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Though Stephen Curry generated 29 points and Jordan Poole produced a handful of memorable shots, the Golden State Warriors dominated Game 2 against the Boston Celtics largely on the defensive end. The Warriors held the Celtics well below a point per possession in the game and, as usual, Draymond Green was in the center of the resistance for Golden State. However, a great deal of attention, both during and after the game, was paid to something that did not happen with Green, as he narrowly managed to avoid an ejection despite a spat with Jaylen Brown late in the first half.

Green played 35 minutes as the anchor of Golden State’s defense and, in the hours after the final buzzer, everyone had to have a take on what transpired. Many took the side of agreeing with Green staying on the floor, if largely due to the quality of play dipping if one of the series’ most prominent players would be sidelined. Patrick Beverley was seemingly in the camp but, as the ESPN analyst indicated on television on Monday, he still needs to walk the tightrope to avoid punishment as an active NBA player.

This is a masterclass from Beverley, as he acknowledges to ESPN’s Vince Carter at the end of the clip. In the grand scheme, Beverley doesn’t actually say much at all here, which was perhaps the point, but he did manage to compliment the officials and speak to just how difficult the job actually is. That is quite rich from Beverley as a player who is very regularly chirping at those same officials, but it is easier to stay level in the comfort of a studio than in the midst of a playoff game.

Beverley probably would not have been in any danger of league discipline unless he said something really wild in this spot. Obviously, that didn’t happen, but it’s hard to blame him for staying out of the fray and being safe in this particular area.

French Montana, who recently released the single “Alcatraz,” has just officially announced his sixth studio album, Montega, which is duef in just a couple of weeks on Coke Boys Records. It’s produced by the popular rapper and his collaborator Harry Fraud.

Montega will follow his last album They Got Amnesia, a success with a deluge of features, including “Mopstick” with Kodak Black, “Handstand” with Doja Cat and Saweetie, “Panicking” with Fivio — the list goes on, featuring Rick Ross, John Legend, Pop Smoke, Drake, and more. That album came out in November last year, which shows that his grind never stops.

Around that time, Montana also made a claim that his line of work is even more difficult than others. “You’re better off making it in the NBA than Hip Hop,” he said during an appearance on Hot 97’s Ebro In The Morning. “NBA, they got like what, 28 teams … 15 players on every team? And that’s in the hundreds. You talk about Hip Hop, you can’t even name 10 people that’s hot every couple months. The odds … anybody can do it if it was easy.” He added, “So you talkin’ about trying to make it? Your hustle gotta be relentless. Can’t take no for an answer, you gotta be up when everybody sleep.”

Check out the album art for Montega below.

Montega is out 6/24 on Coke Boys Records. Pre-order it here.

Last week, the beloved actor Ray Liotta passed away. He was only 67 and seemed to have at least another couple decades of exciting work ahead of him. Liotta is perhaps most famous for starring in Goodfellas, whose director, Martin Scorsese, released a brief but impassioned statement honoring him. The legendary filmmaker elaborated in a piece published by The Guardian, in which he expresses remorse for only having directed him once.

“We had many plans to work together again but the timing was always off, or the project wasn’t quite right. I regret that now,” Scorsese wrote. He continued:

“When I watched Ray as the divorce lawyer in Marriage Story – he’s genuinely scary in the role, which is precisely why he’s so funny – I remember feeling that I wanted to work with him again at this point in his life, to explore the gravity in his presence, so different from the young, sprightly actor he was when I met him.

“I wish I’d had the chance to see him just once more, too – to tell him just how much the work we did together meant to me. But maybe he knew that. I hope so.”

Scorsese wrote about how Liotta had first blown him away in Jonathan Demme’s Something Wild, in which he plays the ex-convict ex-boyfriend of Melanie Griffith’s character. “Halfway through the picture, he walked in and more or less took it over. You couldn’t take your eyes off of him,” Scorsese wrote. “But Ray’s role in Something Wild was finite, and I wondered if he could carry a whole picture.”

He also wrote about fighting to make Liotta the lead in Goodfellas, a big production made at a time when Scorsese wasn’t exactly popular with Hollywood execs. During the shoot, Liotta’s adopted mother, who raised him, was on death’s door. He got the news before they filmed the scene where the characters played by Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and himself bring a big suitcase of money to Paul Sorvino’s Paulie — a jubilant moment filled with laughter. Scorsese told him to go see his mother straight away, but Liotta was adamant they shoot the scene first.

“Laughter and tears, tears and laughter … they were one and the same,” Scorsese wrote. “Ray did the scene so beautifully, and then he left to be with his beloved mother. It was a rare experience.”

You can read Scorsese’s entire tribute at The Guardian.

On multiple occasions, Draymond Green publicly held himself accountable for his Game 1 performance, an outing he clearly deemed below his individual standards. His four points on 2-of-12 shooting, three turnovers and good, but not great, defense contributed to the Golden State Warriors’ defeat, despite 34 points from Stephen Curry.

Nobody could tell Green he had to be better before he’d hammer home the sentiment himself. He’s Golden State’s second-best player, though has been defined by inconsistencies since returning from a back injury in mid-March. An optimal Warriors’ attack hinges, in some significant capacity, on him playing like the All-Star forward and generational defender he’s largely existed as since 2014-15.

From the opening possession of Sunday’s Game 2 in the NBA Finals, Green established that he would not scuffle again like he did in Game 1. Al Horford was a dominant force in the Boston Celtics’ Game 1 win. He scored a team-high 26 points, including six triples, pulled down six rebounds, handed out three dimes and imprinted himself defensively through wide-ranging outlets.

Upon Horford’s initial touch Sunday, Green confronted him, closed down his airspace and forced a jump ball as the two veterans stumbled to the hardwood. The comfort Horford enjoyed Thursday would not be replicated.

Green’s strategy to open Game 2 was a stark deviation from Game 1, when he, as well as the Warriors’ overarching defense, allowed Horford space on the perimeter to fire up eight long balls. Instead, they pressured the Celtics big man and clogged his shooting, passing, and driving windows. The result was two points on four shots and a runaway 107-88 win for Golden State. Horford’s release valve nature often helps catalyze Boston’s offense. It would not be available Sunday.

After that possession, though, Green quickly assumed the primary responsibility of Jaylen Brown, whose fourth-quarter tidal wave helped Boston snag Game 1 in a comeback victory. All evening, Green’s defensive versatility shone. His ground coverage, physicality and dexterity frustrated Brown. While the talented 25-year-old missed some looks he can usually convert, Green limited his scoring volume, both in total shots and quality attempts.

Brown’s poor ball control meshed like oil and water with Green’s snappy, pestering hands. Repeatedly, the Warriors big man disturbed Brown’s handle to quell creation endeavors. In Game 1, Brown tallied 18 drives, per NBA.com, leveraging his speed and strength to frequent the paint. In Game 2, he tallied six drives, with Green commonly turning him away.”

Part of what renders him such a historically dominant defender is his decisiveness. When Green commits to an action, he does not cautiously approach its execution. He embraces it, chest out, limbs swirling, and eliminates the chance for an offensive player to assess his options. Traps and ball pressure are immediate. Brown experienced that firsthand, while Jayson Tatum was occasionally the recipient as well.

Nekias Duncan of Basketball News brilliantly explained why pinning Green to Brown instead of Horford was such an impactful move. But the gist revolves around the fact that Green is among the most skilled stunt-and-recover players in NBA history. With Boston regularly slotting Brown as the lone teammate in the strong-side corner when Tatum is initiating, it allows Green to both bother Tatum’s advances and blanket Brown off the catch.

Green is exceptional at closing out to influence shooters. Closeouts do not routinely impact the outcome of threes, yet he seems like one of the select few who can actually alter them. The Warriors walled off the paint in Game 2 and Green’s ability to deter actions from the key, while still impeding shots from the perimeter factored into those defensive profits.

Much of the night, Golden State shrunk down pockets of space for Boston and pushed its offense farther out on the catch, especially during the second half. The Warriors’ physicality and interconnected off-ball defense sped up the Celtics’ decision-making. They were staunch on the perimeter and Green encountered success denying Tatum a handful of times.

Again, his decisiveness as a defender proved integral to his help rotations. He strikes with haste and flusters opponents. The way he neutralizes lob threats, precisely playing 1-on-2s and baiting drivers into shots or ill-advised passes, is uncanny for a 6-foot-6 forward. Many of the components of his abiding defensive excellence rested at the forefront of his redemptive Game 2.

At various points, Green guarded Tatum, Brown, Horford and Robert Williams III. He was a ball-screen trapper, rim protector, strong-side helper and on-ball stopper. The concept of defensive versatility should not be confined to positions. Defense is much more than merely on-ball expertise.

Flexibility of role, given the complexity and diversity of each player’s jobs on a possession, is perhaps more important than 1-4, 1-5 or 2-5 switchability. Green’s about as limber as they come in the league as it pertains to role flexibility, which is a prominent pillar of his exploits.

Before his two-month hiatus, he was likely the leader for Defensive Player of the Year this season. In Game 2, he reminded everyone why that was the case and helped Golden State bring these Finals back to a 1-1 draw.

In April, Dublin-native post-punk group Fontaines DC unveiled their third studio album, Skinty Fia. They performed some of the songs on Late Night With Seth Meyers and NPR Tiny Desk, bringing the tunes to life.

Now, the band has released a cinematic music video directed by Sam Taylor for the track “Roman Holiday,” with home video-like vibes and a plotline involving a kidnapped teddy bear. It matches the song’s lo-fi, deadpan atmosphere; the first lines are frontman Grian Chatten’s drones of “Baby come on get stoned get stoned / Get inside it inside it inside it inside.” With a lot of disorienting camera angles and confusing scenes, the video itself makes one feel like being stoned. Taylor stated that the video is “the result of attempting to challenge the monarchy and watching too much of The Rockford Files.”

Upon the unleashing of “Roman Holiday” as a single in April, Chatten said this about it: “‘Roman Holiday’ makes me think of the wide streets of north London in the Summer and the urge to discover them at night time. The thrill of being a gang of Irish people in London with a bit of a secret language and my first flat with my girlfriend.”

Watch the video for “Roman Holiday” above.

Last week, after a six-week trial, a jury found that Amber Heard had defamed her ex-husband Johnny Depp. They also found that Heard had been defamed in a counter-lawsuit, but only on one count and for far less money. The trial was a wild one, frequently in the news for creatively strange reasons. Now we’re learning something that had eluded the press at the time: Some members of the jury were alleged to have occasionally dozed off.

As caught by The Hill, one of the trial’s stenographers, Judy Bellinger, told Law & Crime Network that she kept catching some of the 12 jurors not exactly paying attention.

“There were a few jurors that were dozing off,” Bellinger said. She somewhat sympathized. “It was tough because there was a lot of video deposition,” she said. “And they’d just sit there, and all of the sudden I’d see their head drop.”

Heard is already considering appealing the verdict, which could be expensive, especially if it does not succeed. After the verdict was announced, Heard said she was “heartbroken” but “even more disappointed with what this verdict means for other women,” adding that it “sets back the idea that violence against women is to be taken seriously.”

(Via The Hill)

The Golden State Warriors are in the NBA Finals this year despite not having a player they expected to be a key piece of their reload in James Wiseman, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft. Wiseman was taken after Anthony Edwards and before LaMelo Ball, with Golden State hoping he would be the big man missing from their lineup once they got fully healthy again, but injuries have sidelined him for much of his first two seasons.

So far this postseason, that role has been filled tremendously by Kevon Looney, but given the success of Edwards and Ball early in their careers in Minnesota and Charlotte respectively, it’s hard not to feel the Warriors could’ve built an even stronger roster by using that No. 2 pick on either of the talented guard prospects. From the perspective of Ball and Edwards, while they’ve been terrific in their first two years, it’s not hard to wonder just how well they could’ve fit on a contender like the Warriors and the impact that could’ve had on their development — good or bad, given the pressure immediately placed on them.

While promoting the upcoming movie, Hustle, Anthony Edwards told Kenny Smith about his Warriors workout and how he credits some constructive criticism he got from Steve Kerr that he says became a turning point in his effort level when working out.

As Edwards notes, Kerr not letting him coast in the workout and telling him how guys like Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant always worked out at game speed, no matter the drill and no matter how long they were in the gym, opened his eyes to what great players do and he immediately wanted to implement that mentality. So far that’s paid off as he has made steady strides in his first two years in Minnesota, becoming one of the two best players on a playoff roster alongside Karl-Anthony Towns, with Wolves fans having plenty to be optimistic about with regards to him only getting better — thanks in part to some sage advice from the Warriors head coach.

Netflix isn’t doing so hot right now. Subscribers are fleeing, budgets are being tightened, and then there’s their habit of dropping comedy specials rife with anti-trans jokes. But before the streamer had to start cutting corners, they funded some ambitious, pricey-looking projects. Among them is an adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman, the beloved comic that has bewitched readers — and frustrated the many who’ve tried to adapt it until now.

The show’s first teaser dropped last fall, and the new one does more than offer new sights: It also reveals the release date. Late summer — August 5, to be exact — is when you can conzy up with the adventures of Morpheus (Tom Sturridge), the black-haired king of dreams and goth icon, who’s decidedly nonplussed when some humans succeed in capturing and imprisoning him. And that’s only the beginning.

When its first issue arrived in 1989, The Sandman was a game-changer. It was a DC comic, but it essentially lived in its own, dreamy, brainy realm. The comics giant even eventually launched its own spin-off line, Vertigo, for more adult-themed comics, like The Sandman. It quickly attracted Hollywood’s attention, but attempts by everyone from Terry Gilliam to Roger Avary to James Mangold came to naught. So congrats to Wonder Woman scribe Allen Heinberg for cracking what others could not.

The Sandman hits Netflix on August 8.

(Via THR)

It’s been three years since we last saw crime go down on Fargo, the anthology show spawned from the Coen brothers’ beloved movie. The program has always been able to land some big names, even ones who rarely do TV, like Kirsten Dunst, Billy Bob Thornton, and Ewan McGregor. And the next time you see it, it will be no different.

As per Deadline, the show’s fifth season will star no less than one of the titans of Peak TV, Jon Hamm, hot off being repeatedly humiliated by Tom Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick. And that’s not all: Jennifer Jason Leigh and Juno Temple, the latter big again thanks to Ted Lasso, will join the erstwhile Don Draper in whatever criminal shenanigans creator Noah Hawley has cooked up.

As usual, details are being kept under wraps, but not all of them. We know the names of the characters Hamm, Leigh, and Temple: Dot, Roy, and Lorraine. We also know what year it takes place: 2019. That makes it the most contemporary season of a show that has hopped around not only the Midwest but also time. Seasons 1 and 3 were set in the modern era, but for Season 2 he hopped back to 1979 while Season 4 went all the way back to the early 1950s, exploring dueling gangs duking it out in Kansas City, led by Jason Schwartzman and future Oscars slapee Chris Rock.

(Via Deadline)

Chief Keef is only 26 years old, but he’s already a recording industry veteran. His career started back in 2012 when he was just 16, and it comprises four studio albums, four EPs, and 38(!) self-released mixtapes. While the majority of his projects were released under the auspices of his own Glory Boyz Entertainment or Glo Gang imprints, he’s cycled through a variety of distribution partners, including Interscope, RBC Records, and 101 Distribution. However, it looks like he’s finally getting an official label, 43B, through which he’ll release projects for his own signees beginning with Atlanta upstart Lil Gnar.

Gnar has been recording and releasing music since 2018 and has been affiliated with the SoundCloud “rage rap” movement since, working with such contemporaries as Craig Xen, Lil Skies, Lil Tracy, Lil Yachty, Ski Mask The Slump God, and Trippie Redd, with videos directed by Lyrical Lemonade’s Cole Bennett. He dropped his first official full-length album Die Bout It earlier this year with features from the late Lil Keed, YSL associate Yak Gotti, and his new label boss, Chief Keef.

In a statement, Chief Keef called 43B a “passion project,” and said he looks forward to passing on his hard-won industry knowledge to younger artists (Gnar is 26, too, but presumably less experienced in the music business). “43B has been a passion project of mine for over a year and I’m ready to give artists that are changing the game a label where they can really succeed,” he said. “I’ve been independent for almost 10 years, so I want to pass on my knowledge of the industry to artists who are shifting the culture so they can make it to the top.”

Meanwhile, BMG head of A&R and marketing Sophie Kautz said, “43B will operate on an artist-friendly model, giving our artists and producers the means to flourish in their careers.”