Sports
New York Liberty forward Jonquel Jones is chasing an elusive WNBA title

At the beginning of the 2024 season, New York Liberty forward Jonquel Jones shared a brand new perspective on how she is approaching the upcoming 12 months.
“It’s a marathon, not a sprint,” she said.
While Jones, entering her eighth season within the league, talked concerning the upcoming season, the phrase might be applied to many features of her WNBA profession.
In some ways, Jones’ rise through the league has been a marathon. She went from not making the All-Rookie team to being the league’s Most Improved Player in 2017 and from WNBA Sixth Woman of the Year in 2018 to being the league’s MVP in 2021.
Her goal was also to win the championship.
While Liberty battles for the championship against the Minnesota Lynx, Jones is playing within the fourth WNBA Finals of his profession. The WNBA title is considered one of the most recent awards Jones can add to his trophy case. So far it has been elusive.
This 12 months could also be Jones’ best championship run as a member of a Liberty team that finished the regular season at the highest of the league and eliminated fellow champion Las Vegas Aces en path to the WNBA Finals.
However, Jones and Liberty may have some work to do after running into Ryś while biting his nails 95-93 Overtime thriller in the primary match on Thursday. If her performance within the series opener is any indication, Jones is determined to finish the championship drought for herself and the team.
“This is the last thing JJ needs to check,” Liberty teammate Courtney Vandersloot said.
“It’s a big deal for her.”
Catalina Fragoso/NBAE via Getty Images
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, within the 28-year history of the WNBA, 10 players have lost their first three Finals appearances.
Of those 10 players, guard Katie Douglas won the championship – in 2012 with the Indiana Fever. The list includes players corresponding to forward Angel McCoughtry and former Liberty guards Becky Hammon, Vickie Johnson and Teresa Weatherspoon.
As she prepared for the finals, Jones focused on the opportunities before her.
“I just come to play hard,” Jones said. “I’m really the kind of one who focuses on one thing at a time, whatever a very powerful thing is, I let it’s a very powerful thing. Of course you learn out of your performance within the finals, but you approach it with the mindset to win the match.
Although the teams Jones played for were unsuccessful of their first three attempts at winning the championship, she delivered great play. According to ESPN Research, she is considered one of only six players in WNBA history to record greater than 20 double-doubles within the playoffs.
Jones performed brilliantly in each of his three finals appearances. In 2019, Jones averaged 19.2 points, 11 rebounds and 1.8 assists in her first Finals appearance with the Connecticut Sun against the Washington Mystics, a series that led to the fifth and final game. In 2022, Jones averaged 16 points, 8.3 rebounds and a couple of.3 assists against the Las Vegas Aces, who led the Sun in 4 games. Last season, Jones averaged 18.3 points, 9.8 rebounds and a couple of.8 blocks against the Aces as Las Vegas won its second straight title in 4 games.
On Thursday in the primary game, Jones scored 24 points and 10 rebounds, which is the best in each games.
“Honestly, that’s the story of my career,” Jones said. “If you return and have a look at all of the finals I’ve been in, I’d say I played well in them, we just didn’t win. That’s it.

Paintings by Wendell Cruz/Imagn
On a team with many future Hall of Famers, Jones was the team’s top performer within the 2023 playoffs. Ultimately, it would not be enough.
“Winning another championship and losing is always motivating. I think we did a lot of good things last year. We just needed a little bit more,” Jones said.
This season has seen a major difference in Liberty’s consistency on the court. The band used their chemistry to rework from a gaggle of interconnected stars right into a harmonious whole. Combine that with the will to return to the Finals, and the result was a Liberty squad that played as title favorite for a lot of the season.
“Our team had a year to really grow, understand and build,” Jones said. “What now we have in common is the experience of attending to the championship and losing, after which having the hunger to exit on the pitch and make a call about how we approach the match – that (losing in the ultimate) had no impact on happening again.
“We still have a job to do. … We understand it will be a struggle, but together we have been through a lot, we have built each other up and become much stronger.”
For Jones, this season was a return to her old self. Jones spent much of last season recovering from a foot injury.
“What really helped me this year was just playing basketball, getting back on track and being healthy,” Jones said.
“I think he’s just getting comfortable and I think it’s going to take time,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said. “She has been injured for six months and it is difficult for her emotionally and physically. It started working towards the end, but then it was about how I could recover and be better from day one. She was huge for us.”
This season, Jones was chosen to her fifth All-Star game. For Liberty, she averaged 14.2 points, 9.0 rebounds, 1.3 blocks and a career-best 3.2 assists.
When asked if she sees a way of urgency in Jones this 12 months and her pursuit of the title, Vandersloot replied that there is no noticeable difference because Jones has at all times carried the identical championship energy along with her.
“I don’t necessarily see anything different because she’s always approached every season like she wants to win a championship for as long as I’ve known her,” said Vandersloot, who played with Jones overseas before they became teammates at Liberty. “Of course, I feel just a little little bit of experience will assist in this case. He knows what it’s prefer to be on this group, but he approaches it the identical.”

Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images
Like Jones, forward Breanna Stewart and Vandersloot will make their fourth Finals appearance – a feat achieved by only 29 other players in WNBA history. Stewart won two championships with the Seattle Storm, and Vandersloot won a championship with the Chicago Sky. All three wish to win their first title since joining forces in New York last season to form an excellent team.
Vandersloot said she would like to see Jones fight for her first title.
“Especially the three of us, we colluded to come here and be in this exact situation and make JJ be her first. Stewie and I knew what it was like and of course you always want more,” Vandersloot said. “(JJ) put in the time. She got involved in the work. She became MVP. All her individual career successes. Getting there is huge for her.”
Keenly aware that it is often possible that one other likelihood on the championships won’t ever come, Jones knows that point should never be wasted when she makes it to the finals as a right – whether she wins or not. While Jones said there’s some frustration in reaching the ultimate lap multiple times a season after which ending up wanting it, she knows greater than most what the finish line looks like.
She hopes to perform that this season.
“I understand it’s a marathon, not a sprint,” Jones said again, this time through the shootaround before the primary game. “You go out there and try to do whatever the team needs to win.”
Sports
EASTSIDE GOLF SIGNS JOSEPH BRAMLETT as the first member of PGA Tour

EastSide Golf is even.
Earl Cooper and Olajuwon Ajanaku founded a black brand of golf clothing, which goals to make golf more integrative. They have recently announced two fundamental movements to support this mission: they launched last month EASTIDE GOLF FOUNDATIONAnd today the brand has announced the signing of its first skilled Golfer under a contract of support: a member of PGA Tour Joseph Bramph.
Braglett said that in 2020 he was fascinated by joining Golf EastSide.
“Since then, I watched the brand growing,” he said. “They sent me a few shirts and other things, and I had many friends wore EastSide Golf (clothing). I watched their mission, what they were, the height they had, and I was very excited about the possibility of finally becoming part of it and push the brand forward.”
During all skilled competitions, a member of PGA Tour will wear brand clothing with a characteristic logo on the left breast, a black golfanist rocking golf club with a golden chain on the neck. Normal Fashion Elections Bramletta lie in a stereotypical sports outfit, nevertheless it is happy that it may possibly break out of this manner with EastSide turtleneck.

EastSide Golf
“They just bring different energy,” he said. “You see Jordan’s cooperation and growing up, I played golf from an early age, but basketball has always been my second sport. I am a big fan of Michael Jordan.” He called the Link with Golf EastSide “a very good fit”.
Bramp’s father initiated his love for this sport. His father, who, said, was “addicted to Golf, before I was born”, often exchange a golf club in the lounge. Braglett simply copied his actions.
“Every time his turn came to take care of me, he practiced (his) a short game and let me crawl on the grass,” he said. “I read the game very early and I don’t know exactly what it was, but it captivated me from the very beginning.”
The profession of Stanford graduates includes winning the national championships in the first 12 months. His win secured the PGA Tour card immediately after studying in 2010. His other achievements include winning the Korn Ferry Tour in 2021 and the recent third place at Puerto Rico Open, where he scored 21 years.

EastSide Golf
Bramlett is one of two black golfers commonly competing on PGA Tour.
“I was a black golfer all my life, so from the first day it was just part of my experience in the game,” he said. “That’s what I’m proud of, I know that this is something that distinguishes me a bit (and) I think it is also something that gives me a great platform.”
Departing from Saratog in California, he signed a contract with EastSide Golf not only to the present, but additionally for the future. Bramlett has one other decade for top -level competition. Despite this, when he finished, he would love to present up a game that he gave a lot to people like him, Cooper and Anjanak, despite the history of Golf to be inaccessible to black people.
“All positive and inclusion that they pressed, social times, and the ways in which they bring people to the game, making them feel more welcome, pushing the game forward,” he said. “I want to be someone who is involved.”
EastSide Golf signed Bramletta shortly after the announcement of EastSide Golf Foundation. The foundation was created to extend influence in three key areas: access, education and perfection. The Foundation will ensure resources to make Golf more available, share knowledge about sport and financial support for social organizations, golf teams and individuals through high -quality programs that favor long -term success.

EastSide Golf
“I am a PGA professional and I think that as PGA professionals, we bear the duties to bring people to the game,” said Cooper. “There is a bigger mission and until everyone feels welcome and everyone feels comfortable in the golf course, we still have a job.”
Cooper said that having a foundation allows Golf EastSide to receive larger funds to increase their mission. One of the features of this mission, which can probably profit, is EastSide Golf Invitational, a charity event starting the third 12 months, and now the official event of the Foundation Funds.
Now, the official event of the foundation funds, Invitational has generated over 100,000 USD for Morehouse College over the past two years. Since 2019, EastSide Golf has brought almost USD 300,000 in the school golf program for the support of scholarships, team operations and others. In addition to financial support, EastSide Golf also provides uniforms, transport, contacts and other experiences, such as the team host in Masters.
Their financial contribution is in step with the meaning of the school, which connects Cooper and Anjanak. They met in College via the Golf team and won the twenty fourth minority Golf PGA championship in 2010.
Although Cooper didn’t create PGA Tour, he wants to go away the heritage of motivating the next generation. “Although I’m not on the route, I can still influence,” he said.
For Bragletta, he just wants children to know that they’ll achieve all the pieces they gave their minds to.
“I was lucky to grow up, I had Tiger Woods,” he said. “I hope that I can set such an example for future generations.”
Sports
Ryan Clark breaks down in an emotional interview with Greg Brooks Jr.: “This child did not deserve it”

Ryana Clark “The Pivot” podcast It boasts “key conversations”. However, the host of the podcast was not prepared for the emotional variety of his last interview with a former footballer of the State University in Louisiana Greg Brooks Jr. After almost an hour conversation with Greg Brooks and his father, Greg Brooks, Clark, Clark Put in tears a moment after Brooks was thrown out of the interview.
“Sometimes I miss it. I look at the screen and I think it should be me, but I’m just glad that I’m here.”
“You are amazing. You are an inspiration, I mean that you are a superhero and I expected that from a very young age, when I met you, to achieve great things,” said Clark Brooks Jr. “I never expected you to achieve what you have man. I love you.”
For Clark, Ałunu LSU and the super Bowl master, this conversation was particularly annoying because he was there to witness Brooks Jr.’s journey. from early days of recovery.
“It’s hard to see, old,” Clark continued. “My tears are like a part of pride, but also just anger, because you are right, this child does not … does not deserve this man, and to be honest, GB (Greg Brooks Sr.), the most difficult part is for me that he has no anger. He is so happy of everything he has, he is so happy because of how far is.”
While the previous LSU football captain is grateful for recovery, his father, Brooks Sr., explained that Brooks Jr. He still experiences the extent of pain.

“Don’t you think that this child suffered, old? Don’t you think that he had the successes of all his friends? Not hear from the trainer for over 17 months? Seventeen Fu ** months … it’s painful, old” – revealed Brooks Sr.
In a lawsuit against the University and Mother of God of the Lake Regional Medical Center at Baton Rouge, the Brooks family claims that LSU staff and medical staff performed neglect in the Brooks Jr. And that the varsity did not inform the athlete’s family about his injury.
“I just want young athletes in the identical place, if something hurts, tell them.
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Sports
Coach San Antonio Spurs Gregg Popovich leaves the legacy of expressing injustice

Gregg Popovich, the most important coach of San Antonio Spurs Gregg Popovich, won the highest and maybe the largest coach in NBA history outside the side line. It also disappeared, but actually not forgotten, Popovich used his platform to talk against racial, social and political injustice.
“He was probably one of the first trainers of the modern generation, who really spoke about politics and social injustice,” said coach Golden State Warriors Steve Kerr, a former guard of Spurs near Popuvich. “One of my favorite trainers is (former basketball coach of men from the University of North Karolina) Dean Smith. Dean Smith in the 1960s. He helped break the racial barriers in the south, refusing to take his team in some places for staying or eating. Coaches who really distinguish me. “
Spurs announced the retirement of Popovich from coaching on May 2 after 33 years as the most important trainer. Naismith Hall of Famer is the NBA leader in the field of coaching victories with 1422 wins in the regular season. The three -time NBA coach led Spurs to 5 championships. The 76-year-old also took third place in winning the playoffs.
Popovich trained the Spurs dynasty, which included the NBA championships in 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2014, Hall of Famers David Robinson, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Future Hall of Famer Kawhi Leonard. With the NBA All-Star Center Victor Wembanyama, in its composition, Popovich trained only five matches this season, after which he suffered a stroke in a team facility on November 2, 2024. He never returned out of bord.
Popovich will remain in Spurs as the president of basketball operations and was replaced by Mitch Johnson, who was a short lived team of the team this season.
“It’s a sad day. It’s also an encouraging day,” said Kerr on May 2. “This is a natural transition for him organizationally to go to the next role. He also gives him space and time that he must regain after health problems.
“So I got a lot of mixed emotions … mainly my love for pop. My empathy for what has gone through with the Spurs organization. All of the above. This is a very emotional day for everyone involved. Thank you, pop.”
Coach Houston Rockets, Ime Udoka, former guard of Spurs and assistant coach near Popowicz, said on May 2: “This is a sweet -bitter day, of course, for all of us. But I am glad that he is in the good place. And I am glad that he is good with his family. A special day. A special person. One of the best for it. I am happy that I have a chance to work with him and call him.”
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Popovich also had an impact on the world, undeniably using his platform to speak about injustice. What made his openness much more unique was that he was a white man who spoke about marginalized individuals who didn’t seem like him.
Former San Antonio Spurs Forward Lamarcus Aldridge once described Popovich as “color blindness” to Andcape. Popovich was also known that he normally had an inventory with international talent.
“When you meet him, color doesn’t matter to him,” Aldridge said about Popovich. “It can refer. People can say that he and Stephen Jackson are really close. Stephen Jackson is the opposite of being from Europe. It doesn’t matter who you are. He connects with all people … He is so open to everything.”
Popovich once expressed respect for the playmaker San Francisco 49ers Colin Kapernicka and his national protest. These were the words of a person who attended the American Air Force Academy and obtained a bachelor’s degree in the field of Soviet studies. He served five years of the required lively service in the Air Force and once considered a profession in the CIA.
“A quite good group of people immediately thought that they did not respect the army,” said Popovich once. “It had nothing to do with his protest. In fact, he was able to do what he did because of what the army was doing for us. Most people think about it, but there will always be an element that wants to jump on fashion and this is unfortunate in our country.”
Popovich once took Spurs to the private screening of the film “Chi-raq” with the famous film director Spike Lee. Popovich had a former John Carlos track star, who joined Tommie Smith to get a controversial salut of black power on the podium medal during the Olympic Games in Mexico in 1968, confer with his team. Popovich gave his players the book “Between the world and me” by Tahisi Coates, who was written as a letter to the writer’s teenage son about reality, emotions and symbolism of being an African American in the United States. Popovich also took his team for the show “The Birth of the Nation”, the film Parker invested about Nat Turner, who managed the historic riot of slaves in 1831 and see the famous art of “Hamilton” in New York.
“It is obvious that the domestic plane of slavery still penetrates our social system in this country,” said Popovich once. “People want to ignore it, they don’t want to talk about it because it is uncomfortable.”
Popovich also described the race in America as “elephant in peace.” He believed that the White Americans didn’t understand the pain and stress related to being an African American. Popovich remembered listening to the black assistants of trainers about how that they had to confer with children about the best way to cope with the police in the event that they were confronted. He said it was something that as a white man never had in common together with his two children.
“It’s easier for white people because we haven’t experienced this experience. For many white people it is difficult to understand the everyday feeling with which many black people are dealing with,” Popovich once said. “I did not talk to my children about how to behave in front of a policeman when you stop. I did not have to do it. All my black friends did it. There is something that is wrong in it and we all know it.”

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Popovich also also talked about what he thinks were injustices in the American government, particularly against President Donald Trump. During October 27, 2024, a press conferencePopovich described Trump as “pathetic” and accused him of supporting the culture of racism and division in America. Popovich also added that he believes that Trump has confirmed racism, which normalized and legitimized discrimination on this process.
Popovich recurrently talked about the control of weapons. In 2023, Popovich gave an unnecessary, nine -minute lobbying lobbying for the laws of weapon control in America and criticizing “cowardly legislators who are selfish” before the match in Dallas. Popovich criticized republican legislators in Texas and Tennessee, and in addition expressed contempt for the expedition of representatives in 2023 Justin Jones and Justin Pearson from the Chamber of Representatives in Tennessee. Two black democrats were demonstrating weapons control on the floor of the chamber after a shooting in Nashville. Popovich called the provisions on the resistance of weapon control, an try and “clog all these things (in) the myth of the second amendment.”
“I was wondering because we have a governor and governor governor and prosecutor general, who made it easier to have more weapons,” Popovich said, referring to politicians from Texas. “It was a response to the murder of our children. I just thought it was a bit strange decision. But it’s just me.”
So how did Popovich develop into so conscious, caring and vocal?
The son of a Croatian father and Serbian mother organized naturally about other cultures, growing up in a racially diverse eastern Chicago in Indiana, 18 miles from the Chicago center. According to the universal census of the United States of 2010, Eastern Chicago had 42.9% black, 35.5% white and 19.1% of other races. Popovich attributed his military origin for making him aware of the world. He also learned about the world when he played basketball for the American Basketball Team of the Armed Forces in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.
“When you meet him and learn about his upbringing and his origin, raised in (suburbs) Gary, Indian, in a multicultural district …”-said Udoka. “He all the time talked about the neighbors he had – an Italian family, a Jewish family, a black family. Everything around him was immigrants and his.
“This is the core of who it is. It is appropriate, regardless of whether you are black, white or different.”
Kerr also spoke about social injustice, racism, violence with weapons and political problems during the training of warriors. He recognized Popovich for uplifting him to make use of his platform to talk.
“I was 100% inspired by pop for the courage to speak and take the hits you do,” said Kerr. “I met POP after I signed a contract with Spurs in 1999 during the blockade. You can see the sacrifice for his country. A proud air force graduate. From the first national anthem (played in the game Spurs) I saw how he stood on an unusual American flut.
“This is a belief together with, say, the Shenanigans of this country politically – in actual fact all BS began at the moment, at the turn of the century … between social media and Buffoners politically, on this era, wherein everyone screams against one another.
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