Daily Archives: January 3, 2022

PARTY-loving Neymar showed his crutches and an ankle injury havent stopped him kicking off his New Year celebrations early - as he pulled off a spectacular poker triumph.

The Paris Saint-Germain striker was put out of action before the Christmas break after landing awkwardly in a Ligue 1 clash with Saint-Etienne and leaving the field on a stretcher.

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But he appears to have switched his focus to letting his hair down after updating fans on his rehabilitation by posting videos of him doing gym work following his return to Brazil for a sunshine break.

He has been playing poker in the run-up to the New Year, defeating Brazilian professional player Andre Akkari in a tournament the footballer organised.

Neymar made sure he got noticed with garish outfits which included a fluorescent green Hoodie and matching sunglasses.

Overnight the Brazil hero posted selfie footage sat on a chair with his crutches in front of him as he joined singer-songwriter pal Suel by grabbing a microphone and exercising his own vocal cords.

Local reports say Neymar is planning a New Years Eve party at his mansion in the paradise resort of Mangaratiba near Rio de Janeiro where he celebrated the arrival of 2021.

The bash last year led to local reports Brazilian prosecutors had launched a probe into possible Covid breaches, following claims in local newspapers a five-day party for more than 100 guests had been organised which the footballer vehemently denied.

The 116-cap ace ended up using his Instagram to show he had simply organised a quiet dinner with family and close friends, although it later emerged pretty Argentinian singer Emilia Mernes had been a VIP guest when she and Neymar were pictured dancing to one of her popular songs.

The footballer, who spent Christmas at a new 2.5million seven-bed mansion he has bought near Sao Paulo, is expected to see in the New Year with stunning Bruna Biancardi.

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The 27-year-old brunette insisted last month she was single in an Instagram question and answer session, but was photographed with Neymar in Paris before he left for Brazil and at a Christmas Eve visit he made to his grandmother after reaching his homeland.

Neymar recently won backing from Brazilian soccer legend Ronaldo after being criticised when he was spotted partying in a Sao Paulo bar following his countrys World Cup qualifying match last month against Argentina.

He had missed the game because of injury.

The new attacks in his homeland came after he was accused of sporting a pot belly in the summer following the snaps of him holidaying on a yacht off the coast of Ibiza came out.

Neymar fired back then at his critics by telling the Fui Clear YouTube channel: How can one be 12 years at the top without taking care of himself? Nobody gets that.

"I know how to take care of myself, I have a physical therapist and a physical trainer practically 24 hours with me, for what? Not at all?"

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He added: I go out when I can. I go out when possible, when I know that I will not train the next day. I will not stop doing anything. What is the problem?

"You have to judge me for what I do on the field, there I allow you to speak, but what I do outside."

Former Real Madrid striker and current Valladolid president Ronaldo Nazario, who piled on the pounds after retiring from soccer, said in a recent Podcast: I suffered the same as Neymar.

The private life of a well-known or famous person or of an athlete, shouldnt matter to anyone.

What does it matter what someone drank, ate or didnt eat!

Read our Transfer News Live blog for the very latest rumours, gossip and done deals

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Neymar wins poker tournament after beating pro player ahead of New Years Eve party at 2.5m mansion... - The US Sun

One of thewonderful things about poker is that it attracts people from all walks of life.From broke students to eccentric billionaires, the game is open to everyone.

Guy Lalibert,the founder of the famous Cirque du Soleil, clearly belongs to the lattergroup.

The Canadianbillionaire was a part of the high-stakes poker scenes for years, drivingaction in live and online games alike.

His life andpoker journeys are filled with excitement and controversy. While poker was justone of his many hobbies, it was probably the most expensive one on the list.

Lalibert enjoyedplaying against the best of the best. For him, it was never about the money. Hewas motivated by the challenge and the opportunity to sit across some of thegreatest minds in poker.

Of course, thiscame at a price. Taking on some of the most experienced high-stakes regulars ontheir home turf turned into a pricey lesson for the Canadian.

Luckily, he hadthe means to afford it.

Some billionaires come from the money and get to enjoy the fruits of the labor of those before them, but not Guy Lalibert.

Coming from a very modest background, he managed to build a billion-dollar empire on his own.

The Canadian startedas a simple street performer. When he turned 18, he hitchhiked across Europe,meeting other street performers and learning secrets of the trade.

Upon returningto his native Quebec, young Lalibert joined a group of performers there andcontinued to apply his trade. Then, in 1982, he caught a lucky break that wouldchange his life forever.

He helped set upan international festival of performers in his hometown and the event turnedout to be a huge success. Prompted by this, the Canadian applied for a grant tohelp finance Cirque du Soleil.

Despitestruggling initially, Laliberts imagination and determination helped keep thebusiness afloat. In 1985, they launched their first tour across North Americaand never looked back.

Offering uniqueand original performances fueled by Lalibertes vision, the circus grew inpopularity, becoming one of the worlds biggest sensations. It wasnt longbefore the simple street performer turned into one of the richest people inCanada.

Lalibert remained a major part of Cirque du Soleil until 2015 when a group of investors bought out a majority of the shares.

He still retained a small piece of the business and kept his role as a creative advisor until 2020.

Lalibertsbeginnings may have been difficult but once Cirque du Soleil became a globalsensation, he no longer had to worry about money. He could turn his attentionto other things, and the game of poker captured his fancy.

Its not exactlyclear when Lalibert first took up poker, however, he first became known to thewider audience as a poker player in 2007, when he made the final table of aWorld Poker Tour event.

Already beingrich and famous, he was naturally a catch for poker producers. It wasnt longbefore he received invitations to join popular poker shows, most notably HighStakes Poker.

The Canadians performanceon HSP is still etched in the memory of those who followed the poker world atthe time.

With a virtuallyinfinite bankroll and a very competitive spirit, Lalibert wasnt there justfor show. He was the one driving the action, getting involved in some of thebiggest pots the show has ever seen.

Mixing it up with the likes of Doyle Brunson, Patrik Antonius, Barry Greenstein, Daniel Negreanu and the rest, the Canadian was always an unpredictable opponent.

Of course, Lalibertwas outclassed in the company of the best poker players (and probably aware of it)but he was driven by the desire to beat them and was having a great time trying.

In one of themost epic HSP hands of all time, he and David Benyamine got involved in a huge$1.2 million pot. There was a lot of action on the flop, and it ended with Benyaminemoving all-in with a flush draw and Lalibert calling with the top two pairs.

When cards wereon their back, Lalibert decided to give Benyamine a break. He offered to takewhat was in the middle (around $70,000), before all the crazy flop action,instead of seeing the turn and the river for the full $1.2 million.

Of course, beingwell behind with his naked flush draw, Benyamine was thrilled to accept.

It was a greatgesture and not something youd see from any poker pro. But the Canadian neverpretended to be a pro. For him, it was more about the love for the game and thecompetition.

He understoodthat losing that pot would be a big hit for Benyamine, while a few extrahundred thousand wasnt a big deal for the billionaire. So he kept things niceand friendly and gave him a huge break.

Unfortunately, Laliberts kindness wasnt reciprocated later in the virtual felt as he became one of the main targets for big-name pros on Full Tilt Poker, but well come back to that topic in a minute.

In addition tobeing a poker enthusiast, Lalibert has always been a philanthropist.

So in 2011, hedecided to bring the two passions together and created the Big One for OneDrop, a $1 million WSOP event, with a portion of the buy-in going towards hisOne Drop foundation.

This was beforethe time of super high rollers that you see all over today. A million-dollartournament was a huge deal, and it naturally attracted some of the biggestnames in the industry.

In the end, 48players put up the $1 million buy-in, including Lalibert himself. The Canadianmade it to the final table but eventually busted in fifth for $1.8 million.

The winner,Antonio The Magician Esfandiari, took home over $18 million.

Since then, theBig One for One Drop took place a few more times, but Lalibert wasntparticularly thrilled by the fact it was riddled with pros.

In his mind,this tournament was supposed to be a fun event for rich people who wanted tosupport a valid charity.

So, in 2016, hedecided to move the event to Europe, setting up the Monte-Carlo One DropExtravaganza.

This one wastargeted at recreational players who were allowed to have professional coachesthey could consult at any time they werent involved in a hand.

Despite thelofty buy-in of 1 million , unlimited reentries were also allowed until thestart of Day 2.

The tournamentdrew in 28 entries (including two reentries), so it wasnt a massive turnout butstill a fun experience.

The Guy Lalibertpoker saga took an ugly turn when the billionaire became more involved withonline action. This was around the same time he started to play in livehigh-stakes games, and he was mostly active on Full Tilt.

No one can sayfor sure how much money Lalibert lost playing on the virtual felt as hesbelieved to have had multiple aliases. The estimated number is over $30 million.

Over a fewyears, the Canadian tried to change his online identity to avoid thehigh-stakes pros who were following him around like sharks. His strategiesdidnt work, though, as they would always find him.

Lalibert online exploits ended with Black Friday and he disappeared from the online poker world for a while.

Then, in 2014,he gave an interview for Journal de Montreal, in which he stated that he lost alot of money playing on Full Tilt but felt he was cheated.

He said that FT pros, the likes of Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan, and even David Benyamine, essentially had access to unlimited bankrolls provided by the room, which allowed them to play without any concerns.

Theseaccusations created a lot of fuss in the poker community.

Some sided with Lalibert,while others claimed that even if his accusations were true, it didnt matterbecause they did end up beating him, playing the game the way it was supposedto be played.

Regardless ofhow you decide to interpret the situation, it clearly put Lalibert off online poker.

Perhaps it wasan expensive lesson if his losses really do amount to over $30 million, butgiven Laliberts net worth, it was the kind of swing he could still handle.

You could say that the Canadian was the ultimate whale who happily gave away his money for the privilege to compete against the best. After all, thats how the poker economy works.

At the same time, though, poker skills arent the only thing that matters.

If Lalibert felthe was getting cheated and if that put him off playing, those who profited offof him the most let the proverbial fish off the hook.

After all, hepersonally knew most of the pros he played online. He gave Benyamine that hugebreak several years ago.

And after allthat, they had no problems hunting him down at the tables and doing whateverthey could to squeeze every single cent.

You could saypoker is a brutal game at times and thats just how it is, but you cantcompletely remove the human factor, either.

This behaviorcaused Lalibert to stop playing online hardly the outcome the pros wanted tosee.

In recent years,Lalibert hasnt been very active in the poker world.

It was probably the sum of all things that happened that turned the billionaire away from the idea of poker and towards other things.

He probably still plays on occasion, but his Hendon Mob is showing no recorded results past 2012.

He kept 10percent in Cirque du Soleil until 2020, at which point he sold his remainingshares and turned completely to his new ventures.

One of these isLune Rogue, a company he set up in 2017 to support various arts, entertainment,and technology projects.

In 2019, the entrepeneurs name appeared in the news when he was detained for growing marijuana on his private island, which he said was just for personal use.

Guy Lalibert continuesto pursue his passions, and hes keeping his entrepreneurial and philanthropicspirit alive. This is hardly a surprise given the background of a man who camefrom nothing and built a global empire of sorts.

But the realquestion is: Will we see Guy Lalibert take a more prominent role in the pokerworld once again?

While I have nomind-reading abilities and didnt have a chance to talk to the man himself, itseems highly unlikely given everything he said over the years.

There is thisfeeling that Lalibert was really disappointed by poker as a whole and thehigh-stakes community he was a part of for a few years.

Perhaps hisexpectations were too high. For better or for worse, poker players dont cut othersmuch slack and theyll take the edge wherever they can find it.

Thats just the nature of the beast!

Lead image: Twitter/DanBehringer221

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What Ever Happened To Guy Lalibert? - Casino.Org News

Groundbreaking Tonight Show host Johnny Carson is a TV legend who millions of viewers felt they knew well. But in his life, the notoriously private icon didnt open up very much about his friends and activities outside of The Tonight Show. However, one thing that isnt any secret is that he was taking part in regular, highly exclusive, celebrity poker games for years prior to his death.

Though it seems Carson may not have usually been the one to host the poker nights at his house, they became known as his games. Per NBC, Carl Reiner remembered, The poker games were like once a month for many, many, many years, and, it was the only time that Carson ever let his hair down.

According to Reiner, Only Murders in the Building star Steve Martin would often host along with a nice dinner, which led some to call them the Gourmet Poker Group.

He shared that the events were most enjoyable because Carson played low stakes, despite how rich he was. Actor Chevy Chase also regularly attended and said the host folded a lot, but was funny as hell, as reported by NBC.

It was good for Johnny, because he would get off at 6:30 or 7, after his show. It was a great night for him to just relax with friends and have fun, he explained. Much of the time we were doing it for him, in a sense he was working harder than any of us most of the time. It was a lot of fun when Johnny was alive.

Reiner recalled that the last game took place shortly before Carsons death in 2005. Ill never forget the last one. He wasnt feeling well, and he bowed out of one and that was very soon before he passed away, he shared. Those poker games were very important to him.

In his book, Born Standing Up, Martin writes about starting his career on The Tonight Show trying to impress Carson with his comedy in the 70s. He shares, I was able to maintain a personal relationship with Johnny over the next thirty years, at least as personal as he or I could make it, and I was flattered that he came to respect my comedy.

Part of what seemingly bonded them were a few common interests magic, comedy, and playing poker. So, its not surprising that Martin was eventually a regular player in what came to be known as Carsons games.

All we did was laugh, Martin recalled of the games on The Howard Stern Show. The whole premise of the poker game was laughter. And then occasionally we would play poker.

While chatting with Conan OBrien on Conan, Martins Only Murders in the Building co-star, Martin Short, disclosed that he ended up at one poker game as his friends guest. It was his first time meeting Carson, but he was seated beside him while they had dinner.

As Short recalled, he laughed at something Martin said as he was eating. Then, he had the sensation some of his mashed potatoes had flown out of his mouth and landed somewhere, but he wasnt sure where. So, he looked around and discovered some sitting on Carsons hand.

Perhaps thats why Short seemingly wasnt a regular guest for the Gourmet Poker Group games.

RELATED: Johnny Carson Tried out for This High School Team 3 Times but Never Made the Cut

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Johnny Carson's Hollywood Poker Games Brought a Lot of Laughs and a Little Poker - Showbiz Cheat Sheet

December 31, 2021Jon Sofen

Going without a live World Series of Poker (WSOP) in 2020 felt a bit like a kid waking up Christmas morning to discover that Santa didn't bring any presents. Thankfully, poker's greatest spectacle returned in 2021, and it was the biggest and most satisfying story of the year.

The pandemic forced the cancellation of the series last year. Many poker players were concerned the same thing would happen again this past summer due to the continued spread of COVID-19. And they were partially right as the WSOP wasn't ready to go over the summer. But a full 88-bracelet event series ran without many hiccups in the fall, and PokerNews was on-hand to capture all the exciting moments.

Top Stories of 2021, #2: Michael Addamo Heater

The 2021 World Series of Poker was just like any other year outside of the a few differences. Vaccination against COVID-19 was required for all players (but not dealers) this year, and as we already mentioned, the event took place in the fall. Otherwise, the WSOP was every bit as enjoyable as in year's past.

When the series concluded, we said goodbye to the Rio All-Suites Hotel & Casino, the host site for the WSOP since 2005. Caesars Entertainment will move the 2022 WSOP down the street to Bally's and Paris on the Las Vegas Strip.

Phil Hellmuth won his record-extending 16th bracelet in Event #31: $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw in mid-October. He'd already reached three final tables at the 2021 WSOP prior to that bracelet-winning performance.

In one of those final table appearances fourth place in Event #19: $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship the "Poker Brat" melted down and went on a profanity-laced tirade for over 10 minutes at the final table. His behavior went beyond swearing when, on multiple occasions, he jokingly (we hope) threatened to burn down the casino.

Hellmuth would go on to set a single-series record for most final table appearances (seven) and finished second to Josh Arieh in the Player of the Year race. But many will remember his questionable behavior just as much as his performance.

There are two ways to look at 2021 WSOP attendance. A glass half-empty type of person would argue that attendance was down 20%-30% in most events compared to 2019. But someone with a positive mentality would likely celebrate the fact that many events drew thousands of players despite having a vaccine mandate in place.

The Main Event, poker's most prestigious annual tournament, had 6,650 players, down significantly from 2019 (8,569). But Koray Aldemir still took home a massive payday of $8 million for winning the world championship event. Main Event attendance this fall was the 10th highest all-time and only 300 entrants away from the seventh highest. So, however you want to spin it, there were still attendance-related positives to be found given the unusual circumstances.

The World Series of Poker isn't only about money and bracelets. This past fall, we discovered there are far more important things, and learned that the poker community can be quite generous.

Three individuals made their mark on the poker world during the series in a positive way for reasons other than what they accomplished on the felt. Dragana Lim, the last woman standing in the Main Event (64th place for $95,700), pledged to use her winnings to build an animal foundation.

Gershon Distenfeld won Event #48: $1,500 Shootout No-Limit Hold'em, and gave away every penny of his $204,063 to charity.

Michael Graydon, an Alabama recreational player, is suffering from terminal brain cancer. He tweeted that he was seeking backers to fund his Main Event buy-in. MJ Gonzales and Jonathan Depa both stepped up to the plate and offered to cover his buy-in, while Maria Ho bought his plane ticket to Las Vegas.

Graydon didn't cash in the $10,000 buy-in tournament, but he was blown away by the generosity of the poker community, which he told to PokerNews' Lara Neacy in an exclusive and emotional interview following his bust-out.

In 2003, amateur player and professional accountant Chris Moneymaker went from Average Joe to poker world champion. In doing so, he helped spark a massive poker boom. Since then, he hasn't had much success at the WSOP, but he was back in a big way in November during the Main Event.

The Poker Hall of Famer gave the poker community a glimpse of the greatness he displayed 18 years ago. During the first few days of the Main Event, he hung around the top of the leaderboard. Unfortunately, for his fans, the run came to an end on Day 5 when he was eliminated in 260th place for $38,600.

Moneymaker wasn't the only popular poker player to make a surprise appearance at the 2021 World Series of Poker. Doyle Brunson, who also built a big stack over the first couple of days in the Main Event, played in a few tournaments this fall to the delight of his many adoring fans.

Josh Arieh is a talented poker player, so it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that he had the ability to win WSOP Player of the Year. But it was a bit surprising considering he doesn't typically put in enough volume at the series to win the award.

Arieh, who finished third in the 2004 Main Event, absolutely crushed it this fall. He won his third and fourth bracelet and reached three additional final tables en route to a Player of the Year crown. The Georgia native witnessed his hometown Atlanta Braves win the World Series in baseball while he was the most outstanding performer in the World Series of Poker.

That's it, folks. An exciting year for poker has now come to an end. What will 2022 bring the poker community? More bracelets from Phil Hellmuth? Daniel Negreanu finally winning his seventh bracelet? Darren Elias extending his World Poker Tour (WPT) title record? More heartwarming stories about poker players being generous? Stay tuned, it's shaping up to be a great year.

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Top Stories of 2021, #1: The Return of the Live World Series of Poker - PokerNews.com

As we enter a New Year hey, at least it was not like pokers lost year there are some situations to tidy up. The Player of the Year awards for the two major outlets, CardPlayer Magazine and the Global Poker Index, could save some money this year by just combining into one award, because it is going to the same man. After dominating the High Roller circuit for the last half of 2021, Ali Imsirovic walked away with both of the major Player of the Year titles, one in a dominant fashion.

CardPlayer POY Race a Runaway

To say Imsirovic dominated the CardPlayer Magazine Player of the Year race would be a huge understatement. Imsirovics 14 titles over the span of the 2021 tournament poker year was seven more than the runner up, Michael Moutarde of France, and eight more than Michael Addamo of Australia and Fernando Rodriguez-Vazquez and Kao Saechao of the U. S. Although Addamos $9.1 million in winnings outpaced him, Imsirovics $5.9 million in earnings was pretty strong in its own right.

Where those 14 titles came into play was in the points calculations on the CardPlayer POY. Imsirovic racked up 8058 points through his work at the tournament tables in 2021, thoroughly crushing the opposition. His closest competitor was Qing Liu, who used a title on the World Poker Tour and several other excellent finishes to rack up a highly respectable 5080 points. Lius work barely outpaced another member of the High Roller crowd, Sean Perry, who basically shut down his tournament work during the World Series of Poker (he only cashed in the WSOP $100,000 High Roller tournament, did not play much of the schedule and was not on the circuit to finish the year).

Without further ado, here is the list of the Top Ten for the CardPlayer Magazine Player of the Year:

1. Ali Imsirovic, 8058 points2. Qing Liu, 50803. Sean Perry, 49454. Alex Foxen, 45785. Chad Eveslage, 45356. Sam Soverel, 45187. Matas Cimbolas, 44908. Sergi Reixach, 42729. Chris Brewer, 419010. Johan Guibert, 4170

Of particular not on the CardPlayer rankings (since they dont cover this aspect), the highest-ranking female on the list essentially the CardPlayer Magazine Female Player of the Year went to Kyna England, who also finished in 40th on the overall rankings. Her 2848 points lapped the field when it came to the ladies race and topped other male players such as Jason Koon and Sergio Aido.

Closer Race for GPI POY, But the Same Outcome

It was a closer race for the Global Poker Index Player of the Year award, but Imsirovic is the new big dog on the chart after two years of domination from Alex Foxen.

Imsirovic jumped out to a lead early on in the abbreviated 2021 tournament poker season (remember, many of the events did not kick back in until after April) and had to wait to see if anyone could combine a better set of results than he did. Imsirovics 3478.55 points were pretty strong, but Chance Kornuth had a chance at taking him down. He would come up short, however, finishing off the season with 3225.11 points.

There are some surprising names that round out the Top Five, names that did not appear at all in the upper echelons of the CardPlayer POY. Shannon Shorr is your third best player for 2021, according to the GPI POY, earning a solid 3141.45 points for the year. Uri Reichenstein zipped into the fourth place slot, just a few points behind Shorr at 3138.32 points, while Sergio Aido took down the fifth-place entry with his 3090.55 points.

There were other surprises when you look down the Global Poker Index Player of the Year Top Ten:

1. Ali Imsirovic, 3478.55 points2. Chance Kornuth, 3225.113. Shannon Shorr, 3141.454. Uri Reichenstein, 3138.325. Sergio Aido, 3090.556. Chad Eveslage, 3006.847. Johan Guibert, 2998.518. Sean Perry, 2997.089. Brock Wilson, 2981.3810. Jason Koon, 2969.76

In the Ladies POY, there was a bit of a surprise. Nadya Magnus emerged as the champion among the women, utilizing her 2123.03 points to beat England for the championship. They both topped three-time defending Womens POY Kristen Bicknell, who chose to sit out the latter quarter of 2021.

Heres your Top Ten for the Global Poker Index Womens Player of the Year race:

1. Nadya Magnus, 2123.03 points (#41 overall)2. Kyna England, 1787.47 (#96)3. Kristen Bicknell, 1776.97 (#99)4. Katie Lindsay, 1704.96 (#118)5. Kitty Kuo, 1351.24 (#301)6. Sonia-Veronika Shashikhina, 1325.72 (#324)7. Vanessa Kade, 1315.91 (#335)8. Kathy Liebert, 1272.19 (#384)9. Gloria Jackson, 1257.77 (#398)10. Loni Harwood, 1253.52 (#407)

With the turn of the page to the new calendar of 2022, all of these scores will disappear. A new year brings new challenges for the players and, with hope, there will be a full slate of events in 2022. But we do have to issue congratulations to Ali Imsirovic, Kyna England and Nadya Magnus for the splendid work over the tournaments played in 2021 and their respective Player of the Year awards.

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Ali Imsirovic Captures Both Major Player of the Year Titles - Poker News Daily

Phoenix (AFP) Devin Booker joined a very special club on Wednesday.

The Suns scored 38 points, exceeded 10,000 points for life, and Phoenix beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 115-97, to cut a two-game losing streak and share the lead in the NBA.

At 25 years and 60 days old, Booker is the seventh youngest player in history to surpass 10,000 units in the NBA. The others are LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony, Tracy McGrady and Giannis Antetokounmpo.

It means a lot, Booker said. I am really grateful to be in this position. I acknowledge the work of my coach to trust the young man and allow him to make mistakes, because not everyone gets that opportunity.

The Suns bounced back from their home loss to Golden State and Memphis. They met the Warriors in first place in the league, going 27-7.

Booker 12 made of 24 shots from the field. He made six out of 12 triples.

Gavel McGee and Cameron Payne scored 16 points each. McGee also scored eight rebounds, while Payne led Phoenix on seven assists.

Cam Johnson finished with 12 points, while Jalen Smith scored 11 points and scored 14 rebounds.

Both teams lacked key players and coaches.

Suns players Deandre Ayton and Jae Crowder as well as strategist Monty Williams missed their second game in a row.

The Thunder played without point guard Shay Gilgeos Alexander with a right ankle injury. Freshmen Jeremiah Robinson-Earl and Josh Gedi were already on coronavirus protocol, and coach Mark Denyault missed his second game in a row.

Oklahoma City trailed by 10 points after the first half, but recovered and advanced in the fourth quarter. The Suns beat Thunder 30-16 in the fourth quarter, as Poker set the tone with nine figures.

We knew it was going to be against a hungry team, with guys who were just excited to have a chance, said Kevin Young, who replaced Williams as coach. What we love about Book is that it is a fierce competitor and is not afraid of anything.

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Poker scored 38 points. The sun beats the thunder - Persia Digest