Newspaper & online reporters and analysts explore the cultural and news stories of the week, with photos frequently added by Esco20, and reveal their significance (with a slant towards Esco 20's opinions)
Former Oakland Raiders coach John Madden practices the electronic charting device telestrator on Jan. 21, 1982, for the Super Bowl broadcast on CBS. Madden, the Hall of Fame coach turned broadcaster, died Tuesday morning.
AP
John Madden, the larger-than-life Hall of Fame coach turned legendary NFL broadcaster, died Tuesday at the age of 85.
Madden died unexpectedly, the NFL announced. The league offered no other details on his death.
"Nobody loved football more than Coach. He was football. He was an incredible sounding board to me and so many others," NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. "There will never be another John Madden, and we will forever be indebted to him for all he did to make football and the NFL what it is today."
For 10 seasons, Madden led the Oakland Raiders as head coach, bringing the franchise its first championship, against the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl XI.
His skill and knowledge as a head coach was reflected in his winning record. He never had a losing season during his head coaching career. He was also the youngest coach in NFL history to pass the 100-win mark at the age of 42, and he remains the winningest coach in Raiders franchise history.
"The Raiders Family is deeply saddened by the passing of the legendary John Madden," the Raiders said in a statement. "Few individuals meant as much to the growth and popularity of professional football as Coach Madden, whose impact on the game both on and off the field was immeasurable."
After his coaching career, Madden became a household name as a sports broadcaster –- analyzing NFL games for Americans at home, and making the audience laugh, with his use of the telestrator. It was this role that linked Madden's name to the NFL and made him an icon. From 1979 to 2009 and for four different networks, Madden filled living rooms with lively commentary interspersed with sudden outbursts of "Boom!" when explaining a play.
Madden used this icon status to his benefit. He became the face for restaurants, beer and the eponymous Madden NFL Football –- one of the most popular sports video games ever.
"Today, we lost a hero. John Madden was synonymous with the sport of football for more than 50 years," EA Sports, the company behind the long-running Madden franchise, said in a statement. "His knowledge of the game was second only to his love for it, and his appreciation for everyone that stepped on the gridiron. A humble champion, a willing teacher, and forever a coach. Our hearts and sympathies go out to John's family, friends, and millions of fans. He will be greatly missed, always remembered, and never forgotten."
It had to be one or the other. But as great as LeBron James has been, Curry had the edge in one major way: He changed the game.
Stephen Curry shooting as LeBron James tries to defend in Game 1 of the 2018 N.B.A. finals. Curry’s Warriors won the championship, their third of the decade.Credit...Kyle Terada/USA Today Sports, via Reuters
By Shauntel Lowe Published Dec. 25, 2019Updated Oct. 19, 2021
The New York Times is reflecting on the past decade in the N.B.A., which has evolved perhaps more than any other major sports league.
The choice for the N.B.A.’s player of the decade came down to just two superstars — Stephen Curry and LeBron James. Which of the two should it be?
After all, if it wasn’t Curry holding a championship trophy in recent years, the expectation was that it would be James instead. Nine of the decade’s N.B.A. finals featured at least one of them, and their teams claimed six of the championships. They won half of the past decade’s Most Valuable Player Awards. If one of them wasn’t on national television on a given night, then the other one was. With the previous generation’s biggest stars fading, they boldly staked their claim to the spotlight.
But when it came to picking the player of the decade, our writers’ decisions were pretty clear. The Case for LeBron James
James as a member of the Miami Heat in the playoffs of 2012, when he won his first title.Credit...Andrew Innerarity/Reuters
VICTOR MATHER
Senior staff editor and reporter
Let’s see: the most points in the decade, the most field goals, the top rating in most advanced stats, the most Most Valuable Player awards (three), the most finals M.V.P. awards (three). LeBron James even led the decade in minutes played.
Or you could be a contrarian and choose, maybe, the blocks-per-minute leader, JaVale McGee. Probably not the right pick, though.
SCOTT CACCIOLA
Sports reporter
Three N.B.A. championships, including the first for the city of Cleveland. Three more M.V.P.s to go with the one he won last decade. More highlight-reel dunks and chase-down blocks and signature moments than any of his peers (no offense, Steph).
But beyond merely being the most dominant player of the decade, James was the figure around whom the rest of the league orbited. For potential title contenders, his presence — in Miami, in Cleveland, in Los Angeles — figured into every calculation other teams made. Which players could they acquire to help vanquish the King? Which picks could they package to trade for more depth, more star power, more scoring and defense?
Now in his 17th season, and on the cusp of a new decade, James is still going strong, positioning the Lakers for their first deep playoff run since the days of Kobe Bryant. Staggering but true: James’s greatest feat may still be ahead of him.
The Landslide for Stephen Curry
HARVEY ARATON
Hall of Fame sportswriter
Stephen Curry. Heresy, right? Maybe not. Curry’s impact on the way N.B.A. games are played now — from deep and deeper — has been more profound than James’s impact, though the King was unquestionably the decade’s best overall player and biggest newsmaker.
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Just for the record, Curry was a two-time M.V.P., won as many titles (three) as James — all against James’s team — and was the most dynamic talent for a Warriors team that set the record (73) for most games won in a season. He was the most breathtaking long-distance dialer of a far-out decade.
MARC STEIN
MARC STEIN
Hall of Fame sports reporter
This one is impossible. LeBron took his Miami and Cleveland teams to eight consecutive N.B.A. finals and ushered in the player-empowerment era with “The Decision” in 2010 — followed by two more landscape-altering free agencies — when he returned to the Cavaliers in 2014 and then bolted to the Lakers in 2018. Stephen Curry rewrote the boundaries of acceptable shooting distance as the 3-pointer became this sport’s weapon of prominence, and he served as the face of a team that went to five consecutive finals and won three championships.
A tie is the fairest result here, but I grudgingly concede that ties aren’t allowed. So I’m going with Steph, as the starriest force most synonymous with the Team of the Decade, by the narrowest of margins.
The panelists’ verdict: Curry defined the last decade.
Ben Margot/Associated Press
KEVIN DRAPER
Sports business reporter
LeBron James was undoubtedly the best player of the decade, but Stephen Curry defined it. Writing about the 3-point revolution has become stale and trite, but Curry really did change the game. It was not all that long ago that shooting pull-up 3s, or shooting from more than a foot or two behind the arc, was verboten. But Curry and the Warriors redefined what needed to be defended, warping and breaking defensive schemes in the process.
Oh, and he also won three championships, two M.V.P.’s and led the Warriors to the best regular-season ever in 2015-16. Let’s not talk about what happened next.
SHAUNTEL LOWE
N.B.A. editor
It feels weird not to pick LeBron James here, what with him being the best player in the world and all, but Stephen Curry was the defining player of this decade. No one changed basketball the way he did, and no one captivated the world as he did. Suddenly, here was a player for whom there was no such thing as a bad shot. That’s not true for anyone besides Curry. He’s the one.
Stephen Curry won three championships with the Warriors in the 2010s.Credit...Cary Edmondson/USA Today Sports, via Reuters
BENJAMIN HOFFMAN
Senior staff editor
Try to imagine Stephen Curry playing in any other decade.
The record for 3-pointers in a season when Curry joined the N.B.A. in the 2009-10 season was 269 by Ray Allen, and only 21 players had ever topped 200. In the 11 seasons since, Curry has topped Allen’s record five times, setting a potentially unbreakable record of 402 in 2015-16.
But Curry didn’t benefit from this era — he created it. Before him, it was unheard of to ignore the shot clock and hoist 30-footers off the dribble with ease. And even though he has his share of imitators (Damian Lillard, Trae Young, etc.), no one has mastered the art nearly as well.
Curry was at the heart of the decade’s best team, winning three titles in a five-year period of total dominance, and his size and smile helped him become the face of the N.B.A. for a new generation of fans.
The Golden State superstar passed Ray Allen for the top-spot on the career 3-pointer list. And he did it in 511 fewer games.
Golden State’s Stephen Curry broke Ray Allen’s career record for regular-season 3-pointers during the first quarter of a game against the Knicks on Tuesday.Credit...Mary Altaffer/Associated Press
By Scott Cacciola Published Dec. 14, 2021Updated Dec. 21, 2021
It takes about a second and a half from the moment Stephen Curry releases the basketball until it reaches the hoop more than 22 feet away, a flicker of time that somehow feels frozen for an expectant crowd, for his defenders and teammates, for television viewers and front office executives.
“Emotionally, he’ll take you on a journey,” said Bob Myers, the general manager of the Golden State Warriors. “And I’m not sure that exists for other players. It’s something to behold.”
For 13 N.B.A. seasons, Curry has been cluttering box scores for Golden State, and on Tuesday, he became the N.B.A.’s most prolific 3-point shooter when he sailed past Ray Allen’s career record. The record-tying and record-breaking shots came early in the first quarter of a game against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden, with Allen in attendance and the crowd buzzing every time Curry touched the ball.
In the process, Curry continues to refashion the 3-point line as his personal canvas, and with each week that passes, his record-setting total will grow: 2,977 career 3-pointers and counting in 789 games. Allen’s previous record had come in 1,300 games.
But beyond the gluttonous numbers is the artistry of an athlete capable of producing jolts of electricity whenever he lines up a long-distance jumper.
“You can feel the frenetic kind of energy that he generates,” said Bruce Fraser, one of Golden State’s assistants. “And when he really gets going, you can see the ball spinning a little faster coming out of his hands, and the arc of his shot — it’s almost like a meteor shower. It’s a storm in the sky. And I’ve never felt that from anyone else.”
Curry’s latest milestone comes as Golden State continues to stage its renaissance after having stumbled through the wilderness of two listless, injury-riddled seasons — struggles that made a onetime superpower appear mortal after five straight appearances in the N.B.A. finals, including three championship victories over LeBron James’s Cleveland Cavaliers.
Curry has seldom, if ever, been more of a sensation. After he made nine 3-pointers and scored 40 points in a lopsided victory last month, he was serenaded with “M.V.P.” chants — which was no big deal, except that Curry was in Cleveland.
“When 30 got going, he got going,” the Cavaliers’ Darius Garland told reporters, referring to Curry’s uniform number. “Nothing else you can really say.”
“When 30 got going, he got going,” the Cavaliers’ Darius Garland told reporters, referring to Curry’s uniform number. “Nothing else you can really say.”
That is debatable. Over the course of a recent 15-minute telephone interview, Myers compared Curry to art by Rembrandt and Picasso, the Hall of Fame baseball player Ken Griffey Jr., and the Golden Gate Bridge.
Image Curry was embraced by his father, Dell, shortly after setting the record. Dell was a sharpshooter as well, hitting 1,245 3-pointers in his 16-season career.Credit...Mary Altaffer/Associated Press
Hyperbole from a member of the same organization? Perhaps. Then again, Allen Iverson has described Curry as one of his favorite players, Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal routinely use the adjective “Stephortless,” and social media spirals toward chaos whenever Curry goes on one of his molten flurries.
Why? Because Curry does not merely shoot 3-pointers. No, he makes them with three defenders draped all over him like a cheap tablecloth. He beats buzzers and crushes hope. He drains 3s on the run and from the general vicinity of the food court. He smiles and dances and points and preens, turning each field-goal attempt into a telenovela.
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“He’s a master at what he does,” said the Nets’ Kevin Durant, a former teammate.
After Curry broke Allen’s record on Tuesday, the two embraced.
“I pride myself on shooting a high percentage,” Curry said. “I pride myself on that helping us win games. Now, I can pride myself on the longevity of getting to that number Ray set, hopefully pushing it to a number nobody can reach. I never wanted to call myself the greatest shooter until I got that record. I’m comfortable saying that now.”
Fred Kast, who spent 57 years as the Warriors’ official scorer before he retired last season, was the person responsible for documenting all of the 3-pointers that Curry made at home games. Kast, 82, took his job seriously, which meant that he tried hard to block out the emotion of the crowd whenever Curry started doing Curry things.
Image “You can feel the frenetic kind of energy that he generates,” said Bruce Fraser, a Golden State assistant who helps Curry perfect his craft.Credit...Jeff Chiu/Associated Press
Now, as a fan watching the games from his couch, Kast has a bit of a different perspective. Because he can focus entirely on the action, his appreciation for Curry has only grown.
“You find it surprising when he does what most players do with far more frequency,” Kast said, “which is miss.”
Curry does have off nights. In a recent loss to the San Antonio Spurs, he shot 7 of 28 from the field and 5 of 17 from 3-point range. He showed up at practice the next day looking particularly determined, Fraser said. Curry concluded his workout the same way he always does: by attempting 100 3-pointers.
“He made 93 of them,” said Fraser, who feeds Curry the ball as he moves around the perimeter.
A friend recently asked Fraser how many passes he had thrown to Curry over the past eight seasons (without getting credited with any assists). Had it topped 100,000? At first, that total sounded absurd to Fraser, who joined Golden State before the start of the 2014-15 season, but then he crunched the numbers. As a part of his post-practice work, Curry typically takes between 300 to 500 jumpers. And there are morning shootarounds. And pregame warm-ups. The total, Fraser said, works out to nearly 200,000 passes — each season.
“So I’m at well over a million,” Fraser said.
At the same time, there is an Everyman aspect to Curry, said Rick Welts, who retired as the Golden State’s president after last season. Curry’s size — he is listed at 6-foot-2 and 185 pounds, which is almost Lilliputian by N.B.A. standards — makes him more identifiable to fans, Welts said. And while players like LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo cram games with high-flying feats, Curry has elevated the humble jump shot into something special.
“I can’t relate to what it feels like when Giannis dunks a ball,” Welts said. “But I can go out in my driveway right now and at least get a sense of what it feels like when Steph makes that shot.”
Fellow 3-point shooters, past and present, say they take vicarious pleasure in Curry’s pyrotechnics. They know what it feels like to shed a defender, find the 3-point line and let the ball fly.
“It’s an adrenaline rush every time,” said Chelsie Schweers, 32, who set the record for career 3-pointers among Division III women’s players during her career at Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Va. “There’s nothing like draining a step-back jumper. It’s my favorite thing on Earth.”
Schweers, who made 415 3-pointers at Christopher Newport while shooting 46.1 percent from deep, has considered Curry her favorite player since he was emerging as a mid-major college star down the road at Davidson. At 5-foot-7, Schweers said she could relate to Curry since they were both relatively undersized. And they both could shoot.
“He just brings so much joy,” said Schweers, who has spent the past 10 years playing overseas, most recently in Portugal.
In 2004, ahead of his senior year of high school, John Grotberg went on a recruiting visit to Davidson. But after he sustained a knee injury, Grotberg opted to go the Division III route and enrolled at Grinnell College in Iowa. It turned out for the best: Grotberg wound up making more 3-pointers than any men’s player in N.C.A.A. history, and the backcourt at Davidson would have been crowded.
“Steph was a year behind me,” Grotberg said.
Grotberg, 34, went on to play in Europe before he studied medicine at Yale, and is now a physician in St. Louis. Now more than ever, Grotberg said, he appreciates his tangential connection to Curry, citing the 3-point record that he still owns, he said, only because Curry left Davidson a year early for the N.B.A.
Grotberg continues to marvel, along with countless other basketball fans, at how Curry has transformed the game by stretching the court beyond comprehension. For a shooter, it is the stuff of dreams.
“You get into this repetition where your body knows what to do,” Grotberg said, “and all you need to do is find the space to do it.”
Curry has spent the past 13 seasons carving out that space. Now, on a stage of his own creation, he is there alone.
SAN FRANCISCO — Three hours and 19 minutes into the best game in recent memory, a heavyweight bout in which both teams probably deserved the championship belt, a winner-take-all affair thatlived up to the hype heaped upon itfor the past two days, the visiting bullpen door at Oracle Park slammed open.
Dodgers first baseman Matt Beaty, who had grounded into the final out of the top of the ninth inning, knelt in the dirt, his headfirst slide barely finished. The Giants defenders jogged into their dugout. The Dodgers defenders gathered their gloves in theirs.
Max Scherzer waited for none of them. He rocketed through the outfield and onto the pitcher’s mound, a place he had spent some 500 hours, in March and April and May and June and July and August and September and October. Scherzer, 37, had thrown 2,660 major league innings, between the regular season and the playoffs, across 14 years and four teams. Only five other active pitchers have thrown more. None has entered in the ninth inning to record a save.
“You gotta want to be in that situation,” he said afterward, his hair reeking from the champagne his teammates had sprayed on him after he closed out the win. “The ball was coming to me. I had to take the ball. I had to go out there with everything I got, ready to run through them. Gotta be mentally locked. Nothing was gonna stop me from winning that game. You gotta believe in yourself that you got what it takes to execute pitches in those situations, to not be overcooked. So I just wanted to get there as fast as possible.”
He had jogged to the bullpen after the top of the fourth inning, then spent the next four frames stalking around, trying to keep his legs loose. He knew his arm would be strong. He knew his brain could handle the pressure. But he was worried about those legs.
He watched as 24-year-old Logan Webb, the youngest pitcher in San Francisco history to start a winner-take-all game, mowed down the most fearsome lineup in the league, just as he had done six days earlier. Inning after inning, he baffled L.A. with a repertoire straight out of 2014—changeups to his armside, sliders to his gloveside, two-seamers in the middle. Over seven dazzling innings, he induced as many weak grounders to himself (four) as he allowed hits.
But one of those hits was a sixth-inning single by Mookie Betts, who went 4-for-4 and became the only Dodger to solve Webb. Another was a double by the next batter, Corey Seager, that scored Betts. The Giants answered with a Darin Ruf home run in the bottom of the frame, and Webb got through the seventh.
Scherzer did the math. The Dodgers had originally planned to start lefty Julio UrÃas but announced before the game that they would use an opener, righty Corey Knebel, instead, in an effort to force the Giants into a suboptimal lineup. Knebel pitched one inning, as did righty Brusdar Graterol. UrÃas got them through the sixth. Roberts brought in the reliever with the best pure stuff, righty Blake Treinen, but he did not double-switch him into the game. Treinen blew through San Francisco on 12 pitches, but his spot came up second in the batting order in the next inning, so Roberts pinch-hit for him and ended his night. In came closer Kenley Jansen, who pitched a perfect eighth.
For days Roberts had been insisting that Scherzer would be a spectator for Game 5. The ace had started the wild-card game, then thrown 110 pitches in Game 3 of the NLDS, which the Dodgers lost 1–0.
“Right now I will say he's unavailable,” Roberts said after the Dodgers won Game 4. “But I've been known to change my mind, so we'll see.”
Scherzer changed Roberts’s mind. Before the series he had offered to pitch in relief in Game 2 on short rest and then start Game 4. The Los Angeles front office dismissed that idea. But after Game 3, he skipped his normal bullpen session and his upper-body weightlifting workout. When he arrived at Oracle Park on Thursday, he played catch, then informed the coaching staff that he was “hot and ready to go,” he said.
“I don’t think our ‘A’ plan was to go to him,” said president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman. “Our ‘A’ plan was to be able to avoid him.”
They had hoped to use Jansen for six outs. But L.A. scored the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth. That rally brought the pitcher’s spot to the plate with two on and two outs, so Roberts pinch-hit Beaty.
Neville E. Guard/USA TODAY Sports
Scherzer waited behind the bullpen door. It’s going to be deafening, he reminded himself. You won’t be able to hear or think. Use that energy to your advantage—but don’t overthrow. Stay within yourself.
He found himself unable to describe that run from the bullpen. He settled on, “Man, what a feeling,” and added, “It’d be fun to be a closer.”
The warmup was different. The stakes were different. The run in was different. But he got there and found that the mound was the same. He could fire his 96-mph four-seamer, his biting slider, his deceptive cutter.
Still, he was not happy with every pitch he threw. “I got away with a couple,” he said. “A couple of those cutters on the back side, they weren't even supposed to be there, so sometimes the baseball gods are good.”
They are Dodgers fans, if the last out was any indication. With two outs and a runner on first, Wilmer Flores strode to the plate. He took a slider in the heart of the zone for strike one. He fouled off a four-seamer. The third pitch was another slider, low and away. Replays showed that Flores did not swing at it. The Giants said they did not think Flores swung at it. Betts said that he did not think Flores swung at it. Roberts said that he “tried to sell it.”
Home plate umpire Doug Eddings appealed to first base umpire Gabe Morales. Morales closed his hand into a fist. Out. He declined to say afterward whether he regretted his call.
It was a disappointing ending to a series that showcased baseball at its best. The Giants won 107 games during the regular season. The Dodgers won 106. San Francisco won 10 of their meetings. Los Angeles won nine. The teams were separated by two runs during those games. This series went the distance, and nearly went to extra innings. It had everything except Games 6 and 7.
Scherzer, who recorded his first career save, was not interested in the fairness or unfairness of the outcome. He got here at the trade deadline, when the tailspinning Nationals swapped him and shortstop Trea Turner for prospects. They have no particular attachment to Los Angeles or dislike for San Francisco. They just want to win, because winning is fun. “I knew I just needed to execute a slider down in that situation,” Scherzer said. “I got it, and just looked down to first base and saw the call that he went. That's all.”
He is not haunted by the same demons that defined Clayton Kershaw’s postseason career until the Dodgers won a championship last year. But Scherzer has hung his head a few times in October, too. Five times Scherzer has faltered in the game that bounced his team from the playoffs. Perhaps his most notable postseason relief outing came in Game 5 of the 2017 NLDS, against the Cubs, when he entered with a one-run lead, got two outs and then endured one of the more frustrating sequences of his career: single, single, double, intentional walk, strikeout but passed ball, error, catcher’s interference, hit by pitch. The Nationals lost 9–8. He called it “a gut punch.”
The emotions were different on Thursday. The stage was smaller. Two more series still loom, beginning with the NLCS against Atlanta, if this team is to repeat. COVID-19 regulations prevented much of the revelry from 2019, although festivities of some kind certainly awaited at the team’s hotel. “I like to party,” Scherzer said. “I’m not gonna lie. I like to party. Play hard, party hard.”
But for a moment, he celebrated quietly. His toddler daughters, Brooklyn and Kacey, chased one another around the infield. Seagulls soared across the outfield. And Scherzer stood alone, champagne goggles pushed onto his forehead, on the mound.
June 21, 2021
SCOTUS rules against the NCAA
Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
For years, NCAA athletes have been unable to profit from the benefits their star power generates for their colleges. A new Supreme Court ruling found that the policy violates antitrust law, a landmark decision in an ongoing fight for student-athletes' rights. [WSJ / Brett Kendall and Louise Radnofsky]
In a rare 9-0 ruling, the Court found that the NCAA’s rule denying colleges the ability to provide education-related benefits to men’s and women’s basketball players and football players violated antitrust laws, forming a monopoly in which individual schools and conferences could not attract players through such benefits. [ESPN]
As a result of the ruling, the NCAA cannot ban schools from offering scholarships, internships, or educational equipment such as computers. A conference or school could still set policies banning such practices, but those schools would then be at a disadvantage when competing for the commitment of a player. [Washington Post / Robert Barnes]
In the majority opinion, Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote that the NCAA was engaging in “horizontal price fixing in a market where the defendants exercise monopoly control,” and then asking for an exception to the Sherman antitrust laws that such a practice violates. [CNBC / Tucker Higgins]
In a concurring opinion, Justice Brett Kavanaugh went even further in describing the NCAA’s violations, opening the door for a wider legal argument that could be used when the issue of student-athlete pay comes up. He rejected the NCAA's claim that its entire product is defined by the notion that its workers do not earn a fair market rate. [CNN / Ariane de Vogue and Chandelis Duster]
Meanwhile, the issue of whether to pay any student-athlete whose name, image, or likeness is used in universities’ promotional content is tantamount to a different court case, which asks for the NCAA’s rule to be rejected and for damages based on the compensation athletes would have received. [USA Today / Steve Berkowitz]
More than a dozen states have already passed laws that allow student-athletes to be paid for the use of their name, image, or likeness from other sources, seven of which go into effect in July. Though they could still face NCAA penalties for doing so, the current legislative and judiciary environment makes a rule change, either by choice or by law, possible. [NBC News / Pete Williams]
Elated fans streaming out of MSG on Wednesday night JAKE OFFENHARTZ/GOTHAMIST
The New York Knicks notched their first playoff victory in more than eight years on Wednesday night, a bruising home-court triumph over the Atlanta Hawks that sent thousands of long-deprived fans parading onto Seventh Avenue.
The 101-92 game, which the Knicks trailed for most of the night, evened the first round series at 1-1. Derrick Rose led the way with 26 points off the bench, and Reggie Bullock kicked in some key three-pointers and much-needed defense on Hawks star Trae Young, who has relished his role as the NBA's "newest villain" this week.
As the Knicks pulled ahead, an electrifying dunk by rookie — and Brooklyn native — Obi Toppin brought the roaring Madison Square Garden faithful to their feet. For the first time in recent memory, the world's most famous arena shook under the weight of jubilant Knicks fans witnessing playoff success.
"It's amazing," Knicks leader Julius Randle, who's struggled in both games, said in an on-court interview. "You guys pushed us through the whole game."
(That was far from the only lousy fan behavior on display this week as more people returned to arenas. On Wednesday night, a Philadelphia 76ers fan dumped popcorn on Russell Westbrook as he exited a game with an injury; earlier in the day, Brooklyn Nets point guard Kyrie Irving warned of "subtle racism" from Boston Celtics fans.)
There were 15,000 people — 90% of them vaccinated — on hand for Wednesday night's sold-out playoff game at the Garden, seemingly all of whom spilled out onto Seventh Avenue in the aftermath to salute their heroes.
The raucous crowd moshed and swayed from scaffolding, eliciting supportive honks from passing cab drivers. They chanted hopefully about a future match-up against the Brooklyn Nets — a scenario that would require closing out the series against the Hawks, then (most likely) upsetting the formidable 76ers.
But for a brief moment in the sticky Manhattan night, all of the frustrations and routine disappointments that have for so long defined Knicks fandom seemed to melt away.
Stephen Curry shooting as LeBron James tries to defend in Game 1 of the 2018 N.B.A. finals. Curry’s Warriors won the championship, their third of the decade.Credit...Kyle Terada/USA Today Sports, via Reuters
James as a member of the Miami Heat in the playoffs of 2012, when he won his first title.Credit...Andrew Innerarity/Reuters
The panelists’ verdict: Curry defined the last decade.
Stephen Curry won three championships with the Warriors in the 2010s.Credit...Cary Edmondson/USA Today Sports, via Reuters
Curry was embraced by his father, Dell, shortly after setting the record. Dell was a sharpshooter as well, hitting 1,245 3-pointers in his 16-season career.Credit...Mary Altaffer/Associated Press
“You can feel the frenetic kind of energy that he generates,” said Bruce Fraser, a Golden State assistant who helps Curry perfect his craft.Credit...Jeff Chiu/Associated Press
