GoneTrending

LeBron James and the latest NBA player to try and become one of his agitators had pretty different games on Saturday night. The Los Angeles Lakers picked up a 111-101 win over the Memphis Grizzlies in L.A., giving them a 2-1 series lead over the 2-seed in the Western Conference behind 25 points, nine rebounds, five assists, one steal, and one block from their future Hall of Fame inductee.

As for Dillon Brooks, who has spent much of the series going after James and specifically called him out after Memphis won in Game 2, things could have gone better. Brooks had seven points on 3-for-13 shooting in 19 minutes of work before he was ejected for hitting James below the belt. After the game, Brooks decided against speaking to the media.

James, however, did talk to the assembled press in the aftermath of the game, and got asked whether he was trying to get some sort of point across to Brooks with his performance.

“I’ve been doing this too long, I’ve made enough statements,” James said, per ESPN. “No. We had an opportunity to come home and play well on our home floor, and we did that. No statement was made. We just wanted to play well and got a win. And we want to try to do that in Game 4, as well. But I don’t need to make statements.”

James did go up to Brooks prior to the game and the two exchanged some words. He didn’t reveal what the two said to one another, but James did tell the press that the nature of the exchange was purposeful — “There was nothing private about it,” James said. “It was very, very public. I like it that way.”

April 20th wasn’t just weed day. It was also when Elon Musk nuked every blue check mark on Twitter that wasn’t subscribed to his poorly received service. Celebrities, by and large, haven’t been willing to pony up, perhaps not wishing to be associated with the likes of Catturd. But some (though definitely not all) have had the now-dreaded blue check mark foisted upon them anyway, whether they like it or not. (And Stephen King and Ice T aren’t the only one who doesn’t like it.) Oddly, even late celebrities are now listed as subscribed, having evidently “verified their phone number” from beyond the grave.

As per Insider, a number of figures who are no longer with us bear the dreaded blue mark. These include such late luminaries as Kobe Bryant, Norm Macdonald, Anthony Bourdain, Chadwick Boseman, and Michael Jackson. Clicking on their accounts, one not only sees the no longer coveted blue check mark, but also the words, “This account is verified because they are subscribed to Twitter Blue and verified their phone number.”

They’re spooky words to read on accounts for the deceased, implying they somehow went through the same rigamarole as Twitter Blue subscriber Kyle Rittenhouse. For one thing,, unlike still-living celebrities, they can’t angrily tweet about how they never signed up for this, as many have. Newish Twitter honcho Elon Musk has basically been tweeting through it, dropping sh*tposts when people address what has become known as the “#BlockTheBlue” movement, in which users (but not subscribers) promote blocking anyone who’s paying Musk money to use his otherwise free service.

(Via Insider)

Every single week, our TV and film experts will list the most important ten streaming selections for you to pop into your queues. We’re not strictly operating upon reviews or accrued streaming clicks (although yes, we’ve scoured the streaming site charts) but, instead, upon those selections that are really worth noticing amid the churning sea of content. There’s a lot out there, after all, and your time is valuable.

10: TIE. The Diplomat (Netflix series)

Keri Russell is no longer an anxiety-provoking spy, but she’s following a similar theme as within her old FX stomping grounds. Here, she leads a completely complicated life as a career-consumed diplomat in a challenging marriage. This is a solid followup for the audience that fondly watched The Americans and also happens to dig recent mainstream-friendly binging selections in the same realm. I’m talking about Netflix’s Night Agent, yes, but also Amazon’s Jack Ryan. This one fits right in and ushers in all the nostalgia that comes with Russell’s extensive TV past.

TIE: 10. Cocaine Bear (Universal Pictures film streaming on Peacock)

A bear. A bunch of cocaine. That’s all you really need to know here, but wait, there’s more. Margo Martindale, Ray Liotta, Keri Russell, Alden Ehrenreich, Christian Convery all must tangle within this wild caper, and Elizabeth Banks presides above all. She dared to make this gloriously absurd movie that actually exists and is based on an unlikely yet real-life story that wasn’t fun in real life, but the movie is a blast. You gotta watch it.

9. Ghosted (Apple TV+ film)

There might be too many pretty people in this movie, but oh well. There’s also nothing supernatural here, and the “ghosted” of the title refers to how Ana de Armas’ character simply stops responding to sad Chris Evans’ texts after a wonderfully romantic beginning. At it turns out, she’s a butt-kicking CIA agent, and soon enough, the wannabe loverboy goes where he shouldn’t go. (Spoiler alert: there are some cameos that Marvel fans will adore.)

8. Beef (Netflix series)

Ali Wong and Steven Yeun made what will probably be one of the best shows of the year when all is said and done. Given that this is A24, that’s not entirely surprising, but man, what a gleefully stressful ride. Those words actually do fit together here, believe it or not, and although the show’s stars did recently walk into some controversy, the production itself remains worth of your attention. Don’t give in to road rage, and don’t eat suspicious berries, and also, let things go before they ruin your lives. Watching this happen to fictional characters, however, is a whole other matter.

7. Hunger (Netflix film)

Fans of The Menu foodie-fueled debauchery should dig in here as soon as possible, and those who grew addicted to the The Bear‘s intensity should cherish this new entry, too. On that latter note, Hunger‘s central chef/mentor type could remind you of Joel McHale’s brief, derision-filled cameo, given that Carmy has a few things in common with a 20s-something woman who breaks away from her family’s restaurant (in Bankok) to toil under the tutelage of an infamous bad boy who rules the fine dining world.

6. Dave (FX series on Hulu)

Dave Burd, Good Sport that he is, circled back to bring us more of the best show that has been underneath your nose for all this time. Season Three begins when meta-rapper Lil Dicky (who is based upon Burd’s real-life experiences) embarks upon his first cross-country tour. What ensues is an array of awkwardness and second-hand embarrassment that somehow still charms the pants off its audience. This show is not only funny and insightful but also sweet as hell while taking an alternate route towards exploring American culture in the oddest of ways.

5. The Snowman (Universal Pictures film streaming on Netflix)

No one knows why this infamously horrible movie recently enjoyed an inexplicable burst in viewership on Netflix. Easily, this is the worst Michael Fassbender-starring film in his career, and it’s not even worth watching from a novelty standpoint (witness the film’s 6% critical and 18% audience scores on Rotten Tomatoes). Also, the director has gone on record saying that he realized not all of the intended story was shot once the production entered the editing phase. Even that hasn’t stopped the masses from deciding to punish themselves, so maybe there’s something that we don’t know.

4. The Night Agent (Netflix series)

This show won’t quit, which proves that there’s always room for meat-and-potatoes espionage stories (like Amazon Prime Video’s Jack Ryan and the Paramount’s Rabbit Hole) in this streaming world. Billions of minutes of this series have been streamed thus far with Season 2 already in the works and the show swiftly becoming one of the most popular Netflix series in the streamer’s history. The show’s first season is an easily digestible ride that goes down smooth and stars a cast (led by Gabriel Basso) that’s also easy on the eyes while the target audience awaits the next Mission: Impossible in theaters.

3. Mrs. Davis (Peacock series)

GLOW standout Betty Gilpin is teaming up with TV king Damon Lindelof in this seriously terrific show about a nun who fights an almighty algorithm. What’s not to enjoy about that, especially since it delivers upon a truly nutso premise? Gilpin plays Simone, not to be confused with the title character of the AI, and Margo Martindale co-stars as a booze-loving nun. If there’s anything that Damon Lindelof has taught us in his post-Lost days, you never know precisely what to expect from his projects. Never forget Lube Man.

2. Barry (HBO series streaming on HBO Max)

Bill Hader’s assassin/actor character is back for one last job, sort of. This is Hader’s final season, and our own Brian Grubb writes that he puts on a performance for the ages. The show gets seriously bleak this season, but fortunately, the silliness is still alive, along with Anthony Carrigan as the eternally-disguised Noho Hank and Henry Winker as Gene. So many shows are ending this year, and this is one of the better and more beloved ones.

1. Succession (HBO series streaming on HBO Max)

The debate between underlined and crossed out still occupies the minds of viewers, but Kendall Roy has apparently decided to forge ahead like he’s a Killer. Tom, however, is probably f*cked, and our own Brian Grubb has continued to duly nail these characters to the report-card wall each week. Only a handful of episodes remain, and I’m actually worried about Shiv at this point. Not only did she take a fall that could come back, but Tom has conflict-of-interested all the good divorce lawyers, and she was reminded last week of her place in the horrible-people family. Her spiral has commenced.

Two of boxing’s brightest stars stepped into the ring a T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night in a highly-anticipated fight. Gervonta “Tank” Davis (29-0) took on Ryan Garcia (23-1) in a battle of two undefeated boxers, and in the seventh round, Davis was able to put the first blemish on Garcia’s record by way of knockout.

The catchweight bout between the two fighters came to an end after a left hand by Garcia gave Davis an opportunity to get beneath him. There was just enough space below Garcia’s right arm that Davis saw a window to throw a powerful left hand which looked to connect just beneath Garcia’s ribs.

After Garcia was able to create a little bit of space and about four seconds passed, the California native fell down to one knee, and both fighters seemed to immediately know what was coming. Davis ran to the opposite corner and immediately started celebrating while the referee counted, while Garcia was unable to get off of his knee by the time the count hit 10.

Going in to the fight, Davis, a 28-year-old Baltimore native who has won 27 of his 29 bouts by way of knockout, predicted he’d beat Garcia via KO in the seventh or eighth round.

Dillon Brooks struggled in the first half of Game 3 between the Memphis Grizzlies and the Los Angeles Lakers. Brooks scored seven points on 3-for-13 shooting after publicly challenging LeBron James in the immediate aftermath of Game 2, and then, right after the teams emerged from the locker room for the second half, play resumed and Brooks got tossed for hitting James below the belt.

With the Grizzlies trailing, 53-37, James tried to bring the ball up the court while Brooks was providing resistance. Brooks stuck his arm out while James went behind the back, at which point Brooks hit James below the belt. Unsurprisingly, the future Hall of Fame inductee hit the deck in serious pain.

The referees went to the monitor to review the sequence, and it did not take them long to determine that Brooks would be assessed a Flagrant 2 for this. It was a rough end to his evening after the Grizzlies had an especially difficult first half — beyond their 37 points as they entered the locker room, Memphis only scored nine points in the first quarter and found themselves in a historically large deficit after one in postseason history.

The two teams entered Game 3 tied at one game each. In the aftermath of Memphis’ win in Game 2, Brooks spoke to the press about staring down James during the game, saying that “I don’t care — he’s old. You know what I mean? I was waiting for that. I was expecting him to do that Game 4, Game 5. He wanted to say something when I got my fourth foul. He should have been saying that earlier on. But I poke bears. I don’t respect no one until they come and give me 40.”

The Miami Heat took advantage of Giannis Antetokounmpo missing Game 3 of their opening round series with a back injury on Saturday night. In the first game the two teams have played in Miami this postseason, the Heat picked up a 121-99 win over the 1-seed in the Eastern Conference to take a 2-1 series lead.

Victor Oladipo came off the bench and gave the team eight points on 4-for-6 shooting in 19 minutes of work, but unfortunately, he was unable to finish the game due to an injury. Late in the fourth quarter, Oladipo attempted to drive to the rim and had a chance at a layup, but after his left knee buckled, the veteran guard went up awkwardly, missed, and hit the deck hard. While on the ground, he held his knee and did not say anything until Cody Martin came over, which led to Oladipo appearing to say “nope.”

After being tended to on the ground, Oladipo eventually got some help as he made his way into the Heat locker room.

According to Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, there is no diagnosis for Oladipo at this time. He was not the only Heat injury on the evening, as Jimmy Butler left the game with a glute injury. While he was available to return, Miami was able to see out a win without him.

The Phoenix Suns are one game away from the Western Conference Semifinals after picking up a 112-100 win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday afternoon to extend their series lead to 3-1. With Kawhi Leonard and Paul George absent due to knee injuries, the Clippers were led by Russell Westbrook, who scored 37 points in the game, the most he’s scored since joining the team following a trade from the Los Angeles Lakers and a buyout by the Utah Jazz.

Westbrook has been a lightning rod for criticism in recent years, and after the game, Kevin Durant got asked about this. Durant and Westbrook, of course, were teammates to start their careers with the Oklahoma City Thunder before Durant left to join the Golden State Warriors, which led to some tension between the two.

But things have smoothed over since then, and during his postgame media availability with Chris Paul, Durant got asked about a quote Monty Williams gave just before where he said that no MVP player has ever gotten the amount of criticism that Westbrook receives.

“People are going to always criticize when you’re successful and doing your thing for this long,” Durant said. “Somebody’s gonna always find something that they don’t like about you, but Russ has been resilient his whole life, he come to work, don’t say much, just come hoop. So, you know, when he’s retired, people are gonna really tell the truth about how they feel about his game. Right now, it’s a fun thing to do, is to make a joke out of Russ. But the way he’s been playing since he got to the Clippers shows everybody who he really is.

Paul then spoke up in praise of Westbrook, who he called “one of my closest friends.”

“I feel like the only people that do that, too, is the people that don’t know basketball and don’t know what it’s like to compete,” Paul said, which Durant agreed is the case.

The first round series between the Phoenix Suns and the Los Angeles Clippers is heading back to Phoenix, where the home team will have a chance to punch its ticket to the Western Conference Semifinals. While Kawhi Leonard and Paul George watched on the bench at Crypto.com Arena due to a pair of knee injuries, the Suns were able to pick up a 112-100 win to extend their lead in the series to 3-1.

It wasn’t until later in the fourth quarter that Phoenix was able to create some separation, but fortunately for them, Chris Paul came up huge down the stretch. Paul scored 12 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter, with his final bucket coming almost by accident. Torrey Craig attempted and missed a three in the corner as the shot clock was winding down, and Paul did not appear to know if the ball hit the rim or not.

Paul looked like he assumed the ball missed the rim entirely, so he turned around, threw up a shot, and knocked it down. The Clippers would go on to call a timeout after the make, while Paul could only laugh.

Game 5 between the Clippers and the Suns will take place on Tuesday in Phoenix.

A year-and-a-half after the tragic incident that claimed the life of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, the Western Rust is back in production, with prop guns replaced by the electric guns John Wick filmmaker Chad Stahelski thinks all film productions should use. That’s not all: Star Alec Baldwin, who unwittingly fired the gun that cost Hutchins her life has decided to make a documentary about what happened. What’s more, while charges against Baldwin were recently dropped, that isn’t stopping Hutchins’ family from suing him.

First, as per The Daily Mail, Baldwin has hired Oscar-nominated documentarian Rory Kennedy, of the doc Last Days in Vietnam, for a documentary that will “document every move he makes” as the film wraps up principal photography. Kennedy is already in Montana, where the shoot is unfolding, though she was reportedly also seen filming outside the New York City brownstone in which Baldwin lives with his family. She was allegedly also present when Baldwin learned that charges against him had been dropped.

Meanwhile, as per Deadline, the family of the slain cinematographer are moving forward with a civil lawsuit against Baldwin, who was holding the gun that fired at her. They’re represented by legendary attorney Gloria Allred, who in the past has worked on cases against the likes of Donald Trump and R. Kelly.

“Mr Baldwin may pretend that he is not responsible for pulling the trigger and ejecting a live bullet which ended Halyna’s life,” Allred said in a statement to the press. “He can run to Montana and pretend that he is just an actor in a wild west movie but, in real life, he cannot escape from the fact that he had a major role in a tragedy which had real life consequences.”

Baldwin’s legal team has called the lawsuit “misguided,” saying it won’t hold up to scrutiny.

Baldwin has maintained his innocence ever since the incident, which took place in October of 2021. Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the film’s armorer, is still charges with two counts of involuntary manslaughter.

(Via The Daily Mail and Deadline)

The New York Knicks are very good, which can only mean one thing: Knicks fans are completely in their bags right now. Knicks fans were loud and proud on Friday night at Madison Square Garden, where they got to watch their team throttle the Cleveland Cavaliers, 99-79, to take a 2-1 lead in their opening round series.

As an added bonus for the extremely online among us, the fine folks from Sidetalk were apparently at the game capturing content. If you are not familiar with Sidetalk, perhaps you saw their video from the team’s season opener last year where a bunch of Knicks fans really let loose. Obviously last season didn’t end up going particularly well for New York — the team won 37 games and missed the Play-In Tournament — but things are different this year … well, kind of.

Apparently, one of the stars from the original Sidetalk video got on camera to say the exact same thing he said last year. This person, who asked then-Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant if he regrets not coming to the Knicks when the first video came out, would still like to know if Kevin Durant regrets not coming to the [please read this in his voice] Kniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiicks.

You may recall that Durant, who now plays for the Phoenix Suns, was reportedly a top target for the Knicks in the 2019 offseason, but he ultimately decided to team up with Kyrie Irving in Brooklyn. There is no word on whether or not Durant has ever regretted this decision.