Month: January 2022

Klay Thompson spent 934 days waiting for Sunday, rehabbing a torn ACL and ruptured Achilles since the last time we saw him on an NBA floor. For weeks there’s been speculation about when Thompson’s debut would come, as there was hope it might be before Christmas, but as the Warriors kept rolling and there wasn’t much pressure on getting Thompson back in order to win games, the Warriors wanted to make sure they were getting Klay back as close to his best and in the best conditioning possible.

There was as much anticipation for Sunday’s game in San Francisco as you’ll ever see for a January NBA regular season game, with the Warriors all rocking No. 11 jerseys when they arrived pregame and Warriors fans roaring for every made bucket in warmups from Klay. There wasn’t an empty seat in the house for pregame intros, as the Warriors faithful wanted to be sure to be there for Thompson’s introduction back into the starting lineup.

It was an emotional scene in the Chase Center and you can see Klay almost made it through it while keeping a stoic look on his face, but as he gets to the end and sees Steph and the other starters he cracks a big smile.

As for how his first stint went, the first possession of Thompson’s return couldn’t have gone better as he caught the ball off a pindown and drove the lane for a beautiful runner for his first bucket in over two years.

From there he missed three jump shots, as he looked a bit amped up to try and bury some shots to blow the roof off of the arena, but you could see already how much more dynamic the Warriors have the opportunity to be offensively by his presence as another shooting threat and secondary playmaker.

The Golden State Warriors will host the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday in what would’ve been a big game no matter what, as the No. 2 team in the West takes on the No. 6 team in the East, but all eyes will be on the Chase Center on Sunday night because it is the first time in over two years that Klay Thompson will take the floor for the Warriors.

After tearing his ACL in Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals against the Raptors, Thompson has gone through not one but two grueling rehabs, first from the knee injury and then from a torn Achilles suffered just before the 2020-21 season. For Thompson, it’s the culmination of two and a half years of work to get back on an NBA court in order to pursue yet another championship run. The league as a whole is thrilled to see Thompson back on court, as he is one of the league’s most beloved figures across all 30 teams, with players posting their messages of support and excitement to watch him play again on Sunday morning.

As for the rest of the Warriors, they’re almost as fired up as Klay is to get their star shooting guard back in the lineup, and when they showed up to the Chase Center on Sunday they all donned different Thompson jerseys to support their guy.

It’s cool to see this, particularly from guys like Steph and Draymond who have been with Klay every step of the way in his career, and it will be quite the seen in San Francisco when Thompson gets introduced and whenever he knocks down his first shot. The Warriors will start him in his return, but keep him to a limit of 20 minutes initially. The hope is that he will get himself back to a normal starter’s minutes soon enough, but even in a more limited capacity, his return will provide quite the jolt of emotion for the Warriors.

Since its release last fall, Adele’s 30 has ruled the charts. It began with the biggest first week in four years thanks to 839,000 album units sold in its debut on the Billboard 200. At one point, 30 was the only album to sell over a million copies in the United States last year. Adele’s fourth album also went on to become the best-selling vinyl of 2021, seizing the crown from Taylor Swift’s Evermore. While 30 eventually became the first No. 1 album of 2022, the album’s uninterrupted reign on the Billboard 200 has come to an end thanks to the soundtrack for Disney’s Encanto film.

For the Billboard 200 chart dated January 15, 2022, the Encanto soundtrack spent its first week at No. 1 thanks to 72,000 album units. That number is comprised of 58,000 streaming equivalent album units and 11,000 pure album sales. Encanto is the sixth soundtrack to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and it marks two years since the last soundtrack reached the top of the charts, that being the one for Frozen II. Lastly, it marks a rare case of an album going No. 1 for the first time weeks after its release. The last project to do this was The Kid Laroi’s F*ck Love which did so last summer.

The decision to release Encanto on Disney+ a month after it debuted in theaters most likely contributed toward its rise to No. 1. As for Adele’s 30, it checks in at No. 2 with only 57,000 units sold in the week ending on January 6.

Saturday marked the one-year anniversary of Donald Trump getting permanently banned from Twitter. Unlike Marjorie Taylor Greene, he didn’t have another account on the platform he could use. Since then, the service has been a little less hectic. After all, it meant the most powerful person in the world could no longer destabilize global affairs through the power of his rage tweets. The ban was widely praised at the time, but it may have had an adverse effect: It may have made him more likable.

A new report from The Wall Street Journal (in a bit sussed out by Raw Story) speaks with the former president’s current and former aides, some of which pointed to polling that strongly suggested Trump’s favorability improved once he could no longer run his mouth wildly with a couple clicks:

“One year after the violent riot in the Capitol, roughly 52% of Americans said they had an unfavorable view of Mr. Trump compared with 43% who viewed him favorably, according to a FiveThirtyEight.com average of national polls. That 9-point gap compared with a nearly 20-point spread in Mr. Trump’s favorability rating a year earlier, according to the same polling average.”

Aides, WSJ reports, blamed the shift in popularity on his diminished social media presence. Time was, every day an already volatile president would spend the day and nights firing off provocative tweets, attacking his many enemies, spreading misinformation, even threatening global unrest. Even his supporters would tell pollsters they wished he would dial it back.

They got their wish. Now Trump periodically, but not frequently, releases some glorified press release that sometimes, but not always, go viral. He also had a blog, which he quickly abandoned.

What’s more, Trump — who continues to spread baseless lies about voter fraud in the 2020 election and who may run again in 2024 — is no longer such a hot topic on Twitter. Since his banishment, mentions of him have plummeted a whopping 88 percent. Of course, he’s also no longer president. So if you like this newer, less in-your-face Donald Trump, maybe you’ll want him to stay out of the 2024 presidential race.

(Via WSJ and Raw Story)

The Memphis Grizzlies are one of the hottest teams in the NBA, winners of their last eight to get to 27-18 on the season, good for fourth and firmly separating themselves from the morass below them in the Western Conference playoff hunt.

They’ve done so despite some key contributors being in and out of the lineup through 45 games this season, as Ja Morant has missed 17 games (currently dealing with thigh soreness) and Dillon Brooks has missed 24. They have relied on their depth and talent that goes 10-12 deep on the roster to get to this point, and if they’re to stay in the top half of the West by the All-Star break that is going to have to continue.

Brooks, in just his second game back in the lineup, suffered a sprained ankle in Memphis’ win over the Clippers that will reportedly keep him out for 3-5 weeks, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, which could stretch through the league’s mid-February All-Star break.

Memphis has dealt with Brooks’ absences in the past this season and been able to weather that thanks to their aforementioned depth, headlined by Desmond Bane’s breakout season, as well as positive contributions from De’Anthony Melton and Tyus Jones in the backcourt. Brooks’ 18.4 points per game can be divided up among others, but where Memphis has found it most difficult in being without their starting shooting guard is on the defensive end, where his ball pressure and activity is missed.

This is a Memphis team that has just managed to keep winning no matter who is in the lineup this season, but another extended Brooks absence will apply more pressure to their depth to keep up its terrific production.

Back in October, Bill Murray let slip something he probably wasn’t supposed to: During an interview with a German-language publication, he strongly suggested he was finally doing a comic book movie. He didn’t say which one, but he didn’t make it hard to figure out. People quickly surmised that it was Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, the third in the MCU wing devoted to the superheroes played by Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly. Now it seems Murray has done it again.

In a new episode of The Eli Manning Show (as caught by /Film), the quarterback was hobnobbing around Brooklyn with the screen legend, chowing down in the outside space of a hip eatery. Manning casually asked Murray, “Aren’t you in like a superhero movie coming out?” When Murray responded in the affirmative, Manning pressed him for more specifics, asking what his super-power is.

“My power is, I’m a bad guy,” Murray blurted out, laughing. He said nothing more about the matter, and Manning quickly changed the subject to whether or not Murray agreed with People magazine that Rudd, his co-star, is the sexiest man alive. (He simply said “all of us agree,” although perhaps Rudd does not.)

Was Murray on the level? And if so, is he the main baddie, as Jeff Bridges was in the original Iron Man? We’ll find out later, though surely Marvel top brass aren’t as irritated with him as they doubtless were at Mark Ruffalo when he accidentally revealed the ending of Infinity War a year before it came out.

In the meantime, you can watch Murray Eli Manning Show appearance in the video below.

(Via /Film)

The Indianapolis Colts entered Sunday with the easiest path of all of the AFC teams battling for a playoff spot, as a win over the 2-14 Jaguars in Jacksonville would’ve locked them into a spot.

However, the Colts, stunningly, haven’t won in Jacksonville since 2014 despite some pretty awful Jags teams in that timeline, and while an easy win on paper, there weren’t any teams facing more pressure than the Colts since a win was assumed. Naturally, Carson Wentz had his worst game of the season, tossing a pair of brutal interceptions as Indianapolis’ offense was unable to do anything in the biggest game of the season.

On the other side, Trevor Lawrence had one of his best performances of his rookie season, including a truly incredible play on what could’ve been a disaster in the red zone on third down.

While Wentz’s issues will be the headliner, it was the line play on both sides that was most disappointing for the Colts, as they got dominated at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, including this 4th and goal stuff by the Jaguars.

The Jaguars win meant the AFC playoff picture was suddenly thrust into chaos, with teams that figured to be out finding themselves with a shot and an awful lot of intrigue for the late window. The next most important outcome on Sunday afternoon was in Baltimore, where the Ravens and Steelers tried to set offensive football back 40 years in an elimination game for the AFC North rivals. A Pittsburgh win meant they got in and then whichever team won on Sunday night would also make it in. A Baltimore win would’ve locked the Raiders into a spot, with the New England-Miami game suddenly having stakes for the Chargers, Ravens, and Colts, who weren’t mathematically eliminated with the loss.

That game, naturally, went to overtime, where a tie would’ve eliminated both teams, and the Steelers played for a game-winning field goal attempt after a clutch 4th down conversion kept their OT possession alive. Chris Boswell drilled the winning attempt, setting up what is one of the strangest scenarios in NFL history.

As was noted by a lot of people this week, a Colts loss meant that in the Sunday night game between the Chargers and Raiders, both teams would make the playoffs with a tie and could, theoretically, kneel down over and over until the game was over. Chargers coach Brandon Staley shut down that line of thinking during the week, but after the Colts lost and the Steelers won, it certainly has to be worth considering for both teams. Both teams are now in a “win and in” situation, but a little gentlemanly agreement could allow them both to make it to the postseason.

That seems less likely given they are divisional rivals, but the next four hours will be filled with people pondering the possibility of a Playoff Kneel-off in Las Vegas. If they don’t and someone wins, Pittsburgh is in.

Olivia Rodrigo saw her career shoot through the roof at the beginning of 2021 thanks to her debut single “Drivers License.” A week after its release, the song tallied 100 million streams on Spotify, a massive success that the platform said they’d never seen before. “Drivers License” was the catalyst for Rodrigo’s rise to stardom last year, serving as the lead single for Sour, her chart-topping Grammy-nominated album. It also granted her a sold-out North American and European tour. Altogether, Rodrigo has a lot to be thankful for, and you can see that in a throwback video she shared to celebrate the one-year anniversary of “Drivers License.”

In the video, which she shared on Instagram, Rodrigo can be seen playing “Drivers License” on the piano shortly after she wrote the song. “Happy first birthday to the little song that changed my whole life,” she wrote in the post’s caption. “I made this video a day or two after I wrote [‘Drivers License’] in my living room (with a very squeaky sustain pedal lol). Crazy to think how quickly life changes.” She concluded, “[Thank you] to everyone who has supported me so tenderly. Music is the most magical thing in the world.”

Rodrigo concluded 2021 with an NPR Tiny Desk concert at a DMV location. She was also one of a few musical figures who landed on Google’s list of the top trending searches of 2021.

It’s a safe bet that no American president in history watched as much television as Donald Trump. What was his favorite thing to watch? Fox News. During his single term, he would reportedly get caught in an echo chamber, making decision based on what he saw on the news network, watch how they covered the actions based on what they said, rinse repeat, for four years. He was so close that some of their stars even texted him during the Capitol siege he helped foment. But not everyone in the White House was a fan of his Fox News bingeing.

As per The Washington Post (in a bit teased out by Raw Story), the House select committee investigating Jan. 6 recently sat down with Stephanie Grisham, former White House press secretary, who’s made no bones about coddling Trump since he left office. Among the intel she dropped was how staffers reacted to Trump using Fox News as inspiration for policy.

“There were times the president would come down the next morning and say, ‘Well, Sean thinks we should do this,’ or, ‘Judge Jeanine thinks we should do this,’” Grisham revealed. “West Wing staffers would simply roll their eyes in frustration as they scrambled to respond to the influence of the network’s hosts, who weighed in on everything from personnel to messaging strategy.”

One former staffer, speaking under anonymity, said that Trump would have certain Fox News stars participate in policy discussions with his staff, including Sean Hannity and Lou Dobbs.

In the year since leaving office, Trump has turned on Fox News multiple times, even roasting Sean Hannity, his best friend at the network. But he never stays mad at them for long.

(Via The Post and Raw Story)

The Denver Nuggets are a team looking to win now, as their window to compete is the present given the presence of the reigning league MVP, Nikola Jokic, who is playing arguably better basketball this season, almost single-handedly keeping Denver in the playoff race out West despite the absences of Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr.

As such, the Nuggets are in need of reinforcements now who can help them try to win games until Murray is able to return, with Porter Jr. likely done for the season. DeMarcus Cousins is reportedly on his way to Denver after a stint on a pair of 10-days in Milwaukee, and on Sunday word broke from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski that Denver was acquiring veteran guard Rodney McGruder from the Pistons along with a future second-round pick via the Nets for Bol Bol, the intriguing youngster who, at this moment, simply does not fit the Nuggets timeline.

This likely will be the best chance for Bol to get on the court more and try and show he is an NBA player, as Detroit will have more incentive to give him some burn and hope they’re trading for a diamond in the rough here. For Denver, they simply need bodies, particularly in the backcourt, and McGruder is an insurance policy for Monte Morris, Austin Rivers, and Facu Campazzo, should any of them miss time.