Category: News

On the heels of two home victories to even the series at 2-2, the Philadelphia 76ers fell flat in Game 5, losing by a 35-point margin against the Miami Heat. That flop set up a situation in which the 76ers needed a Game 6 home win to avoid elimination but, after a competitive first half, things flew off the rails for Philadelphia. With the help of a huge third quarter run, the Heat secured a 99-90 victory, sending Philadelphia to elimination and Miami to the Eastern Conference Finals.

The Heat picked up where they left off in Game 5, scoring on the first three possessions of the game. That gave Miami a quick 7-0 lead and immediately put even more pressure on Philadelphia at home.

Philadelphia did quickly recover, using an 11-2 run to take the lead. Unfortunately, the 76ers suffered a significant loss during that run, with veteran wing Danny Green carried to the locker room and ruled out for the rest of the game with a knee injury.

The Heat used an 8-0 run late in the quarter to build an eight-point edge, but the 76ers managed to cut the deficit back to three after 12 minutes. Philadelphia won the possession battle in the opening period, thanks in large part to Miami’s six turnovers, but the 76ers didn’t fully capitalize with shaky shooting.

In the second quarter, the 76ers actually took a three-point lead, but Miami managed to get into the locker room with a one-point lead at halftime. Neither Jimmy Butler (3-of-10 from the floor) or Joel Embiid (5-of-14 from the floor) found a great deal of efficiency and success, but Miami’s Max Strus led all scorers with 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting and 3-of-5 from three-point distance.

If anything, it felt fortunate for Philadelphia to be within one after a half in which the 76ers shot just 40 percent with 10 assists. That positive fortune did not continue to open the second half, with the Heat taking control. Miami used a 19-4 run, including 12 points from Butler, to open a double-digit lead for the first time at 68-52.

It was a struggle for the 76ers on both ends of the floor, with Butler and company getting loose and the offense cratering. Philadelphia scored only four points in almost eight minutes, beginning the third quarter by missing 13 of their first 15 shots.

Reserve guard Shake Milton did attempt to bring the 76ers out of the wilderness, scoring seven points in a two-minute period to help Philadelphia climb back within 11 at the end of the third quarter. Still, it was the lowest-scoring quarter (15 points) of the series for the 76ers, leaving an uphill battle with the season on the line.

Just moments into the fourth quarter, the task went from difficult to virtually impossible for Philadelphia. Miami scored eight points in the first two minutes of the closing period, capitalizing on a couple of Philadelphia turnovers to take a 19-point lead.

From there, the 76ers never trimmed the deficit to fewer than 11 points until the final minute, and it was a highly disappointing performance from the home team on the whole. Aside from a strong second half from Milton, visible effort from Maxey, and an admirable performance from Embiid playing through injury, it was difficult to find overwhelming positives for Philadelphia. Their lack of effort given the circumstances was notable, even for those on the other side as Jimmy Butler couldn’t believe an offensive rebound he got off a miss that turned into the dagger from the corner.

Of note, Harden took only nine shots (and no free throws) in the game, including only two attempts in the second half, and he was generally a non-factor in the proceedings. That leads to an ever-interesting discussion about his future in Philadelphia and, if nothing else, Harden adds to a troubling list of flummoxing playoff performances.

As a team, the 76ers were simply unable to generate efficient offense with Embiid scuffling and Harden operating in relatively invisible fashion. Philadelphia scored less than a point per possession in the game, shooting 41 percent from the floor and 32 percent from three-point range with only seven free throw attempts.

Miami’s offense did not light the world on fire in Game 6, especially when it came to 7-of-28 shooting from three-point range. Still, the Heat were strong from two-point range, and Miami received standout performances from Butler (32 points, eight rebounds) and Strus (20 points, 11 rebounds) to go along with stingy and effective defense.

The Heat will now await the winner of the ongoing series between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Boston Celtics, with the Bucks holding a 3-2 lead in advance of Game 6 on Friday. Miami will have home-court advantage in the Eastern Conference Finals as the No. 1 seed and, even if Milwaukee is able to close things out on the other side of the bracket, the Heat will have a one-day rest advantage to boot.

Last year’s disastrous Astroworld festival, helmed by Travis Scott, resulted in nearly 5,000 claims of injuries and 10 documented deaths. Several lawsuits have been filed against Scott and Live Nation, the lattermost produced the festival. In a recent lawsuit, a Dayton, Ohio woman named Shanazia Williamson is suing Scott, Live Nation, Scoremore Holdings, and ASM Global for wrongful death, following a miscarriage she experienced after attending the November festival.

Williamson claims she was trampled during a crowd surge at the show, which resulted in injuries to various parts of her body, including her shoulder, back, chest, leg, and stomach. In documents obtained by TMZ, Williamson alleges that the defendants’, “failure to plan, design, manage, operate, staff, and supervise the event was a direct and proximate cause of Shanazia’s injuries and death of her and Jarawd’s [her partner] unborn child.”

Amid the controversy, Scott will still perform at this year’s Billboard Music Awards. His performance, along with that of country singer Morgan Wallen, comes as a result of Diddy demanding the two be allowed to perform, in a motion to “uncancel the cancelled.”

“To have Morgan and Travis be able to come back and touch the stage again with the mindset of getting a second chance at life,” Diddy said to Billboard, “everybody in the room is getting a second chance at life because we’re back inside with no masks on.”

After the absolute joy that was The Guest, Dan Stevens is finally reteaming with director Adam Wingard. The Godzilla vs. Kong director has brought the Downton alum on board for the monster-smashing sequel for Legendary’s awkwardly named “MonsterVerse.” It’s monsters, it’s a universe, it’s a portmanteau. They really need to workshop that. Details on the project as sparse, and Stevens is the first to be cast, but filming is already slated for this summer in Australia.

After the release of Godzilla vs. Kong, Wingard told Deadline the following about a potential sequel:

“I would absolutely love to continue. The clear starting point we teed up, exploring Hollow Earth, I think there is a lot more to do there. This is a pre-history of Planet Earth, where all the titans come from. We tee up some mystery in this film, things I want to see resolved and explored and pushed to the next level.”

The end of Godzilla vs. Kong saw an uneasy truce between the two gigantic monsters, so the sky’s the limit on where the next installment could go, whether that means new, city-destroying rivalry or a team-up against even more formidable super-beasts. Maybe it will be a trenchant exploration of the inner demons of doubt plaguing Godzilla and Kong, or a bittersweet examination of their challenging friendship. Or maybe it’ll just be CGI monsters attacking each other with atomic breath. Either way, Dan Stevens will be right in the thick of it.

(Via Deadline)

Alex Jones has never been described as “mild-mannered,” but he’s really gone off on a bender lately. In the face of impending bankruptcy (since he lost lawsuits for trash-talking all of those Sandy Hook parents) and finding himself potentially on the hook over helping stir up the January 6 insurrection, the InfoWars frontman is truly beyond behaving in a rational way. He’s turned on QAnon and taken to running around shirtless for no reason.

Yet there’s one thing that Alex Jones knows for sure, which is that Roger Stone is a “gladiator” and deserves legal fund donations. He says as much in the above video (via Raw Story). Stone, too, is looking shady for his Jan. 6 doings, and both of them are in a lot of hot water. Case in point: Jones is freaking out again about money, and now, he’s outright demanding that people buy his InfoWars testosterone or something. Things to make one virile. And manly. What?

“This is life and death!” Jones raged. “So go to InfoWarsStore.com and get amazing products. If you don’t support us, you’re helping the enemy!” He added, “When you keep us in the fight, you keep yourself in the fight!”

Well, you gotta admire his energy and wonder where he’s sourcing that stuff. It can’t possibly be from that “big bowl of chili” that he consumed before his child-custody trial years ago. Watching him fly off the handle never ceases to be entertaining, but apparently, it’s ceasing for Alex Jones to be profitable.

At 8:00 p.m. ET, Twitter was flooded with NFL schedule release videos as team social staffs were allowed to finally put their hard work from the offseason up, as the league put out all 32 schedules.

Each team takes a unique approach to these videos, with some getting celebrities on board — even celebrity haters, like Dallas did with Stephen A. Smith this year — and others picking a theme and going all in on it. Fitting in that latter category was the Los Angeles Chargers, who had to have spent an upsetting amount of time putting together this an anime video for this year’s schedule release, which is far better than it has any right to be — and also features some incredible digs at their opponents.

It does a pretty incredible job of being entertaining for everyone, as anime fans will surely be able to pick out tributes to different shows, while NFL fans who have never seen an anime will be able to enjoy the not so subtle jokes about L.A.’s opponents. Among those are the Jaguar posted up in a bar like Urban Meyer, having Kyler Murray deleting all his social media posts in Arizona, the 28-3 jab at the Falcons on the Waffle House sign, and avoiding a disaster by redacting whatever they had planned for Deshaun Watson and the Browns.

Unsurprisingly, the video was a hit with fans from all around the league, who dove in to find as many easter eggs as they could in the frames.

Monday night’s news of Young Thug and Gunna’s criminal charges came as a shock to the music world. The two rappers, along with 26 members of the former’s Young Stoner Life (YSL) label were charged with conspiracy to violate the RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) Act in connection with additional crimes that include murder, armed robbery, and participation in criminal street gang activity. Thug was apprehended at his Georgia home on Monday night while Gunna turned himself in on Wednesday. The ordeal has left some to criticize the rappers while others have come to their defense. Metro Boomin, a frequent collaborator of Thug and Gunna, was one of the people to do the latter.

In a string of tweets, Metro Boomin defended Thug and the YSL collective. “YSL is not a gang and never been a gang fool, YSL is a registered LLC and has provided countless jobs and opportunities for underprivileged black people and really just all people cause that’s how big Thug heart is,” he wrote in one tweet. In another post, Metro said the situation was another example of an influential Black figure being brought down.

“They get terrified every time an iconic black leader emerges with so much influence, respect, power, and appeal so they throw some bullshit charges together to lock him up and slow the movement down,” he wrote. “Look at American history it’s been a pattern for 100+ years.” To conclude his message, Metro shared what he believes the rappers need. “These brothers need love, support, and prayer right now not jokes, criticism, or opinions,” he noted.

Metro’s tweets come after both Thug and Gunna were denied bond in their respective arrests.

You can view the full string of tweets from Metro Boomin below.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group

When it comes to horror there are few games that have done it better than Dead Space. The horror game set in space terrified players with a fantastic setting, scary but fun monsters in the Necromorphs, and some really cool powers to fight back with. The most unique part of Dead Space at the time though was how the player fought back against the Necromorphs by shooting off their limbs. Everyone knows that the key to success in a horror game is resource management and Dead Space forced players to treat every shot with the utmost care in a unique way.

These days, the ability to attack specific limbs is a little bit more common but that hasn’t changed the legacy that Dead Space left behind and that’s also why it’s really exciting that a remake is coming. First announced at E3 2021, a remake of Dead Space is on the way and on Thursday we were given a release date for the upcoming horror game.

January 27, 2023! While the tweet above doesn’t give much information about the game, the official Dead Space YouTube account has tons of new information from a showcase stream that took place earlier on Thursday. It features an in-depth look into the details of how they took such a terrifying game and made it look even scarier.

The NFL schedule release has become its own event, with a television special on the NFL Network and all 32 teams now putting out unique productions on social media to celebrate information we already knew (the teams they’ll be playing) being officially sorted into dates and times (subject to change if networks flex them in and out of spots).

Each team’s internal video and social media units spend a lot of time working on the schedule release so at 8 p.m. ET it can go live to fans, and some try to bring in a big name to make the announcement. Typically, that celebrity is a fan of the team and/or is from that city, but this year the Cowboys (who had Post Malone in last year’s schedule release video) went in the opposite direction.

Dallas brought in their biggest hater, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, to help them release the schedule, and he put on his cowboy hat and turned it up to 11 as only he can to help the ‘Boys announce their 17-game slate.

It’s a pretty great release video, and it’s good on both the Cowboys and Smith to embrace the absurdity of his bit, with it ultimately being a prank on Smith to splice it all together to make it look like he’d turned a corner and was now praising Dallas. It’s surely not the last time we’ll see Smith don his cowboy hat this season, but Dallas fans will hope, like in this video, they’ll get the last laugh by (finally) making another deep postseason run.

Dr. Oz has things cut out for him right now. Not only is he losing ground to “ultra-MAGA” rival Kathy Barnette in Pennsylvania’s GOP Senate race, but now Marjorie Taylor Greene is berating him over being in Switzerland a week before election day.

Spoiler Alert: Mehmet Oz is not in Switzerland, but he was there a decade ago. And for whatever reason, Greene believes that he’s there and needs to get his butt back in the U.S. to serve the GOP. Greene is undoubtedly riding high on being able to stay on her reelection ballot despite apparently lying (a lot) under oath. Sure, a veteran recently confronted her over “craziness,” but she will not be deterred. She’s also going to tweet wildly at Dr. Oz’s Edible-Face despite not realizing that she’s responding to a 2012 tweet (referring to his time at Davos’ Economic Forum).

“What are you doing there?” she tweeted as revealed in a screencap from federal attorney Ron Filipkowski. “[Y]eah Switzerland is a beautiful country, but joining the Economic Forum is 100% AGAINST America First. You should board a plane asap and come back home. Talk to REAL Americans and learn what serving THEM in the U.S. Senate would mean IF they elect you.”

I mean, does anyone else want to tell her? Nope, and maybe we should all make like this Twitter user and pretend like it’s 2012, too.

In case you do want to stay in 2022, here’s a video clip of Greene berating another reporter because he dared to ask about the Russia-Ukraine war.

Two Texas favorites will be heading to Rockefeller Studios this weekend for Saturday Night Live. Selena Gomez will host Saturday’s episode for the first time, and Post Malone will perform. Ahead of the upcoming episode, Selena and Posty joined SNL cast members Aidy Bryant and Bowen Yang for a promo video. In it, the two singers are labeled as “divas” while Posty, Bryant, and Yang inform Gomez that they sort of accidentally put ants into her pants.

Gomez’s appearance comes ahead of the premiere of season 2 of Only Murders In The Building, which streams on Hulu beginning June 28. A few weeks earlier, Malone will release his fourth studio album Twelve Carat Toothache on June 3.

Malone released Twelve Carat Toothache‘s lead single, “Cooped Up,” which features Roddy Rich. When speaking of the song, Malone told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, “The lyrics just came so quickly. We knew what we wanted to say and we knew what we wanted to express, not only in the song but in that particular moment on the album. And yeah, it just came super naturally. I couldn’t even tell you. I was probably on the sh*tter when I wrote it [laughs].”

Continuing on the album, Malone said Twelve Carat Toothache is “the most honest record I’ve made.”

Catch Selena Gomez and Post Malone on Saturday Night Live this Saturday at 11:30 p.m. EST.

Check out the promo above.

Roddy Ricch is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.