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c4tth3w · 1 year

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matthew Q&A for GQ <3

Here’s a recap of everything that’s happened to Matthew Tkachuk over the last five weeks. First, he and the Florida Panthers took down the Boston Bruins in one of the biggest upsets the NHL has ever seen: Florida came back from a 3-1 deficit in their first-round series to oust the team with the best regular-season record in league history. Both Games 5 and 7—elimination games for the Panthers—went to overtime, and Tkachuk was heavily involved. He netted the game winner in the fifth game and assisted on the Game 7 knockout punch that sent Florida to the next round.

The Panthers completed a gentleman's sweep of the Toronto Maple Leafs in the second round, and shortly after that, Tkachuk was named a finalist for the Hart Trophy, given to the NHL’s Most Valuable Player. The Eastern Conference Finals pitted Florida against the Carolina Hurricanes, a juggernaut that would have had the league’s best record if not for the Bruins going supernova. The Panthers only needed four games for them. The final fixture of that series provided the biggest moment of Tkachuk’s career. With just 4.3 seconds left in regulation, Tkachuk buried the goal (his fourth game-winner of the playoffs) that clinched Florida’s first trip to the Stanley Cup Final since 1996.

The Panthers have one more challenge standing between them and Lord Stanley. The Vegas Golden Knights, owners of the best record in the Western Conference, are no slouch. Bringing down a fourth 100-point team would be a fairytale ending to the Panthers’ postseason march—and very much in line with the fairytale that the 25-year-old Tkachuk has been living. (He uses the word “unreal” frequently.) As his Panthers have climbed the postseason ladder, Jimmy Butler has worn Tkachuk’s jersey, strengthening the bond between two South Florida underdogs gunning for improbable championships. Tkachuk has also appeared on Inside the NBA, and by sweeping Carolina, he’s had some leisure time to soak up the sun before starting the Stanley Cup Final. In his first year in Florida after six with the Calgary Flames, Tkachuk has adjusted accordingly to the tropical lifestyle. As he told GQ in a recent interview, there are far worse places to be.

You’ve had a lot of time to chill. What the hell have you been up to?

I’ve been hanging out and going to the beach a lot. I’ve taken a few quick trips. One of the perks of living in Florida is you have the ocean right there. It’s super good for your body and mind to go in there—it’s pretty peaceful in there. I’ve gone out a couple times for dinner. But mostly I’m just staying quiet at the house. I don’t know, I’m really trying to put everything into the Stanley Cup Final. I’m at the rink every single day, some days to skate and some days to recover. Obviously, I’m using everything in the basket to try and win it all here.

Oh, I went to the Heat game the other night! I got to see Game 6 and sat with Charles [Barkley] and Shaq for a little bit.

How fun was it to guest on Inside the NBA and witness that legendary Charles and Shaq energy up close?

It was awesome! It all happened last minute—literally that morning I was asked if I wanted to come to the game and talk with Charles and Shaq. Hell yeah! Let’s do it. But what was really cool was talking to those guys off camera. That’s when we were really talking. Hockey, sports, golf, just talking about everything, getting to pick their brains, and learn about stuff I don’t really know about was super entertaining.

Are you more of a Charles or a Shaq?

That is tough. It was crazy that I got to meet them. I think that [dynamic] would be a great comparison for how me and my brother [Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk] are. We bicker a lot. But we’re really tight and actually best friends. Always there to chirp each other and have fun. They were both unreal players too. I watched more of Shaq, because he was closer to my generation, but I just watched Charles in the Dream Team documentary. I don’t know who I would be.

You’re in South Florida now, but I just learned that you went to high school in St. Louis with Jayson Tatum. So who were you rooting for in that Heat-Celtics series?

I honestly just loved going to watch Jayson and Jimmy Butler. I didn’t care about the final score. I know all the people in St. Louis would be pissed at me if I was rooting against Jayson and all the people here probably wouldn’t be happy if I was rooting against the Heat. I thought it’d just be easier to root for a couple players. Now that the Heat are in the Finals and I have zero allegiance to the Denver Nuggets at all—if the Heat can pull off the upset it’d be unreal for all of South Florida.

The idea of playing hockey in Florida always has this kind of funny connotation. It’s a relatively new franchise, you’re playing in warm weather in the south, it’s a very opposite idea of what most people have in their head when they think of the NHL. But you’re making it all sound pretty great.

It’s the top destination in the NHL. When you look at it—this is my opinion, and I would say most people’s opinion—the top two destinations in the league right now are the Florida teams. Third would probably be Vegas. It’s funny how that’s who we’re playing in the Final. People probably don’t look at Florida as the biggest hockey market, but Tampa’s won all these Cups recently and been to a bunch of Finals, the Panthers had some good runs before I got here, and when you go out West, Vegas has been right there at the top. Dallas has been right there too. These warmer climate markets aren’t the same as Toronto or Montreal, but the success that everyone’s had down here is no secret.

When I chose to come here, the number one reason was to be on a competitive team, compete for championships year over year, right behind that was the way of life. But you’re not just coming here to live the Florida life, you’re coming here to win. It’s just a perk that you get to live in Florida on top of all that. My life has changed so much since coming [to Florida]. The lifestyle has been unbelievable. The way I’m able to live down here is insane. It doesn’t get better, anywhere. Playing in the U.S., having these opportunities with people like Jimmy Butler and Charles Barkley, having way more nationally-televised games, competing for the Stanley Cup, that’s made not only myself but everyone on the team more of a name than we were before.

Have you become a boat guy since moving to Florida?

I have not. I’ve gotten as far as a few jet skis. I’m not a boat guy. I like to go on boats, but I don’t want to drive a boat. No chance I could park it.

How many texts did you get after scoring the game-winning goal to go to the Final? Was your phone just unusable?

I don’t know, probably close to 400 or 500. This run has been unreal.

After scoring that goal, when did reality set in?

I don’t think it felt real until the next day. With that goal, I knew there wasn’t much time left. When Ryno [Sam Reinhart] shot it off the post, I figured we had about ten seconds, maybe a little bit less. The next few chances, whether it was one or multiple, had to be on the net quick. I sort of just walked out from behind the net. I knew I had a little bit of time to make a move, but not much. Once I saw it go in I was the happiest person ever. First thing I did was look up to see if I got it in on time, and saw there was four seconds left or whatever. I don’t know what I was thinking after that! I did the slide [celebration] and it felt like the roof was going to come off because it was so loud. Then I got a little nervous because [the Hurricanes] challenged it [for goaltender interference], and you never know with challenges. But, it was obviously a good goal, and that was the moment where I was like, “Holy shit. That just happened.”

When I got back home I hung out with some family and friends and talked about how crazy of a night that was. I woke up the next day, which thankfully was an off day, and just thought, “Wow, Stanley Cup Final, here we come.” I’ve seen enough highlights of the goal just from being in places where it’s on TV—and trust me, I love seeing it—but I don’t want that goal to define the season.

When the puck drops on Game 1, it’ll be your first game since May 24. Is the concept of rust mostly a myth, or is that something that you guys are actually talking about and acknowledging?

You know what? We had a week off before the third round and maybe there was a little bit of rust in the first period. That’s something that we’re going to learn from. In the playoffs, with days off—even if there’s ten of them—it’s great for players that have some bumps and bruises.

You’ve gotta be pretty beat up at this point of the year. Does everything hurt when you wake up?

When you win it doesn’t hurt that much.

From your perspective, why is a lower seed making it all the way to the Final much more common in hockey than it is in other sports?

Well, it’s happening right now in basketball, too! But it’s really just, once you get in, everything resets back to zero. We got into the playoffs by one point. When it came down to that—then we realized, holy shit we’re playing the Boston Bruins, the best regular season team in NHL history. [But] none of that really mattered anymore! It was 0-0. Let’s go. It gave us confidence. We do a great job of keeping our focus solely on each game. That’s what’s made us have a lot of success.

It’s gotta be that plus whatever they’ve put in the water down there that’s given you and the Heat superpowers.

[chuckles] We’re feeding off each other.

I know that hockey players are famously superstitious, but I’m wondering if you’ve allowed yourself to think about what you would do with the Stanley Cup if you get your day with it.

It’s natural to think about that stuff. But every time I go down that road I pinch myself and try not to. The one thing you do think about constantly is that feeling you’d have from lifting the Stanley Cup for the first time. That’s gotta be the most amazing thing in your whole life. One team is going to do it—hopefully it’s us.

What’s up with Brooks Koepka? He seems to be the Panthers’ fan ambassador right now, and he’s intense! It’s clear that it’s not an act at all—he really cares!

I actually just met him right after Game 4. He wanted to come down and meet me. I got a picture with him and got to chit chat for a little bit. He’s really excited. It’s great to see support from other athletes. Success in a tight community makes everyone pull for each other. Him and the rest of the fan base has been unreal. This building is so loud. We were talking about in the offseason—which is hopefully a few weeks from now after winning the Stanley Cup—maybe we can link up and golf somewhere.

#LEGEND #matthew tkachuk #txt

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livelovecaliforniadreams · 1 month

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Jenna For anyone who doesn't know, Doctor J won three NBA championships, four Most Valuable Player awards, and three scoring titles with the Virginia Squires, New York Nets, who are now the Brooklyn Nets, and the Philadelphia 76 ers. Basketball legend on our show.

Angela When you watch this episode, if you think, gosh, the character Jim is so giddy around doctor J. That is just John Krasinski. He was giddy. He was so tickled to be in those scenes.

Jenna Well, Angela, I remember that. So I reached out to John.

Angela Oh yeah, what did he say?

Jenna And I was like, John, do you have anything to say about working with Doctor J? And here's what he said. He said, I mean, it was Doctor J. Had a poster of him on my wall as a kid. If you had told that kid that he would one day not only meet Doctor J, but pretend to have a fake business meeting with him on a television show?

Angela And get to shoot a basket with him!

Jenna Well, that poor kid just blacked out. Yeah, he was so excited. It was so cute. I don't think he had to act at all in those scenes.

Angela Not for a second.

#the office ladies #jim x pam #jim and pam #jim halpert #pam beesly #john krasinski #jenna fischer #love #the office #the office edit #the office edits #theoffice #theofficeedits

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demifiendrsa · 2 years

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National Basketball Association Legend Bill Russell has passed away at age 88.

He’s best known for playing center for the Boston Celtics from 1956 to 1969. Some of his achievements include 11x NBA champion, 5x NBA MVP, 12x NBA All-Star, 2x NCAA champion, and a Olympic Gold Medalist. He also served as a player-coach for the Celtics from 1966 to 1969, becoming the first black coach in North American professional sports and the first to win a championship. He was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1975, and the NBA’s Finals MVP trophy was renamed the Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award to honor him in 2009.

#Bill Russell #Celtics #Boston Celtics #NBA #Sports #basketball #obituary #R.I.P.

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mjordan-nba-nhl · 1 year

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TOP 10 NBA PLAYERS WITH THE MOST HOLDERS OF "NBA MOST VALUABLE PLAYER" OF NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - 6x NBA Most Valuable Player (1971, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1980)

Bill Russell - 5x NBA Most Valuable Player (1958, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1965)

Michael Jordan - 5x NBA Most Valuable Player (1988, 1991, 1992, 1996, 1998)

Wilt Chamberlain - 4x NBA Most Valuable Player (1960, 1966, 1967, 1968)

LeBron James - 4x NBA Most Valuable Player (2009, 2010, 2012, 2013)

Moses Malone - 3x NBA Most Valuable Player (1979, 1982, 1983)

Larry Bird - 3x NBA Most Valuable Player (1984, 1985, 1986)

Magic Johnson - 3x NBA Most Valuable Player (1987, 1989, 1990)

Bob Pettit - 2x NBA Most Valuable Player (1956, 1959)

Karl Malone - 2x NBA Most Valuable Player (1997, 1999)

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hopetorun · 4 months

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Weird writer ask game - 🐺💣👑🔔🏛️

🐺 Build a NHL starting line up (3F, 2D, 1G) based on a really weird criteria for comedic effect (e.g. guys with names that sound like Dylan).

please be glad i didn't choose a starting lineup of guys with names that could or do lead to sex-related nicknames. anyway here's guys with two first names.

nick paul - robert thomas - jack quinn

matt roy - dennis gilbert

devon levi

💣 Blow it up: pick one NHL team. Change its name, mascot, logo/colors. Tell me why you chose the new elements.

okay chicago is the obvious choice here but i don't feel like being obvious. the chicago nhl team should rebrand in real life. actually they should probably be folded in real life. but that's not a fun meme answer. my second thought was the flames, because they didn't rebrand when they relocated and now have a team name that has nothing to do with their location, but it's been decades and has led to local and affiliated spinoff names (the heat, the inferno, rip to them both).

all this to say: im rebranding the jets. i don't like the military so they get a new theme. i think they could really lean into the north thing, since they do it in a lot of their marketing anyway. i know fuckall about winnipeg but idc. i think a cool tundra animal would be the move here. it's a bummer the moose are already their ahl team or obviously i'd pick that but maybe the grizzlies. yes that's already an nba team but it's fine, the jets are also an nfl team so it's a wash. mascot is a grizzly bear obviously. named northy or something to lean into the far north of it all. they can call the arena the den.

colorswise ... ooh the jets colors suck. imho. they're way too muted! brighten up that maroon, maybe go all the way into purple. a kind of reddish purple maybe, and then brighten up the blue. yellow as an accent? i am NOT a color theory gal, we're hoping this is something. please do not tell me if it isn't

👑 If you could add an award to the NHL awards, what would it be and who would be its inaugural recipient?

there are lots of good and serious awards that should be added but EYE think that we should add another really arbitrary poorly defined one like the lady byng. what does it mean to be gentlemanly? we won't be defining that.

so in that vein: i think there should be a reverse lady byng. a grittiness award. a sandpaper award. i think the arguments about it would be really funny. brady tkachuk is a strong contender, sure, but maybe he takes too many penalties. sandpaper, yes, but is he leaving his team shorthanded too much? can you be gritty without getting penalized? who's a good example of that? i am simply here for the endless trivial discourse. anyway i think brady is the inaugural recipient despite the objections. i am taking name suggestions for this award.

🔔 Who is an NHL player you are convinced you can best in a physical altercation?

i think i could take johnny gaudreau. i'm taller than him and i weigh more than him and he gives me more would not hit a girl vibes than some of the other little guys. and i do think i would need the edge of him being reluctant to hit a girl because they are all extremely fit.

🏛️ Here, have a soap box. What is one thing you feel really strongly about that you think everyone should know?

ooh i've got awards on the mind so! i think people should be more thoughtful about the distinctions between most valuable player and most outstanding player! if you don't have both awards then sure i can understand the conflation but the nhl does have separate awards for those things and i think letting them be meaningfully different would be a lot of fun. give the ted lindsay to cmcd every year except for like once every four years when auston matthews or nikita kucherov gets it, but an actual debate every year about which player was the biggest individual difference maker on their team would be compelling. setting my own biases about last season's awards aside, i think that opens the door for more acknowledgement of season-changing goaltending performances (shesterkin in 21-22 perhaps). the hart and the lindsay don't need to be so closely tied! let them be different things!

oh also while we're on the topic it is beyond stupid that it's basically impossible to win the hart unless your team makes the playoffs. "oh the team didn't make the playoffs how valuable can that player really be" idk chucklehead, there are math people who can approximate a player's value in standings points, probably. do i trust their math? not entirely. but i trust it enough to know that argument is bunkum.

#sorry for having real sports thoughts on my sports fanfiction blog #my toxic trait is i actually have real sports opinions that i feel serious about #ask meme

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ballwzrd · 2 years

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Giannis Antetokounmpo vs Bulls GM1 (W):

27 points

16 rebounds

3 assists

2 blocks

53 FG%

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noelandrew24 · 6 months

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My best NBA player 🏀

"STEPHEN CURRY

Born in 1988 in Ohio to an NBA player father and educator mother, Curry grew up in North Carolina where dad Dell played with the Charlotte Hornets. Curry, a seven-time NBA All-Star, two-time NBA Most Valuable Player, and three-time NBA champion, began his career in college with Davidson College in North Carolina.

Curry with warriors since 2009

No.30-Golden state warriors

Position: point guard/shooting guard

born March 14, 1988, (age 35)

Nationality: American

Height: 1.88 m

Spouse: Ayesha Curry (m. 2011)

Parents: Dell Curry, Sonya Curry

Siblings: Seth Curry, Sydel Curry

College: Davidson (2006–2009)

#1st blog #emtech

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ball-is-life-2006 · 6 months

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My Best NBA Player🔥💯

"Luka Magic" 🔮✨

Luka Dončić born February 28, 1999) is a Slovenian professional basketball player for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He also plays for the Slovenia national team and is regarded as one of the greatest European players of all time.

Dončić with the Dallas Mavericks in 2021

No. 77 – Dallas Mavericks

Position:Point guard / shooting

League:NBA

Born:February 28, 1999 (age 24)

Country: Slovenia

Listed height6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)

Luka Dončić🔥

Dončić shone as a youth player for Union Olimpija before joining the youth academy of Real Madrid. In 2015 he made his debut for the academy's senior team at age 16, becoming the youngest in club history. He led Madrid to the 2018 EuroLeague title, winning the EuroLeague MVP and the Final Four MVP. Dončić was named the ACB Most Valuable Player and won back-to-back EuroLeague Rising Star and ACB Best Young Player awards. In addition, he was selected to the EuroLeague 2010–20 All-Decade Team.

In 2018, Dončić declared for the NBA draft, where he was drafted by the Atlanta Hawks and then traded to the Dallas Mavericks.[note 1] He was selected unanimously to the NBA All-Rookie First Team and won Rookie of the Year for the 2018–19 season. In his next four seasons, he was selected to the NBA All-Star game and named to the All-NBA First Team. He is the Mavericks' franchise leader in career triple-doubles.

Dončić made his senior debut for Slovenia in 2016 at only 17 years of age. He would later help his country win its first EuroBasket title in 2017 while also being named to the All-Tournament team.

#1st Blog #EMTECH

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beardedmrbean · 2 years

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Nike, the NBA, and star player LeBron James have remained silent on China's increasing hostility toward the LGBTQ community, most recently when one of the country's most prestigious universities cracked down on students displaying LGBTQ flags.

Fox News reached out to Nike, the NBA and Upland Workshop – an advisory company founded and led by James’ spokesman and advisor Adam Mendelsohn - for comment on the crackdown but did not receive a response.

The silence comes after two students at China's Tsinghua University were reprimanded for distributing LGBTQ rainbow flags, according to a report in Bloomberg. The students were given official warnings and were prohibited from receiving scholarships and awards for six months, with the school warning that further violations could result in the students facing more serious penalties such as losing eligibility for civil service and state-owned-enterprise jobs.

News of the punishment for the students went viral on Chinese social media, but the posts were quickly deleted on China's tightly-controlled internet. The incident was just the latest in China's apparent crackdown on the gay community in the country, with Chinese President Xi Jinping pushing for a more conservative approach to gender and sexual identity.

ENES KANTER EXCORIATES THE NBA, NIKE FOR NOT STANDING UP TO 'BIG BOSS' CHINA: 'BIGGEST HYPOCRITE COMPANIES'

"This incident is the latest example of university authorities increasingly constraining space for LGBT advocacy and expression – even when it is mild and lowkey," Darius Longarino, a senior fellow at Yale Law School’s Paul Tsai China Center, told Bloomberg.

James and the NBA have been vocal on a host of political and social issues in recent years, but have mostly turned a blind eye to Communist China's behavior on gender, sexual identity, and human rights abuses. Critics have largely panned the NBA and Nike in recent years over their ties to China, with the country representing a large new market audience for the professional basketball league and source of cheap labor for the shoe giant.

Former Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey, who currently works as the president of basketball operations of the Philadelphia 76ers, sparked controversy in 2019 when he took to Twitter to defend protesters in Hong Kong, encouraging followers to "fight for freedom" and "stand with Hong Kong" during China's crackdown in the independent administrative region.

The tweet, which was quickly deleted, created backlash in China and caused the NBA to lose valuable sponsorship dollars, even drawing a rebuke from James at the time.

"We all talk about this freedom of speech, yes, we all do have freedom of speech. But at times, there are ramifications for the negative that can happen when you’re not thinking about others and you’re only thinking about yourself," James said at the time. "I don’t want to get into a word or sentence feud with... with Daryl Morey. But I believe he wasn’t educated on the situation at hand and he spoke."

#nunyas news #not a shock they've said nothing #if the public outcry isn't there #they're not going to risk their paycheques #over it at all

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