'They're turning into a destination': Shams Charania is talking about the Indiana Pacers?!
Pro athletes often dream of playing in Los Angeles, New York and Miami. How about Indiana?
ESPN NBA reporter Shams Charania believes the tide is turning toward the Pacers, who are in the Eastern Conference Finals for the second straight year.
Charania joined the "Pat McAfee Show" just outside Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Tuesday to discuss all things NBA. The Pacers lead the New York Knicks 2-1 with Game 4 coming Tuesday night.
"They're turning into a destination," Charania said. "That's a big statement. Players look at Tyrese Haliburton, look at Pascal Siakam, look at what the front office has done. They've been so good at identifying 'dogs' — identifying players they know want to win and want to compete."
Pacers seek a bounce back: Pacers 'have to be a lot better in a lot of areas'
Siakam made the NBA All-Star Game this season, and Haliburton earned third-team All-NBA honors.
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Black America Web
14 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
15 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.'
Chicago Tribune
19 minutes ago
- Chicago Tribune
Column: Len Scaduto, a basketball lifer, will always be remembered for Oak Lawn's 1970-71 team. ‘Made his mark.'
The Southland basketball community lost a legend when Len Scaduto died on May 13 in Honolulu, Hawaii. He was 93. Scaduto coached Oak Lawn's boys basketball team from 1962 to 1991, going 411-340 and leading his 1970-71 team to a state runner-up finish. But that wasn't all. After retiring at Oak Lawn, Scaduto moved to Hawaii and kept coaching. Colleges. High schools. A semipro team. He remained on the sidelines until he was nearly 90. Scaduto's son, Bruce — who followed in his dad's footsteps, coaching boys and girls basketball at Evergreen Park for 27 seasons — said Len never lost his passion for basketball. 'He's been my coach since I was a little kid,' Bruce said. 'He's been my basketball mentor my whole life. He pretty much taught me all I knew. Pretty much what I saw him do, I did. 'It was a good run. I'm proud of what he accomplished. He was a great father and he definitely made his mark on basketball in Illinois.' Of course, that 1970-71 Oak Lawn team will always hold a special place in Scaduto's legacy. The Spartans went 30-3 but were unranked and far from being considered a top contender for the state title when they went into the playoffs in the final season of one-class basketball in Illinois. It was a magical postseason run. Along the way, Oak Lawn knocked off the past two state champions in Lyons and Proviso East. The Spartans nearly took their Cinderella journey all the way to the top, losing a classic state championship game 52-50 to Thornridge, which was led by future NBA standout Quinn Buckner. Jim Bocinsky, who went on to play at DePaul and professionally in Europe, was the second-leading scorer on that Spartans team behind their own future NBA player in C.J. Kupec. 'We didn't really know what we had until we almost had it,' Bocinsky said. 'Our goal was to win the conference. We didn't even realize we had the potential to do anything beyond that. 'We just went out to try to win the regional and then it was one game at a time.' Bocinsky said the members of that team have kept a tight bond over the years. 'We get together to golf but we're old men now, so you get to the 19th tee and you say, 'I heard that story last week,'' Bocinsky said, with a laugh. 'We tell the same stories over and over again about that year, but we can't get away from it. 'That team, and coach Scaduto, have been a huge part of my life.' Several members of that team play in an alumni basketball game every year at Oak Lawn. Bocinsky and Don Wesselhoff, who graduated in 1970 just before the state run, would often get together for breakfast with Scaduto each summer when he returned to the area. Len also came back for a 50-year reunion held for the team in 2021. Wesselhoff remembers a hard-nosed coach who was tough but earned everyone's trust. 'You loved the guy, but he'd push you so hard that it was like a love-hate relationship,' Wesselhoff said. 'He respected us and we respected him. After he graduated, we continued to keep in touch. 'It's just a relationship that's hard to come by these days. I was really honored and blessed to have him as a coach.' After retiring at Oak Lawn, Scaduto spent three seasons as an assistant at Chaminade and 12 years on the staff at Hawaii. He also returned briefly to the high school level before wrapping up his career with the semipro Hawaii Swish, whom he was coaching at age 89. Scaduto's stepson, Jack Danilewicz, said he was also a lifelong Chicago Cubs fan, a college football fanatic and an avid gardener. Scaduto's legacy will undoubtedly continue to live on at Oak Lawn the way it has over the last three decades since his departure — with endless stories and lessons passed down. The Spartans and Evergreen Park have dubbed their rivalry 'The Scaduto Series' in honor of both Len and Bruce. The winner of the game each season receives a trophy. Current Oak Lawn coach Jason Rhodes also informed me the school is starting a new tournament this fall — the Len Scaduto Thanksgiving Classic. That name had been chosen before Scaduto's death, but the inaugural event will have some added meaning behind it now. 'He's made a huge mark in our community, and his former players always speak fondly of him and tell me great stories about him,' Rhodes said. 'He obviously had an incredible run. 'Almost 30 years coaching basketball at Oak Lawn. That's almost unfathomable to me.' There's at least one artifact from Scaduto's days that still lingers around the gym at Oak Lawn. In his office, Rhodes has a coaching manual Scaduto left behind. 'It's a thick book with all kinds of diagrams and notes on his system, offensively and defensively,' Rhodes said. 'You could tell just from that thing alone how much time he invested.' That was Len Scaduto — the Southland's ultimate basketball lifer.
