Category: News

All eyes were on San Antonio on Wednesday night in the late window of the first full NBA slate of the season, as ESPN was on hand for the debut of Victor Wembanyama with the Spurs. While foul trouble limited him some, Wemby showed the flashes of brilliance that make him a once-in-a-generation prospect, but his Spurs fell to the Mavs 126-119.

The Mavs also had a rookie big man making his NBA debut, as the 12th overall pick in this year’s draft, Dereck Lively II, came off the bench and showed why Dallas had him circled on their big board. Lively’s performance was, in the words of Luka Doncic on live TV after the game, “f**king great,” as he put up 16 points and 10 rebounds in 31 minutes, going 7-of-8 from the floor and was a +20 off of the bench.

When the Mavs drafted Lively, the hope was that he could finally fill the rim protection void in Dallas, but no one was quite sure how impactful he would be immediately and how much Jason Kidd would trust the young center to anchor the Mavs defense. We got a quick answer on Wednesday night as his 31 minutes were fourth on the team, behind only Doncic, Kyrie Irving, and Grant Williams, and it was immediately obvious how important Lively is going to be to the Mavs achieving their goals this season.

The question for the 7’1 big man out of Duke was how quickly he could get up to speed on the offensive end in order to allow the Mavs to enjoy his rim protection skills on the other end. While he probably won’t go 7-for-8 every night, it was quickly apparent that he is a damn near perfect big for what the Mavs need out of that position offensively with this current roster. Luka Doncic was desperate for a good pick-and-roll partner and just someone who provides vertical spacing as a lob threat. It was something last year’s Mavs team did not have and you could tell very quickly how much Doncic was enjoying playing with a guy in Lively who is happy just setting screens and running to the rim.

Lively, of course, benefits greatly from playing with a passer like Doncic, and I would expect Jason Kidd to look very closely at pairing the two as often has he can when deploying the rookie big man. Lively might not have a lot of diversity in his offensive skillset, but the thing he does have (finishing dunks) is the exact thing Doncic really needed next to him. There is no reason on a Mavs team with Doncic, Irving, and even guys like Tim Hardaway Jr. and Josh Green that Lively should ever need to do any self-creation offensively in the post. As such, I have a feeling a lot of his shot charts will look like the one from last night.

That is what it looks like when a young man knows his role and does his best in it. If anything, Lively’s understanding of his shortcomings as an offensive weapon might be beneficial for this Mavs team. Their best offense is “let Luka/Kyrie make decisions on the ball” and anything else, especially post touches for an inefficient shooting big man, is letting the defense off the hook. He knows his job is to set a screen or hand the ball off to those guys and then get to the paint where his job is to finish a lob/pocket pass or be ready for a putback on an offensive rebound. On Wednesday night, he did that wonderfully.

Doncic gushing about Lively in his postgame interview isn’t just important in the context of getting a win on opening night, but it also was a major step in building the trust between the two of them. Part of the challenge of building around Doncic is it can be hard to find players willing to embrace a role in orbit of Luka, who are also talented enough to earn his trust. On Wednesday, Lively’s performance went a long way in doing that with the Mavs superstar.

Lively’s screening was impressive, as he does a good job of getting wide and making for an actual obstacle for guards, but it’s what he does after that that will make him a Doncic favorite. Watch this play again from the wide angle, as he sets a quick screen and then recognizes that both defenders have their attention on Doncic, with Lively’s man in deep drop. The reason for that is Lively isn’t a threat to pop and shoot, but Lively demonstrated the risk in sinking that far back to the rim on him.

Lively’s timing on his rolls was impressive in his first game in the NBA, as he showed patience when needed but also the right sense of urgency when given a runway to the rim. On this play, he eats into the space given quickly and before Zach Collins can get a body on him in the lane, he’s on his way up for a vicious and-1 finish.

The defensive impact of Lively speaks for itself. Fully understanding the small sample size of a 31 minute game, the Mavs were vastly better on the defensive end with him in the game (98.5 DRtg with him on the floor, 133.3 DRtg with him off of it). He is both a terrific rim deterrent when in the paint and mobile enough to shut off driving lanes and bother pick-and-rolls before they even get to the rim when he has to step out on the perimeter. That is an element they simply haven’t had in the frontcourt, and his presence mitigates some of their issues at the point of attack. That said, I was most impressed with his offensive impact (126.1 ORtg with him on the floor, 100.0 ORtg with him off of it) because that was the biggest question for him.

No he is not a dynamic threat, but that is arguably a good thing given his situation. If he can continue being the vertical threat at the rim opposite Doncic and Irving, set good screens, and be bothersome on the offensive glass, that will give Dallas a dynamic they simply haven’t had with Doncic. Dallas has long valued floor-spacing bigs around Doncic, which is understandable, but a pick-and-roll partner who puts opposing bigs in a bind with how long they stay in front of Doncic before falling back to protect the lob is just as important to have. Lively gives them that, and as the game wore on there were times where you could see the Spurs bigs leaving a little earlier to recover back, with Doncic having the patience to drag out the action so long that the defender has to show his hand.

It won’t be this smooth every night, and we’ll have to see how Lively manages in a game with bigger, stronger, higher level center opposition. That said, the trust Doncic has in him that’s already apparent is huge for a rookie in his situation and given what he provides on defense that no one else on the roster can, it’s hard not to be excited about his future in Dallas after this outing.

Hasan Minhaj saw his chances of becoming the new host of The Daily Show turn to dust after an exposé in The New Yorker revealed that the comedian had embellished significant details about his personal life in his stand-up act. While stretching the truth is common in stand-up comedy, the sticking point with Minhaj is that he was making specific claims about racism and Islamophobia in his life that didn’t fully match reality.

Later reporting claimed that Minhaj allegedly had The Daily Show hosting gig buttoned up. Unfortunately, Minhaj and Paramount Global reportedly decided to wait out the writers strike before making an announcement. When the New Yorker article hit, Paramount reportedly squashed the deal and resumed its search for a new host.

Now, Minhaj is firing back. The comedian made an exhaustive 20-minute video addressing The New Yorker article point-by-point.

“There were omissions and factual errors in The New Yorker article that misrepresented my life story, so I wanted to give people the context and materials I provided The New Yorker with full transparency,” Minhaj said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter who was provided with an exclusive copy of video that the comedian described as a “20-minute deep dive with graphics and excessive hand motions.”

Minhaj’s biggest issue is that he wants to make it clear that he’s “not a psycho,” which is the impression that he also got from The New Yorker:

“To everyone who read that article,” he continues, “I want to answer the biggest question that’s probably on your mind: Is Hasan Minhaj secretly a psycho? Underneath all that pomp, is Hasan Minhaj just a con artist who uses fake racism and Islamophobia to advance his career? Because after reading that article, I would also think that.”

Minhaj’s biggest point of contention is how The New Yorker handled the prom story, which involved Minhaj arriving to pick up his date, only to be told by her mother that she didn’t want her daughters in pictures with a “brown boy.” In reality, that confrontation didn’t happen that way, but Minhaj insists he was rejected because of race. He claims he provided “corroborating evidence” to The New Yorker, “and yet they misled readers by excluding all of that and splicing two different quotes together to leave you thinking that I made up a racist incident.”

However, Minhaj doesn’t deny embellishing his more political anecdotes about being harrased by the FBI and taking his daughter to the hospital over a fake anthrax scare. “I just want to say to anyone who felt betrayed or hurt by my stand-up, I am sorry. I made artistic choices to express myself and drive home larger issues affecting me and my community, and I feel horrible that I let people down,” Minhaj said.

After wrapping up the 20-minute long response, Minhaj once again reiterates that he’s “not a psycho” and ends on a self-deprecating note.

“The guy in this article is a proper f*cking psycho, but I now hope you feel like the real me is not,” Minhaj said. “I’m just a guy with IBS and low sperm motility. Again, there is much more important news happening in the world right now that needs your attention. So I appreciate you watching, I take the note, and I hope to see you at the next show.”

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

Earlier this month, Mxmtoon announced her Plum Blossom (Revisited) project release date and started its rollout with the single “Feelings Are Fatal (Revisited).” A press release at the time relayed that the EP is “a reconsideration of the early songs that propelled her to fame.” The next of Mxmtoon’s early songs to be revisited is “The Idea Of You (Revisited).”

“happy to share that ‘the idea of you (revisited),’ a favorite song of mine for a long time, is officially out now,” Mxmtoon posted on Instagram on Wednesday, October 25. “AND to make it even more special… here is merch (revisited). check out my store for new plum blossom (revisited) merch and pre-order the limited edition double-sided vinyl, featuring the original plum blossom ep!! FINALLY IT’s ON VINYL!!”

Upon announcing Plum Blossom (Revisited), Mxmtoon released a statement, which can be read below:

“A lot of change happens over the course of five years, and that’s especially true when you go from being a teenager to an adult within that space. I released my first EP when I was eighteen, and Plum Blossom was comprised of songs I wrote when I was seventeen. I didn’t have the tools or vocabulary to effectively get every idea I had in my head into song at that point, so the music I was making never quite made it into the form I had envisioned.

Now, at twenty-three, I’m so grateful to say I do have the resources to make those dreams come true for my younger self. To honor and thank her for being brave enough to even make art in the first place, and make her songs shine the way she always wanted them to. Plum Blossom (Revisited) is my way of paying homage to where I started from, to thank everyone who’s grown up with me over the last five years, and encourage people not to shy away from embracing our younger selves.”

Listen to “The Idea Of You (Revisited)” above, and check out Mxmtoon’s upcoming live dates below.

Plum Blossom (Revisited) is out 11/10 via AWAL. Find more information here.

21 Savage recently celebrated his 31st birthday, but his celebration was marred by a fight between some attendees of the party at Underground Atlanta on Saturday. In videos posted on social media, Savage can be seen trying to break up the fight, wading into the crowd and trying to talk some sense into the brawlers before they ruined everybody’s fun.

He later posted an explanation on his Instagram Story, writing, “Why is yall dragging a video of me stopping a fight and twisting it into what yall want it to be? Who wants to fight on their birthday?” While he didn’t have much insight into what caused the fight, one can presume it was mostly just pride and ego.

The mandem has plenty to celebrate this year, as he completes a successful North American spin on his joint tour with Drake. But more than that, he recently confirmed that he will be able to join his friend and mentor on the European leg of the tour, as his immigration case has been closed and he’s been declared a legal permanent resident of the US after over 15 years.

This means that he can now legally return to the US after he completes his European tour; it’ll be Savage’s first time leaving the country since his childhood. His “homecoming” concert in the UK will be at the O2 London with Baby Drill and Lil Harold on November 30.

Ariana Grande has gathered plenty of material for AG7, her forthcoming and yet-to-be-titled seventh studio album. Since 2020’s Positions LP, Grande landed her dream Wicked role, moved to London to film Jon M. Chu’s two-part Wicked movie adaptation, married Dalton Gomez and divorced Dalton Gomez, and played with goats. Wait, what?

Earlier this week, Grande posted an Instagram carousel capturing what she’s been doing during rare downtime and jokingly captioned it, “ag7: goat mother.” The first photo shows Grande on a farm with goats. The fifth slide is a video of her mom, Joan Grande, struggling to navigate the goats frolicking toward her, and the eighth slide is another video of the goats calmly and dutifully following Ariana wherever she walks while someone off-camera laughs and says, “Goat mother.”

It’s good to know Grande’s sense of humor is still intact, but there also might be some level of truth to her next album arriving soon-ish. (Whether it will be titled Goat Mother is anyone’s guess.) The final slide in Grande’s aforementioned Instagram carousel is a photo of producer Max Martin with Tony Award-winning actor Norbert Leo Butz. It should also be noted that Grande included a selfie with Martin within an October 2 Instagram carousel.

On October 16, Page Six added intrigue by reporting, “Sources tell Page Six exclusively that Grande wanted to focus all her energies on her highly anticipated movie Wicked before going back into the recording studio. But we hear that — while filming was paused because of the SAG-AFTRA strike — Grande made the most of her unexpected free time, dropping into the studio to work on her seventh album.”

The report continued, “Insiders says she’s been hard at work with producer Max Martin in New York recording the follow-up to her 2020 record Positions.”

The Sopranos star James Gandolfini was a fantastic leading man — maybe the best ever — but he was also a supportive scene partner to his castmates.

Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who played Meadow Sopranos on the HBO series, discussed what it was like working with the late Gandolfini on the Inside of You podcast. “Jim was the type of scene partner where it felt like he was there and his only intention was to make me as good as I could be,” she recalled, according to Entertainment Weekly. “And it had nothing to do with him. Every time I worked with him, I felt like his sole purpose was… ‘I’m going to help you give your best f*cking take, Jamie.’”

Sigler called Gandolfini “a really amazing artist” whose vulnerability helped her as an actress. “It had nothing to do with his confidence because [he] was actually not [confident],” she said. “He would question himself. There would be moments where he’d be like, ‘I f*cking suck,’ but I appreciated that because I’ve had those thoughts but I didn’t say them out loud because I don’t want anybody to know that I think I suck. He was confident enough to say it out loud.” Sigler added, “He was an exceptional human being.”

You can listen to the podcast below. Sigler also has a podcast of her own, Not Today, Pal, which she co-hosts with her on-screen brother, Robert Iler.

(Via Entertainment Weekly)

A few weeks following the release of Drake‘s new album, For All The Dogs, fans were wondering if there’d be any merch. Thankfully, the rapper recently dropped a new line of items tied to the record.

Here’s what to know about the new merch collection.

In total, there are several new shirts and a sweatshirt. To start, one of the shirts simply has the album cover’s design and is $45.

For fans who love the songs “Bahamas Promises” and “7969 Santa,” there are shirts themed to both of those songs. One has an island theme that just reads “Bahamas.” The other has the numbers written in neon lettering.

Rounding out the new shirts, there is a top called the “Heavenly Father tee” that has a graphic of Drake’s son, Adonis, wearing a pair of headphones and sitting next to a dog. The back of it reads “All My Dogs Are Going To Heaven.” These cost $65.

Finally, Drake dropped a special For All The Dogs-themed hoodie that is blue. Around it, various graphic designs are screen and puff-printed on, including the front depicting two angels, and more items. Given that it likely took longer, this costs $225 but is sold out at the moment.

To view Drake’s For All The Dogs merch, visit his website here.

Sir Paul McCartney is delivering on his promise. This morning (October 26), The Beatles confirmed “Now And Then,” billed via press release as “the last Beatles song — written and sung by John Lennon, developed and worked on by Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, and now finally finished by Paul and Ringo over four decades later.”

“Now And Then” is due out on Thursday, November 2 at 10 a.m. EST, followed by an accompanying video on Friday, November 3. Both will be preceded by a 12-minute documentary, directed by Oliver Murray, debuting on The Beatles’ YouTube channel on November 1 at 3:30 p.m. EST.

“This poignant short film tells the story behind the last Beatles song, with exclusive footage and commentary from Paul, Ringo, George, Sean Ono Lennon, and Peter Jackson,” the press release relays.

On June 22, McCartney teased the “forthcoming Beatles project” on X (formerly known as Twitter), presumably referring to “Now And Then,” and seemingly addressed rumors that it had been generated by AI.

“No one is more excited than us to be sharing something with you later in the year,” he wrote, in part. “We’ve seen some confusion and speculation about it. Seems to be a lot of guess work out there. Can’t say too much at this stage but to be clear, nothing has been artificially or synthetically created. It’s all real and we all play on it. We cleaned up some existing recordings — a process which has gone on for years. We hope you love it as much as we do. More news in due course – Paul.”

Earlier in June, McCartney joined Radio 4’s Today Programme (as captured by NME) and spoke about how The Beatles: Get Back director Peter Jackson aided in said process of cleaning up existing records.

“[Jackson] was able to extricate [Lennon’s] voice from a ropey little bit of cassette,” McCartney said. “We had John’s voice and a piano, and he could separate them with AI. They tell the machine, ‘That’s the voice. This is a guitar. Lose the guitar.’”

He continued, “So when we came to make what will be the last Beatles’ record, it was a demo that John had, [and] we were able to take John’s voice and get it pure through this AI. Then we can mix the record, as you would normally do. So it gives you some sort of leeway. We just finished it up, and it’ll be released this year.”

“Now And Then” is a double A-side single alongside “Love Me Do,” The Beatles’ 1962 debut UK single, and can be pre-ordered here. More information about The Beatles’ subsequent 1962-1966 and 1967-1970 “2023 Edition” releases can be found here.

Watch the short film trailer above.

After burning through nominees, House Republicans surprisingly managed to elect a new Speaker of the House this week: Louisiana Congressman Mike Johnson. If you’re wonder who the heck that is, you’re not alone. During his Wednesday night monologue, Stephen Colbert went to town on the mysterious man who’s now just a few steps removed from the presidency.

“America’s new Speaker of the House is Louisiana Congressman Mike Johnson, seen here ogling the photographer’s crotch,” Colbert said while tossing up a creepy picture of the new House Speaker. “His make is Mike Johnson? Mike Johnson, that is a name. He is the most generic sounding congressional leader since the election Speaker James Kirkland Brand.”

Colbert then took a shot at the GOP for actually managing to put their petty differences aside for a moment, but mostly, The Late Show host set up a solid joke about Lauren Boebert.

“Johnson was just elected this afternoon, getting votes from all 220 Republicans. Finally!” Colbert quipped. “A man who appeals to all factions of the Republican party: The MAGA faithful, the social conservatives, the white nationalists, and the horny Beetlejuice goblins.”

However, Colbert couldn’t help but get stuck on the fact that nobody seems to know who the heck Johnson is, including the media.

“Johnson is now second in line to the presidency,” Colbert said, “Prompting news outlets to triumphantly proclaim ‘Who Is Rep. Mike Johnson?’ ‘Who Is Mike Johnson?’ ‘Who Is Speaker Nominee Mike Johnson?’ and ‘5 Secrets to Reduce Belly Fat, Also, Who The Hell Is Mike Johnson?’”

“So he’s a little innocuous. He’s just another boring white guy in a suit with glasses,” Colbert joked before having a terrifying realization. “Wait, a second. Put him up again. — Am I Mike Johnson?!”

(Via The Late Show on Twitter)

Rihanna’s performance at Super Bowl LVII was a rarity among Super Bowl halftime shows: there wasn’t a single guest. Will that be true for Usher, too?

At the moment, he’s the headliner — and the only announced performer — for Super Bowl LVIII, which goes down on February 11, 2024 at Nevada’s Allegiant Stadium. But according to the Daily Mail, the “Yeah!” singer is trying to get a “yeah” confirmation from Justin Bieber to join him.

“Usher has been doing his residency in Vegas and has most of his ideas ready for his big halftime show performance,” a source said. “He really wants to prove himself worthy of such an honor because he definitely sees that the excitement level for him doing it is not at an all-time high. He has asked some of his friends who are artists to help him out and join him on stage, and he has thrown a few ideas towards Justin.”

Usher helped Bieber sign his first record deal and became his music industry mentor, but the “Love Yourself” pop star had to cancel his Justice World Tour earlier this year after he was diagnosed with Ramsay Hunt syndrome. “After getting off stage, the exhaustion overtook me and I realized that I needed to make my health a priority right now,” Bieber explained on social media. “So I’m going to take a break from touring for the time being.” He hasn’t appeared on stage since March 2023 when he joined Don Toliver at Rolling Loud.

Bieber is reportedly flattered that Usher reached out “but he is leaning towards letting Usher do his thing and Justin would rather have the opportunity to do the Super Bowl on his own in the future if he were to be asked,” the source added. Maybe in 2025 (assuming Taylor Swift doesn’t want it).