Category: Viral

Damian Lillard is a maniac. Despite the fact that the Portland Trail Blazers fell in Game 5 of their first round series against the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday night, Lillard put forth a performance for the ages. The All-NBA guard’s record-setting night involved him scoring 55 points with 10 assists, six rebounds, and three blocks. He hit 12 threes, setting the NBA playoffs record for threes in a game. But ultimately, Denver won in double overtime, 147-140.

Lillard has carved out a reputation for being one of, if not the, best clutch players in the league, constantly hitting monster shot after monster shot and rising up to meet the moment. He did all of that and then some, hitting game-tying threes at the end of the fourth quarter and regulation to keep the Blazers in the game. Again, they ultimately came up short, by the effort by Lillard was nothing short of heroic.

A game recognize game situation popped up during the game, as a number of current and former NBA players could do nothing but hop onto Twitter and praise Lillard for his performance.

Kevin Durant, in particular, was blown away by what he saw out of Portland’s star.

Game 6 between the Nuggets and the Blazers will take place on Thursday, June 3 in Portland. The game is slated to tip off at 8 p.m. EST on TNT.

Fans of DMV rapper IDK hope that his second album, U See 4 Yourself — his follow-up to his 2019 debut Is He Real? — is here soon. It still has no release date, but the rapper has been keeping fans satisfied with new music. That trend continues with his latest drop, which seems him recruiting production duo New Impressionz to deliver a Go-Go remix of his most recent single, “Shoot My Shot.”

The new edit turns the charismatic banger — which previously featured a guest appearance from Offset — into a drum-heavy track that loops the original song’s extremely catchy chorus. It’s fitting that IDK shared a Go-Go remix of the single as the genre is extremely popular within the DMV area which he calls home.

The remix is just the latest in a long list of songs and projects IDK has delivered since Is He Real? He dropped a falsetto cover of Pharrell’s “Frontin,” remixed Pooh Shiesty’s “Back In Blood,” and shared a pair of original songs with “Just Like Martin” and “2 Cents.” Prior to that, he teamed up with ASAP Ferg, Wale, Juicy J, Denzel Curry, Maxo Kream, PnB Rock, Rico Nasty, and more for his IDK & Friends 2 project.

You can watch the video for the remix of “Shoot My Shot” above.

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

You’ve probably noticed this before, but Joe Biden’s a pretty nice guy. He rarely gets worked up. Even though he’s inherited a migraine — trying to right an America all but destroyed by his predecessor, who’s now threatening (albeit feebly) to take his old gig back — he’s kept his cool. Even when he called out two Democratic senators who haven’t made passing legislation in any way easy, he did so without naming names, even suggesting those on the other side of the aisle are still chums.

Those senators are, of course, Kyrsten Sinema, of Arizona, and Joe Manchin, of West Virginia. Over the last few months, the two have taken heat for not toeing the party line when the party needs them. They’re the two key figures standing in the way of killing the filibuster. They seem to think they can “implore” their Republican colleagues to do the right thing, despite all evidence to the contrary. They’re seen as stubborn and not helping fix a broken country.

On Tuesday, Biden finally called them out, sort of. While speaking at an event marking the 100th anniversary of the race massacre in Tulsa, Oklahoma, he took some time to address why his administration hasn’t made more progress than it has already.

“I hear all the folks on TV saying, ‘Why doesn’t Biden get this done?’ Well, Biden only has a majority, effectively, of four votes in the House and a tie in the Senate, with two members of the Senate who vote more with my Republican friends,” Biden said. “But we’re not giving up.”

It wasn’t difficult to suss out that shade was being thrown at Sinema and Manchin. Will his words shame the senators into reforming their ways? Probably not. Sinema seems to delight in the hatred she’s inspired, which she seems to throw back the way it came.

Still, people were delighted to see them called out by the most powerful person the planet, on national television.

Others continued making jokes about them effectively being appeasers to a party still in thrall to a possibly jail-bound blogger who lives in resorts with strangers.

Milwaukee rapper Lakeyah signed to Quality Control last summer, which made her the latest act on the label’s growing roster of talent. She joined such big names like Lil Baby, City Girls, and Lil Yachty, as well as newer faces like Duke Deuce and Bankroll Freddie. She quickly made her mark on the label with her debut project, In Due Time, which she released in April. Now, nearly two months later, Lakeyah has dropped a brand new video for the track “Young & Ratchet.”

The Quality Control rapper takes her talents to a tennis court, where she and a trio of women dance to the track as it plays in the background. The ladies are also accompanied by a pair of cigar-smoking old men who seem entertained by their presence.

In Due Time is a mostly solo effort from Lakeyah, aside from a pair of features from Gucci Mane and Yung Bleu. While the project has only been out for a short amount of time, its maker is already planning for the future. “The next tape is going to be called Perfect Timing,” she said during an interview with Uproxx. “I just feel like everything is going to fall into place. I’m just working my ass off right now being super consistent. It’s all about timing.”

You can watch the “Young & Ratchet” video above.

In Due Time is out now via Quality Contol Music. Get it here.

The Brooklyn Nets have punched their ticket to the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Brooklyn completed its first-round throttling of the Boston Celtics on Tuesday night with a 123-109 Game 5 win in front of the hometown fans at the Barclays Center. The series ended with a gentleman’s sweep, as the Nets came out on top, 4-1.

Unsurprisingly, the Nets followed their usual blueprint to winning by letting their three All-NBA players go to work. A James Harden triple-double (34 points, 10 assists, 10 rebounds, two steals, two blocks) led the way, while Kyrie Irving (25 points) and Kevin Durant (24 points) were given space to cook as well. The trio combined to score 83 points on the evening, and while their only other teammates to hit double-digits scored 10 points each (Bruce Brown, Blake Griffin), all three dudes were so good that Brooklyn didn’t exactly need anyone else to go off.

As a team, the Nets were ruthlessly efficient on offense, going 43-for-84 (51.2 percent) from the field, 15-for-32 (46.9 percent) from three, and 22-for-25 (88.2 percent) from the free throw line. They barely turned the ball over (eight times), got out and ran (17 fastbreak points), and generally looked like a team that is coalescing at exactly the right time.

Boston’s reliance on Jayson Tatum was not enough, although the young forward continued his impressive play during the postseason. Tatum scored 32 points, pulled in nine rebounds, doled out five assists, and blocked a pair of shots in 41 minutes of work, doing everything he could to extend the series to a Game 6 to no avail.

Evan Fournier gave the team 18 points and youngster Romeo Langford had some really nice moments on both ends of the floor en route to 17 points with two blocks and two steals, but the Celtics could not consistently hit from three (11-for-40, or 27.5 percent, from behind the arc) and was unable to keep up with the high-powered Nets offense. While no team wants its season to end, particularly one that has such high expectations as Boston, the Celtics have been through a long slog of a year that they will assuredly welcome an offseason to get healthy and decompress.

And for Brooklyn, the win sets up one of the most highly-anticipated series of the 2021 postseason. The Nets will take on the Milwaukee Bucks in what should be an absolute war between two of the best teams in the league. Milwaukee will enter the series after sweeping the Miami Heat in the first round, and during the regular season, the Bucks came out on top in two of three games, although it must be mentioned that Harden did not play in either of the Nets’ losses.

One of the most popular musical acts out of Memphis right now is Moneybagg Yo, especially after the success of his fourth album, A Gangsta’s Pain. Recently he teamed with Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant — himself one of the big stars of the NBA right now — for his latest single, “Rookie Of The Year.”

The new song will appear in Morant’s upcoming documentary, Promiseland, which premieres on June 3rd on Crackle. On the track, Moneybagg makes his support for the basketballer quite clear. “Love the game, it relate to me best / Work better under pressure when I’m put to the test,” he raps. “Strategic how I move, I just treat it like chess / Team Morant, the Grizzlies on my Mitchell & Ness (Straight from Memphis).” The song’s title is named after the award Morant won last year following his first season in the NBA.

Promiseland is directed by Dexton Deboree and the upcoming documentary also features a number of celebrities who will help contribute to the story of Morant’s rise to stardom.

Prior to the single, Moneybagg Yo’s A Gangsta’s Pain spent its second non-consecutive week atop the Billboard album charts. The project also appears on Uproxx‘s Best Albums Of 2021 So Far list.

You can listen to the new song and watch the Promiseland trailer above.

John Beilein’s tenure in Cleveland as the head coach of the Cavaliers was short lived for a number of reasons, but due to his success at Michigan, he seemed likely to end up back in basketball. And, as it happens, he’s sticking around in the NBA as opposed to heading back to college.

As first reported by the New York Times‘ Marc Stein (and confirmed by Omari Sankofa II of the Detroit Free Press), Beilein is joining the Detroit Pistons in a player development capacity. Officially, his title will be Director of Player Development.

There are two ways to look at this hire. On one hand, this is a smart investment by Pistons general manager Troy Weaver. Beilein had a long track record of developing players (Caris LeVert, Nik Stauskas, etc.) at Michigan and has a lot of knowledge he can offer a team. For a franchise like Detroit — which will likely struggle to be a marquee free agent destination and is currently building around young players like Isaiah Stewart, Killian Hayes, and a forthcoming high Draft pick — player development has to be a focus if winning is going to happen.

On the other hand, Beilein left the Cavs in large part because he did not totally connect with NBA players in the way he did at Michigan. Some of his quirks — using colored pennies at practice, naming positions after animals, etx. — didn’t mesh with the NBA. There was also the “slugs” comment that precipitated his exit.

However, there’s a chance the 68-year-old Beilein will be a better fit in a teaching role vs. a head coaching role. In Cleveland, he didn’t totally adjust to the grind of an 82-game season as opposed to the two games of a week he had in college. If he’s working on player development, that feels like the best to utilize his basketball knowledge at the NBA level.

The Los Angeles Lakers will be without half of their All-Star duo during Game 5 of their first round tilt against the Phoenix Suns. According to a report by Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports, Anthony Davis will not be healthy enough to take the floor on Tuesday night, a major blow to a Lakers’ team caught in a serious battle with the 2-seed in the Western Conference.

Davis entered Game 4 of the series with a sprained knee, which he was able to play through. It looked like he aggravated this injury late in the second quarter as he contested a Jae Crowder attempt at the rim, which caused him to walk with a serious limp. Instead Davis suffered a groin strain, and while he missed the remainder of the game — Phoenix went on to win, 100-92 — he was listed as day-to-day moving forward.

Still, it was believed that Davis was unlikely to take the floor on Tuesday evening, something that eventually came to fruition. The good news for the Lakers is they still have LeBron James, who is quite good at winning playoff games. Still, the Suns are a tough team, and one that can very much punish a shorthanded Los Angeles squad.

Nowadays, Mary J. Blige is heavily focused on her career as an actor. A few months ago she completed her first season as Monet on the 50 Cent-led show Power Book II: Ghost. She also contributed to films like Trolls World Tour, The Violent Heart, and Body Cam. The newly-inducted Rock And Roll Hall Of Famer’s next screen gig finds her looking back at one of the highlights of her career. Later this month, Blige will share her new documentary, My Life, which will examine the time period around her classic 1994 album of the same title, and today, she shared the trailer.

“I’m so excited to share the trailer for my new documentary,” she captioned the preview. “Get ready to learn the story behind one of the most inspiring albums of all time in.” The film’s synopsis reveals that viewers will see Blige speak about “the demons and blessings” behind the album’s songs. “My Life is probably my darkest album at one of the darkest times I’ve had,” she says in the trailer. “Most of the time, I was just depressed and didn’t want to live. I had it all inside and I was able to sing it and write it, and I didn’t know that so many people felt the same way.”

The documentary will be available on June 25 through Amazon Prime. Blige will also perform the album live for the first time ever to celebrate the film’s release.

You can watch the trailer above.

House plants are great for your mental and physical well-being. They’re wonderful because they release oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide, giving us fresh air to breathe while cleaning the air of harmful toxins.

Research by NASA has found that houseplants can eliminate up to 87% of airborne toxins in just 24 hours. Studies also show that house plants are great for productivity by improving concentration by up to 15%.

All of this sounds great in theory, but we all know that keeping houseplants alive is no easy task.

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We always have big plans for our plants when we get them home from the nursery but after a few weeks, they’re brown and dying from neglect. Most of the time we have no idea they’re in decline ’til it’s too late.

That’s why a new planter from Lua is so incredible. It allows plants to communicate with us like pets. So we know how to take care of them correctly.

The Lua planter monitors your plant for different states that it indicates through human-like facial expressions, so you know how your plant is feeling 24-7.

Thirsty: When soil moisture drops under the defined threshold, you need to water your plant.

Sick: Too much water can kill your plant. Lua lets you know when it’s had enough.

Vampire: After a few days Lua will turn into a vampire if it doesn’t get enough light.

via Lua

Squint: Too much exposure to light can harm your plant, when Lua is squinting it’s looking for shade.

Hot: You can tell Lua is too hot when it’s sweating.

Lua also has motion tracking capabilities so it moves its eyes and reacts to everything happening in the room.

Setting up the Lua is pretty simple. Download the app then select the type of plant you’ve put inside the planter. Once it’s all set up, Lua uses a water level sensor, a light sensor, a motion sensor, and a temperature sensor to monitor your plant’s well-being.

The planter is a fun way to help people who don’t have a green thumb learn to take care of their house plants, but it also begs the question: Will humans and plants ever be able to communicate?

Studies show that plants communicate with one another by releasing chemicals through their roots. They will even sustain weak members of their species by sending them nutrients. So, they do have a keen sense of other life forms around them.

However, Danny Chamovitz, director of the Manna Center for Plant Biosciences at Tel Aviv University in Israel, doubts whether plants will ever communicate with humans.

“All organisms, even bacteria, have to be able to find the exact niche that will enable them to survive. It’s not anything that’s unique to people,” Chamovitz said. “Are they self-aware? No. We care about plants, do plants care about us? No.”

Well, your plants may never care for you but you can show you care for them by getting them the right amount of water and sunlight. They’ll repay the favor by giving you fresh, toxin-free air to breathe, which is a pretty darn good trade-off.