BERLIN (AP) &mdash; Luka Doncic and Slovenia roared back from a 23-point deficit, and looked as if they were well on their way to a berth in the EuroBasket semifinals.
Poland had other ideas &mdash; and in an absolute shocker, EuroBasket will have a new champion.
Mateusz Ponitka had 26 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists, and Poland beat Slovenia 90-87 to move into the semifinals of the European championships for the first time since 1971.
Vlatko Cancar led Slovenia with 21 points, and Goran Dragic scored 17.
Doncic was held to 14 points on 5-of-15 shooting, though he added 11 rebounds and seven assists. The Dallas Mavericks star needed an injection to get through the game and has been dealing with injuries throughout the tournament, he said.
&ldquo;But that&rsquo;s not the reason,&rdquo; Doncic said. &ldquo;Today I played terrible. I let my team down. I let the whole country who was supporting us down. I&rsquo;ve got to look at this game and be better.&rdquo;
Poland led by 23 late in the second quarter and carried a 58-39 lead into halftime, but Slovenia got within one with a 24-6 run in the third quarter.
Dragic scored to start the fourth and put Slovenia on top, and the lead was 73-68 on a jumper by Klemen Prepelic with 6:58 left.
Poland outscored Slovenia 21-7 over the next six minutes, and held on in the final seconds.
A.J. Slaughter and Michal Sokolowski each scored 16 for Poland, which got 14 from Jaroslaw Zyskowski and 11 from Aleksander Balcerowski.
&ldquo;Amazing,&rdquo; Sokolowski said. &ldquo;And now we can&rsquo;t stop. ... We dreamed about a medal at the beginning. Right now it&rsquo;s closer, but we don&rsquo;t have it yet. I want to reach it.&rdquo;
FRANCE 93, ITALY 85
France pulled off a wild rally at the end of regulation, then carried that momentum into a spot in the EuroBasket semifinals.
Thomas Heurtel scored 20 points, Rudy Gobert had 19 points and 14 rebounds, and France found a way to get past Italy 93-85 in a quarterfinal game on Wednesday.
France was down by seven with 1:59 left in regulation, and that was when it started on what became a 25-10 run to finish the contest.
It was France&rsquo;s second consecutive fourth-quarter rally and overtime win, after needing the same formula to get past Turkey in the round of 16 on Saturday.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t really believe in luck,&rdquo; Gobert said. &ldquo;Tonight, we could have given up, once again, but we got the baskets we needed.&rdquo;
Next up for France: Poland on Friday for a berth in the title game. The other half of the semifinal bracket was set Tuesday: Germany will play Spain, also on Friday.
Gobert started the game-ending burst with a dunk to get his team within 75-70.
Italy had a chance to potentially seal the game with 16 seconds left, up by two, but Simone Fontecchio missed a pair of free throws. It was another eerie resemblance to Saturday, when Cedi Osman, with Turkey up by two, missed two free throws with 12.2 seconds left to extend France&rsquo;s hopes.
Heurtel&rsquo;s layup tied the game with 5.2 seconds left in regulation. France trailed only once in overtime, for just 23 seconds, and Evan Fournier&rsquo;s floater with 3:29 left put his team ahead for good.
Fournier scored 17 for France, which got 15 from Guerschon Yabusele and 13 from Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot.
&ldquo;Congratulations to France,&rdquo; Italy coach Gianmarco Pozzecco said. &ldquo;They never gave up.&rdquo;
Fontecchio and Marco Spissu each had 21 points for Italy, which was seeking its first trip to the EuroBasket semifinals since winning bronze in 2003.
Luigi Datome scored 12 and Nicolo Melli added 10 for Italy, which trailed by as many as 11 in the early going but outscored France 31-18 in the third quarter and led by as many as eight early in the fourth.
&ldquo;What can I say? Very painful, of course,&rdquo; Datome said. &ldquo;Very, very painful. But I&rsquo;m so proud of my teammates.&rdquo;

Poland beat Slovenia 90-87 to move into the semifinals of the European championships for the first time since 1971.

EuroBasket: Poland tops Doncic, Slovenia; France over Italy

BERLIN (AP) &mdash; Giannis Antetokounmpo got ejected, and Greece&rsquo;s hopes of bringing home a European championship ended not long afterward.
Germany, meanwhile, is taking full advantage of its home-court edge.
Dennis Schroder scored 26 points, Daniel Theis had a 13-point, 16-rebound effort and host Germany moved into the EuroBasket semifinals with a 107-96 win over Greece on Tuesday.
Antetokounmpo had a monster game for Greece &mdash; 31 points, eight assists and seven rebounds in 30 minutes. But he also picked up two unsportsmanlike conduct fouls, the last of those leading to his ejection with 4:56 left.
Greece was down by 14 when he committed his second such foul, and Germany maintained full control the rest of the way.
Germany now has a chance at what would be just its second medal in its last 13 appearances at EuroBasket. The Germans won the European title in 1993 and were second in 2005; assured of no worse than fourth now, this tournament will mark their best EuroBasket finish since that silver-medal showing.
&ldquo;I think this is unbelievable for German basketball, the way this team, the way these players have performed on their home soil up to now,&rdquo; Germany coach Gordie Herbert said. &ldquo;I think the way they&rsquo;ve played, the way we&rsquo;ve played, people can relate to. They see an identity.&rdquo;
Greece and Serbia were the only two teams that made it through the group stage of EuroBasket with unbeaten records, both 5-0 and led by a pair of two-time NBA MVPs &mdash; Antetokounmpo for Greece, Nikola Jokic for Serbia.
Then came the knockout stage, and the records no longer mattered. Serbia and Jokic were ousted in the round of 16 by Italy; Antetokounmpo and Greece are now gone as well.
&ldquo;We really enjoyed the ride,&rdquo; Greece coach Dimitrios Itoudis said. &ldquo;We really enjoyed the journey. I think that we made a lot of people proud with the way that this team performs. We wanted to go more, but it didn&rsquo;t happen this time.&rdquo;
Giannoulis Larentzakis scored 18 points on only five shot attempts for Greece; he was 5 for 5 from the field, four of those from 3-point range, and was 4 for 6 from the foul line. Tyler Dorsey added 13 for Greece.
Franz Wagner and Andreas Obst had 19 points apiece for Germany, which plays Spain in Friday&rsquo;s semifinals.
&ldquo;It was a really physical game,&rdquo; Wagner said. &ldquo;A lot of points. We found our rhythm really early and I think we did a way better job collectively guarding them in the second half.&rdquo;
SPAIN 100, FINLAND 90
Most of the names on Spain&rsquo;s national team have changed in the last year, with the roster that headed to EuroBasket significantly different from the one that played in the Tokyo Olympics.
The expectations, however, remain the same.
Willy Hernangomez scored 27 points, Juancho Hernangomez added 15 and Spain &mdash; with just three players who got any significant playing time at the Tokyo Games last summer &mdash; powered into the semifinals by erasing a 15-point deficit and topping Finland in Tuesday&rsquo;s first quarterfinal.
Down 50-35 late in the final half, Spain outscored Finland 65-40 over the game&rsquo;s final 21 minutes.
&ldquo;We showed, one more time, cohesiveness, toughness, generosity, we shared the ball well,&rdquo; Spain coach Sergio Scariolo said. &ldquo;At the end of the day, this is what you can ask to a team which is so inexperienced and so new in this kind of engagement.&rdquo;
Spain reached the EuroBasket semifinals for the 11th consecutive time and will play Germany on Friday for a spot in the final.
Dario Brizuela scored 14 points, Rudy Fernandez added 11 and Lorenzo Brown had 10 for Spain.
&ldquo;It was a hard battle,&rdquo; said Willy Hernangomez, Juancho&rsquo;s older brother. &ldquo;Tough battle for us. ... Our first half was really bad. We started the game not with the right mentality. And then at halftime, (we said) we&rsquo;ve got to be us, we&rsquo;ve got to be us.&rdquo;
Spain opened the third quarter on a 17-5 run, more than setting the tone for its comeback.
Lauri Markkanen scored 28 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for Finland, while Mikael Jantunen scored 13, Alexander Madsen had 13 and Sasu Salin added 11.
Finland was seeking its first trip to the EuroBasket semifinals.
&ldquo;Well, you see why Spain is always so tough,&rdquo; Finland&rsquo;s Shawn Huff said. &ldquo;They never give up. We gave it a good shot.&rdquo;
WEDNESDAY&rsquo;S SCHEDULE
The other two quarterfinal games are on tap: France plays Italy, and defending champion Slovenia takes on Poland.

Dennis Schroder scored 26 points, Daniel Theis had a 13-point, 16-rebound effort and host Germany moved into the semis.

Germany ousts Giannis, Spain rallies to EuroBasket semis

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Timberwolves reprimanded star guard Anthony Edwards on Monday for homophobic comments he made on an Instagram video and <a href="https://twitter.com/theantedwards_/status/1569043807085236224">later apologized for</a>.
“We are disappointed in the language and actions Anthony Edwards displayed on social media,” president of basketball operations Tim Connelly said in a statement distributed by the team. "The Timberwolves are committed to being an inclusive and welcoming organization for all and apologize for the offense this has caused to so many.”
In the since-deleted post, Edwards recorded a group of men on a sidewalk from a vehicle he was inside and made a disparaging, profane comment about what he assumed to be their sexual orientation. He posted an apology on Twitter on Sunday.
“What I said was immature, hurtful, and disrespectful, and I’m incredibly sorry. It’s unacceptable for me or anyone to use that language in such a hurtful way,” Edwards tweeted. “There’s no excuse for it, at all. I was raised better than that!”
Nikola Jokic, Kevin Durant, Rajon Rondo and Kobe Bryant are among the NBA players who've been disciplined by the league in the past for anti-gay language.
___
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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) &mdash; The Minnesota Timberwolves reprimanded star guard Anthony Edwards on Monday for homophobic comments he made on an Instagram video and <a href="https://twitter.com/theantedwards_/status/1569043807085236224">later apologized for</a>.
&ldquo;We are disappointed in the language and actions Anthony Edwards displayed on social media,&rdquo; president of basketball operations Tim Connelly said in a statement distributed by the team. "The Timberwolves are committed to being an inclusive and welcoming organization for all and apologize for the offense this has caused to so many.&rdquo;
In the since-deleted post, Edwards recorded a group of men on a sidewalk from a vehicle he was inside and made a disparaging, profane comment about what he assumed to be their sexual orientation. He posted an apology on Twitter on Sunday.
&ldquo;What I said was immature, hurtful, and disrespectful, and I&rsquo;m incredibly sorry. It&rsquo;s unacceptable for me or anyone to use that language in such a hurtful way,&rdquo; Edwards tweeted. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no excuse for it, at all. I was raised better than that!&rdquo;
Nikola Jokic, Kevin Durant, Rajon Rondo and Kobe Bryant are among the NBA players who've been disciplined by the league in the past for anti-gay language.
___
More AP NBA coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) &mdash; The Minnesota Timberwolves reprimanded star guard Anthony Edwards on Monday for homophobic comments he made on an Instagram video and <a href="https://twitter.com/theantedwards_/status/1569043807085236224">later apologized for</a>.
&ldquo;We are disappointed in the language and actions Anthony Edwards displayed on social media,&rdquo; president of basketball operations Tim Connelly said in a statement distributed by the team. "The Timberwolves are committed to being an inclusive and welcoming organization for all and apologize for the offense this has caused to so many.&rdquo;
In the since-deleted post, Edwards recorded a group of men on a sidewalk from a vehicle he was inside and made a disparaging, profane comment about what he assumed to be their sexual orientation. He posted an apology on Twitter on Sunday.
&ldquo;What I said was immature, hurtful, and disrespectful, and I&rsquo;m incredibly sorry. It&rsquo;s unacceptable for me or anyone to use that language in such a hurtful way,&rdquo; Edwards tweeted. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no excuse for it, at all. I was raised better than that!&rdquo;
Nikola Jokic, Kevin Durant, Rajon Rondo and Kobe Bryant are among the NBA players who've been disciplined by the league in the past for anti-gay language.

“We are disappointed in the language and actions Anthony Edwards displayed on social media,” Wolves president Tim Connelly said.

Wolves reprimand Edwards for homophobic social media remark

RECIFE, Brazil (AP) &mdash; USA Basketball didn&rsquo;t head home from AmeriCup empty-handed.
Gary Clark scored 18 points, and the U.S. rallied in the final minutes to top Canada 84-80 in the bronze-medal game on Sunday.
The Americans went on a 26-10 run over a 7-minute stretch of the final quarter, turning what was a 63-56 deficit into an 82-73 lead.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy for our guys,&rdquo; U.S. coach Alex Jensen said. &ldquo;It was an honor to be a part of it.&rdquo;
It was the ninth time in 11 appearances at AmeriCup &mdash; the championship of the FIBA Americas region &mdash; that the U.S. captured a medal. The Americans have won gold seven times, silver once and now have a bronze.
Canada was seeking a seventh medal in 19 appearances at the event.
Jodie Meeks &mdash; an NBA champion who spent 10 years in the league with seven teams &mdash; scored what may have been his final three points as a competitive player during that late run by the U.S. Meeks&rsquo; only points on the day came when he got fouled on a 3-point try and made all three of the free throws with 3:31 left, pulling the U.S. into a 71-71 tie.
Meeks is planning to retire and begin a coaching career. His teammates sent him out with a medal, and Clark&rsquo;s layup with 1:43 left put the Americans on top for good.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s definitely been an experience for our guys,&rdquo; Clark said. &ldquo;The weather&rsquo;s nice. I think most guys were upset that they couldn&rsquo;t get in the ocean because of sharks ... but we&rsquo;ve enjoyed our time here.&rdquo;
Abu Kigab scored 18 points for Canada, while Kadre Gray and Jahvon Henry-Blair had 15 apiece.
Zylan Cheatham scored 16 for the U.S., while Craig Sword added 11 and Norris Cole led the team with eight assists.
Going home medalists, even though it wasn&rsquo;t a higher-profile event like the Olympics or World Cup, wasn&rsquo;t insignificant to the group of G League and internationally based players that the U.S. assembled for this trip.
&ldquo;From Day 1, I felt it,&rdquo; Jensen said. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re part of a special group.&rdquo;
Later Sunday, Gabriel Deck&rsquo;s layup with 16.1 seconds left lifted Argentina past Brazil 75-73 in the gold-medal game.
Deck scored 20 points, Nicolas Laprovittola added 15 and Facundo Campazzo had 13 for Argentina. Vitor Benite led Brazil with 18 points, while Marcelinho Huertas and Yago Santos each scored 11.

Gary Clark scored 18 points, and the U.S. rallied in the final minutes to top Canada 84-80 in the AmeriCup bronze-medal game.

US wins bronze at AmeriCup, Argentina wins gold over Brazil

DETROIT (AP) — Chris Webber, Shane Battier and Chauncey Billups have been inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame.
The trio of former basketball players were enshrined Saturday night.
Webber and Battier attended Detroit Country Day before going onto Michigan, Duke and the NBA. Billups played for the Detroit Pistons, winning the 2004 NBA MVP award.
Detroit native and former San Diego Charger star tight end Antonio Gates and former Michigan basketball coach John Beilein were also inducted.
Former Michigan softball pitcher Jennie Ritter, former Detroit Red Wing sportscaster Mickey Redmond, former Western Michigan athletic director Kathy Beauregard were also part of the class along with Olympic ice dancing medalists Meryl Davis and Charlie White. 
___
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DETROIT (AP) &mdash; Chris Webber, Shane Battier and Chauncey Billups have been inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame.
The trio of former basketball players were enshrined Saturday night.
Webber and Battier attended Detroit Country Day before going onto Michigan, Duke and the NBA. Billups played for the Detroit Pistons, winning the 2004 NBA MVP award.
Detroit native and former San Diego Charger star tight end Antonio Gates and former Michigan basketball coach John Beilein were also inducted.
Former Michigan softball pitcher Jennie Ritter, former Detroit Red Wing sportscaster Mickey Redmond, former Western Michigan athletic director Kathy Beauregard were also part of the class along with Olympic ice dancing medalists Meryl Davis and Charlie White.

Chris Webber, Shane Battier and Chauncey Billups have been inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame on Saturday.

Webber, Battier, Billups inducted into Michigan Sports Hall of Fame

NEW YORK (AP) — The NBA told its teams on Friday that it still expects to see a significant jump in the salary cap and tax level in the 2023-24 season.
Based on current projections, the cap will rise 8.4%, and the tax level will rise 7.8% over this season.
Both figures — $134 million for the salary cap in 2023-24, $162 million as the tax level — would set records, and both are $1 million higher than the league’s most recent projections made in June. The looming 2022-23 season has a cap of $123.655 million, a tax level of $150.267 million.
Also Friday, the league told teams that total luxury tax payments for the coming season would be around $660 million, half of which would fund revenue sharing and the other half distributed in equal shares — about $17 million each — to the teams not currently projected to have to pay the tax.
But that tax number can, and almost certainly will, fluctuate wildly before a final calculation is made at the end of the regular season.
Training camps in the NBA begin later this month, with the regular season starting Oct. 18.
___
More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

NEW YORK (AP) &mdash; The NBA told its teams on Friday that it still expects to see a significant jump in the salary cap and tax level in the 2023-24 season.
Based on current projections, the cap will rise 8.4%, and the tax level will rise 7.8% over this season.
Both figures &mdash; $134 million for the salary cap in 2023-24, $162 million as the tax level &mdash; would set records, and both are $1 million higher than the league&rsquo;s most recent projections made in June. The looming 2022-23 season has a cap of $123.655 million, a tax level of $150.267 million.
Also Friday, the league told teams that total luxury tax payments for the coming season would be around $660 million, half of which would fund revenue sharing and the other half distributed in equal shares &mdash; about $17 million each &mdash; to the teams not currently projected to have to pay the tax.
But that tax number can, and almost certainly will, fluctuate wildly before a final calculation is made at the end of the regular season.
Training camps in the NBA begin later this month, with the regular season starting Oct. 18.

The NBA told its teams that it still expects to see a significant jump in the salary cap and tax level in the 2023-24 season.

NBA tells teams salary cap, luxury tax expected to rise in 2023-24

CHICAGO (AP) &mdash; The Connecticut Sun made no secret about wanting revenge against Chicago in the teams&rsquo; WNBA Playoffs semifinal series, especially after the Sky sent them packing from the semifinals in 2021 while on the way to the title.
&ldquo;We come up here every year and Chicago kicks our (butt),&rdquo; Sun forward DeWanna Bonner said of the Sky, who swept all four regular-season meetings.
Jonquel Jones had 15 points and 10 rebounds and the Sun overcame an 11-point deficit in the fourth quarter, beating the Sky 72-63 on Thursday night in the decisive fifth game. The Sun scored the final 18 points to overcome a 63-54 deficit with 4:46 remaining.
All the Sun starters scored in double figures and Connecticut advanced to the Finals for the third time overall and first time since 2019.
Connecticut will face the top-seeded Las Vegas Aces for the WNBA title. The first game of the series is Sunday in Las Vegas.
&ldquo;There will be a new champion in this league,&rdquo; Sun coach Curt Miller said. &ldquo;There will be a first-time franchise champion. There will be a new coach, once again, that will be a first-time champion.&rdquo;
Chicago was attempting to become the first team to repeat as WNBA champions since the Los Angeles Sparks in 2001-02.
Jones scored inside to put the Sun ahead with two minutes left, hitting an ensuing free throw for a three-point lead. A pull-up jumper by Courtney Williams with 47.5 seconds remaining gave the Sun a five-point cushion, and DeWanna Bonner knocked down four free throws to put the game out of reach.
Connecticut outscored Chicago 25-5 in the fourth quarter, recovering from a disastrous third period in which it scored eight points and turned the ball over seven times.
&ldquo;When adversity hits, sometimes we fold,&rdquo; Natisha Hiedeman said. &ldquo;Not no more, we&rsquo;re not folding no more. As you all saw (after) the third quarter, we picked up right back up once again. Now we&rsquo;re going to the championship. Job not done yet.&rdquo;
Kahleah Copper led the Sky with 22 points on 8-for-19 shooting, including 3 of 5 from long distance, and added four steals.
Bonner chipped in with 15 points, Hiedeman added 14 and Williams and Alyssa Thomas each added 12 for Connecticut.
Emma Meesseman, who finished with 14 points on 6-for-14 shooting and six rebounds, gave the Sky an 11-point lead with 7:20 to play.
Chicago coach James Wade called the late collapse &ldquo;one of the biggest disappointments&rdquo; of his professional career.
&ldquo;We haven&rsquo;t had a quarter like that, and to end the season off it, (that) didn&rsquo;t display what we&rsquo;ve actually done,&rdquo; Wade said. &ldquo;I just wish I could&rsquo;ve got them a bucket and I just couldn&rsquo;t. It&rsquo;s just a tough feeling.&rdquo;
In the opening half, the Sun continued the torrid shooting they had in Game 4, when they made 56.9% of their shots. But that slowed in the third quarter, as the Sky defense tightened.
Candace Parker buried a 3-pointer and Copper followed with three-point play to give Chicago a 10-point lead entering the fourth. But Chicago&rsquo;s shooting went cold and the Sky missed their last eight shots.
&ldquo;Of course it was not intentional, but maybe we stopped attacking,&rdquo; Courtney Vandersloot said. &ldquo;(Maybe) we were scared to lose, rather than trying to win. But I feel like we got good looks, we just didn&rsquo;t knock them down.&rdquo;
Parker finished with seven points and nine rebounds.
DOUBTERS BEWARE
Miller called the Sun&rsquo;s fourth quarter performance &ldquo;historic,&rdquo; but he is well aware his team will once again be considered underdogs in the final against Vegas.
&ldquo;Not many people will pick us against Vegas either, and that&rsquo;s OK,&rdquo; Miller said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to prepare and try to make it a Connecticut Sun style of game.&rdquo;
To do so, he&rsquo;ll rely on more stellar post play from Jones, Thomas and Brionna Jones.
&ldquo;(Parker) is an incredible, all-time great in this league,&rdquo; Miller said. &ldquo;But I hope that someone writes (about how) the combination of JJ, AT and Bri Jones have knocked her out three of the last four years. I hope that post group gets credit for what they do, night in and night for us.&rdquo;
PARKER&rsquo;S DECISION
Parker once again finds herself with a difficult decision about retirement after the 36-year-old decided to hunt back-to-back titles this year with Chicago.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to go back and reevaluate whether I&rsquo;m able to continue to play at the level that I hold myself to,&rdquo; Parker said. &ldquo;And I think that&rsquo;s the biggest thing, I don&rsquo;t ever want to cheat the game. I won&rsquo;t cheat the game.&rdquo;
Just as in 2021, Parker will take her time weighing her options during the offseason.
&ldquo;So when I&rsquo;m not able to go out and play and be the Candace that I want to be, I won&rsquo;t play,&rdquo; Parker said. &ldquo;And I think that comes in the offseason.&rdquo;
WINDOW CLOSED?
Parker, Vandersloot and Quigley all indicated they would make decisions about their basketball futures during the offseason.
All three of their contracts are set to expire. The same goes for Belgian forward Meesseman, who joined the Sky on a one-year deal in February.
&ldquo;Every single day, we are all committed, 100% invested into winning a championship and making history,&rdquo; Vandersloot said. &ldquo;We fell short, but it wasn&rsquo;t for lack of effort. It wasn&rsquo;t for lack of commitment.&rdquo;
Quigley reflected on her tenure with the Sky and expressed gratitude for how she and Vandersloot, now married, came to meet in Chicago.
&ldquo;I never imagined it ending up like this or having the career I had,&rdquo; Quigley said. &ldquo;Especially being able to do it in Chicago with my family, meet my wife, it&rsquo;s unbelievable. I couldn&rsquo;t ask for anything better.&rdquo;
TIP-INS
Connecticut&rsquo;s 18-0 scoring run to end the game is the longest scoring run any WNBA team has mounted to finish a playoff game. ... Chicago averaged over 40 points in the paint throughout the season, but scored just 24 on Thursday. ... Parker added nine more boards to extend her all-time WNBA playoff record to 609 rebounds. She surpassed Tamika Catchings (598) on Tuesday.
UP NEXT
Chicago will face the top-seeded Aces in Las Vegas in the opener of the WNBA Finals on Sunday afternoon.

Connecticut will face the top-seeded Las Vegas for the WNBA title. The first game of the series is Sunday in Las Vegas.

Sun rally in 4th, beat Sky 72-63 to advance to WNBA Finals

The first clue that, no, Manu Ginobili did not invent the Eurostep should come from the move’s name. Ginobili isn’t from Europe. He’s from South America. And it’s not called the South Ameristep.
Perhaps it should be. The long, lateral move — step one way to get a defender leaning, then cut the other way into open space — was Ginobili’s signature, something he mastered, something that he brought into the mainstream.
In turn, it brought him to the Basketball Hall of Fame.
The four-time NBA champion with the San Antonio Spurs is one of the headliners for Saturday night’s enshrinement ceremony in Springfield, Massachusetts. Ginobili spent all 16 of his NBA seasons in San Antonio, partnering with Tim Duncan and Tony Parker to form a Big Three that was, and surely will remain, one of the best trios the league has ever seen.
“It’s something you never expect,” Ginobili said of entering the Hall. “You start playing ball because you love it, because it’s fun, because you’re there with your friends. ... And now, when I thought there were not going to be more surprises after my career was done, you get a recognition like this which makes you think, go back a little bit in time, and relieve your story, and it’s incredible.”
Ginobili isn’t the first international NBA player to make the Hall. He is, however, the first to be selected by the North American committee, which means he got into the Hall solely on the merits of his NBA career and not what he did playing internationally.
He’s quick to point out that he won’t be the last name on that list. Parker, Dirk Nowitzki and Pau Gasol will be getting their calls before long. 
“I’m proud of being part of that generation that changed the way the game was played, the game was perceived, the international players were recognized,” Ginobili said. “It was fun to be part of that.”
The Spurs drafted Ginobili in 1999, when he was playing in Italy, and it took more than three years for him just to come to the NBA. It’s not like San Antonio had made a huge investment: Ginobili was the next-to-last pick in his draft class, 57th out of 58. And most of the players taken in the bottom 15 picks of that draft never played a single game in the NBA.
But in 2002, he showed up. With his Eurostep.
“I didn’t know what the hell it was,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “But it didn’t look right.”
Turns out, it was legal and lethal. The true measure of whether a move has captured the attention of NBA players comes by seeing if others have copied it and tried to put it into their own repertoires. And that’s been happening for two decades now.
Nobody knows for sure how the move truly originated, and Ginobili insists that he didn’t create it, either. The commonly held belief is that Lithuanian great Sarunas Marciulionis — a Hall of Famer himself, class of 2014 — brought it to the NBA.
But there isn’t much argument that Ginobili is the one who made it popular. Thing is, he can’t teach it very well, despite being asked countless times to do so over the years.
“I couldn’t exactly explain it,” Ginobili said. “Some basics of it, yes, but it was super natural, it was super instinctive.”
It’s not the move that got Ginobili into the Hall, though. It was the winning.
When Ginobili played, the Spurs won. It’s that simple. They were 762-295 when Ginobili appeared during the regular season. That winning percentage of 72.1% is just a smidge better than the 71.9% posted by Duncan, who went into the Hall in 2020 and, fittingly, will present Ginobili this weekend.
Ginobili is one of two players (Bill Bradley being the other) to have won championships in the NBA, the Euroleague and the Olympics. He got four rings with the Spurs, the Euroleague title with Italian club Kinder Bologna in 2001, then led his native Argentina to Olympic gold at Athens in 2004. Ginobili had 29 points in the semifinal win over the U.S., outplaying everybody else who was on the court that day, Duncan included. The Americans haven’t settled for anything less than gold at any of the four Olympics that have been played since.
“It’s not just about individual accomplishments,” Ginobili said. “I never won a scoring championship, an MVP, even first-team. I’m here because of my surroundings, of the players I play with, of the coaches I’ve been coached with, and the organizations. I know I’ve been very lucky to have played with such teammates ... so definitely, I don’t take it as an individual achievement. It’s just that I’ve been in the right place, in the right time.”
Case in point: San Antonio.
Ginobili didn’t know what, or even where, San Antonio was when he first went there. He never left — it’s still home for Ginobili and his family. He works for the Spurs now, drives his three kids to and from school, takes them to Argentina for time with family every summer, and then it’s back to San Antonio.
“I didn’t know how I was going to pair up with Tony and Tim, play with David Robinson, being coached by Pop, so yeah, full of uncertainties,” Ginobili said. “And I wanted to do good, I wanted to help, I wanted to grow, but I wasn’t the No. 1, first pick, right? I was 57, so I knew that the odds of me staying for long here were not with me because it doesn’t usually happen. So, it turned out to be an incredible story and enjoyed 16 wonderful years.”
There’s another place that Ginobili hasn’t been: Springfield, Massachusetts.
He was with Duncan for his enshrinement two years ago, but because of the pandemic, that ceremony took place at a casino in Uncasville, Connecticut. Ginobili didn’t get to Springfield on that trip.
He’s there now. Forever.
“We knew we had a wild, competitive, young man who was in love with basketball and was quite athletic and just fierce,” Popovich said. “Just seemed to have no fear and do whatever it might be that he needed to do to win. He was a force of nature.”
___
More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

The four-time NBA champion with the Spurs is one of the headliners for Saturday night’s enshrinement ceremony in Springfield.

Manu Ginobili and his Eurostep reach Basketball Hall of Fame

RECIFE, Brazil (AP) &mdash; Norris Cole made sure that USA Basketball will play for a medal at AmeriCup.
Cole &mdash; a two-time NBA champion with the Miami Heat &mdash; scored a game-high 20 points, capping it off by making the game-winning runner with 1.4 seconds remaining, and the U.S. rallied past Puerto Rico 85-84 in an AmeriCup quarterfinal game Thursday.
It was the game&rsquo;s seventh and final lead change, the last two of those coming in the final 6.1 seconds.
&ldquo;I just wanted to make a play for the team,&rdquo; said Cole, who had the final eight points for the U.S. &ldquo;The team trusted me, drew up a play for me to catch it and I was able to make a play. Moments like that, everybody dreams about, but I work hard at my individual game along with the team game, I was able to show my individual talent within the team concept, and it worked out.&rdquo;
Jeremy Pargo scored 15 points for the U.S., which got 11 from Zylan Cheatham and 10 from Stephen Zimmerman.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re fortunate to win,&rdquo; U.S. coach Alex Jensen said. &ldquo;They did a good job preparing for us. We got lucky. But hopefully it&rsquo;s a good lesson for us moving forward.&rdquo;
Tremont Waters and Ethan Thompson each scored 16 for Puerto Rico. Waters had a layup with 6.1 seconds left to put his team up by one, and that set the stage for the last U.S. possession.
Cole got the inbounds pass, drove with a left-hand dribble, took off from near the corner of the lane, changed hands and got the shot to fall to put the Americans back on top.
He punched the air in celebration &mdash; but the Americans needed one more stop.
They got it, in part because Puerto Rico didn&rsquo;t get a great look. All Waters could do was take a desperation heave from the deep right corner, it missed, and the U.S. escaped.
&ldquo;We were 1 second from winning this game,&rdquo; said Puerto Rico coach Nelson Colon, whose team led by 10 midway through the second quarter. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t say anything more than &lsquo;thank you&rsquo; to all my players, all my staff, all my managers, who helped us and supported us in this tournament.&rdquo;
The Americans will face Argentina in Saturday&rsquo;s semifinals, with the medal-round games &mdash; either for gold or bronze &mdash; coming Sunday.
Argentina is 4-0 in the tournament, rolling past Venezuela 76-53 in another quarterfinal Thursday. All four wins for Argentina have come by double figures, an average of 20.3 points.
&ldquo;It only gets harder after this,&rdquo; Jensen said.
In the first quarterfinal Thursday, Canada eliminated Mexico 82-77. Next up for Canada is a semifinal matchup with Brazil, which held off the Dominican Republic in the fourth and final quarterfinal game on Thursday night.
FRIDAY&rsquo;S SCHEDULE
There are no games Friday. The semifinals are Saturday, with the third-place and championship games Sunday.

Norris Cole made at game-winning runner with 1.4 seconds remaining, and the U.S. rallied past Puerto Rico 85-84.

Norris Cole lifts US by Puerto Rico in AmeriCup quarters, 85-84

CHICAGO (AP) &mdash; Jonquel Jones had 15 points and 10 rebounds and the Connecticut Sun overcame an 11-point deficit in the fourth quarter, beating the Chicago Sky 72-63 Thursday night in the decisive fifth game of the semifinal series and advancing to the WNBA Finals.
Connecticut scored the final 18 points of the game to overcome a 63-54 deficit with 4:46 remaining.
All the Sun starters scored in double figures and Connecticut advanced to the Finals of the WNBA playoffs for the third time overall and first time since 2019.
Connecticut will face the top-seeded Las Vegas Aces for the WNBA title. The first game of the series is Sunday in Las Vegas.
&ldquo;To be honest, going to enjoy this moment right now,&rdquo; Jones said. &ldquo;Hats off to the Aces. We&rsquo;ll see them in the championship. I&rsquo;m just enjoying this moment right here.&rdquo;
Chicago was attempting to become the first team to repeat as WNBA champions since the Los Angeles Sparks in 2001-02.
Trailing 63-54, Connecticut took over. DeWanna Bonner was fouled after making a layup by Kahleah Copper with 3:46 left. The two players exchanged words and that seemed to energize the Sun.
Jones scored inside to put the Sun ahead with two minutes left, hitting an ensuing free throw for a three-point lead.&nbsp;
&nbsp;

CHICAGO (AP) &mdash; Jonquel Jones had 15 points and 10 rebounds and the Connecticut Sun overcame an 11-point deficit in the fourth quarter, beating the Chicago Sky 72-63 Thursday night in the decisive fifth game of the semifinal series and advancing to the WNBA Finals.
Connecticut scored the final 18 points of the game to overcome a 63-54 deficit with 4:46 remaining.
All the Sun starters scored in double figures and Connecticut advanced to the Finals of the WNBA playoffs for the third time overall and first time since 2019.
Connecticut will face the top-seeded Las Vegas Aces for the WNBA title. The first game of the series is Sunday in Las Vegas.
&ldquo;To be honest, going to enjoy this moment right now,&rdquo; Jones said. &ldquo;Hats off to the Aces. We&rsquo;ll see them in the championship. I&rsquo;m just enjoying this moment right here.&rdquo;
Chicago was attempting to become the first team to repeat as WNBA champions since the Los Angeles Sparks in 2001-02.
Trailing 63-54, Connecticut took over. DeWanna Bonner was fouled after making a layup by Kahleah Copper with 3:46 left. The two players exchanged words and that seemed to energize the Sun.
Jones scored inside to put the Sun ahead with two minutes left, hitting an ensuing free throw for a three-point lead.&nbsp;
A pull-up jumper by Courtney Williams with 47.5 seconds remaining gave the Sun a five-point cushion, and Bonner knocked down four free throws to put the game out of reach.
Connecticut outscored Chicago 25-5 in the fourth quarter, recovering from a disastrous third period in which it scored eight points and turned the ball over seven times.
&ldquo;We were on the ropes and it took that type of defensive quarter to advance to the finals,&rdquo; Sun coach Curt Miller said.
Copper led the Sky with 22 points on 8-for-19 shooting, including 3 of 5 from long distance, and added four steals.
DeWanna Bonner chipped in with 15 points, Hiedeman added 14 and Williams and Alyssa Thomas each added 12 for Connecticut.
Emma Meesseman, who finished with 14 points on 6-for-14 shooting and six rebounds, gave the Sky an 11-point lead with 7:20 to play.
In the opening half, the Sun continued the torrid shooting they had in Game 4, when the made 56.9% of their shots. But that slowed in the third quarter, as the Sky defense tightened.
Candace Parker buried a 3-pointer and Copper followed with three-point play to give Chicago a 10-point lead entering the fourth.
But Chicago&rsquo;s shooting went cold and the Sky missed their last eight shots.
Parker finished with seven points and nine rebounds.
UP NEXT
Chicago will face the top-seeded Aces in Las Vegas in the opener of the WNBA Finals on Sunday afternoon.

CHICAGO (AP) &mdash; Jonquel Jones had 15 points and 10 rebounds and the Connecticut Sun overcame an 11-point deficit in the fourth quarter, beating the Chicago Sky 72-63 Thursday night in the decisive fifth game of the semifinal series and advancing to the WNBA Finals.
Connecticut scored the final 18 points of the game to overcome a 63-54 deficit with 4:46 remaining.
All the Sun starters scored in double figures and Connecticut advanced to the Finals of the WNBA playoffs for the third time overall and first time since 2019.
Connecticut will face the top-seeded Las Vegas Aces for the WNBA title. The first game of the series is Sunday in Las Vegas.
&ldquo;To be honest, going to enjoy this moment right now,&rdquo; Jones said. &ldquo;Hats off to the Aces. We&rsquo;ll see them in the championship. I&rsquo;m just enjoying this moment right here.&rdquo;
Chicago was attempting to become the first team to repeat as WNBA champions since the Los Angeles Sparks in 2001-02.
Trailing 63-54, Connecticut took over. DeWanna Bonner was fouled after making a layup by Kahleah Copper with 3:46 left. The two players exchanged words and that seemed to energize the Sun.
Jones scored inside to put the Sun ahead with two minutes left, hitting an ensuing free throw for a three-point lead.&nbsp;
A pull-up jumper by Courtney Williams with 47.5 seconds remaining gave the Sun a five-point cushion, and Bonner knocked down four free throws to put the game out of reach.
Connecticut outscored Chicago 25-5 in the fourth quarter, recovering from a disastrous third period in which it scored eight points and turned the ball over seven times.
&ldquo;We were on the ropes and it took that type of defensive quarter to advance to the finals,&rdquo; Sun coach Curt Miller said.
Copper led the Sky with 22 points on 8-for-19 shooting, including 3 of 5 from long distance, and added four steals.
DeWanna Bonner chipped in with 15 points, Hiedeman added 14 and Williams and Alyssa Thomas each added 12 for Connecticut.
Emma Meesseman, who finished with 14 points on 6-for-14 shooting and six rebounds, gave the Sky an 11-point lead with 7:20 to play.
In the opening half, the Sun continued the torrid shooting they had in Game 4, when the made 56.9% of their shots. But that slowed in the third quarter, as the Sky defense tightened.
Candace Parker buried a 3-pointer and Copper followed with three-point play to give Chicago a 10-point lead entering the fourth.
But Chicago&rsquo;s shooting went cold and the Sky missed their last eight shots.
Parker finished with seven points and nine rebounds.
UP NEXT
Chicago will face the top-seeded Aces in Las Vegas in the opener of the WNBA Finals on Sunday afternoon.

Connecticut scored the final 18 points of the game to overcome a 63-54 deficit with 4:46 remaining.

MILAN (AP) &mdash; Greece got another win, and a small scare as well.
Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 25 points in 19 minutes before leaving midway through the third quarter with an ankle issue in Greece&rsquo;s 90-69 win over Estonia in the Group C finale for both teams at the EuroBasket tournament Thursday.
Antetokounmpo was clearly limping after the game, but was able to take part in the postgame on-court celebration and exchanged handshakes with Estonia&rsquo;s players and coaches.
Greece coach Dimitrios Itoudis said Antetokounmpo got ice and treatment, but did not sound worried.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s all good,&rdquo; Itoudis said.
Antetokounmpo was 9 for 10 from the field, and in his four group-stage games, he averaged 29.5 points on 58% shooting in 26-1/2 minutes per game.
Kostas Sloukas scored 11 for Greece (5-0).
Siim-Sander Vene led Estonia (1-4) with 19 points. Kerr Kriisa and Janari Joesaar each had 12 and Kristjan Kitsing scored 10.
GROUP C
CROATIA 90, UKRAINE 85
Also at Milan, Bojan Bogdanovic&rsquo;s 3-pointer with 4:19 left put Croatia ahead to stay, and was part of a game-ending 15-6 run for the winners.
Bogdanovic led all scorers with 27 points for Croatia (3-2), while Dominik Mavra scored 13, Krunoslav Simon added 11 and Karlo Matkovic and Ivica Zubac finished with 10 apiece.
Volodymyr Herun led Ukraine (3-2) with 21 points. Bogdan Bliznyuk scored 16, Svi Mykhailiuk added 14 and Issuf Sanon had 11.
GROUP D
CZECH REPUBLIC 88, ISRAEL 77
At Prague, the Czech Republic (2-3) grabbed the last spot in the round of 16 and eliminated Israel (2-3).
Vojtech Hruban scored 25 points, Jan Vesely added 16 and Tomas Satoransky had 14 points and 11 assists for the Czechs, who will meet Greece in the Round of 16.
Yam Madar led Israel with 16 points. Tomar Ginat scored 15, while Deni Avdija and Rafael Menco each had 12.
FINLAND 88, NETHERLANDS 67
Lauri Markkanen scored 22 points, Shawn Huff scored 14 and Finland (3-2) had no problem in its group-stage finale.
Worthy De Jong capped a strong tournament for him with a 21-point effort for the Netherlands (0-5).
FRIDAY&rsquo;S SCHEDULE
There are no games Friday. The single-elimination round of 16 starts in Berlin on Saturday.

Giannis scored 25 points before leaving midway through the third quarter with an ankle issue in Greece’s 90-69 win over Estonia.

Giannis limps, Greece rolls into round of 16 at EuroBasket

NEW YORK (AP) &mdash; On nearly every basketball court around the world &mdash;from NBA arenas to elementary school gyms &mdash; you&rsquo;ll see players of all sizes regularly attempting long 3-point shots. There&rsquo;s one man largely credited with transforming basketball from a must-see above the rim game to box office-long range shooting: Stephen Curry.
But the Golden State Warriors megastar who broke the NBA&rsquo;s all-time 3-point record last season is now aiming at a different target: children&rsquo;s books.
&ldquo;This is our first project out and (we want) to hopefully reach the next generation of kids that are dreaming big, are going to be the next leaders and game changers,&rdquo; said Curry of &ldquo;I Have a Superpower&rdquo; illustrated by Geneva Bowers. &ldquo;We want them to be able to set their sights on what they want to accomplish in the world and really believe that it&rsquo;s possible.&rdquo;
The father of three says the book was partly inspired by his own children&rsquo;s love of reading.
&ldquo;You kind of have your kids in mind when you&rsquo;re talking about a book, and then you realize that this is kind of a universal opportunity to reach the next generation,&rdquo; explained the four-time NBA champion and reigning Finals MVP.
A member of the NBA&rsquo;s prestigious 75th Anniversary team and executive producer of the &ldquo;Holey Moley&rdquo; game show, Curry spoke with The Associated Press about empowering children and the upcoming NBA season. Answers have been edited for clarity and brevity.
AP: What do you want young people to learn from &ldquo;I Have a Superpower?&rdquo;
CURRY: "We&rsquo;re all unique and we all have something to offer the world. And if you have a work ethic, if you have a belief and you feel like whatever that requires is already inside of you, then good things will happen."
AP: What would you tell parents who might say it&rsquo;s easy for you to tell kids &ldquo;just work hard?&rdquo;
CURRY: "You can always go back to when I started playing basketball when I was 5 years old &mdash; I first started playing organized basketball at 9. I was undersized, scrawny and never, ever talked about as being the greatest at anything. And (I) had to go through those experiences of trying and failing... I think that&rsquo;s something that most people will hopefully be able to learn from, connect with and be inspired by."
AP: You and your wife, Ayesha, are building a media brand with TV shows and books. Why choose the media space to make an impact?
CURRY: "There are a lot of different mediums to story-tell and to inspire. And publishing and writing this book is another example of ways to connect and kind of broaden your horizons... my wife showed me how it&rsquo;s done, so now I got to follow in her footsteps a little bit."
AP: Switching gears, most of this NBA offseason has been focused on the Brooklyn Nets drama with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving along with the Lakers daily soap opera. Are you aware that much of the talk has not been about the Warriors, despite being the defending champions?
CURRY: "We&rsquo;re aware of everything that happens in the League in terms of different storylines and rumors and all that. It is the best place to watch it all happen when you&rsquo;re holding the trophy and enjoying your summer and understanding, as the champs, you&rsquo;re the ones being chased again now.
"We don&rsquo;t need anybody to talk about us. We know what we accomplished; it&rsquo;s about getting ready for another run (and) we feel like we can do it again."
AP: Sports fans know that you&rsquo;ve probably transformed the way basketball is played forever. Are you personally aware of how you&rsquo;ve changed the game?
CURRY: "I&rsquo;m aware, but part of it is for me to keep doing what I&rsquo;m doing in my career and hopefully stay at this level for as long as I can. There is no sense that I&rsquo;ve hit my peak. I always feel like I can get better. So, I&rsquo;m motivated by how far I can stretch this.
"The biggest message for how I changed the game is that is possible, how I play is definitely possible&hellip; But it requires a crazy amount of work that I&rsquo;ve been doing since I was 9 years old. So, I don&rsquo;t want anybody to feel like they can skip steps to get there."

The Warriors star who broke the NBA’s all-time three-point record last season is now aiming at a different target: Children’s books.

EuroBasket: Poland tops Doncic, Slovenia; France over Italy

Germany ousts Giannis, Spain rallies to EuroBasket semis

Wolves reprimand Edwards for homophobic social media remark

US wins bronze at AmeriCup, Argentina wins gold over Brazil

Webber, Battier, Billups inducted into Michigan Sports Hall of Fame

NBA tells teams salary cap, luxury tax expected to rise in 2023-24

Sun rally in 4th, beat Sky 72-63 to advance to WNBA Finals

Manu Ginobili and his Eurostep reach Basketball Hall of Fame

Norris Cole lifts US by Puerto Rico in AmeriCup quarters, 85-84

Sun rally in 4th, beat Sky 72-63 to advance to WNBA Finals

Giannis limps, Greece rolls into round of 16 at EuroBasket

Steph Curry aims to inspire with ‘I Have a Superpower’ book