Month: October 2020

The Los Angeles Lakers picked up a pivotal Game 4 victory over the Miami Heat in the 2020 NBA Finals on Tuesday evening. Though the game was not always aesthetically pleasing with whistles and hiccups throughout, both teams left everything on the floor, and the Lakers improved to a blistering 56-0 this season when leading after three quarters.

During the stretch run, there was plenty of drama leading up to a memorable jump shot from Anthony Davis and an eventual 102-96 victory for the Lakers to take a 3-1 lead. With that as the backdrop, here are three takeaways from what transpired, all with an eye toward Game 5 on Friday evening in Orlando.

1. The Lakers received important contributions from their supporting cast

Ultimately, Davis and LeBron James combined for 50 of the 102 points for the Lakers, and the team’s dynamic duo will garner the majority of the headlines as a result. However, it was anything but a perfect game, at least offensively, from James and Davis, and the Lakers needed quite a bit of help from their supporting cast.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has arguably been the Lakers’ third-best player in the Bubble, and he was undisputedly so on this night. The veteran shooting guard finished with 15 points and five assists in 32 minutes, making all the right plays on both ends of the floor.

First, Caldwell-Pope started hot, scoring eight of the first ten points for the Lakers to counteract a slow start from the headliners.

Then, after his scoring production slowed, Caldwell-Pope scored five enormous points in the fourth quarter, first connecting on a three-pointer to put the Lakers up five, then attacking the rim and finishing to help put more space between Los Angeles and Miami.

Though Caldwell-Pope was the most important supporting piece for Los Angeles, he wasn’t alone. Kyle Kuzma knocked down a few key jumpers, Rajon Rondo grabbed seven rebounds and dished out five assists, Danny Green found his footing throughout the game, and Alex Caruso and Markieff Morris both made key plays when needed. All told, the Lakers’ supporting players shot only 10-for-30 from three-point range, but Frank Vogel decided to go small, giving Dwight Howard only eight minutes of playing time, and that decision was rewarded by sparkling defense from small-ball lineups and just enough space to help Los Angeles snatch the victory.

2. The Heat miss Goran Dragic immensely

Though Goran Dragic was listed as doubtful and it would have taken a heroic effort for the veteran to get near the court in Game 5, his presence was deeply missed. Dragic, who revitalized his career in averaging 19.9 points per game so far in the postseason, provides the Heat with another on-ball creator that can get his own shot and set up others. While Jimmy Butler carried an immense workload in dominating Game 4, mitigating the absence of Dragic, it was exceptionally evident that Miami was one creator short in this game.

Kendrick Nunn struggled mightily, shooting 2-for-11 from the floor and missing all five of his two-point attempts. While Nunn enjoyed a strong rookie season, he was simply out of his depth in this spot, visibly forcing the action in an uncomfortable manner, and lacking in basic decision-making.

It was defensible to at least try Nunn in this spot, especially when recognizing Miami’s relatively short bench, but the Heat also didn’t get the best of Tyler Herro. To be fair, the rookie lottery pick did finish with 21 points, including 12 in the fourth quarter, but Herro’s decision-making and shot selection were also poor in this spot. Eventually, he flashed what Miami needed from a shot creation perspective down the stretch, but the Heat didn’t have the same type of engine that Dragic provides, and the Heat struggled to less than 1.05 points per possession as a result.

3. Anthony Davis had an unbelievable night

LeBron James might be the favorite for NBA Finals MVP, especially after a second half that saw him score 20 points, grab nine rebounds and dish out four assists in Game 4. With that said, Davis was arguably the best player for the Lakers, especially when taking defense into account.

Davis finished the night with nine defensive rebounds, four blocked shots and steal, anchoring the same defense that held Miami well-below its normal baseline in efficiency. For much of the night, Davis wasn’t insanely productive on the offensive end, at least by his standards, but he was absolutely everywhere on the defensive end, containing Bam Adebayo, cutting off penetration, protecting the rim, and even guarding Butler for large chunks of time.

In the end, Davis finished with a game-best +17 in a game the Lakers won by six and, while plus-minus in a single game doesn’t necessarily reflect everything that transpired, it certainly felt right in this instance.

Oh, and Davis knocked down the dagger to give the Lakers their third win of the series and place Miami firmly on the ropes at the same time.

The Lakers will aim to finish off the Heat on Friday evening in Game 5, while Miami will look to respond, especially on the offensive end, after what was a challenging loss.

The 46th season of Saturday Night Live got underway last weekend with help from Chris Rock, who served as the show’s host, and Megan Thee Stallion, who served as the musical guest for the season premiere. Safely navigating coronavirus concerns with a paid crowd to ensure New York State laws were not violated, SNL seemed to have the new season under control, but the show faces a new problem thanks to its upcoming musical guest, Morgan Wallen.

Wallen in slated to be the musical guest on the October 10 episode of SNL, but the country singer may lose that opportunity thanks to his participation in a reckless Alabama party. A news report from Tuscaloosa, AL shows Wallen at a house party with maskless individuals following a Crimson Tide football game at Bryant-Denny Stadium. A number of videos posted to TikTok and Twitter shows the country singer drinking and making out with maskless partygoers. The videos also depicts his eventful day, which includes visits to a bar and the backseat of fan’s car in addition to the house party.

Wallen’s partying could present a huge risk to the SNL crew with his upcoming performance. SNL has placed a number of rules and procedures on their 30 Rock set to prevent the spread and presence of the virus on the show, which includes requiring everyone who is not on-camera to wear a mask and conducting constant rapid testing.

(via AL.com

Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

If there’s one thing DaBaby has made clear in his musical career so far, it’s that there’s no slowing him down. The North Carolina native rarely goes more than a month without some type of musical offering, whether it be a song, an album, or a video. Keeping that streak alive, DaBaby taps into the deluxe version of his album Blame It On Baby for a new music video for the song “Practice.”

Calling on his huge squad of friends and associates, which includes his uncle, a young rapper who goes by the name of Big Caleb, and Billion Dollar Baby Entertainment rapper Stunna 4 Vegas, DaBaby and crew terrorize the streets. From cars doing donuts to $100 bills raining from the sky, the video shows DaBaby and his crew having a blast in the city.

The video arrives after DaBaby and Lil Baby announced a drive-in music festival, which is set to take place in Atlanta on October 11 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. The announcement arrived after DaBaby tried his hand at a mid-pandemic concert back in July. Despite laying out protocols that would ensure the safety of everyone in attendance, video from the concert showed that the the rules were scarcely followed. As a result, he and public officials were thrashed and condemned on social media for going through with the concert despite the obvious health risks. Perhaps DaBaby can redeem himself with the upcoming drive-in concert.

You can watch the “Practice” video above.

Johnny Nash, who was best known for his 1972 hit song “I Can See Clearly Now,” has died at the age of 80. The news was confirmed to TMZ by his son John Nash III, who told the platform that his father passed away from natural causes at his home in Houston.

Nash’s music career began in 1957 with his major-label debut single, “A Teenager Sings the Blues.” The following year, the pop and reggae singer would land his first Billboard hit thanks to a cover of Doris Day’s “A Very Special Love.” In 1965, Nash released his highest-charting single to date with “Let’s Move and Groove Together,” which entered the top five on the BillboardUS R&B charts. He later moved to Jamaica with Arthur Jenkins and manager Danny Sims to form the JAD Records in 1967. Five years later, Nash released his most successful single, “I Can See Clearly Now.”

Aside from his musical career, Nash also had had a successful sideline as an actor. One of his major acting roles came in 1959 when he took the lead role as Spencer Scott in Take a Giant Step. The film, which was directed by Philip Leacock, was one of the first films about a black family written by a black writer.

(via TMZ)

For the second time in three years, the Seattle Storm have swept their way to a WNBA championship. The Storm capped off the WNBA’s Bubble in Bradenton, Fla. with an emphatic, 92-59 win over the Las Vegas Aces on Tuesday night, bringing this season to an end and giving Seattle the latest bit of hardware to toss into its trophy case.

Seattle entered Game 3 looking every bit the juggernaut it is, picking up back-to-back double-digit wins in the series behind Sue Bird’s brilliance as a floor general and the team’s bevy of ways to attack the Aces — Breanna Stewart was magnificent, as were Jewell Loyd, Alysha Clark, and Natasha Howard. On Tuesday, that formula proved fruitful once again.

Things stayed pretty close through the first two quarters. Despite the fact that Stewart (who scored 11 in the half) picked up her third personal foul with 7:13 left in the second and spent the rest of the frame on the bench, Seattle was able to take a 43-34 lead into the locker room. Las Vegas’ A’ja Wilson played like an MVP, scoring 14 points and pulling down four rebounds through the first two quarters, but Loyd picked up the slack while Stewart was on the bench, scoring 10 points and pulling in three rebounds.

And then, the avalanche came, and Las Vegas found itself so far behind the eight ball that the fourth quarter ended up being a mere formality. Seattle started the third on a 12-2 run, coming out of the locker room on fire and creating a cushion that ended up making things seem inevitable well before the final buzzer went off. The offense was crisp, the defense put the clamps on the Aces, and the Storm saw out an absolutely dominant 32-14 edge in the frame.

In the midst of it all, Stewart etched her name in the WNBA’s record book. Seattle followed an Aces miss by pushing the ball up the floor, with Stewart putting her foot on the gas and getting to the bucket unimpeded. Loyd made a spectacular pass, and because of that, Stewart set a record with her sixth-straight 20+ point game in a Finals game.

Seattle managed to lead by as many as 35 en route to the victory. Stewart was tremendous, scoring 26 points on 10-for-14 shooting and reeling in four rebounds in 25 minutes of work. Loyd’s 19 points, nine rebounds, four assists, and two steals stood out, while Jordin Canada scored 15 off the bench and Clark pitched in 10 with seven rebounds and five assists. Bird didn’t fill it up, scoring five points, but led the game with seven assists. On the other side of things, Wilson’s 18 points, six rebounds, and four assists led the way.

With the win, the Storm picked up their fourth title in franchise history. This mark ties them with the Minnesota Lynx and the now-defunct Houston Comets for the most in WNBA history. And while they’ll deservedly take a whole lot of time to celebrate this accomplishment, with how incredibly good this team is, Seattle will have aspirations of making it back to the promised land next season, whenever that may come.

This past weekend, Megan Thee Stallion appeared on Saturday Night Live, where she served as a musical guest for the show’s 46th season premiere. She preformed two songs, “Savage” and her newly-released single, “Don’t Stop,” while also contributing to a skit entitled “Hello.” While her appearance was newsworthy in itself, it’s the impactful message Megan made during her “Savage” performance that made headlines. She used her performance to advocate for the protection of black women and call out Kentucky’s attorney general Daniel Cameron for his refusal to arrest the police officers involved in the murder of Breonna Taylor. A speech by activist Tamika Mallory directed at Cameron played in the background, in which Mallory said, “Daniel Cameron is no different than the sellout negroes that sold our people into slavery.”

Stopping by Fox News for an interview Tuesday afternoon, Cameron responded to Megan, calling her comments “disparaging” and “disgusting.”

Let me just say, I agree that we need to love and protect our Black women. There’s no question about that … but the fact that someone would get on national television and make disparaging comments about me because I’m simply trying to do my job is disgusting … At the end of the day, my responsibility is to provide facts and truth and represent and stand up for justice. I think what you say there, in that display, is someone who instead wants to fashion facts to narrative; that narrative is simply not true in this particular case with Ms. Taylor. Again, it is a tragedy what happened to her.

He further explained that her comments “do not hurt” as it’s something he’s dealt with in the past.

The fact that a celebrity that I’ve never met before wants to make those sorts of statements — they don’t hurt me, but what it does is it exposes the type of intolerance that people, and the hypocrisy because obviously people preach about being tolerant. You’ve seen a lot of that from the left about being tolerant. But what you saw there is inconsistent with tolerance. In fact, it’s her espousing intolerance because I decided to stand up for truth and justice.

You can watch Cameron’s response in the video above.

Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

After keeping fans on hold for over a year, 21 Savage finally delivered his Savage Mode II project with Metro Boomin last week. One of the most surprising aspects of the album is the presence of Morgan Freeman, who serves as a narrator for the project, providing introductions and explanations for many of the album’s themes. In a recent interview with GQ, the actor explained why he took the role on Savage Mode II.

What happens is you sort of get locked into a position […] Henry Fonda was in it, Spencer Tracy was in it, James Stewart was in it, even though he played a couple of bad guys. You don’t really don’t want to be cast into a mold, but after a few years, it’s bound to happen. Every [offer] that’s outside of what you consider [your] mold is fun to do. I got to jump at it.

Aside from his “Snitches & Rats” interlude, Freeman soon realized that he wouldn’t be as much of a bad guy on the album as he expected to be. “I read the copy and was like, ‘Wow, there’s some wisdom in here,” he said, then broke down what he perceived as the album’s themes. “It’s basically saying, ‘Don’t suffer fools and when you want something go for that,’” adding, “If [Savage’s music] is a young people thing, then this is stuff they need to be aware of. So it’s a good thing to do.”

Check out our review for Savage Mode II here.

Savage Mode II is out now via Epic Records and Republic Records. Get it here.

(via GQ)

The Ottawa Senators sat at No. 3 in the 2020 NHL Draft on Tuesday evening thanks to a trade the organization made with the San Jose Sharks. Following a year in which they finished seventh in the Atlantic Division, the Senators got to use this pick, along with their own pick that sat at No. 5, to load up after a down year.

When their time came to make a selection, the Senators kicked things over to a special guest. Alex Trebek, the indomitable host of Jeopardy! and a graduate of the University of Ottawa, took to his podium to announce that the team had opted to draft German winger Tim Stutzle.

Adding the Jeopardy! music as Stutzle celebrated after the announcement is, admittedly, a very nice touch to the whole thing. Trebek has appeared at Senators games in the past, although this is on a bit of a different level, as he’s doing the franchise a solid while simultaneously making the biggest moment of a young hockey player’s career a little more special. The only downside for Stutzle, in my opinion, is that the roles should probably be reversed during media availabilities for the remainder of his career, and he should only be able to respond to the media in the form of a question.

Last month, Rolling Loud and Twitch joined forces to debut Loud Stream, their first virtual festival of the summer. The event was an understandable compromise that allowed the live music experience to continue as the coronavirus pandemic raged, destroying outdoor festivals for the foreseeable future. The fest was a success, and now Rolling Loud and Twitch have announced they’re doing a second one at the end of October.

The upcoming festival will return with livestream performances and interviews, as well as gaming, music commentary, and freestyles from a number of acts. Rolling Loud also promised to take part in the Halloween festivities thanks to a “bevvy of rap frights,” on-stage decorations, and a chance for fans at home who dress up for Halloween to be featured on the festival’s stream.

Rolling Loud’s latest virtual festival announcement serves as the second of three upcoming festival the duo has planned together, with the third set to be announced at a later date. The first Loud Stream festival saw 4.7 million total live views on Rolling Loud’s Twitch channel, with fans watching performances from Swae Lee, Ski Mask the Slump God, NLE Choppa, Polo G, and more.

For more info on the second installment of Loud Stream, check out Rolling Loud’s website here.

NLE Choppa is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

There’s a new behind-the-scenes book on Game of Thrones called Fire Cannot Kill a Dragon, which features Entertainment Weekly writer James Hibbert talking to, among others, author George R.R. Martin. Some of the bigger tidbits were revealed before its publication; for one thing, we learned about his least favorite scene in the show based on his books. (It’s almost certainly not what you think.) But as per IndieWire (by way of Insider) now we know Martin’s stance on one of the more divisive parts of the pilot — a scene that did not follow the one in the novel.

The scene in question was the wedding night between Daenerys and Khal Drogo. In the book, they make consensual love. In the show they do not. Instead Daenerys is assaulted — one of many such occasions over the show’s run.

“Why did the wedding scene change from the consensual seduction scene to the brutal rape of Emilia Clarke?” Martin asks Hibbert. “We never discussed it. It made it worse, not better.”

In the Game of Thrones novel, Khal recognizes Daenerys is nervous on their wedding night, and after gently wiping away her tears and even having her unbraid his hair, she gives permission for them to consummate the marriage. But on the show, Khal strips her clothes off, bends her over while she cries, and the scene cuts to the morning after, leaving a much to the imagination but not that much.

Showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss did try to defend the switch. “Here’s a girl who is absolutely terrified of this barbarian warlord she’s being married off to, it’s the last thing in the world she wants, yet somehow by the end of this wedding night she seems to be in a completely joyful sexual relationship with him,” Benioff said. “It didn’t entirely work for us.”

Weiss also points out that subsequent encounters between Khal and Daenerys are in fact assaults. They didn’t like going back and forth between two very different characterizations. “In the second episode she has to go back to the less consensual, rougher relationship,” Weiss said. “In the book that works, but we just didn’t have that amount of time and access to the character’s mind. It turns too quickly. It was something the actors themselves felt wasn’t gelling.”

Since the Game of Thrones pilot nearly a decade ago, there’s been much more focus on depictions of sexual assault in movies and on television, which was done far more cavalierly back then. Even when it was on, the show was criticized for too often showing sexual attacks on women.

(Via Insider and IndieWire)