The Washington Capitals have appointed Spencer Carbery as their next head coach, reuniting the team with a fan favorite who had long been tipped for the position.

On Tuesday, the team revealed that they had re-signed Carbery after he had spent the previous two years as an assistant coach for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Before then, Carbery’s success with Washington’s top minor league club had made many believe he would succeed Peter Laviolette as head coach of the Capitals. From 2018 to 2020, Carbery coached the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League for three years before landing his first NHL job on Sheldon Keefe’s staff in Toronto.

General manager Brian MacLellan commented, “Spencer is one of the best young coaches in the game who has had success at every level in which he has coached.” To quote the hiring letter: “We feel his leadership, communication skills, ability to develop players, and familiarity with our organisation will be tremendous assets as he makes this next step in his coaching career.”

The Washington Capitals have appointed Spencer Carbery as their next head coach.

Carbery, now 41 years old, was a homegrown talent for the Capitals who got his start with the team’s ECHL affiliate in South Carolina. He went through many interviews this spring, including one with the San Jose Sharks for their open position from last year.

Before a rival team could pick him up, the Capitals got him back into the role they had envisioned for him. The former captain turned Tampa Bay assistant, Jeff Halpern, Philadelphia associate coach Brad Shaw and others with more experience were all passed over in favor of Carbery.

Carbery thanked the Capitals organization for allowing him to serve as team captain. I’m excited to get to know and develop chemistry with such talented players. To the Toronto Maple Leaf organization, I appreciate all the help you’ve given me over the past two seasons.

Carbery’s job is to get Washington back into the playoffs after an eight-year drought. He inherits a squad led by the aging Alex Ovechkin, who led the playoffs in scoring in 2018 and is now attempting to break Wayne Gretzky’s record for most goals scored by a player in franchise history.

The organization’s purpose, from owner Ted Leonsis to general manager Brian MacLellan, is to remain competitive for as long as Russian superstar Alexander Ovechkin is under contract. Since Ovechkin is under contract for another three years, that is the most likely time frame before the team begins a reconstruction.

SOURCE – (AP)

MIAMI HEAT Possibly, Kevin Garnett is correct. As he exclaimed in jubilation after Boston won the NBA title in 2008, anything is possible.

Including the unthinkable.

The Celtics have earned their way into an exclusive club by being halfway to immortality. Only 14 out of the first 150 teams in NBA history to go behind 3-0 in a best-of-seven series went on to force a decisive Game 6. This percentage is just 9.3 percent. There has never been a series winner among them; by this point, most of them have been booted.

It’s not the Celtics. They are now down 3-2 in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Miami Heat, but they hold the upper hand heading into Saturday night’s Game 6 in Miami.

Jaylen Brown, a forward for the Celtics, says, “When adversity hits, you get to see what a team is made of.” The squad was stunned to find themselves down 3-0. Being down 3-0 seemed like the worst possible situation, yet we didn’t panic or split up. As a group, we kept putting. We doubled down on our defensive strengths and can now win the series.

The Celtics can become the fourth team to return from a 3-0 deficit and force a game seven if they win on Saturday. A victory on Saturday would put Boston in a position to force the series to a decisive Game 7 on Monday at TD Garden, where it would host the series for the first time.

Down 3-2 in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Miami Heat.

After a rough week, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla reminded his team that the season is still nine months away. Sometimes you have a lousy week on the job. We didn’t choose the finest moment to have a poor week, but we did, and now we’re all pulling together and doing our hardest to keep it going.

The Denver Nuggets currently need a game. If Boston prevails, the NBA Finals will begin with the Nuggets facing the Celtics in Game 1. For Game 1, if Miami wins the East, the Heat will travel to Denver. The first episode of the titular series will air on June 1st.

Coach Michael Malone of the Nuggets stated as much on Friday, following the team’s first full practice since clinching the Western Conference title with a four-game sweep of the Los Angeles Lakers. But keeping in sync is tough when you’re not actively participating in NBA games.

In Game 4, the Heat led by nine points in the third quarter and looked like they would be able to complete a series sweep. Two and a half minutes later, the Celtics had taken the lead for good. Boston took control of Game 4 with an 18-0 run, ended any remaining uncertainty with a 12-0 run in the second half, and opened Game 5 with a 20-5 run.

All told, in the 27 minutes between the beginning of the Celtics’ third-quarter outburst in Game 4 and the end of their early-game run in Game 5, the Celtics outscored the Heat 84-43.

These past two performances do not represent us. It was just a coincidence, Heat forward Jimmy Butler said. We stopped defending in the middle of the game because we weren’t making the shots we needed to win. However, that can be fixed quickly. It would help if you came out swinging a lot harder. It will be nothing but sunshine and consistency from here on out because we know we will win the next game, as I’ve said before.

At least one’s self-assurance is growing. The rest of it is.

Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra said frankly, “There are no excuses” for the team’s poor performance in Game 5. Even though the locker room is currently as chaotic as a scrum for a dropped ball under the basket, “not at all,” he insisted. With injuries to Tyler Herro and Victor Oladipo at shooting guard, as well as the absence of starting guard Gabe Vincent for Game 5 and the sight of Kyle Lowry playing through some hand ailment, the Heat have been shorthanded in the backcourt throughout the rest of the playoffs.

Game 5 was a disaster for Miami’s starting unit, as they were outscored by their bench players 95-44. Ever since Boston’s comeback-sparking run began in Game 4, the Heat have been outscored 75-33 from 3-point range, have given up 54% field goal and 44% 3-point shooting to the Celtics, and have turned the ball over 26 times to Boston’s 12.

Select a random number from the list. Only the series score of 3-2 is positive for the Heat, as it means that Miami is still one win away from completing their incredible journey as a No. 8 seed that reached the NBA Finals.

Spoelstra acknowledged that this series would be intensely contested. You know the conference finals will be tough because they always are. There is no connection between games. We won Game 3 by a wide margin. It’s really beside the point. It’s all about working together to plan and execute a spectacular performance. On Saturday, we’ll play at a much higher level. That’s all we can do is concentrate on at the moment.

SOURCE – (AP)

(LOS ANGELES) – LeBron James considered retiring after the Los Angeles Lakers were swept by the Denver Nuggets, despite having the highest-scoring postseason half of his unrivaled NBA career.

On Monday night, James established a personal record with 31 points in the first half of Game 4 of the Western Conference finals, but he missed two potential game-tying baskets in the final minute as the Nuggets defeated the Lakers 113-111.

After Los Angeles’ amazing late-season push ended with four consecutive defeats, the 38-year-old James concluded with 40 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists, and considerable frustration. Although the best scorer in NBA history discussed his future with the Lakers, he also stated that he has yet to decide whether or not to retire.

“We’ll see what happens going forward,” James stated in his final postgame press conference response. “I’m not sure. I’m not sure. To be honest, I’ve got a lot on my mind. Just for myself, I’ve got a lot to think about in terms of basketball moving forward.”

James is under contract with the Lakers for $46.9 million next season, but he has control of his future after breaking Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s lifetime scoring mark earlier this year. He hasn’t previously expressed any personal turmoil about finishing his contract with Anthony Davis, and his play hasn’t deteriorated dramatically after two decades in the NBA – though his health has deteriorated, particularly in his shaky feet and ankles.

“It’s all about availability for me, and keeping my mind sharp, and things of that nature,” James explained. “Being present on the pitch, being present in the locker room, being present on bus rides and plane rides, things like that.” It is, without a doubt, difficult. It was a difficult season for myself and our team, and we certainly know what happened early on (during the Lakers’ 2-10 start to the season). “It was a pretty cool ride.”

James scored 21 points in the first quarter of Game 4 in his NBA-record 282nd career playoff game.

James missed a month of the regular season due to a foot injury late in the season, but he bounced back with a string of outstanding postseason games as the Lakers defeated second-seeded Memphis and eliminated defending champion Golden State. That didn’t matter much to James, whose frustration showed in multiple instances following Game 4.

“I don’t like to say it’s a successful year because at this point in my career, I don’t play for anything other than winning championships,” James explained. “You know, I don’t get a pleasure out of appearing in a conference (finals) game. I’ve done it a lot of times, and it’s not pleasant for me not to be a part of getting to the (NBA) Finals.”

James scored 21 points in the first quarter of Game 4 in his NBA-record 282nd career playoff game. He scored 10 more in the second half while playing nearly the game against the top-seeded Nuggets.

However, James only had nine points on 4-of-12 shooting in the second half and missed two scoring opportunities in the last minute. With 26 seconds left, he took an unusual fallaway shot that missed horribly, and Denver’s Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon denied his final drive to the basket at the buzzer.

But the first half was classic LeBron, as he made 11 of 13 shots and blasted four 3-pointers without missing in the highest-scoring playoff half of his career, which began in 2003 and has included four NBA titles. James had four rebounds and four assists, and he was also called for a technical foul following a violent altercation with Gordon on the Lakers’ end of the court.

In elimination games, James already had the greatest scoring average (33.5 points per game) among all players with at least ten appearances.

James had already struggled from a distance in the series, going 3 for 19 in the first three games. In Game 4, he improved his shot and even got credit for a 3-pointer in the first quarter when his lob ball to Rui Hachimura went in by accident.

In elimination games, James already had the greatest scoring average (33.5 points per game) among all players with at least ten appearances.

After failing to win a championship this year, James is considering if he wants to do it all again. One major impediment to retirement is his long-stated ambition to play an NBA season alongside his son, Bronny, who will be a freshman at USC this fall and will be able to enter the league at least the fall of 2024.

“I guess I’ll reflect on my career when I’m done, but I don’t know,” James remarked when asked how he felt about his 20th season. “The only thing I care about is being available to my teammates, and I don’t like that I didn’t get to play as many games as I would have liked due to injury.” That’s all I worry about being available to my teammates.”

SOURCE – (AP)