Month: October 2020

LeBron James can be the best player in the world at any given moment. The Lakers star might not be quite the same athletic specimen that flew around the court, dunked everything possible, and made entire teams bend to his will as he was in his absolute prime, but he’s still LeBron James. That means that he can still lead teams to wins on his own. In Game 3 of the NBA Finals, he certainly tried with an impressive 25 points, 10 rebounds, and eight assists performance (with eight turnovers), but it wasn’t enough though to overcome Jimmy Butler’s 40 point triple-double as Miami picked up a 115-104 win to make it a 2-1 sereis.

As the Heat dribbled out the clock with victory in hand they allowed themselves a 24-second violation. Before the violation could occur LeBron James, Rajon Rondo, and Anthony Davis began to walk off the floor. Once they realized that the game technically wasn’t over most of them returned to the floor. James did not. This actually resulted in a bit of a delay to the game ending as the Lakers had to scramble to get a 5th player on the floor — hello, Jared Dudley Finals minutes — so they could allow the clock to expire. James simply continued on to the locker room.

It is a moment that will garner plenty of discussion from talking heads, but maybe he just thought the game was over right? After the game, James was asked about it and he confirmed that he did think the game was over, but he also mentioned that a part of his walk off was his frustration with the loss.

“When you walked off the court with about 10 seconds left was that frustration or did you think the game was over?”

“Both.”

This really isn’t that huge a deal. It’s not like the Heat had just finished off the Lakers to win the series and James was escaping congratulatory handshakes. Players frequently leave losses without speaking to one another and James choosing to leave early, while not the best look in the world, is really minor in terms of ways to react poorly to a situation.

Of course, this is LeBron James we’re talking about here and everything he does is under a microscope. He has to be aware that every single decision he makes is going to become a talking point and a potential drama startup. James appears to have taken care of it pretty quickly by giving a clear “both” and nothing else about the walk off, but Miami, a team perpetually searching for fuel, will certainly have noticed it.

Jimmy Butler ensured that we at least get two more games of the NBA Finals with his 40-point, 13-assist, 10-rebound performance in Game 3 against the Lakers on Sunday. It was a Herculean effort from the Heat star, one they desperately needed with Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic both still out with injuries.

Butler had 10 of his 40 in the fourth quarter, including eight in the closing four minutes to keep the Lakers at bay as they pulled away for an 11-point win. As Butler walked to the bench after his final bucket to ice things, he was yelling “they’re in trouble!” at his teammates to their delight, and while it’s not out of character for Butler to talk his talk after a game like that, it did raise some eyebrows.

After the game, he was asked about that very moment by the NBA TV crew on site, and he explained that he was simply repeating something LeBron James told him in the first half.

I didn’t think it got much spicier than yelling “they’re in trouble” as a pretty strong underdog (even still with a 2-1 series deficit and injury questions) but it’s that much better that he was barking the same thing LeBron tried to tell him in the first half as the Lakers chipped away at Miami’s advantage.

We knew Butler and the Heat would fight in this series no matter what, but not too many thought they’d get a game without Adebayo and Dragic. Now that they have, with one or both of those players potentially returning to the court soon, things are very interesting and the chatter will only pick up if Miami can come out firing again in Game 4.

The performance Jimmy Butler put on in Game 3 of the NBA Finals was masterful. Without Bam Adebayo or Goran Dragic it seemed like the Lakers were assured a 3-0 lead in the series. What nobody accounted for was Butler playing arguably the best basketball of his entire life.

Butler finished Game 3 with 40 points, 13 assists, and 11 rebounds and, as cliche as it sounds, left absolutely everything on the floor. Every time Butler hit the floor you weren’t sure if he was going to get back up, not just because of the beating he was taken every time he drove to the rim, but because sheer exhaustion was surely going to get to him first. Butler pushed through, though, and managed to send Miami to Game 4 down just 2-1 with an opportunity to tie the series up.

The entire NBA world watched Butler’s performance and let’s just say they couldn’t help but be impressed with what he brought.

If there is one thing players respect above all else it’s someone that is willing to do everything to grind out a win. Even a couple of Butler’s former teammates in Dwyane Wade and Joel Embiid had to chime in — as did Dragic and other current teammates on seeing the Heat’s leader will them to a win.

Other players across the league wanted to put some respect on Butler’s name after his reputation got dragged through the mud for how he left Minnesota and Philadelphia.

Butler’s performance in the bubble has done wonders for his reputation. He came into this season being seen as someone that is a bit of a headache, but after an NBA Finals performance like that he is going to be viewed as someone that is worth every single headache, he brings because he’ll lay it all on the line for a win when it matters most.

The Miami Heat entered Game 3 as 9.5-point underdogs to the Los Angeles Lakers as they were once again going to face the Lakers down a pair of their stars, as Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic missed their second straight game due to injuries.

Prior to Game 2, Jimmy Butler asserted that he would have to have a greater impact on the offense than he’s ever had, not just in his time in Miami but in his career, and in Game 3 he proved that to be the point in a spectacular and gutty 40-point, 13-assist, and 10-rebound triple-double to will the Heat to a 115-104 win and pull them to within 2-1 in the Finals.

It was an all-time performance from a player who has made a habit of fourth quarter takeovers in the Bubble, and with the potential for Miami to get some of its starpower back for Game 4, his performance in Game 3 makes things very interesting moving forward. Here are our takeaways from a stunning Game 3.

1. Jimmy Butler is an absolute dog

Butler played 45 minutes in Game 3, only sitting for a brief period in the first quarter and one minute to start the fourth, and from the outset he had his imprint on everything the Heat were doing. He was terrific all game, but it was his play in the fourth quarter that will be what’s remembered most, as he had 10 of his 40 in the final period, eight of which in the final four minutes after L.A. had cut the lead to six.

No one expected anything less from Butler in terms of effort, but few predicted that he’d be able to execute as well as he did. Butler has always prided himself on his work ethic and ability to play harder than his opponent, but on this night he wasn’t just the hardest worker, he looked like the most skilled. Butler was a maestro offensively, which isn’t something you often hear about the All-Star. He was a hammer when he needed to be, bludgeoning the Lakers defense with drives to create contact and get to the line 14 times, but he also showed the finesse and precision that isn’t always thought of in Butler’s game. He carved into the lane to fling passes out to the perimeter to set up shooters — sometimes to a frustrating degree given he would pass up apparent open layups — and he orchestrated the offense to get just about whatever he wanted in terms of matchup, something we’re used to seeing from his counterpart in LeBron James.

It was as good an individual effort as you will see in a Finals game and that he was able to help the Heat to a win under the most improbable of circumstances will only grow the legend of Jimmy Buckets.

2. Kelly Olynyk: Difference Maker

Prior to the series many, including myself, wondered if this would be the series where Erik Spoelstra had to turn to Kelly Olynyk for major minutes, and in Game 3 we saw the benefits of doing so. Olynyk came off the bench to give Miami 17 points and seven rebounds in 31 minutes of play, and even came up with a pair of steals — including a critical one late in transition as LeBron James brought the ball up. While Olynyk isn’t the best defender and is someone Miami wants to avoid ending up on Anthony Davis and LeBron too often in isolation, he opens up their offense in a way that no other big on the Heat roster can.

Olynyk is a legit threat from deep as a 40 percent shooter on the season, and in Game 3 he was 3-of-5 from downtown and 5-of-9 from the field.

His presence helps to push L.A. to playing small-ball — Howard was the only center to play in this one and played just 15 minutes — and Miami took advantage of those small-ball lineups by drawing Davis out of the paint or attacking Markieff Morris and Kyle Kuzma in switches. We’ll have to see if Olynyk can continue this level of play for the rest of the series, but expect his minutes to be extended, certainly until Adebayo returns, and even after he figures to get the most burn off the bench until Spo sees some adjustment he doesn’t like from the Lakers.

Tyler Herro’s 17 points will, rightfully, get headlines as he came up big again late alongside Butler, but that’s what we’ve come to expect from the rookie swingman — who also needed 18 shots to get there. Olynyk’s production, however, is a much bigger deal because that’s the third option that Miami needs with their top guys out and in Game 3 he gave them exactly what they needed.

3. The Lakers need to clean things up

It was a disastrous game for the Lakers, who seemed unable to match Miami’s effort in Game 3 and were simply too sloppy to have a chance. They opened the game with turnover after turnover, finishing with 19 on the game to help fuel the Heat offense with transition opportunities. Anthony Davis and LeBron James combined for 13 of those, with James having eight by himself, in a horrible performance from the Lakers two top stars. Davis finished with 15 points, five rebounds, and three assists in 33 minutes of play, battling foul trouble and just not looking like the assertive, dominant force we saw in the first two games.

James had 25 points, 10 rebounds, and eight assists, so his numbers were certainly there, but his impact simply wasn’t what we’re accustomed to, in large part because of the turnovers. Miami did a great job to keep the Lakers stars off of the free throw line, particularly late, as they had just 11 combined and Davis accounted for just two of those. It was, for lack of a better word, an unacceptable performance from Davis in a game where the Heat didn’t have anyone to match up with him one on one, but did a great job of sending timely doubles and pushing him off his spot so he didn’t catch the ball with good positioning.

The Lakers got some excellent bench contributions from Morris and Kuzma, who had 19 points each and effectively kept L.A. in the game with their shooting, but they were the lone bright spots in an otherwise dim night for a Lakers team that had a chance to put this series to bed. It looked as though the Lakers — like, admittedly, many of us — felt like all they needed to do was flip the switch and they could erase any Miami lead with their talent advantage. However, Miami showed they still have plenty of talent to go along with their will down the stretch, and now the Lakers have let the Heat not only get a win but build confidence going forward with the potential bump of the return of one of their top players.

I stopped watching The Walking Dead years ago. I’d like to think it’s because I was simply burnt out on zombie apocalypses – that I had truly invested in all the characters and storylines of the show’s wild first few seasons – but the truth is, I checked out after Glenn Rhee met the end of that barbed bat. Comic book canon aside, Steven Yeun deserved better than that gruesome, shock-value ending, which is why it’s high time he’s getting the attention he deserves.

Before I officially launch Yeun’s 2021 Oscar campaign for his upcoming A24 drama, Minari, I want to offer a proviso for this headline-making argument. Obviously, everyone on The Walking Dead is/was talented, and Danai Gurira became a damn Dora Milaje in the Marvel Universe, so she clearly has nothing to prove to anyone. But Yeun’s final moments on the dystopian series were so brutal, so cruel, it makes his post-AMC success so much sweeter – and worth celebrating.

Yeun, a South Korean American actor, spent six years crafting a well-rounded Asian lead on TV. Glenn Rhee may have been introduced to fans of the show as a bumbling kid who struggled to romance the ladies and barely managed to survive hordes of the undead, but he grew to become a leader, a different representation of what masculinity could look like on TV. Glenn was strong, and emotional, fiercely loyal, and driven by an unwavering set of morals that formed the heart of the show for legions of fans. And because this show was adapted from comic book lore, we appreciated those traits because we knew his time on the show was limited.

In the end, Yeun did what he could to dignify the end of Glenn’s character arc, one that toyed with audiences by teasing his death a few episodes earlier and then letting the character live – only to be beaten in front of his wife and closest friends. But getting killed off of the then-hit AMC series might’ve been the best thing for Yeun’s career. That’s because the actor, who just signed a producing deal with Amazon, has found new paths to further Asian representation – on TV and in film – since he said goodbye to the show that introduced him to American audiences.

He starred opposite Samara Weaving in Joe Lynch’s Mayhem right after his TWD tenure ended. It’s a stylized sci-fi action flick about a virus that infects a high-profile law firm and causes employees, including Yeun’s Derek, to go on a blood-soaked rampage. A darkly-twisted social satire, the film gave Yeun the chance to play a deranged action hero, a Tarantino-like renegade whose quest for revenge ultimately leaves us with a message about taking control over our lives and our actions.

He then went on to work with Oscar-winning auteur Bong-Joon Ho on his Netflix-backed sci-fi drama Okja. A surprisingly heartbreaking action-adventure flick about a young girl’s connection to a genetically modified super pig, Okja harnessed a diverse cast to deliver a timely allegory on consumerism and climate change. And though it’s most eccentric characters – Jake Gyllenhaal’s neurotic zoologist and Tilda Swinton’s dual role as a pair of CEO twin sisters out to make a profit – took up most of the spotlight, it’s Yeun’s K, an activist and rebel, who fuels much of the action. Serving as both a translator and instigator of a larger plot to take down a seedy corporation, Yeun’s character represents the idea of resistance and all the problems that can entail and the actor brings him to life with a bit of charm and a sincerity that matches Ho’s tone and gives fans a hopeful ending.

Just as surreal, though not as neatly ended as Ho’s drama is the Boots Riley film Sorry To Bother You, another Yeun-starring vehicle that trades heavily in symbolism and sports a promising young cast doing thought-provoking work. Lakeith Stanfield is the star of this thing, playing a down-on-his-luck telemarketer manipulating his “white voice” to get ahead, but even when Yeun is only supporting the action, by instigating a rebellion at the workplace or posing as the third corner of a romantic love triangle between Stanfield’s Cash and Tessa Thompson’s Detroit, he’s still stealing screen-time. While Cash is hesitant, unsure, and often unwilling to challenge the status quo, Yeun’s revolutionary, a guy named Squeeze, clings obsessively to the cause. He’s seen as one of the villains throughout much of the film (a man trying to force his beliefs on others) but his radical nature is justified in the end, which makes Yeun’s quieter performance here feel even more pronounced.

But, possibly the best example of Yeun’s growing on-screen charisma since his Walking Dead days is his 2018 psychological thriller, Burning. In it, Yeun plays Ben, a wealthy, mysterious young man who, once again, becomes part of a love triangle. He’s not the main character. That role goes to Yoo Ah-in who plays Lee Jong-su, a poor kid obsessed with his own manic pixie dream girl, Hae-mi (Jeon Jong-su). But Ben’s arrival is what speeds up this twisted slow burn, transforming it from a tragic story of unrequited love and commentary on the class divide to something darker.

Ben is the guy she tells you not to worry about. Rich, good-looking, affable, and unknowable, he meets Hae-mi under strange circumstances and quickly becomes an intractable part of her life. And we don’t notice or choose not to notice, his odd quirks, his behavioral red flags, because Yeun plays him as an easy-going drifter (a kid with too much money and not enough real-world experience). He’s the ignorant, well-meaning elite, and Jong-su’s increasing jealousy towards him only manages to put him on more of a pedestal. Until Hae-mi goes missing, and suddenly every mannerism and allusion Yeun’s quietly played up for the camera comes into focus. It’s a sinister switch-up, one that adds a wholly different meaning to the film, and it wouldn’t have landed quite the same if Yeun wasn’t so damn suave on screen.

Which brings us to his latest film, Minari. (Well, technically we’ve slid past his voiceover work on shows like Tuca & Bertie and Final Space but just know, he’s good at that too.) A film written and directed by Lee Isaac Chung, Minari follows a Korean-American family that moves to a tiny town in Arkansas in pursuit of the American Dream. Yeun plays Jacob, the patriarch who leads his family on this adventure, one that soon becomes a struggle plagued by poverty and racism and the side effects of culture shock. It’s a moving portrait of the immigrant experience and Yeun’s already received praise for his performance in it, which means the curse may finally be lifted.

I’m talking about the curse we’ve all been suffering under that’s apparently blinded us to just how talented Steven Yeun actually is. I’ve only seen the trailer for Minari. I honestly have no idea if the Oscars will even happen this year. And yet I know one thing with absolute certainty: if Steven Yeun doesn’t take home a gold statue, at least over Zoom, then the culture is doomed and the asteroid can just hit now.

Too much?

A storyline that from Robert Kirkman’s source material that we have been teasing for almost three years now has finally arrived. In 2018, I predicted that the Commonwealth storyline would be teased in the 11th season finale, so I was off by one season. However, in what was supposed to be the 10th season finale, we finally got a glimpse of the Commonwealth, or at least a group of Commonwealth soldiers.

It comes in the final seconds of “A Certain Doom,” the 16th episode of the 10th season, and the episode originally designed to be the season finale before the pandemic rearranged the series’ schedule. Eugene, Yumiko, Princess, and Ezekiel travel to West Virginia to meet Stephanie, a woman with whom Eugene has been communicating over the radio for quite some time. They arrive late, however, and Stephanie is nowhere to be seen. Eugene makes the assumption that she has left, but redoubles his efforts to find her (because he’s that “horny,” Princess jokes), which is when a group of Commonwealth soldiers pop out and surround Eugene and Company.

Did Stephanie even exist? Or was she just a character played by someone to lure newcomers out to West Virginia to be abducted by Commonwealth soldiers? That is unclear, but I can say that the Commonwealth is a huge community of 50,000+ people, who live very similarly to the way they lived before the pandemic. They have electricity, and sports teams, a military, and rock concerts, etc. They function as a fairly normal society within the zombie apocalypse.

If it sounds too good to be true, it’s because it mostly is. The Commonwealth is a highly functioning society, but the community has also set up a caste system, of sorts, based on the professions/jobs of those within the community before the zombie apocalypse. So, despite everything else that’s going on in the world, lawyers, doctors, entertainers, etc., are still wealthier than everyone else and treated as such. In other words, the Commonwealth had a chance to start all over again, and in most respects, it appears that it just continued the same old ways as before.

Is the Commonwealth related to Rick Grimes’ whereabouts or the CRM? That is unclear. Thanks to The World Beyond, we now know that CRM stands for Civic Republic Military, but we do not know what the Civic Repubic is or where they have taken Rick Grimes. The Commonwealth and the Civic Republic are likely not related, and it’s still very unclear as to whether the events of The Walking Dead will ever intersect with Rick Grimes again, even in the movies.

It is worth noting, however, that The Commonwealth storyline is the last of Robert Kirkman’s source material before he finally ends the story. We will, however, get to know The Commonwealth very well over the next 30 episodes and two years.

It’s been over a month since Chadwick Boseman suddenly passed away, having kept his battles with colon cancer a secret from everyone but close family and friends. Tributes and stories continue to pour in, the latest from Boseman’s two brothers, one of whom told The New York Times about what would prove to be their final conversation.

Derrick Boseman, who at 54 is his oldest brother, is a pastor, and their last chat perhaps inevitably wound up being spiritual. He said Chadwick was starting to lose faith that a recovery was possible, telling him, “Man, I’m in the fourth quarter, and I need you to get me out of the game.” That’s when Derrick realized “that he was tired. He was ready to go.” So Derrick changed up his game. “When he told me that, I changed my prayer from, ‘God heal him, God save him,’ to ‘God, let your will be done,’” he said. “And the next day he passed away.”

Boseman’s other brother, Kevin, 48 and a dancer in the stage version of The Lion King, wanted to tell people what it was like to know the real him. “I have been trying to remember Chad and not Chadwick,” Kevin told the Times. “And there’s just been a lot of Chadwick in the air.”

Kevin recalled letting the future Black Panther star stay with him in his Brooklyn apartment when the latter first moved to New York City, hoping to make it. Their father at one point expressed concern that success was proving elusive. “A lot of people think making it means becoming an A-list movie star,” Kevin said. “I didn’t force that. I just knew that if Chad wanted to work in the arts, he would find a way and take care of himself.”

Turns out all Chadwick had to was work hard and be patient. “He always did his best,” Kevin added. “His best was incredible.”

(Via The New York Times)

It’s a forgotten fact that before he became president, Donald J. Trump was a major Hollywood star. Well, not really. He’s played himself in movies like Home Alone 2, Zoolander, Two Weeks Notice, Woody Allen’s Celebrity, and the Bo Derek-Anthony Quinn rom-com Ghosts Can’t Do It. He’s done better on television, not only with The Apprentice but for producing the televised Miss Universe competition. It’s for the latter that scored him a much-coveted star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Alas, said monument has been repeatedly vandalized and destroyed since he rebranded as a divisive politician. And its most recent destruction came at the hands of a person dressed as the Incredible Hulk.

This comes from The Los Angeles Times, which notes that, on early Friday, mere hours after news broke that the president and First Lady had tested positive for COVID-19, someone cosplaying as the largest and angriest Avenger took a pickaxe to the Donald’s star. No arrests were made, but whoever did it may be in hot water: Because the damage to the plaque exceeded $3,000, the crime is bumped up from a mere misdemeanor to a felony.

Trump received the star in 2007, and in the last four years it has undergone numerous attacks. One vandal in 2016 went at it with a sledgehammer, and another, two years later, also went with a pickaxe. Despite being a frequent target of people angry over, say, his endangering of Secret Service agents for a photo op, the star will not be removed. According to the rules laid out by the chamber that oversees the plaques, “Any star, which is vandalized or destroyed, no matter which honoree it belongs to will be replaced by the Hollywood Historic Trust, a non-profit, non-partisan group.”

In other words, we’re stuck with the Trump star, if perhaps not Trump the commander-in-chief.

(Via The Los Angeles Times)

The Atlanta Hawks are typically among the teams that host a game on Martin Luther King Jr. Day each January, as the Hawks pay tribute to the Atlanta native who shaped and led the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s. With the league beginning to take an even greater position in the fight for social and racial justice, King’s legacy looms large, and next season the Hawks will pay tribute to him more regularly than just on the third Monday in January.

On Sunday, just before tipoff of Game 3 of the NBA Finals, the Hawks unveiled their newest City Edition uniforms, which replace their ATL lettering on the front with MLK, with gold piping on the black uniforms.

The Hawks announced that “proceeds from the sale of this jersey will go to support economic empowerment programs for Atlanta’s communities of color,” as they call fans to action to carry King’s legacy forward and do their part. The Hawks offered a list of activities for fans to do, such as becoming a poll worker, volunteering for an organization fighting for racial equality, and more as part of an “Earn These Letters” campaign that pushes fans to go out in the community.

For the first time in his career, Machine Gun Kelly has scored the No. 1 spot on the Billboard album charts. The new feat comes as a result of his fifth album, Tickets To My Downfall, which sported a shift in sound that found the Cleveland native moving from his hip-hop roots towards a more pop-punk sound. Many questioned the move, but MGK was quick to explain himself. “I would like to normalize how we think about doing multiple types of music,” he said in an interview with HipHopDX’s Trent Clark. “I didn’t ‘switch genres’; I’m versatile, and the wall isn’t boxed in. … Limitations would cause you to believe that, because I’ve put out four albums that are rap, I shouldn’t put out a fifth album that’s not rap.”

Well this versatility worked for MGK, as he took the No. 1 spot on the Billboard album charts, selling 126,000 equivalent album units in the week ending on Oct. 1. Of that number, 63,000 were album sales and 60,000 were streaming equivalent album units. Tickets To My Downfall also becomes the first No. 1 rock album in 2020 and the first to top the albums charts since Tool’s 2019 album, Fear Inoculum, nabbed the top spot in September 2019.

Elsewhere on the top five, K-pop supergroup SuperM debuts at No. 2 with Super One: The 1st Album, tallying 104,000 units. Joji tails behind, with Nectar coming in at No. 3. To round out the top five, Pop Smoke’s Shoot for the Stars Aim For The Moon comes in at No. 4 while Deftones’ Ohms can be found at No. 5.

(via Billboard)