BOSTON (AP) — Bill Russell redefined how basketball is played, and then he changed the way sports are viewed in a racially divided country.
The most prolific winner in NBA history, Russell marched with Martin Luther King Jr., stood with Muhammad Ali and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama.
Reaction from the basketball world and beyond on the death of NBA great and 11-time champion Bill Russell:
Bill Russell hated autographs. Saw no point to them. If he was out dining and got approached by someone asking for his signature, Russell’s usual response was to instead ask the person to join him at the table to have a conversation about life.
BOSTON (AP) — Malcolm Brogdon and Danilo Gallinari both grew up surrounded by Boston Celtics fandom.
As a kid in Italy, Gallinari was an admirer of Larry Bird. And when was drafted by the New York Knicks in 2008, he remembers being given a disc containing the Hall of Famer’s highlights by then-general manager Donnie Walsh.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Will Hardy knew some of the inner workings of the Utah Jazz before being named the league's youngest current head coach.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Brad Stevens thought the Boston Celtics needed another playmaker and more depth to win their first NBA title since 2007-08.
NEW YORK (AP) — Nearly 14 million people watched the Golden State Warriors win its fourth NBA championship since 2015 by beating the Boston Celtics in the sixth game of their series.
The series that matched the NBA's most current dynasty against the one with the most championships overall averaged 12.3 million viewers, which was 24% more than the 2021 series between Milwaukee and Phoenix, the Nielsen company said.
Boston Celtics assistant Will Hardy has accepted an offer to become the coach of the Utah Jazz, a person with knowledge of the negotiations said Tuesday.
Hardy and the Jazz were in the process of finalizing contract language, according to the person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because neither side announced the deal publicly.
A parade awaits in San Francisco to celebrate the champion Golden State Warriors. The NBA draft is a few days away, with presumed top-three picks Jabari Smith, Chet Holmgren and Paolo Banchero set to take their first steps toward realizing their enormous potential.
BOSTON (AP) — The Golden State Warriors are NBA champions once again, topping the Boston Celtics 103-90 on Thursday night for their fourth title in the last eight seasons.
Stephen Curry scored 34 points and was named the NBA Finals MVP as the Warriors claimed the franchise’s seventh championship overall.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The wear and tear from back-to-back seven-game series seems to be taking its toll on the Boston Celtics at the worst possible time.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — For the first time in his career, Stephen Curry couldn't get a 3-pointer to fall in an NBA postseason game.
Curry was 0 for 9 behind the arc in the Warriors’ 104-94 victory over the Boston Celtics in Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Monday night.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Exhibiting a determined confidence and grit all game, Andrew Wiggins single-handedly took the pressure off Stephen Curry and delivered the best game yet of his eight-year career.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The Boston Celtics couldn't make a 3-pointer to start the game and found themselves in a deep hole. Then they couldn't miss and turned the game around.
The NBA Finals are tied at 2-2. If that sounds familiar to fans of the Boston Celtics, it should.
For whatever reason, when the Celtics make the NBA Finals, 2-2 ties seem normal. And that's exactly where they are now, knotted up going into Game 5 of this year's series against the Golden State Warriors on Monday night.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — As the Boston Celtics search for answers in an effort to stop Stephen Curry in these NBA Finals, they know even their best defense won't always be good enough.
“Steph Curry is pretty good, if you guys haven’t noticed.
BOSTON (AP) — Jayson Tatum knows he has taken his game to a new level in his fifth NBA season, pushing his way into the league’s top echelon of playmakers as the Boston Celtics’ go-to scorer.
The three-time All-Star also knows at times he hasn't been good enough against the Golden State Warriors during the NBA Finals and must find a way to elevate his play if he hopes to help Boston capture the franchise’s 18th championship.
BOSTON (AP) — He stomped his feet, waved his arms, flexed his muscles and talked back to the crowd.
And Stephen Curry also made baskets. Plenty of those, too.
In a demonstrative and dominating performance that was one of the best of his postseason career, Curry scored 43 points to lead the Golden State Warriors to a 107-97 victory over the Boston Celtics in Game 4 of the NBA Finals on Friday night, sending the series back to San Francisco knotted at two games apiece.
BOSTON (AP) — For three quarters, the Boston Celtics responded to nearly every punch the Golden State Warriors threw at them.
But mistakes and an inability to beat back one final charge by Golden State in the fourth quarter cost the Celtics in a 107-97 loss in Game 4 of the NBA Finals.
Stephen Curry tried one of his patented floaters from the left side of the rim. Klay Thompson tried a layup from nearly the same spot a few minutes later.
Slightly different shots from the Golden State Warriors in the fourth quarter of Game 3 of the NBA Finals, with exact same result: They were spiked out of bounds by the Boston Celtics.
BOSTON (AP) — Throughout the postseason, the Boston Celtics had played their best basketball away from home.
Not anymore.
Jaylen Brown scored 27 points, Jayson Tatum added 26 and the Celtics rode the energy of a raucous TD Garden crowd to beat back another third-quarter onslaught by Golden State in a 116-100 victory Wednesday night that gave them a 2-1 lead in the NBA Finals.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — If the Boston Celtics want to do a better job of protecting home court than they did in the last two rounds, they will need to start doing a much better job of protecting the ball.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Jayson Tatum found his scoring touch after a rare poor shooting night in Game 1 of the NBA Finals but it was the rest of his Boston Celtics teammates who went missing.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Just like in Game 1, the Golden State Warriors took command with a big third quarter.
Unlike Game 1, they finished the job.
The NBA Finals are now tied, after the Warriors turned a close game into a rout with a third-quarter masterpiece.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri and Boston Celtics coach Ime Udoka both spoke out Sunday against the decision by Nigeria’s government to withdraw its basketball teams from international competitions for two years and potentially eliminate any chance of qualifying for the 2024 Olympics.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Brittney Griner hasn’t been forgotten at the NBA Finals.
The WNBA star has been detained in Russia for more than 100 days — wrongfully so, U.S.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A peek at Golden State’s practice Saturday wouldn’t have suggested that the Warriors are trailing the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals.
Stephen Curry was making most of his shots, as usual.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — When the Golden State Warriors look at the tape of Game 1 of the NBA Finals, they’ll see both the present and the past.
They’ll see the Boston Celtics, the 2022 version.
They’ll also see a team that looks a lot like the 2015 Warriors.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Stephen Curry lingered on the court with a towel draped over his head as the Boston Celtics celebrated a shocking comeback.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Over the last three seasons, six franchises have reached the NBA Finals. The league has seen five Eastern Conference champions in the last five seasons. This will be the fourth consecutive year that the team which hoists the trophy won’t be the same as the one who did the year before.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — It’s an annual occurrence in the NBA. Teams change head coaches and the roster of candidates who should get those jobs starts getting bandied about, and especially in recent years those lists almost always included Black candidates.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Jaylen Brown is starting the NBA Finals on the road. Except it might seem like a homecoming for him, in a couple of ways.
Brown plays for the Boston Celtics, who will visit the Golden State Warriors for Games 1 and 2 of the NBA Finals, which start Thursday night.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Preview capsule for the NBA Finals, which start Thursday:
East No. 2 BOSTON CELTICS (51-31, 12-6) vs. West No. 3 GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS (53-29, 12-4)
BOSTON (AP) — The Boston Celtics’ transition from a team that went from sitting just outside the top tier of the Eastern Conference to being four wins away from the franchise’s 18th championship began the moment Ime Udoka grasped the microphone at his introductory news conference last June.
New Orleans guard and NBA Players Association president CJ McCollum has added another title to his busy schedule — NBA analyst for ESPN.
The network announced Monday that they have signed the Pelicans star to a multi-platform deal.
MIAMI (AP) — The game was over. So, finally, was Al Horford’s journey. He grabbed what would be the final rebound of the Eastern Conference finals, threw the ball skyward, sprinted to join his teammates in celebration and then dropped to his knees to slap the floor.