Month: April 2024

The New York Knicks are heading to Philadelphia with a 2-0 series lead. During Monday night’s Game 2 of their first round series, the Knicks played host to the 76ers at Madison Square Garden and looked like they were going to lose their homecourt advantage in the series, as the Sixers — powered by a pair of huge performances from Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid — held a 5-point lead as the game entered the final 30 seconds.

And then, an insane sequence occurred during the game’s waning moments to give New York a 104-101 win. After a scramble on the ground, Jalen Brunson knocked down a three to cut the lead to two. And then, the Knicks’ defense forced an awkward inbounds pass to Maxey, who got trapped, hit the deck after some contact from Josh Hart went uncalled, and turned the ball over. A miss by Donte DiVincenzo got cleaned up by Isaiah Hartenstein, and eventually, the ball made its way back to DiVincenzo, who hit the three to put the Knicks ahead.

The moment was so big that it earned a rare double bang from legendary play-by-play man Mike Breen.

There was still plenty of time left for Philly, which got Maxey going towards the rim with a head of steam. But Hartenstein came up huge once again, as he rejected the layup, it fell into the arms of OG Anunoby, and he hit both free throws to put the Knicks up three.

While the Sixers got one more chance, a Joel Embiid heave hit the back of the rim, and Philly’s hopes of stealing one in New York were dashed.

Everyone in New York’s starting five hit double-digit scoring, and while he did not have his most efficient game of the year, Brunson led the way with 24 points on 8-for-29 shooting with eight rebounds and six assists. Hart, who can probably run for mayor and win after how he’s played in the first two games of the series, had a double-double with 21 points and 15 rebounds.

While balance was the name of the game for New York, Philly relied on its two All-Stars to get them to the finish line, and they very nearly did. Maxey led all scorers with 35 points, 10 assists, and nine rebounds in 44 minutes of work. And while Embiid seemed to really struggle with the knee injury he aggravated in Game 1 of the series, he still put up big numbers, as the 2022-23 NBA MVP had 34 points, 11 rebounds, and six assists on the evening.

Now, the series will head to Philadelphia, where the Sixers will hope to get back and track and defend their home court. Game 3 between the Sixers and the Knicks from the Wells Fargo Center will take place on Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. EST on TNT.

How many times have you, or someone in your circle, made this joke:

“I can’t seem to go outside without spending money!”

But, as with many jokes, there’s some dark truth layered in. Life just feels a little hard right now for many of us when it comes to finances. And one person has hit the nail on the head as to why. Spoiler alert: it probably has nothing to do with anyone being lazy.

Amber Cimiotti, a mom of two and expat living in Italy, begins her video by noting how America has removed naturally occurring activities like “exercise, talking to friends, connecting with people, spending time with our kids,” from everyday life. And so now, Americans only have access to these very necessary things if they are able to pay for them.

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For example—let’s talk about exercise. Cimiotti notes how “there’s not many places, neighborhoods, and cities where it’s super easy to walk everywhere, where you can get a lot of natural exercise, whether it’s walking to and from your house or to the grocery stores. This just doesn’t exist for most people now, so you have to wake up earlier on your lunch break or after work; you have to go to the gym so you can get in your exercise.” Which means someone has to have anywhere between $40 to upwards of $300+ a month to invest in their physical health in this way.

Next up—mental health resources, primarily in the form of real conversations in a supportive community. Cimiotti says “people are meant to share their struggles, their stories, everyday, constantly. And we’re not doing that. And what do you see happening? Nowadays, everybody needs a therapist. Yes, therapy is needed for some things but most people just need to be talking to people way more. And I don’t mean like trolling on the internet.”

Also—child care. “There used to be kids running around neighborhoods all the time. Parents didn’t have to pay all this extra money to do activities so their kids can be involved in things; parents didn’t have to drive all over the place… But now that doesn’t exist. So we do need to pay for activities,” Cimiotti says.

Lastly—food. “Eating healthy food in America is a part-time job, if not a full-time job…it would all be so much easier if we just had healthy food in general.” I don’t think Cimiotti needs to convince anyone here that quality food (food in general, really) is definitely not accessible for many folks, and high prices are at least partially to blame.

“The point is when things don’t happen naturally in your day and you need to take extra energy to achieve basic things like healthy food, exercise, talking to friends, which helps regulate emotions and things like that…when you have to build those into therapy sessions, exercise sessions, hobbies, reading 17 books…of course you’ll be tired,” Cimiotti concludes with a big sigh.

@ciaoamberc #america #culture #family #friends #parenting #society ♬ original sound – Ciao AmberC

Down in the comments, people seemed to really resonate with what Cimiotti had to say.

One reader commented, “I’m totally convinced that a lot of therapy effects could be achieved by processing time with an array of friends in different stages of life. Which isn’t possible to mutually schedule like therapy.”

And while Cimiotti’s video might be sobering, she tells Buzzfeed that her hope is it can lead to more conversations that “help lead to a change.”

Judging by some of the viewer reactions, it seems she’s succeeded, at least in helping people not blame themselves for their challenges. One person shared, “It’s so validating to hear cause I feel like I never have enough time to just live well and not be completely exhausted and have space left to do fun stuff!”

Retired Los Angeles Clippers broadcaster Ralph Lawler came up with the concept of Lawler’s Law years ago, which states the first team to score 100 points in an NBA game would end up winning. Through two games in the first round series between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Orlando Magic, that has proven to be too ambitious of a number, but nevertheless, the Cavs find themselves with a 2-0 lead in the series after defending their homecourt en route to a 96-86 win.

The Cavs won the game behind a balanced offensive effort from their four main stars: Jarrett Allen, Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, and Evan Mobley. The idea behind putting that group together was that they could all compliment one another well — particularly while Garland and Mobley continued to develop in the league — and we got a good look of that vision on Monday night. Mitchell, as he usually does, led the way with 23 points, eight rebounds, four assists, a steal, and a block, while his backcourt mate was solid, as Garland had 15 points and four assists.

Both Allen and Mobley were able to impose themselves on the Magic frontcourt, with the veteran big man, in particular, dominating the game. Allen had 16 points and 20 rebounds, with nine of those board coming on the offensive glass — he almost had as many offensive boards as the Magic had as a team, as Orlando only reeled in 11. Mobley rounded things out with a 17-point, 7-rebound effort.

But for the second game in a row, Cleveland was able to win the game on the other end of the floor behind a stellar defensive effort that was aided by the fact that Orlando’s offense really struggled. As a team, the Magic only shot 29-for-80 (36.3 percent) from the field and 9-for-35 (25.7 percent) from three. And while Paolo Banchero (21 points) and Franz Wagner (18 points) led the team in scoring, both struggled to shoot the ball efficiently and had turnover issues, as they each gave the ball to the Cavs six times.

If there is a source of optimism for Orlando, it might be that someone was able to see a few go in from deep, as Gary Harris went 4-for-7 from behind the arc — Wagner, who made a pair of triples, was the only other player to make more than one shot from three. And of course, there’s the fact that the series now shifts to their building, as things will head to the Kia Center for Games 3 and 4, marking the first time that the Magic will host a playoff game since 2019.

Game 3 between Orlando and Cleveland is scheduled to take place on Thursday night at 7 p.m. EST, and will air on NBA TV.

On Sunday night’s TNT doubleheader, Charles Barkley and Shaq managed to go off the rails during a halftime discussion of the Thunder and Pelicans Game 1 when Shaq had a little issue with his chair, prompting Chuck to come at him for being a “fat ass.”

That was followed by the typical back-and-forth between the two, but also included the crew poking some fun at Barkley being on Mounjaro — which he gleefully explained to Kenny Smith “it’s a drug!” — to aid in his weight loss. Kenny and Shaq then prodded him to lose weight the old fashioned way by eating healthy and running.

On Monday night, prior to Game 2 between the Sixers and Knicks, the TNT crew had not forgotten that moment and set Chuck up during his pregame “GUARANTEE!”, dumping a bunch of kale on his head.

A year ago, they had Barkley shook by constantly dropping ping pong balls (and other things) on him, and this year they’re upping the ante with greens. Shaq then decided to try forcefeeding the Chuckster kale, which led to a scene that looked like when you try to force your dog to take a pill, with Barkley shaking his head side to side while Shaq tried to get him to eat his greens.

The Opium crew may have canceled their Antagonist Tour, but that isn’t stopping them from recalibrating their plans for 2024 and forging ahead. Ken Carson, who is five months removed from the release of his third studio album A Great Chaos, has announced his tour dates for 2024, kicking off in Orlando on July 8. Carson shared the pre-sale information on his social channels, with the tickets set for general sale on April 26 at 10 AM local time.

Ken Carson 2024 Tour Dates

07/08 — Orlando, FL @ Warehouse at CCF
07/09 — Miami Beach, FL @ The Fillmore Miami Beach at Jackie Gleason Theater
07/10 — St. Petersburg, FL @ Jannus Live
07/12 — Houston, TX @ 713 Music Hall
07/13 — Austin, TX @ Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater
07/14 — Dallas, TX @ The Factory in Deep Ellum
07/16 — Phoenix, AZ @ Van Buren
07/19 — San Diego, CA @ SOMA San Diego
07/20 — Los Angeles, CA @ Shrine Auditorium & Expo Hall
07/23 — San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield
07/26 — Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater
07/27 — Seattle, WA @ Showbox SoDo
07/29 — Vancouver, BC @ PNE Forum
07/31 — Salt Lake City, UT @ The Union
08/01 — Denver, CO @ Mission Ballroom
08/03 — Minneapolis, MN @ The Fillmore Minneapolis
08/04 — Kansas City, MO @ Uptown Theater
08/07 — Royal Oak, MI @ Royal Oak Music Theatre
08/08 — Columbus, OH @ Kemba Live!
08/10 — Cleveland, OH @ Agora Theatre & Ballroom
08/12 — Toronto, ON @ History
08/14 — Montreal, QC @ MTELUS
08/16 — Boston, MA @ Roadrunner
08/18 — Washington, D.C. @ The Anthem
08/20 — New York, NY @ Terminal 5
08/24 — Philadelphia, PA @ The Fillmore Philadelphia
08/26 — Atlanta, GA @ Coca-Cola Rozy
08/29 — Charlotte, NC @ The Fillmore
08/30 — Raleigh, NC @ The Ritz
09/15 — Manchester, UK @ O2 Victoria Warehouse
09/16 — Birmingham, UK @ O2 Academy
09/17 — London, UK @ OVO Arena Wembley
09/20 — Berlin, DE @ Columbiahalle
09/22 — Paris, FR @ Élysée Montmartre
09/24 — Frankfurt, DE @ Zoom
09/25 — Tilburg, NL @ 013 Poppodium
09/27 — Brussels, BE @ La Madeleine
09/29 — Milan, IT @ Fabrique
09/30 — Zurich, CH @ Komplex 457
10/01 — Munich, DE @ Theaterfabrik
10/03 — Cologne, DE @ Palladium
10/05 — Prague, CZ @ Garbe

Jalen Suggs hoped to find his form on offense in Game 2 of the Orlando Magic’s first round series against the Cleveland Cavaliers. After a difficult Game 1 in which Suggs (along with essentially everyone else on Orlando’s roster) struggled to get into a rhythm en route to a 97-83 loss, the Magic arrived at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse hoping to even things up before the series shifted to Orlando.

Unfortunately for Suggs, he had to leave the game early on following an ugly incident with Cavs guard Donovan Mitchell. Suggs attempted to poke the ball away from Mitchell as he was going for a stepback, but instead, he stuck out his leg and Mitchell jumped right into it, causing it to bend in a way that is not natural.

Suggs laid on the ground in some pretty serious pain while holding his knee, and after getting looked at by the medical staff, he made his way to the locker room. But in an extremely unfortunate sign for Orlando, Suggs had to be carried off the floor while he kept his left leg off the ground in an effort to not put any weight on it.

We’ll keep you posted as more information is made available on Suggs’ status in Game 2 and for the remainder of this series. On the year, Suggs is averaging 12.6 points, 3.1 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 1.4 steals per game while playing some of the best on-ball defense in the NBA.

The Charlotte Hornets are in the market for a head coach after Steve Clifford’s second stint on the bench came to an end — the veteran coach will move into a role in the team’s front office. Now, Charlotte needs someone to fill his shoes, and apparently, there’s interest in learning a bit more about J.J. Redick.

According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, Charlotte is planning on discussing the vacancy with Redick, who has been a candidate for coaching gigs in the past but is currently an analyst for ESPN and the co-host of both the “Mind the Game” podcast with LeBron James and “The Old Man and the Three.” As of now, there’s no word on when Redick and the team will meet.

Over the last few years, Redick has seen his named linked with assistant and head coaching jobs. He previously discussed how Joe Mazzulla offered him a job with the Boston Celtics in 2022, and last year, Redick got interviewed by the Toronto Raptors to take over their team after the decision was made to fire Nick Nurse. The role eventually went to Darko Rajaković.

Redick, who spent his college years a few hours away from Charlotte as a member of the Duke Blue Devils, has no NBA coaching experience. He retired in 2021 after a 15-year career that included stops in Orlando, Milwaukee, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, New Orleans, and Dallas.

Every once in a while a state’s bill will make a blip on national media that causes people to dig a little deeper into what’s happening. One such bill made headlines last year for a brief time before a new bill from another state took it’s place.

After a tragic school shooting in the state of Tennessee where six people were killed, including three young students, state politicians began talking about arming the teachers. The idea was if teachers were armed then they would be able to stop school shooters, but the bill was widely unpopular among teachers and many parents. That didn’t stop the state legislature from drawing up the bill and putting it up for a vote April 2024.

Many parents showed up to Tennessee State Senate to protest the bill, but it was the fiery speech of State Senator London Lamar that has people talking.

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The new mom held her infant son in her arms while she addressed her colleagues who saw fit to laugh after moms protesting the bill were asked to leave. Lamar did not hold back in not only expressing her disappointment in her colleagues behavior but their disregard for very real concerns that she also shares with the people asked to leave.

“We are literally talking about arming educators who took an oath to teach our kids writing and arithmetic and how they can one day contribute to Tennessee’s great economy, and we’re now turning them into law enforcement agents by arming them with guns. We think this piece of legislation is going to keep kids safe which is probably going to enable the next school shooter, and it’s not going to be someone coming in from the outside. It’s unfortunately going to be a teacher with this piece of legislation,” Lamar declares.

You can watch her passionate speech below:

Sure, Taylor Swift did a great job at writing, performing in and directing her “Fortnite” music video (which has only dropped a couple days ago and already at over 30 million views)…but you know what could make it even better? Having a dog perform all the parts, that’s what!

And that’s exactly the treat we received, thanks to an adorable dachshund named Lucas.

The clip (aptly titled “Fortnight (Lucas’ version)”) recreates the music video’s black-and-white typewriter scene, where the camera alternates between a moody Swift and Post Malone clacking as they lament about how much love is “ruining” their lives. you know, basic tortured poets stuff.

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Only this time, Lucas plays both the roles—costumes as all! Major kudos to Lucas’ parent, who clearly has an eye for detail and camera angles. Both the original video and Lucas’ video play simultaneously so you can really see how similar they are.

“I look like @taylorswift in this light, i’m lovin’ it 🤭🤍,” the clip caption says.

Watch below. Spoiler alert: get ready to see little doggy paws in lace gloves.

See on Instagram

Down in the comments, people were enthralled.

One person wrote, “THIS NEEDS MORE ATTENTION”

“Magical!!!!!!!” another added.

Though clearly Lucas’s is a whole ‘nother level of Swiftie, is he not the only dog to be a fan. In an experiment produced by WoofWoof, dogs were “visibly more relaxed” by her music than other artists in the study. Her songs got more tail wagging and even more “howls of approval.” That’s right, her music transcends species.

Just like Taylor Swift, Lucas has many, many more music videos where they came from, including “The Archer,” “Hoax” and “You Belong with Me.” And just like Swift, he outdoes himself with every new project.

Check out even more of his content on Instagram and TikTok.

Slumdog Millionaire‘s Dev Patel could have selected a far less intense directorial debut than Monkey Man. Then again, this is his passion project, in which he also stars as a John Wick-esque protagonist who is full of vengeance and determined to beat the snot out of everyone. Alright!

Patel’s determination won an ally in Jordan Peele, who played a large role in Universal Pictures’ decision to pick up the film, which was originally destined for a Netflix streaming release. However, the movie hit theaters on April 5 and is already headed towards your living room, courtesy of Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions and Universal.

When Will ‘Monkey Man’ Be On Digital?

You don’t have to wait long. The film is set to hit VOD and digital on Tuesday, April 23. Eventually, the film will hit Peacock since that’s where the Universal movies go for posterity’s sake. At least there is some consistency in this wild Internet world. From the movie’s synopsis:

After years of suppressed rage, Kid discovers a way to infiltrate the enclave of the city’s sinister elite. As his childhood trauma boils over, his mysteriously scarred hands unleash an explosive campaign of retribution to settle the score with the men who took everything from him.

And why wouldn’t you want to give this film a whirl on digital and/or streaming? Patel suffered massive injuries during the making of this movie, so at least we could all do him a solid and watch. Keep your eyes peeled for a streaming date, too.