The athletic 6-6 guard isn’t necessarily known for dunking, but he can throw down– having officially rocked the rim 25 times this season.

Castle has impressed in his rookie season, averaging 11.6 points, 3.6 assists and 2.5 rebounds and shooting 40 percent from the field. He’s started 23 of the Spurs’ 41 games.

San Antonio made Castle the fourth overall pick in the NBA Draft last June after the former Husky helped lead UConn to a second straight national title in his one and only season in college.

The Slam Dunk contest is one of the NBA’s most popular events during All-Star weekend, but it has lost some of its shine in recent years. Some of the game’s greatest-ever players have participated, including Michael Jordan, Dominique Wilkins, Kobe Bryant and Vince Carter, but increasingly the contest has been reserved for young, up-and-coming players.

Mac McClung, who’s played just a handful of NBA games and has spent most of his four-year career in the NBA G League, won the event each of the past two years. Recent winners also include Obi Toppin, Anfernee Simons and Hamidou Diallo.

The Slam Dunk contest is set for Saturday, Feb. 15 at 8 p.m. at the Chase Center in San Francisco.

Asked Sunday about the Knicks’ lack of bench production, the Milwaukee Bucks’ head coach interjected with a line about Tom Thibodeau’s reputation for relying heavily on his starters.

“Has Thibs ever played the bench?” Rivers said with a laugh before his Bucks’ faced Thibodeau’s Knicks at Madison Square Garden. “I’m joking, I’m joking!”

But Rivers’ comment, while made in jest, came during a season in which the Knicks began Sunday ranked dead last among NBA teams in bench scoring (19.9 points per game) and rebounding (9.8 per game) while getting the fewest minutes out of their reserves.

The Knicks entered Sunday’s matinee with a 25-14 record — good for third in the Eastern Conference — thanks largely to an excellent, and healthy, starting five. But the Knicks had lost four of five games, including Friday’s 25-point blowout by the Oklahoma City Thunder at the Garden, highlighting their depth issues.

It’s a situation Rivers can relate to.

He recalled coaching the Los Angeles Clippers a few years ago at the Garden and having to lean on Lou Williams, who had gone out in the city the night before.

“He wanted to come out,” Rivers said. “He said, ‘Coach, I’m not drunk, but I’m hungover.’”

Williams recently told his version of the story, saying on “The Underground Show” that he was still drunk at game time. Rivers, he said, told him he needed to sweat out the alcohol in time for the fourth quarter.

Rivers said Sunday, “The truth is I look down [the bench] and I’m thinking, ‘Lou’s our best option.’ That happens at times. It’s tough, but you’ve got to [have] trust, and then we find out a lot of times you just can’t. When that happens, it does limit you. It limits your choices. You have to play guys bigger minutes.”

“If that’s what [the Knicks] are doing, they’re doing it for a reason,” Rivers said. “One thing we know as coaches: We see everybody every day in practice. We know exactly how guys are playing and who you can trust for the most part.”

The Knicks traded two key players — forward Julius Randle and guard Donte DiVincenzo — less than a month before the season to acquire star center Karl-Anthony Towns from the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Mitchell Robinson continues to rehab from May’s ankle surgery, while Landry Shamet, Precious Achiuwa and Miles “Deuce” McBride have all missed time with injuries for different stretches this season.

Last season, the Knicks ranked 27th in bench scoring (28.4 points per game) and 24th in rebounding (13.9).

The Knicks beat the Bucks, 116-94, at MSG in November in the teams’ first meeting of the season. Rivers said he had not noticed the Knicks doing anything differently during their recent skid.

“The ball’s not going in,” Rivers said. “They also have played some pretty good teams. They played Oklahoma [City] twice. That’s probably not healthy for anybody.”

BIG KAT

In that November win against the Bucks, Towns erupted for 32 points, 11 rebounds and five assists in 32 minutes.

He shot 12-of-20 from the field, including 4-of-8 from 3-point range, and repeatedly blew past the more stationary Brook Lopez — a defensive matchup Rivers described Sunday as a “stupid” one to have assigned.

Towns, 29, entered Sunday averaging 25.2 points per game on 55.2% shooting and a career-high 13.9 rebounds per game.

Asked what Towns is doing differently compared to his nine seasons with Minnesota, Rivers cited multiple areas of improvement.

“He’s always rebounded, but it just seems like his rebounding has been spectacular,” Rivers said. “I don’t think he settles as much here. Before [Anthony Edwards], he basically could take every shot and do whatever he wanted, and now I think he feels a responsibility [to] his teammates now.”

“He has really good teammates,” the coach continued. “He has a team that is serious about going deep, and I think he feels that responsibility, so his shot selection is drastically improved and better. And then the last thing, I think he’s taking the ball off the dribble way more than he ever has.”

A decade ago, when I’d hear the old, sophomoric barbs aimed at the thin, redheaded kid at the end of the Huskies’ bench, I’d think, “If these knuckleheads only knew who they were heckling. That kid may save one of their lives one day.”

That day has come for Pat Lenehan, walk-on member of UConn’s 2014 national champions, fan favorite at Gampel, fan target on the road. He is Dr. Patrick Lenehan, MD, PhD, who has his degrees from Harvard Medical School and MIT, is an intern in pediatrics at Mass General Hospital in Boston, set to start his residency in radiology there next year.

“At a high level, it’s pretty much what I envisioned when I went to medical school,” Lenehan said. “The thing that is a little different is I had never envisioned radiology as a career path. I had always envisioned being a cancer doctor, an oncologist, pediatric oncology. But radiology is something I was exposed to in medical school.”

In 2024, Lenehan, 31, co-authored a study that showed radiologists can detect evidence of intimate-partner violence, which can facilitate earlier interventions using the injury patterns found on imaging studies.

“This is a research project I started during medical school with one of the emergency radiologists at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital,” Lenehan said. “The motivation for the project is that intimate-partner violence is very common, but often unreported and undetected in the clinical study.

Radiologists may be able to identify-intimate partner violence earlier, based on the patterns of how people use imaging services and the imaging findings.”

Serious stuff. Lenehan, from Cheshire and Middletown’s Xavier High, is just embarking on a career that is likely to impact so many people.

And, yes, he has a championship ring, too. He earned it guarding Shabazz Napier, Ryan Boatright, Rodney Purvis and other Huskies day after day in practice, often posing as an opponent’s top shooter with the scout team. During the championship year, Lenehan, 6 feet 3, posed as Florida’s sharp-shooting Michael Frazier II, 6-4, helping the Huskies’ prepare for the Gators at Gampel Pavilion, the game Napier won with a buzzer beater, and again in the NCAA semifinals.

Frazier, a 44.5 percent 3-point shooter that year, was held to 2 for 6 in the two games vs. UConn, 1 for 3 in each.

So in his way, Lenehan, who played 28 minutes in his career, coming off the bench in the final seconds of 14 games to the delight of UConn’s student section, helped UConn win. Did that help him become a doctor?

“First of all, it was very helpful in getting into medical school,” he said. “It was definitely a unique experience to have on my resume application, that I was playing for UConn and we just won a national championship. And a lot of the habits and skills from being on the team, work ethic, always being on the grind, work while you’re tired, and being able to function within a team — particularly on the UConn team, bottom of the totem pole, doing what I can to contribute in practice and help the guys out.

“That’s the same role I’m playing in medicine right now. As a medical student, a resident, you’re bottom of the totem pole but you do still have important responsibility. Figuring out how you can work within that context to still make a difference and have an impact reflects my time at UConn.”

As his senior year was beginning, Lenehan got the news from coach Kevin Ollie that he was going on a basketball scholarship, to add to his academic awards. Another walk-on, Nnamdi Amilo, from New Fairfield, also went on scholarship that year. Amilo, who played a big role in toughening up UConn’s forwards, completed his anesthesia residency in Texas. Dr. Nnamdi Amilo is now an attending anesthesiologist in Chicago.

When they crossed paths in Dallas recently, Lenehan and Amilo revisited some of the places they went as Huskies during the Final Four.

“That was a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Lenehan said. “Looking back on it, some of the tough things we did were really fun things, like running up Cemetery Hill in the preseason, those first few days of practice, honestly, just playing every day in practice it went from something that was a challenge every day to something that was fun for me.”

Wolf Pack’s Dylan Garand bringing NHL-caliber goaltending to Hartford

That Lenehan, a 4.0 student majoring in molecular cell biology, managed his academic load with the Huskies’ practice and American Athletic Conference travel schedule, is mind-boggling. But then so is balancing his current responsibilities at Mass General with being a husband and father of two youngsters, Teresa, 3, and Thomas, 1. Lenehan and his wife, Julia, met as juniors at UConn.

“Seeing the effort my wife puts in when I’m away at work to make sure the kids are taken care of is the hardest part there’s been,” Lenehan said.

At UConn, Lenehan confirmed his interest in medicine and stoked his passion for research, which led him to pursue both his MD and PhDs. His message to anyone with similar aspiration: Any experience can be good, valuable experience.

“There are many paths to medicine and many paths within medicine,” Lenehan said. “Taking the time to sit back and think about what it is you’re interested in and what experiences would be most useful for you to get as a college student may not necessarily fit the mold of a standard pathway to medicine.

“I like being on hospital floors and taking care of patients. there’s a very strong team culture in hospital medicine, and I find it rewarding and enjoyable.”

When UConn went to Gainesville, Fla., during Lenehan’s senior year, he remembered going out on the court with Amilo before the game.

“In Florida, it felt like everyone was right on top of you,” he said. “Me and Nnamdi went out early to get some of our own shots up and, yeah, that crowd was pretty abrasive.”

Friendly reminder: Be kind to walk-ons. That kid on the end of the bench may one day save your life.

More for your Sunday Read:

Huskies’ ultimate teammate

Caroline Ducharme hasn’t played since Nov. 19, 2023, or roughly 420 days, as she continues to try to work her way back from head and neck problems she has been having since sustaining concussions early in her career at UConn.

Technically, Ducharme, 22, is a redshirt junior. If she is able to play later in the season, she and coach Geno Auriemma would have to have a conversation about going for another redshirt year.

“She just wants to play so much,” Auriemma was telling reporters last week. “And if you asked our players, ‘Who’s the best teammate on the team right now?’ They’d say ‘Caroline.’ She has just been unbelievable. … For a kid who is not playing, she is a perfect role model, a perfect example of what true, selfless leadership really is. ‘I can’t play, but I’m going to help all you guys be better.’ I’m so proud of her.

“And she still can shoot the lights out.”

The next day, Ducharme came out for the Huskies’ shootaround at the XL Center and, those in the arena say, she didn’t miss a 3-point shot.

No. 9 UConn men lose at Villanova, 68-66, as comeback bid falls short at free throw line

Sunday short takes

*A handful of college basketball players have won back-to-back championships. Nearly all college players miss back-to-back free throws at one time or another. How many players have done the first before ever doing the second, as Alex Karaban did? Has to be a very exclusive club.

*UConn has lost quite a few players in the portal to teams they had played. The portal giveth and taketh. West Haven native Tyquan King, a linebacker who had 15 tackles in Temple’s loss at Rentschler Field this season, has transferred to UConn.

*Glastonbury’s Tyler Van Dyke, who has quarterbacked at Miami and Wisconsin, where he tore his ACL last season, has committed to finish his eligibility at SMU.

*Kurt Rawlings, a prolific quarterback at Yale, is now a QB analyst for Notre Dame, where he has had a hand in the development of Riley Leonard and Steve Angeli, who played so well in the Irish’s semifinal victory over Penn State.

*Paige Bueckers, in having to sit with a knee injury, became “Coach P” again, jawing with refs about how much time should be put on the clock after an out-of-bounds during the game against Xavier. “That’s a (Chris Dailey) issue,” Azzi Fudd said. “CD has to tell her to calm down. You can’t tell Paige to calm down. She’s everyone’s biggest fan, biggest supporter, so there’s no telling her to calm down.”

*Time for Windsor High’s Athletic Hall of Fame to pick a new class of inductees. The committee is seeking nominations for 2025, to be submitted by Jan. 31. Visit www.windsorhighschoolathletichalloffame for information. The Board of Directors is looking for new members; email lklife61@gmail.com if interested in joining.

*Jeff Stoutland, 62, who played at SCSU in the early 1980s, remains one of the NFL’s most respected offensive line coaches in his 12th season with the Eagles. NFL Films has done a great 8-minute, “Jeff Stoutland University” narrated by Jason Kelce. Look for it.

*Owen Blais, 12, from Sterling, Conn., will be a courtside VIP when the Celtics play Orlando at TD Garden on Friday through Amica and A Wish Come True. Owen has Fanconi syndrome, a rare kidney disorder that damages major organs and treatment requires a daily regimen of 52 oral pills, hourly eye drops and nightly shots. Owen, with his family, will get the chance to see his favorite player, Jayson Tatum, up close.

John Mara’s rationale for keeping Giants’ Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll confirms franchise is completely lost

Last word

To win in pro or major college sports, an organization has to be willing to make unpopular decisions. So if John Mara, who has been in pro football all of his life, truly believes that Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll are the right people to lead the Giants, he was right to retain them. But if Mara is keeping them after the 3-14 season only because he didn’t want to clean house again so soon, that is flawed logic. Stability for the sake of stability can be a mistake, just as change solely for the sake of change can.

“He just told me to continue to be a warrior out there,” Diarra said. “and keep leading us.”

Playing point guard on a team with championship aspirations, or make that expectations, now that the Huskies have back-to-back titles in the rearview mirror, is never easy. Playing the position at a place like UConn, for as intense a head coach as Dan Hurley, who played the position and felt searing Big East heat himself back in the day, takes next-level type confidence and grit. It takes rhinoceros skin and ice-water veins.

No. 11 UConn men’s basketball mounts comeback to beat Providence, 87-84, at Gampel Pavilion

Hurley demands the impossible from his PGs, a full 40 minutes without a single mistake among the dozens and dozens of decisions they have to make. Jalen Adams, Alterique Gilbert, Jalen Gaffney, Tristen Newton, Aidan Mahaney and a few other Huskies past and present can attest to the degree of difficulty. But often, in calling for perfection, Hurley extracts excellence.

Diarra, in his fifth season in college, his third at UConn, is delivering it since Hurley put him in the starting spot 10 games ago. On Sunday, he scored a career high 19 points, with eight assists against three turnovers, making 10 of 11 from the line. With the Huskies down by 14 early in the second half, Diarra had to facilitate the team’s escape from the Big East wilderness, and they shot 72.7 percent in the second half.

“The game for us obviously was about Hassan Diarra and his will,” Hurley said, after UConn’s 87-84 victory. “His will not to allow us to lose what would have been a really rough game.”

Don’t get too comfortable. Hurley was just as quick to point out Diarra’s fouling of a 3-point shooter that made the final minutes more complicated.

“Obviously, fouling (Jayden) Pierre on that 3-point shot, there are moments like that when you’re really tough on your quarterback,” Hurley said. “But I’ve got so much respect for how hard he plays, and all the different ways he helps a team, in terms of the energy and the competitive fire, the do-whatever-it-takes-to win a game, as selfless as he is. It’s a stressful relationship, because you’re on him about decision making and he’s got to make so many decisions during a game. Maybe 80 percent of them are real good and 20 percent of them aren’t good. So your relationship kind of tilts back and forth between praising him and ripping him.”

UConn women’s basketball’s 83-52 victory at Villanova overshadowed by Paige Bueckers knee injury scare

Diarra, 6 feet 2, arrived at UConn in 2022 as a transfer from Texas A&M, joining his brother, Mamadou, who played here and has been a member of the staff since knee injuries forced him to stop. Hassan is Hurley’s type of point guard, a sure-of-himself kid from New York City, just a bounce from Jersey. Sometimes, during his first season, Diarra was a little too reckless out there. Hurley spent a lot of that first championship season trying to tone Diarra down and fire Newton up.

But Hurley gradually coached Newton into the Huskies of Honor and the NBA and filed down Diarra’s jagged edges. Last season, Diarra played an important spark-plug role off the bench during the NCAA Tournament. When it came time to make a decision, Hurley told him not to come back to be the same player, but to make his fifth year something special.

“Coach never takes it easy on me,” Diarra said. “He holds his point guards to a higher standard — the highest  standard. Because he knows the point guard is the head of the engine. Our relationship has grown the last three years and I’m super appreciative of him; he’s grown my career to another level.”

Diarra has 98 assists and 31 turnovers, the best ratio in the Big East. And this was an old school Big East game if ever there was one, fitting for what would have been Lou Carnesecca’s 100th birthday and the Looie sweater Hurley feared might be jinxing him. Hurley, who played at Seton Hall, grew up on that era of original Big East basketball, and the way it could heat up an arena in January like a cast iron stove.

This was that kind of day at sold-out Gampel. Providence, smarting from a 30-point blowout loss to Marquette, came in as 14-point underdogs, but the Friars hit everything they tossed up and mauled the Huskies, playing without Liam McNeeley, on the boards.

Hurley, during the three-game slide in Maui, began transitioning Mahaney to an off-the-ball role and calling Diarra “General Hassan,” making it pretty clear what he was looking for. Mahaney, with 15 points, picked up the scoring slack left by McNeeley’s injury, while Diarra continued to make himself the most indispensable player in UConn’s chase for a three-peat.

“When you’re playing with a point guard like Hass, it makes it easy,” Mahaney said. “You know they’re going to be picking him up at 94 feet and not having to worry about it because you know he’s going to take care of the ball.”

Though UConn had not trailed by double digits at halftime at home since 2017, most of the Huskies’ current eight straight wins have resembled this. Not the “coronations,” to use Hurley’s term, the fans are used to seeing in Storrs, Hartford and Manhattan. It was Diarra who made a killer shot down the stretch at Butler last week, and Diarra again with a fall-away jumper that gave UConn a six-point lead with 5:29 left, a shot that made this one feel safe.

Dom Amore’s Sunday Read: Don’t mess with UConn; extraordinary Windsor High star honored and more

“Kobe!” Diarra said, when reminded of the shot. “I forgot what play we were running, but it didn’t work. The shot-clock was winding down, I wanted to go the paint and get a layup, but I got pushed off and ended up behind the backboard somehow and sent up a prayer.”

The 11th-ranked Huskies (12-3) are depending on Diarra to make tough shots when they need them most, free throws when the game is on the line and he’s delivering. So on this Sunday, the Hurley-Point Guard Meter was spiking toward praise, second-guessing himself for not starting Diarra from the beginning.

“I’m very grateful to coach him,” Hurley said, “because he’s a winner and a champion. Hass is the heart and soul of the team. Whatever you ask him to do, he does it, and with Liam out we need  more production from Hass and he asserted himself in this game. He carried himself with the spirit and the will there of a two-time national champion.”

You may also see it through an eye roll, that the transfer portal swings two ways and Mora’s various social media posts about tampering are what used to be called “a grandstand play,” or sour grapes of a sort.

But you can’t deny there’s a crowd gathering here, popcorn in hand, and you should consider this for a moment: Here we are, right in the middle of the playoffs, and there is a segment of the national community talking about UConn, wait for it, football. You don’t build programs, you don’t overcome the obstacles that still exist here by staying silent and in the background. No noise is bad noise.

Class is in session: How Dan Hurley’s winning ways at UConn are impacting CT’s high school coaches

So there’s a lot to be said for a coach who is willing to pick a fight for his program and his players. When Jim Calhoun took over the men’s basketball program in 1986, he was ejected from a game at Pittsburgh and roared in defiance afterward, there would be “no more dumping on Connecticut.”

I tend to see Mora’s tampering posts in that same vein.

First, Mora said, tagging the NCAA: “A simple note to the schools and coaches that have blatantly broken NCAA rules by tampering with our players in the last 24 hours. We do know who you are, we will pursue all avenues to hold you accountable. We are excited that we’ve built a program where coaches have to cheat to beat us and we will protect that program. Think hard before you tamper with our players.”

A couple of days later, Mora crossed the next line, naming a name: “‘I was originally content with my decision with coming to UConn,'” he posted, apparently quoting a player, but not saying which one. “‘feel like I allowed Washington State to get into my head when I could have just ignored them I expressed to them that I was signed but I continued to conversate.’

“… Why do grown men continue to manipulate NCAA football tampering rules and put players in the uncomfortable position this young man was put in(?) I promised to call out those tampering with our players and threatening what our players are working so hard to build. I intend to continue to do so and hope more college coaches will join me in fighting the blatant tampering taking place.”

On Friday, I reached out and offered Mora a chance to conversate a little more, but he chose a pause. “I think I made my point,” he said.

The transfer portal has indeed become the Wild West, literally in this case. If there was ever an unwritten commandment, “Thou shalt not fink on a fellow coach” for it may come back to roost, Mora’s taking his chances. Washington State, which is fairly close to Mora’s place in Idaho, was looking for a new coach and there was speculation here and there connecting Mora with the job. There could not have been serious interest as Mora, 62, signed an extension with UConn on Dec. 28 for considerably more ($2.5 million average annual value) than Washington State paid to get Jimmy Rogers (reports say $1.7 million) from South Dakota State. Rogers, 37 and coming from an FCS powerhouse, had yet to be introduced as the new Cougars’ coach when Mora issued his first social media salvo.

Maybe the Huskies and Cougs are destined to meet next year in a bowl game, a Tampa bowl game. Get it?

UConn football transfer portal updates: Jim Mora calls out Washington State for tampering

The true bump the UConn program will get from its 9-4 season and victory over dispirited North Carolina will not be known for a while. But if we can’t yet tell how seriously UConn is being taken out there, by conferences or by players still in the portal, it’s obvious more people are paying attention.

The Fenway Bowl, in addition to the 27,900 in the stands, was watched by 2.11 million viewers, which seems like a ratings win for an 11 a.m. start on ESPN. That’s about middle of the pack for non-playoff bowl games, and a large increase over Fenway’s attendance (16,200) and ratings (1.48 million) in 2023, albeit a weekday vs. a Saturday. Among bowl games that didn’t have two power conference opponents, only Navy-Oklahoma (2.85 million at noon on Dec. 27) and Toledo-Pitt (2.56 million at noon on Dec. 26) did better than UConn vs. North Carolina.

A year ago, anecdotally, UConn lost its impact tight end, Justin Joly, through the portal to NC State, where he had 43 catches for 661 yards and four TDs. This week, UConn picked up a promising tight end, Juice Vereen (four catches, 65 yards as a sophomore) from NC State through the portal. He was a four-star prospect out of high school.

And what UConn has is a coach willing to make noise, step on toes, shake up the establishment. Mora’s not going anywhere right now, and his program hovers as an uninvited guest in the college football news — a long way from a national power, sure, but a few tweets from becoming a national nuisance. And in case they haven’t gotten the message loud and clear out there: No dumping allowed.

Dom Amore’s Sunday Read: Ichiro Suzuki’s on easy box to check on this Hall list; Paige Bueckers -JuJu Watkins a ratings smash and more

More for your Sunday Read:

Honor for Windsor’s Alex Inyatkin

Windsor High senior Alex Inyatkin, who is on the cross country and indoor and outdoor track teams, was presented the Michael H. Savage Spirit in Sport Award, which is awarded annually to a student athlete who “examples the ideals of the positive spirit of sport that represent the core mission of education-based athletics.”

Inyatkin, the son of former UConn basketball player Ruslan Inyatkin, was diagnosed with tuberous sclerosis, and experienced as many as 80 seizures a day. To alleviate the seizures, he would undergo two brain surgeries at 18 months old. “Alex has autism, and he is really good with numbers,” his mother, Kerri Scott, said. “He remembers the time for every single race he’s ever run. He knows how much time he’s taken off of each race, he has it all in his head.”

He ran in the Class L championships with his teammates this past season.  A talented musician, Alex also sang the national anthem at a recent Rangers game at Madison Square Garden and has also performed at Radio City. He has been free of seizures since his second surgery, but remains on anti-seizure medication.

He will be honored at the CIAC Scholar-Athlete banquet in May, and as Connecticut’s winner he is a candidate for the National Federation of State High School Associations’ (NFHS) Section and National Spirit of Sport Awards.

“What Alex has overcome physically, emotionally and, in some cases, cognitively defies all barriers,” said Nichole Donzella, Windsor’s cross country coach, via the CIAC’s announcement.

Sunday short takes

*UConn’s Scott Oberg, 34, whose promising major-league career was cut short by injury and illness, has rejoined the Rockies’ organization as pitching coordinator. Perhaps he’ll be around Dunkin’ Park this summer to work with Yard Goats prospects.

*The UConn Name-Image-Likeness collective, “Bleeding Blue for Good,” has stopped taking contributions and will wind down and end its NIL operations in June, as it is anticipated revenue-sharing for collegiate athletes will replace collectives’ revenue at UConn. The group, which has had a key role in UConn’s athletics success the last couple of years, will distribute left over money to charity. Executive director Jared Guy Thomas said, via social media, he will stay in place as the organization continues to produce content via Storrs Central and work with athletes on marketing and endorsement opportunities.

*The world premier screening of “The Whalers,” a 95-minute documentary marking the 50th anniversary of Hartford’s dearly departed hockey team, has already been sold out at Cinestudio in Hartford on Jan. 11 at 2 p.m. The Wolf Pack will be celebrating the Whalers at their home game later that day.

*Now that UConn is playing both Boston College and UMass next season in football, does that mean it can take home the “Southwick Jug” as New England champs if it wins both? Asking for myself.

*Connecticut American Legion Baseball gave out its awards on Friday at the Aqua Turf in Southington. West Hartford Post 96 coach Sean McCann, who won the state title, was the obvious choice for coach of the year in the under-19 division, with Waterford’s Chris Gonet (under-17), Milford’s John Wezenski (U-15) and South Windsor’s Travis Edwards (U-13) also winning coach of the year honors. Long-time major-leaguer Rajai Davis, who played for New London Post 9, was alumnus of the year.

College players Dan Driscoll and JT Gunzy, Sacred Heart coach Pat Egan, umpire Kevin Moreland of the Eastern Board, Stamford coach Kevin Murray and Windsor Locks’ Dave Farr were honored.

*UConn baseball has a hot stove event scheduled for the Aqua Turf in Southington on Feb. 6.

*Since 1961, the NFL regular-season has gone from 12 to 14 games, then 14 to 16 in 1977 and 16 to 17 in 2021, so it should be unreasonable or considered disrespectful for any official record book to note these changes in marking single-season records.

*It was odd to see the Pacers waive UConn two-time champ Tristen Newton after the numbers he was putting up in the G-League, but apparently they wanted to open up a two-way contract slot and he preferred a release to other contractual options. Newton was quickly claimed by Minnesota and offered a new two-way deal.

“(The T-Wolves) are the team that was most high on him going into the draft,” UConn coach Dan Hurley said, “so I think he landed in a good spot. I know they’re excited to have him in their organization.”

Last word

If an NFL team is supposed to lose on purpose in order to get a higher draft pick, why not let them forfeit any game they don’t want to win? Refund the ticket and TV revenue. Would that be any more ridiculous than expecting players to risk their necks while trying to lose?

Would Dan Hurley stay as men’s basketball coach? Or would he leave to coach the Lakers?

Finally on June 10, a little past 1 p.m., his wife, Andrea, pulled up and quickly entered the building, offering assistant coach Tom Moore a high five. Dan slipped in a different door, out of sight, to tell his team before telling the world.

He was staying. He was going to go for the threepeat.

“In my gut, I knew he would stay,” said Hassan Diarra, who has helped the Huskies win two championships. “He didn’t want to leave, he loves us too much.”

After leading the UConn men to their second straight national championship, after declaring on stage in Phoenix “We’ve been running college basketball for 25, 30 years,” Hurley spurned a $70 million offer from the Lakers to coach LeBron James (and his son) on the other coast. He got a new deal at UConn worth $50 million, and committed himself to chasing college basketball history, namely, trying to be the first coach since John Wooden to win more than two titles in a row.

Dom Amore: Lakers got in Dan Hurley’s head, but couldn’t wrest his heart from UConn

The Lakers’ pursuit of Hurley was international news, a drama that had all of Connecticut on edge for several days, everyone from the governor to the youngest fans weighing in. But a man who seems to have been born for his current job decided not to mess with happy, the biggest sports story in the state in 2024.

Here are moments and memories of this eventful year in Connecticut sports:

Estimated 60,000 fill Hartford for UConn men’s basketball championship parade

Back-to-back

The UConn men finished 37-3 and again won every postseason game by double digits, defeating Purdue in the championship game. Nothing was left on the table this time. The Huskies won the Big East regular-season and tournament titles before beating Stetson and Northwestern in Brooklyn, San Diego State and Illinois in Boston, and finally Alabama and Purdue in Arizona. The Illinois game featured a 30-0 run and a heckling Larry David in the front row. Who’d want to coach a team with him sitting courtside? Maybe that curbed any enthusiasm for the Lakers’ job.

Four Huskies moved on to the NBA: lottery picks Stephon Castle, a rookie of the year front runner with the Spurs, Donovan Clingan, Cam Spencer and Tristen Newton. The new cast stumbled in a November trip to Hawaii, but the year ends with the Huskies (10-3) on a six-game winning streak.

Late foul call costs UConn as Huskies fall to Iowa, 71-69, in national semifinals

Exhilaration and agony

The UConn women, for the third year in a row, suffered through a rash of injuries, but coach Geno Auriemma and star Paige Bueckers, in a new, frontcourt role, led the Huskies to another conference title and into the NCAA regionals. In a thrilling showdown, Bueckers and USC’s JuJu Watkins dueled, but underdog UConn won to reach the Final Four for the 15th time in 16 years. Then, in a showdown with Caitlin Clark and Iowa, a last-second foul on Aaliyah Edwards cost Bueckers a chance to take a potential game-winning shot.

In the new season, Auriemma passed Tara VanDerveer to become the winningest college basketball coach in history. UConn is 10-2, but Watkins and the Trojans won a rematch in Hartford on Dec. 21.

Dom Amore: UConn’s Jim Mora sees ‘great joy’ for Bill Belichick in his new adventure at North Carolina

Fenway Bowl champs

After a dip in 2023, the UConn football program resumed its resurgence under Jim Mora, going 8-4 to reach a bowl game for the second time in three years. Effective use of the transfer portal brought 27 new players, and many proved to be difference makers.

The team put the cherry on the season on Saturday with a dominant 27-14 win over North Carolina in the Fenway Bowl. It was the Huskies’ first win over a power-four conference team after coming up three times during the regular season, and their first bowl victory since 2009. Just before kickoff in Boston Mora was given a two-year contract extension.

Final round at Travelers Championship disrupted by climate protesters on 18th green

Moment of chaos in Cromwell

Scottie Scheffler, No.1 golfer in the world, conquered Connecticut, defeating Tom Kim on the first playoff hole to win the Travelers Championship on June 23, a star-studded field as the tournament has earned “Signature Event” status on the PGA Tour. A group of climate protestors swarmed the green on the last hole, briefly disrupting the event, but things were quickly gotten under control.

Fever Pitch: Caitlin Clark has the chance to add her name to short list of sports’ game-changers

The Caitlin Effect

Clark brought new eyes to the WNBA. Some in the league appeared miffed by all the attention on Clark, the AP Female Athlete of the Year. There was a cry of protest when she was left off the Olympic team. Her pro debut, at Mohegan Sun Arena on May 14, was an international happening. After a sluggish start, Clark was by far the top rookie in the league and led Indiana to the playoffs. The Connecticut Sun defeated the Fever and reached the semifinals before losing to Minnesota. In the WNBA finals, former Huskies Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier staged epic battles before Stewart and the Liberty ended New York City’s long championship drought.

Since the end of the season, the Sun have been in transition. Former Husky Morgan Tuck is now the GM, and a new coach comes from Europe, Rachid Meziane, to replace Stephanie White.

Dom Amore: Meet Hartford Athletic’s Meteoric Mamadou Dieng, who has been lighting up the late summer nights

Athletic prowess

New coach Brendan Burke brought stability to Hartford Athletic and after a midseason slump, the state’s pro soccer franchise made a playoff push that came up just short. Mamadou Dieng, 20, from Senegal re-energized the franchise with a series of big scoring performances late in the season.

Dom Amore: Bobby Meacham’s long, strange trip from the Yankees’ Bronx Zoo to Hartford to manage the Yard Goats

Goat stuff

UConn angered PETA by bringing a live goat to celebrate Auriemma’s record breaking win, but it’s nothing new. Live goats have been part of the minor-league baseball experience in Hartford for years. Playoffs weren’t, until 2024, when the Hartford Yard Goats won the Eastern League’s first-half division title and earned a spot in the playoffs, losing in the first round. The success the box office finally was matched on the field, with former Yankee Bobby Meacham at the helm. GM Mike Abramson was named minor-league executive of the year by Baseball America.

Team USA escapes France to win 8th straight gold medal at Paris Olympics led by UConn legends

Olympian feats

Connecticut was well-represented at the Olympics in Paris. Alexis Holmes of Hamden won gold in the women’s 4X400 relay, and Old Lyme’s Liam Corrigan in men’s rowing. UConn’s Napheesa Collier, Breanna Stewart and Diana Taurasi were on USA Basketball’s gold medal squad. which prevailed in a nail-biting finish against France, with UConn’s Gabby Williams.

Goalkeeper extraordinaire Alyssa Naeher, from Stratford, made a spectacular save to help the U.S. women’s soccer team take home the gold. Ridgefield’s Kieran Smith won a silver in swimming. Quinnipiac grad Ilona Maher helped the U.S. win its first medal in women’s rugby.

Dom Amore: Meet the sculptor who has cast Dwight Freeney’s legend in bronze

Around the state in 2024

Dwight Freeney represented his hometown, Bloomfield, in accepting pro football’s highest honor, induction into the Hall of Fame in Canton in August. Then he was honored at the State Capitol. … The Wolf Pack, after losing their coach, Kris Knoblauch, to the NHL’s Oilers, rallied and reached the AHL playoffs again, eliminated by Hershey.

The Pack is back in the thick of the playoff race this season. … The UConn baseball team reached the NCAA Super Regional for the third time, but the road to the College World Series was stopped by Florida State. The UConn women’s hockey team won its first ever conference title, but lost a heartbreaker to St. Cloud State in the NCAA Tournament. The women’s soccer team won the Big East Tournament and advanced to the second round of the NCAA. … Yale struggled early in the football season, but got the win that matters most — over Harvard in The Game. … Central Connecticut football made it to the postseason, beating Duquesne to take the NEC automatic playoff berth before losing at Rhode Island. … New Haven reached the D-II football playoffs, losing to a close one to Slippery Rock. … Trinity reached the Division III Final Four in men’s basketball, falling to Trine in the semifinals, and hockey, losing to Hobart in the championship game. … Conn College made it to the D-III final in men’s soccer, losing to Amherst. … Ben Casparius, a righthander from Staples High and UConn, reached the major leagues and played a role in the Dodgers NLCS and World Series victories.

Windsor High’s football team was ranked No. 1 in the state most of the season, and unbeaten until losing on a last-second field goal to Masuk-Monroe in the Class MM final. Greenwich ended up No.1 … High school boys basketball brought a cool story from Old Lyme, where coach Brady Sheffield, 21, led the Wildcats to the school’s first ever state championship. … Two UConn basketball legends, Kemba Walker and Rudy Gay, retired after long, distinguished NBA careers.

Coming New Year’s Day: A look ahead to top Connecticut sports stories in 2025.

There are healthy disagreements, as there should be, about which players belong in that 1.5 percent. Does short-term greatness trump long-term excellence? How many players are so clearly in the top 1 percent that there is not a credible argument to be made against them?

This year’s ballot of 28 candidates, all of whom played during the years I covered baseball full-time for The Courant, has one among those in their first year: Ichiro Suzuki.

Dom Amore’s Sunday Read: At Old Lyme, Brady Sheffield’s a coach ‘far beyond his years,’ and more

A rookie of the year and MVP in the same season, 2001, he didn’t start in the U.S. major leagues until age 28, yet joined the 3,000-hit club. He broke George Sisler’s 80-year-old record for hits in a season, stole more than 500 bases, with two batting titles, three silver sluggers and 10 Gold Gloves, plus the significance of his career in building the bridge between Japan and the U.S. He checks too many boxes for a responsible voter not to check his.

When Baseball Writers Association of America’s  Hall of Fame voting began in 1936, there were dozens of all-time greats waiting in line and it took decades to catch up with the backlog. From this grew the wait-your-turn school of thought, that no one should be a first-ballot inductee and therefore no one would be unanimous. This was not an unreasonable take in its day, and some Halls of Fame do operate on this principle, but it has long been outdated here. Mariano Rivera finally broke through in 2019, and Ichiro could very well be the second to be elected unanimously, based on ballots revealed so far.

Another first-timer, CC Sabathia, is not quite a slam dunk, but with 251 wins — pitching wins mattered more during the first half of his career —  plus 90 more wins than losses, 3,089 strikeouts, a Cy Young Award and a key role on a championship team, he checks enough boxes, too.

Long-term excellence and short-term greatness is a Cooperstown combination.
Next, four holdovers from last year’s ballot get my vote again: Carlos Beltran, Andruw Jones, Billy Wagner and Andy Pettitte. Beltran and Jones have enough offensive/defensive credentials for me. I was a late comer to Wagner, as I believe the bar should be very high for relievers, but with so many of my colleagues voting for him — he just missed getting the needed 75 percent in 2023 — I do not have a strong enough objection to be among 26 percent that could him out.

Pettitte’s durability and postseason success should earn him a place, and I do not hold his appearance in the Mitchell Report against him. I do not believe his involvement with PEDs rises to the level of others.

Now, for my annual explanation on steroids. To be brief, I voted for Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens during their last several years on the ballot. If they got in, or get in eventually, I would vote for all such players. But Bonds and Clemens are not in, and that eliminates Manny Ramirez and Alex Rodriguez for me, for now.

This leaves me with six boxes checked so far, four available (10 is the limit) and a lot of borderline candidates, including Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, Former Red Sox star and MVP Dustin Pedroia, “King Felix” Hernandez, Brian McCann, a catcher with 282 homers, Omar Vizquel, 11-time Gold Glove winner, Mets face-of-franchise captain David Wright, Torii Hunter. All are worthy of consideration and had some Hall of Fame-caliber stretches during their careers.

After wrestling with it for a couple of weeks, I’m going to vote for one more: King Felix, in Year One. His career was curtailed by injuries; his last great year came at age 29, but there is precedent for such pitchers getting in. He was a six-time All-Star, a Cy Young winner, pitched a perfect game, certainly passes the eyeball test.

The others have more years of eligibility and I keep an open mind on all going forward. I could be convinced. The passage of times brings new context and perspective, and some ballots are more crowded than others.

But on the ballot I will mail this week, I am going with these seven to join that 1.5 percent: Suzuki, Sabathia and Wagner — I believe those three will get in come the January reveal — plus Jones, Beltran and Pettitte, who will probably fall short again, and Hernandez, who will probably have to wait several years.

More for your Sunday Read:

Dom Amore: In epic game, UConn, Southern Cal add fuel to women’s basketball fire. Will they meet again?

Paige-JuJu a ratings winner

The UConn-USC women’s basketball game on Fox Dec. 21 was watched by 2.23 million viewers, peaking at 3.76 million, which are astounding numbers considering the game was up against the best of the CFP first-round matchups, Ohio State vs. Tennessee.

It was the highest-rating women’s game so far this season, and the second highest ever on Fox. Caitlin Clark’s final regular-season game, played last March, drew more viewers, but was not up against such powerhouse competition.

UConn’s big comeback, which fell short, 72-70, probably kept viewers turning in, or drew more to tune in, or tune back in. If there is a Paige Buckers-JuJu Watkins III played deep in the NCAA Tournament in March, new records could be set.

Dom Amore: Cam Edwards has Norwalk in his corner as he carries the load for UConn football

Top-shelf stuff

Took the opportunity to watch Notre Dame-West Haven’s boys basketball standout Abdou Toure, considered by many the top player in the state, during the smoothly and professionally run tripleheader, The Day Holiday Classic at Mohegan Sun, last week.

Toure scored 27 points in the Green Knights’ 66-43 victory over Hillhouse-New Haven. Not a newsflash here, but Toure, 6 feet 6, who led ND to an unbeaten season in 2023-24, can really jump out of a gym. He has numerous high major offers, from power conferences to Ivy League, but he is a junior and is not close to a decision.

“I haven’t really dropped any of my top schools yet,” he said. “Just letting the colleges come in. No rush. … I feel like I’m growing a lot, every day in practice. I feel I can get better at my dribbling and my 3-point shot.”

Dom Amore: UConn’s Stephon Castle soaring to head of NBA rookie class with Spurs

Sunday short takes

*Despite his productivity, Stephon Castle’s minutes have been reduced lately with the Spurs. Don’t read too much into it. He’s been dealing with a shoulder issue, all rookies hit a wall during the long season to which they are unaccustomed and, remember, San Antonio has a 39-year-old starter, Chris Paul, at the position. Castle is a big part of their future.

*Antother former Husky, one-time lottery pick James Bouknight’s attempt to rebuild his career with Portland’s G League affiliate is going well so far. Through 16 games he’s averaging 15.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists. He had 19 points for Rip City in the league’s Winter Showcase.

*After watching Victor Wembanyama play in person for the first time on Christmas Day, I have two words: Holy. Crap.

*Why would Jerod Mayo, a first-time head coach, have ever been on a hot seat when the Patriots were 4-13 last year and are playing a rookie quarterback? Next year, if things don’t improve, the year after, maybe.

*Surfing YouTube for 1960s and ’70s NFL Films recaps is a good way to take your mind off the present Giants. You get angry all over again for the trading of Fran Tarkenton and wasting of Bob Tucker’s greatness. It’s Festivus week and that’s my grievance.

*The UConn men’s hockey team started the second half this weekend in the Kwik Trip Holiday Faceoff in Milwaukee with games against Alaska-Fairbanks and either Wisconsin or Ferris State. The Huskies, 7-7-1 with some notable wins in the first half, are No. 15 in the PairWise rankings, fairly well positioned for a run at the NCAA Tournament.

*John Neider, redshirt freshman from Law-Milford, led UConn in special teams tackles this season with 10.

*Next year would be a good time to start a new home-and-home football series with UConn and Boston College, just saying.

Big East women’s basketball preview: Can conference compete with UConn’s dominance in 2024-25?

Last word

Enough already with all the carping about blowouts in the first round of the college football playoffs. Blowouts are part of college football, there are frequent mismatches even within conferences.

So this year, we had blowouts. It doesn’t mean those teams or those conferences didn’t deserve to be there, or that fourth or fifth place teams in some conferences did deserve to be there. Let this new process play out for a few years before jumping to those conclusions.

“I said I wasn’t going to cry today, so I won’t be the one to tell it, and still I get choked up,” she said before pausing to compose herself.

Speaking to families, young patients, employees and volunteers at Durham’s Ronald McDonald House on Dec. 12, the Flagg family shared the backstory for why they donated $10,000 to the facility.

Yes, Kelly’s youngest son, Cooper, is the reason they are blessed with the funds to make such a donation. He’s a 6-9 freshman forward at Duke this season, making a seven-figure income through NIL deals with companies including New Balance and Gatorade, ahead of next summer when he’s projected to be the NBA Draft’s No. 1 pick.

The Ronald McDonald House program, though, is special to the entire Flagg family. The story of why remains raw, particularly to Kelly, even 20 years after it began with her oldest sons.

Ronald McDonald House a second home

In 2004, Kelly Flagg and her husband, Ralph, started their family when she became pregnant with twin boys.

The plan went awry in August, however, when she went into premature labor. Just 24 weeks into the pregnancy, Hunter and Ryder Flagg arrived by cesarean section delivery on Aug. 4 at Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine.

Hunter weighed 1 pound, 10 ounces; Ryder was two ounces lighter. Those dangerously low birth weights jeopardized their lives, just as they were beginning.

Ryder Alan Flagg died on Aug. 6.

Hunter clung to life in the neonatal intensive care unit, gradually gaining strength while facing multiple obstacles, one of which includes blindness in his right eye as a result of his retinas being exposed to oxygen before they were fully formed.

The Flaggs’ home in Newport, Maine, was about 90 minutes from the hospital, so Portland’s Ronald McDonald House became home — for 109 days.

“I never left Portland,” Kelly said. “After Hunter was born, I said, ‘I’m not leaving without him,’ and so to have the house and to be able to stay close by … There were times that were sort of perilous during his journey, and I get a call at any time of day and night that I needed to get over there to the hospital. Being three minutes away instead of an hour and a half was huge.”

As jarring as that experience was, Kelly and Ralph did not want Hunter to be an only child. So they went through IVF treatments, intent on producing a sibling. Doctors advised them to implant two embryos, simply to increase the odds of success.

The IVF found its ultimate success, though, because she became pregnant with twins once again.

Because of the complications in her earlier pregnancy, doctors deemed this second pregnancy “high-risk,” so they admitted Kelly to Maine Medical Center in early December 2006 for closer monitoring. Ralph and Hunter Flagg stayed at the Ronald McDonald House.

Cooper and Ace Flagg were born — prematurely — in the wee hours of Dec. 21, 2006. Fortunately, their arrival date was 35 weeks into the pregnancy, so their birth weights were in a safer zone with Ace at 6 pounds, 2 ounces and Cooper at 5 pounds, 9 ounces.

This time, the family’s hospital stay lasted just a few days — they were healthy enough to go home for Christmas.

Return to Portland

Growing up in Newport — a town of about 3,200 people and 37 square miles some 29 miles west of Bangor — Cooper worked hard to hone his game, slowly becoming one of the nation’s top basketball players. Eventually, he said, he and Ace — older by minutes — learned of his family’s health journey.

“I don’t really remember a moment when I was told or anything like that,” Cooper said. “It’s just been something that has always meant a lot in our family. We’ve talked about it very generally for my whole life. It’s kind of just been something terrible that my parents went through, and Hunter.”

From those early, perilous days, Hunter, Cooper and Ace grew into sports-loving, competitive brothers. Basketball on the family’s driveway hoop became events.

“They would have these nasty, 1-on-1 games,” Kelly said. “They wanted us to referee, which is a no-win situation as parents. So we just said, `No, you guys figure it out. You call your own foul,’ which meant nobody’s gonna call the foul. So then they just start beating on each other. And we knew it. We gave it about 30 minutes, and someone would come in with a bloody lip or nose.”

All three brothers played basketball at their parents’ high school alma mater, Nokomis Regional High School in Newport. In March 2022, the family created another memory in Portland, with this one far happier.

With Ace and Cooper playing as freshmen and Hunter a senior, Nokomis won the Maine Class B championship game at Cross Insurance Arena. It’s the only state basketball championship in the school’s history.

“That was a pretty spectacular moment in time,” Kelly said.

‘A great partnership’

Ace and Cooper left Maine to play at Montverde Academy in Florida the following season, before Cooper reclassified to start his college career at Duke this season. The family now lives in Greensboro, N.C., where Ace is playing his senior high school season at Greensboro Day before heading to the University of Maine for college basketball next season.

Despite all of that transition, in addition to attending all of Cooper’s games at Duke, their year in North Carolina had to include the Ronald McDonald House.

“We’re feeling very fortunate to be in this position where we can give back,” Kelly said. “When we think about what we want to do, this is a great partnership for us to be able to give back to. Something like this that we personally have benefited from.”

The Flaggs hosted a holiday event on Dec. 12, where they met families staying at the Durham location. They provided gifts and holiday sweet treats and posed for photos. Cooper even played some mini-basketball with a young patient named Eli, who is scheduled for open-heart surgery at Duke Children’s Hospital this month.

“That’s obviously terrible for anybody that young to have to go through that,” Cooper said. “But just to see him smiling, being able to put a smile on (Eli’s) face for a little bit, hopefully he had some fun, it means the world to me. I’m just glad to spend time with him.”

Kelly said she wants as many families as possible to benefit from the services her family received from the Ronald McDonald House program

“There are millions of families who may benefit from staying at the Ronald McDonald House,” Kelly said. “We just want to make sure that that continues.”

On Saturday, the younger twins celebrated their 18th birthdays. Kelly Flagg traveled to Atlanta to watch Cooper Flagg and Duke play Georgia Tech. Later that day, she and Cooper flew back to North Carolina so they, along with Ralph Flagg, could watch Ace play for Greensboro Day that night.

It’s a whirlwind but one she’s grateful to be making because it took, in her words, “a miracle,” to make it possible.

“It makes us appreciate all this even more,” Kelly Flagg said, “knowing there was a high probability that it wouldn’t happen.”

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©2024 The News & Observer. Visit at newsobserver.com. Distributed at Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

But Philly looked Wednesday like the team it hoped to be after its all-in offseason: a legitimate Eastern Conference challenger to the defending champion Celtics.

Boston, meanwhile, is now feeling the sting of its first two-game losing streak since April.

The Celtics lost to the Sixers 118-114 on Christmas Day at TD Garden after a late-game rally came up short. It was the second consecutive loss and fourth in seven games for Joe Mazzulla’s squad, which fell to 22-8.

Jayson Tatum led Boston with 32 points on 11-of-20 shooting and 15 rebounds after missing Monday’s loss in Orlando with an illness. Jaylen Brown finished with 23 points after an ugly first half, and Derrick White (17 points) and Al Horford (21 points) went a combined 10-for-20 from 3-point range for the Celtics.

Kristaps Porzingis played 13 minutes before leaving the game with an injury — the third he’s suffered since returning from offseason leg surgery on Nov. 25. The Celtics called it “left ankle soreness,” and Porzingis did not emerge from the locker room after halftime. The severity of the injury was unclear.

Horford, stepping into the starting lineup in place of an injured Jrue Holiday (shoulder), hit two threes in the opening two minutes, including one as the shot clock expired. Porzingis added two of his own, starting strong from beyond the arc after an 0-for-4 showing Monday night in Orlando.

The two big men provided all of Boston’s scoring in the front half of the first quarter. No other Celtic got on the board until Derrick White sank a corner three more than seven minutes in, and Horford, Porzingis and backup center Luke Kornet teamed up to score 17 of the team’s 25 first-quarter points.

It was a disjointed quarter for Boston that featured some of the same ball-security issues that plagued them against the Magic. Tatum and Brown combined for nearly as many turnovers (four) as points (five) in the frame. The Celtics committed five as a team to Philly’s one and had a hard time corralling Sixers point guard Tyrese Maxey, who had 12 points in the first.

Philadelphia led 30-25 at the end of one, then more than tripled its lead during the second quarter, building a 16-point cushion that was the largest by any TD Garden visitor this season. Guerschon Yabusele — a 2016 Celtics draft pick who played his way back into the NBA by excelling for France at the 2024 Summer Olympics — scored eight straight points for the Sixers, who also got eight points in the second from Caleb Martin, a Celtics nemesis during his time with the Miami Heat.

Tatum began to assert himself late in the second, making back-to-back 3-pointers as part of a 16-point first half. He also made a savvy play to throw the ball off a Sixers player while caught in a trap a halfcourt, setting up a Payton Pritchard three later in the same possession. The Celtics cut their deficit from 16 points down to six before halftime.

Embiid, who had an injury scare pregame when he tumbled out of bounds during warmups, was unusually effective as a perimeter shooter in the first half. The embattled Sixers center came in averaging less than one made three per game, but he went 3-for-4 from deep before halftime. He and Maxey each scored 18 first-half points for Philadelphia.

Brown was dreadful over the first two quarters (1-for-8, two points, four turnovers) but locked in after half. He scored on two of Boston’s first three possessions of the third quarter, and a subsequent three by Tatum cut the Sixers’ lead to one, 66-65.

Four minutes later, Brown buried a three to tie the game at 74-74. Another by Tatum with 4:03 remaining in the third gave the Celtics their first lead since early in the first quarter. Brown poured in 14 points in the frame, with he and Tatum accounting for all but one of Boston’s made field goals.

Tied at 82 entering the fourth, the Sixers again threatened to overwhelm the Celtics by ripping off a 21-6 run that featured Martin’s fourth, fifth and sixth made threes of the evening. Philadelphia led by 15 with just over five minutes remaining.

But the Celtics weren’t done. After White and Martin traded 3-pointers, Boston scored 11 straight points. Tatum, White and Horford all scored during that surge, and the Celtics forced turnovers on three consecutive 76ers possessions — a pair of Brown steals and a backcourt violation on Maxey.

The two steals were the first Boston recorded in the game. The second led to a Horford dunk that cut the Sixers’ lead to 108-105 with 2:27 to play.

Boston couldn’t close the gap, however.

Back-to-back misses by Horford and Pritchard allowed Philly to rebuild a seven-point lead. The Celtics got that back to three with a steal and two buckets by Tatum, a Horford block and a Brown layup, then made it a two-point game after Brown followed up a pair of Paul George free throws with a 3-pointer with 4.2 seconds remaining. Boston immediately fouled Embiid, who looked clearly hobbled at times in the second half, and he made both to ice the game.

Mikal Bridges delivered his finest performance as a Knick, exploding for 41 points on 17-of-25 shooting to propel New York to a thrilling 117-114 victory over the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday.

His clutch effort erased an eight-point deficit in the final seven minutes, fending off an all-time display from reigning Rookie of the Year Victor Wembanyama, who dominated with 42 points, 18 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 blocks.

The two became the first opposing players to score 40 points each in a Christmas Day game since 1961, and the effort fell four points shy of Bridges’ career-high 45 points set last season with the Nets in a Feb. 15 matchup against the Miami Heat.

“It’s great, man. It feels good. Feels good to win. That’s the biggest thing,” Bridges said at his locker after the game. “All those shots and trying to make shots is about winning the game. That’s pretty much it. It’s cool. I know my family’s geeked up. I know they’re gonna be more geeked up than me.”

Bridges’ heroics punctuated a breakout December in which he has averaged 22.7 points on nearly 60 percent shooting from the field and 50 percent from beyond the arc. It’s a dramatic turnaround for the star forward, who was acquired in a blockbuster trade involving five first-round picks and initially struggled to find his rhythm with the Knicks.

“They say slow and steady wins the race, and that’s what he’s been,” head coach Tom Thibodeau said after the game. “If you look at his whole career, he just keeps getting better and better and better. What is he? It’s hard to put him in a box because he does everything.  He can run the floor in transition. He moves extremely well without the ball. He knows how to create advantages. You can put him in pick-and-roll. He’s smart. There’s so many intangibles that he brings to the team. It’s creating big advantages for us.”

“It was special,” added Karl-Anthony Towns. “He picked a hell of a day to do it.”

Bridges scored 15 of his 41 points in the fourth quarter, playing all 12 minutes to help the Knicks rally for their 15th win in 19 games. His resurgence has been evident since a 31-point breakout performance against New Orleans on Dec. 1. Before that game, Bridges was averaging just 15.5 points while shooting 30.6 percent from three.

This version of Knicks’ Mikal Bridges is worth 5 draft picks: ‘He’s a star in this league’

Josh Hart, one of the Bridges’ most outspoken proponents, said the forward’s success was inevitable.

“That’s my brother. That’s my brother. I know what he can do. I know his mindset,” Hart said on Wednesday. “People gotta realize not one player in this league has a great game for all 82 games. There’s peaks and valleys in this league. There’s going to be high points, there’s going to be low points — that’s why you always try to stay even-keeled. He’s a guy that did that. He put the work in. When you see someone put the work in, you know what he’s capable of. You know the character that he has.

“We knew that, we knew it was just a matter of time before he kind of found it. Now he found it and y’all not saying nothing. Get some damn apology forms out. I’ll be collecting them next game and give him his flowers because he’s playing well. Let the flowers be as loud as the hate.”

Hart was a key contributor in the win, finishing with 12 points, 12 rebounds, and six assists. Towns chipped in 21 points and nine rebounds, ending his streak of 18 consecutive double-doubles. Jalen Brunson, despite shooting 7-of-23 from the field, added 20 points, 9 assists, and 7 rebounds.

The beauty of the new-look Knicks is that they no longer need Brunson to carry the scoring load every night. The team’s depth has allowed multiple players to step up when needed.

OG Anunoby has a 40-point game this season, Towns has posted a 46-point outing, and now Bridges joins the elite club of Knicks to score 40 or more at Madison Square Garden on Christmas Day — a feat previously achieved only by Bernard King and Richie Guerin.

“It shows the depth of the team. Obviously ‘Kal had an amazing game, and that’s why we went and got him. OG had huge plays offensively and more importantly, defensively for us. And Deuce [Miles McBride] gave us good minutes. [So did] Cam,” said Hart. “Now we’re in the position where we don’t need JB to go out there and score 30 for us to win, for us to be in the game. And I think that’s the benefit.

“When he goes out there, more times than not, he’ll give us 25 very efficiently, at least. When that happens, all good. But when we’re able to scratch out wins when he’s not shooting the ball well, it shows the depth of this team. For him, he doesn’t care. His main agenda is to win and he’s happy with that.”