Latest news with #In-SeasonTournament
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Spike Lee names his Top 5 New York Knicks villains: "He rolled the dice and nobody did nothing"
Academy Award-winning film director Spike Lee first became a New York Knicks season ticket holder after the Knickerbockers drafted Patrick Ewing first overall in the 1985 NBA Draft. Since then, he's been a regular at The Garden and has seen every opponent the Kicks have faced at the Mecca. During a recent appearance on Carmelo Anthony's "7PM in Brooklyn" podcast, Lee enumerated his Top 5 all-time Knicks villains, and Spike's answers did not disappoint. Advertisement "You got Reggie Miller. You got Mike. You heard it. That double-nickel game, goddamn!" began Lee. He rolled the dice Miller's name coming out of Spike's mouth first was no surprise. It was toward Spike where Reggie made the iconic 'choke' gesture after dropping 25 points in the 4th quarter of a 1994 playoff game against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Then as he mentioned, MJ's double-nickel game is one of the best performances by an opponent at the Mecca. Spike also mentioned LeBron James and Kobe Bryant before seemingly running out of names. But when Melo and his co-host Kazeem Fayumide asked him about a current villain named Trae Young, who plays for the Atlanta Hawks, the "He Got Game" film director nodded in approval and became animated while recalling Young's celebration after the Hawks beat the Knicks in the quarterfinals of the 2024 In-Season Tournament. Advertisement "He's a villain ... and he plays into that," Lee told Anthony. "He rolled the dice and Nobody did nothing! ... You know what the Knicks said? They said 'We didn't see him do that.' I don't believe that ... No, that would not have happened with some other Knick teams. Xavier McDaniel? Oakley? Them guys? On the logo, at midcourt! Nobody did nothing!" It all started in the 2021 Playoffs Ice Trae first earned the ire of Knicks fans when his Hawks faced the Knicks in the 2021 NBA playoffs. In his first-ever playoff appearance in Game 1, Young scored 32 points, issued 10 assists, and grabbed 7 rebounds. He hit a running shot with 0.9 left in the game to beat the Knicks and then told the Garden crowd to 'be quiet' after they were chanting "Fu** Trae Young" throughout the game. Advertisement The beef between Knicks fans and Young continued throughout that series. But Trae had the last laugh when hit a 32-foot 3-pointer with 43 seconds left to ice the game. He bowed at center court and waved goodbyes to the stunned MSG crowd. The hostility continued after that but it wasn't until "Ice Trae" rolled the dice to signify his team advancing to the Las Vegas semifinals of the IST that Knicks fans like Spike rekindled the hate again. But as Lee said, it wasn't so much about Young disrespecting the Knicks logo but about the team doing nothing about it. It can be recalled that all Knicks captain Jalen Brunson had to say after the game was if they didn't want to see Trae do what he did, they should've won the game. That reply was politically correct. However, for die hard Knicks fans like Lee and Melo, the players shouldn't tolerate invaders trampling the 'flag of New York.' Related: Spike Lee got a hilarious answer from Michael Jordan when he asked MJ why he was chosen to do his breakout commercial: "Motherfu**** you were wearing my shoes"
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Tyrese Haliburton Fires Back at Cavs Fans' 'Overrated' Chants During NBA Playoffs
Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton has garnered a lot of attention over the last two seasons despite being one of the most lowkey stars in the league. It began when he led his team to the championship game of the NBA's In-Season Tournament against the Los Angeles Lakers and fans around the league thought it was a fluke. Advertisement After the tournament he struggled mightily and it earned him the title of the league's most overrated player. Even after an Eastern Conference Finals run last year people continued to discredit Haliburton and his team after they beat shorthanded Milwaukee Bucks and New York Knicks teams. An anonymous player poll was released a couple weeks ago and the most common answer for 'Most overrated player' was Indiana's star. Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton (0) during game five of the first round for the 2024 NBA Playoffs against the Milwaukee Bucks at Gainbridge Ruszkowski-Imagn Images He clearly took offense to this because after hitting a series-ending game winner on the Bucks in the first round of the playoffs, Haliburton mocked the poll with a tweet full of bravado. After eliminating Milwaukee, the Pacers secured a date with the Cleveland Cavaliers who had the second-best record in the NBA during the regular season. Advertisement They would take the first game against the Cavs but after they went down by 20 points in game two, the Cleveland crowd felt emboldened. They began to pelt the All-Star with 'overrated' chants and the decision just might have sealed their team's fate. Haliburton led a furious comeback and trailing by two with less than five seconds left, he stepped back and drained a three with one second left on the clock and won the game. The two-time All-Star was one of the most mild mannered players in the association, but the criticism he receives has brought out his competitive fire. During his post-game press conference he was asked about the chants and responded with a powerful statement, 'Overrate that.' Advertisement It seems that Haliburton is on a mission to prove that he is one of the premiere players in the league. Carrying a 2-0 lead back home to Indiana, it is a real possibility that the Pacers reach the conference finals in consecutive seasons for the first time in a decade. Related: Cavs HC Sends Clear Message to Team After Poor Performance vs. Pacers
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
TNT Sports sets full NASCAR broadcast slate talent lineup
Having already announced a primary broadcast team of Adam Alexander, Steve Letarte and Dale Earnhardt Jr., TNT Sports announced the rest of the talent will be represented on the five races airing on the network this summer. Marty Snider, Danielle Trotta and Alan Cavanna will serve as pit reporters. Shannon Spake, Jamie McMurray and Parker Kligerman will provide pre- and post-race studio show coverage. Jeff Burton and Larry McReynolds will be featured on a simulcast alongside with Dylan 'Mamba' Smith. Advertisement These races include Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on June 28 Chicago Street Course on July 6 Sonoma Raceway on July 13 Dover Motor Speedway on July 20 The Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 27 These races will also serve as the In-Season Tournament races, with the five prior races on Prime Sports also setting the brackets for the new feature. Related Headlines
Indianapolis Star
28-04-2025
- Sport
- Indianapolis Star
'You hate to see that happen': Pacers send love to Damian Lillard after heartbreaking injury
MILWAUKEE -- Point guards Tyrese Haliburton and Damian Lillard have been jawing back and forth throughout the Pacers' series with the Bucks and things have been a little testy on the court between them since Haliburton used Lillard's Dame Time celebration in the Pacers' win over the Bucks in the In-Season Tournament semifinals in December of 2023. However, Haliburton and the Pacers in general were still crushed to see Lillard go down in the first quarter of Sunday's Game 4 with a lower left leg injury feared to be an Achilles tendon tear that would not only end his season but cost him much of next season. Lillard had to be helped off the floor and did not return and he was seen after the game in the event level hallways of Fiserv Forum on crutches and a walking boot on his left foot. Haliburton, Pacers coach Rick Carlisle and center Myles Turner each began their respective press conferences after the Pacers' 129-103 win by showing respect and admiration for Lillard. It was especially crushing news after Lillard returned from deep vein thrombosis -- a condition in which blood clots form in veins -- earlier this series after he missed a month of action. "Before any questions I just want to send my thoughts and prayers to Dame," Haliburton said. "What you see between us is competing. You hate to see that happen, especially to a guy who has gone through a lot and has given it his all to come out and play after scary health issues. It's well-documented the love I have for that guy. You hate to see that happen to anybody. I wish him the best." Turner hasn't gone through as much of a direct back-and-forth with Lillard as they play different positions, but Turner said he still has a lot of admiration for Lillard. Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle. "I want to give my love and respect to Damian Lillard," Turner said. "I think it's a tragic thing that happened. This time of the year, I think everybody gets so caught up in all the antics and the playoff rivalry and all that type of stuff. At the end of the day, this league's a brotherhood, man. There's only 450 of us. He's always been one of my favorite competitors since I've been in this league. I know he has a rough road ahead. I just personally wanted to send that out there, just thoughts and prayers. You just never want to see anything like that happen no matter how competitive these playoffs get." Pacers coach Rick Carlisle has had to coach against Lillard more than either Haliburton or Turner have had to play against him as Carlisle's Mavericks had to go head-to-head frequently in the Western Conference before Carlisle came to Indiana in 2021 and Lillard was traded to the Bucks before the 2023-24 season. Lillard is a nine-time All-Star, seven-time All-NBA pick and the fourth leading 3-point shooter in NBA history. Carlisle has called him a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer and key part of the evolution of the game. "I have such great respect for him competing all those years in the West and then the last couple of years," Carlisle said. "It's just very solemn news. Thoughts and prayers."
Indianapolis Star
24-04-2025
- Sport
- Indianapolis Star
Technicals, flagrants and plenty of trash talk: 'We don't like them, they don't like us'
Indiana has a 2-0 series lead heading to Milwaukee. INDIANAPOLIS – Through the first two games of their NBA Eastern Conference first round playoff series, it's clear the temperature of the Pacers - Bucks rivalry hasn't come down one bit, and the stakes of the postseason are only making it more intense. Through two games — both Pacers' victories — the teams have combined for six technical fouls and a pair of flagrant 1 fouls. Each team has three technical fouls because all six have come as part of a double-technical situation in which both teams got heated and the officials decided to assess off-setting techs. There were two such occasions in the Pacers' 123-115 win Tuesday. The first happened with 1:53 to go in the first quarter when Pacers All-Star forward Pascal Siakam got tangled up with Milwaukee's Gary Trent Jr. going for a rebound on Siakam's miss. Trent effectively threw Siakam to the ground and Siakam took offense and quickly several players from each team were going chest-to-chest. The technical fouls in that case were given to Trent and the Pacers' Bennedict Mathurin. The next set of technicals came with 1:22 to go in the fourth quarter. After point guard Tyrese Haliburton was blocked on a driving layup by Giannis Antetokounmpo, he and Bucks All-Star Damian Lillard went chest-to-chest in a heated discussion. Then Siakam and Bucks forward Bobby Portis got involved with more trash-talking and Siakam and Portis ended up being the ones who got called for the double technical. In Saturday's Game 1, Lilllard got a technical foul even though he wasn't in the game having not yet returned from the deep vein thrombosis that kept him out nearly a month. From the bench in street clothes, he got in a heated discussion with Haliburton and Siakam and he and Siakam were called for double technicals. Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle. Those technical fouls are a sign of rising tensions between teams who have had a lot of meetings over the past two seasons with a lot on the line. They met five times in the 2023-24 regular season including the In-Season Tournament semifinals in Las Vegas before their six-game first-round playoff series. This year, they had the standard four meetings for Central Division foes and now they're locked in another playoff series. If this goes seven, they could end up playing 22 times combined in the regular season and postseason over the course of two seasons. "I'm sure you're going to continue to see that through the course of the series," Haliburton said. "Everybody says in the league, rivalries aren't here anymore. Well, it's right here. This is an interesting series. We've played each other, it feels like a million times over the last two years. I feel like I've seen every different coverage that they could throw at us and I feel like those guys probably feel the same way about us. "There's still a lot of series to go, a lot of games to play. I'm sure there will be more heated moments, more competitive moments." If there was a moment when Pacers-Bucks took a turn from being just another Central Division skirmish to a slowly boiling rivalry it might have been that In-Season Tournament semifinal in December of 2023. The Bucks headed into that season considered co-favorites to win the Eastern Conference with the eventual NBA champion Celtics, but the Pacers announced their legitimacy by knocking off Boston in the In-Season Tournament quarterfinals and then the Bucks in the semifinals. Toward the end of that win, Haliburton hit a 3-pointer and then looked down at his right wrist as if he were wearing a watch, essentially stealing Lillard's signature "Dame Time" celebration. Lillard said then he saw it as a "sign of respect and acknowledgement" but said "when you're having your moment, it's important to be careful and to be humble when you're having a moment because you just never know how the tables turn and when they're gonna turn." The rivalry turned more intense after that. Later that month, the teams got into a fracas when Bucks two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo got upset because he believed the Pacers took the game ball on the night he set a franchise record with 64 points. They did take a backup game ball for then-rookie Oscar Tshiebwe who scored his first career point, but Antetokounmpo was so upset about the perceived slight he charged into the tunnel near the Pacers' locker room looking for the ball with several other teammates behind him in a situation that nearly came to blows. Antetokounmpo didn't play in last year's playoffs, but those got heated on several occasions as well with Milwaukee's Bobby Portis getting ejected at one point. During the series, Portis labeled the Pacers "frontrunners" because he said they tend to talk trash and make noise when they're winning will being much more quiet when they're losing. After that, however, the Pacers made a point to start talking trash earlier in games so they couldn't be accused of that. This year's matchups have maintained an edge even if there haven't been as many skirmishes, and with the playoffs back those have returned. "We don't have to sit here and act like there's any secret," Haliburton said. "We don't like them. They don't like us. That's just what it is. They live for this, we live for this." Not all of the principles are trying to get involved in the intensity. Since the game ball controversy, Antetokounmpo has tried to steer clear of any further trouble and hasn't been the source of physical or verbal confrontations. "I like everybody, man," Antetokounmpo said. "I'm just a competitor. I'm not going to say, 'I don't like him or I don't like him.' Off the court, we can talk or do whatever you guys want to do. On the court, I'm a competitor. I'm going to go at you. That's how I feed my family. I have four kids. ... I feel like there is a lot of animosity, a lot of back-and-forth, but I try to stay away from it." Lillard and Haliburton don't seem to be staying away from it at all. There is some level of natural rivalry there with the 34-year-old Lillard still playing at an All-Star level and the 25-year-old Haliburton in the midst of establishing himself as one of the game's best point guards. "We're just competitors," Haliburton said. "I think that's what it is. He wants to win. I want to win. It's the highest level. We're at the highest level in the most contentious moment here in the playoffs." And for those that enjoy trash talk and braggadocio, this only adds to the thrill of competition. Haliburton, a lifelong professional wrestling fan, is relishing it. "All the extracurricular stuff is extracurricular," Haliburton said. "But it's fun. It's fun. I'm not gonna sit here and lie to you. This is some fun (expletive) now."
