Category: Sports News

When the Spurs won their fourth game against the Portland Trail Blazers, fans went honking. But the fans weren’t alone. Among the hundreds on the road celebrating, a member of the San Antonio Spurs took part in the festivities.

Spurs sharp shooter Julian Champagnie, who finished the first round of the playoffs shooting over 60% from beyond the arc, joined the fans in cheering the victory.

Between when Portland left and the Minnesota Timberwolves arrived, the Spurs had nearly a week to decompress and prepare for the second round of the playoffs. While out and about shopping, they stopped to take come photos.

Jordan McLaughlin was seen in Karolina’s doing some antique shopping.

Meanwhile, Champagnie shopped at Sephora and stopped to take a photo.

It’s hard not to notice a six-foot-plus guy as he’s passing by, but the Spurs are more recognizable than ever. For some, this is their first experience in the playoffs. All eyes are on them. It’s great to see how they have handled the fame with poise and grace.

Plus, they gotta get that Mother’s Day shopping done before they head to Minneapolis for the weekend.

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The Hawks are still reckoning with a disastrous end to their season, but that ending shouldn’t obscure the progress the organization made in course of the past 12 months.

Despite major in-season roster turnover, the team won 46 games and returned to the playoffs after two seasons of eliminations in the Play-In Tournament. Jalen Johnson earned his first career All-Star nod — and he may yet make an All-NBA team. Nickeil Alexander-Walker was the acquisition of the offseason, going from bench role player to key starter and earning Most Improved Player in the process.

It’s one thing for fans and local media to take note of the team’s accomplishments. But it’s another for the league to take notice.

And two bits of news over the last week have now reinforced the notion that the perception of this front office have changed for the better.

The NBA Executive of the Year award has been handed out every year since 1972-73 in an effort to recognize an outstanding front office decision maker over the course of a season. While Brad Stevens, Boston Celtics President of Operations, was recently named the winner for the 2025-26 season, a familiar name finished second in the voting.

Onsi Saleh, Atlanta Hawks general manager, finished second in Executive of the Year voting in just his first year on the job as the top executive in the front office structure:

Saleh was recognized, in part, for pulling off a big draft asset transaction during the last draft for a lottery superpick, bringing in Alexander-Walker in a sign-and-trade using the mid-level exception, and netting key player CJ McCollum in the Trae Young trade — among other successful moves.

But recognition doesn’t stop at the top of the organizational chart. Bryson Graham stepped into a senior vice president of basketball operations position last offseason after spending 15 years in the New Orleans Pelicans organization.

Now, the Chicago Bulls have tapped Graham to be, presumably, the top signal caller in their program:

Graham was instrumental in the widely lauded superpick acquisition due to his deep knowledge of the Pelicans’ draft assets. Additionally, he’s reportedly had a keen eye for scouting basketball talent, although the Hawks were largely unable to tap into that skill due to his short stint here in Atlanta.

Both of these news tidbits now lend credence toward the notion that the Hawks’ front office is well respected around the league. That hasn’t always been the case, but the new regime has clearly changed views around the NBA for the better.

That’s something to be celebrated — even as the front office loses a key piece in Bryson Graham.

These New York food joints are 86ing the 76ers’ hometown sandwich. 

Restaurants and bars from Manhattan to Long Island were banning “Philly” cheesesteaks from the menu as the Knicks take on the 76ers in the NBA’s Eastern Conference Semifinals.

Empire State spots said they were rebranding Philly cheesesteaks as “the Philly SUCKS cheesesteak,” “the Big Apple cheesesteak” and other cheeky names in response to The Post calling around to see if establishments were ready to dunk on the B-rate city.

“Philly needs to understand, New York is the king,” said Louis Cretella, the co-owner of Dario’s Pizza in West Hempstead.

Cretella, who has been a Knicks season ticket holder for more than a decade, personally changed the menu item from Philly cheesesteak to the Philly SUCKS cheesesteak in the restaurant’s computer system.

Hard copy menus have the “Philly” crossed out and “F*** Philly” in black marker written over it.

Dario’s can sell up to 2,500 cheesesteaks and has been featured on “Good Morning America.” 

“If Philly is so good at cheesesteaks, then why did ‘Good Morning America’ reach out to us on Long Island and not the guys in Philly?” Cretella said.

Philly-themed bar Wogies – which has three New York locations – took direct aim at Sixers star Joel Embiid and the appendectomy he had near the end of the regular season last month. 

“We’ll be renaming one of our original cheesesteaks to be The Appendix Burster — a nod to Embiid’s miraculous recovery from appendicitis,” a business rep told The Post in reference to the center returning to the hardwood 17 days after surgery.

Other restaurants were also tweaking their menu names in the beef with Philly during the high-steaks playoff matchup, including:

• Slate in Manhattan is dubbing one of their appetizers the Knicks Knockout Philly cheesesteak empanadas, while sister business Clinton Hall is introducing the Knicks Knockout Philly cheesesteak sliders.
• G’s Cheesesteaks in Manhattan is planning to change its cheesesteak to the New York Knicks steak on Wednesday.
• Birdie Bar in Northport is calling their food item The Big Apple cheesesteak.

“We’re here to not only show you that we’re a better basketball team, but we might make a better cheesesteak than Philly also,” said Birdie owner and devout Knicks fan Louie Selvaggio.

Evan Deitch, part owner of the Chiddy’s Cheesesteaks, which has multiple sites, said at the business’ Farmingdale location Tuesday Philly fans have always been sore losers.

“It’s not Philly, it’s Long Island cheesesteak,” Deitch said. “Ten times better! New Yorkers demand the best.”

The owners of Italian staple Mama’s in Copiague were giving customers the choice between two names instead of mentioning Philly.

“The Convert” because brothers Adam and Ahmy Sala grew up in Philadelphia as Sixers fans, but have since become Knicks fans thanks to watching point guard Jalen Brunson play at Villanova University and “Trust the Cheesesteak, Not the Process,” in a knock on former 76ers general manager Sam Hinkie’s questionable long-term plan of success.

“Philadelphia has been doing cheesesteaks forever. It’s time New York has a bit of an identity with that,” said Ahmy Sala.

The group of restaurants’ defiance comes as 76er fans tried to block Knicks fanatics of buying tickets to road games at Xfinity Mobile Arena.

The cheesesteak originated from Philadelphia when two brothers who ran a hot dog stand in the south side of the Pennsylvania city, Pat and Harry Olivieri, were attempting to come up with new sandwiches to offer customers. 

But for now, the Big Apple isn’t ready to serve Philly any props, especially as the Knicks faithful are reveling in Monday’s 137-98 Game 1win ahead of Wednesday’s game at Madison Square Garden. 

Aristotle “Telly” Hatzigeorgiou, the CEO of The Lure Group, which is the majority owner of Clinton Hall and Slate, joked the kitchen staff “exorcised” anything Philly from the griddle.

“We just sat around, and all of a sudden we see the word ‘Philly’ there, and we’re like, ‘ugh!’ Teeth are grinding, and we didn’t want anything Philly that’s weak,” the Queens native said. “We wanted strong NYC grit. Not a weaky Philly cheesesteak.”

The Sixers’ second-round opener against the Knicks was about as tired and lop-sided as it could have been. A sub 48-hour turnaround after beating Boston left the Sixers with minimal time to recover and go against the Knicks at full throttle, and it showed. The Sixers lost 137-98 in Game 1 on Monday, and there’s a whole array of things that need to change if Game 2 is going to play out differently.

First and foremost, the simple stuff: the Sixers need the Knicks’ shooting cools off. New York were red hot from three all night, finishing 19-of-37 (51.4 percent) from deep.

As Paul George said very simply to reporters after the game, “yeah, we had breakdowns tonight. But they also shot the s*** out of the ball.”

“But you know, it’s a game of adjustments,” George added. “We’ll make adjustments; see what we need to get better at.”

George is right of course. There were some breakdowns in communication that led to open looks. There were plays like the below that simply can’t happen at this stage to allow open buckets in the paint, not just from three.

But the Sixers’ defense and switching was far sharper than this for other spells of the first half. Generally speaking, the Knicks were just on fire. They were frequently burying well contested threes like it was nothing, and chances are that doesn’t last all series. Hopefully for the Sixers, that calms down straight away in Game 2.

Offensively, the Sixers simply need far more from Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid. Apart from shooting a cool 3-of-9 overall in his 26 minutes, Maxey mainly needed to be more aggressive. Both in terms of actively hunting for threes (he only attempted three) and seeking driving lanes to the rim.

While Embiid didn’t score much himself with only 14 points on 3-of-11 shooting (and that needs to change), there were still flashes of how the Sixers could create off his gravity. He was able to generate some open looks from three with kick-out passes from the post and elbows, and found Kelly Oubre Jr. on some neat baseline cuts (Oubre’s cutting has been good in general these playoffs). More of that paired with sharper shooting from Embiid and Maxey would do wonders for turning Game 2 into a competitive one.

Paul George’s play was one of the few positives on Monday. He’s been terrific at both ends of the floor all postseason. He may not have lit up the scoreboard in Game 1, but George yet again brought plenty to the table at both ends. He finished with 17 points on 6-of-11 shooting (4-of-6 from three) and three assists, finding success creating off the bounce from range and getting into the lane to either pull up for himself or set up others.

Again, more typical nights from Embiid and/or Maxey with this version of George will allow the Sixers’ offense to really punch back in Game 2. George continuing to operate well as a playmaker also makes it easier for Maxey to spend more time time as an off-ball scorer and movement shooter, which is what he needs a healthy dose of to be his absolute best.

VJ Edgecombe was also a bright spot. He was fairly aggressive with his limited shots and minutes, and didn’t hesitate from three, adding 12 points on 5-of-11 shooting and a pair of triples.

The Sixers’ stars attacking Jalen Brunson more could be one way to find some extra success, which we didn’t see much of in Game 1. Put Brunson to work by running him through more pick-and-rolls as the point-of-attack defender and exploit his lacking size and defense where possible. Getting him mismatched onto bigger players like George, or simply having to guard the more explosive Maxey and Edgecombe flying through the paint, could help.

Meanwhile as a scorer himself, Brunson was fantastic. He led all scorers by a mile with 35 points on 12-of-18 shooting, including a 3-of-6 mark from three. The Knicks’ created good looks attacking the paint and firing from three through Brunson’s wave of pick-and-rolls.

From drop coverage that gave Brunson pull-up opportunities to more aggressive coverages like the play below, he found ways to score. Take this possession, where Quentin Grimes stays over the screen (before Mitchell Robinson slips) and Embiid shows high before Brunson rejects the pick and drives into a clear lane.

Moving forward, we’ll see tinkering with different looks through the series to try and keep Brunson in check as much as possible. You can never take away everything all the time, but you have to be adaptable.

To the Sixers’ credit, they did force Brunson into a fare share of difficult looks. Some of his threes and pull-up mid-rangers in particular were well guarded even if he made them regardless. Like this play, where Embiid shows high before recovering to Robinson and George pressures at the arc. A defense that’s reset with Brunson held at the arc against the close contest of a 6-foot-8 defender is a solid outcome… Brunson just buries the three anyway.

In Game 2, the Sixers can only keep using players who have guarded Brunson well in the past, like Oubre Jr., and Edgecombe who did a fantastic job on him this regular season, to ideally turn more of those difficult makes into misses. Unfortunately, Embiid’s mobility being weakened right now makes it harder to bring him higher against screens. Philly will need excellent individual on-ball defense on Brunson all series to prevent easy opportunities. Die on too many screens against drop coverage and he’ll have open pull-ups. Execute a blitz poorly and Brunson can slice into the lane himself or pass to an open roll man.

If the Sixers at least use different looks to keep Brunson guessing, stay physical on the ball, and be sharper with help rotations and switches, they could see some improvement. Some smaller lineups using a George-Dominick Barlow frontcourt could also be an option for short spells to give the Sixers the agility on the perimeter to show high against ball screens and up their switching. That is, unless Adem Bona gets another shot and has a drastic turnaround from his Game 1 performance. With three fouls in three minutes, it’s safe to say he didn’t look like a viable option.

It’ll be interesting to see how other defensive matchups play out in Game 2 as well. For instance, Embiid started out on Karl-Anthony Towns before taking on more of a paint-roaming role playing off Josh Hart, which could be effective moving forward if the Knicks have to attack the paint more if/when they stop making endless threes. Also, who fares better with the Brunson assignment moving forward? Both Oubre and Edgecombe spent time on him in Game 1, and despite Brunson’s skill as a tough shot maker, they’ve both proven they have the tools to guard him well.

Another smaller note is if we’ll see much more hack-a-Mitch strategy. The Sixers turned to intentionally fouling Mitchell Robinson early on Monday as they struggled to slow down the Knicks elsewhere. Nick Nurse even brought Justin Edwards in to pick up a few quick fouls, and it worked. Robinson missed four straight free throws at one point and is at 40.8 percent from the line this season, and 29.4 percent in the playoffs. Getting him off the floor forces Towns to spend more time on Embiid which bodes well for how effective Jo has been against him throughout his career. Robinson’s rim protection, while not game-changing for Embiid, can make the big fella work a little harder.

One last positive of the Sixers’ heavy loss at least is that Nurse, who’s smartly used a small six-man rotation this postseason to lean heavily on his best players, moved his starters to the sidelines midway through the third quarter. Hopefully for the Sixers, their key players not emptying the tank on Monday will help them enter Game 2 with a little extra energy.

Clearly a lot needs to change in Game 2 if the Sixers are going to win. But it’s not unthinkable changes. From a more aggressive Maxey and an Embiid closer to what we saw in round one, to less lights-out three-point shooting from New Work and scoring from Brunson.

It’s only been 18 days since we watched the Sixers get demolished by 32 points in Game 1 against Boston before they completed their historic 3-1 comeback. Maybe 30-point defeats is just how this 2026 team starts series as the underdog before making a comeback…

Game Details

When: Wednesday, May 6, 7:00 p.m. ET
Where: Madison Square Garden, NYC
Watch: ESPN, NBC Sports Philadelphia
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic
Follow: @LibertyBallers

Congratulations, Lakers!

You held Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to fewer than 20 points for the first time since Game 3 of the Western Conference finals last May 24. You forced him into a season-high seven turnovers. And — get this, this part is really wild — you afforded the man who basically lives at the charity stripe only three free-throw attempts.

You should be so proud.

You should also know now for sure: It’s not happening.

You’re not knocking off Oklahoma City.

Read more:'Some game-plan breakdowns.' Thunder pull away in second half to defeat Lakers in Game 1

You held SGA, the reigning league MVP, to 18 points and you lost Game 1 of this Western Conference semifinal series by 18 points, 108-90.

And now you know you’re not mounting a monumental upset and dethroning the defending NBA champions.

You can play a bit better in Games 2, 3 and 4, sure. Austin Reaves could shoot better than three for 16. Marcus Smart should shoot better than four for 15. Luke Kennard ought to shoot more than four times.

But unless, by some miracle, Luka Doncic’s ailing hamstring is healed by Game 2 on Thursday, the Thunder are just much too much for these Lakers.

Oklahoma City gave them a rusty, tin-man version of SGA for a game and continued playing without his injured co-star Jalen Williams. And still, the Thunder were too talented, too deep, too well-coached.

They’re also too aggressive, too confident, too experienced, too together, too clever.

Oh, but I’m going on too long, let the Smart take it from here …

“No matter what, they're relentless in their pursuit,” he said. “They're constantly on the move, they're constantly downhill, putting defenses on their heels. So when you got guys like that, that's constantly putting pressure, not only on you just offensively, but defensively, it is tough. And they come in waves, right? And when they get hot and get going, they can really get going. So they're tough in that aspect.

“[And they’re] defending champs. They've been here, they understand it. They grew up together, and they have a different type of chemistry that most teams probably don't have.”

That includes even this get-along gang that is this season’s Lakers.

Read more:Plaschke: Show Austin Reaves the money? Lakers might have second thoughts after Game 1 meltdown

Winning this best-of-seven series against the Thunder was already an impossible dream. Game 1 illustrated that it’s more like a foregone conclusion.

If the NBA issued intentional walks, they’d put Oklahoma City on base and save the Thunder fans’ voices for later in the playoffs.

If it was possible to simulate the rest of the series, video-game style, it would be worth considering.

Not that there isn’t still value in this series for the Lakers. Not so much in the inevitable result, but for the result of the test: Who on this team is built for this?

Who on this roster measures up against the barometer that is Oklahoma City?

Who will best slot in alongside Doncic, the heliocentric star who everyone knows thrives when paired with defenders, shooters and lob threats?

Is Reaves — as delightful a character and player as he’s been in regular-season action — really a reliable second option beside Doncic when the physicality ratchets up in the postseason? Is he durable enough to count on late in a season?

Does anyone on the Lakers besides 41-year-old LeBron James — who had a game-high 27 points on 12-for-17 shooting in Game 1 — have it in them to throw a few scoring punches?

Final grades aren’t in yet, but let’s assume many of the current Lakers would want to hide the report card when it came — even though they tried, they really, really did.

But against Oklahoma City, the Lakers’ lulls became an invitation for the Thunder to strike. A few miscues got compounded exponentially.

Sometimes you have little room for error. And then there’s playing against the Thunder, when there is none: “Once you make a couple mental mistakes,” Reaves said, “it seems like they take advantage of every one of them.”

And they don’t have to be perfect.

SGA doesn’t play to par? So what! They shoot only 12 free throws? Forget about it.

Because Chet Holmgren still goes for 24 points and 12 rebounds. Ajay Mitchell adds 18 points. Jared McCain chips in with 12 off the bench. They shoot 13 for 30 from three-point range. They put the clamps on during the second half, when they held the Lakers to 37 points.

They took care of business, the team that has all the answers — and for whom the Lakers have none.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.