NBA 2006 SCORING LEADERS

 

JOE MAZZULLA SAYS CELTICS UNDER 'ZERO PRESSURE'TO REPEAT

BOSTON -- The Boston Celtics aren't feeling the pressure ahead of the start of their title defense Tuesday night.

With the Celtics set to raise their 18th banner before kicking off the regular season against the New York Knicks, head coach Joe Mazzulla said there's "zero pressure" on Boston to repeat as champions.

"We're all going to be dead soon, and it really doesn't matter anymore. So there's zero pressure," he told reporters Monday. "You have an opportunity to carry the organization forward, to double down on the tradition and history of what this organization has. And what else would you expect than someone expecting you to win all the time?"

The Celtics cruised through the NBA regular season last year -- finishing with the best record in the Eastern Conference by 14 games -- and then went 16-3 in the playoffs. Led by Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, they are bringing back their entire starting lineup and most of their bench, and are the favorites to win it all again.

"It's not pressure," Mazzulla said. "There's nothing anyone in this circle can do to me that's going to impact my identity and who I am as a person or a coach. We're either going to win or we're not, and 40 years from now, none of you are invited to my funeral and that's it."

The Celtics won 16 NBA titles from 1957 to 1986, with Bill Russell claiming 11 in 13 years. The 1970s teams of Dave Cowens and John Havlicek won a pair, and the Big Three of Larry Bird, Robert Parish and Kevin McHale won three more in the 1980s.

When Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen won it all in 2008, they ended the franchise's longest title drought. They made it back to the NBA Finals two years later, but lost to the Lakers. (The period from 2008 to 2024 was the second-longest drought.)

Celtics guard Payton Pritchard said that to be considered among the Celtics greats, they will need to win another.

"A lot of people can do it once," Pritchard said. "I know a championship's hard, but there's a lot of people who have won one. But winning it multiple times, creating almost like a dynasty, that's hard to do. So that's greatness, and that's something we're trying to achieve."

The quest begins against the Knicks, who have positioned themselves as Boston's top competition in the East after acquiring Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges over the summer.

Mazzulla said he thinks his team will be ready.

"I trust who they are. I think they have an understanding of both 'this is what we accomplished' and 'this is what we're trying to do,'" the coach said. "All the intangibles that go into winning should carry over from one season to another season.

"You have to appreciate it. But you've got to know what got you there and if you forget what got you there, you'll never get back."

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

- Associated Press 

ESPN SAYS SHANNON SHARPE WILL COHOST 'FIRST TAKE' MONDAY AFTER INSTAGRAM INCIDENT

• The analyst and podcaster broadcast live audio of an apparent sexual encounter on Instagram.
• ESPN considers the matter closed.

PARAS GRIFFIN/GETTY

Shannon Sharpe said Wednesday that he’s an “active, healthy male.” He is still actively employed by ESPN as well.

The network said Thursday that Sharpe will cohost First Take as usual Monday, less than a week after the NFL Hall of Famer went viral for sharing an apparent sexual encounter on Instagram.

On Wednesday, Sharpe’s Instagram went live with audio of the 56-year-old and a woman having what Sharpe later confirmed was a sexual encounter. An employee of Sharpe’s later posted from his account that the NFL legend had been “hacked,” but Sharpe admitted Wednesday night that the audio was genuine. 

“I threw my phone on the bed, engaged in an activity,” Sharpe said Wednesday night on his YouTube show “Nightcap,” which he cohosts with Chad Ochocinco. “I did not know IG Live. I’ve never turned IG Live on so I don’t know how it works and all of sudden my other phone is going off.”

While Sharpe claimed it was an accident, going live on Instagram requires users to open the app and press several buttons to begin a live broadcast.

Sharpe said his “heart sank” when his longtime “marketing guy” told him that viewers could hear what sounded like a sex act.

Sharpe, who began appearing regularly on First Take in 2023, said he immediately alerted ESPN that the audio was genuine. (ESPN said that his absence from the show on Thursday was in line with his normal schedule, which has him appearing on-air on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays.) In June, Sharpe agreed to a long-term contract extension with ESPN, tying the podcaster and network together as First Take continues to dominate morning sports talk. Sharpe also hosts the ultra-successful interview podcast Club Shay Shay.

“I called my agents, I called ESPN, I just got to tell them the truth,” Sharpe said Wednesday night. “My phone wasn’t hacked, it wasn’t a prank, it was me being a healthy, active male,” he said.

Sharpe and Ochocinco also referred to ongoing speculation about Sharpe’s sexuality, and Sharpe repeatedly denied that the incident was “staged” to make a point.

He then extensively discussed the incident with Ochocinco, the former NFL receiver turned media personality. After a somber opening monologue about how he was “embarrassed” about having “one of your most intimate details” broadcast worldwide, the pair launched into a raucous discussion. 

Johnson mocked Sharpe for his ineptitude with technology, saying his cohost would regularly “butt-dial” him. Sharpe joked that his underwear was headed to the Hall of Fame.

The episode already has been viewed over one million times, and its primary sponsor was an erectile dysfunction drug, which Sharpe seamlessly opened the show with an ad read for. (Later in the show, he joked that “I’m looking for a mattress sponsor now.”)

Inappropriate live broadcasts on Instagram have landed ESPN talent in hot water before. In 2021, former NBA player Paul Pierce was fired for posting a video of himself in a room with scantily clad dancers and cigars. (Pierce revisited the incident earlier this year, saying “I didn’t do nothing illegal, and that’s the story. I got fired for literally having a good time.”)

ESPN considers the matter with Sharpe closed. A spokesperson for the network said that Sharpe’s comments about the incident on “Nightcap” have addressed the issue.

- DENNIS YOUNG

PAUL PIERCE GIVES SOUTH SUDAN THEIR FLOWERS

 

CELTICS CELEBRATE, CONFIDENT CHAMPIONSHIP WINDOW IS WIDE OPEN

USA TODAY Sports 

 BOSTON -- With a Game 5 win on Monday night the Celtics sealed the NBA title, but Boston had actually been waiting for this moment for over a decade.

Just over five years after the Celtics claimed their 17th championship, Boston went into a complete rebuild on June 28, 2013, trading franchise centerpieces Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for a package that included role players and draft picks.

What followed was a stretch of nearly 11 years that featured ups and downs, plenty of change and a constant belief that Banner 18 was always just one season away.

Two of the draft picks in the Brooklyn deal ended up turning into Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, drafted third overall in 2016 and 2017, respectively. The Celtics decided to build around the duo, and it ended up being the right choice.

But before the arrival of Brown and Tatum, Boston went through the 25-57 2013-14 campaign that featured Jeff Green as the frontman. Then a 5-foot-9 Isaiah Thomas came to town and started to establish himself as "The Little Guy," in the words of the late Tommy Heinsohn.

Those teams may not have realized it at the time, but they were laying the foundation for something special.

Once Brown's rookie season rolled around, the Celtics were really starting to look like contenders. Thomas averaged 28.9 points per game during the 2016-17 season, leading Boston to its first Eastern Conference finals appearance since 2012.

The Celtics came up short but proceeded to load up the following offseason, trading for Kyrie Irving and signing Gordon Hayward. Even though Hayward fractured his left tibia just minutes into his Boston debut, the Celtics ended up returning to the East finals, where they fell to the Cleveland Cavaliers in seven games.

From there, Boston overcame a fallout with Irving and an underwhelming two seasons with Kemba Walker running the point to punch its ticket to the Finals in 2022. Heartbreak was again in the cards, though, as the Golden State Warriors raised the Larry O'Brien Trophy after beating the Celtics in six games.

After getting bounced in the Eastern Conference finals once more a year ago, Boston went all in.

The Celtics parted ways with fan favorite Marcus Smart, considered by many to be the heart and soul of the team, to acquire Kristaps Porzingis via trade, and they also made a deal with the Portland Trail Blazers to bring in Jrue Holiday.

Those moves paid off, and now a league-record 18th banner will be raised this fall.

While this year's team was the one that broke a 16-year title drought, Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla is forever thankful for Green, Thomas, Smart and every other player that checked in for Boston over the past 11 seasons.

"I think the most important thing, something that's really been going through my mind throughout this process, is you can't lose sight of the people that came before us," Mazzulla said. "And I want to make sure every person that's worked for the Celtics, that's played for the Celtics that didn't win, knows that their work and what they have done has not gone unnoticed or it doesn't play a part in where we are at today.

"It can be so easy when you work for this organization and you don't win that the work that people put in just gets brushed over or gets ignored. ... So I think that's one of the first things that came to mind, was just because we won this doesn't mean what the people have done before us isn't just as important."

Through everything over the past seven years, Brown and Tatum have been the one constant.

"We've been through a lot, the losses, the expectations," Brown said. "The media have said all different types of things: We can't play together, we are never going to win.

"We heard it all. But we just blocked it out, and we just kept going. I trusted him. He trusted me. And we did it together."

Brown was named Finals MVP. He averaged 20.8 points, 5.4 rebounds and 5.0 assists in the series, and Tatum quickly shot down any notions of him being jealous of his co-star.

"Extremely happy for him. This is a hell of an accomplishment," Tatum said. "The main goal for us was to win a championship. We weren't -- we didn't care who got Finals MVP. I know that I need him through this journey, and he needs me."

The Celtics had plans to fly down to Miami on Tuesday to celebrate for a bit before returning to Boston for their championship parade on Friday morning. And if all goes to plan, Celtics fans should get used to lining the streets and watching the city's duck boats roll by.

"I think we definitely have a window," Brown said. "We take it one day at a time. We definitely have to make sure we stay healthy. But, you know, we'll enjoy the summer, enjoy the moment, and then we get right back to it next year."

--Nick Galle, Field Level Media