TMZ Sports - Page 50

Jalen Rose is taking the vegetarian approach with Joel Embiid -- NO BEEF -- 'cause the ex-NBA star has nothing but love for the Sixers stud ... despite being the butt of his joke the other day.

ICYMI -- Embiid poked fun at Rose in an interview with SportsCenter when he said his conditioning level was at 81 percent ... followed by "shoutout to Jalen Rose."

Of course, that's the number of points Kobe Bryant scored on Rose during his career-high performance against the Toronto Raptors back in 2006.

Rose says he's not pissed at all by the comment ... and showers the young baller's game with props.

The real-life giant who plays The Mountain on "Game of Thrones" has something new to brag about ... his girlfriend's a smoke show, and a relatively tiny one at that.

Hafthor Julius Bjornsson is dating Kelsey Henson from Canada. We're told the 6'9" actor hit it off with Kelsey -- who's 5'2" -- in September when she asked for a pic with him at Earls Kitchen + Bar in Alberta. She was working there, and Thor was in town for a Strongman competition.

He's a 7-time Strongest Man in his native Iceland, btw.

Since then, the couple's been traveling all over together ... visiting Spain, Cyprus and his homeland. We're told they're doing the long distance thing for now, but she plans to visit him again in January.

Atta boy, Ser Gregor.

Russia's ban from the 2018 Winter Olympics is the "best thing that happened" to the games ... so says Mohamed Hadid, who tells TMZ Sports it's the most effective way to keep athletes clean.

We spoke with the ex-speed skiier -- who represented Jordan in the 1992 games -- about the International Olympic Committee dropping the hammer on Russia earlier this week, and Hadid says athletes will learn their lesson to prevent doping in the future.

Bonus -- we did some digging and found a pic of Mohamed from the '92 games ... and we must say, the dude looks glorious.

Here's Kenny Smith giving a basketball expert's opinion on a pretty hot topic -- WHO WOULD WIN AN ALL-OUT BRAWL BETWEEN KEVIN DURANT AND DEMARCUS COUSINS?!

Oh, yeah. It's on.

We got the Jet at LAX and after he finished giving us some wisdom on the Derrick Rose situation in Cleveland, we had to ask about the newest biggest beef in the NBA -- Durant vs. Cousins.

The two guys have been extra chippy on and off the court lately, and we wanted to know if it came down to the come down, who'd wax whose ass.

Smith takes Boogie ... who outweighs Durant by about 1,000 lbs. ... and says Boogie would take the whole contest in a scant 3 rounds.

We want to see it.

Drake couldn't resist joining his boy, Lil Wayne, on stage at da club ... and the crowd loved it -- including Odell Beckham Jr.!!!

Lil Wayne was performing at the Bootsy Bellows pop-up at E11EVEN Miami Friday night for a Young Money/OVO show during Art Basel ... when Drake hopped up impromptu to bring some extra "Energy."

OBJ was spotted in the audience bobbing his head and sipping on something ... looking like he's recovering nicely from his ankle injury. Unclear if he was rocking his custom walking boot.

Then Weezy -- and his dope shoes -- revved up the crowd some more.

The Texas home owned by NBA star Chris Bosh had all of the hallmarks of a traditional drug trafficking den ... from iron gates to security cameras -- this according to the cops who raided the joint.

TMZ Sports broke the story ... Bosh's mother, Frieda, is listed as a suspect in an alleged crack cocaine and heroin trafficking operation based out of the home Chris owns in DeSoto, Texas.

Cops conducted an covert sting operation to obtain evidence -- which included sending an undercover officer to the home on Tuesday to snatch and grab trash bags that had been left outside of the home.

Officials say investigators sifted through the trash and found tons of evidence -- including baggies with cocaine residue, weed paraphernalia, burned joints and mail with Frieda's name on it.

As for the drug trafficking den -- cops say the home was guarded by a large iron fence and outfitted with security cameras ... "a common tactic for drug traffickers" for obvious reasons.

Cops say one of the suspects has a rap sheet that includes violent crime -- including an incident where he was arrested for allegedly shooting a guy in the face during a drug deal.

One law enforcement source tells TMZ Sports ... Chris is not suspected of any wrongdoing and his only real connection is the fact he owns the property.

So, how the hell did Bosh's mother get mixed up in such a dangerous situation? Unclear at this point.

Mystery solved ... the new hot lady who's been hanging with Kristaps Porzingis is -- surprise -- A MODEL!!!

The NY Knicks star was canoodling with the hot blonde while leaving a NY nightclub earlier this week begging a few questions -- who is she and are they a thing???

Turns out, she goes by the name Bambi -- and we're told the two are definitely dating. Not sure how serious they are ... but they look pretty good together.

She's got a impressive body of work on the modeling front ... so, yeah ... enjoy!

Rudy Tomjanovich isn't taking the most devastating punch in sports history personally anymore, telling TMZ Sports he actually feels sorry for Kermit Washington -- the guy who detonated his jaw in 1977.

Washington recently pled guilty to fraud charges and faces up to 8 years in prison ... but before that, he was most famous for leveling Rudy T. with a shot doctors said could've killed him.

No joke, Tomjanovich suffered a broken jaw and nose, plus a cerebral concussion ... and was leaking spinal fluid into his mouth.

Despite all that carnage, when we got him out in Beverly Hills, Rudy told us the brutal shot was water under the bridge and that he actually felt sorry for Washington -- whom he forgave long ago.

"I feel sorry for him. I know Kermit. We had made up after that incident and I know he was trying to make it like anybody and I feel for the guy."

Metta World Peace says everyone freakin' out over LaVar Ball having his sons, LiAngelo and LaMelo, ditch UCLA should chill ... 'cause higher education ain't a slam dunk for everyone.

"There's so many things you can do ... college is a small part of life," Metta told TMZ Sports outside Chateau Marmont in Hollywood.

Want proof?? MWP pointed to Bill Gates and Jay-Z -- two of the prime examples of big ballers who dropped out.

And if LiAngelo does try to chase his hoop dreams ... Peace -- who's balled in China and Italy -- says playing abroad's a pretty sweet deal, too.

Michael Bolton is PUMPED on the Tiger Woods comeback tour -- and says he's down to hit the links with Tiger ... as his caddie!

FYI, Bolton's been tearin' it up on the celeb golf circuit for years ... and giving Woods words of encouragement whenever they cross paths.

"Every time I see him, I tell him, 'Just win.' And he says, 'I'm trying,'" Michael told TMZ Sports.

So now that Tiger's crushin' it on the green again, we had to ask if the pop rock legend had any plans to tee off with him.

Bolton seemed a little intimidated by going toe-2-toe, BUT -- "I'd carry his bag."

Sorry, Laker Nation -- Robert Horry says LeBron swoopin' up another castle in L.A. does NOT mean King James is joining Lonzo and friends next year.

We got the Lakers playoffs legend leaving Blake Griffin's comedy show in Hollywood ... and Horry broke it down for us, plain and simple.

"You got money like that, you can have two big cribs anywhere you wanna have 'em!!" Big Shot Bob told TMZ Sports.

Horry says it's clear that Bron loves L.A. livin' ... after droppin' a combined $44 MIL on his mansions in Tinsel Town.

One more reason to either love or hate the New England Patriots ... steamin' hot pics of Danny Amendola's unfairly gorgeous girlfriend, Olivia Culpo.

You might LOVE the Pats 'cause these shots of Olivia taken during a workout at Art Basel in Miami just reinforced how much these guys are winning off the field.

You might HATE the Pats 'cause these shots of Olivia taken during a workout at Art Basel in Miami just reinforced how jealous you are of all the Patriots -- and not just Tom Brady.

LaVar Ball's decision to pull his son, LiAngelo, out of UCLA is a colossal mistake that could seriously HURT the 19-year-old in the long run -- so says UFC champ Tyron Woodley.

T-Wood rips into the Big Baller on the newest episode of "The Hollywood Beatdown" -- saying LaVar's parenting moves are selfish and out of whack ... and sends a damaging message to his kids.

"You're teaching [LiAngelo] a very bad lesson in life ... that if I don't like things, I run from it."

Simone Biles is just days away from making her debut as a Houston Texans cheerleader -- and TMZ Sports has the first shots of the Team USA star in action!

Here's the deal ... a couple weeks ago, Simone (an H-town native) tweeted outta the blue -- "honestly how fun would it be to be an NFL cheerleader?"

The Texans cheer squad immediately stepped up -- offering her a spot as their very first "honorary" cheerleader.

The two sides hooked up -- and Biles will make her NFL debut on Sunday when the Texans play the 49ers in Houston.

Things are going so well in practice, they even initiated the gold medalist with her very own pair of "legendary red boots" on Thursday.

Simone's face says it all ... and with moves like hers, Sunday should be lit!

A home owned by Chris Bosh was the target of a police drug trafficking raid -- with the NBA star's mother named as one of the suspects ... TMZ Sports has learned.

According to official documents obtained by TMZ Sports, the DeSoto Police Dept. raided the home Friday morning after obtaining search warrant in a drug trafficking investigation.

One of the suspects listed on the search warrant is Frieda Bosh -- who allegedly lives in the home, which cops believe is owned by her son.

A rep for the DPD tells us a bunch of evidence was seized from the home -- "a large amount of drug paraphernalia was recovered consistent with narcotics trafficking."

Officials believe crack cocaine and heroin were being trafficked through the home.

We're told no one has been arrested at this point -- but that could be coming soon.

As for Chris, one law enforcement source connected to the case told us, "We don't believe Chris has any connection short of owning the house."

Story developing ...

Blake Griffin lit it up at his comedy show Thursday night in Hollywood ... but rumored GF Kendall Jenner kinda stole the show -- even though she never got onstage.

Blake -- bad knee and all -- toughed it out to raise funny money at "Comedy by Blake" ... bringing in big-name comics like John Mulaney, Norm Macdonald and Whitney Cummings for the charity event at The Avalon.

Griffin once again proved he's got jokes -- the crowd ate it up.

Cummings gave the Clippers superstar high praise for his mic work -- "Everyone's like, 'Oh, he's funny for a basketball player. I'm like, 'No, he's like funny for a comedian!'"

But none of the comics could hold a candle to Kendall ... whose sheer black top SLAYED the red carpet before the show.

Nothing funny about that joint. Just pure hotness.

FYI, a lot of Blake's NBA bros came through too ... including teammates DeAndre Jordan, Lou Williams, Wesley Johnson and Sam Dekker.