KLMNO
SPORTS
SATURDAY, MAY 28 , 2022. WASHINGTONPOST.COM/SPORTS M2 D
Stephen Curry
wore white to the
supposed funeral.
It was Game 6 of
the 2019 NBA
Finals, which the
Toronto Raptors
won to capture
their first title,
and everything about the night
felt like somber finality for
Golden State — except for seeing
Curry in those threads.
Kevin Durant, who would
soon depart for the Brooklyn
Nets in free agency, was in a New
York hospital recovering from
surgery. Klay Thompson was
about to visit the operating table,
too. Curry missed a three-pointer
late in Game 6 that could have
extended the series, and now the
Warriors had to deal with the
lights being turned out in every
sense. It was the final game at
Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif.,
and many predicted it was the
end of the Warriors’ dominance
as well.
Three long years later, the
Warriors are back in the Finals.
The ruptured tendons and
shredded ligaments of 2019
didn’t turn out to be a
SEE BREWER ON D3
Curry-led
Warriors
refuse to let
an era end
Jerry
Brewer
BY LIZ CLARKEparis — There are only so many
shots in tennis. And like tie
widths and hemlines, they come
in and out of fashion.
But at the top ranks of the
sport, the drop shot is having a
moment, thanks in part to its deft
deployment by two players who
have vaulted into the top 10 in
recent months — Tunisia’s Ons
Jabeur, who has been hailed as
“the drop-shot queen,” and
Spain’s 19-year-old Carlos Alcar-
az, who is regarded as tennis
royalty-in-waiting.
Once dismissed by 20-time
Grand Slam champion Roger
Federer as “a panic shot,” the
drop shot can be a shrewd offen-
sive tactic — a way to win a point
and, over time, demoralize an
opponent caught hopelessly out
of position when a spin-slathered
ball, flicked in an instant, barely
clears the net, plops to the court
and dies.
As tennis shots go, the drop
SEE FRENCH OPEN ON D2
Drop shot
gains favor
among top
tennis pros
BY EMILY GIAMBALVObaltimore — Nearly all of Mary-
land’s key players had never
stepped onto the field in a Final
Four game, yet here they were on
championship weekend, not just
participating but hoping to carry
on the renowned tradition of the
women’s lacrosse program. On
the sport’s biggest stage, the Ter-
rapins built a narrow lead over
Boston College in the fourth quar-
ter of the national semifinal, only
for the Eagles to storm ahead with
the final four goals of the game on
their way to a 17-16 victory.
As second-seeded Maryland
faced the defending NCAA cham-
pion, neither team led by more
than three goals. The Terps held
onto the advantage for much of
the fourth quarter — until reign-
ing Tewaaraton Award winner
Charlotte North tied the score
with 3:06 remaining. And when
the Eagles needed a hero, senior
SEE MARYLAND ON D6Terps women collapse
late in Final Four defeat
BOSTON COLLEGE 17,
MARYLAND 16NBA PLAYOFFS
Heat beats Celtics to force
Game 7 in the Eastern
Conference finals. D3
BOXING
Lamont Peterson always
protected his brother. Now
he trains him. D6
SOCCERSpirit allows two goals in
stoppage time, settles for
disappointing 2-2 draw. D3
COLLEGE LACROSSEA championship-winning
goal still remembered by
Princeton turns 30. D6BY KAREEM COPELANDLaShonda Atkins was doing some
spring cleaning when she came across a
drawer full of random papers, greeting
cards and other items. She was thumbing
through and found multiple letters writ-
ten by her daughter Ariel. LaShonda
stopped when she saw the list of WNBA
aspirations.
“ She’s in middle school writing these
things, and they’re coming into realiza-
tion,” LaShonda said. “I can’t even throw
the letters away now because of the fact
that they’re actually here. You’re actually
doing what you said when you were
[going to] in the seventh grade.
“ She even had in one of her letters
something about when she grows up she’s
going to play against Candace Parker....
She was like, ‘I’m going to go to the
WNBA.’ ”
Ariel Atkins is well beyond merely
playing in the league. The WashingtonMystics guard became a first-time all-star
last season and won gold with Team USA
at the Olympics. The 25-year-old is the
only player in WNBA history to be named
to an all-defensive team in each of her first
four seasons and already has a ring as a
starter on the Mystics’ 2019 champion-
ship team.
Still, with all of those accomplish-
ments, the 5-foot-8 Atkins continues to fly
under the radar in terms of national
recognition, and she isn’t one to seek
attention.
“[Something] I just kind of learned over
the years is that you can be humble and
know who you are,” Atkins said. “I’m not a
cocky human. I wasn’t raised that way. But
at the end of the day, I know what I’m
capable of. That’s why they brought me
here. I need to be that for my team.
Because if everybody on our team is who
they’re supposed to be, we can be a really
freaking good team.
SEE MYSTICS ON D3The quiet cornerstoneM ystics’ Atkins, though
not a household name,
is on road to greatnessTERRANCE WILLIAMS/ASSOCIATED PRESSWashington guard Ariel Atkins
wrote letters while in middle
school describing the future she
saw for herself as a professional
basketball player and
competing against the world’s
biggest stars. Now she is a
WNBA four-time all-defensive
team p erformer, league
champion and winner of an
Olympic gold medal —
all by the age of 25.Mystics at Sun
Today, 7 p.m., NBA TVRockies at Nationals (two)
Today, noon and 6 p.m., MASN2BY JESSE DOUGHERTYOn Thursday night, as the
Washington Nationals faced the
Colorado Rockies, a quick scan of
the upper deck at Nationals Park
showed the following jerseys: a
few colors of Juan Soto’s No. 22,
Patrick Corbin’s white No. 46,
Stephen Strasburg’s blue No. 37
and, in a twist, Edwin Jackson’s
blue No. 40 even though he last
pitched here in 2017.
Every jersey has a story. But
every jersey has a price tag, too,
and Nationals fans are struggling
with whose to buy in this lost
season of a rebuild. Spend $135
on a Soto replica jersey if he
might leave in a few years? Invest
in something with Josh Bell’s
name on it with the risk he’s
traded at the deadline in August?
Or get nostalgic, maybe with
Sean Doolittle or Strasburg, de-
spite both pitchers being on the
injured list and in the back
SEE NATIONALS ON D5It’s buyer beware for purchasing Nationals jerseysANDREW HARNIK/ASSOCIATED PRESS
With the Nats in a down year and their future uncertain, picking which j ersey to buy i s precarious.French Open, third round
Today, 5 a.m., Te nnis Channel;
11 a.m., NBC
N. Carolina vs. Boston College
Sunday, noon, ESPNInside: Nats pitcher Sean Doolittle
pleads for stricter gun laws. D5