SATURDAY, MAY 28 , 2022. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ M2 D3
FROM NEWS SERVICES
AND STAFF REPORTSJimmy Butler had 47 points,
nine rebounds and eight assists
and the Miami Heat forced the
Eastern Conference finals to a de-
cisive seventh game by beating the
Boston Celtics, 111-103, on the road
Friday night.
Ten years after LeBron James
had 45 points in Boston to help
Miami avoid Game 6 elimination
en route to the first of the team’s
back-to-back NBA titles, Butler
scored 17 points in the fourth
quarter to top him and send the
series back to South Florida.
Butler’s 47 points were the sev-
enth-most in NBA history for a
player facing elimination.
With a victory at home Sunday,
the Heat would advance to the
NBA Finals for the second time in
three years.
“This is the way it should be
with these two teams. It should
have gone seven games,” Miami
Coach Erik Spoelstra said. “I’m
just really thrilled that our group
gets an opportunity to compete in
a Game 7 in front of our home
crowd.”
In the most back-and-forth
game of the series, Boston took a
97-94 lead on Derrick White’s
three-pointer with under five min-
utes to play — the first time all
series the lead has changed hands
in the fourth quarter. Kyle Lowry
answered with a three of his own,
then added two free throws as
Miami went on an 11-2 run.
Lowry finished with 18 points
and 10 assists before fouling out
with 2:18 left. Butler made 16 of 29
shots, hitting 4 of 8 from three-
point range and all 11 free throws.
“Matching his intensity from
the start wasn’t there,” Celtics
Coach Ime Udoka said. “Under-
standing that he was going to put
it on his shoulders, and we didn’t
match it.”
Jayson Tatum had 30 points
and nine rebounds and Derrick
White came off the bench to score
11 of his 22 points in the fourth
quarter for Boston. The Celtics are
trying to reach the Finals for the
first time since 2010.
Boston’s Jaylen Brown scored
20 points, missing a pair of free
throws with the game tied at 99
after Lowry fouled out. Brown
fouled out himself on a charge
offensive that was assessed after a
challenge on a missed dunk with
13 seconds left and the Celtics
down by four.
Miami guard Tyler Herro
missed his third straight game
with a strained groin, costing the
team its No. 2 scorer. Lowry (ham-
string), Max Strus (hamstring)
and P.J. Tucker (knee) had been
listed as questionable but were in
the starting lineup.
Boston’s Marcus Smart
(sprained right ankle) and Robert
Williams III (sore knee) tested
their injuries pregame and were
also in the lineup.
— Associated PressLakers to hire Bucks’ Ham
Eyeing a return to the playoffs
after a disastrous campaign that
led to the firing of Frank Vogel, the
Los Angeles Lakers agreed to hire
Milwaukee Bucks assistant
Darvin Ham as their next coach, a
person with knowledge of the situ-
ation confirmed.
Ham was one of three finalists,
along with former Portland Trail
Blazers Coach Terry Stotts and
Golden State Warriors assistant
Kenny Atkinson. ESPN.com first
reported the hire, noting Ham will
receive a four-year contract.
Ham has served as an assistant
coach for the Lakers, Atlanta
Hawks and Bucks. He was a mem-
ber of the Detroit Pistons when
they won the 2004 title and was an
assistant when the Bucks won the
2021 title.
The 48-year-old inherits a team
that dealt with injuries and fit
issues while posting a 33-49 rec-
ord and finishing 11th in the West-
ern Conference under Vogel, who
was dismissed just 18 months af-
ter leading the Lakers to the 2020
title in the bubble.
— Ben GolliverNBA ROUNDUP
Butler scores 47 points
as Miami forces Game 7
HEAT 111,
CELTICS 103g ut-wrenching indicator it was
time for Golden State’s greatness
to expire. It was just the end of
the Warriors as we knew them,
the end of the Durant phase of an
era still determined to become
an all-time dynasty.
The most significant symbol of
that 2019 finale turned out to be
Curry, who looked disappointed
but dressed as though he was
going to a summer party in
Miami. Actually, come to think of
it, he wasn’t clad in all white. He
wore a cream-colored blazer atop
all the chalky garb. Devastation
had never looked so sleek.
“Enjoy the champagne,” he
told bubbly-drenched Finals
MVP Kawhi Leonard as they
greeted each other in the
interview room that night.
It was a sincere gesture, but
Curry was only conceding that
moment to Leonard and the rest
of the NBA. He and Draymond
Green declared the Warriors
would be back. It may have been
the first time Curry used his
favorite phrase of the past few
years — “championship DNA” —
as a verbal banner to remind all
of what’s possible.
“Our DNA and who we are and
the character that we have on
this team, I wouldn’t bet against
us,” Curry said that losing night.
Twenty minutes later, he put
his nice suit to work, posing for
pictures with family and friends
at Oracle Arena one last time.
For those happy moments, it
didn’t seem as though the
Warriors had lost it all — Durant
(for good); Thompson (for the
next 2^1 / 2 seasons); a fourth title of
the Curry era and a rare three-
peat opportunity; and a loud, old
building full of memories —
because their franchise player
refused to yield. That attitude
alone didn’t resuscitate the
Warriors. It was a process that
included two years out of the
playoffs and a league-worst 15-50
record in 2019-20.
But for the sixth time in eight
seasons, Golden State has
advanced to the championship
round. Of those six iterations,
this team finished with the worst
regular season record (53-29),BREWER FROM D1and in the playoffs the blowout-
prone Warriors once trailed
Memphis by 55 during a
potential closeout game. But
they’re here and ahead of
schedule, considering what they
went through to retool. And
they’re formidable, with their
great 30-something core of
Curry, Thompson and Green, an
emerging star in Jordan Poole, a
reclaimed star in Andrew
Wiggins and a cast of veteran
role players to go with a few
young, high-ceiling talents.
Even if this group doesn’t win
the championship, it may go
down as the most important one
in the Warriors’ bid to sustain
excellence. Impermanence is a
reality in professional sports,
and during this NBA period of
heavy player movement, success
is more fleeting than ever.
However, Golden State is more in
the mold of the San Antonio
Spurs’ dynasty of Tim Duncan
and Coach Gregg Popovich than
it is one of those short-lived
championship squads that won a
free agency bonanza.
As a player, Steve Kerr was a
quality reserve for two dynasties
and collected five championship
rings — three with the Chicago
Bulls and two with the Spurs. As
a coach, he has taken the most
pertinent lessons from all of hishoops experiences and won three
more titles his own way. The
Warriors play a distinct brand of
beautiful basketball,
harmonizing on offense and
defense, blurring positional lines
and amplifying all of the
invaluable contributions players
can make without hogging the
ball. But they are sneakily
adaptable within their identity.
It’s fascinating that this is the
Warriors’ third wave of
contention under Kerr. He
arrived for the 2014-15 season as
a rookie coach, and Golden State
won right away, capturing the
2015 crown and finishing with a
league-record 73 victories the
next year before losing to
Cleveland in Game 7 of the 2016
Finals. Then, with good planning
and a salary cap spike in 2016,
General Manager Bob Myers
landed a superstar free agent in
Durant to add an unbeatable
dimension to a team that already
had three all-stars. In Durant’s
three seasons, the Warriors won
two more championships.
Sometimes, those seasons —
five Finals appearances, three
triumphs — are lumped together,
but they shouldn’t be. The
“Strength in Numbers” Warriors
of unparalleled depth weren’t the
same as the more streamlined
and overpowering teams thattweaked things to allow for
Durant to carry them in critical
situations.
Now there’s this squad, still
with room to grow despite the
aging stars. These are very
different Warriors within the
same, enviable culture. They are
attempting to do what
traditionalists have long deemed
impossible. They are locked into
win-now mode and carving out
time to develop a crop of young
draft picks. They have guided
Poole from the G League to
stardom, and he has transformed
the Warriors’ offense by
marrying Splash Brother-worthy
shooting with the ability to break
down the defense off the dribble.
They are doing a good job with
rookie lottery picks Jonathan
Kuminga and Moses Moody.
They’re thriving in player
development without injured
center James Wiseman, the No. 2
pick of the 2020 draft, who has
played only 39 games over two
seasons.
It was assumed the Warriors
wouldn’t be able to win a
championship with two critical
portions of the team on different
timelines. It was assumed they
would be willing to trade those
lottery picks to acquire another
star or high-level complementary
player. So far, the Warriors have
resisted the urge to think short
term. If they continue to succeed,
they will assemble a bridge from
the current era to the next.
Three years ago, you looked at
the clock and figured Leonard
and the Raptors had done to the
Warriors what he and the Spurs
did to the Miami Heat’s Big
Three in 2014 — another super
team thwarted by an MVP
performance from Fun Guy
Kawhi. The league was poised to
spin the superstar free agent
wheel again and reset the
balance of power.
That happened, but the
Warriors continued to adjust to a
rapidly changing league. They’re
on their own time now,
positioned to continue their run,
expecting it to end only on their
terms.
If the other teams didn’t enjoy
the champagne, they had better
start guzzling now.JERRY BREWER‘Championship DNA’ powers W arriors’ renaissanceJEFF CHIU/ASSOCIATED PRESS
W estern Conference finals MVP Stephen Curry and G olden State
are back in the NBA Finals after two s easons b attling injuries.“So it’s not about me minimiz-
ing myself in any aspect. I would
never do that.”
Atkins seems to be at a trans-
formational point in her career.
She’s approaching her prime in
her fifth season, and her numbers
have consistently risen. She’s
posting career-high field goal
(46.7) and three-point (46.2) per-
centages w hile averaging career
highs in rebounds (3.5) and as-
sists (2.6). Her points per game
(15.4) were also close to a career
high before she scored just 10 in a
blowout win against the Atlanta
Dream on Tuesday.
Atkins is carrying herself in a
different way this season, and the
Olympic experience may explain
why. She was a bit wide-eyed as a
first-time Olympian on the same
team as players who were fea-
tured on posters on her walls. The
team held a minicamp-type ses-
sion in Minneapolis during the
2022 NCAA Final Four, and there
was no more newness — she was a
veteran who truly belonged.
The 2018 No. 7 overall pick tied
Skylar Diggins-Smith for the sec-
ond-fewest minutes played dur-
ing those Olympics, but as the
Games went on, 2018 WNBA MVP
Breanna Stewart and five-time
gold medalist Sue Bird both peti-
tioned Coach Dawn Staley to give
Atkins more time.
“Because she can handle it.
And she did, and she thrived,”
Stewart explained. “Definitely
have seen a lot of growth in Ariel.
I think it’s just her confidence and
MYSTICS FROM D1 ability to make sure she’s com-
fortable even as the team is
changing, the coaches are chang-
ing and realizing that she is a vet.
She is the one with the experience
and kind of passing that down
and making sure other people are
aware of it.
“The biggest thing is she came
in and played hard. She played
defense. She did what she needed
to do; whether it was the dirty
work, the easy work, she was
ready for it all.”
Confidence is the most com-
mon answer when people close to
Atkins talk about her progres-
sion. She has taken another step
forward in that regard since the
Olympics, but her self-belief
started young, when LaShonda
had to step in to coach when Ariel
was about 6. The normal coach
was on maternity leave, and
LaShonda didn’t know much
about the game. The one thing
she did want to instill, however,
was for the girls to be fearless. She
wanted Ariel to be relentless —
and it stuck. To this day, Atkins is
nonstop on the court — attacking
and defending regardless of the
score. She vividly remembers the
lesson and lives it.
“With time and sometimes just
experience, your maturity grows
very quickly,” said Hall of Famer
Tina Thompson, who coached At-
kins at Texas and nicknamed her
“Money.” “Being an Olympian,
you mature really fast. There is no
time for a slow maturation.
“So to me, that is the difference.
She sees herself as a leader on this
team, and she’s taking ownership
of that role. And it’s a role that she
is a lot more comfortable in. So
what I see with her now is com-
fort.”
The Mystics are reaping the
rewards of that additional com-
fort. Atkins is attacking the bas-
ket more and not just settling forjump shots. The team has started
6-2 but has been shorthanded
and experienced several lulls dur-
ing games. Atkins more often
than not gets the ball in her hands
when things are out of sync.
Whether it’s looking for her own
shot or creating for others, Atkinshas taken on that responsibility
in dire times. The game has
slowed down for her, Mystics
Coach Mike Thibault said, which
has allowed her to make better
decisions.
Elena Delle Donne said that
Atkins has always been “supermature” and added that she has
been ready and willing to have
the ball in crunchtime her entire
career, including in the playoffs.
“She did that [expletive] as a
rookie,” Delle Donne said.
Leadership and increased
communication are what the two-
time MVP has noticed most about
Atkins this season. Those could
be more byproducts of the Olym-
pic experience. Both Delle Donne
and Staley said one of the biggest
benefits of being on Team USA is
being surrounded by the best in
the world every day and witness-
ing how they approach their craft.
Habits rub off, and Atkins search-
es out those lessons.
Still, Atkins isn’t a household
name. She isn’t featured in na-
tional commercials and isn’t
quickly named when people list
the best guards in the league. But
the Mystics know. The U.S. na-
tional team committee knows.
Staley points out that opponents
know, too.
“She may not get the national
publicity, but I know she’s a part
of everybody’s scouting report. I’d
rather have that,” Staley said. “I’d
rather have the latter versus the
former. Because the former is
you’re the hottest thing coming in
there. The latter is y ou have to
game-plan for her. I think the
bottom line is, she’s not one that
wants all of that spotlight, but it
doesn’t mean that she doesn’t
deserve it, because she does.
“That respect goes a longer way
than some fly-by-the-seat-of-
their-pants publicity tour that
people get.”Atkins delivers on the promises in the l etters of her youth
SCOTT TAETSCH FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
A riel Atkins is humble by nature, but there is no denying that she is one of the WNBA’s best players.BY KYLE MELNICKWhen the Orlando Pride
pushed the ball into the offensive
third late in stoppage time Friday
night, the Washington Spirit only
needed to clear the ball to seal its
first win in more than three
weeks. The Spirit had surren-
dered a goal about three minutes
earlier, but it was still in a com-
fortable position after controlling
the majority of the match.
But when Washington failed to
clear a cross into the box, Orlando
forward Julie Doyle corralled the
ball. With Spirit defenders fo-
cused on her, Doyle passed
through them and across the box
to forward Darian Jenkins, who
struck the ball into the bottom
right corner of the net.
As Doyle sprinted to Jenkins
for a hug, Spirit players walked
back to the pitch; the referee blew
the game’s final whistle a moment
later. After appearing to move
past early-season struggles in the
opening 90 minutes, the Spirit
squandered a two-goal lead in
stoppage time to draw, 2-2, at
Exploria Stadium in Orlando.
“The ending of the game obvi-ously was rough,” Spirit defender
Sam Staab said. “We had a pretty
good hold of the game up until
90-plus. It’s just breakdowns all
around, really. We missed a few
tackles; missed a few passes.
We’re not playing smart.”
The Spirit’s last win came
May 4 over the OL Reign in the
semifinals of the preseason Chal-
lenge Cup tournament. Three
days later, Washington’s 20-game
unbeaten streak in competitive
matches ended — a run that dated
from last August and included its
first National Women’s Soccer
League title.
The Spirit (1-1-3, six points)
went ahead of Orlando (2-2-2,eight points) in the 19th minute
Friday when forward Ashley San-
chez stole the ball from midfield-
er Mikayla Cluff and passed to
forward Audrey Harding, who
made her first career start since
the Spirit signed her May 1.
Harding passed to forward
Trinity Rodman, who pounded
the ball from the top of the box
into the bottom left corner of the
net. It was second-year standout’s
first regular season goal after she
was held without a shot in the
Spirit’s scoreless draw against the
Reign on May 22.
“It’s something that just gave
her a lot of confidence,” said
Coach Kris Ward, who spent themajority of his 20-minute news
conference advocating for gov-
ernment action after Tuesday’s
mass shooting in Uvalde, Tex.
“You could see it all over her face.
We honestly didn’t utilize her
enough tonight.”
In the 66th minute, Spirit for-
ward Ashley Hatch, last season’s
leading scorer in the NWSL, re-
ceived a cross from Sanchez and
scored. With her 24th career reg-
ular season goal, Hatch passed
Diana Matheson for the most in
club history.
After Hatch and other starters
exited the game, the officials add-
ed six minutes of stoppage time
due to the match stopping severaltimes for injuries. In the 95th
minute, Cluff headed in midfield-
er Jordyn Listro’s cross into the
box for a goal.
A few minutes later, the Spirit’s
defense collapsed again.
“It was very frustrating giving
that lead away,” Hatch said. “We
just need to play smarter soccer,
especially when we have six min-
utes of stoppage time. We need to
stay compact, and we need get the
ball out of our half — play like our
hair’s on fire and just get every-
thing out. We didn’t do that.”Spirit breaks down in stoppage time, turns sure win into a draw in Orlando
SPIRIT 2,
PRIDE 2Red Stars at Spirit
Wednesday, 7:30 p.m.,
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