Boston, MA
Boston Celtics (2-0) at Dallas Mavericks (0-2) NBA Finals Game #3 6/12/24
The series now shifts to Dallas with the Celtics up 2-0 on the Mavericks. The Mavericks are 5-3 at home in the playoffs. They were 25-16 at home in the regular season. The Celtics are 6-0 on the road in the playoffs and they were 27-14 on the road in the regular season. The Mavericks should play better at home since young players and role players play better at home but the Celtics have played very well on the road also.
In NBA Finals history, 36 teams have started the series down 0-2. Of those 36, only 5 have gone on to win the series. The 1969 Celtics came back from 0-2 to beat the LA Lakers in Bill Russell’s last season. The 1977 Trail Blazers with Bill Walton came back from 0-2 to beat the Suns. The 2006 Heat with DWade and Shaq came back from 0-2 to beat the Mavericks.
The last two teams that came back from 0-2 in the Finals to win the Championship involved 2 players who are in this series. The 2016 Cavs with LeBron and Kyrie Irving came back from 0-2 to beat the Warriors. And finally, the 2021 Bucks with Giannis and Jrue Holiday came back from down 0-2 to beat the Suns. Also, in 2022, the Celtics were up 2-1 before losing the series in 6 games.
The Celtics as a team are 43-1 in series that they took an 0-2 lead. The one loss was in 2018 Eastern Conference Finals in Jayson Tatum’s rookie season. Of the 36 teams that took an 0-2 lead in the Finals, 33 of those teams won Game 3. This game is very crucial for the Celtics as it would give them a commanding lead in the series. Teams have gone down 0-3 in series 156 times and none have come back to win the series.
After playing in the first 2 games, Kristaps Porzingis is back on the injury list. There are narratives that the Celtics can’t win the title without Porzingis, but, they have had a lot of experience playing without him, both in the regular season and in the playoffs. The Celtics are 21-4 without Porzingis in the regular season and 12-2 without him in the playoffs.
The Celtics have faced teams that have had to play without their starts and for the most part, those teams played great and the Celtics struggled against them. Now, it is the Celtics turn to pick up the slack and win without one of their stars. They still have plenty of scorers and defenders on the team to get it done. Every player would need to pick up their energy and play a bit harder to make up for the injured center.
Porzingis came up limping after coming down awkwardly in the third quarter of Game 2. He tried to play through the injury but didn’t finish the game. After the game, we were told he was fine and would play in Game 3. However, on Tuesday, we were told he suffered a torn medial retinaculum. He is listed as day to day and will be a game time decision as to whether he will play in Game 3.
As he has been throughout the post season, Luka Doncic is once again on the injury list. He has been listed as probable with a right knee sprain and left ankle soreness almost every game in the first 3 rounds but has not missed a game yet. Before Game 2, he was downgraded to questionable with a chest contusion and was wrapped up like a mummy before the game but played the game and didn’t seem to be hampered at all by the list of ailments. He is expected to play in this game as well.
Probable Celtics Starters
Celtics Reserves
Al Horford
Oshae Brissett
Sam Hauser
Svi Mykhailiuk
Payton Pritchard
Jordan Walsh
Jaden Springer
Xavier Tillman
Neemias Queta
Luke Kornet
2 Way Players
JD Davison
Drew Peterson
Injuries/Out
Kristaps Porzingis (lower leg) questionable
Head Coach
Joe Mazzulla
Probable Mavericks Starters
Mavericks Reserves
Dante Exum
Josh Green
Tim Hardaway, Jr
Jaden Hardy
Maxi Kleber
Markieff Morris
AJ Lawson
Dereck Lively II
Markieff Morris
Dwight Powell
Oliver-Maxence Prosper
Two-Way Players
Greg Brown III
Alex Fudge
Brandon Williams
Injuries/Out
Luka Doncic (ankle/knee/chest) probable
Head Coach
Jason Kidd
Key Matchups
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Jrue Holiday
Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images
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Luka Doncic
Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images
Jrue Holiday vs Luka Doncic
Doncic finished Game 1 with 30 points, 10 rebounds, 1 assist and 2 steals while shooting 46.2% from the field and 33.3% from beyond the arc.He finished Game 2 with 32 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists, 4 steals and 8 turnovers while shooting 57.1% from the field and 44.4% from beyond the arc. He is very tough to defend as he can shoot from pretty much anywhere on the court. The Celtics did a decent job of defending him in the first 2 games. They need to do their best to limit him in this game as well.
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Derrick White
Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
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Kyrie Irving
Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images
Derrick White vs Kyrie Irving
In Game 1, Irving finished with 12 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals while shooting 31.6% from the field and 0-5 on threes. In Game 2, he finished with 16 points, 2 rebounds, and 6 assists while shooting 38.9% from the field and 0-3 from beyond the arc. I expect him to play better in Dallas without the pressure of the Garden crowd but he still has to get through 2 very tough defensive guards. He played very poorly in the first 2 games of that 2016 series but came back to finish strong to help them to win the series, including a game winner in Game 7 so the Celtics can’t count him out.
Honorable Mention
Jayson Tatum vs PJ Washington
Washington was a big addition to the Mavs at the trade deadline. In Game 1, Washington finished with 14 points, 8 rebounds, and 1 assist while shooting 45% from the field and 0-3 from beyond the arc. In Game 2, he finished with 17 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 block. Role players usually play much better at home and so the Celtics need to be ready for a big game from him and keep him out of the paint and off of the boards. Tatum is due for a big game but if he continues to struggle on offense, hopefully he continues to play team ball and not force shots.
Keys to the Game
Defense – Defense is always the number one key to winning games, especially in the playoffs. There is no truer statement than “Defense wins Championships.” In the playoffs, the Mavs are averaging 106.4 points per game (7th) while the Celtics average 110.7 points per game (2nd). The Mavs are 8th with a defensive rating of 111.3 while the Celtics are 3rd with a defensive rating of 107.8. When the Celtics struggle on offense, as they did in Game 2, they have to be able to stop the other team from scoring. The Mavs are likely to attempt more 3’s this game and the Celtics need to be ready to defend them tighter on the perimeter. The Celtics need to play tough, lock down defense for the entire game. The Mavericks have players who can put up a lot of points in a hurry if the Celtics don’t play tough team defense. Defense won Games 1 and 2 and is likely going to be what wins this series.
Rebound – Second to defense, rebounding is the key to winning. One of the few times I have agreed with Pat Riley was when he said “No rebounds, no rings.” Much of rebounding is effort and the Celtics have to put out extra effort to win the battle of the boards. When they work hard on the boards, it usually follows through to the rest of the game as well. The Celtics are averaging 43.8 rebounds per game (3rd) while the Mavs are averaging 43.1 rebounds per game (4th). In Game 1, the Celtics out-rebounded the Mavs 47-43 but they were out-rebounded in Game 2 43-41. The Celtics need to put out extra effort on the boards to keep the Mavs from getting extra possessions and second chance points and to give the same to themselves.
3 Point Shooting – Both of these teams shoot a lot of 3 pointers. The Celtics are 1st in the playoffs with 16.5 three pointers made, while the Mavs are 3rd with 14.6 three pointers made. The Celtics are 1st with 42.5 threes attempted while the Mavs are 2nd with 39.5 threes attempted. The Celtics are 62-9 this season when they hit at least 15 three pointers. The Celtics struggled shooting the 3 in Game 2, shooting just 25.6%, but their defense was strong enough to get them the win. The Mavericks are likely going to make a concerted effort to run the Celtics off the 3 point line in this game. If the 3’s aren’t falling once again in this game, the Celtics need to go to the hoop and not shoot themselves out of the game. On the other hand, the Celtics need to work hard to limit the Mavs 3 pointers.
Maximum Effort for 48 Minutes – The Celtics have to play hard from the opening tip to the final buzzer. It will be important to get off to a strong start. Dallas is 8-2 when they win the first quarter and the Celtics are 11-0 when they win the first quarter. They have to play hard on offense and especially on defense with no let up. The Mavericks are the toughest team that they have faced in the playoffs and nothing less than full effort from every player every minute they are in will do. The Celtics need to be aggressive in defending, going to the basket and. especially in rebounding. The two games the Celtics lost in these playoffs were mostly due to a lack of effort, especially on defense. They can’t let the Mavs play harder than them if they want to win this game.
X-Factors
On the Road – The Celtics are playing on the road but both teams had to travel to get to Dallas. They need to keep their focus on playing the right way and not let the distractions of the road take away that focus. Over the past 3 years, Boston has gone 20-7 on the road in the playoffs. This is tied with the 91-93 Chicago Bulls for the best road record in the playoffs over a 3 year period. The Mavericks, especially the role players, are likely to play better on their home court and in front of their fans. The Celtics need to dig down deep and match the energy of the Mavs and continue to play Celtics basketball on the road.
Experience – Seven of the Celtics players have at least 5 games of Finals experience, including 4 of the starters plus Al Horford. Combined, the Celtics have 44 games of Finals experience. The Mavericks, on the other hand, have a total of just 23 games of Finals experience. Kyrie Irving has 13 of those 23 games with the rest of the team having just 10 games. This is the 2nd time in just 3 years that Tatum, Brown and Horford have been to the Finals. The Celtics need to use their experience and also to use the Mavericks’ lack of Finals experience to their advantage.
Officiating – The officiating can always be an x-factor. Every crew calls the game a little differently and teams need to adjust to how the game is being called. Will they call the game tight or will they let them play? The Celtics can’t let the officiating take away their focus and they have to adjust to the way the refs are calling it. In these playoffs, we have seen several games lost on bad calls at the end of games. The Celtics need to play hard and build a lead and not allow the refs to take the game away on a bad call at the end.
Official Report
Crew Chief – Marc Davis
Davis has a home win/loss record of 41-36 this season. He calls 51% of fouls on the road team and 49% on the home team. Boston is 8-2 in their last 10 games with Davis as the crew chief, including the May 1 win over Miami in the first round and May 13 win over Cleveland in Game 5 and Game 3 win over Indiana. Dallas is 8-2 in their last 10 with Davis, including 4/23 win over the Clippers, 5/22 and 5/30 wins over Minnesota. Boston is 55-56 all time with Davis as a ref and Dallas is 57-38 all time with Davis as a ref. Davis was voted the third worst referee in the league in a poll of the players, behind Scott Foster and Tony Brothers. Comments from players say he is arrogant and will sometime instigate things. He wasn’t bad in the Celtics 3 games so far in these playoffs.
Referee – James Capers
Capers has a home win/loss record of 29-29 this season. He calls 53% of fouls against the road team and 47% against the home team. The Celtics are 7-3 in their last 10 games with Capers including the 5/27 win over the Pacers. The Mavericks are 7-3 in their last 10 games with Capers, including including the 5/22 and 5/30 wins over the Wolves, 5/15 win over OKC and 4/23 win over the Clippers. The Celtics are 55-58 all time in games called by Capers while the Mavericks are 73-45 all time with Capers as a ref.
Umpire – Kevin Scott
Scott has a home win/loss record or 41-21 this season. He calls 51% of the fouls against the road team and 49% against the home team. The Celtics are 7-3 this season with Scott and this is their first game in these playoffs with Scott. The Mavericks are 10-0 with Scott as a ref in their last 10 games including 4/23 win over the Clippers, 5/15 win over the Thunder and 5/22 and 5/30 wins over the Timber Wolves. The Celtics are 28-23 all time with Scott as a referee while the Mavericks are 26-26 all time with Scott calling the games.
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FORT MYERS, Fla. — Over the past few years the Red Sox pitching program has been completely transformed.
Since Craig Breslow took over as chief baseball officer, the Red Sox have gone from one of the worst organizations at developing young pitchers to one of the best, and now the club is overflowing with talented arms who are already making their mark in the majors.
That hasn’t gone unnoticed, and this past offseason one of the people most responsible for executing the club’s turnaround — former director of pitching Justin Willard — was hired away by the New York Mets to be their new major league pitching coach.
Now the Red Sox are handing the baton to two others, who they hope can keep the train rolling and ensure the club’s pitching pipeline keeps flowing.
This winter the Red Sox promoted Ben Buck to succeed Willard as the club’s director of pitching while also hiring away Quinn Cleary from the Seattle Mariners to serve as his No. 2. The two have already begun working to make their mark on the organization, though both emphasized that the Red Sox already have a solid foundation in place and that they plan to continue emphasizing Willard’s core tenet of “throwing nasty stuff in the zone.”
“That is the mantra,” Buck said. “Because it is simple to say, our guys remember it, and you can branch off from each one of those words and they become very complex.”
“It’s a perfect one sentence one-liner that really sums up the two big components of being a successful pitcher in the majors,” Cleary said.
Buck earned his promotion after just one year with the organization, joining the Red Sox as a pitching coordinator following the 2024 season after previously serving in a similar role with the New York Yankees. Upon coming to Boston, Buck worked closely with many of the Red Sox’s top pitching prospects, including Payton Tolle, one of the club’s biggest recent minor league success stories who rose from High-A to the majors in just his first year of professional baseball.
“The first time that I talked to him or heard him talk about pitching, I was a lot dumber then (than I am now),” Tolle said of Buck. “He’s one of the smartest guys that I’ve ever been around in the baseball world so to now have him as the head of development, it’s huge.”
Another Red Sox pitcher who Buck has worked with is Garrett Whitlock, serving as the future Red Sox right-hander’s pitching coach during his rookie ball days as a Yankees farmhand.
“I think he’s going to be great for the organization,” Whitlock said. “He’s a very good pitching mind. He’s going to bring a lot of wisdom to the table when it comes to the movement side of things, the preparation, how to build up arms, that kind of thing. He’s very, very good at that.”
Before making the jump to the professional coaching ranks, Buck spent 15 years as a college coach after playing collegiately at Lamar Community College in Colorado and at the University of Utah. He also played a year of independent baseball before spending two years away from the sport working in a poker room, first as a dealer and then as the boss.
That job prepared him for coaching in ways you wouldn’t expect.
“There are a lot of skills that I learned from poker and from running a poker room that I still use to this day,” Buck said. “We had a VIP list of something like 280 VIPs, so attributing people’s names to their faces and not forgetting. Dealing with conflict, like for them this is higher stakes, it’s win or lose money. In some regards (baseball is) win or lose money. They’re putting themselves on the line thinking in bets. What are you willing to risk? What is not worth the risk? And how aggressive are you? How unaggressive are you? All these are transferable skills to life and this job.”
Cleary’s journey to the Red Sox is equally fascinating.
Just 26 years old, Cleary is only a few years removed from his college playing days at Yale. He has quickly risen through the front office ranks since, first interning at Cressey Sports Performance before landing with the Philadelphia Phillies and then the Mariners, with whom he served as pitching coordinator.
This past offseason the Red Sox hired him as their new assistant director of pitching and head pitching strategist, specifically requesting permission from the Mariners to interview him.
“What a great hire,” Buck said. “Sharp mind, huge feel, I can’t imagine being as young as he is, as smart as he is, with as much feel as he has.”
How has he done it at such a young age?
“I think a combination of being in the right place at the right time,” Cleary said. “I’ve been able to learn from a lot of really good people at all the stops I’ve been at. I hope to continue to do that here.”
Cleary also has a fascinating family history. His grandfather, Bill Cleary, was a member of the gold medal-winning 1960 U.S. Olympic hockey team and was the longtime men’s hockey coach and athletic director at Harvard. His parents were both Harvard athletes too, and his three brothers all attended Harvard as well.
Naturally, Cleary going to rival Yale was a bit of a departure from the family tradition.
“I am like truly the black sheep of my family,” Cleary said. “We joke that I sit at a different table at Thanksgiving but other than that it’s not too bad.”
Cleary described his new role as a hybrid front office and coaching/player development role that helps with both the majors league and minor leagues. He will also be among those assisting injured big leaguers with their rehab process, and he said he hopes to add value wherever he can.
Red Sox pitching coach Andrew Bailey said Buck and Cleary have both been great to work with so far.
“It’s been fantastic, the communication lines are really solid,” Bailey said. “A lot of bright ideas and thoughts and visions, and what’s really good is the open-mindedness and the ability to listen and take in information and what’s worked and what hasn’t worked.”
With three pitchers ranked inside Baseball America’s Top 100 Prospects list and a huge crop of young arms coming up from the past two years’ pitcher-heavy draft classes, Buck and Cleary find themselves in a much different situation than the one Breslow and Willard inherited after the 2023 season. They said a lot of smart people put in a lot of work to help get the club’s pitching program on the right track, and they hope to build on that progress in the months and years to come.
“Justin did such an amazing job when he was here of laying this unbelievable foundation, things are really going in a real good direction and our job is to search for the one percents and two percents to keep improving,” Buck said. “It’s less about change and more about continuing on the path where evolution can happen.”
Bello’s big homecoming
Years from now Brayan Bello probably won’t remember his first two starts of spring training, but you can be sure he’ll never forget his next one.
This Wednesday the Red Sox right-hander will take the mound for Team Dominican Republic in a pre-World Baseball Classic exhibition against the Detroit Tigers at Estadio Quisqueya in Santo Domingo. Bello has never pitched at the historic stadium before, and getting to pitch there will mark a special homecoming for the 26-year-old.
“It’s going to be my first time after I was a big leaguer that I’m getting to pitch in the Dominican Republic in front of my friends and family, in front of my home country,” Bello said Friday via interpreter Carlos Villoria Benítez. “For me it’s going to be very emotional, I’m very excited to be able to pitch there and I’m looking forward to it.”
A native of Samana, a town roughly two and a half hours away from the Dominican Republic’s capital city, Bello hopes to help pitch his country to its second World Baseball Classic title. The Dominican team previously won it all in 2013 and this year features All-Star standouts like Juan Soto, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr., among others.
Hometown kids coming up
Almost anyone who grows up playing baseball around New England dreams of one day playing for the Red Sox, and this spring several local standouts hope to take the next step in their journey towards making that dream a reality.
Shea Sprague and Jack Winnay, both recent draft picks by the Red Sox with Boston-area ties, are among the many minor leaguers populating the Fenway South complex this spring. Sprague, a BC High alum from Hanover who starred at the University of North Carolina, is entering his second full professional season after being selected as a 13th-round pick in 2024. Winnay, a Newton resident who starred at Belmont Hill and Wake Forest, is in his first spring training after going as a 13th-round pick himself last summer.
Brian Abraham, the Red Sox’s senior director of player development, said the organization is really excited about both, noting that the pair also played for the same travel ball club as his son, North East Baseball.
Sprague appeared in 22 games in his first pro season, earning a promotion from Low-A to High-A along the way and finishing with a 3.82 ERA in 96 2/3 innings, which was the eighth-highest innings total of any Red Sox minor leaguer.
“Really good pitchability,” Abraham said of the 23-year-old lefty. “Trying to increase his fastball velo, because he already has a good pitch mix and has a good way on the mound with his mix.”
Winnay debuted as a professional weeks after being drafted and made a strong first impression, batting .321 with a home run, three doubles and 11 RBI in only 15 games at Low-A Salem. The 22-year-old infielder will be a candidate to start this season at High-A, and Friday he was among a handful of minor leaguers who traveled up to North Port with the big league club.
“Jack has been playing mostly third but can play first, has really good power, moves well, really exciting I think,” Abraham said. “A lot of tools that we like and value.”
Burt signs with Tigers
North Andover’s Max Burt, a former St. John’s Prep and Northeastern University standout, signed with the Detroit Tigers as a minor league free agent this past week. The longtime New York Yankees minor leaguer spent his first eight professional seasons with the organization, playing the majority of that time at Double-A Somerset.
According to the Somerset Patriots, Burt departs as the team’s all-time franchise leader in hits (241), runs (179) and games played (361). The 29-year-old will now get a fresh start as he looks to make a push to the majors with a new organization.
FORT MYERS, Fla. — It’s hard to imagine Garrett Whitlock’s spring getting off to a better start. The Red Sox right-hander made it three straight scoreless outings through the first week of games Saturday by sending down the Minnesota Twins 1-2-3 in the third during the club’s eventual 13-8 win.
Now, Whitlock will get ready to join Team USA ahead of the World Baseball Classic.
“I’m stoked. I’ve been jittery the past two days, like, ‘Oh man it’s almost here,’” Whitlock said. “Now I’ve got to go home, do some laundry and do some packing.”
Whitlock and teammate Roman Anthony will fly to Arizona on Sunday to join the rest of the American squad, which features Aaron Judge, Tarik Skubal, Paul Skenes and many more of the game’s biggest stars. Team USA will play exhibitions against the Giants and Rockies this week before opening their tournament run in Houston against Brazil on Friday.
Among those Whitlock expects to be in Houston for the tournament is his father, Larry Whitlock, a veteran who saw combat during the Vietnam War. Whitlock said getting to represent his country is an amazing honor, and that sharing the news with his father that he’d been selected to the team last fall was an incredible moment for the family.
“I called him and I was just like, ‘Hey I want you to hear this from me before you hear it from anyone else, as a vet, I’m just so honored that I get to represent this country for baseball,’ and he kind of sobbed up and everything,” Whitlock said. “It was a very cool moment for me and him.”
“I’m actually the only male in my family not to serve in the military,” Whitlock continued. “My dad, my uncle, my brother, my granddad on both sides, so it’s a really truly special thing that’s close to my heart and that’s why it’s such an honor for me. Forget the stage and everything else, just to represent the country, obviously I’ll never be able to sacrifice like so many of our service members do, but the chance that we can hopefully bring them some joy in anything, it brings tears to my eyes thinking about it.”
To prepare for the tournament, Whitlock said he began his ramp up earlier than normal, throwing several live batting practices over the offseason when he’d typically wait until camp. The work was clearly evident through the first week of games, as Whitlock allowed just one hit in three innings with no walks and two strikeouts in his three Grapefruit League outings.
The next time he appears in a game the stakes will be a little bit higher, but if all goes according to plan, Whitlock won’t be back with the Red Sox for a while.
“It was funny, (USA manager Mark DeRosa) texted us like three days ago and he’s like, ‘Hey y’all better be packing for 18 days because we aren’t doing anything less.’ Kind of fired the guys up,” Whitlock said. “So I’m going to go home and you don’t realize how long 18 days is until you try to pack for it.”
Gray shaky in debut
Sonny Gray made his first start in a Red Sox uniform and wasn’t sharp, walking the first batter he faced on four pitches before ultimately allowing two runs on three hits and two walks over 1 1/3 innings. He threw 31 pitches, 13 for strikes, and allowed a solo home run to James Outman to lead off the second.
“I don’t like throwing as many balls as I did,” Gray said. “You walk the first hitter, four pitches, you know you’re not setting yourself up for success there.”
Gray escaped a potentially problematic first inning unscathed when he drew a 6-4-3 double play turned by Trevor Story and Nick Sogard to escape a bases-loaded jam. But after giving up the solo home run in the second, he allowed a single and was lifted after drawing a groundout to end his day.
Early solid again
Connelly Early took the mound in the top of the fourth for what was effectively his second “start” of the spring, and the rookie left-hander performed well again, throwing 2 2/3 innings while allowing two runs on three hits with no walks and three strikeouts.
Early posted a 1-2-3 fourth, allowed a single and an RBI double in the fifth and gave up a single before finishing his outing with back-to-back strikeouts in the sixth. The inherited runner later came around to score, giving Early the second earned run, but the lefty still threw 27 of his 39 pitches for strikes and topped out at 97.1 mph on the radar gun.
“I’m just trying to keep building the workload and I want to hold the velo going into all three innings,” Early said. “I thought I did a pretty good job with that.”
Duran homers twice
Jarren Duran has been red hot over the first week of games, and Saturday he came through again by launching two more home runs, including a two-run shot in the first inning for the second straight day.
Duran went deep to right-center field, crushing a 2-2 fastball from Twins starter Taj Bradley 401 feet for the two-run shot. He followed that up with another two-run bomb off Kendry Rojas in the fourth inning, this one going 409 feet.
The outfielder finished 2 for 2 with the two homers, four RBI, a walk and three runs scored. Duran is now batting .583 with a 2.167 OPS for the spring.
Roman Anthony and Carlos Narvaez each went 2 for 3 with an RBI, Trevor Story went 1 for 3 with a triple and Max Ferguson hit a grand slam in the bottom of the seventh.
Coming up next
The Red Sox are now 5-3 in Grapefruit League and 3-0 against the Twins. Ranger Suarez will take the mound for the second time this spring on Sunday when the Red Sox host the Baltimore Orioles. Aroldis Chapman, Justin Slaten, Wyatt Olds, Tayron Guerrero and Devin Sweet are all scheduled to pitch as well.
Applause and music echoed through the Hall of Flags at the Massachusetts State House Friday as lawmakers and community leaders gathered for the Black Excellence on the Hill and the Latino Excellence Awards.
The ceremony celebrates Black and brown residents committed to advancing economic equity.
“We’re honoring Black excellence,” said state Rep. Chris Worrell. “When we look at today, this is what it should look like. This is our house. Black people built this house, literally and figuratively.”
Honorees ranged from attorneys to former professional athletes. Nicole M. Bluefort of the Law Offices of Nicole Bluefort said she plans to use her platform to uplift others.
“I will use my advocacy skills as an attorney to move people forward,” she said.
Former NBA player Wayne Seldan Jr. talked about his journey from McDonald’s All American to a full scholarship at Kansas and a professional career.
“You always want to keep striving for continued betterment and for stuff to grow,” he said. “I don’t think there should be mountaintops. I think we should always be striving to keep building.”
The keynote address was delivered by Michelle Brown, mother of Jaylen Brown, who spoke about raising two children as a single mother and the importance of faith, discipline and education.
“There are no shortcuts. There are no guarantees,” she said. “There was faith, there was discipline, and there was a deep belief that education created mobility.”
Speakers emphasized that mobility is strengthened when communities work together for a common good. Bluefort highlighted the importance of mentorship and shared opportunity, while state Rep. Sally Kerans encouraged attendees to stand together across racial lines.
“In this moment, stand with others. Speak up. Don’t be afraid to say ‘That’s not normal.’ Be allies. Be supportive,” Kerans said.
Organizers said the ceremony was not only about recognition, but also about sustaining progress — encouraging leaders and residents alike to continue building toward a more equitable future.
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