New York routs Indiana 84-67 in conference final opener

Associated PressSep 24, 2015, 12:42 AM EDT

NEW YORK — Tina Charles had 18 points, nine assists and seven rebounds to lead the New York Liberty to an 84-67 victory over the Indiana Fever on Wednesday night in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.

Playing a day after they advanced out of the first round for the first time in five years, the Liberty didn’t show any signs of fatigue. They scored nine of the first 13 points and never trailed.

Epiphanny Prince, who was just 2 for 12 on Tuesday night, had 17 points against Indiana. Just like in their victory over Washington on Tuesday night, New York’s reserves provided a spark. Rookie Kiah Stokes scored a career-best 21 points, hitting 9 of 11 shots, and Sugar Rodgers added 14 points.

The Liberty had to play back-to-back games because of the Pope’s visit to New York. He’s performing Mass at the Garden on Friday and the building is closed Thursday to prepare for it.

“I don’t like it, but I understand it,” New York coach Bill Laimbeer said about having to play back-to-back. “(It’s the) Pope. … arena availability is tough sometimes.”

Game 2 is Sunday in Indianapolis.

Behind Stokes, Rodgers and Prince, the Liberty built a 26-18 lead after the first quarter. Rodgers capped the period with back-to-back 3-pointers bringing the crowd to its feet. Having less than 24 hours to sell tickets caused New York to have a smaller crowd then the opening round when the team averaged nearly 9,700 fans. Still the group that was at the Garden was loud and supportive.

Indiana hung around in the second quarter as Tamika Catchings, who was scoreless in the opening period had seven points. New York led 48-42 at the half.

The Liberty used their league-best defense to take control of the game in the third quarter. New York held Indiana to just seven points in the period as the Fever made only two baskets. On the offensive end, Rodgers and Prince hit 3-pointers while Charles kept finding Stokes for open lay-ins.

New York led 65-49 heading to the fourth quarter and Stokes and Prince stifled any chance of an Indiana rally. Ahead 68-51, Prince drove in for a layup and went crashing to the floor on a foul by Catchings. Prince made the free throw and gave New York a 20-point lead. Indiana couldn’t get much closer the rest of the way. Charles, who played nearly 40 minutes Tuesday night, left with 3:30 left and the game well in hand.

Shenise Johnson scored 12 points to lead the Fever.

Losing Game 1 is nothing new to Indiana, which dropped the opener of its series with Chicago before winning the next two games.

Indiana was playing in the conference finals for the fifth straight year, matching the WNBA record set by Los Angeles (1999-03) and equaled by Minnesota this season also. New York was making its first appearance in the Eastern Conference finals since 2010.

Carolyn Swords returned to New York’s starting lineup after missing Game 3 with a right foot injury. Laimbeer had said they would be cautious with her and not rush her back. But after taking part in warmups, Swords was back in the lineup and made an immediate impact. She had an offensive tip that led to an easy basket. The 6-foot-6 former Boston College star then had her own layup followed by a cross-court pass that led to a 3-pointer by Prince.

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In rare contact, U.S. offers Russia deal for Griner, Whelan

Associated PressJul 27, 2022, 6:16 PM EDT

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WASHINGTON – The U.S. has offered a deal to Russia aimed at bringing home WNBA star Brittney Griner and another jailed American, Paul Whelan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday. In a sharp reversal of previous policy, Blinken also said he expects to speak with his Kremlin counterpart for the first time since before Russia invaded Ukraine to discuss the deal and other matters.

Blinken’s comments marked the first time the U.S. government has publicly revealed any concrete action it has taken to secure the release of Griner, who was arrested on drug-related charges at a Moscow airport in February and testified Wednesday at her trial. Though it is unclear if the proposal will be enough for Russia to release the Americans, the public acknowledgment of the offer at a time when the U.S. has otherwise shunned Russia reflects the mounting pressure on the administration over Griner and Whelan and its determination to get them home.

“We put a substantial proposal on the table weeks ago to facilitate their release. Our governments have communicated repeatedly and directly on that proposal, and I’ll use the conversation to follow up personally and, I hope, to move us toward a resolution,” Blinken said.

Blinken did not offer details on the proposed deal outlined to the Russians, but U.S. officials suggested it is similar to the prisoner swap that secured the release of Marine veteran Trevor Reed in April. Russia has made no secret of its desire for convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout to be freed from U.S. prison and the officials would not rule out that Bout’s release is on the table.

President Joe Biden, who authorized the Reed prisoner swap after meeting with his parents, signed off on the deal the U.S. offered in this case, officials said.

“The president and his team are willing to take extraordinary steps to bring them home,” John Kirby, a White House national security spokesman, told reporters.

Should the call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov take place, it would be the first conversation that the men have held since Feb. 15, about a week before Russia invaded Ukraine. U.S. officials said the desire for an answer on the prisoner offer was the primary, but not only, reason that the U.S. on Wednesday requested a new call with Lavrov.

Blinken said he would also be speaking to Lavrov about the importance of Russia complying with a U.N.-brokered deal to free multiple tons of Ukrainian grain from storage and warning him about the dangers of possible Russian attempts to annex portions of eastern and southern Ukraine.

“There is utility to conveying clear, direct messages to the Russians on key priorities for us,” including the release of Griner and Whelan, he said. They also include “what we’re seeing and hearing around the world is a desperate need for the foods, the desperate need for prices to decrease.”

Whelan, a corporate security executive from Michigan, was sentenced in 2020 to 16 years in prison on espionage charges. He and his family have vigorously asserted his innocence. The U.S. government has denounced the charges as false.

Griner, in Russian custody for the last five months, acknowledged in court that she had vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage when she arrived in Moscow in February but contends she had no criminal intent and packed the cartridges inadvertently.

At her trial Wednesday, Griner said she did not know how the cannabis oil ended up in her bag but explained she had a doctor’s recommendation for it and had packed in haste. She said she was pulled aside at the airport after inspectors found the cartridges, but that a language interpreter translated only a fraction of what was said during her questioning and that officials instructed her to sign documents without providing an explanation.

Griner faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of transporting drugs.

The U.S. government has long resisted prisoner swaps out of concern that it could encourage additional hostage-taking and promote false equivalency between a wrongfully detained American and a foreign national regarded as justly convicted. But an earlier deal in April, in which Reed was traded for jailed Russian pilot, Konstantin Yaroshenko, appeared to open the door to similar resolutions in the future and the Biden administration has been hounded with political pressure to bring home Griner and other Americans designated as unjustly detained.

Russia has for years expressed interest in the release of Bout, a Russian arms dealer once labeled the “Merchant of Death,” who was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2012 on charges that he schemed to illegally sell millions of dollars in weapons.

There was no indication that Blinken and Lavrov had communicated to secure Reed’s release. Their last publicly recognized contact was Feb. 22, when Blinken wrote to Lavrov to cancel a meeting they had planned as a last-ditch effort to avert the Russian invasion, saying Moscow had shown no interest in serious diplomacy on the matter. The State Department said later that Russia’s diplomacy was “Kabuki Theater” – all show and no substance.

The two last met in person in Geneva in January to discuss what was then Russia’s massive military build-up along Ukraine’s border and Russian demands for NATO to reduce its presence in eastern Europe and permanently deny Ukraine membership. The U.S. rejected the Russian demands.

Blinken and Lavrov avoided each other earlier this month at the next time they were in the same place at the same time: at a meeting of foreign ministers from the Group of 20 nations in Bali, Indonesia.

The two men will next be in the same city at the same time next week in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where they will both be attending the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum. It was not immediately clear if the phone call ahead of that meeting, set for Aug. 4-5, would presage an in-person discussion.

LeBron critical on his show of US efforts to get Griner home

Associated PressJul 12, 2022, 8:36 PM EDT

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LeBron James is publicly criticizing the United States’ handling of WNBA All-Star Brittney Griner’s case in a trailer for an upcoming episode of his television show: “The Shop: Uninterrupted.”

Griner is on trial in Russia for drug possession. She pleaded guilty last week and will appear again in court on Thursday.

“Now, how can she feel like America has her back?” James said in the trailer. “I would be feeling like, `Do I even wanna go back to America?”‘

It’s unclear when the show was filmed, although in the trailer it is mentioned that Griner had been in Russia for more than 110 days, which would have been nearly five weeks ago as she was detained on Feb. 17.

During the weeks since day 110, in addition to the trial beginning and the guilty plea, Griner’s wife Cherelle has had a phone conversation with President Joe Biden. Biden also received a letter from Brittney Griner on July 4 and sent a letter back to her which she was given in court last week.

There is also no mention of other detained Americans in the trailer.

Klutch Sports Group, the agency that represents James, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Washington hasn’t disclosed its strategy in the case and the U.S. may have little leverage with Moscow because of strong animosity over its actions in Ukraine. The State Department’s designation of Griner being wrongfully detained moves her case under the supervision of its special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, effectively the government’s chief hostage negotiator.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said Washington will continue to work for the release of Griner, as well as other Americans held by Moscow, including former Marine Paul Whelan.

“We will not relent until Brittney, Paul Whelan, and all other wrongfully detained Americans are reunited with their loved ones,” he tweeted last week,

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Monday that former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson had been in contact with the National Security Council, but wouldn’t comment on “his travel or what he intends to do” amid reports that Richardson plans to travel to Russia and work on Griner’s release.

James’ show will air on Friday.