The NBA’s HORSE competition got started on Sunday night with a major upset as the betting favorite, Trae Young, fell to Chauncey Billups in the opening round that was, well, slow to get going. The video quality was, unsurprisingly, not very good as it was a DIY stream from phones and iPads, but more disappointing was the lack of creativity, particularly on the part of Trae Young.

Trae had the honors and got off to a hot start, taking an H-O-R to no letter lead on Billups, as Chauncey missed a left handed free throw and behind the backboard shot early.

However, once Trae missed, Chauncey took advantage and tied things up quickly with the second-year All-Star by taking him out of his comfort zone and forcing him into some shots he clearly had not practiced.

From there, the two traded makes and misses, with Young refusing to go away from his beloved left-handed free throw and behind the backboard shot, despite Mark Jones of ESPN egging him on about a tweet that said he would only shoot halfcourt shots. Young never ventured very far back in his driveway, and his failure to execute the few shots he clearly had practiced before the competition led to his downfall.

Ultimately, Billups went back to a bank shot from the top of the key and was able to put away Young for the somewhat shocking upset.

Hopefully the creativity will improve as the competition goes on, but for now, the favorite is out and the elder statesman moves on.

There are few busier people in Hollywood right now than James Gunn, who — thanks to an online campaign that got him fired from Marvel, a decision that wound up being retracted after all — is helming both The Suicide Squad and The Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Of course, no one in Hollywood is busy right now; the entire industry is shut down, thanks to the ever-rampaging novel coronavirus. It’s not clear how much longer much of the world will be on “pause,” but Gunn, at least, remains optimistic: As per Deadline, on Easter Sunday he took to Twitter to announce those two films won’t have their release dates rescheduled.

“Right now there’s no reason for #TheSuicideSquad release date to move,” Gunn told an online fan. “We are on or ahead of schedule. We were extremely fortunate to wrap shooting & set up editing from our homes (due to a post production team & studio with foresight) before quarantine.”

Gunn was then asked about the third Guardians. That, too, was met with a positive/optimistic response, saying those plans are “also exactly the same as they were before coronavirus.”

Thing is, Vol. 3 doesn’t actually have a release date anyway, although The Suicide Squad — a sequel/semi-reboot of 2016’s simply-named Suicide Squad — does: Aug. 6, 2021. Other comic book movies weren’t so lucky. Black Widow was moved to Nov. 6, nicking the old slot reserved for The Eternals. That moved to Feb. 12, 2021, forcing Shang-Chi to get bumped to May 7, and so on and so forth. It’s a crazy/scary/maddening time, but at least Gunn feels confident that he’ll be able to deliver on time.

(Via Deadline)

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Devices, gadgets, and accessories that already come with a stamp of approval.

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Hire someone to do this, loves.

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I *knew* I recognized that voice.

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The federal government recommends no one attend gatherings of more than 10 people, but some churches are still encouraging big congregations to attend Easter Sunday services.

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The NBA, like every other sports league in the United States, is currently playing the waiting game, hoping that they can return at some point this summer if the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic can be slowed sufficiently.

In the meantime, all the league can do is plan for various contingencies depending on how things go over the coming months. One such plan is a “bubble league” of sorts, in which teams are effectively quarantined together in one location to play out the remainder of the season and/or playoffs, with no fans in attendance.

One of the questions facing the league is how long would they need to give players and teams before restarting games, given that the vast majority of players will have gone months without playing basketball or even being able to shoot for months. Some have suggested they would need as few as two weeks or as much as one month, and according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, the league has crafted a 25-day “return to basketball” plan that includes 11 days of individual workouts practicing social distancing and then a 14-day training camp once the league is cleared to do so.

The issue with this plan — like all the others — is that there is no timeline for the virus to go away and without massive testing improvements and the availability of rapid testing for the NBA, there’s no way to be confident in clearing players to go ahead with 5-on-5 activities. Given what we know about the way the virus can spread from asymptomatic people — and that the league has had numerous asymptomatic cases — there would have to be a testing protocol in place in such a plan.

For now, all the league can do is try to figure all of these things out and, at the least, it seems like there is a plan in place. The question now is whether they get to enact it.

The Weeknd‘s After Hours has become the first album to sit atop the Billboard albums charts for three consecutive weeks since Post Malone’s 2019 album Hollywood’s Bleeding. In its first week, the record sold a total of 444,000 equivalent album units sold, while the second week added 138,000 more.

As his latest entered its third week, The Weeknd faced a bit of controversy after he said he was “angry” that Usher created a “Weeknd song” for his 2012 hit, namely the Diplo-produced “Climax.” Usher delivered an indirect response to the comments while fans voiced their anger with The Weeknd. Nonetheless, After Hours came in at No. 1 for a third week thanks to 90,000 equivalent album units sold. Of that number, 64,000 were streaming equivalent album units and 23,000 were in album sales.

Looking at the rest of the field, Rod Wave and his sophomore album, Pray 4 Love debuted at No. 2 with 72,000 equivalent album units, while Lil Uzi Vert’s Eternal Atake holds onto the third position for another week, with 69,000 equivalent album units. Rounding out the top five, Lil Baby’s My Turn jumped two positions to come in at No. 4 and Sam Hunt’s Southside grabbed the No. 5 position.

Other notable albums in the top 10 include Roddy Ricch’s Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial at No. 7, Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia at No. 8, and Jhené Aiko’s Chilombo at No. 10.

Read our review of After Hours here.

[via Billboard]

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