鈥?Morris Claiborne was in the middle of a walkthrough
practice last summer when he got the call 鈥?finally 鈥?that he was eagerly
anticipating.It was time for his twin daughters to enter the world.A New York
Jets trainer had the cornerback’s cellphone and was tasked with letting him know
if and when Claiborne’s now-wife Jennifer was heading to the hospital.“I
remember I saw the trainer walking on the field and he gave me
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with The Associated Press at the family’s home. “I just ran. I took off running.
I grabbed my phone from him and I went to Coach (Todd) Bowles and I was like,
‘Coach, it’s time,’ and he was like, ‘All right, congratulations.’“And I
remember just running out of the building and running to the hospital, and when
I got up there I just looked at her.”It was July 30, 2017, and Jennifer was 35
weeks along 鈥?two weeks before her scheduled cesarean section. But her water
broke while she was watching the couple’s two English Bulldogs outside their
home. She had to immediately head to Morristown Medical Center, about 2 1/2
miles away.Meanwhile, Morris zipped from the Jets’ training facility in Florham
Park to the hospital just over 3 miles away in time to be there to welcome his
daughters.“He came and it all happened within the hour,” Jennifer recalled. “It
happened so fast, it was scary.”Doctors performed the C-section and first
delivered Ma’Kaila, who was quite underweight at 3 pounds, 8 ounces.Ma’Liah came
a few moments later, weighing in at a more robust 4 pounds, 13 ounces.Ma’Kaila
was immediately taken to the neonatal intensive care unit
Logan
Morrison Minnesota Twins Jersey , separated from her sister 鈥?and
mother 鈥?for the first time.“I was asking, ‘Is everything OK?'” Morris said.
“They were like, ‘She’s good. Everything’s good. It’s just that she’s
underweight 鈥?too underweight.’ They wanted to take her back and start feeding
her and try to get her to gain some weight.”Ma’Kaila stayed in the NICU for the
next two weeks, working up the strength to be sent home to her parents and
sister.For Morris, who was entering his first season with the Jets on a
one-year, prove-it deal after four years with the Cowboys, it was a whirlwind of
anxiety and excitement.Somehow, he needed to keep his mind focused on football,
while also wanting to make sure his wife and daughters had everything they
needed while he was working.“Oh, man,” he said, shaking his head. “We’d have
meetings early in the morning and we had to stay over at the (players’) hotel,
but Coach was giving me a little time to come here and stay with (Jennifer and
Ma’Liah) instead of going to the hotel. I’d come (home) after meetings. We’d get
done around 11 or so and I’d come here, check on her and make sure everything’s
OK with her and then I’d head up to the hotel for curfew and we’d FaceTime all
night.”Claiborne’s coaches and teammates never knew of the hectic routine he was
keeping throughout the summer.Playbooks and Pampers.Meetings and
feedings.Football and baby blankets.“I don’t care if it was 10 minutes, I live
so close to the facility that I was running home every single break to check on
them and see if everything’s OK and then I’d get back to my job,” he said. “It
was like that for a while, for the whole training camp. … It was chaos, but it
was fun.”Claiborne was in for the biggest surprise of all on Aug. 15 when he
arrived home during a short break.“I was like, ‘Babe
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Jerseys , come here, look,'” Jennifer called out to him. “I was
like, ‘Can you watch her real fast?’ And I was speaking of Ma’Liah.”But she had
brought Ma’Kaila home from the hospital earlier in the day and had both girls in
the bed, laying them beside her with a video camera set on record to capture the
moment.“I wasn’t expecting to see both of them at all,” a wide-eyed Claiborne
recalled. “I wasn’t ready for it at all. When I walked in, I was so used to
seeing her (Ma’Liah) in the bed when I’d come in, and when I saw both of them
laying there, my heart just dropped.“I was like, ‘Oh, my God.’ It really hit me:
We’ve got twins at the house. This is real now.”Ma’Liah and Ma’Kaila are now 10
1/2 months old, healthy and full of personality.Ma’Liah, according to Jennifer,
is the more demanding of the two, and “she’s a Daddy’s girl.” Ma’Kaila is still
slightly smaller than her sister, but is more independent 鈥?moving around on her
own, playing and feeding herself.“It gave me a sense of what I’m really playing
football for, what I’m really doing it for,” said the 28-year-old
Claiborne
Youth
Daryl Worley Jersey , who re-signed with the Jets on another
one-year deal in the offseason. “It’s for my family and bringing these two
precious little babies into the world, it opened my eyes to a much bigger
picture.“I’ve really learned that it’s not about yourself. Once you have kids,
it’s about the kids, but I think I got a re-understanding of that once these two
babies were born. I enjoy every moment of it.”The family was planning to fly to
its home in Dallas over the weekend to join Claiborne’s son Morris, who turns 9
in November, and daughter Madicyn, who’s 3, for a special Father’s Day.“Having
these girls made me understand that I really missed some valuable time with my
son, but I was off in college (at LSU) and there was nothing I could really do
about that,” Claiborne said. “My mindset was on making a way to feed him at that
time. Just having them made me realize how much time at Giannis Antetokounmpo
asserted himself in the biggest game of his budding career with his team on the
brink of playoff elimination.
Now it’s on to Game 7 for the Milwaukee Bucks.
Antetokounmpo had 31 points and 14 rebounds and the Bucks pulled away late to
beat the Boston Celtics 97-86 on Thursday night to force a winner-take-all game
Saturday night in Boston.
”At the end, it was (all) about will,” Antetokounmpo said. ”I was out there,
I was trying to make plays, I was trying to be aggressive.”
He had plenty of company to help keep the Celtics on their heels down the
stretch.
Khris Middleton and Malcolm Brogdon each added 16 points, with Brogdon
hitting a momentum-swinging 3 from the left corner to give the Bucks a
two-possession lead with 5:22 left.
Just getting to Game 7 is a small but significant step for a young team that
lost in six games to the Toronto Raptors a year ago. The up-and-coming Bucks
haven’t played a seventh game in the playoffs since losing to Atlanta in the
first round in 2010.
”This is what you work for. Embrace that moment. Go out as a team, attack it
together … find a way to get a win,” coach Joe Prunty said.
The Celtics had their shots to win in it six. They led by nine early, then
drew as close as 80-78 with 7:13 left on Marcus Morris’ 3-pointer.
The Bucks made the last big push to close out the Celtics.
Boston had to settle for perimeter looks down the stretch. They couldn’t hit
enough 3s, finishing 10 of 36 (28 percent) on the night Joe Thomas
Jersey Elite , and the Bucks limited Boston on the glass.
”We got stagnant and we weren’t very good,” coach Brad Stevens said
At the other end, Antetokounmpo led the Bucks’ charge right at the heart of
the Celtics’ defense.
After Eric Bledsoe picked off Jayson Tatum’s inbounds pass, Antetokounmpo
converted an offensive rebound with a putback off the glass for an 89-81 lead
with 3:08 left. It was part of an 11-3 run late to help the Bucks pull away for
10-point advantage.
With his team facing elimination, Antetokounmpo vowed to be more aggressive
following a five-point loss in Game 5.
The two-time All-Star produced in the crunch time, scoring 20 points in the
second half on 8-of-14 shooting.
”It’s big. We’ve grown as a team,” Antetokounmpo said. ”For us to win Game 6
– we have a big opportunity ahead of us.”
Tatum finished with 22 points, and Terry Rozier had 18 for the Celtics. After
holding the edge on the glass for most of the series, Boston got outrebounded
48-39.
”Clearly their speed and length and athleticism affected us,” Stevens said.
”They were quicker to the ball all night than us, best probably exemplified by
the rebounding numbers.”
TIP INS
Celtics: Stevens stuck with the same starting five he used for Game 5, with
Semi Ojeleye in for Aron Baynes for a quicker frontcourt on defense. … Former
President Bill Clinton attended the game and exchanged handshakes with guard
Marcus Smart. … Jaylen Brown added 14 points on 6-of-15 shooting.
Bucks: C John Henson (back) missed his fourth straight game, with Thon Maker
getting his first start of the series over Tyler Zeller. Maker finished with
four points and one block. … Held a 25-4 edge on transition points. … Jabari
Parker had another strong game off the bench with nine points and 11 rebounds,
while Tony Snell had six points.
YOUNG CELTICS
Veteran forward Al Horford chalks up Game 6 as another valuable learning
experience for his young teammates.
No better education than a seventh game in the playoffs on home court.
”It’s going to be new for our group. This whole playoff experience has been
new, we have a lot of new pieces,” Horford said. ”As a basketball player, fan,
one of the places that you want to enjoy and be is the TD Garden for a Game
7.”
He finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
QUOTABLE
”We got great looks this whole series. It’s a matter of knocking it down and
trusting the pass. … We need to have that same mentality going into Game 7.” –
Middleton.
UP NEXT
Game 7 is Saturday night at the TD Garden in Boston.
—
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