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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that Moody’s Ratings were a “lagging indicator” after the group downgraded the U.S.’ credit rating by a notch from the highest level.

“I think that Moody’s is a lagging indicator,” Bessent said Sunday. “I think that’s what everyone thinks of credit agencies.”

Moody’s said last week that the downgrade from Aaa to Aa1 “reflects the increase over more than a decade in government debt and interest payment ratios to levels that are significantly higher than similarly rated sovereigns.”

The treasury secretary asserted that the downgrade was related to the Biden administration’s spending policies, which that administration had touted as investments in priorities, including combatting climate change and increasing health care coverage.

“Just like Sean Duffy said with our air traffic control system, we didn’t get here in the past 100 days,” Bessent continued, referring to the transportation secretary. “It’s the Biden administration and the spending that we have seen over the past four years.”

The U.S. has $36.22 trillion in national debt, according to the Treasury Department. It began growing steadily in the 1980s and continued increasing during both President Donald Trump’s first term and former President Joe Biden’s administration.

Bessent also told moderator Kristen Welker that he spoke on the phone with the CEO of Walmart, Doug McMillon, who the treasury secretary said told him the retail giant would “eat some of the tariffs, just as they did in ’18, ’19 and ’20.”

Walmart CFO John David Rainey previously told CNBC that Walmart would absorb some higher costs related to tariffs. The CFO had also told CNBC separately that he was “concerned” consumers would “start seeing higher prices,” pointing to tariffs.

Trump said in a post to Truth Social last week that Walmart should “eat the tariffs.” Walmart responded, saying the company has “always worked to keep our prices as low as possible and we won’t stop.”

“We’ll keep prices as low as we can for as long as we can given the reality of small retail margins,” the statement continued.

When asked about his conversation, Bessent denied he applied any pressure on Walmart to “eat the tariffs,” noting that he and the CEO “have a very good relationship.”

“I just wanted to hear it from him, rather than second-, third-hand from the press,” Bessent said.

McMillon had said on Walmart’s earnings call that tariffs have put pressure on prices. Bessent argued that companies “have to give the worst case scenario” on the calls.

The White House has said that countries are approaching the administration to negotiate over tariffs. The administration has also announced trade agreements with the United Kingdom and China. 

Bessent said on Sunday that he thinks countries that do not negotiate in good faith would see duties return to the rates announced the day the administration unveiled across-the-board tariffs.

“The negotiating leverage that President Trump is talking about here is if you don’t want to negotiate, then it will spring back to the April 2 level,” Bessent said.

Bessent was also asked about Trump saying the administration would accept a luxury jet from Qatar to be used as Air Force One, infuriating Democrats and drawing criticism from some Republicans as well. 

The treasury secretary called questions about the $400 million gift an “off ramp for many in the media not to acknowledge what an incredible trip this was,” referring to investment commitments the president received during his trip last week to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

“If we go back to your initial question on the Moody’s downgrade, who cares? Qatar doesn’t. Saudi doesn’t. UAE doesn’t,” he said. “They’re all pushing money in.”

When asked for his response to those who argue that the jet sends a message that countries can curry favor with the U.S. by sending gifts, Bessent said that “the gifts are to the American people,” pointing to investment agreements that were unveiled during Trump’s Middle East trip. 

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., criticized Bessent’s comments about the credit downgrade, saying in a separate interview on “Meet the Press.”

“I heard the treasury secretary say that, ‘Who cares about the downgrading of our credit rating from Moody’s?’ That is a big deal,” Murphy said.

“That means that we are likely headed for a recession. That probably means higher interest rates for anybody out there who is trying to start a business or to buy a home,” he continued. “These guys are running the economy recklessly because all they care about is the health of the Mar-a-Lago billionaire class.”

Former Vice President Mike Pence criticized President Donald Trump’s approach to tariffs, as well as several foreign policy initiatives, in an interview with NBC News’ “Meet the Press” airing Sunday.

“The initial reciprocal tariffs that he unveiled would be the largest peacetime tax hike on the American people in the history of this country,” Pence told moderator Kristen Welker, referring to the sweeping tariffs Trump imposed on the United States’ largest trading partners in early April.

Days later, the president paused most of the tariffs, a move that Pence on Friday said he was “glad” to see.

The interview covered a wide range of topics — and Pence opened with broad praise for the second Trump administration, applauding the president for having “secured the southern border in a historic way” and ordering military action against the Houthis in Yemen, among other things.

“But in the midst of all of that, I have seen some departure from the policies of our administration both at home and abroad,” Pence noted. He mentioned “wavering support” for Ukraine in the first 100 days of Trump’s second term and criticized one potential vision for a nuclear deal with Iran. And he was especially critical of Trump’s tariffs.

The former vice president said his primary concern with Trump’s current plan, which is to negotiate trade deals that could still include tariffs on most nations, is that it will lead to higher prices for Americans.

He added that the president’s current plan is “very different” from how Trump’s first administration, in which Pence served as vice president, operated.

“We very much used the threat of tariffs as leverage for negotiations, Kristen,” Pence said, adding later: “What I see in this administration is a steady drive toward a baseline of maybe even 10% tariffs that I think would be harmful to jobs in America. It would be harmful to consumers in America.”

Pence also criticized Trump’s frequent line about who pays tariffs when they are imposed.

“As the president has said to me many times, he has a sense that other countries pay tariffs,” Pence said, “when the reality is, when Americans buy goods overseas, the company that imports those goods in this country pays the tariff and more often than not passes that along in higher prices to consumers.”

Views of Vance and the role of the vice president

Asked whether he objected to the tariffs on certain consumer goods that Trump imposed during his first term, Pence admitted that he probably had, but privately.

“I probably did in the hallways, but the president gets to make the decision,” Pence said.

“When you’re vice president of the United States, my view is always this: I’d favor the president, with the full range of my opinion in private,” Pence said. “And then when he made the decision, my job was to support his decision absent some higher calling or higher obligation that one has.”

Earlier in the interview, Pence also spoke about the counsel he hopes Trump is receiving from those around him now, including Vice President JD Vance.

“President Trump was not just my president. He was my friend,” Pence said, describing his relationship with Trump during his first term, which frayed after Pence resisted Trump’s pressure to use his role to try to overturn the 2020 election results when Congress met to count the Electoral College votes on Jan. 6, 2021.

“I took the opportunity in the right settings, private moments, to share with him those times when we differed on issues,” Pence said. “And my hope is, whether it’s the vice president or others, that there are those voices around the president that do the same.”

The former vice president demurred when asked how he thinks the current vice president is doing in his job, with Pence simply saying he “would have a hard time assessing that precisely, but [Vance is] an honorable man.”

Foreign policy

Pence also spoke about Trump’s approach to foreign policy in this term. He told Welker it’s “a bad idea” for the president to accept a plane as a gift from the Qatari royal family, amid reports that Trump plans to do so, and was critical of Trump’s speech in Saudi Arabia.

The former vice president also questioned the Trump administration’s approach to Iran, as top U.S. officials seek to reach a deal with Iran over the nation’s possession of uranium and nuclear technology.

Pence said he is worried about reports that Iran is seeking to maintain a civilian nuclear program, telling Welker the U.S. “should make it clear in negotiations with Iran that their current nuclear program must be either dismantled or destroyed.”

“I am grateful that President Trump has reiterated the policy of our administration, that Iran will not be permitted to obtain a nuclear weapon. The security of America, the security of Israel, the stability of the region and the world demands that we enforce that. But from my standpoint, when I hear talk about allowing Iran to have an enrichment program at a certain level, it sounds for all the world like President Obama’s Iran nuclear deal that we got out of in the first year of our administration.”

“We need to make it clear to them that America is not bluffing, that we will not allow them to continue to enrich uranium,” Pence added.

Asked whether an attack against Iran should be on the table as an option to push it to dismantle its nuclear program, Pence said, “Of course. I think all options should be on the table.”

Pence also said he thinks additional sanctions against Russia should be on the table as Trump seeks the end of the country’s war in Ukraine, though the administration has said such threats would damage the talks it has set up.

“I’ve met Vladimir Putin. My judgment is Vladimir Putin only understands strength,” Pence said.

Jan. 6 pardons

Pence said “I don’t see that in my future” when asked if he might run for president again, having sought the White House in 2023 without gaining much traction before he dropped out of the race. His break with Trump over the 2020 election results, which Trump repeatedly and falsely claimed were marred by fraud, also damaged his political standing in the Republican Party.

Pence said Trump was wrong to issue a blanket pardon of people who faced charges for participating in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

“I will always believe by God’s grace I did my duty that day to support and defend the Constitution of the United States and see to the peaceful transfer of power,” Pence said, later drawing a distinction between some Jan. 6 defendants who “just walked through an open door, meant no harm, did no harm,” and those charged with more serious crimes.

“But individuals who broke into the Capitol, who assaulted police officers, I said that day and I believe to this moment should have been prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Pence said.

With a little over three minutes to go in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinal matchup between the New York Knicks and the Boston Celtics, Knicks forward Mikal Bridges hit a short pull-up jumper to give New York a 111-104 lead.

After trailing by as many as 14 points in the third quarter, the Knicks battled back to take the lead, and the tightly contested final quarter was critical to the series — either New York would go up 3-1 or lose its second straight and head to Boston tied 2-2.

For the third time in the series, though, the Knicks would ultimately overcome a double-digit second-half deficit and win. And Bridges’ midrange jumper was the shot that made everyone at Madison Square Garden realize what was about to happen.

The World’s Most Famous Arena erupted as a dejected Celtics team called a timeout and lumbered to their bench. Everyone from the celebrities courtside to the fans in the last row was on their feet, enjoying what longtime Knicks broadcaster Mike Breen called the franchise’s most important win in 25 years.

That’s because for most of this millennium, there’s never been a better time to be a New York Knicks fan.

“Right now, it’s an incredible time in New York City and the best time ever to be a New Yorker,” hip-hop legend and Bronx native Fat Joe tells NBC News. “When the Knicks are winning and thriving, it’s like a feeling of euphoria and magic.”

Joe adds, though: “But from 2001 to 2020, those were some painful memories. The Knicks would be competitive at times, but they would always lose games in the clutch and just break your heart.”

“They would raise your blood pressure too high sometimes, but that’s what makes you appreciate the last couple years of greatness.”

Knicks fans certainly seem to appreciate this current team after spending two decades in the NBA wilderness. The Knicks on Friday dismantled the Celtics, who were heavily favored entering the series, by a score of 119-81 to advance to their first East Conference Finals in 25 years.

Following a run to the Eastern Conference finals in 2000, New York spent the next 20 years floundering. From ’01 to ’20, the Knicks played in only 30 postseason games, posting a pitiful 9-21 record.

In the last five years alone, the Knicks have played in 39 playoff contests, winning 21. It may not be a full return to glory, but it’s at least a return to relevance for a franchise that made the playoffs in every season in the 1990s.

The 2025 playoff run has featured the comebacks against the Celtics as well as a 21-0 run against the Detroit Pistons to win Game 1 in the first round and a series-clinching three by point guard Jalen Brunson. Those moments are now a part of Knicks lore.

Joe, an MSG fixture who was in the building for Larry Johnson’s iconic 4-point play in 1999 (“I still get goosebumps thinking about that moment”) is only one of the faithful seeing his patience pay off.

“I ride for my team through all the ups and downs,” he says.

So does Michael Ompod, a 29-year-old from Clifton, New Jersey, who has spent most of his life with his favorite basketball team being a laughingstock.

“I mean, when I was younger, it was the team to be made fun of,” Ompod says. “I was bullied by Nets fans back in the day. And for us to do good, it means a lot to me. Like something in the air is different.”

For a long time, it was quite easy to bully Knicks fans, as the team was often mired in some combination of poor management, ineptitude or overall poor play on the court.

The 20 years before the recent playoff success brought with them the ignominious Isiah Thomas years, the failed promise of the Carmelo Anthony era, constant chants for owner James Dolan to sell the team, and some of the most baffling contracts in NBA history (sorry, Jared Jeffries).

New York first hinted at a resurgence in 2021 when forward Julius Randle won Most Improved Player and led the team to the playoffs for the first time since 2013.

The Knicks missed the playoffs in 2022, but that summer signed Brunson, arguably the best free-agent signing in team history. Brunson signed a four-year, $104 million contract in ’22, which ended up being absurdly good value for a player who has proved to be a superstar and the face of the franchise.

Brunson has since signed a four-year extension that gave New York a second discount, taking less than a maximum contract to give the front office more flexibility in building around him.

And the Knicks have taken advantage by making shrewd move after shrewd move, acquiring two-way wings such as Bridges and OG Anunoby, while trading Randle and guard Donte DiVincenzo for All-Star big man Karl-Anthony Towns before the season.

The result was the best team in years. New York won 51 games in the regular season, its most since 2013.

“It still feels surreal that we’ve made it this far,” Ompod says. “I mean, coming from a Knicks fan, I love that we’re doing good, but a part of me is just like, ‘Oh, this is actually happening.’ I mean, if the Knicks could win, anything’s possible.”

The recent success is also creating a new generation of diehards, like Terrence Lacewell, a 22-year-old from West Long Branch, New Jersey.

Lacewell comes from several generations of Knicks fans, but he’s lived most of his life during the team’s lean years. He heard stories from his grandfather and mother about the ’90s and what it was like to watch New York battle with the Chicago Bulls and the Houston Rockets.

At Game 4, wearing a Randle jersey and sitting in the last row of Section 420, Lacewell got to experience a legendary Knicks playoff at Madison Square Garden for himself.

With only the WNBA’s Liberty winning a major championship for New York since 2012, Lacewell believes there’s an extra motivating factor for the city, which hasn’t seen a Knicks title since 1973.

“We all get up for a contender,” Lacewell says. “We’re so desperate, everyone is rooting for the New York team.”

Director Spike Lee, a fixture in the front row for decades and perhaps the team’s most famous fan, was also at Game 4, arms outstretched when Bridges sent the crowd into a frenzy late in the fourth.

When asked what it means to be a fan of the Knicks, Lee thinks back to the team’s first championship in 1970. He shows off the championship ring belonging to Red Holzman — the coach who led New York to its only two titles in the ’70s — and said he had to take it out of the vault to wear for Game 4.

“That’s it, that’s all I’ve got to say,” Lee said. “I was at Game 7, May 8, 1970, the Willis Reed game. Also, the Walt Frazier game. I was 13 years old.”

Lee, now 68, may finally get a chance to update that ring collection this summer.

Why 24-hour access matters

At the same time, some birth control products have become more easily available through online purchasing and over the counter, including Opill, which last year became the first non prescription birth control pill available in the United States. New methods of birth control have also come to market, including long-acting implants, patches and Phexxi, a hormone-free vaginal gel.

Emergency contraception is available without a prescription, a fact that many women don’t know, according to a poll conducted by KFF, a health policy research organization. Indeed, half of women who live in states where abortion is banned either incorrectly think emergency contraceptive pills are illegal in their state or say they are unsure, the poll found.

Still, younger women are more likely to report that they’ve used emergency contraception: 44% of women ages 15 to 24 and 40% of women ages 25 to 34. And online data shows that searches for emergency contraception often happen later at night, Voyten said.

“And 7-Eleven is open,” she said.

Megan Kavanaugh, a principal research scientist with the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health research group, said 99% of women of childbearing age in the United States have used some form of contraception, including natural family planning, “over the course of their lifetime,” a trend that holds true across all demographics, including religious beliefs. Less than 1 percent of women use fertility awareness based methods.

And the use of emergency contraception has also risen in recent decades. Researchers at KFF found that one-third of women ages 15 to 49 who have ever had sex with a male in the United States have used it.

“People use EC for a lot of reasons,” Kavanaugh said. “The condom fails, they haven’t been using birth control or they may need to use it after sexual assault.”

Cost, however, can be a barrier for some women, she said, noting that over-the-counter products like Plan B One Step — another emergency contraceptive — can cost upwards of $50. “That’s a prohibitive price point,” she said.

Condoms are inexpensive but usually outside the control of women having sex, Kavanaugh said. “It’s all part of the misogyny that we live in that we price products differently,” she said.

Cadence’s emergency contraception is priced around $25 per box for a one-time dose. A study of consumer behavior conducted by the manufacturer, Cadence, found that women questioned the quality and efficacy of a birth control product priced below $15, but products priced more than $30 were prohibitively expensive. 

Polling shows that a broad majority of Americans support contraception and oppose efforts to restrict its access.

Stored in lockboxes or behind the counter

Still, getting help in preventing pregnancy can often be a challenge, said Dr. Amanda Bryson, a pediatrician and adolescent medicine specialist at the University of California, San Francisco and an assistant professor of pediatrics.

Bryson, who provides care to adolescents and young adults and is not affiliated with Cadence, said that those barriers can include a need for confidentiality, as well as a lack of transportation, financial means or health insurance. And even though emergency contraception is available without a prescription or age requirement, pharmacists often stock the product in lockboxes or behind the counter, requiring teenagers and young adults to seek out a store clerk. 

In convenience stores, the pills are generally stocked next to condoms, not behind the counter. 

Finding emergency contraception in rural areas can also be difficult, particularly in towns without a pharmacy or a drugstore. 

Bryson recalled one patient who called, after-hours, seeking emergency contraception. After counseling the patient, who had insurance, Bryson called in a prescription to a local pharmacy, but it was out of stock. Another pharmacy, however, had over-the-counter medication — for $50. The patient bought the pills there. 

“It shouldn’t be this hard,” Bryson said. “This young adult had information about EC, she had a physician who could counsel her, she knew she could reach me after hours, she had insurance, she was able to drive, and this was still an immense barrier.”

She added: “In situations similar to this one, having a lower cost pill in convenience stores with expanded hours could be really meaningful.”

“Taking care of your sexual health should not be stigmatized,” Bryson said, adding that “availability and visibility” of birth control for women on convenience store shelves can help combat stigma.

Cadence officials say they would like to expand their market on college campuses, and perhaps even to vending machines, noting that it is a “very profitable product.” 

And though Plan B, a widely known emergency contraception brand, is not available in convenience stores, the medication is distributed at CVS, Walgreens, Walmart and other retailers and can be delivered by UberEats, Doordash, and Instacart, according the company.

While retailers in some areas “have objections about bringing in the product,” those concerns are often overtaken by demand, Voyten said.

“There are some who say, ‘I don’t believe in this,’” she said. “’But I know my customer needs it.’”

Before sunrise in Baltimore on Friday, the Rev. Robert Turner, senior pastor of the Empowerment Temple AME Church, set out to walk 43 miles from his church to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

Turner, who has made the trip from Baltimore to D.C. more than 30 times to call for reparations for Black people across America because of the consequences of slavery, made the 14-hour journey this week to protest what he says is an attempt by the Trump administration to erase important American history. For him, the future of the museum that he and many other Black people lovingly call the “Blacksonian” is worth every step.

“If you don’t know the horrors that we went through, the hell, then you might not see the need for repairing,” Turner said. “It’s important for President Trump to know this issue of saving the Blacksonian and the issue of repairing America, and creating a culture of repair is very important to saving the soul of America.”

The context: Decades-old artifacts related to slavery and civil rights are rotating out of exhibits at the museum as a potential White House review looms.

In late March, President Donald Trump signed an executive order demanding in part that the museum take down any exhibits that “divide Americans based on race.” But now, the White House says it is not involved in any changes at the museum, while Democrats in Congress are sounding the alarm, signing a letter and introducing legislation to protect civil rights landmarks.

NBC News went inside the museum and found at least 32 artifacts that were once on display have been removed.

They include Harriet Tubman’s book of hymns filled with gospels that she is believed to have sung as she led enslaved people to freedom through the underground railroad, as well as a cloth made by enslaved people and a photo of the hip-hop group Public Enemy. 

Also removed was the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,” the memoir by one of the most important leaders in the abolition movement. Both items were gifted to the Smithsonian.

In a statement, White House spokesperson Lindsey Halligan said, “The White House had no involvement in removing any exhibit from the National Museum of African American History and Culture or any other Smithsonian institution. They did this on their own accord.”

The museum pushed back on criticism, saying on its website that “claims that objects have been removed for reasons other than adherence to standard loan agreements or museum practices are false.” It also listed 11 new artifacts coming on display later this month, including a photograph focused on how mass incarceration impacts Black people, a painting depicting a Ku Klux Klan figure, and artwork dedicated to Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black boy from Chicago murdered by white men in 1955 while visiting family in Mississippi after the teen was accused of trying to flirt with a white woman.

In an email to NBC News, the museum reiterated that rotating objects is normal.

But Turner isn’t convinced. “We have to now say enough is enough, and America is better than this, Black and white,” he said. “We are stronger than this. If our children can endure being lynched, then white children can endure a classroom that teaches that America used to lynch kids.”

Liz Brazelton, the owner of a diary connected to the Oscar-winning film “12 Years a Slave,” isn’t convinced either. She’s the great-great-granddaughter of the lawyer who helped free Solomon Northup, a free Black man who was kidnapped and forced into slavery.

“I grew up with the diaries,” Brazelton said. “The most important thing in his diaries was the fact that he did help free this man who was a free man of color. And it’s just an amazing story. And in central Louisiana, it’s quite a prominent story. And I’m very proud of it.”

She gave one of her great-great-grandfather’s diaries to the museum in September 2015 on a 10-year loan. The museum sent her a letter in March, before the end of the term, saying, “We have decided to move ahead with the return a bit early to coincide with our internal gallery rotation schedule.”

The letter was sent two weeks before Trump signed the executive order targeting exhibits at the Smithsonian, which raised a red flag for Brazelton.

“When I saw the executive order, I wondered if they maybe knew something was going to happen and they rotated it out early because it was about slavery, that entire exhibit,” she said.

The Smithsonian declined NBC News’ request for an interview. But it repeated in an email that the diary move was a scheduled rotation to “allow for necessary rest following an extended display period.”

Brazelton said she was never told between 2016 and 2025 that her family’s diary was ever taken off of exhibit or rotated out. She believes it had stayed in the exhibit until recently.

The Rev. Amos C. Brown, a prominent pastor and civil rights leader, lent two of his books to the museum when it opened in 2016. The items included his father’s Bible, which is more than 100 years old and was carried by Brown during protests with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., as well as a book on the history of Black people that was written in the 1800s.

“I was feeling that through this museum, America will see me, will see Black people,” Brown said. “We have been and are architects, designers of great things. … We took a negative and turned it into a positive, and telling the story of how people achieved great things in spite of oppression, in spite of those evil things that were done to us, that’s what that museum represents.”

Earlier this year, the Smithsonian sent him an email saying it would return his books. The museum called it a “standard practice,” adding that the loan expired in May. Still, Brown called that explanation an excuse, noting to NBC News that the museum has always chosen to renew the loan until now.

“I feel it to be very much inhumane, disrespectful and downright unjust,” he said of the decision to end the loan.

After his public pushback, the museum offered to keep the books permanently, according to a letter reviewed by NBC News.

The broader controversy is becoming increasingly political. House Democrats are demanding Vice President JD Vance, who now sits on the board of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, not take steps to overhaul the museum. In a letter, the lawmakers said, “This flagrant attempt to erase Black history is unacceptable and must be stopped.”

Rep. Terri Sewell, an Alabama Democrat who sits on a House committee that conducts oversight of the Smithsonian Institution, was among the lawmakers who signed the letter. “To tell the truth means to share the good and the bad. And if we don’t tell our stories, who will tell our stories?” she said.

Meanwhile, Turner plans to continue making his monthly, hourslong pilgrimage from Baltimore to Washington, D.C., to shine a brighter spotlight on the museum’s artifacts getting pulled from displays and to demand reparations for Black people across the nation.

“Our story cannot die, no matter who’s in the White House,” he said.

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INDIANAPOLIS — The Caitlin Clark-Angel Reese rivalry added another chapter Saturday when Reese took exception to Clark’s hard foul with 4:38 left in the third quarter as the Indiana Fever and Chicago Sky opened their seasons.

After Reese grabbed an offensive rebound, Clark slapped Reese across the arm, knocking the ball away and Reese to the floor. Reese then jumped up and confronted Clark as Fever center Aliyah Boston jumped in between the two players.

Following a replay review, the referees upgraded the foul to a flagrant one and called double technical fouls on Boston and Reese.

It was Clark’s third personal foul.

During an in-game interview with ESPN, Clark said there was “nothing malicious” about the foul.

“It’s just a good take foul,” Clark said. “You know, either Angel gets a wide open two points, or we send them to the free-throw line. Nothing malicious about it. It’s just a good take foul. Every basketball player knows that.”

When Reese missed the first of two throws, Gainbridge Fieldhouse erupted in cheers. Reese made the second, though, and Chicago added a layup on the ensuing possession to cut the deficit to 56-45.

Clark had 12 points, four rebounds, three assists and a career-high tying three blocks in the first half. Reese had seven points and nine rebounds through the first two quarters.

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