Toronto Raptors

Drake Clapped Back At The LA Clippers’ Shade After They Beat The Toronto Raptors: ‘Win A Ring’

by
Drake 2019 NBA Finals
Getty Image

While he may be a self-proclaimed certified lover boy, rap superstar Drake receives plenty of hate in the sports world. Whether he’s pissing off Barcelona soccer club fans or scarring Argentina soccer club fans after playing a bet on the team to win the world cup, it seems the Drake curse, at least in sports, is real.

After attending his hometown team, the Toronto Raptors game versus the Los Angeles Clippers, the curse streak continued. Following their loss at home, the opposing team took to social media to rub it in.

On Instagram, the basketball team shared a clip in which the “Jimmy Cooks” rapper cheerfully greeted the Clippers’ shooting guard Norman Powell and former Raptor-now-Clipper Kawhi Leonard. In the caption, the team wrote, “Kawhi and Norm with a fan.”

Despite being a fan of the pair, the sport, and even having his own recreational league, Drake didn’t take kindly to not being mentioned by name. After the post was uploaded, he quickly jumped into the comment section to write, “Win a ring,” referring to the franchise’s lack of championship wins. In contrast, the Raptors took home their first championship ring in 2019 — ironically, with Kawhi starting at small forward. He left for the Clippers the next season.

SOURCE SPORTS: Joel Embiid to Raptors’ Head Coach Nick Nurse During Game 2 76ers Win “Stop B***hng About Calls”

by
Joel Embiid to Raptors’ Head Coach Nick Nurse During Game 2 76ers Win “Stop B***hng About Calls”

Joel Embiid loves to talk trash while on the court, and it now appears coaches aren’t safe from his antics either. During the game two big win for Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers over the Toronto Raptors, Embiid had an in-game conversation with Raptors’ head coach Nick Nurse.

You couldn’t tell what during the game, but afterward, Embiid revealed what was said with Nurse’s back-and-forth.

“He’s a great coach obviously, what he has been able to accomplish,” said Embiid of Nurse. “I’ve always been a big fan. But I told him, respectfully told him to stop b—-ing about calls.”

Embiid finished the game with 31 points, with 12 coming from the free-throw line. He attempted 14 free throws for the game. It seems Nurse didn’t like the number of times Embiid went to the line in the game.

“If you’re going to triple-team somebody all game, they are bound to get to the free-throw line, or if you’re going to push them off and try to hold them and all that stuff, they’re bound and get to the free-throw line,” Embiid said. “So I feel like every foul was legit and probably should have been more, honestly.”

The Raptors head back to Toronto down 2-0 in their first-round matchup with the 76ers. Maybe Nurse’s complaining to Embiid and the refs way benefit the Raptors in game 3, have Embiid more motivated to keep the pressure on.

The post SOURCE SPORTS: Joel Embiid to Raptors’ Head Coach Nick Nurse During Game 2 76ers Win “Stop B***hng About Calls” appeared first on The Source.

Drake Is A Courtside Highlight At Toronto Raptors Basketball Games: ‘It Was Great To See His Fandom’

by
drake-toronto-raptors-nba-basketball-getty-full.jpg
Getty Image

Drake has always loved his hometown basketbal team, the Toronto Raptors. That love turned into a business relationship in 2013 when he was announced as the team’s Global Ambassador. Drake has since helped the team from behind the scenes by promoting them and serving as a host for some of their events, as well as providing consulting services to rebrand them. More times than not, you will catch Drake sitting courtside at their games, enthusiastically cheering the team on, even trash-talking opponents at times. So what’s it like to sit next to the Certified Lover Boy rapper at these games?

Toronto’s The Star recently spoke to some people who were fortunate enough to be next to Drake during games. “Sitting beside Drake was awesome. It was the biggest game of the season at that point, and he and K.D. [Kevin Durant] had something going most of the night,” NHL analyst Sam Cosentino said. “It was great to see his fandom and how passionate he is for the game, and especially for his home team.”

Raptors’ play-by-play announcer Matt Devlin also shared his thoughts. “He’s close with Steph (Curry). He’s close with (Kevin Durant),” he says. “There’s some fun back and forth going on during a game, and it’s cool to sit there and observe.”

This also brings us back to the hilarious moment in December when Drake sat next to an older couple who had no idea who he was. Jim and Renee Stanley, who are both in their 70s, shared what it was like to sit next to Drake. “When the game was starting after the half, a young man sat down next to us and really didn’t say anything at first,” Jim said. “My first reaction was — don’t get this wrong — he smelled good. I said to him, ‘I really like what you are wearing.’ He turned to me and said thanks and shook my hand.” The trio would end up taking a selfie together where Drake called them “my new parents.”

You can read the full piece on The Star here.

Fred VanVleet Was Congratulated By Drake Courtside After Being Named An All-Star

by
drake vanvleet
Getty Image

The NBA announced its reserves for the 2022 All-Star Game on Thursday evening and, while there is always talk of “snubs” and what went wrong with the selections, it is also a time for celebration. For Toronto Raptors guard Fred VanVleet, that was very much the case, as the 27-year-old earned his first selection, earning the nod after a stellar first half of the 2021-22 season. The Raptors were set to take the floor for a home game just as the All-Star picks came down, meaning he had to focus on the task at hand, but that didn’t stop Drake from congratulating VanVleet before tipoff.

Even with fans limited, or even non-existent, at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Drake has been present in support of the Raptors, and that continues here. The timing also worked quite well, as the game tipped off just moments after the official announcement, and VanVleet (due to alphabetical order) was the last player named by TNT.

In addition to the franchise’s most prominent fan showing love, the Raptors have unleashed a full-fledged campaign for VanVleet, all the way down to a “Freddie All-Star” moniker on the team’s local broadcast. VanVleet has clearly earned the All-Star nod with his play, though, averaging 21.5 points and 7.0 assists per game with impressive defense and three-point shooting (39.1 percent). It is always fun to see a first-time selection rewarded, and VanVleet received quite the congratulatory welcome here.

Drake’s Sourpuss Expression At A Raptors Game Generates His Latest Meme

by
"drake meme toronto raptors
Getty Image

For better or worse, Drake is a walking, talking meme — and he knows it, which means he often leans in, enjoying the chaos that results from his every facial expression or finicky habit. And because he’s such a huge hoops head, many of his finest moments are generated during NBA games while he’s supporting his precious Toronto Raptors or giving their rivals a friendly haranguing during games.

His latest is no exception. During last night’s game against the Miami Heat, Drake was caught by the TV broadcast’s cameras scrolling through his phone with a sourpuss expression on his face — which, of course, offered the perfect opportunity for speculation on what he was staring at that made him so grumpy. The timing — just a day after Rihanna announced her pregnancy with ASAP Rocky — was especially delicious for Twitter’s jokesters.

Drake notoriously had a huge crush on Rihanna and even dated her for a bit, but unfortunately for him, it seemed the burgeoning mogul preferred a “Rude Boy” after all. After dating Saudi billionaire Hassan Jameel for three years, Rihanna appears to have settled into a life of domestic bliss with “Fashion Killa” collaborator ASAP Rocky. The couple announced their baby blessing earlier this week with photos revealing Rihanna’s expanding bump, prompting many fans to tweet, “Someone check on Drake.”

In doing so, fans have found that the results are just about as funny as could be imagined — although plenty of the Drake jokes revolved around other potentially disappointing scenarios, as well. You can check out more Drake memes below.

Drake’s Return To The Raptors’ Arena Reminds Fans Of A ‘Key & Peele’ Sketch

by

It has been a while since any basketball has been played at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena — aka “Jurassic Park,” because “The Toronto Raptors,” naturally — so you’d be forgiven for forgetting that local rap hero Drake actually has a position with the team. Aside from being a courtside fixture and occasionally popping up in the broadcast booth, Drake is also a “Global Ambassador” for the team, which is ostensibly a marketing gig but seems to entail a lot of sideline trolling, such as a little trash talk with Montrezl Harris in last night’s season opener.

Drake’s return to Jurassic Park is also once again generating viral memes after a video of Drake greeting his fellow regulars at the arena posted by the Raptors Twitter and reposted by Sportscenter reminded fans of a classic sketch from Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele Comedy Central show, Key & Peele. If you haven’t already you can watch the sketch above. In it, Jordan Peele impersonates President Barack Obama, lightly satirizing Obama’s habit of “code-switching” on the fly — even at official State functions.

Fans immediately noticed that Drake took a similar tack (for what it’s worth, the parallels between Drake and Obama would make a fascinating feature, someone remind me to pitch that) with fellow fans at Scotiabank Arena, giving some daps and pounds while greeting others with polite handshakes. Some also noticed that the fan who received the handshake appeared to be SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk, wondering whether Drake wasn’t feeling the billionaire. Check out some of the responses below.

Drake Joined The Raptors Broadcast During A Preseason Game Against The Rockets

by
YouTube

The Toronto Raptors are back in the 6 after spending last season plying their trade in Florida. In response to restrictions put in place by Canada’s government during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Raptors were unable to play their home games in Scotiabank Arena last season, meaning it’s been a minute since the team’s most famous fan got to watch them in-person.

While we’re still on the long march towards the regular season, Drake made his triumphant return to watching the Raptors on Monday night during a preseason tilt against the Houston Rockets. At one point, because this is the preseason we are talking about here, Drake joined the team’s broadcasters while sitting courtside and having something to drink to talk about getting back into the arena.

The whole thing is a delight — it very much seems like Drake just showed up and they had a conversation like a bunch of old friends catching up with one another, Fred VanVleet throws his arms up when he realizes Drake is on the broadcast, just excellent television from top to bottom. This should absolutely happen more often, whether it’s Drake and the Raptors or any other superfan just showing up and radiating good vibes during a broadcast.

As for the game, Toronto beast Houston, 107-92.

Rodney Hood Learned On Saturday That His Childhood Neighbor Hayley Was Paramore’s Hayley Williams

by
Getty Image

The world of basketball and the world of music intersect pretty frequently for one reason or another. Our latest example of this came on Saturday afternoon thanks to new Toronto Raptor Rodney Hood, although it had nothing to do with him dropping a mixtape or deciding to produce an album or anything like that.

Back in June, a since-deleted post by our pal Marco Romo of Five Reasons Sports Network caught the attention of Paramore singer Hayley Williams. In it, Williams revealed that her childhood neighbor in Meridian, Mississippi, was named Rodney, helped teach her how to dance, and “may be an nba player now.”

Marco Romo/Twitter
Marco Romo/Twitter

Now, Hood is the only current NBA player from Meridian, and since the only other Rodney in the NBA is from Maryland (Rodney McGruder), we can probably make an assumption here. Anyway, some time passed, and then Hood got traded to the Raptors, where he was asked about this. Dime pal Blake Murphy of The Athletic, who I lovingly say is the NBA reporter most likely to remember that Williams tweet, brought it to Hood’s attention during his first meeting with the media up north.

Hood revealed two things: 1. He did not realize his neighbor grew up to be the lead singer of Paramore and, 2. He can’t dance.

This is now the best story in the NBA. Once bands can begin touring safely again, I sincerely hope Hood and Williams are reunited during a concert in Toronto.