Category: News

The Boston Celtics have their next head coach. According to a report by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the team has tabbed Brooklyn Nets assistant Ime Udoka as the next person to lead the team.

While he would be a first-time head coach, Udoka, 43, comes with quite the coaching background. After a 12-year playing career that included stops in the United States and abroad, Udoka joined Gregg Popovich’s staff in San Antonio in 2012. He spent seven years there prior to becoming an assistant under Brett Brown in Philadelphia last season, and this year, he was on Steve Nash’s staff in Brooklyn.

He also has some experience working with Popovich on the staff of USA Basketball, and according to Wojnarowski, that helped give him a leg up on some of the other competitors. Four members of the team that participated at the World Cup in 2019 — Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, Jayson Tatum, and the recently-traded Kemba Walker — were members of the Celtics, and Woj reports that they speak fondly of him.

This marks the second major move made by Brad Stevens, the team’s lead executive who left his role as head coach to take over for Danny Ainge in the team’s front office. The first came last week, when he traded Walker to Oklahoma City in a deal that brought Al Horford back to Boston.

To put it bluntly, summer will be over quicker than you can remove all that weird fuzz from a single ear of corn. That’s why you need to get the most out of this weather while it’s still here. That means enjoying summery beers without waiting for some special occasion. It’s the season to sip IPAs, pale ales, Saisons, and, most importantly, wheat beers.

The latter is what I’m most interested in today. To put it simply, wheat beer is an ale made with a greater proportion of wheat than malted barley. But it’s also so much more complex than that. Popular for centuries in Europe, styles include the German weissbier (or hefeweizen), Belgian lambics, gueuze, and witbiers, Berliner Weisse, and Leipzig’s salty and tart gose to name only a few touchstones. While I could spend days writing about the various wheat beer offshoots, today we’re going to turn our attention to the Americanized version of European wheat beer — the American pale wheat beer — with its citrus and spice characteristics.

Since a nice and light wheat brew is a summer classic, I selected eight of the most well-known and highly respected wheat beers and blindly tasted and ranked each to determine the best of the bunch.

Here’s our lineup:

• Allagash White
• Avery White Rascal
• Odell Easy Street
• Bell’s Oberon
• Ommegang Witte
• Goose Island 312
• Blue Moon
• Shock Top

Let’s get drinking!

Part 1: The Taste

Taste 1:

Tasting Notes:

I took a moment to breathe in the scents of citrus peels, slight coriander, and a wheat sweetness before my first sip. Then I took a sip and found a very bold, flavorful beer with hints of sweet malts, bright citrus, and a nice spicy finish. While a little low in the wheat department, this was refreshing, crisp, and felt perfect for a summer day.

Taste 2:

Tasting Notes:

This beer’s aroma will be tough to beat. I smelled sweet with biscuit-like malts, banana-like yeast, fresh-cut grass, sweet fruits, and just a hint of floral hops. The flavor is hoppier than I’d expect from a wheat beer, but I really like it. This is tempered by the addition of citrus zest, tropical fruits, caramel malts, and a nice, slightly bitter finish that left me craving more.

Taste 3:

Tasting Notes:

The nose is pretty bland. After a while, I smelled slight citrus and maybe some coriander and other spices, but not much else. There’s no wheat at all. The flavor is fairly sweet and malty with a ton of over-the-top citrus, but also some acid-like flavors that weren’t very palatable.

Overall, this is a pretty flavorless beer that I wouldn’t rush to try again.

Taste 4:

Tasting Notes:

This wheat beer is different from most and it’s apparent on the nose. While slightly muted, I smelled biscuit-like malts, caramel, and just a hint of citrus. I expect a little fewer malt scents and more wheat and citrus aromas from a summery wheat beer. The palate is equally malty with fruit flavors and subtle, bitter hops.

It’s not a bad beer, but I didn’t feel like I was drinking a wheat beer at all.

Taste 5:

Tasting Notes:

This beer’s nose is like breathing in the scents of a field of wildflowers. After this initial floral aroma, I found sweet wheat, biscuit-like malts, zesty citrus, and subtle spices. The palate was complex with hints of banana, tangerines, sweet wheat, and a nice kick of pepper and spices. The finish was crisp, thirst-quenching, and flavorful.

Taste 6:

Tasting Notes:

The aromas are all wheat beer. In fact, it smells like summer with notes of orange peels, sweet honey, and caramel malts. I took a sip and found this beer to be surprisingly fruity, filled with tangerine sweetness, and a hint of yeast.

Definitely not a bad beer, but a little sweet and lacking in spice.

Taste 7:

Tasting Notes:

The nose on this beer is spicier than I expected. I smelled orange zest, coriander, and other spices. Honestly, that was about it. The nose was dominated by these scents. Taking a sip, I found a beer that seemed to be a bit of a one-trick pony. It was overly sweet and filled with citrus and spices.

It was all a bit overwhelming and heavy for my taste.

Taste 8:

Tasting Notes:

A lot is going on with this beer’s nose. Right away, I noticed the aromas of sweet wheat, coriander, various other spices, floral hops, and a nice kick of citrus. Taking a sip revealed a surprisingly pleasing bitter-to-sweetness ratio with hints of orange peels, citrus zest, subtle spices, and a nice, bright, refreshing finish.

All in all, this unfiltered beer is crisp, sweet, and memorable.

Part 2: The Ranking

8. Shock Top — Taste 3

ABV: 5.2%

Average Price: $8 (six-pack)

The Beer:

You know Shock Top, it’s that wheat beer that’s adorned with a very strange image of an orange slice that’s not only wearing sunglasses but has a mohawk. Why they chose this as the face of the brand, I’ll never know. But I know that this grocery store staple is brewed with orange, lime, and lemon peels. It’s not fancy by any means, but always there.

Bottom Line:

Shock Top has been around for a while and it obviously has its fans. It’s clear that this mass-produced beer isn’t for me though. I’ll stick with my go-to craft brews.

7. Goose Island 312 — Taste 4

ABV: 4.2%

Average Price: $10 (six-pack)

The Beer:

Obviously, Goose Island is most renowned for its Bourbon County Stout. But the Chicago-based brewery makes myriad other brews. This includes its 312 “Urban Wheat Ale”. This sessionable fruity beer is made with 2-row malt and wheat as well as Millenium, Cascade, and Hallertau hops.

Bottom Line:

This is the first time I’ve ever had this beer and I didn’t hate it. It falls so low on the list because, after the blind taste, I didn’t feel like I was drinking a wheat beer at all. Maybe I’ll try it at the end of the summer or fall.

6. Blue Moon — Taste 7

ABV: 5.4%

Average Price: $16 (12-pack)

The Beer:

When non-craft fans (or anyone eating at a chain restaurant) think of wheat beer, they likely think of Blue Moon Belgian Wheat. Like Shock Top, it’s available everywhere. Brewed with Valencia orange peels and coriander, it’s the Corona of wheat beers, as it requires a slice of orange to really be enjoyed.

Bottom Line:

I don’t buy Blue Moon. But I have had it many times at bars when there isn’t much else available. It’s a decent beer when you add a slice of orange, but nothing to get excited about by any means.

5. Bell’s Oberon — Taste 6

ABV: 5.8%
Average Price: $11 (six-pack)

The Beer:

Bell’s fans eagerly await the spring return of Oberon. It’s only available from March until August, making it a summer staple. Made with Bell’s proprietary yeast, wheat malts, and surprisingly no extra spices, it’s a sweet and refreshing beer well suited for summer sipping.

Bottom Line:

Oberon fans are probably going to attack me for this, but it’s hard to blindly rank (mostly) great beers. This beer could have landed higher on the list, but it was lacking the subtle spice I usually associated with summery wheat beers.

4. Avery White Rascal — Taste 1

ABV: 5.6%

Average Price: $10 (six-pack)

The Beer:

Avery White Rascal is just that, a rascal of a beer with playful, unfiltered, and spicy flavors. This Belgian-style wheat beer is Avery’s flagship beer for a reason. Made to pay homage to the classic wheat beers of Belgium, it gets its spicy flavor from Curaçao orange peel and coriander.

Bottom Line:

This award-winning wheat beer is available year-round. That means you can enjoy it for its spices in the middle of the winter or its fruity sweetness during the hazy summer months. It’s a very adaptable, noteworthy beer.

3. Allagash White — Taste 8

ABV: 5.2%

Average Price: $13 (six-pack)

The Beer:

If you were going to make a list of the best American wheat beers of all time, there’s no doubt that Allagash White would be at the top of that list. This 5.2 percent Belgian-style wheat beer is made with malted wheat, raw wheat, and oats to give it an unfiltered hazy look. It gets its spicy flavor from the addition of orange peel and coriander.

Bottom Line:

There’s a reason Allagash White is arguably the most highly respected wheat beer in America. It’s perfectly balanced with spice, yeast, wheat, and citrus sweetness.

2. Ommegang Witte — Taste 5

ABV: 5.2%

Average Price: $12 (four-pack)

The Beer:

Situated just outside of Cooperstown, New York (home of the Baseball Hall of Fame), Brewery Ommegang is a Belgian-style beer fan’s dream. One of its best offerings is its Witte. Brewed with a combination of malted and unmalted wheat and spiced with orange peel and coriander, this unfiltered, hazy beer has been a summer staple since its inception.

Bottom Line:

When I imagine a summer beer, this is exactly what my mind envisions. It’s hazy, refreshing, and filled with spice, wheat, and bold citrus flavors that pair well with humidity and sun.

1. Odell Easy Street — Taste 2

ABV: 4.6%

Average Price: $11 (six-pack)

The Beer:

Colorado’s Odell is known for its award-winning beers. One of its best is Easy Street, an unfiltered 4.6 percent wheat ale. This American-style wheat beer is brewed with a blend of American hops, crisp Rocky Mountain water, specialty malts, and the brand’s proprietary yeast blend.

Bottom Line:

I was looking for a new got-to beer for summer 2021 and I think I found it. Easy Street ticks all the wheat beer boxes and even adds in more hops to appeal to the IPA fan in me.

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As a Drizly affiliate, Uproxx may receive a commission pursuant to certain items on this list.

Yesterday, Olivia Rodrigo decided to visit some fans at their homes, and she did so bearing gifts and an prom invitation. She also carried a sign that read, “Prom would be brutal without you,” which seemed to suggest that “Brutal” will be her next single. Now, though, we know what the stunt was actually teasing: Today, Rodrigo announced Sour Prom, a concert film that is set for release on June 29 in partnership with YouTube music and T-Mobile.

She shared the news on social media with a pair of photos. In them, Rodrigo — sporting a dress, boots, tiara, and running eye makeup — holds a bouquet and the same promposal sign from her fan visits. She also wrote, “since i never got to go to prom, I wanted to throw a little prom party with my fav ppl (you guys obvs). SOUR prom the concert film comes out Tuesday!!!!”

A post on the YouTube Official Blog notes that the film will feature Rodrigo performing “select songs” from Sour. Additionally, she will also host a pre-party at 8 p.m. PT on her YouTube page, during which she will answer fan questions and share behind-the-scenes stories about Sour Prom.

Sour Prom is set to debut here on June 29.

Netflix knows that the novelty of summer (especially this year) will also be accompanied by the realization that, hot damn, it is sweltering out there. So, when you’re not escaping into the cool confines of your nearby multiplex for the (still sparse) blockbuster offerings, the streaming service is providing more content than we could possibly dream of consuming. Sure, there’s some bingeworthy additions to the library — Cobra Kai fans will be pleased to see The Karate Kid movies streaming, and The Twilight Saga will also be available — but there are many fresh picks on the way for you.

The most anticipated selections here include a revisiting of a 1980s animated franchise with magic, muscles, and a talking green battle cat. Yes, I’m talking about He-Man and his ensemble of Masters of the Universe, and a side-splittingly funny comedian is back with Season 2 of his own popular series. Female assassins will come your way, and a soap-opera mystery show also returns, along with the strangest premise for a dating show that you’ll ever see. Do you want more? You’ve got it.

Here’s everything coming to (and leaving) Netflix in July.

Masters of the Universe: Revelation (Netflix series streaming 7/23)

The very battle for Eternia’s soul continues with the ultimate fanboy, Kevin Smith, picking up the showrunner sword. Smith’s enthusiasm for all things geeky has led him down many roads, all of them filled with huge feelings, and honestly, the dude has the Power of Grayskull running through his veins. So, one can expect him to nail the tone here while advancing the story, justifying a revival, and continuing the story of the rivalry between Skeletor and everyone else. Cringer and Orko and Teela are on board, and the voice cast (including Lena Headey, Henry Rollins, and Jason Mewes) is phenomenal here, especially Mark Hamill as Skeletor. Don’t worry, there’s plenty of He-Man, guys.

Gunpowder Milkshake (Netflix film streaming 7/14)

A mother-daughter set of assassins is an intriguing enough idea on its own, but if one considers that Karen Gillan and Lena Headey play said assassins? Sold. It’s even more icing on the milkshake with Angela Bassett, Michelle Yeoh, and Carla Gugino portraying additional female assassins, and the movie’s also got Paul Giamatti. This looks like the perfect summer action film that one can happily tuck into (at home) while avoiding the oppressive summer humidity that’s coming as these ladies raise hell.

Outer Banks: Season 2 (Netflix series streaming 7/30)

This is not your typical teen drama. Last season delivered loads of intrigue and flat-out crackers revelations following a hurricane and buried treasure and class warfare between different factions in an overall well-to-do community. There are Kooks and Pogues, and the power’s gone for the entirety of the summer, which sounds miserable, but the mysteries won’t stop, including the whereabouts of John B.’s dad. And oh yes, there’s so much soapiness to the character’s dynamics that you might lose your footing while slipping towards that sunken treasure. It’s bonkers!

Sexy Beasts (Netflix series streaming 7/21)

Well, if you thought that you’ve seen every kind of dating series out there, Netflix is shouting something about holding their beer. The show purports to feature contestants that will choose matches based on personality only. Sounds practical, right? Well, the key to doing that here is dressing up as furries and other prosthetic-adorned creatures, and no reveal of actual physicality shall happen until the pivotal decisions are made. It’s like The Masked Singer, only way hornier.

I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson: Season 2 (Netflix series streaming 7/6)

Get ready for more insanely absurd (and almost therapeutically refreshing) sketch comedy from creator and writer Tim Robinson. He’s back with partner Zach Kanin for more of turning the most mundane and bizarre life moments into shouty hilarity. If you haven’t had the pleasure of digging into Robinson’s work, and you love Adam Sandler and Chris Farley’s exaggerated humor, you must plop this one into your queue.

Never Have I Ever: Season 2 (Netflix series streaming 7/15)

Mindy Kaling’s brainchild (one of them, at least… there are so many) returns with more coming-of-age comedy. Devi’s making more questionable decisions along the way (that’s obligatory) while fumbling around through the finer points within new relationships. She does, however, face an out-of-her-control dilemma at school when “another Indian girl who is prettier, cooler” arrives on the scene. Expect more drama at home, too, as this beloved series continues.

Here’s the full list of titles coming to Netflix in July:

Avail. TBA
Cheech & Chong’s Still Smokin
Feels Like Ishq
How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast): Season 3

Avail. 7/1
Audible
Dynasty Warriors
Generation 56k
Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway
Young Royals
Air Force One
Austin Powers in Goldmember
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
The Best of Enemies
Boogie Nights
Born to Play
Bureau of Magical Things: Season 1
Charlie’s Angels
Congo
Dennis the Menace
The Game
Hampstead
The Karate Kid
The Karate Kid Part II
The Karate Kid Part III
Kung Fu Panda
Kung Fu Panda 2
Life as We Know It
Love Actually
Mary Magdalene
Memoirs of a Geisha
Midnight Run
Mortal Kombat (1995)
No Strings Attached
Not Another Teen Movie
Ophelia
Sailor Moon Crystal: Seasons 1-3
She’s Out of My League
Spanglish
Star Trek
The Strangers
Stuart Little
Supermarket Sweep: Season 1
Sword of Trust
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Underworld
Underworld: Awakening
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans
What Dreams May Come
Why Do Fools Fall in Love
ZATHURA: A SPACE ADVENTURE

Avail. 7/2
The 8th Night
Big Timber
Fear Street Part 1: 1994
Haseen Dillruba
Mortel: Season 2
Snowpiercer

Avail. 7/3
Grey’s Anatomy: Season 17

Avail. 7/4
We The People

Avail. 7/5
You Are My Spring

Avail. 7/6
I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson: Season 2

Avail. 7/7
Brick Mansions
Cat People
Dogs: Season 2
The Mire: ’97
The War Next-door
Major Grom: Plague Doctor
This Little Love of Mine

Avail. 7/8
Elize Matsunaga: Once Upon a Crime
Home Again
Midnight Sun
RESIDENT EVIL: Infinite Darkness

Avail. 7/9
Atypical: Season 4
Biohackers: Season 2
The Cook of Castamar
Fear Street Part 2: 1978
How I Became a Superhero
Last Summer
Lee Su-geun: The Sense Coach
Virgin River: Season 3

Avail. 7/10
American Ultra

Avail. 7/13
Ridley Jones

Avail. 7/14
A Classic Horror Story
The Guide to the Perfect Family
Gunpowder Milkshake
Heist
My Unorthodox Life
Private Network: Who Killed Manuel Buendía?

Avail. 7/15
A Perfect Fit
BEASTARS: Season 2
Emicida: AmarElo – Live in São Paulo
My Amanda
Never Have I Ever: Season 2

Avail. 7/16
The Beguiled
Deep
Explained: Season 3
Fear Street Part 3: 1666
Johnny Test
Twilight
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn: Part 1
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn: Part 2

Avail. 7/17
Cosmic Sin

Avail. 7/20
milkwater

Avail. 7/21
Chernobyl 1986
The Movies That Made Us: Season 2
One on One with Kirk Cameron: Season 1
Sexy Beasts
Too Hot to Handle: Brazil
Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans

Avail. 7/22
Still Working 9 to 5
Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop

Avail. 7/23
A Second Chance: Rivals!
Bankrolled
Blood Red Sky
Kingdom: Ashin of the North
The Last Letter From Your Lover
Masters of the Universe: Revelation
Sky Rojo: Season 2

Avail. 7/24
Charmed: Season 3
Django Unchained

Avail. 7/26
The Walking Dead: Season 10
Wynonna Earp: Season 4

Avail. 7/27
All American: Season 3
Mighty Express: Season 4
The Operative

Avail. 7/28
Bartkowiak
Fantastic Fungi
The Flash: Season 7
The Snitch Cartel: Origins
Tattoo Redo
Too Hot to Handle: Brazil

Avail. 7/29
Resort to Love
Transformers: War for Cybertron: Kingdom

Avail. 7/30
Glow Up: Season 3
The Last Mercenary
Outer Banks: Season 2

Avail. 7/31
The Vault

Here’s the full list of titles leaving Netflix in July:

Leaving 7/5
The Iron Lady

Leaving 7/7
The Invitation

Leaving 7/14
Holidays

Leaving 7/15
The Princess and the Frog

Leaving 7/19
Love Sick: The Series: Season 1

Leaving 7/22
Oh My Ghost
Oh My Ghost 2
Oh My Ghost 3
Oh My Ghost 4

Leaving 7/28
The Croods

Leaving 7/30
Spotlight

Leaving 7/31
A Clockwork Orange
Bride of Chucky
Child’s Play 2
Child’s Play 3
Eat Pray Love
Four Christmases
Freak Show
Fred Claus
Friends with Benefits
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
Grand Designs: Season 10
Grand Designs: Season 15
Hardcore Henry
Hinterland: Seasons 1-3
Hook
Horns
Jupiter Ascending
King Arthur
Little Baby Bum: Nursery Rhyme Friends: S1
The Little Rascals
Mad Max
My Best Friend’s Wedding
Nacho Libre
Nights in Rodanthe
The Patriot
Remember Me
Seed of Chucky
Step Up: Revolution
Your Highness
Zombieland

UK songwriter Beabadoobee has captured audiences with her stunning down-to-earth ballads and trademark 90’s-era indie sound. Now following up on her 2020 debut LP Fake It Flowers, the singer unveils her 2021 North American tour dates and celebrates the release of her EP Our Extended Play with a captivating video to her track “Cologne.”

Directed by The Rest, Beabadoobee’s “Cologne” video is inspired by classic heist films. She and a group of her pals take a road trip to the mansion of a wealthy industry executive, tricking him into letting her band perform. Once inside the building, Beabadoobee and her bandmates kidnap the executive and hold him ransom while stealing various items from his opulent home.

In a statement about the EP as a whole, Beabadoobee praised her collaborators Matty Healy and George Daniel, both of The 1975:

“This EP was made in a really collaborative way during a time where it was really difficult to do that and I feel so lucky to have gotten to make it with my band and Matty and George. I hope it can bring people together in some way, that’s really what these songs are about, that feeling of togetherness that’s been missing a lot in the last year. It feels like a bridge to what’s coming next too.”

Listen to Beabadoobee’s “Cologne” above and find her 2021 North American tour dates below.

11/01 — Washington, D.C. @ 9:30 Club
11/02 — Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
11/04 — New York, NY @ Webster Hall
11/05 — Boston, MA – Royale
11/09 — Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
11/10 — Charlotte, NC @ The Underground
11/11 — Atlanta, GA @ Buckhead Theatre
11/13 — Birmingham, AL – Saturn
11/15 — Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall
11/16 — Austin, TX @ Emo’s
11/19 — Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren
11/20 — San Diego, CA @ The Observatory North Park
11/21 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda Theatre
11/22 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda Theatre
11/23 — San Fransisco, CA @ The Fillmore
11/26 — Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom
11/27 — Seattle, WA @ Neptune Theatre
11/28 — Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theatre
11/30 — Salt Lake City, UT @ The Depot
12/01 — Denver, CO @ The Summit Music Hall
12/04 — Kansas City, MO @ The Truman
12/06 — Chicago, IL @ Metro
12/08 — Detroit, MI @ Majestic Theater
12/09 — Toronto, ON @ Danforth Music Hall
12/10 — Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall
12/11 — Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE

Our Extended Play is out now via Dirty Hit. Get it here.

Bernie Sanders stopped by The View, where the Vermont senator made short work of Meghan McCain‘s attempts to tie him to controversial remarks on Israel made by the left-leaning congresswomen in The Squad. During her first question, McCain asked Sanders what he thinks about comments calling Israel “an apartheid state” and “akin to terrorist organizations,” but he didn’t take the bait. Instead, he side-stepped McCain’s jabs at The Squad (Democratic U.S. Representatives Rashida Talib, Ilhan Omar, and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez) and reiterated his stance that America should have an “even-handed role” in bringing peace to the sensitive conflict between Israel and Palestine.

However, McCain wasn’t going to quit until she could make Sanders either condemn The Squad or endorse their (in her words) views on “exterminating Israel.” She then asked, “Do you think the movement, which you started, has moved away from what you envisioned?”

But, again, Sanders wasn’t playing, and this time, he shut McCain down.

“Well Meghan, first of all, I don’t believe that’s what they’re saying, and second of all, it’s not my job to have to defend every member of Congress, any more than it is their job to defend every statement that I make,” Sanders said before not giving McCain the satisfaction of seeing him throw The Squad under the bus.

“I think the progressives in the House are doing a very good job in standing up for working families,” Sanders continued. “It’s not my job to comment on everything that any member of the House says, any more than it is for them to comment on what I say.”

(Via The View on Twitter)

Basketball fans were treated to an absolute gem of a game on Tuesday night between the Phoenix Suns and the Los Angeles Clippers. It had a little bit of everything — huge performances from role players, some unreal shotmaking by stars down the stretch, the Clippers battling back to take the lead late, the referees reminding us they were there a lot (“everything” doesn’t necessarily mean “good”) — but ultimately, Phoenix came out on top due to the heroics of Deandre Ayton to take a 2-0 series lead.

In a throwback to the Tyson Chandler era with the franchise, Monty Williams drew up a play for Jae Crowder to take the ball out of bounds, lob it to Ayton, and let him throw it down, taking advantage of the fact that you can’t be hit with a goaltending on an inbounds play. Unsurprisingly, the fact that it led to a 104-103 win caused the stadium to nearly implode on itself.

As is oftentimes the case when these sorts of things happen, videos popped up from in the arena. Here is one of them. I implore you, wait for the twist.

Yes, the angle we get of the final play rocks, and the very end — it pans to show the duo of Stephen A. Smith and Michael Wilbon, both of whom are totally gobsmacked — is extremely funny. But the person who recorded it deserves tons of credit for some spectacular camerawork and letting things build and build instead of cutting right to Stephen A and Wilbon. It helps contextualize, to an extent, the level of amazement both feel in that moment, to the point that both look frozen for a moment or two as they attempt to reckon with what they just saw. It’s beautiful. Give it an Oscar.

David Keene, the president of the National Rifle Association (NRA) from 2011 to 2013 and current board member, was asked to give the graduation speech at James Madison Academy in Las Vegas, Nevada. “Let me begin by telling you what an honor it is to be here to help celebrate your graduation,” he said to kick off his address in front of thousand of socially distanced chairs. There was no one in the chairs, however.

There’s also no James Madison Academy — Keene, as well as More Guns, Less Crime author John Lott, had been tricked into attending the phony graduation by Change the Ref. The gun safety organization was formed by Manuel and Patricia Oliver, whose son, Joaquin, was one of 17 people killed during the mass shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018. “Ironically, had the men conducted a proper background check on the school, they would have seen that the school is fake,” a spokesperson said.

“These two guys are part of the problem,” Manuel told BuzzFeed News. “We need to call them out, we need to show everyone. This is how they process the logic behind the gun industry. We need to show we’re brave and we’re not afraid of these guys. We’ve already felt the worst possible situation. There’s no threat that can make me feel different.” Change the Ref’s goal is to “give the young generation of survivors and victims a disrupting voice to help lead the way to change – a more peaceful future.”

After filming, Keene and Lott were told the graduation was canceled and were not informed before the videos were released on Wednesday that the events were fake… Both Keene and Lott traveled to Vegas and were excited to speak, said Oliver, who did not meet either of them to make sure the stunt did not get disrupted by anyone recognizing him.

Keene spoke to 3,044 empty chairs — the same number of students who should have graduated this year but were instead killed by a gun.

You can watch the powerful videos below.

(Via BuzzFeed News)

Today is a big one for Britney Spears: This afternoon, she is set to address her conservatorship for the first time in open court. That’s according to a press release from the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, which notes that “all parties, including Ms. Spears, are scheduled to appear remotely” for today’s hearing (as Newsweek notes). Ahead of then, though, Spears’ boyfriend, actor Sam Asghari, has addressed the situation.

In an Instagram Story today, Asghari shared a photo of himself in a white t-shirt with a seemingly hand-painted message. Some of the shirt’s text is cut off in the photo, but it seems more than likely that it reads “FREE BRITNEY.”

If this post is in fact meant as a criticism of the conservatorship or the people involved in it, it wouldn’t be Asghari’s first. In February, he expressed his feelings toward Britney’s father, writing in an Instagram Story, “Now it’s important for people to understand that I have zero respect for someone trying to control our relationship and constantly throwing obstacles our way. In my opinion Jamie is a total dick. I won’t be going into details because I’ve always respected out privacy but at the same time I didn’t come to this country to not be able to express my opinion and freedom.”

The Phoenix Suns, currently up 2-0 on the Los Angeles Clippers, are closer to the NBA Finals than they’ve been in some time time. Their most recent win was sealed in the last second of the game with a Deandre Ayton dunk on an inbounds play.

The success of this season for Phoenix resulted in the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference and the team’s first playoff appearance since 2010. A lot of the credit has gone to Chris Paul, while adding Jae Crowder in free agency helped too. But Paul currently is out due to health and safety protocols (although he could be back for Game 3 in Los Angeles) and, per Ayton, the Suns’ improvements predate both veterans joining the team. In his eyes, it all goes back to the end of last season.

“Things started turning around in the bubble,” Ayton told The Undefeated. “In the bubble, with the way we handled ourselves, team success comes with individual accolades. I think that is what really happened in the bubble. I saw each and every one of us really grow. We won some games and we started to put the right staff in. That is why we are here, to be honest. Whatever we are doing [now], was built in the bubble.”

The Suns, in case you forgot, went 8-0 in Orlando, but did not make the play-in tournament. Devin Booker was particularly great in the Bubble, averaging 30.5 points and six assists per game while shooting 50 percent from the field. Up until some of the moments he’s had in the playoffs, it was best Booker has ever played in his career. Ayton was also great, playing at a high level at both ends and offering a glimpse of what he’s slowed in the Suns’ current run. Mikal Bridges and Cam Payne, two standouts on this current team, also showed up in big ways.