Sports
How TNT's Inside The NBA Crew Missed the Warriors vs. Rockets Meltdown
Some people are never satisfied.
You win a championship, yet feel the need to add baseball’s best pitcher.
You have cars lined up around the block, yet you decide adding McRib to the menu will silence the horns.
You have the best programming in the history of basketball, yet some buffoon recommends changes.
Uh, that latter guy is me … Buffoon with a capital B.
The “NBA on TNT” pre- and (especially) post-game shows have been a godsend to basketball and comedy fans alike. (Insert your Washington Wizards jokes here.)
Ernie Johnson is a masterful juggler. Kenny Smith can be Captain Obvious, but in a useful way in that it serves lollipops to Charles Barkley, a big eater who swings for the fences and hates curve balls. And Shaquille O’Neal… as the NFL is starting to figure out, every primetime show needs a cartoon character.
It’s equally entertaining and give-me-something-to-throw-at-the-TV. You know, kinda like the Baltimore Ravens.
But these award-winning performances lack something… and that something was on full display (or perhaps better stated: not on display at all) following Wednesday’s crazy finish between the Warriors and Rockets.
Sir Charles, as usual, offered strong opinions, some on things that never happened. Ernie and Kenny scratched their heads—wondering, “Were you paying attention, Chuck?”—and” offered little else. And Shaq was… well, remember: Snoopy can’t talk.
Serious fans wanted to know what just happened and why it shouldn’t have happened. Much of it involved game strategies, something of which the Unfit Foursome has left to smarter people than themselves in their careers.
What the show needed was Pat Riley or Rick Pitino. A Hall of Famer with the guts to go public with a former colleague’s screw-ups.
Phil Jackson with a personality. George Karl or Don Nelson in their feuding days.
Someone who would receive the “Ten Good Things To Say About The NBA Cup” memo and relegate it to the same circular file as the “How To Promote Jayson Tatum For MVP” dictum the league put out earlier.
You know, like Mike Brown after he turns bitter following his pending firing.
Throw Brown onto Wednesday’s late-night postgame show, and here’s what a truly award-winning telecast might have sounded like …
The Rockets have the ball, down three, with 32.1 seconds to go. Steve Kerr inserts Kevon Looney into the game for defense. Alperen Sengun overpowers the undersized Looney for a layup 5.1 seconds later.
Ernie: Powerful move.
Shaq: He reminds me of Tim Duncan.
Brown: Why in the world is Steve putting Looney in the game? Draymond Green is manhandling Sengun. Plus, if you lock down the perimeter and get 8.1 seconds to run off the clock without allowing a 3-pointer … Even if you give up a layup, the Rockets then have to foul, and you have the best foul shooter in NBA history. Game over.
The Warriors have the ball, up one, with 27.0 seconds to go. With still 11 seconds left (eight seconds on the 24-second clock), Stephen Curry attempts a night-night 3-pointer. It misses.
Chuck: Curry cost them the game. You can’t shoot that early. There’s only three seconds left if you wait until the end of the shot clock before shooting. He played hero ball.
Brown: Been in this situation a million times, Chuck. Steve doesn’t have you in your prime. If he did, he’d throw it to you, you’d stick your oversized rear bumper into the defender and back him into the first row before dropping in a layup with 3.1 seconds left. But he’s got Curry. The 2024 Clutch Player of the Year. You have to trust that he’ll get a good shot, which he did. He makes that shot, they win. Too many coaches turn conservative at critical moments like that. That’s usually not like you, Chuck. A good shot at any point trumps a bad shot after 24 seconds. It’s called playing to win. Chuck, you ever heard of Dan Campbell?
Curry’s miss deflects toward the sideline. Teammate Gary Payton II dives on it as Fred VanVleet piles on. There’s only 8.1 seconds left.
Chuck: VanVleet jumped on his back. Where’s the foul call?
Brown: You’re missing the point, Chuck. Where’s the timeout? Look at the top of the screen: Steve is three steps onto the court. What, he needs a better view? Call a damn timeout. Scream it. Any elementary school coach can tell you that. Your guy is on the floor. You think what happens next is going to be a good thing? He calls a timeout there; they win.
From his stomach and with 200 pounds on his back, Payton tries to pass the ball to Jonathan Kuminga. Aaron Rodgers has thrown better 15-hoppers this season. It goes right to Houston’s prone Jalen Green, who in turn gets the same treatment VanVleet gave Payton. Alertly amid the chaos, Dillon Brooks signals for a timeout. The two closest refs look at each other: Is it a timeout or a jump ball? Then the crew chief butts in. He’s calling a foul on Kuminga with 3.1 seconds left. Green will be sent to the line for two game-winning free throws.
Kenny: It does look like Kuminga fouled him, but you can’t call that there.
Chuck: Kerr should have challenged.
Ernie: Kerr said he thought he’d lose the challenge and didn’t want to risk his final timeout.
Brown: You have to challenge there. Look, Billy Kennedy is a good referee. Get the glare of the red court out of his eyes, and he’ll realize he made a mistake. When he looks at the monitor with cooler heads in Secaucus in his ear, he’ll see: I can’t NOT call a foul on VanVleet, then call one on Kuminga. We can pretend to have seen the timeout signal from Brooks BEFORE the foul. It’ll be an easy sell on both teams. Let the players decide the outcome; that’s what a good ref does. I learned that in elementary school.
Instead, the Rockets went to Vegas this weekend. So did Ernie, Kenny, Chuck and Snoopy, er, Shaq.
Wonder what Don Nelson is doing.
Sports
A'ja Wilson has no shortage of motivation after Aces' early exit in '24
Oct 1, 2024; Brooklyn, New York, USA; Las Vegas Aces center A’ja Wilson (22) and New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart (30) during game two of the 2024 WNBA Semi-finals at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images LAS VEGAS — Entering her eighth season in the WNBA, Las Vegas Aces superstar A’ja Wilson is poised to build on what was arguably the most dominant individual campaign in league history.
Wilson joined Cynthia Cooper (1997) as the second player in league history to win a unanimous MVP award and joined an exclusive club as the fourth player to win the award three times. She averaged 26.9 points and 11.9 rebounds per game last season and set the all-time single-season mark for points (1,021) and rebounds (451).
Unfortunately for Las Vegas, injuries and fatigue from their two previous championship runs mounted and resulted in the team’s worst regular-season record (27-13) since 2019. The Aces’ three-peat hopes ended with a 76-62 home loss to the New York Liberty to drop their semifinal series 3-1.
It’s that loss on her home floor that served as Wilson’s motivation this offseason.
“Losing sucks, especially on your home court,” Wilson said “It still kind of burns a little bit, but I’ve used that as fuel to help my teammates understand how hard it is to win in this league. Yes, we can celebrate the two championships. They were great. But for us to move forward, we have to understand how hard this league is and value the basketball and the little things. I think that’s what we lacked last season, so we’re going to make sure that we can show up better than we did.”
While the Aces appeared to be on top of the world heading into their potential three-peat campaign in 2024, the reality inside the locker room was that both the internal and external pressure to win another championship had become suffocating. A common theme across media day was the fact that the team feels less pressure entering the 2025 season, a sentiment Wilson shared as the unquestioned leader of the team.
“(Three-peat talks) obviously impacted us, because it’s like, y’all think we don’t want to win? We’re trying as well,” Wilson said.
“I would definitely say it’s refreshing this year. I feel like this is one of my only years where it feels like there’s no weight. There’s a lot of weight to be defending champs. It’s a lot of weight to be trying to win one. We don’t have that. We actually have a clean slate to really dial into getting back to who we are culturally, like, in our system and everything.”
Leading the Aces back to the top of the mountain for a third time in four years is one of a few historically significant achievements Wilson can collect this upcoming season. Wilson could also become the first four-time MVP in league history, though the meaning of that is something she hasn’t quite allowed herself to ponder yet.
“I haven’t given it much thought, but it would be a blessing to have my name in that conversation,” Wilson said. “Every year, I try to be better than I was the year before just to give myself a chance in this league. Because the league is getting better. We’re growing. At this point, you just want to maintain your stamina. You want to maintain your mental, all of that, because the season gets hard. I can’t think too much about that just yet, but I’m definitely going to try to be better than I was last year.”
As Aces coach Becky Hammon put it, fans can expect to see an even better version of Wilson this season.
“What I see is, she went and got better,” Hammon said. “Which is hard to do when you’re already the best, but it speaks to her work ethic, her desire and her mindset this whole offseason. We talked a lot this offseason. She’s a busy lady, but I can tell you what she always does is her workouts. She’s always getting her workouts in. That comes first and foremost, she never gets her priorities jumbled up.”
When Hammon was asked what a player like Wilson would possibly need to improve after last season’s campaign, the coach did not feel like revealing too much.
“There was (something for Wilson to improve), and she did,” Hammon said. “I’m not going to tell you what it was. Actually, there were two things.”
–Will Despart, Field Level Media
Sports
Jacob Wilson joins Aaron Judge in spotlight for Yankees-A's series
May 5, 2025; West Sacramento, California, USA; Athletics shortstop Jacob Wilson (5) throws to first for an out against the Seattle Mariners during the seventh inning at Sutter Health Park. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Lee-Imagn Images The top two hitters in the majors square off Friday night when the New York Yankees face the Athletics in the opener of a three-game series in Sacramento, Calif.
It’s no surprise to see Yankees star Aaron Judge off to a superb start after winning American League MVP honors last season. He has a major league-best .400 batting average and entered Thursday’s play tied for the big-league lead with 12 homers and 34 RBIs.
But who had Athletics rookie Jacob Wilson ranking second in the majors at .357 as the season nears the quarter pole? Wilson has played in just 64 career games and quickly has solidified himself as a future All-Star, perhaps even this season.
Sharing the marquee board with Judge seems quite surreal for the 23-year-old shortstop who was the No. 6 overall pick of the 2023 draft.
“It’s a great feeling, for sure,” Wilson said of his name being mentioned with Judge. “Obviously, everybody has seen what he is doing. It’s pretty incredible watching him do his thing on a daily basis. To be up there with him is pretty cool for me.
“I’m excited to play against him this week and see what it looks like in person.”
Wilson had his first career four-hit game during Wednesday’s 6-5 home loss against the Seattle Mariners and has six multi-hit outings in the past eight games. He went 8-for-14 with one game-winning hit in the three-game series against the Mariners and is 16-for-34 (.471) with four walks during the eight-game stretch.
The hot hitting led to Athletics manager Mark Kotsay moving Wilson to the leadoff spot on Wednesday. Kotsay indicated Wilson may be sticking at the top of the lineup.
“I think you’ll see Jacob up there now,” Kotsay said. “Jacob’s earned it. … Jacob has shown enough over the last week. He’s walking and taking pitches, and, obviously, swinging the bat really well.”
Judge arrives in Sacramento in the midst of a four-game funk in which he is 2-for-15.
The two-time MVP just went 1-for-10 in a three-game home series against the San Diego Padres, but the one hit was a homer.
Judge grew up 50 miles south of Sacramento in Linden and starred for Linden High but wasn’t highly sought by major league teams. The then-Oakland Athletics selected him in the 31st round in 2010.
Judge instead went the college route and starred for Fresno State. He was chosen in the first round (32nd overall) by the Yankees in the 2013 draft.
Trent Grisham was one of the heroes of Wednesday’s 4-3, 10-inning win over the Padres. He hit a tying two-run pinch-hit homer in the eighth inning.
Grisham had two homers and five RBIs in the series against the Padres — one of his former teams — and already has 10 long balls in just 89 at-bats. He hit just nine last season in 179 at-bats.
“I’m having fun with the guys, I would say that more than anything,” Grisham said. “The clubhouse is really good in here, led by Cap (Judge). So, I would say the guys have been the most enjoyable part.”
New York is starting right-hander Will Warren (1-2, 5.65 ERA) in Friday’s series opener. Right-hander Osvaldo Bido (2-2, 4.71) will be on the mound for the Athletics.
Warren, 25, struck out a career-high eight in 4 2/3 innings while losing to the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday. He gave up five runs (three earned) and seven hits. Warren hasn’t previously faced the Athletics.
Bido, 29, received a no-decision against the Miami Marlins last Saturday when he gave up four runs on three hits over five innings. He is winless (0-1) over his last three starts. Bido hasn’t faced the Yankees.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Report: Boxing legend Manny Pacquiao coming out of retirement
Aug 21, 2021; Las Vegas, Nevada; Manny Pacquiao (right) fights Yordenis Ugas in a world welterweight championship bout at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images Boxing legend Manny Pacquiao plans to end his retirement and return to the ring on July 19 against Mario Barrios in Las Vegas, ESPN reported Thursday.
Pacquiao, 46, will be fighting for the first time since losing a unanimous decision to Yordenis Ugas in 2021.
The fight will be for Barrios’ WBC welterweight championship belt. Barrios turns 30 on May 18.
Pacquiao is an eight-division champion who is slated to be inducted into the boxing Hall of Fame in June. He reportedly will formally announce his return to boxing next week. The report stated that Pacquiao has been cleared to compete by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
In recent years, Pacquiao has been focusing on his political career in the Philippines.
The boxer nicknamed “PacMan” has a 62-8-2 record with 39 knockouts during his career. He won his first major title — the WBC flyweight crown — at age 19 in 1998.
Pacquiao was 54-3-2 prior to turning 33 and 8-5 afterward. One of those losses was to Floyd Mayweather Jr. via unanimous decision in 2015, a bout that reportedly drew nearly $400 million in pay-per-view sales.
Barrios (29-2-1, 18 knockouts) fought to a 12-round, split-decision draw against Abel Ramos last November. This will be his third defense since winning the title by beating Ugas in 2023.
–Field Level Media
A'ja Wilson has no shortage of motivation after Aces' early exit in '24
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