Jazz win as NBA returns
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Rudy Gobert sank two free throws with 6.9 seconds left to cap a 14-point, 12-rebound, three-block performance, giving the Utah Jazz a 106-104 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans in the first game of the NBA’s restart on Thursday night. New Orleans, which led for most of the game and by as many as 16 points, nearly pulled out the victory as time expired when Brandon Ingram’s
3-point attempt rimmed out in a bitter end to his 23-point night. Zion Williamson,
who missed nearly two weeks of practice after leaving the team for a family medical matter on July 16, was deemed fit to start, although his playing time was limited. He scored 13 points in just more than 15 minutes, highlighted by a couple alley-oop dunks, one on a nearly half-court lob from Lonzo Ball.
Williamson checked out for good with 7:19 left in the fourth quarter, though, and had to watch the tense finish from the sideline. Jordan Clarkson scored 23 points for Utah and helped lead a second-half comeback, while Mike Conley and Donovan Mitchell each added 20. For New Orleans, JJ Redick scored 21, including a clutch 3-pointer to tie it at 102, and Jrue Holiday added 20 points. The game was tied at 104 after Ingram’s free throws with 32 seconds left, and Conley missed inside with just less than 20 seconds to go but got his own rebound. The Jazz moved the ball to Mitchell, whose drive forced New Orleans to collapse on him before he fed Gobert for a dunk attempt that Derrick Favors could only stop with a forceful foul. Gobert, who had featured prominently on defense with clean rejections of Williamson and Favors, calmly made the deciding foul shots.
› NEW YORK — Tom Thibodeau
brought the Chicago Bulls to their greatest success since Michael Jordan was starring in the Windy City. He returned the Minnesota Timberwolves to the playoffs after a 13-year absence. All the while, there was one challenge he sought. He has seen what it’s like in New York when the Knicks win and wanted to be the coach to make it happen again. “This a dream come true for me,” Thibodeau said. “This is my dream job.” He got it Thursday, when the Knicks brought the former NBA coach of the year back to the organization he helped reach the NBA Finals as an assistant. Thibodeau was with the Knicks from 1996 to 2003, part of Jeff Van Gundy’s staff when they made a run from the No. 8 seed to the finals in 1999. He’s had success all around the NBA since he left and the Knicks have had almost none, but that hasn’t dampened his desire to come back. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Thibodeau, 62, is 352-246 in eight seasons coaching Chicago and Minnesota. He was voted the league’s most outstanding coach in 2011 in his first season with the Bulls, whom he led to 50 wins in three of his five seasons.
FOOTBALL
› NASHVILLE — Tennessee Titans general manager Jon Robinson said he has been in touch with Vic Beasley Jr., and that the linebacker knows his absence from training camp is unexcused. “He told me he will be reporting to camp in the near future,” Robinson said in a statement released Thursday. “Our current focus is on the players that are here now, getting everyone acclimated to the (coronavirus) protocols, our building and our football program. We will have the same acclimation process with Vic when he reports.” The Titans placed Beasley on the reserve/ did not report list Tuesday, and he is subject to a $50,000 fine each day he’s absent from camp. Beasley is the Titans’ big signee from free agency this offseason. They added him with a one-year deal for $9.5 million in March to help bulk up their pass rush opposite Harold Landry, counting on head coach Mike Vrabel and his defensive staff to help Beasley return to his form of 2016, when he led the NFL with 15 1/2 sacks. The linebacker had eight sacks last season for the Atlanta Falcons, and he has 37 1/2 sacks in his career after being drafted eighth overall in 2015 out of Clemson.