Author: chicagoinquirer

by Brian Mahoney NEW YORK — Tom Thibodeau just took the New York Knicks to the Eastern Conference finals, the deepest playoff march in 25 years for a franchise that reemerged as a contender after he became their coach. For that, he was fired. The Knicks made what they called a “difficult decision” to move on from Thibodeau on Tuesday, believing it was a necessary step in their chase for a championship. “We can’t thank Tom enough for pouring his heart and soul into each and every day of being the New York Knicks head coach. He led us not…

by Tim Reynolds The seeds for the 2025 NBA Finals began getting planted unknowingly in 2017, back when Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was about to enroll at Kentucky and Tyrese Haliburton was getting ready for his senior year of high school in Wisconsin. That was the year the Indiana Pacers traded Paul George to the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Pacers landed Domantas Sabonis out of that deal. The Thunder would trade George in 2019 to the Los Angeles Clippers for a package that included Gilgeous-Alexander. The Pacers would trade Sabonis in 2022 to Sacramento for a package that included Haliburton. And here…

by Lindsay Whitehurst WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Friday again cleared the way for the Trump administration to strip temporary legal protections from hundreds of thousands of immigrants for now, pushing the total number of people who could be newly exposed to deportation to nearly 1 million. The justices lifted a lower-court order that kept humanitarian parole protections in place for more than 500,000 migrants from four countries: Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela. The court has also allowed the administration to revoke temporary legal status from about 350,000 Venezuelan migrants in another case. The court did not explain…

by Brian Mahoney NEW YORK — Jalen Brunson scored 32 points, Karl-Anthony Towns added 24 points and 13 rebounds despite a bruised left knee and the New York Knicks stayed alive in the Eastern Conference finals by beating the Indiana Pacers 111-94 on Thursday night in Game 5. The Knicks won on their home floor for the first time in the series and prevented the Pacers from earning the second NBA Finals trip in franchise history. Indiana will try again Saturday night at home. Knicks fans chanted “Knicks in 7! Knicks in 7!” in the final minutes as New York…

by Gene Chamberlain LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams sought to quiet the controversy about how he hadn’t wanted to come to his current team prior to the 2024 draft. Williams admitted an ESPN story about an upcoming book by Seth Wickersham on quarterbacks was true in that he did like the idea of going to the Minnesota Vikings initially, but this was prior to his first visit to Chicago. Then, Williams said, he wanted to be with the Bears. “Yeah, I had a good visit at the other place — Minnesota, with (coach) Kevin O’Connell,” Williams…

by Cliff Brunt OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma City Thunder tried their best to balance the euphoria of the moment with the fact that they haven’t completed their mission. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 34 points, and the Thunder routed the Minnesota Timberwolves 124-94 on Wednesday night to win the Western Conference finals series 4-1 and advance to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2012. After the win, the league MVP was measured in his excitement. Oklahoma City will play the Indiana Pacers or New York Knicks in the finals. Indiana leads the Eastern Conference finals series 3-1 with Game…

by Annie Ma and Collin Binkley WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday the U.S. will begin revoking the visas of some Chinese students, including those studying in “critical fields.” China is the second-largest country of origin for international students in the United States, behind only India. In the 2023-2024 school year, more than 270,000 international students were from China, making up roughly a quarter of all foreign students in the United States. “Under President Trump’s leadership, the U.S. State Department will work with the Department of Homeland Security to aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students, including those…

by Chris Megerian and Kevin Freking WASHINGTON — Elon Musk is criticizing the centerpiece of President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda, a significant fracture in a partnership that was forged during last year’s campaign and was poised to reshape American politics and the federal government. The billionaire entrepreneur, who supported Trump’s candidacy with at least $250 million and has worked for his administration as a senior adviser, said he was “disappointed” by what the president calls his “big beautiful bill.” The legislation includes a mix of tax cuts and enhanced immigration enforcement. While speaking to CBS, Musk described it as a…

by Sonja Smith WINDHOEK, Namibia — Namibia marked the mass killings of Indigenous people in the early 20th century by former colonial ruler Germany with its first genocide remembrance day on Wednesday. The day was declared a national holiday last year by the government and was commemorated for the first time with a ceremony in the gardens of the national Parliament in the capital, Windhoek. Between 1904 and 1908, tens of thousands of Herero and Nama people were massacred or forced into concentration camps and starved by German colonial forces under the command of Gen. Lothar von Trotha, in what…

BOWLING GREEN, Fla. (AP) — Tiger Woods needs to make room on his trophy shelf for son Charlie. The 16-year-old finished with a three-round score of 15-under 201 at the Team TaylorMade Invitational on Wednesday in winning his first American Junior Golf Association event at the Streamsong Resort Black Course. Woods began the day tied at 9-under 135 and finished with a final round of 6-under 66 to top a 71-player field that included four of the top-five ranked AJGA’s players. Woods’ final round featured eight birdies and two bogeys, and he closed with four straight pars. He won the…