LeBron James always makes waves on social media whenever he speaks so it shouldn't be surprising that he had NBA fans in a tizzy last night while watching "The Last Dance." Throughout the episodes, Michael Jordan has spoken at length about Madison Square Garden and how it was his favorite arena to play in. Just like his idol, LeBron is a huge fan of MSG and always speaks highly of the arena whenever he gets to play there. In the past, his love of MSG has led to speculation that he might play for the New York Knicks one day.
Last night, LeBron added nothing but fuel to that fire as he complimented MSG saying there is nothing like it. Well, as you can imagine, Twitter did its thing and Knicks fans began to speculate about a potential LeBron signing in 2022. Of course, the vast majority of the reactions were people making fun of Knicks fans for being a bit too eager.
The Knicks haven't had very much to cheer about over the last decade so it makes sense that they would latch on to LeBron's words. With that being said, getting LeBron at the tail end of his career wouldn't exactly be a best-case scenario.
At least the Knicks are in contention for LaMelo Ball this year. That certainly makes things a bit better.
Spike Lee’s Madison Square Garden Debacle Goes Viral
Spike Lee had some trouble getting to his seat last night.
Spike Lee has been one of the most notorious New York Knicks fans in the entire world over the last few years and continues to be an ambassador for the team. Despite all of their issues over the past few years, Lee has remained loyal and can be seen sitting courtside at pretty well every single game. Unfortunately, last night caused some issues for Lee as it appeared as though he was denied entry to the arena. In fact, a clip of Lee being kicked out went viral last night which led some people to believe that he may have been banned by owner James Dolan.
In the end, it turned out that it was all just one big misunderstanding. Lee eventually got to his seat and Dolan spoke to him at halftime. As it turns out, reports are circulating that Lee tried to enter through an employee entrance and that's why he was thrown out.
Dolan has a track record of banning people from his arena. Charles Oakley was infamously barred from MSG a while back which led to a legal dispute which was recently settled. The Knicks are constantly receiving a stream of bad press and this Spike Lee situation could have been a real disaster.
Luckily, Lee got to witness his team beat the Houston Rockets in an absolute thriller.
Jadakiss Reflects On Offering 50 Cent $1Mil To Battle Rap: "An Easy Payday"
Fif didn’t take him up on his offer.
Battle rap may not be as prevalent in hip hop as it once was, but the art is alive and well. There aren’t many mainstream artists who step into a battle rap ring these days, but there are some who still have hopes of going toe-to-lyrical-toe with their opponents. Many moons ago, Jadakiss and 50 Cent were two rappers at odds and The Lox emcee even dropped a few bars targeting Fif. There was a point when Jadakiss offered to battle rap 50 Cent at Madison Square Garden with a winning pot of one million dollars, but the Power mogul respectfully declined.
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While they’ve reconciled their differences in recent years, Jadakiss told HipHopDX that he knows he would have taken home the top prize if the battle would have unfolded. “It’s just something I thought of,” Jadakiss said. “Battling is therapeutic for hip hop, but you can’t take it serious. I mean, you gotta take it serious because when you preparing your material for your opponent, when it affects your heart or when you let it get too personal, that’s when it’s gonna take away from your vigorous strike. So, you gotta have fun with it use ways to use it to your advantage.”
“I felt like that was a walk in the park for me,” he added about the potential face-to-face battle with him and 50 Cent. “An easy payday. You asking Floyd to fight somebody that had two fights. Not that same comparison saying Fif only had two fights, but lyrically I thought—especially in the zone that I was in at that time, it was like I hope one of these promoters or one of these fight guys call me and say, ‘Yo, we got the money. We need you to come do the weigh-in and sign.’ Gotta throw it out there.” Watch his clip below.
NBA’s Knicks & Grizzlies Brawl After Elfrid Payton Hard-Shoves Jae Crowder
Woo, boy.
Emotions were riding high at the Memphis Grizzlies versus New York Knicks game on Wednesday (January 26) evening. The two teams went head-to-head at Madison Square Garden and tensions were thick enough to boil over into an all-out brawl on the court. In the last minute of the game, Grizzlies' Jae Crowder was tucked in the corner for a three, but instead, he received a hard, purposeful shove by Knicks' Elfrid Payton.
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Crowder jumped up to defend himself, and before things could become any more physical between the two men, team members and staff jumped off both benches and ran towards the scene. Some were attempting to keep the two men away from each other, but in the scuffle, other fires were being lit between other team members.
The Grizzlies were able to best the Knicks 127 to 106, and it seems that some players took issue with Crowder attempting a three-pointer with such a strong lead and only seconds left in the game. It's not yet clear what disciplinary action will be taken, but it's obvious from the video that Payton was the aggressor.
"WITH ALL DUE RESPECT I ONLY PLAY ONE WAY AND THATS HARD TIL THE BUZZER SOUNDS," Crowder later tweeted to someone. "IM SORRY IF IT DISGUSTS YOU. I KNOW KNICKS ARE YOUR TEAM BUT U SHOULD TELL THEM TO PLAY HARDER AND LESS TALKING.! ??♂️" Check out the fight, along with Marcus Morris calling Crowder "soft" and "unprofessional" below.
J. Cole Daps Up LeBron James At Lakers Game, Fans React
You never know who you'll run into at MSG.
LeBron James is one of the biggest celebrities in the history of the NBA thanks to his contributions to the game and relevancy in pop culture. LeBron is known by pretty well everyone and his brand has been globalized. Whenever he plays in a big city, it's a big deal and now that he's in Los Angeles, his profile has been magnified immensely. Last night, LeBron and the Lakers were in New York to take on the Knicks at Madison Square Garden. MSG is filled with a plethora of celebrities on any given night. On Wednesday, it just so happened that J. Cole was in the building.
At one point in the first half, LeBron went over to J. Cole where the two dapped each other up before James went right back into the game. Sitting right next to Cole was Spike Lee who had a brief exchange with LeBron later in the match.
After the exchange, fans took to Twitter to talk about the pleasantries. J. Cole is one of the biggest stars in hip-hop and just like LeBron, his brand is global. Seeing the two of them come together in the middle of a game was significant for a lot of people, even if the exchange last just a few seconds.
Here's what people had to say.
Vanessa Hudgens Spotted At Lakers Game In NYC Amid Kyle Kuzma Rumors
Kuzma is winning off the court.
Just yesterday, we reported that Kyle Kuzma of the Los Angeles Lakers was spotted on a dinner date with Vanessa Hudgens. Hudgens has been to a few Lakers games recently and has even been creeping in Kuzma's IG comments. When it was revealed that the two finally went on a date, fans weren't very surprised as they pretty well saw it coming. The reactions were pretty polarizing as many congratulated Kuzma while others called for him to be traded.
Now, it seems as though Hudgens is showing even more support to Kuzma as she was spotted at the Lakers game last night. The match was played at Madison Square Garden and the Lakers won 100-92. In fact, Hudgens was spotted taking a few selfies throughout the course of the evening.
Kuzma is an entertaining player who has a ton of great scoring ability. This season has been a bit of a struggle for him and now, there are rumors that he could be traded. The Detroit Pistons are one of the teams being thrown around although it remains to be seen whether or not he's dealt.
For now, Kuzma is simply enjoying his time in Los Angeles. At this point, that's all he can really do.
LeBron James Surprises Teens In Harlem With Citi Bike Memberships
LeBron just loves being in NYC...
LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers are in New York City this week for a pair of matchups against the Knicks and Brooklyn Nets, which gave LeBron an opportunity to surprise some unsuspecting fans.
On Tuesday, the Lakers superstar paid a visit to the Harlem YMCA to announce that he Lyft have teamed up to give free Citi Bike memberships to local youths in the spring. LeBron shared the news with his twitter followers on Wednesday, and couldn't help but mention how much he loves NYC, especially playing at Madison Square Garden.
According to the New York Post, the 50 teens in attendance were gifted the first one-year memberships.
“I was a kid who grew up in the inner city back in Ohio riding bikes,” said James. “What bikes did for me — to be able to travel across the city with my friends to get from my home to school, or to get to basketball practices or football practices … it’s a segue to be able to do so many things that can also carry you for the rest of your life."
“Safety is always first, and for the city to understand that bike lanes is very important for the kids’ safety,” he added. “For adults that want to ride, too. So this is very important.”
LeBron enters tonight's matchup against the Knicks needing just 80 points to tie Kobe Bryant for third on the NBA's all-time scoring list. We've seen him post some monster numbers at MSG in the past - does he go off for 81 tonight?