2022 Oscars: Shaquille O'Neal, Stephen Curry win award for work on 'The Queen of Basketball'

Stephen Curry and Shaquille O'Neal can add another award to their respective trophy cases. On Sunday, Curry and O'Neal both won an Oscar as executive producers on the short subject documentary "The Queen of Basketball."

"The Queen of Basketball" is about the life of Lusia Harris, who was the first woman to score a basket in Olympic women's basketball history. Harris went on to become the first woman to be drafted by an NBA franchise when she was selected by the New Orleans Jazz in 1977.

In 1992, Harris became the first African American woman to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. She helped lead Delta State University to three consecutive national championships in the 1970s and earned a silver medal for the United States in the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal.

Curry became very involved with the film and even wore sneakers earlier in March that had the phrase "Queen Lucy" on them to spread awareness. Harris died in January, before the documentary was released.

"If there is anyone out there who doubts that there is an audience for female athletes and questions whether their stories are valuable or entertaining or important, let this Academy Award be the answer," Director Ben Proudfoot said in his acceptance speech on Sunday night.

The Oscar for Documentary Short goes to Ben Proudfoot for 'The Queen of Basketball.' Congratulations! #Oscars

Proudfoot also took the time to petition for the release of women's basketball star Brittney Griner, who has been detained in Russia since mid-February after she was found to have had vape cartridges that allegedly had cannabis oil in them.

"Bring Brittney Griner home," Proudfoot proclaimed as he ended his speech.

Comments

Shaquille O'Neal says Dennis Rodman was his worst teammate: 'He was a great player, but he made it hard'

Shaquille O'Neal played for six franchises over a 20-year NBA career. That's a lot of teammates. Speaking on The Big Podcast with Shaq, the four-time champion and Hall of Famer revealed which one of those teammates was the worst. "Worst teammate? Dennis Rodman," O'Neal said. "He was a great player, but he made it hard. Like when you try to corral the guys together and the people above you [are] letting this one guy do whatever he wants. So we had to be there an hour before the game. He'd come in fifteen minutes before the game eating chicken and rice. While the coaches are talking, he would jump in the shower. Cold shower. Come and give you 15-20 rebounds." O'Neal played with some characters in his time. We know about his beef with Kobe Bryant, who we know wasn't always the easiest teammate to get along with, though Shaq has long expressed regret over the way he and Bryant handled their relationship as young superstars, and eventually, he ...

Bill Russell Once Explained Why He Didn't Bother With Celtics Fans: "When I Was A Star, The Fans Called Us The 'Boston Globetrotters' Because The Celtics Had Black Players."

While the NBA is a beacon for freedom and tolerance in America, things didn't start off that way. In a place like Boston, during the 50s and 60s, racial tension was a pretty serious problem, and superstar big man Bill Russell had to deal with it on a game-to-game basis. Today, it can be hard for us to imagine just how difficult being a black basketball player really was back then. Fortunately, we have some clips: "The number one paper was the Boston Herald and they didn't like the idea of an NBA team having black players. Out there, the star was Bob Cousy. No matter what I did, Cousy was the star. I remember I had a game where I had 25 points, 25 rebounds, 10 blocks, and the Boston Herald said I was lucky to play with Cousy." Unfortunately, the media didn't give Russell his respect back then. Despite being the best player on the court, and on his team, Cousy and others always got the spotlight. Even the fans weren't very accepting of Bill: "I didn't...

From Deep: At long last, Nikola Jokic's Nuggets can envision getting to the top of the mountain

Jamal Murray tore his ACL on April 12, 2021. Leading up to that night, he'd been playing at an All-NBA level for two months: In a 25-game stretch, Murray averaged 24.1 points on .509/.459/.935 shooting splits, 4.2 rebounds and 5.2 assists. He was even more efficient than he was in the bubble playoffs, and his defense had improved, too. Murray only got to play with Aaron Gordon, the Denver Nuggets' big trade-deadline addition, for five games. They won them all except the one in which Murray got injured. In 110 minutes, their new starting five scored slightly more efficiently than any iteration of the Kevin Durant-era death lineup in Golden State and defended like a top-five team. Two Nikola Jokic MVP awards later, Murray is back. So is Michael Porter Jr., who signed a five-year extension about a year ago and needed back surgery nine games into the 2020-21 season. The Nuggets remember how easily everything slid into place with Gordon in the mix. Newcomer Kentavious Caldwell-Pop...

Crossover World

Search This Blog