Bears

The Atlanta Hawks had such high hopes.
After a surprising playoff run that came up just short of the NBA Finals, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/ga-state-wire-atlanta-hawks-milwaukee-bucks-nba-sports-8d827eabf721d1b06d7207da48def57a">they came into this season</a> with a deep roster led by one of the league's most exciting young players.
Yet now, with only a handful of games remaining, Trae Young and the Hawks are limping toward the postseason with no prospects beyond a play-in spot and nothing to indicate they'll be hanging around very long in April.
Of the NBA's most disappointing teams, the Hawks are near the top of the list.
&ldquo;We still have an opportunity,&rdquo; insisted coach Nate McMillan, whose team is 36-37 and 10th in the Eastern Conference, the final play-in spot. &ldquo;The goal is to get ourselves in the playoffs. Once you get there, we showed last year that anything can happen.&rdquo;
Only last year, the Hawks rolled into the playoffs as one of the league's hottest teams, flipping a switch when McMillan took over for Lloyd Pierce.
They went 27-11 after the coaching change, grabbing a No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference.
They kept up that momentum in the playoffs, romping past the New York Knicks in what became Young's (Madison Square) Garden party, stunning the top-seeded Philadelphia 76ers in seven games (effectively finishing off The Process), and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/atlanta-hawks-phoenix-suns-milwaukee-bucks-nba-finals-nba-86a45418b2bf41ffcd7e53a00e0f7044">taking the eventual NBA champion Milwaukee Bucks</a> to six games in the East final.
If Young had not twisted an ankle in a freak collision with a referee, the Hawks very well could have knocked off the Bucks and advanced to the NBA Finals for the first time since moving to Atlanta in 1968.
Suddenly, the A-T-L went from a sleepy backwater NBA city that generally ranked near the bottom of the league in attendance to abuzz with excitement &mdash; especially after the team locked up cornerstones <a href="nba.com/news/reports-hawks-trae-young-expected-to-finalize-extension">Young</a> and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/sports-nba-atlanta-hawks-john-collins-3641936ced947b00296dc2abb4dbfd84">John Collins</a> with massive contracts.
But this season hasn't come close to meeting expectations.
The Hawks have lingered around .500 all season &mdash; never building any sort of momentum, generally playing like a group of strangers, showing very little of the joy and camaraderie that carried them so far last summer.
Their mediocrity has been especially glaring in a year when the Braves gave Atlanta its first World Series title since 1995 and the Georgia Bulldogs won the college football championship.
&ldquo;Last year for a lot of guys, it was new,&rdquo; center Cint Capela said. "People don't really realize how hard it is to get there. You&rsquo;re never guaranteed to go back to the conference finals.&rdquo;
Young has put up another big season, ranking fourth in the league in scoring (28.1 points per game), but his supporting cast has been perplexingly inconsistent.
Capela has taken a big step backward, leaving the Hawks vulnerable defensively and on the boards. Bogdan Bogdanovic has never looked comfortable taking some of the scoring load off Young. Ditto for Kevin Huerter, who has too many nights when he fails to show up in the box score. Collins may be done for the season with hand and foot injuries.
Promising wins are generally followed by baffling losses, such as <a href="https://apnews.com/article/atlanta-hawks-nba-sports-toronto-detroit-4f14d2b182f0e9744d20a3770493778c">Wednesday night's 122-101 debacle</a> against lowly Detroit, a 20-53 team that looked like a championship contender against Atlanta
The Pistons took control with a 23-0 run and led by as many as 29.
The Hawks haven't won back-to-back road games since late December, which doesn't bode well for a team that will likely have to win two straight away from home just to earn its way into the playoffs.
&ldquo;We know what we've got to do,&rdquo; Young said. &ldquo;We've got to stay locked in and try to finish out the season strong and see where it leads us in the end."
There have been some unexplainable losses to the league's weakest teams &mdash; three times to the Knicks, twice against the Pistons, not to mention Orlando, Washington, Portland, San Antonio and Houston.
General manager Travis Schlenk, who totally overhauled the roster to set up last year's playoff run, held off on any major changes at this season's trade deadline. <a href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-sports-atlanta-new-york-knicks-atlanta-hawks-7b92f82027b999ad26fd862414456510#:~:text=ATLANTA%20(AP)%20%E2%80%94%20The%20struggling,Knox%20is%20heading%20to%20Atlanta.">His only move</a> was dealing former first-round pick Cam Reddish, who was unhappy with his lack of playing time, to the Knicks.
Now, Schlenk will have to decide if 2021 was an aberration and more big changes are needed.
Capela hopes this season was just an unexpected blip.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a new process. Sometimes the next season, you put too much pressure on yourselves, so you don&rsquo;t do as good," he said. &ldquo;It's the season after that where you do good."
So, Hawks fans, maybe check back again in 2023.

Of the NBA's most disappointing teams, the Hawks are near the top of the list.

After thrilling playoffs, Hawks limping into NBA postseason

The Miami Heat were supposed to be peaking now.
After nearly one calendar year, Victor Oladipo returned earlier this month. Shortly thereafter, four months removed from <a href="https://twitter.com/BryanFonsecaNY/status/1479485862962413574" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a neck injury via that Nikola Jokić incident</a>, Markieff Morris finally came back. Beginning on March 5, the Heat were engaged in a stretch that included seven-straight home games &mdash; of which they won five &mdash; before their current back-to-back losing streak, their worst of the season.
Still, despite holding first place in the Eastern Conference, it&rsquo;s felt like the Heat have needed a jolt &mdash; nothing more amplifying of that fact than their last two games. In Philadelphia, against the 76ers without James Harden and Joel Embiid &mdash; <a href="https://twitter.com/5ReasonsSports/status/1507045025296928776" target="_blank" rel="noopener">whose broadcast apparently didn&rsquo;t want them to win</a> &mdash; defeated a mostly healthy Heat team. Miami was missing Oladipo and Gabe Vincent, but still had Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro and Kyle Lowry, all of whom were nearly 30-balled by Tyrese Maxey.
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Okay, road game, regular season, 1-of-82 &mdash; sh*t happens.
But Wednesday, with no Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, James Wiseman, Otto Porter Jr. and Gary Payton II (or Baron Davis, Chris Mullin, Tim Hardaway or Monta Ellis), the Golden State Warriors &mdash; led by a 30-ball from Jordan Poole &mdash; punked the Heat on their home floor, 118-104.
Look, these are still NBA players, sometimes that happens too.
What typically doesn&rsquo;t &mdash; in public &mdash; was the, &ldquo;<a href="https://twitter.com/LeBatardShow/status/1507040697219797000" target="_blank" rel="noopener">kerfuffle, a hurly-burly, tomfoolery, a skirmish, a quarrel, a brouhaha, a dust-up, a hubbub or agree to disagree</a>.&rdquo;
You&rsquo;ve probably seen it by now, but here:
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Jimmy Butler was HEATED in the Miami huddle after the Warriors went on a big run to start the second half <a href="https://t.co/6waBmHlL1r">pic.twitter.com/6waBmHlL1r</a>
&mdash; Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBCSWarriors/status/1506804574320955392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 24, 2022</a></blockquote>

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<ul>
<li>Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra picks up a clipboard just so he could throw it.</li>
<li>Butler and Udonis Haslem need to be separated.
<ul>
<li>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll beat yo ass,&rdquo; which we&rsquo;ll get to in a bit.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Markieff Morris and PJ Tucker act like this is a regular Wednesday, and it might be.</li>
<li>Warriors rookie Moses Moody looks amazed and/or confused.</li>
</ul>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Haslem telling Jimmy Butler &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll beat your ass&rdquo; 😂 <a href="https://t.co/9AcQiNw6WY">pic.twitter.com/9AcQiNw6WY</a>
&mdash; Ted Buddwell 🏀🏈 (@TedBuddy8) <a href="https://twitter.com/TedBuddy8/status/1506806343402893315?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 24, 2022</a></blockquote>

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After the game, and after joking that the team was heated about making dinner plans, Spoelstra offered his thoughts on the tense moment.
&ldquo;It was pretty clear. We have a very competitive, gnarly group; we were getting our asses kicked, for two straight games, we were not playing to the level that we wanted to play," Spoelstra said. "Every single person in that huddle was pretty animated about our disappointment in how we were playing...
&ldquo;... Everything has to be better across the board. It starts with our leadership &mdash; our veteran players have to lead. And then, we just have to play better. Play better to our identity, play more consistently, and that&rsquo;s really all the discussions were. I know how it can look to the outside, but as I mentioned before, that is more our language than playing without passion or without toughness or without multiple efforts and lifelessness.&rdquo;
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Tucker, along with Lowry and Adebayo, was one of the three Heat players to address the media after the game. He also downplayed the confrontation.
&ldquo;Something happened?&rdquo; Tucker <a href="https://youtu.be/A4T3AbNbufs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">asked with a smirk</a>. &ldquo;You put cameras on any NBA team, football team, any team, man. (We&rsquo;re) No. 1 in the East, finally got our whole team back, got our butts handed to us two games in a row by teams who don&rsquo;t even have their star players... emotions run high ... I laughed, man. I walked off the court laughing... This is part of the game.&rdquo;
Lowry acknowledged that "it&rsquo;s crazy,&rdquo; but quickly added that &ldquo;it&rsquo;s passion.&rdquo;
"We&rsquo;re in a situation where we have a lot of competitive guys. Our biggest competitor is our head coach. Jimmy and UD are tough competitive guys. It&rsquo;s good sometimes to get some anger and frustration out and just talk about it," Lowry <a href="https://youtu.be/ssv0jGhR50Y" target="_blank" rel="noopener">added</a>. "We&rsquo;re gonna have situations that make people uncomfortable, but at the end of the day, as long as we&rsquo;re comfortable and we figure it out, it&rsquo;s all that really matters. And as long as we&rsquo;re still together, and we are.&rdquo;
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NBA players, veterans, reporters, veteran reporters, coaches, staff, referees, families and secret families would all tell you that this happens, and particularly with contenders. With the Heat specifically, it&rsquo;s an organization still run by the famously confrontational Pat Riley, who probably looks at this as a regular Wednesday despite the magnitude of social media amplification in 2022. Because this happened publicly, though, chances are this isn&rsquo;t the first time, just the most public. &nbsp;
Hardened personalities clash every now and then because they want the same goal and might have occasional philosophical differences on how to get there with their teammates. They can argue off of raw emotion because that&rsquo;s who they are, and the emotion itself mainly expresses that they care &mdash; care enough to argue over it, and are prideful enough to defend themselves publicly because of it. That&rsquo;s probably closer to what this actual is &mdash; the Heat, more than most teams and organizations &mdash; have probably earned that.
We&rsquo;ve heard his story, but it bares reiterating: Butler was homeless as a teenager and worked his ass off to become a first-round pick four years after being a JUCO-signee out of high school. Four years after being drafted, he won Most Improved Player, and has been a perennial NBA All-Star and All-Defensive player ever since while earning nine figures.
Just think. No, really, think about the self-belief that dude must have to pull that off? He never would&rsquo;ve went toe-to-toe with LeBron James in an NBA Finals without it.
Haslem is 41 years old, still in the league and has the respect of damn near everyone you could think of. He&rsquo;s a been through it all, seen it all and is an old-school dude who really values respect. Haslem went undrafted out of the Florida Gators program in 2002, played in France, came to the Heat in 2003 and has been there ever since.
Spoelstra was initially hired as the Heat&rsquo;s video coordinator in 1995 &mdash; <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/29/sports/basketball/spoelstra-has-heat-right-where-it-wanted-to-be.html?pagewanted=all&amp;_r=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">even predating Riley&rsquo;s tenure in Miami</a> &mdash; and worked his way up onto eventually becoming the head coach in 2008.
Remember last season when Haslem went at Dwight Howard? Notably, before even discussing this with teammate Duncan Robinson and podcast co-host David Reid on the Long Shot, Haslem notes how close he&rsquo;s been with Coach Spoelstra. We don&rsquo;t know what Butler said, but it might be fair to suggest Haslem felt someone was being disrespectful; sometimes, in the heat of battle, that happens too.
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&ldquo;Me and Spo been through a lot, man,&rdquo; Haslem said on the Long Shot in August. &ldquo;We done been through the bottom, we done been mad at each other, we&rsquo;ve been on the same team, we done evolved to now, we&rsquo;ve just got a great relationship. It&rsquo;s symbiotic, we don&rsquo;t have to say it, we can just feel it. I can look at him, and he can look at me.&rdquo;
Sometimes, these blowups are necessary &mdash; in a team environment, with your siblings, significant other, your bodega guy, your barber and/or your side piece. (Sometimes, you gotta get people to know their role, yanno?) Often, you just can&rsquo;t let failures fester, and there&rsquo;s a need to outwardly address them. Miami did that in a very "Heat" way, according to them.
For the Heat, it's very simple from here. This either invigorates you in time for the playoffs, or it derails your season at the worst possible time. It either really works or it really doesn&rsquo;t.
&ldquo;You can use moments during a season to catapult you,&rdquo; Spoelstra said. &ldquo;You can galvanize together over frustration and disappointment. Teams can also go the other way; I don&rsquo;t see that with our group, I don&rsquo;t see that with our locker room. But we have needed a kick in the butt from these two games.&rdquo;
They did, and now, they&rsquo;ll also have one of the most essential things an organization could obtain this last in the year &mdash; clarity.
If this works, the Heat will be a legit contender, mixing it up in a loaded Eastern Conference dogfight with the Milwaukee Bucks, Boston Celtics, Brooklyn Nets and 76ers.
If it doesn&rsquo;t, and they flame out of a second-straight post-season, they&rsquo;ll have clarity on what to do next this summer.
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Bryan Fonseca reviews Jimmy Butler and Erik Spoelstra's tense moment and why it might've been beneficial for the Heat.

The Heat’s blow-up was necessary, but now the rest is up to them

Two days after the 2020 NBA Draft on Nov. 20, I received a text message from former NBA player and coach Avery Johnson, who I had worked with at CBS Sports HQ:
Matt, I'm working with a group called Overtime. Can I connect you with the co-founder to share our vision for a major concept coming to market next year?
Of course, I said, &ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;
Shortly after, Overtime co-founder Zack Weiner connected with me. He didn't share any details about the "major concept," but he did say that he or a senior-level executive would call me in the following days.
I was appreciative that Avery had thought of me for their project, and I had every intention of hearing them out. However, I wasn't familiar with the company Overtime, and I'm regularly approached with new consulting opportunities, so nothing seemed to be all that atypical for me.
A few days later, I received a call from Shea Dawson, Overtime&rsquo;s head of athlete relations. She shared some details about Overtime as a company and explained that they had a new project in the works that would "change the game." She continued to tell me that their group felt that my background, experience and skill set would be helpful to them. Unfortunately, she couldn't fill me in on the project's specifics, as I needed to sign a non-disclosure agreement first.
After speaking with Shea, although I still wasn't clear about it, I became more intrigued about the potential opportunity.
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As I waited for the NDA to be emailed, I began doing my research on Overtime. I learned that the company was founded in 2016 by Zack Weiner and Dan Porter, who had worked together at WME, a leader in the talent agency industry. They started by raising seed money. Some early investors included former NBA commissioner David Stern and NBA star Kevin Durant. I then found out Overtime was a media company that creates unique content and targets a younger audience. (By 2019, Overtime was generating over a billion video views per month.)
So naturally, I became increasingly intrigued to learn about this mysterious project.
I finally received the email from Shea that included the NDA. I signed it and sent it back almost immediately.
Then, at last, the phone rang. It was Shea:
Matt, I'm so excited to share the details with you. We are creating a new professional league for high school-aged players. We want you to help us pull it together.
I had a lot of questions:
<ul>
<li>Where would they play?</li>
<li>Would they get paid, and how much?</li>
<li>Would the players go to school and earn a degree?</li>
<li>Would draft-eligible players be a part of the league?</li>
<li>Most importantly, what would happen to the players once they finished the league, and would they be eligible to play in college?</li>
</ul>
Despite my questions, I agreed to explore ideas to get involved. So for a couple of months, I had a handful of video conference calls with Shea and Aaron Ryan, a former executive in the NBA&rsquo;s office who was working as a consultant for the newly proposed and unnamed league.
Everything finally began to take shape by mid-January 2021. They named the league Overtime Elite (OTE). Aaron was hired as commissioner, while former NBA player and executive Brandon Williams was named head of basketball operations. In addition, I agreed to a short-term consulting deal to become a scouting advisor for the group.
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On March 4, 2021, OTE was publicly announced, releasing some project details. For starters, Overtime successfully raised $80 million. The newly raised money was allocated to build an arena in Atlanta, Georgia, and provide the league's players with salaries of a minimum of $100,000 per year among other things. The news spread like wildfire, and the feedback was mixed.
On one hand, NBA commissioner Adam Silver seemed to be optimistic, stating that he didn't have a problem with young players being paid and thought optionality was good. But, on the other hand, many of my friends in the industry were tearing the idea apart &mdash; some publicly and many behind closed doors.&nbsp;
What was the big issue with OTE, you ask? Well, I'll get to that in a minute.
As a scouting advisor, I assisted in setting up the scouting department and evaluated prospective players. Our group worked hard, and we did a good job. However, once OTE began recruiting, negotiating and looking to sign players, our scouting department shifted from evaluating players to recruiting them.&nbsp;
It was a necessary shift for the group, undoubtedly; however, I felt it put me in a compromising situation considering my involvement in so many different areas of basketball, including running <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NBA Draft and scouting coverages for BasketballNews.com</a>. I enjoyed working for OTE, but I decided to leave the group to avoid further conflicts of interest.
My last day working for OTE was May 14, which was a little over two months from OTE's launch date, four months from my start date with the company and six months since I first heard from Avery.
I may have left, but of course the show went on.
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Our scouting department identified the right players. Williams and Tim Fuller, the director of scouting and recruiting, did a great job of recruiting them. Then, on May 21, one week after I left the group, OTE announced that the league signed its first players: Matt and Ryan Bewley, five-star prospects from the Class of 2023. Then, Ausar and Amen Thompson after them. Then, Jean Montero, a top-rated point guard from the Dominican Republic. After that, there became a steady flow of new signings, one after another. OTE was rolling!
On Oct. 24, they hosted their first Pro Day. Following the event, NBA personnel and media members raved about the facilities and the talent level. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make it due to scheduling conflicts. I planned to attend a couple of days of their games in December, but out of an abundance of caution and rising numbers of COVID and flu cases around sports, the games were cancelled.
A few weeks ago, I finally made my way out to Atlanta to see OTE's finished product. In addition to seeing all of the players that our scouting group evaluated and discussed for months, I was able to see the OTE Arena with my own eyes.&nbsp;
While working for OTE, I was on semi-regular video conference calls hosted by Tim Katt, who spearheaded the arena's development. I expected it to be impressive, but my expectations were far exceeded. I was blown away by the building as soon as I walked in.
The bright lights, advanced technology, music and cameras were the first things that jumped out. There was no denying that it was a unique place. Keep in mind, I've spent my entire life in and around basketball, and I have seen the game from just about every angle possible, all over the world. So I wouldn't consider myself someone easily impressed with basketball facilities &mdash; and I was impressed!&nbsp;
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My former co-workers, Louis Lehman and Matt Verden, gave me a tour throughout the facility. The more I saw, the more impressed I became. It wasn't the glitz and glam of it that impressed me as much as the resources I saw for young players to develop. For example, the players are given access to a personal chef for three meals per day, an incredible practice facility and high-level strength-and-conditioning spaces. Additionally, OTE has a well-built (and deep) coaching and support staff led by former NBA player and college head coach Kevin Ollie. Nowhere else in the world provides comparable levels of resources to players ranging between 16-18 years old.
Once the games started, the talent popped. Montero is the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/jean-montero" target="_blank" rel="noopener">main prospect for this year's upcoming draft</a>. He is likely to be the first draft pick to come out of the Overtime Elite program. The Thompson Twins look like lottery picks in the making for 2023. And then, guys like Alexandre Sarr and Tyler Smith look like they have promising NBA careers in their future too. And that's just naming a few; there&rsquo;s a ton of talent currently under contract.
I spent three days in Atlanta spending time with the OTE staff and becoming more familiar with the setup and evaluating their young prospects. On my flight home, I gathered my thoughts. I couldn&rsquo;t help but feel that OTE is generally misunderstood. I think many people only see "fluff." However, I see it differently.
The cameras, the bright lights, loud music and the content the league creates are the vehicles to generate the money (via sponsorship and advertising) to be able to provide such an incredible infrastructure to develop players&rsquo; marketability &mdash; but more importantly, to help them grow as basketball players and young men.
Considering my role and background, I tend to become hyperfocused on young prospects' development as basketball players but I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the education element of OTE as well. On the league's website, it states, "OTE offers a direct-instruction model led by individual instructors who teach both 1:1 and in small group sessions featuring a 4:1 student-teacher ratio. OTE supplements a traditional course offering with a focus on life skills including financial literacy, media training, and advocacy and sports, and business of basketball."
That all sounds great, but what it doesn't mention is that the owner and co-founder of Overtime, Porter, served as the first president of Teach for America. Since education is a vital part of Porter's background, education has been a focal point since the idea's inception. So although they provide a non-traditional education, I can assure you that OTE&rsquo;s education program is well buttoned up.
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Overtime Elite is a special place and a terrific option for top teenage basketball players. I am proud to have played a small part in helping it go from being an ambitious idea into a successful reality.
But I'm going to address the elephant in the room now...
What's the catch with OTE? (Yes, there is one.)
For prospects to join the league, they have to sacrifice their college eligibility and instead, commit to a professional path. This alone has made the league controversial and subsequently labeled a disruptor in the basketball industry.
However, recently, it was announced that the NCAA had approved OTE players to participate in NCAA-certified AAU events this spring and summer.
Is this the first step towards players being able to sign with OTE while retaining their college eligibility? I'm not certain, but I sure hope so.
With all of that said, I'm going to leave you by posing a few questions:
<ul>
<li>What is the difference between a high school or college player receiving NIL deals and signing with OTE?</li>
<li>Who would be getting hurt by letting OTE players retain complete optionality and allowing them to play in college if they choose?</li>
<li>Is there any good reason that OTE players are not eligible to play in college other than arbitrary NCAA bylaws?</li>
</ul>
The questions are intended to be rhetorical, of course. However, I believe that they are essential.&nbsp;
So let's keep asking those questions!
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Matt Babcock describes his ties to Overtime Elite and why it is a special place and a terrific option for top teenage basketball players.

Matt Babcock: Overtime Elite is misunderstood

One by one the names of the NBA's greatest players were called, bridging basketball's past and present.
And as each walked onto the floor, LeBron James found himself in further disbelief.
The posters on his bedroom wall as a kid came to life.
&ldquo;Allen Iverson and Jason Kidd, Gary Payton, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Oscar Robertson,&rdquo; James said, still trying to grasp the experience. &ldquo;To see those guys today and then be on stage with those guys &mdash; it&rsquo;s just crazy.&rdquo;
On Sunday night, the league celebrated its diamond anniversary with a sparkling tribute to honor 75 years on the hardwood floor.
During a moving halftime tribute at Sunday's All-Star Game, 45 members of the 75th Anniversary Team &mdash; including Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James &mdash; stood elbow to elbow on a giant circular stage in the middle of Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
This was a chance for the game's greatest to take a bow and be saluted for cutting the path for today's players.
For James, who made a fadeaway jumper &mdash; the kind Jordan made famous -- to send Team LeBron to a 163-160 win over Team Durant, the chance to be around players he idolized, was overwhelming.
&ldquo;Every time they would announce another name, I didn&rsquo;t even get an opportunity to like rejoice in the player that they had named,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It was, like, Gary Payton. I was, like, wow.! Then J Kidd showed up, and then A.I. (Allen Iverson) showed up, and then it was D. Wade, C.P. (Chris Paul), and Steph (Curry). I was just tripped out.&rdquo;
James wasn't the only one.
Each wearing blue blazers with a 75th logo on their chests, the best of the NBA's best were introduced to huge ovations, with the loudest cheers going to Jordan, the last player to walk onto the raised podium at center court.
The forwards were brought out first with Charles Barkley leading the way. Giannis Antetokounmpo, one of six current All-Stars on the 75th team, changed out of his Team LeBron uniform for the on-court tribute.
During the TV broadcast, Barkley said being amongst the NBA&rsquo;s elite hit him harder than he expected. Antetokounmpo, one of the two Europeans on the squad, also was awed by being part of the ceremony.
&ldquo;When you start playing basketball when you are young, you never imagine to be next to all these all-time greats,&rdquo; said Milwaukee's star. "Your name being called, going out there to shake their hands and just stand next to them, interact with them, it was amazing.
&ldquo;I kind of teared up on stage because I&rsquo;m not supposed to be here, man. Being among those guys is &mdash; man, it&rsquo;s crazy.&rdquo;
Julius &ldquo;Dr. J&rdquo; Erving bowed to the sellout crowd, and the always entertaining Dennis Rodman strutted down the wine-colored carpet wearing a basketball cap and hooded sweatshirt under his jacket.
James was the last of the forward group to be welcomed, and the former Cleveland star spun in a circle to return the love coming from every corner of the arena. This was his homecoming weekend, and it coinciding with the 75th anniversary made it even more special.
Once James took his spot on the star-studded stage, he tried to soak in the moment.
&ldquo;It would be like going to your favorite musician&rsquo;s concert in the greatest stadium, and you are literally on stage with them while they&rsquo;re performing, and the sense of &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t believe that I&rsquo;m here,'&rdquo; he said. That&rsquo;s the best way that I can put it.&rdquo;
"I can&rsquo;t believe I&rsquo;m sitting next to Bruce Springsteen while he is playing in a stadium in London with 160,000 people. Or I&rsquo;m in the Garden with Jay-Z. I&rsquo;m sitting here with Whitney Houston on stage in a coliseum with 90,000 people.
&ldquo;That&rsquo;s kind of what it felt like for me. I just couldn&rsquo;t believe it.&rdquo;
When it was the centers' turn to be welcomed, Shaquille O'Neal stuck out his tongue toward the camera and posed while Abdul-Jabbar, the league's career scoring leader, mimicked his signature &ldquo;sky hook&rdquo; before the 74-year-old took a seat at the stage's edge.
Iverson, who once scored 54 points in the building, led the guards out and was followed soon after by George &ldquo;Iceman&rdquo; Gervin, who made sure the crowd remembered his famed finger roll.
Before Jordan's entrance, Kobe Bryant's photo on the giant scoreboard touched off an emotional response and chants of &ldquo;Ko-be, Ko-be&rdquo; for the late Lakers superstar who died tragically in a 2020 helicopter crash with his young daughter, Gianna.
Even Curry, who got booed by Cleveland's crowd before scoring 50 points and winning MVP honors, got a nice hand.
Jordan's appearance was something of a surprise as the league kept a tight lid on any details of the celebration.
Following the game, James made sure to reconnect with Jordan, who inspired the young kid from Akron to chase greatness.
&ldquo;The way he wore his shoes, the way he wore his uniform, I mean, all the way down to some of the cars that he drove,&rdquo; James said.
The still living members of the 75th team who didn't attend were shown on video, with each saluting the fans with a wave.
This is the second time the league has honored its greats in Cleveland, after the 50th Anniversary Team was honored in 1997.

On Sunday night, the league celebrated its diamond anniversary with a sparkling tribute to honor 75 years on the hardwood floor.

NBA honors past, present with 75th tribute at All-Star Game

In 2021, &ldquo;NBA&rdquo; was the No. 1 trending Google search in the United States, beating out &ldquo;Squid Game,&rdquo; &ldquo;Mega Millions&rdquo; and &ldquo;stimulus check&rdquo; among other top searches. &ldquo;NBA&rdquo; also fared well globally, ranking as Google&rsquo;s No. 4 trending search worldwide.
Kevin Esteves, the NBA&rsquo;s associate vice president of digital strategy and analytics, did a double take when Google released this <a href="https://trends.google.com/trends/yis/2021/US/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">data</a> a few weeks ago.
&ldquo;I read it a few times just to make sure I understood what they were capturing and measuring,&rdquo; Esteves told BasketballNews.com in a phone interview. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s an incredible stat. In a year like 2021 &mdash; with all of the news and trending searches that would&rsquo;ve been in contention for the No. 1 spot &mdash; for the NBA to occupy that top spot, I think it&rsquo;s just a testament to the health of the brand and how exciting the league has been over the last few years. It&rsquo;s an incredible brand-health metric for us, but I think it also speaks to how the NBA is more than just a basketball league; it kind of infiltrates the conversation across culture, music, fashion and social justice.&rdquo;
The NBA has always had an excellent online presence, but 2021 was perhaps the league&rsquo;s most impressive year to date.
Last year, the NBA was the most-viewed and most-engaged pro-sports-league account on social media, driving 24 billion views and 2.3 billion engagements across all platforms. Also, the NBA added 18 million followers across Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and Facebook combined last year &mdash; the most of any U.S. pro sports league.
&ldquo;What&rsquo;s really been our guiding philosophy throughout is we&rsquo;ve tried to be a first-mover on all of these platforms, and in many cases, we were the first sports-league account on the platform,&rdquo; Esteves explained. &ldquo;Then, it&rsquo;s about optimizing content for the platform that we&rsquo;re on &mdash; not just spraying the same piece of content across all of our platforms, but really optimizing for each platform, nurturing that fan base and giving them exactly what they want. That&rsquo;s sort of been key in our recipe for success.&rdquo;
In addition to growing its following on the larger platforms like Instagram and Twitter, the NBA also had a number of successful live activations on Twitch and TikTok among others. Even the way the league embraced Clubhouse during the height of its popularity &mdash; with regularly scheduled Watch Parties &mdash; is indicative of this philosophy.
&ldquo;I think a lot of brands can be hesitant around new platforms as they&rsquo;re emerging because they aren&rsquo;t sure if the ROI is there, or they&rsquo;re not sure exactly how it ladders up to their overall company objective,&rdquo; Esteves said. &ldquo;When you think about social media when it first started, a lot of brands were in the business of driving people back to their website or other offerings, whereas I think we&rsquo;ve always had the directive from our executives to optimize for the platform we&rsquo;re on and nurture engagement there.
&ldquo;At first, it was a very big marketing platform for us, but now, social drives just about every business objective that we have. But I don&rsquo;t think we could have achieved that if we were thinking that our first post on each platform had to drive 10 of our business objectives. We had to nurture engagement on those platforms to then be able to capitalize in the long-term. I think we benefited from that approach. Globally, I think you&rsquo;re starting to see more and more sports leagues embrace a similar approach, being on multiple platforms and [creating specific] content that they make available on those platforms to engage fans and ultimately increase the reach of the sport.&rdquo;
The NBA currently has the most followers of any pro-sports-league account on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/nba/?hl=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Instagram</a> (63.1 million), <a href="https://twitter.com/nba" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Twitter</a>&nbsp;(35.9 million), <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/NBA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">YouTube</a> (17.7 million) and <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@nba?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TikTok</a> (14.2 million). In comparison, the NFL has just 22.7 million Instagram followers, 28.3 million Twitter followers, 8.7 million YouTube subscribers and 7.4 million TikTok followers.
A big part of Esteves&rsquo; job is trying to turn those followers into regular viewers. He describes this as &ldquo;a pivotal challenge and opportunity.&rdquo;
&ldquo;We believe that social [media] is a driver of awareness and reach, and that it can complement and increase linear viewership,&rdquo; Esteves said. &ldquo;We know that there are such avid communities, whether it&rsquo;s the #NBATwitter community or the communities that we have on YouTube, Reddit, you name it. They are among the most vibrant social communities on each platform, and we believe that it&rsquo;s a complementary offering. It&rsquo;s long been our strategy to drive awareness through social.
"For a game like Klay Thompson&rsquo;s return, we had a live social producer on hand to capture Klay&rsquo;s arrival, his warm-up routine, him coming out of the locker room and just all of that context. For all of our biggest nationally televised games, we&rsquo;re making it appointment-style viewing. We know that fans on social are inundated with content. You see the trends on a platform like TikTok, where seemingly anyone can go viral now with content that they just captured on their phone.
&ldquo;There&rsquo;s so much content saturation out there right now, so you really have to break through the noise, and we&rsquo;ve found that the best way to do that is to be authentic and provide access that nobody else can. Before tip-off of Klay&rsquo;s return, we had a video of Klay running right up to the stanchion and he jumps into the camera. There&rsquo;s no way you can get closer than that! And we&rsquo;ve always felt that is important.
"Something that [Commissioner] Adam Silver always says is, &lsquo;Ninety-nine percent of our fans never get to attend a game live.&rsquo; So how do we use social to bring the game courtside and make them feel like they&rsquo;re actually there? We feel like that&rsquo;s a critical bridge between social and TV tune-in, creating those authentic relationships and providing the context for why this is such a big game or matchup. We use social to do that storytelling.&rdquo;
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Having a live social producer on hand for Thompson&rsquo;s return paid off, as the NBA&rsquo;s Instagram generated 103 million views &mdash; &nbsp;the most-viewed regular-season day in the account&rsquo;s history. Klay-specific content generated more than 110 million views across the NBA&rsquo;s socials, making Thompson&rsquo;s return the most-viewed regular-season moment ever. <a href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/CYiCTLxLOFE/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Video of Thompson&rsquo;s pregame introduction</a> received 22.3 million views, which is the NBA&rsquo;s second-most-viewed Instagram video of all-time.
It translated to linear viewership too. On NBA TV, the game averaged 844,000 viewers, making it the league's most-viewed regular-season game since 2016. Locally, NBC Sports Bay Area had a 12.7 household rating, the network's highest-rated regular-season game since 2016.
The NBA is terrific at creating these moments that get everyone talking. During the 2021 NBA All-Star Game in Atlanta, the league&rsquo;s Instagram account generated more than 139 million views &mdash; the most of any account on the platform that day. The NBA&rsquo;s IG also racked up the most views of any account when Stephen Curry broke the NBA&rsquo;s all-time three-point record, generating 63 million views in 24 hours.
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And thanks to the super active and passionate community on #NBATwitter, it&rsquo;s not uncommon to see multiple players and teams trending on Twitter whenever something notable happens in the NBA. Several years ago, I asked Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey about the rise of #NBATwitter and how it became one of the most-engaged communities on the platform.
&ldquo;I think the first reason it&rsquo;s become so strong is the league&rsquo;s acceptance of it. And not just acceptance, but usage of it,&rdquo; Dorsey <a href="https://hoopshype.com/2018/08/26/cofounder-ceo-tweet-twitter-edit-nba-warriors-jack-dorsey/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told me</a>. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a very open mindset to technologies like Twitter and that&rsquo;s helped immensely. I also think the pace of Twitter matches the pace of the NBA and basketball in general. We [focused on] very brief moments and it&rsquo;s fast-paced and there&rsquo;s a lot going on, and you find a lot of the same dynamics within basketball and an appreciation for those things within the fan base.
"We were fortunate to get a lot of the players on the service [early] and also the commentators &mdash; a lot of the smart commentators... We have some of the most amazing fans on #NBATwitter too... I think it&rsquo;s a good companion to the event and to what you&rsquo;re watching. It also has that feeling of making the world smaller. We&rsquo;re all watching this game at once; we all saw the same thing and here&rsquo;s how we all feel about it &mdash; whether we&rsquo;re outraged or we&rsquo;re excited, we&rsquo;re [part] of the crowd.&rdquo;
Esteves agrees with Dorsey.
&ldquo;When it comes to #NBATwitter, we&rsquo;ve leaned in, of course. Our game is high-paced, volatile, real-time and has all of those &lsquo;did-you-just-see-that&rsquo; moments that are kind of perfect fodder for a platform like Twitter. I think we&rsquo;ve benefited from the product on the court. The NBA is an extremely exciting product on the court with many rising talents," Dorsey said.
"The other day, Ja Morant had his freakish block in transition, and that&rsquo;s just fuel for Twitter and the conversation that&rsquo;s occurring there. In many ways, it&rsquo;s also a credit to the media, who are such a valuable part of that ecosystem and conversation, and to our players, who not only produce on the court but have been very invested. Shaq was among the first people with a Twitter account, period. Having our players invested in the platform helped. We&rsquo;ve benefited from that marriage, that partnership over the years, and our game has grown as a result."
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JA MORANT WILD BLOCK 😳 <a href="https://t.co/ZxQqdCWFsk">pic.twitter.com/ZxQqdCWFsk</a>
&mdash; NBA TV (@NBATV) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBATV/status/1480371894893248512?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 10, 2022</a></blockquote>

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If you&rsquo;re a basketball fan, it&rsquo;s almost impossible to avoid #NBATwitter these days. Even if you aren&rsquo;t on the platform, you&rsquo;re bound to hear about various tweets and the drama that unfolds there. When DeAndre Jordan flip-flopped on his free-agency decision to join the Dallas Mavericks and re-signed with the Los Angeles Clippers, that saga played out on #NBATwitter. Bryan Colangelo lost his job as general manager of the Philadelphia 76ers because some #NBATwitter sleuths discovered his burner account. Nearly every free-agency signing, trade and draft pick is reported first on #NBATwitter. It has become an integral part of the NBA landscape. It&rsquo;s also wildly entertaining.
&ldquo;My favorite account &mdash; and one that I think makes #NBATwitter so special &mdash; is Draymond Green&rsquo;s mother, <a href="https://twitter.com/babersgreen">@BabersGreen</a>," Dorsey <a href="https://hoopshype.com/2018/08/26/cofounder-ceo-tweet-twitter-edit-nba-warriors-jack-dorsey/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told me</a> several years ago. &ldquo;She has found all the other NBA moms on Twitter and she trash-talks them during games! She also trash-talks her own son during games! Watching a game with her tweeting about what&rsquo;s going on with Draymond or with other moms is just entertaining. The basketball game is amazing in itself, but to see her comment on it just makes it funny.&rdquo;
The NBA&rsquo;s YouTube channel is also a huge point of pride. The channel generated 1.94 billion views in 2021, which was the most-viewed year in the channel&rsquo;s 16-year history.
&ldquo;These staggering numbers on YouTube are among the [metrics] we&rsquo;re most proud of because, as I like to say from the data side, this single-year record viewership has been years in the making,&rdquo; Esteves explained. &ldquo;The NBA has been on YouTube since 2005, and the optimizations that are required to kind of perfect your algorithmic traffic are so nuanced; it comes down to thumbnails and headlines and captions and the length of the video and the pace of the video. We&rsquo;re constantly tweaking and optimizing those things, and one thing that we&rsquo;ve seen is that as you further optimize, you get this domino effect where one successful video fuels the performance of the next video and the next video and so on. So, seeing these numbers peak in 2021 is a testament to a lot of the optimizations that we&rsquo;ve made over the course of several years.&rdquo;
This was something that Esteves pointed out several times: the NBA&rsquo;s success in 2021 was the culmination of several years of hard work.
&ldquo;I sit on our Digital Content Strategy and Analytics team and we sit hand in hand with the content-publishing team, and we created that feedback and optimization loop over several years and now we&rsquo;re seeing the dividends of all that work,&rdquo; Esteves said. &ldquo;Also, we&rsquo;re trying to increase data fluency throughout the entire company. We don&rsquo;t want all of the answers to sit in one group that sends out an email or report saying &lsquo;X, Y and Z.&rsquo; We want more people throughout the organization to understand the data and be able to analyze it themselves; I think that has also been part of our success.&rdquo;
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Esteves joined the NBA in 2012, so not only has he witnessed the league&rsquo;s tremendous growth across various platforms, but he&rsquo;s also seen how the digital landscape has changed over the last decade.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been an incredible transformation,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I started at the NBA out of school as a project employee on our Social Content team. When I first started, on a lot of these platforms, it was rather intuitive what content you published on each because they were all so different. Twitter was kind of the lifeblood of everything going on with news and commentary, and it was very tech specific. YouTube was where all videos existed and it was kind of the searchable domain of all video. Facebook was more for friends and family and conversations. Instagram started as a photo-only platform.
"From a content-strategy perspective, it was rather intuitive, understanding what content we put on each platform. But now, all of the platforms have evolved so much, and they have replicated a lot of the same features &mdash; from stories to videos to live-streams to audio-only formats. Now, it&rsquo;s a lot more nuanced in terms of trying to understand where the content is going to work best, and that&rsquo;s where the data becomes so important. We&rsquo;re pulling in data from each of these platforms and really getting granular about trying to understand what performs best on each platform.
&ldquo;I think part of what has made us so successful is being open to the data and leaning in to the data, and understanding what&rsquo;s performing well versus what&rsquo;s not performing well. Sometimes, it&rsquo;s hard to admit the things that aren&rsquo;t working, but we&rsquo;ve been very transparent and honest with ourselves, and we hold ourselves accountable to make sure we&rsquo;re optimizing on each of these platforms. Having that approach is another ingredient to our success and how we&rsquo;ve been able to continue growing.&rdquo;
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This data includes interesting details about the NBA&rsquo;s demographics. For example, the NBA&rsquo;s Facebook, Instagram and TikTok accounts have more than 24 million combined followers from the Philippines &mdash; the most of any country outside of the United States.
&ldquo;One of the things that makes the NBA so unique is its global reach, and we see that show up time and time again in the demographics,&rdquo; Esteves said. &ldquo;The fan support we have in the Philippines, I think, is among the most amazing things I&rsquo;ve witnessed from the data side for the demographics of the NBA. For that country to represent such a significant portion of the consumption we have on a person-to-person basis, they just love the NBA; they love the stories and the players. Our content performs exceptionally well there.
"We see support from countries all over the world &mdash; in Europe, Australia, Africa and so on &mdash; but the Philippines is an example of something that really stood out to me. I think that ties back to a lot of the globalization that the NBA has done, with some of its global games being held in Manila and other locations outside of the U.S. That&rsquo;s been critical and we&rsquo;ve seen that show up in the numbers."
Utilizing these platforms, the NBA has gone from connecting to its biggest local supporters to reaching an audience that spans the entire world.
"Being based in New York, sometimes you have that U.S.-centric bias when you&rsquo;re looking at stuff, but once you see the data, it opens up your mind like, &lsquo;Wow, this content is being consumed in real time across so many different territories and countries across the globe.&rsquo;&rdquo;
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In 2021, the NBA was the most-viewed, most-engaged and most-followed pro-sports-league account on social media.

An inside look at how the NBA became a social-media juggernaut

Civil Rights attorney Lee Merritt discusses the power and influence the NBA has, and can continue to have &mdash; if the NBA continues using its platform, voices and resources to fight for justice.&nbsp;
Lee Merritt is one of the attorneys for Ahmaud Arbery&rsquo;s family &mdash; a 25-year-old black man who was murdered while on a run near Brunswick, in Glynn County, Georgia. A verdict of life imprisonment was just announced in the case, in which three men were convicted of murdering Arbery. While Lee Merritt is definitely relieved about the verdict, we discuss the long road ahead to achieve justice and equality for all. Merritt is running for attorney general in Texas and I would love to see the NBA duplicate what the WNBA did, when they threw their support behind Raphael Warnock, an Atlanta-area pastor who was running as a Democrat at the time for (and would eventually win) one of Georgia&rsquo;s seats in the U.S. Senate.&nbsp;
This was a great discussion.
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Etan Thomas: So this time last year, I interviewed a group of WNBA players, [including] Renee Montgomery and Elizabeth Williams, who both played for the Atlanta Dream at the time, [as well as] Tierra Ruffin-Pratt, Angel McCoughtry &mdash; and Eric Garner's daughter, Emerald. And <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/wnba-nba-kelly-loeffler-atlanta-dream-renee-montgomery-elizabeth-williams-swin-cash-etan-thomas-activism-black-lives-matter-activist-movement-vote-warnock-shirts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">we discussed what the WNBA did to galvanize support for Raphael Warnock, and ultimately get him in office and Kelly Loeffler out of office</a>. And it was really amazing. Because for one, Raphael Warnock was polling at 9% before the WNBA got involved. And he won &mdash; in Georgia, of all places.&nbsp;
So I want to see how we can galvanize the NBA to duplicate that with you, as you're running for attorney general in the state of Texas. So that's why I reached out to you to have this interview with you. I've been following you for a long time and I'm a big fan of the work that you do. And so, I'm going to send this interview to the NBA, to the <a href="https://www.thesocialchangefund.org">NBA Social Change Fund</a>.
Which, for those that aren't familiar, it was birthed out of the Bubble season. After the NBA players went on strike, after Jacob Blake was shot multiple times in broad daylight, in front of his children. The NBA Social Change Fund was formed by Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade, and is aimed to support critical issues in the black community.
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/img_7183_lg.jpg" alt="" width="501" height="282" />
So that's why after speaking to Allisa Charles-Findley, who is Botham Jean's sister &mdash; and I actually interviewed her for my new book, &ldquo;<a href="http://www.akashicbooks.com/catalog/police-brutality-and-white-supremacy-the-fight-against-american-traditions/">Police Brutality and White Supremacy: The Fight Against American Traditions.</a>&rdquo;
She was one of the people I interviewed, along with Atatiana Jefferson's family, who I know that you work with as well &mdash; so we came up with the idea of conducting this interview with you, to try to galvanize that support from the NBA. Some people are like, "Alright, you usually do basketball stuff. Why are you interviewing a politician right now?" But that's the reason why. So thank you for taking this time.
Lee Merritt: "Sure, I really appreciate that. During most of my career, I've enjoyed the support of the National Basketball Association. I can recall in 2017, a young man named <a href="https://www.dallasnews.com/news/courts/2018/08/29/jordan-edwards-made-the-case-against-roy-oliver-unlike-any-murder-trial-dallas-had-ever-seen/">Jordan Edwards </a>was slain in Balch Springs, Texas.&nbsp;
"It was in the middle of the NBA playoffs &mdash; and Steve Kerr, who had suffered family tragedy as well, identified with that family, reached out, invited them to the playoff games [and] got his brothers to take their mind off of it for a bit.
"I actually used to coach basketball myself. I was a coach down at South Atlanta High School. I coached Derrick Favors, I coached against Cousins and Walls* when they were high school students. And I enjoy a relationship with them today, continuing to give back to the community of Atlanta.
"And yeah, the names that you mentioned that you work with, Chris Paul has supported the work and the families I represent. Dwyane Wade and his wife, Gabrielle Union, [have] been major, major supporters over the course of my career.
"And, just as I transition away from representing one family at a time and start talking about representing larger groups of people and going towards policies, I certainly think the NBA can play a major role &mdash; in not only the success of the campaign, but championing some of those issues that we're fighting for on a case-by-case basis, and taking it to one of the biggest states in the country and really impacting national policy."
Etan: So, let me ask you to review some of the cases that you've worked with before, and the people that you've represented. We could start off with Ahmaud Arbery.
Merritt: "Sure. I came to represent the Ahmaud Arbery family before the video was released of his brutal slaying in South Georgia. Many [...] will recall that he was a South Georgia jogger. On February 23, 2020, he was targeted by three white men who have now been each <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/jury-reaches-verdict-ahmaud-arbery-death-case/story?id=81353504">convicted of murder</a>, and are facing life sentences in the state of Georgia, as well as federal hate crime charges.
"I've also represented... Unfortunately, the list of families that I've represented is quite extensive. I represent over 67 families who have suffered misuse of force, that lost a loved one, as a result of the deadliest police culture in the world. Some of the names that your viewers may have heard of.
"You mentioned [...] <a href="https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/crime/article236198028.html">Atatiana Jefferson</a>.&nbsp;
"Of course, that case is ongoing. <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/death-innocent-man-timeline-wrong-apartment-murder-trial/story?id=65938727">Botham Jean</a>, who was an accountant eating a bowl of ice cream in his own apartment complex.&nbsp;
"<a href="https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-illinois-police-shooting-guard-20181112-story.html">Jemel Roberson</a> was a security guard in Chicago. Had just stopped a mass shooting, and was shot in the back by a police officer who must have mistook him for a gunman.&nbsp;
"<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/13/us/california-attorney-general-sean-monterrosa-shooting/index.html">Sean Monterrosa</a> in California.
"But the bulk of my work has been in Texas. I represent <a href="https://foxsanantonio.com/news/local/damian-daniels-family-responds-to-no-indictment-for-deputy-that-killed-him">Damian Daniels</a>, a veteran shot to death in his home.&nbsp;
"<a href="https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Family-of-woman-killed-by-Baytown-officer-13872709.php">Pamela Turner</a> in the Houston area.&nbsp;
"And like I said, we could probably spend the rest of this podcast going through the list of names."
Etan: Wow! So now you're running for attorney general in Texas. And for those that don't know, what exactly are the responsibilities of an attorney general?
Merritt: "The attorney general of Texas, and an attorney general in any state, is the legal voice for the people. They're supposed to serve as the spokesperson for what justice is in a municipality. And so we've seen it, in cases like Breonna Taylor, where we had a really bad attorney general interfere with accountability in that case, in the form of Daniel Cameron. We've seen the opposite end of that spectrum with Keith Ellison and the work that he's done in Minnesota. Prosecuting the officers responsible for the death of George Floyd and, most recently, Daunte Wright.
"But even beyond the criminal justice aspect, the attorney general&rsquo;s office, particularly in the state of Texas, impacts virtually every aspect of Texas life. So property taxes, school protection. And we've heard a lot recently in the news about the CRT [Critical Race Theory] scam, where they're trying to erase entire portions of our history in the name of not getting anyone upset.
"From the border crisis, to really economic empowerment in our schools. There's so many businesses that are attempting to get off the ground, but don't have access to the kind of governmental loans and support that our white counterparts do.
"All of those things run through the attorney general's office. It's a very, very influential office. More or less the second-in-command in the state of Texas."
Etan: Now, Ken Paxton, [is] who you would be running against, and who is the current attorney general &mdash; and has been since 2015. I want to talk about the stark differences between the two of you, because it's really night and day.
But I want to start off with this, because the Jan. 6 insurrection [anniversary] is upon us. And you know, I'm looking at him, looking at the footage, and I see him at a rally right before the insurrection, almost like leading the charge. Explain to me, let's start off with there, about the stark differences between you and Ken Paxton.
Merritt: "Well, there is a clear contrast. You know, Texas was in the national news because of [its] unique voter suppression laws. They passed some laws that would make it more difficult for the black and brown people in the state, people with disabilities and marginalized communities to vote.
"It was so upsetting that certain members of the Texas legislature left the state and went to DC &mdash; refused to participate in that session in order to fight for voting rights. Now, I was present with them. I thought that was a fight worth standing with people for, providing both legal advice and strategies, working with the labor community and others to take on voting issues in Texas.
"By contrast, the last sort of infamous trip of the attorney general, the current attorney general, to our nation's capital was on Jan. 6. And we don't know exactly what he did there, because he has not participated in an ongoing investigation in terms of his potential criminal liability for helping to incite a riot.
"But he was very publicly on camera, encouraging the soon-to-be riders and insurrectionists that the election was stolen, that they had a responsibility to fight. And he invoked the name of Texas when he did it. He said, "You all should fight, because Texans fight." And he laid out that he had fought to overturn the results of the free and fair election. And yeah, that's our top legal position in the state, advocating for the overthrow of our government."
---------------
We then went on to discuss particular differences between him and Ken Paxton such as his position on education, police reform, border, gun training before owning a gun, and we cleared up the misconceptions on CRT, being anti-police vs. anti-police brutality, Second Amendment rights, etc.
---------------
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Etan: So let's go to the NBA, and how important it is for the NBA to continue to promote, to continue to use their platforms, to be able to &mdash; I mean, this is the thing. It's important to do that part. But now we have to take it a step further.
And I think the NBA has been doing a great job of promoting, raising awareness. You saw it all especially during the Bubble season, after the entire country was promoting and demonstrating and protesting what happened with George Floyd, what happened with Breonna Taylor [and] Ahmaud Arbery.
You saw John Wall and Bradley Beal here in D.C. leading protests. You saw all the Ball brothers, you saw Russell Westbrook in L.A. You saw Jaylen Brown and Enes Kanter Freedom too, in Boston &mdash; of course everything that LeBron was always doing.
But now it's like, it needs to be a step further, like the next step. And I think that you, with what you are trying to implement in Texas as the attorney general, is that next step. Because you have to be able to have someone in place that's on the right side of wanting to be able to create something that functions properly. So just talk about that, how this is like the next step that should happen. Along with [...] raising awareness and protesting and everything like that.
Merritt: "Yeah. I can recall, we were in the middle of the NBA playoffs when Jacob Blake was repeatedly shot in his back by a Milwaukee police officer. And I was watching the game, and Chris Paul had just gone off, sort of a historic performance.
"And <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxcNbbyg0ZI">they interviewed him</a> right after the game. And they said, 'You know, Chris, you were playing...' I think he was playing his old team, the Houston Rockets. He was with the Oklahoma City Thunder [...], where Derrick Favors is currently.
"And they said, 'Tell us about this performance against your old team. You had a chance to really show them that you still got it.' And he said, 'Yeah, I don't really care about that. That's cool. And that's what I'm paid to do. But a law enforcement officer in my community has just shot someone in their back several times. He was unarmed and nonviolent. Let's talk about that.'
"I think it's on the players to stand up like Chris Paul did, and like you said, like people have done, in a systemic way across the National Basketball Association &mdash; where the pundits and the media might tell you, 'Could you just shut up and dribble.' We've heard that refrain before.
"It's important for the players to say, "No, actually I won't. This is my community. What's going on in our community, it's urgent. It's a crisis. It's not something that we want to put off for a later conversation or for the offseason. But where it happens, I'm going to stand up to it. And I will get involved in elections. And I will use my resources and time and attention to shine a light on these issues that must be addressed."
Etan: You know, it's interesting. In my book, &ldquo;<a href="http://www.akashicbooks.com/catalog/we-matter-athletes-and-activism/">We Matter: Athletes and Activism</a>&rdquo; I interviewed Jahvaris Fulton, who is Trayvon Martin's brother. And in the interview, he told me how &mdash; and when he said this, it kind of threw me,&nbsp; because I didn't expect him to say it &mdash; he said that if it weren't for NBA players and celebrities and everybody like that, talking about his brother, he didn't think that anybody would know his name. And I was like, "Wow, that's kind of strong. Why do you say that?"
So then he explained to me how, when Trayvon Martin was first killed, his family was trying to get the local news people to cover it and they didn't want to cover it. They said, "Okay, another young black man was killed. That's not newsworthy."
And I was like, "That's what they told you?" He said, "Yeah," he was like, "We don't have no evidence. We don't have no video of it. Just your word saying that he [was] killed, that's not newsworthy." And he gave a shout-out to Roland Martin and some of the black news people, who were covering it. But he said, "But no local news people wanted to cover it."
So then he said, "But then, LeBron James started talking about it. And Dwyane Wade started talking about it. And then the entire Miami Heat team posed in the hoodies." So then he said, "So then you had everybody like, 'Okay, what is this that LeBron James is discussing? And why is Dwyane Wade feeling so passionate about this, and talking about his kids, and about this case?' Then everybody started to gravitate towards it and cover it and everything like that."
But he said [...] before, they couldn't get anybody to cover it. And that's just... It's unfortunate that it is that way, because people should have a regard for human life anyway, without an athlete having to speak about it. However, the athlete speaking about it is what drew the attention &mdash; and that just shows where athletes have to continue to do that, continue to use your voice and your platform to be able to speak to these causes.
And also to take it a step further by having laws being changed, and people who are in positions to fight for laws being changed, like [you are]. You know what I mean? And running for attorney general &mdash; [who] are in positions to actually implement some things so these things don't just continue to keep happening.
Merritt: "Yeah. I can remember in 2016, we saw two high-profile officer-involved shootings back-to-back, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. It was the same weekend, and it was almost like a dark cloud being hanged over impacted communities. And if you and I saw each other on the street, we would make eye contact and say, 'You know, man, this is becoming too much.'
"Dallas had a protest &mdash; I was living in Dallas at the time. And they had a protest downtown, where we marched and we discussed what happened, and started to talk about organizing police reform. And at the end of that protest, a vigilante named Micah Xavier Johnson, targeted law enforcement officers and shot five police officers and a couple of civilians as well. And you could imagine the national outcry about Black Lives Matter, and how they put law enforcement lives at risk.
"And everyone began to ignore the fact that people were there for protesting peacefully about police violence &mdash; that was back-to-back and overwhelming. And while it was a tragedy for our entire community that law enforcement officers were targeted by Mr. Johnson, there was also an ongoing crisis in our community, that was the reason that all those people had gathered and made targets of themselves.
"And it was Dwyane Wade. LeBron was still, I think, in 2016, with the Miami Heat. So it was Wade and LeBron who came forward at the ESPY Awards that weekend and re-centered the conversation. And said, 'That's terrible what happened in Dallas, and we back the blue. We stand for the law enforcement officers.'
&ldquo;But understand that our community is also under attack. And it's two sides of the same coin. We don't tolerate violence directed at law enforcement officers. And we cannot continue to tolerate violence directed at our community.
And it saved the national conversation so that we could get back to what had brought us all there in the first place. And so, yeah, members of the NBA have the opportunity, in [the] state of Texas, but [also] throughout the country, the voices of the NBA are critically important to that."
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/violalogo1_lg.png" alt="" width="666" height="333" />

Etan Thomas is joined by Lee Merritt on "The Rematch" to discuss social justice and the NBA's role in societal change.

Lee Merritt: The NBA could impact public policy and elections

Since he arrived to the NBA as the No. 1 pick in 2017 for the Philadelphia 76ers, there has been so much misreported about Markelle Fultz.
Fultz went through two tumultuous years of misinformation by the media and fans, conspiracy theories, unfounded rumors, criticisms and internet jokes, and he was labeled a bust by people who are paid a king&rsquo;s ransom on ESPN &mdash; namely Stephen A. Smith, who called Fultz &ldquo;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FG8Vtvkq8Fo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the biggest bust in NBA history</a>.&rdquo;
But what actually happened is quite the opposite. Fultz wasn&rsquo;t a &ldquo;bust.&rdquo; He was dealing with an injury that is not only untraceable by an MRI, but also rarely (or hardly ever) seen in basketball players. In spite of all that, he was still trying to play through the pain because of his love for the game of basketball, and it's something that he does, in fact, regret doing.&nbsp;
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I spoke with Fultz on <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/podcasts/the-rematch" target="_blank" rel="noopener">my podcast</a>, "The Rematch," and the Orlando Magic guard opened up on everything that happened with his shoulder and finally put all of the incorrect rumors to rest. Below is a snippet of our conversation:
Etan Thomas: You mentioned your shoulder. You injured your shoulder, and you initially tried to play through it and not tell anybody about the injury, right? Am I correct?
Markelle Fultz: "Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely."
Etan Thomas: So walk me through that process because people don't really understand how it works sometimes. And I'm sure the pressure of being No. 1 was a contributing factor to why you wanted to play through the injury. But walk me through that process.
Markelle Fultz: "Yeah. Well, a lot of people just don&rsquo;t know my love for the game. Growing up in the area I grew up, you have bumps and bruises. But that's where it becomes a business, taking care of your body. And me being who I am, loving the game so much, I feel like, although my shoulder was messed up, I feel like I can still contribute to the game and help my team win. So I wanted to go out there and just compete and have fun with the game. And also, it's my first year. And I think that I did a poor job of communicating to my agent and my family what I was feeling, instead of just going out there and trying to compete without expressing what I was feeling. And all I was doing was making it worse. But when I realized that certain situations weren't going my way, I knew I had to speak up, and I had to do what's best for myself.
"And I think that was the toughest part about it, because I felt like I could still play and contribute to my team, but I wasn't myself. I wasn't 100%, and it wasn't what was best for the team. So I took that time and tried to figure out what was going on. And I went to go see certain doctors and started that rehab process then. But I think the biggest thing I learned from that is just taking care of my body, and communicating what I feel to not only my agent and my family, but also trainers and stuff like that."
Etan Thomas: So how long were you in pain before you told anybody?
Markelle Fultz: "Actually, my shoulder started hurting before training camp [in my rookie year]. &nbsp;But I just thought it was from how much work I was putting in, from me shooting so much that my shoulder was just sore. So I tried to work through it. I'm going in the gym, shooting thousands of shots, trying to shoot through it. And the whole time, I just continued to make it worse. But again, the mindset that I had, I'm just trying to grind. I'm trying to continue to work through these issues, and not knowing that I'm making it worse. Again, I'm just kind of being young and being selfish, I would call it, in a sense, not understanding my body. And I think that was a big part of it. And again, once I communicated, I started to get the help that I needed. And I started to work and rehab, and it started to get better."
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Etan Thomas: You mentioned you learned how to advocate for yourself. I want you to go a little bit more detail with that. And speak up because still, a lot of people don't really understand how it works with team trainers and team doctors, and how a lot of times players have to speak up and advocate for themselves. Just go into a little bit more detail about that point.
Markelle Fultz: "Yeah. And this is no knock on any team or anything like that, but it's a business, at the end of the day. And sometimes, again, it's a long season, so you have bumps and bruises. And sometimes, some people play through it, some people don't. Everybody's body is different. So especially not knowing a person and not knowing the situation, if you don't communicate and advocate for yourself, you never know what could happen. And it can be something as small as your toe hurting. But what I've learned so much about my body is your body compensates. And we're so good, as athletes and as humans, that if we're trying to do something, our body's going to find a way to do it. So it might not be the right way, but we can do certain stuff and hurt ourself, in the long run.
"And so my one thing would be: try to be in tune with your body as much as you can. And [it could be something] as small as your toenail hurting. I mean, you always get this phrase of 'You're soft' or you're whatever. But what I've learned is I'd rather overcommunicate about how my body's feeling and still be able to work out. I still want to work out, but I'm going to let you know, 'Hey, my big toe's hurting. Hey, my right hamstring is feeling like this today. My knee's feeling like this.' So they can start to know that you're caring about your body, and you're documenting certain stuff, so you don't end up compensating and hurting yourself in the long run."
Etan Thomas: Yeah, well, it's interesting. You go to different gyms, and they could be even as young as high school. And you see phrases on the wall like "Pain is weakness leaving your body" and stuff like that. And I hate that. I do, because it puts the wrong mentality into players, to thinking that them being injured is somehow their fault, like they're not being tough enough to play through an injury. And I just personally cannot stand that mentality at all.
Markelle Fultz: "Yeah. And I think that's how I kind of grew up. Not in a bad way. But growing up, I'm playing through whatever. I don't want to be soft. I want to show that I'm tough. But when you get to a certain point where your body is your brand... Your body is your car, so you need to take care of that thing like it's a Ferrari. You hear phrases like that, but it's true. You have to take care of your body.
"You have to get the right recovery. You have to get the right sleep. If not, it's going to end up hurting you. It might not hurt you right away, but down the road it can give you certain side effects. Or you never know, it can lead to something happening right away. But there are also freak accidents that happen. But I think that's the one thing that I would recommend to any player at any age, is just communicating about your body. [That] doesn't mean that you have to sit out of a drill, but it can start to put an awareness on people's mind. You can start to document certain things. And you'll have a better understanding, going forward, of why you do what you do."
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Markelle Fultz&rsquo;s story is a great example for all younger players on fighting through adversity, having the right mentality, ignoring critics and perseverance. His testimony is something every young athlete should hear. Powerful interview <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TheRematch?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TheRematch</a> <a href="https://t.co/25vHkql1Rj">https://t.co/25vHkql1Rj</a> <a href="https://t.co/LpHu9jQxfG">pic.twitter.com/LpHu9jQxfG</a>
&mdash; Etan Thomas (@etanthomas36) <a href="https://twitter.com/etanthomas36/status/1464569831324332045?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 27, 2021</a></blockquote>

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Etan Thomas: But I think that sometimes a player does have to sit down. A player does have to say, "Okay, I can't go. You're going to talk bad about me. You're going to tell..." So I use the example a lot with my son about Robert Griffin III. So when RG III first came to D.C., my son was the biggest RG III fan on earth. And then I took him to... you know when they have the open scrimmages? So he met him, and RG III was cool with him. And they took a picture, and he's been the biggest RG III fan forever since then. And you remember that game where RG III was limping out there? And so, I'm watching that game with Malcolm. And he was like, "Why is he playing? What is he doing? He's going to injure himself," and so forth. This is what a young Malcolm is saying.
And sure enough, in fact his entire career, the trajectory of everything, went downhill from there. And then you saw the trainer say, "Well, I didn't tell him to go out there." Nobody wanted to take responsibility. But it should be the trainer's job to tell you that you are going to hurt yourself more if you continue playing. And that's the problem that I personally have with a lot of NBA trainers. I'm not throwing anybody in particular under the bus; this is a league-wide issue. They're employers of the team, and they want to do what's best for the team, not what's best for the player.
Markelle Fultz: "Exactly. And that's where it comes back to a relationship. So you have to have the certain people in your corner that's going to always keep it real with you because at the end of the day, like I said, your body's your brand. And it's about the longevity. It's different if it's Game 7 in the playoffs or the championship, and you're sacrificing for that. What I've also learned is rest is a big part of recovery, and getting the right amount of rest. Some days you got to go hard, and some days you have to not do anything at all. I mean, you can do some light stuff. But I think you hit it right on the head. Some people&rsquo;s mind is set for the team. Not everybody has your best interest [in mind]. You have the best interest for yourself. So I think that's why it's huge to communicate how you feel to whoever it is &mdash; whether it's your mom, your dad, your trainer, whoever &mdash; and do what you feel is best because you know your body the best.
"Nobody else can tell you how your body is supposed to feel, how your body feels at that time. And I think that's where I learned how to advocate the most for myself. And I've gotten more respect from a lot of people when I do that. And again, it doesn't mean you're soft. It's just being smart about certain things. But at the same time, you do have to push yourself in certain limits to be able to... It's going to be certain days where you're sore, and you still have to push through. That's part of it, but it's a difference between sore and hurt. So just trying to learn... The sooner you start to communicate certain things, you start to learn what's pain, and what's okay to work through and what's not to work through. And that's where I think I've learned the most. I've learned how to identify what's going on in my body, and understand what I need to do to make that feel better, or if I need to take rest or if I need to go get treatment."
Etan Thomas: Yeah. I mean, I always heard the saying that there's a difference between being injured and hurting. So sometimes you're going to have to play through being hurting. That's just part of being an athlete. But being injured, you need to sit down.
Markelle Fultz: Exactly.
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Etan Thomas: So, I want to ask a few specifics. I remember seeing some videos of you, watching you play and seeing your different routines on the free-throw line. And I just wanted to ask: Was that when you was trying to push through it? Was it part of the rehab? So there was one where you would kind of pat the ball like this, and then shoot it. And then there were some where you would go up and it would be kind of like a hitch, kind of. What exactly was going on?
Markelle Fultz: "Yes. So what a lot of people don't know is, what TOS (Thoracic Outlet Syndrome) is. It's a nerve... It's when your nerves are getting pressured on, and you can start to lose feeling in your hands. So at the time when I was playing, I still had TOS. I wasn't diagnosed with TOS. I still was working through certain shoulder stuff. But again, with my love for the game, I still wanted to be out there.
"And another thing people don't know, TOS is not diagnosed through a MRI, CAT scan. It's very hard to diagnose TOS, which is a big part of why, in the beginning, I kind of thought that nothing was going on. And I just thought it was my shoulder, because when I got MRIs and I got the scans, I didn't see anything that was going on. But I had to continue. So I went from shooting 40% in college to coming into the NBA.... It's so funny, people were like, 'He changed his shot.' Like, what would I change my shot for? There's no reason. So that was one of the funniest things that I heard, then I used to hear all these rumors about me being injured on a motorcycle, but that's another story."
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
&ldquo;JJ Redick stood up for me to the media. He went off on them in front of the camera and I really appreciated that a lot. He was like a big brother to me&rdquo; Markelle Fultz <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TheRematch?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TheRematch</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/JJRedick?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#JJRedick</a> <a href="https://t.co/U5IHeV99rU">https://t.co/U5IHeV99rU</a> <a href="https://t.co/GwGJ3a3FSB">pic.twitter.com/GwGJ3a3FSB</a>
&mdash; Etan Thomas (@etanthomas36) <a href="https://twitter.com/etanthomas36/status/1464597794677743621?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 27, 2021</a></blockquote>

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Etan Thomas: Oh, man! There were so many different rumors about you... They got the story wrong so many times. I heard so many different stories.
Markelle Fultz: And that's what was the funniest thing because to me... I never went out to address it because I didn't care about that. Again, my main focus was getting back on the court, doing what I needed to do. But some of the stuff I used to see, I used to be like, 'Yo, that's crazy that somebody actually believes that.' But it also taught me another thing: You can't believe everything you read, right? But yeah. So pretty much what people didn't know is, so when I was going... The whole thing on my shoulder, when I would try to shoot, it almost felt like I had a too-small suit jacket on. So I would go, try to go up, and it felt like somebody was almost holding my arm there. I would try to move fast, but I felt like I couldn't move fast. So what I ended up doing is continue to try to shoot on it. I ended up building up more and more pressure on my shoulder where I'm not using... where I'm starting to hinge my shoulder up. I'm starting to use the wrong muscles, and I'm building bad habits.
"But what people don't understand is I'm out there playing, still. Still trying to shoot, still doing this. I was still making free throws. I wasn't very high percentage, but I was still making free throws. And so the first thing, when I would go up sometimes, I would lose feeling in my hand. And so, that's the reason I'd double clutch, because I would get here and I wouldn't feel like the ball was in my hand. But when I'd come up, my feeling would come back because the way it is &mdash; when I'm going through a certain motion &mdash; my muscles are pushing on my nerve, which is cutting my feeling off. And when I go through, it releases off the nerve, and that's when I would get my feeling back. So when I would do the double clutch, it was because when I would get here, I wouldn't feel the ball in my hand. So it was no way I was shooting if I don't feel like the ball [was] in my hand.
"So I would go up a little bit and it would come back, so I would just come from here and shoot the ball. And so when I went to practice, I'm like, 'Alright, that's not working, so let me try something else.' So another thing I tried to do was, this wouldn't have me holding the ball. So the desensitization of just moving the ball back and forth until I get into where I get feeling, which is right here, then I can just shoot. I was fine shooting from here. If I had just caught the ball here and shot up, it was perfectly fine. So that was why I went to that because I was just trying to be more efficient at the free-throw line. I didn't care what people were saying. I was just trying to get my flow in. So when I got to where I needed to go, I can just shoot the ball fine. But again, that was another realization of me compensating. And I said, 'Markelle Fultz, you don't need to compensate. You need to get healthy.'
"And another instance where I talked to my agent, I just told him I have no problem playing. I just feel like I want to be myself so I can just go out there and play without thinking, just playing my game, be who I am. And so, that's where it kind of went from. But just a lot of repetition of shooting the wrong way, it just builds bad habits and it builds your muscle memory wrong. And so, that was the biggest thing, trying to get back to... And I'm still working on it now. It's something I'm always going to have to work on. It's just trying to get my brain to process the ball being over my head the same way. And it's something that is a everyday grind, but I'm enjoying it. I feel way more comfortable now, and I feel the improvement. And again, I know my body, so I know what I need to work on.
Listen to the full episode of Markelle Fultz on The Rematch <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/podcasts/the-rematch/episodes/basketballnews-com-episode-39-markelle-fultz-talks-injuries,-dealing-with-criticism-his-love-of-the-game-and-more" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.

Markelle Fultz gives a behind-the-scenes breakdown of the shoulder injury he suffered as a rookie and how it affected his jump shot.

Markelle Fultz reveals what really happened with his shot, shoulder

The <a class="c-link" tabindex="-1" href="https://www.basketballnetwork.net/darko-milicic-thinks-jokic-is-a-target-because-he-is-a-foreign-player-dominating-the-nba/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-stringify-link="https://www.basketballnetwork.net/giannis-antetokounmpo-shares-why-he-doesnt-associate-or-practice-with-other-nba-players-in-the-offseason/" data-sk="tooltip_parent" data-remove-tab-index="true">following article</a>&nbsp;first appeared on&nbsp;<a class="c-link" tabindex="-1" href="http://basketballnetwork.net/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="http://BasketballNetwork.net" data-sk="tooltip_parent" data-remove-tab-index="true">BasketballNetwork.net</a>:
The altercation between Nikola Jokić and Markieff Morris that ended up in the Serbian pushing the Heat forward viciously in the back, retaliating to the cheap shot foul from Morris, captured NBA headlines last week. That push would start all-out chaos, with teams having to be separated and ejections, suspensions, fines, and even brothers of the protagonists getting involved. The whole incident made waves worldwide and caused numerous reactions. Even from the former No. 2 pick Darko Miličić.&nbsp;
Jokić&rsquo;s reaction was justified
Although at first, it seemed Nikola really overreacted and injured Morris, the second look told the whole story. Markieff went for Jokić&rsquo;s ribs and cheap-shotted in a very unnecessary manner with a move that could have definitely injured the Nuggets center. In the end, cooler heads prevailed, and the NBA got the type of show and drama they need on an occasional basis.
The NBA world reacted to this altercation immediately, as it was the main topic of discussion for days. The majority of people justified Nikola&rsquo;s reaction and agreed you can&rsquo;t cheap-shot a guy like that and simply turn your back. Shaq and Charles explained that perfectly on Inside the NBA.
Darko reacts and fires numerous shots at the Morris twins and the NBA
Another interesting reaction we got was from the former 2003 No. 2 pick and Jokić&rsquo;s countryman, Darko Miličić. One of the most infamous draft busts in NBA history has been retired for some time, trying out his luck in combat sports and farming after the NBA life. But occasionally, he still gives us controversial and non-filtered opinions on the basketball world.
Miličić&nbsp;is certain Jokić often gets targeted by opposing players due to his dominance and ability to bully opponents on the court, especially coming from a foreign country:
&ldquo;What else could Nikola expect when he comes to America, which has hundreds of millions, from a small country that does not have even six million people? He comes, dominates, and bullies them in basketball, becomes the best in the world? Similar to Novak in tennis&hellip; Of course, you will bother some people, and you will be their target," Miličić <a href="https://mozzartsport.com/kosarka/vesti/milicic-za-mozzart-sport-jokic-im-smeta-kao-okovic-nba-je-sou-igraci-nisu-gangsteri/403764" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said via Mozzart Sport</a>.
Miličić&nbsp;has a good point, as foreign players have to work extra hard to earn respect in the NBA. Miličić then went on to flame the Morris twins for being fake tough guys:
&ldquo;It is obvious that they (the Morris brothers) are building their careers on incidents and provocations, as &lsquo;dangerous guys.&rsquo; They survive on that basis. But Nikola shouldn&rsquo;t have allowed himself that because they achieved what they wanted by provocation. Nikola was suspended.&rdquo;&nbsp;
To cap it all off, Miličić called out all the "tough guys" in the NBA for just trying to put on a show for cameras rather than actually wanting to fight:
&ldquo;The NBA is a show. We can say whatever we want, where we come from&hellip; An epidemiological story that tries to be served as if they are all gangsters can&rsquo;t pass even with small children. All players are accomplished and earn at least enough. All that show (around fighting), it comes down to &lsquo;I to you, you to me&rsquo;, frowning&hellip; Those quasi-street threats are stereotyped. They didn&rsquo;t mean anything to me. Nikola turned out naive, pushed him visibly. I&rsquo;m not a scoundrel, but I didn&rsquo;t see the desire for a showdown. A small percentage of players are ready for the showdown. You turn out to be naive if you get hooked and in front of everyone. You turn out to be the culprit, regardless of the circumstances under which it happened.&rdquo;
Miličić&nbsp;is a bit blunt and direct with his statements, but he does have a point. NBA stars are basketball players primarily and professionals with a lot to lose. They don&rsquo;t want to fight anybody and risk losing substantial amounts of money.&nbsp;
Sure they will try to look tough for the cameras and the crowd, especially those who built a career on being labeled the "tough guy." But in reality, nobody really wants the smoke. Darko was a bust with many ridiculous statements in his career, but I have to agree with him this time.
Check out more articles from BasketballNetwork.net <a href="https://www.basketballnetwork.net/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.

Darko Milicic offered his thoughts on the recent altercation between Nikola Jokic and Markieff Morris.

Darko Milicic feels Nikola Jokic is targeted as a foreign player

Kyrie Irving has never been afraid of taking the road less traveled.
The only problem, in this instance, is that nobody knows where it leads.
With a few strokes of a keyboard, Sean Marks and his Brooklyn Nets took a <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nets-say-kyrie-irving-cant-play-or-practice-with-team-while-unvaccinated" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hard-line stance</a> as it relates to the point guard. In the quest for a championship, Marks declared that Brooklyn would not permit any of its players to serve in a part-time capacity &mdash; superstars be damned.
In other words, with respect to Irving, the messaging was clear: get vaccinated, or else.
Maybe betrayed is too strong of a word, but there&rsquo;s no way that Kyrie could have received the organization&rsquo;s decision positively.
Perhaps it&rsquo;s ironic that Brooklyn would decide that it would rather have none of Irving than half. Of Brooklyn&rsquo;s Big Three, he was the one whose joining the franchise was fairly and accurately declared a homecoming.
Of the three, it is Irving who was first to take his talents to Brooklyn, and it was he who was first to don the Nets' signature black and white threads.
Now, he is another first &mdash; the first to be sent away.
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Sean Marks says the decision on Kyrie Irving was made by himself and Joe Tsai: <a href="https://t.co/vHvQ2UjF6B">pic.twitter.com/vHvQ2UjF6B</a>
&mdash; Nets Videos (@SNYNets) <a href="https://twitter.com/SNYNets/status/1447956798598680576?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 12, 2021</a></blockquote>

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When Irving signed with the Nets in 2019, nobody could&rsquo;ve ever predicted such an outcome. It was as unforeseen as it is unfortunate, especially if you&rsquo;re Kyrie or someone who&rsquo;s sympathetic to his cause.
Behind closed doors and away from the cameras and the microphones, scores of NBA players have expressed reluctance to get vaccinated against COVID-19. But over the course of the summer, it became clear that in order to fully participate and have some semblance of normalcy, the league&rsquo;s players had a simple choice to make.
And for players who call New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco home, the stakes were even higher: full participation with their teams depended on their willingness to get jabbed.&nbsp;
In the end, for the players as a whole, the want to be full-time members of their teams and to enjoy their lives as competitors in the NBA won out. As a class, the league&rsquo;s players understand that their careers are relatively short, and that their window to earn is, as well. Their future generations and familial legacies can be enhanced with the stroke of a pen, and when painted into a corner, invariably, they choose to perform. The decision to go into the Orlando Bubble and continue competition after the murder of George Floyd told us that.
All things considered, the league&rsquo;s players tend to fall in line.
...Only not this time.
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It&rsquo;s become quite cliche these days for head coaches and team leaders to refer to their teammates and one another as "brothers" or as "family," but there&rsquo;s some merit in those declarations. At least during the season, most players spend more time with their teammates than they do with their children. They&rsquo;re married to their coaching staff just as they are married to their spouses.
So whether they say it publicly or not, members of the Nets organization probably look at Irving&rsquo;s refusal to get vaccinated as a stubborn refusal in which he&rsquo;s choosing his personal principles over the team&rsquo;s collective goal. And if you disagree with that, ask yourself why more 95% of the league&rsquo;s players are vaccinated. Ask yourself why Irving is the only member of either New York team who isn&rsquo;t.
And while there are other players around the league who have opted against the vaccination, none of them are on a team that enters the season as a title favorite; none face the possibility of missing 43 of their team&rsquo;s 82 regular season games.
Kyrie made a choice to stand his ground.&nbsp;
Marks had no choice but to do the same.
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Sean Marks on the future of Kyrie Irving as a Net: "The hope is that we have Kyrie back. We'll welcome him back with open arms." <a href="https://t.co/MivSnk9CmG">pic.twitter.com/MivSnk9CmG</a>
&mdash; Nets Videos (@SNYNets) <a href="https://twitter.com/SNYNets/status/1447958806466531337?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 12, 2021</a></blockquote>

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A descendent of Gregg Popovich&rsquo;s tree, Marks saw firsthand the kind of culture that can be built by competent organizational leadership. True success in the NBA begins with standards and equitable administration of a team&rsquo;s ideals. Ask Erik Spoelstra, Tom Thibodeau and the great Popovich, and they themselves will tell you the same.
So when faced with the prospect of allowing Irving&rsquo;s refusal to get vaccinated hover over his team, Marks did what any leader in his position would have &mdash; he made a tough choice.
As a basketball player and personality, Irving is as large as they come. Whether he was available or not would impact not only head coach Steve Nash&rsquo;s game planning, but the team&rsquo;s rotations. Every player, including both Kevin Durant and James Harden, would have had to have two separate instructional sets, catering for life both with and without Irving.
Those situations obviously happen in pro sports, but unlike other scenarios, whether Marks and Nash would subject their team to that reality was completely within their control.
So in the end, it&rsquo;s easy to understand why Marks told Irving to stay away, just as it&rsquo;s easy to understand how Kyrie could be put off.
As a player, Nash gave up sugar. Amar&rsquo;e Stoudemire took wine baths. Chris Paul decided to go vegan. For the most part, players view their bodies as not only their temples, but their empires. They spend their pre-professional days doing all they can to develop and take care of their bodies. And although each team employs its own set of medical professionals to support their teams, most players maintain personal relationships with their own set of medical and training professionals whom they trust.
Being told that they must receive a vaccination that a fair amount of the public doesn&rsquo;t fully trust is a foreign concept to the league&rsquo;s players. Irving, in particular, has previously been outspoken in his desire to be, in his eyes, treated more like a person and less like an asset.&nbsp;
From his vantage point, it&rsquo;s not that difficult to understand why he feels that his right to choose should be absolute.
It&rsquo;s also not that difficult to see how, in asking him to stay away, Irving feels like &mdash; despite what is said in the statement released by the Nets &mdash; he&rsquo;s not being supported by the franchise he chose to call his own before either Durant or Harden had found their way to Barclays.&nbsp;
Declaring itself to &ldquo;support&rdquo; Irving while also not permitting him to play or practice with his team seems a bit hollow. By their deeds, the Nets are forcing Kyrie&rsquo;s hand in an attempt to get him to take the vaccine. The team is looking out for its best interests, while Kyrie is doing the same for his. Unfortunately, in this instance, the interests of the parties just aren&rsquo;t aligned.
Like everything else in life, there are two sides to the story. Two ways to look at the situation.
Perhaps it&rsquo;s fitting. Long a contrarian and one who isn&rsquo;t afraid of solitude on an island, Irving has fully embraced the path of most resistance.
Two sides to the story. Two outcomes, two possibilities.&nbsp;
As both a man and a competitor, Kyrie Irving has never avoided the fork. He&rsquo;s long made his choice to opt for the road less traveled.
In this case, though &mdash; despite their common dreams and desire &mdash; it&rsquo;s hard to see it leading back to Brooklyn.

The Nets will not permit Kyrie Irving to play or practice with the team unless he gets vaccinated. So where do the sides go from here?

It’ll be difficult for Kyrie and the Nets to come back from this

It&rsquo;s been three years and it still feels like we barely know Mitchell Robinson.
His athleticism has been off the charts since Day Zero. Nimble-footed, at his size, his timing and defensive instincts helped him make an immediate impact. His presence was felt from the moment he checked into an NBA game.
Selected by the New York Knicks with the 36th overall pick of the 2018 NBA Draft, Robinson quickly made a name for himself. Although a footnote at a time, he wound up being the only thing of substance the Knicks got for trading Carmelo Anthony to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Along with Kristaps Porzingis, the pair of big men quickly became the pride of Madison Square Garden.
But three years later, if it feels like we still don&rsquo;t know much about Robinson, it&rsquo;s because we don&rsquo;t.&nbsp;
To this point, he&rsquo;s been less of a star and more like a shooting star &mdash; gone in an instant.
And when he met with reporters as the Knicks prepared to begin training camp, he was upbeat. Noticeably more muscular, Robinson looked nothing like the scrawny kid that was drafted by the team a few years ago.
&ldquo;Yeah,&rdquo; Robinson answered matter-of-factly when asked if he&rsquo;s been hitting the weights. Smiling and flexing for the camera, he didn&rsquo;t mince any words.
&ldquo;See? I think I&rsquo;m stronger,&rdquo; he said while flexing. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been in the weight room like crazy... I feel like it&rsquo;s gonna increase my game. I ain&rsquo;t gonna be getting pushed around like that [anymore].&rdquo;
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Asked on Thursday if he&rsquo;s stronger this year, Mitchell Robinson flexes for the cameras: <a href="https://t.co/zrZ7d0U9SN">pic.twitter.com/zrZ7d0U9SN</a>
&mdash; Ian Begley (@IanBegley) <a href="https://twitter.com/IanBegley/status/1443647329798664201?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 30, 2021</a></blockquote>

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Hopefully, for the Knicks, it&rsquo;ll make a difference when it counts. Gaining 60 pounds since he was a rookie, his body's come a long way. The same can't be said of his game.
In just the 12th game of his NBA career &mdash; at just 20 years old &mdash; Robinson recorded 9 blocked shots against the Orlando Magic. He hasn&rsquo;t accomplished such a feat since, and in a nutshell, that&rsquo;s been the story of his career.
In the end, he just might be the most interesting man in New York basketball. Or, at the very least, the most unknown quantity.
The Knicks, in Julius Randle, know themselves to have a budding All-Star who&rsquo;s ascending, while RJ Barrett is coming into his own with a credible shot at becoming an All-Star himself. There are tons of positive things to say about the likes of Kemba Walker, Derrick Rose and Alec Burks.
But if the Knicks are truly to make something of themselves and continue to ascend in the Eastern Conference &mdash; if they&rsquo;ll ever have a chance to challenge the likes of the Atlanta Hawks and Chicago Bulls, much less the Milwaukee Bucks and Brooklyn Nets &mdash; they&rsquo;ll need Robinson to make good on his promise.
Whether he can will depend on when he&rsquo;s able to get back on the court, if he can stay on it and what he&rsquo;s able to do with the time he&rsquo;s given. Especially as the team&rsquo;s promising young players &mdash; including Obi Toppin &mdash; fight for minutes.
In the NBA, great general managers are able to tell the future. Rookies are handed bags of money simply based on when they&rsquo;re selected in their draft, while rookie extensions are often handed out because of a belief that a still-toiling youngster will one day have the opportunity to become great.
As he enters the 2021-22 season on the shelf, Robinson has had the benefit of neither &mdash; by virtue of being a second-round pick in 2018 and accepting a three-year deal from the Knicks, his $4.7 million in career earnings will trail the second-year $5.4 million salary of Toppin, a sophomore.&nbsp;
Although Robinson&rsquo;s abilities can&rsquo;t be denied, the Knicks&rsquo; front office decided it wouldn&rsquo;t bid against itself, and has opted to take a patient approach with respect to a potential extension.
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It certainly is the prudent course of action, but for New York, it comes with significant risk. Teams that are in acquisition mode &mdash; ones that believe themselves to have solid building blocks and a want to ascend &mdash; cannot afford to lose players like Robinson. But at some point, the reward must be earned, and whether due to his own fault or that of the organization around him, Robinson is still trying to put it all together.
To this point, the big man has missed about 28% of his career games, which is alarming. And while the majority of those missed contests came as a result of two injuries that Robinson sustained last season, the fact remains that even in the contests he&rsquo;s played, he hasn&rsquo;t been able to stay on the floor long enough to maximize his impact potential.
As head coach, David Fizdale made questionable decisions with his rotation and substitution patterns, but Robinson&rsquo;s lack of defensive discipline and poor decision-making &mdash; two things that veteran Taj Gibson has been in the 23-year-old's ear about &mdash; are completely within his own control.
Even in the games in which he&rsquo;s played, Robinson hasn&rsquo;t been able to stay on the court. Over the course of his three-year career, he&rsquo;s averaged 4.9 fouls per 36 minutes, though that number has trended downward since he was a rookie. Still, he&rsquo;s played as many as 35 minutes in a single game only five times in three seasons. For a player who seems capable of anchoring a defense and providing finishing potential, that&rsquo;s unacceptable.
Fortunately, for both Robinson and the Knicks, there&rsquo;s plenty of time left to arrange a long-term marriage, and in Robinson&rsquo;s case, to prove he&rsquo;s deserving of the proposal.
Along with point guards, it&rsquo;s often <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/why-big-men-take-more-time-to-develop-in-the-nba-than-guards-and-wings" target="_blank" rel="noopener">difficult for young big men to find their footing in the NBA</a>. In many instances, the bigs tend to be late-bloomers.
Perhaps Robinson is.
Presumably sharing the floor with Walker, Robinson will be playing alongside an attack guard who should, in theory, make the game much easier for him. Already among the league&rsquo;s more efficient players, though, the challenge for the fourth-year center will be to become more effective outside of the paint. Randle, Barrett and Walker each already pursue a fair amount of their scoring opportunities on the interior, so there needs to be at least some threat of floor-spacing from the 5-man.
With Mitchell Robinson, there are a lot of &ldquo;ifs,&rdquo; and general manager Scott Perry&rsquo;s challenge is to determine how much the answers to the many questions are worth.
At a certain point, potential needs to yield results. Three years since being drafted, there&rsquo;s still quite a bit for Robinson to prove.
He&rsquo;ll have his chance, and both Robinson&rsquo;s bank account and Tom Thibodeau&rsquo;s Knicks hope he&rsquo;s able to take full advantage of it.

Mitchell Robinson is preparing for the most important season of his NBA career, and the Knicks are hoping he's ready for the challenge.

It’s been three years, and Mitchell Robinson still has a lot to prove

With NBA training camps open for business, teams are getting back in the swing of things. Sunday will mark the first preseason game of the 2021-22 campaign between the Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Lakers (3:30 p.m. ET), meaning the regular season is right around the corner.
There are many players in the league whose talents go beyond the court. That's quite important, as nobody can play the game forever. A popular route we see these players go following their respective careers is transitioning into the media. Who better to analyze the game than people with firsthand experience playing it?
In our latest Roundtable, we asked our BasketballNews.com writers the following question:
Which active NBA player will make the best broadcaster someday?
Alex Kennedy: The first players who popped into my head were Draymond Green and CJ McCollum since they already have broadcasting and podcasting experience. They are terrific analysts and capable interviewers who are already comfortable on camera. However, rather than going with the obvious choices, I&rsquo;ll name someone who could become a media star in the near future: Isaiah Thomas. For years, Thomas has been a quote machine and one of my favorite players to interview. He is charismatic and brutally honest, and his quotes always feature amazing anecdotes and tremendous insight. He has an incredible story, he&rsquo;s a fan favorite and he&rsquo;ll provide a unique perspective on broadcasts since he&rsquo;s seen just about everything that this league can throw at a player. No other player in NBA history has gone from fighting for a roster spot as Mr. Irrelevant to becoming an All-NBA selection who finishes top-five in MVP voting. As Thomas told me last year: &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think anybody has been through the things that I&rsquo;ve gone through in this league.&rdquo; Once IT decides to retire, he&rsquo;ll make an outstanding broadcaster or podcaster, if that&rsquo;s what he decides to pursue.
Nekias Duncan: I&rsquo;m down for more Draymond Green on the mic. He&rsquo;s funny, has a limited filter, and can break down Xs &amp; Os concepts in a way that more casual viewers can understand easily.
Spencer Davies: There's quite a few that come to mind. We know everybody's going to name Draymond Green because of his in-depth work on TNT over the past few years &mdash; and he's very good at it &mdash; but let's go with CJ McCollum. He was a journalism major in college at Lehigh and he already has a successful podcast where he's gotten plenty of reps. McCollum just seems to have the timing and cues down pat, and you saw his true skills in action as an interviewer when he <a href="https://youtu.be/VN_o2CwnGCA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sat down with Commissioner Adam Silver for The Players' Tribune</a> a few years ago. Dissecting film and going in-depth is one thing for an analyst, but delivery is a whole 'nother ballgame &mdash; McCollum can give you both.
Ethan Fuller: Draymond Green is already fast-tracked toward a role, so I would like to toss in Boston Celtics forward Grant Williams. Williams exudes positive energy and would be a fun and insightful addition as a color commentator. I think he would do a fantastic job at breaking down the game while also staying spirited throughout. Who knows if Williams has aspirations to broadcast post-career, but I'd at least endorse him if he gave it a shot.
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Drew Maresca: Draymond Green. He&rsquo;s already shown an unusual ability to articulate his perspective on the game, and he&rsquo;s also demonstrated a good on-air personality. Green can seamlessly transition from player to analyst &mdash; if he wants to. But Green will probably weigh all of his options, and his time might end up being too valuable to devote to an on-site studio show.
Jackson Frank: Given his experience with NBA on TNT, Draymond Green is a choice I suspect to see as a recurring answer. I&rsquo;ll deviate away from that selection and say Blake Griffin, who&rsquo;s always struck me as charismatic and witty. I&rsquo;d enjoy listening to that on broadcasts, and feel as though his varying roles &mdash; from high-flying superstar to uber-skilled, ground-bound superstar to rotation player on a title contender &mdash; could introduce a perspective not every NBAer-turned-mainstream analyst brings, and allow him to offer insights on a host of different players.
Moke Hamilton: Draymond Green, and we don&rsquo;t even have to go with the &ldquo;someday&rdquo; part of the question. Draymond knows the game, has some great opinions and isn&rsquo;t afraid to share them. I think that makes for a good combination. Whenever I see him on TNT, I watch, because I genuinely am interested in what he has to say. There aren&rsquo;t many other players in the NBA I feel that way about, so there isn&rsquo;t anyone else I&rsquo;d consider for this answer.
Jesse Blancarte: Chris Paul, assuming he chooses to be a broadcaster someday. Paul is smart, articulate and knows the game better than arguably anyone else currently playing in the NBA. If he becomes a broadcaster and focuses on breaking down game action (think of Tony Romo with the NFL), he could become an instant favorite.
Chris Sheridan: Draymond Green has already shown himself to be quite capable, but I will toss in a vote for James Harden. He is a lot more loquacious than people might realize, and he is a future Hall-of-Famer who would bring a unique perspective because of his ability to dominate the ball while also thriving off the ball depending on who he is paired with. But Harden needs a championship to have something to brag about during studio time.
Alexander Cohen: I&rsquo;ll go with Robin Lopez, though he&rsquo;ll serve as more of a comedic, good vibes, Bill Walton role rather than breaking down X's and O's or any part of the game he&rsquo;s watching.

Which active NBA player will make the best broadcaster someday? BasketballNews.com's writers shared their thoughts.

Roundtable: Which active NBA player will make the best broadcaster?

Watching the documentary &ldquo;<a href="https://www.netflix.com/title/81026439" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Untold: The Malice At The Palace</a>&rdquo; that premiered on Netflix on Aug. 10, it&rsquo;s apparent that there was quite a bit of tension between Jermaine O&rsquo;Neal and Metta World Peace (who went by Ron Artest at the time) following the Malice at the Palace.
The relationship between O&rsquo;Neal and World Peace was already strained prior to the brawl, and it only got worse afterwards. Apparently, the friction intensified even more when Metta asked for a trade from the Indiana Pacers after the Malice at the Palace. O&rsquo;Neal revealed that he wasn&rsquo;t happy to see World Peace win a championship with the Los Angeles Lakers, and viewers left the documentary with many questions about their relationship.
Is there still a rift between O&rsquo;Neal and World Peace today?
I interviewed O&rsquo;Neal on <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/podcasts/the-rematch/episodes/basketballnews-com-episode-33-jermaine-o-neal-talks-malice-at-the-palace-film-on-netflix,-what-really-happened,-more" target="_blank" rel="noopener">my show, "The Rematch,</a>" and we broached this topic. He explained the tension and expressed a tremendous amount of regret &ndash; not for having his teammate&rsquo;s back during the brawl, but for not fully understanding everything that World Peace had been dealing with for a long time.&nbsp;
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Etan Thomas: &ldquo;I want to shift gears a little bit and ask you about Metta World Peace. I was watching &lsquo;All The Smoke&rsquo; and you told Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson that y'all have spoken recently. You sat down at the BIG3 and you had a chance to talk. I was so happy to hear that because I know that y'all weren't on good terms for a while and there was a lot of friction. But that&rsquo;s great, that you sat down and spoke. Talk to me about that reconciliation process?&rdquo;
Jermaine O'Neal: &ldquo;Man, it was something that was much-needed. We all wish we knew back then what we know now &ndash; when we were at 23, 24 years old. I went through a process in Portland where it was like fight, fight, fight, fight, fight for everything, for every inch, [for] every minute. I wasn't playing, so I had to keep showing my worth. I went through that for four years. Through that process, I went to two Conference Finals, right? So I saw it, I understood what to do and what not to do. So, I felt like when I left there, it was only about one thing: Win, win, win, win. Right? That's it. Just show people who you are. Because I felt slighted for four-straight years by not getting a consistent opportunity. So, when I got [to Indiana], it was like, I wasn't really trying to hear nothing but, 'Hey, let's come in here and work.&rsquo; And I was young, I was 24 years old. I did not know anything about mental health. You know this like I know it, if you were speaking about mental health back then, it was devastating to you, because nobody was educated about it. If you heard someone needs help with mental health, you'd say, &lsquo;Oh, he crazy.&rsquo;&rdquo;
Etan Thomas: &ldquo;Right.&rdquo;
Jermaine O'Neal: &ldquo;You wouldn&rsquo;t want to put &lsquo;career&rsquo; and &lsquo;crazy&rsquo; together in the same sentence because [you wouldn&rsquo;t] have any longevity in that particular sport. I think the Pacers did a really good job on holding it together. I&rsquo;d try over and over and over and over to reach out, &lsquo;Hey, Ron, let's go to dinner.&rsquo; It was always, &lsquo;Ron, let's do this.&rsquo; And then finally, he kept saying, &lsquo;No.&rsquo; And then he kept wanting us to quit [asking]. And I was like, &lsquo;Wait. Does he not like me? Or does he not like the team? Does he not want to be here?&rsquo; And it started to eat at me, like a virus. And bro, I just was so angry all the time with him, because he would call press conferences in the parking lot somewhere and we're getting the information when the media is getting the information &ndash; or even, in many cases, after the media. There was no conversation amongst the players with him saying, &lsquo;Hey, I feel this way.&rsquo; And so I did not know how to handle that.&nbsp;
&ldquo;And as a brother, as a teammate, we're together all the time. You spend a lot of time with each other in the locker rooms and everywhere else, planes, bus rides. And I wish that I knew more [about mental health] because if I knew more, then my aggression towards him doesn't expedite his anxiety or his dislike &ndash; whether it was [about] me or being on the team or that basketball environment. He just was like, &lsquo;I'm not messing with you.&rsquo; We just play, and then after that, boom: no conversation. And I think it's important for people to know that when we shot the doc, we shot it separately. The only conversation I had with him about the doc was the initial conversation of, &lsquo;Hey, this is what I'm looking to do. It's a Netflix deal. All I need you guys to do is just be open and candid about how you viewed it.&rsquo; But we never saw each other at any point during the filming of that doc."
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Etan Thomas: &ldquo;Oh, okay. I didn't know that.&rdquo;
Jermaine O'Neal: &ldquo;Yeah, we shot it separately. So, when I saw him describe his process of that night &ndash; his counting to five, how he had to really take things in. Not only did it put a lot of perspective on that night &ndash; and how, when Ben Wallace pushed him, that started his process. So he then goes to lay down right away because he's trying to get himself together, right? Ben throws the headbands, wristbands at him. Now, it takes him up to level two. Now, the water is boiling at this point, and you see the bubbles are about to boil out of the pot. And he had jumped up and he told me, &lsquo;You better get him!&rsquo; He kept saying, &lsquo;You better get him!&rsquo; And he laid back down. Then, when the cup came, it was like number three, and that was the most heightened level. And I understood it.&nbsp;It made complete sense to me. 
"But what it also did is put into perspective how he handled things as a teammate on a regular basis. When things got tight, in its most intense form &ndash; whether it's our level of communication to each other or in games &ndash; [this is how he would think]. Like, I remember we were in Memphis and we didn't have a good game and Coach was yelling or whatever; he went in and he knocked over the heating pads that they would put in the hot water. He knocked it over and it damn near got on everybody, and people are jumping out of the way because it's piping hot water! We've seen [his] reactions &ndash; breaking the camera in New York coming through the tunnel, right? And it all was like a flashback. And I&rsquo;m like, &lsquo;Damn, he's been trying to handle this forever.&rsquo; And while we're worrying about wins and losses, he's worried about how he's going to handle his life daily.&rdquo;
Etan Thomas: &ldquo;Yeah.&rdquo;
Jermaine O&rsquo;Neal: &ldquo;And so I felt a certain way when I saw that and I thought&hellip; We've talked multiple times before and especially after the doc about different things. But shoutout to Ron &ndash; I can't call him Metta &ndash; for being so open and honest and vulnerable. Because we know the media and public opinion can be cruel sometimes. So, I had to say that, man, because that meant everything to me. Actually, and I also didn't know what he said when he won the championship and he was on the court with Steve Smith and all of them.&rdquo;
Etan Thomas: &ldquo;Yeah, I remember seeing that live. In case anybody didn&rsquo;t see it, the first thing that he did after winning the championship with the Lakers &ndash; before he answered any questions &ndash; was talk about you guys. He said he was supposed to win a championship with that Pacers team and that he had so many regrets about how it all went down and that he felt like a coward because he left Indiana. And he&rsquo;s saying all of this on live TV right after they won the championship!"
Jermaine O'Neal: &ldquo;I never saw that. Somebody told me, but I was so mad with him, I didn't want to see nothing, hear nothing, nuh uh! Like, when I did the doc, I said, &lsquo;I wasn't happy that he won no championship! I was mad as hell!&rsquo; Like, &lsquo;After what he did with us, why would he get to win it and I don't have one?&rsquo; Even at that point, I wasn't mature enough to understand what this man was going through.&rdquo;
Etan Thomas: &ldquo;Wow. When I saw him say that stuff after winning the championship, I realized, &lsquo;Wow, he was really hurt by this.&rsquo; He acknowledged that he didn&rsquo;t handle certain situations well, but he also said that he didn&rsquo;t know how to handle those situations and it&rsquo;s something that he was working through. And that&rsquo;s the mental health part that was non-existent in the NBA until, really, just a few years ago.&rdquo;
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Jermaine O'Neal: &ldquo;Yeah. And I gotta say this: People, when we hear &lsquo;mental health,&rsquo; that is so wide-ranging. I mean, I'm watching myself over 17 years having mental-health issues. That doesn't mean I have the same mental-health issue as Ron or any person that deals with it at that level. But it's more of emotional distress or a level of sadness about something. We just watched Naomi Osaka go through that now &ndash; her process from the Olympics. I watched her yesterday on television doing an interview and she broke down crying."
Etan Thomas: &ldquo;Right, because of what happened in Haiti.&rdquo;
Jermaine O'Neal: &ldquo;Yeah, it was about Haiti. And it's just people, we've got to understand what that is. We're all vulnerable to mental-health issues, just some people's severity is more significant than others.&rdquo;
Etan Thomas: &ldquo;Right. But I was really glad to see that y'all went back and started talking again. I&rsquo;m really happy about that. I remember when he laid on the scorer&rsquo;s table and was trying to calm himself down, a lot of the discussion was about that and so many people didn't understand what was happening. With mental health, people just didn't get it &ndash; and they're just now starting to understand or attempting to understand it. We're not robots; we have things we deal with like everyone else. We have different emotions that we have to figure out how to manage. That was the problem for so long: so many in society looked at us as robots or as video-game characters &ndash; like they just start the game and we just play and that was it, there were no feelings or anything like that. And that's just not reality.&rdquo;
Jermaine O&rsquo;Neal: &ldquo;You&rsquo;re absolutely right.&rdquo;

Jermaine O'Neal hated Metta World Peace after the Malice at the Palace. He discussed what happened and how they reconciled.

Jermaine O’Neal on reconciling with Metta World Peace: 'I didn't know about mental health'

Team USA handled Spain by overcoming a slow start and riding Kevin Durant and Jayson Tatum. They are in the Olympic semifinals against Australia, and like the Spanish, it's another team the Americans have a history against.
Ironically, the Team USA's games are being called on NBC by Vince Carter, who was the designated villain 21 years ago when the American federation got its first taste of what defeat might look like when the Games were held in Sydney.&nbsp;
During a pre-Olympic stop in Melbourne for an exhibition game against the Boomers, the Aussie crowd was relentless in its heckling of Carter, the Durant of his time.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Carter is a wanker,&rdquo; fans chanted in unison, as Andrew Gaze and Shane Heal and Luc Longley put up quite a good fight before succumbing. The Americans eventually got a scare from Lithuania in the semifinals before winning the gold medal, and it was the first time a U.S. team with NBA players had ever been tested.
The latest version of Australians advanced by dismantling the remnants of what was once a powerhouse Argentina team, scoring the first 19 points of the fourth quarter in an 97-59 victory &mdash; the most lopsided of the four quarterfinals. It&rsquo;ll be Australia-USA at 12:15 a.m. ET Thursday, followed by France-Slovenia at 7 a.m. as the Olympics begin to wind down. France dispatched Italy by 9 and Slovenia, making its first men&rsquo;s basketball appearance, defeated Germany by 24 to make it to the Final Four.
Australia already <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/what-is-going-on-with-the-usa-mens-national-team-in-exhibition-play" target="_blank" rel="noopener">defeated the United States in a friendly played in Las Vegas</a>. A second glorified scrimmage between the teams was canceled because of COVID concerns, and the Americans have changed dramatically since those games were played last month prior to the conclusion of the NBA Finals.
Jrue Holiday and Devin Booker are now major pieces to the puzzle for Gregg Popovich, who was caught smiling on camera during the game against Spain after Tatum knocked a ball off the rim (goaltending in the NBA, but not under FIBA rules) during a fourth-quarter surge.&nbsp;
&ldquo;The further you move in the tournament, the more difficult it gets. That's pretty obvious,&rdquo; Popovich said.
&ldquo;The game is about buckets,&rdquo; said Durant, whose American team opened the third quarter by hitting five three-pointers and stifling Spain with zero field goals in that stretch. &ldquo;When you see the ball go in the rim, everybody&rsquo;s got more energy &mdash; coaches, players, trainers, everybody. We started making shots, made some threes and guys calmed down and made some stops.&rdquo;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
KD, SOARING DOWN THE LANE. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TokyoOlympics?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TokyoOlympics</a> x <a href="https://twitter.com/TeamUSA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TeamUSA</a> Watch <a href="https://twitter.com/usabasketball?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@USABasketball</a> on <a href="https://twitter.com/peacockTV?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@peacockTV</a>: <a href="https://t.co/f0j91aoEXP">https://t.co/f0j91aoEXP</a> <a href="https://t.co/mOklwQh2XH">pic.twitter.com/mOklwQh2XH</a>
&mdash; #TokyoOlympics (@NBCOlympics) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBCOlympics/status/1422419395058491392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 3, 2021</a></blockquote>

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Ricky Rubio scored 38 points for Spain, the 2019 FIBA World Cup champions and a team the U.S. has beaten in two of the past three Olympic gold-medal games. Sergio Rodriguez added 16 points, and Willy Hernangomez had 10 points and 10 rebounds.
&ldquo;I didn't expect anything less,&rdquo; Holiday said. &ldquo;Ever since he (Ricky) was, what, like 12, he&rsquo;s been doing this. So for him to come out here and just display the type of talent that he has is really cool to be a part of and to see.&rdquo;
Team USA rallied after trailing 39-29 in the second quarter. The difference was much better ball movement in the second half; they stopped settling for the quick-trigger three-point attempts that they were taking and missing so often in the first half, when they were 4-for-17 from long distance. Durant was the star with 29 points, but Tatum was the closer with 10 of his 13 points in the final frame.
&ldquo;I think the potential of this team is endless,&rdquo; said Draymond Green, who had four points and two assists. &ldquo;Unfortunately, we (only) got two games left. So, we need to make sure that we&rsquo;re continuing to get better each and every time we step on the floor, and I think that&rsquo;s why we&rsquo;ve done it.
&ldquo;I think we're holding up pretty good. And we're really not worried about [teams taking advantage in the paint], you know. If that&rsquo;s where teams want to go, that's fine. At the end of the day, we're going to battle. We battled. We battled and teams have tried that each game now. We let the first one (a loss to France in the opener) get away, but we&rsquo;ve answered that bell and we&rsquo;re going to continue to answer that bell.&rdquo;
The United States men's team is 8-0 against Australia in Olympic history, but this is the strongest team the Aussie federation has ever put together. They steamrolled Argentina with a 28-4 surge at the start of the fourth quarter last night. The Boomers were led by Patty Mills with 18 points, Matisse Thybulle with 12, Joe Ingles with 11 and Dante Exum with 9 points on 4-for-4 shooting. Exum had a plus-minus of +31 in just under 22 minutes, as Australia likely ended the international career of 41-year-old Luis Scola.
Argentina, Spain, Italy and Germany now must return home, while the four finalists are all worthy medal contenders.&nbsp;
But make no mistake about it: Australia-USA is the better of the two semifinal matchups. And whoever gets through will either have to face a stoked Luka Doncic or reigning NBA Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert in the gold-medal game Sunday.
This thing is far from over, and the Americans appear to be peaking. Will that be good enough to get them out of Saitama with gold medals around their necks? Stay tuned.
Perhaps the next game will actually make it onto live TV in the United States.

Chris Sheridan recaps the Americans' win over Spain and previews a matchup against the game Australian Boomers in the Olympic semis.

U.S. men's national team to face tough Australian club in Olympic semifinals

LAS VEGAS (AP) &mdash; USA Basketball didn&rsquo;t blow up Kevin Durant&rsquo;s phone with repeated calls to beg and plead for him to play in the Tokyo Olympics. It was a much more dignified process: They asked, then they waited.
It was the right move.
&ldquo;They helped me make the decision by letting me be me,&rdquo; Durant said.
Already an owner of two Olympic gold medals, Durant ultimately chose to try for three. The Brooklyn Nets forward will lead the U.S. Olympic team into Tokyo this month and could become just the second men&rsquo;s player in USA Basketball history to win three golds, joining Carmelo Anthony.
And not that this matters to Durant, because it doesn&rsquo;t, but he could simply rewrite the USA Basketball Olympic record book in the next few weeks as well.
&ldquo;I committed to USA Basketball when I was coming out of college, and every chance that I get that I&rsquo;m healthy and my mind&rsquo;s in the right place to play basketball, I go out there and play,&rdquo; Durant said. &ldquo;I finished the year off healthy, regular season and playoffs. So, I felt like it&rsquo;d be cool to get I guess a kickstart on next season by getting in shape a lot earlier in the summer with Team USA.&rdquo;
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Already the top three-point shooter in U.S. men&rsquo;s Olympic history, Durant is 25 points shy of tying Anthony (336) for the most in team Olympic play, 39 rebounds away from Anthony&rsquo;s mark in rebounds (125), 12 away from Anthony&rsquo;s mark in field goals made (113), three away from Anthony&rsquo;s mark in free throws made (53).
&ldquo;You know his famous quote? &lsquo;I am Kevin Durant.&rsquo; There&rsquo;s nothing changing,&rdquo; U.S. guard Bradley Beal of the Washington Wizards said. &ldquo;We know who he is. We know what he&rsquo;s capable of doing and he&rsquo;s doing the same thing in practice... and his leadership is just terrific. He&rsquo;s, like, 39-0 in USA Basketball. That&rsquo;s crazy and we want to keep that going.&rdquo;
Beal had it right: Durant is 39-0 in major international events with USA Basketball. He has two NBA championships, two NBA Finals MVP awards. He came back after a yearlong layoff from an Achilles injury this season in Brooklyn and was, again, his typical unguardable self.
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There&rsquo;s long been nothing left for him to prove, and he signed up for another Olympics anyway. Camp started Tuesday and Durant immediately began setting the tone for a roster that is mostly composed of first-time Olympians other than Durant, Draymond Green and Kevin Love.
&ldquo;There&rsquo;s this very cliche line that everyone uses in basketball when you&rsquo;re working out: Go game speed every rep,&rdquo; said Green, Durant&rsquo;s former Golden State teammate. &ldquo;Quite frankly, I&rsquo;ve never seen anyone do it, except him. That&rsquo;s how he plays the game. That&rsquo;s how he works. You&rsquo;re talking about a guy who would sit at home, sit in his house and watch an elementary-school basketball game just to watch basketball. Really, really loves the game, loves watching the game, loves hooping.&rdquo;
All that is true, and part of the lure for Durant to play this summer.
U.S. coach Gregg Popovich was another major factor. It&rsquo;s no secret that players around the league hold the longtime San Antonio coach in the highest regard, and Durant said the opportunity to play for the five-time NBA champion factored into his thinking.
&ldquo;If he had said no, I would have begged, cried, done anything I could to change his mind,&rdquo; Popovich said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s pretty obvious. But what it says about him, No. 1, is he loves the game. He really loves to play basketball. He loves to win. He loves the camaraderie. He wants to be part of this, all the time, as we all know. And that&rsquo;s his motivation. At the core, that&rsquo;s what he loves to do and luckily for all of us, that&rsquo;s who he is.&rdquo;
Mike Brown was part of Golden State&rsquo;s coaching staff when Durant was with the Warriors. Brown is also the coach of the Nigerian Olympic team, meaning he will be coaching against Durant &mdash; and his current boss, U.S. assistant coach and Golden State head coach Steve Kerr &mdash; when the Americans play the top African team in their first exhibition of this summer&rsquo;s stay in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
Like everyone else in the NBA, Brown only raves about Durant.
&ldquo;A lot of people see his scoring prowess,&rdquo; Brown said. &ldquo;Obviously, he can shoot the three, he can post up, his medium game is the best in the business. But when he came to the Warriors, I was shocked by two things. The biggest thing was just his feel and intelligence on the defensive end of the floor... and then on top of that, he&rsquo;s a phenomenal passer.&rdquo;
Put simply, he can do it all. That&rsquo;s been obvious forever. And a third gold medal would only enhance that already-lofty legacy of his.
&ldquo;I look forward to just being around the best players in the world, and around the best athletes as well,&rdquo; Durant said.
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SATURDAY GAME
The U.S. will call up some players from the USA Select Team, which was ending its practice schedule in Las Vegas on Friday, to fill out its roster for exhibitions &mdash; starting with the game Saturday against Nigeria, Popovich said.
The U.S. is missing Olympians Devin Booker, Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday because of the NBA Finals. San Antonio's Keldon Johnson, Cleveland's Darius Garland and Detroit&rsquo;s Saddiq Bey are reportedly the three players who were called up to replace them.
CURRY PASSES
Golden State&rsquo;s Stephen Curry is playing in Nevada this weekend &mdash; golf, not basketball. He&rsquo;s participating in the American Century Championship in Lake Tahoe, explaining there why he decided not to play for the Olympic team.
&ldquo;I do value the offseason, and I&rsquo;m working back on the court, but to try to go and play and there&rsquo;s just a lot that could happen,&rdquo; Curry said. &ldquo;I respect every single guy that goes and plays that&rsquo;s out there in Vegas and I wish them all the success and a gold medal to show for it and whatnot. It just wasn&rsquo;t right for me. And I&rsquo;m very confident in that decision. No regrets at all.&rdquo;
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In Tokyo, Kevin Durant has a chance to win his third Olympic gold medal and rewrite Team USA's record book in the process.

Kevin Durant seeking third Olympic gold medal: ‘He loves to win'

Joel Embiid scored 27 points and the Philadelphia 76ers rode a dominant third quarter to a 127-111 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Friday night and a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinal series.
Embiid, playing with a cartilage tear in his right knee, added nine rebounds, eight assists and three blocked shots.
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This Simmons dime to Embiid was too smooth 😮 <a href="https://t.co/G2m40jrvb5">pic.twitter.com/G2m40jrvb5</a>
&mdash; NBA TV (@NBATV) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBATV/status/1403521797002170369?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 12, 2021</a></blockquote>

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Tobias Harris had 22 points and Ben Simmons added 18 to help the 76ers end Atlanta's streak of 13 home wins. The 76ers have taken the series lead with back-to-back wins.
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Simmons drops the hammer 🔨 <a href="https://t.co/q2MiHoQ4vi">pic.twitter.com/q2MiHoQ4vi</a>
&mdash; NBA TV (@NBATV) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBATV/status/1403521379404718084?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 12, 2021</a></blockquote>

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The 76ers played up to their No. 1 seed, taking a lead of 22 points and keeping the advantage in double figures most of the second half. The Hawks played from behind after their last lead at 11-10.
Trae Young led Atlanta with 28 points. John Collins had 23 and Bogdan Bogdanovic 19.
Game 4 is Monday night in Atlanta.
After leading 65-60 early in the third period, Philadelphia took command with an 11-0 run. The 76ers outscored the Hawks 34-19 in the third period.
Simmons had two baskets during the run, including a jam for a 76-60 lead.
Atlanta couldn't regain the momentum as the 76ers stretched the lead to 20 points, 93-73, late in the period.
Embiid, who faced constant double-teams from Atlanta's defense, made 12 of 16 free throws.
Embiid had a scare in the third quarter when he limped and appeared to be in pain after grabbing a rebound. Embiid appeared to step awkwardly on Clint Capela's foot and he remained in the game.
Hawks coach Nate McMillan asked for a strong start that eluded his team in its Game 2 loss. Instead, Philadelphia relied on an unlikely scoring source to grab the early lead.
Furkan Korkmaz, who scored a combined seven points in the first two games of the series, scored 11 points in the opening period while making two 3s. He added another 3 in the fourth for 14 points.
The 76ers stretched the advantage to 11 points in the second period before settling for a 61-56 halftime lead.
TIP-INS
76ers: G Danny Green suffered a right calf strain less than four minutes into the game and did not return. Matisse Thybulle replaced Green. ... Harris hit the back of his head on a camera while falling on the baseline with 9:16 remaining in the fourth quarter. Harris walked off after being checked by trainers and returned to the game.
Hawks: Atlanta's last home loss was April 15 against Milwaukee. The 13-game home winning streak was the NBA's longest active streak. ... F Cam Reddish (right Achilles soreness) has participated in two-on-two and three-on-three drills but has not yet moved up to full five-on-five sessions. Reddish, who ultimately could help fill the void left by De'Andre Hunter's season-ending knee surgery scheduled for Tuesday, does not appear likely to return against the 76ers.
JUMPING TO HIS OWN DEFENSE
76ers coach Doc Rivers says he always &ldquo;feels great&rdquo; when he returns to Atlanta, where he began his playing career as the Hawks' point guard. He reminded reporters before the game he still holds the Hawks' career assists record.
Rivers felt compelled to mention his link to one of the game's all-time greats, Julius Erving &mdash; better known as Dr. J &mdash; when defending his talents to his skeptical players.
&ldquo;They don&rsquo;t believe I could jump at all,&rdquo; Rivers said before the game. &ldquo;... I said, &lsquo;You guys do know I&rsquo;m named Doc. It&rsquo;s not after a doctor. It&rsquo;s after a guy who could jump.&rsquo;&rdquo;
Rivers had 3,866 assists with Atlanta from 1983-91. Mookie Blaylock is second with 3,764.
___
More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Joel Embiid scored 27 points and the 76ers rode a dominant third quarter to a 127-111 victory over the Hawks to take a 2-1 series lead.

Joel Embiid, 76ers beat Hawks 127-111 to take 2-1 lead in series

It had been more than 14 months since I had last entered an NBA arena when I approached Madison Square Garden's media entrance on the corner of 33rd Street and 8th Avenue on Sunday afternoon.&nbsp;
The last year has felt like a blur, tinged with excessive amounts of anxiety and grief. New York emerged as the United States-based epicenter of a devastating global pandemic that has claimed more than <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/world/coronavirus-maps.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">3.4 million human lives</a>. Yet, with vaccination rates rising and COVID-19 case counts plummeting, Manhattan has been starting to feel a bit more "normal."
And Sunday almost felt like a flashback to a happier, less stressful time, with the sun shining brightly down on the streets outside MSG that were teeming with unmasked smiling faces above blue and orange jerseys.
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It had been more than eight years since the New York Knicks had last participated in a playoff game when they stepped onto the floor Sunday night for their matchup with the Atlanta Hawks. Over the 2,927 days that separated postseason appearances, the Knickerbockers lost more games than any other team in the NBA. The first 20 years of the 21st century provided depressingly few opportunities for Knick fans to get genuinely excited about the present or the future of their favorite team. Between <a href="https://twitter.com/TommyBeer/status/1396479786197950469?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">awful trades</a> and embarrassing <a href="https://twitter.com/TommyBeer/status/1396479791881203725?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">off-court controversies</a>, it became increasingly difficult for New Yorkers to remain loyal to their hometown team. However, so many of them did.&nbsp;
For those reasons alone, this 2020-21 Knicks squad has engendered an incredible amount of love and affection from the Knicks fan base.&nbsp;
More than that, this particular team will forever hold a special place in the hearts of many fans due to everything going on outside the comfy confines of the court as the season played out. The season started in December, which coincided with a dizzying spike in coronavirus cases nationwide. By January, the COVID-19 crisis in the U.S. had reached a terrifying peak, with the country averaging more than 250,000 new infections and nearly 4,000 COVID-related deaths per day. Sports, which have long been considered a much-needed distraction from the weighty worries of the "real world," have been crucial to the mental health of so many of us during the dark days of the pandemic. Due to a tightly-packed schedule, Knicks fans have had the opportunity to tune into a game seemingly every other night for the past five months.&nbsp;
In seasons past, Knicks games had often been rendered meaningless by Christmas, as the team sank to the bottom of the standings, year after year. Shockingly, the team didn't follow the all-too-familiar script in 2020-21. Although multiple outlets projected New York to finish with one of the league's worst records, and Las Vegas set the Knicks over/under win total at 22, the 'Bockers got off to a solid start. Still, even the most optimistic fans assumed the team would come crashing back down to earth, sooner or later. But a funny thing happened on the way to the lottery: the Knicks kept winning.&nbsp;
And it felt as if New York's loving embrace of this team was about more than just its surprising success. It might have had something to do with parents, worried about COVID outbreaks at their kids' schools, cherishing the opportunity to get lost in the triviality of a basketball game for a couple of hours. Or New Yorkers choosing to worry about who Tom Thibodeau should start at point guard instead of stressing about the sputtering economy.&nbsp;
If there was ever a season Knicks fans needed something to be hopeful about, something to believe in, it was this season.&nbsp;
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/usatsi_16136840_lg.jpg" alt="" />
It had been more than two decades since the Garden rocked and swayed and shook the way it did Sunday night during Game 1.&nbsp;
My first year covering the Knicks professionally was 2005. Over the past 15 years, I've sat through plenty of games when the loudest the building ever got was when the Knicks City Dancers would fire T-shirts into the crowd. With many fans unable to afford tickets and the team effectively eliminated from playoff contention by Thanksgiving, there wouldn't be a passionate "DE-FENSE" chant inside MSG for months at a time. If the Golden State Warriors or Cleveland Cavaliers were in town, the loudest cheers were often reserved for Steph Curry or LeBron James.&nbsp;
Yet, the cacophony of sound heard inside Madison Square Garden during Game 1 was reminiscent of an earlier era, when giants such as Patrick Ewing, Charles Oakley and Anthony Mason roamed the paint inside the World's Most Famous Arena.&nbsp;
The electricity and energy inside the building was evident from the very start of the evening. As soon as the gates opened and patrons began flooding in, cheering and chanting began to emanate from all corners of the arena.&nbsp;
By the time the Knicks players sprinted out onto the floor for pre-game warmups, the clamor had reached a fever pitch.&nbsp;
I remember Jeff Van Gundy once telling me that one of his most enduring memories from his time spent in New York was how loud the Garden got some 30 minutes before games even tipped off during those epic playoff runs in the 1990s. I thought about JVG's observation as I looked around MSG Sunday night with the guttural shouts from 15,000 unleashed fans washing over everyone.&nbsp;
The Knicks got off to a slow start in Game 1, possibly jolted and jittery by the deafening crowd noise. It was something they hadn't experienced this season, as local municipalities had set a cap on the number of people allowed to attend sporting events held inside. Nonetheless, everyone knew the Knicks were going to make a run. The partisan supporters packed inside MSG would make sure of it.
Surprisingly, it was a pair of rookies that sparked the charge. With New York down seven points in the middle of the second quarter, Immanuel Quickley dropped in a floater. A minute later, Obi Toppin drained a three-pointer from the top of the key. When IQ sank a three-pointer from 30 feet on the following possession, the Garden erupted.&nbsp;
Born and raised on Long Island, I made many a pilgrimage to MSG far before I started covering the team. On special occasions throughout the '90s, my dad and I would hop on the LIRR and head into the city. For those who weren't fortunate enough to experience it, it's hard to describe how loud the Garden got during crucial playoff games in those days. The decibel level inside the Garden on Sunday night was likely the closest approximation.&nbsp;
Midway through the third quarter of Game 1, RJ Barrett broke free on a fast break and viciously dunked over Bogdan Bogdanovic. Those of us seated on the Chase Bridge felt it wobble and quake in the aftermath of that Barrett bucket.&nbsp;
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RJ BARRETT JUST DID 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 <a href="https://t.co/4LINVWk7nb">pic.twitter.com/4LINVWk7nb</a>
&mdash; NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) <a href="https://twitter.com/nyknicks/status/1396623627961917441?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 24, 2021</a></blockquote>

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Speaking with reporters on Monday, Obi Toppin said the players "<a href="https://twitter.com/YaronWeitzman/status/1396908224129945602?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">felt the floor shaking</a>" Sunday night. Barrett described the atmosphere inside MSG as "amazing," adding it was "better than [he] could ever imagine."&nbsp;
A buddy of mine, seated in Section 109, texted me a screencap after the game; it showed that the health app on his phone had detected increased heart rate and physical activity from 7 to 9 p.m., signifying he had been exercising strenuously. My friend, a season ticket-holder for more than a decade, also noted that there was a feeling of camaraderie and togetherness among those in attendance Sunday night that he hadn't experienced before.&nbsp;
The Knicks allowed 15,047 fans into MSG for Game 1, only 75% of the building's typical capacity of 19,812. However, it's important to note that most of those 15,000 fans were forced to spend the better part of the past 15 months inside, socially isolated. I don't think it's a stretch to speculate that it contributed to the heightened intensity inside MSG. For many fans, it was the first time they had the opportunity to gather and let loose in a community setting; the first time in a long time they had the green light to scream and cheer and high-five strangers.&nbsp;
The Knicks ended up losing the game, of course, with <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/breakingnews/trae-young-hits-runner-with-less-than-a-second-left-to-push-atlanta-hawks-past-new-york-knicks-nba-playoffs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Trae Young turning raucous applause into eerie silence late in the fourth quarter</a>.&nbsp;
Yet, afterward, outside the Garden, there was still a palpable sense of excitement and exhilaration among many of the fans exiting the arena and heading out into the NYC night. And with Game 2 scheduled for Wednesday, it's safe to assume Knicks fans, whether they plan to watch the game inside the Garden or from their couch, will relish the opportunity to be pleasantly distracted once again.

Tommy Beer describes Sunday night's atmosphere inside Madison Square Garden for Game 1 and how it lifted the spirits of New York.

Game 1 of Knicks-Hawks was much-needed return to normalcy for New York

About four months ago, I interviewed former NBA player Stephen Jackson for my podcast, "The Rematch," and he opened up about his relationship with George Floyd and how his murder set him on a path of activism, prompting him to use his voice and platform like never before.
During the interview, I asked him a question that my 13-year-old daughter Imani asked me while we were discussing Floyd's murder: &ldquo;Daddy, if the person wasn&rsquo;t there to record Officer Derek Chauvin murdering George Floyd, do you feel that we would&rsquo;ve ever heard of this case?"
Stephen Jackson&rsquo;s reply to Imani&rsquo;s question was straightforward.
&ldquo;No, because I would have never seen it, I would&rsquo;ve never gotten involved and the world&rsquo;s outrage wouldn&rsquo;t have been the same if the world never saw it," <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-stephen-jackson-activism-etan-thomas-george-floyd-protest-minneosta-gianna-kyrie-irving-murder-police-brutality-racism" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jackson said</a>. "It was all on TV everywhere all day. If she didn&rsquo;t record it, it would&rsquo;ve been just like the millions of other murders that we never hear about.&rdquo;&nbsp;
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I thought about Jackson's answer shortly after Tuesday&rsquo;s verdict. The (s)hero my daughter was referring to was then-17-year-old Darnella Frazier.
Steve was absolutely correct. If Frazier didn&rsquo;t wisely and fearlessly take out her camera and record, Chauvin would&rsquo;ve continued terrorizing the streets of Minneapolis as if nothing ever happened, and there is actual proof of this.
Below is the official documentation of what Minneapolis Police originally said happened to Floyd. These were the &ldquo;facts&rdquo; they came out with after they murdered him.
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Seriously, read it again knowing what we know: <a href="https://t.co/XqPWCpoxeQ">pic.twitter.com/XqPWCpoxeQ</a>
&mdash; Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) <a href="https://twitter.com/jaketapper/status/1384622849562873856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 20, 2021</a></blockquote>

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The heading reads: &ldquo;Man Dies After Medical Incident Involving Police Interaction.&rdquo;&nbsp;It also says, &ldquo;At no time were weapons of any type used by anyone involved in this incident," although Chauvin&rsquo;s knee was in fact used as a weapon...I guess they weren&rsquo;t too hung up on technicalities.&nbsp;
As seen in this report, Minneapolis Police was ready to close the case, and the world would have never known what really happened.&nbsp;
But then came the video and the world saw the terrifying truth of what really happened. It was something out of a horror movie, like a scene from "Them" on Amazon Prime. Compare the look on the lady's face from Episode 5 who kept repeating &ldquo;cat in a bag&rdquo; to Officer Chauvin, who callously pressed his knee on Floyd&rsquo;s neck for over nine minutes, put his hands in his pockets so that he could apply more pressure and had a look of pure evil on his face while doing it.
But this real-life horror movie would&rsquo;ve never been seen if it weren&rsquo;t for Darnella Frazier, who kept the camera rolling as she watched Floyd breathe his last breath:&nbsp;
"I heard George Floyd saying, 'I can't breathe, please, get off of me'...and crying for his mom," Frazier testified in court. "He was in pain. It seemed like he knew it was over for him."
And thanks to Frazier, an entire movement started.
People from all across the country got involved. Stephen Jackson, who knew Floyd personally, thrust himself into a movement that resonated with the entire world. He flew down to Minneapolis and spoke at rallies. From CNN, ESPN, Inside The NBA on TNT, The Undefeated, Undisputed, and here on BasketballNews.com, Jackson appeared on every media outlet he possibly could, calling for justice for his friend who he called Twin.
But it wasn&rsquo;t just Jackson. The impact of Frazier&rsquo;s video led to the firing of three other cops who were also at the scene, a ban on police chokeholds and a federal investigation of this case, and it sparked a global movement heard around the world: Justice for George Floyd.
And finally, for the first time in Minnesota state history, a white police officer has been found guilty for murdering a Black Man (which is also a tragedy in itself, as we all know this is not the first time it has ever happened).
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BREAKING: Derek Chauvin has been convicted of the murder of George Floyd. For the first time in Minnesota state history, a white police officer has been held accountable for killing a Black man.
&mdash; ACLU (@ACLU) <a href="https://twitter.com/ACLU/status/1384615064322330626?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 20, 2021</a></blockquote>

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Minnesota governer Tim Walz publicly thanked Frazier.
"Taking that video, I think many folks know, is maybe the only reason that Derek Chauvin will go to prison," Walz said.&nbsp;
And he&rsquo;s absolutely right. The entire world would&rsquo;ve only had the police version of (facts/lies) to go by, and there would&rsquo;ve been no guilty verdict, no trial, no accountability, no new laws passed, no worldwide uproar. None of this would&rsquo;ve happened if it weren&rsquo;t for the bravery of Darnella Frazier.

Etan Thomas details how Darnella Frazier's bravery played a pivotal role in Derek Chauvin's conviction in the murder of George Floyd.

Stephen Jackson: We only knew of George Floyd murder because of Darnella Frazier

Not an ounce of luck. Not a scintilla.
And obviously, not a Nugget.
With his team trailing by seven points in the final minute against the Golden State Warriors on Monday night, Jamal Murray watched as Steph Curry hoisted a 28-foot stepback three-pointer that found the back rim.
Perhaps it was the fact that just five seconds remained on the shot clock... Maybe that's why Curry opted to heave the shot rather than whip the ball to Draymond Green, who was 12 feet to his left. Or maybe Curry, who ended up with 53 points, realized that his 18th three-point shot of the night had a good chance of sealing the game, defenders be damned. After all, Facundo Campazzo, Will Barton and many of their teammates had already been resolved to bystanders on a number of occasions. Curry connected on 10 threes to that point.
Whatever the reason, Curry took the shot.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Murray rebounded the miss, opted to attempt a quick score and tore his left ACL on the ensuing play.
&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s go,&rdquo; Murray said as he skyed for the rebound. He instructed Nikola Jokic and Michael Porter Jr. to beat feet down the floor. Tough but not impossible, the obvious desire was to get a quick two points and preserve his team&rsquo;s opportunity to score a victory.
It&rsquo;s that never-say-die attitude that caused the basketball viewing public to believe in these Nuggets in the first place, and it&rsquo;s exactly why Murray&rsquo;s season-ending injury has caused hearts to bleed.
National Basketball Association, P.D.E.
Strange times we&rsquo;re living in. The Post-Decision Era.
LeBron James took his talents to South Beach, Kevin Durant opted for the path of least resistance and Brooklyn became the epicenter of the league&rsquo;s talent arms race. In a world where MVPs conspire to join forces, it stands to reason that there will be fewer and fewer occurrences of teams being given the opportunity to grow organically and congeal.
In that regard, the Nuggets are in the minority.
Led by Jokic and Murray, Mike Malone&rsquo;s team became the first in NBA history to erase a 3-1 series deficit twice in one postseason. The world bristled as Porter voiced his displeasure with a small role during the playoffs, but all he&rsquo;s done since then has been prove that his bite is just as sharp as his bark.
Coach of the Year, Most Valuable Player, Most Improved Player... These Nuggets have put themselves in every conversation worth having this season. And with the addition of Aaron Gordon, the world, at least the basketball world, was interested in seeing if he could be the piece to put them over the top.
Now, it seems that we&rsquo;ll all have to wait at least a year to get the answer, and it just doesn&rsquo;t seem fair.
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Nikola Jokic and Aaron Gordon... Who would've thought? <a href="https://t.co/gZ6KnsIuQA">pic.twitter.com/gZ6KnsIuQA</a>
&mdash; Joel Rush (@JoelRushNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/JoelRushNBA/status/1380201493207244804?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 8, 2021</a></blockquote>

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If there&rsquo;s something to take away from Murray&rsquo;s sudden season-ending injury, it&rsquo;s this: success in the NBA isn&rsquo;t necessarily promised to a team that seems to have all the ingredients. Dumb luck or good fortune, somehow, always end up factoring in, as well.
Winning a championship is hard. Not too long ago, the Boston Celtics had Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward, Al Horford, Terry Rozier and Marcus Morris on one roster, and they all played with Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum.
They won as many championships as me.
Once upon a time, Russell Westbrook, Serge Ibaka and Reggie Jackson flanked Durant and James Harden. And before them, the late, great Kobe Bryant ran beside Pau Gasol, Dwight Howard, Steve Nash and Metta World Peace. Throughout modern history, we&rsquo;ve been served constant reminders of the fact that collecting talent doesn&rsquo;t necessarily guarantee a success story.
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Indeed, dumb luck tends to rear its ugly head at the most inopportune times, and often, impacts those who seem to &ldquo;deserve&rdquo; it least. And that&rsquo;s not to say that any player or franchise &ldquo;deserves&rdquo; to have a season derailed, but in the 10 years since Carmelo Anthony decided to pursue his goals in New York, the Nuggets struggled a bit before eventually figuring things out.
George Karl and Brian Shaw held the clipboard before Malone got his opportunity, while the likes of Ty Lawson and Emmanuel Mudiay were among those who barked out plays before Murray ascended. Jokic had to beat out Kenneth Faried and Jusuf Nurkic to get his shot, but he did, nonetheless.
When you scour the Denver Nuggets organization and you learn the personal stories of so many of those who are responsible for the team&rsquo;s success, you realize that &mdash; led by the team&rsquo;s head coach &mdash; the common thread connecting them is how they've pulled themselves up by their bootstraps.
Even Tim Connelly, Denver&rsquo;s president of basketball operations, had to take a long road to his chair, beginning his career as an assistant video coordinator after beginning as an intern for the Washington Wizards way back in 1996.
To a man, the Nuggets never had the benefit of taking a shortcut.
No, it was the path less traveled.
So in it all, it seems unfair now that they&rsquo;ll have to continue to take the long road. &nbsp;
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In many ways, Denver has come to represent what is good about professional sports &mdash; the grind, the natural ascension, the camaraderie, defying expectations &mdash; and they also represent a sad truth.
In an instant, it can vanish.
Coach Malone is a fighter, and his team is talented. There&rsquo;s no question that they&rsquo;ll show up every night ready to play. Jokic&rsquo;s MVP odds have increased dramatically, and Gordon will get more offensive reps., but the team&rsquo;s hopes of contending for the 2021 NBA Finals, without Murray, are now pie in the sky.
Capable of becoming champions one day, after one fateful play, the Nuggets will have to wait until next year.
"Jamal is devastated, understandably so,&rdquo; Malone <a href="https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/31259492/nuggets-star-jamal-murray-devastated-season-ending-acl-injury-michael-malone-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said on Wednesday.</a>
And for the basketball purists who root for small-market teams and organically grown programs?
It&rsquo;s simply impossible to not be.

We'll have to wait until the 2022 postseason to see the Nuggets at full strength, and it just doesn't seem fair, writes Moke Hamilton.

On Jamal Murray, a lost season and the Nuggets deserving better

Chances are if you&rsquo;re a diehard NBA fan, you&rsquo;re well aware of the bromance between Boban Marjanovic and Tobias Harris. From the viral videos and the mini-series vlog, to their chemistry on the court with three different teams, we&rsquo;ve seen them go from two guys on the same squad to a dynamic duo whose friendship captivates basketball fans across the world.
Split since the 2019 offseason, they haven&rsquo;t been teammates for two seasons, but the infamous pairing has joined forces once again in a campaign for Goldfish crackers. Though the snack company has already rolled out different commercials featuring Boban and Tobias and their usual shenanigans, that&rsquo;s not all!&nbsp;
Beginning Tuesday, Goldfish is holding a competition called the #GoForTheHandful challenge, where fans will utilize TikTok to record themselves attempting to grasp as many crackers as they can in one hand to try to beat Boban, whose massive mitt scooped up 301 in one try.
&ldquo;And they can fit more! I don't know how you guys do it, but it's up to you,&rdquo; Boban told BasketballNews.com in an exclusive interview via Zoom. &ldquo;We had a lot of fun there counting these fish.&rdquo;
&ldquo;So obviously, when you shake Boban's hand, it's like your hand is getting swallowed,&rdquo; Tobias told BasketballNews.com in a separate interview. &ldquo;I've always known that Boban has the biggest hands ever, but when I went from my handful and got my 73, I was like really hyped and ecstatic, 'There's no way Bobi's gonna get more than me.' And then when he did his and they got his official count, I was just like, 'That's impossible.' I don't know if anyone can beat that, but I do want to see [it]...I would say shoot for trying to beat my 73.&rdquo;
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According to Goldfish, the 25 most creative and entertaining videos will be awarded a special edition autographed &ldquo;Boban Size&rdquo; giant bag, and one lucky TikToker will become the Goldfish &ldquo;Spokeshand.&rdquo; The contest closes on Sunday, April 25.
While shooting the commercial over the All-Star break was a fun experience for both, it was obvious who had been in front of the camera more than the other. Boban quips that he&rsquo;s the better actor &ldquo;easy,&rdquo; and Tobias agrees. The process went swimmingly for all involved, even with the first take getting off to a messy start.
&ldquo;I really broke [the bag] like that! I didn&rsquo;t expect it,&rdquo; Boban laughed. &ldquo;I was like, 'Oh, sorry! There's a lot of Goldfish on the floor!' I tried to clean it. This is #GoForTheHandful. It's so cool. I know Tobias was laughing the first time. We both started laughing at how I broke that bag.&rdquo;
Tobias couldn&rsquo;t control his real-life reaction.
&ldquo;The director was like, 'Hey Tobias, we don't need you laughing on this one,'&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;So I was like, 'Alright!' But I just started laughing 'cause I was just like, 'Come on, Bobi. What are you doing here?' It was all fun and games, and [then] I also had to realize, 'Oh, we are shooting a commercial, too.'
&ldquo;Bobi's actually been a real actor, so for him, this was something he was used to. I think it was like the first time in my life that Bobi was schooling me on things to do, or how to act as if I'm an actor. I had to put him in his place, and I was like, 'Bobi, all you did was get your ass kicked by John Wick. You had to keep it moving.' (Laughs) But nah, he knew this person's this person and this person does this and this person...cut, speed, all that stuff -- he was all about it. But for me, it was an incredible experience. We were on set, I had my own trailer van, Bobi had his own, and I was just like, 'Dang, they're really treating us like we're real actors here!' So it was dope.&rdquo;
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Boban and Tobias&rsquo; relationship began in 2016 when the former signed with the Detroit Pistons. On day one of individual workouts, Harris was the first to approach the other and told him that he was a really good player. Little did he know that Boban was unhappy with him because he wouldn&rsquo;t pass him the ball, and also said that he thought that Tobias was a cocky player. However, Boban thanked him after the exchange and the two would get on the same page quickly thereafter.
&ldquo;I'm a big music guy, so we'd play a lot of music. I always used to see Boban in the weight room dancing to the music, and I would have to show him some moves, so that just like increased our bond,&rdquo; Tobias said. &ldquo;One day, he was over at my house and we were just hanging out, and I was showing him like a couple of dances. The song Chicken Noodle Soup came on, and I was showing him how to do the Chicken Noodle Soup dance. From there, that hit the internet and it just went crazy, and people loved it.
&ldquo;(Laughs) And I thought it was so funny because you see this guy, Boban, everyone knows him. He's such an amazing person and people love his character and who he is, and then you get to see him in the element of being a kid -- and I think that's what people take in the most. It was awesome. So I kinda like made Bobi famous by showing him the Chicken Noodle Soup...more famous.&rdquo;
Boban chuckles at the way it all began.
&ldquo;We were in the locker room and he sat in front of me on the other side of the room, and I said, 'Tobias, I don't like you.' He was like, 'Wow, what?'&rdquo; Boban reminisced. &ldquo;Now, I can't say that anymore. It's not allowed! We were joking around [back then], and he said, 'I have a song for you.' It was the song, Chicken Noodle Soup. This is how everything started. I hope our next commercial will be a soup commercial."
Boban and Tobias rapidly <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bd1a3Yngpv_/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">became internet sensations</a>. No matter where they went, a loyal fan base followed. When the two were traded to the Los Angeles Clippers in the Blake Griffin deal, it didn&rsquo;t take long for their popularity to capture a wider audience. They started up &ldquo;Bobi + Tobi,&rdquo; a three-episode mini series in the 2018 preseason based on the pair&rsquo;s combined nickname.
&ldquo;We wanted to match,&rdquo; Boban said. &ldquo;But now, we have that thing -- who wants to be first? Bobi and Tobi, or Tobi and Bobi? I was for Tobi and Bobi, and Tobias was for Bobi and Tobi. We stuck with Bobi and Tobi because he's the brain of the operation (laughs).&rdquo;
Despite hesitation to shorten his name, Tobias hatched the idea and created the popular tag.
&ldquo;As a kid, people would try to call me Tobi, but I hated the name Tobi...I suck it up now,&rdquo; Tobias said. &ldquo;In the beginning, people in LA used to be like, 'Tobi! Tobi!' And I used to be like, 'That's not my name.' And I then I had to realize, this is your actor name, so you're gonna have to get used to it. So then, I'm now used to it. It doesn't bother me. I am [leaning into it].&rdquo;
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Bobi and Tobi would roam the streets of Hollywood, with plenty of social media virality surrounding them. Most of their stories have hit the worldwide web; Tobias cracks a smile and declines to tell the ones that haven&rsquo;t. When asked to share their favorite moment, both pointed to a hilarious encounter in LA.
&ldquo;We had just finished going out to eat somewhere. After, he's just in his car playing Bodak Yellow,&rdquo; Tobias recalled. &ldquo;Cardi B's part [comes on] and he pulls out his red slippers, 'cause she was like, 'I got bloody shoes,' so he pulled out his red slippers. I was like, 'Where did this process for you to do that?' You had to listen to that song over 50 times to actually think that on the fly.&rdquo;
&ldquo;(Laughs) Going out, he was like, 'Show 'em your flip-flops, show 'em your flip-flops!' And I showed him the flip-flops,&rdquo; Boban snickered. &ldquo;&lsquo;This is red bottoms!'"
Tobias admits one of his favorite things about hanging out with Boban is walking behind him to see everybody&rsquo;s reactions, often being his personal photographer when the fans approach.
The second time the duo got moved was in a trade to the Philadelphia 76ers. On an airplane with Mike Scott and then-former assistant Sixers general manager Marc Eversley, Tobias vividly remembers a not-so-fun trip for his buddy Boban.
&ldquo;We were on a private jet -- but Boban's head is literally hitting the ceiling, and he hates planes and turbulence,&rdquo; Tobias described. &ldquo;So this whole flight, I'm just like, 'Oh my gosh.' I can't even close my eyes 'cause he's gonna be like, 'Tobias, turbulence, turbulence!' And that's just what he does [on planes]. So I think seeing him on this private jet and his head literally at the top of the ceiling, I was like, 'Man, I feel bad for Bobi right now. This is a bad flight for him to be on.' That was one of the moments I was like, 'Man, it must suck to be a giant' (laughs).&rdquo;
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When the 2018-19 season came to an end, so did Boban and Tobias&rsquo; time as teammates. The towering big man&rsquo;s contract expired that summer, and he ended up inking a two-year deal with the Dallas Mavericks with his partner continuing his career in Philly. It was the first time they were separated since they met in Motown.
&ldquo;Yeah, it was tough. At first, I was like, 'Man...' When he was signing with Dallas, I was like, 'Dang.' But I was also happy because I wanted him to be in a good situation, and as a friend, I wanted him to be somewhere where I knew he was gonna be comfortable,&rdquo; Tobias said. &ldquo;He was a little nervous going there, but I said, 'People will love you wherever you go. You just have that impact on teams and a locker room and everything, so I wouldn't be nervous or nothing.' I was sad, though, that we weren't playing together just because that's been my dawg for like four years, since we were together in Detroit. Hopefully, the stars align and we'll get back together somehow, some way."
"It's being professionals and it's business. Everybody has their own way and what way they are going,&rdquo; Boban said. &ldquo;We're still friends, we're still good and I'll still be there for him [with] whatever he needs. This is what friends do. If he changes a team, we didn't change our phone numbers. I still support him. I still text him when he has a great game. He's playing great and I wish him to continue that. I'm proud of him.&rdquo;
Boban hopes to see Tobias as an All-Star next year, even offering to be his friend&rsquo;s personal prop in the case that the former participates in the Slam Dunk contest; Tobias burst out in laughter at that second notion.
&ldquo;Hey, if they put me in the dunk contest, then we will NOT have a good dunk contest (laughs),&rdquo; Tobias said. &ldquo;Hate to break it to ya! But that would be the best plan of action."
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Whoever has followed these two from the moment their bromance became public understands that it is hilarious, yet extremely genuine.
&ldquo;We're different, but we're the same, you know?&nbsp; If you ask me why [we get along so well], this is the same [in regards to] the relationship with my wife,&rdquo; Boban said. &ldquo;We don't watch the same movies, we don't listen to the same music, but we have something in common where, together, we make one great person. This is the same with Tobias. I don't know why I listened to different music and he listened to different music, but at the end of the story, we started listening to the same music, he'd send me some TV shows, I would send him some TV shows. It was cool. I miss it!&rdquo;
&ldquo;Why do we get along? I would just say it's like two people with caring hearts for other people. It's also like a culture dynamic, too, where he's somebody that's from a totally different country or upbringing and all the way down the line than myself,&rdquo; Tobias said. &ldquo;And like, when I see Bobi and I think why everyone gets along with Bobi is he's just a free-spirit person that loves to be around positive people, good people that embrace life, people that have a lot of personalities that are in line. Boban's such a caring person -- cares about his family, cares about really anybody that he meets; he wants to make sure that they left better than they were when they met him.&nbsp; I think, for me, I'm kinda the same way. When I first started hanging out [with him], I was like, 'Man this dude never has a bad day.' He's somebody that brings joy to your own day because you realize his positive energy is just a real thing. When we were hanging out, it made me appreciate my life and the things that I get to do just by seeing his type of energy.&rdquo;
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When Tobias saw the public&rsquo;s response to the pair&rsquo;s commercial, he texted Boban: Bobi, the people love this commercial.&nbsp;
Boban replied: The people right now need to love in the world.
Tobias sent another message back: That's true, and they're getting it.
&ldquo;He said back to me, 'I love when people text me and tweet me saying that commercial has brought them joy.' He really means that,&rdquo; Tobias said. &ldquo;I wrote him back and I was like, 'Man, you're an impactful dude' because when you think like that, it puts everything in perspective, and he means it. Even when we were doing the commercial, he was like, 'It needs to be fun and it needs to be loving.' He'd keep saying that on set: 'There needs to be more love. More love. People need to see it and smile.' And I'd say, '[You're] exactly right.' That's kinda how like...we just vibe with a lot of our ideas and creations that we get into, and this one was an amazing production by Goldfish to showcase that."
Boban was excited to bring smiles to people's faces with this commercial, but nobody more than his 4-year-old and 9-year-old sons, Petar and Vuk.
&ldquo;This isn't for me to judge, but I think we did a great job. We really did a great job. It was a lot of stuff...I'm so happy because I make my kids proud, and to be like a role model,&rdquo; Boban said. &lsquo;This is what Goldfish and Tobias helped me to be what everybody wants to be in kids' eyes, something special. And I think I've done it.
&ldquo;I feel amazing [about the reaction]. When people write, 'I love what you do. I love your skills. I love your friendship with Tobias,' how can you feel? You can't say anything else,&rdquo; Boban said. &ldquo;Take [last Wednesday]. We played against the Boston Celtics. I didn't go in the game, but I had a big, huge sign: 'I Love Boban.' A lot of people were chanting my name, 'Boban! Boban!' They weren't like all Dallas fans, they were Celtics fans, but they [were] Boban fans. I like how they say my name, want me to show my heart. It's an amazing thing. I feel proud of myself and I feel proud of my parents because they raised me to be a nice guy and just make other people happy, too.&rdquo;

Spencer Davies speaks to Bobi and Tobi about reuniting in a Goldfish commercial and their close relationship.

Reunited and it feels so good: Boban Marjanovic, Tobias Harris open up on friendship

Paul Pierce, Jalen Rose, Jay Williams, Adrian Wojnarowski and Maria Taylor gave Alex Kennedy an inside look at ESPN's "NBA Countdown."

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