Andrew Nembhard discusses the Pacers' Game 2 win over the Knicks
Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau previews ECF battle with Pacers, what his team needs to win
New York Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau met the media on Monday to preview his team's matchup with the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals, and talked about his rotations, the skill of Indiana, and getting another shot at the Pacers after they eliminated the Knicks in last season's NBA Playoffs.
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Black America Web
7 minutes ago
- Black America Web
Fans Shares The Funniest ‘Inside the NBA' Moments As Show Signs Off TNT For Last Time
Source: Boston Globe / Getty Ernie Johnson is the senior statesman of TNT. The sports personality has been on the network for 35 years, so it was fitting that he was the one who made the final sign-off for the network's Inside the NBA show. The visibly emotional Johnson,68, said, 'If I had written the script, the NBA and TNT would be together forever. It's not going to happen, but while I was disappointed, I was sad, I was not bitter. We know how business works. Gratitude is the operative word for me.' Johnson has reason to be grateful as the longest-running host of the show. He has hosted Inside the NBA since its inception in 1990. Kenny 'The Jet' Smith has the next-longest tenure, joining the show in 1998. Barkley and O'Neal came on in 2000 and 2011, respectively, forming the nucleus that arguably reshaped sports television. The chemistry between the quartet is the best mix on sports television, something that the Sports Emmys have recognized with 21 overall awards. Fox's NFL Sunday is the most comparable show in the NFL, but despite big personalities like Michael Strahan and others, it didn't quite hit the sports and pop culture zeitgeist as strongly as Inside the NBA did. (And this year, it loses longtime hosts Howie Long and Jimmy Johnson.) The combination of chemistry, basketball analysis, hot takes, memes, jokes, pranks, and sometimes disagreements has made it one of the more authentic shows on sports TV, which explains much of its appeal. The show will continue from the same production studio in Atlanta, with the same producers, but will air on ESPN. This move is part of the fallout from TNT losing its broadcast rights to NBC, which will air the NBA again after 24 years. TNT was the NBA's main broadcast partner from 1989 – 2025 and Inside the NBA was a major part of that. 'Even though the name changes, the engine stays the same,' O'Neal said on the last broadcast after the Pacers beat the Knicks in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals to advance to the NBA Finals. 'To that new network we're coming to, we're not coming to f— around. And since it's the last show, I'll say it: We're not coming to f-ck around. We're kicking ass, we're taking names, we're taking over.' Barkley was wooed by other networks, but he ultimately decided to stay with Inside the NBA . He thanked TNT for the 'wonderful ride.' 'I just want to say thank you to the NBA,' he said. 'Every coach I've had, every player I've played with, for giving me this magnificent life that I've had,' he said. 'I am so lucky and blessed. I'm lucky and blessed. And I want to thank TNT. Even though we'll never say TNT Sports again, I want to thank TNT for giving me a magnificent life.' And with that, Johnson signed off for the last time on TNT. 'I'm proud to say, for the last time, 'Thanks for watching us. It's the NBA on TNT.'' You can watch the final broadcast above or relive some of the most memorable and funny on-air moments over the years below. Fans Shares The Funniest 'Inside the NBA' Moments As Show Signs Off TNT For Last Time was originally published on Black America Web Featured Video CLOSE
Chicago Tribune
8 minutes ago
- Chicago Tribune
SuperSonics fans feel no allegiance to the Thunder in these NBA Finals. Go Pacers, the scornful say.
SEATTLE — It's logical to think someone like Danny Ball is a fair representation of Seattle these days. Ball, a hoops fan who runs an Instagram account called 'Iconic Sonics,' is pulling for the Indiana Pacers over the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Finals. There are no deep ties between Seattle and Indianapolis. The Seahawks play the Colts this December, so the cities will be foes that weekend. Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever probably won't be warmly welcomed when they visit the Emerald City later this month to play the Seattle Storm. But right now, Seattle may as well be an Indy suburb. Seattle fans lost their NBA franchise, the SuperSonics, in 2008 when it was stolen from them and rebranded in Oklahoma City. For the scornful, that means one thing: Go Pacers. 'I'd love to see the Pacers pull it off in six games,' Ball said. The NBA Finals begin Thursday night. For some in Seattle, it'll be a heaping helping of fresh salt on the wounds that opened when the Sonics were taken away. And people like Ball, who grew up in Seattle hearing stories of Sonics legends like Shawn Kemp and Gary Payton, aren't exactly rooting for Oklahoma City right now. The Thunder are heavy favorites to beat the Pacers. Should they pull it off, the Thunder would claim their first NBA title in Oklahoma City, but technically their second as a franchise after Seattle won the title in 1979. It's no secret the city wants the league to come back. Expansion is on the NBA's to-do list, and it's likely that talks — the first of many, many steps in this process — could start in earnest with interested cities in the next few months. Commissioner Adam Silver, however, hasn't fully committed to adding new teams. 'The issue I would not have anticipated at the time I sort of began talking about the timeline is how much unknown there is about local media right now,' Silver said earlier this year. 'Having said that, though, I would just say again to our many fans in Seattle, and I hear from them often, and the legacy of the Sonics is still very strong and it's a fantastic basketball market, is that we are very focused on it. … We don't take those fans for granted. We're thankful that the interest has remained over all these years.' Any mention of expansion sends fans into a tizzy. Steve Ballmer, the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, spoke to the crowd before a preseason game in Seattle — his hometown — in 2023, and made a thinly veiled reference to how fans need to remind the league's New York office how much the city loves the game. 'All night long, it better be loud enough in this building to hear us all the way back in New York, if you get me,' Ballmer told the crowd. 'Let's make sure we're loud tonight.' And then came the Ballmer bellow: 'Go Seattle,' he screamed. It's something Seattle takes seriously, as Mayor Bruce Harrell learned earlier this year in his address to the city. 'Right now, at this moment, I have an announcement to make,' Harrell said, reaching into the lectern where he was standing and pulling out a basketball, spinning it in his hands as he displayed it to the crowd — which began roaring. 'Ah, I'm just kidding.' The crowd wasn't amused. Harrell later was interviewed by Seattle's KOMO News and apologized for the attempt at humor, getting reminded that residents of the city aren't happy that the NBA hasn't returned yet. 'Count me among them,' Harrell said. A very real void has been left in the SuperSonics' absence. The NHL's Seattle Kraken entering the fold has helped, as has the success of the WNBA's Seattle Storm, both of whom play at Climate Pledge Arena, which sits on the site of the SuperSonics' former home. That same arena received a significant remodel ahead of the Kraken arriving, which could make it suitable for NBA games. That would ultimately be up to the association to decide one day, but Ball hopes it would be the Sonics' former home in the Queen Anne neighborhood they get to triumphantly return to one day. 'A lot of Sonics fans that I know I'm sure never got over the wounds of what happened here 17 years ago with them leaving (for) Oklahoma City,' SuperSonics fan Eric Phan said. 'All of the Sonics fanbase (is) rooting for the Indiana Pacers.' Seattle seemed to have a chance at getting a team back in 2013 when the Maloof family put the Sacramento Kings up for sale. But investor Chris Hansen's bid to relocate the team to Seattle was rejected by the NBA's Board of Governors. For fans like Ball and Phan, hope lives on. Ball recognizes that's partially because he is an inherently positive person, and he's hoping for a Hollywood ending. 'It would be poetic if the year that OKC wins the finals — if that occurs — is in the same summer that the league comes out and says, 'Hey, we're forming an expansion committee to start really exploring this process,'' Ball said. 'I think that would help damper or therapize the feelings and emotions that would come along with seeing the Thunder hoist the Larry O'Brien.' Phan pointed out that just because the Sonics don't play in Seattle, it doesn't mean the team is truly gone. 'You can see people walking the sidewalks and streets of Seattle, and even the suburbs,' Phan said. 'People are wearing Sonics gear like they never really left.'
USA Today
17 minutes ago
- USA Today
When is the NBA Finals? Thunder, Pacers set to play for a title
When is the NBA Finals? Thunder, Pacers set to play for a title Show Caption Hide Caption Shaq gives thoughts on a possible Pacers-Thunder 'small market' Finals Shaq joins Sports Seriously to give his thoughts on if a Pacers-Thunder NBA Finals would be too 'small market' for the league. Sports Seriously What appears to be an obvious mismatch on paper still sets up for an intriguing battle as the 2025 NBA Finals get underway on Thursday. The No. 4-seeded Indiana Pacers completed a stunning run through an upset-filled Eastern Conference bracket to make their first appearance in the Finals since 2000, defeating the No. 3 New York Knicks in six games. Meanwhile the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder rolled through the Western Conference, defeating the Minnesota Timberwolves in five games to reach the Finals for the first time since 2012. Adding to the drama, neither franchise has won an NBA title in its current location. (The Thunder won it all in 1979, when they were the Seattle Supersonics.) OPINION: No one will stop the Thunder from winning NBA championship How to watch the NBA Finals The 2025 NBA Finals presented by YouTube TV will air on ABC. Fans can stream it on ESPN+, Fubo, and SlingTV. Watch the NBA Finals with Fubo 2025 NBA Finals schedule Game 1: Pacers at Thunder (Thursday, June 5, 8:30 ET, ABC) Pacers at Thunder (Thursday, June 5, 8:30 ET, ABC) Game 2: Pacers at Thunder (Sunday, June 8, 8 ET, ABC) Pacers at Thunder (Sunday, June 8, 8 ET, ABC) Game 3: Thunder at Pacers (Wednesday, June 11, 8:30 ET, ABC) Thunder at Pacers (Wednesday, June 11, 8:30 ET, ABC) Game 4: Thunder at Pacers (Friday, June 13, 8:30 ET, ABC) Thunder at Pacers (Friday, June 13, 8:30 ET, ABC) Game 5: Pacers at Thunder, (Monday, June 16, 8:30 ET, ABC)* Pacers at Thunder, (Monday, June 16, 8:30 ET, ABC)* Game 6: Thunder at Pacers (Thursday, June 19, 8:30 ET, ABC)* Thunder at Pacers (Thursday, June 19, 8:30 ET, ABC)* Game 7: Pacers at Thunder, Sunday, June 22, 8 ET on ABC)* The biggest stories, every morning. Stay up-to-date on all the key sports developments by subscribing to USA TODAY Sports' newsletter.
