William Chisholm has plenty of reasons to celebrate Thursday night — $6.1 billion reasons, to be exact.
Chisholm is set to become the next majority owner of the Boston Celtics after leading his group to a deal with Wyc Grousbeck, the majority owner and team governor since 2002.
Chisholm, the managing director and co-founder of private equity firm Symphony Technology Group, will take on a majority ownership of a sports franchise for the first time.
The Celtics mark a major start in that regard, as the team has won an NBA-best 18 championships while being in the middle of a potential repeat bid. Chisholm is also a lifelong C’s fan, which is one reason Grousbeck approved the switch.
So, how will a lifelong fan celebrate becoming the newest owner of his team? Chisholm told NBC Sports Boston of his plans, which includes watching the 2025-released documentary “Celtics City” produced by HBO.
“I couldn’t bring myself to watch the documentary because I would’ve just broken my heart, like in part of this process,” Chisholm said. “So the celebration is we’re starting the documentary. Which for me is crazy because I should’ve watched each episode five, 10 times already, but I held back because I wanted to see where this all ended up.
“I would’ve eventually gotten there and watched it, but now I’m all in.”
Richard Pitino looked to his right and didn't hesitate to put his son Jack on the spot. The New Mexico coach wondered aloud ahead of the 10th-seeded Lobos' first-round meeting with seventh-seeded Marquette on Friday who Jack might have picked to win it all in his bracket. The same St. John's, by the way, that happens to be coached by Jack's grandfather, Hall of Famer Rick Pitino.
Egor Demin and Richie Saunders led BYU to an 80-71 victory over VCU in the NCAA Tournament on Thursday, giving first-year Cougars coach Kevin Young a better memory of Ball Arena than his last one. The former Suns assistant watched the Denver Nuggets bounce Phoenix from the playoffs at this arena in 2023, leading Young to say this week that he still has nightmares of Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray. It was Saunders (16 points) and Demin (15) who haunted VCU and propelled the sixth-seeded Cougars (25-9) into a Saturday showdown against third-seeded Wisconsin, which handled Montana 85-66 earlier in the day in the East Region.
Yahoo Sports’ Jason Fitz and former Big 12 player of the year Marcus Morris Sr. react to the Cowboys’ stunning win over the 5-seed Tigers to move on to the second round.
Fewer than a million perfect brackets remained on ESPN and just over a million were left on the NCAA's platform midway through the first day of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday. ESPN's perfect bracket tracker listed 806,020 remaining out of more than 24 million filled out on its site following the seventh game of the day, No. 6 seed BYU's 80-71 win over No. 11 seed VCU. The NCAA listed about 1,100,000 perfect brackets out of more than 34 million.
Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson has taken a big step toward his potential return.
Brunson is out of the walking boot and has been doing some light shooting, Tom Thibodeau revealed Thursday ahead of the team's game against the Hornets in Charlotte.
While the 26-year-old captain likely still has a ways to go before getting back out there with the team in practice and then game action, this is certainly an encouraging step forward.
Brunson, of course, injured his ankle late in overtime during the Knicks' loss to the Los Angeles Lakers back on March 6.
Heading into Thursday night's game, New York has gone 3-3 without him, and his absence has been felt heavily on both ends of the court.
He is expected to be evaluated again around the two-week mark from the injury, though, ESPN's Shams Charania reported last week that the two-time All-Star could be sidelined through March or early April.
Following Thursday's contest, the Knicks have five more games this month and then eight in April before kicking off the playoffs.
McNeese coach Will Wade and his boombox-toting manager are moving on in March Madness after the 12th-seeded Cowboys held off late-charging No. 5 seed Clemson 69-67 on Friday in the first bracket buster of the NCAA Tournament. Brandon Murray scored 14 of his 21 points in a stifling first half, when the Southland Conference school from Lake Charles, Louisiana, held Clemson to 13 points. After falling behind by as many as 24 in the second, the Tigers rallied, erasing most of a 12-point deficit in the final minute before running out of time.
SAN FRANCISCO – While the Warriors outlasted the undermanned Toronto Raptors for a 117-114 win Thursday night at Chase Center, the final score was secondary.
Steph Curry in the third quarter took a hard fall and later was ruled out with a pelvic contusion.
Curry before leaving the game scored 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting and made two 3-pointers. The Raptors did everything they could to make anybody else on the Warriors beat them.
Challenge accepted. Most of all by Draymond Green, who scored a team-high 21 points, which is his second-most this season. The combination of Green and Jimmy Butler carried the Warriors to victory down the stretch.
Butler recorded his second triple-double since joining the Warriors with 16 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists. His best play of the night, however, came on defense. Jamal Shead had a chance to make it a one-point game with 20 seconds remaining, but Butler had other plans.
Not to be forgotten, rookie center Quinten Post scored 18 points off the bench, going 6 of 9 from 3-point range. Jonathan Kuminga also was a major scoring punch off the bench, scoring 18 points. Plus, Brandin Podziemski had 15 points in his second game returning from a back injury.
The Warriors will take the results of a win, but now the real news awaits.
Here are three takeaways from the Warriors completing a 6-1 seven-game homestand.
As it always has, though, everything starts with Curry. The Raptors heavily top-locked Curry from the jump for all 94 feet, and Green quickly adjusted. First, because of the way nobody wants to leave Curry, the Warriors used an inverted pick-and-roll for a wide-open lane to let Green throw down a dunk. Later in the first quarter, the two used their synergy to execute their pick-and-roll closer to the basket, making Green’s man leave him and leading to a layup.
In the second quarter, four seconds after checking back into the game, Green found Curry cutting behind Toronto’s defense with a perfect bounce pass for two points. How did Curry make his first three of the second half? By rubbing off a strong screen set by Green. He wound up assisting Curry on three of his six made shots.
The Raptors paid no attention to Green as a scorer, and he made them pay for it. He had 10 points in the first quarter and 18 going into halftime, including four 3-pointers. Green’s 18 points were his third-most ever for a half, and the five threes he wound up with tied a season-high.
Though the Warriors only held a six-point lead through the first half, four of their players already had scored in double figures. Green’s 18 points led all scorers. He wasn’t alone.
Kuminga gave Golden State 14 first-half points off the bench. Podziemski was right behind with 13, and Post drained four threes off the bench for 12 points going into the second half.
Curry, however, was held to seven points. So in a sense, the Raptors’ strategy somewhat worked.
But Curry then scored 10 of the Warriors’ first 16 points in the third quarter before exiting to an injury. The Warriors responded by going on a 10-4 run to close the quarter to hold a 93-92 lead going into the fourth.
A total of six Warriors scored in double figures. From the time of Curry’s injury to the end of the game, the Warriors outscored the Raptors by eight points, 34-26.
Steph’s Scary Injury
All of Chase Center fell silent with a little more than three minutes left in the third quarter. A pin drop could be heard echoing off the court. That’s what happens when Curry goes down.
Curry drove to the basket and was hammered by two Raptors as he delivered a pass across his body from the paint to the left corner. He bounced off the court, immediately lifted his back and began grabbing at his tailbone area. For what felt like an eternity, Curry stayed down on the ground and was tended to by assistant athletic trainer Drew Yoder.
On his own power, Curry walked to the Warriors’ bench before being joined by director of sports medicine and performance Rick Celebrini down the tunnel and back to the locker room.
Steph Curry goes down and all of Chase Center holds their breath in the third quarter
Early into the fourth quarter, the Warriors ruled Curry out because of a pelvic contusion. He was listed as questionable two games ago with lower back soreness, which first occurred during pregame warmups one week ago against the Sacramento Kings. Curry then was given rest last game, the first one he didn’t suit up for in nearly two months.
The Warriors on Saturday begin a six-game road trip starting in Atlanta against the Hawks. They’re 5-3 in eight games without Curry this season.
The 12th-seeded McNeese State Cowboys became the first team to slip on Cinderella’s slippers this March, upsetting No. 5 Clemson, 69-67, in stunning fashion on Thursday afternoon.
Lamont Butler’s Final Four background has earned him a nickname as the former San Diego State guard attempts to end Kentucky’s recent pattern of March sadness. Kentucky (22-11) is the No. 3 seed in the Midwest Region heading into its first-round game Friday against Sun Belt champion Troy (23-10).
DeMar DeRozan reached yet another incredible milestone amidst his 16th NBA season.
The star Kings forward eclipsed 25,000 career points with one of his patented mid-range buckets in the third quarter of Sacramento’s game against the Chicago Bulls on Thursday night at Golden 1 Center.
DeRozan entered Thursday’s game with 24,983 career points, needing 17 to reach the milestone.
He now becomes the 27th player in league history to reach the rare feat, just behind Golden State Warriors superstar Steph Curry, who reached the career mark earlier this month.
DeRozan is the sixth active player with at least 25,000 points, joining LeBron James, Kevin Durant, James Harden, Russell Westbrook and Curry.
The 35-year-old has been one of the purest scorers in the league, still showcasing his efficiency nearly two decades in.
Entering Thursday’s game, DeRozan was averaging 22.2 points on 48.6-percent shooting from the field and 35.6 percent from 3-point range, with 4.0 rebounds and 4.1 assists in 35.8 minutes across 62 games (62 starts) with Sacramento this season.
