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When it comes to the greatest scoring performances in NBA history, two names stand head and shoulders above the rest. The first is Wilt Chamberlain, whose 100-point outburst might never be replicated in our lifetime. The second, of course, is Kobe Bryant, whose 81-point explosion against the Raptors will go down as one of the centerpieces of a career decorated by so many legendary moments.

Friday marks the 15th anniversary of Kobe’s 81 points, made all the more bittersweet by the fact that it now comes just a few short days before the one-year anniversary of his tragic death, along with his daughter Gigi and several others, in a helicopter crash near Los Angeles.

To help celebrate the second-greatest individual scoring performance ever, who better to turn to than the man who was on the receiving end of most of those points, Jalen Rose. Thankfully, Rose has developed a healthy perspective on it over the years, saying on several occasions that he’s simply honored to have been a part of history and grateful for the friendship that was eventually forged between the two competitors.

Earlier in the video, Rose describes Kobe’s demeanor on that fateful night, as he’s done many times before, saying that Kobe was a silent assassin and didn’t engage in any trash talking or chest thumping as he went about his business of eviscerating the Raptors defense.

The entire interview is well worth the listen, as Rose talks about his friendship with Kobe over the years, starting with the very first pick-up games they played together after the Lakers first drafted him as a wily teenager and what it was like being young and trying to carve their way amidst the glitz and glamour of the NBA.

Credit to Rose for his ongoing celebration of Kobe’s accomplishment, despite being at his own expense. The way he’s embraced it over the years says a lot about his character and helps neutralize the sting he might normally feel if it were something that still got under his skin. Instead, he gets to partake in the joy of one of the greatest moments of an NBA legend who is gone far too soon.

Just before Trump left office, he pardoned or commuted 143 prison sentences. A handful of musicians were on Trump’s list, including Kodak Black and Lil Wayne. But thanks to the lobbying efforts of Snoop Dogg, Death Row Records’ co-founder Michael “Harry-O” Harris was also pardoned by the former president. Harris was released from prison this week and he had a heartwarming reunion with Snoop.

Celebrating Harris’ release, Snoop shared a heartwarming photo of the two back together. Along with thanking Trump, Snoop wrote: “Welcome home big o. Bossangelos boss bac home wit da dogg.”

Ahead of their official reunion, Snoop shared his appreciation of Trump’s pardon in a statement to The New York Post. “That’s great work for the president and his team on the way out,” he said. “They did some great work while they was in there and they did some great work on their way out. Let them know that I love what they did.” Along with praising the administration, Snoop also gave a friendly shout-out to activists Alice Johnson and Weldon Angelos, who he first contacted about Harry-O’s pardon.

Check out Snoop and Harris’ reunion above.

Kodak Black is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Marcus Smart is a master in the dark arts of the grift. It’s a sound strategy on his part because officials oftentimes fall for it, but earlier this week, it got him in some hot water when he accused Joel Embiid of flailing on the floor. No, he didn’t get in trouble, but Embiid straight up could not believe that Marcus Smart, of all people, would make that accusation.

The two sides faced off again on Friday night in the City of Brotherly Love, and in the first quarter of the game, Smart tried to get back at Embiid by embellishing a little contact in a big, big way. It did not work, but Embiid seemed to remember Smart’s accusation, as he took a half-second before pushing the ball up the floor to acknowledge what happened.

Then, in one of the funniest moments of the season, the Celtics called a timeout and the two met up at midcourt, wrapping their arms around one another and talking things through.

Listen, I watch a lot of sports, and I can safely say I have never seen two basketball players have this sort of very pleasant, very cordial conversation after one guy accused the other guy of flopping, then the other guy said he’s being a hypocrite, and then when they played again two days later, the guy who made the accusation flops this blatantly in the first quarter of a game. Yes that is a hyper-specific scenario, but hey, at least Embiid and Smart made it come to fruition and it was very funny.

Basically everything involving the MyPillow Guy, Mike Lindell, is weird these days. Lindell, who spent Donald Trump’s last Friday in office potentially plotting a last-minute attempt to somehow keep Donald Trump in power, has gone off the deep end into wild voter fraud conspiracy theories that have put him in the crosshairs of a lawsuit. But apparently the fervent Trump supporter has a very different lawsuit in mind thanks to another strange story from earlier in the week.

Amid the stories about MyPillow losing deals with various retailers over the embarrassing antics of Lindell was a report from the Daily Mail claiming that Lindell was involved in a secret relationship with 30 Rock and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt actress Jane Krakowski. The logistics of that all seemed pretty strange, as did the actual pairing of a die-hard Trump supporter and an actress who has not professed that the 2020 presidential election was stolen by a cabal of conspirators working in perfect harmony against Trump.

Fittingly, Lindell denied the relationship’s existence. And now according to a report, he’d like to sue the paper who claimed the relationship existed. According to the Daily Beast, Lindell claimed he has contacted a prominent media attorney and will sue the Daily Mail for the “hit piece” on the nonexistent relationship.

“Charles Harder is the attorney,” Lindell confirmed in a brief interview on Friday evening. “I never met this lady in my life and have never been to West Village and the Hamptons, where they said I was in the hit piece.”

Lindell added: “They’ve done so much damage to my reputation… I’m not just going for a demand letter or a retraction, I want to go after them with a lawsuit because they have damaged my integrity as a Christian and my network to help addicts everywhere.” He said that he has already discussed this with Harder, who he’s just retained, and said that the lawyer was working on the legal paperwork.

Lindell said he believed the Mail story to be another “hit job” that was written because he “won’t let up on the…machine election fraud,” regarding the Trump-Biden presidential election.

Harder is known for a number of lawsuits, most notable a successful one representing Hulk Hogan in a lawsuit against the website Gawker. Lindell has claimed many things in recent months, almost none of them true, so we’ll have to wait and see if he’s serious about his lawsuit or not. But despite a report about the “passionate” affair that was called an “open secret” in the West Village of Manhattan, both parties seem intent to deny it ever happened. And Lindell seems willing to go to court to protect his “integrity as a Christian.”

[via The Daily Beast]

The defending champion Los Angeles Lakers have to be feeling pretty good about things at the moment. At 12-4 on the season, they currently hold the best record in the NBA, and they’ve won eight out of their last 12 games. All the while, LeBron James, at age 36, continues to build a strong case as a leading MVP candidate.

In fact, things have been going so well that you might be forgiven for not noticing the way Anthony Davis has struggled of late — according to his own lofty standards. Davis has been held under 20 points in the last five contests, which marks his lowest-scoring stretch since joining the Lakers. He’s also shot below 40 percent from the field in those games and a paltry 63 percent from the free throw line.

His comments came on the heels of a win over the Bucks on Thursday night, during which he shot 8-for-18 from the field and converted just two of his five foul shots. When speaking to reporters after the game, Davis didn’t pull any punches about his performances in recent outings.

Via Dave McMenamin of ESPN:

“Right now, to be hard on myself, man, I think I suck right now,” Davis said after finishing with 18 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 blocks. “I’m not making shots. I’m not making free throws. But I think tonight my aggressiveness, just being a [post-up threat] and getting to the paint, allowed guys to get open.”

Still, that self-assessment undersells the impact of his play-making, as he assisted on three crunch-time three-pointers to help seal the victory against Milwaukee. In general, this mostly serves to put the rest of the league on notice. If the Lakers are playing this well with Davis logging subpar stats, it’s a scary thought how good they can be when Davis is playing at his peak.

(ESPN)

Sports fans have grown used to bad news when it comes to streaming services in recent years, but word that NBCSN is getting the axe in 2021 still came as a shock on Friday. The network, which grew from Outdoor Life Network and became a hub for watching the NHL, English Premiere League soccer, and NASCAR was an important part of watching sports in America.

But according to multiple reports, NBCSN will be scuttled amid a reshuffling of NBC properties, putting NHL and other live broadcasts on USA Network as the company reevaluates how it does live sports. The news made many wonder how much the decision was made because of a number of factors, including the impending cancelation of the Tokyo Olympics. But a report from Kevin Draper of the New York Times offered some new insight into the decision. Namely, that the network was both profitable and popular when NBC decided it would be taken off the air.

NBCSN is still quite popular and generates plenty of revenue. It was the second most viewed cable sports channel in 2020, behind only ESPN and ahead of FS1 and ESPN2. The channel is available in 76.6 million homes, each of which pays 42 cents per month for it, according to Kagan, a media research group within S&P Global Market Intelligence. That means NBCSN is on track to earn more than $380 million in revenue this year, even before advertising is taken into account.

In other words, NBCSN wasn’t dragging down the company’s bottom line, which means changes were not made because it was not working. By comparison, it was doing a better job than every other sports network not named ESPN. Which means it’s likely many sports fans’ worst fears were behind the move: NBC merely wanted to prop up its Peacock streaming service with more live sports, as well as save some money on other networks by jettisoning broadcasts to places like USA Network instead of operating a dedicated sports channel.

It’s worth noting that the Times obtained an internal memo about the decision, and nowhere mentioned in that was where the glut of Olympic broadcasts will go if the still-scheduled games actually happen. But as the coronavirus pandemic continues and the likelihood of that event being staged decreasing by the day, it seems that NBC made a move assuming the Olympics won’t happen and people will continue to move their attention to a streaming service where episodes of The Office and EPL soccer can hang out behind various paywalls.

[via The New York Times]

By now you’ve probably seen over a thousand iterations of the Bernie Sanders inauguration meme. This is easily the biggest meme to hit the internet in 2021. It’s so widespread that I’ve even received a text from my mom about it, and there is no way she knows what a meme is.

The image of a supremely comfortable Bernie Sanders sitting cross-legged in a fold-out chair wearing a jacket he’s definitely owned for over a decade and heavy (sustainably sourced and locally made!) mittens is an image that will probably continue to register in the cultural zeitgeist for a long time. But what all Bernie memes carry weight online, this is the first one to get so big that there’s official merch.

That’s right, the Bernie meme is now a sweatshirt. An official sweatshirt — which means there are definitely already bootlegs — sold by the Bernie Sanders campaign in an effort to raise funds for Meals on Wheels Vermont. The $45 crewneck runs from sizes small to 2X and features the now-famous image screen printed on a charcoal grey base. 100% of the proceeds go directly towards Meals on Wheels Vermont and the sweatshirt sports combed ring-spun organic cotton fleece, made in the USA, and Union printed, which is just so Bernie.

Right now the sweaters are so back-ordered that they won’t ship out for at least 4-8 weeks, which will hopefully give Bernie’s people enough time for a stock replenishment. Otherwise, these sweaters are definitely going to end up on aftermarket sites like StockX or eBay for an exorbitant price.

Some festivals like Governors Ball are holding on to hope that large gatherings will be possible by September, but concert dates before the fall seem unlikely. It looks like Halsey agrees as she’s decided to officially cancel her Manic World Tour, which was slated to kick off in June.

The singer took to social media to share the news, saying she “dreams” of being together with fans in the near future:

“Despite our absolute best efforts, there is no guarantee I’ll be able to tour the currently scheduled dates. I miss seeing all of you in the crowd every night more than anything, but I need to prioritize your health and safety. That being said, the Manic tour is now officially cancelled. As much as we wanted to hold out hope that this tour could eventually happen, our priority is now getting your ticket money back to you immediately. […] This tour was supposed to be my most unique yet for a number of reasons. I was really looking forward to sharing this chapter of my life with you in the ways I best know how. But for now, I am dreaming of days where we can all be together again. I love you and we will adapt and grow and find new ways to connect despite the circumstances.”

Read Halsey’s full message above.

Manic is out now via Capitol. Get it here.

The penicillin is a modern classic. The mix of scotch, honey, ginger, and lemon also really hits well this time of year, with the snow falling and the air icy cold. Think of it this way, the penicillin is kind of like an ice-cold hot toddy. It’s medicinal at its core with all that honey, ginger, and lemon, while still feeling like a well-rounded professional-level cocktail.

There are two key elements at play with this cocktail. One is the whisky. The base of the cocktail is a blended scotch, usually a sweeter one. Then, there’s a smoky or peated scotch float that goes over the cocktail at the end. It adds this really vibrant opening to the drink that soon fades into the sweeter flavors that define the rest of the cocktail.

The second element is the honey-ginger syrup (we’ll explain how to make it below — but it’s easy, don’t worry). The marrying of fresh ginger to the honey cannot be skipped. It adds this sharply spicy yet sweetly honeyed depth to the cocktail that helps it really pop.

Besides that, this is a pretty straightforward shaker. You don’t need much to make it in your kitchen either. If you don’t have a cocktail shaker, just use a jar with a lid.

Let’s get shaking!

Penicillin

Ingredients:

• 2-oz. blended Scotch whisky
• 0.75-oz. honey-ginger syrup (see recipe below)
• 0.75-oz. fresh lemon juice
• 0.5-oz. peated Scotch whisky
• Lemon peel
• Ice

I’m using Johnnie Walker Black because that’s the blended scotch that I find matches best with the peaty scotch I’m using for the float. For that bit, I’m using Lagavulin Distiller’s Edition — a subtly smoky scotch that I feel will really shine with this drink’s sharpness and sweetness.

What You’ll Need:

• Rocks glass
• Shaker
• Strainer
• Knife
• Barspoon
• Juicer
• Sieve
• Small pot
• Box grater
• Tupperware
• Small bottle

For the honey-ginger syrup:

Ideally, you’re going to need to make this at least one day ahead of time. It needs to steep overnight to really allow the ginger to infuse into the honey syrup. All told, you’ll have enough to make plenty of cocktails, hot toddies, and honey-ginger lemonades for a week or two.

• Add 1 cup water and 1 cup honey to a small pan.
• Grate a 4-inch piece of ginger and add it to the pan.
• Bring to a low simmer while stirring occasionally for five minutes.
• Pour the syrup into a jar or Tupperware, cool in the fridge overnight.
• The next day, run the syrup through a sieve (making sure to press down on the ginger to get all those juices) and into a waiting bottle.

Method:

• Fill a rocks glass with ice.
• Add the blended scotch, lemon juice, and syrup to the shaker.
• Top with ice, secure lid, and shake vigorously until the outside of the shaker is frosted over.
• Strain the cocktail into the waiting rocks glass over the ice.
• Float the smoky whisky over the cocktail.*
• Spritz the oils from the lemon peel over the drink, rub the peel around the glass, and then drop the peel in as a garnish.
• Serve.

* I generally eyeball this pour. I hold a bar spoon over the cocktail so that the bowl of the spoon is facing down. I then gently pour a little bit of whisky on the back of the spoon. It should rest the whisky nicely on top of the cocktail.

Bottom Line:

I could drink about five of these, if that’s what a cold winter’s day demanded of me. The beauty of this drink is that moment of smoky whisky cut with lemon oils that greets you but quickly fades into the sharpness of the ginger and velvet of the honey.

By the second half of the drink, you’re getting plenty of malty whisky notes with a real lemon brightness. The ginger and honey never really fades, holding the center of the drink the whole time. The end has a distant echo of the smoky whisky, adding a nice dimension to the overall experience.

This is a wintry winner and is going to stay in the rotation for the next couple of months.

Apple and Brie do go quite well together, which perhaps is why Brie Larson signing on for an Apple TV drama makes so much sense. The Captain Marvel actress has reportedly signed on to star in Lessons In Chemistry for the streaming service.

Variety reported Friday that Larson would take the lead role and serve as executive producer in the project, which will go straight to series on Apply TV drama from Susannah Grant, who got an Oscar nomination for Erin Brockovich. The period piece actually does have a culinary angle to it, but also looks to be a series Apple has high hopes for given the casting.

The series is based on the upcoming debut novel from author, science editor, and copywriter Bonnie Garmus. Set in the early 1960s, “Lessons in Chemistry” follows Elizabeth Zott (Larson), whose dream of being a scientist is put on hold in a society deeming that women belong in the domestic sphere, not the professional one. When Elizabeth finds herself pregnant, alone and fired from her lab, she musters the ingenuity only a single mother has. She accepts a job as a host on a TV cooking show, and sets out to teach a nation of overlooked housewives – and the men who are suddenly listening – a lot more than recipes, all the while craving a return to her true love: science.

While there are plenty of Brie and Apple puns to be made here, the news is significant for the streaming service. It comes the same day another Variety report cited a study that claimed a large number of Apple TV subscribers are getting the service through various free programs. That certainly makes sense, at least anecdotally, given how many people got a year free of Apple TV+ with a new phone purchase since the service launched.

Turning those into people actually paying to watch Season 2 of Ted Lasso is certainly a project the company is working on if those numbers are to be believed, but perhaps adding Larson to the streaming stew is a step in the right direction.

[via Variety]