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  • France striker Kylian Mbappé scores 13th and 14th World Cup goals, moving into tie for 3rd all time

    EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Kylian Mbappé scored the 13th and 14th World Cup goals of his career Tuesday, moving the France forward past Pelé, Lionel Messi and countryman Just Fontaine and into a tie for third most in tournament history.

    He also set a scoring record for France’s national team.

    Mbappé first scored in the 66th minute of France’s 3-1 victory over Senegal after having several good scoring chances denied earlier by goalkeeper Édouard Mendy, including in the second half. He scored again from long range in stoppage time, giving him two in the game and 58 in international play to break a tie with Oliver Giroud for the national team record.

    Playing in his third World Cup, the 27-year-old Mbappé is now tied with Germany’s Gerd Müller and one behind Brazil’s Ronaldo. Germany’s Miroslav Klose has the record with 16 World Cup goals.

    Mbappé helped France win the World Cup title in 2018 and reach the final in 2022, when he was awarded the Silver Ball as the second-best player. Joined up front by Désiré Doué and reigning Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembélé, France went into this year’s tournament as the co-favorite along with Spain.

    Mbappé had little trouble finding room between Senegal defenders several times in the first 14 or so minutes. But he was sloppy with the ball for much of the rest of the first half before he and his teammates started to mesh.

    Mbappé scored 25 goals this past season with Real Madrid.

  • John Tortorella will not return as coach of the Vegas Golden Knights

    LAS VEGAS — John Tortorella will not return as coach of the Vegas Golden Knights after guiding them to the Stanley Cup Final on an interim basis.

    Uncertainty lingered over the situation through the team’s elimination in Game 6 of the final against Carolina on Sunday night. General manager Kelly McCrimmon announced Tuesday that Tortorella, the former Flyers coach, would not be back.

    “We thank Torts for the guidance he provided our team since joining the organization in March,” McCrimmon said. “When the decision was made to bring Torts to Vegas, we needed an immediate impact to help us at a pivotal point in the season. Torts’ experience and leadership proved to be the boost that we were looking for, helping guide us to the Stanley Cup Final. We are grateful for Torts’ passion, sincerity, and commitment to our organization, and we wish him and his family the best.”

    McCrimmon hired Tortorella on March 30 when he fired Bruce Cassidy with eight games left in the season. The Golden Knights won seven of them and then got through three rounds before losing to the Hurricanes in the final.

    Tortorella, who turns 68 next week, is 22 years removed from coaching Tampa Bay to the Stanley Cup in 2004. After his time with the Lightning, he spent time running the bench for the New York Rangers, Vancouver, Columbus and the Flyers and was out of the league for roughly a year before getting the call from McCrimmon. He won 97 games in three seasons leading the Flyers.

    Players spoke highly of how Tortorella handled jumping in this spring, and that praise continued on exit day after finding out he would not return. Rasmus Andersson said Tortorella “was a perfect fit at a perfect time for us.”

    “Torts was awesome,” fellow defenseman Shea Theodore said. “I think he was really what our group needed at the end to kind of push us in the playoffs. A lot of credit to him. He was a fantastic coach.”

    “It’s a tough situation for a coach to come in with that little time left,” said Vegas’ Noah Hanifin, who won gold at the Olympics when Tortorella was on staff as an assistant. “And just the way he was able to kind of get us back on the right track fast, and give us a chance, was pretty impressive.”

    Tortorella took criticism in recent days for deciding to stick with goaltender Carter Hart, whose .863 save percentage was the lowest in the final since Minnesota’s Jon Casey in 1991. Hart and Tortorella overlapped with the Flyers from ’22-24.

    McCrimmon is scheduled to speak to reporters on Wednesday. One avenue Vegas could go with for Tortorella’s successor is promoting Ryan Craig, who has been coach of its top affiliate, the Henderson Silver Knights of the American Hockey League, for the past three seasons.

  • Shinnecock Hills study starts before US Open practice rounds to avoid long waits

    SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — The U.S. Open brought big wind and not nearly as much activity for a Monday, typical these days of practice rounds at majors that move to a different course each year.

    More players are coming early, not so much to avoid the rush but to avoid the wait.

    “It’s gotten terrible,” Justin Thomas said leading into the third major of the year. “You have to sign up for tee times at the (British) Open and U.S. Open, and then people sign up with you and play in a foursomes. You can’t play nine holes in less than three hours.”

    The way around that is to follow a script from Jack Nicklaus back in his prime — see the course early before it becomes populated with pros and amateurs, contenders and dreamers.

    Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy took a detour on their way to Ohio two weeks ago to play Shinnecock Hills, the first time seeing it for the No. 1 player, a refresher course for McIlroy.

    Jon Rahm arrived last Friday to see what he should expect for the U.S. Open. Patrick Reed, who hasn’t played since the PGA Championship last month, is said to have played the course more often than some of the Shinnecock members.

    This is one of the most energy-draining weeks of the year, a product of the mental stress a course like Shinnecock — and a major like the U.S. Open — tends to elicit.

    Thomas and Jordan Spieth arrived over the weekend and played practice rounds two days before the official start of practice rounds. They didn’t have the course all to themselves, but it felt like it. And it beat the alternative of long rounds when players hit different clubs off the tee, dozens of shots from the rough and closely mown area around the green, putting to all four corners of the green.

    Their preparation largely done, official practice days are now light work. That’s the Nicklaus way.

    “That’s why I never wanted to practice then,” Nicklaus said of the early part of the week at the majors. “I got my practice in the week before so I knew what I wanted to do, instead of waiting for everybody else. I didn’t like that. So I tried to get my practice in, and go back on Tuesday (of major week). I didn’t want to get stuck in that six hours.

    “If I had been there the week before, why did I need to get there on Monday?”

    McIlroy had limited practice time at the PGA Championship because of a nagging blister on his right toe. But then, he had come to Aronimink two weeks earlier for serious practice.

    But there was one image during his practice round when McIlroy had a small army tagging along inside the ropes, from television personalities to equipment staff and photographers. It didn’t feel very productive to him.

    “Too many people inside the ropes I think is the big part of it,” he said of the long practice rounds at the majors. “I think as well, guys are resigned to the fact that they’re going to play nine holes, so it’s OK to be out there for three hours. No one plays 18-hole practice rounds anymore the week of (a major). I guess it gives everyone the ability to play slow and hit as many balls as they like.”

    Tiger Woods used to have his own routine, playing first to have at least nine holes to himself.

    One year at the Masters, he walked out of the clubhouse at 7:25 a.m. toward the first tee unaware of a wooden clock at the tee box indicating the course would open at 8 a.m. Not to worry. His caddie, Steve Williams, moved the hands back a half-hour.

    Woods stepped onto the tee at 7:28 a.m., saw the clock and moved the big hand back two more minutes and fired away. He was on the links courses of the British Open around 6 a.m. Anything much later than that meant he had overslept.

    Scheffler had a dream day of practice at the PGA Championship before he won at Quail Hollow last year. He was the only PGA Tour player on the course the Sunday before official practice because most everyone else was at two PGA Tour events that day.

    Monday through Wednesday can be as slow.

    “I don’t remember it being as bad as it is,” Thomas said. “The U.S. Open and PGA Championship to me are the worst. It’s getting treated more like the range and chipping green. I get that you need to get used it — I totally understand that. But it’s gotten to be a lot.”

    The wind ushered away overnight rain clouds and bathed Shinnecock in bright sunshine on Monday. Wind and the greens are the greatest defense on this century-old course, and it was a preview of the test that awaits. Wyndham Clark already knew that.

    “The one thing today is I actually didn’t do a practice round,” he said. “I came in earlier and did some work. This wind is not the normal wind, so if there’s any time to take a day off, it was today.”

    ___

    AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

  • UFC brings its trademark mayhem to the White House; Philly’s Kyle Daukaus falls to Penn State’s Bo Nickal

    WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump emerged from the Oval Office first, then fighters from around the globe followed straight into the fight cage, in part for the president’s 80th birthday celebration and to bring a sport long on the fringe of mainstream acceptance into a main event on the White House South Lawn.

    For a president who revels in winners, Trump had to enjoy crowning two champions on a big fight night staged closer to the Rose Garden than Madison Square Garden in the co-main event of UFC Freedom 250.

    American lightweight Justin Gaethje capped his unification championship victory in the main event over Ilia Topuria with a backflip off the top of the cage. He crouched near Trump for a celebratory chat and the betting underdog draped the American flag over one shoulder — and the 155-pound title belt over another. Trump later stepped into the cage to congratulate Gaethje.

    “Hey, I’m from America, 250 years ago we were way more than 6-1 underdogs,” Gaethje said. “I know that was absolutely legendary because I can not even believe it.”

    Topuria and Gaethje made their walkouts from the Oval Office as fireworks exploded overhead during Michael Buffer’s introductions. Gaethje — who appeared to skim the copy of the Declaration of Independence on his way out — mustered some scattered “USA!” chants against the Spanish-Georgian Topuria, though not even the main event could stop the trend of mostly quiet fights.

    It took the gory sight of a bloodied Topuria — his back to Trump in a white “USA” hat as he peered through the wire-mesh cage — nearly having the fight waved off to get a “let them fight!” chant going. The fight continued, and the 37-year-old Gaethje won eventually via corner stoppage in the fourth round.

    “Hard work, baby,” Gaethje said. “I am made for these moments. This sport is made for me.”

    Earlier, Ciryl Gane hammered Alex Pereira with a series of elbows and fists to the head and won via TKO in 1:27 of the second round to claim the interim heavyweight belt for a second time and set up a rematch with heavyweight champ Tom Aspinall.

    Like the bulk of the fighters who had their hands raised in victory, Gane thanked Trump.

    The White House was a most improbable all-American setting for a fight promotion that long ago shed the “human cockfighting” tag and decades later became entwined with the emboldened right-wing “manosphere” that soaks up UFC fights and threw its support behind Trump in two elections.

    Trump and UFC boss Dana White, the tempestuous tag-team that rallied the fight company to the nation’s capital, walked from the Oval Office to the Blue Room Balcony to chants of “USA! USA!” to kick off the fight card jacked up by a dose of high-octane patriotism on a blustery night for cage fighting.

    This was no Easter Egg Roll.

    UFC ramped up the patriotism for White House debut

    The Marine Band jazzed up the festivities and played fighter entrance music in front of the White House and Zac Brown sang the national anthem — never performed before normal UFC fight cards because of the mix of nationalities fighting inside the Octagon. The Navy’s Blue Angels and Air Force Thunderbirds zipped overhead as part of a flyover to celebrate Trump’s birthday and the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence’s signing.

    The 4,000-plus fans — Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison among them — on the South Lawn who sat under the claw, the flying saucer-like, open-air structure that housed the cage, mostly sat on their hands until the fighters used theirs to deliver punishing blows and a true fighting spirit that got everyone on their feet.

    Bo Nickal delivered the red, white and boom when the three-time NCAA Division I wrestling champion at Penn State earned the TKO win over middleweight Kyle Daukaus, a Northeast Philly native and Father Judge alum, and immediately bolted the Octagon for a cage-side chat with Trump. Nickal met Trump in 2019 during a ceremony at the White House for collegiate national champions.

    The first blight of the night for Trump came when American heavyweight Derrick Lewis lost his fight after he got a personal invitation from the president. Trump proclaimed himself a fan of Lewis and his unconventional celebrations and asked White to add him to the card. Josh Hokit instead improved to 10-0 when he flattened Lewis by TKO.

    Sean O’Malley celebrated his walk-off KO win with a salute, and Mauricio Ruffy and Diego Lopes won their fights earlier in the night.

    “That was sexy,” O’Malley said to cheers. “I felt the energy in here. I truly felt the energy in here.”

    UFC says it’s only running one card at the White House

    More than $60 million and tens of thousands of hours of labor were poured into building the arena, according to a court filing from the National Park Service, which oversees the South Lawn, and the looming threat of rain that threw White into a tizzy each time a miserable forecast was raised never materialized over the early portions of the card.

    Fight night came only hours after the United States and Iran reached an agreement to end the war and open the Strait of Hormuz, offering relief to the global economy more than three months after the war began.

    The rare UFC outdoors event marked the pinnacle of the relationship between White and Trump that has yielded personal, political and financial dividends for both parties. White’s first card as UFC president came in 2001 at an event held at Trump Taj Mahal.

    Trump has attended four UFC cards as sitting president, walking to the cage amid rock music and patriotic chants from fans. White introduced Trump at two Republican National Conventions.

    Trump got a home game for this one, making the short walk from the Oval Office to the Octagon, much like the fighters who made the walk down West Wing halls covered with presidential portraits and were flanked by first responders and medal of honor recipients, among other individuals who served.

    Strickland causes trouble at the fan zone at the Ellipse

    Thousands more outside the White House lawn watched the fights on big screens from the nearby Ellipse, though not everyone was able to get tickets.

    Even one of UFC’s champions.

    UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland was escorted out of the Ellipse event by a group of police officers.

    U.S. Park Police said in a statement that Strickland’s presence drew enough attention from attendees that it resulted in disorder. He wasn’t cited or arrested, they said. Instead, he was taken to his hotel and told not to come back to the venue.

  • Hurricanes blank Golden Knights to claim Stanley Cup; coach Rod Brind’Amour, GM and West Philly native Eric Tulsky among champs

    LAS VEGAS — Carolina spent the first part of the Stanley Cup Final surviving, finding ways to overcome deficits and play a high-scoring game that didn’t fit the Hurricanes’ typical style.

    But when it came down to doing what it takes to win the Cup, the Hurricanes’ defense put its stamp on this series, shutting down the Vegas Golden Knights and not letting up.

    The Hurricanes held Vegas to five total goals in Games 4 and 5 and used a suffocating defense in a 3-0 shutout Sunday night in Game 6 to win their first championship in 20 years.

    “That’s a lot of years,” said Carolina center Jordan Staal, who received the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. “It’s amazing. This is something I’ve been going after ever since we got the first one. You want to win it again and again and again. ”

    Brandon Bussi, whose entrance late in Game 3 helped turn around the series, had his first career playoff shutout in stopping 22 shots. Jackson Blake had a goal and assist, and Taylor Hall scored just 3:47 into the game to set the tone. Nikolaj Ehlers added an empty-netter.

    “Your mind wanders the last couple of days and wonder what it may be like out here (on ice after winning) and it’s better than I could have expected,” Hall said.

    The Golden Knights struggled badly to muster any kind of offense in Game 6 and went 18:37 between shots on goal in the second and third periods. Playing in their third Cup final, this is the first time they have been shut out.

    This final game was what many observers expected the series to be like between the defensive-minded teams, but each side watched leads of two-plus goals disappear in the first three games.

    Now, the Cup belongs to the Hurricanes, led by coach Rod Brind’Amour, who also captained Carolina to its 2006 title. Brind’Amour played for the Flyers from 1991 to 2000, while Carolina GM Eric Tulsky is a West Philadelphia native and Penn Charter graduate who began in a full-time role with the Hurricanes in 2015.

    “It’s just as awesome,” Brind’Amour said. “But as a player, it was a little different. I worked and dreamt of winning the Cup my whole life, so that was like a piano came off my back. This time around, I wanted it for the group.”

    This was the first game of the series that Vegas goalie Carter Hart didn’t allow four goals in a game. He finished with 20 saves.

    The Hurricanes began to assume control of the series after falling behind by the score of 4-0 in Game 3. They came back force overtime, and though the Canes lost, they outplayed the Golden Knights from there on out.

    Reflecting the do-or-die situation for the Golden Knights, they made several lineup changes, with Brett Howden replacing the injured William Karlsson at second-line center. Mitch Marner could have moved there, but remained at right wing.

    Original Golden Knight Reilly Smith made his Cup final debut at third-line right wing, and Braeden Bowman made his playoff debut at fourth-line right wing. Kaedan Korczak replaced Dylan Coghlan on the third defensive pairing.

    “This is tough to be on this side of it,” Golden Knights defenseman Brayden McNabb said. “But on the other side, these chances don’t come around very often. So it stings.”

    This title is a testament to Carolina’s resilience as a franchise that kept coming close to winning the Eastern Conference, but couldn’t quite get through until now.

    Brind’Amour made sure the Hurricanes kept getting back up after losing in the conference final twice in the past three years and three times in their current eight-year playoff run. The talent was clearly there, but there was always a stumbling block.

    Not anymore.

    After dispatching Montreal in five games to make the final, the Hurricanes then faced perennial power Vegas and took care of business there, too. Now, Brind’Amour will get his name on the Cup for the second time.

    So will 37-year-old Staal, who also won the title in 2009 with Pittsburgh. He planted himself in front of Hart and dared the Golden Knights to knock him out of the way. Staal scored in each of the first five Cup final games, the first time that has happened.

    The Hurricanes got off to a fast start with a goal just 25 seconds into Game 1, only to lose 5-4 on a late goal from Tomas Hertl. And the Golden Knights were on the verge of taking complete control as minutes ticked down in Game 2 while holding a 2-0 lead and appearing as if they would take a two-game advantage back home.

    Then, it all changed. Carolina showed a fight that not only brought the Hurricanes back into the series by rallying to win 4-3 in overtime on Seth Jarvis’ one-timer, but would serve as their signature throughout the series.

    That was especially true the following game when the Golden Knights took a 4-0 lead into the third period and the Canes seemed to have no answers. Brind’Amour even appeared to wave the white flag by removing goalie Frederik Andersen and replacing him with Bussi.

    But the Hurricanes weren’t simply trying to get to Game 4. They sent a message, going on a remarkable rally to force overtime. Though Carolina lost, it was inflection point, with Bussi backstopping a team that was only growing stronger. Carolina then went on to win the next two games and moved within a victory of the championship.

    The Hurricanes got it done against the Golden Knights team that was on a heater after former Flyers coach John Tortorella replaced Bruce Cassidy with eight games left in the regular season. Vegas then went from third in the Pacific Division to first, knocked off Utah and Anaheim in six games apiece in the playoffs and shockingly swept Presidents’ Trophy-winning Colorado to win the West.

    “I am very proud to be a part of this organization, very proud to lead this team, very proud to play with every single guy that steps into our locker room,” Vegas captain Mark Stone said. “This feeling sucks. I never want to have it again.”

  • The NBA’s Wemby era is clearly underway. But he’s still waiting for his first NBA title

    SAN ANTONIO — Victor Wembanyama had to watch the visiting team become champions, again.

    The Wemby era of the NBA is fully underway, with the 7-foot-4 French star unanimously winning the Defensive Player of the Year award this season, finishing third in the Most Valuable Player balloting and making first-team All-NBA for the first of what could be many, many times if all goes according to his plan.

    But the ultimate moment has escaped his grasp for the second time in three years. In 2024, he tearfully watched the U.S. celebrate winning Olympic gold at the Paris Olympics — and now, he relived that moment by seeing the New York Knicks celebrating their first championship in 53 years by winning Game 5 of the NBA Finals in San Antonio on Saturday night.

    “This is the biggest lesson of my life, the biggest learning moment,” the 22-year-old Wembanyama said. “I can’t tell you exactly what the lesson is, but we’re learning from that, for sure. I’m learning more than any other time in my life before.”

    His numbers in the finals: 26 points, 11.2 rebounds. 3.6 blocks per game. They were good, just not good enough.

    And his series, fairly or unfairly, will also be remembered for some mistakes: The turnover that led to Jalen Brunson’s go-ahead free throw in New York’s Game 2 win (a game where Wembanyama missed a jump shot to win at the buzzer); and missing a pair of crucial free throws with 1:47 left in Game 4, the one where the Spurs wasted a 29-point lead and lost by one in what became the biggest collapse in finals history. The Spurs wasted double-digit leads in all four losses, including a 16-point cushion in what became the season finale.

    “The margin of error is very thin,” Wembanyama said. “Our domination stints are absolute. We absolutely dominated for most of the series. But our errors, our mistakes, are punished so hard that we can’t have ups and downs like this. … The ups are OK. The downs are the reason we lost.”

    It’s only Year 3 for Wemby. It’s not like every star wins right away.

    It took Michael Jordan seven seasons to win his first championship. LeBron James needed nine years. Jerry West needed 12 years for his one and only title. John Stockton and Karl Malone never got one. Charles Barkley, Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony didn’t get one, either.

    “He’s definitely the future of this league, man,” Knicks legend Larry Johnson said during the series when asked about Wembanyama. “He’s a heck of a ballplayer.”

    Wembanyama knows the history, knows that it took some of the greatest to ever touch a ball several years to win a title.

    Doesn’t mean he likes it.

    “It’s painful. It’s painful,” Wembanyama said. “But I’m not running away from that. I’m using it to fuel me. … I’m not satisfied with not winning. But as I said, this is the biggest lesson of my life. As a team, there’s no better experience than what we just lived.”

    His numbers are like almost nothing the game has ever seen before. There have been four seasons in NBA history where someone had 150 blocks, 150 assists and 100 3-pointers. Chet Holmgren did it for Oklahoma City in 2023-24, and the other three instances are all from Wembanyama — who has hit those totals in each of his first three seasons.

    “I think for a lot of people, this team seems to be ahead of schedule,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Saturday on NBA TV. “I don’t think they feel that way. I’m amazed at Victor. Not just his play on the floor, but he’s such a curious young man. He’s a pleasure to talk to. He’s very worldly. I mean, he’s got amazing interests off the floor. He’s really dedicated to his craft and he’s got such a bright future ahead of him.”

  • After 53 years, the New York Knicks are NBA champions. And the wait sure seemed worth it

    SAN ANTONIO — Knowing New York had waited 53 years to see the Knicks hoist the NBA championship trophy, owner James Dolan didn’t even wait to be handed the 30-pound gold-plated prize.

    He grabbed it and lifted it skyward with a yell.

    “I want to say something to New York,” Dolan shouted. “Hey New York! I’m sorry it took so long! But here we are, and hopefully it won’t take that long again!”

    The New York Knicks are champions of the NBA for the first time since 1973, beating the San Antonio Spurs in five games for this title. The clincher came Saturday night in a 94-90 victory, the Knicks’ fourth comeback win of the series.

    Some will say it’s the first “major” professional sports championship for New York in more than 14 years; that would be true when counting only Major League Baseball, the NFL, the NHL, and the NBA, though it would be wrong to ignore the New York Liberty’s run to the 2024 WNBA title and New York City FC winning the MLS Cup in 2021.

    But as far as the teams that have been part of the city’s fabric for generations and generations, yes, this 14-year drought is finally over. The New York Giants won the Super Bowl in 2012, capping the 2011 season.

    The Yankees — the most decorated team in U.S. major pro sports history — haven’t won a World Series since 2009. The Mets haven’t brought a World Series title to New York since 1986. The Rangers last hoisted the Stanley Cup in 1994, the Islanders in 1983. The New York Jets haven’t won a Super Bowl since 1969.

    None of that matters, at least not right now. The Knicks — who won 13 consecutive games at one point in this playoff run and rallied from 29 points down to win Game 4 of the finals at MSG — are the toast of the town.

    “Of course I’ve never seen anything like it, because it’d never happened before,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said of the Game 4 comeback in an interview on NBA TV on Saturday. “But it’s been amazing.”

    The Amazin’ Knicks, indeed.

    A third title, finally

    It took them 80 years — the Knicks won the first game in NBA history in 1946, three years before what was then the Basketball Association of America started being known as the National Basketball Association — but the franchise has now become the ninth that can say it has at least three championships.

    Boston has 18, the Los Angeles Lakers have 17, Golden State has seven, Chicago has six, San Antonio has five, and Philadelphia, Detroit and Miami all have three.

    Welcome to the club, New York.

    “I enjoy watching these guys,” Knicks legend Larry Johnson said. ”The Garden is back. … It’s back like when we played and made our little run. The city is behind us.”

    It’s a franchise that has gone through 24 different coaches and more than 400 players since what was, until now, the most recent championship season. Some of the game’s biggest superstars called Madison Square Garden home and couldn’t end the title drought, names like Patrick Ewing, Allan Houston, Bernard King, and Carmelo Anthony.

    The Knicks lost a Game 7 in the 1994 finals to Hakeem Olajuwon and Houston, then made a miracle run to the 1999 finals in a shortened season only to lose to San Antonio in five games — the first of what became five championships for Gregg Popovich and the Spurs.

    “We didn’t get it done. … I always say the third time is the charm,” former Knicks guard John Starks said.

    Starks was right. It took the Knicks 27 years to get back to the finals, had the Spurs again standing in their way, and to fully flip the script, it was New York prevailing in five games.

    MSG, a banner is coming

    And finally, the world’s most famous arena — which has raised banners for Billy Joel, Elton John, and Harry Styles more recently than it had hoisted one for the Knicks — will be adding to the collection swaying from the rafters. If it follows form from the others, the banner will only have the Knicks logo, then “2025-26 World Champions” beneath that.

    A simple message. Getting to the place where the Knicks could say those words again, that wasn’t so simple.

    “There are a couple of franchises that are pretty iconic just because of the history that they have, the location that they’re in, sometimes even the building that they’re in,” said Knicks coach Mike Brown, who won this title in his first season with the club. “New York is definitely one of the few that you could say that to in all three facets.

    “Everybody goes through their ups and downs. I don’t really think much about the tough times that they had, because everybody has tough times, including individuals. You just want to try the best you can to be a part of whatever you can to bring joy to the city, to the organization. At the end of the day, the chips are going to fall how they fall. I feel blessed, fortunate, lucky, to be a part of what is going on now.”

    It is, to put it mildly, an interesting organization. Dolan — who rarely speaks publicly — isn’t afraid of clashes, even including ones with former Knicks greats like Charles Oakley, who was at road games in this title run but has remained away from MSG for years. Leon Rose, the team’s president, typically doesn’t make himself available to reporters either. There is an absolute mystique around the team and how it operates.

    It has not always worked. Over a 25-year stretch that ended with the 2021-22 season — not that long ago — the Knicks had the worst record in the NBA. In the four years since, starting with the acquisition of Jalen Brunson from Dallas, the Knicks have the NBA’s fifth-best record.

    And now, Brunson — the finals MVP — is the best player on the best team in the world.

    “It means the world to me,” Brunson said.

    Start spreadin’ the news …

    And this year, as Frank Sinatra said, the Knicks are king of the hill, top of the heap. Some in the fan base grumbled when the Knicks declined to hang an NBA Cup championship banner after beating San Antonio for the in-season tournament title earlier this season. Turns out, the Knicks were just waiting for something better.

    So, the 53-year wait is over. It was a very different league, and a very different game, in 1973.

    There were 17 teams in the NBA that season, barely half of the 30 that there are now. Teams called Buffalo, Baltimore, Kansas City-Omaha, and Seattle home then; the league has expanded many times since, adding 13 teams in nine different states, plus Canada and the District of Columbia.

    The top salary in the league then was about $380,000, or roughly $2.9 million in today’s dollars. There was no 3-point line then, no multi-billion-dollar television deal, no international players.

    The Knicks flew home on a United Airlines flight from the 1973 title clincher in Inglewood, Calif., and officials at Kennedy Airport expected what was then called a “rabid” crowd of fans present to greet the plane. They braced for “hundreds” of people that day.

    This celebration might be a little bigger.

    “To have the fans that we have in New York City and be able to bring home a championship after all these years is absolutely amazing,” Brown said. “It’s a surreal feeling.”

  • Jalen Brunson pours in 45 points as Knicks close out Spurs for first NBA title since 1973

    SAN ANTONIO — Jalen Brunson and the Comeback Knicks did it again. And now they’re the Champion Knicks.

    For the first time in 53 years, New York rules the NBA. Brunson scored 45 points, including 13 straight for New York in the fourth quarter, and the Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 in Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Saturday night.

    The Knicks won the series 4-1, rallying from double-digit deficits in all four of those victories. The deficit was 16 on Saturday night. Brunson and the Knicks were never fazed.

    Brunson, fittingly, closed with a flourish. He set a Knicks record for points in a finals game; it had been 38 by Willis Reed against the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 3 of the 1970 series. It now belongs to the left-handed point guard who changed the franchise’s fortunes when he arrived four years ago.

    Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart — the other two parts of the “Nova Knicks” trio that also includes Brunson, three players who were NCAA champions at Villanova and teamed up in New York to try to do the same — combined to score 27 points. Bridges had 14, Hart 13.

    Brunson won NCAA crowns twice with Villanova — both in Texas, the 2016 one in Houston and the 2018 one in San Antonio, just a few miles away from the arena that the Spurs call home.

    A Texas three-step of titles, and this one was surely the sweetest of all.

    Dylan Harper scored 25 for the Spurs, who got 19 points, 14 rebounds and five blocked shots from Victor Wembanyama.

    The Knicks improved to 4-0 in closeout opportunities this season, winning them all on the road. It didn’t feel like the road, though — not with thousands of New York faithful having made the trip to Texas to see a moment 53 years in the making.

    New York got to the brink of this title by rallying from 29 points down in Game 4 to win 107-106 on OG Anunoby’s tip-in with 1.2 seconds left on Wednesday night. It was the largest comeback in NBA Finals history and the biggest comeback in any game this season, regular season or playoffs.

    By comparison, then, a 16-point rally in this one seemed easy.

  • Former Sixer James Harden arrested in Houston on misdemeanor charge

    Former Sixer James Harden arrested in Houston on misdemeanor charge

    Cleveland Cavaliers guard James Harden was arrested on Saturday in Houston on a misdemeanor charge of unlawful carrying of a weapon in a motor vehicle, according to the Harris County District Clerk’s Office.

    Harden was arrested at 3:41 a.m. and booked just before 5 a.m., then posted $100 bond and was released from police custody, according to charging documents, which said he had a handgun in plain view that was not in a holster.

    His arraignment is scheduled for June 22, according to the clerk’s office website. Harden is listed as a Houston resident in court documents.

    “The Cleveland Cavaliers are aware of the arrest of James Harden this morning and are in the process of gathering additional information,” the team said in a statement. “We are in contact with James and his representation and will continue to monitor developments as they become available. At this time, we will have no further comment.”

    A message sent to Harden’s representatives from the Associated Press seeking comment was not immediately returned.

    Harden, 36, just finished his 17th NBA season and has the right to exercise a $42.3 million option to return to the Cavaliers next season. He indicated when Cleveland’s playoff run ended with a loss to the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference finals that he would like to remain with the team, which would suggest he’s willing to forgo the option in favor of a longer contract with the Cavaliers.

    Harden is an 11-time All-Star and an eight-time All-NBA selection who earned MVP honors in the 2017-18 season while playing for the Houston Rockets and is averaging a career 24 points, 7.3 assists, and 5.6 rebounds. After being acquired in the Ben Simmons trade, he played for the Sixers from 2022 to 2023 and averaged 21 points, 10.6 assists, and 6.4 rebounds in 79 games before he was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers on Oct. 31, 2023.

  • Olympic gold medal-Stanley Cup double is at stake for Americans in the final

    Ken Morrow liked to consider himself the answer of a trivia question as the only hockey player who won an Olympic gold medal and hoisted the Stanley Cup in the same year. He was part of the 1980 U.S. “Miracle on Ice” team and then joined the New York Islanders for their first of four titles in a row.

    A half-dozen Canadians have done it since the NHL started sending players to the Olympics, but at this moment, more Americans have walked on the moon than accomplished what Morrow did. He is the only one.

    That will soon change, no matter how the Cup final ends. After the U.S. won gold at the Olympics for the first time in 46 years, Carolina’s Jaccob Slavin is one victory away from joining Morrow, unless Vegas wins Games 6 and 7 to put Jack Eichel and Noah Hanifin in that exclusive club.

    “I’ve had my 46 years,” Morrow told The Associated Press by phone Friday. “I’m always one that likes to see new people win the Cup, guys get a chance to do something that they’ll remember the rest of their lives. And for whoever does it this year, yes, I think it’s great.”

    Morrow won the Stanley Cup four times in a row as part of that Islanders dynasty. Eichel is the only U.S. player in the final with a Cup ring, and he had a major part in the Golden Knights’ championship run in 2023.

    After helping the U.S. win gold in Milan in February, Eichel says there are similarities and differences to those journeys.

    “One’s nine, 10 months; one’s two weeks,” Eichel said. “One of them is winner-take-all of just one game at a time. These are seven-game series, so it’s different in that sense. I think from an emotional standpoint and a mentality, I think there’s a lot of similarities: just the investment in winning and the feeling in the room and everything that comes with it.”

    The single-elimination element is a good way of thinking of playoff hockey, Eichel said, though Hanifin pointed out that it is drastically different preparing for a game at a time at the Olympics than enduring the ups and downs of a postseason.

    “When you’re playing seven-game series, you can kind of build over time and if you hit a little bit of a setback or some adversity, you can kind of learn from it and build and come back better,” Hanifin said. “Whereas Olympics, when you get into those medal rounds, it’s a one-and-done situation, so it’s different in that regard.”

    If the Hurricanes win, it would be some measure of retribution for Seth Jarvis, who played for Canada in the final and lost to the U.S. in overtime on Jack Hughes’ winning goal.

    When Carolina had him, Slavin and bronze medalist Sebastian Aho pose for a photo with their medals in their Olympic jerseys, Jarvis in a behind-the-scenes video quipped about reliving his nightmares and brought up the stuffed animal versions of an Olympic mascot that IOC officials gave to a group of players after losing the biggest game of their lives.

    Before the start of the final, Jarvis acknowledged the events are two separate things.

    “Obviously, losing in the gold medal is going to suck forever,” Jarvis said. “But now I get a chance to be a winner and win something big here with a group of guys that I’ve been grinding with for five years, been through the ups and downs of it and people that I just really care about.”

    Two more losses would put Jarvis back in the same spot, albeit without another stuffie. One more defeat by the Golden Knights would mean losing twice in a final this year for Mitch Marner, Shea Theodore and Mark Stone.

    Before the series began, Slavin was working hard to keep his brain from drifting to the possibility.

    “It crosses my mind,” Slavin said. “But we’ve got to go out and do a job first, so not trying to give it too much thought.”

    In the nearly five decades since Morrow completed the Olympic gold-Stanley Cup double, the entire situation has changed. The NHL has participated in the Olympics six times since 1998, so players are already professionals.

    Morrow at age 23 went less than a week and a half between beating the Soviet Union in the “Miracle on Ice” in Lake Placid, New York, visiting the White House, having his first practice with the Islanders and making his NHL debut.

    “I was trying to earn a living,” Morrow said. “I had to kind of really change focus quickly into trying to earn a job with the New York Islanders, and it wasn’t a sure thing for me when I first came to them right after the Olympics. Am I going to be able to play in the league? Those were questions that I was facing in trying to make a living. And these guys certainly didn’t have that facing them after the Olympics.”

    They just had to get back to doing their job, which was a challenge in itself. Vegas and Carolina each finished atop its division and got through three rounds of the playoffs.

    That gave Eichel, Hanifin and Slavin an opportunity to join Morrow, Steve Yzerman and Brendan Shanahan from Detroit in 2002, Jonathan Toews, Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith from Chicago 2010, and Drew Doughty from Los Angeles in 2014 in the history books.

    “For myself, it’s been a pretty surreal year: Winning gold was awesome, and then having the chance to play for a Stanley Cup is awesome,” Slavin said. “I take it as a blessing and just thankful for it.”