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TL’s Sunday Notes | August 30

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By TERRY LYONS, Editor-in-Chief, Digital Sports Desk (and former head of NBA International Communications)

ISTANBUL – Attending a Basketball without Borders camp for the first time since 2005 (Basketball w/o Borders – Asia (Beijing as host) with Yao Ming is making quite an impression on one former NBA International staffer. The B w/o B camp concept, created in 2000-2001, and staged in Summer of 2001 (in Treviso, Italy), was done in conjunction with the United Nations. The UN’s Zach Messite played a significant role and approached us (the NBA) with hopes to create a program to encourage healthy living amongst the youth of the world.

That evolved into a sports diplomacy mission as well, with the 2001 camp re-uniting players of five former Yugoslavian provinces via each region sending their top players to be instructed by the likes of Vlade Divac (Serbian) and Toni Kukoc (Croatian). The players had not been on speaking terms since playing as one team at the 1990 FIBA Worlds, a tournament they won. The war erupted and divided the nation znd the players.

We (at the NBA) did our small part in re-uniting them.

Pivoting from the “Doctors Without Borders” program already being run, Messite came up with the idea of “Basketball without Borders.” Commissioner David Stern and Deputy Commissioner Russ Granik gave the green light and we were off to the event planning stages. For PR and my staff back then, Helen Wong carried the torch. On Basketball Ops, it was Kim Bohuny and Bret MacTavish. NBAE, Security and NBA events staff plugged in and it was “on.”

At the time, the NBA was already working on the continent of Africa and was staging a camp tagged “Africa 100.” It was a “no-brainer” to rename that effort and the NBA began a continent-by-continent approach to staging the camps, eventually adding The Americas and Asia.

This year, the concept changed to bring the world to Istanbul with the top player prospects all in one place.

FIBA is instrumental in helping to identify the best and most deserving players without allowing any politics to get into the choices. The FIBA U-17 World Championships and their qualifiers also help scout the up & coming players.

Fast forward 25 years and the stats are staggering … check it out!

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: This year’s camp is happening because of the following NBA and FIBA players/coaches/trainers all volunteering their time:

NBA Players

Dominick Barlow – Philadelphia 76ers, USA

Saddiq Bey – New Orleans Pelicans, USA

Thomas Bryant – Cleveland Cavaliers, USA

Bub Carrington – Washington Wizards, USA

Brook Lopez – LA Clippers, USA

Khris Middleton – Washington Wizards, USA

Jalen Suggs – Orlando Magic, USA

Jabari Walker – Philadelphia 76ers, USA

NBA Coaches and Personnel

Kenny Atkinson – Cleveland Cavaliers, USA

Caron Butler – Miami Heat, USA

Dahntay Jones – LA Clippers, USA

Jannero Pargo – Indiana Pacers, USA

Lamar Skeeter – Charlotte Hornets, USA

Greg St. Jean – Los Angeles Lakers, USA

Ekpe Udoh – Atlanta Hawks, USA (ties to Nigeria)

James White – Minnesota Timberwolves, USA

NBA and FIBA Legends

Vlade Divac – NBA and FIBA Legend, Serbia

Danilo Gallinari – NBA and FIBA Legend, Italy

Camp Directors

Chris Ebersole – Los Angeles Lakers USA

Prosper Karangwa – Philadelphia 76ers, Canada/Rwanda

Adam Simon – Miami Heat, USA

Mike Zarren – Boston Celtics, USA

Strength and Conditioning Personnel

Isaiah West – Brooklyn Nets, USA

Emily Zaler – Philadelphia 76ers, USA

Athletic Trainers

Dan Shimensky – Denver Nuggets, USA

Casey Smith – New York Knicks, USA
The Blue Mosque along the Bosphorus River (Europe/Asia)

That list is an amazing combination of people who are all spending their time in the No. 1 world class city of Istanbul – which happens to be home HQ for our NBA Basketball School – Türkiye. To say the synergy is working would be an understatement.

Now consider these historical numbers for B w/o B:

  • B w/o B has been a platform for more than 4,900 participants from 149 countries and territories since 2001.
  • As of 2026, there are 155 former campers advancing to the NBA or WNBA.
  • The NBA and FIBA have staged 86 B w/o B camps in 56 cities across 36 countries on six continents.
  • More than 50 former B w/o B campers were among the record 135 international players on opening-night rosters last season, including 2026 NBA All-Stars Deni Avdija (Portland Trail Blazers; Israel; B w/o B Europe 2018; B w/o B All-Star 2019), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander(Oklahoma City Thunder; Canada; B w/o B All-Star 2016), Jamal Murray (Denver Nuggets; Canada; B w/o B All-Star 2015) and Pascal Siakam (Indiana Pacers; Cameroon; B w/o B Africa 2012).

The Players participating as campers here in Istanbul are the Top 78 17-year old men’s players in the world. The NBA stages similar camps for women, including a wonderful annual event at the NBA All-Star Game.

Jose Dias – Angola

Facundo Mathieu – Argentina

Enzo Roth – Argentina

Riak Akhuar – Australia

John Aryang – Australia

Yahya Basaran – Australia

Antonio Browne – Australia

William Troy Hamilton – Australia

Manu Agbason – Azerbaijan

Hassan Oshobuge Abdulkadir – Bahrain

Aaron Ona Embo – Belgium

Imran Subasic – Bosnia

Lucas Moro – Brazil

Victor Santos – Brazil

Isaiah Clarke – Canada

Noah D’Acre – Canada

Kenyon St. Louis – Canada

Kingston Thomas – Canada

Boran Yue – China

Zhanfeng Zhou – China

Marek Houska – Czech Republic

Martin Sibal – Czech Republic

Martin Simko – Czech Republic

Neora Francis Ossete Toly – Democratic Republic of the Congo

Lucas Troels-Smith – Denmark

Malvin Duran – Dominican Republic

Robert Kangur – Estonia

Mathias Fabien – France

Messi Yangala – France

Mansour Bayo – The Gambia

Mamadou Samba – The Gambia

Herbert Roland Senghore – The Gambia

Lucai Anderson – Germany

Paul Plato – Germany

Caspar Vossenberg – Germany

Angelos Zoupas – Greece

Vince Gaspar – Hungary

Lapo Santini – Italy

Minty Jean-Philippe Dylan Oka – Ivory Coast

Gabrielius Buivydas – Lithuania

Jokubas Kukta – Lithuania

Kristupas Sabeckas – Lithuania

Luca Balducci – Mexico

Yair Olano – Mexico

Luka Malovic – Montenegro

Marko Popovic – Montenegro

Tawhiri Cate – New Zealand

Liam Keogh – New Zealand

Zach Rampton – New Zealand

Justin Akengbowa – Nigeria

Kalu Miracle Ebubechukwu – Nigeria

Prince Carino – Philippines

Lukasz Lysek – Poland

Miguel Sousa – Portugal

Dwight Gaines – Puerto Rico

Ameer Hausawi – Qatar

Azam Yakan – Qatar

Serigne Saliou Mbodji – Senegal

Petar Bjelica – Serbia

Matija Lukic – Serbia

Ognjen Simjanovski – Serbia

Lun Jarc – Slovenia

Taejoon Park – South Korea

Emmanuel Aguer Majak – South Sudan

Eghosa Odeje – Spain

Troy Hilamani Kaufusi – Tonga

Abderahmen Bouguerra – Tunisia

Adem Rafrafi – Tunisia

Besir Briant – Turkey

Darius Karutasu – Turkey

Ruzgar Opcun – Turkey

Demir Ozturk – Turkey

Omer Sik – Turkey

Dmytro Datsenko Ukraine

Oliver Bishop – United Kingdom

Maxx Tjongondjoza – United Kingdom

Kevin Gutierrez – Venezuela

Julio Vasquez – Venezuela

Remember those names, maybe to be seen at an NBA or college basketball arena near you someday soon.

And, remember Matija Lukic – Serbia who won the “Kim Bohuny” MVP award.
Packed house at Türkiye Basketball Federation’s gym (Photo by T. Peter Lyons)

TIDBITS & NUGGETS: What’s the new motto! – “When in Istanbul, attend a FIBA World Qualifying Tournament game!” – That big game was played Friday night at 9:00pm (local) and it coincided with FIBA World Cup qualifying games being played all over the world.

Türkiye drubbed Lithuania, 94-66, after jumping out to a 27-13 1st Quarter lead and they never looked back.

For the USA Basketball qualifying squad, the venue was in Chile and the USA Men’s World Cup Qualifying (Window 4) Team handling their business in front of a capacity crowd in Santiago, 89-71.

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | August 16

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NBA’s Leah Wilcox

By TERRY LYONS, Editor-in-Chief, Digital Sports Desk

UNCASVILLE (Conn) – Every now and then a day comes along and you know it’s a great day before it even starts. You awake with a terrific outlook. The sun is shining. All is well.

Then, you realize that day is today.

We flew, we drove, we booked hotels, and we were all convening (first at Mohegan Sun, then Springfield) to celebrate the wonderful life, and unequalled professional career of a colleague and dear, lifelong friend.

Friday night, at an exquisite banquet at the Mohegan Sun Resort and Casino, we honored Leah Wilcox for her endless contributions to the NBA and to the sport of basketball overall. For that, Leah received the highest honor the game and the Basketball Hall of Fame can bestow to someone not enshrined as a player/coach/ref/contributor. Leah was the recipient of the John Bunn Award and we were all there to witness it.

Let’s let Leah take it from here, and I STRESS this is a MUST WATCH.

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: To describe the impact of Leah Wilcox to someone who doesn’t know her is a monumental task, and to simply describe her sense of being is even harder. Don Sperling, former Executive Producer of NBA Entertainment and the person who hired Leah, described her as “the best person I’ve ever met.” If you polled the people in attendance at the Basketball Hall of Fame Gala on Friday, that would be a unanimous declaration.

The Hall and NBA show producers did a great job of framing Leah’s career with an introductory film clip, introduced by ESPN (and former NBA on NBC) personality Hannah Storm in a style like boxing’s Michael Buffer. It was THAT big.

As I watched the clips, my immediate thoughts drifted to seeing Leah’s ever-present, tremendous smile in all the video and still photos at hundreds of NBA events – NBA Cares, Rookie Orientations, NBA All-Star Games, and on the set of NBA Inside Stuff. My thoughts wandered to think of how many years (41), seasons, off-seasons, global trips and simply how much time she spent dedicated to the NBA.

At those events, Leah would be building and renewing relationships with the players and their families, but also with the NBA staff. She set quite an example. It seemed she never had a bad day. She was never cranky or sad, but always upbeat and inspiring to all she came in contact with on any given day. Energy would abound.

At the rookie orientation/training seminar, we’d stress to the new NBA players to “be themselves,” and never to stray from that. They had to be authentic, but at the same time be able to tell interesting stories about their lives and how they made it to the NBA. Looking back at those situations, “authentic” was the key word and Leah was always herself. She is the ultimate in “authentic.”

STORYTELLING: After the Mohegan Sun side of the Hall’s schedule was over, I recalled all the days, months, years, seasons, and events we staged together – from Madrid in 1988 and Barcelona in 1992 to 20+ year’s of hectic NBA All-Star Games and NBA Cares events.

But one specific moment in time came to mind: It was at an NBA Christmas party, a gathering of the NBA family where the guests of honor were really the families of the employees – former NBA Commissioner, the late David Stern, would emphasize that the party was a thank-you to the families and support group of the NBA staffers who were often working late nights, weekends, long events, long playoff series, or summertime events, such as Basketball without Borders or a USA Basketball tournament when said employee might be gone for weeks at a time.

As the party was winding down, I found myself in line waiting to gather our winter coats and hit the NYC streets for a cab ride home. Both Leah and I realized, at the same time, that there was a considerable amount of buffet-style (good) food left over. I thought it was a shame. Leah went into action.

She found the head of catering, asked a few questions, prodded a few servers, and the next thing I knew, the two of us were loading large catering trays of food into a taxi cab. There were probably 10 large trays, some good bread, and even some desserts.

Leah knew right where to go, and it seemed to me she had done this type of good deed before. The two of us – side-by-side in a taxi, holding on to the trays to keep them upright, pulled up next to a homeless shelter near Times Square on a cold winter night and explained the situation to the volunteers. They were very happy to see the scope of our donation and it was – in fact – much needed that particular night.

I was in total awe of Leah. It was the way about her, as Billy Joel might sing. She eased through the situation with grace and friendliness. The same person who was comfortable in front of the Commissioner, a classroom of players and their families was equally comfortable at a homeless shelter, being sure everyone had a plate of the food.

It was just another day, another night in the life of Leah Wilcox. Selfless. Generous with her time and wallet. Friendly. Outgoing. Funny – even entertaining. She was simply being herself, just like we were teaching the rookies. It was “Authentic Leah Wilcox,” and it was on display for 41 years in the halls of the NBA, in the studios of NBA Entertainment, and in the back corridors of sports arenas the world around.

That’s Leah – the 2026 John Bunn Award winner.

I love her so much.

TIDBITS & NUGGETS: A real (personal) treat at this year’s Basketball Hall of Fame ceremonies was the fact the Class of ‘26 contained some personal friends as much as incredible icons in the world of basketball.

Doc Rivers was a member of the Atlanta Hawks when we traveled to the (former) Soviet Union in 1988. Every single person on that trip made lifelong bond, but Rivers stands out even more. First, I was fortunate enough to get to know him a little better when he played for the New York Knicks, and as fate would have it, he was very friendly with our next door neighbors and friends. Later, we worked together when Rivers did his TV commentator gig with Turner. Even later in the career timelines, we intersected at the Goodwill Games (2001) trip to Brisbane (Australia) when Doc was an assistant coach (along with Oliver Purnell and Tom Izzo as they backed up the late, great Flip Saunders).

Joey Crawford: There were a bunch of refs you were glad to see at an arena when it was game time in the Playoffs. In fact, Crawford worked more than 50 NBA Finals games with most coming in the 1985-2015 range of time. When Joey worked a game, you just knew it was going to be a well-officiated, high level, yet still intense contest. Postgame, it was always a pleasure to stop in and see him. Crawford comes from a long line of “officials” but his father, Shag, was an “official” working as one of the most respected umpires in Major League Baseball history.

Crawford also heads up a long list of great referees from the Philadelphia area. He graduated from Cardinal O’Hara High School. He began his NBA career in 1977 and announced his retirement (because of a nagging knee injury) on January 2, 2016 and tried to hold on until that March 16 when it became a fact after officiating 2,561 games (2nd most all-time to Dick Bavetta (2,635) and 374 NBA Playoff games (ranks No. 1).

And, lastly Mike D’Antoni: We all (NBA staffers) met Mike as he captained the Tracer Milan Italian and European basketball championship team at the 1987 McDonald’s Open in Milwaukee. Mike played the point for Milan from 1977 to 1990. He went into coaching, first for Milan (1990-94) and then at Benneton Treviso (1994-97) before heading back to the USA to begin a long NBA coaching career.

Mike’s No. 10 was retired by his alma mater, Marshall University. His No. 8 was retired by Milano, and he was named one of the 50 Greatest contributors in European basketball in 2008.

The bonding zone, however, was with USA Basketball where Mike was named an assistant coach to the men’s senior team for the 2006 FIBA Worlds in Tokyo and the 2012 Olympics in London.

There’s a long list of players who should send a Christmas card to Mike and his wonderful wife, Laurel, each December, as D’Antoni’s high octane offense created opportunities for players who often would “cash-in” elsewhere.

A short list of those players includes:

  • Joe Johnson
  • Amar’e Stoudemire
  • Shawn Marion
  • Steve Nash
  • James Harden

And, maybe the most astonishing of Mike’s star-making career was:

  • Jeremy Lin

Yes, Lin-sanity was orchestrated by D’Antoni after a series of injuries befell the majority of the New York Knicks’ backcourt. Lin got his chance and has Mike D’Antoni to thank for it.

In 2012, Lin opted for free agency and signed a three-year, $25 million contract with Houston. After taking a lesser salary cap exception with Charlotte, Lin later banked $38m for a three-year deal with Brooklyn.

LeBron Signs with Philadelphia

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PHILADELPHIA – (Wire Service Report) – NBA great and sure first ballot Hall of Famer LeBron James is heading to the City of Brotherly Love. James, 41, is signing a two-year, $8 million deal with a player option, Klutch CEO Rich Paul told ESPN on Friday. The 76ers will be the fourth team for James, who spent the past eight seasons with the Lakers, highlighted by helping the franchise win the 2020 NBA title.

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A four-time NBA MVP and the league’s all-time leading scorer, James completed his record-setting 23rd NBA season in 2025-26. He addressed his reasoning to return to the court on Friday in a series of posts on X.

“I thought I was done when the season ended. I wasn’t ready to announce it, and I knew I needed some time to really decide, but I was pretty sure I played my last game,” James wrote. “I was honest at that last press conference when I said I needed to look at myself and decide if I still love (playing).”

The 76ers certainly hope so as they seek to halt a 43-year championship.

Per ESPN, 76ers president of basketball operations Mike Gansey stayed in constant communication with Paul behind the scenes. The network also noted that Philadelphia players Tyrese Maxey, who is a fellow Klutch client, Joel Embiid and the newly acquired Jaylen Brown also worked on getting James aboard with the 76ers.

“This is my last decision. I’m not going for money. I’m not going for family. What am I really playing for at this point?

“I still want to sacrifice. I still want to work. I still want to grind. I still want to compete, to win and to have a chance at the feeling of winning another championship.

“I believe I can help make the Philadelphia 76ers a championship team and I am so excited to energize a new fan base and start this incredible journey one last time.

“Thank you LA. Miami I’ll forever love and Northeast Ohio will always home!”

The 76ers posted a 45-37 record last season and advanced to the second round in the Eastern Conference before getting swept by the eventual NBA champion New York Knicks.

While James warmed up to the 76ers, that meant he left teams like the Golden State Warriors, Cleveland Cavaliers, Minnesota Timberwolves and Miami Heat out in the cold.

The time he needed to make his decision also affected other aspects of the NBA offseason, including next season’s schedule as well as key players’ respective destinations.

“We have to finish up the schedule, and where LeBron plays affects the schedule,” commissioner Adam Silver said last week at a CNBC event. “It will influence how we set the schedule — opening week, Christmas. So I need him to make a decision.”

James averaged 20.9 points, 7.2 assists and 6.1 rebounds this past season with the Lakers. The 22-time All-Star and four-time NBA champion is the all-time leader in games (1,622) and points (43,440).

A native of Akron, Ohio, James was the No. 1 pick of his hometown team, the Cavaliers, in 2003. He played for the Cavs (2003-10, 2014-18) and the Heat (2010-14) before joining the Lakers.

 

 

Spurs Block Thunder’s Road to Finals

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OKLAHOMA CITY – (Wire Service Report) – Luke Kornet returned to the bench a hero.

The San Antonio Spurs backup big man had just turned in perhaps the biggest defensive play of Game 7 of the Western Conference finals, coming in for a stretch in relief of Spurs star Victor Wembanyama.

Wembanyama exited the game with five fouls and the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder had what seemed like a prime chance to seize control.

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But instead, Kornet blocked Isaiah Hartenstein just seconds after entering, the Spurs came through on the other end, and the Spurs were on their way to an NBA Finals berth with a 111-103 road win over the Thunder on Saturday.

“The definition of a winning play,” Wembanyama said.

San Antonio will open the NBA Finals against the New York Knicks at home Wednesday.

The teams have met in the Finals once before, with San Antonio winning the 1999 NBA Championship in five games.

It was the first of five titles for the Spurs. Their last visit was in 2014, when they beat the Miami Heat in five games.

In the playoffs for the first time since Wembanyama became the face of the franchise, San Antonio is four wins away from adding to that total.

Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said his team’s relative inexperience isn’t a limiting factor by this point.

“This team has now been pretty damn consistent for a long time, for over 100 games, for the most part,” Johnson said. “… I don’t know who has as much experience as we do this year in the season of 2025-26.”

The Spurs led for much of the game but struggled to put away the pesky Thunder, who continually battled back from double-digit deficits to get back within striking distance.

And when Wembanyama, who was San Antonio’s tone-setter throughout the series, left the game with five fouls with 6:48 remaining, the Spurs could have been in trouble.

Hartenstein’s steal got the Thunder in transition with a chance to cut the deficit to four.

But Kornet blocked Hartenstein’s shot, getting between Hartenstein and the basket, then Stephon Castle drained a pullup jumper for a 99-91 advantage.

Kornet headed to the bench just 59 seconds after he entered, and was greeted enthusiastically by the rest of the Spurs — including Wembanyama.

Coming out of that stoppage, Julian Champagnie drained his sixth 3-pointer of the game to stretch the lead back to 11.

The Thunder pulled back to six with just more than two minutes remaining, but Oklahoma City went 0-for-4 the rest of the way on chances to trim the deficit even further.

Wembanyama had 22 points and seven rebounds.

“I want to win so bad, it’s like my life depends on it,” Wembanyama said.

Wembanyama was named the Most Valuable Player of the Western Conference finals.

“He has such a vision, in my opinion, of who he wants to be as a person and as a player,” Johnson said. “And the commitment and investment that he puts into that vision, it’s nothing like I’ve ever seen before.”

Champagnie scored 20 and Castle, De’Aaron Fox and Dylan Harper also came up big for San Antonio.

“They were just the better team tonight, start to finish,” Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. “And then every time we tried to like cut into and take control of the game, it felt like they had an answer.”

Gilgeous-Alexander had struggled in the series, shooting just 37.9% from the floor through six games, but looked much more like the back-to-back NBA Most Valuable Player in Game 7.

“I was a little bit closer to it, for sure,” Gilgeous-Alexander said.

He finished with 35 points on 12-of-21 shooting with nine assists and three steals.

“He was brilliant,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said.

But the other two of Oklahoma City’s big three — Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams — made little impact.

Williams missed his fourth game of the series with a hamstring injury, while Holmgren finished with just four points on 1-of-2 shooting. Holmgren didn’t attempt a shot after the first quarter.

His two field-goal tries were tied for the fewest of Holmgren’s career. His only other two-shot game came March 27, 2024.

Cason Wallace added 17 points, returning to the starting lineup with Williams and Ajay Mitchell out again.

Alex Caruso scored 12 off the bench but was just 3 of 14 from the field.

Kornet, who won a title with Boston in 2024, was all smiles after the game.

“Someone from the bench yelled, ‘Who is it, LeBron James?’” Kornet said of his block and referring to James’ block of an Andre Iguodala shot in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals. “We’ll see which one has more staying power in the record books of history.”

Gilgeous-Alexander sees plenty more matchups with the young Spurs in the future.

“They’re young, talented, well-coached, play the right way, seems like they like each other,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “They have the makeup. You don’t beat us without the makeup.”

–Field Level Media

SGA, Thunder Hold Serve vs Spurs

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OKLAHOMA CITY – (Wire Service Report) – OKC’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander might not have liked the way he started on Tuesday night. But the Oklahoma City Thunder star came up big in the second and third quarters — getting plenty of help from the cast around him — as the Thunder beat the visiting San Antonio Spurs 127-114 to take a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference finals.

“I thought we were first to the fight tonight on both ends and I thought we weren’t the other night,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “I just loved the way we approached tonight on both ends of the floor.”

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Oklahoma City will have a chance to close out the series in Game 6 Thursday in San Antonio.

It was a rough start for Gilgeous-Alexander, who missed his first four shots and had three first-quarter turnovers.

“If it was four or five me’s out there, we would’ve been down 20 after the first quarter,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Probably should never start like that again.”

But even with the back-to-back Most Valuable Player’s struggles, the Thunder led after a quarter thanks in part to Gilgeous-Alexander’s seven points in the final two minutes.

In Sunday’s 103-82 loss, Chet Holmgren, Alex Caruso and Jared McCain combined for just 14 points on 4-of-19 shooting.

In Game 5, the trio all came up big.

McCain was inserted into the starting lineup for his first playoff start, as Daigneault went with McCain over Cason Wallace with the Thunder playing without both Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell for the second consecutive game.

“We just thought he could give us some good stuff with that unit just based on where we are right now with a couple guys out,” Daigneault said. “And he did. He was really good. … He’s got great moxie and confidence and he showed that.”

McCain didn’t make much of an impact on the stat sheet early, with just two points on 1-of-5 shooting in the first half, but Diagneault said McCain still made a big impact on both ends of the floor from the start.

In Tuesday’s game, the trio combined for 58 points, going 18 of 38 from the floor.

McCain scored 18 of his 20 points after the break and didn’t have a turnover in the second half.

Holmgren finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds.

Caruso, who averaged 21 points off the bench over the first three games of the series before being held scoreless on just one shot Sunday, got going early and finished with 22 points, six assists and three steals.

“He’s one of, if not the best, competitor in the NBA night in and night out,” Gilgeous-Alexander said of Caruso. “He’s huge for us.”

Gilgeous-Alexander eventually got going, scoring 12 points in Oklahoma City’s 40-point second quarter and 11 more in the third, finishing with 32 points on 7-of-19 shooting and handing out nine assists.

“That’s one of the things that I always marvel at with him is his ability to course correct inside of a game,” Daigneault said. “He usually doesn’t go a full game struggling like that. He obviously didn’t have his fastball early.”

Oklahoma City was 48.2% from the floor after shooting just 33% in Game 4.

Spurs star Victor Wembanyama finished with 20 points on 4-of-15 shooting to go with six rebounds.

After averaging 20.5 rebounds per game in the first two games of the series, Wembanyama has just 18 total over the last three games.

Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said Wembanyama was going to have to be a bigger force offensively if his team is going to be able to turn the series around and advance to the Finals.

“He’s going to have to take more than 15 shots even with the free throws,” Johnson said. “He’s going to have to score more than 20 points for sure.”

Stephon Castle, who led San Antonio with 24 points, expressed frustration afterward with the way the games have been called.

Tuesday, the Thunder attempted 38 free throws, six more than the Spurs.

“I just think with the way they guard, how physical they are, we don’t get that same luxury to be able to play as physical on the other end at times,” Castle said. “Offensively, I think we do a good job of screening and playing through it. I think we create a lot of advantages but I think we just missed a lot of open shots tonight.”

The Thunder carried an 11-point lead into halftime and extended the margin coming out of the break, scoring the first nine points of the third quarter.

San Antonio didn’t go away quietly, cutting the deficit to eight twice late in the third quarter.

The Spurs never could pull closer, though, as Oklahoma City closed out the game to bounce back from the Game 4 loss.

–Field Level Media

 

Thunder Planning to be Aggressor

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OKLAHOMA CITY – (Wire Service Preview) – The San Antonio Spurs have gotten off to big starts in each of the last two games of the Western Conference finals. Heading into Game 5 tonight with the seven-game series deadlocked at 2, the host Oklahoma City Thunder are looking to reverse that trend.

“They just punched us in our face early,” Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said after Sunday’s 103-82 loss in San Antonio. “It’s two games in a row they’ve all come out the aggressors. Last game, we were able to course-correct. Tonight, we just didn’t do so. We’ve just gotta do a better job of starting the games.”Sports news articles

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In Sunday’s game, the Spurs jumped out to a 23-8 lead. In Friday’s Game 3, San Antonio scored the game’s first 15 points before Oklahoma City came back to win 123-108.

The series has been physical throughout, with the Thunder throwing several different looks at San Antonio star Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs doing the same against Gilgeous-Alexander.

“They have multiple guys that are tenacious, they get into the ball, and then they have Wemby behind them, and they know that, and they do that to their strength,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “So obviously a really good defense. … To score on them, it’s gonna take quick decisions, the right decisions, you gotta be really good offensively and really sound.”

The Spurs changed the way they guarded the Thunder in Game 4, using more one-on-one looks against Gilgeous-Alexander and preventing Oklahoma City from getting as many open looks from beyond the arc.Games

The Thunder were just 6 of 33 on 3-point attempts in Game 4 after shooting nearly 40% from distance in the first three games.

“I don’t want to say what it was,” San Antonio’s Devin Vassell said. “I think we made a great defensive adjustment. … I feel like they had so many wide-open 3s over the past couple games, and you’ve got to respect them, especially if they’re making them. So we were trying to cut them out with that.”

While the adjustment sometimes gave Gilgeous-Alexander more room to work, it also helped San Antonio keep Oklahoma City’s bench largely in check.

The Thunder bench still outscored the Spurs’ 34-30, though more than half of Oklahoma City’s bench points came in the fourth quarter, when the team sat Gilgeous-Alexander and used three of its other starters for 3:17 or less with San Antonio in control of the game.

Oklahoma City is also navigating without two of its primary ballhandlers in Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell.

Williams has missed the last two games after aggravating a hamstring injury. Mitchell is dealing with a right calf strain that knocked him out of Game 3. ESPN reported Monday that both are considered day-to-day.

Mitchell averaged nearly 19 points per game in the first two rounds, starting six of the eight games in place of Williams.

Before being knocked out of Game 3, Mitchell was averaging just 5.3 points per game in the series. While Oklahoma City has struggled with guard play outside of Gilgeous-Alexander and sans Williams and Mitchell, San Antonio is hoping to continue its trajectory among its backcourt.

Guards Stephon Castle and De’Aaron Fox had just one turnover between them Sunday and combined for 25 points and 11 assists.

–Field Level Media

Mazzula Wins NBA Coach of Year

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BOSTON – (Staff Report from Official News Release) – The NBA announced Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla was named the 2025-26 NBA Coach of the Year. He becomes the fourth Celtics head coach to win the award (Auerbach, Heinsohn, Fitch), after Mazzulla and his coaching staff steered Boston to the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference with a 56-26 regular season record. Mazzulla takes home his first Red Auerbach Trophy this season with the help of his assistant coaches and staff: Sam Cassell, Tony Dobbins, D.J. MacLeay, Da’Sean Butler, Nana Foulland, Amile Jefferson, Tyler Lashbrook, Craig Luschenat, Ross McMains, Alex Merg, Phil Pressey, God Shammgod Jr., and Steve Tchiengang.
“Thank you to our players who compete and give it everything they have each night,” said Mazzula. “I am grateful for every member of the Celtics organization whose dedication impacts winning every day. This award belongs to our staff, who are there for the guys every day. Their relentless work ethic improves our team daily. This award should be named, staff of the year.”
The NBA Coach of the Year Award trophy is named in honor of Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer Red Auerbach. The legendary head coach guided the Celtics to nine NBA championships, including eight in a row from 1959-66.
“This is well deserved recognition and a testament to both Joe and his staff,” said Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens. “With all of our unknowns entering the season, Joe did a fantastic job building and growing a team. He pours everything he has into competing at a high level, while helping players find the best versions of themselves within the framework of a team. On top of all of that, Joe leads with an authentic care for the Celtics and everyone he works with – players, coaches, and staff.”
Ranking second in the NBA in offensive rating (120.0) and fourth in defensive rating (111.7), Boston was one of two teams this season to be in the top four in both offensive and defensive rating. The Celtics also led the league in several categories this season, including fewest turnovers per game (12.4), fewest opponent points in the paint per game (40.1), and fewest steals allowed per game (6.2). The Celtics averaged 16.9 second chance points per game this season, the team’s most in the play-by-play era, and averaged the team’s most offensive rebounds per game (12.5) since the 1999-2000 season. Boston was tied for the league lead in games allowing 100 points or less (22) this season and led the NBA in games with 20+ 3-pointers made (16).
Mazzulla was named Eastern Conference Coach of the Month for December, his fifth career monthly honor, after guiding Boston to a 9-3 record in December with a league-best 124.3 offensive rating. He earned his 200th career victory in just 275 games, making him the third-fastest coach in NBA history to do so behind Steve Kerr (238 games) and Phil Jackson (270 games).
In four seasons as Boston’s head coach, Mazzulla owns a 238-90 regular season record (.726 winning percentage) and has gone 36-21 (.632) in the playoffs.

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | May 24

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MLB, NFL, NHL and NBA trophies (Photo by T. Peter Lyons/Digital Sports Desk)

By TERRY LYONS, Editor of Digital Sports Desk

HOUSTON – Welcome to the entertainment and revenue producing portion of Digital Sports Desk and PGA Tour Brunch. It’s a pleasure to toss out a whole new discussion on some of sports greatest happenings.

It’s been in fashion – of late – to discuss the “best” sports by virtue of their Playoffs. Yes … it gets written in the papers and discussed on the sports radio talk shows every single year, even though it’s impossible to determine a definitive answer.

In the local paper, a columnist listed her best to worst as:

  • NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs
  • The NCAA Tournament … a.k.a. “March Madness”
  • The NFL Playoffs (including the Super Bowl)
  • MLB Postseason
  • The NBA Playoffs (including the NBA Finals)
  • World Cup (soccer) and MLS

That’s one writer’s opinion and its a worthy list.

But just after the column ran, on Monday, May 18, the San Antonio Spurs victory over Oklahoma City in 2-OTs of the NBA Western Conference finals game became Exhibit 1-A that the list written up in the Globe was flawed – the NBA Playoffs far exceed the NCAA’s.

Another key factor in list making, a lot of sports were overlooked, including College Football and its National Championship coming from the CFP Playoffs. That’s been a welcome addition to the postseason smorgasbord

While the annual PGA TOUR FedEx Cup Playoffs aren’t great, the even equivalent to the Playoffs are golf’s Majors – never mind the Ryder Cup. Those golf outings can be pretty exciting. Same thing with tennis, as a five set tie-break to win the U.S. Open in front of a raucous crowd in Flushing Meadow can be amongst the greatest things in sport.

What about horse racing? The Breeders’ Cup is like having seven World Series games on one afternoon. But, maybe, the better comparison is the Kentucky Derby – known as the greatest two minutes in sports. Go ahead and Google “Affirmed” and “Alydar”and tell everyone who will listen that those races aren’t on a list of the greatest and most exciting moments in sports.

Now – full disclosure – I do think that a Game 7 “sudden death” overtime of the NHL Stanley Cup Final is the most exciting thing sports has to offer. So a high five to our local columnist, Tara Sullivan of the Boston Globe.

SPEAKING OF SUDDEN DEATH: The term “Sudden Death” is quite a descriptive phrase to say what has to be said to decide a playoff game or, in some cases, a series or championship. It’s brutal. The pressure is off-the-charts. But, upon further review, here’s a dozen of other very descriptive terms from the world of sports that each carry some weight.

  1. The Suicide Squeeze
  2. The Blitz
  3. Crackback Block
  4. Student Body right
  5. The Two Minute Warning
  6. The Baltimore chop
  7. Defensive indifference
  8. The NHL’s “Original Six”
  9. The alley-oop
  10. One of the great, descriptive monikers to pay proper respect to one of – if not the – greatest rivalies in sports is “El Classico.” Real Madrid and F.C. Barcelona stop the entire nation of Spain when they face each other (at least) twice a year.
  11. As “classic” as “El Classico” sounds in this category of greatness, the MLS might have one moniker just as wonderful. When the LA Galaxy face LAFC in a rivalry for all of Los Angeles to see, the matchup is referred to as “El Traffico.” – Beat that!

Darkness on the Edge of Causeway

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: The house is dark. The Garden’s ghostlight is on, but Bruce Springsteen is coming. The Celtics were up three-games-to-one against a Philadelphia 76ers team that hadn’t beaten the Boston in a NBA Playoff series since Billy Cunningham coached a 1982 Sixers’ team, and the Cs blew it. The hometown team– once invincible in Game 7s – has left the TD Garden dark. The Sixers moved on to meet the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference semifinals and were mowed down by a superior team. The Knicks will face Cleveland for the right to play in the NBA Finals.

The Celtics “Owe Us One.”

The Boston Globe Sports Section of May 3 told the Story (Boston Globe)

But, it gets worse.

The TD Garden was witness to a suspect Boston Bruins team losing to the once-lowly Buffalo Sabres a night before the Celtics were sent to see St. Peter. The Sabres hadn’t won a Stanley Cup playoff series in 19 years, while the Sixers hadn’t beaten the Celtics in the playoffs since 1982, a mere 44 years. The Sabres lost to Montreal who are now playing Carolina for right to advance to the Stanley Cup Final.

It’s understandable how the Bs lost, but how could the Celtics collapse in such epic fashion?

Let us count the ways:

o Live by chucking 3s; Die by chucking 3s: In their four losses to Philadelphia, the Boston Celtics shot 49-for-191, or 25.7%.

  • Game 5 (April 28): Shot 28.2% (11-of-39) from three in a 113-97 home loss.
  • Game 6 (April 30): Shot 29.3% (12-of-41) from three in a 106-93 loss in Philadelphia.
  • Game 7 (May 2): Shot 26.5% (13-of-49) from three in a 109-100 series-clinching loss at home.

o Nick Nurse, the head coach of the Sixers and a champ when he coached at every level, including an NBA Finals title with the Toronto Raptors, can flat-out coach. Yes, he was graced with a resurgence from one-time NBA Most Valuable Player Joel Embiid, but Nurse guided the Sixers masterfully. Expected NBA Coach of the Year, Joe Mazulla of the Celtics, was out-coached.

o Face facts: A starting five of: Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Ron Harper Jr., Luka Garza, and Baylor Scheierman could not cut it in a decisive NBA Playoff game. That group will never be compared to Danny Ainge, Dennis Johnson, Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish. The team of Celtics so many NBA pundits expected for 2025-26 finally showed up. The absence of true “bigs” caught up with the team of green. Remember Al Horford? He was pretty good.

Two Boston pro teams were whooped on their home turf. They’re gone by May 2 and only Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band can bring life to the backstreets of the West End (May 24th), because on Saturday night, it seemed you could hear the whole damn city crying. Springsteen might say, “Blame it on the lies that killed us, blame it on the truth that ran us down.”

The truth was the fact the Celtics could not endure a full season without their best player, Jayson Tatum.

While Tatum orchestrated a miraculous (and quick) return from the devastating right Achilles’ injury he suffered in the 2025 NBA Playoffs, and performed quite well from his March 6 return to active duty right on through to an incredible Game 3 shooting performance against the Sixers in Philadelphia, a sore left knee and discomfort that forced him to leave Game 6, also ruled him out just hours before Game 7.

Nine years into his NBA career, the 28-year-old Tatum is feeling the effects of 729 NBA regular season and playoff games.

Boston’s wonderkid GM, Brad Stevens, cannot be blamed for inactivity.

Stevens was faced with a choice of trading one of his “Big Two” of Tatum or Jaylen Brown, and possibly dismantling the 2024 NBA championship team somewhere short of a total rebuild. Instead, being faced with an aging Celtics team and a double secret probation by far exceeding the NBA’s agreed upon maximum team salary zones – the Cs – via Stevens’ surgical strike on salaries – dipped under both the First and Second Aprons of the NBA’s salary cap structure by reducing the team payroll for the 2025-26 season to a mere $187,885,254.

The Cleveland Cavaliers, the New York Knicks and Golden State Warriors are all over $200 million and face limitations in their wheeling and dealing. Stevens and the Celtics do not.

The cost (saving) came when the Celtics jettisoned veteran bigs Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis. Both players contributed mightily in the 2024 NBA Finals with Porzingis’ astonishing Game 1 performance which won the most important game of the series at Boston. If you remember, with Porzingis coming off the bench for just the second time in his career and playing in his first game (June 6) since he had sustained a calf injury in late April, Porzingis scored 20 points, including 18 in the first half, and added six rebounds and three blocks as the Celtics defeated the Dallas Mavericks 107-89 to send a statement to the Texans.

Horford provided even more. The veteran center was an influential presence in the locker room, an intangible for NBA teams destined for good things to come, for chemistry, for facing and conquering adversity, and for winning championships. Horford was the whole package, plus, he hit three-pointer after three-pointer, drawing opposing centers away from the basket and allowing Tatum and Brown to operate inside.

Horford was traded to the Golden State Warriors in September 2025, signing a multi-year deal, and continuing into his 19th NBA season.

Boston’s other cost-saving move was to send multi-talented guard Jrue Holiday and his $32.4 million contract to the NBA outskirts of Portland, Oregon (not Maine). Holiday was another veteran, positive influence and key contributor to the 2024 championship, especially on the defensive end of the basketball court.

All of those moves put together allowed the Celtics to avoid the NBA’s punitive luxury taxes. The more stable payroll paved the way for new ownership as the franchise was sold by the longtime ownership group headed by Wyc Grousbeck for a then-record $6.1 billion. The new group, led by Bill Chisholm, paid an amazing amount of cash considering Grousbeck bought the team for $360 million in 2002. Brad Stevens should be a longtime fixture in the Celtics’ front office, at the top of basketball operations.

A look over to the Fens, just past the Longwood Medical Center, and the prognosis isn’t much better. The Red Sox are floundering in the AL East basement. The offense is anemic and the middle relievers count runs against, ERA and Whip as though they were all MIT graduates. The brown paper bags are making a fashion statement and Jason Veritek’s wife is pouring on the sarcastic quips aimed at Sox GM, head of baseball Craig Breslow. Veritek “is being re-assigned” within the organization after Breslow leveled the coaching staff, including manager Alex Cora. There’s no AC and no DC in the Sox bats. No static at all.

But, there’s one thing worse than a dark June at the TD Boston Garden, and that was a dark May. Only Bruce Springsteen’s rock show on May 24th will bring some “glory days” back to Boston.

Bruce Springsteen (file photo)

The memories of 2018 and a club record of 108 wins is long gone. Those were, indeed, the glory days.

And, one thing’s sure of the glory days.

They’ll pass you by.

TIDBITS & NUGGETS: Get this? The Detroit PWHL team named former ice hockey goalkeepeer Manon Rheume as General Manager. Back in 1992, Rheaume became the first woman to appear in an NHL exhibition game when she started in goal for the Tampa Bay Lightning. The great goal scorer Phil Esposito NHL Bruins and Rangers) was the head of hockey ops. It was the first time an entire crowd at an NHL game concentrated 100% of their attention on defense! It was fabuloius (and I can attest, because your fave columnist (and his wife) were there. Rheaume joins the PWHL team after four years with the LA Kings in hockey operations and an 11-year tenure with the Little Caesars AAA hockey programs. … And, for you Pink Panther fans out there, Detroit can answer to the affirmative if asked, “Do you have a Rheaume?”

WWYI doesn’t want to leave anyone hanging after a report. Last week, the column included the fact the Vegas Golden Knights will forfeit a second-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft after repeated violations of the league’s media relations policies. The NHL’s statement last week left open the possibility of a Golden Knights appeal of the decision. They did appeal, and the NHL shot it down. Fast.

Twin Bill: The NBA announced that the New Orleans Pelicans and the San Antonio Spurs will play regular season games at the Accor Arena in Paris, France, on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2027, and at Co-op Live in Manchester, England, on Sunday, Jan. 17, 2027, as part of the league’s multiyear slate of regular season games in Europe.

The NBA Paris Game 2027 presented by Tissot will mark the 16th game featuring an NBA team in France since 1991 and the league’s sixth regular-season game in Paris. The NBA Manchester Game 2027 will mark the 20th game featuring an NBA team in England since 1993, the league’s second game in Manchester and first regular-season game in the city.

NBA Finals Schedule: In case you’re wondering, these dates are locked.

NBA Finals – All games are scheduled for 8:30 p.m. EDT

The Finals will stat in the West as both OKC and San Antonio have better records than Cleveland and New York.

Game 1: Wednesday, June 3

Game 2: Friday, June 5

Game 3: Monday, June 8

Game 4: Wednesday, June 10

Game 5: Saturday, June 13*

Game 6: Tuesday, June 16*

Game 7: Friday, June 19*

SPEAKING OF THE 2026 NBA Finals: For the historians in the group, this year will mark the 40th year of the league switching from the “NBA World Championship” to “The NBA Finals.” – Cap “F” – and that takes us back to 1986.

At one point in 1983, the NBA went for “Showdown ‘83” as the moniker for the Playoffs and Finals, but everyone – pretty much – just called it The Finals. And, it worked. Loook for a major US publication to do a blow-out feature on this topic.

Darkness on the Edge of Causeway

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By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – The house is dark. The ghostlight is on, and Bruce Springsteen is on.

The Celtics were up three-games-to-one against a Philadelphia 76ers team that hadn’t beaten Boston in a NBA Playoff series since Billy Cunningham coached a 1982 team, and they blew it. It was so long ago, longtime Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy had just started his first “big” beat covering the NBA. The hometown team – once invincible in Game 7s – has left the TD Garden dark. The Sixers moved on to meet the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference semifinals and were mowed down by a superior team. The Knicks will face Cleveland for the right to play in the NBA Finals.

The Celtics “Owe Us One.”

Embed from Getty Images

But, it gets worse.

The TD Garden was witness to a suspect Boston Bruins team losing to the once-lowly Buffalo Sabres a night before the Celtics were sent to see St. Peter. The Sabres hadn’t won a Stanley Cup playoff series in 19 years, while the Sixers hadn’t beaten the Celtics in the playoffs since 1982, a mere 44 years. The Sabres lost to Montreal who are now playing Carolina for right to advance to the Stanley Cup Final.

It’s understandable how the Bs lost, but how could the Celtics collapse in such epic fashion?

Let us count the ways:

o Live by chucking 3s, die by chucking 3s. In their four losses to Philadelphia, the Boston Celtics shot 49-for-191, or 25.7%.

  • Game 5 (April 28): Shot 28.2% (11-of-39) from three in a 113-97 home loss.
  • Game 6 (April 30): Shot 29.3% (12-of-41) from three in a 106-93 loss in Philadelphia.
  • Game 7 (May 2): Shot 26.5% (13-of-49) from three in a 109-100 series-clinching loss at home.

o Nick Nurse, the head coach of the Sixers and a champ when he coached at every level, including an NBA Finals title with the Toronto Raptors, can flat-out coach. Yes, he was graced with a resurgence from one-time NBA Most Valuable Player Joel Embiid, but Nurse guided the Sixers masterfully. NBA Coach of the Year, Joe Mazulla of the Celtics, was out-coached.

o Face facts: A starting five of: Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Ron Harper Jr., Luka Garza, and Baylor Scheierman could not cut it in a decisive NBA Playoff game.  That group will never be compared to Danny Ainge, Dennis Johnson, Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish. The team of Celtics so many NBA pundits expected for 2025-26 finally showed up. The absence of true “bigs” caught up with the team of green. Remember Al Horford? He was pretty good.

Two Boston pro teams were whooped on their home turf. They’re gone by May 2 and only Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band can bring life to the backstreets of the West End (May 24th), because on Saturday night, it seemed you could hear the whole damn city crying. Springsteen might say, “Blame it on the lies that killed us, blame it on the truth that ran us down.”

The truth was the fact the Celtics could not endure a full season without their best player, Jayson Tatum.

While Tatum orchestrated a miraculous (and quick) return from the devastating right Achilles’ injury he suffered in the 2025 NBA Playoffs, and performed quite well from his March 6 return to active duty right on through to an incredible Game 3 shooting performance against the Sixers in Philadelphia, a sore left knee and discomfort that forced him to leave Game 6, also ruled him out just hours before Game 7.

Nine years into his NBA career, the 28-year-old Tatum is feeling the effects of 729 NBA regular season and playoff games.

Boston’s wonderkid GM, Brad Stevens, cannot be blamed for inactivity.

Stevens was faced with a choice of trading one of his “Big Two” of Tatum or Jaylen Brown, and possibly dismantling the 2024 NBA championship team somewhere short of a total rebuild. Instead, being faced with an aging Celtics team and a double secret probation by far exceeding the NBA’s agreed upon maximum team salary zones – the Cs – via Stevens’ surgical strike on salaries – dipped under both the First and Second Aprons of the NBA’s salary cap structure by reducing the team payroll for the 2025-26 season to a mere $187,885,254.

The Cleveland Cavaliers, the New York Knicks and Golden State Warriors are all over $200 million and face limitations in their wheeling and dealing. Stevens and the Celtics do not.

The cost (saving) came when the Celtics jettisoned veteran bigs Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis. Both players contributed mightily in the 2024 NBA Finals with Porzingis’ astonishing Game 1 performance which won the most important game of the series at Boston.  If you remember, with Porzingis coming off the bench for just the second time in his career and playing in his first game (June 6) since he had sustained a calf injury in late April, Porzingis scored 20 points, including 18 in the first half, and added six rebounds and three blocks as the Celtics defeated the Dallas Mavericks 107-89 to send a statement to the Texans.

Horford provided even more. The veteran center was an influential presence in the locker room, an intangible for NBA teams destined for good things to come, for chemistry, for facing and conquering adversity, and for winning championships. Horford was the whole package, plus, he hit three-pointer after three-pointer, drawing opposing centers away from the basket and allowing Tatum and Brown to operate inside.

Horford was traded to the Golden State Warriors in September 2025, signing a multi-year deal, and continuing into his 19th NBA season.

Boston’s other cost-saving move was to send multi-talented guard Jrue Holiday and his $32.4 million contract to the NBA outskirts of Portland, Oregon (not Maine). Holiday was another veteran, positive influence and key contributor to the 2024 championship, especially on the defensive end of the basketball court.

All of those moves put together allowed the Celtics to avoid the NBA’s punitive luxury taxes. The more stable payroll paved the way for new ownership as the franchise was sold by the longtime ownership group headed by Wyc Grousbeck for a then-record $6.1 billion. The new group, led by Bill Chisholm, paid an amazing amount of cash considering Grousbeck bought the team for $360 million in 2002.

A look over to the Fens, just past the Longwood Medical Center, and the prognosis isn’t much better. The Red Sox are floundering in the AL East basement. The offense is anemic and the middle relievers count runs against, ERA and Whip as though they were all MIT graduates. The brown paper bags are making a fashion statement and Jason Veritek’s wife is pouring on the sarcastic quips aimed at Sox GM, head of baseball Craig Breslow. Veritek “is being re-assigned” within the organization after Breslow leveled the coaching staff, including manager Alex Cora. There’s no AC and no DC in the Sox bats. No static at all.

Embed from Getty Images

But, there’s one thing worse than a dark June at the TD Boston Garden, and that was a dark May. Only Bruce Springsteen’s rock show on May 24th will bring some “glory days” back to Boston.

The memories of 2018 and a club record of 108 wins is long gone. as those were, indeed, the glory days.

And, one thing’s sure of the glory days.

They’ll pass you by.

 

 

Spurs Defeat OKC in 2-OT

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OKLAHOMA CITY – (Wire Service Report) – Before Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was presented with the NBA Most Valuable Player award.

Then San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama went out and put on an MVP-level performance.

YouTube player

Wembanyama had 41 points, 24 rebounds and three blocks to help lift the Spurs to a 122-115 double-overtime road win to open the series.

Asked whether watching Gilgeous-Alexander win the award served as motivation, Wembanyama said, “Yeah, for sure.”

The Frenchman, at 22 years, 134 days old became the youngest player in NBA history with 40-plus points and 20-plus rebounds in a postseason  game, beating the record set by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The then-Milwaukee Bucks star was 22 years, 352 days old when he had a 46-25 game against the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of the 1970 playoffs.

Wembanyama became the second Spurs player with a 40-point, 20-rebound playoff game, joining David Robinson, who did it in the first round in 1996. He joined Wilt Chamberlain (in 1960) as the only players in league history with 40-plus points and 20-plus rebounds in a conference finals debut.

Wembanyama came through repeatedly in clutch situations.

“He has a rare desire to step into every moment that’s in front of him,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “And I think he has showed in his three years in a lot of different situations with a lot of different circumstances that he’s going to attack those moments. … He has some rare God-given ability.”

With just more than a minute remaining in double overtime, Wembanyama delivered a dunk over Chet Holmgren for a three-point play moments after the Thunder closed the deficit to one with a Jalen Williams 3-pointer.

Then with 22 seconds remaining, he finished a back-to-the-basket alley-oop dunk from Stephon Castle to put San Antonio up by six and start to put the game away.

With 27 seconds left in the first overtime, Wembanyama pulled up for a 28-foot 3-pointer in transition to tie the game after a 7-0 Oklahoma City run put the Thunder ahead by three.

“Confidence through the roof,” San Antonio rookie Dylan Harper said of the importance of Wembanyama’s long trey. “I was kind of stunned a little bit. But once the ball went up, I’m like, ‘Oh, it’s going in.’ It’s kind of just who he is.”

In the closing seconds of regulation, Wembanyama nailed a turnaround shot near the basket over Williams to put San Antonio up 101-99 before Gilgeous-Alexander tied it with a driving layup to force overtime.

Wembanyama finished 14 of 25 from the field and 12 of 13 from the free-throw line.

While Wembanyama was the headliner for the Spurs, Harper had a monster game as well, finishing with 24 points, 11 rebounds, seven steals and six assists.

Magic Johnson is the only other rookie to log 20-plus points, 10-plus rebounds, five-plus assists and five-plus steals in a conference finals game.

Harper’s 24 points were the most by a rookie in his first conference finals game since Andrew Toney had 26 in 1981.

Harper was starting in place of De’Aaron Fox, who was out due to right ankle soreness.

“I thought he was phenomenal,” Mitch Johnson said. “I thought he was even better defensively. … It’s just been very rewarding for someone who’s tried to support him through this year and help him in terms of coaching him at times and giving him guidance.”

Gilgeous-Alexander struggled for long stretches of the game, finishing with 24 points, 12 assists and five steals but going just 7 of 23 from the field.

“We knew it was going to be a dog fight,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We’ve just got to be better, me in particular.”

The Thunder stayed in the game thanks in large part to their defense, which helped generate 28 points off 23 San Antonio turnovers, and big plays from Alex Caruso.

Caruso scored Oklahoma City’s first seven points, despite coming off the bench. He finished with a career-playoff-high 31 points, hitting eight 3-pointers. He also had two steals and two blocks.

“It’s playoffs,” Caruso said. “Game 1 at home, you’re trying to get juiced up.”

Williams, playing for the first time since April 22, had 26 points. He returned from a hamstring injury.

Game 2 is Wednesday in Oklahoma City.

–Field Level Media