NBA Championship
Bill Russell, Celtics Center Who Transformed Pro Basketball, Dies at 88
At McClymonds High School in Oakland, Russell became a starter on the basketball team as a senior, already emphasizing defense and rebounding. A former basketball player for the University of San Francisco, Hal DeJulio, who scouted for his alma mater, recognized Russell’s potential and recommended him to the coach, Phil Woolpert. Russell was given a […]
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Stephen Curry’s Golden State Is the NBA’s Newest Dynasty
BOSTON — The N.B.A.’s dynasties share certain commonalities that have helped them tip the scales from being run-of-the-mill championship teams to those remembered for decades. Among them: Each has had a generational player in contention for Mount Rushmore at his position. The 1980s had Larry Bird’s Boston Celtics battling Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s Los […]
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Stephen Curry Left His Critics With Nothing Else to Say
BOSTON — A few seconds remained in Stephen Curry’s N.B.A. season when he spotted his father, Dell, sitting along one of the baselines. He went over to embrace him, then fell to the court in tears. “Surreal,” Curry said. “I just wanted to take in the moment because it was that special.” Over six games […]
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NBA Finals Game 6 Preview: What’s at Stake for Boston and Golden State
The Boston Celtics are in dire straits after losing to Golden State on Monday in Game 5 of the N.B.A. finals, leaving them in a 3-2 deficit as the series shifts to Boston on Thursday. Teams with 3-2 leads in best-of-seven N.B.A. finals have won the championship 39 of 48 times — 81.3 percent. Some […]
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The Boston Celtics Have Faced Elimination, but Not Like This
SAN FRANCISCO — Jayson Tatum offered a resigned chuckle when he was asked about the Boston Celtics’ confidence level after losing Game 5 of the N.B.A. finals. If any nihilistic thoughts tormented him after a game in which he scored 27 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in a losing effort against Golden State, he suppressed […]
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The Celtics Stopped Stephen Curry. Everyone Else Made Them Pay.
SAN FRANCISCO — Inside a gleaming arena experiencing its first N.B.A. finals run, fans stood and cheered as the game’s final minute approached, perhaps the last home send-off they would get to give before Golden State returned as champion. Stephen Curry sat on the bench for the last 1 minute 19 seconds of Game 5 […]
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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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Celtics Gain NBA Finals Edge on Golden State With Physical Play
In Game 3, the Celtics reclaimed that edge. “We had to,” Smart said of the physicality with which Boston dominated Golden State. “Game 2, they brought the heat to us. For us, that left a bad taste in our mouth because what we hang our hat on is effort on the defensive end and being […]
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These Are Not Larry Bird’s Celtics. And That’s Just Fine.
When Bill Walton revived and concluded his N.B.A. career with the Boston Celtics, he devised a plan on game nights to beat the city’s notoriously gridlocked traffic: He rode the subway to work. Picture a towering, unmistakable redhead, 6-foot-11, boarding the T, as it is known in Boston, at the Harvard station. Walton lived nearby […]
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