Month: June 2021

The Nets won Game 1 of their first round series against the Bucks in a 115-107 game that didn’t even feel as close as that final score indicated despite the loss of James Harden a minute into the game with an aggravation of his hamstring injury. Harden will be out for Game 2 as well, and as such Brooklyn has a tough task ahead to hold homecourt against a Milwaukee team that will be looking for a much better offensive performance after a sloppy shooting night in Game 1.

Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving were terrific as expected, but in Harden’s absence it was Blake Griffin and Mike James who stepped up to combine for 30 points that was really the difference in Brooklyn’s opening game victory. Whether they can get similar efforts from the supporting cast in Game 2 will go a long way in determining whether they can match the offensive output from the opener where they steamrolled Milwaukee for the first three quarters of play.

On the other side, Giannis was excellent and Brook Lopez had a strong performance, but Khris Middleton had an awful 6-of-23 shooting night, Jrue Holiday wasn’t much better at 7-of-19 from the field, and as a team Milwaukee was a disastrous 6-of-30 from three-point range. It may be as simple for the Bucks as hitting shots, but they also seemed to fall in love with isolation play against Brooklyn rather than utilizing the ball and player movement that helped them dominate Miami in the first round.

From a betting perspective, the Nets covered as 4-point favorites but the came came in well under the total of 239.5.

Game 2 TV Info

Tip Time: Monday, June 7; 7:30 p.m. ET
TV Network: TNT

Game 2 Betting Lines (via DraftKings Sportsbook)

Series Price: Nets -220, Bucks +175
Point Spread: Nets -1.5 (-112), Bucks +1.5 (-110)
Total: Over 234 (-110), Under 234 (-110)
Money Line: Nets -117, Bucks -103

The United States met Mexico in the final of the CONCACAF Nations League tournament on Sunday night in Denver in what was an absolutely wild game that ended in a 3-2 U.S. win in extra time. There was pretty much everything one could imagine, good and bad, from a U.S.-Mexico game, but the USMNT managed to gut out a win and lift the trophy.

Twice, Mexico went ahead in the game and the U.S. had an answer. First it was a goal barely a minute into the game that left the U.S. stunned, but Gio Reyna had the answer later in the first half to level things.

In the second half, it was Diego Lainez who got a goal for Mexico late to seemingly put the U.S. on the ropes, but Weston McKinnie found the equalizer to force extra time.

In extra time, Christian Pulisic drew a penalty on a foul in the box that was given after a look at VAR, and the American star stepped up and hit a sensational penalty into the top right corner to give the U.S. a 3-2 lead.

In the celebration, fans pelted the U.S. players with cups, with Reyna going down after being hit in the head by a Coke cup.

Mere minutes later, Mexico drew a penalty of their own from VAR after they called a handball in the box on the U.S. Ethan Horvath, who came in late in the second half after star keeper Zach Steffen left with an injury, stepped up and made the save of his life to keep the U.S. ahead by one.

After that there was a pitch invader and more things were thrown at players along the sidelines, this time with a player on Mexico taking the worst of the hit.

The penalty was the last real chance for Mexico, as the interminable stoppage time finally ended and the U.S. was able to start the celebration.

Floyd Mayweather and Logan Paul met in Miami on Sunday night in a hilarious looking boxing matchup, as the 6’2, 189.5-pound Paul towered over the 5’8, 155-pound Mayweather in an exhibition event with no judges and no actual winner because, well, who needs that. As Floyd said in the locker room prior to the fight, he’s retired from boxing but not retired from making money, and that certainly was a hint at what was to come.

Earlier in the night, Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson made his boxing debut in a four-round exhibition with ex-MMA fighter against Brian Maxwell and got knocked down in the final round but managed to avoid a KO in a fairly impressive showing. However, the issue for Johnson was the lack of conditioning for a boxing fight, as four three-minute rounds is an awful lot longer than you think when you’re in the ring moving, punching, and getting hit by an opponent. He seemed to get gassed by the fourth, which was a preview of how the amateur in the main event would fare as well.

The two men entered the ring with plenty of fanfare as expected, with Paul wearing a chain with a mint holographic Charizard Pokemon card around his neck and Mayweather having Moneybagg Yo rapping alongside him for his entrance.

Much like how Mayweather approached the Conor McGregor fight years ago, he let Paul dictate the action in the first and second rounds, with Paul trying his best to land a haymaker but Mayweather covered up and almost none of Paul’s shots made their way through.

However, by the third round, Mayweather decided to give the people a reminder that he was in control, landing some shots and not letting anything of consequence land on him.

Paul’s best punch came in the fourth round and seemed to awake Mayweather further, as he tagged Paul repeatedly over the next few rounds.

By the end of the sixth round, Paul was completely gassed and Mayweather was peppering him with punches, with the only question being if Floyd would put down his opponent or just be content to skip around for the final two rounds, landing pretty much whenever he wanted. Paul wasn’t landing anything and spent a lot of the fight leaning on Floyd and holding on to keep Mayweather from unleashing flurries once he tagged him, but it was a successful effort that got him through all eight rounds to the disappointment of most everyone.

The lack of judges meant there wasn’t a winner, but boxing writers couldn’t help but hand out live round-by-round scoring like they were watching a real boxing fight and most had Mayweather winning all but the first two rounds. In the end, Mayweather nearly doubled up Paul in punches landed, but unsurprisingly for a Floyd fight, the totals for both fighters were, well, less than spectacular.

Mayweather throwing 107 punches in eight rounds is pretty funny. Paul, bless his heart, was trying to hit Floyd but landed a grand total of 28 punches out of 217, and few seemed to register at all for Mayweather. However, for anyone curious why weight classes exist, this fight was a great reference point. Mayweather certainly wasn’t fighting at anything close to full effort, but that he couldn’t put Paul down at all despite the YouTuber being gassed out was evidence of how massive a 34 pound difference is in the ring.

As for the reaction from the boxing world, Canelo pretty much summed it up.

The Dallas Wings entered Sunday night at just 2-5 on the young WNBA season, but their record wasn’t indicative of the improvement the young Wings have shown from last year and how competitive they’ve been. All five of their losses have come by single digits and they’ve been on the wrong end of some close finishes, including a pair of losses to the Seattle Storm by a combined six points with both losses coming in overtime, most recently on Friday night when Jewel Loyd hit a buzzer-beating three in OT.

On Sunday, they met the Storm again and this time it was Dallas who was able to emerge victorious thanks to some late heroics from Arike Ogunbowale. The Wings trailed by two points in the closing seconds, but got the ball to their star guard who hoisted a deep three over a solid contest and nailed it to give Dallas a 68-67 win.

Ogunbowale finished the game with 24 points, six rebounds, and three assists as she led the Wings to a big win over the defending champs and finally got the best of Seattle at the end of a close game. For Ogunbowale, it’s just the latest buzzer-beater to add to her highlight reel, with a pair of legendary shots while at Notre Dame to beat UConn and Mississippi State in back-to-back Final Four games to win the national championship in 2018.

It’s a big win for Dallas, with Ogunbowale scoring the last eight points for the Wings to lead them to the win, including the game-winner. For a team that’s been on the wrong side of those kinds of tight games a few times this season, seeing one go their way will be a confidence booster for one of the WNBA’s most exciting up-and-coming teams.

The first of two celebrity boxing exhibitions on Sunday night in Miami saw former NFL star receiver Chad Johnson — aka Ochocinco — go up against ex-MMA fighter Brian Maxwell in a four round fight on the undercard ahead of the Floyd Mayweather-Logan Paul fight.

For those concerned that Johnson would meet the same fate as Nate Robinson in his first experience in the boxing ring, the first round was an impressive display from the former football player, who was moving great in the ring and even tagged Maxwell a few times to the delight of Desus and Mero on the call.

Many felt Ochocinco had a lead through three rounds, although because it was an exhibition there were no judges ringside to provide a decision on the fight if it made it the distance, but in the fourth round, Johnson almost met his demise when he caught a right hand from Maxwell that put him to the canvas.

Johnson was able to pop up almost immediately and avoid being memed to death by the internet, and survived his boxing debut without being knocked out, only suffering the one knockdown, and got off some strong punches and looked fairly comfortable, which has to seem like a win even with no official winner. As you can see from the Compubox stats, Johnson was active with the jab while Maxwell sat back and wasn’t particularly aggressive until later in the fight as Johnson was clearly running out of steam when he got put on the mat.

All in all, it was a successful night for Ochocinco, who even had support ringside from Terrell Owens.

Succession is one of the tightest written shows on television, teeming with bon mots and inspired put-downs, as well as rich (which is to say, complicated) characters. But they allow improvisation. In a new interview with British GQ, Nicholas Braun — aka the beloved Cousin Greg — reveals that the showmakers allow what they call “loose takes,” in which “the camera runs on beyond the scripted lines and improvisation is encouraged.” That’s how Braun and Kieran Culkin, aka Roman Roy, wound up getting into an improvised wrestling match that you may never see.

It happened during the Season 2 finale, during a scene where the family is aboard a yacht, debating about which one of them should be the fall guy to save the company from scandal. At one point Greg and Roman get into an argument. It doesn’t go very far. But during one “loose take,” it went very far indeed. It found Culkin jumping on Braun’s back, knocking him onto the floor. The two then proceeded to wrassle.

This, of course, never made it to air. But that’s okay, at least with Braun, who is currently one of the only people to see this tussle. “That’s kind of the freedom we all get when we’re doing these scenes,” Braun told GQ. “It’s not a one-minute take, it’s a six-minute take, so you can’t leave your headspace and everyone is sort of forced to stay super present for the entirety of the scene.”

In the meantime, can this scene please get dropped on YouTube? Or at least on the Season 2 Blu-ray? In the meantime, Season 3, which was finally able to resume filming late last year, should be live sometime in 2021, though HBO has yet to reveal when.

(Via British GQ)

After an epic return last year with the rock-centric album, Plastic Hearts, Miley Cyrus has been marching to the beat of her own drum when it comes to just how her music is going to sound moving forward. She’s reportedly working with producer Andrew Watt once again on another rock-oriented record, and is making it clear she’d like to keep collaborating with fellow musicians of all persuasions.

Plastic Hearts featured old school legends like Billy Idol, Joan Jett, and Stevie Nicks, but also rising pop star Dua Lipa. And given just how singular Miley has always been, it’s no surprise she’s drawn to one of pop’s other most rebellious newcomers — Billie Eilish. In an interview with British Vogue Cyrus gushed over Billie when asked about who she would most want to collaborate with that she hasn’t work with yet. “There are always new emerging artists that are super interesting,” Cyrus told the magazine. “I love Billie Eilish. I think she’s just the coolest. I love her, her messaging. I’d love to work with her.”

Given Billie is on the cusp of releasing a new album of her own, Happier Than Ever, in July, she just might have a few weeks free to get in the studio. A joint track between these two would be incredible to hear, so let’s hope they can make it happen.

Simone Biles is the greatest gymnast to ever live, with 23 gold medals at the Olympics and World Championships since 2013 — even with a year hiatus in 2017. Most recently, she became the first to ever land a Yurchenko double pike on the vault, and dominates at a level rarely seen in world class gymnastics.

Her road to the Tokyo Olympics later this summer made its final stop at the U.S. Championships this weekend, and on Sunday she delivered her final floor routine that she fittingly set to “Tokyo Drift” by the Teriyaki Boyz — aka the song from Fast & Furious: Tokyo Drift. The routine is outrageous, as it starts with a tumbling pass that the announcer very calmly tells us has “never been done before” and she sticks with ridiculous ease.

Every time Biles steps into an arena it is another opportunity to simply marvel at one of the greatest athletes to ever live. The physical dominance coupled with the mental fortitude to push through the training that has to go into not just being great but pushing boundaries and doing skills no one has ever even considered is simply unreal. The best way illustration of that is that at the end of her routine, after 90 seconds of the announcers sitting in silence to let her gymnastics speak for themselves, the best the announce crew can do is offer a stunned laughter at what they just witnessed followed by a matter of fact “the greatest of all time” that no one would dare dispute.

The as-yet-untitled fourth Matrix film wrapped principal photography back in November, but we’re only now learning that its already huge cast has an additional key player. According to Deadline, Christina Ricci’s name was quietly added to the roster, tucked away in a mere press release in the middle of a murderer’s row of others.

It’s unclear who she’ll play, nor is it known if her role was intentionally kept a secret or if she has been added during additional shooting dates or what. But it will reunite her with director Lana Wachowski, who, along with her sister Lilly, worked with her on their 2008 film adaptation of the animated favorite Speed Racer.

That cast, by the way, includes not only returning talent like Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Jada Pinkett Smith, but also Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Jonathan Groff, Neil Patrick Harris, Jessica Henwick, Telma Hopkins, Eréndira Ibarra, Toby Onwumere, Max Riemelt, and Brian J. Smith.

The fourth Matrix began filming in Germany back in February and, as you can imagine, had to go on a long hiatus a month later, when the pandemic went next level. They returned to shooting in August, wrapping a few months later. The film is due later this year, on December 22.

(Via Deadline)

When it comes to Democratic lawmakers who aren’t helping their party pass key legislation, Kyrsten Sinema tends to get most of the hate, even from Joe Biden. But Joe Manchin seems to be trying to eclipse her. On Sunday an op-ed by the West Virignia senator was published in the Charleston Gazette-Mail. Entitled “Why I’m Voting Against the For the People Act,” it laid out his case for why he won’t support a far-reaching bill intended to combat voter suppression. And, at least for now, Manchin found himself more infamous than Sinema.

According to The New York Times, the bill, which now seems poised for defeat, would roll back dozens of laws passed by Republican state legislatures that curb voting laws, such as limiting early and mail-in voting. It would also end partisan gerrymandering — the tool that has helped people like Dan Crenshaw assume power — tighten controls on campaign spending, and restore many of the ethical norms Trump shattered.

But Manchin wasn’t having it. In his piece, he said the debate over voting has “become overtly politicized.” He seemed to argue that the bill, which seeks to reverse policies that target potential Democrat voters, should be bi-partisan. “Today’s debate about how to best protect our right to vote and to hold elections, however, is not about finding common ground, but seeking partisan advantage.”

He added, “I believe that partisan voting legislation will destroy the already weakening binds of our democracy, and for that reason, I will vote against the For the People Act.”

Manchin also doubled down on his opposition to ending the filibuster, the tool Republicans have long used to thwart Democratic bills from passing. Sinema has also stated she opposes its removal.

And so Manchin, who’s usually only discussed when people are calling out Sinema, found himself getting scorched solo.

Some implied he was a Democrat in Name Only.

Others dismantled his logic.

And some, wrestling with the idea that the future of democracy is in the hands of a 73-year-old millionaire who thinks Republicans in the Trump era can be reasonable, treated the news with gallows humor.

(Via The New York Times)