NBA playoffs resume today
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — NBA teams returned to the court Friday after the league and its players’ union agreed on commitments that made players comfortable continuing with the playoffs. Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Chris Paul, the union president, was emotional as he detailed the events of the previous two days, when players — upset by the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and acts of racial injustice — considered leaving Walt Disney World and going home. All 13 teams remaining in the postseason scheduled practice Friday, and competition is to resume today with three games. Play stopped Wednesday when the Milwaukee Bucks didn’t take the court for their playoff game against the Orlando Magic. On that day and Thursday, NBA players met among themselves and with coaches and owners before an agreement to resume was reached. Many within the league have focused on the importance of voting and the need for places in inner cities where minorities can do so safely, and now all team owners who also control their arena property will work with local officials to turn their buildings into a voting location for the 2020 general election. In addition, a social justice coalition — made up of players, coaches and owners — will focus on issues such as voting access and advocating for meaningful police and criminal justice reform. And the league and players will work with TV networks to create advertising spots to promote greater engagement in the election process and their communities.
› TUCSON, Ariz. — Hall of Fame coach Lute Olson, who turned the University of Arizona into a men’s basketball powerhouse, died Thursday evening, his family said. He was 85. The cause of death wasn’t given. Olson spent 24 seasons at Arizona before retiring in 2008, revitalizing a fan base in the desert while transforming a program that had been to the NCAA tournament just three times in 79 years before he was hired in 1983. Olson first took the Wildcats to the Big Dance during his second season in Tucson to start a string of 25 straight appearances. The streak would have been the third-longest in NCAA history, but the 1999 and 2008 appearances were later vacated by the NCAA for impermissible benefits to players and recruiting violations. The Wildcats won the 1997 national championship with a team led by Mike Bibby, Miles Simon and Jason Terry, and Olson’s Arizona teams reached the Final Four four times in all and lost the 2001 national title game to Duke. He coached nine seasons at Iowa and led the Hawkeyes to the NCAA tournament his final five seasons, including a trip to the 1980 Final Four. Olson, who had a career record of 780-280 as a Division I coach, was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002.
GOLF
› OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. — Rory McIlroy doesn’t need fans to keep his head in the game at the BMW Championship. Olympia Fields Country Club is so tough it won’t allow anything but his full attention on every shot. By the end of another steamy afternoon south of Chicago, McIlroy and Patrick Cantlay were the sole survivors to par. One week after McIlroy admitted to going through the motions without spectators around to provide the cheers, he had a 1-under 69 to share the 36-hole lead with Cantlay (68) at 1-under 139. They were one shot ahead of firstround leader Hideki Matsuyama (73) and Dustin Johnson (69), No. 1 in the FedEx Cup standings and the Official World Golf Ranking with only the Tour Championship remaining in the 2019-20 PGA Tour season after this weekend. Baylor School graduate Harris English (71), sixth in the FedEx standings, was tied for 39th at 6 over.