By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has accepted a gifted Boeing 747 aircraft from Qatar for President Donald Trump to use as Air Force One, the Pentagon said Wednesday.

The Defense Department will “work to ensure proper security measures” on the aircraft to make it safe for use by the president, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said. He added that the plane was accepted “in accordance with all federal rules and regulations.”

Trump has defended the gift, which came up during his recent Middle East trip, as a way to save tax dollars.

“Why should our military, and therefore our taxpayers, be forced to pay hundreds of millions of Dollars when they can get it for FREE,” Trump posted on his social media site during the trip.

Others, however, have raised concerns about the aircraft being a violation of the Constitution’s prohibition on foreign gifts. They also have noted the need to retrofit the plane to meet security requirements, which would be costly and take time.

Trump was asked about the move Wednesday while he was meeting in the Oval Office with South Africa’s president. “They are giving the United States Air Force a jet,” Trump said.

The Republican president has presented no national security imperative for a swift upgrade rather than waiting for Boeing to finish new Air Force One jets that have been in the works for years.

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OKLAHOMA CITY — Timberwolves coach Chris Finch walked into the locker room after Minnesota’s Game 1 defeat at the hands of the Thunder to open the Western Conference Finals and told his team the good news:

Now they know what it looks like.

The Thunder were the best team in the NBA all season for a reason. They harass you physically on both ends of the floor, with relentless defensive ball pressure and a constant attacking of the rim on offense.

Oklahoma City brought both in full force on Tuesday, and Minnesota finally broke. This is not a Lakers team sporting obvious holes after being constructed on the fly this season, nor a Golden State team playing without one of its best player.

This is a fully-healthy, fine-tuned killing machine. And to contend in this series, Minnesota will have to do everything it has done to date in this postseason, only better.

“I think we knew coming in it was going to be different,” Wolves guard Mike Conley said. “It’s going to be more mental than it is anything. We’ve been through a lot of dog fights throughout these playoffs, but now it’s about matchups and different lineups and looking up at the score and seeing you just gave up a 6-0 run, can we calm it down? Can we not rush a quick 3? Get we get something good offensively? Can we settle it down?”

Those are a lot of questions to answer.

“We have to really, really be locked in on that. Especially against a team like OKC,” Conley added. “They thrive when you take those quick, bad shots and they take off in transition and get going and get their crowd going.”

Take care of the ball. Make smart, crisp decisions. Be physical and locked in defensively. The Timberwolves were well aware of the formula to topple the Thunder at the series’ outset. But perhaps now there’s a realization of the urgency that will be required to execute it.

Because now the Wolves have seen what it looks like when they don’t possess as much. Minnesota turned the ball over a whopping 19 times, directly leading to 31 points for the Thunder, all while struggling from the field. Minnesota committed six turnovers in the opening seven minutes of Game 1 as it attempted to attack off the bounce in isolation situations, to no avail.

If you hold the ball or overdribble against Oklahoma City, you’re dead.

“It’s hard to process,” Edwards said of the Thunder defense. “It was different every time. I mean, heavy in the gaps, sometimes trap the ball screen, sometimes don’t. Sometimes just run and jump. It was kind of similar to AAU. They remind me of an AAU defensive team: just run and jump, fly around.”

How do you combat that?

Conley said it’s by being crisp and executing with more energy. That’s how you set the tone and establish yourself as the aggressors.

“If we can just be more assertive on that end, (then we can) get the ball to spots where you need it to be so we can start running our actions with some pace, with some kind of discipline through it,” Conley said.

All things that require intention.

It was no secret that Oklahoma City ramps up its aggression far beyond anything anyone has produced against Minnesota.

“That’s kind of their identity,” Wolves forward Naz Reid said. “We just let it get the best of us today. We know better. We’ve got to be better. The beauty of it is you play (on Thursday).”

That’s Game 2, which now carries a heightened weight for Minnesota. This is not the type of team you want to fall behind 2-0 in a best-of-7 series.

Edwards said it was “pretty good” for the Wolves to get the poor response “out of our system” on Tuesday.

Minnesota just completed a series in which it delivered a clunker in Game 1 and rallied to win the series in five games. But, again, this is different.

“We proved that we can do it, but we’ve got to make it happen, too,” Julius Randle said. “We can’t just be like, ‘All right, we did it last series. I mean, we’re going to do it again.’ This is a great team. They’ve been playing great basketball all year.”

And Minnesota will have to play great to match it.

“We’ll be ready for it Game 2,” Edwards said. “We should be ready.”

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OKLAHOMA CITY — Every time the mere thought of attacking the rack crossed Anthony Edwards’ mind in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals on Tuesday, he saw four Thunder players between himself and the bucket.

Oklahoma City simply wasn’t going to make it an option in their 114-88, Game 1 victory at Paycom Center.

There’s a reason the Thunder allowed the third-fewest shots per game in the restricted area this season (21.6) and the lowest field goal percentage on such attempts (62.2%).

The initial line of defense, built out of an array of strong point-of-attack defenders, is so sturdy. Then there are the layers of defenders helping in from the perimeter, all before you reach the final line of defense, which is usually either Chet Holmgren or Isaiah Hartenstein waiting for you at the rim.

Edwards drove the ball just seven times in Game 1, per Second Spectrum tracking data. That’s a significant decrease from the 13 drives he’s averaging per game in these playoffs.

“They clogged the paint. That’s what they do,” Edwards said. “They don’t got much size down there, so they bank on us not making shots, I guess.”

It was a good bet in Game 1.

After Julius Randle went full flamethrower mode from deep in the first half on Tuesday, Minnesota combined to go just 5 for 23 from distance over the final two frames as Oklahoma City pulled away. Minnesota’s bench mob of Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Naz Reid and Donte DiVincenzo combined to go 5 for 28 from beyond the arc.

“Just missing a bunch of in-and-outs and all that good stuff,” Reid said.

The Wolves went 15 for 51 from beyond the arc on the evening, including going 8 for 30 on “wide open” shots, per NBA.com data.

“We were getting some good looks, and guys just weren’t knocking them down,” said Wolves guard Mike Conley, who went 1 for 5 from 3-point range. “We’ve got great shooters, guys who’ve done it all season and all playoffs. So, we have confidence in our guys. We have confidence that Julius, Ant, all the playmakers, will make the right reads and get guys good looks and we’ll find that hoop at some point.”

But part of that is dependent on the process of generating those 3-pointers. Oklahoma City surrendered a fair amount of 3-point attempts throughout the campaign (38.8 per game, 10th most in the NBA), but opponents shot a league-worst 34.2% on those looks.

That includes just 33% on “open” 3-pointers, the seventh-lowest mark in the NBA this season, and a league-low 37.2% on “wide open” attempts.

Because even your open looks against Oklahoma City are rarely produced within a comfortable rhythm. The Thunder’s pressure speeds teams up, much as it did to Minnesota on Tuesday.

“We had guys open at certain points within the offensive possession, and we just kind of made the pass two clicks late or just not on time or to the feet or just off balance,” Conley said. “That was leading to rushed opportunities.”

Which are less likely to fall. Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said Minnesota needs to do a better job establishing its repeatable formulas to generate good offense to establish a true rhythm.

“I thought for the most part we got some good looks, but I thought some were rushed,” Finch said. “Some were kind of from guys that were struggling to shoot, and sometimes they just want to see one go in. We definitely need to find a rhythm in this series. Every series is a little bit different in how people guard you and what not.

“I thought we came out and tried to play the same way we always did, and that wasn’t going to work tonight. We’ve got to figure out a different rhythm to play.”

That includes likely turning down the occasional decent look from distance to instead attack a closeout and get into the paint, or make the extra pass to turn down a good shot in favor of a great one.

Minnesota attempted 51 shots from beyond the arc Tuesday, compared to just 32 inside of it. Minnesota drove the ball 48 times, 13 fewer than the Thunder.

The Wolves scored 45 points via the 3-pointer in Game 1, and just 20 points in the paint. That’s a tough ratio to rely on in the postseason. It’s a formula that ultimately doomed the Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Knicks.

At the same time, Donte DiVincenzo called it a “domino effect” for Minnesota if it can get a few outside shots to fall. He noted that can loosen the Thunder defense to create a few creases in which Edwards and Randle can attack.

Perhaps the 3-pointer is the chicken that can produce the egg that is better shots at the rim. Or maybe this will simply be a series in which Minnesota must rely on outside shooting variance to topple the best defense the NBA has produced in recent memory.

Conley is OK with that, as well. After all, Minnesota was fifth in 3-point makes (15) and fourth in percentage (37.7) in the NBA this season.

“So, I’m not overly concerned about us missing wide-open shots,” the veteran said. “I think as long as we get quality ones — we get the ones that are on time, on target — we’ve got some of the best shooters out there. So, I have confidence in us going forward.”

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By JAKE OFFENHARTZ

NEW YORK (AP) — The head of Columbia University gave a commencement speech Wednesday acknowledging the absence of student activist Mahmoud Khalil, who was due to receive his diploma this week but is instead in a Louisiana jail facing deportation for his role in pro-Palestinian campus protests.

The brief address drew loud boos and chants of “free Palestine” from some graduating students. Acting president Claire Shipman also alluded to the crackdown on foreign students by the Trump administration that has roiled the Ivy League school in recent months.

“We firmly believe that our international students have the same rights to freedom of speech as everyone else and they should not be targeted by the government for exercising this right,” Shipman said, adding: “I know many in our community are mourning the absence of our graduate Mahmoud Khalil.”

Khalil, a graduate student in Columbia’s international affairs program, has remained detained since March 8 when immigration agents took him into custody at his off-campus apartment in Manhattan. While in custody, he missed the birth of his first child.

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As Shipman spoke, some students walked out while others booed and jeered. The acting president, who took over in late March, received a similarly icy reception during a smaller graduation ceremony Tuesday.

Some students and faculty have accused Columbia’s leadership of capitulating to the Trump administration’s demands at the expense of protecting foreign students.

Federal authorities have not accused Khalil of a crime, but have sought to deport him on the basis that his prominent role in protests against Israel’s war in Gaza may have undermined U.S. foreign policy interests.