So far the trade for Chris Paul to give the Houston Rockets another superstar to help James Harden has worked famously.
Now the two Vontae Davis Jersey , who have both had their fair share of playoff disappointments, will try to carry their regular-season success into the postseason when the Rockets open a first-round series with Minnesota on Sunday night.
The guards have been effusive in their praise for one another, with Harden recently joking that his relationship with the nine-time All-Star was ”love at first sight.” Paul didn’t go quite that far, but a huge smile crossed his often serious face when asked how their pairing has worked.
”Unbelievable,” he said. ”You just (don’t) get this opportunity too often in a career to play with somebody like James … you get a chance to appreciate greatness.
”What he’s doing on a nightly basis and stuff like that, it’s crazy and I’m in awe,” Paul continued. ”I’m grateful I get to play alongside him.”
When told of what Paul said about him, Harden was quick to answer.
”You can tell,” he said. ”It feels like it’s been forever but it’s not even been a year yet.”
Their work in the regular season led the Rockets to a franchise-record 65 wins, their first No. 1 seed and sixth straight playoff appearance. They are looking to win the title for the first time capturing back-to-back championships in 1994-95.
For the 32-year-old Paul, it’s a chance for him to finally shake off years off playoff woes after making nine playoff trips without advancing past the second round. But if he is haunted by the ghosts of playoffs past, he wouldn’t acknowledge it and was dismissive when asked if he thought this was his best chance to win it all.
”I don’t know,” he said. ”I don’t think about all that.”
What he and the Rockets do know is that they’re facing a talented team in the eighth-seeded Timberwolves, who had to win their last regular-season game to get into the postseason. They ended the NBA’s longest active playoff drought with their berth Alex Anzalone Jersey , putting them back in the postseason for the first time since 2004 when they lost to the Lakers in the Western Conference finals.
Getting the Timberwolves into the playoffs is a huge accomplishment for the entire team, but might mean just a little more to star Karl-Anthony Towns, who made a vow the night Minnesota selected him with the top overall pick in the 2015 draft.
”It means more than I think words can express honestly,” he said. ”I made a promise to … Flip Saunders and it meant a lot to me that I was able to keep my word.”
Some things to know as the Timberwolves and Rockets open their series:
BACK HOME
The series is a homecoming for Minnesota’s Jimmy Butler, who grew up in Tomball, a suburb about 35 miles from downtown Houston. But he insists he won’t have any time to get back out there this week.
”Nope,” he said. ”Zero (time). I ain’t even going home. I’m here to work.”
But he did spend a little time on Saturday reminiscing about his high school days when he idolized a former Rockets star.
”I used to walk around the hallways and in the gym thinking I was Tracy McGrady,” he said. ”I remember it like it was yesterday. He was my favorite player. I wanted to wear his number, wear his tennis shoes, all of that good stuff.”
Butler, who returned on April 6 after missing 17 games with a knee injury, said he’s fully recovered from his injury and is ”well-rested” entering the playoffs.
PLAYOFF HISTORY
This is the second time these teams have met in the playoffs. Their other meeting came in Minnesota’s first trip in 1997, when the Timberwolves were swept in three games. That Houston team was led by Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler and Charles Barkley Doug Baldwin Jersey , and the Wolves featured Kevin Garnett, Stephon Marbury and Tom Gugliotta.
LIMIT KAT FROM LONG RANGE
The Rockets are resigned to the fact that Towns, who led the NBA in double-doubles, will get his points under the basket and plenty of rebounds.
”He’s going to get a double-double,” Houston coach Mike D’Antoni said. ”That’s who he is.”
However, they are not OK with letting him shoot 3-pointers. The 7-foot Towns ranked 14th in the league with a 42 percent average from 3-point range and knocked down a career-high 120 3-pointers this season.
”We (can’t) leave him open or let him walk into a 3 because we’re not guarding him,” D’Antoni said. ”We have to be aware of that. You can’t take away his post-ups and his moves in there. He’s going to score on anybody, but you can do a really good job on the 3s.”
HARDEN’S MOTIVATION
Despite finishing as the runner-up for MVP last season and being a front-runner for this year’s award, Harden still faces plenty of criticism for some of his past performances in the playoffs, notably, a terrible performance in an embarrassing 114-75 elimination loss to San Antonio in the conference semifinals last season.
But he has never been motivated by criticism, and he finds his drive in a far different place.
”Just going out there and being the best that I can be,” he said. ”There’s no negativity that someone can say that can motivate me. Some people can get motivated by that. I don’t really care.”
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Lionel Messi and Argentina finally came alive at the World Cup.
Messi scored an exquisite 14th-minute goal to give the two-time champions the lead Tuesday, but it wasn’t until Marcos Rojo’s 86th-minute strike that Argentina was assured of a place in the round of 16.
Victor Moses scored a penalty in the 51st minute for Nigeria Mark Clayton Jersey , putting Argentina in danger of being eliminated without winning a match in Russia.
It took an unlikely goal by Rojo to save Argentina and give it second place in Group D.
Digeo Maradona, in the stands at the St. Petersburg Stadium, celebrated both goals wildly.
Argentina will play France in the last 16 in Kazan on Saturday.
PRO FOOTBALL
FAIR LAWN, N.J. (AP) – A body has been found at a New Jersey home where New York Giants cornerback Janoris Jenkins lives.
The Bergen County prosecutor’s office says it is investigating a death at the house in Fair Lawn, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) north of MetLife Stadium. Property records show Jenkins has lived at the house the last two years.
Authorities have identified the dead man as 25-year-old Roosevelt Rene, a family friend of Jenkins. The prosecutor’s office didn’t say where Jenkins was when the death occurred.
A spokesman for the Giants says the team is monitoring the situation but didn’t comment further.
Jenkins played at Florida from 2008-10 before finishing his college career at North Alabama. He was drafted in the second round by the St. Louis Rams in 2012. He played four seasons with the Rams and the last two seasons with the Giants.
BASEBALL
NEW YORK (AP) – New York Mets general manager Sandy Alderson is taking a leave of absence because his cancer has returned, and he does not expect to return to the job.
With the team in a massive tailspin, Mets chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon and the 70-year-old Alderson made the announcement before a game against Pittsburgh.
”With respect to the future, I would say two things: One is, notwithstanding the good prognosis, my health is an uncertainty going forward,” said Alderson, who agreed to a contract extension in December. ”And secondly, if I were to look at it on the merits Duron Harmon Jersey , I’m not sure coming back is warranted.”
Asked whether he would like Alderson to resume his GM duties if his health eventually allowed that, Wilpon avoided expressing an opinion and answered the same way twice: ”I think his health and his family are first and foremost.”
Assistant general manager John Ricco and special assistants J.P. Ricciardi and Omar Minaya will run the team’s baseball operations in Alderson’s absence. Minaya preceded Alderson as Mets general manager, and Ricciardi was GM of the Toronto Blue Jays from 2001-09.
ATLANTA (AP) – The body of a third-party contractor has been found inside a beer cooler at SunTrust Park.
The body was found by a worker from the same company. Cobb County police spokeswoman Sarah O’Hara tells The Atlanta Journal-Constitution she could not say if foul play is suspected because the investigation is ongoing.
Cobb County police say in a statement that officers responded to a ”call of a deceased person located at SunTrust Park” before the Atlanta Braves’ game against the Cincinnati Reds.
The Braves declined comment, referring reporters to the statement from Cobb County police.
O’Hara tells the newspaper the identity of the person would not be released until the family is notified. She says the Braves are assisting in the investigation.
BOXING
LAS VEGAS (AP) – Boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s father has been acquitted in Las Vegas of a misdemeanor battery charge after a trial before a judge.
Floyd Mayweather Sr.’s lawyer, Nicholas Wooldridge, said testimony took several hours before Justice of the Peace Harmony Letizia reached the not guilty verdict on Tuesday.
Wooldridge called allegations that the 65-year-old Mayweather Sr. pulled a woman from his vehicle, punched her in the leg and left her after a boxing event last September in an attempt to get money from his client.
Prosecutors didn’t immediately respond to messages.
Police had said the woman was treated at a hospital for bruises she said she received from Mayweather Sr. after arguing with him while he drove her and her husband home after a Sept. 16 boxing match at T-Mobile Arena.
HOCKEY
The Hockey Hall of Fame has added NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, pioneering black player Willie O’Ree and all-time winningest goaltender Martin Brodeur to its latest class.
Since taking the job in 1993, Bettman has overseen the growth of the league to 31 teams and an enterprise with some $5 billion in revenue.
O’Ree was the first black player in the NHL and will be the third black player in the Hall of Fame, joining Edmonton Oilers goalie Grant Fuhr and Canadian women’s national team captain Angela James. Playing for Boston, he had four goals and 10 assists in 45 NHL games during the 1957-58 and 1960-61 seasons despite being 95 percent blind in his right eye.
Now 82, O’Ree works for the NHL as diversity ambassador.
The 46-year-old Brodeur was a three-time Stanley Cup champion with the New Jersey Devils who was elected in his first year of eligibility. He is the goalie with the most wins, shutouts and games played in NHL history.
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