Kyrie Irving defends himself on antisemitic post, Bennedict Mathurin continues to shine, and Magic Johnson & Larry Bird: the greatest rivalry in NBA history.

Happy Halloween!

KYRIE IRVING

Kyrie Irving Defends Himself on Antisemitic Post

Last week Kyrie Irving posted a movie/book to his social media accounts titled “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America.” This was met with a ton of backlash because of its antisemitic implications. The Rolling Stone described the movie/book as “espousing ideas in line with more extreme factions of the Black Hebrew Israelites, which have a long history of misogyny, homophobia, xenophobia, Islamophobia, and especially antisemitism.”

Nets owner, Joe Tsai, spoke out on the incident saying he was “disappointed in Kyrie” for promoting the material. This eventually led to the Brooklyn Nets and the NBA releasing a statement condemning Irving’s post. In a press conference over the weekend, Irving denied that he did anything wrong by posting the documentary on his platform.

Irving stated, “Did I do anything illegal? Did I hurt anybody? Did I harm anybody? Am I going out and saying that I hate one specific group of people? So out of all the judgment that people got out of me posting — without talking to me — and I respect what Joe (Tsai) said, but there has a lot to do without ego or pride with how proud I am to be of African heritage but also to be living as a free Black man here in America knowing the historical complexities for me to get here.” Irving said he was doing his normal routine and did not ‘promote’ the film in any manner by putting it on his platform. He just wanted to “watch a program or show that’s education first that either talks about history or finance, talks about the state of the world”

Furthermore, Irving also said that he does not agree with Alex Jones’ stance that Sandy Hook victims were crisis actors. “That was a few weeks ago. I do not stand by Alex Jones’ position, narrative, court case that he had with Sandy Hook or any of the kids that felt like they had to relive trauma or the parents that had to relive trauma or to be dismissive to all the lives that were lost during that tragic event,” Irving said.

BENNEDICT MATHURIN

Bennedict Mathurin Continues to Shine

Only a couple weeks into the season, the 2022 NBA rookie class has been showing out very nicely. Aside from Chet Holmgren’s foot injury, the five highest drafted rookies take up the five highest scoring spots. Paolo Banchero leads all rookies in scoring with 23.5 PPG, however, Bennedict Mathurin is not too far behind averaging 21.0 PPG while coming off the bench!

Seven games into the season Mathurin has yet to start a game for the Indiana Pacers. Aaron Nesmith and Buddy Hield have been starting in the respective spots so far but Mathurin is getting legit rotation minutes. On Saturday Mathurin dropped a rookie franchise record of 32 points in 33 minutes off the bench against the Brooklyn Nets. He has yet to play less than 24 minutes in a game under Rick Carlisle who notoriously doesn’t like playing rookies heavy minutes.

Among all rookies Mathurin is just second to Paolo Banchero in usage rate. Most of his usage is coming in transition where Mathurin has been thriving. Barring injury it seems like Banchero and Mathurin will be at the top of the race for rookie of the year this season. This race will no doubt be a fun one to watch play out!  

MAGIC JOHNSON & LARRY BIRD

Magic Johnson & Larry Bird: The Greatest Rivalry in NBA History

The rivalry between Magic Johnson and Larry Bird is considered one of the greatest individual rivalries in NBA history. Johnson and Bird both dominated the NBA in the 80s and the 90s with a combined 8 NBA Championships between the two of them. While great rivals on the court they shared numerous laughs off the court. Recently, Johsnon admitted that their relationship wasn’t what he wanted it to be simply because the Lakers and Celtics hated each other.

Johnson recently made an appearance on Shannon Sharpe’s podcast “Club Shay Shay” and reminisced about his relationship with Larry Bird. Johnson recalled a story where he watched Bird make 30 shots in a row and called him the “Steph Curry before Steph.” Furthermore, Johnson labeled his relationship with Bird as “fractured” during their playing days. Johnson said, “Our relationship was fractured because it was Celtics Lakers. See, we hated them and they hated us. So we could never be friends. (Coach Pat) Riley stressed that. He said if a Celtic goes to the ground, you better not pick him up. We had to hate them to beat them.”

Johnson talked about another story where he flew out to Bird’s hometown, French Lick, Indiana, to shoot a Converse commercial with Bird. During their commercial shoot Bird offered Magic lunch at his house that his mother prepared for the two of them. Johnson recalled a moment where Bird’s mother said, “Magic, you’re my favorite basketball player.” If it wasn’t for the Celtics-Lakers heated rivalry, it seems like Magic Johnson and Larry Bird may have been good friends after all.

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