and four rebounds. Green fouled out with 4:07 remaining in the game.

Studying that inside game and comparing the difference, Boston scored 52 points in the paint while the Warriors had only 26. Boston had a 47-31 edge on the boards.

Game 4 of the series is Friday night at Boston’s TD Garden.

NBA Finals: Game 3 Notebook

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BOSTON – (Staff Report from Official Stat Release by The NBA postgame) – The Boston Celtics took a 2-games-to-one edge in the 2022 NBA Finals. Game 3, a 116-100 Boston victory, was the first NBA Finals game in Boston since Game 5 of the 2010 NBA Finals between the Celtics and Lakers on June 13, 2010.

• Teams that win Game 3 in a 1-1 NBA Finals have gone on to win the series 82.1% of the time (32-7).

• Teams that lead the NBA Finals 2-1 have gone on to win the series 80.3% of the time (49-12).

• With their victory in Game 3, the Celtics improved to 7-0 after a loss in the 2022 NBA Playoffs. The Warriors have not lost consecutive games in this postseason either; they are 5-0 after a loss, including a victory in Game 2 of the NBA Finals.

• Boston’s Jaylen Brown (27 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists), Jayson Tatum (26 points, 6 rebounds, 9 assists) and Marcus Smart (24 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists) are the first trio of teammates to each have at least 20 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists in an NBA Finals game since the Los Angeles Lakers’ Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson and Michael Cooper against the Celtics on June 10, 1984.

• Boston’s Al Horford (11 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists) joined Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum and Marcus Smart in having at least 10 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists. This is the first time that four players on the same team have reached those totals in an NBA Finals game since the Celtics’ Bill Russell, Sam Jones, K.C. Jones and John Havlicek against the Lakers on April 26, 1966.

• Golden State’s Stephen Curry made six three-pointers in Game 3. He has made at least five threes in three consecutive games, matching the longest streak in a single NBA Finals. Curry’s 18 threes in the series are tied for the most in any three-game span in a single NBA Finals.

• The Celtics’ Robert Williams III had eight points, 10 rebounds, four blocks and a career playoff-high three steals. The four blocks match his 2022 postseason high, set in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.

Boston’s Veteran Center Al Horford Gets Back to Where He Once Belonged

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By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – In the spring of 2007, Al Horford capped two NCAA Final Four basketball championships by being the third overall pick of the 2007 NBA Draft, selected by the Atlanta Hawks. Together with Florida Gators frontcourt-mate and fellow rim protector, Joakim Noah, and impressive collegiate scorer, Corey Brewer, Horford thought a trip to the Final Four was his birthright. After all, his father, “Tito” Horford had made it to the NBA, playing four years with a combination of the Milwaukee and Washington. Surely. there’d be plenty of success in the future.

Life in the NBA can have a cruel side. The money’s great but the competition is pretty tough. You’ve got the pay your dues if you wanna play the Bulls, and playoff shares for NBA Finalists don’t come easy.

Horford toiled for nine years with the Hawks and his team made the playoffs every year sans one, 2013-14, when he was injured. He bounced right back and played in 76 of 82 regular season games and all 16 of Atlanta’s playoff games as the East’s No. 1 seed that won enough to make the Eastern Conference Finals. Not quite enough, as the Hawks were swept away, 4-0, by LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

No NBA Finals for Big Al.

In the summer of 2016, Horford’s fortunes increased when he was signed to a multi-year contract by the Boston Celtics. In the spring of 2017, he played in 18 NBA Playoff games, again with the No. 1 seed in the East, but fell victim to James and the Cavaliers once again.

No NBA Finals for Big Al.

That cruel side of NBA life moved on and Horford signed with the Philadelphia 76ers in 2019 and later traded to Oklahoma City in 2020.

No Finals.

On June 18, 2021 Horford’s NBA destiny and legacy would change for the better once again. He was packaged by Oklahoma City in a deal for Kemba Walker and returned to Boston to anchor the front court.

On Friday night, June 3, Horford celebrated his 36th birthday a day after playing his 142nd playoff game and doing so in a “Star of the Game” role in Game 1 of the 2022 NBA Finals, a 120-108 Celtics road win against the Golden state Warriors.

Big Al led the Celtics in scoring with (26), including a 6-for-8 performance from three-point FG range. No NBA player had ever gone 141 playoff games without reaching the Finals and those six ‘threes’ were the most for any NBA player making his Finals debut. Two of the “threes” put the Celtics up 106-103 and 109-103 with about five minutes remaining in the game, and his 17-foot jumper at 3:40 in the fourth quarter made it 111-103 Boston, bolstering a 40-16 Celtics run in the final 12 minutes of the game. That’s not bad for a team that trailed by 15 late in the third quarter.

Horford’s eight important points keyed the Game 1 victory, but his offense is not what makes him such a valuable player for his team. Ask any Celtics player, coach or front office worker what Al Horford provides for the club and you’re likely to get the same answer.

“Phenomenal,” said Jaylen Brown of the Celtics. “That’s what we need. That’s what we want. We want that veteran leadership to carry us over. He came out for his first Finals game and played amazing. He carried us and led to a victory.

“His energy, his demeanor, coming in every day, being a professional, taking care of his body, being a leader, I’m proud to be able to share this moment with a veteran, a mentor, a brother, a guy like Al Horford, man,” added Brown after defeating Miami and earning g the Finals appearance for Horford. “He’s been great all season, really my whole career. I’m happy to be able to share this moment with somebody like him.”

What did Horford think?

It wasn’t about an offensive role, it was all about defense.

“Coach Udoka was very clear what he wanted us to be as a team, our identity, defensively, hang our hat on the defensive end,” said Big Al. “And on offense, play freely, use Jaylen and Jayson and just kind of just go. (Our team) understanding and buying into that – it took us a while – but I feel like once we started to understand how we needed to play, we became more consistent.

“This journey is not easy. We had a hard path. Brooklyn, Milwaukee, the defending champs, and Miami’s s a team that – look what they did – they took us to the brink.

“For our group it’s resiliency, it’s switching the page, moving on to the next thing, and we did that all season. I really noticed it, and I was telling this to JB (Brown), but it was like February, early February, that I just noticed how we started to click.

“People were like, ‘Well, you guys are beating teams that have guys out, guys are hurt and all these things,” and I was like, “It doesn’t matter, I’m seeing something different in how we’re playing. That’s how we’re just going to carry it on, and that’s what we’ve been doing.’”

Up 1-0 in The NBA Finals, the Celtics’ journey continues Sunday but there’s a long, long way to go. If you don’t believe that’s true, just ask Al Horford.
Al Horford (center) in his leadership role with Celtics (USA Today photo)

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | June 5

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By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – In the spring of 2007, Al Horford capped two NCAA Final Four basketball championships by being the third overall pick of the 2007 NBA Draft, selected by the Atlanta Hawks. Together with Florida Gators frontcourt-mate and fellow rim protector, Joakim Noah, and impressive collegiate scorer, Corey Brewer, Horford thought a trip to the Final Four was his birthright. After all, his father, “Tito” Horford had made it to the NBA, playing four years with a combination of the Milwaukee and Washington. Surely. there’d be plenty of success in the future.

Life in the NBA can have a cruel side. The money’s great but the competition is pretty tough. You’ve got the pay your dues if you wanna play the Bulls, and playoff shares for NBA Finalists don’t come easy.

Horford toiled for nine years with the Hawks and his team made the playoffs every year sans one, 2013-14, when he was injured. He bounced right back and played in 76 of 82 regular season games and all 16 of Atlanta’s playoff games as the East’s No. 1 seed that won enough to make the Eastern Conference Finals. Not quite enough, as the Hawks were swept away, 4-0, by LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

No NBA Finals for Big Al.

In the summer of 2016, Horford’s fortunes increased when he was signed to a multi-year contract by the Boston Celtics. In the spring of 2017, he played in 18 NBA Playoff games, again with the No. 1 seed in the East, but fell victim to James and the Cavaliers once again.

No NBA Finals for Big Al.

That cruel side of NBA life moved on and Horford signed with the Philadelphia 76ers in 2019 and later traded to Oklahoma City in 2020.

No Finals.

On June 18, 2021 Horford’s NBA destiny and legacy would change for the better once again. He was packaged by Oklahoma City in a deal for Kemba Walker and returned to Boston to anchor the front court.

On Friday night, June 3, Horford celebrated his 36th birthday a day after playing his 142nd playoff game and doing so in a “Star of the Game” role in Game 1 of the 2022 NBA Finals, a 120-108 Celtics road win against the Golden state Warriors.

Big Al led the Celtics in scoring with (26), including a 6-for-8 performance from three-point FG range. No NBA player had ever gone 141 playoff games without reaching the Finals and those six ‘threes’ were the most for any NBA player making his Finals debut. Two of the “threes” put the Celtics up 106-103 and 109-103 with about five minutes remaining in the game, and his 17-foot jumper at 3:40 in the fourth quarter made it 111-103 Boston, bolstering a 40-16 Celtics run in the final 12 minutes of the game. That’s not bad for a team that trailed by 15 late in the third quarter.

Horford’s eight important points keyed the Game 1 victory, but his offense is not what makes him such a valuable player for his team. Ask any Celtics player, coach or front office worker what Al Horford provides for the club and you’re likely to get the same answer.

“Phenomenal,” said Jaylen Brown of the Celtics. “That’s what we need. That’s what we want. We want that veteran leadership to carry us over. He came out for his first Finals game and played amazing. He carried us and led to a victory.

“His energy, his demeanor, coming in every day, being a professional, taking care of his body, being a leader, I’m proud to be able to share this moment with a veteran, a mentor, a brother, a guy like Al Horford, man,” added Brown after defeating Miami and earning g the Finals appearance for Horford. “He’s been great all season, really my whole career. I’m happy to be able to share this moment with somebody like him.”

What did Horford think?

It wasn’t about an offensive role, it was all about defense.

“Coach Udoka was very clear what he wanted us to be as a team, our identity, defensively, hang our hat on the defensive end,” said Big Al. “And on offense, play freely, use Jaylen and Jayson and just kind of just go. (Our team) understanding and buying into that – it took us a while – but I feel like once we started to understand how we needed to play, we became more consistent.

“This journey is not easy. We had a hard path. Brooklyn, Milwaukee, the defending champs, and Miami’s s a team that – look what they did – they took us to the brink.

“For our group it’s resiliency, it’s switching the page, moving on to the next thing, and we did that all season. I really noticed it, and I was telling this to JB (Brown), but it was like February, early February, that I just noticed how we started to click.

“People were like, ‘Well, you guys are beating teams that have guys out, guys are hurt and all these things,” and I was like, “It doesn’t matter, I’m seeing something different in how we’re playing. That’s how we’re just going to carry it on, and that’s what we’ve been doing.’”

Up 1-0 in The NBA Finals, the Celtics’ journey continues Sunday but there’s a long, long way to go. If you don’t believe that’s true, just ask Al Horford.
Al Horford (center) in his leadership role with Celtics (USA Today photo)

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HERE NOW, THE NOTES: Chelsea went for some $3 billion, the Denver Broncos are on the market, valued at $3.8 billion, and attracting a list of buyers a mile high. Nike founder Phil Knight tossed his $2 billion into a pair of basketball shoes in an attempt to acquire the Portland Trail Blazers, on the market as part of the estate of the late Paul Allen of Microsoft fame.

The piggy bank broke when Los Angeles Clippers team owner, Donald Sterling, was banned from The NBA for racist remarks and conduct unbecoming an NBA franchise governor and his $12.5 million purchase in 1981 turned into a $2 billion sale of the Clippers in 2014.

Professional franchise valuations soared and in 2022, it’s a matter of what someone will pay to join an exclusive club of team owners for any sport.

DIAMOND DUST-UPs: With those incredible franchise valuations comes payroll, too, and Major League Baseball payrolls and the subsequent tax levied against clubs above the $230 million salary threshold have hit record numbers.

The Los Angeles Dodgers might as well change nicknames to the Los Angeles Dollars as the club’s Opening Day salary was an all-time high $310.6 million,. That resulted in a $47 million tax according to figures compiled by Major League Baseball and obtained by The Associated Press on Friday.

The New York Mets, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies and Boston Red Sox rounded-out the Top 5 of MLB teams over the threshold. The Phillies fired Joe Girardi, their manager of two years, as the club is mired in third place in the National League East, playing sub-.500 baseball at 23-29 (.442).

The Payroll Tax List: (Team, Opening Day Payroll, MLB Luxury Tax)

  1. Los Angeles Dodgers, $310.6m, $47m
  2. New York Mets, $289.3m, $22.5m
  3. New York Yankees, $261.4m, $7.6m
  4. Philadelphia Phillies, $233.1m, $629k
  5. Boston Red Sox, $232.3m, $466k

Meanwhile, Nashville is actively pursuing a Major League Baseball and a WNBA franchise, if and when they become available, most likely through expansion. The Tennessee city already has the NFL Titans and the NHL Predators.

We all used to love the Major League Baseball’s Game of the Week, one game on national TV (NBC) with Curt Gowdy and Tony Kubek on the broadcast. In the ‘60s, NBC paid some $6.1 million for 25 broadcasts and MLB tossed in some holidays, like Memorial Day, 4th of July and Labor Day. … Joe Garagiola took over for Gowdy at some point in the mid-60s. … On Saturday, June 4, there were four national “Games of the Week,” and that excludes the regular Boston broadcast of the Red Sox by regional sports network, NESN.

NBA IN SEATTLE? VEGAS? – As far as The NBA is concerned, the league has a franchise in Memphis and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver denied any active maneuvering to expand with a media inquiry about possible expansion to Seattle and/or Las Vegas coming Thursday night in Silver’s bi-annual State of the NBA address.

“Just to answer the first part of your question directly, that talk is not true,” said Silver of rumors of Seattle and Las Vegas. “At least maybe there are people talking who are not at the league office about us potentially expanding after the 2024 season.

“We are not discussing that at this time.

“As I said before, at some point, this league invariably will expand, but it’s not at this moment that we are discussing it. But one of the factors in expanding is the potential dilution of talent. … I find it remarkable that when you have the second-most-played sport in the world after soccer, tens of millions — now just talking on the NBA side — of young men playing in this game, and then you have the 450 best in the world in this league, that there’s a few of them who separate themselves even among those 450 as the very best of the best, but there is then a fall-off, a drop-off in talent after that.

“So expansion does create a certain amount of dilution. And even sort of adding another 30 players or so that are roughly comparable, there still are only so many of the truly top-tier super talents to go around. That is something on the mind of the other teams as we think about expansion.

“But those (Seattle/Vegas) are wonderful markets. Again, as I’ve said before, we were in Seattle. I’m sorry we are no longer there. We have a WNBA team in Seattle in an almost brand-new building that’s doing spectacular. And Las Vegas, where we will be at our Summer League in July, has shown itself to be a great sports market as well.

“We’ll be looking at it at some point, but there’s no specific timeline right now.”

Silver Outlines Past, Present & Future

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SAN FRANCISCO – NBA Commissioner Adam Silver stepped up to the podium at the 2022 NBA Finals in lower-level media interview room at the brand, new Chase Center with memories of doing the same in the Orlando-based “NBA Bubble” of 2020 and slightly better conditions for the 2021 NBA Finals in Phoenix a year ago.

Silver and The NBA have been through quite a lot of stress and financial setbacks since the coronavirus came about and the Commissioner was the very first to make the bold step to shut everything down, cancel all games and begin stringent protocols for players, coaches and all league and team employees. It took guts and it took the risk of losing hundreds of millions of dollars.

Like so many, Silver and the NBA forged ahead. This season, things settled down, as much as could be expected in the middle of a global pandemic, and they even celebrated the 75th anniversary of the league’s founding. On Thursday night, June 2, in San Francisco, Silver and the NBA had reason to celebrate.

“For us, it’s only fitting that on our 75th Anniversary, two of the original NBA franchises are represented here,” said Silver to open-up his twice annual State of the NBA address to media. “Of course the Warriors, who won the first-ever NBA championship in 1947, were then Philadelphia Warriors, and they’re up against the Boston Celtics, who will be competing for the highest number of championships in the league. They are tied with the (Los Angeles/Minneapolis) Lakers right now at 17 each and will be going for 18. So we’re thrilled about that.

“Also how fitting that some of the greatest players ever are associated with these franchises – Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Bob Cousy – obviously just goes to the age of this league that Bill Russell, as I’ve said before, is someone, along with Bob Cousy, who I can pick up the phone and talk to about the state of the league. While we are 75 years old, it’s not all that old.”

After addressing the past, Silver looked at the present.

“I think as I’m looking out on these fantastic Finals coming up, you have some extraordinary, legendary talent out there,” noted Silver.  “Steph (Curry), having achieved so much on the floor; up-and-coming superstar Jayson Tatum (of Boston) – you have players who have demonstrated all-time resilience. I just saw Klay Thompson’s dad out in the hall. We were talking about the fact here he is back in the Finals, having lost essentially two full seasons. Quite an incredible story.

“And the competition has been nothing short of spectacular through these playoffs.”

The league persevered through player injuries, team owner misgivings, front office investigations, player discipline, issues and financial losses in China, staff turnover (good bye to Kiki Van DeWeghe and hello to Joe Dumars), COVID+ tests and outbreaks all in the shadow of the January 1, 2020 death of former NBA Commissioner David Stern.

Thought it all, the game remained the center of focus and the competitive landscape of the league changed with the times.

“We’ve seen increased parity, increased competition around the league over the last several years. As you’ve said, six different teams in the Finals over the last three years.

“I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing unto itself if you have repeat teams in the Finals or champions, frankly, like the Golden State Warriors, who are back here in the Finals for the sixth time in eight years, added Silver as he looked to the future and negotiating a new NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement – the backbone of the league – in advance of the deadlines for opting out never mind the end of the deal completely.

“We do, though, focus a lot on ensuring through a salary-cap system that teams, in essence, have the same fair opportunity to compete. And that is something we’re always looking at as part of our system, something we are constantly talking to the Players Association about. And to me, that should be not just a concern shared by fans of all 30 teams but for all players in the league, all 450 players, presumably want an equal chance to win championships and be part of championship teams.

I’m pleased where we are. I’m thrilled with the teams that are here in the Finals. But it’s something, at least in my time in the league, I think we have incrementally improved the system every time along the way so that we can have more and more top-tier teams and competition throughout the league.”

The relationship with the players has been solid, but there’s been turnover at The NBA Players Association, as well.

“We at the league are just getting to know my new counterpart, Tamika Tremaglio, who is the incoming executive director of the Players Association. She is someone we had known prior to her taking on that role. She had been an advisor to the Players Association. She had been a former colleague at Deloitte of Cathy Engelbert’s, the commissioner of the WNBA, Byron Spruell, president of Basketball Operations, some of you know, and I’m in the process of building a relationship with her.

“What was effective last time around was using that opt-out as a self-imposed deadline by both sides. I think we all know that for any negotiation, seemingly collective bargaining in particular, deadlines are really helpful to get people to push their best offers across the table. So I’m hoping, we’re always discussing things, the league and the Players Association.”

Not to be lost in the constant and evolving nature of The NBA and all professional sports is the fact Chris Paul, the former President of The NBA union has passed his job responsibilities to C. J. McCallum of the New Orleans Pelicans. It’s doubtful that McCallum, Tremaglio, the union or Silver will want to rock the boat and risk work stoppages. The league fought too hard and risked so much through the global pandemic and they might’ve even benefitted a slight bit from the experiences.

“And just lastly, I’ll say that this whole process of dealing with COVID protocols, shutting down, reopening the bubble, etc., has brought us all much closer,” said Silver just before Game 1 was ready to tip-off. “We never used to talk as much as we do now. I’m not always crazy about virtual calls and Zoom, but because of that technology, it’s allowed us to have at least daily calls for the last two and a half years. I think if you have strong relationships, it’s very conducive to getting a deal done. I am optimistic that we can move quickly.”

 

While We’re Young (Ideas) – July 18

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By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – The organization dates back to 1784 and was originally known as the Society of St. Andrew’s Golfers. By 1834, King William IV recognized the club as Royal and Ancient and the name was changed to the Royal Society of St. Andrew’s Golfers and what is now known as The Old Course was proclaimed the Home of Golf.

In 1897, the Society first recorded the rules of golf and the sport was soon to become popular throughout the world. Anyone who calls themselves avid golfers marvels at the thought of playing a round at what is now known as The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews.

The Royal moniker was bestowed upon golf clubs the world over. From Scotland to England to Wales to Ireland to Malta to South Africa to Australia and Hong Kong. This weekend The Open is being contested for fifteenth time at Royal St. George’s Golf Club in Sandwich, England. In 2021, it has been splendid just as it was in 1894 when the golf club hosted its first Open.

As the game became more and more popular, the rules were solidified and – unlike most other sports – they are self-regulated. In golf, you keep your own score. You honor the game by not improving your lie of the ball. You only utilize 14 different golf clubs packed in your bag on any given round. The rules apply to golfers of all abilities and the respect given to the rules by golfers is much the same as their respect for the game itself.

In many other sports, competitors often try to cheat the system. In Baseball, it is not uncommon to attempt to “steal” signs (codes from pitchers/catchers or from the dugout/Manager to players). In Basketball, a quick travel with the ball, an illegal screen, a flop to draw an offensive foul is almost coming practice. In Football, a little extra surveillance of your opponent, or taking some air out of the ball brought scandals sized to rival Watergate. Athletes and organizations bend the rules in many ways, sometimes in any way they can. They hope not to get caught – by the referees, the league or the organizing body.

What about Golf?

In Golf – how dare you – as the respect of the game and its rules carries on to higher ground, as well. There is no other sport where sportsmanship is more highly regarded. As golfers, especially weekend hackers, we are really competing against ourselves with hopes of setting personal records, rather than competing in a match against the others in our foursome.

Picture a single golfer joining a threesome of friends on a late afternoon round at a public course. Immediately, the single has three cohorts helping (him/her) find an errant tee shot or high-fiving a great hole-out from a sand trap. The single golfer respects the space and lie of his newfound partners’ putting line. He is quiet and motionless on and around the tee until it is his turn. Honors go to the golfer who scored the best on the prior hole.

Golfers are taught the written and un-written rules in their first few rounds of their golfing lives. The sport of golf is a sport for your entire life and respect of the game is paramount.

Then along come Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka.

The two professionals – both among the very best the game has ever seen – have been feuding like school children out on the playground at recess. They bicker verbally, non-verbally and even electronically via Twitter. They’ve been bickering since 2019 when one slighted the other on “slow play” and the feud festered from that point onward.

This week, with the British media fueling the theatrics of such a “juicy” story, the questioning about Ryder Cup pairings of the two paved a landing strip for their duel to last all the way to Whistling Straits (September 24-26 in Wisconsin). It’s all become such foolishness – eye-rolling and all.

This week, some predicted it was all “made for tv” and the two would hold a grudge match – on pay-per-view, of course. Others fuel and wallow in the gossip like girls at an Eastside NYC private school.

Some of us have simply had it and urge the PGA, the R&A, the PGA of America (who oversee the Ryder Cup) to lock the two golfers in a room and call for them to cut it out – once and for all – as they are ruining the one sport we could all count on to abide by rules and decorum.

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: Whether you are a student of Greek Mythologyat the University of Texas – San Antonio, Seton Hall, Harvard, or just an NBA fan, the main focus of study in the past month or two has been a total analysis of the Greek god of Milwaukee, by way of Athens. The study of Giannis Sina Ugo Antetokounmpo … also admirably known as “The Greek Freak.”

An MVP-level player in the National Basketball Association, Antetokounmpo has led his Milwaukee Bucks team to the NBA Finals, a difficult task for any god of the hoop. Antetokounmpo, however, has now taken it to another level.

As the Bucks compete against the Suns of Phoenicia, a mighty group themselves, Antetokounmpo went all Freudian on us. He did so, in of all places, the NBA Finals media interview room where he dazzled all with his interpretations and his own philosophy on Ego & Pride.

In a setting common to The Finals, media inquiries delved into Antetokounmpo’s upbringing, family life, his practice habits, his state of mind, the pressures of the game at such a high level, and now, with even higher stakes, the god of a Great Place on a Great Lake had a way of explaining how he absorbs and synthesizes the pressure.

“Obviously, as I said, the ball gets heavy. But if you are only thinking about winning and you don’t think about what’s going to happen next, it can get heavy,” he explained. “Because you want to win so bad, you know?

“So it can get heavy. But if you go back and think about the specific three minutes of Game 2, Game 4, and it could go either way, now the environment kind of gets heavy. But at that specific moment, I wasn’t thinking about what’s going to happen at the end of the game. I was thinking about that specific play. How can I set a good screen for Khris (Middleton), how can I block a shot, how can I rebound the ball, how can I run, how can I get the easy layup, what can I do to help the team win?

“So my mind is so occupied by that that I don’t think about the pressure, all that.”

Certainly Antetokounmpo was not the first NBA player to philosophize on the methods to cope with pressure. Philadelphian philosopher Julius “Vocabularius” Erving was a master at post game analysis. But Antetokounmpo was going deeper.

At age 26, who was teaching him these coping mechanisms that years of study and advanced degrees in Psychology might not produce?

“I think I would say life,” he thought. “Usually, from my experience, when I think about – Oh, yeah, I did this, I’m so great, I had 30 (points), I had 25-10-10, whatever the case might be – you’re going to think about that.

“Usually the next day you’re going to suck, you know,” he said smiling? “Simple as that. The next few days you’re going to be terrible. I figured out a mindset to have that when you focus on the past, that’s your ego.

“I did this. We were able to beat this team 4-0. I did this in the past. I won that in the past.

“When I focus on the future, it’s my pride,” he noted. “Yeah, next game, Game 5, I do this and this and this. I’m going to dominate. That’s your pridetalking. It doesn’t happen.

“You’re right here. I kind of try to focus on the moment, in the present.

“That’s humility. That’s being humble. That’s not setting no expectation.

“That’s going out there, enjoying the game, competing at a high level. I think I’ve had people throughout my life that helped me with that. But that is a skill that I’ve tried to, like, kind of — how do you say – perfect it.

How can he continue to win while spreading and sharing such deep knowledge?

“I think it starts from the environment, the leaders, the message that they push back to the team, to everybody,” said Antetokounmpo. “But we’ve been down before. When we were down before, we didn’t act like it was the end of the world. We were like, Okay, we know what the deal is.

“We’re going to try to go and execute. We weren’t worrying about going and trying to win two games in a row. We didn’t worry about that. We’re going to try to go back and execute. Try to put ourselves in a position to win. Now, if it went our way, we’re extremely happy, but it could go either way. It could go the other way and we’d be back home right now and nobody would be talking about us. But I feel like as a team we’re really good at turning the page — the next one.

“Okay, on this page – this, this, this, this – is what we got to do in order for us to be in a position to have a chance to win games down the road. I think the team has a great mindset in that. Hopefully we are going to keep doing it moving forward.”

Which takes us right back to Antetokounmpo’s birthplace – Athens and the Greek goddess of Athena – the goddess known for knowledge, a calm temperament and a huge understanding of others.

TESTING: The NBA and its players (and the WNBA, too) have managed the COVID-19 health crisis about as well as any organization on the planet – sports, business or other. As we’re going to post this Saturday evening, Milwaukee Bucks forward Thanasis Antetokounmpo entered the NBA Health and Safety Protocol and missed/will miss (depending on when you are reading this) Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Saturday night. Antetokounmpo, the older brother of two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, was not listed on the league’s early afternoon injury report but was noted Saturday evening at 5:30pm.

Recent break-outs of COVID-19 – largely due to a delta variant to the original virus – hit Major League Baseball hard, causing the cancellation of a post All-Star break Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees game at The Stadium. All-Star Aaron Judge was among six Yankees players sidelined under the MLB protocols for COVID+ testing and a number of their teammates have been battling nagging injuries. Of note, 1B Luke Voit returned to the MLB injured list.

Crosstown from The Bronx to Flushing, Queens and the New York Mets are tending to pitching ace and Cy Young favorite Jacob deGrom and his right forearm tightness. deGrom will miss his planned start Monday.

DIAMOND DUST-UPS: After the MLB All-Star break, Jarren Duran was selected to the Boston Red Sox major league roster from Triple-A Worcester. Duran is likely to be the fifth player to make his MLB debut this season with the Red Sox (Bazardo, Sawamura, Whitlock, Wong). But, if he plays in the weekend series, he’ll have one other distinction. The last Red Sox position player to make his MLB debut at Yankee Stadium was the great Mookie Betts (6/29/14). … The Red Sox earned their fourth shutout win of the season Friday night and their first against the Yankees since June of 2018.

ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION in ANAHEIM: LA Angels second baseman David Fletcher notched two hits and extended his league-leading hitting streak to 25 games. He’s now tied with the great Rod Carew for the second-longest in franchise history. The Angels play the Mariners (July 17) at 9:07pm (EDT). Keep an eye on that boxscore.

FASTER, HIGHER, STRONGER DEFICTS: (With an emphasis on the higher) – The Tokyo Olympics will cost an estimated $28 billion (3 trillion yen), say media outlets Nikkei and Asahi, far exceeding the organizing committee’s claims. The decision to ban spectators will cost nearly $1 billion in ticket revenue. Ouch.

Looking back, the International Olympic Committee granted the USA broadcast rights across all media platforms, including free-to-air television, subscription television, internet and mobile to NBC Universal (call it Comcast, too). The agreement runs from 2021 to 2032 and it’s valued at $7.65 billion, plus an additional $100 million bonus to be used for promotion of Olympic ideals.

JAPAN HOOPS to COMPETE in TOKYO OLYMPIC GAMES: There will be a number of NBA players dotting the rosters of most men’s Olympic team rosters when the basketball tournament tips off July 25th. Japan-Forward previews the Olympians from Japan and there’s a few names you’ll recognize, notably NBA forwards Rui Hachimura (Washington Wizards) and Yuta Watanabe (Toronto Raptors). Japan’s men’s national basketball team last competed in the Olympic Games in 1976 in Montreal.

While We’re Young (Ideas) – July 11

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By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – As NBC Sports prepares to cover the Tokyo Olympics, it is also minimizing its coverage in other areas, as noted below with NBC ending their 16-year run with the National Hockey League. One area taking a hit, not only at NBC Sports but seemingly everywhere on the sports dial is the area of remote production and studio-based play-by-play and color commentary, rather than the on-site coverage we’re so accustomed to as viewers of North American sports. … At most of the big time sporting events, a “World Feed”is produced – side-by-side – with the primary coverage by one of the “big” networks, a la NBC, CBS, FOX, or ABC/ESPN. NBC Sports’ coverage of this week’s Open Championship from Royal St. George’s in Sandwich, England will carry the World Feed, rather than its own.

WHILE WE’RE AT IT: There is absolutely no intention to turning While We’re Young (Ideas) into a sports media column, but this week’s general sports news included a TON of sports television controversy, none of it more headline-grabbing than a New York Times expose on ESPN/The Jump’s Rachel Nichols and her selfish/clueless/unjust proclamations brought forth in a Kevin Draper by-lined story last Sunday. … Unbeknownst to Nichols, ESPN servers were rolling on her comments, seeking to mark her turf around ESPN’s coverage of the NBA. … Said Nichols (on videotape) a full year ago: “I wish Maria Taylor all the success in the world — she covers football, she covers basketball,” Nichols said. “If you need to give her more things to do because you are feeling pressure about your crappy longtime record on diversity — which, by the way, I know personally from the female side of it — like, go for it. Just find it somewhere else. You are not going to find it from me or taking my thing away.” … The timing of the story, dropped between the final game of the NBA’s Eastern Conference Finals and Game 1 of the NBA Finals, was obviously chosen to maximize exposure for the New York Times. It’s mainstream coverage included the fact it was addressed by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver at his annual NBA Final media availability session, held prior to Game 1. Said Silver upon being asked to address the topic that was certainly distracting from the NBA basketball games to be played: … “It’s disheartening,” he said. “I’m really not in a position to speak too specifically about what goes on at ESPN because so much of my information came from your newspaper’s (NYT) reporting and others, so I am not privy to much more beyond that. I will say, apropos of my earlier comments, I think it’s particularly unfortunate that two women in the industry are pitted against each other. You know, I know that both Rachel and Maria [Taylor] are terrific at what they do, they work extraordinarily hard. As I said, I think just from the league’s standpoint, while we recognize well, ESPN’s operations are independent of us, I feel we’re all part of a family here in terms of what we do around our sport.” … “I think part of the problem is, that as I said earlier, when people can’t get in a room and talk through these issues, this seemingly has fostered now for a full year. I mean, this is an incident that happened, I guess when Rachel was in the bubble a year ago, and I would have thought that in the past year, maybe through some incredibly difficult conversations, that ESPN would have found a way to be able to work through it. Obviously not.

Silver continued, “I should also say, too, that these issues are not unique to ESPN. As I said, the league is working on its own issues in terms of doing a better job with diversity. It’s not just in sports, but in companies around America, there’s a reckoning going on. I think part of it and what we’re seeing in ESPN, it’s one thing to talk about the principles around diversity and inclusion, it’s something else when it comes to somebody’s specific job and how that’s handled. What I’ve learned from dealing with these issues in the NBA is that they are incredibly complex, there’s no magic bullets here, and they require a very labor-intensive effort of getting people in the room and working through these issues by talking a lot about them, and then talking even more about them, and creating a climate where people are comfortable saying what’s on their mind, where people are given the benefit of the doubt, especially long-term employees that are in good standing, that when they do make comments, that people recognize that people make mistakes, that careers shouldn’t be erased by a single comment, that we should be judging people by the larger context of their body of work and who they are and what we know about them.

“So, I have confidence in the leadership of ESPN and of course in my Disney colleagues, and so they will work through this, but I’m sure this is a very difficult time for them and it’s really unfortunate what we’re seeing in sports,” said Silver as he address several topics facing the NBA, including significant loss of revenue over the past year because of the COVID-19 global pandemic.

A lesson taught years ago by former head of NBA Properties and recently retired Golden State Warriors team president and Hall of Famer Rick Weltsfits this situation perfectly. “Conflict is good,” said Welts, “but un-resolvedconflict is not good.” … In fact, it sucks.

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: Amongst the topics addressed by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver at his pre-NBA Finals media session was whether the NBA would return to the international stage and plan for its Global Game series of exhibition games staged in cities around the world. … “Thanks for your question,” said Silver. “I think most realistically not — well, it’s clear it’s not going to happen this fall, but it’s my hope it will be the following year. Again, of course this is a global issue, COVID, and so it’s not just conditions here in the United States but the places at least where we have traditionally played and in Europe, Asia and in Latin America. We would need COVID rates to come way down there as well … But it is my hope that as we can move – in the U.S. – back to something that looks very close to normal next year (2021-22 season) and then the following seasons we’ll return to our international activities.”

NBA FINALS ON THE FRONT BURNER, TOKYO ON THE BACK: With three Olympic Men’s Basketball team members playing in the NBA Finals and unavailable, USA Basketball announced that seven members of the 2021 USA Select Team would remain with the National Team for the five exhibition friendly games upcoming from July 10-18 in Las Vegas. … Added to the national team roster for the domestic exhibitions were: Saddiq Bey (Detroit Pistons/Villanova); Darius Garland (Cleveland Cavaliers); John Jenkins(Bilbao Basket, Italy/Vanderbilt); Keldon Johnson (San Antonio Spurs/Kentucky); Josh Magette (Darüşşafaka Tekfen, Turkey/Alabama-Huntsville); Dakota Mathias (Philadelphia 76ers/Purdue) and Cam Reynolds (Houston Rockets/Tulane).

Those seven players join U.S. Olympic Team 2020 members: Bam Adebayo(Miami Heat), Bradley Beal (Washington Wizards), Kevin Durant (Brooklyn Nets), Jerami Grant (Detroit Pistons), Draymond Green (Golden State Warriors), Zach LaVine (Chicago Bulls), Damian Lillard (Portland Trail Blazers), Kevin Love (Cleveland Cavaliers) and Jayson Tatum (Boston Celtics). … Because of their involvement in the 2021 NBA Finals, Devin Booker (Phoenix Suns), Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton (Milwaukee Bucks) are unable to join the USA squad during the upcoming exhibition games.

88s: Eighty-eight players asked the NBA to remove their names from the list of “early entry” players eligible for selection in the NBA Draft 2021.

MAKE A LIST: Pro golfer Luke List is seeking to become the fourth consecutive player to make the John Deere Classic his first PGA Tour title as he seeks his first Tour victory in his 193rd start.