Wednesday Hot Clicks: Katie Muirhead; Isaiah Thomas Bows Out of Paul Pierce's Night

The Truth gets the spotlight to himself in Boston, but it's a shame he couldn't share it with IT.

Author:
Jon Tayler
Publish date:
Jan 17, 2018

IT defers to PP

A few weeks ago, a minor controversy erupted in Boston when the Celtics announced that they would be producing and airing a tribute video for Isaiah Thomas, late of Boston and currently with Cleveland, when he returns to TD Garden on Feb. 11. No problem, right? Well, that tribute would've coincided with an already planned retirement ceremony for Celtics legend Paul Pierce, who made no secret of his displeasure with the team for honoring IT on what was nominally his night. And after some heated internet takes about the whole thing, Thomas has now said he'd rather let the Truth cook on his own.

Speaking as SI's third-biggest Celtics fan (behind your usual Hot Clicks provider Andy Gray and soccer editor Avi Creditor), I have to say that, as much as I love Pierce, it's a bummer that he couldn't share the spotlight with a deserving player in Thomas. I understand and respect Pierce's desire to have the night to himself, especially given everything he did for the franchise. But while IT wasn't the Truth, he was still a great and important player despite his short tenure in Boston (no pun intended), and it would've been nice to see him get recognized for his contributions. Would it really have killed Pierce to step aside for a few minutes? Either way, I'm sure the team will find an appropriate way to honor Thomas, even if another former Celtic thinks he doesn't deserve it.

The NBA: It's mad petty!

Speaking of NBA pettiness

On Monday night, the Warriors went to Cleveland and once again beat up the Cavaliers. All good for Golden State, right? Then they went to their locker rooms and found that the Cavs had pulled a Red Auerbach on them and cut off the hot water in the showers. That's great hustle, Cleveland.

Why is the NBA so mad right now, though?

A night after the Clippers and Rockets had a locker-room showdown, the Magic and Timberwolves got into it on Tuesday night, this time with Orlando's Arron Afflalo and Minnesota's Nemanja Bjelica battling for scrub supremacy. And by the usual lame standards of an NBA fight, this one featured some real scrapping, with Afflalo landing some solid haymakers before Bjelica put him in a headlock. For one night at least, the NBA had the NHL beat at its own game.

Katie Muirhead is an Australian model who was part of SI Swimsuit's open casting call for this year's issue. Did she make the cut? Well, you'll just have to see for yourself next month, won't you? Either way, she's the Lovely Lady of the Day; you can check out a full gallery of her shots right here.

God bless Shaq and Charles Barkley

Behold, the world's worst Milly Rock

Odds and Ends

Our Connor Grossman sat down for dinner with the First Couple of competitive eating ... RIP to Celtics legend and Olympian Jo Jo White ... Here are the athletes who are the same size as Donald Trump, based on his wildly dubious physical results ... Bengals fans are at it again with the charitable donations, this time sending money to Blake Bortles' cause as a thank you for knocking the Steelers out of the playoffs ... Sean Payton's "Skol" taunt during Saints-Vikings backfired in a giant way ... The former bassist for the Ataris apparently ran a real-estate scam that cost 100,000 people $27 million? ... Deadspin's Dave McKenna wrote a great goodbye to one-armed D.C. hoops legend Gary Mays ... Shouts to this dude trying to get past an airline baggage fee by wearing layer upon layer of his clothes to make his bag weigh less (though it didn't work at all) ... Your NHL All-Star Game entertainment will be Kid Rock, for some reason.

Meteor video? Meteor video!

Please make this British rapper the weatherman for every TV station

This won't make the highlight reel

Good dog? Good dog.

It's Wednesday, y'all

We're halfway home.

Email Jon (jon.tayler@simail.com) with any feedback or ping him on Twitter. Click here for previous editions of Hot Clicks. Visit our Extra Mustard Page throughout each day for more offbeat sports stories. Also check out the SwimDaily Page for the latest updates and Instagram pictures of models who have appeared in our issues.