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For the first time in NBA history, the Denver Nuggets have earned the right to be called champions. Despite trailing at halftime against the Miami Heat on Monday night at Ball Arena, the Nuggets were able to rally in the second half and pick up a 94-89 win in Game 5 to secure the Larry O’Brien trophy.

Unsurprisingly, Nikola Jokic had a masterful game to cap off one of the best postseason runs we’ve ever seen en route to being named NBA Finals MVP, scoring 28 points on 12-for-16 shooting from the field with 16 points and four assists in 42 minutes of work. His reaction to this triumph in the immediate aftermath was rather muted, but that wasn’t the case for his two older brothers, Strahinja and Nemanja, who have become fixtures at his games over the years.

Those two famously very large dudes were pretty pumped after the game, and they celebrated by doing what anyone would do in this situation: Picking up their brother’s boss and joyously throwing him in the air.

Was there also an attempt at picking up the two-time NBA MVP? You bet.

Anyway, back to that first video, just look at how happy Michael Malone is at all of this! He’s having the time of his life. This is, truly, what sports are all about.

The Denver Nuggets won their first NBA championship in franchise history on Monday night, beating the Miami Heat 94-89 in a gritty, sloppy, but thrilling Game 5.

It was the crowning moment for Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, and company, who shook off questions of their postseason viability in a thoroughly dominant postseason run that saw them drop just four games en route to a championship. It was also the third championship win in two years for the franchise’s owner, Stan Kroenke, as he also owns the Colorado Avalanche and Los Angeles Rams. As such, you would think Kroenke would know how the trophy presentation interview works.

You would be wrong, as Kroenke for reasons unbeknownst to anyone, did the entire interview speaking directly into Lisa Salters’ ear as she tried her best to hold the microphone in front of him.

It was really weird! So weird, in fact, that ABC cut away from Kroenke talking entirely to show Nikola Jokic and other members of the Nuggets celebrating behind him as he continued to talk directly into Salters’ ear — who should be commended for handling a very awkward situation like a pro. The only thing I can think of is that it was very loud and Kroenke for some reason thought Salters needed to be the one to hear him talk, not the people in the arena or on TV, but even so it was very uncomfortable.

You can also rest assured that the screenshot of that moment will immediately become a new mansplaining meme, as Salters tried her best to hold her composure as he talked directly into her ear.

On Monday night, the Denver Nuggets came back from a seven-point halftime deficit to defeat the Miami Heat, 94-89, and earn the franchise’s first NBA title.

As usual with this iteration of the Nuggets, superstar center Nikola Jokic was at the heart of it all — he wrapped up Game 5 with 28 points, 16 rebounds, four assists, and one block. As a result, Jokic earned Finals MVP for his sensational efforts this series.

Shortly after the game, Jokic spoke with ESPN’s Lisa Salters, who asked him how it feels to be an NBA champion. Jokic, deadpanned and sincere, responded in quintessential Jokic fashion.

“It’s good, it’s good,” he said. “The job is done, we can go home now.”

Jokic is a brilliant basketball player. Not only he is the league’s best player, but he’s already among the all-time greats. Despite that, Jokic often seems to consider this sport is a hobby he happens to excel at during media appearances. His disposition minutes removed from notching the NBA’s crowning achievement is yet another example of that.

Denver and Jokic have now put a bow on a dominant season, capped off by an otherworldly playoff run. They led the West almost the entire year, rampaged through the conference to make the Finals and went 16-4 in the postseason. And now, Jokic is simply ready to go home. The job is done.

After back-to-back wins at Kaseya Center in Miami, the Denver Nuggets returned home for Game 5 of the 2023 NBA Finals with a chance to close out the Miami Heat on Monday evening. In fitting fashion, Miami led for long periods of the evening, scratching and clawing in a way the Heat have throughout the playoffs. Denver entered the halftime break with a seven-point deficit as a result, but the Nuggets held the Heat to only 38 points in the second half and, when the final buzzer sounded, Nikola Jokic and company earned the Larry O’Brien Trophy and the first NBA title in franchise history.

Led by Bam Adebayo’s 18 points and nine rebounds, Miami controlled the pace in the first half. The action was sloppy and scattered throughout the game, but the Heat executed at a superior level prior to the half, with the Nuggets shooting only 1-of-15 (!) from three-point range and 3-of-8 at the free throw line.

Denver began to awaken in the second half, at least from an overall execution standpoint, and eventually found the bottom of the net on a few occasions.

Denver eventually built its lead to 86-79 with approximately four minutes remaining, and the Nuggets seemed to be garnering control. Still, it was anything but easy for Michael Malone’s team. For one thing, Heat star Jimmy Butler awakened from a lengthy slumber, engineering an 8-0 run that featured strong shooting and a (very) controversial foul call and failed challenge.

Following that controversy, the teams continued to trade haymakers with the tension at an immense level. Jokic gave the Nuggets the lead before Butler took it back with free throws. Then, Bruce Brown produced a second-chance bucket with 1:31 remaining to put Denver in front, and that ended up being a lead the Nuggets would not relinquish. After empty trips by both teams, Butler nearly traveled before throwing the ball away and, when Kentavious Caldwell-Pope stole the ball and drew a foul, he made both to give Denver a three-point edge.

Butler missed a game-tying effort with 17 seconds remaining, with Denver snatching the rebound and Bruce Brown heading to the free throw line after Miami was forced to foul to extend the game. Brown, like Caldwell-Pope, calmly buried both attempts, and that was the cushion Denver needed to ultimately secure a five-point victory.

While Denver earning the title is, of course, the primary takeaway of the evening, this particular game will also be remembered for its overall mania. The Nuggets won despite 5-of-28 shooting from three-point range and 13-of-23 at the free throw line, with Denver also committing 15 uncharacteristic turnovers that led to 21 points for Miami. On the other side, the Heat shot only 34 percent from the field and 9-of-35 from three-point range, even with the late barrage from Butler and four triples from Kyle Lowry.

It wasn’t the prettiest performance from a team that played otherwise beautiful basketball on the way to 16 postseason wins. However, Jokic was the best player in the world over the last several weeks, finishing with 28 points and 16 rebounds in the clincher, and Denver’s much-doubted defense performed at a tremendous level throughout what became a dominant playoff push. With the win, the Nuggets finish 16-4 in the postseason, and it was a dominant run befitting of a champion.

At the end of this week, Afrobeats rising star Asake will release his second album Work Of Art. It’s a project that’ll come less than a year after his monster debut album Mr. Money With The Vibe. That project grew to be one of the best afrobeats projects of 2022 and helped to skyrocket Asake’s name to the top of the genre thanks to records like “Terminator,” “Peace Be Unto You (PBUY),” and “Sungba (Remix).” Expectations are high for Asake for his second album, especially with its second single “Amapiano” alongside Olamide. With a few days left until the release of Work Of Art, here’s what you need to know about it.

Release Date

Work Of Art will be released on June 16, 2023 through YBNL Nation and EMPIRE. It comes nine months after Asake released his debut album Mr. Money With The Vibe.

Tracklist

The tracklist for Work Of Art delivers tk songs and it can be found below.

1. “Olorun”
2. “Awodi”
3. “2:30”
4. “Sunshine”
5. “Mogbe”
6. “Basquiat”
7. “Amapiano” Feat. Olamide
8. “What’s Up My G”
9. “I Believe”
10. “Introduction”
11. “Remember”
12. “Lonely At The Top”
13. “Great Guy”
14. “Yoga”

Features

At the moment, the only listed feature on Work Of Art is Olamide as he appears on “Amapiano.” More features could be announced as the album approaches its release date of June 16.

Singles

Asake has only released two singles for Work Of Art. The first was the spiritual “Yoga” and the second was the lively “Amapiano” with Olamide.

Tour

According to a press release, Asake will embark on a North American tour this fall. The full list of dates for the tour has yet to be announced by we do know that it begins with a show in Los Angeles on September 4 and continues with another at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on September 8. That show will join other performances in Atlanta, Chicago, Houston and Washington, D.C. This tour will also follow other performances from Asake that include Broccoli Festival in July and The O2 in London on August 20.

Work Of Art is out 6/16 from YBNL Nation/EMPIRE. Find out more information here.

Ordinarily the star of the latest comic book movie extravaganza does loads of press, tells outlandish stories to Jimmy Kimmel, and generally is very seen. Most people aren’t Ezra Miller. Last year the star of The Flash was busy — not making movies but getting in trouble. They ran amok in Hawaii. They were busted for burglary. They allegedly started a cult. Last summer they announced they were finally seeking help and laying low so as not to further damage their big tentpole DC series. Indeed, it was a surprise when Miller showed up, however briefly, at the new film’s premiere.

As per Deadline, The Flash held its swanky debut at Ovation Hollywood and spotted on the red carpet alongside folks like Sasha Calle, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez, Maribel Verdú, and Jessica Chastain was no less than Miller, sporting a bun and a white jacket. They didn’t speak to the press but did pose for pictures.

Miller’s troubles cast doubt on whether they’d be asked to return as Barry Allen, the superhero who can run real fast. But director Andy Muschietti shot that idea down.

“I don’t think there’s anyone that can play that character as well as they did,” he said late last month. “The other depictions of the character are great, but this particular vision of the character, they just excelled in doing it. And, as you said, the two Barrys — it feels like a character that was made for them.”

The Flash hits theaters on June 16.

(Via Deadline)

The Denver Nuggets had a slow start to Game 5, as they looked to close out their first championship as a franchise, but by the fourth quarter they had taken control of the game, leading by seven with four minutes to play.

However, from there, Jimmy Butler, who had been quiet and passive all night, finally got going with a pair of threes that pulled the Heat within four.

From there, Butler went for a heat-check three in the corner and, while it went begging, got bailed out by a foul call that looked dubious at best and got immediately challenged by Michael Malone.

Despite the ESPN broadcast booth and just about every non-Heat fan watching at home being in agreement on it being a non-foul at best and an offensive foul on Butler at worst, the call somehow stood upon review and Butler was given three free throws. He naturally knocked them all down, ultimately scoring 13 consecutive points for the Heat to get them into their first lead of the fourth quarter.

It was wild to hear Mark Jackson, Jeff Van Gundy, and Mike Breen talking about the review as if it were a mere formality that it’d be overturned, given how rarely they find themselves in total agreement, only for the verdict to come back as the call stands.

First, SZA’s unreleased “Calling My Phone” verse was leaked to social media. Then, a provocative scrapped guest verse from Lil Durk was posted online. Now Doja Cat has also been impacted by a music leak.

As the “Vegas” musician works out the final touches on her forthcoming album, fans were excited at news that her new single, titled “Attention,” would be uploaded to streaming platforms on Friday. In the marketing campaign, listeners were urged to pre-save the track on either Spotify or Apple Music to be notified when the song went live.

However, that announcement was accidentally released prematurely. Shortly after the link went live, the webpage began to gain traction. The link was quickly deactivated. When the URL is entered into any internet browser, an error message appears on the screen: “We’re sorry, but this page no longer exists.”

Doja Cat has shared numerous updates regarding the upcoming album’s direction, including the title, the sound, the tracklist, and more. But over time, she has walked back a lot of her public comments. At one point, the project was tentatively titled Hellmouth. Doja Cat herself has even leaked parts of the album via snippets of different tracks during a live stream.

Beyoncé’s Beyhive runs deep. As A-list celebrities like Selena Gomez turn out in droves to her Renaissance World Tour, others like musician Doechii pledged her allegiance from within the confines of a recording studio: The TDE signee has dropped a buzz-worthy freestyle over Beyoncé’s song “America Has A Problem.”

Doechii initially teased the track on TikTok back in March, leading fans to believe she would appear on the song’s official remix. However, the slot went to her former label mate Kendrick Lamar. Either way, after weeks of waiting for the complete version of the track, she surprised fans by uploading it onto her official YouTube channel. Tthe track contained witty bars and flairs of her hard-to-hide confidence. But one section in particular caught listeners’ attention.

Fans are speculating that the final few bars are a direct shot at Lola Brooke. In it, Doechii raps, “How you turn a 100 fans into a 100 bands? / How you turn a 100 bands into a 100 M’s.” That latter is a reference to the Brooklyn native’s breakout song “Don’t Play Wit It” featuring Billy B.

The stanza continues, “How you from the North and claimin’ you a croc b*tch,” as one of Lola Brooke’s nicknames is “Big Gator.” Doechii closed the verse by rapping, “How you bitin’ on the one and only swamp bitch? / I see a lotta b*tches, I don’t see a lotta stars / I hear a lot of rappers, I don’t hear a lot of bars / I see a lot of plastic, I don’t see a lot of barbz / I see a lot of digits, I don’t care about the charge.”

Listen to the whole track above.

Mad Men wasn’t a comedy, but it was one funny drama. Creator Matthew Weiner and his writing staff were whizzes at razor sharp dialogue and devastating bob mots. Few TV characters, then and now, are as consistently witty as John Slattery’s Roger Sterling. It also got surreal. Remember that time John Hamm’s Don Draper got so mad at Roger that he orchestrated an elaborate revenge that ended with him puking his guts out at the original Sterling Cooper office? That was awesome.

Still, it’s not as funny as I Think You Should Leave, Tim Robinson’s beloved Netflix sketch show, which frequently skewers modern office politics. Many sketches feature Robinson or one of his guest stars blowing up over next-to-nothing — which could happen in the stressful confines depicted on Mad Men.

Someone else noticed some unexpected connections between the shows, namely that if you put I Think You Should Leave’s soul song-heavy between-sketch bumpers in front of certain Mad Men scenes, they could almost seem legit.

It all began when writer Ben Crew noticed Don seemed an awful lot like Tim Robinson in the Season 5 episode in which he blows up on Jessica Paré’s Megan at a Howard Johnson’s. He posted about it on Twitter.

Crew then kept making videos in which Mad Men scenes played like I Think You Should Leave sketches. Like the one where the Season 3 one involving the runaway lawnmower.

Or the time Ben Feldman’s Michael Ginsberg — Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce’s first and nearly only Jewish employee — professed his love to Elisabeth Moss’ Peggy Olsen in a decidedly unromantic fashion.

Crew thought William Mapother’s Randall Walsh could be a character played by ITYSL repeat guest star Will Forte.

And Pete Campbell? In Season 6, Crew argued, his every appearance is an ITYSL sketch, especially the famous “Not great, Bob!” bit, which is so much more than just “Not great, Bob!”

And the time Bert Cooper’s longtime secretary Miss Blankenship died? Definitely could come from the mind of Tim Robinson.

Crew’s mash-ups resonated with many, some of whom thought they could be real.

Anyway, good job, Ben Crew! You’ve revealed out unusual aspects of both Mad Men and I Think You Should Leave, two shows that unexpectedly go great together.