GoneTrending

Finding the best bottle of affordable bourbon is no easy task. God knows we’ve tried. There’s a lot to choose from and at these lower price points you’re going to strike a few clunkers. That being said, quite a bit of the cheap bourbon out there is pretty solid (“it is what it is,” but that’s not bad).

In this blind taste-test, we’re trying six cheap(er) bottles of bourbon whiskey and ranking them according to taste alone. The prices range from $13 for a one-liter bottle of Heaven Hill’s Old Style to $26 for a regular-sized bottle of Wild Turkey 101. Of course, these prices can vary wildly depending on where you’re standing when you hand over your cash — those taxes and transportation fees add up.

As for the ranking, it ended up being fairly interesting. A few bottles I usually dig didn’t really pop like usual, but the overall winner was clear as a bell. Let’s get into it!

Part 1: The Taste

Taste 1

Tasting Notes:

There’s distinct vanilla next to a musty oak with a creamy pudding cut with brown spice. Then the sip veers back towards that wood, but it’s light. The woodiness becomes almost like dry wicker, with a slightly sweet edge.

The end is slightly spicy and warming but not overly so.

Taste 2

Tasting Notes:

This is light yet full of mild oak, vanilla pudding, and … apple stems? Or maybe I mean cores — the un-sweet apple parts. There’s a hint of caramel there, sure. But it’s dialed way back. You’re really left with that apple and the overall thin nature of the sip.

Taste 3

Tasting Notes:

This is really soft on the nose with nice nuances of vanilla and molasses (hello, Buffalo Trace). Then there’s this whiff of raw steak. I know that sounds wild, but it was 100 percent there. Imagine you just took a steak out of the fridge to come up to room temp and you’ll get that it’s actually kind of enticing.

On the palate, this is classic Trace — with notes of oak that lead to toffee that lead to cinnamon sticks with a berry fruit end, all while holding onto that lush softness.

Taste 4

Tasting Notes:

Vanilla, corn husks, and cherry candy (Hello, Jim). That cherry candy serves as the backbone for the sip — balancing the dry corn husk and green grassy nature of the dram. This is very easy-drinking, thanks to the overall lightness.

Taste 5

Tasting Notes:

This is really enticing on the nose with subtle hints of vanilla, oak, caramel, and spices leading towards tobacco. Those notes are delivered on the palate, too — as cinnamon sticks mix with brown sugar with a slight fruitiness.

This is just goddamn delicious. So much so that I said those exact words aloud while drinking this dram.

Taste 6

Tasting Notes:

Classic bourbon vanilla and caramel with a cornmeal body. That vanilla has a pudding creaminess with plenty of oak next to a slight bite of black pepper. The spice amps up to a tobacco chewiness by the end.

Part 2: The Ranking

6. Heaven Hill Old-Style Bourbon (Taste 2)

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $13, 1-liter bottle

The Whiskey:

This is Heaven Hill’s entry point bourbon. The stuff is matured (for up to four years) in Heaven Hill’s massive warehouses and blended to be quaffable at a very affordable price.

Bottom Line:

This is very drinkable, though there’s not a lot of “there” there. It’s light, easy, and cheap. It’s definitely a great candidate for mixing cocktails while you’re learning.

5. Jim Beam Black (Taste 4)

ABV: 43%

Average Price: $23

The Whiskey:

This used to be Jim Beam 8 but the age statement was dropped. The idea behind this expression is that it’s a blend of Beam barrels that hit just the right note of classic Jim Beam bourbon flavors — with some of those barrels still reaching eight years old and some younger.

Bottom Line:

I didn’t know where to put this dram. I really like this sip. The cherry candy ended up being the dominant flavor note, alongside those corn husks. Which wasn’t bad at all, just a little less enjoyable than the rest.

3 (tie). Wild Turkey 101 (Taste 1)

ABV: 50.5%

Average Price: $26

The Whiskey:

This is a lot of people’s entry point to bourbon. The juice is classic Turkey that’s blended according to their signature flavor profile and then barely cut down to 101 proof with that soft Kentucky limestone water.

Bottom Line:

This is tasty and easy to drink at the same time. The 101 proof also means it’s a great cocktail mixer that’ll pack a punch without getting drowned out by the sugars, water, and bitters.

3 (tie). Evan Williams Bottled-in-Bond (Taste 6)

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $17

The Whiskey:

Heaven Hill’s Evan Williams is a popular bottle of cheap bourbon with their Bottled-in-Bond expression being a big step up from the entry point bottles. This juice is aged according to strict federal laws which ensure a minimum of four years maturing before watering down to 100 proof.

Bottom Line:

It’s interesting that this and Wild Turkey 101 were tied for me. The higher proof was very enticing and felt familiar. Maybe that was simply because they were positioned as the first and last taste? Anyway, this is a very good bourbon for a very low price that works as a great mixer.

2. Buffalo Trace (Taste 3)

ABV: 45%

Average Price: $24

The Whiskey:

This bourbon was created to celebrate the rebranding of George T. Stagg distillery as Buffalo Trace, back in 1999. Distilling legend Elmer T. Lee came out of retirement to create this expression and it’s been beloved since it hit shelves.

Bottom Line:

I went back and forth on putting this at the number one slot. This is a well-crafted bourbon that really shines as a mixer or on the rocks. Still, it was just fine this time around. There was no real “Ah-ha!” moment. It was just solid and very drinkable, which is all you can really ask for at this price point.

1. Bulleit Bourbon (Taste 5)

ABV: 45%

Average Price: $25

The Whiskey:

This Diageo bourbon has a high-rye mash bill, with 28 percent of the recipe consisting of the spicy grain. While most of the juice is still sourced, Diageo has converted the iconic Stitzel-Weller distillery of Pappy fame into Bulleit’s new distillery and juice from that facility is starting to get in the mix.

Bottom Line:

This did have that “Ah-ha!” moment. Like I mentioned above, this really hit the spot and stood out thanks to the rye. This is also the bottle that probably varies the most wildly in price, depending on which state you’re buying the stuff in.

Still, no questions: It won the day.

Part 3: Final Thoughts

I really was surprised how well Bulleit hit on this tasting. That being said, the only whiskey that really left me “meh” was Heaven Hill. Which, come on, it’s a ridiculously cheap bottle of bourbon. That considered, it’s perfectly fine as a mixer.

Overall, these whiskeys are all perfectly good — caveat coming — for what they are. You have to manage your expectations, but there’s some real nuance in this price range. And while Bulliet was number one with a bullet, it was the Jim Beam Black that drew me back for an extra dram on Sunday night. It’s hard not to enjoy that note of cherry candy in the depths of February.

Country music star Morgan Wallen made headlines recently when he was caught on video shouting a racist slur. After a night out, Wallen was filmed by a neighbor walking up his driveway, appearing intoxicated and yelling to someone with him, “Take care of this “p****-ass mother******!” followed by “Take care of this p****-ass n*****!”

Wallen faced immediate backlash, with radio stations pulling his music, his record label suspending him, his agency dropping him, and the Academy of Country Music Awards revoking his eligibility for its awards ceremony. Wallen apologized, telling TMZ, “I’m embarrassed and sorry. I used an unacceptable and inappropriate racial slur that I wish I could take back. There are no excuses to use this type of language, ever. I want to sincerely apologize for using the word. I promise to do better.”

However, despite the negative PR, sales of his album began to skyrocket, as a bunch of his fans who don’t have a problem with racial slurs rushed to stick it to “cancel culture” and make their own racism heard. Billboard reported that Wallen’s “Dangerous: The Double Album” sold 25,000 copies in the week ending February 4—an increase of 102%.

Jason Isbell, a fellow country musician who wrote one of the songs on Wallen’s album, shared his own brilliant response to the incident and sales surge on Twitter:

“So…A portion of this money goes to me, since I wrote ‘Cover Me Up.’ I’ve decided to donate everything I’ve made so far from this album to the Nashville chapter of the @NAACP. Thanks for helping out a good cause, folks.”

Now that’s putting your money where your mouth is. Instead of profiting off of racism, Isbell is turning around and putting those profits into supporting anti-racist action.

“Even though he didn’t write a lot, he said a lot in this tweet,” Sheryl Guinn, President of the Nashville branch of the NAACP told News 4 Nashville. “It seems like what he’s saying is I want to support equality. I do not want to support hate.”

Guinn also said that the Wallen incident opens up a conversation that needs to be had.

“We have put a lot of focus on Morgan Wallen specifically,” she said, “but he is a very small part of a much larger problem.”

That larger problem is quite neatly showcased in responses to Wallen’s 5-minute apology video he shared on Instagram, nine days after the incident. Despite Wallen’s acknowledgment that there was no excuse for what he said, in comment after comment, fans defend his use of the n-word, saying that he didn’t do anything wrong.

Wallen, to his credit, tells his followers not to defend him.

“Please don’t,” he says in the video. “I was wrong. It’s on me to take ownership for this and I fully accept any penalties I’m facing. The time of my return is solely on me and the work I put in.”

Wallen explains in the video that who he is in the video is not the man he wants to be, and described some of the steps he’s taking to learn.

“I accepted some invitations from some amazing Black organizations, some executives and leaders, to engage in some very real and honest conversations,” he says. He was nervous to accept the invitations, adding, “They had every right to step on my neck … to not show me any grace, but they did the exact opposite. They offered me grace and also paired that with an offer to learn and grow. … That kindness really inspired me to dig deeper on how to do something about this.”

Part of digging deeper is listening with an ear to understand, and Wallen explained how he’s engaging in that process.

“This week I heard first-hand some personal stories from Black people that honestly shook me, and I know what I’m going through this week doesn’t compare to some of the trials I heard about from them. I came away … with a clearer understanding of the weight of my words.”

One challenging element of this story is that how far behind it feels. It is 2021. We just saw months of protests over racial injustice. The use of the n-word by a non-Black person as a manifestation of racism is not something new. While many are praising Wallen for waking up to the fact that his words and actions matter, for many others it’s further proof that so many white Americans have not been listening to the voices of Black Americans who have been talking about this forever.

Another element worth examining is the role of Wallen’s substance use in the incident. In his video, Wallen shared that he had been on “hour 72 of 72 of a bender,” almost as if that somewhat explained his actions. He’s committing to sobriety, which is an excellent step in the right direction. But being drunk doesn’t make people use racial slurs—it just reveals the racial slurs that are already queued up in someone’s head. The fact that he appears to be speaking from the heart and not reading a pre-canned apology suggests sincerity in his desire to change, but as he himself says, the proof will be in the work he puts in.

Racism is too insidious, too ingrained, and too damaging to be given a pass if we ever hope to eliminate it. Accountability, especially for someone with a platform and an audience, is necessary, and we’re seeing that play out here. People decry “cancel culture,” but how much racism is okay, and what is the appropriate reaction to someone using white supremacist language?

It’s not enough to just say, “Oops, sorry” for racist speech, and Wallen seems to understand this. Now let’s hope he can convince his fans of the same thing.

Unless you’ve been doing something other than sitting in the house, you’re likely aware of singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo’s hit single, “Drivers License.” The 17-year-old — who rose to fame for her role in Disney+’s mouthful of a show High School Musical: The Musical: The Series — released the song at the top of 2021 after months of teasing. Soon after, it made Spotify history as the service’s most-streamed song in 24 hours, and as of press time, it has held the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart for four weeks.

The emotional, piano-heavy pop ballad follows a teen with a fresh driver’s license riding around aiming to forget a lost love. Whether you’re in the newcomer’s target demographic or have experienced the pain of teen heartbreak, Rodrigo’s song hits home in one way or another. Yet outside of “Drivers License” being well-liked and genuinely well-constructed, rumors have been swirling about its possible real-life inspiration.

In what feels like a modern version of the Disney love triangle of 2004, “Drivers License” is said to be inspired by Rodrigo’s experience with her ex and co-star Joshua Bassett. Social media claims that the “blonde” mentioned in the song is Bassett’s alleged new flame, fellow Disney girl Sabrina Carpenter. (Although “Drivers License” reportedly referenced a “brunette” in its early stages.) Shortly after the release of Rodrigo’s song, Bassett and Carpenter released songs of their own, “Lie, Lie, Lie,” and “Skin.” Both have lyrics seemingly alluding to “Drivers License,” with “Skin” featuring the particularly-pointed line “Maybe you didn’t mean it, maybe ‘blonde’ was the only rhyme.” (Carpenter says the lyrics are about several personal affairs.)

Whether Rodrigo’s hit is about the supposed situation or not, she’s certainly made her mark as a songwriter and storyteller. Artists have used their experiences with pain and heartache to write and sell songs for decades, and while real-life drama doesn’t always make songs more popular, it definitely keeps listeners hanging on, especially if it’s a work of art.

Carly Simon says her 1971 hit “You’re So Vain” is about three ex-lovers; while two have never been outed, Simon admits actor Warren Beatty is the subject of the second verse. Fleetwood Mac’s iconic 1977 album Rumours largely deals with Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks’ breakup, especially in “Go Your Own Way” and “Dreams.” Alanis Morrisette’s Grammy-winning breakup anthem, 1995’s “You Oughta Know,” is widely believed to be about her ex-boyfriend, Full House star Dave Coulier. (However, Morissette said in 2020 that the song is a “revenge fantasy.”)

Public interest propels breakup songs like “Drivers License” to new heights. Our sheer preoccupation with celebrity pushes certain heartbreak hits further than others, and depending on the status of the pop star — especially in the 21st century — a breakup song may become must-listen content in order to get “clues” and draw conclusions.

Justin Timberlake’s incessantly rude comments about Britney Spears after their split in 2002 bolstered interest in his debut solo single “Cry Me A River.” Beyoncé references Jay-Z’s infidelity throughout her 2016 opus Lemonade, which the rapper owned up to on his 2017 album, 4:44. Olivia Rodrigo’s idol Taylor Swift has released thinly-veiled tunes about headline-making relationships throughout her career, such as “Forever And Always” (likely about Joe Jonas) and “Dear John” (presumably about John Mayer, who called it “humiliating” and “cheap-songwriting”). All songs and projects faired extremely well both commercially and critically, proving that good music and nosiness are a winning combo.

It’s also important to note that, much like breakups themselves, these songs don’t have to be petty or shady to sell. Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” turns heartache into a disco jam about resilience. The nuanced lyrics in Outkast’s “Ms. Jackson” are overshadowed by the song’s production and duo’s vocal delivery, which make you forget it’s about a breakup. The simplicity of Adele’s reflective “Someone Like You” provides relief in a mature way. Ariana Grande’s “Thank U Next” is an upbeat kiss-off to her old beaus in order to make room for the person she loves most: herself.

Although backstories bring awareness and interest to otherwise private situations, the key reason behind the success of breakup tunes is the catharsis they may provide both the artist and the listener. Sometimes, we need to verbalize our feelings in an effort to move on, and artists bringing vulnerability into their work is clearly therapeutic. While Olivia Rodrigo likely couldn’t have predicted the amount of buzz she’d receive upon the release of “Drivers License,” she certainly did what she set out to do: heal her aching heart and uplift those who have experienced the same pain.

“I totally understand people’s curiosity with the specifics of who the song’s about and what it’s about, but to me, that’s really the least important part of the song,” she said in January. “[‘Drivers License’ is] resonating with people because of how emotional it is…to have this really painful moment in my life, and turn it into something beautiful that can maybe help people through a tough time that they’re having, like I was having a tough time — it’s just so empowering.”

Sad news for Brooklyn Nine-Nine fans. The cop comedy series will end when its eighth and final season wraps up in 2022. For B99 fans keeping track, yes, that’s the eighth season that should’ve been airing now, but has been even further delayed due to pandemic cases rising over the holidays. Brooklyn Nine-Nine was one of several NBCUniversal productions that required an extended hiatus towards the end of 2020 when COVID cases drastically spiked and now, when the show finally returns, it will be for the last time. Showrunner Dan Goor issued the following statement to The Wrap:

“I feel incredibly lucky to have worked with this amazing cast and crew for eight seasons. They are not only among the most talented people in the business, they are all good human beings who have become a family. But most of all, I feel lucky that we have had the best fans in the world. Fans who literally saved us from cancellation. Fans who fill us with joy. Ending the show was a difficult decision, but ultimately, we felt it was the best way to honor the characters, the story and our viewers. I know some people will be disappointed it’s ending so soon, but honestly, I’m grateful it lasted this long. Title of my sex tape.”

Unlike the last time when Brooklyn Nine-Nine was unceremoniously canceled by Fox only to be saved by NBC after a massive fan campaign, this ending is clearly more permanent. However, when Brooklyn Nine-Nine does return for its final 10 episodes, the series promises to tackle the complicated feelings of being a police officer in light of the George Floyd protests. Terry Crews revealed over the summer that the writers literally trashed the scripts for the first four episodes of Season 8 and started from scratch following the Black Lives Matter protests. Nine-Nine stars Andre Braugher and Andy Samberg also made statements about how the show will strive to offer a “realistic” portrayal of the NYPD, so it will be interesting to see how the series juggles making a “morally okay” police comedy in its final stretch.

(Via The Wrap)

It’s been less than a year since Victoria Monét released her stunning album Jaguar and she has a baby due in just a few weeks, but that’s not stopping the singer from releasing new music. Earlier this month, Monét shared the sultry track “F.*.C.K.” and now, she’s followed up the single with a cinematic video.

Directed by Kee Hwang, Monét’s “F.*.C.K.” video is a modern take on a western film. Monét plays the part of cowgirl on the run, riding into a dusty town and passing wanted posters plastered with her face. A barkeeper recognizes Monét as she walks in and immediately phones a bounty hunter. But to the bounty hunter’s surprise, the barkeeper is actually in on Monét’s plan. The two team up to take his money before riding into the night as newly rich women.

Alongside the single’s release, Monét explained her intended meaning behind the track: “‘F.*.C.K.’ is a nod to the millennial and gen Z mindset. We do not have to be confined to traditional commitment ideals, and instead, embody the freedom to be intimate when and with whom we mutually, please! I wanted to give that non-binding friendship intimacy an official name…the way we see it, if you’re never in a relationship, you technically can never break up. It’s forever fun, it’s playful, it happens. So…F.*.C.K. it!”

Watch Monét’s “F.*.C.K” video above.

QAnon-loving Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) recently lost her committee seats after spreading all sorts of conspiracy theories and spouting dangerous enough conspiracy theories that even Sean Hannity distanced himself from her wackiness, which included claims that “Jewish space lasers” were to blame for California wildfires. Don’t worry though, because Greene will still (like it or not) make headlines, which is exactly what’s happening at the Daily Mail.

Mind you, this is one juicy headline: “EXCLUSIVE: Embattled QAnon congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene ‘openly cheated’ on her husband of 25 years with a polyamorous tantric sex guru and then moved on to another affair with the manager at her gym.”

The headline nails the gist of this mess, and there are photos at the source of the “tantric sex guru” in question, Craig Ivey (who does have an Instagram page, if you dare), and fitness gym manager Justin Tway. Reportedly, these affairs haven’t hurt Marjorie’s marital relationship too much because there’s no traceable divorce proceedings there, but Marjorie (who is described as a “fitness finatic”) previously worked at this gym, and the reactions here are interesting:

Neither man denied the affairs when approached by DailyMail.com.

Craig Ivey, the tantric sex practitioner, said: ‘I will not respond to anything about this,’ while the other man, Justin Tway, said: ‘I have no interest in talking about anything to do with that woman. Everything with her comes to no good.’

But others say the new representative from Georgia’s 14th Congressional District was brazen about her affairs which she carried on a decade ago while working in gyms in Alpharetta, Georgia, some 35 miles north of Atlanta.

Normally, it might not be worth writing about this story without Greene weighing in with a response, but oh, she definitely responded:

In response to DailyMail.com’s request for comment, Taylor Greene called the story ‘ridiculous tabloid garbage spread by an avowed Communist,’ and ‘another attempt to smear my name because I’m the biggest threat to the Democrats’ Socialist agenda.’

There’s a lot of gossipy hearsay at the Daily Mail article, and lots of accounts detailing how there are plenty of times that Marjorie was seen in a car with Craig, etc., who allegedly would often say that “he had things to do with Marjorie” when people would ask him to socialize. Who really knows whether this story is true or false? Still, it seems like a good time to post Marjorie’s gym-shutdown-protest video from last year, when she was outraged about closed CrossFit facilities in D.C., so she decided to share her hotel room workout. Take that, “Democrat tyrannical control!”

(Via Daily Mail)

Seth Curry has always, to use a very technical term, been able to shoot the ever-loving sh*t out of the basketball. He is a Curry, after all, and dating back to his college days — first at Liberty, then at Duke — shooting has been the prominent tool in his aresenal. Even though he went undrafted and had to work his way through the G League, it seemed like a safe bet that Curry’s sheer gravity as a shooter would get him a look somewhere.

It took him a few years of bouncing around — he’d never stayed in one place for more than one year — but last season, Curry signed the first lengthy contract of his career when he put pen to paper on a four-year deal with the Dallas Mavericks. Even with his gaudy stats, averaging 12.4 points per game and connecting on 45.2 percent of his triples in 64 games with 25 starts, Curry yet again found himself on the move this offseason. Dallas, in an attempt to shore up its defense, and Philadelphia, desperate for some shooting, agreed to a Curry-for-Josh Richardson swap that made sense for both sides, even if the general sentiment is that Richardson is a better player on the whole in a vaccum.

That last thing was what made the trade so interesting from the Sixers’ perspective. Richardson never quite fit in alongside his trio of big-money teammates in Philly (Joel Embiid, Tobias Harris, Ben Simmons) and their major free agent signing that summer (the likewise-jettisoned Al Horford). But he is still a good player, and if someone wanted to take a more macro perspective of this deal, it theoretically could serve as an interesting data point in the value of fit vs. the value of talent.

So far, the returns have been quite good for Philly. Just looking at lineups that feature Embiid, Harris, Simmons, and Curry/Richardson, via Cleaning the Glass, two things stick out. The first: The Sixers’ offense went from really bad at scoring last year (106.9 points per 100 possessions with an effective field goal percentage of 51.2 percent, good for the 21st and 23rd percentile, respectively, of lineups) to incredibly good at it this year (125.1 and 62.1 percent, respectively, both in the 99th percentile). There are obviously other mitigating factors — for example, the most-used lineup with that quartet last year also included Horford, while this year, he’s been replaced with Danny Green, giving the team more floor spacing and off-ball movement — but the general sentiment of “Curry has played a major role in transforming the Sixers’ offense” is not off-base.

We’ll dive into him, specifically, more, but the thing I find particularly interesting is this second point. Curry is a worse defender than Richardson. Green is a different defender than Horford. The entire idea behind last year’s Sixers was to be bigger and stronger and nastier than other teams on defense, and have that carry the team through offensive slights. And despite this, the lineups with Embiid, Harris, Simmons and Curry have not experienced a gigantic drop-off compared to when Richardson was plugged in. Last year: 102 points per 100 possessions, 50.6 effective field goal percentage allowed. This year: 103.2, 51.6 percent. Their turnover percentage is slightly up even if it is in the same ballpark (11.9 percent last year, 13.9 percent this year), same for their offensive rebounding percentage (19.7 percent up to 20.1 percent). Their free throw numbers, again, are fairly similar — a 16.6 free throw rate last year, up to a 17.8 free throw rate this year.

Basically, Philly could afford to surround Embiid and Simmons with shooting, bolstering their offense and giving those two (particularly Embiid, an MVP frontrunner) space to work because it is extremely hard to be bad on defense when your basketball team has Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons on it. Besides, it’s not as though the Sixers added guys who are completely incapable on that end. Green is a solid defender, Harris has size, length, and is active (three things that help you get by on that side of the ball even if you’re not exactly Gary Payton), and Curry is good at using his inherent high hoops IQ as a Curry to his advantage.

Among their starting five, Green has given them good shooting (36.2 percent), while Harris is hitting triples at a career-best clip (43.8 percent). Curry, though, is torching teams with his ability to hit from downtown. He’s connecting on 50.7 percent of his triples, the best mark in the league. Funny enough, a higher percentage of his field goal attempts are from two (52.8 percent of them) than from three, and he’s hitting half of them, as well. He doesn’t get to the free throw line a ton, but when he does, he does not miss. Curry is, much like a revered ESPN docuseries, 30-for-30 from the charity stripe this season.

Philly is doing a phenomenal job of getting Curry the easiest sorts of looks, and he is doing an even better job knocking them down. He’s getting just a tick under three catch-and-shoot triples a game, which makes up about a third of his shot profile, per NBA.com’s stats site. He’s hitting 57.7 percent of them. On triples classified as “open” (nearest defender is 4-6 feet away) or “wide open” (6+ feet away), he’s hit 53 percent of his attempts. These make up 41.5 percent of the shots he takes. My favorite Curry number: He has been ridiculous on corner threes, where he’s not shooting a ton (a little more than 21 percent of his three-point attempts are in the corner) but he is connecting on 81.3 percent of those looks from the corner.

It helps that Doc Rivers has realized that keeping Curry on the floor alongside Embiid and Simmons would make everyone a little better. It’s easier for Embiid to set up shop inside the three-point line when Curry is there to space the floor, and Simmons has more room to work when the person defending Curry is unable to help off of him. Curry, meanwhile, obviously benefits from playing alongside the best or second-best center in the league (Nuggets and Sixers fans, debate among yourselves) and a 6’11 point guard who can see any sliver of light and pick a pass.

Cleaning the Glass indicates that Curry has played 1,038 possessions this season. Of those, 54 have come with both Embiid and Simmons off the floor, 152 have come while Simmons is resting, and 191 are sans Embiid. In the least shocking thing you will ever read, the numbers back up the benefit of having Curry out there with them:

Here’s a pair of very simple examples of how Curry helps both of them out. Starting with Embiid, look at this moment against the Kings from earlier this week. The big man has the ball in the corner with Curry standing just above the break. Embiid puts the ball on the deck and Buddy Hield, despite looking directly at Embiid, decides it’s not worth trying to slide down to poke the ball away, because doing so would leave Curry wide open. While Harrison Barnes eventually helps from the weakside, letting Joel Embiid get into the paint unperturbed is a really good way to let the Philadelphia 76ers score two points. This is exactly what happens.

With Simmons, here’s a moment of him and Curry working on a two-man game from the same tilt against the Kings. Simmons gets the ball on the block against Barnes and begins to back him down, but springs out to the perimeter, dumps the ball to Curry, and sets a screen on De’Aaron Fox. Barnes can’t get out there quick enough, and the combination of Simmons’ hoops IQ and Curry’s savvy and quick release gets three-points for the Sixers.

Curry and Simmons forming a fun little pick-and-then do something game isn’t a big surprise — Simmons as a screener and Curry running off of it creates quite the pick your poison scenario. Give Curry any space at all and the above is going to happen, give him too much respect and you’re running the risk of this happening.

A basketball team going from where Philly was last year — listless, stuck in the mud, extremely injured, etc. — to where it is now doesn’t happen because one player came in and did one thing. It’s a collection of things piled on top of one another paying off in the form of better basketball. The Sixers went through, more or less, a top-down reshuffling, with changes to the front office, coaching staff, and roster. Curry is merely one of a number of changes that have gotten them to this point, but having said that, a whole lot of NBA teams make changes every offseason, and not all of them work, not by a longshot.

Adding Curry, though, has paid off in a big way for Philadelphia. Things just make more sense for them when he is on the floor, in large part because he has reciprocated their faith in his ability to make life easier on Embiid and Simmons by knocking down shots at a torrid rate. Perhaps it will fall off a bit — hitting 81.3 percent of his corner threes is gonna be hard to keep up! — but at the very least, any falling off he might suffer would merely take him from “potentially historic shooting season” to “remarkably good shooting season.” The Sixers would, assuredly, be happy with that.

Valentine’s Day is this weekend, but it’s probably going to be a different sort of day this time around than it was last year. Thanks to the pandemic, getting a table at a fancy restaurant may not be as easy or possible as it was in 2020. Still, the show must go on, and Cardi B has offered some Valentine’s help by laying out her personal gift-giving policy.

Cardi insisted that in a relationship between a man and woman, the men should get a Valentine’s gift, but it has to be cheaper than what the woman was given. Cardi then gave a hilarious example. She wrote, “Yes ! Men do deserve to get gift as well for Valentine’s Day,but the gift have to be less expensive then the girls gift . Soo if he buys you flowers you buy him grass.”

It turns out that Cardi actually has a number of gift-related policies. Back in 2017, she tweeted, “I’m not giving NO ADULTS NO Christmas gift.” That’s a view she apparently still holds, as she reiterated this past December, “I know I said this before …But I don’t buy adults Christmas gifts.ONLY THE KIDS!” She does think that women should treat their men with gifts at least annually, though, as she wrote in December, “You gotta atleast give a gift one time a year.You have Nikkas paying bills,shopping for you ,expensive birkins,diamonds,cars like it’s only right.Plus I always go crazy wut gifts tho.”

Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The cast for HBO’s House of the Dragon is coming together. Variety reports that Steve Toussaint, Rhys Ifans, Eve Best, and Sonoya Mizuno have joined the Game of Thrones prequel series, which is expected to debut next year. Mizuno, best known for her performances as Oscar Isaac’s dancing parter in Ex Machina and Lily Chan in FX’s Devs, will play a character named Mysaria, who “came to Westeros with nothing, sold more times than she can recall. She could have wilted… but instead she rose to become the most trusted — and most unlikely — ally of Prince Daemon Targaryen, the heir to the throne.” Matt Smith was previously announced to play Prince Daemon.

As for the rest: Toussaint was cast as Lord Corlys Velaryon, the “Sea Snake” who “built his house into a powerful seat that is even richer than the Lannisters and that claims the largest navy in the world,” Ifans will play Otto Hightower, who “loyally and faithfully serves both his king and his realm” as the Hand of the King,” and lastly, Best will appear as Princess Rhaenys Velaryo, a dragonrider who “was passed over as heir to the throne at the Great Council because the realm favored her cousin, Viserys, simply for being male.” It’s good to have casting descriptions with the word “dragon” in them again.

House of the Dragon will begin filming in April.

(Via Variety)

For 25 years, record label Jagjaguwar has been a home for venerable indie artists like Angel Olsen, Sharon Van Etten, and Bon Iver. So to celebrate their quarter-century birthday, the label has tapped several musicians and artists — both on and off their roster — to collaborate for a special year-long anniversary project.

Titled Jag25, the initiative will arrive in the form of four separate Jag Quarterly releases. The label describes each Jag Quarterly issue as “collections of music, creative endeavors and partnerships that span physical mediums.” Some of the artists who have signed onto the project include Bon Iver, Sharon Van Etten, Gia Margaret, and Moses Sumney.

Jagjaguwar released a preview of the inaugural project, Dilate Your Heart, on Friday with “Catalog Of Unabashed Gratitude.” The 14-minute track features a spoken word poem by Ross Gay over ambient music by Bon Iver. Along with Dilate Your Heart, each of the four mixes are titled after mantras from the label’s past: This Is A Mindfulness Drill, Join The Ritual and Jagjaguwar’s original motto, Sentimental Noise.

Listen to “Catalog Of Unabashed Gratitude” above and find the Dilate Your Heart cover art and tracklist below.

1. “Catalog Of Unabashed Gratitude” Feat. Bon Iver
2. “Burial” Feat. Mary Lattimore
3. “To The Fig Tree On 9th & Christian” Feat. Angel Bat Dawid
4. “Poem To My Child, If Ever You Shall Be” Feat. Gia Margaret
5. “Sorrow Is Not My Name” Feat. Sam Gendel

Dilate Your Heart is out 3/26 via Jagjaguwar. Pre-order it here.