The Knicks came close to acquiring local product Donovan Mitchell, a 26-year-old four-time All-Star, from the Utah Jazz late last summer. Now they’ll face the Elmsford, New York, native in the first round of the playoffs in a little over a week.

When the NBA schedule began last night, the Cleveland Cavaliers, who parted with three first-round draft picks and three players last September to obtain Mitchell, had clinched the No. 4 postseason seed in the Eastern Conference. The Knicks, who took a four-game winning streak into Indiana to play the Pacers last night, went in as a near certainty to be the No. 5 seed. They were 46–33 and three games up on the 43–36 Brooklyn Nets with just three games—now two—left for both teams. 

The 46 wins were the most for the Knicks since the 2012–’13 campaign, when they ended the regular season 54–28 under former head coach Mike Woodson. That team, led by Carmelo Anthony and J.R. Smith, lost to the Pacers in the Eastern Conference semifinals 4–2. 

The Knicks have a reasonable chance to defeat the Cavaliers in their imminent best-of-seven series that will open in Cleveland—contingent on the health of their All-Star forward Julius Randle. The Knicks have fared well with Randle recovering from an ankle sprain sustained on March 29 at Madison Square Garden in a 101–92 win over the Miami Heat. Randle, who leads the Knicks in points (25.1) and rebounds (10), will be out until at least the start of the playoffs. As of today, it is uncertain whether he will be ready to return for Game 1 of the series versus the Cavaliers. 

Without Randle being able to perform at a level close to what he has this season, the Knicks’ prospects of getting by the Cavaliers are dubious. 

The playoffs begin on April 15. The schedule will be released by the NBA next week after the regular season concludes this Sunday. The Play-In Tournament, composed of the No. 7 through No. 10 seeds from the Eastern and Western Conferences, will take place next Tuesday through Friday.

While the status of Randle remains inconclusive, the Knicks have been encouraged by the play of, among others, point guard Jalen Brunson, who has shown he isn’t significantly hampered by a right hand injury and sore left foot, both having caused him to miss eight of the Knicks’ previous 12 games before the March 29 win over the Heat. Brunson scored a career high 48 points in a 130–116 road win over the Cavaliers last Friday and team-high 118–109 victory against the Washington Wizards at home on Sunday.

In addition, guard Immanuel Quickley, who will garner strong consideration from voters for the Sixth Man of the Year Award, has continued his exceptional play, while guard Quentin Grimes and center Isaiah Hartenstein have been standouts for the Knicks down the stretch of this season.

The post Knicks solidify playoff spot and series against Cavaliers appeared first on New York Amsterdam News.

* This article was originally published here

Message to men: Butt out of women’s competitive affairs and let them play, let them talk junk, let them entertain us the way men sports does.  

Angel Reese and Caitlan Clark are gifted basketball players and seemingly wonderful young women. Reese, star of national champion LSU, was the target of vitriol on social media and undoubtedly behind closed doors after directing the “you can’t see me” gesture, popularized by wrestler and actor John Cena, towards Clark, the transcendent guard for Iowa, late in Sunday’s NCAA women’s championship game.

LSU defeated Iowa 102-85 to earn the program its first ever NCAA women’s basketball title. The 20-year-old Reese was named Most Outstanding Player of the 2023 Women’s Basketball Championship. Some of the characterizations of Reese were usually reserved for those that commit vile offenses. They were extreme. Most that this writer read were from men, including well-known and widely followed media figures. The unmistakable marks of inherent colorism and sexism were implicit and resonant.

Reese is Black, as are all of the prominent players for LSU. The 21-year-old Clark is white, and so are a majority of Iowa’s exceptional squad. LSU stopping Iowa also altered the storyline many white male journalists were eager to propagate: The great white player and golden girls from middle America take down the uncultured and hyper-aggressive Black girls from the South. They’ll never admit it, but consciously or subconsciously, they know it to be true.

What is disheartening and disturbing is that for the ladies of LSU and Iowa, including their head coaches Kim Mulkey and Lisa Bluder, respectively, and their staffs, the game was purely about basketball. Reese’s taunt was in response to Clark giving the Louisville Cardinals the “you can’t see me” during Iowa’s 97-83 win in the Elite Eight. She also dismissively waved off South Carolina guard Raven Johnson in their Final Four matchup, indicating to her teammates to not even bother covering the poor shooting perimeter player beyond 15-feet.

In street parlance, Clark is gangsta. So is Reese. Clark is from Des Moines, Iowa. Reese is from Baltimore, Maryland. The cities are ideologically and demographically worlds apart, but the two women share many commonalities that were obscured by a presumptive racial barrier erected by those pushing an agenda.

In fact, after Clark gave a Louisville player the business, Cena tweeted, “Even if they could see you…they couldn’t guard you!”
Clark’s innocuous barb was embraced and even celebrated. Reese was vilified. Double standard on steroids. On Tuesday in a televised interview on ESPN, Clark graciously defended Reese, the two likely to be teammates someday for the U.S. women’s Olympic basketball team, or even in the WNBA.
“I don’t think Angel should be criticized at all,” Clark said. “No matter which way it goes, she should never be criticized for what she did. I’m one that competes, and she competed.”
What Reese and Clark did was draw 9.9 million TV viewers, peaking at 12. 6 million across all platforms, making it the most watched women’s basketball game in history. Do your thing, ladies!

The post Reese and Clark show men they don’t need their intervention   appeared first on New York Amsterdam News.

* This article was originally published here

Thursday-Saturday, April 13th, 14th, 15th, 7:30PM,  E-Moves returns to Harlem Stage
150 Convent Avenue by 135th Street, Tickets $25.  For over 20 years, Harlem Stage’s signature dance series, E-Moves, has brought together phenomenal choreographers, artists, musicians, and dancers of color to showcase their rhythmic visions and pull audiences into a grand celebration of movement and message.The Black Arts Movement: Examined series inspires this year’s program, curated by Jerome Robbins Award-winning dancer, choreographer, and Harlem Stage alum Stefanie Batten Bland, and will feature works in conversation with the Black Arts Movement.

Seats are still available so get them while you can at the Harlem Stage site: LINK

* This article was originally published here