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Davis, a member of the Celtics' 2008 championship-winning squad, had some thoughts on the injury. In an Instagram reply, Davis seemed to imply that it was a result of basketball karma after Irving stomped on Boston's center court logo earlier in the playoffs. "Karma is real. Energy is real no matter what you guys say," Davis said in another IG comment. "That logo means something negative or positive. Ky wished that on hisself (sic). Energy is real, always have respect for other no matter if its (sic) a logo are (sic) not."
GreenRunsDeep: Big Baby Glen Davis has comments on Kyrie Irving injury.
Tommy Beer: Julius Randle, during post-shootaround media availability this morning, says he doesn't care about Capela's comments: "Why would I give a hell what Clint Capela has to say?"
Stefan Bondy: Julius Randle on Clint Capela: “I don’t care.”
Stefan Bondy: Derrick Rose on Clint Capela: “You want me to say something about that? ....I’m not going to say anything.”
Stefan Bondy: Derrick Rose on Clint Capela: "I'm 32 years old. I never talked shit in my life. I'm not going to start now that Clint Capela said something."
Stefan Bondy: Clint Capela (who has been awesome in this series BTW) ripped Julius Randle for his Flagrant foul at the end of Game 4: "You’re just trying to look physical but it’s not working. It’s kind of your last solution."
Kevin Garnett ain't too happy about Kyrie stomping on the Celtics logo. 👀
Word spreads quickly on social media of Nurkic's comments, too. Perkins responded to Nurkic's "clown" comment in what is now a deleted tweet. But apparently that response was too nice. Instead, Perkins decided to throw some gas on the fire and used an old video of Kobe Bryant speaking fondly of the now TV personality.
Was there motivation, too, behind the comments from Perkins and Smith? “Not really motivate, I don’t know if I do anything different from game to game,” Nurkic said. “I just feel like I was more into not getting the fouls. Trying to contest and be into him.” Whatever it was, it worked, and those around the Blazers could tell. A member of the Blazers’ coaching staff was asked if he was the one who showed Nurkic the tweet. “Wasn’t me,” the coach said. “But I’m glad whoever did tell him!”
Rajon Rondo has some history with the Dallas Mavericks, and that much is not lost on Mavs owner Mark Cuban. Appearing Thursday on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas, Cuban had funny trash talk for Rondo ahead of Mavs’ first-round series against Rondo’s LA Clippers. “I hope he shoots a lot,” said Cuban of Rondo. “I hope he takes more shots than any guy on the team from outside the paint.”
Brandon 'Scoop B' Robinson: Kyrie Irving’s sneakers won’t touch Dennis Schroeder’s feet ever again says Lakers PG: “Unfortunately l can’t wear them no more. It’s not possible after what happened in the game. “I can not do it. Not going to wear it again. We will do giveaways for everybody who wants them.”
Brown received word of the comments and fired back at the trio live on Instagram and with an hour-long YouTube video (Warning: graphic language below). In the video, Brown called Jackson “fake” and Barnes “Becky with the good hair” and claimed Arenas took millions from them through contracts. “I think you guys need to focus and channel that energy to some more real problems,” Brown said. “And Stephen Jackson, maybe you can put that (expletive) blunt out and pull your pants up on your ass and put that rag down and act like a grown-ass man instead of a little ass boy.”
After Brown’s rant, Jackson responded on Instagram, saying he refused to interact with him. Jackson claimed Brown chose to target them because of their platforms in sports media. “Don’t make this personal bro,” Jackson said in the video. “A million people talk about you, but you want to come at us because you know we hot, because you know we can put you back on. ... It ain’t personal. Wish u the best big guy.”
Nick Young: Kwame brown won lol
Neil Dalal: Bradley Beal on Kent Bazemore on First Take: "Don't make fun of something that's not funny." Yep, that's it. Don't joke about injuries and there won't be a problem.
Bradley Beal: @24Bazemore you don’t know me or shit about me bruh!!! You don’t know why I go out there and play and it damn sure ain’t for another man’s approval!!! You a straight LAME!!! But it don’t surprise me coming from you, thats what’s yo type do!!
Bradley Beal: @24Bazemore 👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾
Monte Poole: Kent Bazemore, marveling at teammate Stephen Curry: “49 points in 29 minutes, that’s unreal. We got guys hurting hamstrings to keep up.” Curry leads NBA in scoring, at 31.9 ppg Bradley Beal is second, at 31.4, but will miss at least 2 games with, yes, a strained hammy.
Stefan Bondy: Julius Randle on Jae Crowder: “He’s just a frontrunner. He didn’t say a word in the first half. They were down and they tied the game up and he got a stop on me and wanted to say something. That’s just who he is. Everybody in the league knows it. But I’m not worried about him.”
Clutch Points: Reporter: "You aware how tough the schedule w/ 2 against Celtics, 1 against 76ers, 1 against Bucks?" Jimmy Butler: "That's tough for you?" R: "I don't know." JB: "Maybe if your sorry ass was on our team it'd be tough, but I think we'll be just fine" 🤣 pic.twitter.com/sESF09v44p
Malika Andrews: Steve Nash said that the organization has had internal discussions about profanity-ridden exchange -- which included misogynistic comments -- that Kevin Durant had with Michael Rapaport that was posted on social media. Nash declined to share specifics of the conversation.
Rapaport posted private messages that he said Durant had sent him -- which included threatening language and anti-gay and misogynistic slurs. Coach Steve Nash said the organization had a conversation with Durant about the language used in the exchange.
No, the NBA should NOT punish Kevin Durant for the homophobic insults he used in a private IG convo with Michael Rapaport ... so says P.J. Tucker. "Of course not, he did nothing wrong," the Milwaukee Bucks player told us in Beverly Hills on Wednesday before taking on the L.A. Lakers. "He didn't do nothing wrong."
Well, that was the one video that didn’t sit well with Kyrie and the player took to social media to make it clear he doesn’t like people making fun of his culture and his ancestors. “I respect your comedy, but tell your ignorant counterpart @maxisnicee do not disrespect my ancestors or indigenous cultures with his gestures. It’s sacred to us Natives to burn sage and it’s a remembrance of the people who died to preserve our customs,” he wrote on Instagram.
It also wasn’t the only thing that caused the Lakers to channel their inner MJ meme and take things personally: We hear some of those guys talking about how they’re the team to beat in LA. It’s fine if Kawhi says stuff like that. He’s defending a championship. We don’t trip if someone like Patrick Beverley is talking trash; that’s how he feeds his family. We get it. We respect the hustle. Oh? Then who did bother the team by saying stuff like that? Do tell, Jared. But we think it’s disrespectful for Paul George, who hasn’t won, to put himself on the level of Bron and AD. This motivates us. When we see those guys around the compound, we don’t really kick it with them. The one exception of course is Markieff, whose twin brother, Marcus, is on the Clippers. This probably keeps tensions from boiling over.
Andrew Greif: Paul George: "God bless you Jared Dudley. I don't know what it is, dudes love throwing my name in stuff. But God bless you, Jared."
According to former NBA champion and no. 2 pick Darko Milicic, this new display of strength also showed that Jokic is so superior to Gobert that if the French center gets a contract of 205 million, then the Nuggets big man has to sign for half a billion. “We must be aware that money is the basis of NBA’s existence. If Gobert is worth that much money, then our Jokic should sign a contract for 500,000,000 dollars. That’s how much better he is than Rudy,” Milicic said to 24 Sedam.
The McGruder-Warriors beef simmered on social media after the game with McGruder’s teammate Wayne Ellington speaking up in his defense, calling Klay and Draymond ‘unprofessional’ and ‘not classy.’ And, thanks to one eagle-eyed NBA Redditor, we know that Kevin Durant smashed the like button on an aggregation of Ellington’s comments.
Whether Durant is holding onto grudges from his time with the Warriors’ or simply poking the bear, he knows exactly what his doing. Durant’s social-media presence sometimes presents as chaotic but he’s smart enough to know that this would be noticed by somehow, and smart enough to know that it would get aggregated and make it’s way back to the Warriors, and smart enough to know that we all know what kind of effect that would have. Gamesmanship or petty for the sake of petty, Kevin Durant is definitely playing games.
Jovan Buha: LeBron James said the person he had a back-and-forth with near the end of the third quarter — helping fuel his 21-point fourth quarter — was a member of the Cavaliers’ front office. He wouldn’t name the person, but he said they were a little too happy after he missed a shot.
The longstanding feud between Nets star Kevin Durant and hoops Hall of Famer Charles Barkley may never end. “I don’t know why they still ask for this idiot’s opinion,” Durant recently wrote on Instagram, in response to Barkley saying that athletes “deserve some preferential treatment” with coronavirus vaccines because they pay high taxes.
Durant appeared to reference the exchange in another Instagram post, saying “Them old heads need to go enjoy retirement. These boys have coaches they work with everyday lol.” Lakers star LeBron James also commented “There’s a difference between constructive criticism and soft hating though. I’ve seen it both ways come my way, mostly the hate. You can hear it in their delivery.”
Jared Weiss: Marcus Smart comes out for his post game presser still in his jersey. "(Embiid) alone shot 21 free throws, we shot 20. Can't beat that." Smart: "We got our hands up a lot of the times and (Embiid) flails and he gets the call. Meanwhile on the other end we attack and we don't get the whistles. It's tough playing like that."
Derek Bodner: Joel Embiid, on Marcus Smart calling him a flopper: "Marcus Smart just told me that I flail a lot? Come on. I'm sure he knows himself and he knows his game. You know he does a lot of that."
ClutchPoints: Shaq: “Chuck, if 11 points gets you $200 million, 38 points will get you $600 million, right? Chuck: “If I played today, I’d be going to the games in a space ship. ”
ClutchPoints: Shaq retweeted someone calling Rudy Gobert "Baguette Biyombo". The beef continues...
Because of that, it should come as no surprise that Nowitzki couldn’t stand LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and the Miami Heat. That tidbit comes courtesy of Nowitzki’s longtime teammates J.J. Barea, who revealed Nowitzki’s hatred for the Heat on JJ Redick’s podcast. Barea made the following comments about Nowitzki around the 35 minute mark of the podcast: “[Nowitzki] was not going to let us lose. The way he prepared the whole year for it. He hated Miami. He hated LeBron, Wade, Bosh. He’s never going to say that, but he couldn’t stand it.”
Clutch Points: Trae Young had some words for Ja Morant after icing the game 👀 pic.twitter.com/RJse3fU5PA
Montrezl Harrell: 😂😂😂😂 OK!
Eric Nehm: "I'm good." - Brook Lopez, when @Kane Pitman asked about Robin leaving Milwaukee. Said his mom is probably sad about not getting to see them in the same place anymore.
Kane Pitman: Asked Brook about Robin heading to Washington: "I think my mum enjoyed it so for her I feel a little sad because she loved coming to Milwaukee to watch all our games but I'm good. He couldn't really cut it so he had to leave. It's tough for him and we'll be alright here" 😂
TJ McBride: “Blowing the 3-1 lead, you know they had heart. It wasn’t a tough decision.” JaMychal Green on choosing to join the Nuggets.
NBA Central: "If I had anything negative to say about him, I won’t ever say it in the public eye...he has family, he has kids and he has people who love him. I just wasn’t brought up that way. I respect him for all the work he’s done." - Dwight Howard on Shaq 🤝 (Via @basketbllnews ) pic.twitter.com/QCpVQIb2Pk
NBA Central: "I feel like Giannis out here . . . Where Pat at?" - Hassan Whiteside 😂😂😂 (🎥 @swishcultures_ ) pic.twitter.com/rhk3xfFWWL
Stefan Bondy: Big win for Knicks owner James Dolan as it appears his enemy Max Rose will lose his congressional seat to hardline conservative Nicole Malliotakis. Rose pleaded for Dolan to sell the Knicks and Dolan responded by donating over $50k to Malliotakis.
Smith did not really specify what Dekker did that was bad, but said the former Wisconsin star was talking some “Trump s—.” Dekker responded on Twitter in a since-deleted tweet. “Well I am just as confused as yall (sic) lol. I’m pretty simple, I’ve never been one to get into politics. Especially ‘Trump s–t’ … I’ve never been a Trump guy, so this blindsided me … “When they go low we go high” “Thanks moving on,” Dekker wrote.
Olivia Dekker: Extremely inaccurate and unfair. Consider the source. JR Smith: Would you like to explain why your husband can’t say NI&&@R or should I? I don’t mind at all.
In the same year (2018) Smith and Dekker were teammates, the latter found himself in headlines after comments he made on social media. Dekker had a problem with an article his former teammate at Wisconsin, Bronson Koenig, tweeted out. The article was headlined: "White People Have No Culture." In response to Koenig tweeting this, Dekker said in a tweet: "Don't put it in my face that being a white guy is something I'm supposed to be ashamed of. I'm proud of who I am and so should you. But you're Native American and also white BK. This article speaks very many untruths about most of our 'culture' that we supposedly don’t have."
NBA Central: Nick Young says D’Angelo Russell is the most annoying teammate he’s ever played with (🎥 @ComplexSports) pic.twitter.com/3Kpb1g5LOx
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and Sen. Ted Cruz are battling on Twitter over Cruz's claim that he and other fans are not watching the NBA Finals due to the league's political stance this season. Cruz, Republican senator of Texas, shared an article on Twitter Tuesday claiming that NBA ratings are at an all-time low. "Not surprising. Personally speaking, this is the first time in years that I haven’t watched a single game in the NBA Finals. #GoWokeGoBroke," Cruz tweeted.
Cuban quickly responded. "A US Senator with 3 @NBA teams in his state, employing thousands of people and he is rooting for their businesses to do poorly. This is who you are @tedcruz. Every minute of your life, this is exactly who you are," Cuban tweeted.
NBA Central: Breaking news: Paul Pierce praises LeBron James (ESPN). CJ McCollum: Baby steps . I like it Paul. Signs of maturity lol
Bleacher Report: Dwyane Wade calls out Paul Pierce after his Heat beat the Celitcs.
L.A. Lakers guard J.R. Smith is clapping back at Tory Lanez after getting DISSED on his latest album ... calling the artist a "clown" and a "lil a-- boy." A bit of a refresher -- the NBA vet was outspoken after Megan Thee Stallion accused Tory of shooting her in July ... saying, "This clown shoots a female and ya’ll listening to his music." "TF Tory Lanez," J.R. added. "You a straight clown. Facts. And tell whoever to hit my line. It’s whatever.”
Smith -- fresh off the Lakers' 114-108 win over the Denver Nuggets -- heard Tory's bars loud and clear ... and fired right back on his Instagram story. "i got time today too! 🤣🤣," J.R. said. "bout to get real 🌶🌶" There's more ... "He not even 30 stay in ya place lil a-- boy." "bust ya gun at a female you all types of 🤡"
CJ McCollum: I wonder if they packed before the game
CJ McCollum: Yoooo @Dame_Lillard you got an extra villa available in Cabo ?
Spencer Dinwiddie: Petty CJ is basketball twitters favorite CJ lol
RJ Hampton: CJ and Dame wild
NBA Central: Kendrick Nunn 💀💀💀 pic.twitter.com/dMePjPH130
