Celtics’ Stevens named Executive of the Year; Nuggets oust Lakers
Boston Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens was named NBA Executive of the Year on Tuesday.
Stevens spent the offseason revising the roster of the reigning Eastern Conference champions to create a team that posted an NBA-best 64-18 record in the 2023-24 regular season.
Trades sent point guard
Marcus Smart and backup Malcolm Brogdon away and added point guard Jrue Holiday and forward Kristaps Porzingis.
Thunder general manager Sam Presti finished second to Stevens in award voting and had four first-place votes to 16 for Stevens.
Elsewhere: Jamal Murray hit a tiebreaking 14-footer with four seconds left to send the host Denver Nuggets to the Western Conference semifinals with a 108-106 win over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 5 of a first-round playoff series on Monday. The secondseeded Nuggets won the best-of-7 series 4-1 and will face the third-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference semifinals beginning Saturday in Denver . ... Reports of an imminent divorce between the Lakers and Darvin Ham multiplied Tuesday in the aftermath of the seasonending loss to the Nuggets. Ham, 50, has a 9074 record in two seasons. Lakers fans chanted “Fire Darvin Ham” during Game 3 and as All-Star
Anthony Davis said the Lakers “don’t know what we’re doing on both ends of the floor” for stretches of games.
ETC.
NFL: The Atlanta Falcons picked up tight end Kyle Pitts’ fifth-year option on Monday. The fourth overall pick of the 2021 NFL Draft out of the Florida will stay with Atlanta through at least 2025. The option carries a guaranteed $10.878 million salary for 2025.
Tennis: Both No. 1 seed Iga Swiatek of Poland and No. 18 seed
Madison Keys had to dig out of early holes to win their quarterfinal matches at the Mutua Madrid Open on Tuesday in Spain. Swiatek rebounded for a 4-6, 6-0, 6-2 win over No. 11 Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil in nearly 2 1⁄2 hours. Keys was blanked in her first set before toppling No. 8
Ons Jabeur of Tunisia 0-6, 7-5, 6-1 . ... With the fans from his home country behind him, Rafael Nadal continued to make a successful return from injuries by reaching the quarterfinals of the Mutua Madrid Open with a 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3 victory over
Pedro Cachin. A fivetime winner of the event in his native Spain, Nadal is playing in just his third event of 2024 and reached the fourth round of any event for the first time since 2022. Topseeded Jannik Sinner of Italy and No. 2 seed Carlos Alcaraz of Spain each dropped a set in their respective matches on Tuesday, while rebounding to advance into the quarterfinals of the Madrid Open. No. 4 seed
Alexander Zverev of Germany and fifth-seeded
Casper Ruud of Norway both lost in straight sets.