The NBA playoffs are an unmistakably different animal than the regular season. Teams are preparing for a singular opponent. Scouting is meticulous and centrally focused on eliminating or minimizing opponents’ strengths, and exploiting their weaknesses. Nuanced and evident adjustments are made from game to game.  

Ultimately, exceptional players and notable performances determine outcomes of long series. So as of today, discount that the Knicks defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers three out of the four times they played each other during the regular season. The teams are evenly matched and their best-of-seven playoff series that begins this Saturday, with Game 1 in Cleveland tipping-off at 6 p.m., could surface as the most compelling of all the Round 1 matchups.

The storyline prominently discussed is the Knicks failing to acquire New York native Donovan Mitchell in a trade last summer, and the Cavaliers ultimately swooping in to obtain the four-time All-Star guard who was 10th in the NBA in scoring in this season at 28.5. But new scenarios will emerge as the series progresses.

The Cavaliers, which were 51-31 in the regular season, are the No. 4 seed in the East. The Knicks, winners of five of the final seven games, ended at 47-35, the franchise’s best record since going 54-28 in the 2012-13 campaign, and entering the playoffs as the Eastern Conference’s No. 5 seed.

The Knicks’ prospects of winning four games over the next roughly two weeks against the Cavaliers will be determined by the performances of All-Star forward Julius Randle and point guard Jalen Brunson has been sensational in the lead role, especially as a first-time, full-time starter this season after leaving the Dallas Mavericks and signing with the Knicks as a free-agent last summer.

Randle, the Knicks’ leading scorer and rebounder at 25.1 and 10 rebounds, respectively, hasn’t played since March 29 after spraining his left ankle at Madison Square Garden against the Miami Heat.

“He did some [at practice]. Making steady progress. Taking it day-to-day,” said Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau on Tuesday, non-committal on Randle’s return for Game 1. “So when he’s ready to go, he’s ready to go.”

Brunson, posting impressive stats of 24.2 points and 6.2 assists, missed the Knicks’ last three regular season games to rest a sprained right hand. Displaying mental and physical toughness all season, Brunson has declared he’s ready for the postseason. “Good, getting better. I’m able to do whatever I need to do,” he told reporters earlier this week.  

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* This article was originally published here

It’s well documented that Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid immensely wants to win his first NBA regular season MVP. The 7-foot highly skilled native of Cameroon, who topped the league in scoring this season with a per game average of 33.1 points per game, says any elite player who says it’s not a personal desire or goal is being disingenuous.

“One thing I’ll say is that if people tell you they don’t care about it, they’re lying,” Embiid said recently to journalist Rachel Nichols on the new Showtime series, “Headliners with Rachel Nichols.”

“That’s the best award you can get as a basketball player. It means a lot,” said the 29-year-old future Hall of Famer. “But if I were to win it, it would validate all the work that I put in, that’s why I cared about it, because you put in so much work and if you get that recognition, it just validates that you didn’t waste your time. But like I said, if someone tells you that they don’t care, that’s bulls–t.”

What Embiid has in common with the Denver Nuggets reigning back-to-back MVP, center Nikola Jokic, 28, is neither has won the league’s most coveted prize: an NBA championship. Jokic, the engine of the Nuggets, the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, and the Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo, are the other leading candidates for this season’s most valuable player. However, the latter’s resume is much more complete. All basically the same age, Antetokounmpo, 28, is a two-time league MVP (2019, 2020), and NBA champion, and a 2021 Finals MVP. The title and Finals award have already cemented his legacy as a winner.

Same for the Los Angeles Lakers’ Lebron James, a four-time champion, four-time Finals MVP, and four-time league MVP;  Stephen Curry, a four-time title winner and last season’s Finals MVP; Kevin Durant, now with the Phoenix Suns, who took home the league MVP as a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2014, and won two NBA championships and two Finals MVPs with the Warriors; and the Los Angeles Clippers Kawhi Leonard, who twice captured a Finals MVP—in 2014 with the San Antonio and in 2019 when he carried the Toronto Raptors.

Even with so much hardware, to whom much is given, much is expected, and each of the aforementioned greats will be under intense scrutiny to take their teams deep into what is a wide open postseason.  

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* This article was originally published here

Workers went on strike at all three Rutgers University campuses on April 10th: faculty, grad workers, postdocs, and medical researchers are all part of the work stoppage. 

Under the banner of #WeROnStrike, some 9,000 Rutgers staff members are petitioning at the schools’ New Brunswick, Newark, and Camden, New Jersey campuses for new labor agreements. 

Members of the Rutgers AAUP-AFT, Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union, and the AAUP-BHSNJ say they have been working without a fair contract since June. They are demanding changes like improved job security, access to healthcare coverage for part-time lecturers (PTLs), a 14-week release time for new parents and a child-care subsidy of $5,000 per year, across-the-board salary increases for Camden and Newark campus Arts and Sciences faculty, and more programs to promote diversity and to support faculty working on issues faced by underrepresented students. 

The Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union claims in a fact sheet that its members “teach about a third of classes on each campus, including some of the largest core courses in the sciences, humanities, and professional schools” yet “are paid less than a living wage,” “often teach at multiple universities to make ends meet,” “have to be rehired every semester and often don’t know whether their classes will run” and “are not covered by Rutgers health care plans.”

Many of the unions’ proposals for contract changes have so far been rejected by university management. The Associated Press reported on Apr 10th that instead “the university has offered to increase salaries for full-time faculty members, teaching assistants and graduate assistants by 12% by 2025. The university offered an additional 3% lump-sum payment to all the faculty unions that would be paid over the first two years of the new contract.”

The strike at Rutgers, New Jersey’s flagship state university, is a first in the 257-year history of the school. The turmoil caused Gov. Phil Murphy and his administration to join the negotiations so that they could help mediate a resolution. Since Monday, union bargaining teams have been meeting  with Rutgers management at the state capital, Trenton.

“We are encouraged by Gov. Murphy’s request and genuinely welcome his leadership,” University Pres. Jonathan Holloway noted in a letter to the school about the situation. “We are hopeful that we can quickly come to a resolution of the remaining outstanding issues.

“The governor also asked me personally to delay taking legal action asking the courts to order strikers back to work. I agreed to the governor’s important request while it appears that progress can be made. 

“Obviously,” though Holloway warned, “if there is no movement towards an agreement, we will have no choice but to take legal action to assure the continued academic progress of our students and prevent irreparable harm.”

The Rutgers University webpage claims that, during the strike, the school remains open for business. The website’s top banner states that “The university is open and operating, and classes are proceeding on a normal schedule.”

Meanwhile striking union members are upset about the threats of a court injunction against them. “An open letter signed by more than 1,300 leading scholars and academic workers across the country points out just how disappointing such threats are from a labor and civil rights historian,” Rutgers AAUP-AFT said on April 11th. “Rather than threatening us, we urge President Holloway to demand movement from his negotiators, who have repeatedly said no to our core proposals.” 

Holloway, who is Rutgers 21st president, assumed the post on July 1, 2020. According to a report in NJ.com, the new president was awarded a “$1.2 million … compensation package that includes a house, a car and other perks.”

Supporting protestors yelled,“Rutgers is for education, we are not a corporation.”

Union members voted overwhelmingly in favor of the Rutgers strike:  94% voted yes for the authorization. But while support for the strike might be real, that does not often mean that workers will show up and take shifts on a picket line. So, to give members other options rather than the standard one of marching back and forth with a picket sign, the unions have been engaging wide interest in their cause by featuring different events during their work stoppage. They have held creative writing and poetry readings, screen printing workshops, and exercise classes. They have hosted live DJ sets and musical performances and conducted drag queen-led marches to bring more interest––and bodies––to the frontlines for their strike effort.As of Amsterdam News press time there was no resolution. Revolting Rutger protestors determined, “RU listening? We are picketing.”

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* This article was originally published here

The Brooklyn Nets will face another difficult challenge as they have had to overcome obstacles all season when they play the Philadelphia 76ers in the opening round of their best-of-seven playoff series this Saturday at 1p.m. The Nets will be on the road as the No. 6 seed in the East for Games 1 and 2 to begin the postseason while the 76ers will have home court advantage at the Wells Fargo Arena as the No. 3 seed.

The complete Round 1 schedule detailing dates and times will be announced tomorrow. The Nets, which finished the regular season 45-37, and the Sixers, which was 54-28, met four times this season with the Sixers going 4-0. The Nets’ greatest concern is Sixers center Joel Embiid, who is a good bet to win his first career league MVP award. Embiid topped the NBA in scoring at 33.1 points, to go along with 10.2 rebounds and 4.2 assists. Team defense will be critical in slowing down the 7-foot Embiid, but Nets center Nic Claxton, who has had a strong season on the defensive end, will be the primary defender.    
The Nets and 76ers’ recent history includes the trade of James Harden for Ben Simmons last September in a deal that so far has been one-sided if it’s based on the production of the two players. The 33-year-old, 6-foot-5 Harden played in 58 games this season averaging 21 points, 6.1 rebounds, and a league-high 10.7 assists.
Simmons, a, 26, a 6-foot-10 point-forward, appeared in just 42 games, the last on Feb. 15, due to knee and back issues. He ended his season averaging 6.9 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 6.1 assists.

“Ben will not be joining us the rest of the year and through the playoffs,” said Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn a little over two weeks ago in announcing Simmons was being shut down. “After consulting with our doctors, multiple specialists, he’s just going to begin a rehab program. Our doctors and the specialists feel and think that he’ll have a full recovery so that starts now.”

A trade that has worked out well for the Nets’ present and future was the acquisition of forward Mikal Bridges from the Phoenix Suns. The centerpiece of the deal was Kevin Durant, whose Suns are the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference and will meet the No. 5 seed Los Angeles Clippers in Round 1. Since coming to the Nets at the NBA trade deadline, Bridges has averaged 26.1 points for Brooklyn, roughly nine points above his pre-Nets average of 17.2.

The Philadelphia native is excited to get to play against the team he grew up loving. “I was a huge Sixers fan. I mean, everybody knows that,” said Bridges this week. “Just grew up in Philly and grew up going to all the games in the world.”

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* This article was originally published here