Whenever sports fans know an umpire or official’s name it’s rarely a good thing. The best officials and umpires are typically the ones that go unnoticed by fans, because when a game is called well and without controversy, they aren’t the topic of conversation.
In baseball, few umpires are as notorious as Angel Hernandez, as the longtime Major League Baseball ump is known for having a pretty wild strike zone when he’s behind the plate. On Sunday night in Philadelphia, Hernandez was calling balls and strikes in what became a 1-0 Brewers win over the Phillies, and that scoreline is representative of what was a wide and fairly erratic zone from Hernandez.
In the ninth inning, the Phillies had seen enough of Hernandez, particularly Kyle Schwarber, who got rung up on a fastball from Josh Hader that Schwarber felt was low and off the plate — and the K Zone, which isn’t always the most accurate, agreed. It was at that point that Schwarber authored an all-time meltdown, slamming his bat and helmet into the dirt, giving Hernandez a few choice words and then showing him (emphatically) how he’d had a zone for both teams that was all over the place.
It really is an incredible performance from Schwarber, and the best part is he seemed to be doing it for everyone on both benches who had been frustrated with calls for much of the night, pointing to the Brewers bench to point out that the Phillies weren’t the only ones getting jobbed. Naturally, this led to fans calling for MLB to just make the move to robot umpires because it couldn’t be worse than this.
Unicorn bottles of bourbon are beyond just “special” or “unique.” We’re talking about bottles that are so rare, they’re really made almost exclusively for investing. Obviously, you can crack open any of the bottles I’ve listed below, I’m not going to stop you. But in some cases, you might be pissing away a year’s college tuition or a down payment on a house or a new car ten, 15, or 20 years from now. Whether we like it or not, unicorn bourbon bottles are unicorns because you’ll likely never see them in the wild; and if you do, you’re probably a very rich whiskey investor/collector.
That’s just the reality we live in. Bourbon is booming.
For this list, I’m calling out ten bottles that I’ve been lucky enough to try that are also bottles that I’d invest in if I were able to snag them at MSRP. “If” is the keyword in that sentence. I’m also only calling out bottles that were released in the past year or so (a lot of special bourbons are released between September and December to gear up for the holiday buying season). That leaves out unicorn bottles like 1960s Old Fitzgeralds, 1970s Old Crows, 1980s Japanese Blanton’ses, 1990s J.W. Dants, and pre-Buffalo Trace Pappy Van Winkles. This is about current releases that you might actually see open at a high-end whiskey shop or bar, which means the closed bottle you find on a shelf will be even rarer (and gain value).
As for this ranking, I’m going purely off the taste. I’m not, in any way, projecting the investment value of these bottles. Some of them will be worth a hell of a lot more than others down the road and sometimes there’s little rhyme or reason to why. This is simply about what tastes good in the world of ultra-rare bourbon whiskey.
Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Bourbon Posts Of The Last Six Months
This is the Pappy that made “Pappy” what it is today. The wheated bourbon rests for 20 long years without any meddling. And since everything moved to Buffalo Trace in 2002, we know that this is pretty much modern Pappy and not the rare stuff from the Stitzel-Weller Distillery days (though there might be a barrel or two still in the mix).
Tasting Notes:
There’s a subtlety to the nose that draws you close with wisps of soft cedar, Christmas cakes filled with dried and candied fruit, nuts, and dark sweetness and spice next to an old leather pouch of very dry tobacco with a hint of cherry bark. The palate opens with an apple pie filling vibe alongside oily espresso beans and vanilla pods with what almost feels like maple bars fresh from the oven on the mid-palate. The finish is a very slow fade that melts through bitter dark mocha espresso, sweet cedar planks, spicy cherry tobacco, smoked applewood, and a final note of that old leather tobacco pouch.
Bottom Line:
This is probably the best place to start this list. This whiskey is goddamn delicious and kind of deserves all the hype it gets. If you can win this in a raffle for MSRP ($199.99), then you’ll be ahead of the game. Otherwise, I’d spend $200 for a pour at a whiskey bar or shop and move on.
9. Old Forester 2021 Birthday Bourbon (September 2021)
Every year, Old Forester releases their most anticipated whisky, Birthday Bourbon. 2021’s release was a 12-year-old blend created from 119 barrels of the good stuff.
Tasting Note:
Berries really drive this nose with raspberries in cream next to blackberry compote, Luxardo cherries, and a touch of cranberry bread with walnuts, plenty of spice, and a moist, buttery, vanilla-laden cake vibe. The palate holds onto the syrupy cherry notes but veers more towards vanilla cream with woody spices, buttery toffee, marzipan, and a touch of green pepper pretty far in the background. The mid-palate has an old cigar box feel to it that dries everything out from the cherry to the vanilla, creating a sort of thin pecan cookie vibe with dry spice, tobacco, and berries in the mix.
Bottom Line:
This is a bottle you always see at whiskey auctions — sometimes you see the whole Birthday Bourbon set from 2002 to the most recent release. Overall, I’m not a huge fan of these as they’re a little too fruity-sweet for me. That’s not to say it isn’t delicious, it just feels more like something that would make an insanely good old fashioned than a thousand-dollar sipper.
This is the most interesting expression from Weller. A few years back, Buffalo Trace asked hardcore Weller fans to “Craft Your Perfect Bourbon.” C.Y.P.B. was born according to those fans choosing their favorite bourbon recipe, proof, warehouse location, and age. A consensus shook out that pinned the ideal whiskey to a wheated bourbon aged on the highest warehouse floors for eight years that’s then bottled at 95 proof. Today, that manifests yearly as a very limited release that’s part fan service and part special limited edition bourbon.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a nose of dried orange peels that have been loaded into an old cedar box and left in the back of a cupboard for years. Then a creaminess arrives that’s kind of like the halfway point between a vanilla flan with caramel sauce and spicy sasparilla. As the taste rolls towards the back of your mouth and settles in, you get this warming sense of eggnog spice next to soft tobacco leaves and dark chocolate-covered marzipan.
Bottom Line:
This is one of those bourbons that’s just nice. Plus, any whiskey with a “dark chocolate-covered marzipan” vibe is going to win my favor. The only reason this is a little lower on the list is that this list is nothing but hardcore bangers and this is middle-of-the-road among these standouts.
This whiskey was made by Master Distiller Eddie Russell to celebrate his 40th year distilling whiskey with his dad, Jimmy Russell. The juice is a collection of a minimum of 13-year-old barrels that Eddie Russell hand-picked. Those barrels were married and then bottles as-is with no proofing or filtration.
Tasting Notes:
Sweet and dried fruits invite you in the nose as a touch of Black Forest cake mingles with mild holiday spices. That dark chocolate and cherry fruit drive the palate as a hint of charred cedar lead towards vanilla tobacco with more of that dark chocolate and a small touch of honey. That honey leads back to the warmth and spice with a whisper of smoke lurking on the very backend with more bitter chocolate, buttery vanilla, and dark cherry.
Bottom Line:
This is a whiskey I truly wish there was more of. Wild Turkey truly hit it out of the park with this release. If this wasn’t so rare, this might be a go-to end-of-week pour and Manhattan base.
6. 2021 Four Roses Limited Edition Small Batch (September 2021)
This year’s LE Small Batch is a blend of four bourbons. Four Roses is renowned for its ten distinct recipes with two mash bills and five yeast strains. This whiskey marries four of those recipes with two from Mash B (very high rye) and two from Mash Bill E (high rye). The yeasts at play are “delicate fruit,” “spice essence,” and “floral essence.” The barrels ranged from 12 to 16 years old, making this a fairly old bourbon, all things considered.
Tasting Notes:
The nose has a mix of honey next to buttery biscuits, rich vanilla, a touch of tart red berries, dry cedar, and a very faint hint of dry mint. The palate dives into a dark plum jam with a spicy edge of allspice and nutmeg. That fruit gives way to a spritz of orange oils next to a light touch of dark chocolate on the mid-palate that leads to a rich finish. That finish leaves you with warming spice, more of that orange/choco vibe, and another mild hint of green, dry mint.
Bottom Line:
This really is a great bourbon. It’s equal parts classic and comforting. It’s not pushing the genre forward (by any stretch) but it’s truly one of the best limited releases that are dropped every year.
This whiskey is a blend of Indiana, Tennessee, and Kentucky bourbons. Each barrel in that blend is a minimum of 16 years old. The barrels were specifically chosen for their cherry, nutty, high-proof, and chocolate profiles. Half of those barrels were then finished in new American oak for a final touch of maturation before vatting and bottling as-is.
Tasting Notes:
The nose opens with a sense of wet oak staves (think rained on barrels) next to freshly pressed sugar cane juice, damp, almost still unharvested cherry tobacco leaves, the seeds from a vanilla pod, rainwater, stringy cedar bark, and fresh apricot next to Bing cherry. Next, dark cherry leads to candied ginger on the opening of the taste as orange marmalade mingles with toasted sourdough, sticky yet subtle fir resin, and creamy key lime pie filling with just a hint of the butter in the crust of that pie. The mid-palate leans into the sugar in that pie filling as the cherry kicks back in with a sliver of tartness next to overripe peaches, dried hibiscus, mild anise, allspice berries, sassafras, and dried cacao nibs. The finish gently steps through a field full of orange blossoms as that cacao dries out more, leaving you with dried choco-cherry tobacco that’s been inside of a cedar box that’s wrapped in decades-old leather.
Bottom Line:
Okay, now this is anything but “classic.” This bourbon is special both as a limited edition release and with a flavor profile that does push the whole genre of bourbon somewhere new. These Barrell special releases can be a lot and are, admittedly, for advanced palates. That all aside, this is great bourbon that deserves your time to really dig into. That also makes this a good mid-point. From here on out, we’re looking at bottles that hit such high marks that mood dictates where they fall on the ranking more than anything else.
Distilled back in the fall of 2009, this barrel-strength bourbon skips the Minnesota rye and instead uses North Dakota wheat with that NoDak barley and Kentucky corn. The juice spent 12-and-a-half years mellowing in warehouses C, D, K, L, and Q on floors one through three. While maturing, 64 percent of the whiskey was lost to the angels before it was small-batched and bottled as is.
Tasting Notes:
The creaminess of the vanilla on the nose is extraordinary. Imagine the softness and richest crème anglaise with a touch of salted caramel syrup, eggnog spice, and a towering croquembouche with all the spun hard sugar holding the whole thing together. That light yet buttery cream puff drives towards a slight shortbread vibe with toasted cinnamon sticks, moist cherry tobacco, more vanilla cream, and a soft echo of dried smoked stone fruits. The finish drives back towards the sweetness of that salted caramel but this time it’s covered in dark chocolate and sitting inside an old cedar box that once held fistfuls of menthol-laced tobacco leaves.
Bottom Line:
I just retried this a week or so ago and it’s just so goddamn delicious. There’s really nothing else to say besides I hope you get to try it too one day.
3. Heaven Hill Heritage Collection 17-Year-Old Barrel Proof Bourbon, First Edition (March 2022)
The base of the spirit is Heaven Hill’s classic bourbon mash of 78 percent corn, 12 percent malted barley, and a mere ten percent rye. This particular whiskey is built from several barrels from four warehouse campuses in the Bardstown area. In this case, three different ages were pulled with 17 years being the youngest. The whiskey is made from 28 percent 20-year-old barrels, 44 percent 19-year-old barrels, and 28 percent 17-year-old barrels. Once those barrels are vatted, the bourbon goes into the bottle as-is, without any cutting or fussing.
Tasting Notes:
The age is apparent from the first nose with old glove leather next to a soft hint of cobweb-draped cellar beams leading towards a dark and thick cherry syrup that’s laced with cinnamon, clove, and allspice. The nose then grows with an almost cherry-maple syrup with a buttery base pushing it toward a toffee creaminess. The palate leans into those spices with a winter-spice-laced chewy (almost wet) fistful of tobacco leaves jammed into an old cedar box. The mid-palate bursts with spiced cherry crumble with baked brown sugar and nutmeg nuts, creating a velvety texture. The finish carries the spice from that mid-palate towards a sweet finish that feels like a marrying of toffee syrup and cherrywood tobacco with that dry cedar tobacco box echoing on the far backend.
Bottom Line:
This is one of my favorite releases of 2022, so far. It’s classic yet fun and surprising. Even now, I want to pour another dram just thinking about it. That’s a powerful bourbon, which is why it’s top three.
Master Distiller Dan McKee personally selects these 20-year-old (at least) barrels from their rickhouses based on, well, excellence. The juice is bottled as-is with no cutting with water. This is whiskey simplicity at its best and creates an exemplary product.
Tasting Notes:
Imagine dark and sweet cherries smothered in rummy molasses with a touch of dried roses, fatty nuts, and wet cedar all leading towards the soft — almost wet — tobacco leaf. That’s just the nose. The palate doesn’t veer too far from those notes but adds in a touch of burnt ends from vanilla pods with a light spice that leans more towards that tobacco with a dusting of woody brown spices. The finish really embraces the cherry but more towards the stem and seed as the nuttiness leans marzipan and the tobacco takes on an ever-so-slight chewiness with an echo of dark chocolate-covered espresso beans infused into a string of cotton candy.
Bottom Line:
This might be my perfect bourbon. It’s really that good. The only reason it’s not number one is that there’s a rarer — more “unicorn” if you will — bourbon next.
1. Double Eagle Very Rare 3rd Edition (February 2021)
This whiskey ups the Eagle Rare game up in two ways. First, this is “double” aged, meaning that the whiskey spends 20 years mellowing in Buffalo Trace’s warehouses — or twice as long as standard Eagle Rare. That makes the barrels that go into this expression super rare. The second aspect is the decanter. The crystal decanter has two eagles, one as a stopper and one that is blown into the bottom of the bottle. It’s a striking bottle and only 199 were produced.
Tasting Notes:
The nose on this gently draws you in with mellow hints of cherry liqueur, dry cedar tobacco boxes, rich vanilla pods that feel oily, and a buttercream toffee candy that’s more sticky than brittle. The nose then leans towards a woody spice matrix of cinnamon sticks soaked in cherry syrup next to a slight note of anise that’s more absinthe green than licorice dark. On the palate, very dark cacao dust opens up your taste buds as dates soaked in floral Earl Grey create a base for a moist and very sticky toffee pudding with a small dollop of the silkiest vanilla ice cream you’ve ever had. The spices in that date-filled cake slowly rise after the sweet mid-palate veers into a soft and velvety finish that echoes with the woody spices but doesn’t carry forward the heat from them. The very end leaves you with this dry cedar box that once held allspice berries, anise, and cinnamon but now holds a very dry leaf of cherry-choco tobacco.
Bottom Line:
199 bottles. That’s it. I’ve seen two of these open. That means 197 (or less) are actually left. That’s a unicorn right there. This also happens to be one of the best bourbons made in the modern era. It’s a double threat of the category! If you do want to try this, I suggest hitting up The Ballard Cut in Seattle. It’ll cost you, but it’s worth it before you commit to $20-plus-k for this bottle.
Cheese is a beautiful thing. A simple sprinkling can elevate everything from a side of beans to a salad. You can melt it, eat it cold over a cracker, or turn it into a complex sauce. It’s versatile, flexible (literally — cheese pulls are a wonder of nature), goes with almost anything (besides fish!) and — most importantly — delivers on flavor. Best of all, there’s so much variety out there, even the biggest cheeseheads will probably go their whole life without tasting all the cheeses out there.
If your knowledge of Mexican cheese doesn’t extend past Queso Fresco, we don’t exactly blame you (seriously there is so much good cheese out there). But you should know that you’re missing out on a whole world of flavors that deserve just as much shelf space in your fridge as classics like Parmegianno Regianno and the finest fresh mozzarella. So in an effort to level up your cheese game, we’re going to give you the run-down on the world of Mexican cheeses, what they taste like, whether they melt, and what to eat them with.
Let’s dive in.
Queso Añejo
Dane Rivera
Tasting Notes:
If you’ve ever heard of queso fresco, this is essentially the opposite. It literally translates to old cheese, it’s an aged version of queso fresco that time has turned firmer, a bit sharper, and more distinct in flavor. Think of it like a very subtle parmesan, with the same delectable nutty notes but much less sharp and a bit creamier with a pronounced salty flavor.
Most of the market varieties you’re going to come across are made from raw cow’s milk but some añejo will be made from goat’s milk or a blend. Some varieties are rolled in paprika, which adds a nice earthy component that really allows this cheese’s subtle flavors to shine.
What To Eat It On:
Dane Rivera
Fresh is the way to go, no need to melt. You can use it as a topping cheese, crumble or shred over tacos, a baked potato, a fresh serving of refried beans, the top of a wet burrito, over an omelet… the uses are limitless!
The Bottom Line:
Sharper, firmer, and more distinct in flavor than the creamy and sweet Queso Fresco.
Cotija
Dane Rivera
Tasting Notes:
If sharp and salty is your cheese vibe, you’re going to love cotija. Hailing from the town of the same name in Michoacan Mexico, cotija is another aged cheese with a stinky smell but is drier and more firm than queso añejo and tastes similar to where parmesan, romano, and feta converge.
Unlike those cheeses, there is a fresh milky creaminess here, an attribute shared by most of the Mexican cheeses. It has a slightly darker color than queso fresco and doesn’t melt well but the texture softens a bit when heated, which helps to bring the salty flavors forward.
What To Eat It On:
Dane Rivera
Cotija can be grated and crumbled over everything from tacos to salads but the most popular use for it, and the one we wholeheartedly recommend, is sprinkling it on elotes (grilled corn) with chili pepper and lime. Even over corn simply slathered in butter, it elevates the flavor and adds a sharp saltiness that isn’t as loud as something like parmesan but achieves that same savoriness.
The Bottom Line:
A finishing cheese that plays well with heat.
Queso Fresco
Dane Rivera
Tasting Notes:
If you’ve had one Mexican cheese in your life, it’s probably queso fresco. This is the Mexican equivalent to fresh mozzarella and I’m going to make my editor’s head explode when he reads this but… it’s better than mozz. It’s creamy, a bit tangy, and sweet with a mouthfeel so soft it’ll melt on your tongue. The freshness is palpable.
What To Eat It On:
Dane Rivera
Everything. Queso Fresco is so delicious and so neutral that crumbling some on any dish is only going to improve what you’re eating. You can double down on the freshness by sprinkling this over a salad or easily freshen up something more savory, like a side of beans.
The Bottom Line:
Queso fresco may not end up being your favorite Mexican cheese, but this is the foundation all the others cheesers are built upon and you should always have some in the fridge for finishing dishes.
Manchego
Dane Rivera
Tasting Notes:
You may know Manchego from the Spanish sheep’s milk cheese from La Mancha, but Mexican Manchego… is not that. They are similar in name only, and it’s actually a problem for Spain, they’ve long lobbied for Mexico to stop using the term. But uh, Spain, with all due respect you left cheese and a legacy of colonialism and since we can’t undo the history of colonialism we’re certainly hanging onto the cheese name.
Manchego is a shreddable cheese that melts easily. A lot of people liken it to cheddar because it has a sharpness to it, but it’s much milder and lands on my palate as much sweeter than cheddar, with a pleasant earthy aftertaste that lingers.
You could almost call this cheese’s sweetness “fruity,” but don’t take that the wrong way — it still lends itself well to savory dishes.
What To Eat It On:
Dane Rivera
I love this cheese stuffed in a chili or on enchiladas, but it also makes for a great gooey quesadilla. Blend it with some Oaxaca cheese and sprinkle it over nachos and you’ll be in heaven.
It was too delicious to get a good picture of.
Dane Rivera
The Bottom Line:
Subtly sharp, sweet, shreddable, and melty.
Menonita
Dane Rivera
Tasting Notes:
Sometimes simply called “Chihuahua,” though I find that term to be used rarely, menonita is a cheese hailing from the state of Chihuahua, Mexico and is named such because it was traditionally produced by Mennonite farmers who settled in the area. With an almost Muenster-like quality to the flavor, this cheese is much harder and more oily than Queso Fresco with a noticeably stinky quality to it.
That sharp stink doesn’t travel over to the flavor though, this cheese is very mild and nutty with a hint of sweetness on the backend. It takes a while to melt, but when it finally does hit the right temperature it spreads beautifully, making this an ideal cheese for stuffing and baking.
What To Eat It On:
Dane Rivera
Before you roast me on this half-assed roasted pepper let me just say, in my defense, I have an electric stove. Properly roasting this thing would take me something like 25 minutes, so I heated it up to the point where the pepper was soft, and the cheese was melted, and you know what? Still delicious.
As I said previously, Menonita is the ideal stuffing cheese, and one popular way of eating it is in chile rellenos, or simply melted in a roasted poblano pepper. This is great grill food, cut open a pepper, stuff it with a wedge of menonita, melt it on the grill and you’ve got yourself a meal.
Add some carbs in there by eating it on a tortilla.
The Bottom Line:
Your best choice for stuffing anything with cheese.
Oaxaca
Dane Rivera
Tasting Notes:
Hailing from Oaxaca Mexico, home of the Tlayudas (the dish the Taco Bell Mexican Pizza was inspired by), you’ll often see Oaxaca cheese as a knot of off-white string cheeses. Like mozzarella, it’s easy to shred, grate, and is mild enough to be eaten on its own at room temperature. It tastes way better when you melt it though, which helps to bring forward the saltiness.
The flavor is very similar to skim-milk mozzarella, but it’s a little less neutral, leaning toward a Monterey Jack flavor, but less distinct and nutty and more earthy and peppery. It’s one of the more boring Mexican cheeses, but I love it and it makes for a great base in a blend of cheeses.
What To Eat It On:
Dane Rivera
Quesadillas, burritos, on simply eat it plain on its own. You’re going to use it basically the same way you’d use mozzarella cheese. I love to mix it with Monterey Jack and stick it in a burrito, roll it up and grill it on a pan so it gets nice and melty.
The Bottom Line:
Your basic shreddable, meltable, neutral salty cheese.
Panela
Dane Rivera
Tasting Notes:
Panela is an interesting cheese, the good stuff is produced in the town of Tapalpa, but the cheese doesn’t have a clear site of origin, like some of the other cheeses on this list named after Mexican towns. Made from pasteurized cow’s milk, panela is firm, flexible, and salty with a sour aftertaste.
What To Eat It On:
Dane Rivera
Because Panela doesn’t melt that well we don’t suggest you utilize it in something like a burrito or quesadilla, instead enjoy it fresh on pretty much anything that fresh cold cheese goes with.
But if you really want to love life, fry it. Since Panela doesn’t melt and holds its shape, you can soften it up by throwing it on a pan. Throw some fried Panela in a tortilla with some cactus and you’ve got a delicious vegetarian taco.
The Bottom Line:
You can fry it — need we say more?
Requeson
Dane Rivera
Tasting Notes:
Requesón can be found in just about every Mexican market but its origin is actually Portugal, and it’s become popular in Latin American countries via the influence of Brazil. The brands you’ll find in Mexican markets will likely be produced in Mexico or America (the Brazilian stuff is creamier and less salty) and it is basically a Mexican version of ricotta cheese. The brand I bought literally just says “ricotta cheese” on the label.
The flavor is a mix between saltiness and creaminess — okay, look… It’s just f*cking ricotta cheese. It differs only in that it’s saltier.
What To Eat It On:
Dane Rivera
It’s mild, spreadable, and serves as a great filling in everything from empanadas to pasta. It can also be eaten fresh. If you like that ricotta flavor, you’re going to love this but I still prefer to stuff things with the more flavorful Manchego.
The Denver Nuggets entered Game 4 at home facing the prospects of a first round sweep at the hands of the Golden State Warriors, but came out with admirable fight on Sunday afternoon at home, despite the long odds staring them in the face.
After getting torched for three games, the Nuggets came out with an improved effort defensively, frustrating the Warriors on offense and doing a much better job staying organized, attached to shooters, and only helping off non-shooters to start the game. Denver took a 26-21 lead into the second quarter, fueled by that defensive effort and Nikola Jokic shouldering most of the burden offensively. The reigning MVP had 18 of his 37 points on the day in the first quarter, doing a bit of everything as he gave the Warriors fits out of the gate.
Picking up where Jokic left off for Denver was rookie Bones Hyland, as the precocious young guard gave the Nuggets a spark off the bench during a big run across the end of the first and start of the second quarter, on his way to a 15-point, 7-assist outing.
The Nuggets led by 11 at the half and the third quarter was mostly a wash, as the Warriors woke up offensively but still couldn’t cut much into the deficit, trailing by nine going to the fourth.
In that final period, the Warriors made a few runs, but each time the Nuggets showed their resiliency and had an answer. Early on, it was Hyland who again showed the value he brings to Denver at the point of attack, shaking Klay Thompson for a big bucket to push Denver’s lead back out to 10 with eight minutes to play.
The big run from the Warriors started with about five minutes to play, when they started to really click offensively, snapping the ball around and creating open shot after open shot by getting Denver in transition, headlined by these two buckets from Andrew Wiggins (20 points) and Klay Thompson (32 points).
On the other side, Jokic had the answers to keep the Warriors at bay for a bit, hitting Draymond Green with a vicious spin move — just a minute before Green would foul out, which proved costly for the Warriors on the defensive end of the floor.
While Green was out, the Warriors found success attacking Jokic as the Nuggets started to switch pick-and-rolls against the small-ball Warriors, with Wiggins and Otto Porter as the two bigs, and Stephen Curry went to work on his way to 33 points off the bench, pulling the Warriors ahead briefly with just over a minute to play.
After Denver tied things up they finally got a stop, and Monte Morris continued his stellar game, finishing with 24 points and five assists, with a floater to push the Nuggets back in front, a lead they would hold for good.
MORRIS GIVES DEN THE LEAD @warriors 121@nuggets 123 33.5 remaining in Q4
A disastrous inbounds play that saw Porter throw an ill-advised lob to Andrew Wiggins got broken up by Austin Rivers, and on the Nuggets final possession, it was Will Barton who drilled a corner three off of a beautiful Jokic pass that put the dagger in the Warriors.
Jokic finished the game with 37 points, eight rebounds, and six assists, none bigger than the final kick to the corner. Aaron Gordon added 21 for Denver, including a few key late buckets and free throws, while the bench unit played its best game of the series. For the Warriors, Curry and Thompson combined for 65 points but Jordan Poole came back to earth with an 11-point outing (although he did dish out nine assists) and Green’s foul trouble loomed large in the closing minutes as the Warriors struggled to get the necessary stops to complete a comeback win and get a sweep.
Now the series shifts back to San Francisco where the Warriors will look to close things out at home in Game 5 on Wednesday night.
Game 4 of the Nets-Celtics first round series went from a “target date” to the “planned debut” for Ben Simmons over the last week, but after Brooklyn fell behind in the series 3-0 on Saturday night, plans changed.
On Sunday afternoon, during the second quarter of Game 4 between the Warriors and Nuggets, the Nets released their injury report for Monday night that listed Simmons as officially OUT with continued back soreness. It wasn’t necessarily a shock when you factor in the context of the situation, as bringing him back for an elimination game would’ve been quite the gamble and put him in a place to be scapegoated for a loss.
However, if holding him out was an effort to protect Simmons from shouldering the blame of a potential sweep at the hands of the Celtics, it unfortunately did not work as Simmons was swiftly blasted by one usual suspect and one surprising one. Reggie Miller, who is typically one of the most positive figures in the NBA, took to Twitter and unloaded on Simmons in a way we rarely see from the Hall of Famer, saying he has “no competitive fire.”
Cmon MAN!!! Out for Game 4 when it was rumored you were going to make your debut. This dude has ZERO competitive .. As small a chance as the Nets have to come back in this series, you still have KD and Kyrie, all you need is to win ONE game and take it from there.. #ManUppic.twitter.com/Y5smcnQkqZ
That was a bit of a stunner to see Miller publicly rip Simmons like that, but it was no surprise to see Stephen A. Smith do the same when ABC’s halftime show aired shortly after the injury report released. Smith called out Simmons for being a “quitter” and listed off his exits from LSU, Philadelphia, and now the start of his Brooklyn tenure as proof.
.@stephenasmith reacts to Ben Simmons being out for Game 4:
“I feel bad for anybody who was his teammate. He quit on LSU, he quit on the Philadelphia 76ers and now, he ain’t showing up for the Brooklyn Nets.” pic.twitter.com/wrOrgCLziP
The entire Simmons saga has been bizarre to watch unfold this season, and in this instance it seems like most of the blame belongs on the shoulders of whomever was offering up the information to reporters that Game 4 was when he planned on returning, particularly since it came out after they had already gone down 0-2. Bringing him back facing elimination would’ve been setting him up to fail, but leaking that he was trying to get back on the court for Game 4 made it look like he was backing out on his new teammates. The Nets, at least publicly through Steve Nash, insisted there wasn’t a plan in place all along likely for this very reason, but for whatever reason, behind the scenes, some from the team or in Simmons camp wanted it known this was the plan and now Simmons is facing the backlash that comes with the optics of it all.
Lorde is currently on her worldwide Solar Power Tour which is in support of her third album of the same title. She released the project last summer, nearly four years after she dropped her sophomore album, Melodrama. Lorde’s Solar Power Tour has been going well so far but it saw a slight bump in the plans after Lorde came down with a case of laryngitis which forced her to postpone shows in Connecticut and Washington D.C. Despite this, it’s Lorde’s past tour in support of Melodrama that’s been getting some attention as of late.
It comes after multiple videos arrived on social media showing her shushing the crowd she performed in front of. Many wondered what was the reason for the action, and in a video Lorded recently sent to the @lordecontent Instagram account, the singer explains the shushing. “I just woke up … I just wanted to talk about this thing of me shushing people at my shows,” Lorde said. “That was something that I did on that one song a couple times when I wanted to sing it a capella or off the microphone so people could hear me and because I wanted to try something different.”
She continued, “If you come to my shows, you know it’s an hour-and-a-half of all of us singing and screaming together. Also that dramatic-ass move was literally for an album called Melodrama, so don’t stress too hard.”
You can watch Lorde shush multiple crowds and explain the move in the videos above.
For weeks, we’ve been getting reports about Ben Simmons’ status and when he could be ready to make his first appearance of the 2021-22 season after sitting out through the trade deadline with the Sixers and then rehabbing a back injury once he arrived in Brooklyn.
Recently, the word was that the target for Simmons’ return would be Games 4 of the first round, but that was in a world in which the Nets were expecting to have won a game by that point of the series. Instead, they find themselves down 3-0 to a Boston team that is absolutely rolling, which has forced a change of plans for Simmons. The team officially announced Simmons would be out on Sunday afternoon after Steve Nash insisted it was “news to me” that the former All-Star would be debuting on Monday night.
Nets are listing Ben Simmons as OUT for Game 4 vs. Celtics. A surprise as Simmons had been expected to play Monday as long as rehab was on course.
There really shouldn’t be any surprise by this decision, as it’s one thing to have Simmons debut in a playoff game, but an entirely different animal to throw him out there for an elimination game. Considering how much of Simmons’ absence has been about his mental health, placing him in a situation where he could be scapegoated in an elimination game would have been setting him up to fail. While the Nets would surely love to have his presence, particularly on the defensive end, against the Celtics, it’s for the best long-term for Simmons and the Nets to protect him a bit in this circumstance — which is also why Nash hadn’t been willing to speak on a target date for his return.
On top of the mental side, back injuries can be tricky and according to Woj, Simmons is still feeling some soreness, which led to him remaining out for Monday.
ESPN Sources: The Nets and Ben Simmons expected he would be ready to play on Monday, but after getting on the court yesterday Simmons says he awoke with back soreness today. In the end, the team and Simmons agreed he’ll remain out for Game 4.
Since last July, the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot have been slowly but steadily amassing information. They’ve talked to untold Donald Trump cronies. Some have talked willingly. Some have blown off subpoenas, risking jail time. They’re still at it, but when their findings are made clear, one of their members recently said, based on what they’ve already dug up, they won’t be a letdown.
As per NBC News, Maryland representative Jamie Raskin — who earlier this month staved off some MTG heckling — told those at a D.C. event Thursday to get ready for fireworks. “The hearings will tell a story that will really blow the roof off the House,” Raskin said. “No president has ever come close to doing what happened here in terms of trying to organize an inside coup to overthrow an election and bypass the constitutional order.” He added, “And then also use a violent insurrection made up of domestic violent extremist groups, white nationalist and racist, fascist groups in order to support the coup.”
Raskin said the committee is preparing to start holding hearings in June By the end of the summer or early autumn — soon before midterms, incidentally — a report on their findings should be made public.
The committee has said to have amassed evidence that Trump and his inner circle coordinated with those who participated in the attack on the Capitol building. Their plan, Raskin said, was to get then-vice president Mike Pence to decline the electoral votes, moving the matter of naming the next president to the House.
“This was not a coup directed at the president,” Raskin told the crowd. “It was a coup directed by the president against the vice president and against the Congress.”
Among the most chilling evidence was the claim, reported last summer, that Pence, when directed by his Secret Service agents to get into a car amidst the attacks, declined, saying, “I’m not getting in that car.”
Raskin said, “He knew exactly what this inside coup they had planned for was going to do.”
Tyler The Creator’s success with Call Me If You Get Lost has lasted nearly a year at this point. It was just a few weeks ago that the rapper’s sixth album gave him his second Grammy award after it won in the Best Rap Album category at this year’s show. It joined 2019’s Igor as his only Grammy-winning projects. After his most recent win, Tyler made sure to thank his fans and troll DJ Khaled (again). Now, Tyler has a new opportunity to do the former (and maybe the latter) thanks to Call Me If You Get Lostreclaiming the top spot on the Billboard albums chart.
In its return to No. 1, Call Me If You Get Lost sold 59,000 album units on the Billboard 200 chart dated April 30, 2022. That number is comprised of 51,000 pure album sales with 49,500 of that being vinyl LP sales. With that, Tyler sixth’s album earned itself the largest sales week for a hip-hop album on vinyl, or for a solo male album on vinyl, since Luminate began tracking music sales in 1991. The previous record for a male artist was held by Kid Cudi’s Man On The Moon III: The Chosen which sold 41,500 vinyl copies in its first week back in December. The overall record since 1991 is held by Taylor Swift’s Red (Taylor’s Version) which dished out 114,000 vinyl LPs in its first week back in November.
Tyler’s return to No. 1 also comes after he livestreamed his Los Angeles Call Me If You Get Lost tour stop on Amazon music.
For the second straight game, the Milwaukee Bucks have outclassed the Bulls in Chicago to take full control of their first round series despite the absence of Khris Middleton. After a 30-point win in Game 3 on Friday night, the Bucks followed that up with a 119-95 win on Sunday afternoon at the United Center to take a 3-1 lead and give themselves a chance to close out the series on Wednesday night in Milwaukee.
Leading the way for the Bucks, as always, was Giannis Antetokounmpo, but Milwaukee got a big boost off the bench from Grayson Allen, who has stepped up to take on some of the perimeter scoring void created by Middleton’s absence, as well as another tremendous two-way game from Jrue Holiday.
The two teams traded blows early, with Milwaukee leading by just three going to the second quarter, but the Bucks opened things up in the second as Allen got hot from three and Antetokounmpo took over on both ends of the floor.
The @Bucks are getting the rock to their shooters early
Milwaukee held a 15-point edge at the half and would extend that to 22 early in the third quarter as they came out hot, once again striking from long distance.
The Bulls would go on a run to cut that deficit down to as few as eight, indicating they might have a run in them to make things competitive, headlined by back-to-back threes from Ayo Dosunmu.
The Bucks had a swift answer as they reinserted Giannis into the game and he took over, creating for himself and others, with Allen being the leading beneficiary, allowing Milwaukee to push their lead back out to 16 going into the fourth quarter.
Grayson Allen puts down his 5th three-pointer off the Giannis no-look!
The most notable thing to happen in the fourth quarter was a brief kerfuffle between Zach LaVine and Bobby Portis that resulted in double technicals, as the Bucks continued to roll, pushing their lead out to 24 in the closing seconds.
As the final seconds wound down, DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine made an early exit to the locker room, as frustrations were evident on the Chicago sideline with another dismal performance at home after seemingly holding the momentum in the series coming out of Game 2. Those two combined for 47 points in the game, with Patrick Williams adding 20, but the two stars were a combined 16-of-38 from the field and 2-of-11 from three as the Bucks perimeter defense, spearheaded by Holiday, has made life extremely difficult on those two ever since DeRozan went off in Game 2.
On the Bucks side, Giannis finished with 32 points, 17 rebounds, and seven assists, as he continues to play spectacular ball in this series. Allen, for the second straight game, topped 20 points with a new playoff career-high 27 points on 10-of-12 shooting (6-of-7 from three), as he has given the Bucks a huge lift as a floor spacer around Giannis, which is much needed with Middleton out. Holiday ended his afternoon with 26 points and seven assists, along with the aforementioned strong defense on DeRozan.
Milwaukee will head home for Wednesday’s Game 5 looking to close out the series and send the Bulls into the offseason.
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Thrive City at 
KLAY THOMPSON MAKES IT A 3 PT GAME 
