SAN ANTONIO SPURS ARE YOUR NBA CHAMPIONS…DETHRONE THE MIAMI HEAT!
Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker, the winningest trio in NBA postseason history, shared hugs.
Players wrapped themselves in flags from around world, a reminder that the San Antonio Spurs look far beyond the border to build champions, as confetti fell from above.
Painfully denied 12 months ago by the Miami Heat, this victory party was worth the wait.
"It makes last year OK," Duncan said.
The Spurs finished off a dominant run to their fifth NBA championship Sunday night, ending the Heat's two-year title reign with a 104-87 victory that wrapped up the series in five games.
"We had a great first quarter, but from that point on they were the better team, and that's why they're the champions in 2014," said LeBron James, who led the Heat with 31 points and 10 rebounds.
San Antonio erased an early 16-point deficit and routed Miami for the fourth time in the series, denying the Heat's quest for a third straight championship. A year after the Spurs suffered their only loss in six finals appearances -- a heartbreaking seven-game defeat -- they turned the rematch into no match at all.
"We wanted to redeem ourselves. I'm just glad we were able to do that," Parker said.
Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard had 22 points and 10 rebounds for the Spurs, who added this title to the ones they won in 1999, 2003, '05 and '07. They nearly had another last year, but couldn't hold off the Heat.
"I've said many times, a day didn't go by where I didn't think about Game 6," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said of the turning point in last year's finals. "So I think, just in general, for the group to have the fortitude that they showed to get back to this spot, I think speaks volumes about how they're constituted and what kind of fiber they have."
Not to mention tons of talent, and perhaps the best coaching in the game.
"They played exquisite basketball this series and in particular these last three games and they are the better team. There's no other way to say it," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.
How did the Spurs beat the Heat to win the title? Well, they shot the lights out. Since the advent of the shot clock, no team has had a higher Finals FG percentage. The Spurs won four titles in nine years, but hadn't been back on top since 2007, making Foreigner's "Feels Like the First Time" an appropriate song choice after the final buzzer.
Duncan and Popovich have been here for all of them, and it was the fourth for Parker and Ginobili, who along with Duncan are once again the reigning Big Three in the NBA.
Chris Bosh finished with 13 points and Dwyane Wade just 11 on 4-of-12 shooting for the Heat.
The painful conclusion to last year's NBA Finals served as the fuel for this one, powering the Spurs to a league-best 62-win season and a rematch with Miami -- the first in the finals since Chicago beat Utah in 1997-98.
Round 2 went to the Spurs, but both teams have challenges to navigate if there is to be a rubber match.
San Antonio will face questions -- as it has for years -- about the age of its core, and whether Duncan, Ginobili and Popovich want to stick around. The Heat will brace for the potential free agency of James, Wade and Bosh, and will need younger, fresher pieces around the three All-Stars if they all stay.
Playing a methodical, albeit winning, style for many years made San Antonio respected, but never beloved. The Spurs were TV ratings killers, casual viewers finding them not much fun to watch.
But Popovich opened up the offense a few years ago, making the Spurs an easy-to-like, tough-to-beat group that thrives on ball movement and 3-point shooting.
"You showed the world how beautiful this game is," Commissioner Adam Silver told the Spurs during the postgame award ceremony.
A decade and a half after winning their first title in 1999, when Duncan was in his second season, the Spurs remain the NBA's model organization, a small-market team that simply wins big and hardly ever does it with a high draft pick. Instead, they found players overseas or in other organizations who would fit the Spurs' way of doing things and mesh with the Duncan, Parker and Ginobili, who have teamed for 117 postseason victories.
That included Leonard, acquired in a draft-night trade with Indiana after playing at San Diego State, and Patty Mills, an Australian national who scored 17 points off the bench.
In the end, the Spurs made winning their fifth title look stunningly easy -- much to the delight of the home crowd. After the slow start, they had their fans standing, chanting and dancing much of the second half.
WATCH:
Congrats to San Antonio…Meanwhile over on Instagram the sh*ts and giggles already got started!
LOL!!
Radio Legend Casey Kasem, King Of The Top 40 Countdown, Dead At 82!
Casey Kasem, the internationally famous radio broadcaster with the cheerful manner and gentle voice who became the king of the top 40 countdown with a syndicated show that ran for decades, died Sunday. He was 82.
Danny Deraney, publicist for Kasem's daughter, Kerri, says Kasem died Sunday morning. A statement issued by the family says he died at 3:23 a.m. surrounded by family and friends.
Kasem's "American Top 40" began on July 4, 1970, in Los Angeles. The No. 1 song on his list then was "Mama Told Me Not to Come," by Three Dog Night.
The show continued in varying forms - and for varying syndicators - until his retirement in 2009. In his signoff, he would tell viewers: "And don't forget: keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars."
In recent years, Kasem was trapped in a feud between his three adult children and his second wife, former actress Jean Kasem. In 2013, his children filed a legal petition to gain control of his health care, alleging that Kasem was suffering from advanced Parkinson's disease and that his wife was isolating him from friends and family members. Kasem also suffered from Lewy Body Disease, a form of dementia.
A judge in May temporarily stripped his wife of her caretaker role after she moved him from a medical facility in Los Angeles to a friend's home in Washington state. Jean Kasem said she moved her husband to protect his privacy and to consult with doctors. Casey Kasem developed a severe bedsore while in Washington and was in critical condition by the time he was hospitalized in early June.
It was a sad, startling end for a man whose voice had entertained and informed music lovers worldwide.
Kasem's "American Top 40" began on July 4, 1970, in Los Angeles, when the No. 1 song was Three Dog Night's cover of Randy Newman's "Mama Told Me Not to Come." The show expanded to hundreds of stations, including Armed Forces Radio, and continued in varying forms - and for varying syndicators - into the 21st century. He stepped down from "American Top 40" in 2004 and retired altogether in 2009, completing his musical journey with Shinedown's "Second Chance."
While many DJs convulsed their listeners with stunts and "morning zoo" snarkiness, Kasem would read "long distance dedications" of songs sent in by readers and introduce countdown records with sympathetic background anecdotes about the singers.
"The idea from the beginning was to do the type of thing on radio that Ed Sullivan did on television, good, honest stories with human interest," he told the Los Angeles Times in 1975.
Succeeding him at the main "American Top 40" show in 2004 was multiplatform star Ryan Seacrest, who has said he had been a fan of Kasem since boyhood and would imitate him in pretend countdown broadcasts at age 9.
Kasem's legacy reached well beyond music. His voice was heard in TV cartoons such as "Scooby-Doo" (he was Shaggy) and in numerous commercials.
"They are going to be playing Shaggy and Scooby-Doo for eons and eons," Kasem told The New York Times in 2004. "And they're going to forget Casey Kasem - unless they happen to step on his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. I'll be one of those guys people say `Who's that?' about. And someone else will say, `He's just some guy who used to be on the radio.'"
The son of Lebanese immigrants, Kasem was active in speaking out for greater understanding of Arab-Americans - both on political issues involving the Mideast and on arts and media issues.
"Arab-Americans are coming out of the closet," Kasem told The Associated Press in 1990. "They are more outspoken now than ever before. People are beginning to realize who they really are, that they are not the people who yell and scream on their nightly newscast."
Kasem was born Kemal Amin Kasem in 1932 in Detroit. He began his broadcasting career in the radio club at Detroit's Northwestern High School and was soon a disc jockey on WJBK radio in Detroit, initially calling himself Kemal Kasem.
In a 1997 visit with high school students in Dearborn, Michigan, home to a large Arab-American community, he was asked why he changed his name to Casey.
"It didn't sound like a deejay; it wasn't hip. So we decided I'd be `Casey at the Mike' - and I have been since," Kasem said.
In the 1975 Los Angeles Times interview, he said he had been doing "a regular screaming DJ show" in San Francisco in the early 1960s when his boss suggested he talk about the records instead.
He was unconvinced, since his screaming routine had brought him top ratings. But he said he had learned "after a particularly unpleasant situation in Buffalo never to argue with general managers."
JUST MARRIED: Eve & Maximillion Cooper WED In Ibiza!
Saturday in Ibiza, E-V-E got hitched to her man of four years, officially becoming Mrs. Maximillion Cooper. And stepmom to his two children (one pictured above).
The couple exchanged vows in a sunset beach wedding at 8p.m. (local time) in front of guests who were asked to dress in elegant beach attire.
The wedding was a culmination of a series of events spanning four days. According to Us Weekly:
On Wednesday, family and friends gathered for a fun night out at Pacha club.
The next day, they got the chance to catch a tan poolside while artists and DJs performed live for them at Destino.
On Friday, the couple hosted a champagne reception at their villa, and dined at LIO restaurant overlooking yachts and the Old Town.
And Saturday was the big day where Eve, who looked stunning, became a married woman, just six months after getting engaged. Check out more pics of Eve walking down the aisle in her gorgeous embroidered Alice Temperley gown, being escorted by her mother, Julia Wilch-Jeffers, and leaving the hotel in a classic ride:
Eve's new husband told E! News after the wedding, "I'm so happy to make Eve my wife. The whole experience has been amazing and we are both so happy to have tied the knot."
Eve said after the wedding, "We met on the 2010 Gumball 3000 rally, so it only seemed right to have the wedding at the finish of this year's rally in Ibiza, which was the final stop on this year's event. We couldn't be happier to celebrate such a special day with all our family and friends."
The raptress also celebrated her bachelorette party in April with a group of girlfriends, including Mashonda.
And just a little while before the big wedding, Maximillion held his annual Gumball 3000 race. This year, the drivers and their luxury cars started in Miami & Atlanta and ended in Ibiza.
The couple snapped one of their first pics together as a married couple (above), and it was posted by their good friend rapper Bun B.
Congrats!
The IRS Goes After DEADBEAT ‘Stevie J’ for Child Support
Love & Hip Hop Atlanta star Stevie J has the IRS coming for him!
According to TMZ.com :
New York state has seen enough of “Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta” star Stevie J’s deadbeat ways … and may now snatch his property from him and sell it to pay off the $1.2 million in back child support he owes.
TMZ has obtained documents issued by the state informing Stevie it now has the power to seize any property he owns. Interestingly, the state sent Stevie 4 separate notifications between 2011 and 2013 … all of which he apparently ignored.
Stevie was arrested Monday at his home in Georgia for failing to pay the support.
This guy’s also an alleged deadbeat with the IRS — we’ve learned there are FOUR income tax liens against him totaling $371,000.
Oprah Reunites Cast Of A Different World
The enamored talk show host brought the cast of the 1989 hit show into her studio for a very special edition of her Oprah: Where Are They Now? series, according to research done by TheGrio. The gang was all there which included Kadeem Hardison, Jasmine Guy, Sinbad, Dawnn Lewis, Cree Summer and Debbie Allen, who was an executive producer on the show.
“Thank you Oprah Winfrey for bringing us together!,” Allen posted on her Facebook. “Reunited and it feels so good!!!!! #ADifferentWorld.”
Created in 1987, the show began as a spin-off of The Cosby Show as it chronicled Lisa Bonet’s character Denise Huxtable through her transition to fictional historically black college Hillman College. After she left the show in the first season, it introduced a new wave of characters that tackled several socioeconomic issues such as HIV, racism and pregnancy.
Arrest warrant issued for Gary Dourdan
A judge has issued an arrest warrant for actor Gary Dourdan after he failed to attend a progress hearing.
The former CSI: Crime Scene Investigation star struck a plea deal with prosecutors in 2012 following claims he had broken an ex-girlfriend’s nose during a fight the previous year.
He was due to attend court earlier this week to update a judge on his progress, but he was a no-show, according to TMZ.com.
The judge reportedly issued a bench warrant for Dourdan’s arrest and revoked his probation. He had been handed five years’ probation as part of his deal, as well as being ordered to complete domestic violence and drug counseling.
BONNAROO 2014: Janelle Monae Lets Down Her Curls + Kanye's Masked Headlining Performance
Janelle Monae let down her curls after her big performance at the Bonnaroo Arts & Music Festival over the weekend. Janelle Monae's curly 'do at Bonnaroo Festival in Manchester, Tennessee was fab and she rocked a rare 'do topped off with a cute hat and a moto-chic look:
Cute!
But beforehand when she took the stage, the Electric Lady was her usual self with her hair in her signature poof and her black & white uniform
FABNESS
And the headliner for the night was Kanye West. He had the new Mrs. West right by his side carrying a glass of winefor both him and her after his juiced up performance in front of 100,000 fans.
'Ye rocked a studded mask throughout his performance, just 1 day after his second honeymoon in Mexico. Reportedly the twosome made a quick stop in L.A. to pick up their baby girl along the way.
Dude is never boring, we can say that.
BUT THIS JUST IN ABOUT KANYE AT BONNAROO
Kanye West Booed at Bonnaroo
Two years ago Kanye West got banned from the Bonnaroo music festival for running two hours late then blasting the organizers for being incompetent
Yeezy's return to Bonnaroo Sunday night was not so triumphant…According to The Toronto Sun
After West took to the stage, he was met by rousing applause and just as deafening boos that lasted the entire show.
According to tweets from people at the festival, the boos only intensified when West stopped to deliver a ten minute rant about the importance of hard work, believing in yourself, and well, just being Kanye West.
Well see for yourself:
WATCH:
LOL! Mr Kardashian!
Tamar Braxton Goes Off on Her Sisters?
Insiders say Tamar Braxton has had it up to here with her sisters antics…
Apparently Trina, Towanda, and Traci Braxton thought it would be funny to bum rush the stage and hold a twerk-off right in the the middle of Tamar's concert in Atlanta.
Tamar was not amused.
Sources tell Funky Dineva Tamar kept her cool onstage but backstage was another story.
According to Dineva Tamar cussed her sisters out something fierce and even hurled a water bottle at sister Traci's head!
Drake Kicks It With Slim Thug, Big Sean, Wiz Khalifa, YG & More During Houston Appreciation Weekend
Drake hit up what he calls his second home, Houston,TX, for his first annual Houston Appreciation Weekend. After making an appearance at the Astros vs. Diamondbacks game on Thursday, where he received an official proclamation that declared June 10th “Drake Day” in the city of Houston, he hit Warehouse Live for a concert.
While in town for the event, The Canadian MC caught up with H-Town rappers Slim Thug, Z-Ro, and Lil KeKe, to name a few. Big Sean, Wiz Khalifa, YG, and Jas Prince were also spotted on the scene. Some of the rappers also hit the stage with Drake at Warehouse Live. Missing was Bun B, who was in Ibiza officiating Eve and Maximillion Cooper‘s wedding.
22 'Jump Street' Sequel Scores, conquers Box Office , Dragon comes in Second!
As expected, highly-anticipated sequels 22 Jump Street and How to Train Your Dragon 2 took the top two spots at the box office this weekend. It came as quite the surprise, though, that the R-rated comedy easily took first place ahead of the DreamWorks Animation movie.
Playing at 3,306 locations, 22 Jump Street opened to a fantastic $60 million this weekend. That's the second-biggest opening ever for an R-rated comedy behind The Hangover Part II, and ahead of hits like Neighbors and Ted. It's also up a whopping 65 percent from 21 Jump Street's $36 million debut in March 2012.
22 Jump Street's strong start is likely due to a combination of goodwill from the first movie and a strong marketing campaign this time around. 21 Jump Street came out just over two years ago—the ideal wait time between a movie and its sequel—and had a strong run thanks in part to good word-of-mouth. That movie promised that stars Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum would be heading to college next, and marketing for the latest entry suggested it was going to deliver on that promise. It also helped that the movie received a strong promotional push from Hill and Tatum, who have each seen their stars rise in recent years.
22 Jump Street's audience skewed younger (56 percent under the age of 25) and was split evenly between men and women. As usual with younger-skewing movies, 22 Jump Street was very front-loaded through the weekend: around 42 percent of its earnings came on Friday.
Even still, the movie's solid reviews (83 percent on Rotten Tomatoes) and word-of-mouth ("A-" CinemaScore) suggest it will hold up decently in the coming weeks. Ultimately, 22 Jump Street will earn over $150 million without breaking a sweat, and could even come close to $200 million.
This is the fourth movie so far from directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller. All four movies opened in first place with over $30 million. The first three closed with over $120 million, and this is guaranteed to join that club as well. Even more impressive is that 22 Jump Street is the second $60 million opener of the year for Lord/Miller after February's The LEGO Movie.
In second place, DreamWorks Animation's How to Train Your Dragon 2 opened to an estimated $50 million. That's an improvement over the first movie's $43.7 million, though it's far from the type of gain expected given the fact that the first Dragon is only of the most beloved animated movies of the past decade. It's also the first June animated release to fall short of $60 million since Ratatouille opened to $47 million back in 2007.
There are likely a few reasons behind Dragon's lackluster debut. First, the movie's marketing positioned it as a dramatic action/adventure, while only hinting at the movie's humor. Historically, the most successful animated movies put laughs first and story second. This calls to mind action-heavy DreamWorks Animation sequel Kung Fu Panda 2, which was unable to leverage goodwill from the first movie in to any kind of sequel bump (it ultimately earned much less than its predecessor).
Another factor is the four-year gap between movies. While audiences loved the first movie at the time, the excitement has surely died down a bit during the long wait. The brand did stay active during that time thanks to the DreamWorks' Dragons show, though that also may have reduced the must-see factor for the big-screen follow-up (if you're seeing these characters for free on TV, is the movie worth the ticket price?).
Dragon's audience was 53 percent female and 56 percent under the age of 25. They awarded it a strong "A" CinemaScore. The movie faces very little competition for the remainder of Summer, and will certainly hold up well in the long run. It's unlikely, though, that it comes anywhere close to matching its predecessor's $218 million.
AND FINALLY FROM THE CRAZY PEOPLE SHOPPING AT WALMART FILES
‘FEEL THE BREEZE’
Peek-a-crack, not as popular as it’s cousin Peek-a-boo but still very popular in small niche markets like a Walmart near you.
HAVE A GREAT WEEK AHEAD EVERYBODY!!!
EFREM
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