Singer Gets Apology From Sixers For National Anthem Booting Incident

The Philadelphia 76ers apologized to a recording artist on Friday for a rushed decision to deny her from singing the US national anthem at their season opener this week. The team barred the singer from singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the last-minute because she was in a “We Matter” jersey.

Sevyn Streeter said the team told her that she could not take the court because of her shirt. She was informed only moments before she was slated to sing the national anthem. A 76ers’ dance team member went on to sing the anthem.

“We are sorry that this happened. After receiving feedback from our players, basketball operations staff and ownership group, we believe that the wrong decision was made, and Sevyn should have been welcomed to sing,” the Sixers said in a statement.

“We apologize to her, and in an effort to move the conversation forward, we have reached out to offer her an opportunity to return and perform at a game of her choice. We are waiting to hear back.”

The Sixers originally refused to say why Streeter did not perform on Wednesday. They only said that the team supports consequential actions to drive social change.

The team said in a separate statement that they use their games to bring people together, to strengthen communities and to build trust. Further, they will continue to leverage their platform to positively affect the community. They also said they will move from symbolic gestures to action.

Preceding this incident, a woman sang the national anthem while kneeling at center court. She wore a “Black Lives Matter” shirt beneath an opened shirt. This happened last week at the opening of a preseason game between the Sixers and host Miami Heat.

Protests during the national anthem have been a burning matter in recent months. This type of protest started when National Football League quarterback Colin Kaepernick decided to not stand for its playing.

Kaepernick has mentioned police brutality and racial injustice among the motives for his protest. Several athletes from varying sports have since followed his lead in different ways, including linking arms during the anthem.

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No Timetable On 76ers Come Back For NBA Top Pick Simmons

Kevin Durant loss to Spurs: “It’s a slap in the face. It woke us up a bit”

Kevin Durant recently joined the biggest story in NBA, the Golden State Warriors. Will the Warriors set another win after Durant joined the team? Will they recover after its loss against Cleveland Cavaliers?

All questions cannot be answered in one game, but the result of the first game in the NBA regular season last Tuesday at Oracle Arena proves that the Warriors remain a work in progress.

The visiting San Antonio Spurs dominated The Golden State Warriors with a score of 100-129. Spurs won their first game without Tim Duncan in season 20. It’s still early to predict the result of the season, but the loss of the Warriors shows they need to work more to reach the championships.

2014 MVP Kevin Durant led his new team, the Warriors 27 points (11-of-18 FG, 1-of-3 3FG, 5-of-6 FT) in 37 minutes. KD showed his dominance scoring anywhere in the court and coup up with Warrior’s infamous ball movement and spacing. Durant made 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, and blocks displaying his all-around skills.

Last season, the Warriors were in a hot mess, displaying poor defense especially with its last game with San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs encountered little resistance getting 20 offensive rebounds.

The new-look Spurs won with no resistance, even without its legendary player Tim Duncan. Paul Gasol was quiet with just 2 points and 4 rebounds in 18 minutes. The Spurs closed the first quarter with a huge double digit lead. They reached a 28 point lead early in the fourth quarter. The team kept Curry and Thompson on the bench for a late-game rest.

Warriors would sure hit the night’s headlines, but the Spurs definitely deserve lots of credits after its terrific win. Kawhi Leonard a top-level MVP candidate ended up with a career-high 25 points on 15-of-15 shooting from the line, 5 rebounds, 5 steals and 3 assists. LaMarcus Aldridge showed an amazing performance with 26 points and 14 rebounds.

San Antonio controlled the game any time the Golden State sat two members of their foursome star players.

Jonathan Simmons made an outstanding mark on Tuesday, finishing 6 shots with 20 points on 8-of-13 from the field. The one-time journeyman made the San Antonio roster in 2015 after the Las Vegas Summer League.

Head coach Steve Kerr did not take his first blowout loss too hard, “We weren’t energized to start the game. We took for granted that things would go well.”

Although Durrant and Curry scored 18 points in the first half, Thompson and Green had a rough start.

Blowout loss or not, the game had its thrilling moments especially with Durant’s first game with the Warriors.

The Golden State Warriors will have to prove themselves again this Friday against the New Orleans Pelicans. It’s hard to tell if Golden State’s fearsome foursome would lead the team to the championships, but surely they need to work more as a team.

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Barkley: Even with Durant, Warriors Still A Flawed Team

Charles Barkley didn’t want Kevin Durant to sign with the Golden State Warriors. Now that he’s there, he isn’t sure Durant changes things.

The Warriors are still a flawed team in Barkley’s mind.

“Can they rebound the ball? They’re going to still be shooting jumpers. They’re not going to get any low-post scoring. Can that type of play hold up through the rigors of the NBA playoffs? I’m still going to say the same thing I’ve always said: No.” Barkley said Tuesday.

Golden State won a record 73 games in the regular season. They blew a 3 – 1 lead, however, in the NBA Finals and lost to Cleveland. In the offseason, the Warriors signed Durant.

That move made the Warriors the favorites to reclaim the title they won in 2015. Barkley said Golden State was lucky then since their path was filled with teams impaired by injuries. Cleveland was already without Kevin Love in the Finals series and lost Kyrie Irving near the conclusion of Game 1.

The Cleveland Cavaliers were healthy last year, and Barkley picked them to defeat the Warriors.

During a lunch prior to TNT’s “Inside the NBA” studio team was elected to the Broadcasting Hall of Fame, Barkley said that the Warriors couldn’t play small ball and win a championship if every team they played was healthy. “I told you Cleveland was going to beat them and they did,” he added.

On Tuesday, Barkley and the team will host their show outside Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. The Cavaliers will receive their championship rings before facing New York in their season opener. In the nightcap of TNT’s doubleheader, the Warriors will play San Antonio.

Pissed at Durant

Barkley was upset that Durant left Oklahoma City for an easier chance at a title with the star-laden Warriors. Golden State already has two-time MVP Stephen Curry and fellow All-Stars Draymond Green and Klay Thompson.

Barkley said that if the Warriors win the title, it wouldn’t mean as much to Durant as it would have in Oklahoma. Durant had played in the city since the Thunder franchise moved from Seattle after his rookie season in 2008. Durant has been jeered in rival arenas since his decision. He has also infuriated some of his former fans with what seems to be disparagements of Russell Westbrook and his previous team.

“He made himself a villain by taking all these shots at Oklahoma City for no reason,” Barkley said. “He left, he’s happy, so shut up. When you’re taking shots at Russell and those guys, that’s not necessary

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Lebron James Criticizes Trump’s ‘Trash Talk’ While Brady Dodges Issue

Lebron James called Donald Trump’s crude remarks about women “trash talk” and refused to even mention the Republican nominee’s name. Meanwhile, Tom Brady walked out from a new conference when questioned about the candidate he has earlier supported.

Wednesday’s reactions from two of the biggest superstars in sports indicated how much the 2005 video Trump has set aside as “locker room talk” resonated through the sports domain. The two sportspersons add to a growing list of present and former professional athletes weighing in Trump’s offensive remarks. These obscene comments mention grasping women’s genitals and trying to sleep with married women besides his own wife.

James said the discussions he usually hears in the dug-out relate more with family, game strategy and other sports-related banter.

“What that guy was saying, I don’t know what that is. That’s trash talk,” he said.

In Massachusetts, Brady had no plans in jumping into the issue when asked towards the end of his weekly news conference about how he would react if his kids heard Trump’s kind of “locker room talk.”

The Patriots quarterback just smiled, then said, “Thank you guys, have a good day,” and left the room.

Last year, people saw Brady with one of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” hats in his locker. Brady and Trump have also played golf together and Trump has talked about the quarterback’s support on the campaign trail.

Meanwhile, in Houston, Texans linebacker Jadeveon Clowney said his teammates don’t talk as Trump depicted.

He said that he didn’t know where Trump got that. He added that he and his teammates keep it clean.

In a debate this week, Trump tried to downplay the comments as words only and apologized for his remarks in the video.

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Ex-Girlfriend Weeps in Testimony Versus Derrick Rose

The ex-girlfriend of Derrick Rose, who accused the NBA star and two of his friends of raping her struggled to keep her emotions in check on Tuesday as she tried to make sense of a night she hazily remembers.

The Knicks player watched with not much reaction as his lawyer cross-examined the woman. Her vague recall of the incident coupled with her testimony that conflicted with what she disclosed during her disposition left her exposed to Rose’s lawyer’s aggressive cross-examination.

After she visited Rose in his Beverly Hills mansion in August 2013, the woman said in a soft voice that she was intoxicated and felt like she had been drugged.

She paused in her testimony and wept silently at the witness stand. She then started to connect a night of drinking at the basketball star’s place with the questioned incident early the next morning at her apartment.

Rose and his friends Randall Hampton and Ryan Allen argued the woman willingly had sex with all three. The three men denied the charges in the lawsuit.

The woman testified that after meeting Rose at a Hollywood nightclub during the 2011 NBA lockout, she started dating him on and off for over 20 months – a relationship the defense has called “friends with benefit.”

Attorney Mark Baute, one of the defense lawyers, refuted her belief that they had a future together.

He established that until that night in August, she never attended any of his games and Rose had never been to her place.

After they broke up in early summer of 2013, she hadn’t been in contact with Rose until the morning of August 26. That day, she texted him a photo of herself and said he was her inspiration.

Rose invited her over that night and made suggestions to bring a friend along for a threesome.

Liquid courage

The woman said she began drinking vodka while waiting for a driver who was late to pick her up. She said she had some wine in the car and had 3 1/2 shots of tequila at Rose’s mansion.

She said she used to drink tequila with Rose and felt like it provided her strength.

The woman felt the opposite, though, and said she felt she was drugged, an implication that the defense denied.

She left Rose’s mansion after her friend had an argument with one of his friends. There was a vague memory of a cab driver helping her up to her apartment. She threw up and passed out on the bed afterwards.

The woman said that she remembered waking up and seeing the three men in her room. In one of her flashes, she said that she was trying to roll off the bed. Rose was undressed at the edge of her bed, pulling her toward him.

She said she was confused about what had happened as she woke up the following morning. She had lubricant around her legs and her black dress around her neck. The woman also saw a used condom on the bedroom floor.

According to her, she didn’t report the incident to the police. This was due to embarrassment and fear that her family would find out.

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