Basketball

Kevin Hart is getting in the last word after Dwyane Wade buried Hart's 76ers and blasted him on national TV ... telling the NBA star things are about to get REAL in Miami.

You've seen the highlights -- Wade stared down Hart (and Allen Iverson!) after hitting the dagger in Game 2 of the Heat-Sixers series.

Then, in his post-game interviews, Dwyane made a point to credit Kev for his 28-point night -- "You can thank Kevin Hart for that."

Kev clapped back at D-Wade on his flight home -- and it's hilarious.

"Well played, Dwyane. Well played."

"You gonna blame this on me -- blame Kevin Hart? Oh, I see what you're doing. On ESPN, you gonna say that? WELL LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING, SUCKA! We bout to come to Miami and heat it up, you hear me?"

"I'm frustrated. I'm pissed."

James Comey says he modeled his management of the FBI after LeBron James -- and says he used the NBA superstar's never-ending desire to win to motivate the organization.

Yeah, he's being 100% serious.

Comey appeared on "Good Morning America" and said, "I admire LeBron James. I used to talk about him all over the FBI."

"He illustrates what the endless pursuit of excellence looks like."

Comey says he was incredibly impressed by how LeBron pushes himself every offseason -- finding parts of his game to make better.

During his run as FBI director, Comey says he would tell his staff to be more like LeBron ... "We have to find parts of our game to make better."

He also said (close your ears, Bulls fans) that LeBron is undoubtedly the best basketball player alive.

Khloe Kardashian is following in her sisters' footsteps when it comes to unconventional baby names ... the name of her baby girl is True Thompson.

"Our little girl, True Thompson, has completely stolen our hearts and we are overwhelmed with LOVE," Khloe wrote.

"Such a blessing to welcome this angel into the family! Mommy and Daddy loooooove you True!"

It's interesting she used Thompson as the baby's last name -- which she didn't have to do. Also, the fact she says "our" in the post makes it seem like she's still in a relationship with Tristan ... despite all the cheating.

Our Kardashian sources say the name runs in the family. We're told True was the name of Kris' grandfather, Khloe's great grandfather.

Khloe also broke the details of True's birth stats today, weighing in at 6 lbs, 13 oz when she was born.

It's Khloe and Tristan Thompson's first kid together. Tristan has a son from a previous relationship.

TMZ broke the story ... Khloe gave birth early Thursday morning -- around 4 AM EDT -- at a hospital outside Cleveland. Kourtney, Kim, Kris and Khloe's BFF Malika were by her side during the birth. Tristan was also there.

The lead-up to Khloe giving birth has been rocky, to say the least. As we first reported ... Tristan cheated on Khloe back in October when she was only 3 months pregnant. He was caught on video making out and motorboating 2 women at a hookah lounge outside of D.C.

And just last week ... Tristan was seen taking a woman back to his NYC hotel.

Could you imagine getting on an airplane ... WITHOUT YOUR PHONE?!

Nightmare, right?!

Well, that's ALMOST what happened to "This Is Us" star Sterling K. Brown ... if not for the heroic actions of Lakers rookie Josh Hart!

Brown tells us he left his phone in the car and ALMOST had to suffer an entire flight without Twitter, Instagram and all the movies and TV shows he had on his cell.

Well, thankfully for him ... Hart was there to save the day!

We caught the whole thing on video -- and afterward, Hart told us he wants to treat Brown as his guest to a Lakers game next season!

There could be a hip-hop hoops battle brewing ... because Justin Bieber and Quavo were just put on blast by super hot ATL rapper Famous Dex ... who says he'd punish both guys in basketball.

We ran into Dex down in Atlanta, and after he showered a lobby with cash, we decided to ask him some sports questions ... while he put the money back in his bag.

Our guy wanted to know if Dex ... a notorious hooper ... thought he could take two other big time ballers -- Quavo & JB -- on the basketball court. Here's a hint, he's confident.

"Man I'll bust Quavo ass out. Quavo don't wanna see me," Dex said, then throwing Justin's name in too.

"Justin Bieber will get blown out 24-0, 35-0."

Your move guys, we just wanna watch.

The boy band basketball turf war just got REAL -- with Brian Littrell telling Joey Fatone that Backstreet will straight DOMINATE 'NSYNC on the hardwood.

And get this -- Brian says it'll only take 2 of the Boys to hoop up 'NSYNC's entire roster!

"They’ll lose, plain and simple," Littrell told TMZ Sports at LAX. "You can take myself and Nick against all 5 of those dudes and we’ll be cool."

Brian ain't playing -- telling us he's got a court at home to keep his game tight.

So, if Joey, JT and co. really want it like Fatone said, Littrell's down ... and says he wants 10 racks on it!!

"When we win, I’ll donate my $10,000 that I have on the game to charity. Joey can pick it."

Dr. J doesn't think the baby Philadelphia 76ers have to wait to get to the top of the NBA mountaintop ... telling TMZ Sports he thinks the team can win it all THIS SEASON.

Philly is playing OUT OF THEIR MINDS RIGHT NOW, having won 16 games in a row. Despite that dominance, most experts still think the team is too young to take the whole enchilada THIS SEASON.

"Based on how they're playing now, they can go all the way."

BTW, Dr. J is part of the last team to hoist the O'Brien in Philly, so it's a huge vote of confidence for the young guys.

Brooke Hogan says Khloe Kardashian and Tristan Thompson getting through TT's cheating scandal is gonna be hell on earth ... but NOT 'cause of Khloe's reality show!

Brooke is a huge reality TV star herself (she's starring in MTV's "The Challenge: Champs vs. Stars") -- so we asked Hulk's daughter if "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" reportedly airing out Khloe and Tristan's dirty laundry is a bad call.

Hogan told us the show might actually HELP by humanizing their situation ... and said a bigger issue is Thompson's jam-packed NBA playoff schedule.

"It's gonna be hell for Khloe ... a guy that travels is hard."

"My mom dealt with it, I've dealt with it ... it's definitely not easy especially after a cheating thing," Brooke told the guys on the "TMZ Sports" TV show (airs weeknights on FS1).

In other words -- with Tristan gone from Cleveland half the time, it ain't gonna be easy to make things right with KK.

Larry King says the whole "cotton-picking" controversy surrounding an OKC Thunder announcer is being overblown -- in fact, Larry says he'd take the expression as a compliment.

"That statement's been around forever," King told us on his way out of Craig's in West Hollywood ... "'Cotton-picking mind' was probably an adjective."

King -- a huge sports fan -- then showered praise on Russell Westbrook (who was at the center of the controversy) for being a beast on the court and said, "I would take it as a compliment."

"That's like saying 'You're crazy,'" ... "What about people with mental health problems?"

"So, if you say to someone 'You're crazy,' you're offending every mental health patient in America."

Larry does say there is one popular term that IS offensive that he would like to see be changed ASAP.

French Montana has three choices on how to react to news his ex-girlfriend, Khloe Kardashian, just found out her baby daddy Tristan Thompson is a cheat:

1) He could spike the football and do the whole "I wouldn't have done that to you" thing.

2) He could trash Tristan and leave room for him to replant his flag.

Or 3) He could take the high road and wish peace, love and happiness for everyone involved.

Wanna guess which option French went with?

Yeah, numero tres for the win!

"Lemme tell you something man, I just want everyone to be happy," French told us, on the way out of Poppy nightclub in Los Angeles.

"When there's negativity, I duck and move Papi."

French and Khloe dated back in 2014 -- and people REALLY liked them together.

Just sayin' ...

8:28 AM PT -- The OKC Thunder has issued a statement condemning the comments ...

"We find the term used by Brian Davis on our broadcast last night to be highly inappropriate and offensive."

"We’ve discussed it with the announcer and let him know that. He assures us it was not meant in any sort of offensive or derogatory manner and he apologizes."

"Nonetheless, he’s been told the use of that term in any manner is unacceptable."

An NBA game announcer is in hot water after saying Russell Westbrook was playing so well Wednesday night ... he was "out of his cotton-picking mind."

Dude. Bad.

We get it ... FOX Sports Oklahoma play-by-play guy Brian Davis (white dude) was trying to say Westbrook was playing on another level (he became the first player in NBA history to average a triple double 2 years in a row).

But, when you make a cotton reference about a black guy ...it's not usually well received.

That's exactly what happened Wednesday night -- people are losing their minds about the comment. Some people are even suggesting Davis should be fired.

There's been a long debate about the origin of the expression -- some people say it was used as a slur plantation owners used toward slaves.

The 32-year-old Lakers rookie who just had one of the craziest debuts in NBA history is just getting started -- so says Kenny Smith.

We got The Jet the day after he watched Andre Ingram drop 19 points on the 1st-place Houston Rockets ... after 10 YEARS waiting for a G-League call-up.

Kenny told us not to sleep on the veteran rook -- 'cause 1-hit wonders don't got stroke like Andre!

"He’s gonna get an opportunity -- if not with the Lakers then somebody else. At least to be part of their training camp," The Jet told TMZ Sports.

Kenny says he was blown away with Ingram's story just like the rest of us ... and we got a feeling it's only a matter of time before someone goes Hollywood with it.

Nicki Minaj thought she was gonna sit courtside at a regular old Lakers game Tuesday night -- turns out, she had front row seats to one of the best rookie debuts EVER!

Despite celebs like Richard Sherman and Will Ferrell in the house, the REAL star at Staples Center was Andre Ingram ... the 32-year-old rookie who dropped 19 on the first place Houston Rockets!

Ingram's story is pretty awesome ... he's been grinding it out in the G-league for the past decade hoping to get a shot in the NBA ... and Tuesday night, he made the most of his big chance.

In fact, toward the end of the game, the crowd began chanting "MVP" at Ingram -- who later called the whole thing a "once in a lifetime" experience.

Pauly D is calling for MERCY for Tristan Thompson ... saying Khloe Kardashian should give the dude a second chance after getting caught cheating on her during her pregnancy.

"OHHHHH," Pauly told us while outside 1 OAK in Hollywood ... "He got caught up there!"

He certainly did ... footage of Tristan motorboating, kissing and messin' around with other women (not named Khloe) surfaced this week as Khloe is getting ready to give birth to their kid.

Still, Pauly says he hopes Tristan gets another shot to be the faithful baby daddy Khloe wants.

The Kardashians are more rest stop than destination ... so says Tony Rock who says NO ONE should be surprised Tristan Thompson cheated on Khloe.

"Everybody cheats on the Kardashians," Tony told us outside the Laugh Factory ... "You just smash a couple times and you get out!"

Guessing Tony's referring to past K-squad dudes like Lamar Odom and Scott Disick. Kim Kardashian famously told Jennifer Lawrence she was cheated on, too, but didn't call out the cheater by name.

"Who's been loyal to a Kardashain?" Rock added ... "Like for real?"

Tristan Thompson had a female companion with him when he went back to an NYC hotel Sunday morning ... while Khloe Kardashian was home in Cleveland very close to giving birth to their first child together.

TMZ obtained this video of the Cavaliers star, rocking a white hoodie, with the woman strolling behind him into the Four Seasons early Sunday, around 5 AM. The unidentified woman was also seen hanging all over Tristan at an NYC nightclub earlier in the evening.

Tristan was staying at the hotel with the rest of his team while they were in town for a game.