Month: March 2022

After three contests, the First Four games in Dayton had yet to deliver much in the way of drama as the appetizer for Thursday’s start to the NCAA Tournament, but Notre Dame and Rutgers saved the best for last on Wednesday night, pushing things into Thursday morning with a double overtime thriller for the right to play Alabama on Friday afternoon.

The two teams traded leads throughout, with Rutgers holding the largest advantage at eight points, but the Irish would not go away, even taking a late lead before ultimately pushing the game to overtime after a Gio Baker fadeaway at the buzzer fell short. That first overtime period was one for the books, as both teams found big buckets in the final minute. First, it was Ron Harper Jr.who gave Rutgers a one-point lead with this wild banked in three that, after a stop on the other end when a Notre Dame player dribbled the ball off their leg out of bounds, seemed to give the Scarlet Knights a path to victory.

However, on the ensuing inbound, Rutgers got all kinds of discombobulated and just lobbed a ball up under their own basket, which the Irish stole and laid up and in to retake the lead.

Rutgers wasn’t done, though, as they found Paul Mulcahy for a go-ahead three on the other end to bounce back from that turnover and take a two-point advantage, but Notre Dame came down and, with Rutgers desperate to run the Irish off the three point line, got a game-tying layup to force a second overtime.

In that second overtime the teams once again traded early leads before Notre Dame took brief control thanks to this bucket from Paul Atkinson.

A pair of free throws made it a three-point game, but Harper Jr. again had the answer with a wild three to tie things up with 22 seconds to play.

However, Atkinson’s presence inside was just too much for Rutgers, as the big man picked up an offensive rebound for a putback layup (and his 25th and 26th points of the night) with 1.4 seconds to play to finally put Rutgers to bed for good in an 89-87 win for the Irish.

It was quite the opening act for the full slate of games that tip off just after noon on Thursday, as one of the best weekends of the sports year is now officially upon us.

Mike Lindell sure can talk. The MyPillow guy has spent nearly the last year-and-a-half squandering his bedding fortune on utterly unproven claims that his favorite ex-president, Donald J. Trump, didn’t lose re-election by over seven million votes. He’s held symposiums that quickly go awry, marathons that no one watches, protests that few attend, even threatened to pester the Supreme Court with his spastic, incoherent lies. What he’s never done is accuse anyone of murder. Until now.

As per Raw Story, Lindell shocked one of his own employees, who ought to be used to the guy by now, with his latest, perhaps most unhinged accusation yet. During one of his typically unfollowable rants on his “Lindell TV” podcast, the CEO was unloading on Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, who’s got something or other to do with one of his byzantine conspiracy theories.

Lindell said “she will end up in prison, prison, and more prison” and called her “a criminal beyond all criminals.” But he wasn’t done. “But I got news for you Jena, it’s already too late, you already committed a murder and we caught you.”

It was then that his host, who up till then had been very distracted, shuffling papers or whatever he was doing, stopped in his tracks. His jaw dropped. “A murder?!” he asked his boss. “A murder? A murder?”

Lindell immediately backtracked, calling it an “analogy.” But to what?

Meanwhile, Lindell is still being sued for $1.3 billion due to his election fraud misinformation. But clearly he’ll never learn.

(Via Raw Story)

The Golden State Warriors entered Wednesday night feeling as good as they have all year, coming off a big win in the first game in over two years that featured all three of their stars, as Draymond Green returned from his back injury to join Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry on the court.

However, that excitement over having all three healthy unfortunately turned to concern regarding Curry, who left Wednesday’s tilt with the Celtics in the second quarter with a foot injury and would not return. The injury occurred late in the quarter when Marcus Smart dove for a loose ball and went into Curry’s leg, rolling up his left foot and ankle — Smart would get called for a flagrant on the other end of the court for his flailing kick of Klay Thompson.

Curry would check out and go to the locker room and not return, and Steve Kerr was incensed, yelling at Smart for what he felt was a purposefully dangerous play.

Kerr would continue to talk to Smart during some free throws, although more calmly but still questioning the intent of Smart, who clearly was saying he was simply diving for a loose ball.

It is an unfortunate situation for the Warriors and Curry, as they obviously are concerned about their superstar missing any extended time with the playoffs coming up and the team somewhat desperate to get some time on the court together to rebuild their chemistry as a unit. Both fan bases will see this play differently, with Warriors fans seeing it as Smart diving into Curry’s leg while Celtics fans will point out he’s simply going for a loose ball and gets on the floor first.

It is a play right on the edge, which is where Smart so often lives, and no matter what he says it doesn’t seem he’s going to make Kerr feel any better about his intent on the play.

The Los Angeles Lakers lost their third straight game by double digits on Wednesday night in Minnesota, as the Wolves beat them 124-104, dropping L.A. to 29-40 on the season. Minnesota led by 14 points after the first quarter, as the Lakers continue to get off to dreadful starts, and while L.A. pulled to within four in the second half, they once again could not sustain a run long enough to erase an early deficit.

While pretty much every team that has beaten the Lakers this season has enjoyed it and let them know about it, the Timberwolves seemed to relish Wednesday’s win more than most. That is largely due to the long-held rivalry between Patrick Beverley and Russell Westbrook, who have had more than a few notable run-ins, from Beverley injuring Westbrook’s knee going for a steal after a timeout to Westbrook rather famously saying Beverley “tricks y’all” regarding his defense — which Beverley believes “damaged my career.”

Westbrook’s struggles this season continued in Minnesota and no one was happier to be forcing him into misses and turnovers more than Beverley, who was ruthless in mocking Russ after a particularly dreadful sequence that saw Beverley steal a rebound and get a putback bucket before stealing a Westbrook entry pass to LeBron by sagging a good 15 feet off of Russ as he got to the three-point line.

After that, Beverley strolled by the Lakers bench, informing them Westbrook was “trash” and then holding his nose to ensure they got the full message.

Beverley wasn’t done feeling himself there, as he would go flex in the face of LeBron James before giving him a pat on the butt during a pair of free throws on the other end.

After the Wolves put the pedal down late to squash the Lakers brief comeback hopes, the cherry on top of the win came in the form of a Westbrook airball that led to Karl-Anthony Towns searching for the wind that blew that shot over the rim for a good five seconds.

Beverley also reenacted the airball after a timeout was called, ducking under the ball on the sideline before giving it to the official.

It really is something to see how much teams are enjoying themselves when playing the Lakers, but the Wolves took it to another level thanks to the personal rivalry between Beverley and Westbrook, with the former getting to bask in the struggles of the latter all night. As for Westbrook, he responded as one would expect.

There’s a chance these two teams could meet in a win-or-go home play-in game for the 8-seed and, well, it certainly wouldn’t lack for drama.

Lindsey Graham and Donald Trump seem to be good now. Ever since the former president left office in disgrace, South Carolina senator and GOP top dog has more or less been on his side, excepting a couple disagreements. But just as he despised him before he clinched the Republican nomination in 2016, Graham also seemed to abhor him the day a sea of his violent supporters stormed the Capitol building. And a new book claims that his fury was even greater than previously reported.

According to Axios (in a passage teased out by The Hill), a new book by New York Times reporters Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns, called This Will Not Pass, has yet another noteworthy bit about what went down that fateful day. At one point during the riot, Graham — either before or after he told police to “use” guns on the invading horde — furiously rang up White House counsel Pat Cipollone. And he reportedly told her that they in Congress will “be asking you for the 25th Amendment” if he didn’t do more to call off his misinformed, misled supporters.

The 25th Amendment, if you need reminding, allows the vice president and Congress to effectively remove the president from power if they’re no longer able to perform their job. The vice president then assumes the powers of the president.

That didn’t happen. But later that night, when Congress reconvened to finally certify the election the rioters tried to upend, Graham was visibly frayed. “Count me out,” he told his colleagues about further Trump shenanigans. According to Martin and Burn’s book, he went even further than that, saying he hoped the tragic event would unify the country.

“People will say, ‘I don’t want to be associated with that,’” Graham said. “There will be a rallying effect for a while, the country says: We’re better than this.”

Not long after, Graham went back to Trump’s side and started downplaying the Capitol attack that shook him so. And not long after that, the twice-impeached president accused of manipulating his supporters to overturn an election he lost became the presumptive Republican presidential candidate of the 2024 election, a position he holds to this day.

(Via Axios and The Hill)

The Mavs and Nets met in Brooklyn on Wednesday night for a national TV showcase, and the two stars did not disappoint, as Luka Doncic and Kevin Durant dueled down the stretch in what became a thrilling finish thanks to a Dallas fourth quarter comeback.

The final minute of the game produced some of the best shot-making you’ll see anywhere, as both Doncic and Durant stared down hard contests and shrugged them off for go-ahead buckets. First it was Doncic, who hunted his mentor and teammate for the Slovenian national team Goran Dragic ruthlessly down the stretch, hitting a pair of extremely difficult fadeaways late in the shot clock.

However, while Doncic was still barking at the Brooklyn crowd, Durant brought the ball up the floor and drilled a go-ahead three of his own over Spencer Dinwiddie’s outstretched hand, giving the Nets a 111-110 lead with 10 seconds to play.

Dallas called timeout and chose to bring the ball all the way up the floor to give Doncic room to survey the court and make a decision. As Durant came over with the late double, Doncic calmly bounced the ball to Dinwiddie, who tickled the twine at the buzzer to give Dallas a huge win on the road.

Dinwiddie finished the night with 22 points, as he continues to provide welcome shot-making assistance for Doncic, who had 37 points, nine rebounds, and nine assists in another sensational performance. On the other side, Durant had 23 points, 10 assists, and six rebounds, with Goran Dragic providing a lift with 21 points, but their fourth quarter cold spell that let the Mavs claw their way back into the game proved costly as they could only muster 20 points as a team in the final period.

With the loss, Brooklyn falls back to a full three games behind Toronto for the 7-seed and just one game up on Charlotte for 9th (as they picked up a win against Atlanta on Wednesday). On the other side, Dallas moves a half-game ahead of Utah in the standings to swipe the 4-seed in the West for now and the all-important homecourt advantage in a first-round series.

Welp, it finally happened: Kanye West has lost his Instagram privileges. The rapper has been suspended from the app and while the suspension is set to last only 24 hours, it sets a precedent that the social media service says could lead to them taking additional steps if he keeps violating their terms of service. While Kanye has been repeatedly using his Instagram feed to air out his dirty laundry and general grievances towards his ex-wife Kim Kardashian and her new boyfriend Pete Davidson, it seems the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back were racist slurs directed at The Daily Show host Trevor Noah.

Yesterday, Noah used a segment on The Daily Show to express a cautionary tale regarding West’s repeated harassment of Kardashian. He cited how this type of behavior directed towards women is incredibly problematic and can lead to far worse things down the road. Noah got personal in describing how his mother was told she was “overreacting” when she complained about her abusive partner. She was later shot in the back of the head. While Noah presents an extreme example, it’s the pattern of behavior that he finds concerning with Kanye — and let’s be honest, everyone else sees it too.

Following the segment, Kanye took to Instagram to post photos of Noah. He captioned the post with the lyrics to “Kumbaya, my lord,” but swapped out one word for a racial slur. An Instagram spokesperson told TMZ that this post and others “violated Instagram’s policies on hate speech, harassment and bullying.” So for the next 24 hours, the world will finally get a break from the veritable train wreck that has been @kanywest on Instagram. Here’s hoping he comes back a different person, or at the very least, a more respectful Instagrammer.

Last week, over three years after the alleged attack that a court deemed staged, Jussie Smollett’s wild ride seemed to come to an end. The actor and singer was sentenced to 150 days in prison for issuing a false police report a month-and-a-half after being found guilty. But a mere six days later, he’s ready to be set back into the free world.

As per The New York Times, on Wednesday, less than a week after the sentencing, Smollett is set to leave the slammer after an Illinois appellate court ruled that he could be released on bond. His lawyers had promised to appeal their client’s conviction, arguing that the sentence should be stayed for two reasons: his term would likely have been completed after the appeal process was even completed, and because they thought incarceration threatened his life and safety.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, argued that, by that logic, all short prison sentences should be stayed if they’re under appeal.

Of the three justices on the appellate court, two agreed to the release, providing he post a $150,000 recognizance bond.

As he was hauled out of court, Smollett continued to do what he’s always done: He asserted his innocence. He also assured the court that he was not suicidal and that if anything happened to him in prison, it was not by his own hand. His family has claimed he’s been the target of abuse on social media and that in prison his life was at risk.

To say the Smollett case has been a rollercoaster would be an understatement. In January of 2019, he claimed he’d been the victim of a racist and homophobic attack. His story quickly unraveled in creative ways. His alleged attackers were soon unmasked, claiming they’d been hired by Smollett to “fake beat him up.” The trial, which didn’t take place until late 2021, was no less wild, revealing, among other things, that Smollett had did drugs and masturbated with one of his alleged attackers. Now that Smollett is ready to be released back into the world, still maintaining his innocence, who knows what twists the tale will take next.

(Via NYT)

Apart from maybe John Waters, no one knows Baltimore better than David Simon. Over two shows, the limited series The Corner and five seasons of The Wire, he explored how the city works — or more often, does not. He’ll soon add a third to the pile. It’s called We Own the City, and it now has a thrilling teaser trailer.

The show finds Simon, who created it with frequent collaborator George Pelecanos, returning not only to Charm City but to its police force, whom he portrayed in a complicated light on The Wire. Not so much this time. While the show, based upon reporter Justin Fenton’s book of the same name, is set amidst the riots that erupted after the death of Freddie Gray in 2015, it’s also about the corrupt cops who are on the city’s police force.

A press statement reveals that Jon Bernthal, character actor extraordinaire, plays the head of “a plainclothes unit that went completely rogue and began hunting and robbing citizens and drug dealers alike as decades of a relentless drug war and mass incarceration in Baltimore spun wildly out of control.” The teaser shows him and his team pocketing giant wads of cash while investigators, including one played by Treat Williams, try to nail them.

The show also features Simon regulars like Jamie Hector, Dominick Lambardozzi, and Rob Brown, as well as Josh Charles and Dagmara Domińczyk, among many others.

The six-episode series will debut on HBO on April 25. You can watch the teaser above.

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

The Brooklyn Nets continue to operate as two distinct entities: an away team where Kyrie Irving seems to take the lead with Kevin Durant in a more supporting capacity and a home team where Durant becomes the sun, moon, and stars for the team with Irving still unable to play in Brooklyn as he remains unvaccinated.

As the playoffs approach and New York City and Kyrie Irving remain entrenched in their respective positions on the vaccine and mandate, there is a real possibility the Nets have to go through the play-in and playoffs continuing on with their split personality. Aside from Irving’s status for road games, Brooklyn is also waiting patiently for the on-court arrival of their big trade deadline acquisition Ben Simmons, who has had his ramping up process after sitting out all year in Philadelphia delayed due to a back injury.

On Wednesday, Nets coach Steve Nash announced that Simmons had an epidural on Tuesday in hopes that it will assist in his recovery and relieve his back soreness, but that there was still no timetable for his return.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne then brought word that Simmons is dealing with irritation in a disc in his back, and that optimism that he might return this month has waned and now the hope in Brooklyn is that they get any time with Simmons on the court before the playoffs.

That would make it very difficult to build real chemistry on the court between Simmons and his co-stars before the play-in and playoffs begin, and Simmons, moreso than a scorer like Kyrie, would seem to build that rapport before having the maximum impact he’s capable of having. That also seems like the best case scenario for Simmons, and we’ll have to continue to wait for anything official to know if his Nets debut will come during the regular season.