Ty Jerome scores 28 points in playoff debut to lead Cavaliers to Game 1 victory

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Ty Jerome scores 28 points in playoff debut to lead Cavaliers to Game 1 victory

2025-04-21 11:57 Last Updated At：12:01

CLEVELAND (AP) — Ty Jerome had to wait five years to play in his first NBA playoff game.

On Sunday night, he made the most of the opportunity.

Jerome scored 16 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter, and the Cleveland Cavaliers rolled to a 121-100 victory over the Miami Heat in the first game of the Eastern Conference first-round series.

“Solid. Solid Game 1," Jerome said.

Jerome had the third-most points in a Cavaliers playoff debut, behind LeBron James and Kyrie Irving.

Coach Kenny Atkinson didn't expect Jerome to have this type of debut,

“I should (of expected it) because he’s kind of done it all year,” Atkinson said.

Jerome also was the fourth player in franchise history to score at least 28 points coming off the bench.

The game Sunday continued what has been a breakthrough season for Jerome. The 6-foot-5 guard — who helped lead the University of Virginia to an NCAA championship in 2019 — is in his sixth NBA season but played in only two games last season due to a right ankle injury.

Jerome played in a career-best 70 games during the regular season and averaged 12.5 points, also a career high. Before the Cavaliers took the floor, Jerome was named one of the finalists for the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year award.

“Your back’s kind of against the wall. I didn’t really have a huge body of work in the NBA add you kind of have one last shot in a way to make it right,” Jerome said about his mentality going into the season. “I had all that time off to reflect and do mental work and see what was needed to improve on. Confidence and aggression was a thing for me as well, especially.”

Jerome is known as one of the more vocal bench players on the Cavaliers. But on Sunday it was his shooting that did the talking.

He was 10 of 15 from the field, going 5 of 8 on 3-pointers, and had five rebounds and three assists in 28 minutes.

While Jerome's fourth-quarter shooting — he was 6 of 7 from the field and made all three of his 3-point attempts — was the talk of social media, his teammates were not surprised.

“I mean, this is who he’s been,” said Donovan Mitchell, who has known Jerome since they were both 8 in New York. “It is full circle to come back from being eight years old to my first basketball teammate to now here we are. I know everybody’s gonna react like this is a shock, but he’s been doing this for us all year.”

Atkinson's favorite play made by Jerome wasn't a basket. Instead, it was a drive and pass to Jarrett Allen for a layup with 5:47 remaining that gave the Cavaliers a 104-90 lead.

“He got downhill and made that lefty pocket pass to (Allen) for the layup,” Atkinson said. “They went zone and he kind of shot them out of the zone, hitting two 3-pointers. He did it all tonight, and then defensively smart in the right position. He turned the game for us.”

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Poland votes for a new president Sunday as worries grow about the future

2025-05-15 19:44 Last Updated At：19:50

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A war next door in Ukraine.Migration pressure at borders. Russian sabotage across the region. Doubts about the U.S. commitment to Europe's security.

In Poland’s presidential election Sunday, security looms large. So do questions about the country’s strength as a democracy and its place in the European Union. One of the new president’s most important tasks will be maintaining strong ties with the United States, widely seen as essential to the survival of a country in an increasingly volatile neighborhood.

Voters in this Central European nation of 38 million people will cast ballots to replace conservative incumbent Andrzej Duda, whose second and final five-year term ends in August.

With 13 candidates, a decisive first-round victory is unlikely. Some have appeared unserious or extreme, with a couple expressing openly pro-Putin or antisemitic views. A televised debate this week dragged on for nearly four hours. There are calls to raise the threshold to qualify for the race.

A runoff on June 1 is widely expected, with polls pointing to a likely showdown between Rafał Trzaskowski, the liberal mayor of Warsaw, and Karol Nawrocki, a conservative historian backed by the Law and Justice party, which governed Poland from 2015 to 2023.

Poland’s geography gives the election added importance. Bordering Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave, Belarus and war-torn Ukraine — as well as several Western allies — Poland occupies a critical position along NATO’s eastern flank and serves as a key logistics hub for military aid to Ukraine.

There are growing fears that if Russia prevails in its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, it could target other countries that freed themselves from Moscow's control some 35 years ago. Against that backdrop, the election will shape Warsaw’s foreign policy at a moment of mounting strain on trans-Atlantic unity and European defense.

Both leading candidates support continued U.S. military engagement in Europe. Trzaskowski puts greater emphasis on deepening ties with the European Union, while Nawrocki is more skeptical of Brussels and promotes a nationalist agenda.

When Law and Justice held power, it repeatedly clashed with EU institutions over judicial independence, media freedom and migration.

While Poland is a parliamentary democracy, the presidency wields significant influence. The president serves as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, holds veto power, shapes foreign policy and plays a symbolic role in national discourse.

Under Duda, the office largely advanced the conservative agenda of Law and Justice. Since Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s centrist coalition came to power in late 2023, Duda has blocked key reforms aimed at restoring judicial independence and repairing relations with the EU.

“The stakes are enormous for the ruling coalition and for those concerned with the future of Polish democracy,” said Jacek Kucharczyk, president of the Institute of Public Affairs, a Warsaw think tank. “This is about democratic reform and restoring the rule of law — and that can only happen with cooperation from the next president.”

The election is also pivotal for Law and Justice, Kucharczyk noted: “Its future as a dominant political force may hinge on the outcome.”

Both Trzaskowski and Nawrocki have pledged to support Ukraine and maintain strong defense ties, but their visions for Poland diverge sharply on the role of the EU and domestic social policy.

Trzaskowski, 52, is a former presidential contender and a senior figure in Civic Platform, the centrist party led by Tusk. He is running on a pro-European platform and has pledged to defend judicial independence and rebuild democratic institutions.

Supporters describe him as a modernizer who represents a cosmopolitan, outward-facing Poland. He speaks foreign languages, has marched in LGBTQ+ parades and appeals to younger, urban voters. Trzaskowski's progressive views highlight an evolution of the once more conservative Civic Platform.

Nawrocki, 42, represents how the party backing him, Law and Justice, is turning further to the right as support for the hard right grows.

Nawrocki, who is not a Law and Justice party member, heads the state-backed Institute of National Remembrance, which investigates Nazi and communist-era crimes. He has drawn praise from conservatives for dismantling Soviet monuments and promoting patriotic education, but he faces criticism for inexperience and playing on anti-German and other resentments. He has also been embroiled in some scandals.

Earlier this month, Nawrocki met with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House — a symbolic moment welcomed by Law and Justice-friendly media as proof that he would be the best man for keeping the relationship with the United States strong. Critics viewed it as interference by Trump's administration.

This week Nawrocki was joined on the campaign trail by Romanian nationalist George Simion, who faces a runoff vote for the presidency on Sunday. Simion is viewed by critics as pro-Russian, leading Tusk to tweet: "Russia is pleased. Nawrocki and his pro-Russian Romanian counterpart George Simion on the same stage five days before the presidential elections in Poland and Romania. Everything is clear.“

AP video reporter Rafał Niedzielski contributed to this report.