Joe Biden and Kamala Harris gained a very notable ally on Sunday, days before Biden’s first debate with Donald Trump and weeks before the presidential election in November. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, a self-described centrist who has voted for both parties in the past, officially threw his support behind the Biden/Harris ticket in a lengthy video posted to social media that included a conversation with the Democratic leaders.
As a political independent & centrist, I’ve voted for both parties in the past. In this critical presidential election, I’m endorsing @JoeBiden & @KamalaHarris.
“As a political independent and centrist for many years, I’ve voted for Democrats in the past and as well as Republican,” Johnson wrote in the caption and reiterated in the video. “In this critical election, I believe Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are the best to lead our country, and as my first ever (public) Presidential endorsement, I proudly endorse them for the presidential office of our United States.”
The video includes a conversation between Biden, Harris and Johnson, and it’s very generous to both candidates and their qualifications for president. Johnson said he wanted to “go big” with his first public endorsement, and a seven-minute video doubling as a campaign ad for the Democratic ticket is certainly a splash.
It has been over 180 days since the last episode of The Walking Dead, and typically, when there is a layover that long, it’s in between seasons. Here, because of the pandemic, it’s six months between the penultimate episode of the season and what used to be the season finale (an additional 6 episodes have since been added to the tenth season, set to air in the Spring). There are a number of things that viewers may have forgotten that will be important to remember ahead of the 16th episodes — in fact, I have seen it, and it’s very good. However, it’s also a little disorienting because most of it obviously builds on storylines that we haven’t seen in six months.
So, to help prepare you for the not-finale 16th episode of the 10th season, here’s what you need to remember:
1. Carol and Negan orchestrated the death of Alpha — It was a long con, obviously, but Carol released Negan from Alexandria’s jail cell so that he could work his way into the Whisperers, gain the confidence of Alpha, and then kill her. It did not gain him any new friends, exactly, but Carol and Daryl at least respect and tolerate him. Begrudgingly. However, he does remain close with Alpha’s daughter, Lydia, despite the murder of her mother. Carol and Lydia’s relationship, however, remains strained. Carol, after all, orchestrated the murder of Lydia’s mother, who also murdered Carol’s son, Henry, who was also Lydia’s boyfriend.
AMC
2. Beta has gone insane — After the death of Alpha, Beta completely loses his mind, starts hearing voices, and decides to attack the Alexandrians with The Whisperers’ full horde, which is thousands of zombies. He no longer has a connection to reality. It’s also worth noting that, in the universe of The Walking Dead, the character underneath the mask of Beta is a famous country musician. This will matter in the finale.
3. Maggie is … somewhere — Maggie’s return is no secret. It’s been talked about for well over a year now, and even promoted in the ads for the 16th episode. She does return, and I’ll just say this: It’s not just as a character in a distant land reading a letter. She will be an active participant in the the episode’s action. Maggie’s not just back, she’s really back.
5. Michonne is gone, but Virgil is not — Virgil came into Oceanside, and left with Michonne, who discovered that Rick is still alive, and set out to try and find him. Virgil — who has a little off his head, too, after the death of loved ones — decided to return to Oceanside, and that will be more important than you might think in the finale.
6. Dwight went out to meet Stephanie — Dwight has spent much of the season in radio contact with someone named Stephanie. He left with Ezekiel and Yumiko to meet Stephanie, and along the way they met a great new character, Princess. It’s also worth remembering that Ezekiel has cancer, and that the next storyline in Robert Kirkman’s source material is The Commonwealth. All of this will be important in the finale.
7. We met a bad-ass ninja dude — Aaron and Alden are rescued from a Whisperer horde by a masked person with some serious knife skills. The masked person will return in the finale.
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8. Remember Connie? — It seems like eons ago now, but remember when Connie and Magna were trapped inside a Whisperer cave with a horde of zombies? Magna eventually made her way out and returned home, but we haven’t seen Connie since. We will find out what happened to her in the 16th episode, probably because Lauren Ridloff (who plays her) needed a break to film The Eternals.
In a battle of unbeatens, Israel Adesanya (20-0) proved yet again why he’s the best middleweight in the world with a decisive TKO victory over Paulo Costa (13-1) to retain the middleweight championship Saturday night at UFC 253 from Yas Island, Abu Dhabi.
Adesanya spent much of the first round shredding Costa’s lead leg with varied kicks, seeing the cupping behind the challenger’s knee and going after a potential a perceived weakness. Costa was stuck on the receiving end, landing less than 15 total strikes in the round.
Costa opened things up in the second, but it was Adesanya yet again tearing the Brazilian’s leg apart with low kicks. The champion was surgical through the end of the round, tossing feints, watching where Costa went, then landing shots as the challenger attempted to evade. He opened a cut on Costa’s eye with a head kick, then put him to bed with a left hook to the temple and ground-and-pound, forcing a referee stoppage.
After wrapping up an impressive 2019 that saw him knock off Anderson Silva, Kelvin Gastellum, and Robert Whittaker, Adesanya sleepwalked through his first title defense against the heavy-handed Yoel Romero in March. Adesanya’s move to fight Costa was expected to be one of his toughest fights to date, but the champion made quick work of the challenger to remain unbeaten.
Costa suffered a torn left biceps in a separate decision win over Romero, but he refused to take a tuneup bout before fighting for the belt. He was simply no match for Adesanya, who extended his middleweight win streak to nine. After the fight, Adesanya announced he’d like to fight Jared Cannonier if he can knock off the former champion, Robert Whittaker, when they fight on October 24.
For the first time since 2011, a fighter not named Jon Jones or Daniel Cormier is the light heavyweight champion. After Jones relinquished his top spot over the UFC’s light heavyweights, Jan Blachowicz (27-8) earned a TKO finish over Dominick Reyes (12-2) to claim the division crown Saturday night at UFC 253 from Yas Island, Abu Dhabi.
The tense first round opened with Reyes and Blachowicz feeling their way out. The duo traded shots, with Reyes more tentative to move forward and strike. Blachowicz was precise with his legs, bruising Reyes midsection and lead leg with brutal shots to finish off his combinations.
Reyes opened the second by getting inside and landing a slew of shots on Blachowicz. Blachowicz continued to push forward, targeting Reyes with a flurry of combinations, baiting him in and counterstriking often. At the end of the round, the pair traded heavy shots before Blachowicz dropped Reyes with an overhand left to the temple and the ref quickly jumped in to stop the fight.
Reyes dropped a five-round decision loss to Jones in February, but couldn’t make good on his second opportunity at UFC gold against Blachowicz. At 37 years old, Blachowicz extended his five-fight win streak to win his first UFC belt. Blachowicz will savor the big win for now, with the winner of Glover Teixeira vs. Thiago Santos slated for Nov. 7, likely the next contender for his light heavyweight belt.
The Lakers are headed back to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2010 after beating the Nuggets, 117-107, in a deciding Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals. A tremendous performance from LeBron James capped off with yet another postseason triple-double set the tone for the Lakers, while the Nuggets could not overcome an injury to one star and foul trouble by the other.
The result was a bitter end to Denver’s stellar playoff run and the crowning of the Lakers as the West champions in James’ second season with the franchise.
There’s still no answer for LeBron James in an elimination game
Two portions of this game were dominated by James, and they both showed us what he’s still capable of when he has to reach into his bag in tight moments. In the second quarter, Nikola Jokic hit the bench for the final 10 minutes of the half due to foul trouble, giving the Lakers a perfect opportunity to increase their lead. But rather than put the finishing touches on a blowout, Los Angeles’ offense sputtered like it has been prone to doing all season. That meant the Lakers needed every one of James’ forceful downhill drives. Needless to say, with James playing aggressively in the paint, the combo of Mason Plumlee and Michael Porter Jr. did little to stop him.
The second time we saw vintage James was in the fourth period. After a run by Denver late in the third, James came out determined to end the series. James quickly finished off his triple-double with his 10th assist, then slowed the game way down to pick apart the Nuggets’ defense and nurse the lead. It’s been a long time since we saw James reach deep down and completely dominate as a scorer, but he got better and better over the course of the game before hitting the dagger with less than two minutes to go.
James finished with 38 points, 16 rebounds, and 10 assists in finishing the job to get into his 10th NBA Finals.
Jerami Grant showed up in the biggest moment of Denver’s season
On a night in which Jamal Murray was hobbled by serious right knee soreness, Jokic struggled with foul trouble, and Gary Harris and Paul Millsap stayed quiet, Denver needed someone to step up. That became Grant, who scored 14 points in a close-fought third quarter and played with a level of confidence on both ends that came as a surprise considering his typically complimentary offensive role. Whether it was making open threes, taking on mismatches in the post, or even guarding James and Anthony Davis, the soon-to-be free agent Grant played assertively and finished as Denver’s leading scorer.
This game being the NBA’s lasting memory of him heading into free agency is pretty nice, too. Grant already figured to be in high demand because of the rarity of competent three-and-D forwards in the league, but showing in the playoffs that he can check superstar play-makers and score capably will only improve his market more. The Syracuse alum can be a free agent this offseason if he opts out of his contract.
The game was decided inside and the Lakers’ bigs won
Denver head coach Mike Malone made headlines when he drew attention to the physicality on the interior after Game 4. Malone criticized foul calls on the part of the referees but also his own team’s inability to rebound against the Lakers’ bigs. That came back to bite the Nuggets again in the deciding game of the series.
Between Anthony Davis and Dwight Howard, the Lakers were able to control the paint even when Jokic was on the court. A key decision by Frank Vogel to put Howard in the starting lineup midway through the series continued to help Los Angeles, as Howard helped draw a few fouls on the Serbian big man and made him work on the glass.
But it was Davis (27 points and five rebounds) who made key plays to help take the game home alongside James. The rare big man defender who can still make an impact when the tempo picks up, Davis was able to keep the game played on the Lakers’ terms by forcing turnovers when Denver got sloppy. The highlight of the night was Davis’ huge block on Porter, a perfect example of Davis coming up big in his first conference finals.
Once Davis settled in on offense and was able to play off James, the Lakers’ offense came together. On the other side, with Jokic in foul trouble, Plumlee and Millsap played far too poorly to make up for it. A great night from Davis and an adjustment by Vogel to play Howard more proved enough to take down Denver’s front court.
Life in 2020 has prompted a number of reunions done virtually, the highest profile versions of which have come from the cast of various TV shows and movies getting together through video chats. The latest of those is a Veep reunion, as announced by star Julia Louis-Dreyfus on Twitter.
The political comedy is definitely taking a side in the upcoming presidential election, as it will double as a fundraiser for the Democratic party in Wisconsin. Earlier in the month, a table read of The Princess Bride raised more than $4 million for the Democratic party in the same state. The Veep event aims to do the same, and invites people to donate to the party in order to access the reunion event.
“The future of democracy is on the line, people,” Louis-Dreyfus said in a video posted on Twitter. “Come and join us and be part of winning Wisconsin, taking down Trump and electing Joe Biden.”
According to Variety, the one-time event features many of the stars from the HBO show, including some “surprise guests.”
The reunion will take place on Oct. 4 at 6 p.m. CST and will feature “Veep” cast members including Louis-Dreyfus, Anna Chlumsky, Reid Scott, Sam Richardson, Tim Simons, Tony Hale, Clea Duvall and Matt Walsh, plus some surprise guests. David Mandel, an executive producer on the show, will moderate the event, which will only be livestreamed once.
There’s some other new Veep content out there as well, as HBO posted a very profane tutorial on how to survive office politics earlier in the month culled from over the show’s illustrious run.
The fundraiser for Wisconsin Democrats might not be as vulgar, but one thing that’s nearly certain is it will make Ted Cruz very mad.
M. Night Shymalan’s new movie officially has a title, and according to his Twitter account filming is already underway. But talking about the new movie might be a bit of a hassle, as the movie is called Old.
Shymalan posted about the movie, which apparently will be called Old according to a poster that he included along with the tweet.
“Feels like a miracle that I am standing here shooting the first shot of my new film. It’s called ‘Old,’” Shymalan wrote.
The poster looks like a black and white image of an hourglass, though it appears that people are falling through the hourglass rather than sand. You never want to speculate too much about where a Shymalan movie is headed, but it seems safe to say it’s about the passing of, you know, time.
“A new trip from writer/director M. Night Shymalan,” the caption on the poster reads. “It’s only a matter of time.”
As Variety noted, not much is known about the actual film aside from some casting notes. And it does seem like despite filming during a pandemic they’re trying to keep things safe. Even alone in a field, Shymalan was wearing a protective mask in the image he posted to Twitter.
Still, until its release Shymalan’s “new” movie will be Old. Which isn’t confusing to talk about at all.
Kehlani‘s stellar year continues with a new video besides Russ. The Oakland singer impressed listeners, as she’s done for her entire career, with her phenomenal It Was Good Until It Wasn’t album. Its release has been supported by equally impressive and eye-catching videos for songs like “Toxic,” “F&MU,” and “Can I.”
Lending her vocals to fellow west coaster Russ, the two artists connect as two lovebirds attempting to make a broken relationship whole again for their “Take You Back” collaboration. Residing at edge of the old-style balconies to their respective homes, Russ begins the song by apologizing for his wrongs and forgiving Kehlani for her wrongs in their relationship before begging return so their relationship can continue.
“Young and in love, so we prone to mistakes /I ain’t gon’ front like I know what it takes,” he sings adding, “‘Cause I f*cked up, then you f*cked up / Now it’s f*cked up, goddamn.”
Now that he’s said what he needed to say, Kehlani steps in to discuss her own doubts about their relationship’s potential if they do decide to start it again. “Take you back, why should I take you back?” she questions while reminding him in the next line that it was, in fact, Russ who brought the relationship to an end. “You the one that f*cked this up, yeah / You the one that turned this out.”
However, Kehlani gives in to Russ’ requests as they reunite as one while the world crumbles and burns around them. Watch the “Take You Back” video above.
Kehlani is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Back in October of 2017, the Denver Nuggets opted to reward Gary Harris with a lucrative contract on the heels of a promising third year in the league. Harris, a former standout at Michigan State, put forth a few career-best marks that season — 14.9 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 2.9 assists while connecting on 42 percent of 4.5 threes a game — and as a result, Denver gave him a four-year, $84 million extension.
He made that look quite good the following year, upping his scoring to 17.5 a night while hitting a tick under 40 percent of his threes, and then, injuries began to hit. The list of knocks he’s picked up in his career have particularly escalated since December of 2018, when he picked up a pesky hip injury against the Raptors. He’s had plenty of highs and lows, with his defense long being a bright spot, but he’s struggled to consistently look like the guy who got paid a pretty penny.
Another hip injury held Harris out of the Nuggets’ seeding games and the team’s first five postseason tilts in the NBA’s Orlando Bubble, and when he returned to the series against the Utah Jazz, he very much looked like someone who hadn’t played in five months because of a mix of a pandemic and an injury. And then, after an unspectacular first game against the Los Angeles Clippers in the second round, something clicked. Here’s some numbers:
NBA.com/Stats
Harris, quite literally, went from the least-efficient shooter on the team by both effective field goal percentage and True Shooting percentage to the most-efficient shooter on the team by both metrics. Only Michael Porter Jr. and Nikola Jokic had better net ratings in games 2-7 against the Clippers than Harris, and only Jokic had a better offensive rating. He is not the reason that they were able to beat a Clippers team that a whole lot of people picked as the title favorites, but man, did it help Denver a lot that Harris started to look a whole heck of a lot like he did on his best days, giving them a very solid contributor on offense and a floor-spacing threat who will use his 6’4, 210 pound frame on the other end of the floor to pester opposing players.
That defense, by the way, was something to behold. Harris is a Michigan State player in every positive sense of the word, something that Paul George in particular learned the hard way. According to NBA.com‘s matchup data, Harris was the primary defender against George in each of Denver’s wins in that series. Only once did George score more than three points in a game in that matchup, and he shot 5-for-15 against Harris in those games.
With Will Barton out due to an injury, Harris being able to give the team even 80 percent of what he is at his best is a really big boost. We saw that against the Clippers, but unfortunately for the Nuggets, that hasn’t exactly been the case in the conference finals against the other team that normally calls Staples Center home.
Harris has gone back to being the guy who struggled in his first three postseason games. His net rating of -13.5 is the second-worst on the team, ahead of only Jerami Grant, and his offensive rating of 101.5 is the worst among Denver’s players. That’s also the case for his eFG% (34.8 percent) and TS% (37.7 percent). He’s scoring 4.5 points in 25.2 minutes per game while hitting 26.1 percent of his shots from the field and 36.4 percent from three.
In the ultimate “it’s a make or miss league” statement, the big difference between that hot stretch against the Clippers and his ongoing struggles against the Lakers has been Harris’ inability to hit the relatively easy shots from deep. He’s still competing his ass off on defense, because I simply do not think he can fathom doing otherwise, but his three-point shooting, particularly on shots deemed “wide open” (the closest defender is 6+ feet away), hasn’t been up to par.
NBA.com/Stats
On one hand, yes, you are right, making these sorts of statements about 36 total shots over 10 games is risky. On the other, it’s not like he’s getting buckets elsewhere, either — those two types of triples made up 55.5 percent of Harris’ field goal attempts in the games against the Clippers and 47.8 percent of his shots against the Lakers. This is what he’s being asked to do more than anything else on offense and the shots just are not going in. And besides, it’s not like the other shots he’s been given are going in, either, as Harris is 2-for-12 (16.7 percent) on two-point field goal attempts against the Lakers, too.
Being able to give the Nuggets something is huge. Keeping defenses honest means that the guy who has primarily guarded him in this series, Danny Green, is unable to provide the help defense against Jokic and Jamal Murray that he is so good at providing. Green (or whomever is checking Harris at the time) would have to be more willing to stay home, giving Jokic more space to orchestrate the Denver attack and Murray more room to attack when he decides he’s going to take over a basketball game. For how good those two are, the Nuggets are at their best when they have a few options on offense, if only because Jokic can somehow find anyone who is even a little open without trying all that hard. Harris needs to give them that sort of option.
Denver has come back from a pair of 3-1 series deficits this postseason, an absolutely stunning accomplishment that makes the uphill battle they currently face against LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and co. seem ever so slightly less insurmountable. Still, to make lightning strike a third time, Harris looking like the guy who deservedly got a big money extension is crucial. We know he has it in him, as evidenced by what he did against the Clippers, and if he shares the sense of urgency we’ve seen out of his team when their backs have been against the wall in the playoffs, Saturday night’s Game 5 will be quite the platform for him to rise to the occasion.
Lil Durk is arguably having the strongest year of his career, and with it comes a new music video. The Chicago artist landed his highest-charting album with Just Cause Y’all Waited 2, as it debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard albums chart. Soon after he released a deluxe re-issue of the album with seven new songs.
His biggest moment of the year, however, came beside Drake as the two connected for their “Laugh Now, Cry Later” song and video, one that is set as the lead single to the Toronto rapper’s upcoming sixth album. Supplying yet another guest feature to the music world, Lil Durk joins Bia in her new video for “Same Hands.”
In the video, Lil Durk plays the role of Bia’s partner-in-crime who is often confused as his love interest.
“I don’t trust her, I just stay with her,” he raps on the song adding, “I don’t even go on dates with her.”
The bigger picture between the two is ensuring the money keeps pouring in and to do that, Bia alludes to her ability to play both sides of the game. “Crushin’ up the drugs with the same hands, that I fix to pray with,” she says on the song. Playing to her friendly side well enough to keep Durk around, she uses him to help execute a home invasion in what looks like a small cabin in the middle of nowhere. Successfully completing the job, the two drive off, but not without disposing the evidence first.
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: TNT) 
FIRST TEAM ALL-DEFENSE
