GoneTrending

Despite attending a promotional event that was determined to violate the NBA’s health and safety protocols this week, Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James will not face a suspension from the league. The report of the event comes via Dave McMenamin of ESPN, while Adrian Wojnarowski brings word of James skirting any sort of required time off.

Per McMenamin, James was joined by Drake and Michael B. Jordan, among others, at an event for a tequila that has his backing. There were protocols in place to keep the event safe, but that reportedly did not stop it from being in violation of the NBA’s rules.

The tequila was poured at a brief outdoor photo shoot, and invitees, including recording artist Drake and actor Michael B. Jordan, had to produce proof of vaccination or a recent negative test result in order to attend.

Even with those measures, James, who has declined to say whether he has received the COVID-19 vaccination, was found to be in violation of the league’s health and safety protocols.

Having said this, Wojnarowski reports that the event had enough safeguards in place that James will not receive any sort of suspension, although it’s unclear of James faces other forms of reprimand.

The Lakers knocked off the Golden State Warriors earlier this week in the play-in tournament to earn the 7-seed in the Western Conference playoffs. They’ll attempt to defend their status as champions on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. EST against the Phoenix Suns.

Bowen Yang has only been a performer on SNL for two seasons, but he’s already made a name for himself. Indeed, maybe his most popular sketch is one of its weirdest: He played the iceberg that destroyed the RMS Titanic in 1912, getting defensive with Weekend Update co-host Colin Jost and telling him he’d rather talk about his new album, called, simply, Music. It worked gangbusters, but on Friday Yang confessed to Jimmy Fallon that, leading up to the big night, he wasn’t sure anyone would get it.

For starters, it wasn’t his idea. It came from SNL co-head writer Anna Drezen. “She texts me in February, ‘Hey, maybe for the April 10 show, for the Titanic anniversary, you can play the iceberg who sank the Titanic,’” he told the Tonight Show crowd. “And I was like, ‘Yeah, cool, maybe, sure,’ kind of raised my eyebrow at her over text.”

Two months later he texted her, to see if she was still game. She told him she’d completely forgotten about it. But they managed to get it on the docket for the April 10th show, which was hosted by Carey Mulligan. Still, they weren’t sure it would fly.

“The entire week we did it, we were losing our minds a little bit, because we kept looking at each other and bursting out laughing,” Yang said. “On Saturday, at 7 p.m., as you’re supposed to turn in scripts, we were like, ‘What are we doing? This will never make it onto TV. Will people get it?’”

But they did, and it became the breakout sketch for that night’s show. The lesson? Don’t second guess your strangest ideas, especially if they involve playing a non-sentient piece of ice.

You can watch the Tonight Show segment in the video above.

(Via EW)

Morgan Wallen is slowly working his way back into the spotlight after spending some quiet months to himself after the singer was caught on camera using a racial slur with friends back in early February. He quickly apologized for the incident but not without consequences: He was reprimanded by his peers and record label suspended his contract. Shortly after the video surfaced, NAACP Nashville, which is based in Wallen’s hometown, reached out him to meet and educate him on the history of the racial slur. He agreed to sit down with the organization, but it’s now being reported that the meeting never happened.

According to TMZ, Wallen reportedly ghosted NAACP Nashville after setting up a meeting. The organization’s president, Sheryl Guinn, says the singer’s team expressed interest in meeting with the organization so that Wallen could make things right and learn from his mistakes. However, when the moment came to set a time and date for the sit-down, the singer was nowhere to be found nor did he make an effort to ensure it occurred.

Guinn says the NAACP chapter never pressured the singer to meet with them and simply wanted an opportunity to educate him in hopes that he could become an advocate for racial equality. The news comes after Wallen went to Kid Rick’s Nashville Bar to perform his first show since the controversy.

As far as freshman congresspeople go, Madison Cawthorn hasn’t achieved the notoriety of a Marjorie Taylor Greene or a Lauren Boebert. Perhaps he’s not up for the job. He couldn’t even spread 2020 election lies without badly fumbling the job. The worst thing he’s done is inexplicably visit Hitler’s vacation home. But there’s one thing he’s better at that anyone else: He’s missed more votes than any new representative in Congress.

According to the data analysis firm Quorum, Cawthorn missed over a dozen congressional votes in April alone. Indeed, the five freshmen who’ve missed the most votes are all Republicans, who seem to spend most of their time harassing colleagues and getting kicked off of committees. Cawthorn was not ashamed at his poor record, though.

“To that, I really laugh,” he said on the conservative program Real America’s Voice News. “It shows how the Democrats feel about the nuclear family in America right now. I was doing the only thing that I find more important than my service in Congress, and that’s my service as a husband.”

He blamed Congress for letting “votes pile up” the week he was on his honeymoon with his wife, Cristina Bayardelle, who he married last year. Besides, they weren’t bills he thought were important anyway.

“Every single vote that came up was some Democrat garbage, so I was happy to be able to not actually have to vote on those,” Cawthorn said. “They’re eliminating our voices. They’re not allowing us to debate on the House floor. And, I’m telling you, if I had to choose between voting with Nancy Pelosi or spending time with my beautiful wife, I’ll choose Cristina every time.”

But people on social media were not buying his excuse.

Cawthorn isn’t the first Republican lawmaker to effectively blame his family for why he didn’t do his job. Ted Cruz infamously put the blame on his kids when he fled to Mexico for vacation while his state of Texas was experiencing a freak winter storm.

(Via Insider)

The Zack Snyder people badly want Warner Bros. to restore the Snyderverse (though Zack Snyder himself seems to be against it), but it looks like at least one of its major players is going to be a bit busy: As per Deadline, Henry Cavill is in talks to play another semi-immortal in the reboot of Highlander, helmed by John Wick co-director Chad Stahelski.

The Highlander series originated in 1986, with Frenchman Christopher Lambert as a Scottish warrior who discovers he’s part of a lineage of immortal asskickers. Mentored by a Spaniard played by actual Scotsman Sean Connery, our hero winds up battling a fellow unkillable sort (Clancy Brown) amidst songs by Queen. It was not a hit but its cult became so strong that a sequel emerged in 1991. That one proved a critical-derided bomb that nevertheless kept the franchise puttering over three more films, three TV shows, books, comics, etc., etc., etc.

Presumably this latest revival will amp up the fights, coming from a former stunt coordinator helmed all three John Wick movies. (His co-director on the first, David Leitch, went on to make Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2, Hobbs & Shaw, and the forthcoming Bullet Train.) But should the reboot prove successful, there probably won’t be only one.

(Via Deadline)

The nightcap of Saturday’s four-pack of first round playoff games will see two familiar foes meet, as the Nuggets welcome the Blazers to Ball Arena in Denver. These two faced off in a thrilling seven-game series back in 2019, which Portland emerged with a win, and despite being the 6-seed they enter this series as the slight favorites over Denver.

There are a few reasons for that, including the health of the two teams. Denver is down a significant chunk of their backcourt coming into the series, with Jamal Murray, Will Barton, and PJ Dozier all out for Game 1, with the possibility that Barton returns later in the series. Still, they have the presumptive MVP in Nikola Jokic and a legit lethal scorer in Michael Porter Jr. who figure to give Portland all they can handle on the offensive end. The Blazers have gotten healthy at the right time, most notably with Jusuf Nurkic returning to anchor an improving defense. Their newly formed backcourt trio of Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum, and the trade deadline acquisition Norman Powell has given opponents fits in the second half of the season and after rattling off a 10-2 closing stretch, the Blazers enter this postseason on quite the heater.

Game 1 TV Info

Tip Time: Saturday, May 22; 10:30 p.m. ET
TV Network: ESPN

Game 1 Betting Lines (via DraftKings Sportsbook)

Series Prices: Blazers (-122), Nuggets (-103)
Spread: Nuggets -1 (-110), Blazers +1 (-110)
Total: Over 227.5 (-112), Under 227.5 (-109)
Money Line: Nuggets (-115), Blazers (-104)

Game 1 Player Scoring Props (via DraftKings Sportsbook)

Norman Powell O/U 17.5 Points (Over -118/Under -108)
Jusuf Nurkic O/U 14.5 Points (-113/-113)
Michael Porter Jr. O/U 23.5 Points (-120/-107)
CJ McCollum O/U 22.5 Points (-120/-107)
Robert Covington O/U 7.5 Points (-115/-105)
Damian Lillard O/U 28.5 Points (-115/-105)
Nikola Jokic O/U 28.5 Points (-143/+112)

The favorites to win the Eastern Conference will get their postseason underway on Saturday night, as the Brooklyn Nets play host to their division rival in the Boston Celtics for Game 1 of their first round series.

For the Nets, it’s an opportunity to get their Big 3 all on the court together in a meaningful game, where every minute is a bit of added experience for a group that has barely logged more than 400 minutes together this season due to various injuries. Still, Brooklyn is an overwhelming favorite in the series and in Game 1, which isn’t a surprise for a team featuring Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Kyrie Irving. On the other side, they’ll face a Boston team coming off of a win in their first play-in game over Washington, where Jayson Tatum had 50 points to carry his squad into the postseason. While he’s without his fellow wing star in Jaylen Brown, the Nets will have to be careful with Tatum who is more than capable of monster offensive outbursts. Boston is hoping he can have a few of those and Kemba Walker can carry a bigger load to make this a much more competitive series than the oddsmakers project it to be.

Game 1 TV Info

Tip Time: Saturday, May 22; 8:00 p.m. ET
TV Network: ABC

Game 1 Betting Lines (via DraftKings Sportsbook)

Series Prices: Nets (-1430), Celtics (+700)
Spread: Nets -8 (-107), Celtics +8 (-114)
Total: Over 229 (-113), Under 229 (-108)
Money Line: Nets (-375), Celtics (+290)

Game 1 Player Scoring Props (via DraftKings Sportsbook)

Blake Griffin O/U 10.5 Points (Over -103/Under -125)
Jayson Tatum O/U 30.5 Points (-108/-118)
Joe Harris O/U 11.5 Points (-106/-121)
Kevin Durant O/U 25.5 Points (-113/-113)
Kyrie Irving O/U 23.5 Points (-108/-118)
Jeff Green O/U 9.5 Points (-103/-125)
James Harden O/U 22.5 Points (-107/-120)
Marcus Smart O/U 13.5 Points (-103/-125)
Evan Fournier O/U 16.5 Points (-107/-120)
Kemba Walker O/U 24.5 Points (+107/-136)

The opening day of the 2021 NBA Playoffs will start with a pair of rematches from last year in the Bubble, as the Bucks will host the Heat in the early game, while the Clippers will welcome the Mavericks to L.A. in the second game of the day. In Orlando, the Clippers took down Dallas in six games, and the series odds point to a similar expectation this time around.

After working to dodge the 3-seed at the end of the regular season to stay away from the Lakers half of the bracket, the Clippers will need to shake off a bit of rust in Game 1 as their starters haven’t played meaningful basketball in well over a week. Paul George will get his first chance in Game 1 to start trying to rewrite his playoff narrative, one that mirrors the Clippers organization as a whole. On the other side, the Mavs will follow the lead of Luka Doncic and hope he can produce more heroics like in last year’s series and that this time around having Kristaps Porzingis on the floor for the entirety of the series can yield a different result.

Game 1 TV Info

Tip Time: Saturday, May 22; 4:30 p.m. ET
TV Network: ESPN

Game 1 Betting Lines (via DraftKings Sportsbook)

Series Prices: Clippers (-300), Mavs (+400)
Spread: Clippers -5.5 (-114), Mavs +5.5 (-107)
Total: Over 229 (-113), Under 229 (-108)
Money Line: Clippers (-240), Mavs (+195)

Game 1 Player Scoring Props (via DraftKings Sportsbook)

Dorian Finney-Smith O/U 9.5 Points (Over -106/Under -121)
Luka Doncic O/U 27.5 Points (-118/-108)
Marcus Morris O/U 13.5 Points (-115/-110)
Kristaps Porzingis O/U 21.5 Points (-118/-108)
Paul George O/U 25.5 Points (-113/-113)
Kawhi Leonard O/U 26.5 Points (-113/-113)
Ivica Zubac O/U 7.5 Points (-134/+105)

The Milwaukee Bucks and Miami Heat will meet for Game 1 of their first round series on Saturday afternoon at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, as the Bucks look to avenge last year’s five-game series loss to the Heat in the Orlando Bubble.

This year’s teams feature a number of familiar faces from last year’s series, with the Heat still being led by Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, and Goran Dragic, albeit with some new blood among their supporting cast. For Milwaukee, it’s still Giannis Antetokounmpo at the center of everything along with Khris Middleton, but with one major new addition in the form of Jrue Holiday.

Both teams will be looking to set the tone in Game 1, with Jimmy Butler claiming to be “stupidly locked in” heading into the series and Giannis trying to keep his team loose and level-headed this time around, noting in the Bubble he felt they got “too low” after losses.

Game 1 TV Info

Tip Time: Saturday, May 22; 2:00 p.m. ET
TV Network: ESPN

Game 1 Betting Lines (via DraftKings Sportsbook)

Series Prices: Bucks (-305), Heat (+240)
Spread: Bucks -5 (-110), Heat +5 (-112)
Total: Over 227 (-113), Under 227 (-109)
Money Line: Bucks (-195), Heat (+160)

Game 1 Player Scoring Props (via DraftKings Sportsbook)

Jrue Holiday O/U 18.5 points (Over -130/Under +105)
Bam Adebayo O/U 18.5 points (-113/-113)
Trevor Ariza O/U 10.5 points (-113/-113)
Giannis Antetokounmpo O/U 29.5 points (-113/-113)
Brook Lopez O/U 11.5 points (-113/-113)
Khris Middleton O/U 20.5 points (-125/-103)
Jimmy Butler O/U 24.5 points (-113/-113)
Duncan Robinson O/U 12.5 points (-125/-103)
Donte DiVincenzo O/U 10.5 points (-106/-121)

The Grizzlies hold the distinction of being in the NBA’s only two play-in tournaments, and after a narrow loss to Portland in the Bubble last season, Ja Morant and co. delivered big time in a do-or-die game against Golden State on Friday night, winning 117-112 in overtime.

On the road in San Francisco, Morant scored 35 points to go with six assists and four steals, as well as the Grizzlies’ last two buckets in the final minute of overtime to clinch the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference and a meeting with the Utah Jazz in the first round.

The game was crazy from the jump, with Memphis storming out to an early lead before starting center Jonas Valanciunas — who was great in both rounds of the play-in — picked up his second foul and left the court. That gave the Warriors space for their own run and they finished the first period down just one.

Another key for Memphis was Dillon Brooks and the defense he was able to play against Stephen Curry. Despite not carrying the reputation of the Lakers’ perimeter defenders, Brooks made Curry work really hard off the ball, and without Andrew Wiggins or Juan Toscano-Anderson stepping up in quite the same way that they did against L.A., the Warriors didn’t quite have the juice.

A hot shooting night from Morant overall, a couple huge threes from Grayson Allen, and a great night from unsung rookie Xavier Tillman Sr. helped the Grizzlies put together an upset victory.

Still, the Warriors came back to force overtime despite 21 turnovers because Curry hit some circus shots late, while Jordan Poole got to the line on a three-point attempt then made a massive three, and then somehow found Wiggins on a lob to tie it at 111.

But once Memphis downsized and put Tillman and Allen in the game in overtime, Morant was able to go to work with a spaced floor and put in the two buckets that would clinch a huge win for the Grizzlies, sending the team to the postseason for the first time since the last Grit n’ Grind team made it back in 2017.