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James Harden played a basketball game in Philadelphia on Wednesday night for the first time since he was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers. Harden ended up getting the last laugh over his old team, because while it required a comeback and no-calls that frustrated the home team, Los Angeles was able to pick up a 108-107 win.

Because he is a person who left Philadelphia under less than ideal circumstances, Sixers fans booed Harden during pregame introductions and while the game happened. And after things finished up, Harden got asked about the boos, telling the press that he expected it, wasn’t sure why fans booed him, and suggested that they don’t know why they were booing him, either.

“I expected it,” Harden said when asked about Sixers fans booing him. “I really don’t know what it’s about, but I expected it. So, it is what it is. I don’t even know why they were booing, I don’t think. If you ask them, they probably don’t even know why they were booing.”

Harden requested a trade from the Sixers at the start of the offseason, and while the Clippers were long viewed as the favorites to make a deal happen, a deal did not come to fruition until October, when Harden, P.J. Tucker, and reserve big man Filip Petrusev were sent to Los Angeles for a collection of picks and players. The time between his request and the eventual deal did get a bit messy, particularly when Harden called Sixers executive Daryl Morey a liar and vowed to never be part of the same organization as him.

During Wednesday night’s win, Harden had 16 points on 6-for-15 shooting with 14 assists, five rebounds, two steals, and a block.

Shakira recently told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe that her Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran track “Última” will probably be “the last song that I write to” her ex-partner, Gerard Piqué, as relayed by People. The longtime couple, who share two children, confirmed their split in June 2022, so it makes sense that Shakira is ready to move on. But people are speculating over with whom she’s moving on — and unfortunately, it’s no longer Jimmy Butler.

Are Shakira And Lucien Laviscount Dating?

The British actor Lucien Laviscount (Emily In Paris, Scream Queens, Snatch) appeared as Shakira’s love interest in her video for “Puntería” featuring Cardi B. And Laviscount appeared as a possible love interest IRL on Tuesday, March 26. According to TMZ, the 31-year-old accompanied Shakira to dinner at Carbone in New York City following Shakira’s surprise performance in Times Square.

“They also appeared to be getting into the same SUV,” TMZ relayed, “and while there were no definitive signs of PDA, the fact they were rolling together, in and of itself, kicked the rumor mill into overdrive … namely, the notion they might be together as a couple.”

Fans also captured Laviscount watching Shakira’s Times Square show.

See the posts below.

Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Victor Wembanyama has spent the last few months seeming to figure out just how dominant he can be on the NBA court. After the Spurs brought him along slowly in terms of making him their focal point, they’ve steadily taken the training wheels off and allowed him to play a bit more freely and make a bigger impact on both ends.

The results have been pretty incredible, and he’s all-but locked up the Rookie of the Year award even with Chet Holmgren having a tremendous year on a very good Thunder team. Not only is Wembanyama putting up monster numbers, but he seemingly produces a highlight play or sequence every night that would be one of the best plays of the year for most anyone else. The way he moves at his size, with his length, allows him to produce some hilarious highlights on both ends, and on Wednesday night he was at it once again against the Utah Jazz.

First, he brought help from behind Lauri Markkanen to block him at the rim when the Jazz star thought he had a clean dunk attempt, and then ran the floor to catch a lob over the top of a defender and reach his two preposterously long arms out to the rim for a dunk.

What’s funny is this is not the first time he’s done this to someone on the Jazz, as he had a ridiculous block on John Collins earlier this season that left Collins in shock as it didn’t make sense how he could’ve gotten blocked. This time he did the same thing to Markkanen, and then turned around and threw down a very funny dunk catching a lob at the restricted area fading away from the basket, turned, and calmly threw it down.

The Philadelphia 76ers welcomed James Harden back to town on Wednesday night in a matchup with the Los Angeles Clippers. While the Sixers really need to win as many games as they can between now and Joel Embiid’s return if they want to avoid needing the Play-In Tournament as part of their path to the playoffs, they came up a bit short, as the Clippers walked out of Philly with a 108-107 win.

The very end of the game featured the Clippers making a pair of big plays on the defensive end of the floor, the latter of which drew the ire of Kelly Oubre and Nick Nurse. With five seconds remaining, Oubre attempted to drive to the rim on Leonard, which led to him blocking Oubre’s layup attempt into a wedgie — Nurse immediately screamed that he believed this was a foul.

While Leonard won the ensuing tip, Nic Batum tapped the ball to Buddy Hield, who got it over to Oubre. While Tobias Harris was open in the corner, Oubre decided to take it himself, and he was met in the lane by Paul George. There was some contact as he tried to go up, and his effort to win the game came up well short. And right away, both Oubre and Nurse made their way over to the officials to express their disgust.

After the game, Nurse took a more diplomatic approach than his frustration in the moment might have suggested.

With the loss, Philly is now 39-34, and find themselves two games back of the Indiana Pacers for the 6-seed.

We’re approaching four years since Wonder, Shawn Mendes’ latest album. Selfishly, it feels unacceptable for him to withhold his voice for that long, but it is understandable that he needed to take time away from the pop pressure cooker. In July 2022, Mendes postponed three weeks of his Wonder: The World Tour due to the rigorous demands of touring that he’d endured since he was 15. Ultimately, he canceled the remainder of the tour. “I promise I will be back as soon as I’ve taken the right time to heal,” he explained, in part.

It would appear that Mendes’ hiatus is nearing its end. So far in March, Mendes made a rare public appearance at Paris Fashion Week and surprised fans at Niall Horan’s tour stop in London to perform “Treat You Better” together. Days later, Mendes announced he will headline Rock In Rio in September and has “been working on a new album.” He mentioned he “can’t wait to play these new songs live for you,” and he might have given a sneak peek on Tuesday, March 26.

“Nobody knows,” Mendes captioned a two-slide Instagram carousel. The first is a photo of a Polaroid capturing Mendes; the second is the same Polaroid, except it’s a video, and it sure seems like Mendes teased an unreleased song snippet. The video captures a beautiful guitar solo and no vocals, but it’s something.

And not for nothing, the Australian multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and producer Eddie Benjamin posted an Instagram Story with Mendes on Wednesday, March 27. In it, Benjamin and Mendes are seated on a couch receiving IV treatments. “Album,” Benjamin wrote. Benjamin co-wrote and played bass and guitar on Mendes’ 2023 single, “What The Hell Are We Dying For?”

See the posts below.

Going on a cruise can be an incredible getaway from the stresses of life on the mainland. However, that doesn’t mean there isn’t an element of danger when living on a ship 200-plus feet high, traveling up to 35 miles per hour and subject to the whims of the sea.

An average of about 19 people go overboard every year, and only around 28% survive. Cruise ship lawyer Spencer Aronfeld explained the phenomenon in a viral TikTok video, in which he also revealed the secret code the crew uses when tragedy happens.

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“Here’s a secret most cruise lines don’t want you to know,” Aronfeld begins his video. “About 1 to 2 passengers a month are reported as missing or, man overboard, major cruise lines.” He adds that even though ships have radar systems that can detect when something has fallen off the boat there are a lot of false alarms caused by garbage, luggage and even deckchairs that people have thrown off the ship.

@cruiseshiplawyer

#cruiseship #cruisecrew #passenger #cruising #maritime #lawyersoftiktok #lawyer #manoverboard

Further, after someone goes over the rail, the ship continues to move, so it is nearly impossible to find the overboard passenger who is probably seriously injured from the fall. “The truth is that by the time a passenger is reported missing and has gone overboard, there is likely no chance that passenger will survive and no chance that the ship will ever find them,” Aronfeld says.

Aronfeld concluded the video by sharing the secret code that cruise lines use when someone has gone overboard. “Code Oscar. Code Oscar. That’s how you know that a passenger has been reported as having gone overboard,” Aronfeld said.

You know you’ve arrived when a Beyoncé bouquet arrives on your doorstep. Reneé Rapp described it as an “indescribable feeling” when Beyoncé sent her flowers in February. Last July, Tori Kelly was surprised to receive flowers at her house, where she was recovering from a hospitalization due to blood clots. There is an argument to be made that a Beyoncé bouquet is more elusive and gratifying than a Grammy.

Nicki Minaj was the latest recipient of Beyoncé’s seemingly bottomless generosity. Minaj posted a photo of a card and flowers sent by Beyoncé. The card reads, “Onika, I just received your nail collection and I love them. Thank you so much for thinking of me and congratulations on your launch and tour. Blessings. Love, Beyoncé.”

Minaj wrote atop it, “Barbz, #PinkFridayNails are Queen approved. Thank you, @beyonce. Love you.” She also squeezed in an impressive flex by using her song “Feeling Myself” featuring Beyoncé as the post’s soundtrack.

Minaj launched Pink Friday Nails earlier this month. As Barbz already know, Minaj released Pink Friday 2, the latest album in her Pink Friday canon, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 last December. The diamond-certified rapper’s subsequent Pink Friday 2 World Tour has gotten off to a rough start, with a brawl on opening night and an abrupt cancelation due to illness, so Beyoncé’s random act of kindness was well-timed.

See all of Minaj’s Pink Friday 2 World Tour dates here.

An exciting game is happening on Oklahoma City on Wednesday night. The Thunder, which are trying to earn the 1-seed in the Western Conference as the playoff race reaches its home stretch, are playing host to the Houston Rockets, which are the hottest team in the NBA and entered Wednesday night on a 9-game winning streak.

Early on in the second quarter, Reggie Bullock missed a three and Kenrich Williams reeled in the rebound. Williams turned and looked up the court, where he saw Isaiah Joe leaking out. With Jeff Green back and in a spot to try and contest a shot at the rim, Joe had two options: Pass to Luguentz Dort, or try to put Green on a poster. He decided to take that second option, and boy, did he end up making the right decision on this one.

Green has made a career out of embarrassing guys with dunks like this, so it is a bit unusual to see him on the other end of a guy throwing down like this. It didn’t help that this would have been a block no matter what due to his heels being in the restricted area, but regardless, we have a feeling Joe is going to want to get a picture of this one to hang up in his house somewhere, because this is disgusting.

The Golden State Warriors are in a battle for their playoff lives right now, and on Wednesday, a pretty difficult test was put in front of them in the form of a road game against the Orlando Magic. To make things worse, they went into that game without the services of Jonathan Kuminga due to a knee issue.

Then, less then four minutes into the game, Draymond Green got ejected for the first time since his return from a 12-game suspension earlier this season. It was a brutal turn of events for Golden State, which just cannot afford to lose ground in the Western Conference Play-In race due to the scorching hot run the Houston Rockets are on right now. And while it’s unclear if all of this caught up to him in the moment, the cameras caught Steph Curry right after Green got sent to the locker room, and the former NBA MVP looked visibly shaken up.

Curry’s never been afraid to show some emotion on the floor, but it is unusual for him to find himself hunched over and covering his face with his jersey like this. He’ll surely get asked about this one after the game, although as of this writing, the Warriors hold a 45-37 halftime lead, so maybe he’ll be in a much better mood.

Craving some sun and sand but also a vibrant city escape all in one? Your first thought might not be Jacksonville, Florida — but it is the perfect combination for the traveler who wants it all. Offering a unique blend of urban energy, breathtaking natural beauty, and Southern hospitality, this vibrant coastal gem boasts pristine beaches for relaxation, historical sites waiting to be explored, and a thriving arts and culture scene to immerse yourself in.

And with Miami Beach turning away spring breakers, now is the perfect time to try a different Florida beach scene.

I visited Jacksonville solo recently on a long weekend and was utterly charmed and often surprised by the laid-back, welcoming, eclectic city. Spreading over 874 square miles – the largest city by land area in the contiguous US – Jacksonville is also the most populous city in the state, with just under a million residents. Just a short drive from the thriving city center and you’re in the coastal beaches area where surfing, fishing, watersports, and laid-back living are the vibe. Here, you truly get the best of both worlds.

Here are my recommendations on where to sleep, eat, drink, explore – and surf – on your next visit.

WHERE TO SLEEP:

Springhill Suites Jacksonville Beach Oceanfront

Something I appreciated about Jacksonville Beach – just 17 miles outside of downtown – is that it’s not all high rises and exclusive luxury properties. While I love a luxury hotel, the more laid-back charm (you’ll notice that descriptor keeps coming up) that I found beachside here was refreshing.

I stayed at the Springhill Suites Jacksonville Beach Oceanfront, which opened less than a year ago and feels much more like a boutique establishment than you’d expect from a well-known chain. The rooms are clean and spacious, with balconies – many overlooking the water and Jacksonville Beach Pier – situated around a courtyard with a heated pool and lounge areas adjacent to the on-site restaurant and bar: Sandbar Jax Bch.

The location was perfect for watching the sunrise or sunset either from my balcony or the short walk to the pier – also a popular surf spot. The hotel offers free breakfast, valet, a gym, and incredibly friendly staff. This new hotel on the beach is the clear choice for visitors.

Rooms start at $215 and can climb to over $500 on busy weekends.

WHERE TO EAT:

Refinery Jax Beach

Refinery Jacksonville Beach, just a short walk down the coast from my hotel, has a wide range of dining options. From the more casual outdoor Ocean Bar, food and drink at First Street Pub, live music and cocktails at the Lounge, or refined dining in the elegant oceanfront dining room, there is something for everyone.

I visited for dinner in the dining room, where I started with a Blueberry Lemonade Mule and a Lobster Corn Dog (def recommend) followed by a Torn Burrata Salad – all while I soaked in the panoramic vista of the ocean steps away.

Apps start around $12, and entrees at $29.

Palms Fish Camp

You can’t leave Jacksonville without indulging in a local classic: Mayport Shrimp. Not actually a “type” of shrimp, but rather a designation for shrimp caught in the Mayport area of Northeast Florida, where the St. Johns River meets the Atlantic Ocean. Known for their freshness and sweetness, they can be prepared in many ways, and you’ll want to try at least one. But… probably all.

I visited Palms Fish Camp, an easygoing restaurant right on the St. Johns River, and Clapboard Creek for my fix. The atmosphere is just what you want in a local southern Fish Camp, with great service, fresh local seafood, and refreshing drinks. I obviously recommend the Mayport Shrimp – I opted for fried.

Prices are very reasonable, with entrees starting at $18.

Mavi Waterfront Bar & Grill

Stop at Mavi Waterfront Bar & Grill in Jacksonville Beach for casual waterfront dining. Located in Beach Marine, I enjoyed the large outdoor space that was vibrant and busy, even during the odd early dinner hour I decided to visit. The menu is fresh and extensive, with fresh fish, seafood, bar bites, sandwiches and salads. I opted for a classic fish and chips entree with a cold glass of rosé in the sun, which was satisfying and fresh.

Starters here begin at $10, and entrees are around $20.

Oaxaca Club

Oaxaca Club in Jacksonville Beach, a contemporary Mexican restaurant, was just a short walk from my hotel. Inspired by the Oaxacan cuisine of the Mexican state of Oaxaca, the sleek restaurant is known for its flavorful moles, fresh herbs, quesillo cheese, and mezcal. Of course, I opted for a Mezcal Margarita and a short rib entree during my visit and was impressed with both. The vibe here is eclectic and moody, a great contrast to the beach just outside. The service was impeccable, and I only wish I had time to visit for another meal.

Small plates at dinner range from $7-$14, appetizers start at $10 and entrees at $20.

WHERE TO DRINK:

Ink Factory Brewing

Make sure to stop by Ink Factory Brewing during your next trip to Jacksonville Beach, no matter what time of day. The brewery is also a coffee shop – where I enjoyed a very tasty iced lavender honey latte. The inviting, creative, and eclectic atmosphere feels very local and beachy, with many places to kick back with a brew or a… different kind of brew.

Sago Coffee

Sago Coffee is a great choice if you’re looking for a modern yet inviting coffee shop to get some work done (not something I would ever do on vacation, but to each their own) or connect with friends. Just blocks from the water in Jacksonville Beach, the clean atmosphere is light, bright, and spacious, and the selection of drinks, pastries, and light bites is great.

Manifest Distilling

Manifest Distilling, located in the heart of Jacksonville’s Sports District, is Downtown’s only full-scale distillery. Their certified organic facility, which produces various vodka, gin, whiskey, coffee liqueurs, and fernet, uses non-GMO grains in its distillation process, ensuring quality and responsible sourcing. I loved visiting the tasting room and enjoying a craft cocktail in the inviting and stylish atmosphere. Next time, I’ll opt for a distillery tour.

WHERE TO SURF:

“The Beaches”

The beach communities outside downtown Jacksonville, collectively known as “The Beaches,” are a short drive but — as you can imagine — have a decidedly different vibe from the city. The main beaches are Jacksonville Beach, Neptune Beach, Mayport Beach, and Atlantic Beach—all public, pet-friendly, and perfect for watersports. I spent most of my time on Jacksonville Beach, where surfing is most prevalent at the Beach Pier.

Jax Surf & Paddle – Neptune Beach

I traveled to nearby Neptune Beach early one morning to take a private surf lesson with Jax Surf & Paddle. The quieter beach community has a more residential and relaxed atmosphere, which was perfect for me as I didn’t want to embarrass myself in front of too many people. My instructor was extremely kind and patient, helping me feel comfortable (it’s been a few years since I’ve hit the waves) and helping me not become frustrated when I inevitably wiped out repeatedly. It was a chilly but perfect way to start the morning.

Private surf lessons here are $75 an hour for one person and up to $450 an hour for a group of eight.

WHERE TO EXPLORE:

Art Bikes Jacksonville Tour

One of the highlights of my trip to Jacksonville was an e-bike tour with local operator Art Bikes Jacksonville. I spent the afternoon riding around the city’s historic neighborhoods on a bike customized by a local artist with owner Ron Rothberg, learning more in an afternoon than I could in a week’s visit. Art Bikes offers self-guided and guided options, of which I opted for the Guided Tour: Art, Architecture & History. The 2.5-hour tour took us through several historic neighborhoods, parks, and art districts, learning about Jacksonville’s public art installations and gaining a whole new appreciation for the city.

Guided tours start at $60, and self-guided tours start at $40.

Jacksonville Festivals

Jacksonville is a festival city, with options nearly every weekend. In fact, during my visit, there were so many festivals that I truly could not visit them all if I tried (I did try, though). I decided first to visit the World of Nations Celebration, a two-day annual event to celebrate the city’s vibrant cultural diversity. I loved visiting each “nation” for authentic dishes, cultural performances, and interactive exhibits and displays. Admission was $8.

Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville

While you explore downtown Jacksonville, head into the Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville, one of the largest contemporary art institutions in the Southeastern United States. It’s the perfect place to spend an afternoon, with several permanent and visiting exhibits. Be sure to stop by the on-site Setlan Coffee for a drink and a snack.

Admission is $10 for adults but free every Saturday between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Boneyard Beach

Boneyard Beach, tucked away within Big Talbot Island State Park just outside Jacksonville near Fernandina Beach, Florida, earns its name from the awe-inspiring display of bleached and weathered trees scattered across the shore. With a unique and slightly spooky charm, the otherworldly atmosphere is a must-visit for nature lovers and photographers. Find this beach just a short hike from the north-end parking area, where you’ll pay a $3 parking fee.