D6 EZ M2 THE WASHINGTON POST.SUNDAY, APRIL 3 , 2022
ASSOCIATED PRESSJoel Embiid had 29 points,
14 rebounds and six assists, and
the Philadelphia 76ers snapped a
three-game losing streak with a
144-114 victory over the visiting
Charlotte Hornets on Saturday.
Philadelphia tied its franchise
record with 21 made three-point-
ers, last set M arch 1, 2020.
Tobias Harris added 23 points
and had a season-high five three-
pointers as the 76ers placed seven
players in double figures and were
able to play their bench for the
majority of the fourth quarter.
“We were able to move the ball
well,” Embiid said. “I was ex-
tremely happy with the way that
we played today because [of] the
pace and how we moved the ball
around and found our shooters.”
James Harden had 12 points
and 13 assists for Philadelphia.
Tyrese Maxey had 19 points and
four assists for the 76ers (47-30),
who can clinch a playoff berth
with a win Sunday against Cleve-
land.
Miles Bridges had 20 points for
Charlotte, which already wrapped
up a berth in the East’s play-in
tournament. PJ Washington had
14 points while LaMelo Ball added
13 for the Hornets.
“They made shots, and you
have to give them credit,” Hornets
Coach James Borrego said. “They
made shots. There were a few
rotations where we could have
been better with Embiid — the
easy stuff at the rim with the rolls.
Sometimes you have to pick your
poison when they hit their shots.”
Philadelphia broke the game
open in the third quarter, outscor-
ing Charlotte by a 45-27 margin
and hitting on 17 of 22 shots in the
period, including 7 of 10 from
beyond the arc, after holding a
58-53 halftime edge.
“We needed to come out in the
third quarter with a lot more en-
ergy, and we were able to do that,”
Harris said. “We were able to get
out off our stops, get good looks
and push the pace. When we
found a good set that work, we
were able to keep going to that.
And we have to build off that
momentum.”
The Hornets struggled to de-
fend the three-point line, allowing
the 76ers to shoot 21 for 43 (48.8
percent) from beyond the arc.
“They made shots, but our
turnovers helped give them some
NBA ROUNDUP
76ers tie
their mark
for threes
in blowout
76ERS 144,
HORNETS 114easy looks the other way,” Borrego
said.
l CAVALIERS 119, KNICKS
101: D arius Garland had 24 points
and 13 assists to lead Cleveland to
victory in New York.
Garland led seven Cavaliers in
double figures as Cleveland
snapped a two-game losing
streak.
Caris LeVert finished with
19 points. Moses Brown and Isaac
Okoro each added 16, and Brown
also had 13 rebounds. Kevin Love
had 15 off the bench. Cedi Osman
and Lauri Markkanen both added
10 for Cleveland.
“We’re starting to put some-
thing together,” Garland said.
Added Love: “We’re a very good
team.”
After a four-game winning
streak, New York has lost two
straight.Obi Toppin scored a career-
high 20 points. Evan Fournier had- Immanuel Quickley scored 17
off the bench. RJ Barrett finished
with 12, and Alec Burks had 11 for
New York.
“We lost today, so it really
doesn’t mean anything to me,”
Toppin said about his career day.
“We [have to] learn from today
and just get better and win these
next couple games.”
The Cavaliers never trailed in
sweeping the regular season se-
ries. Cleveland shot 54.3 percent
from the field (44 for 81) and
44.1 percent from beyond the arc
in the matinee at Madison Square
Garden.
“We finally made some shots,”
Garland said.
New York was 31 for 77 from the
field (40.3 percent) and 13 for 30
from three-point range (43.3 per-
cent).
But the Knicks were unable to
score a go-ahead basket at any
point. And Cleveland took every
opportunity to build on its advan-
tage, including a 57-second se-
quence in the third quarter.
Cleveland rookie Evan Mobley
missed his third straight game
with a sprained left ankle.
l HAWKS 122, NETS 115:
Kevin Durant earned a new scor-
ing record, though it was Danilo
Gallinari and host Atlanta who
celebrated with a postgame toast.
Trae Young scored 36 points,
including nine in the final minute,
and the streaking Hawks over-
came Durant’s career-high
55 points to hold off Brooklyn for
their fifth consecutive win.
Atlanta (41-37) moved into
eighth place in the Eastern Con-
ference, a game ahead of Brooklyn(40-38) and Charlotte.
“We’re playing some good bas-
ketball right now,” Young said.
Gallinari’s 15 points led Atlan-
ta’s bench, which outscored
Brooklyn’s backups 46-12. That
deserved a reward, and Gallinari
said Hawks Coach Nate McMillan
delivered.“Coach gave the glass of wine to
the ‘Bench Mob,’ ” Gallinari said,
adding the backups have used
that nickname since last season.
l HEAT 127, BULLS 109: Mi-
ami appears to be back on steady
ground after stumbling through a
season-high four straight losses.
Its grip on the No. 1 seed in the
Eastern Conference is tightening,
too.
Jimmy Butler scored 22 points,
Kyle Lowry and Tyler Herro add-
ed 19 apiece, and the first-place
Heat upended host Chicago.
Bam Adebayo scored 16 as Mi-
ami increased its lead over sec-
ond-place Milwaukee to
11 / 2 games. The Heat moved within
a win of securing home-court ad-
vantage in Round 1 of the postsea-
son. And if it goes 3-1 the rest of
the way, it will clinch the top seed
in the East.CHRIS SZAGOLA/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Joel Embiid had 29 points, 14 rebounds and six assists as Philadelphia snapped a three-game skid and equaled a franchise record by sinking 21 of 43 from beyond the arc.WIZARDS’ NEXT THREEat Boston CelticsToday1NBCSWat Minnesota TimberwolvesTuesday8NBCSWat Atlanta HawksWednesday8NBCSWRadio: WTEM (980 AM)BY BEN GOLLIVERManu Ginóbili made his name
in the NBA through his willing-
ness to sacrifice a starting spot for
the good of his team, but the San
Antonio Spurs legend deferred to
no one Saturday when he was
elected to the Naismith Memorial
Basketball Hall of Fame on his
first ballot.
The Argentine guard, who won
four titles alongside Tim Duncan
and Tony Parker during an excep-
tional 16-year run with the Spurs,
will headline a 2022 class that also
includes fellow NBA star Tim
Hardaway Sr., WNBA stars Swin
Cash and Lindsay Whalen, NBA
coaches George Karl and Del Har-
ris, WNBA coach Marianne Stan-
ley, NCAA coach Bob Huggins and
NBA referee Hugh Evans.
“It’s something you find out
and you can’t believe it’s actually
you, the one being named,”
Ginóbili told ESPN during the
televised announcement. “I never
even considered this a goal. I’m
thrilled, excited and very hon-
ored.”
The 2022 class was officially
announced at the NCAA men’s
Final Four weekend in New Or-
leans and will be enshrined
Sept. 10 in Springfield, Mass. This
year’s group is lighter on NBA star
power than the Hall of Fame’s past
two classes, which featured Kobe
Bryant, Tim Duncan and Kevin
Garnett in 2020 and Paul Pierce,
Chris Bosh, Chris Webber and Ben
Wallace in 2021.
Even so, it’s fitting that the un-
selfish Ginóbili, who started just
349 of his 1,057 career NBA games,
should be rewarded as this year’s
headliner. A lefty guard who per-
plexed defenders with his ball-
handling ability, passing skillsand unconventional moves,
Ginóbili was the 57th pick in the
1999 draft but played profession-
ally in Italy until 2002.
Known for his “Euro-step”
move, on which he sharply
changed direction after picking
up his dribble on drives to the
hoop, Ginóbili embraced the sixth
man role with San Antonio, mak-
ing him a crucial part of the team’s
sustained success under Coach
Gregg Popovich. With Ginóbili
leading the second unit and ex-
ploiting overmatched opponents,
the Spurs were able to maximize
his playmaking opportunities and
ensure a healthy balance between
their starters and their bench.
The staggered approach, which
saw Ginóbili stay on the court to
close games, became a popular
model for how to manage lineups,
but it cost him individual acco-
lades and came at the expense ofhis statistics. Ginóbili, 44, earned
just two all-star selections, both of
them in seasons when he was a
full-time starter, and he retired in
2018 with modest career averages
of 13.3 points, 3.5 rebounds and
3.8 assists per game.
Yet Ginóbili’s flair and passion
for the game made him a natural
complement to the serious Dun-
can and a fan favorite in San
Antonio, and he was honored by
the Spurs with a jersey retirement
in 2019. A basketball icon in Ar-
gentina, Ginóbili led his national
team to gold at the 2004 Athens
Olympics, bronze at the 2008 Bei-
jing Olympics and silver at the
2002 world championships.
Hardaway, 55, was a five-time
all-star during a 13-year career
spent largely with the Golden
State Warriors and Miami Heat.
The scoring-minded point guard
from Chicago posted career aver-ages of 17.7 points and 8.2 assists
per game and was famous for his
signature “UTEP two-step” cross-
over, which was named after his
alma mater, Texas El Paso. Hard-
away teamed with Hall of Famers
Chris Mullin and Mitch Rich-
mond on the up-tempo “Run
TMC” Warriors of the early 1990s
and led the Heat to the 1997 East-
ern Conference finals.
Following his 2003 retirement,
Hardaway made homophobic
comments in a 2007 radio inter-
view. Hardaway later apologized
and said in subsequent interviews
that he believed his comments
had negatively impacted his Hall
of Fame candidacy.
Cash, 42, was one of the great-
est women’s players of all time,
claiming two NCAA titles at Con-
necticut, three WNBA champion-
ships during a 15-year career and
two Olympic gold medals withTeam USA. The 6-foot-1 forward
was a four-time WNBA all-star
selection, the 2002 NCAA tourna-
ment’s most outstanding player
and a member of the WNBA’s
25th anniversary team. Following
her 2016 retirement, Cash joined
the New Orleans Pelicans’ front
office as vice president of basket-
ball operations in 2019.
The 39-year-old Whalen was a
five-time all-star and four-time
champion during a 15-year WNBA
career with the Connecticut Sun
and the Minnesota Lynx. The Min-
nesota native and former Univer-
sity of Minnesota star has coached
women’s basketball at her alma
mater since 2018.
Former NBA players Michael
Cooper and Marques Johnson
were among an original group of
11 Hall of Fame finalists who
didn’t earn induction in the 2022
class.Ginóbili joined by Hardaway, Cash and Whalen in Hall of Fame’s 2022 class
come home to my family. I have
teammates that still don’t have a
home. I have teammates that are
living with friends. I have team-
mates that can never go back to
their home.”
The situation again put the
spotlight on WNBA salaries. The
most recent collective bargaining
agreement made more money
available to players, but a dispari-
ty remains between what players
earn domestically and what they
can earn overseas.
“The league has been working
toward supplementing that differ-
ence, but it doesn’t happen over-
night,” Plum said.man. BG’s such a dope person. I’m
just [waiting] for her to return
home, to see her smile, her charis-
ma, just her being her. So I hope
this experience doesn’t change
who she is as a person.”
Atkins spent about four months
in Ukraine and was hesitant to
speak deeply about the war. She
pointed out that her situation and
experience differed from those of
teammates and others who live in
the besieged country.
“The Ukraine that I know and
the Ukraine that’s being hurt and
hatred toward today is not what I
know,” Atkins said. “It’s not really
my story to tell because I got toAtkins was playing in Ukraine this
offseason before the Russian inva-
sion. The team played in Bulgaria
for a week and then in Turkey for
another before the squad was
disbanded. Atkins called Griner’s
situation “scary” and said it makes
her consider additional factors
moving forward.
U.S. State Department spokes-
man Ned Price said during a
March 23 news conference that a
U.S. Embassy official was granted
a visit with Griner and that she “is
doing as well as can be expected.”
“I’m just praying for her safety
and her sanity, really,” Atkins said.
“She’s just such a good human,A large number of WNBA play-
ers spend the offseason playing
overseas to supplement their sala-
ries, but some are wondering
whether the risk is worth it in the
wake of Griner’s detention. Aerial
Powers used to play overseas but
has stopped in the past few years.
“I’m guessing that some of
them will be a little nervous,”
Powers said. “Even when the news
came out that people that were in
her cell were also Americans, the
first thing I thought was, ‘Dang, I
wonder if their family even knew
they were in there?’ ”
Olympic gold medalist and
Washington Mystics guard Arielstrained, with President Biden re-
cently saying Russian President
Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in
power.” U.S. and WNBA officials —
and Griner’s family — have been
reluctant to comment on Griner’s
situation in hope of keeping it
from becoming a celebrity-politi-
cal cause, which could make it
more difficult to obtain her re-
lease.
That has led to a delicate situa-
tion in which some people don’t
want to speak publicly and others
feel the silence means G riner is
not receiving enough support.
The WNBA regular season be-
gins May 6.it]. Can’t communicate with or
anything like that.’
“So it’s been really hard, and I
can’t imagine what her family [is
going through].”
Griner plays for UMMC Ekater-
inburg during the WNBA offsea-
son and was returning to Russia
when she was arrested Feb. 17.
Russian state news agency Tass
recently reported that her deten-
tion was extended until May 19.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine add-
ed another wrinkle to the situa-
tion; relations between the United
States and Russia are particularly
GRINER FROM D1
Griner’s absence looms over Team USA camp as players worry about her safety
professional Basketball