Category: News

Chris Paul came up huge in Game 4 of the Phoenix Suns’ series against the Los Angeles Lakers. Despite a shoulder injury that has limited his ability to put his fingerprints all over a game in the unique way that he does, Paul was excellent, leading the team with 18 points, nine assists, three rebounds, and three steals en route to a 100-92 win. With the victory, Phoenix tied the series up at two games a piece and took back homecourt advantage from L.A.

As for why Paul played so well, it turns out a potential reason was the most powerful motivating force that Paul can channel into greatness: spite. After the game, Paul spoke to Rachel Nichols of ESPN and revealed that Suns head coach Monty Williams told him that the team planned to sit him for the game due to his pesky shoulder. Paul, in turn, responded in the most Chris Paul way imagineable.

“Met with coach before the game, told me he was gonna sit me,” Paul said. “Told me he was gonna sit me tonight. I told him, ‘Hell naw, just give me a couple minutes, see what I can do.’”

The series very much is not won yet for the Suns, but if this is how Paul is going to react to being told he’s being held out due to his bad shoulder, perhaps Williams should tell him this before every game.

Seattle Storm head coach Dan Hughes is one of the most accomplished coaches in the WNBA. He’s the kind of highly-regarded coach who can really get away with calling it quits whenever he wants. Having said that, even the Storm must have been surprised when Hughes decided to say he was calling it a career right in the middle of his fourth season with the team.

On Sunday, Hughes abruptly retired from the WNBA, stating that the rigors of being a head coach had become too much for him. He still plans on being an assistant coach for Team USA, but his time with the Storm is coming to a surprising end. Storm assistant Noelle Quinn was promoted to head coach in Hughes place.

Hughes’ retirement comes as a bit of a surprise. Even at 66 years old, it’s rare to see a coach as successful as he’s been suddenly calling it a career, especially when the Storm are off to a scintillating 5-1 start this season and lead the Western Conference. Of course, only Hughes knows when it’s time to retire, and if he says now is the best time, then the only thing the Storm can do is respect his decision.

Hughes will retire as the third-winningest coach in WNBA history. He spent 20 years as a coach in places like Charlotte, Cleveland, San Antonio, and Seattle, and in 2018, he was at the helm as the Storm won a WNBA championship.

Joe Lara, who played Tarzan on TV in the 1990s, died in a plane crash in Tennessee over the weekend. Lara’s wife, Gwen Shamblin Lara, was the leader of a controversial church whose private plane went down in Percy Priest Lake east of Nashville on Saturday with him on board. By Sunday, the search and rescue mission was deemed one of recovery, and TMZ reported Sunday that seven bodies had been recovered amid a long stretch of debris.

Lara played Tarzan in the CBS movie Tarzan in Manhattan in 1989 and reprised the role in 1996 for Tarzan: The Epic Adventures, though he had not acted much since the early 2000s according to IMDB. His last credit was for a soap opera role in 2018’s Summer of ’67.

The Tennessean reported on Sunday about the crash, which killed both Joe and Gwen along with several members of his wife’s church. Sadly, no one on the plane was officially registered to fly it with the FAA, though Lara and another passenger had prior flight experience.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration website, no one on that flight was qualified to fly the plane. Joe Lara, 58, had a pilot’s license, but had not updated his medical certification since 2017. The medical certification is required every two years.

…

A recording of the communication between the control tower and the pilot, captured on LiveATC.com, revealed an alarm going off in the cockpit of the plane seconds before it crashed, suggesting a mechanical failure in the aircraft, which was built in 1982.

The news story about the crash focused more on Shamblin and her controversial weight-based teachings, which led to a number of public issues over the years. It’s unclear just yet what caused the crash, or who was flying the plane, at this time.

[via The Tennessean]

The Phoenix Suns have taken back homecourt advantage in their first-round tilt with the Los Angeles Lakers. Phoenix walked into Staples Center on Sunday afternoon facing a potential 3-1 series deficit with a loss, but instead, an egalitarian scoring effort helped the Suns pick up a crucial 100-92 win.

Similarly to the day’s earlier game, a tight first half gave way to a team catching fire out of halftime. The two teams went into the locker room with the Suns up, 54-50, but Phoenix came out and blitzed L.A. in the third quarter, winning the frame by 12 points and doing more than enough to withstand any Laker push in the fourth. Of course, it must be mentioned that due to an injury, Anthony Davis did not play in the second half.

Still, the defending champions did not stop fighting, and it took a balanced approach from the Suns to put them away. Chris Paul, who looked the best he’s looked since hurting his shoulder in Game 1, led the way with 18 points, nine assists, and three steals.

But beyond him, five other Suns players scored in double-digits: Jae Crowder (17 points, seven rebounds, four assists, two steals, a block), Devin Booker (17 points, seven rebounds, five assists), Deandre Ayton (14 points, 17 rebounds), Cameron Payne (13 points), and Mikal Bridges (11 points) all had important contributions to the cause, helping push Phoenix across the finish line in what was effectively a must-win game.

L.A., unsurprisingly, relied heavily on the individual brilliance of LeBron James. He did everything he could, scoring 25 points with 12 rebounds and six assists, but wasn’t able to shoulder all of the load burdened onto him by Davis getting hurt.

Beyond James, Marc Gasol provided a much-needed spark off the bench with 12 points, eight rebounds, and three blocks, and it begs the question whether he has earned the lion’s share of the playing time at center, particularly if Davis misses an extended period of time and the team needs a calming presence alongside James. Kyle Kuzma pitched in 11 points off the bench, while Alex Caruso scored 10 and provided the pesky defense that has become his calling card.

The two major questions facing Los Angeles heading into Game 5 involve the health of a pair of crucial players. Prior to the game’s tip, starting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was ruled out with a knee contusion, and it’s unclear what his status will be for Game 5. Then, just before halftime, Davis went down with a groin strain. Like Caldwell-Pope, it is not known how this will impact his availability going forward in the series, but to state the obvious, not having Davis would be a gigantic blow for Los Angeles.

The series will now shift back to Phoenix. Game 5 between the Suns and the Lakers is scheduled to tip off at 10 p.m. EST on Tuesday, June 1, with the game being broadcast on TNT.

The Boston Celtics entered the 2020-21 season expecting to be among the best teams in the Eastern Conference. Unfortunately for them, that has not happened. A mix of injuries and some disappointing play throughout the year has caused the Celtics to enter the playoffs as the 7-seed, and now, they find themselves heavy underdogs ahead of Sunday night’s Game 4 against the Brooklyn Nets — although thanks to a 50-point outburst from Jayston Tatum, they did manage to win Game 3.

Boston may need an even better performance from Tatum in Game 4 to level the series. According to Celtics coach Brad Stevens, guard Kemba Walker and big man Robert Williams are unlikely to play. Walker is still dealing with a knee injury that he has been playing through all season and supposedly re-aggravated it in Game 3. Williams, meanwhile, is dealing with an ankle sprain he suffered in the first half of Game 3.

Walker struggled in the Celtics’ Game 3 win, so it’s not like he has been playing lights out basketball, but the threat of what he can do is enough to keep the Nets defense honest. Without him, the Celtics will need to rely on other threats to keep Brooklyn’s defense from focusing all of its attention on Tatum — this may need to be one of those games where Marcus Smart gets hot from 3-point range to keep the offense going. Williams has become a player the Celtics have relied on in big situations, and we can expect Tristan Thompson’s role to only increase if Williams can’t go.

Late in the first half of the Los Angeles Lakers’ Game 4 tilt against the Phoenix Suns on Sunday afternoon, star forward Anthony Davis appeared to seriously aggravate the left knee injury that he suffered in the previous game. After getting into the locker room and undergoing an evaluation, though, the team announced that Davis actually suffered a groin strain that would rule him out for the remainder of the contest.

Davis entered the game listed as questionable due to a sprained left knee, but made clear there was “no chance” he would miss Game 4. He struggled during the first half, scoring six points on 2-for-9 shooting with four rebounds and three assists, but did not look like he was dealing with anything particularly troublesome.

And then, late in the second quarter, Davis went up for a layup against the Suns’ defense. He was unable to finish through a challenge by Jae Crowder, he landed awkwardly on his left leg, and he was visibly in pain as he made his way off of the floor for the half.

Davis did not emerge from the locker room after halftime, with Kyle Kuzma taking his place in the Lakers’ lineup. Los Angeles already entered the game shorthanded, as Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was ruled out prior to the tip due to a knee contusion.

Here’s the thing with LeBron James: He is still capable of doing things on a nightly basis that don’t make all that much sense. This is despite being 36 years old and in his 18th season as a professional basketball player. Even though he’s still not quite back to being LeBron. James. during the Los Angeles Lakers’ first-round series against the Phoenix Suns while he’s working to get back into game shape post-ankle injury, he’s always going to have the potential to do something particularly ludicrous at a given time.

Our latest example of this came on Sunday afternoon during Game 4 of the series. James had the ball on the elbow, took a screen from Andre Drummond, and began to make his way into the paint. His doing this drew the attention of Cameron Johnson, who was previously checking Ben McLemore in the corner.

James, despite driving into two dudes, realized this. He also realized that McLemore relocated to just above the break for what would have been a clean look from downtown. Because of this, James jumped and threw an insane pass to McLemore, who was able to set his feet, rise, fire, and knock down the triple.

We should probably be used to stuff like this by now, but seriously, how on earth did LeBron pull this off?

Brintey Spears and Selena Gomez have shown each other love on a number of occasions over the years. The latest example came when Gomez shared an insanely cute throwback video of herself singing Spears’ 2000 classic track, “Don’t Go Knockin’ On My Door.”

The video captures a 7-year-old Gomez passionately singing the lyrics to the track from the 2000 album, Oops!… I Did It Again. Under the post, Gomez wrote, “The hustle was real” and soon after the throwback visual would get the attention of Spears herself, who hopped in the comment section to show some love.

“This is the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen!!!!!” she wrote.

The love between Gomez and Spears dates back a decade. In 2011, shortly after the latter released Femme Fatale, Gomez shared her excitement for the project on social media, writing, “I am so obsessed with @britneyspears’s new record!! Soooo amazing!” On a more recent note, last year, Spears quoted lyrics from Gomez’ 2015 album Revival in a post about the pressures of keeping up with beauty standards while maturing in the public eye. “For the first time in my life I’m going without lots and lots of makeup !!!!!!” Spears wrote. “As Selena Gomez says ….. the world can be a nasty place … kill them with kindness … GOD BLESS YOU ALL!!!!”

You can watch Gomez’s throwback video above.

The Atlanta Hawks are one game away from moving on to the Eastern Conference semifinals. The team played host to the New York Knicks on Sunday afternoon in Atlanta, and in their most emphatic win yet in the series, the Hawks came out on top, 113-96. With the win, Atlanta finds itself on top in the series, 3-1, as things shift back to New York for Game 5.

While the series has generally been close through three games, the Hawks blew the doors off of the Knicks on Sunday afternoon. Despite keeping it close through two quarters — the Knicks led by a point after one and trailed, 53-49, at the half — Atlanta came out firing on all cylinders in the third quarter. A 10-2 run to start the frame put New York at arm’s distance, and after a John Collins free throw with 4:47 left in the quarter, the Hawks did not relinquish a double-digit lead at any point for the remainder of the game.

It was, as has been the case lately, an offensive masterclass by Trae Young, who has risen to the occasion for four straight games in his first postseason. Young led the Hawks in scoring, going for 27 points despite a relatively inefficient evening (9-for-21 from the field, 4-for-14 from three) while doling out nine assists in 33 minutes of work.

Young was deputized by a pair of 20-point outings — John Collins went for 22 with eight rebounds, while Danilo Gallinari came off the bench for 21 points — and a reliably solid two-way performance by Clint Capela, who scored 10, pulled in 12 boards, and was generally intimidating around the rim. And while he wasn’t as good as we’ve seen when he’s really cooking, Bogdan Bogdanovic stuffed the stat sheet with 12 points, eight rebounds, six assists, and two steals.

For the Knicks, the problems they’ve shown during this series, particularly on the offensive end, once again reared their ugly head. Julius Randle had his best game, although that speaks more to his first three performances than anything exemplary on Sunday. Randle scored 23 points on 7-for-19 shooting with 10 rebounds, seven assists, and two steals, but still did not impose himself the way we’ve seen during the regular season. Late in the game, in an apparent attempt to light a fire under his teammates, Randle was called for a Flagrant 1 against Gallinari.

R.J. Barrett gave the Knicks 21 points on 8-for-15 shooting with six rebounds, four assists, and two steals, while Derrick Rose had 18 and six assists. But for the most part, New York finds itself searching for answers as it stares down a 3-1 series deficit. The team’s vaunted defense has been shredded by Young and Atlanta’s offensive firepower, and on the other end, the inability to get Randle going — or to turn the three-point line into any sort of great equalizer (they went 9-for-29 on Sunday) — has to change, or else their season will have one game left.

Game 5 between the Hawks and Knicks will take place on Wednesday evening from Madison Square Garden. It is unclear when the game will tip off or where it will appear on television.

Late last year, Nicki Minaj and her husband Kenneth Perry had their first child. The duo has kept their son away from the public eye as they’ve only shared few images of him with the world. Furthermore, they’ve yet to reveal his legal name, with Minaj only calling him Papa Bear when sharing pictures or videos. That includes a new video of the eight-month-old attempting to walk and stand on his own.

“You trying to do all of that today?” Minaj affectionately says in the video. “You’re not trying to do all of that today?” she added. “Am I bothering you? You had it?” The rapper then pretends to speak for Papa Bear in the video. “Mama I had it, leave me alone already please,” she says in the video. “I don’t got time for all of that mama.”

The post arrives after a streak of good moments for Minaj. She recently released her 2009 mixtape, Beam Me Up Scotty, to streaming services, adding three new songs. It eventually debuted at No. 2 on the album charts, becoming the highest-charting re-released mixtape by a rapper and the highest-debuting female rap mixtape in history.

You can watch the video of Papa Bear above.