Celtics trounce Knicks, cut series deficit to 2-1

Celtics trounce Knicks, cut series deficit to 2-1

Jayson Tatum finished with 22 points, nine rebounds and seven assists and the Boston Celtics pulled away for a 115-93 win over the host New York Knicks on Saturday afternoon in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference semifinals series. Payton Pritchard scored a team-high 23 points off the bench for Boston, which cut the Knicks' lead to 2-1 in the best-of-seven series. Jaylen Brown added 19 points and Derrick White had 17. Jalen Brunson scored 27 points on 9-for-21 shooting to lead the Knicks. Karl-Anthony Towns finished with 21 points and 15 rebounds. After struggling to score in the first two games of the series, the Celtics found their rhythm on offense. Boston shot 48.2 percent (40 of 83) overall and 50 percent (20 of 40) from 3-point range, and New York shot 40 percent (32 of 80) from the field and 20 percent (5 of 25) from beyond the arc. "They got some clean looks early, and they see it go in, that gives them confidence. Then it's hard to shut them off," said Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau. "We have to have greater awareness. We can't allow missed shots to take away from (our) defensive tenacity. We've got to bounce back." Tatum made a basket to put Boston on top 112-89 with 2:40 remaining. He assisted on a 3-pointer by Al Horford on the next possession, and Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla rested his starters for the remainder of the game with the score out of reach. "This is the fun part. You don't get into the journey for it to be easy," said Mazzulla. "It's been dark, but in a good way. You've just got to tap into your darkness, and that's it." The Celtics led 96-70 at the end of the third quarter. Boston led by as many as 31 points after Pritchard made a basket with 1:42 to go in the quarter, and the Knicks trimmed slightly into the deficit by scoring the final five points of the quarter on an alley-oop dunk by Mitchell Robinson, a floating jump shot by Brunson and a free throw by Robinson. "I don't think we came with the mindset of being satisfied, but I think it was just subconsciously satisfied being up 2-0," said Brunson. "Just not the way we need to approach the game." Boston sprinted to a 36-20 lead at the end of the first quarter. Pritchard drove the ball across half court and hit a baseline jumper as time expired to put the Celtics on top by 16. By halftime, the Celtics increased their lead to 71-46. Brown buried a 3-pointer to put Boston at the 70-point mark with 30.5 seconds left in the half, and he made one of two free throws in the closing seconds to give the Celtics a 25-point advantage. --Field Level Media

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Celtics trounce Knicks, cut series deficit to 2-1

Celtics trounce Knicks, cut series deficit to 2-1 Jayson Tatum finished with 22 points, nine rebounds and seven assists and the Boston Celti...

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Cade Horton wins his MLB debut as the Cubs hold off the Mets 6-5

Cade Horton wins his MLB debut as the Cubs hold off the Mets 6-5

NEW YORK (AP) — Cade Horton earned the win with four solid innings of relief in his major league debut, and the Chicago Cubs held off the New York Mets 6-5 on Saturday night. Cubs opener Brad Keller worked a perfect first inning before giving way to Horton, who was recalled from Triple-A Iowa earlier in the day. The team's top pitching prospect gave up three hits — including Brett Baty's three-run homer in the fourth — and struck out five. The 22-year-old Horton (1-0), a first-round draft pick in 2022 who was 2-1 with a 1.24 ERA in six starts at Iowa this season, walked none and threw 49 of his 77 pitches for strikes in his first professional relief appearance. Seiya Suzuki and Dansby Swanson hit RBI singles off Tylor Megill (3-3) in the first, and Michael Busch had a run-scoring single in the third before Swanson led off the fourth with a homer to left field. Miguel Amaya added pivotal insurance with a two-run single in the eighth before Baty hit his third homer in two games, a two-run shot to left in the bottom half. Porter Hodge, the Cubs' sixth pitcher, earned his second save with a hitless ninth. After a leadoff walk, he got Francisco Lindor to ground into a 1-6-3 double play. Megill allowed four runs and seven hits over 4 2/3 innings. Key moment With the Cubs ahead 4-3, right-hander Daniel Palencia struck out Juan Soto and retired Pete Alonso on a grounder to wriggle out of two-on jam in the seventh. Key stat Megill has given up eight runs over 9 2/3 innings in two starts this month after compiling a 1.74 ERA in six April starts. In his five-year career, Megill is 10-4 with a 2.45 ERA in April and 14-20 with a 4.99 ERA thereafter. Up next Cubs LHP Matthew Boyd (3-2, 2.75 ERA) opposes Mets RHP Griffin Canning (5-1, 2.50) in Sunday's series finale. ___ AP MLB:https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

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Cade Horton wins his MLB debut as the Cubs hold off the Mets 6-5

Cade Horton wins his MLB debut as the Cubs hold off the Mets 6-5 NEW YORK (AP) — Cade Horton earned the win with four solid innings of relie...

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Warriors miss all five 3-point tries in first half before Buddy Hield connects early in third

Warriors miss all five 3-point tries in first half before Buddy Hield connects early in third

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — With the NBA all-time 3-point leader Stephen Curry relegated to cheering while sidelined by a hamstring injury and sporting a gray sweatsuit on the bench, the Golden State Warriors struggled to establish their long-range game Saturday night. They didn't make a shot from deep in the first half, but led 42-40 anyway. Golden State missed its first five tries from beyond the arc before Buddy Hield connected 35 seconds into the third quarter. The Warriors came into Game 3 against Minnesota with a playoff-leading 135 3-pointers. Golden State made 6 of 11 3s in the third quarter to go ahead 73-69. Going without a 3-pointer in the first half, it marked the first time the Warriors hadn't hit at least one 3 in any half of a playoff game since the second half of a 112-99 loss in Game 2 of the first round against Dallas in 2007. The Warriors finished 4 for 20 in that one. It was also the first time they went without a 3 in a first half of a playoff game in the play-by-play era, since 1997. Two other teams this postseason have been held without a 3 in the first half — Minnesota in Game 1 of this series and the Boston Celtics in Game 5 of their first-round win against Orlando. No team had done so the previous six postseasons. The Warriors also became the first team to lead a playoff game at halftime despite making no 3s since the Toronto Raptors in Game 3 against the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2017. Curry strained his left hamstring early in Game 1at Minnesota and is scheduled to be reevaluated Wednesday. ___ AP NBA:https://apnews.com/hub/NBA

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Warriors miss all five 3-point tries in first half before Buddy Hield connects early in third

Warriors miss all five 3-point tries in first half before Buddy Hield connects early in third SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — With the NBA all-time 3-p...

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Trump isn’t the only one targeting federal employees. House Republicans are pushing cuts to pension benefits

Trump isn't the only one targeting federal employees. House Republicans are pushing cuts to pension benefits

After months of contending with the Trump administration's multi-pronged effort to downsize the federal workforce, government employees are now facing the possibility of another major change that could push even more of them out the door. House Republicans are looking to make several big adjustments to federal workers' retirement benefits to help pay for the party's sweeping tax and spending cuts package. The House Oversight Committee last week approved a plan that would squeeze $50 billion in savings out of the retirement system over the next decade. "They're going to charge people more for the benefit, and then they're going to reduce the benefit by changing the formula for how the benefit is calculated," Jacqueline Simon, policy director of the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal workers union, told reporters on Monday. The cuts could lead workers eligible for retirement to head for the exits in an effort to lock in their current benefits, union leaders say. Congressional Republicans have long wanted to overhaul federal staffers' pension system, as didPresident Donald Trumpduring his first term. But their efforts typically did not advance far. In the current political environment, however, the policy push may have a greater chance of succeeding. Republicans' "big, beautiful bill" has not yet been finalized and must still be approved by the full House and the Senate. Rep. James Comer, the committee's chair, described the effort as a way to save Americans money. "The simple truth is that a significant amount of the costs associated with all of these benefits are funded by hardworking taxpayers in the private sector and increasingly now federal government borrowing," Comer said in his opening remarks when the committee examined the plan. At least one House Republican has already come out against the measure. Ohio Rep. Mike Turner joined Democrats in voting against the committee's plan last week. "I oppose any and all efforts to reduce federal spending by taking money from the hard-earned pensions of federal workers," he said in a statement. "These pensions are not giveaways – they are promises to federal workers in exchange for their dedicated service." The most significant measure approved by the committee would raise the Federal Employees Retirement System contribution rate for many current civilian and postal employees to 4.4% of their salary. Those hired prior to 2014 generally contribute either 0.8% or 3.1%, while more recent hires typically already contribute 4.4%. For new retirees who are too young to collect Social Security benefits, the plan would eliminate an additional payment that's currently available to retired federal workers until they turn 62. The plan would also base retirees' pension payments on their average highest five earning years, instead of highest three years, which could reduce benefits by thousands of dollars annually. Certain employees, including those in law enforcement, Customs and Border Protection officers and air traffic controllers, would not be subject to these provisions, though they would not be eligible for the additional pension payment until after their mandatory retirement age of 56 or 57, depending on their position. Plus, the plan would impose an additional 5% pension contribution for new employees who don't agree to serve "at will," a status that would give them fewer job protections. The proposed plan has sparked a fresh round of concerns among federal workers, particularly among older employees, union leaders say. "People are very frustrated at the moment, thinking that it's kind of like a bait and switch," said Brandy Moore White, president of the AFGE's Council of Prison Locals, which represents more than 30,000 correctional officers and staff at federal prisons. Although her members are not subject to many of the provisions, those who retire before they turn 57 would not receive supplemental payments until they hit that mandatory retirement age. The loss would be "devastating" for a share of the prison workforce since it's not uncommon for employees to retire in their 40s or early 50s after years of service. At the Social Security Administration, a quarter of the staff are eligible for retirement, said Jessica LaPointe, president of AFGE's Council 220, which represents workers in the agency's centers, field offices and other units. Some are calling her to say they want to put in their retirement papers now so they can lock in their pension benefits. "There's no way that I would be able to absorb that hit," she said her colleagues are telling her. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account atCNN.com

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Trump isn’t the only one targeting federal employees. House Republicans are pushing cuts to pension benefits

Trump isn't the only one targeting federal employees. House Republicans are pushing cuts to pension benefits After months of contending ...

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US House tax committee unveils partial tax plan to achieve Trump agenda

US House tax committee unveils partial tax plan to achieve Trump agenda

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. House committee in charge of taxes released on Friday evening a partial text of its part of President Donald Trump's proposed tax agenda that would make his 2017 tax cuts permanent, leaving out contentious issues before a planned vote on Tuesday. The 28-page proposal by the House Ways and Means Committee would increase the child tax credit from $1,000 to $2,500 through 2028 and to $2,000 after, and adds a requirement for recipients to have a Social Security number and reduces some taxes for multinational companies and unincorporated businesses. But it does not address more hotly contested issues like what to do with the current $10,000 deduction limit for state and local taxes, which is important to states with high taxes like New York, California and New Jersey. It also does not address the fate of Medicaid, which covered about 35 million people in states Trump won in last year's presidential election and clean energy tax credits that benefit some Republican states. "Ways and Means Republicans have spent two years preparing for this moment, and we will deliver for the American people," said Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith of Missouri. U.S. congressional Republicans are struggling over how to pay for what Trump has called his "big, beautiful bill" - a multitrillion-dollar tax-cut and immigration reform agenda, with the fate of the Medicaid healthcare program and the nation's debt ceiling hanging in the balance. The party is torn between hardliners who want tax cuts to be scaled back to achieve a goal of $2 trillion in spending reductions over the next decade and moderates pushing back against large-scale slashing of the Medicaid healthcare program. Ways and Means is scheduled to hold a meeting to debate and advance the legislation on Tuesday afternoon. (Reporting by Valerie Volcovici in WashingtonEditing by Matthew Lewis)

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US House tax committee unveils partial tax plan to achieve Trump agenda

US House tax committee unveils partial tax plan to achieve Trump agenda WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. House committee in charge of taxes re...

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