Month: June 2021

The Philadelphia 76ers have unfortunately made a habit out of blowing big leads against the Atlanta Hawks lately, losing Game 4 in Atlanta after leading by 18 and then one-upping themselves by losing Game 5 at home after going up by 26 points — including taking an 18-point advantage to the fourth quarter.

Since they were the early game, we had to wait for the second postgame segment after the Jazz were stunned by the Kawhi-less Clippers in Game 5 in Utah for the Inside the NBA crew to give us their thoughts on Philly’s collapse. Unsurprisingly, the floor was given to the former Sixer on set, Charles Barkley, who called it what it was, an absolute choke job. Where Magic Johnson called out Philly’s offense in the second half, Chuck voiced his disappointment in their effort on the defensive end in particular, ripping Embiid and Simmons for constantly arguing they should be DPOY frontrunners but letting Atlanta pile up 40 points in the fourth quarter of, what Chuck called, a must-win game.

Barkley, who famously isn’t on social media, would be pleased to know that the Sixers were very much getting roasted for their choke job, in the words of Chuck. It was truly and all-time collapse, as Atlanta became just the fifth team in 25 years to come back from a 25-plus point deficit to win in the NBA and that it happened in a Game 5 they needed to win after losing in horrific fashion, blowing an 18-point lead in Game 4, made it even worse.

The best part is that Chuck wants to revel in the meltdown surely happening in Philly over this latest loss, asking Shaq if he can borrow his plane to fly to Philadelphia just to listen to the morning sports radio shows where the Sixers will get lit up.

There’s no going around it — it’s rough times for folks trying to get into next-generation gaming right now. Not only is forking over the hundreds for a new console a pretty big ask, due to the ongoing semiconductor shortage it’s difficult to even find one. Luckily for Xbox One owners, Xbox is about to make it’s next-gen titles a whole lot more accessible.

A report from The Verge unveiled that Microsoft has plans to bring Xbox Series titles to Xbox One through Xbox Cloud Gaming (xCloud). While Microsoft previously described xCloud as merely a way for players to test out games before downloading them, this news shows the company is expanding its capabilities to let people play games they might not otherwise have the ability to play. In the official Xbox blog post recapping the Xbox and Bethesda E3 showcase, Xbox Wire editor in chief Will Tuttle briefly mentioned this development, stating:

“For the millions of people who play on Xbox One consoles today, we are looking forward to sharing more about how we will bring many of these next-gen games, such Microsoft Flight Simulator, to your console through Xbox Cloud Gaming, just like we do with mobile devices, tablets, and browsers.”

As of right now, Xbox has not confirmed when exactly this update will be happening. However, with xCloud set to be switched over to Xbox Series X hardware later on this year, it’s possible the update — or at least an announcement — will come sometime in 2021.

The Clippers entered Game 5 in Utah missing Kawhi Leonard after he suffered a knee sprain late in Game 4, and as such L.A. came in as underdogs in a pivotal moment in the series. However, despite being without their superstar forward, the Clippers were able to hang around with the Jazz in the first half, trailing by only five despite Utah going supernova from three at 17-of-30 from deep in the first two quarters.

Leading the way for the Jazz early was Bojan Bogdanovic, as he hit his first six threes in the first quarter, catching fire and not caring what the Clippers defense did on him.

Everyone got in on the act for Utah in the first half, as they were almost across the board testing out the hot-hand theory early on.

On the other side, though, it was Paul George who was steady in taking on the leading role for the Clippers, scoring 22 in the first half to keep L.A. in the game, stepping up in a major way with Leonard out, with Marcus Morris hitting some big threes to keep pace with Utah.

The Jazz would cut the lead to as few as three in the fourth quarter, but that was when it became the Reggie Jackson show for L.A., first hitting a ridiculous 9-1-1 jumper as the shot clock was winding down followed by a big three to push the lead back to seven.

Nic Batum would then hit a three to push the lead back to double digits at 100-90, but there was still plenty of time for the Jazz to mount a possible comeback. The Jazz scored seven quick points to answer back and cut the lead back down to 100-97, starting with great defensive efforts and finally getting themselves going downhill to the basket, first with a nice find from Joe Ingles to Rudy Gobert and then a ridiculous and-1 bucket from Mitchell.

But as was the case early in the quarter, Reggie Jackson, aka Mr. June, went on a personal 5-0 run — including a filthy take on Rudy Gobert in isolation — to immediately push the lead back to eight, as he continues to play some of the best basketball of his career at the best possible time for the Clippers.

The Jazz kept hanging around, as Bojan Bogdanovic, who had gone cold in the second half, cashed in on a big three to make it a four-point game, but that was when Terance Mann put the DPOY on a poster with an and-1 dunk to push the lead back to seven.

In one game, Paul George seemingly was determined to rewrite the narrative about himself in the playoffs, playing a magnificent game from start to finish, getting a clutch and-1 as he caught Royce O’Neale (who had a rough night overall) with his hand in the cookie jar.

The Jazz would get it back to a five-point game but never closer, with O’Neale and Mitchell both missing threes late — Mitchell was just 6-of-19 from the field and 4-of-14 from three on the night as he had his first bad shooting game of the series at a bad time with 21 points, five assists, and five rebounds. Bogdanovic led the way with 32, but he just wasn’t able to keep up his first half effort, and with Mitchell and Clarkson cold, the lack of a steadying presence offensively with Mike Conley out was noticeable for Utah. As a team, Utah was just 3-of-24 from three-point range in the second half, going ice cold after their ridiculous start and they couldn’t create enough downhill to get back in front once L.A. took the lead.

On the other side, it was a gutty and impressive win for the Clippers, with George putting up an outstanding performance with 37 points, 16 rebounds, five assists, two blocks, and one steal on 12-of-22 shooting (and 10-of-11 from the line). Jackson chipped in 22 points and Marcus Morris once again provided a lift offensively with 25 points on 10-of-16 from the field, as they were able to find just enough without Leonard to get a much needed 119-111 road victory.

Now the series shifts back to Los Angeles where the Clippers will look to put a bow on the series. The Jazz had a horrific time in Staples Center in Game 3 and 4, and will need to figure out how to get their shooters going on the road if they’re going to have a shot at sending it to a Game 7. While they won Game 5, the status of Kawhi Leonard looms large, as one would think he wouldn’t play in Game 6 with his knee sprain and without him, the Clippers will need to find guys to step up again around George if they’re going to punch their ticket to the conference finals and a date with the Suns.

At the end of last month, a meme that theorized a Mount Rushmore of 2010s rap made its way onto social media and it caused much more of an uproar than some might’ve expected. Since then, people have made their own versions of the Mount Rushmore meme to use for various reasons. One example came during a recent interview Migos had on The Breakfast Club where the trio was asked who they would place on their Mount Rushmore for Atlanta rap. They included themselves while mentioning acts like T.I., Outkast, Gucci Mane, and Lil Jon.

DJ Envy then asked if Soulja Boy was deserving of a spot on the theoretical Mount Rushmore and Charlamagne Tha God replied, “No, Soulja Boy ain’t from Atlanta.” It was this answer that upset Soulja Boy as the rapper hopped on Instagram Live to respond.

“Stop playing with me, Charlamagne Tha God, Breakfast Club,” he said. “What the f*ck is you talking about I’m not from Atlanta. You know where the f*ck I’m from.” He added, “Where the f*ck you think I shot ‘Crank Dat’ at? Where the f*ck you think I went to school at? Where the f*ck you think I grew up at?” After attempting to call his mother to provide proof of his Atlanta roots, Soulja concluded with a final message to Charlamagne.

“Don’t speak on where I’m from. You don’t know my story. You don’t know me. You don’t know nothin’ about me.”

You can watch a clip of Soulja Boy’s livestream above.

Verzuz has welcomed many acts from all corners of the music world. Their most recent episode saw rappers Trina and Eve going head to head. At one point, Eve played her guest verse on Missy Elliott’s “4 My People,” which appeared on her 2001 album Miss E… So Addictive. The track’s inclusion caused people to asked for Missy’s involvement in a future Verzuz. She responded to the requests on Twitter after one fan’s comment caught her attention.

After a Twitter user mentioned suggested Missy go “on a stage and just run all her hits,” the rapper shared her thoughts on the Verzuz love. “I want to say this,” she began. “I am HUMBLY GRATEFUL because I’ve been on a lot of artist verzuz & I want to thank those AMAZING artist who believed in me as a Writer/Producer or just a artist.” She added, “I love yall 4 the love yall shown me [purple emoji].”

As for the future of Verzuz, Soulja Boy and Bow Wow will go head-to-head in the platform’s next battle which takes place on June 26.

You can check out the Twitter interaction in the tweet above.
Missy Elliott is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The Philadelphia 76ers led the Atlanta Hawks by as many as 26 points in the first half of Game 5. They led by 22 at the half and 18 entering the fourth quarter. And somehow, they lost (again).

It was as dramatic a collapse as anything we’ve seen in these playoffs or, really, a recent postseason (although the Bucks certainly have a case in their own Game 5 meltdown on Tuesday). There are eye-popping stats that you can pull from all over the final shot sheet. You can point out Ben Simmons being 4-of-14 from the free throw line in a three-point loss. You can notice that Joel Embiid (39) and Seth Curry (36) were the only Sixers to reach double figures in the game, with Simmons (2-of-4 from the field) and Tobias Harris (2-of-11) being almost complete no-shows in terms of providing complementary scoring.

However, it’s the second half box score that really stands out, as Embiid and Curry were the only two Sixers to make a shot from the field in the entire half.

That is 24 minutes with two people scoring, a near impossible feat in an NBA game (like, it hasn’t happened in at least 15 playoffs), but the Sixers managed to pull it off in the biggest game of their season. It’s wild to think about how bad this collapse could have been if Curry hadn’t been engulfed in flames in the third quarter. Embiid, as was the case in the second half of Game 4, seemed to run out of gas after a dominant first half where he had 24 and 10, finishing just 3-of-9 from the field in the second half and was not able to get to the free throw line consistently in the second half to try and work out of the shooting drought — and when he did late in a three-point game, he bricked both after making 11-of-11 prior to that.

Making matters even worse for the Sixers and their two stars is they earned one of the true rarities in the sports: a disappointed Magic Johnson tweet.

This is a man who, to an at times painful degree, looks to the positive side of life at all times, and even he couldn’t help but call out that collapse (while remaining on brand). You’ve got to feel sick when Magic hits you with a tweet like this. The Hawks certainly deserve credit for their play in the fourth, but the story really is the Sixers just losing their collective minds on offense and forgetting how to put the ball in the basket, losing the final quarter 40-19.

For the second straight game the Philadelphia 76ers have collapsed. After seeing a 14-point first half lead erased in Game 4 in Atlanta, the Sixers decided to one-up themselves back home in Philly by running out to a 24-point halftime lead in Game 5 before playing one of the worst fourth quarters in playoff history.

Early on it was the Joel Embiid show, as he had 24 points and 10 rebounds, starting the game 8-for-8 from the field and flat out dominating Clint Capela and the Hawks.

It was a masterful two-way performance from the Sixers in the first half, who took a 62-40 lead into the break and seemed ready to exorcise the demons of Game 4. The Sixers were able to mostly hold off the Hawks in the third quarter, pushing their lead to as many as 24 with two minutes to go in the third and taking an 18-point advantage to the fourth, thanks in large part to a sensational shooting night from Seth Curry.

However, Doc Rivers once again went to the bench unit with Tobias Harris to open the final period after they struggled mightily in the second quarter but were bailed out by the Hawks’ inability to score themselves. This time, though, the Hawks’ bench made them pay, led by Lou Williams who had 13 points in the fourth to reel in the Sixers for the starters.

Williams would stay in with the closing unit as Atlanta once again went big with John Collins at the three and the Sixers, like in Game 4, couldn’t crack the code of that lineup. Philly’s offense completely collapsed, with Seth Curry as the only player capable of hitting a shot, Simmons getting hacked all the way to the bench, and Joel Embiid falling in love with trying to get to the free throw line.

Eventually, the game got down to single digits and the Hawks took their first lead of the game when Trae Young got Matisse Thybulle to jump on a three-point pumpfake and earned three free throws with 1:26 to play, hitting them all to take a 105-104 lead. On the Sixers next possession, Embiid found Harris under the hoop for what looked like a wide open layup but John Collins came screaming into the paint to reject his shot attempt as he went up soft.

Danilo Gallinari then got Seth Curry in the post and, despite a solid effort from Curry, he just didn’t have the length to bother the Gallinari fadeaway to get Atlanta out to a three-point lead.

Seth Curry and Trae Young each missed three-point attempts on successive possessions, and Joel Embiid got himself to the line with 10.9 seconds to play and then missed both free throws, with Kevin Huerter grabbing the rebound. On the ensuing inbound, Matisse Thybulle had a steal but stumbled and fell down, allowing the smaller Young to grab the ball and get himself to the free throw line with 8.4 to play. After Young hit his two free throws to ice the game, the Sixers got a final midrange bucket from Curry with 0.1 to go to see the Hawks pull off what was, in full, a 26-point comeback, including being down 18 to open the fourth, to take Game 5 on the road and move one game away from the Eastern Conference Finals.

The final four and a half minutes are, truly, something to behold.

Young finished with 39 points and seven assists after a slow start, getting to the line 19 times and hitting 17. John Collins had another terrific close in the big lineup to finish with 19 points and 11 rebounds, while Lou Williams and Danilo Gallinari combined for 31 off the bench. For Philly, Embiid finished with 37 points, 13 rebounds, five assists, four blocks, and two steals, but only Seth Curry with a new playoff career-high 36 touched double-digits for the Sixers, as Simmons and Harris were almost complete no-shows on the offensive end.

After how they’ve lost the last two games, the Sixers have to figure something out offensively in the fourth quarter. Rivers’ use of the bench lineup to start the fourth and not adjusting that will be rightfully skewered, but even once the starters got back on the court they couldn’t make anything happen. Harris looked like he wanted no part of the game, Simmons had to get benched when the Hawks went to the hacking game as he was 4-of-14 from the stripe, and Embiid once again grew obsessed with getting to the foul line when calls just weren’t coming his way. In the entire second half, the only two players to make a basket for the Sixers were Embiid and Curry — Harris, Simmons, and Korkmaz each scored two points at the free throw line — and Embiid was just 3-of-9 from the field.

The Hawks will have a chance to wrap up the series at home in Atlanta, which is unbelievable given how the first three quarters went, but they continue to show their resiliency and, for a young team with not a ton of playoff experience, they are the ones closing fourth quarters out with a calm demeanor.

While Polo G has had a rough past couple of days, the Chicago rapper can keep his head high as his third album, Hall Of Fame, continues to get positive reviews. The project is also projected to go No. 1 and beat out Migos’ Culture III for the top spot on the albums chart. While we’re a few days away from finding out who will claim that crown, Polo G extends the promotional run for Hall Of Fame with a new video for “Party Lyfe.”

The video, which features DaBaby, gives viewers a look into the lavish lifestyles the two rappers enjoy, from riding around in luxury cars to standing in the middle of a packed party.

Polo G’s latest release arrives after he was arrested in Miami following an album release party for Hall Of Fame. The rapper and an officer “ended up in a struggle on the ground” following a traffic stop for suspected possession of weapons. In the end, Polo G was arrested and charged with battery against a police officer, public servant/influence performance threat, resisting an officer with violence, resisting an officer without violence, and criminal mischief. He was later released after posting a $19,500 bond.

You can watch the video for “Party Lyfe” above.

Hall Of Fame is out now via Columbia Records. Get it here.

The release of In the Heights, the big-screen adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s first Broadway show, has not gone as swimmingly as some would have liked. For one thing, it underperformed at the box office. For another, it attracted rave reviews but also some very pointed criticism, with some taking issue with the dearth of Afro-Latinos performers. On Tuesday night, legendary actress and performer Rita Moreno — whose new doc is executive produced by Miranda — tried to come to the film’s defense, only to inspire a backlash of her own.

On Wednesday she issued a mea culpa to The Hollywood Reporter, apologizing for what she’d said and trying to make amends with the community to which the Puerto Rican icon belongs.

Moreno’s inciting words came during her appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Before that, Miranda himself had already issued a formal apology, saying, “In trying to paint a mosaic of this community, we fell short. I’m truly sorry.” But when asked about the controversy, Moreno offered a fulsome defense of the Hamilton creator.

“It’s like you can never do right it seems,” she told Colbert. “This is the man who literally has brought Latino-ness and Puerto Rican-ness to America. I couldn’t do it. I would love to say I did, but I couldn’t. When Colbert pressed her to clarify her position, she replied, “Well I’m simply saying: Can’t you just wait a while and leave it alone?”, adding, “They’re really attacking the wrong person.”

The response was volcanic, with many disappointed that Moreno — the first Hispanic actress to win an Oscar, for West Side Story, who fought to shatter many a glass ceiling — would be defensive about what were seen as legitimate critiques of a movie even its playwright felt fell short. But Moreno eventually issued an apology:

“I’m incredibly disappointed with myself. While making a statement in defense of Lin Manuel Miranda on the Colbert Show last night, I was clearly dismissive of black lives that matter in our Latin community. It is so easy to forget how celebration for some is lament for others. In addition to applauding Lin for his wonderful movie version of In the Heights, let me add my appreciation for his sensitivity and resolve to be more inclusive of the Afro-Latino community going forward. See, you CAN teach this old dog new tricks.”

Moreno is herself an executive producer of Steven Spielberg’s forthcoming remake of West Side Story, which shares certain affinities with In the Heights. She’s also the subject of Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It, chronicling her decades as a groundbreaking star. In the Heights is now playing in theaters and on HBO Max.

(Via THR)

While it’s only been four years since we received a new album from Lorde, it feels like it’s been much longer, as the New Zealand singer has given fans little to enjoy since her 2017 album Melodrama. The wait is coming to an end soon as she announced her third full-length effort, Solar Power, is on the way. She’s already released its title track as she readies the album for release. As the wait continues, Lorde is now teasing what could be the album’s second single.

A soundless video entitled “Every Perfect Summer’s Gotta Take Its Flight” can be found playing on the singer’s website. It shows a bird’s eye view of an area filled with green pastures before it zooms in on the logo for her Solar Power album that’s been cut into the grass.

Shortly after she released her album’s first single “Solar Power,” Lorde delivered some insight about her third album in the form of a lengthy newsletter. “The album is a celebration of the natural world, an attempt at immortalising the deep, transcendent feelings I have when I’m outdoors,” she wrote. “In times of heartache, grief, deep love, or confusion, I look to the natural world for answers. I’ve learnt to breathe out, and tune in. This is what came through.”

You can check out the video on her website here.