Durant, Kevin
The Brooklyn Nets Have So Much Talent but So Little Charm
I watched the Nets play in Brooklyn last week, and a Boston Celtics home game broke out. “M-V-P, M-V-P, M-V-P!” rang the chants, aimed not at one of the Nets but at Jayson Tatum, Boston’s feather-touch, do-it-all forward, as he toed the free-throw line in the fourth quarter of what became a runaway victory for […]
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Measuring Up to Wilt Chamberlain May Take More Than Stats
When Luka Doncic, Dallas’s 6-foot-7 do-everything Slovenian import, strafed the Knicks for 60 points, 21 rebounds and 10 assists in a comeback overtime victory late last month, commentators breathlessly noted that no one, not even Wilt, had ever posted such a line. Walt Frazier, the Hall of Fame guard who broadcasts Knicks games and once […]
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Kevin Durant Asks to Be Traded From the Nets
The Nets’ latest foray into the world of superteams might be over. Kevin Durant, a 12-time N.B.A. All-Star, has requested a trade, and the Nets have given him permission to find a trade partner, Rich Kleiman, Durant’s business manager, told ESPN. Durant’s request came three days after Kyrie Irving decided to opt into the final […]
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Stephen Curry Is More Human, and Brilliant, Than Ever
BOSTON — Stephen Curry was demoralizing the Celtics when he decided to improvise. After he dribbled to spin past Marcus Smart, who happens to be one of the N.B.A.’s most ferocious defenders, Curry found himself sizing up Robert Williams, a 6-foot-9 center whose sneakers might as well have been filled with concrete. Curry took a […]
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Bucks’ Physical Play Makes Celtics Suddenly Look Average
The task of stopping a player like Giannis Antetokounmpo — has there ever been a player like Giannis Antetokounmpo? — represents something of a collaborative quagmire. You need a player at once big and strong and nimble enough to stay in front of him. You need others, preferably long-armed men, pestering him with their hands […]
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The Nets and the Lakers Did Not Win. But Superteams Never Die.
The game was over, and the crowd at Barclays Center was chanting “M-V-P.” The fans wore N.B.A. jerseys in all of the team’s colors, and their star raised his arms to acknowledge their praise. But Kyrie Irving was already headed to the locker room. So, too, was Kevin Durant. Ben Simmons wasn’t even in the […]
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The Nets Need a Miracle. Or Two. Or Three. Or Four.
As an unmistakable feeling of desperation closed in on the Nets, Coach Steve Nash reached toward the deepest recesses of his bench on Saturday and summoned a former star in twilight. Blake Griffin shed his warm-ups, along with some cobwebs, and reported to the scorer’s table. Griffin, 33, has a bum ankle and a surgically […]
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The Nets May Be in Trouble. But They Still Have Kevin Durant.
BOSTON — Kevin Durant had no room. He admitted as much. Whenever he had the ball against the Celtics on Wednesday night, and even when he did not, defenders were crowding his space, shadowing him, draping themselves all over him like Saran wrap. They were on the perimeter, and in the paint, and at the […]
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Boston Celtics Buzzer-Beater Takes Down Kyrie Irving and the Nets
BOSTON — There was a time when Celtics fans were excited about Kyrie Irving. They can recall the summer of 2017, when Irving forced his way out of Cleveland and landed in Boston, where he delighted in the Celtics’ illustrious past and pledged to do what he could to help the team win. But over […]
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