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Prior to tip-off of Game 1 on Tuesday evening, the major story surrounding the 2021 NBA Finals was the injury-related availability of Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo. The two-time NBA MVP was able to play in the series opener, however, and that added to the already considerable intrigue of a best-of-seven clash between two top-tier teams at something approaching full strength.

While Antetokounmpo performed admirably, it was another star that stole the show in Chris Paul. As a result, the Phoenix Suns took a 1-0 series lead with a 118-105 victory at home.

Out of the gate, Antetokounmpo looked to be moving well, including a designed play for a lob on the first possession of the game. He attempted four free throws in the first four minutes and, much like the reception Antetokounmpo received on the road in both Brooklyn and Atlanta, the fans in Phoenix let him know he was taking too long at the charity stripe.

Antetokounmpo did generate four points and four rebounds during this first stint, though, alleviating at least some of the apprehension that accompanied him before tip-off.

After a back-and-forth start for both teams, the Suns landed the first blow in the form of a quick 6-0 run. It was a pair of role players, Cameron Johnson and Cameron Payne, knocking down the triples, and the crowd in Phoenix was at a fever pitch as the Bucks called a timeout late in the opening quarter.

Phoenix’s lead stayed at four points at the end of the first quarter, as the home team withstood strong production from Antetokounmpo and Brook Lopez. Much of that could be traced to Devin Booker, who scored 12 points and dished out three assists in the opening period.

Midway through the second quarter, the Suns compiled a 10-4 run to take their largest lead to that point at 45-38. Unfortunately, Phoenix lost backup big man Dario Saric to a knee issue but, even as they went deeper into their bench with Frank Kaminsky, the Suns could rely on Booker and Paul against Lopez in space.

Phoenix maintained their advantage, taking an eight-point lead into halftime on the strength of 27 combined points from Booker and Paul. The Suns would’ve had a larger edge if not for the work of Antetokounmpo, who put up 10 points, nine rebounds and a show-stopping chase-down block in the final minute of the half.

The home team asserted additional control early in the third quarter, scoring on the first possession of the period to take a double-digit lead and building from there. After Paul connected on a four-point play (while narrowly avoiding an injury), Phoenix extended their largest lead to 65-52.

The Suns weren’t done there, as they carved up Milwaukee’s defensive coverages both inside and outside. Booker and Paul continued to excel and, with nearly five minutes remaining in the third quarter, Deandre Ayton already had 16 points and 14 rebounds.

Paul then took his turn at the center of the frame, scoring eight points in a 69-second span. He had the entire Milwaukee defense on a string and, after Ayton made a pair of free throws, the Suns led by a 20-point margin with 2:18 left in the third.

Despite the best efforts of Khris Middleton, who scored eight points in the final two minutes of the third quarter, the Bucks trailed by 16 points as the fourth quarter began. In relatively short order, however, Milwaukee made things quite interesting with a mini-spurt that was capped by a Bryn Forbes three-pointer that slashed the margin to single digits with 7:46 to play.

The Bucks did cut their deficit to as few as seven points in the fourth quarter, but the Suns put the pedal to the floor from there. Ultimately, the dagger came from Paul, who produced a three-point play with 3:36 to go to put Phoenix in front by 14 points at 113-99.

With the win, the Suns improve to an impressive 12-0 when leading by double figures at any point in the playoffs, and they put together a highly efficient performance. Phoenix made 25 of their 26 free throw attempts, committed only nine turnovers and utilized their star power to zoom to nearly 1.2 points per possession.

Individually, Paul was absolutely brilliant, as the future Hall of Fame guard scored 32 points (despite a scoreless first quarter) and dished out nine assists in his first career NBA Finals game. Booker added 27 points and six assists, with Ayton dominating the interior to the tune of 22 points and 19 rebounds.

On the Bucks side, there were some positive signs, headlined by Antetokounmpo’s ability to play and perform effectively. The Bucks were +1 in his 35 minutes on the floor, with Antetokounmpo scoring 20 points and securing 17 rebounds. Milwaukee also shot well from three-point distance (44 percent), but the Bucks were walloped at the free throw line and Milwaukee also lost the turnover battle, with Phoenix scoring 16 points directly off the Bucks’ 14 giveaways.

Game 2 arrives on Thursday in Phoenix and, in short, Milwaukee will enter with a sense of urgency as they seek to avoid an 0-2 deficit, even if the series will soon shift to their home building. But for now, the Suns are in control, thanks in large part to their All-NBA point guard making the most of his first time on this stage.

The last time South London rapper Dave released an album was back in 2019 with his debut effort, Psychodrama. The project won lots of awards in its native England. Finally he’s rearing his follow-up, We’re All Alone In This Together, which is set to arrive on July 23. He shared the news during an interview with Ciaran Thapar for GQ, which he described like this:

I feel like Psychodrama was me aged zero to 20. Now, I get to go from zero backwards in time and explore stories from before, stuff that led up to the events of the first album: heritage, history, culture, my family, the countries that we come from, the regressive state of humanity in where we are now. Migration is a massive thing for me – boats, freedom of movement. The artwork represents that – the journey – all at the same time, as delivering life from the perspective of someone who has just come off the back of all this… It’s a massive change in character.

The album’s first tentative single is “Clash,” featuring Stormzy. As for what else to expect, fans will just have to wait a couple of weeks to see.

We’re All Alone In This Together is out 7/23 via Dave/Neighbourhood Recordings. Pre-order it here.

There are many albums released in 2020 that made it easier for music fans to push through the pandemic. One of those is Wizkid’s Made In Lagos. Now the Nigerian star is finally able to tour behind it. On Wednesday, he announced the Made In Lagos tour, the North American leg of which begins on September 10 with a stop in Boston, Massachusetts, and continues through October 16 in Miami, Florida. At that point the singer will begin a three-month break before picking things back up on January 21, 2022, with a stop in Toronto. According to the singer’s website, the tour will conclude on January 26, 2022 in Cancun, Mexico.

At each stop, fans can expect to hear Wizkid favorites like “Essence,” “Ginger,” and more, as well as older highlights like “Come Closer,” with Drake, and “Ojuelegba.”

You can check out the full dates below and click here to purchase tickets.

09/10/2021 — Boston, MA @ Orpheum Theatre
09/11/2021 — Brooklyn, NY @ Bric Celebrate Brooklyn!
09/13/2021 — Silver Springs, MD @ The Fillmore
09/17/2021 — Cleveland, OH @ House Of Blues Cleveland
09/18/2021 — Chicago, IL @ Riviera Theatre
09/19/2021 — Minneapolis, MN @ Filmore Minneapolis
09/22/2021 — Denver, CO @ Summit Music Hall
09/25/2021 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern
09/26/2021 — Las Vegas, NV @ Chop Las Vegas
09/28/2021 — Seattle, WA @ Neptune Theatre
10/02/2021 — Sacramento, CA @ TBA
10/09/2021 — Dallas, TX @ Southside Ballroom
10/10/2021 — Houston, TX @ Bayou Music Center
10/12/2021 — Atlanta, GA @ Tabernacle
10/16/2021 — Miami, FL @ The Oasis At Magic City Innovation District
01/21/2022 — Toronto, ON @ History
01/22/2022 — Montreal, QC @ Mtelus
01/26/2022 — Cancun, Mexico @ Suntown

Mo Brooks has been among the loudest proponents of what has become known as “The Big Lie” — the baseless notion that the 2020 election was somehow stolen away from incumbent Donald J. Trump. Thing is, he doesn’t want to take any responsibility for his actions. In fact, as per a recent court filing made public on Tuesday, he’s putting the blame for a fiery, incendiary speech he delivered on Jan. 6, right before the deadly but failed insurrection, partially on the former president, who he’s allegedly trying to help.

The Alabama lawmaker is currently being sued by fellow representative Eric Swalwell over that speech, which he delivered to the whipped-up crowd, urging them to “fight for America” and to “start taking down names and kicking ass.”

Now we know how Brooks wishes to fight this accusation. For one, he’s looking for a loophole, arguing that he can’t be sued for his statements because they were done while he was technically working, and that questioning the outcome of the election, as per the filing, “represented the interests of his constituency.”

His other defense? That he was only there because Trump asked him — or, as the filing states, “But for the White House request, Brooks would have not appeared at the Ellipse rally.”

A number of the Trump supporters who were arrested for storming the Capitol having taken the second tack, pleading that they were simply doing what the then-president of the United States of America was telling them to do. But most of them aren’t also trying to still kiss Trump’s at the same time. Indeed, the filing still floated The Big Lie, claiming the “November 3, 2020 elections were the subject of voter fraud and election theft of a scale never before seen in America.”

Brooks’ attempts to thread a needle in which he puts the blame on Trump while still pledging fealty is yet another big move from the Alabama lawmaker. In fact, Swalwell filed his lawsuit months ago, and it took until early June for him to be served. That’s because Brooks kept avoiding being served. It got so bad Swalwell even had to hire a private investigator, who had to hand it to his wife at their Alabama home.

In the meantime, good luck, Mo Brooks, trying not to piss off Trump while not going to jail.

(Via Rolling Stone)

A member of the Phoenix Suns’ already thin frontcourt rotation went down early on in Game 1 of the 2021 NBA Finals. Reserve big man Dario Saric, who has turned into a reliable backup for Deandre Ayton as he’s moved to the 5 more frequently this season, suffered a right knee injury.

Saric limped off the floor and made his way to the tunnel behind the Milwaukee Bucks’ bench, where he was immediately assisted by a pair of staffers and made his way into the locker room.

It is unclear exactly how Saric hurt his knee, but it was clear that he was in some serious discomfort. Ultimately, Saric was examined in the back and it was determined that his knee would prevent him from playing in the remainder of the game.

With an eye on giving Ayton some rest, the Suns turned to Frank Kaminsky to fill in for some of the minutes Saric could reliably fill, and it’ll be interesting to see if they’ll continue to use him or if they will opt for a small-ball look with someone like Jae Crowder at the 5 and more of an emphasis on bigger wings being on the floor, like Torrey Craig and Cameron Johnson. Saric has averaged 4.8 points and 2.6 rebounds in 11.1 minutes per game this postseason.

The biggest on court drama heading into Game 1 of the NBA Finals was the health status of Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo, who missed Games 5 and 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals after hyperextending his knee in Game 4 in Atlanta. The Bucks picked up wins in both of those games, riding strong performances from Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday, as well as major contributions from Brook Lopez and Bobby Portis to step up to fill the frontcourt void left by the two-time MVP.

Still, for Bucks fans to feel good about their status in this series, they will want Giannis on the court sooner than later to do battle with the red-hot Phoenix Suns. On Monday, Antetokounmpo was listed as doubtful, with Mike Budenholzer saying he’s making progress but still had to clear a number of hurdles and tests to get cleared to play again. On Tuesday afternoon following shootaround, however, Antetokounmpo was upgraded from doubtful to questionable, leading to plenty of speculation that the superstar could try and play in Game 1.

A bit ahead of tip-off, word emerged that Giannis would play in Game 1. Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports had it first, with Shams Charania of The Athletic and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN confirming.

Game 1 of the 2021 NBA Finals tips off at 9 p.m. EST on ABC.

Netflix has released the first trailer for its upcoming Naomi Osaka documentary and hints at a compelling project featuring one of the biggest stars in sports.

In the teaser for the three-part series — which hits Netflix on July 16 — Osaka narrates as she details different aspects of her life. That includes her mother, her father, how fast fame came to her after she won the U.S. Open, and her work in protesting against police brutality.

Titled Naomi Osaka, the docuseries comes after she withdrew from the French Open. Osaka declined to do media at the event and opted not to play in the currently on-going Wimbledon tournament, citing her mental health. She will, however, represent Japan during the Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Earlier this year, she won the Australian Open and is currently the second-ranked women’s tennis player in the world.

The series is directed by Garett Bradley, am Oscar-nominated documentarian who also has worked with Ava Duvernay on a previous project for Netflix, 2019’s When They See Us.

“The series is about Naomi’s journey, within a snapshot of her life, but it’s also about life’s purpose, about personal worth, about the courage that it takes to allow one’s personal values to inform their work and vice versa,” Bradley said per the official synopsis. “More than anything, I’d hope people can feel the power of empathy and to feel encouraged to take chances in life, perhaps especially in moments where the stakes can feel impossibly high.”

A year and a half has gone by since the music world was stripped of one of its most promising rappers, Pop Smoke. The Brooklyn native was shot and killed during a home invasion in a Hollywood mansion he rented in an attempted robbery gone wrong. Four individuals were arrested for the tragic murder: Corey Walker and Keandre Rodgers, who were 19 and 17 respectively at the time of their arrest, as well as a 17-year-old and a 15-year-old whose names were not revealed, due to them being minors.

Almost a year after their arrests, Walker’s trial is underway, and on Tuesday a big decision was shared by the court. According to video provided by The Shaderoom, Deputy District Attorney Hilary Williams, the prosecutor for the case, said that the maximum sentence that Walker would face if he were convicted is life without parole, meaning that the now 20-year-old defendant will avoid the death penalty.

The reason could be that he was not the individual who pulled the trigger on Pop Smoke. The defendant who was 15 years old at the time allegedly confessed to being the triggerman in the murder during a recorded interview at a juvenile detention center in May 2020. “He admitted that he shot the victim three times with a Baretta 9 (mm.),” LAPD Detective Carlos Camacho said during a preliminary hearing for Walker. He added that the teenager “admitted they asked for the jewelry” from the rapper before ending up in a “confrontation” that led to shots being fired.

In other news related to Pop Smoke, the late rapper’s second posthumous album is set to arrive on July 16. The self-titled effort contains 17 songs and the already released track “Outro.”

Donald Trump never intended to become the Republican party’s great hope. Indeed, he was very open about imploding the party from within. That he did, and we now live with a GOP in thrall to a septuagenarian who’s banned from much of social media and lives in resorts with strangers. Apparently he wasn’t the only one with open contempt for the conservative wing of government: Jared Kushner, his son-in-law and close associate — of whom he’s now jealous — reportedly told a GOP big wig where the party can go.

As per Insider, of the many juicy tidbits in Michael Bender’s Frankly, We Did Win This Election: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost — one of a number of forthcoming tell-all dissections about the last presidency’s fall from grace — there’s a good one (presumably more than that) about Kushner in the lead-up to the 2020 election.

The story involves him and Ronna McDaniel, RNC chair and major cheerleader of his father-in-law, who came to blows in the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. McDaniel, who was already furious that she was being left out of key strategy meetings for his re-election, was also nonplussed that Kushner was dismissive of WinRed, the party’s online fundraising platform. Kushner wanted to take over its operations, not trusting the GOP to be able to handle it. McDaniel argued that it could be a “legacy project” for the Republican party.

But Kushner, Bender writes, “wasn’t interested.” He then reportedly told McDaniel, point blank, “I don’t give a f— about the future of the Republican Party!”

McDaniel shot back a “Good to know,” adding, “I will be running for chair for a second term, and I will make sure you don’t come anywhere near this!”

Kushner seems to be trying to wipe his hands clean of the last handful of years, which saw him take a prominent position inside his father-in-law’s administration — only to fumble most of his tasks. Remember when he was spearheading the COVID-19 response? That didn’t go so well. But to anyone who’s speculated that Trump’s real m.o. wasn’t “saving” the country but lining his pockets with as much as he could, this admission from one of his closest associates adds further fuel to that fire.

Frankly, We Did Win This Election: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost hits shelves on July 13, and there’s presumably plenty more where that came from.

(Via Insider)

Since kicking off his skating career at the tender age of 13 years old, Neen Williams has put his body through a lot. The first move he landed was a heelflip, a trick he has since become revered for, but only after hitting the ground more than a few times. Eventually, the falls started to take their toll and, over the course of a decade, some of his injuries required serious repair.

In order to stay in the game as long as possible, the pro skater moved down south to prioritized health and fitness. Uproxx chatted with Williams about his wellness journey at one of his stomping grounds, Onnit Gym in Austin, Texas. Check the convo below.

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When did you first start taking working out seriously?

I had a couple serious injuries in skateboarding, including some tears to the point of needing to do full reconstructions. Because of those setbacks, I started having skateboarding taken away from me for long periods of time. Every time I would have to go back and rebuild my body. I was going to physical therapy for months after those surgeries.

Those workouts were incredibly important because they were building strength to keep my knees from buckling or even bending in the wrong direction, and doing further damage to my legs. The physical therapy for those injuries got me very interested in training, and how training could help me actually prevent those injuries from ever happening.

How did you start the process of learning?

I started small, but the more that I started to learn about it the more I focused on it. I think it is important to start small and to learn the fundamentals because it can be really easy to get ahead of yourself. But learning those basics is key to make sure you are going about it the right way. There are resources out there, from social media to the internet, and I even put a lot of information on my own site to help people the way that I was helped.

What are your goals when you go into the gym?

Being a skateboarder means being agile and mobile, so that is how I train. I want to be honed like an athlete, and I want to have my central nervous system sharp. That reaction speed is key, especially when you are trying to land tricks. That reaction can help you get there, and even more importantly, if you miss your board it will help keep you alive when it comes to recovering and making sure you hit the ground right.

I came to the realization that I have to take care of my body to continue to do the things that I love, for as long as possible. I also want to get faster on my board, and speed is where it all started for me. I am not trying to get big for the sake of getting big. I try to stay at “flight weight,” as I call it, which is between 145 and 165 pounds.

We have had some epic sessions here at Onnit Gym, when did you first start working out here?

I became aware of Onnit a few years back, and once I did I got connected on social media with Eric, who is on Instagram as @primal.swoledier. I was living in Los Angeles at the time, and he was traveling through to host a certification class for kettlebell training. I was curious about it at the time, so he invited me to join.

Do you have a piece of equipment or a lesson from those Onnit sessions that you hold onto?

I have really enjoyed the kettlebell flows that I have learned from the crew here. I believe that the kettlebell is one of the most diverse-use pieces of equipment in the gym. It works cardio. It works strength. It can work every single muscle of your body. They are great to take on the road as well.

On the skating side, people say you have one of the best heelflips in the game. Is there anything that you do in the gym to make that better?

Funny story, the first trick that I ever landed was a heelflip. I couldn’t do kickflips for the life of me. So I decided to transition into heelflips instead. As far as training, for heelflips you definitely want to open up the hips, There are shin box warm-ups that are excellent to get that flexibility. And then it’s time to grind that practice. In the end, practice is always going to be your best friend when it comes to learning and then perfecting a trick.

Has your diet changed any since you have focused on health more?

The diet has been a huge learning process for me. Eating right is a huge part of making sure your body is operating correctly. I will save a lot of my carb intake around either my workouts or my skating sessions, and try to avoid eating carbs just whenever I want. I enjoy hitting a protein shake after a good workout, and having fresh fruit around is an amazing treat when you need one.

Do you do anything to recover after a hard session?

I make sure to stretch and to foam roll as much as possible, sometimes even three or four times a day. That is definitely how I will try to start every single morning workout. I will hop into an ice bath three times a week, just to help with recovery.

Do you have an accomplishment that has come from that work that you are really proud of?

I am extremely proud of the fact that through training I was able to come back from those two ACL reconstructions, and still be able to jump 14 stairs. That is a huge win for me. I am on top of my game as ever.