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Tom Thibodeau: ‘I don’t go by’ new-age defensive analytics

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 10:10:07 GMT

To the naked eye, the Knicks had a down season defensively. Tom Thibodeau’s eye, of course, says otherwise.The Knicks ranked 19th in all of basketball in defensive rating — averaging 114 points allowed per 100 possessions — during the regular season. The rank marked the worst defensive rating the team has put forth in any of the three seasons Thibodeau has coached in New York. For reference, his Knicks finished 11th in defensive rating in each of his first two seasons as coach.Yet Thibodeau’s Knicks also secured the best first-round defense in the playoffs, holding the Cavaliers to just 101 points per 100 possessions in each of their first quarterfinal games.Entering his second-round playoff series against the Miami Heat, Thibodeau shrugged off new-age analytics as a reliable barometer for his team’s defensive success.“The ratings systems that some people use, I don’t go by,” he said. “My markers are: defensive field goal percent...

Boston teen on home confinement after alleged MBTA Red Line grocery assault

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 10:10:07 GMT

Two teens face charges of attacking a woman on a Red Line train with the victim’s own groceries, including busting her nose with a pear.“This is inexcusable conduct that can undermine the public’s confidence in its ability to use public transportation safely and efficiently,” Suffolk DA Kevin Hayden said in a statement Tuesday.“Public transportation is crucial to the economic viability of our region, and when something like this happens — a passenger being set upon, unprovoked, and wounded in the process — it’s an assault not just on them, but on the entire system.”Saul Diaz, 18, was charged in municipal court in South Boston with unarmed robbery and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. An unnamed juvenile offender, a 16-year-old girl, faces similar charges. The pair were arrested on Friday based on evidence prosecutors say police obtained from surveillance camera footage.Judge Michael Bolden released Diaz to home confinement. Diaz is allowed out on weekdays during school ho...

Oklahoma woman: Sex offender controlled my daughter’s family

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 10:10:07 GMT

By SEAN MURPHY (Associated Press)HENRYETTA, Okla. (AP) — As law enforcement officials went silent Tuesday while piecing together what led to the killing of seven people in rural Oklahoma, family members of those slain recalled the controlling nature of one of the dead, who was a registered sex offender.Since the bodies were found early Monday, authorities have released scant information on who was killed, how they died and who killed them.Janette Mayo, whose daughter and three teenage grandchildren were among the dead, said the controlling behavior of her son-in-law, Jesse McFadden, was concerning, but that the family didn’t learn about his criminal history until a few months ago.“He lied to my daughter, and he convinced her it was all just a huge mistake,” Mayo, of Westville, told The Associated Press on Tuesday. “He was very standoffish, generally very quiet, but he kept my daughter and the kids basically under lock and key. He had to know where they ...

Boston relaunches summertime ‘Open Streets’ events in new neighborhoods

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 10:10:07 GMT

Boston will be opening even more streets this season, city officials announced Tuesday, spreading the events showcasing neighborhoods’ arts and businesses further across the city.“Last year tens of thousands of people experienced our streets as vibrant public spaces,” said Chief of Streets Jascha Franklin-Hodge at an announcement at the Jackson Mann Community Center on Tuesday afternoon. “And we’re incredibly excited to expand Open Streets again this year into more neighborhoods so that more people can enjoy these special events.”The Open Streets program, started in 2022, temporarily closes major streets in different neighborhoods to cars and allows pedestrians and local businesses to take part in various food, arts and other programming.The program will continue events from last year in Jamaica Plain, Roxbury and Dorchester and expand into Allston-Brighton and East Boston. The long-running Open Newbury Street program, now expanded to every Sunday...

Ex-NFL receiver Henry Ruggs takes plea deal in fatal DUI crash, set for 3-10 years in prison

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 10:10:07 GMT

Former Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Henry Ruggs pleaded guilty to DUI resulting in death on Tuesday as part of a plea deal that will put him behind bars for three to 10 years.Ruggs, 24, faced up to 50 years in prison in connection with the Nov. 2, 2021 crash that killed 23-year-old Tina Tintor in Las Vegas. He will be formally sentenced on May 10.Prosecutors did not immediately comment on the deal, in which Ruggs also pleaded guilty to misdemeanor manslaughter. In court, Ruggs said only “Yes, your honor” when asked if he understood the deal.“This is the first step toward a fair resolution to this matter and we look forward to closure for all parties involved,” said Ruggs’ defense attorneys, David Chesnoff and Richard Schonfeld.Ruggs was driving 156 mph in his Chevrolet Corvette just seconds before the collision, according to vehicle data. The car was traveling 127 mph at the moment of impact. The speed limit on the street was 45 mph. Two hours after ...

Late-night shows go dark as writers strike

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 10:10:07 GMT

NEW YORK — The first Hollywood strike in 15 years began Tuesday as the economic pressures of the streaming era prompted unionized TV and film writers to picket for better pay outside major studios, a work stoppage that already is leading most late-night shows to air reruns.“No contracts, no content!” sign-carrying members of the Writers Guild of America chanted outside the Manhattan building where NBCUniversal was touting its Peacock streaming service to advertisers.Some 11,500 film and television writers represented by the union put down their pens and laptops after failing to reach a new contract with the trade association that represents Hollywood studios and production companies.The union is seeking higher minimum pay, more writers per show and shorter exclusive contracts, among other demands — all conditions it says have been diminished in the content boom driven by streaming.“There’s too much work and not enough pay,” said demonstrator Sean Crespo...

Happy birthday Frank Bellotti!

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 10:10:07 GMT

Frank Bellotti still won’t divulge the harrowing secret missions the Scouts & Raiders went on during World War II.They became the Navy SEALs and Bellotti, who turns 100 Wednesday, was a leader of those brave men.“We did guerrilla stuff,” he said. “I can’t talk about it. It’s still Top Secret. I have to keep it secret, I’m the only one left.”That loyalty personifies Francis X. Bellotti. He remains a mentor to so many in Massachusetts, but his roots go deep in the Bay State.The former three-term attorney general — and onetime lieutenant governor — was raised in Dorchester and became an icon from Quincy.Bellotti transformed the attorney general’s office from a backwater political Democratic Party hangout to a non-partisan first-class law office. That’s what he will be remembered for.But back to his loyalty.Bellotti comes from the age of handshakes and looking everyone in the eye.“I’ve always felt I had a responsibili...

Navy commander pulled from job after SEAL candidate death

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 10:10:07 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The commander of the Naval Special Warfare Center who was reprimanded in connection with the death last year of a Navy SEAL candidate has been pulled out of his job about two months early, U.S. officials said Tuesday.Navy Capt. Brian Drechsler is being moved to another job as Navy officials seek new leadership for the Center, more than a year after SEAL candidate Kyle Mullen collapsed and died of acute pneumonia just hours after completing the grueling Hell Week test.Drechsler was one of three Navy officers who received administrative “non-punitive” letters as a result of Mullen's death. They were not directly blamed for his death and Drechsler has not been formally relieved of duty, although such an investigation is likely a career-ender. His transfer is the first step in an ongoing review to determine if any additional punishment is warranted. Officials said Drechsler will be serving as a special assistant at Naval Special Warfare Command, and had been planning t...

Officials move inmate stuck on US death row for years

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 10:10:07 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — Prison officials this week moved a former drug dealer convicted of killing a 16-year-old Texas girl off federal death row to serve a life sentence in another prison amid criticism he should have been moved years ago after a judge deemed him intellectually disabled and vacated his death sentence. The transfer comes two weeks after The Associated Press first highlighted Bruce Webster’s case, reporting that chronic bureaucracy and jurisdictional obstacles left him stuck in solitary confinement on death row at a U.S. penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, since the judge’s 2019 ruling. Webster, of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, was in a solitary, 12-by-7-foot cell, 23 hours a day, while on death row, but has been transferred to a less restrictive U.S. prison in Allenwood, Pennsylvania, according to his lawyers, who say the prison informed them Tuesday that Webster had been transferred overnight.“Obviously, we are delighted he is off death row. That should have happened ...

Election denier Jim Marchant running for US Senate in Nevada

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 10:10:07 GMT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Jim Marchant, a Nevada Republican who led a movement of candidates who promoted Donald Trump’s lies of a stolen 2020 election, announced Tuesday that he will run for the U.S. Senate against Democratic incumbent Jacky Rosen in the swing state.The entrance of Marchant, who lost last year’s race for Nevada secretary of state, may be another headache for national Republicans who are trying to prevent a repeat of the midterms, when voters in Nevada and other battleground states rejected candidates who ran on election conspiracies, allowing Democrats to increase their hold on the Senate.Democrats face an even tougher environment to keep their slim majority in 2024. Nevada is likely to be one of the nation’s most competitive Senate races after hosting the closest contest of 2022. Democratic incumbent Catherine Cortez Masto eked out a narrow victory over another high-profile election denier, Adam Laxalt.Marchant, 66, has been a fierce supporter of Trump an...