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Anthony Edwards’ dunk to Kevin Durant was a defining moment in the NBA

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“Passing the Torch” feels like a loving exchange between two people. Think about how you’ll handle a torch – rigorously holding it in your hand while being careful not to move too quickly in order not to burn the person you’re giving it to. I imagine each people’s eyes staring into the fire, knowing that the flame needs to be controlled, but in addition being wary that the wayward embers could break down and hurt someone. When the torch is finally exchanged, there’s likely a nod of acceptance and relief that nobody was hurt. It’s calm.

Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards’ series-ending dunk to Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant on Sunday, ending the Timberwolves’ four-game winning streak over the Suns, was anything but quiet. It was a violent, explosive dunk that first caught the torch and cemented Edwards as the future, leaving Durant empty-handed in the twilight of his profession.

Even though Durant’s Suns entered the series against Edwards’ Timberwolves sixth in the standings, this was likely the biggest upset of the first round. The Timberwolves were immature, young and prone to late-season meltdowns similar to they did two years ago after they blew the most double-digit fourth-quarter leads in history playoff series against the Memphis Grizzlies and last yr, when their team fell on a throw by Wolves center Rudy Gobert hits his teammate, forward Kyle Anderson. If any team was going to fold against a veteran team like Phoenix – led by Durant, who has 4 NBA Finals appearances and two championships under his belt – that might be the Timberwolves.

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That’s where Edwards comes in.

At just 22 years old, Edwards had turn into the emotional leader and most significant player on a team that already had 16-year-old point guard Mike Conley, four-time All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns and the aforementioned Gobert, who won three-time Defensive Player of the Year. Edwards has made no secret of his admiration and adoration for Durant, who entered the league when Edwards was still in elementary school. But Edwards continued to attack his hero – he was talking trash from the moment he first played isolation on Durant – and never relented, culminating in a decisive 40-point performance in Game 4 that worn out Durant’s respectable 33 points.

We’ve never seen Durant so completely defeated in a playoff series, especially since he was in great form. The considered anyone having the ability to seemingly demoralize considered one of the biggest scorers in league history seemed inconceivable at the starting of the franchise, let alone years ago when Durant was dominating the NBA with the Golden State Warriors. But it happened with utter destruction.

Which brings us back to the dunk.

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Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (left) and Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant (right) talk during the second half of the Western Conference first-round game at the Target Center on April 20 in Minneapolis.

Patrick McDermott/Getty Images

Each yr brings its share of memorable dunks, but it surely’s rare that a single moment of airborne impact can change the trajectory of a sport.

In 1983, NBA great Julius Erving had his way legendary dunk over Los Angeles Lakers guard Michael Cooper, noting that this was his yr of being the best in the league and its champion. In 1991, Chicago Bulls star Michael Jordan previously shook two New York Knicks players dunk to Knicks center Patrick Ewing on the way to his first championship. The dunk marked Jordan’s emergence as the latest king of the game. In 1994, Warriors center Chris Webber invoked one other changing of the guard before taking the ball behind his back. dunking on Suns forward Charles Barkleysignaling that a latest generation of power forwards who took their influence from Barkley, the Round Mound of the Rebound, would soon take over the NBA.

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Edwards over KD caused the same kind of tectonic shift.

With lower than two minutes left in the fourth, Edwards placed Beal in isolation. Dribbling between the legs. Left hand hesitation. The first step that moved at supersonic speeds. And the elevation. Durant began to jump to block but realized he couldn’t reach the top of Edwards. So he jumped out mid-jump. But his body was still present enough to be eviscerated by the fury of the impact.

It’s an apt metaphor for the show: Durant realizes for the first time in his profession that he cannot reach the heights of his opponent.

It have to be a humbling feeling that will be felt across the league as luminaries of my generation see their sporting mortality. We are already facing a play-off in which LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Durant is not going to make it out of the first round. We’re just days away from the possibility of Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic becoming the only MVP winner to advance to the second round this season. Perhaps previous champions will get a second and third wind in the coming years, but these deep playoff runs feel more like one-offs than signs of recent dynasties. But Durant has the most extraordinary profession of those greats and a future that seems the scariest.

Durant’s Suns have it no first-round draft picks from 2025 to 2030. He has already expressed frustration with the way he was used in the Phoenix offense. Can he force a departure, which might send him to his third team since leaving Golden State in 2019 and the fifth team of his profession, or will he remain with a Suns organization that has no path to a championship ahead of him? and his “only” two titles after joining a Warriors team that had just broken the regular season games record. Either way, Durant’s profession might be difficult to quantify.

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He will finish his profession in the top 10 in all-time points scored, and with two Finals appearances under his belt, he may never have a statue built in front of an NBA arena. Durant has played on some version of the super team that’s the Big Three for the last 15 years, and since leaving the Warriors in 2019, he has failed to make it past the second round. Sure, there are some unique circumstances behind the disappointments, but Durant was the leader of every of those teams.

This season, teaming up with Devin Booker (who scored 49 points on Sunday) and Bradley Beal was supposed to be his best probability to break that spell. However, the whole lot fell apart faster than anyone expected. Now Durant looks to a future that’s falling apart.

The Minnesota Timberwolves watch Anthony Edwards dunk during a game against the Phoenix Suns during Game 4 of the Western Conference first round on April 4 at the Footprint Center in Phoenix.

Barry Gossage/NBAE via Getty Images

The unknown in all of that is what’s Edwards doing now? He was at all times going to eventually land after taking off to dunk Durant, but his profession was primed for continued growth. His next opponent is the league’s current immovable object in the type of two-time MVP Jokic.

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While the Nuggets might be the favorites, the results of this series won’t be as telling as what happens in the coming years. Edwards, along with his gritty defense, million-dollar smile, atomic dunks and off-balance attitude, began the season next, but now he’s on his way. He finds himself in a place he knows from every game: looking down on anyone who dares to get in his way before realizing there is no point in even trying.

This is what happens when you could have a torch and are ready to set fire to the whole lot that gets in your way.

DavidDennis Jr. is a senior author at Andscape and the writer of the award-winning book “The Movement Made Us: A Father, a Son, and the Legacy of a Freedom Ride.” David is a graduate of Davidson College.

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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander receives the MVP award and a surprise from Chris Paul

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Oklahoma City-Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has just received the NBA award the most respected player when he noticed something suspicious. Next to his wife Hailey, whom he never saw, sitting at thunder matches, a man sitting outside. Before the guard Thunder in Oklahoma City could raise his eyebrows, he realized that he had an unexpected guest: Chris Paul, his former teammate and mentor.

“It was amazing. It surprised me. I had to like a double shot. I was like:” Who is it with my wife? ” -said Gilgeous -Alexander. “I got a bit, but I saw that it was Chris. And I believed,” cool “. “

Gilgeous-Alexander won his first MVP award after winning the title of scoring and bringing Thunder to 68 wins in the league. The day after his announcement, the NBA Commissioner, Adam Silver, presented him with the MVP trophy before winning 118-103 Thunder over Minnesota Timberwolves in the match of the 2nd finals of the Western Conference on Thursday evening at Paycom Center. Gilgeous-Alexander and The Thunder will pass a 2: 0 series in match 3 on Saturday in Minneapolis.

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Paul liked to sit down outside, watching his former teammates, Gilgeous-Alexander and NBA All-Defensive First Tame Luguentz Dort, were recognized for his or her size.

“It means everything to be here,” said Paul and Scape. “You see how Lu finally creates his first defensive team. And take this game with (wife of Gilgeous-Alexander), I am happy with him.”

Gilgeous-Alexander joined other team members behind the striker Thunder Chet Holmgren during an interview after the game broadcast in China. After the interview, Gilgeous-Alexander failed under a protective field to hug and kiss his wife before he reached the smiling Paul, who apparently had his old teammate from the team, considering that he didn’t participate in the game.

“You just lied in my face,” said Gilgeous-Alexander with a smile.

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“Who?” Paul said.

Oklahoma City Thunder Watchtower Chris Paul (on the left) and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (on the right) talk during training on July 10, 2020 in Orlando, Florida.

Bill Baptist/NBAE via Getty Images

Paul is the future Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer with 12-star NBA and is a member of the NBA seventy fifth anniversary team. A 20-year-old NBA veteran who finished May 40 on May 6, said and Scape that he had not yet selected his future. Paul played in all 82 matches in the regular season this season in San Antonio Spurs, but the free agent told in March and Pejzz that he would confer with his wife and two children in the season about whether he should proceed the game.

Paul was also colleagues from the team from Gilgeous-Alexander for one season from Thunder during the NBA season 2019-2020, to which Pandemia Coronavirus affected. In addition to Paweł, it was the first season of Gilgeous-Alexander from Thunder. Los Angeles Clippers was replaced by Gilgeous-Alexander, Danilo Gallinari and five sorts of draft in the first round in Thunder on July 10, 2019 for NBA striker All-Star Paul George.

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Paweł enjoyed the mentoring of Gilgeous-Alexander and Dort. In addition to sharing the defense field, it often happened that Gilgeous-Alexander alongside Paweł during the NBA Bubble in Orlando, Florida in 2020. From this one season, Paul became not only a mentor of Gilgeous-Alexander, but a close friend. Gilgeous-Alexander is considered one of the five NBA players in the second season “Start Five” Netflix, and Paul should play a repetitive role due to their relationship.

“He was great, not only as an older brother, a mentor, but he is like a friend,” said Gilgeous-Alexander. “There is all the time what you possibly can resist. He was the first guy in my life that I used to be close, who achieved things that I need to realize. And I actually resist him on advice, but not only advice in basketball – business advice, caring for body advice, coping with family after they don’t live with you.

“There are so many things that you deal with as a NBA player, especially his caliber, which go under the radar. His tips were great, not only in matters outside the pitch, not only with all mentoring, simply being there as a friend.”

The love that Paweł has for Gilgeous-Alexander is mutual.

“This is my family.” Especially such a moment. “

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Of all the councils given by Paweł Gilgeous-Alexander, the latter said that Paweł was the most respected teaching him about improving his weight-reduction plan. 26-year-old Gilgeous-Alexander said he was a restaurant junkie that loved to eat at the Cheesecake factory and fast food restaurants. Canada’s guilty pleasure was the pizza slices of domino late at night.

Paweł modified the Gilgeous-Alexander weight-reduction plan for the higher during his stay in the NBA bubble.

“When I was younger, I ate terribly,” said Gilgeous-Alexander Andcape. “He showed me how to take care of your body and eat well.”

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in Oklahoma City shoots in the fourth quarter of Minnesota Timberwolves in the match of the 2nd finals of the Western Conference in Paycom Center on May 22 in Oklahoma City.

Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

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Paweł said that he saw the potential of Gilgeous-Alexander to the size before joining the thunder.

Gilgeous-Alexander obtained a median of 19 points, 5.9 rebounds and 3.3 assists in his first season with Thunder next to Paul. Gilgeous-Alexander won his first of the three NBA ALL-STAR performances in 2023 and took second place behind the center of Denver Nuggets Center Nikola Jokic in MVP voting in 2024. But this season Gilgeous-Alexander won his first MVP award over JOKIC.

“When he was a debutant, I was really close (sports coach Clippers) Jason Powell, even though I left. And he told me about work ethics (Gilgeous-Alexander),” said Paul.

Paul was in the two finals of the Western conference and played in a single NBA final with Phoenix Suns in 2021. Gilgeous-alexander and Thunder are participating in the first finals of the franchise conference since 2016. Since moving with Seattle in 2008, Grzmot was just once in the NBA finals, and lost to Miami Heat in 2012 in 2012. Have talent to change into the first franchise champion.

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While reality has only six wins from the first NBA title, Gilgeous-Alexander said that “quite easy” to concentrate on the match of the third finals of the Western conference.

“We had a habit throughout the season, focusing on the next game and worrying about what is ahead of us. It is not different in this situation,” said Gilgeous-Alexander. “We are aware of where we are this season. We would hurt ourselves if we directed ourselves from what we got here. And that’s what we are prioritized.”

Paul wouldn’t be surprised if a quote from his precious student and friend. Don’t be surprised if Paul returned to Oklahoma City, supporting his younger brother if he reaches the NBA finals.

“At the end of the day, everything he cares about is winning,” said Paul.

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Marc J. Spears is a senior NBA author for Andcape. Once he was capable of immerse himself at you, but he was unable for years, and his knees still hurt.

This article was originally published on : andscape.com
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Remy is to offer the payment of a divorce lawyer Papoose – he is his new Boo, the boxer master, Claress Shields may also enter her

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Things definitely develop quickly in a separated, but not separated world, but a music couple, Remy and Papoose.

On Wednesday, May 21, Claress Shields, Olympic Gold-Meedalist Boxer, which is also the only boxer in history-sexual history-to do all 4 predominant titles in boxing in three different weight classes, she went to the “breakfast club” to discuss her coming fight, how she became a master, and of course her relationship. 30 -year -old Shields is in a relationship with Papoose, 47, and speaking of the beginnings of their relationship and the place where they are actually, she mentioned the “elephant in the room” – waiting for divorce between Papoose and Remy, as something to be solved.

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Because Remy and Papoose love to solve problems between them through social media, after the interview with Sheilds, Remy is about to remove a few things from her chest, one of which is that Papoose is slowly throwing his divorce proceedings. Remy said that she would even pay for the lawyer if Papoose had no money for it.

“Who I married in 2008 is not who it is now. Now he is a wife. Listen, I would like: Papoose, you have information of my lawyer. If you can’t afford to stop a lawyer, because the lawyer you gave have not yet been stopped, I said that I would pay for it, I will pay for it. Referring to Shields as” someone who loves you, “she said during the IG session.

Since then, there was a tremendous amount on Instagram, each posts and IG lives, some of which were saved, others don’t. Remy has accused Papoose of rinsing and you’ll be able to’t afford … things, and even stopped with alleged jewelry influences, Papoose, he set money. Papoose accused (again) Remy of fraud (although they each accused the second of the same, old news).

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Papoose claims that Remy also didn’t submit a divorce application Instead, I try to come back with him, again with alleged influence (seriously people, do everyone wants to go their separate roads or not?) And be blackmailed her guy, Eazy The Block CaptainRemy returned to IG Live, accusing PAP of being a liar and, well, you see where he is going. The most interesting part of this is Brooklyn Rapper, Fabolous, he is caught inside because he published a photo from Remy has Knicks on the game after their similarly tragic, Historical collapse In the game of 1 finals of the Eastern Conference against Indiana Pacers on Tuesday evening.

Now it isn’t good at Gotham City.

Remy Ma (remembers Mackie) and Papoose (Shamele Mackie) mentioned wedding weddings on the phone in 2008, while Remy was imprisoned and eventually was officially married in 2016, at the wedding at “Love & Hip Hop: New York”. Remy was released from prison in 2014. The couple has one child together, recalls, born in 2018, although each Remy and Papoose have children from previous relationships.

Although the best such saga could be privately settled, especially in the case of an athlete star, reminiscent of Shields, who has so many positive noteworthy achievements, sometimes heart matters change into disordered. There are possibilities that the Internet will see more chapters on the Summer Jam screen in order that the world can see.

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Jamie Foxx admits that he almost believes in some of the wild internet conspiracy about his health fear

(Tagstranslate) claress shields

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San Francisco Giants Honor Renel Brooks-Moon from Pa Booth Dedication

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After almost 25 years within the team, REnel Brooks-Moon, the primary public announcer of San Francisco Giants, was quietly honored with the dedication of the stand.

Newly named REnel Brooks-Moon Pa stand characteristics Reports a plaque to honor her 24 vertical years with Giants from San Francisco. The dedication took place and not using a formal announcement or ceremony, and Brooks-Moon decided to publicly comment on homage.

“It was an important thing and the right thing we honored her,” said Shana Daum, senior vp of communication and community relations. “Her heritage lives in many ways, including naming the PA stand.”

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Honor appears a 12 months after Giants parted with their beloved Brooks-Moon in March 2024, initially promising to vary the name of the stand in the primary half of the season. After delay, the dedication quietly took place on time for the Giants House opener on April 4, even though it recently got here to light.

Brooks-Moon received the title of retired announcer PA, but was excluded from the role of speaking in the course of the most important events, akin to the Celebrations of Life for Willie Mays and Orlando Cepeda. She also skipped other ceremonies due to the unnecessary. A friend announced how difficult it was Brooks-Moon to go away this 12 months’s house opener, which honored the twenty fifth anniversary of the San Francisco Giants 2000 team.

“I recorded every player, every coach”, Brooks-Moon he said Then. “It was only bananas. But it was a great fun. I didn’t realize how much I needed it after I lost what I loved.”

The plaque at her dedicated stand celebrates Brooks-Moon as “one of the first announcers with black baseball women in Major League. She began a cult 24-year career who left an indelible mark in the history of Giants.”

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There can be a quote emphasizes the involvement of Brooks-Moon in inspiring the marginalized communities to proceed their dreams.

“I really hope that my time at the stand was inspired by little girls, young women and colorful people, to realize their dreams, even if these dreams seem impossible, because impossible dreams can come true,” we read.

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