Scot Pollard

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SCOT POLLARD ULTIMATE KINGS MIX | Power Market Power Player

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Other than Vlade Divac, no big man on the Sacramento Kings spent more time guarding Shaquille O'Neal during those hotly contested Playoff series than Scot Pollard.

Pollard admitted to trying everything in the book to slow down the all-time great, telling the LA Times prior to Game 3 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals, "You have to use your fouls wisely," he said. "You have to throw different looks at him. You have to be active. You have to try to make him confused, so he's worried about the defense instead of just catching the ball and dunking on your head."

15 years later, Pollard may have had to shortly relive that nightmare matchup after Shaq posted a video of himself dunking on a friend while playing pick-up basketball.

O'Neal's current employer reshared the moment on @NBAonTNT, to which the former Kings center responded.

The Sacramento fan favorite has always had a great sense of humor and it's clear even he can look back on Shaq's unique dominance and laugh.

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Pollard Has Flashbacks After Latest Shaq Viral Video

Benedict Tagle

Scot Pollard’s young son has a blossoming basketball future. Less than a year old, the little big man slammed down a dunk on a basketball hoop in a video the former Kings fan favorite shared on Twitter.

Looking into the camera, he looks pleased, with a huge smile on his face after the big jam.

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Like Father, Like Son

Katie Cracchiolo

As everyone returned to camp, the boys were stunned to find that the girls had voted one of their own out during tribal.

“They ate one of their own,” Scot said to Kyle and Tai, “It’s beautiful.” He added that their alliance was happy because none of them went home, and Julia retained the trust of the guys by voting for Debbie.

On top of that, they were able to hang onto their immunity idols – one of which Tai handed back to Kyle when they got back to camp.

“I would love to bring camp back together,” Tai told cameras. He expressed his discomfort with the psychological warfare game Kyle and Scot played last week and wants to unite the tribe.

Scot tells Tai that he’s willing to go talk to Aubry about hiding the tools and extinguishing the group’s fire.

“I didn’t want to be that guy,” he said in his confessional, but added that he felt as though he needed to make a point – that point being he, Tai and Kyle are the tribe’s primary providers.

“We enjoy getting the wood, getting the water, all that stuff,” he told Aubry when he pulled her aside. He explained that their real frustration is with Cydney and her decision to betray them two weeks earlier when they blindsided Nick. The big man was open with Aubry, telling her that they want Cydney gone.

It’s become clear to Aubry that he’s trying to, more or less, say that if the girls turn on Cydney this week, the chaos around camp stops. And she’s having none of that.

“I’m willing to let them think I’ll play along with it,” she told viewers.

Tribe members gather yet again for another reward challenge. They are tasked with balancing ceramic pots on a beam using only one foot as leverage. Once the pots fall, they’re out.

Unlike previous reward challenges, three winners will walk away from this one. Contestants can decide to play for food, love or advantage in the game. Last man standing in each category wins.

Scot, Kyle and Michelle all choose to compete for food, and the challenge is on.

The Sacramento fan-favorite is the first to lose control of his beam in the food category, ultimately losing the challenge to Michelle.

Tai plays for advantage and wins. “That’s the best thing that could have happened for our alliance,” Scot said as they all made their way back to camp.

Aubry, Michelle and Julia see that Scot and Kyle as a pair are the biggest power threat and that they need to be split up. However, Tai won the advantage and has an idol.

“Tai is definitely a threat,” Julia said in private. “What I want to do is flush out these idols, but also stay loyal to my alliance with [Kyle] and Scot.”

She reasons with the girls that if they vote Tai, he’s either out or he plays the idol. If he plays it then Cydney will go home regardless – as the boys have expressed their desire to boot her from the game – and they guys are also down an idol.

They agree that at least one idol needs to go this week.

Last week’s idol showboat rubbed the rest of the tribe the wrong way. Knowing that Julia will likely tell the guys they plan to vote Tai, Aubry decides to take a risk by approaching Tai to persuade him to join their alliance.

“I really struggle with people taking advantage of other people,” He said, and he’s recently become more vocal about how difficult that element of the game has been for him.

Aubry knows this and tries to appeal to the compassionate side of Tai, telling him that blindsiding Kyle or Scot this week could help put an end to their antics around camp.

“My heart tells me, ‘I like that girl Aubry a lot,’” but ultimately he leaves her without a concrete answer.

When Tai returns to the beach to connect with Kyle and Scot, he tells them that he likes Aubry and wants to try and work with her.

“How about this,” Scot replies. “At the next tribal, we take Aubry out?”

It’s obvious on Tai’s face that he isn’t a big fan of this, and he begins to feel as though he’s just a pawn in Scot and Kyle’s game.

“Those two boys are running the show… and I don’t know what to do.”

This is one of the toughest physical and mental challenges yet. Contestants must use only their fingers to press against two wooden discs weighed down by ceramic pots. If they drop the discs, they’re out. Last person standing wins immunity.

Joe is the first to go, followed by Scot, Julia, Tai, Michelle and Cydney.

It’s down to Aubry and Kyle. In visible pain, the two hold on for over an hour before Aubry’s muscles finally give out, giving Kyle his first individual immunity victory.

“I have the immunity necklace,” Kyle said on the beach. “We have two hidden immunity idols, which combined make a superidol. What’s so great about the superidol is we can play it after the vote is read – and no one but the three of us knows that.”

“We need to split up Scot and [Kyle],” Aubry said to Cydney following the immunity challenge.

“I’m down for it,” Cydney agreed. “With all those idols the guys are just too powerful.”

Since Kyle won immunity, Scot is on the chopping block this week. Aubry knows it’s time to put the pressure on Tai to try and swing the vote their way.

“I think Tai is someone who wants to be true to himself,” she told cameras, “And Tai’s natural state isn’t with [Kyle] and Scot.”

She corners Tai while he’s out gathering food for camp and lets him know that she doesn’t want him gone, but that they have the numbers with Cydney, Michelle and Joe if he’s willing to blindside Scot.

“I’m really torn about this vote,” he confessed. “I’m a little afraid of that duo.” Though logically he knows they’ve upset enough people that he would have a chance of beating them when it comes time for the jury to vote in the end.

On the other hand, he would be making a huge move to shake up the game by voting for Scot.

The castaways gather around the fire and jury members arrive. Jeff kicks things off with last week’s idol showcase, asking everyone about the kind of splash that makes.

“It was almost a little bit of trash talking,” Scot said, “And we’re going to do the same thing tonight.”

Kyle and Scot make an overconfident assumption that the girls will still be stuck voting out one of their own due to the knowledge of the idols.

Aubry chimes in, saying that it’s incredibly frustrating to hear them talk that way.

“The only person who’s truly safe here is [Kyle],” added Julia. Bringing the idols to everyone’s attention last week has made the game much more interesting for the remaining tribe members, but also has everyone on their toes.

Tai remains quiet throughout the discussion at tribal, clearly torn on what he should do this week. “This is not what I do in my personal life,” he said about the boasting Kyle and Scot have done recently. “But this is war.”

The votes are in and Scot takes the most with four. He looks to Tai for the second piece of the superidol so he can stay in the game, but after an awkward minute Tai finally shakes his head in response.

The tribe spoke and the former NBA champ’s journey is over.

“We say we’re gonna do something and we do it.”

Scot now heads to Ponderosa – where jury members stay until the end of the competition. Watch as he reflects on this week’s vote, his actions leading up to it and more.

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Survivor Episode 10: End of the Road

Scot, Kyle and Nick feared an all-female alliance. Nick wasn’t particularly discrete in approaching Julia about the possibility of that happening, leaving Cydney extremely irritated and motivated to rally the girls to take Nick out.

Her plan to give Nick the boot worked, leaving Scot and Kyle stunned.

“Girl power, huh?” Tai says to the remaining ladies on their way back to camp following Nick’s departure.

“Well, the girls pulled a good one,” Scot told cameras, expressing that Nick wasn’t the only one to feel blindsided.

The men are clearly not happy with how last week’s plan collapsed beneath them, and the alliance of former Brawns is down to Scot and Kyle.

They round up Tai to discuss what when down by the fire and immunity idol strategy.

“They don’t know I have it,” Tai says about the girls.

They then decide that it’s time to strike back, and let the real game begin.

The next morning the girls wake to find that the tools they typically use to bust open coconuts have disappeared (spoiler: The guys hid the tools in an effort to make their lives more difficult).

“The main reason for sabotage is to weaken them,” Scot admits. “I’m hoping that it switches things up.”

When Debbie and Cydney figure out a way to crack coconuts without the hidden tools they make sure to vocalize how they did so with ease – meaning they are not going to let missing tools weaken them.

“So I’m listening to the ‘Oh we’re good, we got this,’” Scot tells viewers, adding that the bragging was the tipping point for him.

“Now,” he continued, “I’m steaming, so I’m going to do something stupid…” In the heat of the moment he grabbed a five-gallon jug of water and doused the tribe’s fire to nothing but ashy slush, ending any speculation as to who hid the tools and setting a new tone for the game moving forward.

Competitors are divided into two teams of four. Each team will clip onto the end of a rope, anchored on a distant log, which has been braided with the ropes of other team members. They must then work together to undo the braid and move to the other side of the anchor.

Once there they unclip and race to a chest of sandbags. They must then throw the sandbags at a series of blocks stacked on a wooden beam. The first team to clear the beam wins a feast of Chinese takeout.

“We were going to do a schoolyard pick,” Jeff says as he’s explaining the challenge. “But if you can all agree to pick your own teams, then do it right now.”

Nine castaways remain so Joe decides to sit this one out – in doing so he gets to pick the team he thinks will win before they begin. If that team is victorious he gets to join the feast, if not, then no dice. Five girls are left standing so Julia volunteers to team up with Scot, Kyle and Tai to make the numbers even.

“At this point in the game I know that pulling in Scot and [Kyle] could be very beneficial for me,” she said.

They’re off and Scot’s team takes an early lead on the braid and is first to make it to the sandbags.

Scot and Kyle knock down blocks with ease as the girls finally start catching up. The men and Julia close it out and win the feast.

“Julia and the boys won,” Aubry said, irritated at another reward challenge lost. While she notes that Julia jumped the female ship this challenge to put herself in a better position, which is part of the game, Aubry is still displeased. “She’s playing both sides… I can’t trust her as far as I can throw her.”

As the winners enjoy their takeout, the boys take an opportunity to pick Julia’s brain about the current tensions at camp.

“If you could have your way,” Kyle says to her, “What would you do? And it’s okay if we’re not in that picture, I understand.”

She explains that the boys are in that picture. For now. “Getting rid of you guys would be a dumb move on my part because then I’m going to be at the bottom of the Cydney, Joe, Debbie, Aubry chain.”

She later divulges in her confessional that taking Kyle or Scot to the end if ideal because nobody on the jury would vote for them after the way they’ve been behaving.

Everyone wakes the next morning to find that the fire had been put out again – this time at the hands of Tai – and Aubry is quick to blame Scot for using childish antics to aim votes at himself because he has an idol. So she decided that Julia must be the one to go. #Logic

Later on Debbie expresses her frustration and distaste for Scot. “I want him gone,” she said to Aubry.

“There’s no way he did that out of a temper,” she replied, letting Debbie know that he’s smart enough to know to shake things up. While she and Cydney push to vote for Julia, Debbie continues to think in the wake of her anger and frustration, also letting Julia know that she wants Scot out.

Castaways are tasked with maneuvering through a trip obstacle while strategically placing and spacing narrow blocks along a wooden beam, one at a time. Should they trip, all of their blocks will fall and they must start over.

Once they’ve completely filled the beam, they tip the first block and the whole thing must come down domino style, causing the final block at the end of the beam to hit a small platform. First contestant to complete the challenge wins immunity.

It’s speed versus precision and everyone is locked-in trying not to drop any blocks.

Kyle is the first to knock all his blocks over and is forced to start over. Scot and Tai are right behind him and must begin again. Michelle takes a huge lead as a result.

While multiple contestants have been forced to start over, Julia has slid slow and steady under the radar. She, Michelle and Debbie are now neck-in-neck for the win. Michelle finishes placing her blocks, begins the domino train and comes up short on her last two blocks, turning back to restack everything.

Kyle is next to tip his blocks and also comes up short, followed by Debbie.

Julia then goes to tip her blocks and is victorious.

After returning to camp everyone must deliberate about the upcoming vote.

“I say we split the vote between Tai and Scot,” Debbie tells the girls. “[Kyle] will expect it to be him. There’s no way the three of them have an idol.”

Cydney and Aubry become concerned about her emotionally-driven strategy. “Deb says ‘This is the plan’ right in front of Julia,” Aubry said to cameras. In private, the two agree that it may be time to let Debbie go.

As the discussion continues Julia finds an excuse to step away from the group and go find Tai, and tells all three guys about the plan. They decide Cydney’s time has come and plan on voting for her.

Julia is safe, so Cydney and Michelle ask her if she’s serious about sticking with the girls. She tells them yes and agrees to vote for Debbie.

“I have the power to send Debbie home right now and I have the power to send Cydney home right now,” Julia said. It’s up to her whether she rolls with the boys or wants to shake things up for a second week.

Neal and Nick are brought out to the tribal council circle as jury members and Jeff begins with Debbie.

She expresses her concern for the sabotage Kyle and Scot have caused this week. Aubry chimes in with the possibility of the fire and water incident being a deliberate attempt to shake things up and nothing more.

As Jeff continues to address the group Scot interrupts him, “Jeff, we could go ahead and just tell everybody what’s going to happen.”

Kyle agrees and the two proceed to reveal that Tai is safe, because he has an idol.

Jaws begin to drop as Tai shows it off to everybody. Kyle then pulls out his idol and everyone around them scrambles to figure out who they will vote for knowing that their original plan may be foiled.

“If anybody has an immunity idol and wants to play it, now would be the time to do so,” Jeff says to the group. Kyle and Scot rock, paper, scissors for Kyle’s idol, but then decide to give it to Tai, creating a superidol – which can now be played after the votes are read.

Scot and Cydney’s names are called first and neither are surprised by this. Jeff then reads the first vote for Debbie and this has the guys confused.

Julia sticks with the girls and Debbie is out.

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Survivor Episode 9: It’s A Sabotage

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Sleep Train Arena Finale Legends

Castaways are split up into two teams and will work together to transport one team member across the water on a series of platforms. Once completed, all team members will then swim out to a tower with a smaller platform. The first team to get everybody onto the tower with feet on or above the platform will win the reward.

The teams are chosen and they’re off. Scot’s team (Nick, Julia, Tai and Debbie) chooses to transport Julia across the water.

Aubry continues to fall off her posts while Scot and Nick’s strength are able to keep Julia up as they make their way to the tower.

Scot’s team takes a significant lead as both Cydney and Michelle attempt to tap in for Aubry. Julia makes it across and the crew dives into the water.

Scot, whose feet are literally larger than the base of the tower, acts as the team’s anchor as they all make their way up.

Tai is the last one to climb up the tower, while the other team still struggles to complete the first portion of the challenge.

Holding on tight, Jeff gives the countdown and Scot’s team wins the reward in the first blowout of the season.

“The other five had to go sit in purgatory and listen to us eat ice cream from 15-20 feet away,” Scot told viewers following their return to camp.

After losing the reward challenge, Kyle, Michelle, Joe, Aubry and Cydney are bitter to a certain extent.

As the winners quietly enjoy their ice cream Kyle yells over to them that they don’t need to be so shy in their victory. “I think [Kyle] thinks he’s in charge of a lot of things,” Michelle said, slightly exasperated. “Honestly, I really respected the way they handled it.”

While feasting, Scot opens up to the other castaways about his family. “My mom lives in Utah in assisted living,” he said in response to a question from Nick, adding that he father passed some time ago.

They continue this discussion and Scot explains that he makes a point to take care of his family. “We were all poor,” he said to the group, “and my brothers chose religion and family… I chose the NBA.” He adds that his family is the reason he’s on the show and his goal is to help support them any way he can.

“The reward was kind of a random group of people,” Julia told cameras, “so we couldn’t talk strategy, but it was a perfect opportunity to build bonds. I think Scot and I can work well together.”

The dawn of a new day means ice cream time is over and everyone must start looking at the bigger picture.

While the girls and Tai set out on the water for a kayak ride, Scot, Kyle and Nick take a moment to talk strategy. Scot expresses his concern about an all-female alliance forming. Kyle agrees, but Nick is skeptical.

“I don’t think it exists,” he said in his confessional.

As a result, Scot and Kyle think it’s time to take out either Debbie or Aubry.

When the girls get back Nick pulls Julia aside to catch up. “Did anything happen on the boat?” he asked.  She confirms that nothing happened and there are currently no plans for an all-girls alliance.

“Nick is the most indiscrete person on this island,” Cydney told the audience – his pulling Julia aside clearly didn’t go unnoticed.

As he walks back to camp he nods to Scot and Kyle and says they’re all good, referring to the potential of a female alliance, but Cydney is having none of it. She immediately confronts them and asks what’s going on.

“Y’all could have just asked me,” she said. “I wasn’t plotting against y’all.”

They say it didn’t have anything to do with her, though she lets them know whatever it is they’re up to looks suspect.

Immunity is back up for grabs. In this challenge competitors must balance on a narrow perch while holding onto handlebars behind their heads. If they let go or their feet come off the perch they’re out. Last man standing wins immunity.

It looks easy as everyone hops on, but the pain sets in quickly. After only five minutes fatigue is already starting to show.

Julia is the first to come down just moments before Jeff brings out an incentive to lose: food. Scot and the crew must decide whether they want to step down, relax their bodies and give up their chance for immunity to eat, or to endure the pain and keep fighting.

The spread consists of pizza, brownies, drumsticks, hotdogs and cold beverages.

“I’m taking it,” Kyle says to Scot.

The two step down alongside Joe and Michelle, and enjoy every bit of their pizza.

After 40 minutes it comes down to Tai and Cydney. Tai prevails and the rest are headed to tribal.

“So the plan for tonight is that we’re splitting the votes between Debbie and Aubry.” Nick said following the challenge. He breaks away with Aubry and lets her know that they plan to split the vote and it would work in her favor to vote for Debbie.

Cydney doesn’t appreciate Nick’s arrogance, “He’s just too big for his britches and it rubs me the wrong way.”

So she decides to chat with Debbie and Aubry about possibly blindsiding Nick. They agree that he needs to go sooner than later.

Cydney then approaches Julia and Michelle to gage where they stand with Nick. Julia seems to be in, but Michelle it still weighing her options as she feels Nick could still be helpful to her at this point.

“My best interest is to keep all the women as tight as possible,” Cydney said. Looks like the guys’ worst fear may be coming true.

Neal returns as the first member of the jury – he was pulled by the medical team during the previous episode due to an infection.

Jury members consist of castaways who have been voted out following the merge. They sit in on tribal counsel and gather information as the show continues and cast a vote at the end of the game for the sole survivor.

Nick immediately reveals the plan to split the vote that targets the former Brains Tribe member, similar to the way Peter and Liz put targets on their backs in the Brains’ first tribal weeks ago.

Aubry chimes in that the Beauties and Brawns have united, leaving her feeling stuck and unable to make a move.

“People do feel really comfortable right now,” Julia adds. “There are always opportunities for people to switch things up later on.”

When asked how you make seven people stay together like that, Scot notes that six days between tribal doesn’t help as it gives people time to overthink.

Jeff addresses Tai about whether or not idols may be played and Tai hints that a super-idol may exist, bringing everyone’s ears up and to attention. At this point the only way to know about the super-idol is to have found one immunity idol and read the instructions on pairing two together.

He tries to backtrack in his words, but now is probably just lucky to have won the challenge.

“It’s okay to be happy and sad in the same moment.”

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Survivor Episode 8: Blindside

Gondol Tribe returned from tribal counsel and Joe immediately confronts Scot about his “original plan.”

“That really confused me when you said ‘original plan,’” said Joe to the former Kings big man.

“Why is it confusing?” Scot replied. “I was just clearing it up for Julia.” To be fair, he did explicitly address Julia when he made the comment.

He tells viewers it’s time to start picking off the Brains. The former NBA champ has shown loyalty throughout the game so far and doesn’t appreciate the flip-flop mentality Joe and Aubry showed in the last episode

“You still voted for Julia,” he said to Aubry. “That’s a strange way to build trust.”

He’s referring specifically to Aubry voting for Julia, crossing it out and voting Peter. At this point Aubry knows she’s put a target on her back as well as Joe’s and it’s only a matter of time before the two are sent packing.

Over at the Chan Loh camp, Cydney notices that Neal is clearly carrying something around in his shorts pocket. She and Kyle know right away it’s an immunity idol and begin planning how they can blindside him.

They don’t make it very far as a boat arrives on shore to take them to the Gondol camp.

Scot and company are relaxing on the beach when they hear, “Ahoy!” coming from the water.

“It’s the merge!” He exclaims, as they all jump up from the sand and head towards the ocean to greet their former tribe members.

“I made it to the merge on Survivor. That’s awesome!” exclaimed Scot in his confessional. “It’s like we’re in the playoffs – it’s time to start over, refocus, hopefully my team is strong and hopefully we get a championship.”

Scot, Kyle and Cydney immediately band together to catch one another up on the happenings of their tribes.

Tai does the math and knows he needs more people in his circle than just the former members of the Beauty Tribe. “Scot is my only ally right now and he’s the most logical [one] because he knows about [my] idol.”

Nick knows he and the remaining Beauty Tribe need to align with either the Brains or the Brawns. He notes that the Brawns have an arrogance about them that the Brains likely won’t want to work with.

“I’ve learned to slow it down, read the people, let them bring you information and then you just slice them up,” he told cameras.

“The Brawns are going to be an ongoing physical threat,” Neal said. He and Nick agree that the Beauty-Brain alliance makes sense.

Nick then goes to the three remaining Brawn tribe members to get a feel for their relationship with the Beauty Tribe. Scot tells him that the three of them are tight, that he and Tai are tight and that Julia likely feels indebted to them because they saved her the previous week.

“We were open with Nick because we want him to feel comfortable,” Kyle told the camera. “Now we need him for the numbers.”

While the intention was good, Scot and Kyle may have been a little too open with Nick.

“You’ve got to wonder if Scot and [Kyle] had too much rum and the merge feast,” he said as the two divulged their knowledge of three idols.

This confidence does not resonate well with Nick, unknowingly putting Scot and Kyle near the top of his list.

The castaways compete in their first quest for individual immunity. They must balance on a small plank while holding a flat wooden disc with a ball on it.  There are three rounds in which another ball is added each time – when the balls fall off, a contestant falls off his or her beam, or uses their hands to rebalance the balls or disc they are out. The last man standing wins immunity.

Joe, Debbie and Kyle are out in the first round.

Scot wavers early but is able to maintain his balance and move on to the second round, though the big man isn’t able to hold it together much longer.

Julia, Nick and Tai make it to the final round, but Nick prevails.

Aubry and Debbie want to get Scot or Kyle out. They approach Michelle in an effort to get her vote, but she’s not sure what her best strategy move is at the moment.

In spite of Kyle and Scot’s over-confidence, Nick sees the value in keeping them around for another week, agreeing to team up with them to take Aubry out.

“The best-case scenario is Neal plays an idol because he’s paranoid,” Scot tells viewers, “But Aubry goes home anyways.”

This season has taken a toll on everyone, and most tribe members have found themselves with various infections.

As a precaution Jeff and the medical team pay a visit to the beach to check everyone out. Scot and Tai are both checked and are cleared to continue playing.

Aubry has an infection on her leg that is slightly concerning, but the doctor feels as though a round of antibiotics will be able to kick it. She remains in the game.

Neal’s infection on his knee raises some red flags as his joint has become vulnerable and is at risk of more permanent damage if it isn’t treated in the next few days.

On doctor’s orders Neal is pulled from the game, making him the second contestant this season to be medically evacuated from the island.

The remaining competitors are left on the beach, disappointed to see Neal go but thankful they are all safe.

“I made it to the merge on Survivor!”