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  • ‘You just feel hopeless’: Twenty years after St. Joe’s historic hoops run, an absence haunts the team

    ‘You just feel hopeless’: Twenty years after St. Joe’s historic hoops run, an absence haunts the team

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    Editor’s note: This story addresses mental health and addiction and may be difficult to read or emotionally upsetting. 

    AVALON, N.J. — Phil Martelli eases back into his chair and sighs. He has been scrolling through his phone, reading text messages that span a two-year window. It is a one-sided conversation, all black and white from the sender, no blue responses from him.

    It is a beautiful sunny day in New Jersey and just a week ago, Martelli and his wife, Judy, enjoyed an idyllic Jersey Shore weekend, their home stuffed with children and grandchildren as the kids’ exuberance ricocheted off the ceilings.

    But on this August afternoon it is pin-drop quiet in the house. The kids have left and the mood is heavy as Martelli pages through the texts from a person he always considered part of his family. The messages all follow the same pattern: a desperate request for help, a pressing need for money – to pay the dope man, the bartender, or, to get off the streets and find safety.

    Martelli used to answer, even send the money as requested. But then counselors advised him he wasn’t helping; that, in fact, he was hurting. Then the messages stopped, the last one coming more than a year ago now – in April of last year. “I’m really sad” is how it ends.

    Martelli is sad, too. Crushed with guilt, overwhelmed with helplessness, devastated that there is nothing he can do. The coach known for his quick wit stops and starts during an hour-long conversation, struggling to find the right words where there are really no words at all.

    Twenty years ago, Martelli and his Saint Joseph’s Hawks captivated college basketball, the team from a tiny Catholic school rolling to a 27-0 start and eventually into the 2004 Elite Eight. Two players from that team were drafted in the first round, a feat nearly as improbable as the Hawks’ run.

    One, Jameer Nelson, played 14 years in the NBA and is now the assistant general manager with the Philadelphia 76ers G League team, the Delaware Blue Coats.

    The other, Delonte West, has been, the last anyone’s heard, living outside of a 7-11 in Alexandria, Va. He sent the texts to Martelli.

    A host of people, people with means and contacts — Martelli, Nelson, Mark Cuban, Jayson Williams – have tried to help West. Save him, really. They are basketball people, after all. In the business of getting results. It is what coaches and athletes live for, why team owners buy into the allure of sports — the thirst for a win, the ecstasy of victory.

    Except this one they can’t effort into success, or buy their way to a solution. Instead, they have found what too many other families already know: that the vicious storm of mental illness, drug addiction and desperation stewing inside West cares little about work ethic or money; it swallows everything and everyone whole.

    “Everyone has someone going through something similar and those who have the means to help, or create a barrier to protect their loved ones, that’s what you do,” Cuban says. “I thought I could help. And I tried. I really did. We all did. It’s just, you just feel hopeless.”

    Martelli rewinds the story, going all the way back to a tennis court at the College of New Jersey on a summer day in 2000. Rob Kennedy ran a Hoop Group event there, and West and a collection of teammates from suburban Maryland were running in a game. Most coaches went to see Eddie Basden, who eventually would land with a scholarship to Charlotte. Martelli, admittedly, was mostly curious about Basden, too.

    Then he watched a kid he’d never heard of get clipped from underneath while driving to the basket. The entire crowd groaned as he banged back-first into the portable stanchion. The kid jumped up, hustled down the court and started playing defense.

    Martelli told his staff, “Forget Basden. I want Delonte West.’’ It wasn’t too much of an ask. West only had a handful of mid-major suitors – Siena, Manhattan, Towson. He once half-jokingly told a reporter that he opted for the Hawks because they were on TV the most.

    During his three years on campus, West played with the same single-minded devotion that he showed on that tennis court. He did not merely devote himself to basketball; he devoured it.

    Following West’s freshman season, assistant coach Matt Brady suggested he tinker with his jumper. Many nights that summer, Martelli would see the lights on in the gym as he rode down City Avenue. West, he knew, was working. As a freshman, West connected 11.8 percent from the 3-point line. By the end of his junior season, West shot 49 percent from the floor and 41 from the arc.

    It’s not that he was all basketball. What started out as doodling in the margins of high school assignments blossomed into a passion. West majored in art at St. Joe’s, and if he wasn’t in the gym, he was in the art room. Martelli still has some of West’s artwork back home in Philly.

    West also was savvy. He once changed out the radio in a teammate’s car for a CD player, offering to trick it out so lights flashed every time the bass bumped.

    He could be funny, glib, introspective and deep all in the course of one conversation. His teammate Brian Jesiolowski used to drive West around in the summers, the two earning cash at area basketball camps. One night they passed a guy walking who was Philly famous – a long-haired, berobed preacher who traversed the city barefoot. Jesiolowski mentioned him to West as they drove past, and West insisted they go back and offer him a ride. “I mean, he’s barefoot, he probably wants a lift,” West reasoned.

    The preacher naturally was reluctant at first, but they reassured him that they were college students headed back to campus, nothing sinister. The preacher hopped in the backseat and as Jesiolowski drove, West earnestly asked how he might be able to achieve his dreams — to play pro ball, help his family. He explained that he prayed regularly, went to church, but wanted to know what else he could do. The preacher assured him that he was on the right path. The dialogue, serious and intense, continued until they pulled up to Larry’s Steaks across from campus. Just before the preacher exited the back seat, West said, “Man, I have one more question for you. What the f— happened to the dinosaurs?”

    As he retells the story, Jesiolowski bursts out laughing. “I nearly crashed the car,” he says. “But he didn’t even crack a smile.” The two commemorated the night by dashing into a nearby convenience store to buy disposable cameras, each posing with the preacher. Jesiolowski still has it somewhere.

    “He was absolutely hilarious,” Jesiolowski says. “But he also, once you cracked the shell, he was really this very kind, profound person. Honestly, I think he was misunderstood. You see him, you think he’s just this great basketball player from a tough neighborhood who made himself great. That’s all true, but he was so much more than that.”

    Upon learning that he had been chosen for the cover of Sports Illustrated, Nelson had a question: Could West appear alongside him? Nelson didn’t love the spotlight, and spent the bulk of the Hawks’ 2003-04 season making sure all of his teammates were showcased.

    It also was an acknowledgement that, without West, Nelson would have been special, but together, they were magical. The year before The Year (West’s sophomore season), the Hawks finished 23-7, and had West not suffered a late-season stress fracture, who knows what might have happened? As it was, they lost to Auburn by two in overtime in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. That year Nelson averaged 19.7 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.7 assists to West’s 17.3, 4.3 and 3.2. A year later, as they rolled to near perfection, they were an extension of each other – Nelson the savvy, quick point guard and West his fearless, aggressive backcourt mate.

    West opted to turn pro following his junior year — he memorably spent the day he declared riding around campus in a golf cart, tossing water balloons at unsuspecting classmates — and wound up a first-round pick, selected by Boston four spots after Nelson went to Orlando via a trade from Denver.

    “Delonte made himself into a pro because of his work ethic, his determination and his will to be good,” Nelson says. “He had an amazing basketball IQ. He was unorthodox because he was left-handed, but really, he just had this grit in him. That’s what made the difference.”

    Martelli recalls how West worked all hours and refused to lose at drills – even if it meant he had to bend the rules a little bit. But he also can’t help but reconsider what he then wrote off as a fierce commitment to basketball as something more, maybe an obsession more than a passion.

    They all do this now, reconsider moments that they chalked up to West’s ultra competitiveness and burning desire to play. There was the game against Xavier in the Atlantic 10 tournament. Just days before, Saint Joseph’s had reached the pinnacle, the tiny school sitting atop the AP rankings. But that game, it was like the Hawks’ sneakers were stuck in quicksand. The Musketeers led by 22 at halftime and won by 20. With a few minutes left, Martelli waved the white flag. He took Nelson out of the game, and a few minutes later, yanked West.

    Except West wouldn’t sit down. He begged the coach for a few more seconds, insisting he could win the game by himself. When Martelli told him no, that they had to surrender this one, West bowed up to his head coach. Nelson came over and defused the situation.

    Or when athletic trainer Bill Lukasiewicz intervened during practice to tend to a cut on West’s hand. Itching to get back to action, West fussed while Lukasiewicz put an ointment to stop the bleeding, growing so impatient that he slapped Lukasiewicz’s hand away. When Lukasiewicz continued to apply the ointment, Martelli and his former players say West charged at him.

    Or the time that Jesiolowski recalls, when West threatened to mess up his teammate who had been defending him hard in practice, or lost his cool when they went out at night. “He’d just sort of snap over something not that serious,” Jesiolowski says. “I just always thought, he’s a tough kid from a tough neighborhood.”

    West went public with his diagnosis as bipolar in 2008, only four years after he left Philly, and everyone who has a story now questions if they missed a clue, if they should have known, could have helped or intervened.

    The guilt eats at all of them, knowing what they now do about bipolar disorder; how it can worsen over time if left untreated, or lead to harmful coping mechanisms like substance abuse. West is so young, still only 40 years old. What if he had been guided toward treatment, and was open enough then to accept it? “You want to go backward,” Nelson says. “But you can’t. It’s not how it works.”

    Twenty years ago, mental health didn’t have much space inside of a locker room. St. Joe’s had a sports psychologist, Joel Fish, but people who sought him out usually needed him to navigate basketball-related questions – how to focus better on their foul shooting; how to stay motivated when their playing time diminished.

    “As athletes, we’re conditioned to be the tough guys, like superheroes almost,” Nelson says. “To say you have a problem? That you need to talk about it to someone? Nah. You can’t do that.”

    Yet just three years after he turned pro, Nelson himself discovered the fragility of the line between muscling through and needing help when he lost his dad, Floyd, in a drowning accident. He remembers sitting at his locker after a game sobbing uncontrollably.

    Only at the insistence of general manager Otis Smith and coach Stan Van Gundy did he speak with a sports psychologist. He went reluctantly. “I was fortunate that I had people who saw what was going on, and I was at least open-minded enough to get the help,” Nelson says. “If not, who knows what happens to me, right? To my career? To my life? I understand how this happens. The Delonte I knew was resilient, strong-minded, but when you’re talking about mental health, it can get the best of anybody.”


    Former Saint Joseph’s coach Phil Martelli last texted with Delonte West on April 25, 2022. (Harry How / Getty Images)

    The first time Martelli stepped in was in 2016. West was seen panhandling on the streets in Houston, wearing a hospital gown and no shoes. There had been other scary moments — in 2009, he was arrested on a three-wheel motorcycle for a minor traffic violation and found to be carting three guns and a knife.

    He always had an explanation. He was transporting the firearms, helping a homeless person, not homeless himself. By 2016, West’s NBA career had long since run its course. He’d had good years and good moments — most memorably a game-winner in a playoff game for the Cavaliers — but he also had a reputation of being difficult, and bounced from team to team. The last straw came in 2012, when West was twice suspended by the Mavericks for conduct detrimental to the team. He tried to hang on, find some run overseas and in the G League. The search ended in 2015.

    So when Martelli saw the video a year later, he was alarmed enough that he reached out to former NBA coach John Lucas, who runs a substance abuse facility for athletes. Lucas thought he could help. Martelli was optimistic. It worked until it didn’t, beginning a pattern that lasted for years. West would leave treatment with big dreams, usually about resuscitating his basketball career, but no real plan. When the dream fizzled, he’d wind up right back where he started.

    His NBA earnings depleted — at one point, West signed a $12.8 million deal with Cleveland — he’d ask his former coach and teammates for money, usually just a few hundred dollars here or there. If they declined, he’d stop answering texts for a spell. Martelli tried to help financially; Nelson preferred to find him safe harbor, or see if he could help get West medications. It went on like that for years, back and forth, West in and out of their lives.

    Then in January 2020, another viral video showed West badly beaten after an altercation in D.C. Quietly, the NBA Players Association tried to help, as did Cuban. He footed the bill to send West to Rebound Institute, an outdoor therapy clinic created by former NBA player Jayson Williams, who had his own struggles with substance abuse.

    Soon Martelli, Cuban and Nelson, hell-bent on helping West, connected on conference calls, talking to the counselors at the facility. Tough love, the counselors preached. Let him get on his own two feet. Don’t foot the bill. Don’t send the money.

    It seemed to be working. At the rehab facility, West went skydiving and canoeing, worked on a boat, acquiescing to the facility’s mantra to surrender and trust. Jesiolowski got the address from Martelli and sent a care package, including a hoodie he’d won in a hoops tournament and a book by ultramarathoner David Goggins. He added his name and number but never heard back.

    West wound up leaving the clinic. In September 2020, another video surfaced, this time showing West panhandling in Dallas. Cuban drove to the gas station and picked him up, sending him again to Rebound. A month later, he posted a picture of West on horseback on Twitter. “A long, long way to go but he has taken the first steps,” Cuban wrote. West talked about getting a job at the clinic after he was done with his own rehab. He sounded hopeful.

    Less than a year after leaving the rehab facility — in October 2021 — West was arrested after banging on police officers’ doors in Florida. During the arrest, he ranted about being better than LeBron James and claimed he was both Jesus Christ and the president. Attempts by The Athletic to reach West via text message to his last known cell phone number went unanswered.

    “It’s just, disappointing is what it is. Or frustrating, I guess,” Cuban says. “Delonte sabotages himself. … I don’t know what else to say. It is what it is. I tried.”

    He sounds resigned and exhausted. And he is. They all are. When they step back from it, they see it for what it is — a semi-famous person caught in the crisis that torpedoes so many families. He’s not special or immune just because he could play basketball.

    “It brings me to tears,” Nelson says. “He has so many people who love him, who want to help him, but he has to want to help himself. … I am here for him. I will always be here for him. I tried, and I will continue to try if I can, but he has to meet us halfway. He has to want the help.”


    The 2003-04 Saint Joseph’s Hawks gathered at a local country club for a reunion. (Courtesy Phil Martelli)

    The hairlines hung back a little, and the waistlines pushed forward, but the stories? Unlike the tales told at most reunion gatherings, these stories — of a small Jesuit school, led by a Philly lifer, a diminutive point guard and an unheralded two-guard threatening to end Indiana’s reign as the last team to go undefeated in college basketball — didn’t have to be embellished.

    In September, the 2003-04 Saint Joseph’s Hawks gathered at a local country club for a reunion. Not everyone could make it, but everyone was invited. Including West. Martelli emailed his mother, Delphina, inviting her as well as her son.

    The last time he spoke with Delphina she begged the coach to help her find some hope for her son. “He’s got nothing to look forward to,” he says she told him. Martelli thought maybe the reunion could do that. Neither came. Martelli didn’t expect them to; a part of him worried what would happen if they did.

    But West’s name came up often, as the stories flowed from the 4 p.m. cocktail hour and long past the dinner service, pushing toward 11 at night. “It felt like a piece was missing,” Jesiolowski says. “Like the whole family wasn’t there.”

    Martelli last texted with West on April 25, 2022. West told him he was living outside of a 7-11 in Alexandria, Va. Martelli pressed him for the address and then called a coaching friend in the area. He asked his friend if he knew a cop. Maybe they could arrest West, charge him with vagrancy and get him off the streets and into rehab. Martelli shakes his head. “Think about that,” he says. “I was going to get my own player arrested, and I thought it was a good idea.”

    Six months later, West was arrested outside of the same convenience store on four charges: vehicle trespassing, entering a vehicle, fleeing from law enforcement and public intoxication. Martelli fielded another text, this time for a plane ticket so that, if the charges were dropped, West could get to Texas, where his two children are, and try to find a fresh start.

    Martelli didn’t send the money. He hasn’t heard from West since. Neither has anyone else.

    (Illustration: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic; photos: Harry How, Doug Pensioner / Getty Images)

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    The New York Times

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  • NBA’s sudden change of heart on load management is odd, but better late than never

    NBA’s sudden change of heart on load management is odd, but better late than never

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    The NBA’s 180 on load management is giving me whiplash.

    Five seconds ago, every available piece of science the NBA told us it had in its possession from its teams said – screamed – the same thing: players not only needed more time off but that the league would be derelict in its partnership with its players if it didn’t align with teams, whose data said: rest.

    The league cut way back on back-to-back games. Many teams eliminated morning shootarounds, as they were viewed as disruptive to players’ sleep patterns. Every team had a “Director of Very Important Sports Science and Cutting Edge MahnaMahna” and scores of eager data collectors. Wearables tracked every waking moment of every player, what they ate, and when. Cameras high above each arena tracked every movement of every player on the court.

    So, Joel Embiid rested. Kawhi Leonard rested. LeBron James rested. Everyone rested. Including in your city, after you plunked down $300 to take the family to see the Dubs’ one appearance in your city that season. Sorry, Felicity and Mikal: Steph’s in street clothes tonight. Wave to him; he’ll wave back.

    And now … psych.

    “Before, it was a given conclusion that the data showed that you had to rest players a certain amount, and that justified them sitting out,” NBA executive vice president of basketball operations Joe Dumars told national media in a conference call Wednesday.

    “We’ve gotten more data, and it just doesn’t show that resting, sitting guys out correlates with lack of injuries, or fatigue, or anything like that. What it does show is maybe guys aren’t as efficient on the second night of a back-to-back.”

    Dumars’ words echo those of Commissioner Adam Silver, as he introduced the league’s new “Player Participation Program” that was approved by the league’s Board of Governors last month.

    “Honestly, that’s what I’d been told as well, that it was the science,” Silver said. “I think it may be why the league didn’t become involved maybe as deeply as we should have earlier on. Part of the discussion today was about the science, and frankly, the science is inconclusive.

    “I think in the case here, that part of the commitment here from the league office is we are putting together a group of team doctors and scientists and others and trying to better understand it. One thing I want to make clear: The message to our teams and players is not that rest is never appropriate. And realize, there’s a bit of an art to this, not just a science.”

    GO DEEPER

    Load management has frustrated NBA, fans and TV partners. But will new rules help?

    Now, the NBA has a lot of smart, smart people in its sports medicine department. The department, led by Dr. John DiFiori, helped create the Orlando Bubble in 2020 out of thin air – and, more or less, pulled it off. It then created a comprehensive return-to-play program for the following season that was lauded by other medical people for its thoroughness and honesty about how to deal with COVID cases when and if they occurred. The league had extensive and continuing dialogue with the Players’ Association, before, during and after the two sides hammered out the newest Collective Bargaining Agreement about these kinds of issues. It’s a partnership.

    And during all of this, the NBA’s position was consistent: the science, the science, the science tells us so.

    Just eight months ago(!) this is what Silver said during All-Star Weekend in February, in Salt Lake City: “I hesitate to weigh in on an issue as to whether players are playing enough because there is real medical data and scientific data about what’s appropriate. Sometimes, to me, the premise of a question as to whether players are playing enough suggests that they should be playing more – that, in essence, there should be some notion of just get out there and play. Having been in the league for a long time, having spent time with a lot of some of our great legends, I don’t necessarily think that’s the case.

    “The world that we used to have where it was just, ‘Get out there and play through injuries,’ for example, I don’t think that’s appropriate. Clearly, I mean, at the end of the day, these are human beings – many of you talk to and know well – who are often playing through enormous pain, who play through all kinds of aches and pains on a regular basis. The suggestion, I think, that these men, in the case in the NBA, somehow should just be out there more for its own sake, I don’t buy into.”

    And now … forget all of that?

    To be fair, Silver has said, multiple times over the last few years, that he was concerned about the effect of load management on the league’s fans, who were increasingly paying to attend games in which no one they hoped to see play had on a uniform. And it became especially hard for the NBA to push teams to push their players to play after COVID reached our shores, though the league’s $100,000 fines instituted in 2020 for teams that group rested players was limited to nationally televised games.

    The league also clearly leaned into, let’s say, encouraging its players that more participation was warranted by tying a minimum games played requirement for many of its individual awards going forward.

    But at every turn, the league dropped back to its default position: We’re following the data.

    So, are we to believe the science turned on a dime? Since February?

    Did NBA players skip the line in the evolutionary process this spring, and suddenly grow a third lung, that now gives them greater breathing capacity? Have they been enhanced, like Grace in Terminator: Dark Fate, now better able to withstand the grind of an 82-game season, after not being able to go on past game 65 or so without congealing?

    And, coincidentally, I’m sure: the data changed that quickly just as the league is reaching a key moment in its discussions with its current and potentially new media partners on a new rights deal, to replace the expiring one in 2025? Or, did the networks and/or tech companies vying to air or stream NBA games in the near future say, with justification: “For our eleventy billion dollars we’re spending to buy these rights, you damn sure are gonna make sure that Giannis and Steph and the Joker suit up on the regular”?

    I’m not saying it’s the only consideration for TV/tech companies — who don’t know that they’re scheduling the Lakers back-to-back when they make their schedule requests; they don’t see the full 82 until you or I do. But it’s hard to believe they don’t push hard on that particular action item with the league’s media committee.

    go-deeper

    GO DEEPER

    Let’s talk load management: Is it a problem? How do we know it works?

    For the last decade-plus in the NBA, it’s been all about the numbers, all about the data, all about the science, even as the league (he noted, quietly) implemented both a Play-In tournament after the 82-game regular season, and before the two-month-long playoffs, and will now have an in-season tournament during the 82-game season, which will add an 83rd game to the two teams that make the in-season tournament final.

    Rest, but play a little more, too, so that the regular season actually means something – and so we have another package to parlay into another sweet revenue stream.

    The numbers ruled. And so, midrange jumpers were now stupid; rebounds no longer mattered. Big men who got in the way of all the driving and kicking were anathema; we only want rim runners now. And teams’ medical staffs all erred on the side of caution, to try to head off stress injuries and similar maladies before they got worse, by sitting players as much as possible. The days when players, proudly, would play all 82 games because that was what was expected of them were dismissed as Codger Thinking, ridiculous clinging on to the old days by old people who didn’t understand that they were shortening their careers by playing in meaningless games. (It wasn’t as if players back in the day didn’t deal with mental health issues as well.)

    The NBA seems to want everyone to forget.

    What’s more likely: All the teams’ data for the last half-dozen years has suddenly been discovered to be irreparably, incontrovertibly wrong? Or, the league went along with that data, ignoring those who said “Wait; Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson and Larry Bird and Isiah Thomas and John Stockton and Karl Malone and Patrick Ewing all suited up as much as possible, year after year, and didn’t fall apart,” because it didn’t want to push back against alleged “modern thinking”? That it couldn’t take a position of “Well, we trust our players,” because someone would present a paper at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference calling such thinking outdated? That it had to justify what every team, from its hedge fund CEO ownership on down, was now saying was “best practices?”

    Dumars, one of those codgers, said Wednesday: “Obviously everybody’s not going to play 82 games, but everyone should want to play 82 games. And that’s the culture that we are trying to reestablish right now.”

    Whatever the process the NBA used to go back to the future, I’m glad it did. It’s all right to keep some old-school thinking along with the new jack intel.

    Fans can’t be guaranteed they’ll see the league’s top stars when they buy tickets; legit injuries happen. But if the league leaves it up to teams to make close calls on player health, the teams will protect their investments, every time. And I know enough about most players to know that, given the choice, they’ll opt to play. Whether out of ego or incentives or genuine care about the fans who pay top dollar to see them, they want to suit up.

    That’s how you make the regular season more meaningful.

    (Photo of Adam Silver: AAron Ontiveroz / The Denver Post via Getty Images)

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    The New York Times

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  • Is Jrue Holiday the missing piece the Celtics have been waiting to obtain?

    Is Jrue Holiday the missing piece the Celtics have been waiting to obtain?

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    The Boston Celtics continued an offseason remodeling Sunday by agreeing to acquire All-Star guard Jrue Holiday from Portland.

    With the Trail Blazers looking to move Holiday after netting him in the Damian Lillard blockbuster last week, the Boston front office struck quickly. In a trade that will reshape the Celtics’ vision for the coming season, the team agreed to send Malcolm Brogdon, Robert Williams III, Golden State’s 2024 first-round draft pick and an unprotected 2029 first-round pick to Portland.

    The Celtics weren’t alone in pursuing Holiday after it became clear the Blazers planned to find a new home for him. The 33-year-old drew interest from a long list of playoff teams, including the Clippers and 76ers. The robust market for Holiday likely contributed to the hefty price tag Boston needed to pay. Two league sources, who were granted anonymity in order to speak freely, said the Celtics would not have been able to push the trade to the finish line without offering Williams. To land Holiday, Boston also needed to part ways with Brogdon, the reigning Sixth Man of the Year award winner, and significant draft capital. The amount of value the Celtics traded raised some eyebrows around the league, but so did the idea of Holiday joining Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown in Boston.

    The Celtics paid up to land a two-way impact player who they hope can help deliver a championship. Holiday, 33, averaged 19.3 points, 7.4 assists and 5.1 rebounds per game for Milwaukee last season while making the All-Star Game for the second time in his career. Widely regarded as one of the league’s best defensive guards, he also was voted onto the First Team All-Defense for the third time.

    He should replace the versatility and tenacity Boston lost by trading Marcus Smart earlier in the offseason. Heck, Holiday’s one of the only guards in the NBA who could be an upgrade from Smart at his best on that end of the court. With Derrick White, the Celtics will have two All-Defensive team members in the backcourt next to their two All-NBA wings. Add in Kristaps Porziņģis and Al Horford, who will lead the interior resistance, and Boston has the makings of another elite defense after finishing second on that end of the court last season.

    The Celtics will still miss Williams’ ability to shut down the paint. As productive and efficient as Brogdon was last season, the loss of the 25-year-old shot blocker could hit Boston harder. When healthy, Williams is one of the few big men who pairs elite shot-blocking talent with feet quick enough to stay in front of guards on the perimeter. Even while he dealt with injury issues last season, his ability to transform the Celtics shined through; they blasted opponents by 11.4 points per 100 possessions with him on the court. It was the second straight season they had a double-digit net rating with Williams in the lineup.

    With him, Porziņģis and Horford in the frontcourt, the Celtics spent the summer planning to use a steady diet of double-big lineups loaded with rim protection. The addition of Holiday will likely lead to more regular use of smaller lineups, though Joe Mazzulla will still have the option of pairing Porziņģis next to Horford or even backup center Luke Kornet. Williams’ departure should leave Kornet with a bigger role than anticipated.

    The trade also freed up another roster spot, which the Celtics could use to replenish some of the frontcourt depth. They have reached an agreement to bring big man Wenyen Gabriel to training camp, as The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported. Other established centers still available include Bismack Biyombo, Dewayne Dedmon and Gorgui Deng. Blake Griffin, who the Celtics deeply appreciated last season for his help both on and off the court, also remains unsigned.

    While Williams had the higher trade value of the two players Boston sent to Portland, Brogdon certainly wasn’t just a throwaway. He finished fourth in the NBA in 3-point percentage while averaging 14.9 points per game off the Celtics bench. Before dealing with an elbow issue late in the playoffs, Brogdon scored at least 12 points in 13 of Boston’s first 15 playoff games. He provided steady, instant offense for the Celtics second unit, but the relationship between him and the organization grew complicated this summer after the team nearly traded him to the Clippers, as The Athletic’s Jared Weiss wrote in a story about Brogdon’s departure. That’s no longer an issue for Boston.

    The Celtics won’t be as deep after this trade, but their top six players (in some order: White, Holiday, Tatum, Brown, Porziņģis, Horford) could represent the league’s best core. Beyond that nucleus, Joe Mazzulla will need to hash out the back end of a rotation that will likely include Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser, Oshae Brissett and/or Kornet with several other players vying for minutes behind them.

    Boston’s starting lineup is still to be determined. Mazzulla could go smaller with White and Holiday in the backcourt or larger with Horford next to Porziņģis in the frontcourt. Either way, the Celtics should have nothing but two-way players in their first unit with the option to toggle back and forth between bigger and smaller lineups. Mazzulla will need to tweak some of his ideas for the coming season to fit Holiday into the plans and to account for Williams’ absence, but Boston believes Holiday could be the missing piece. The Celtics moved two gifted and productive players to acquire him, but both have health concerns moving forward. Though Holiday’s age comes with concerns of its own, he has typically been pretty durable throughout his career.

    Beyond the possibility that Williams reaches his considerable potential elsewhere, is there a possible downside to this deal for Boston? The Celtics were lined up to build an identity around size and outside shooting, but lost some of each trait in this trade. They now have less frontcourt insurance in case the 37-year-old Horford begins to experience a significant decline or Porziņģis deals with injury problems again. Holiday has been a solid 3-point shooter during the regular season (he shot at least 38 percent from deep during each of his three seasons in Milwaukee) but hasn’t sustained that type of accuracy during the playoffs. His postseason shooting percentages are actually kind of bleak; he hasn’t shot better than 32 percent from behind the arc during a single postseason since he was with the 76ers more than a decade ago.

    Over three playoff runs with the Bucks, he shot a combined 39.6 percent from the field. His career true shooting in the playoffs is 50.2 percent, less than Smart’s playoff true shooting of 53.2 percent. That could become a problem if Holiday is again forced into inefficient scoring during the games that matter most.

    On a similar topic, a Celtics-Bucks series would now be epic. It’s quite a development that Milwaukee’s decision to offer Holiday for Lillard also ended up indirectly helping the Celtics, the Bucks’ chief competition in the East.

    Even with stretches of ugly playoff shooting, Holiday helped the Bucks win a championship. He is regarded as one of the NBA’s best teammates and locker room forces. And he will give the Celtics another one of the league’s premier perimeter stoppers, making their defense one of the league’s most switchable yet again. Though he only has one year left on his current contract at $36.8 million plus a player option for $37.4 million the following season, Holiday will become eligible to sign an extension in February. The Celtics naturally made this deal with the hope of keeping him long-term. They see Holiday as a great complement to their best players both on and off the court. He was believed to consider Boston one of his preferred destinations after the Bucks traded him last week.

    After falling short deep in the playoffs several times during recent seasons, the Celtics decided not to just try again with a similar group. They shipped away four rotation pieces in Smart, Brogdon, Grant Williams and Robert Williams. They acquired two former All-Stars in Porziņģis and Holiday. The Celtics will at least be different. They could also be better. And maybe, just maybe for Celtics fans, they will finally be good enough.

    Related reading

    (Photo: Stacy Revere / Getty Images)

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  • Jrue Holiday trade: Celtics beat Knicks to deal for veteran guard

    Jrue Holiday trade: Celtics beat Knicks to deal for veteran guard

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    Jrue Holiday will not be heading to the Knicks after all.

    Instead, he’s on the way to a division rival.

    And not just any rival: after acquiring Holiday in the Damian Lillard trade with the Milwaukee Bucks, the Portland Trail Blazers have agreed to a deal to send Holiday, a veteran guard proficient on both ends of the floor, to the Boston Celtics. In exchange, the Celtics have traded rim-protecting center Robert Williams to the Trail Blazers, as well as a pair of first-round picks and veteran guard Malcolm Brogdon.

    The gap between the Bucks and Celtics as championship contenders and the rest of the Eastern Conference just widened.

    More to come on this developing story.

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    Kristian Winfield

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  • NBA star Marcus Smart marries girlfriend Maisa Hallum in California – ‘with a complimentary marijuana bar for guests and a serving of Raising Cane’s c… – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

    NBA star Marcus Smart marries girlfriend Maisa Hallum in California – ‘with a complimentary marijuana bar for guests and a serving of Raising Cane’s c… – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

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    • Marcus Smart is believed to have met his now wife Maisa Hallum around 2017 
    • They got married in California and there were NBA stars in attendance 
    • DailyMail.com provides all the latest international sports news

    By Jack Bezants For Dailymail.Com

    Published: | Updated:

    Marcus Smart has married his longtime girlfriend Maisa Hallum, with the couple tying the knot last week in California.

    According to People, they were wed in front of 300 close friends and family and Smart’s former Boston Celtics teammates Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown were there.

    ‘What can I say? Dreams do come true and this was the most incredible day,’ Smart told People.

    ‘Maisa is caring, thoughtful, supportive and my best friend. I can talk to her about anything and everything. Becoming husband and wife means becoming one.’

    The publication added that there was a complimentary ‘marijuana bud bar’ and that Raising Cane’s chicken was provided for a midnight meal.

    Marcus Smart has married his longtime girlfriend Maisa Hallum in a ceremony in California

    Marcus Smart has married his longtime girlfriend Maisa Hallum in a ceremony in California

    The NBA star Smart left the Boston Celtics earlier this year and joined the Memphis Grizzlies

    The NBA star Smart left the Boston Celtics earlier this year and joined the Memphis Grizzlies 

    The couple, who are believed to have met in 2017, then reportedly headed to Bora Bora for a honeymoon. 

    The day before the wedding, Smart posted on Instagram: ‘Wow, I never…

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  • Miami Heat advance to NBA Finals after crushing the Boston Celtics’ dream of a historic comeback | CNN

    Miami Heat advance to NBA Finals after crushing the Boston Celtics’ dream of a historic comeback | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    The Miami Heat closed out the Boston Celtics in the NBA’s Eastern Conference Finals on Monday, winning a deciding Game 7 103-84 to advance to the NBA Finals against the Denver Nuggets.

    The road victory for the Heat blocked the proud Celtics franchise from becoming the first NBA team to rally to win a seven-game series after losing the first three contests.

    “We have some incredible competitors in that locker room. They love the challenge,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “They love putting themselves out there in front of everybody. Open to criticism. Open to everything.”

    Celtics point guard Malcolm Brodgon said he thought his team played tight and it affected their results on both ends of the court.

    “I thought (the Heat) played loose. I thought they really executed on the defensive end,” the league’s Sixth Man of the Year said. “Then offensively they were poised. They weren’t rushed, they weren’t nervous.”

    Eighth-seeded Miami had to come through the play-In tournament but has not let its underdog status have any bearing on its impressive playoff run so far.

    Against Boston on Monday, Miami forward Jimmy Butler led the way with 28 points while forward Caleb Martin netted 26 points and had 10 rebounds.

    Boston shot a frigid 39% from the field as a team, and no Celtic managed to score 20 points in the game.

    Many teams have tried, a few have gotten close, but ultimately all have failed in trying to achieve the comeback of all comebacks, netting 0 for 151 attempts.

    Most teams to go down 0-3 didn’t even make it this far.

    This Boston squad marks the just the fourth team to ever force a Game 7 following a 0-3 start to a series: the New York Knicks forced a Game 7 in the 1951 NBA Finals against the Rochester Royals, the Denver Nuggets pushed it to the brink in the 1994 Western Conference semis against the Utah Jazz and the Portland Trail Blazers almost made history in the 2003 Western Conference first round against the Dallas Mavericks.

    The Heat, who have won three NBA titles, most recently in 2013, will face the top-seeded Nuggets in Denver on Thursday.

    The Nuggets have not played a game in a week after sweeping the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals last Monday.

    Spoelstra’s team took down Giannis Antetokounmpo and the No. 1-seeded Milwaukee Bucks in the first round, before winning a war of attrition against the Knicks in the Eastern Conference semis.

    Despite Boston’s impressive regular season record, the No. 2 seed struggled throughout the postseason. It took the Celtics six games to get past the seventh-seeded Atlanta Hawks and another seven to get through the Philadelphia 76ers.

    This brought the Heat and the Celtics together in the Eastern Conference Finals. The series has been an incredible display of drama and tension with the momentum ebbing and flowing throughout.

    The Heat raced to a 3-0 lead in the series thanks to incredible performances by Butler and the Miami supporting cast.

    Butler has been one of the stars of the NBA postseason and continued this form during the early games of the series against the Celtics.

    Missing Tyler Herro through injury meant that head coach Erik Spoelstra had to seek other alternatives to support his star man. Up stepped Gabe Vincent and Martin – who have come up big in clutch time and throughout the series.

    However, the Celtics won Game 4 and Game 5 in comfortable fashion with Jayson Tatum showing his brilliance in the win-or-go-home games. Back-to-back blowouts meant that Boston took the series back to Miami for Game 6 – the most crucial game of the series so far.

    Buoyed by their home crowd support, it looked like the Heat had finally got their momentum back and had enough in the tank to become Eastern Conference champions.

    The Heat held a one-point advantage with just three seconds left on the clock, but with the ball in Boston’s hands, it was far from over. As Marcus Smart attempted to splash home a game-winning three, the ball bounced off the rim and Derrick White scored a buzzer-beating putback to edge the game for the Celtics.

    “It felt good. Everybody was asking me, ‘Did you get it off?’ and I was like, ‘Yeah, I think so,’ but it was so close, you never know,” White told reporters afterwards. “We’re just happy we won. However, we got to get it done, we got it done, and now it’s on to Game 7.”

    Unfortunately for the Celtics, the Game 7 hill was again too steep to overcome.

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  • White’s Putback As Time Expires Lifts Celtics Past Heat, Forces Game 7 In East Finals

    White’s Putback As Time Expires Lifts Celtics Past Heat, Forces Game 7 In East Finals

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    MIAMI (AP) — Derrick White scored on a putback with 0.1 seconds left and the Boston Celtics moved to the brink of the greatest comeback in NBA playoffs history, holding off the Miami Heat 104-103 on Saturday night to force a Game 7 in the Eastern Conference finals.

    Jayson Tatum scored 31 points, Jaylen Brown scored 26 and Marcus Smart added 21 for the Celtics, who became only the fourth NBA team to erase a 3-0 deficit in a best-of-seven series and force a deciding game. The others in that club — the 1951 New York Knicks in the NBA Finals, the 1994 Denver Nuggets in the second round and the 2003 Portland Trail Blazers in the first round — all lost Game 7, all on the road.

    Boston, however, is going home for its shot at history. Game 7 is Monday night on the Celtics’ floor, a matchup that’ll decide who meets the Western Conference champion Denver Nuggets in a title series that will start Thursday.

    Jimmy Butler made three free throws with 3.0 seconds left for a one-point Heat lead. Smart missed a 3-pointer, but White grabbed the rebound and scored as time expired.

    Butler scored 24 points and Caleb Martin had 21 for the Heat, who are trying to pull off their own improbable trek to the title series by being only the second No. 8 seed to make the NBA Finals. They’ve now lost as many games this week — three — as they had in their first 14 playoff games this spring combined on the way to ousting No. 1 Milwaukee, then No. 5 New York and taking what was supposed to be an insurmountable 3-0 lead over the second-seeded Celtics.

    The Celtics have now won five of their last six East finals games in Miami — a stretch that includes a Game 7 over the Heat last season to reach the NBA Finals.

    That one, obviously, ended the Heat season. At least this time, Miami still has a chance.

    The Heat are the 151st team to grab a 3-0 series lead in a best-of-seven. All 150 of the previous clubs finished the job. But the Celtics have made very clear that they have other ideas.

    Celtics: The Celtics are 5-0 when facing elimination this season, 3-0 on the road. They beat Philadelphia twice on their way to erasing a 3-2 lead in the East finals, and now have tied this series. … Malcolm Brogdon (right forearm strain) was downgraded to out about an hour before game time.

    Heat: Diddy was at the game, as was former Heat guard Goran Dragic and Florida Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk. … Unless Miami wins Game 7 at Boston, it may have been the final home game of Heat forward Udonis Haslem’s 20-year career. The Heat are 613-297 in the 910 games in their home arena with Haslem on the roster; that doesn’t include the restart bubble’s home games in 2020.

    The Celtics are 27-9 in Game 7s, winners of their last four — including one in Miami last season and one earlier this season, against Philadelphia in the East semifinals. They’re 1-1 against the Heat all-time in such games (losing the 2012 East finals deciding game in Miami), and 22-5 at home in Game 7.

    The Heat are 6-5 all-time in Game 7s, lost their last two (home vs. Boston in 2022, at Toronto in 2016), and are 0-2 when facing such a game on the road. Besides the Raptors game seven years ago, they lost a Game 7 at Atlanta in 2009.

    UNSUCCESSFULLY SUCCESSFUL

    Heat coach Erik Spoelstra used a challenge early in the third quarter, after Martin was called for a foul on a play where Brown scored. Miami claimed Brown hooked Martin; referees, after review, said there was no foul on Martin — but counted the basket anyway and the Heat lost their review.

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  • Celtics look to pull off the impossible, as Heat stand on brink of making NBA Finals

    Celtics look to pull off the impossible, as Heat stand on brink of making NBA Finals

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    MIAMI (AP) — Blown out in Game 3, facing elimination in Game 4, tasked with engineering the sort of comeback that no team in their league has ever pulled off before.

    This may sound familiar to Boston fans.

    Yes, what the Red Sox did to the New York Yankees in 2004 was discussed around the Boston Celtics on Monday. A day after a debacle in Miami to fall into a 3-0 deficit in these Eastern Conference finals — “embarrassing,” Boston forward Jaylen Brown said — the Celtics will try to extend the series and at least delay a Heat celebration in Game 4 on Tuesday night.

    “We still believe we’re the better team,” Celtics guard Malcolm Brogdon said Monday. “We have not played like it in any of the three games. But, you know, there is always a first.”

    No NBA team has rallied from a 3-0 deficit to win a series; it’s happened only once in Major League Baseball, when the Red Sox shook off a 19-8 drubbing in Game 3 to win four straight and top the Yankees in that 2004 AL championship series.

    Of course, there had never been a No. 8 seed that won an NBA playoff game by 26 points, either — until Miami rolled its way to a 128-102 cakewalk in Game 3. It led to All-Star Game MVP Jayson Tatum saying Boston needs to show some pride, veteran big man Al Horford calling upon the Celtics to stay together and first-year coach Joe Mazzulla taking the blame as speculation about his future only gets louder and louder.

    “We didn’t play well at all,” Tatum said. “Obviously, by the score, it showed.”

    Meanwhile, a Heat win on Tuesday would send Miami to the NBA Finals for the seventh time since 2006 — and give the team more than a week to rest before the series opens on June 1. The Denver Nuggets won the Western Conference title on Monday night, sweeping LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers.

    If Miami wins the East, Denver will have home-court advantage in the finals. If Boston rallies, the Celtics would have the home-court edge.

    Before all that, there’s a Game 4 in Miami, and that has Heat coach Erik Spoelstra’s full attention.

    “We can expect just a great, competitive game,” Spoelstra said. “Boston has great pride. They’ll bring it. And you want to embrace it. You don’t want to get ahead of yourself and think about anything else other than embracing the competition. This is what you want. You want to be in the Eastern Conference finals in a really competitive game with a chance to finish and close out.”

    Thing is, that was also the thinking going into Game 3. After dropping the first two games at home, conventional wisdom would suggest that Boston would have arrived Sunday night loaded up for their best effort.

    It wasn’t even close.

    Boston trailed by as many as 33 in Game 3 — the second-biggest deficit the Celtics faced this season. They trailed Oklahoma City by 37 on Jan. 3, a game where the Thunder scored 88 points in the middle two quarters on the way to a 150-117 romp. The Celtics responded from that defeat by winning their next nine games.

    “Faith is the most important thing in the world,” Mazzulla said.

    The Heat would say the same. They’re trying to join the 1999 New York Knicks as the only No. 8 seeds to reach the NBA Finals, and they’re doing so after nearly missing the playoffs altogether.

    They know the chance they have Tuesday. They watched Boston celebrate in front of Heat fans last year in Game 7 of the East finals. They have an opportunity to make the Celtics watch them celebrate winning the East this time around.

    “We have a great opportunity ahead of us,” Heat center Bam Adebayo said.

    3-0, 0-3

    The Heat are up 3-0 in a series for the 10th time, including one sweep of a best-of-five in 2000. In the eight previous best-of-seven instances where Miami has led 3-0, the Heat have gone 5-3 in Game 4 and never been extended past Game 5.

    Boston is down 0-3 in a series for the eighth time, including one best-of-five sweep defeat. The Celtics forced one of those best-of-seven deficits to six games, one to five games and got swept on the other four occasions.

    LOVE UPDATE

    Heat forward Kevin Love has a strained muscle in his lower left leg and is probable for Game 4. He got hurt in the first quarter of Game 3. “Felt like a muscle cramp,” Love said, adding that if Miami’s lead hadn’t been so sizable that he would have lobbied to return to Sunday’s game.

    WELL RESTED

    Jimmy Butler was needed for only 31 minutes in Game 3, after he averaged almost 42 minutes in his last nine playoff appearances for Miami.

    ___

    AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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  • BOSTON BURNED: Miami Heat Mount Huge Comeback As Historic Run Continues

    BOSTON BURNED: Miami Heat Mount Huge Comeback As Historic Run Continues

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    BOSTON (AP) — Jimmy Butler scored 27 points, hitting a pair of buckets to give the Heat the lead after they erased a double-digit, fourth-quarter deficit and Miami beat Boston 111-105 on Friday night to take a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals.

    Bam Adebayo had 22 points, 17 rebounds and nine assists, and Caleb Martin came off the bench to score 25 points for eighth-seeded Miami, which won twice in Boston to earn a chance to complete the sweep at home.

    Jayson Tatum had 34 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists for Boston. But the Celtics star went 0 for 3 with two turnovers in the fourth quarter, when Boston blew an 89-77 lead en route to a second home loss in three nights. Jaylen Brown scored 16 points on 7-for-23 shooting; he went 1 for 5 with a turnover in the final quarter, when Miami outscored Boston 36-22.

    The Celtics led by 11 in the third quarter and made it a dozen early in the fourth. It was a 96-87 Boston lead when Butler scored, going forehead-to-forehead with Grant Williams before hitting the free throw to complete the three-point play.

    Butler sneered at Williams’ attempt to get him off his game with words, and after Tatum missed from long distance, Butler drove to the basket to make it a four-point game.

    Miami trailed 98-96 when Butler was called for an offensive foul, kicking Marcus Smart after landing on a missed 3-pointer.

    Heat coach Erik Spoelstra challenged, but lost.

    He made a 17-footer to tie it 100-all, and then a short fadeaway to give Miami the lead. After Max Strus made one of two free throws, Adebayo scored on a putback dunk to make it 105-100 with less than a minute to play.

    Boston used a 21-2 run to turn an eight-point, first-quarter deficit into an 11-point lead.

    Brown was 1 for 7 in the first quarter, when Tatum scored 12. Derrick White, who made a single 3-pointer, was the only player other than Tatum who scored more than 2 points in the first. … Adebayo and Butler each grabbed five rebounds in the first quarter. … Lowry and Grant Williams did a little shoving after Williams fouled Adebayo with nine minutes left in the second quarter, with no repercussions.

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  • Butler scores 35, Heat rally to beat Celtics 123-116 in East finals opener

    Butler scores 35, Heat rally to beat Celtics 123-116 in East finals opener

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    BOSTON (AP) — The Miami Heat were in need of a calming presence following a sluggish start to their latest conference finals showdown with the Boston Celtics.

    Jimmy Butler provided that and a lot more.

    Butler scored 35 points, including 20 after halftime, and the Heat rallied in the second half to beat the Celtics 123-116 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals on Wednesday night.

    He said his teammates have given him confidence.

    “I’m playing at an incredible level because they are allowing me to do so,” Butler said. “They are not putting a limit on my game. They are trusting me with the ball, on the defensive end. I think that’s what any basketball player wants.”

    Miami trailed by nine at the half before turning it around with a franchise playoff-record 46 points in the third and outscoring Boston 66-50 over the final two quarters. It was Butler’s fifth game with 30 or more points this postseason and he added seven assists, six steals and five rebounds.

    “One of the premier two-way basketball players of this association. … That’s what we needed.” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “Down the stretch Jimmy was able to do everything we needed – as a scorer and as a facilitator.”

    Bam Adebayo added 20 points and eight rebounds. Kyle Lowry, Caleb Martin, Gabe Vincent and Max Strus all added 15 points apiece. The Heat went 16 of 31 from the 3-point line.

    The No. 8-seeded Heat have opened all three playoff series with road victories. Game 2 is Friday in Boston.

    Jayson Tatum led the Celtics with 30 points, but didn’t take a shot in the fourth quarter. Jaylen Brown finished with 22 points and nine rebounds. Malcolm Brogdon added 19 points.

    Boston is just 4-4 at home during this postseason.

    “I don’t know why,” Tatum said of their home struggles. “You’ve still got to play the game, you’ve got to make plays, regardless of whether you’re home or away.”

    The Celtics, who are at their best when they’re defending and getting up more shots than their opponents, were 10 of 29 from beyond the arc.

    “We lost our offensive purpose,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said.

    The tip-off of the series marked the third time in four seasons that the Heat and Celtics have met in this round. Boston won last year’s matchup in seven games.

    Wednesday’s opener felt every bit like a continuation of that most recent meeting. Boston dominated inside early on and led by nine at halftime.

    Spoelstra said his team was “more intentional” over the final 24 minutes.

    Miami took a page out of the Celtics’ book and used a 13-1 run to quickly erase that gap, tying the game at 78 in the third quarter. During the next timeout Mazzulla was captured by broadcast cameras throwing a clipboard in frustration.

    Boston couldn’t stop the onslaught and Miami then nudged back in front as Butler penetrated to create opportunities for his teammates.

    The Heat outscored the Celtics 46-25 in the period and took a 103-91 lead into the fourth, prompting a few boos from the TD Garden crowd.

    Boston responded, scoring the first seven points of the final period before a 3-pointer by Vincent ended the run.

    Miami led 114-109 with just over three minutes to play when Brogdon was fouled by Butler. But he connected on just 1 of the 2 free throws. Butler was trapped on the next Miami possession before finding Martin for a corner 3.

    Tatum travelled, giving the ball back to the Heat. A Miami miss gave the ball back to Boston, but Tatum was called again for travelling.

    Miami wound the shot clock down before getting a 3-pointer by Butler to rattle in with 1:03 remaining.

    But everything changed in the second half.

    “We are just playing really good basketball,” Butler said. “More than anything, we are staying together through the good and through the bad.”

    ROAD WARRIORS

    The Heat are the fifth team to open with road wins in each of their first three series, joining the 2021 Hawks, 1999 Knicks, 1989 Bulls and 1981 Rockets. The Knicks were the only other No. 8 seed to make the conference finals.

    TIP-INS

    Heat: Miami’s previous high in the playoffs was 43 points in a half against Charlotte in 2016. … Lowry hit 5 of his first 6 shots, scoring 13 points in his first nine minutes of action. … Butler (12) and Adebayo (6) combined for 18 of Miami’s 28 points in the first quarter. It marked the seventh time Butler has reached double figures in the first period this postseason.

    Celtics: Marcus Smart finished with 13 points and 11 assists. … Led 66-57 at halftime. With the score tied at 47, Boston outscored Miami 19-10 over the final 5:26 of the half. … Brown wore his black protective mask after going without it for the final two games of their semifinals matchup with the 76ers. He fractured a facial bone late in the regular season. … New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick was in attendance.

    ___

    AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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  • Injured Embiid ‘doubtful’ for Game 1, says 76ers coach

    Injured Embiid ‘doubtful’ for Game 1, says 76ers coach

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    CAMDEN. N.J. (AP) — Philadelphia 76ers coach Doc Rivers says NBA MVP finalist Joel Embiid is doubtful for Game 1 of the playoff series against the Boston Celtics with a sprained right knee.

    Embiid was examined by doctors this week and has yet to practice ahead of Monday’s Eastern Conference semifinals opener at Boston.

    The Sixers have had the longest break of any NBA team after they swept the Brooklyn Nets last Saturday. Embiid was hurt in Game 3 and missed the next game.

    “If I was a betting man, I would probably say doubtful for at least Game 1, but we’ll see,” Rivers said Saturday at the 76ers’ facility in New Jersey. “He has to get better. He did nothing (today). Just wasn’t able to and obviously we were hopeful for today.”

    The 29-year-old Embiid, from Cameroon, averaged 33.1 points this season to win his second straight scoring title. He also averaged 10.2 rebounds and tied a career high with 4.2 assists per game. He played in 66 games, the second-highest total of his career.

    Embiid missed two games in the second round last year and another in the first round in 2021 with various injuries, on top of the two he missed to begin the 2018 playoffs with an orbital fracture and another in 2019, also with a knee problem.

    Embiid averaged 36.8 points and 11.8 rebounds in four games this season against the Celtics.

    ___

    AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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  • Stephen A. Smith: The Boston Celtics Should Apologize To Nia Long

    Stephen A. Smith: The Boston Celtics Should Apologize To Nia Long

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    Stephen A. Smith thinks the Boston Celtics should apologize to Nia Long — and that that apology is way overdue.

    The ESPN host addressed how the Celtics handled Ime Udoka’s suspension as head coach last fall and how their actions impacted his former partner, Long, in a video posted on his podcast, “Know Mercy with Stephen A. Smith,” on Friday.

    “What about the sister, the Black woman named Nia Long, that was thrown to the wolves by having all of this publicized?” he said in the clip. “Did she deserve that?”

    In September 2022, the Celtics suspended Udoka as head coach for what was reported to be an improper relationship with a team employee. The team held a press conference addressing the suspension that month.

    Smith argued that the Celtics’ press conference inadvertently embroiled Long, a beloved actor, into a media circus. Udoka and Long had been together for 13 years and share a son, Kez, 11. They have since broken up.

    “If you mention him and another woman, inevitably, she’s going to come up,” he said about Long. “How come they just left her out there standing on her own? I will always defend her. I will always defend her on this issue.”

    He added, “To have a press conference and put his business, tacitly or otherwise, on front street, you didn’t think about Nia Long at all.”

    The actor thanked Smith for “his support” in the comments section of an Instagram post where he shared the clip.

    Smith called out the Celtics for hosting the press conference in another clip, charging that race played a role in the way the team treated Udoka, who is Black.

    “I’ve been covering sports for 30 years, I have never seen a press conference to address somebody’s suspension, and everyone knew because of the leaks that preceded the press conference ― even though they didn’t say much in the press conference ― that it was about his sexual relationship,” he said.

    During the team’s press conference in September, Brad Stevens, president of basketball operations, addressed speculation that was ramping up on Twitter at the time about which female staff member of the Celtics might have been involved in the scandal.

    Stevens shared an emotional message of support for the women in the organization.

    “We have a lot of talented women in our organization, and I thought yesterday was really hard on them,” he said. “Nobody can control Twitter speculation and rampant bullshit, but I do think that we as an organization have a responsibility to make sure we’re there to support them now. A lot of people were dragged unfairly into that.”

    The team did not share details surrounding the circumstances of Udoka’s suspension at the time, but that he violated team policies.

    Long has since criticized the Celtics for hosting the press conference. She also shared her disappointment that no one from the organization had reached out to her amid their public statements about supporting Celtics female staffers.

    “If you’re in the business of protecting women — I’m sorry, no one from the Celtics organization has even called to see if I’m OK, to see if my children are OK. It’s very disappointing,” the actor told The Hollywood Reporter in December.

    “I think the most heartbreaking thing about all of this was seeing my son’s face when the Boston Celtics organization decided to make a very private situation public,” she added. “It was devastating, and it still is. He still has moments where it’s not easy for him.”

    Udoka, now the head coach of the Houston Rockets, said during a news conference this week that he has since been in counseling with his son after news of the scandal broke to “help him improve the situation that I put him in.”

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  • Celtics remove interim tag, name Joe Mazzulla head coach

    Celtics remove interim tag, name Joe Mazzulla head coach

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    BOSTON (AP) — Joe Mazzulla has been so steady guiding the Celtics through a franchise-shaking crisis that their turbulent offseason has taken a back seat to their championship aspirations.

    The team rewarded him by turning a temporary opportunity of a lifetime into a permanent one.

    Boston named Mazzulla its full-time head coach on Thursday, removing the interim tag he had held since stepping in for Ime Udoka in the preseason.

    Udoka initially was given a yearlong suspension before training camp for having an inappropriate relationship with a woman in the organization. The 34-year-old Mazzulla, previously an assistant under Udoka, will now replace his former boss, who is no longer with the team. Mazzulla is the NBA’s youngest head coach.

    “Since I’ve been here I always knew where I stood,” Mazzulla said Thursday. “And even though it was an interim position … I knew I was going to get a fair shake and get an opportunity. I knew I was going to be able to do it the way that I thought to give us the best chance to be successful without any pressure because of that.”

    Terms of his new deal were not released, but the team said his promotion includes a contract extension.

    “I’ve always been surrounded by great people and great coaches,” Mazzulla said. “I just think I’m a byproduct of all the different environments I’ve been in.”

    Mazzulla’s Celtics have the best record in the NBA (42-17) and led Milwaukee by one game in the Eastern Conference ahead of the Bucks’ game at Chicago on Thursday night. Boston won’t play again until after the All-Star break.

    Mazzulla said he found out the process of making him the permanent coach was underway two days ago and that the deal was finalized after the Celtics’ 127-109 win over Detroit on Wednesday.

    Mazzulla and his assistants will coach Team Giannis — the team that will be captained by Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo — in the All-Star Game Sunday at Salt Lake City. Boston’s Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown were named All-Stars.

    “One of the things that’s pretty obvious and evident about Joe is he’s a really good coach and he also is just an outstanding leader,” Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens said. “I think he’s done a great job right from the get-go of galvanizing the locker room around a mission.”

    Stevens said he decided to elevate Mazzulla now because of the job he’s done and because he didn’t want the coach and his staff to enter the second half of the season under “a cloud of uncertainty.”

    “They’ve certainly have earned that,” Stevens said.

    He declined to elaborate on why he made the move now instead of waiting until the season ended.

    “We said in our original statement long ago that decision would be made at a later date. We wanted to make sure we were thorough, we were really focused on our team from that day on,” Stevens said. “I thought the players leadership, the staff’s leadership and Joe’s leadership have all stood out during that time.”

    Mazzulla, who is from Johnston, Rhode Island, was recognized as the Eastern Conference Coach of the Month for games played in October and November after leading the team to a league-best 18-4 record (.818).

    He said being on top of the East is something he would take the time to appreciate over the All-Star break — while also thinking about how the Celtics can maintain their strong play in the second half.

    “It’s there, you can’t run away, you can’t ignore it,” Mazzulla said. “I do think there is a comfort level knowing that. But that was kind of my message to the guys. That at the same time you can’t be too comfortable because when we get back, it picks right up.”

    Udoka, a longtime assistant, led Boston to a 51-31 record last season, his first as a head coach — going 26-6 in the final 32 games. The Celtics then beat Brooklyn, Milwaukee and Miami on the way to the NBA Finals, where they lost to the Golden State Warriors in six games.

    Before training camp, the Celtics banned Udoka for a full season over what two people with knowledge of the matter said was an improper relationship with a member of the organization. The people spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the team did not reveal that detail publicly.

    Despite those circumstances, Boston looks fully capable of winning a title.

    “All things considered, everything that we’ve went through this season as a team with coaching changes and guys getting injured, missing games and being in and out of the lineup. … Overall, it’s been a hell of a start,” Tatum said after the win over Detroit.

    ___

    AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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  • ‘We got cheated’: LA Lakers furious after missed foul in loss to Boston Celtics | CNN

    ‘We got cheated’: LA Lakers furious after missed foul in loss to Boston Celtics | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    LeBron James was left hunched on the court in frustration after referees missed a foul on his attempted game-winning layup, and the Los Angeles Lakers succumbed to a 125-121 overtime loss against the Boston Celtics.

    With the game tied at 105 and less than three seconds on the clock, James drove in for a layup and was hit on the arm by Jayson Tatum, but the referees didn’t call a foul leading to overtime.

    James hopped around the court, his head in his hands in complete disbelief, while Patrick Beverley got a camera from a photographer to show the ref a picture of the missed call and received a technical foul in return.

    James had poured in a game-high 41 points, leaving him 117 points away from breaking Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s scoring record, as well as nine rebounds and eight assists but was furious afterwards.

    “I don’t understand,” he told reporters after the game. “I don’t understand what we are doing and I watch basketball every single day. I watch these games every single day and I don’t see it happening to anyone else. It’s just weird.”

    The Lakers’ fury was magnified by a series of previous calls which they have seen as poor officiating during close defeats to the Dallas Mavericks and the Philadelphia 76ers.

    “We got cheated tonight,” Lakers power forward Anthony Davis said afterwards. “It’s a blatant foul… It’s unacceptable to be honest. The refs were bad tonight.”

    Meanwhile, Jaylen Brown added 11 points in overtime for the Celtics to help secure victory and snap their three-game losing streak. His 37 points in the game also included a three-pointer to tie it up with 4.1 seconds left of regulation time. Tatum contributed 30 points, 11 rebounds and four assists.

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  • Thunder blow out Celtics 150-117 without Gilgeous-Alexander

    Thunder blow out Celtics 150-117 without Gilgeous-Alexander

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    OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma City’s top scorer was out, so everybody pitched in to make things work.

    Josh Giddey scored a season-high 25 points and the short-handed Oklahoma City Thunder blew out the NBA-leading Boston Celtics 150-117 on Tuesday night.

    Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who ranks among the league’s leaders with 30.8 points per game, sat out with an illness. Without him, the Thunder set a record for points since the team moved to Oklahoma City from Seattle before the 2008-2009 season. The previous mark was 149 points in 2013.

    Lu Dort scored 23 points and Jalen Williams, Tre Mann and Isaiah Joe each added 21 points for the Thunder. They shot 59.2% from the field.

    It was a record-tying performance. Including playoffs, it was the 18th time in NBA history that a team had five players score at least 21 points in a game. The most recent instance was also by Oklahoma City, when Steven Adams, Danilo Gallinari, Chris Paul, Dennis Schröder and Gilgeous-Alexander did it against Minnesota on Dec. 6, 2019.

    “I just think we’ve got great players and great people,” Mann said. “Guys who don’t really care who gets the credit.”

    The Thunder hadn’t won a game by more than 16 points and the Celtics hadn’t lost by more than 16 this season. Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault said the result came from his team’s approach.

    “I told them after the game, I want them to realize what got it going, which was we had a great practice yesterday, came into the game with great focus on both ends of the floor, what we had to do, and that’s what allowed us to have fun tonight,” he said. “And we can’t lose sight of that.”

    Oklahoma City took advantage of the fact that Robert Williams, one of Boston’s primary rim protectors, was out managing his injured left knee. The Thunder made 38 of 58 shots inside the 3-point line.

    “You have to play with a sense of humility every night knowing your opponent wants to beat you,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. “We have to match that, and we didn’t. We got outplayed in every aspect of the game.”

    Jaylen Brown scored 29 points for Boston, and Jayson Tatum added 27.

    The Thunder led 74-54 at halftime behind Joe’s 17 points on 6-for-9 shooting. Oklahoma City shot 57% in the first half. The Celtics trailed big, despite Brown’s 18 points in the first half.

    A 10-0 run put Oklahoma City ahead 90-63 just over three minutes into the second half, and the game was never close after that. The Thunder scored 48 points in the third quarter — the most ever for an Oklahoma City team in a quarter — and shot 67.9% in the third to lead 122-91 heading into the fourth.

    Oklahoma City’s largest lead was 37 points.

    “Late in the second quarter, they sort of put their head down, Boston did, and they got to the line and they were trying to play through us and they were just trying to like jam their way back into the game,” Daigneault said. “And we needed to stand in there in order to fend that off. And I thought the guys did a really good job of that.”

    TIP-INS

    Celtics: Mazzulla and G Marcus Smart attended the Oklahoma State-West Virginia game Tuesday in Stillwater and sat together. Smart played college ball for Oklahoma State and Mazzulla played for West Virginia. Oklahoma State won 67-60. … Smart was called for a technical in the second quarter and ejected in the third for berating an official.

    Thunder: Even Oklahoma City’s fans were hitting shots from deep. Johnnie Durossette, a 20-year-old from Muskogee, Oklahoma, made the MidFirst Bank halfcourt shot during a timeout to win $20,000. … F Aaron Wiggins scored 17 points.

    AT HOME

    The Celtics had their shootaround at the Oklahoma City facility where Celtics F Blake Griffin’s AAU basketball program practices. Griffin is from Oklahoma City and he played college ball at the University of Oklahoma.

    UP NEXT

    Celtics: At Dallas on Thursday night.

    Thunder: At Orlando on Wednesday night.

    ———

    Follow Cliff Brunt on Twitter: twitter.com/CliffBruntAP

    ———

    More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

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  • Pitino vs Pitino: Dad-son matchup highlights Lobos-Iona game

    Pitino vs Pitino: Dad-son matchup highlights Lobos-Iona game

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    ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Fielding questions about his father is nothing new for New Mexico coach Richard Pitino.

    “It’s been 40 years of answering dumb questions about my dad so you guys get a free pass,” Pitino recently told a group of journalists ahead of Sunday’s meeting with Iona, coached by Rick Pitino.

    The elder Pitino, of course, is no ordinary papa — or head coach for that matter.

    He led both Kentucky and Louisville to national championships and has amassed more than 800 college victories. Along the way, he also coached the Boston Celtics and the New York Knicks.

    Now the Pitinos will be on opposing benches for just the third time. Richard Pitino is 0-2 against his father. Both losses came when the elder Pitino was coaching Louisville.

    “I think it’s going to be a big treat for the players,” Rick Pitino said in his postgame news conference following a win over Princeton. “They’re going to have 13,000-14,000 fans. And I told them this, ‘Rich is going to want to beat us by 30, 30.’ He’s not going to say, ‘I’m going to take it easy on dad.’ And the reason he’s going to try and beat us by 30 is I taught him that way.”

    Richard Pitino, in his second season with the Lobos after being fired following eight seasons at Minnesota, said the game really has nothing to do with the father-son matchup.

    “Yes, it’s an interesting story line, me versus my dad,” he said. “But if you were at our practices, if you were at our film sessions, you wouldn’t know who the coach of the opposing team was. It’s business as usual for us.”

    For the Lobos, that business means trying to extend their 10-game winning streak to open the season.

    “All I care about it that the Lobos find a way to get a win,” Richard Pitino said.

    And dad, well, he would have no qualms about hanging an L on his son’s program behind the 7-2 Gaels.

    “I’m very, very proud of him and love him to death,” Rick Pitino said. “And he knows he’s not coaching against me, he’s coaching against Iona. And he knows how much I want to win. And even more so, how much I hate to lose.”

    The pairing is a good chance for both programs to raise their profiles.

    “I understand it’s a storyline but it has nothing to do with the game,” Richard Pitino said. “I scheduled it because I wanted the exposure for our program as we rebuild it.”

    It was also a way to create some excitement among local fans who had grown increasingly lukewarm to the Lobos after years of passionate embrace.

    In that respect, Richard Pitino said it absolutely has been a success, perhaps even more so than he anticipated.

    “When I took the job, I was concerned, as everybody is, when you’re down and coming out of a pandemic, of bringing the fans back,” he said. “So that’s why I did it and it’s certainly proven to be something that the community has been excited about.”

    ———

    AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP—Top25

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  • Leonard, George lead Clippers over NBA-best Celtics, 113-93

    Leonard, George lead Clippers over NBA-best Celtics, 113-93

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    LOS ANGELES — Kawhi Leonard came to the bench with a message for his Los Angeles Clippers teammates.

    “Told the guys, ‘Let’s get out and run, let’s play faster,’” coach Tyronn Lue said.

    Behind 26 points from Paul George and Leonard’s season highs of 25 points and nine rebounds, the Clippers routed the NBA-leading Boston Celtics 113-93 on Monday night.

    “When your two best players come back, that’s a lot of energy,” Lue said.

    The Clippers’ defense held the Celtics under 100 points for the first time this season.

    “We did a great job pretty much across the whole board,” George said.

    Leonard also had six assists in his best all-around game of a young season that has been interrupted at times while he eases his way back from ACL surgery that cost him all of last season.

    “Only my ninth game,” Leonard said. “You can’t rush it. Yeah, just got to keep moving.”

    George has been hurt, too, although unlike Leonard, he’s no longer under a minutes restriction.

    “We’re still trying to figure out how we’re going to play on the court with one another,” George said. “It’s just good if both of us are playing aggressive.”

    Jaylen Brown scored 21 points to lead the Celtics, who dropped two in a row for only the second time this season. They had won eight of 10, including a loss at Golden State on Saturday. Jayson Tatum added 20 points — well below his 30-point average — and 11 rebounds, and Malcolm Brogdon had 18 points off the bench.

    “We made a conscious effort to make sure Tatum and Brown played in a crowd all night,” Lue said.

    Having the Celtics and their 21-7 record in town drew one of the Clippers’ biggest crowds of the season and created a playoff-like atmosphere. Boston fans showed out in the same colored gear as Marcus Smart’s green-hued hair.

    But the Clippers made most of the noise.

    Coming off a 2-2 East Coast trip, Los Angeles used a few big runs and solid defense to control the first half and take a 56-47 lead at the break.

    Leonard and George came out shooting to start the third. They each hit a 3-pointer while combining for 13 straight points that extended the lead to 69-55. Luke Kennard came off the bench and keyed a 7-0 run late, hitting a 3 before John Wall’s jumper put the Clippers ahead 88-72 going into the fourth.

    George and Leonard combined for seven straight points in the fourth and Kennard kept hitting, too, pushing the Clippers’ lead to 104-80.

    “How he played was huge, just seeing him get his rhythm back,” Lue said of Leonard. “The last couple games just playing with more pace. He’s been feeling good.”

    The biggest roar came when Smart missed a pair of free throws, ensuring fans free chicken sandwiches. Smart finished with three points and five fouls.

    George and Leonard were part of the Clippers’ 17-8 spurt in the second. Los Angeles ran off 11 points in a row as part of a 20-3 burst in the first.

    TIP-INS

    Celtics: Al Horford (personal reasons) is expected to rejoin the team when it returns home this weekend. … Former Clipper Blake Griffin started in Horford’s place. He picked up a technical foul in the second quarter for grabbing the net.

    Clippers: Norman Powell (left groin strain) is progressing well in individual workouts, but there’s no timetable for his return. … Ivica Zubac was a game-time decision to start after experiencing right groin soreness in Saturday’s game. He had four points, three rebounds and five fouls in 17 minutes.

    UP NEXT

    Celtics: At the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday in the second game of a back-to-back on Boston’s second-longest road trip of the season.

    Clippers: Host the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday in the second of five straight home games.

    ———

    AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

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  • Royals tour US green tech incubator, meet at-risk youth

    Royals tour US green tech incubator, meet at-risk youth

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    BOSTON (AP) — The Prince and Princess of Wales on Thursday heard about solar-powered autonomous boats and low-carbon cement at a green technology startup incubator in suburban Boston before learning how a nonprofit gives young people the tools to stay out jail and away from violence.

    William and Kate, making their first overseas visit since the death of Queen Elizabeth II, also found time for hundreds of cheering onlookers at each stop on the second of three days in the city. The royal couple spent 10 minutes with the crowd at one stop, chatting, taking selfies and receiving lots of flower bouquets. Some fans held up signs “Welcome to Boston, Your Highnesses” and “Welcome to Chelsea, the Future King and Queen of England.”

    “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” declared Loren Simao, who said she’s watched William grow up over several decades. “They are just wonderful people, and we need more of them in the world.”

    The visit started Wednesday with a reception at Boston City Hall and a trip to a Boston Celtics basketball game. It culminates Friday with the awarding of the prince’s signature Earthshot Prize, a global competition aimed at finding new ways to protect the planet and tackle climate change.

    The trip also comes amid uproar back home over an 83-year-old honorary member of the royal household who reportedly asked the Black chief executive of an east London women’s refuge where she “really came from” after she told the older woman that she was British. Some said the incident was an example of wider issues of racism at Buckingham Palace.

    On Thursday, William and Kate stopped by Roca Inc., a nonprofit north of Boston that strives to halt the cycle of incarceration, poverty, unemployment, substance abuse, pregnancy and racism faced by young men and women ages 16 to 24.

    Roca CEO Dr. Molly Baldwin and Chelsea police Capt. Dave Batchelor explained the science and cognitive behavioral therapy used by the nonprofit.

    During the visit, the royal couple met with two young men involved in the program.

    “Well I hope you give yourself a pat on the back as well, you got yourself here,” the prince told Jonathan Williams. “These guys have provided you with the support and the outside bit, but you’ve done it yourself.”

    The couple also talked to some participants in Roca’s program for young mothers. The royals, who have three children, even showed off their parenting skills while interacting with some of the kids, at one point helping a little girl look for her mother.

    Before heading to Roca, the couple went to Greentown Labs in Somerville, where they were greeted by CEO Emily Reichert, Mayor Katjana Ballantyne as well as Joe Curtatone, the former mayor of the city just north of Boston who is now the president of the Northeast Clean Energy Council.

    Since its 2011 founding, Greentown, the largest climate technology startup incubator in North America, has supported more than 500 companies that have created more than 9,000 jobs.

    While at Greentown, the royal couple chatted to Shara Ticku, CEO of c16 Biosciences, a company developing decarbonized alternatives for the consumer products supply chain, starting with a sustainable alternative to palm oil. “Oils today come from animals or plants,” Ticku said. “We made this from fungi.”

    At Open Ocean Robotics, CEO and cofounder Julie Angus told the prince and princess about their solar-powered autonomous boats, which provide real-time information about the oceans. Angus had a computer and monitor on her table, showing data of a real boat out in the harbor in Victoria, British Columbia, where the company is based.

    “Five knots? That’s quite quick,” the prince said, looking at the screen. “It’s amazing it hasn’t capsized,” he added. Angus noted that the boats are able to self-right.

    William and Kate also chatted with Katherine Dafforn, co-founder of Living Seawalls, an Australian company that designs environmentally friendly ocean infrastructure. “For all of us, time is ticking,” William said.

    Upon their departure from Greentown Labs, Kate received flowers from 8-year-old Henry Dynov-Teixeira, who was wearing a King’s Guard costume.

    Thursday’s agenda also included a visit to the Boston waterfront, where the royal couple braved brisk conditions to learn about efforts to prepare the Boston Harbor community for rising seas and other impacts of climate change.

    As they left, Prince William talked with several park workers who asked if they had enjoyed the Boston Celtics game they attended Wednesday night. Prince William said Kate had asked if he wanted to shoot some hoops.

    “Ten feet up? It’s been a long time since I’ve done that,” he laughed, adding, “We might come back when it’s a bit warmer. It’s beautiful along the waterfront.”

    The royal couple’s first trip to the U.S. since 2014 is part of the British royal family’s efforts to change their international image. In the wake of Elizabeth’s death, King Charles III, William’s father, has made clear that his will be a slimmed-down monarchy, with less pomp and ceremony than its predecessors.

    That includes a focus on the Earthshot Prize, which offers 1 million pounds ($1.2 million) in prize money to each of the winners of five separate categories: nature protection, clean air, ocean revival, waste elimination and climate change. The winners and all 15 finalists also receive help in expanding their projects to meet global demand.

    The winners are scheduled to be announced Friday at Boston’s MGM Music Hall as part of a glitzy show headlined by Billie Eilish, Annie Lennox, Ellie Goulding and Chloe x Halle. The show will also feature videos narrated by naturalist David Attenborough and actor Cate Blanchett.

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  • Analysis: No shock in East as Celtics, Bucks vie for lead

    Analysis: No shock in East as Celtics, Bucks vie for lead

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    The top of the Eastern Conference looks about as expected — with Boston and Milwaukee currently neck and neck for the lead.

    Those fast starts have been anything but routine, however.

    The Celtics suspended their coach before the season even started, but under interim choice Joe Mazzulla, they’re now on a seven-game winning streak and have the best record in the NBA. The Bucks won their first nine games, but recently they’ve had to deal with Giannis Antetokounmpo’s occasional absences. They’ve won two of three when he’s been out.

    “It just shows our depth and how good of a team we truly are,” Milwaukee’s Brook Lopez said recently. “Coach (Mike Budenholzer) — he said before, it’s like, it’s kind of exciting. Giannis gets to rest, refill his cup, and we get a chance to get better and see what we’re like without Giannis on the court, and get better in that way.”

    The Celtics (11-3) and Bucks (10-3) don’t play each other until Christmas. For now, these two teams — who played a stirring seven-game playoff series in the second round last season — are bringing a bit of normalcy to the standings. That’s been largely absent in the West, where Golden State is muddling along under .500 while Utah and Portland are around the top of the conference.

    The Celtics went to the NBA Finals last season in Ime Udoka’s first season as coach. Then he was suspended for at least this season for violating team rules by having a relationship with a female staffer within the organization. Mazzulla took over and has the team rolling. Boston routed Nikola Jokic and Denver 131-112 on Friday. On Monday night, the Celtics rallied from a 15-point deficit to beat Oklahoma City 126-122.

    After falling just short of a title last season, Boston looks tested and ready to contend again.

    “These guys have been through a ton, and it helps them in a game like tonight where they really don’t have it going, and then they’ve got to turn it on on both ends of the floor and they did,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said after Monday’s game. “So credit them. They went and got that one.”

    Boston is No. 1 in the league in offensive rating, and Milwaukee is No. 1 in defensive rating. The first time the Bucks played without Antetokounmpo this season was a little over a week ago against Oklahoma City. Lopez scored 25 points, Bobby Portis had 21 rebounds, Jrue Holiday had 13 assists — and Milwaukee held the Thunder under 100 points to win by 14.

    “I think we all knew obviously that we’d all have to chip in,” Lopez said. “Pretty much everyone came on, had an impact.”

    These are the stretches that test a team over the course of an 82-game season, when injuries or just normal wear and tear leave a star player unavailable. That win over the Thunder gave Milwaukee a 9-0 record, and since then, the Bucks have played twice more without Antetokounmpo, who has dealt with left knee soreness.

    The Bucks split those two games. Ironically, they’ve lost the last two games they’ve played with Antetokounmpo, including Monday against Atlanta.

    Still, they’ve shown they can win without their biggest star. Another team that’s done that of late is the Washington Wizards, who have won four straight despite playing all of those games without Bradley Beal, who went through health and safety protocols.

    The last game Beal played in was Nov. 4, a 42-point loss to Brooklyn. Coincidentally, that was also the first game for the Nets following Kyrie Irving’s suspension. Irving was suspended after posting a tweet with a link to a documentary that includes Holocaust denial and conspiracy theories about Jews. The Nets said they suspended him in part because he wouldn’t say unequivocally he has no antisemitic beliefs.

    Brooklyn looked downright dysfunctional while losing six of its first eight games. Coach Steve Nash was replaced after the team’s seventh game, and then — with Jacque Vaughn serving as acting coach — Irving scored just four points in a loss to Chicago.

    But since then, Brooklyn has won four of six, all without Irving — and the Nets decided to keep Vaughn as their head coach going forward. His team isn’t surging quite the way Mazzulla’s is, but Brooklyn is hopeful it has found the right leader after an ugly start to the season.

    ___

    Follow Noah Trister at https://twitter.com/noahtrister

    ___

    AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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  • Celts’ Brown, Rams’ Donald leaving Ye’s agency

    Celts’ Brown, Rams’ Donald leaving Ye’s agency

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    8:10 PM ET

    • Tim BontempsESPN

    Boston Celtics forward Jaylen Brown and Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald both announced Tuesday night that they are leaving Donda Sports, the agency founded by the artist formerly known as Kanye West, due to antisemitic comments he recently made.

    The announcements came hours after Adidas terminated its relationship with the rapper, who now is known as Ye.

    Brown’s decision came one day after he told the Boston Globe he would remain with Donda Sports despite the fact he didn’t condone Ye’s remarks.

    “In the past 24 hours, I’ve been able to reflect and better understand how my previous statements lack clarity in expressing my stance against recent insensitive public remarks and actions,” Brown said Tuesday in a statement he released via Twitter. “For that, I apologize. And in this, I seek to be as clear as possible. I have always, and will always, continue to stand strongly against any antisemitism, hate speech, misrepresentation, and oppressive rhetoric of any kind.

    “In light of that, after sharing in conversations, I now recognize that there are times when my voice and my position can’t coexist in spaces that don’t correspond with my stance or my values. And, for that reason, I am terminating my association with Donda Sports.”

    Donald announced around the same time that his family would leave Donda Sports, saying that Ye’s remarks “are the exact opposite of how we choose to live our lives and raise our children.”

    “As parents and members of society, we felt a responsibility to send a clear message that hateful words and actions have consequences and that we must do better as human beings,” Donald wrote in his statement via Twitter. “We do not feel our beliefs, voices and actions belong anywhere near a space that misrepresents and oppresses people of any background, ethnicity or race. We’ve had the pleasure of working with many incredible people along the way and hope to continue to use our platform to uplift and support other families, children and communities through positive outreach.”

    Earlier Tuesday, Adidas announced it would be formally cutting ties with Ye, who had developed a hugely lucrative clothing and apparel partnership with the company.

    “Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech,” the company said in a statement Tuesday. “Ye’s recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and they violate the company’s values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness.”

    As part of its statement, Adidas said it would lose roughly $250 million this year in net income as a result of breaking away from its partnership with Ye, but that doing so was necessary in the wake of antisemitic comments he has made in recent weeks.

    Ye has made controversial remarks in the past on a variety of issues, including on slavery and COVID-19 vaccines. Earlier this month, Ye posted on Twitter that he would soon go “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE,” an apparent reference to the U.S. defense readiness condition scale known as DEFCON. He was suspended from both Twitter and Instagram.

    His recent string of antisemitic comments have caused several companies to break ties with the rapper or his various business lines. Creative Artists Agency, Balenciaga, Gap and Foot Locker were among others who have ended their partnerships with him.

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