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Celtics pay tribute to Bill Walton before Game 1

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A display honoring basketball great Bill Walton appears on a screen before Game 1 of basketball’s NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and the Dallas Mavericks, Thursday, June 6, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

BOSTON  — Bill Walton only spent one full season with the Boston Celtics. His impact was unforgettable.

The franchise paid tribute to the sixth man on its 1986 championship team before Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night. Walton’s family was in the crowd for a pregame moment of silence that was interrupted by a fan yelling, “We love you, Bill!”

Commissioner Adam Silver called Walton a friend whose evident love for basketball game helped spread the game around the world, including on a 2004 trip to the Great Wall of China.

READ: Bill Walton, Hall of Fame player, dies of cancer at 71

“I can’t think of a better ambassador for the NBA than Bill. He enjoyed talking to every single person,” Silver said before the game. “It’s a sad moment in the league.”

The Celtics nodded to Walton’s Deadheadedness by coming out in black shooting shirts that said “Walton” with a tie-dye background; team staff wore pins with a similar design. The players’ jerseys had a black band with Walton’s name on the shoulder.

“Bill was a champion at every level and the embodiment of unselfish team play,” the public address announcer said, while both the Celtics and Mavericks players applauded. “He derived great joy from basketball and music, and deeply cherished his moments with teammates and friends. We are proud to call him one of the greatest Celtics who ever lived.”

Walton, who died on May 27 at the age of 71, was a three-time national player of the year at UCLA, leading the Bruins to the NCAA championship in 1972 and ’73 during a record 88-game winning streak. He was the runner-up for NBA MVP in 1977, when the Trail Blazers won the NBA title, and won the award the next year.

He also played four seasons for the Clippers – and missed three others with foot injuries – before arriving in Boston in 1986, giving the Celtics enough to push them past the Houston Rockets in the NBA Finals for the franchise’s unprecedented 16th championship.

He was limited to 10 games the following season by foot injuries and retired before going on to a successful second career as a broadcaster — and Grateful Dead follower. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1993.

Jasmine Paolini surprises herself by reaching final

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Jasmine Paolini French Open Tennis

Italy’s Jasmine Paolini reacts during her semifinal match of the French Open tennis tournament against Russia’s Mirra Andreeva at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Thursday, June 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)

PARIS — Jasmine Paolini is struggling to believe she’s into her first Grand Slam final.

Paolini, who had never previously been past the fourth round at a major tournament, continued her run at the French Open by beating Mirra Andreeva 6-3, 6-1 in Thursday’s semifinals.

“It’s a great feeling to be in a Grand Slam final,” the 28-year-old Italian said. “I don’t know. It seems something impossible, you know, but it’s true.”

She faces two-time defending champion Iga Swiatek in Saturday’s final, the day before the men’s final.

READ: Iga Swiatek beats Coco Gauff to reach French Open final

And an Italian double is still a possibility because Jannik Sinner can reach the men’s final if he gets past Carlos Alcaraz on Friday. Win or lose, the Australian Open champion Sinner will have the No. 1 ranking on Monday.

“It’s unbelievable to see Jannik when he was 15 years old say that his dream was to be No. 1,” Paolini said. “For me it’s something different. I never dreamed to be in a Grand Slam final, and I’m here. I’m so happy.”

Paolini was far more clinical than the 17-year-old Andreeva, winning four of six break points while Andreeva was 0-6. Andreeva appeared tearful after going 4-1 down in the second set.

“I could have played better,” she said. “I had a lot of mistakes.”

Andreeva missed three break points in the fifth game of the first set on Court Philippe Chatrier. Instead of pulling back to 3-2, she trailed 4-1 and her confidence seemed to wane.

Missing a shot at deuce in the sixth game of the second set, she remonstrated with her racket.

Paoloni broke Andreeva to love in the next game, winning on her first match point with a forehand winner at the net.

She smiled broadly, clenched her fists, then praised the crowd — in two languages.

“Grazie mille, ragazzi (Thanks, guys),” Paolini said, before adding “Merci beaucoup a toute la France (Thanks a lot to all of France).”

The 23-year-old Swiatek remains on course for a fifth major, including four at Roland Garros.

Iga Swiatek French Open Tennis

Poland’s Iga Swiatek celebrates winning her semifinal match of the French Open tennis tournament against Coco Gauff of the U.S. at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Thursday, June 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

After saving a match point against the former No. 1 Naomi Osaka in the second round, she won 6-2, 6-4 against Coco Gauff on Friday to extend her winning streak in Paris to 20 matches.

Swiatek has 21 career singles titles, compared to two for Paolini. Paolini’s career record at the French Open before this year was 3-5; Swiatek’s career Roland Garros record after eliminating Gauff is 34-2.

“Iga is unbelievable player,” Paolini said. “So young, but so many achievements and Grand Slams.”

Andreeva, meanwhile, leaves Roland Garros with something she worked hard to get: a photo with three-time major winner Andy Murray.

“It was a nice moment in the beginning of the tournament because I had a gift. I had, like, retro camera,” she explained. “I made a list with who I want to take a picture. Of course, Andy, he was first on the list.”

But she was reluctant to approach him.

“He was warming up, he was eating. So I was, like, ‘Well, next time, next time.’ Then on that day I saw him just talking to his team. I was, like, ‘Well, he’s busy, no, no, no,’” Andreeva continued. “My coach was, like, ‘No, you go, you do it, and after we forget about it.’ So she kind of pushed me to him. Well, finally, I had a picture with him.”