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John Wall was synonymous with Washington D.C. in his time in the nation’s capital, not just because of his exploits on the basketball court for the Wizards, but because of the way he fully embraced the city off of it. Wall gave back to the city in an immense way, always putting in work in the community and became a beloved figure.

So when he was traded this past offseason for Russell Westbrook, just as he was set to make his return from an Achilles injury, there was plenty of backlash from the fanbase. Westbrook and the Wizards’ struggles and Wall’s resurgence in Houston has not helped those feelings of contempt, and so on Monday when Wall returned to Washington for the first time since the trade (and his second and final game against the Wizards this season) there were plenty with torn allegiances and it didn’t feel like a proper homecoming in the empty arena.

Wall got off to a hot start, slicing through the porous Washington defense for a thunderous dunk, showing some emotion after as he clearly enjoyed taking it to his old team.

The Wizards played a tribute video to Wall during the first timeout, balancing his on-court highlights with those off of it, a reminder of everything he did in the community as well as for the team.

Wall would finish the night with 29 points and 11 assists, a strong outing for the shorthanded Rockets, but not enough to take down Bradley Beal and his former squad. Beal, the NBA’s leading scorer, had 37 points on the night as he continues to be the best scorer in the league this season, and Washington pulled away with a 131-119 win.

After the game, Wall and Beal had a handshake and embrace as the two former teammates saw each other for the final time this season.

Whenever the Rockets go back to Washington next season, when fans are back, it will feel like a much more appropriate welcome for Wall, but for now, both sides can move on for the remainder of this season now that their brief season series is done.

Monday night saw John Wall’s return visit to the nation’s capital after he was traded this offseason to the Houston Rockets for Russell Westbrook, and the focus was on the former All-Star’s exploits against his old team. He had a big first half, scoring 22 points and dishing out seven assists, dueling with his old friend Bradley Beal, who had 19 at the break, in yet another high-scoring affair in D.C.

Unfortunately for Wall and Wizards fans, no one is allowed in the arena in Washington for games and as such, there wasn’t a chance for the D.C. faithful, who loved Wall, to give him a proper reminder of how much they appreciated his time with the Wizards. The stands at the Capital One Arena are tarped up and pushed back, as is the case most everywhere in the league, and we learned one of the sneaky downsides to this setup on Monday.

In the early third quarter the game ball rolled out of bounds and somehow snuck under the stands, leaving the Wizards do-everything All-Star to go retrieve the thing.

Beal quite literally does it all for Washington, leading the NBA in scoring and even crawling under stands to make sure the game ball doesn’t get lost. This is something that you usually only see at a pickup run in an empty high school gym, but the 2020-21 season is full of surprises and we were blessed with what will surely become a highly used GIF of Beal crawling under the stands.

It’s a good thing he went and got the ball, because he caught fire in the third, piling up 12 points in the period to help the Wizards get out to a 10-point lead before he took a rest late.

The Trump years have torn families in two. And it appears that not even the failed but still deadly MAGA coup of January 6 — which at the time like the end for Trumpism, that it would shock the nation back into some kind of normalcy — will patch the country back together. (Most Senate Republicans wouldn’t even convict him, even after their lives were put in danger.) Case in point: One of the Republican congressmen who has come out against Trump since the Capitol storming was all but disowned by members of his family.

The New York Times published a profile of Adam Kinzinger, a Representative in Chicago’s suburbs. He’s against the Affordable Care Act. He’s an opponent of abortion rights. He received an endorsement from Sarah Palin. But he blamed Trump for inciting the attempted insurrection and he was one of ten House Republicans to vote in favor of what became his second impeachment. And that inspired 11 members of his family to collaborate on a handwritten, two-page letter condemning him.

“Oh my, what a disappointment you are to us and to God!” they wrote. “You have embarrassed the Kinzinger family name!”

The writing of the letter was done by Karen Otto, Kinzinger’s cousin, who paid $7 to send it by certified mail, to ensure that it got into his hands. “I wanted Adam to be shunned,” she told NYT.

Still, neither this — nor any of the other things non-family members have said about or to him in the last month-plus — have caused him to step down. “The party’s sick right now,” Kinzinger said, and he sees goal as to “restore” the Republican Party. Currently the GOP is split between traditionalists like Mitch McConnell, Trumpists like Matt Gaetz and Jim Jordan, anti-Trumpists like Kinzinger and Mitt Romney, and a vast number who appear to be afraid to come out against the former president, lest he drive his base to steal their congressional seat (or worse).

“We just fear,” Kinzinger told the Times. “Fear the Democrats. Fear the future. Fear everything. And it works for an election cycle or two. The problem is it does real damage to this democracy.”

Kinzinger has also had to put up with some pushback from You Know Who himself:

Mr. Trump, Mr. Porter said, poked his finger in his chest and told him to deliver to Mr. Kinzinger a vulgar message about what he should do with himself. When Mr. Porter relayed the comment to Mr. Kinzinger during a conversation on Election Day, Mr. Kinzinger laughed and invited Mr. Trump to do the same.

(Via NYT)

The 2020-21 college basketball season has been bizarre in many ways, but one ongoing theme is the struggles of various “blue blood” programs. Along with Kentucky, Michigan State and others, the Duke Blue Devils have been a mess all season long, posting an 8-8 record, and Mike Krzyzewski’s team will now be without its most talented player for the rest of the season. Multiple sources indicate freshman Jalen Johnson, a 6’9 forward projected to be a lottery pick in the 2021 draft, is opting out of the remainder of the campaign.

From there, Jeff Goodman of Stadium reports that “off-court issues” were occurring between Johnson’s side and Duke dating back for a while.

Johnson missed a handful of games in late December and early January before returning to the lineup on Jan. 12. Still, he was not able to replicate his early-season production, and Johnson averaged just 11.2 points and 6.2 rebounds per game in 13 appearances.

From a future-facing standpoint, it is hard to envision this decision will impact Johnson’s draft stock in a negative way. He is an intriguing and explosive athlete, combining quality size with an interesting skill set that should translate to the NBA level. While he connected on 44.4 percent of his three-point attempts, perimeter shooting is a concern, both due to low volume (18 attempts in 13 games) and previous struggles in pre-college environments. Johnson is a strong passer and rebounder for his size, though, which helps to endear him to professional scouts.

Duke isn’t likely to make the NCAA Tournament, seemingly needing to win the ACC Tournament in order to earn a trip to the Big Dance. As such, Johnson won’t miss that much of his freshman season but, at the same time, no one predicted only a 13-game sample from his college career, and Duke’s struggles may have held him back in terms of the ability to display his full arsenal while in Durham.

Pharrell has been busy these last few years. The musician launched a MasterClass series, continued his Something In The Water music festival, and even released his own line of skincare. But all the while he continued to be tied up in a six-year-long copyright case against Marvin Gaye’s estate. But following a recent decision from a judge, his case has reportedly been put to rest.

The original lawsuit was filed following the release of “Blurred Lines,” Pharrell’s collaboration with Robin Thicke. It alleged that the two had ripped off Marvin Gaye’s “Got to Give It Up.” Eventually, courts sided with Gaye’s estate, saying Pharrell and Thicke had plagiarized the song. But Gaye’s estate did not stop there.

They followed-up the lawsuit by hitting Pharrell with a perjury motion, saying the musician lied in court. They cited a 2019 GQ interview where Pharrell stated he “reverse engineered” Gaye’s song. “We try to figure out if we can build a building that doesn’t look the same, but makes you feel the same way,” Pharrell said. “I did that in ‘Blurred Lines,’ and got myself in trouble.” Gaye’s estate was seeking $3.5 million in attorney fees from the perjury case, but thanks to a recent ruling, Pharrell can get off scot-free (well, besides losing the copyright lawsuit).

According to a report from People, California District Court Judge John Kronstadt ruled that Pharrell’s statement does not show that he committed perjury in the case. Issuing his verdict, Judge Kronstadt wrote:

“The statements by Williams during the November 2019 Interview were cryptic and amenable to multiple interpretations. For example, it is unclear what Williams meant by ‘reverse-engineer[ing].’ Read in context, Williams statement about ‘reverse-engineering’ could be interpreted as a process in which he remembers his feelings when listening to particular music, and then attempts to recreate those feelings in his own works. This is not inconsistent with his deposition testimony, in which he claimed that he realized after creating ‘Blurred Lines’ that the feeling he tried to capture in the song, was one that he associated with Marvin Gaye. […] For these reasons, the Gaye Parties have not shown by clear and compelling evidence that there are sufficiently material inconsistencies between Williams’ statements in the November 2019 Interview and his sworn testimony, to support a finding of perjury.”

See the official ruling above.

It’s no secret that DaBaby does things his own way. Exercising his creative creative control has helped him grow from an up-and-coming rapper to charging upwards of $300k for a feature in only a few years. But his success didn’t come without taking risks. One thing he’s been doing from the start is spending hundreds of thousands of his own money on his videos.

The rapper recently sat down with the podcast Million Dollaz Worth Of Game and talked about how he went the longest time without using his label’s money for big-budget videos. While he spends millions on videos in a given year, the rapper revealed his reasoning behind paying out of pocket:

“For sure, $100,000-$200,000 [per video]. For a long time, I didn’t even use a label budget for my videos because I wanted to be able to put sh*t out the way I wanted to put it out. I wanted creative control and sh*t. Especially coming in. I knew I was coming in so different. I don’t got time for motherf*ckers be asking all these goddamn questions about this and that and how I plan on doing this and that. Because if I got the bread I’m not about to wait on nobody, anyway. I just ain’t never been that type of n****, that’s why I hustle the way I hustle. I don’t wait for sh*t. If it’s some raw shit that I can get and they’re like, ‘You gotta wait a month.’ I’mma say f*ck it. […] I’m not getting better at that, with having more patience.”

Watch DaBaby’s full interview on Million Dollaz Worth Of Game above.

Last week, Lucasfilm finally had enough with Gina Carano, the MMA fighter-turned-actress after she posted posts deemed offensive over social media. As such, her character on The Mandalorian — tough rogue Cara Dune, who often tags on adventured alongside our bounty hunter hero — would not return for the third season of the Star Wars Disney+ show, nor get the spin-off show that had once been discussed. But that’s not all: Even the Cara Dune action figure will not be returning to toy store shelves.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Hasbro, who releases Mandalorian toys, says they are not proceeding with another production run of the figure. The Cara Dune toy was apparently very popular, and that’s its first run sold out very quickly. But those who never bought one will have to be envious of those who did — or at least wait for people to put it on eBay, for no doubt exorbitant prices.

Carano’s firing enraged much of conservative media, who have been up in arms over what they call “cancel culture” and claiming she was fired simply for being an outspoken conservative. Then again, why was Carano let go? Because of a series of offensive social media posts — not only a comment comparing conservatives to Holocaust victims, which was seen as anti-Semitic, but also an actual anti-Semitic image, both of which appeared on her Instagram stories. Meanwhile other Hollywood conservatives — Tim Allen, Chris Pratt, Sylvester Stallone, Clint Eastwood — remain gainfully employed.

(Via THR)

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has presented himself as one of the heroes of the pandemic. He even won an Emmy for it! But while his state — particularly New York City — didn’t suffer as much as it could have, his efforts have still been very far from perfect. Case in point: A new report claimed he and his administration withheld data involving nursing homes, which were among the hardest hit in the state. On Monday, Cuomo held one of his famous press conferences, although this time he intended to address the allegations. But one Fox News host wasn’t having it.

Janice Dean, who currently serves as co-host and weather reporter on Fox and Friends, was watching Cuomo’s presser at the time, and she had some words. And for good reason: Tragically, both of Dean’s parents died from COVID-19-related complications while living in New York assisted living facilities. Previously she’s attacked the rosy coverage Cuomo’s received, calling them “puff pieces.” So when he tried to deflect blame, she went on an epic Twitter tear.

Dean began by saying she “can’t listen to this guy.” But listen to him she did, and what resulted was a furious and righteously angry series of tweets — not even threaded but one right after the other. Some were general complaints (“He’s lying,” “He is just a disgrace”). Some were specific, accusing him of passing the buck, of distorting the numbers, of simply not caring. You can read it all below.

Though Dean stopped tweeting after Cuomo’s presser ended, she wasn’t done. She called in to her colleague Martha MacCallum’s Fox News show, saying, “I am astonished, astonished that he continues to be a broken record about the nursing home issue, passing blame on everyone once again.” She called him a “bully” who “cannot be empathetic at all.” And she called for an “independent bipartisan investigation into this governor and his administration.”

(Via Mediate)

As someone who has as many adoring fans as Harry Styles does, it’s difficult to keep his romantic relationships under wraps. So when rumors began circling of an on-set romance brewing between Styles and Olivia Wilde, who’s directing the film Don’t Worry Darling, chaos ensued. His fans were so relentless, in fact, that Wilde had to turn off the comments section of her Instagram page to avoid being bombarded. But even still, the two are able to maintain a working, and possibly romantic, relationship on set.

After wrapping up filming Don’t Worry Darling, Wilde gushed about his acting abilities, and praised him for sharing the screen with actress Florence Pugh:

“Little known fact: most male actors don’t want to play supporting roles in female-led films. The industry has raised them to believe it lessens their power (i.e financial value) to accept these roles, which is one of the reasons it’s so hard to get financing for movies focusing on female stories. No joke, it is harrrrrd to find actors who recognize why it might be worth it to allow for a woman to hold the spotlight. Enter: @harrystyles, our ‘Jack’ . Not only did he relish the opportunity to allow for the brilliant @florencepugh to hold center stage as our ‘Alice’, but he infused every scene with a nuanced sense of humanity. He didn’t have to join our circus, but he jumped on board with humility and grace, and blew us away every day with his talent, warmth, and ability to drive backwards.”

The Lakers lost in Denver on Sunday night, but for the now 21-7 Los Angeles squad, the concern was far less about dropping a game and much more on Anthony Davis’ health.

The star big man left late in the second quarter after being fouled by Nikola Jokic and appearing to step awkwardly. He would take his two free throws and immediately limp to the locker room, grabbing at the back of his right leg. Given Davis has been dealing with Achilles tendonosis for the last week, missing two games because of it, there was immediate concern about his status going forward. The Lakers officially announced he had an Achilles strain with an MRI to come on Monday.

According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the results of that MRI gave Davis a diagnosis of a calf strain and re-aggravation of his Achilles tendonosis that will keep him out for 2-3 weeks.

The official update from the Lakers is that the MRI revealed no rupture and he’ll be further evaluated back in Los Angeles.

It is an aggravation of the previous injury but happily nothing overly severe. This seems like the best case scenario given any time a player grasps at his Achilles it is always cause for concern. As for Davis’ return, one would expect this to keep him out through the All-Star break and possibly longer, as Woj notes the team will rightfully err on the side of caution.

Strains are always difficult to deal with, because it’s not easy to know when they’ve fully healed and they can be frustratingly easy to aggravate, as Davis did on Sunday. The Lakers will have plenty of work cut out for them over the next few weeks without Davis, as they look to remain in the conversation for the West’s top seed, but this season is all about being right for the playoffs so Davis will be afforded as much time as he needs to get right.