basketball

Alexander, who signed a two-way deal with the Jazz last week. was injured in game against Chicago Bulls.

Utah Jazz guard Trey Alexander was taken from the court on a stretcher after appearing to injure his side on a drive to the basket in an NBA Summer League game against the Chicago Bulls.

Alexander, who signed a two-way deal with Utah last week, made contact with the Bulls’ Caleb Wilson during Monday night’s match while driving towards the basket. After tossing the ball towards the hoop, he went behind the basket, clutching his side or abdomen. He then dropped to the ground, appearing to be in great pain.

The 23-year-old was taken from the Thomas & Mack Center court on a stretcher. The incident occurred with just more than two minutes left in the fourth quarter.

There was no immediate word from the Jazz on Alexander’s injury.

Alexander played three seasons at Creighton University and skipped his final year of eligibility to turn pro. The rookie of the year in the G League, the NBA’s minor league, for the 2024-2025 season played 24 games for the Denver Nuggets that same season and nine games for the New Orleans Pelicans last season.

Under his current contract, Alexander is to play for the Jazz and its G League affiliate, the Salt Lake City Stars.

The Sparks’ ownership made a major shift in direction on Sunday, firing general manager Raegan Pebley amid a lackluster season that has the team just below the WNBA playoff cutoff line and far from the title-contending form Pebley promised.

Assistant general managers Zach Knowlton and Nate Nielsen will split interim GM duties, the team announced.

“We are grateful to Raegan for her leadership and commitment to the Los Angeles Sparks and women’s basketball,” Sparks managing partner and governor Eric Holoman said in a statement. “Her work on the Sparks roster and player experience will have a lasting positive impact on our organization. We sincerely thank her for all she has invested in the Sparks and wish her success in her next chapter.”

The Sparks (10-11) sit in ninth place in the WNBA standings, one removed from the last playoff spot. The team is coming off back-to-back wins over the Chicago Sky and Indiana Fever, which followed a three-game losing streak.

“There is a united vision from ownership to leadership, and then I think it’s discipline,” Pebley told The Times in an interview before Friday’s game. “I think you can make a lot of mistakes if you use recency bias, and if you become really reactionary. We want to respond to the things that we’re seeing that we want to grow in, but we don’t want to just demonstrate a lack of discipline and quickly react that way.”

The Sparks have won three WNBA titles, the most recent in 2016, but the franchise has not made the playoffs since 2020.

Leading scorer Kelsey Plum has missed two long stretches because of injuries, but the biggest headache for the team for much of the season has been its poor defense.

Under Pebley’s direction, the Sparks hired coach Lynne Roberts and acquired Plum and Nneka Ogwumike, a former most valuable player with the team. Roberts, however, had been the coach at the University of Utah and had no WNBA experience. Despite the team’s struggles, Pebley gave Roberts a vote of confidence on Friday.

Sparks general manager Raegan Pebley, left, speaks during a news conference introducing new guard Kelsey Plum, center. They are joined by Sparks coach Lynne Roberts.

(Ringo Chiu/For The Los Angeles Times)

“She has been all we were looking for and more,” Pebley said. “We wanted someone who had that emotional regulation; she stays neutral. I think the days of a tyrant head coach are over.”

The Sparks’ offseason personnel moves included trading popular first-round draft pick Rickea Jackson to make the roster older, one that Pebley said could better position the team for a title run.

“Loved having her here … she’ll be successful wherever she goes,” Pebley said of Jackson shortly after the trade. “But we’re focused on winning a championship and finding that fit and balance and getting all those pieces locked in with each other.”

Pebley’s other moves included trading the No. 2 pick in the 2025 draft, which became Seattle center Dominique Malonga, for Plum, and trading the Sparks’ first-round pick this year, which became third overall selection Awa Fam, for Kia Nurse and the No. 4 pick in 2024, which the Sparks used to select Jackson.

Instead of demonstrating marked improvement, the Sparks have struggled with consistency, at times showing their potential, as in a win at Las Vegas, a dramatic come-from-behind win against New York on the league’s 30th anniversary and a defensive shutdown of Fever guard Caitlin Clark last week.

With the trade deadline less than a month away, Pebley had expressed excitement about the return of Plum and Cameron Brink.

“Knowing those two are going to be added into a group that’s continued to be able to get better in their absence,” she said, “I think we have a right to be optimistic.”

The franchise found itself in the middle of some controversy with reports that the Sparks were among more than half the players in the league who did not complete their All-Star starter ballots. The ballots were emailed to players, but they reportedly did not see them in time to vote. Plum was not named a starter despite leading the WNBA in scoring at the time votes were cast, although it’s unclear whether full player participation would have altered a decision calculated by combining player, fan and media votes.

“That’s something we take responsibility for as an organization, and we’ll have a more robust process going forward,” the Sparks said in a statement.

Soon afterward, the Sparks’ director of communications left the team.

The Sparks hired Pebley in January 2024 to help the former WNBA champions break out of their playoff drought.

A third-round pick by the Utah Starzz in the WNBA’s inaugural 1997 draft, Pebley was the coach at Utah State (2005 to 2012) and Fresno State (2012 to 2014) before a nine-year stint at Texas Christian, where she led the Horned Frogs to four WNIT appearances in her first five years before stepping down in 2023 as TCU finished 8-23. She was a TV analyst for the Dallas Wings from 2016 to 2023.

Victor Wemnanyama, the NBA’s tallest player, inked the third-largest rookie extension in history.

Hours after he told Spurs fans he was “here to stay”, Victor ⁠Wembanyama signed a ⁠multiyear contract extension with San Antonio that ESPN reported is for five years and $252m.

The deal, ⁠which is worth $50.4m per year, is the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) maximum rookie-scale extension and carries a player option ⁠for the fifth season.

“Spurs family, I’m here to stay,” Wembanyama tweeted Friday. “Whatever it takes.”

The Spurs, who did not confirm financial details, published photos and videos of Wembanyama inking his ‌contract.

Wembanyama has been viewed as one of the elite young players in the sport going back before the Spurs selected him No 1 overall in the 2023 NBA Draft.

The 7ft4in (2.24-metre) centre with an 8-ft (2.44-metre) wingspan has averaged 23.4 points, 11 rebounds, 3.5 assists ⁠and 3.5 blocks per game through ⁠three NBA seasons.

The Defensive Player of the Year and a first-time All-NBA first-team selection, Wembanyama finished third in Most Valuable Player (MVP) balloting this season ⁠after putting up career highs of 25.0 points and 11.5 rebounds per game.

He ⁠is a career 34.2% 3-point shooter ⁠who has made 2.2 triples per game, and he’s led the league in blocks in every season since his arrival.

The Spurs fell to ‌the New York Knicks in five games last month in Wembanyama’s first NBA Finals.

The current pieces around ‌him ‌include guards De’Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle, Devin Vassell and Dylan Harper, and the Spurs recently signed veteran forward Tobias Harris.

Continuing my summer observations looking back at memorable moments in covering high school sports since 1976, you can’t find a better, more beloved action-packed night than Feb. 24, 2017, at USC’s Galen Center when you got to see two great high school basketball games for the price of one in the Southern Section Open Division semifinals.

Anyone who was there remembers the long lines to get in, the sold-out crowd and drama involving Sierra Canyon against Bishop Montgomery and Mater Dei against Chino Hills.

Enjoy the memories from the video looking back.

In an unexpected move, Boston traded the All-Star guard to division rivals Philadelphia for Paul George and draft picks.

Jaylen Brown’s time in Boston has come to a surprising end with the Celtics deciding to trade him to one of their most storied rivals.

Brown – the 2024 NBA Finals MVP, a five-time All-Star and the league’s fourth-leading scorer this past season – is getting traded by the Celtics to the Philadelphia 76ers, a person with knowledge of the deal’s terms said on Wednesday night.

Boston is getting Paul George, along with a slew of draft capital that could become two first-round picks and two second-round picks, said the person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the trade does not yet have the required league approvals.

ESPN first reported the trade agreement, and the terms were later confirmed by The Boston Globe.

Brown latest NBA star to be traded, joins Antetokounmpo, Leonard

Add this news to the list of blockbuster moves across the NBA so far this off season.

LeBron James is leaving the Los Angeles Lakers as a free agent. All-Star-calibre players Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kawhi Leonard and Brandon Ingram are also on the move.

Now, this.

“Welcome to Philly, JB!” Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro posted on social media. “Sixers get way better and, as a bonus, the Celtics got worse!”

It’s a move that breaks up what has been one of the league’s most successful 1-2 punches in Brown and Jayson Tatum, who helped carry the Celtics to the 2024 NBA title.

Tatum missed most of this past season while recovering from an Achilles tear that happened during the 2025 playoffs, meaning Brown had to carry even more of the load for Boston – and he wound up with career-best averages of 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game.

It seemed, though, that Brown had felt underappreciated, especially after it became known that Boston had included him in trade talks with Milwaukee when Antetokounmpo was on the market.

“Nobody has won more combined regular-season and playoff games since I entered the league 10 years ago,” Brown posted on social media over the weekend. He’s right: The Celtics have won 523 games with Brown in the lineup, including playoff contests, which is six more than Denver has won with Nikola Jokic over that span.

Brown now gets to be part of a squad in Philadelphia alongside guard Tyrese Maxey and centre Joel Embiid, someone who Brown recently called a flopper on a livestream.

“Joel Embiid is a great player. One of the best bigs in f****** basketball history flops,” Brown said. “He know it. This ain’t breaking news.”

Brown, Maxey (the league’s fifth top scorer this past season) and Embiid (a two-time NBA scoring champion) could become a positively frightening trio in Philadelphia, and the Celtics deciding to play a role in creating such a triumvirate only adds to the intrigue surrounding why they wanted to trade Brown in the first place.

The trade ends a tremendously disappointing two-year stint for George, who was traded with two years left on a four-year, $212m free-agent contract. The 36-year-old never approached his nine-time All-Star form in Philadelphia, and his tenure was marred by a 25-game suspension last season for flunking a drug test.

He averaged just 16.7 points in his two seasons in Philadelphia after topping the 20-point mark in nine straight seasons with Indiana, Oklahoma City and the Los Angeles Clippers.

A MUCH-LOVED lido is launching its summer season tomorrow, with the popular swimming site now set to open daily.

The venue boasts multiple water flumes and a diving board, with visitors hailing it as “a fab day out”.

Aldershot Lido in Hampshire is fully reopening for its summer season from tomorrow.

Having welcomed families throughout June, the venue now hopes to attract even more visitors with the summer holidays coming up.

From tomorrow, the lido will open daily between 10am to 6pm, continuing until August 31.

Aldershot Lido welcomes tens of thousands of visitors annually to its outdoor pool, boasting a capacity of up to 3,000 swimmers.

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Opening in May 1930, Aldershot Lido was once reputed to be “the largest and finest open-air bathing pool in the country”, playing host to the London Olympics Games in 1948.

Spanning over nine acres, the site offers three water flumes and a diving board, alongside a toddler paddling pool and sandpit for the little ones.

For those wanting a workout, the facilities include a 75-metre pool with plenty of space for lane swimming, as well as a full-sized basketball court.

A wide range of food and drink vendors are on offer for refreshments, with lawn space surrounding the pool reserved for family picnics.

The lido’s popular Doggy Splash sessions will also return in September, giving local pups the chance to play in the outdoor pool before the end of the season.

Swimmers have raved about Aldershot Lido across the years, with one calling it a “fab day out”, and another saying it is “a lovely place for children”.

Karl Miles, Everyone Active regional contract manager, said: “The move to daily opening marks the start of our busiest and most exciting period of the year.

“Aldershot Lido offers a unique outdoor swimming experience and we are pleased to be providing residents and visitors with even more opportunities to enjoy everything the site has to offer this summer.”

Adults can enjoy the open air pool from just £12.50, with children’s tickets priced at £9.50 and those under three swimming for free.

Aldershot Lido will be open daily between 10am and 6pm from July 1 to August 31.

If only. If Rob Pelinka could use the Dodgers’ blueprint to renovate, Lakers fans wouldn’t even be sweating this summer.

But, you know. Baseballs and basketballs, apples and oranges.

The windup and sales pitch are the same, though: Deliver a sustainable, high-rising, championship build. On time and … about that budget. One team has none. The other’s is tight.

In baseball, they wear caps. In the NBA, they’re compelled to stay under them.

In baseball, they can swing freely (for now). In basketball, they’re hamstrung by aprons.

Ned Colletti had it easier, and he lasted only two relatively successful seasons in his role as Dodgers general manager after Mark Walter’s Guggenheim Baseball Management group bought the ballclub in 2012.

Pelinka has it tougher as the Lakers’ general manager and president of basketball operations. But like Colletti before him, with Walter having purchased the majority stake in the Lakers, Pelinka is going to have to crash the hourglass and build a winner with haste. Er, the winner.

If the Lakers lay anything but an 18th brick on their championship foundation in the next couple seasons, Pelinka’s story probably is going to go a lot like Colletti’s.

When free agency opens Tuesday, Pelinka is just going to have to show us how creative he can be, how clever and cunning.

He already hit a grand slam with the Luka Doncic trade in 2025. In one of the NBA’s all-time heists, Pelinka brought the then-25-year-old Slovenian superstar to L.A. from the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for essentially an aging and injury-prone Anthony Davis and just one first-round draft pick.

Before that, Pelinka hit another home run with Austin Reaves; a four-bagger so deep that Doncic’s undrafted backcourt-mate has now procured the proverbial bag. (Four years, $185 million worth of baggage to the Lakers.)

With those pillars cemented, Pelinka’s job is delivering the A-list center Doncic reportedly desires.

Lakers GM Rob Pelinka pulled off a blockbuster trade to acquire Slovenian superstar Luka Doncic. Can Pelinka build a winner around Doncic?

(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)

Doesn’t matter that all the perceivable candidates — from the Utah Jazz’s Walker Kessler to the New York Knicks’ Mitchell Robinson, the Milwaukee Bucks’ Myles Turner, the Detroit Pistons’ Jalen Duren, the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Jarrett Allen, the Mavericks’ Daniel Gafford, even old friend A.D. — sit on a spectrum of unlikely to unwise.

Still, the best plan: Make Doncic happy; make a run at Kessler.

He’s a 24-year-old, defensively adept big man who would be a great pickup, just hard to get. But whether it’s overpaying in restricted free agency or working out a sign-and-trade deal, pry him away from the Jazz.

After nailing down a center, Pelinka also needs to really hit on the margins. Because in the modern NBA, the marginal is major.

The current contenders have depth borne of seasons spent tanking and loading up in the draft on athletic, affordable young talent or, in the case of the recently crowned Knicks, having a leading man take $113 million less than he was eligible for, as Jalen Brunson effectively did, to be able to play with his best buds.

In L.A., the Lakers don’t really have the first option and shouldn’t ever expect the second.

But Pelinka doesn’t have to swing for the fences every time; he doesn’t need to wow us now, he needs to have wowed us later. Take swings like he did trading for Rui Hachimura or netting sharpshooter Luke Kennard.

Former Laker Pau Gasol, right, speaks with GM Rob Pelinka during a Lakers practice in 2025.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

No one bats 1.000, of course, not even Andrew Friedman, the architect of the Dodgers’ three World Series titles since taking over as president of baseball operations in 2014.

But for the Lakers’ potential $51 million of cap space, for all of this summer’s much-hyped optionality, Pelinka’s competitive new boss isn’t the type to forgive errors that are forever front of mind for the Lakers’ faithful.

Pelinka can’t strike out on free agent signees like Gabe Vincent and Kendrick Nunn. Can’t let someone like Alex Caruso walk. Can’t whiff on draftees like Dalton Knecht or Jalen Hood-Schifino — and better hope he hasn’t on this year’s selection, Cameron Carr, who fell to the Lakers at No. 24.

The wrinkle, this offseason: Last year’s Lakers — 41-year-old LeBron James, Hachimura, Kennard and, if he opts out, Marcus Smart — will be among the most attractive free agents on the market, and they’re proven fits for a team that reached the second round of the playoffs.

But merely re-signing those guys won’t improve the Lakers’ odds of getting past the Oklahoma City Thunder or San Antonio Spurs in the playoffs.

And simply outspending those teams isn’t an option, either. So Pelinka is going to have to go bargain hunting, he’s got to find some hidden gems, pull some tricks out of his sleeve. Surprise us, like great general managers are supposed to do.

This is Pelinka’s opportunity to show us his blueprint for bringing another title to Los Angeles, to build a case for himself.

Both players were on the floor when Thomas pushed her fist into Clark’s throat before getting up and stepping over her.

Phoenix Mercury star guard Alyssa Thomas has been given a flagrant foul 2 by the WNBA office and suspended one game for “recklessly making contact with her fist to the throat area” of Indiana Fever star guard Caitlin Clark during Wednesday’s game between the teams.

The incident occurred with 6:52 left in the second quarter of the Mercury’s 111-109 triumph over host Indiana. No foul was called.

Thomas will serve the suspension Saturday when the Phoenix visit the Toronto Tempo.

The WNBA office said it has the option to review games and “classify as flagrant any foul not called as such during a game.”

In this instance, Clark drove into the lane and fell on her side following contact with Phoenix defender Lexi Held. In the ensuing scramble for the ball, Thomas pushed her fist into Clark’s throat before getting up and stepping over Clark.

Fever coach Stephanie White was upset after the contest that Thomas wasn’t called for a foul.

“Number one, you’ve got to call it. It’s absolutely egregious and utterly disrespectful,” White said.

The teams also had played a testy contest two nights earlier in which a combined six technical fouls were called during Indiana’s 86-77 victory.

Thomas, 34, is a six-time All-Star. She is in her second season with the Mercury after playing 11 campaigns with the Connecticut Sun.

Thomas is averaging 14.7 points, 8.4 assists and 6.6 rebounds in 18 games this season.

Clark exited Wednesday’s game with 5:15 left in the third quarter due to back issues.

Clark, 24, is averaging a career-high 21.2 points, 8.2 assists and 4.0 rebounds through 17 games this season. She’s a two-time All-Star.

The Fever host the Los Angeles Sparks on Saturday.

For more than four decades his voice was embraced by millions, a calming baritone in a sea of Lakers bedlam.

Yet in the most unfair of twists, on the night his career ended he was silent and alone.

Three months ago, Lawrence Tanter was walking through his bedroom when he suddenly collapsed while losing all strength in his arms and legs.

He fell and couldn’t get up. He lives alone, so he couldn’t cry out for help. He was able to secure his phone, but he says he was too stubborn to call 911.

“I wanted to get up by myself,” he said. “I knew I would eventually get up by myself.”

But this 6-foot-7 bear of a man was too weak to get up by himself. Listening to a Lakers road game on a bedside radio, he remained on the floor and eventually fell asleep until finally summoning his oldest friend the next morning.

Lakers star LeBron James salutes public address announcer Lawrence Tanter before the start of a game in 2024.

(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)

“I got there and I’m like, why didn’t you call sooner?” Joe Williams said. “I told him, ‘I know you’re a warrior but, c’mon man, this is serious.’”

Serious enough to be diagnosed as a stroke. Serious enough to quietly end the most sonorous, soothing stretch in local sports history.

For 43 years as the Lakers’ iconic public address announcer, Tanter has been the coolest sound in the city, the measured, reassuring voice that decorated the team’s two hype-filled homes with gravitas and grace.

When the Lakers announced his retirement last week as he continues to battle effects from the March 17 stroke, the man known to everyone as simply “LT” closed his career with taciturn perfection, summing up a Lakers lifetime in eight words.

“It’s been a great run,” he intoned this week from a hospital bed, his pipes still the strongest part of him. “I’ve been blessed.”

It is Lakers fans who have been blessed, gifted with a voice that, whenever they attended a game, reminded them they were home.

“LT is in every way a part of Laker history,” said former Laker and current broadcaster Mychal Thompson. “He too is a Laker legend.”

Lakers public address announcer Lawrence Tanter gets set up at the scorer’s table before a game in 2011.

(Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

When the retirement news broke with the Lakers announcing they were moving LT into an advisory role — a classy good-bye — fans everywhere broke out their LT best.

“Toooo many steps.” … “James Woooorthy.” … ”LeBronnnn James.”

And, of course, everybody’s favorite…“Llllaker Girlsss.”

“I always imagine, if he could hear God’s voice, it would sound like LT’s,” Thompson said.

This was never more true than on a somber night in late January in 2020. LT put his giant arms around a grieving city with pregame introductions that will never be forgotten.

“At one guard, number 24, 6-6, 20th year out of Lower Merion High School, Kobeee Bryant.”

The player taking the court was Avery Bradley.

“At the other guard, number 24, 6-6, 20th year out of Lower Merion High School, Kobeee Bryant.”

Lakers public address announcer Lawrence Tanter watches play from his spot at the scorer’s table during a game in 2012.

(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)

The player taking the court was Danny Green.

And on it went, all five Lakers introduced as Kobe Bryant before their game against the Portland Trail Blazers, the ultimate tribute before the Lakers’ first game since Bryant’s death.

It might have been LT’s finest hour, and every second of it broke his heart.

“The hardest introductions ever,” he remembered.

LT handled it simply by being LT, a comforting bard who could elicit much emotion with a slight change in cadence or key.

“With his timing, his rhythm, he could get excitement going without raising his voice,” said Bob Steiner, the retired Lakers executive who hired LT in 1982. “Lawrence became a star in the same way Chick Hearn was.”

While working for the Lakers, LT also worked for several jazz and rhythm and blues radio stations in town, most notably KJLH, which gave him built-in credibility in the city.

“If you go around town, you will find that he was known almost as much for his radio work as his public address work,” Williams said.

In combining the rhythm of jazz with the tenor of basketball, LT was the coolest cat at the scorer’s table, a distinctive figure in a white goatee and a newsboy cap who raised the roof while never raising his voice.

“I never tried to be a cheerleader,” said LT, 76. “I just tried to be a public address announcer.”

While many of today’s public address announcers are screamers, LT was so subtle that his most repeated call involved not the action, but the in-game entertainment.

“Everywhere we go, somebody recognizes his voice and does an imitation,” Williams said. “But nothing gets repeated like ‘Llllaker Girlsss.’”

Those two words, uttered at the end of every routine by the iconic dance team, contain the essence of LT’s greatness. He knows what you’re watching doesn’t need any embellishment; he’s capturing the scene with the power of subtlety.

“You’re sitting in the stands and when the dancers finish dancing, you say to your friends out loud, ‘Llllaker Girlsss,’ and everybody laughs,” said Pete Arbogast, who was the master of ceremonies when LT was inducted into the Southern California Sports Broadcaster Hall of Fame last year.

LT’s speech that afternoon was dominated by individual thank-yous to his many friends who attended the ceremony, typical LT humility.

“From my nose to my toes, I say thank you,” he concluded.

Lakers public address announcer Lawrence Tanter is given brownies by actress Dyan Cannon before the start of a game in 2011.

(Los Angeles Times)

Today it is the Lakers who are thanking him.

“Since the 1980s, LT has narrated every chapter of Lakers basketball, connecting generations of fans, players, coaches and staff while becoming a trusted and unforgettable part of the Lakers experience,” Lakers governor Jeanie Buss said in a statement. “I am incredibly grateful for everything he has given to this franchise.”

His next stop should be the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, where he deserves to be enshrined as a contributor, becoming the first public address announcer to receive such an honor.

What other PA voice defined a franchise like LT? Who else missed just two games in 43 years? Name another PA announcer who accumulated nine championship rings yet refuses to wear any of them, ever, because it was never about him?

“It’s high time the Hall of Fame inducts him as a valuable and legendary contributor to the game,” Thompson said.

And if he is one day inducted, how would he introduce himself?

“At one forward, number 43, 6-foot-7, from Thornton Township High School, Llllawrence TAN-ter …”

LT laughed at the thought. He never actually would say that. But wouldn’t you like to hear it? Just once?

“Laker games,” Thompson said, “will never sound the same again.”

The New York Knicks celebrated their first NBA title in 53 years with a frenzied ticker-tape parade through Manhattan. The Knicks, along with finals MVP Jalen Brunson were awarded keys to the city by Mayor Zohran Mamdani in front of thousands of fans.

Footage shows a World Cup shuttle bus set into flames amid chaotic celebrations following the New York Knicks historic NBA Finals victory.

Donald Trump’s appearance courtside at Madison Square Garden was supposed to be a historic moment, as, for the first time, a sitting president of the United States was attending an NBA Finals game.

Instead, his arrival became part of the story, drawing boos from sections of the crowd and triggering a massive security operation that reshaped the atmosphere around the storied New York arena on Monday night.

Trump watched from an executive suite as the New York Knicks hosted the San Antonio Spurs in a series that gripped the city and revived memories of the Knicks’ glory years.

When his image flashed up on the big screen during the national anthem, many fans jeered, underlining how sharply divided the country remains even in a space usually reserved for shared celebration.

Outside, Manhattan’s streets were locked down. Metal fencing, airport-style screening and a heavy Secret Service and police presence kept ticketless fans blocks away.

Long queues formed as supporters queued early, while others gathered at public viewing areas across the city.

Inside, however, the spectacle went on. Hollywood actors, musicians, former players and New York fixtures filled the front rows, turning the event into a star-studded night out.

Between the celebrity sightings, the political undertones and a tense 115-111 Spurs win, this was a New York basketball night unlike any other – on and off the court.

Jalen Brunson drilled the go-ahead free throw as the New York Knicks held off a furious San Antonio rally to beat the Spurs 105-104 and take a commanding 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals.

San Antonio player Victor Wembanyama had a crucial late turnover and missed a potential game-winner with two seconds remaining on Friday, leaving the Spurs in need of an unprecedented comeback when the best-of-seven series shifts to New York for games three and four.

No team has lifted the trophy after dropping the first two games of the Finals at home.

Michael Jordan’s 1993 Chicago Bulls and the 1995 Houston Rockets are the only other teams to win the first two games of the championship series on the road, and both went on to win titles.

The Knicks won their 13th straight game of the playoffs – the second-longest streak in postseason history – and will have a chance to close out their first title since 1973 in front of home fans at Madison Square Garden. United States President Donald Trump is scheduled to attend on Monday.

They had to withstand a scintillating fourth-quarter surge from the Spurs, who erased a 14-point deficit with a 14-0 scoring run.

Wembanyama shook off a slow start to score 22 of his 29 points in the second half, his three-point play with 57.3 seconds remaining giving the Spurs their first lead since the second quarter at 104-102.

It was tied at 104-104 with 9.5 seconds left when Wembanyama grabbed the rebound of a Brunson miss but turned it over with a bad pass into the back of teammate Stephon Castle.

Brunson scooped up the ball and was fouled, then made the first of two free throws to put the Knicks back in front.

San Antonio had one last chance, coming out of a time-out with 7.5 seconds left. They got the ball to their superstar, but his jump shot clanged off the rim.

“I threw that one away,” 22-year-old Wembanyama said. “I messed up. We didn’t play great as a team. We needed to win that game.”

Karl-Anthony Towns, who led the Knicks with 21 points and 13 rebounds, admitted he was praying when Wembanyama put the Spurs’ final attempt.

“A great player got a great shot, and it just didn’t go in,” Towns said.

‘What a ballgame’

For the second straight game, Towns delivered a stellar defensive performance that pushed Wembanyama out of his comfort zone.

“He’s a once-in-a-generation player,” Towns said. “You got to make it difficult on him. So, just utilising my experience, utilising my size, my skill, and just trying to make it difficult for him.”

Brunson and Mikal Bridges scored 20 points each, OG Anunoby added 17, and Landry Shamet scored 13 off the bench for the Knicks.

Wembanyama added nine rebounds, four blocked shots and two steals, and De’Aaron Fox scored 20 points for the Spurs.

Desperate not to head back to New York in a 2-0 hole, the Spurs attacked the paint early.

Wembanyama thrilled Spurs fans at the Frost Bank Center – where Knicks supporters were a vocal presence – with his first basket of the night, a left-handed dunk that gave the Spurs a 15-10 lead.

Fox’s alley-oop layup off a feed from Devin Vassell pushed the lead to 10 with less than two minutes to go in the first.

The Spurs pushed their lead to 12 before the Knicks responded in a tense second quarter, taking the lead for the first time, 49-48, on Landry Shamet’s layup with 3:39 left in the first half.

San Antonio regained the lead, but Towns’s three-pointer over Wembanyama gave the Knicks a 56-52 halftime advantage that they pushed to as many as 12 before taking an 84-75 lead into the fourth quarter.

“What a ballgame,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said. “It’s a fantastic ballgame. They made a run. We made a run. They made a run. We made a run.

“We could have folded a few times, but our guys just kept fighting … No matter what run they went on, no matter what time of the game, our guys just kept uplifting one another.”

The San Antonio Spurs, sparked by superstar Victor Wembanyama, have advanced to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2014 by dethroning the defending champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder, 111-103, to book a championship showdown against the New York Knicks.

The Spurs captured the best-of-seven Western Conference finals 4-3 on Saturday and reached the NBA Finals, which begin on Wednesday against the Knicks in San Antonio.

“Though we’re still hungry for one more, this feeling is, I can’t explain it, it’s so powerful,” Wembanyama said. “We want four more. We’re not done. Go Spurs go.”

French 7-foot-4-inch (224cm) centre Wembanyama scored 22 points and grabbed seven rebounds, Julian Champagnie added 20 points, including six three-pointers, and Stephon Castle had 16 points for the Spurs, who led the winner-take-all contest almost the entire way.

“We had a good team, a great team,” Champagnie said. “We had to stay the course and play a good game.

“We were passing the ball. We were playing as a team. We come out here and play together.

“We never knew if we were going to get this far, but when you’ve got the greatest player in the world, things happen.”

That was a nod to Wembanyama, the Most Valuable Player of the Western Conference finals and the NBA Defensive Player of the Year.

“It doesn’t mean anything for me other than the fact we are a team,” Wembanyama said of his series MVP award. “I got this for all of us and all the fans right here.”

Of his teammates, Wembanyama added, “They don’t even know how much I love them. They are just incredible. Everybody stepped up tonight.”

“Wemby” dominated in his first playoff game seven and was emotional at the finish, laughing, crying and hugging teammates over reaching his first NBA Finals.

“Realising that some part of the childhood dream was going to come true,” the 22-year-old Frenchman said of his reaction.

The win sets up an NBA Finals repeat of this season’s NBA Cup final, which the Knicks won with a 124-113 defeat of San Antonio last December in Las Vegas.

“A lot of physicality, hit first, and rebounding,” Champagnie said of the Knicks. “It will be a nice challenge for us.”

NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led Oklahoma City with 35 points.

“He was brilliant. He had a great game,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “He delivered. It was a really big-time game for him.

“That would have been one of the stories of the game if we had been able to figure out a way to win it.”

Daigneault said the challenge to repeat was not among the things that led to the defeat.

“You can be proud of effort and progress and the level we played … and we can also be really disappointed,” he said.

“Felt like we could have won the series. We were right there. There’s nobody we don’t think we can’t beat.

“I thought we had enough to win, but credit San Antonio – they’re the ones who did.”

A Spurs squad with only one player who had been in a game seven before overcame a more experienced Thunder squad that won the title in a game seven last year.

“Back in October, we knew we had a chance to be pretty good,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said.

“There’s a lot being talked about, words like competitiveness, resolve, togetherness, execution – who gives a damn about the word experience?

“They had to go out and execute, and they did.”

Wembanyama hit two three-pointers in a 17-9 run to start the fourth quarter that lifted the Spurs ahead 97-86 with eight minutes remaining.

“Wemby” was whistled for his fifth foul seconds later and went to the bench, boosting Thunder hopes in the dying minutes while Gilgeous-Alexander tried to rally the reigning champions, only to fall short at the finish.

Luka Doncic could be involved in two championship bids this upcoming season.

The Lakers superstar and former Dallas Mavericks general manager Donnie Nelson are leading an investor group that acquired a professional basketball team in Italy, it was announced Friday, with hopes that the franchise could become part of the NBA’s new European venture.

The group plans to move Vanoli Cremona, a team that plays in a northern Italian city about 60 miles southeast of Milan, to Rome, and submitted a bid for the club to join NBA Europe, making Doncic the first player to state his ambition to become part of the NBA’s expansion across the pond.

“I have dreamed about owning a team in Europe for a long time, to finally have this happen is amazing,” Doncic said in a statement. “Vanoli has a great history, and we are ready to take it to the next level in Rome. We have an amazing group of partners, and I really believe we can do something special for basketball in Italy and Europe.”

NBA commissioner Adam Silver said this year that the NBA is working with FIBA, the world governing body for basketball, to begin a stand-alone league in Europe. The league could begin as soon as October 2027 with up to 16 teams hosted in major cities in England, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Greece and Turkey.

Rome and Milan are the top Italian targets to host NBA Europe teams. Rome, the Italian capital, has not had a Serie A team since 2020, when Virtus Roma ceased operations because of financial difficulties. Vanoli will begin playing in Rome for the 2026-27 season.

“Rome deserves world-class basketball, and we are excited to be bringing it back,” Nelson said in a statement. “Vanoli Cremona has a proud history, and we are committed to honoring that legacy as we build toward an exciting future in Rome. This city has been without top-flight basketball for too long. That changes now. We are bringing the resources, the expertise, and the passion to make this club a source of pride for Rome and for all Italy.”

Nelson, who is the lead investor and managing partner, was the general manager when the Mavericks traded for Doncic on draft night in 2018 and was the architect of Dallas’ 2011 NBA championship team led by German star Dirk Nowitzki. The investor group also includes Valerio Bianchini, a celebrated coach in the Italian league, and Rimantas Kaukėnas, a 17-year pro across European leagues.

The 27-year-old Doncic, who was born in Slovenia and started his professional career with Real Madrid in Spain, is part of a recent wave of international stars taking over the NBA. The last eight most valuable players have been born outside of the United States. Doncic finished fourth in MVP voting this year behind two-time winner Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who is from Canada, three-time MVP Nikola Jokic, who is from Serbia, and Victor Wembanyama, a 22-year-old Frenchman expected to dominate the league for years.

The NBA played two regular-season games in Europe this season, with the Memphis Grizzlies and Orlando Magic facing off in Berlin and London. Next season, Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs will play in his home country against the New Orleans Pelicans and in Manchester, England.

In the NBA, it’s all: “Together, on three!” Or “family, on three!”

Or maybe, “Cancun, on three!”

But when the NBA braintrust breaks a huddle, it’s, “3-2-1, overreact!”

“3-2-1, obfuscate!”

“3-2-1, complicate!”

The NBA’s owners are expected to meet Thursday to approve new “anti-tanking draft reform” via a “3-2-1 lottery.” I just know they’re the type of people who love a good board game — one with rules that take a half-hour to explain, by which time their guests’ eyes have glazed over.

Think they’ll get the hint if someone asks, “Y’all got any CLUE instead?”

Actually, I’d prefer to turn on the basketball game, that nuanced, ever-evolving sport that’s beautiful for its simplicity: Make or miss.

What’s wild is that a league that brings together the world’s best shooters keeps missing so badly on draft reform — unless it’s actually their feet that they’re aiming at.

Still, this new reported proposal — which will expand the lottery from 14 teams to 16 and penalize the three worst teams with poorer draft lottery odds than teams with the fourth- through 10th-worst records — might benefit the … Lakers?

You know those first-round picks they’ve been holding onto so that, come draft night, they’ll have three to offer in a deal? To use as bargaining chips for either a big name like the Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo or, better yet, to acquire important foundational pieces to retrofit the roster around Luka Doncic?

Well, those three first-rounders should be much more valuable if other teams are disincentivized to trade their first-rounders, seeing how even middle-of-the-pack teams will have a shot at winning the lottery.

And not only will first-round picks be a rare commodity on the trade market going forward, but the Lakers’ picks could prove more practically valuable than previously imagined.

Without this reform, no one would expect the Luka Lakers to be a lottery team. But under the new proposal, all it would take, say, would be their star missing 30 games and the Lakers sliding into the eighth seed, which would give the team holding that pick a 2.7% shot at the No. 1 overall selection.

And hold on, wait a minute: Will that give Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka and his growing cast of front-office colleagues pause this offseason? Imagine how it would look if they dealt away a pick that turns into one of the top guys in a future draft for a 3-and-D role player on a team that, for whatever reason, slips into eighth? It wouldn’t look good! It wouldn’t feel good.

But would it stop the Lakers from doing what they need to do this offseason? It shouldn’t. But it could! But it shouldn’t! No, really, it shouldn’t: Because after draft night, the Lakers’ next two tradable first-round picks will be in 2031 and 2033 — and, per ESPN, this week’s draft reform proposal will include a sunset provision that would allow it to expire after the 2029 draft.

At that point, if they’re smart, the owners would scrap it. Of course, they’ll probably make it even more onerous so they can feel smart?

No wonder the Lakers went and hired Rohan Ramadas — the guy with an astronautical engineering degree from USC — as an assistant general manager.

But what are we doing here? All this variance and randomness, all these rules on top of regulations, none of it is exactly arbitrary, but neither is it fair. Since the draft lottery odds were flattened in 2019, the team with the worst overall record has not once lucked into the No. 1 overall pick.

The NFL would never! Oh, that plucky little league. With its antiquated worst-picks-first draft system? Seems to be going OK.

The worst thing about what the NBA is up to is how much work they’ve made following along at home. You’ve heard of fan service? This league trades in fan disservice.

The league already ceded its regular season to the offseason, leaning into free agency drama as a driving source of year-round intrigue, letting team-building trump teamwork.

It already asked fans to bone up on contract law to be able to spell out the differences between the NTMLE (non-taxpayer mid-level salary exception) and RMLE (room mid-level salary exception).

Then the NBA introduced rules that incentivized stars to avoid free agency and to try, instead, to get traded — except then the league added a first and second apron to make it harder for teams to trade.

So the possibility of a dream sign-and-trade that has fans fired up? Odds are it won’t happen because it can’t; sign-and-trades are not permitted if the player acquired keeps a team above the first apron.

Perfectly clear? No?

Well, this won’t help: Let’s slather on another thick layer of basketball bureaucracy. To discourage tanking. (And encourage mere mediocrity! Middling is about to be the NBA’s new sweet spot.)

Let us proclaim that, oh, teams can’t land back-to-back No. 1 picks. Unless they can. Unless it’s Team A, by virtue of selecting first using Team B’s pick the previous season, that is eligible to pick first in consecutive seasons. Team B, though, it’s out of luck the next year, no matter what goes wrong.

Got it? Kinda? Sorta? No?

Moving on. Try to keep up.

Don’t forget, class, that some picks won’t be able to be protected. No, not the top few picks — there will be no protections on Nos. 12, 13, 14, or 15.

Yes, that appears actually to be a caveat of the proposed new system. Which, yes, is actually designed to sell Advil.

Fans can figure this stuff out, but at some point soon, they’re not going to feel like it. At some point, everyone’s eyes are going to glaze over and it’s going to be 3-2-1, turn the TV off!

New York Knicks are heading to the NBA Finals for the first time in 27 years after sweeping Cleveland Cavaliers in East finals.

As the clock wound down, few Cleveland Cavaliers ‌fans could be found. The New York Knicks left them with no reason to stick around.

Karl-Anthony Towns scored ⁠19 points and grabbed ⁠14 rebounds as the Knicks advanced to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999, routing the Cavaliers 130-93 in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals on Monday night.

The Knicks extended their franchise ⁠playoff-record winning streak to 11 games – matching the third-longest run in a single postseason in league history – and their long-suffering supporters took over Cleveland’s arena.

“Growing up in the (New York) area, I feel like the word hope has been gone for a ⁠long while, so to restore that is special,” Towns said. “There is nowhere better in the world than when (Madison Square) Garden has hope.”

OG Anunoby contributed 17 points and Landry Shamet scored 16 off the bench on 4-for-4 3-point shooting for New York, which built a 29-point lead in the second quarter and went up 123-78 in the fourth.

Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges finished with 15 points ‌apiece, and Josh Hart added six points, 11 rebounds and six assists. The former Villanova championship teammates relished the opportunity to win the East together.

“It’s something that is surreal,” Hart said. “We already share a bond and a brotherhood for life, and we’re going to keep adding memories for that.”

Brunson was named the series Most Valuable Player (MVP) for averaging 25.5 points and 7.8 assists. The Knicks have outscored their opponents by 262 points during their win streak, the most dominant span in league history, playoffs or regular season.

‘They’re on a heater’

Donovan Mitchell logged 31 points and Evan Mobley posted 15 points and seven rebounds for ⁠Cleveland, which reached the East finals for the first time since 2018. James Harden had ⁠12 points and five turnovers while missing all six of his 3-point tries.

“Sometimes you’ve got to ultimately give the other team credit,” Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said. “They played great basketball and they’re on a heater.”

The Knicks’ Mike Brown is off to the NBA Finals for the second time as a head coach, ⁠having led the Cavaliers to their first East crown in 2007.

The 37-point defeat was the Cavaliers’ largest ever in a playoff home game.

“We have unfinished business,” Mitchell said. “I have ⁠no doubt this group can get there.”

New York dominated the rebounding battle 60-33, ⁠with backup centre Mitchell Robinson grabbing 10 boards in 18 minutes.

The road team delivered the knockout blow early, with a 20-0 run over a span of 4:39 from late in the first quarter into the second. A dunk by Towns punctuated the surge, making the score 50-26.

The Knicks eventually built a 61-32 lead ‌on Shamet’s third 3-pointer of the half.

Mitchell scored 10 points, and Mobley had seven in the first six minutes, putting the Cavaliers up 17-14. A 9-0 run then put New York on top for good. Robinson entered for New York and made ‌an ‌impact with six points and four rebounds, prompting a 24-9 run to end the quarter.

Cleveland backup point guard Dennis Schroder was a late scratch with an illness.

Among the Knicks’ celebrity fans seated courtside were comedian Tracy Morgan, filmmaker Spike Lee and actor Timothee Chalamet.

New York will play either the Oklahoma City Thunder or the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals. The teams are currently tied at 2-2 in the Western Conference finals.

Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis has been filmed appearing to have a heated altercation during the Euroleague Basketball final in Athens on Sunday.

Marinakis, 58, who also owns Olympiakos, was at the event to watch the Olympiakos basketball team’s 92-85 win over Real Madrid.

Footage from the event, shared on social media, appears to show Marinakis wearing a ripped shirt and arguing in the stands while being separated by a barrier and security personnel.

The video does not show the person with whom Marinakis is arguing, but Greek media, external are reporting it to be Grigoris Dimitriadis, who is a former close advisor to Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

BBC Sport has approached Nottingham Forest for comment.

Forest drew 1-1 with Bournemouth on the final day of the Premier League season on Sunday as the club secured a 16th-placed finish.

Victor Wembanyama scored 33 points to lead the San Antonio Spurs in a 103-82 rout of Oklahoma City and level the NBA Western Conference Finals at two games each.

The 22-year-old French 7-foot-4 (2.24m) centre shot 11-of-22 from the floor, 3-of-7 from three-point range, and added eight rebounds, five assists, three blocked shots, and two steals in 31 minutes for the Spurs on Sunday.

“I need to find ways to impact the game in many areas,” said Wembanyama. “I have a lot of responsibilities, but I’m here for it. All of us, we’re going to have to do things we didn’t sign up for.”

Hosts San Antonio pulled level at 2-2 in the best-of-seven playoff series, with Game Five on Tuesday in Oklahoma City and Game Six back in San Antonio on Thursday.

“This was our first deficit in the playoff series. We just responded,” Wembanyama said. “It was nothing amazing. It wasn’t magic. We just did what we needed to do. The series is far from over.”

Wembanyama knows what the Spurs must do to win the NBA title.

“We’ve got six more wins before we can rest,” he said.

The Spurs seek their first trip to the NBA Finals since winning the crown in 2014, while the Thunder hope to become the NBA’s first back-to-back champions since Golden State in 2017-2018.

Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said Wembanyama was aggressive to try and keep San Antonio from falling into a 3-1 series hole.

“Our competitive response all year has been pretty good, and he has been at the forefront of that,” Johnson said.

“Tonight he felt an obligation to set a tone for us in a variety of ways. The aggressiveness was a reflection of that… I think he wants that responsibility. He’s built for it.”

The Thunder had been unbeaten on the road in this year’s playoffs but were foiled in a bid to reach 6-0 by a strong Spurs defensive effort.

“Any time we can turn defence into offence, turnovers and rebounding, that’s when we’re at our best,” Johnson said.

“We can get out and run and play and get out in pace. Our activity was great tonight, and we’re going to need to get better at it as the series moves on.”

The Spurs stretched their lead as large as 25 points, while the Thunder were only ahead by a single point.

“I’m not going to get into details, but in general, being more disciplined and just trusting the game plan even more,” Wembanyama said of the secret behind the Spurs’ defensive effort.

The NBA Defensive Player of the Year also cited coming together defensively as the Spurs forced 17 turnovers and made 11 steals.

“That’s super important,” said Wembanyama. “We’ve got good individual defenders, and when we connect, we’re able to hold teams to low scoring numbers.”

NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 19 points.

Oklahoma City won an NBA-best 64 games this season, with the Spurs second on 62 victories.

Wembanyama sank a half-court shot at the buzzer – the longest made basket of his career – to give the Spurs a 50-38 half-time lead and himself 22 first-half points.

“I was just thinking shoot to score,” Wembanyama said. “I wasn’t messing around.”

The Spurs opened the third quarter with a 15-5 run to seize their biggest lead to that point at 65-43, and Oklahoma City could not catch San Antonio from there.

“We needed that momentum going into the second half,” San Antonio’s Devin Vassell said of the half-court “Wemby” hoop.

Vassell and Stephon Castle each scored 13 points for the Spurs, while De’Aaron Fox added 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Brunson scores 30 points as the Knicks beat the Cavs 121-108 to take a 3-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals.

The New York Knicks are on the brink of their first NBA Finals since 1999 after a 121-108 victory at Cleveland stretched their playoff win streak to 10 games.

Jalen Brunson scored a game-high 30 points, OG Anunoby added 21 and Mikal Bridges contributed 22 on 11-of-15 shooting as New York pushed the Cavaliers to the edge of elimination on Saturday.

“I’m at a loss for words,” Brunson said. “I thought we fought, most importantly.”

The Knicks seized a commanding 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals and could complete a sweep in game four on Monday in Cleveland.

No team in NBA history has recovered from a 3-0 deficit to win a playoff series.

“The series isn’t over,” Anunoby said. “Just keep our foot on their necks and just try to win the game.”

Brunson said the Knicks must continue to concentrate. “Just focus on one possession at a time.”

“The way we’ve been having that mindset these past couple [of] weeks, we have to continue it, if not actually better.”

The Knicks last reached the NBA Finals 27 years ago when they lost to San Antonio. They have not won the NBA championship since 1973.

New York’s Karl-Anthony Towns had 13 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and three steals while Josh Hart added 12 points, nine rebounds, five assists and four steals for a Knicks team that has not been beaten in a month.

Brunson said, “Our mindset hasn’t changed.

“We’re trying to get better every single day. We’re trying to learn from winning.

“There’s a lot of things we can get better at. There’s a lot of things we can control, a lot of mental errors that we need to clean up, but we’re always just looking for ways to try and get better.”

Evan Mobley led Cleveland with 24 points, while Donovan Mitchell added 23 and James Harden scored 19 points.

The Cavaliers, who squandered a 22-point lead to lose the series opener, never led as New York seized command early and dominated.

“I guess you could say momentum carried over [from game one],” Anunoby said.

“We try to play the right way every game, but maybe that momentum carried over a little bit.”

New York started the game 10-of-13 from the floor to seize a 29-19 lead only 8:29 into the contest, Towns delivering 11 points in the run on the way to a 37-27 lead after the first quarter.

Cleveland trimmed New York’s half-time edge to 60-54, but the Cavs committed six turnovers in the first six minutes of the third quarter.

The Knicks were ahead 91-82 entering the fourth quarter and stretched it to 110-93 in the closing minutes before completing their fifth triumph in a row.

“It’s just executing the game plan on both sides of the floor, playing the right way, moving the ball, then getting stops on defence,” Anunoby said of New York’s secret to success.

New York Knicks use an explosive third quarter to take a 2-0 lead over Cleveland in the NBA Eastern Conference finals.

Josh Hart scored a playoff career-high 26 points, Jalen Brunson had 19 points and 14 assists, and the New York Knicks moved halfway to their first NBA Finals appearance since 1999 by beating the Cleveland Cavaliers 109-93.

Mikal Bridges also scored 19 points and Karl-Anthony Towns had 18 points and 13 rebounds to help the Knicks win their ninth straight game on Thursday night.

That is the NBA’s longest postseason winning streak since the Boston Celtics won 10 straight on their way to the 2024 championship.

Hart went 5 from 11 from 3-point range, burning a defensive strategy that seemed built around leaving him open from long range, and also had seven assists.

“Just a whale of a game from Josh,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said.

Two nights after rallying from a 22-point deficit in the fourth quarter, the Knicks made sure they would be in control late with an 18-0 run in the third quarter that gave them a 71-53 lead. Fans chanted “Knicks in four! Knicks in four!” in the final minute, long after the starters had gone to the benches.

“In our mind it’s 0-0. We’ve got to win the next game. It’s the most important game of the year and that’s how we treat it,” Towns said.

Donovan Mitchell scored 26 points and James Harden had 18 for the Cavaliers, who will have to climb out of a 2-0 deficit for the second straight round. They host Game 3 on Saturday.

“Nothing to hang our head about,” Mitchell said. “They protected home court, and we’ve seen this before so we’re going to go to Game 3.”

The Knicks are in the Eastern Conference finals for the second straight year but have not played for the championship since losing to the San Antonio Spurs in 1999.

Brunson scored 38 points and led the Game 1 comeback. He had only two points in the first half Thursday before making the first basket of the run that broke open the game and finished with the highest assist total of his playoff career.

Hart was benched for the rally in Game 1, playing just three minutes combined in the fourth quarter and overtime. The forward had been shooting just 26.7 percent from 3-point range and after a third straight miss from long range early Thursday, he put his jersey in his mouth and bit it, bouncing the ball down hard in frustration three times. But he kept firing.

“I knew I had to just keep shooting and if I did that I’d be good,” Hart said.

Mitchell got off to a slow start with just seven points in the first half, triggering more of the questions that followed Game 1 about whether he was injured. His 3-pointer with 0.7 seconds left gave Cleveland a 27-24 lead after one.

The Knicks led 53-49 at halftime. The Cavs got the first two baskets of the third to tie it, but Brunson answered with a 3-pointer to start the 18-0 run. He had two more buckets in the burst and Hart hit a pair of 3-pointers, the latter capping it to make it 71-53 with 5:36 remaining in the third. After the Cavs scored five straight, Hart made another 3 and Towns scored to restore the 18-point advantage.

Cleveland cut it to single digits with just under eight minutes left but ruined any chance of getting closer with poor free throw shooting, missing 10 in the game and finishing at 68.8%. The Knicks eventually pushed their lead to 19 points.

“It’s difficult when you’re not making shots,” Harden said. “It puts twice as much pressure on you defensively to get stops.”

Forwards Filip Jovic of Auburn and Sergej Macura of Mississippi State as well as guards Jaylen Petty of Texas Tech and Azavier Robinson of Butler have joined UCLA through the transfer portal, coach Mick Cronin said Wednesday.

Macura will be a junior this fall and has two seasons of eligibility remaining. Jovic, Petty and Robinson will be sophomores and have three seasons left.

Jovic averaged 6.3 points and 4.0 rebounds in all 37 games for Auburn last season, helping the Tigers win the NIT title.

Macura averaged 5.0 points and 4.8 rebounds in 28 games for Mississippi State last season.

Petty averaged 9.9 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 33 games as a freshman at Texas Tech. He shot 41% from the field and 37% from 3-point range.

Robinson averaged 6.1 points, 1.9 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 22 games as a freshman at Butler. His season ended in early February after a left wrist injury. Robinson shot 47% from the field and 43% from 3-point range.

The foursome join incoming freshmen Javonte Floyd and Joe Philon.