During his mother’s four-year battle with lung cancer, Ricky Rubio spent a lot of time in hospitals. His feelings ran the gamut from uneasiness to anger to sadness.

The hospital waiting room became the place where, more often than not, Rubio received bad news. Tona Vives lost her battle with cancer in May 2016. She was 56.

Rubio is now doing what he can to help improve the overall experience for children battling cancer as they prepare for chemotherapy.

The Spanish guard brought the “I Am Ready” project to the United States this year. It is a virtual reality program that helps explain the treatment procedures and processes in hopes of reducing patient anxiety in children.

“Since I became a professional, I’ve always been involved with giving back to the community,” Rubio said. “Back when I was in Spain, especially around Christmas, we would visit hospitals and give gifts to kids. I always enjoyed that.

“When my mom got sick in 2012, it was a tough one. I always thought about opening a foundation when I retire, but then I realized how important it was to do it right away. During one of my last visits – actually here in the states, we had a conversation: She said ‘I feel good, but I feel guilty that we have all these resources that other people don’t have. The opportunities to get second opinions and all this stuff.’ I said mom don’t worry, I’m going to make sure I give back to the community and help people who are going through what we are going through and help them have opportunities like we did.”

It took about two years, but the “Ricky Rubio Foundation” was finally launched in 2018, focusing on patients battling lung cancer. The ‘I Am Ready‘ project is one of the legs of the foundation. It is another way that Rubio is giving back to kids.

“Imagine an adult going through that and knowing what’s going to happen and how scary it is,” Rubio said. “Put that 10 times on a kid. Kids don’t understand. They are supposed to be healthy and playing all the time. Put them in the hospital where they don’t know a lot of stuff and they see adults and just want to be with other kids. Put them with radiation and they feel sick, it’s not fun.

“I feel like everyone who wants to be involved can be. The doors are open. There was a kid back home in Spain who came with a project. We helped them and their families — this project really goes with what we’re doing. We aligned our resources and power to put all this together and we launched. We started getting big and I decided I wanted to bring this to the United States. I wanted to make an impact where I’m from and where I’m at.”

Rubio estimates the program started with 10 kids in Barcelona and has now helped over 300.

“It’s virtual VR in the hospital and the cartoon explains everything to the kids,” Rubio said. “It has me doing things like tying my shoes and getting ready for basketball. It has the doctors telling them how it’s going to be then we go into the treatment room to see the machines. I think it helps their brains for them to see how it’s going to be. The kids feel safer and more familiar with what’s going on.

“We want to make it for adults, too. We started with kids because they are more vulnerable. We are doing studies and seeing how it affects the kids and eventually, we want to show it can help anybody, not just the kids. We want to make it even bigger. This is the first step. We’re going in the right direction.”

Rubio has spoken at different cancer charity events. He has donated money to fund research. He is doing what he can to make families feel more comfortable in waiting areas. Instead of just chairs, he’s adding playrooms for kids at certain hospitals.

“When my mom was in the hospital, we were waiting and waiting,” Rubio said. “I’m creating an area where you can meditate, read books, clear your mind before whatever is going to happen. It helps not only the patient but the family that is there with the patient have a different approach to going to see the doctor.

“We are doing a charity game to raise money for a hospital in Barcelona as well. We are building a recovery gym where you do all kinds of treatment. We have a lot of projects to help hospitals become better.”

Rubio has dished out over 5,000 assists in his NBA career — and will continue to do so once he fully recovers from last season’s ACL tear — but through his foundation, he is providing his most impactful assists off the court.

“The foundation takes up a lot of my time,” Rubio said. “In the future, it is where I want to spend more of my time. I want to help with research, and innovation in the medicine aspect. We talk with doctors all around the world about different treatments. The dream is to work hard and find a cure for cancer.”

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While talking during the Abhi Dabi NBA games to the Greek NBA rights holder COSMOTE TV, Isiah Thomas dropped a bomb during his interview.

When asked about his old dispute with Michael Jordan and the way it was portrayed in the “Last Dance” documentary, Thomas didn’t hold back.

As he said: “When I was watching the “last dance”, I’m seating there and I’m watching it with my family and I’m thinking everything is good. And then this guy comes on television and he says that he hates me and then he calls me an asshole. And then I proceed to watch a whole documentary about him being an asshole. I’m like wait a minute, time out. Until I get a public apology, this beef is gonna go on for a long long time, cause I’m from the west side of Chicago”.

Thomas and the Pistons were beating regularly – and sometimes literally – the Chicago Bulls, not letting Jordan reach the NBA finals during the 80s. Of course, Chicago and Jordan finally managed to prevail, however, it’s no secret that there’s no love lost between the two sides.

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The Washington Wizards put on a convincing display against the Indiana Pacers, beating them 142-115 and sealing the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference.

Russell Westbrook paced the team’s efforts with 18 points, 15 assists and eight rebounds while Bradley Beal scored 25 points on 4-7 from deep.

“We were struggling and everybody was down on the outside and we had to figure out a way to knuckle up and make the playoffs,” Westbrook said about his playoff promise to the team. “Simple as that. I didn’t care what happened in the previous games. … We had to figure ourselves out, look at ourselves in the mirror, starting with myself. I made it clear to the guys that we’ll make it,” Westbrook said.

Rui Hachimura helped with 18 of his own while Daniel Gafford logged 15 points and 13 boards. For Indiana, Domantas Sabonis had 19 points, 11 rebounds, and ten assists while Malcolm Brogdon scored 24.

With this win, the Wizards are the final entry to the playoffs in the East and will match up against the Philadelphia 76ers.

The bracket is as follows:

(1) Philadelphia 76ers – Washington Wizards (8)
(4) New York Knicks – Atlanta Hawks (5)
(3) Milwaukee Bucks – Miami Heat (6)
(2) Brooklyn Nets – Boston Celtics (7)

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The year is 1992 and two-time NBA champion with the Detroit Pistons Isiah Thomas is left out of the Dream Team that would represent the USA in the Barcelona Summer Olympics. Many urban myths appointed this “exclusion” to Michael Jordan, former leader of Team USA, after the events in the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals, when Detroit walked off the court without congratulating the Chicago Bulls for winning the title.

Grudge or not, and even though Jordan debunked this legend in 2020’s “The Last Dance” (episode 5), stating that “it wasn’t him”, Thomas had already started cutting his ties from the NBA. In the meantime, his agent, George Andrews, was already exploring other options as Thomas finally reached the end of his NBA run in 1994 with an unfortunate Achilles tendon tear.

Andrews had strong links with European basketball. He was the one who introduced Roy Tarpley to Olympiacos in 1993, while he was representing 4-time NBA All-Star with the Dallas Mavericks Rolando Blackman in his Euro-run with AEK, Olimpia Milano, Limoges, as well as 9-time NBA All-Star Dominique Wilkins, who later on lifted the 1996 EuroLeague title with Panathinaikos. Needless to say, the possibility of a Thomas leap to European basketball grew stronger as his NBA career came to an end.

“He [Andrews] was very satisfied with Tarpley’s run with Olympiacos, his salary, this and that…”, explained former Greek Basket League Vice President Vassilis Dimarelos, who was included in the talks between Olympiacos and Thomas’ agent, in a recent interview with Greek CosmoteSport.

In today’s numbers, such a move seems unthinkable, though we should consider the fact that back in the day, the top NBA contracts were still comparable to lucrative European deals. There were talks, though a deal was never reached, as Thomas decided to call it a day, to pursue coaching duties in the turn of the century.

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DeMarcus Cousins is sought by police after a warrant for misdemeanor domestic violence charge was issued for his arrest, USA Today reports. The warrant was issued after Cousins’ ex-girlfriend filed a report alleging that the player threatened to kill her and had previously choked her.

A police spokesperson and Cousins’ ex-girlfriend confirmed the issuing of the warrant to USA Today.

Cousins allegedly told his ex-girlfriend Christy West that he would put a” bullet (her) f—ing head” after she declined his request to let their 7-year-old son attend the player’s wedding on August 24. West is seeking a restraining order against Cousins.

A defense attorney told USA Today that a person sought on for misdemeanor domestic violence is subject to arrest in the state of Alabama and that Cousins will likely be advised by his lawyer to turn himself in.

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Kristaps Porzingis is not the only Euro-hope of the Knicks any more. Boston beat New York 119-107 with Swedish Jonas Jerebko adding two points and two assists for the winners, however two rookies and a veteran from the old continent provided good news for the losing side.

Lithuanian Mindaugas Kuzminskas scored 18 points, Willy Hernangomez had a double double (12 p., 12 r.), French center Joakim Noah made his debut with 5 points and Latvia’s pride Kristaps Porzingis added 9 points and 3 rebounds in 15 minutes of action.

Here’s the result of the rest of last night’s game and also the Euro-scorers.

LA Lakers – Golden State 107-112 (Deng 4 p., Mozgov 10 p., Zubac 2p. – Pachulia 11 p., 8 r.)
Milwaukee – Chicago 86-107 (Antetokounmpo 14 p., Teletovic 4 p. – Zipser 4 p., Mirotic 14 p.)
Houston – Memphis 125-134 (Gasol 10 p.)
Miami – Minessota 96-101 (Rubio 10 p., 6 as., Bjelica 11 p. – Udrih 2 p.)
Philadelphia – Detroit 76-97 (Saric 8 p., Rodriguez 3 p., 7 as. – Marjanovic 9 p.)
Sacramento – Washington 124-119 (Caspi 16 p., Koufos 8 p. – Satoransky 11 p., Gortat 4 p.)

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Ian Mahinmi became the receiver of a beautiful pass by Monta Ellis, earning a place in the Top 5 plays of the Day in the NBA.

The Indiana Pacers were defeated 85 – 101 by the Toronto Raptors who now lead 2-1 in the series.

The first place of the highlight reel went to James Harden who banged the game-winning shot that gave the Houston Rockets their first win, 97 – 96, in the series (2-1) vs the Golden State Warriors.

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Michael Jordan turned 53 years old today and his impact in the world of basketball is once again remembered. Jordan is the GOAT not only for what he did on the court, but also for the way his charm made basketball a truly global sport.

He was a rock star in the Barcelona Olympics in 1992 and a legend when he came in 1997 to Paris and played for the first and only time with the Chicago Bulls against European teams, against Racing Paris in the semifinal and then Euroleague champ Olympiacos in the final of the McDonald’s Open. As they say, we will always have Paris.

Photos by actionimages.gr

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