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The Indiana Pacers and the Miami Heat will square off in the 4-5 series in the Eastern Conference, and for those who enjoy watching basketball teams who seem to relish the opportunity to get into brawls, this series is a godsend. Miami and Indiana are two tough, nasty squads, and even if they go about scoring points in different ways, both take pride in their ability to defend and their commitment to never backing down. There’s also the whole Jimmy Butler-T.J. Warren thing, which seems like the sort of beef that could bubble over in a playoff series.

The series between these two squads tips off on Tuesday afternoon, with Game 1 beginning at 4 p.m. EST on TNT. Before that begins, though, we identified a pair of areas — one for each team — that should determine which team is able to come out on top.

Indiana Pacers: Will they be able to make twos?

One thing that Indiana really loves to do is take a whole lot of twos. No team in the league has made more twos than Indiana, only two teams (the Spurs, coached by someone who hate threes, and the Knicks, a team of power forwards) have attempted more, and while they’re 11th in two-point field goal percentage (52.9 percent), the sheer volume they’ve taken means that no team has scored more points via twos than Nate McMillan’s bunch.

The issues with this are twofold. One is that Domantas Sabonis is out, and he is capable of just cooking dudes from inside the three-point line. Sabonis attempted 12.6 twos for the team per game and connected on 56.5 percent of them — the only other players who attempt at least 12 twos a game and connect on at least 56 percent of them this season are the two MVP favorites (Giannis Antetokounmpo, LeBron James), the Sixth Man of the Year favorite (Montrezl Harrell), and Zion Williamson.

The other issue is that Miami does not let teams take twos. Funny enough, they mirror the Pacers pretty nicely: Third in the league in two-pointers allowed and first in two-pointers attempted on defense. Despite being 15th in two-point field goal percentage allowed, they give up so few attempts that only Toronto and Milwaukee have allowed opposing teams to score fewer points from inside the arc.

Indiana’s offense banks on taking and making twos. No team attempts fewer threes, and it will be interesting to see if McMillan switches things up and tells his guys to let it fly if Miami’s interior defense puts the clamps on them. It will be a legitimate war inside the arc, though, and the Pacers really need to make sure they win it.

Miami Heat: Can they continue to crack the Pacers’ three-point defense?

Teams don’t hit a whole lot of threes against the Pacers. On the year, teams are connecting on 34.1 percent of their triples against the squad from Nap Town, the fourth-lowest mark in the entire league. There aren’t many teams in the league that take more pride in what they can do on the defensive end of the floor than Indiana, and over the course of the entire season, they’ve been absolute hell to score against — they’re sixth in the NBA in defensive rating, with the only squads ahead of them being the ones that you normally think of when you talk about the league’s elite defensive unites.

Their opponents in the first round, however, are one of the team’s elite three-point shooting units. Miami loves to let it fly and is outstanding at hitting from deep, coming in ninth in the league in three-point attempts and second in three-point field goal percentage at 37.9 percent. Their best player, Jimmy Butler, has shot the ball terribly from deep, but unlike his previous situation in Philly, the Heat have realized this isn’t a huge deal as long as you surround him with marksmen. As a result, the team has four players in their rotation who connect on at least 40 percent of their threes and a collection of extremely capable shooters beyond them.

Miami built a team where there are so many options to get hot that someone is inevitably going to have a good shooting game most of the time. Indiana is quite good at not allowing that to happen, although in the three games that they played against Miami this year outside of their seeding game finale in the Bubble, the Heat connected on 38.7 percent of their triples, with Duncan Robinson (14-for-31, 45.2 percent) especially getting hot from deep. Unsurprisingly, Miami went 3-0 in those games.

The Heat are the favorites to win this series, in large part due to their ability to get scorching hot (no pun intended) from deep. Indiana will do everything it can to take that way. If Miami’s shots fall, that will not matter.

Phoebe Bridgers (who celebrated her 26th birthday yesterday) was forced to get creative with performing during the pandemic, and she did so with a “world tour” that consisted of performances from various “venues” around her home. She actually managed to sneak in an in-person performance right before the coronavirus shut everything down.

She participated Versus Creative‘s “50on50” series, which has performers play for small audiences in large venues. Bridgers played her show at a mostly empty Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in March, performing “ICU” and “Halloween.”

Nate Auerbach, partner at Versus Creative and co-producer of 50on50 with the LA Memorial Coliseum, told The Fader, “For 50on50, we aim to work with artists who we feel should be playing stadiums. As an LA native, Phoebe Bridgers is the kind of artist that we want to see perform a hometown show for a packed Coliseum someday. I could not think of a better artist to launch this new series with us. We were so lucky to have filmed this right before everything locked down. For the people there, it was their first time hearing Phoebe’s new music, and probably their last time seeing a live show for a very long time.”

Watch Bridgers’ performance above.

Disney’s Mulan remake always faced a few challenges — lack of musical numbers, no Mushu, and pushback from the same crowd who gave Captain Marvel poor reviews before watching — long before it transformed from what was designed to be a late-March blockbuster. The film’s now set as a Disney+ premier access streaming release (on September 4 at a $29.99 price point). That decision led to furious theater owners angry about losing out on future revenue in the U.S. (although the movie will play in select global locations), and now, some older controversy has come back again.

The fuss is actually a resurrected fuss after the film’s star, Liu Yifel, angered pro-Democracy protesters in Hong Kong by voicing support for police. “I support the Hong Kong police, you all can beat me up now,” Yifel reportedly stated. Although the protest talk quieted down when Mulan was postponed indefinitely, news of its imminent release on streaming dovetailed with the fourth arrest (for violations of the vague, recently enacted National Security Law) of a popular pro-Democracy activist, Agnes Chow, who’s beloved by much of the Chinese public at large.

In the wake of her arrest, the New York Times quotes Chow (who has since been released without booking) as saying, “Of the four times I’ve been arrested, this is the most terrifying.” And in turn, supporters of Chow have adopted a certain line from the film’s trailer, in which Hua Mulan rejects the traditional path of marriage to step into her father’s shoes as a warrior and “bring honor to us all.” Tweets like this one also assert that Agnes Chow is “the real Mulan.”

You can see more tweets to that effect here, there, and over yonder. Whether this growing response will have an effect on Mulan‘s planned Chinese theatrical release, only time will tell, but an even bigger question remains: can a $29.99 streaming price salvage the Mulan reboot from its long uphill battle? We’re about to find out.

Angel Olsen delivered the shimmering and immaculately-produced album All Mirrors last year. For the album, the singer turned her sound up a notch, replacing an acoustic guitar with synths and keyboards. Now, Olsen is pivoting back to her back catalog with her upcoming record Whole New Mess. After announcing the album with the title track, Olsen offers another glimpse of the project with the vulnerable “Waving, Smiling.”

Armed with just her guitar and lilting vocals, Olsen croons a reflection on coming to terms with the end of a relationship. The singer has mourned and cried over the loss, now it’s time to smile and accept the relationship has come a close. “I’ve made my bed / I’ve laid out all those tears,” she sings.

In a statement alongside the track’s release, Olsen said she envisions the song as the conclusion to an important chapter in her life:

“‘Waving, Smiling’ in my head is the last scene, a slow motion realization of love not lost but at peace somewhere within myself. It’s the bittersweet end of a chapter of my life – it is the final acceptance that despite coming to an end all of that time was not lost or wasted.”

About the album as a whole, Olsen described the events which inspired the new release: “I had gone through this breakup, but it was so much bigger than that — I’d lost friendships, too. When you get out of a relationship, you have to examine who you are or were in all the relationships. I wanted to record when I was still processing these feelings. These are the personal takes, encapsulated in a moment.”

Listen to Olsen’s “Waving, Smiling” above.

Whole New Mess is out 8/28 via Jagjaguwar. Pre-order it here.

The Weeknd welcomes fans to the uncanny valley with a new Spotify microsite that allows them to “chat” with the singer via artificial intelligence. Upon logging into the site, a digitized version of The Weeknd addresses the user by name before launching into a sort of mad-libs-esque monologue that draws on the user’s listening data to keep Abel’s CGI avatar talking. As he does so, the titles of the listener’s favorite Weeknd songs jump and flash across the screen while the digital character reacts to the new information in real time.

It’s just one more way Abel’s utilized tech to replace touring as a way to connect with fans — even if it is one of the most borderline off-putting (remember Ex Machina? It’s a little like that.). The Weeknd has always been on the forefront of new streaming tech, from the vertical videos for his My Dear Melancholy EP to the trippy animated videos for “In Your Eyes” and “Snowchild” from his latest album, After Hours. He’s also been staying in touch with supporters via his Memento Mori Radio on Apple Music, where he recently played a few unreleased tracks from his Kiss Land recording sessions, and via TikTok, where he staged a live virtual concert and previewed a new song.

Check out a preview of his “Alone With Me” experience above and try it out for real here.

Indie music has grown to include so much. It’s not just music that is released on independent labels, but speaks to an aesthetic that deviates from the norm and follows its own weirdo heart. It can come in the form of rock music, pop, or folk. In a sense, it says as much about the people that are drawn to it as it does about the people that make it.

Every week, Uproxx is rounding up the best new indie music from the past seven days. This week we got another sampling of the delayed-but-finally-out-this-week new album from The Killers, the brilliant new album from Young Jesus, and the official arrival of Bartees Strange with the announcement of his debut album.

Young Jesus — Welcome To Conceptual Beach

On their incredible and sprawling new album, Young Jesus are not tied down by the influence of any genre classification. Across its seven tracks (a few of which clock in over ten minutes in length), Welcome To Conceptual Beach “covers enough sonic ground to encompass Sigur Ròs, Sun Ra, the Dave Matthews Band, and numerous points between and beyond those acts,” writes Steven Hyden in a recent review for Uproxx.

The Killers — “Dying Breed”

With their new album Imploding The Mirage finally only days away, The Killers have shared “Dying Breed,” the record’s final single. With krautrock-inspired percussion throughout and a Springsteen-esque chorus, the upbeat track is what Derrick Rossignol calls for Uproxx “one of the most exciting tracks from this album cycle so far.”

Sufjan Stevens — “Video Game”

Although the first two singles from Sufjan Stevens’ forthcoming LP The Ascension both ran over ten minutes, the latest single “Video Game” embraces a more traditional runtime. A more straightforward synth-based indie pop track, “Video Game” is a track that Stevens said in a statement is meant to emphasize the idea that “your worth (invaluable) should never be based on other people’s approval (ephemeral).”

Slow Pulp — “Falling Apart”

Slow Pulp wrote an album’s worth of material while on tour last year with Alex G, but then a number of factors caused the band to scrap the project and start from scratch. The ongoing COVID-19 lockdown gave the band space and time to reconvene and start writing again, and “Falling Apart” is the first taste of the results. The slow track features roomy production with gorgeous flourishes of violin to anchor the melodies, and grapples with the ongoing back and forth that is needed to tell yourself everything is going to be alright.

Helena Deland — “Someone New”

Along with the announcement of her debut full-length Someone New, Helena Deland shared the song of the same name. With not much more than light percussion, a guitar, and vocals, the sparse track “is about the validation and relief from one’s internal world that a romantic encounter can offer, but also about becoming aware that there seems to be an expiry date on that type of opportunity for women,” according to a statement.

Idles — “Model Village”

“Model Village” is the third of four singles ahead of Idles’ new album Ultra Mono, opening with very tight and snappy production for the first verse before exploding into frenetic post-punk on the chorus. “I hated growing up in a city that was really a town that was really a fishbowl,” Idles vocalist Joe Talbot in a statement. “I left as soon as I could, only to realize the fishbowl didn’t exist…just the fish, and they’re everywhere.”

Bartees Strange — “Boomer”

Only a few months after releasing the EP Say Goodbye To The Pretty Boy, Bartees Strange is back with the announcement of his debut album and a new single. “Boomer” is what Carolyn Droke calls for Uproxx a “rowdy and unapologetic track,” one that embraces aspects of indie rock, R&B, and hip-hop, which makes for a very exciting listen.

Anjimile — “Baby No More”

I’ve been excited about the new Anjimile album Giver Taker since hearing its lead single “Maker” earlier this year. “Baby No More” lives up to the hype, with groovy instrumentation and a head-bobbing chorus. According to a statement, the track “is more or less what happens when you’re not a good boyfriend. Although it’s got a very groovy and relatively light-hearted musical vibe, some of the lyrics are quite dark.”

Nana Adjoa — “I Want To Change”

On the third single from her anticipated new album Big Dreaming Ants, the Dutch-Ghanian singer-songwriter digs in for a subtle, but direct and vibrant exploration of the desire to push forward. “I’m giving space to an inner voice that quietly yearns for change and amplifying it in a way, calling for change that speaks to both the global and individual scale,” Adjoa said in a press statement. “I wrote the song over a year ago, now placing it in the context of the current state of the world, that inner voice feels more like a call to action for myself.”

Knot — “Horse Trotting, The Feet Not Touching The Ground”

It feels like just yesterday that the members of revered indie band Krill announced they’d be reforming as a new project called Knot. “Horse Trotting” is the second single from the band’s forthcoming self-titled kinda-sorta debut album, an unpredictable and adventurous new single that certainly builds on the hype and promise that Krill cultivated.

Run River North — “Cemetery”

Although they haven’t officially announced a new project, LA-based outfit Run River North are rolling out music regularly, and “Cemetery” is a nice addition to the catalogue. With illustrative narrative lyrics delivered through beautiful harmonies from Alex Hwang and Sally Kang, “Cemetery” is a track that is beautifully haunting, reflecting on life and contemplating death, all while examining everything that comes between.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The Boston Celtics picked up a big win in Game 1 of their first round series with the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday night, as their young star duo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown were sensational.

Unfortunately, the final minutes of the game when Boston began pulling away saw their other star wing, Gordon Hayward, go down with a right ankle sprain after he landed on Daniel Theis’ foot under the basket and rolled his ankle badly. Hayward immediately went to the locker room and left the arena after the game on crutches, with an MRI scheduled to determine the severity of the injury.

On Tuesday, the Celtics announced the results of that MRI showed a Grade 3 sprain, which will keep him out for approximately four weeks, depending on how much pain and swelling he is dealing with.

While the Celtics certainly have the firepower on the wing to make due without Hayward, it puts a much larger load on Brown and Tatum, both in taking away a creator on the floor with them and also a player who can run the offense when they’re on the bench. How Brad Stevens now handles the minutes of Brown and Tatum will be interesting to watch, as they are the obvious keys to a deep playoff run and now might need to play even more earlier than Boston hoped.

The four-week timetable would bring Hayward back in mid-September, but it’s possible he’s gone longer as his wife, Robyn, is due to have their baby in September and Hayward had said earlier this summer that he would leave the Bubble, as Mike Conley did this week, for the birth of his latest child. Boston had always had that absence built into their potential playoff plans, but now his ankle sprain means they could be without Hayward for much of their playoff run.

Despite the ongoing pandemic, Russell Crowe’s Unhinged is on track to the be the first film to open in theaters since widespread quarantines threw Hollywood into disarray in mid-March. To promote the film’s questionable Friday release, Crowe has been posting a series of bizarre videos to his Twitter account, where it’s unclear whether the actor is genuinely trying to boost ticket sales or just having a ball firing off weird promos.

Case in point, in one video, Crowe whips out the mask from Gladiator and opens with a reference to his iconic “My name is Maximus” speech from the 2000 classic before getting into character to promote Unhinged.

“My name… is incidental, pointless, of no concern,” Crowe says in the odd PSA. “I am a figment of your nightmares. I am from a reference point deep inside your hidden list of fears. I am rage, past the point of reason. I am unhinged.”

But just when you think the video is all business, Crowe breaks character in the end and starts laughing about how there’s “nothing new” going on, and he’ll “see you soon.” It’s pretty bizarre.

You can see Crowe’s viral video below:

In light of Crowe’s PSAs, The A.V. Club spoke to two epidemiologists who heavily recommend not going to theaters anytime soon. “There is no scenario in which going to a movie theater is a good idea,” Dr. Anne W. Rimoin, professor of epidemiology and director of the Center For Global And Immigrant Health at the University Of California, bluntly put it. The experts note that indoor seating for long periods of time is already a dicey situation. Couple that with people removing their masks to eat concessions (which both doctors agreed should not be served for the foreseeable future), or simply for convenience while under the cover of darkness, and you have a recipe for disaster.

(Via Russell Crowe on Twitter)

Jack White’s label Third Man Records is fairing well in light of the pandemic. At the onset of the lockdown, the label’s Detroit flagship found a new way to bring music to people. The store began holding daily livestream sessions from their indoor stage in order to keep the spirit of live music alive. Now, the label has found a new way for fans to interact with their favorite artist. Third Man Records has launched a digital garage sale and is posting some of Jack White’s former gear for sale.

The virtual garage sale is a way for fans of The White Stripes to commemorate their era of music. Among items for sale are guitars, furniture, and clothing that appeared in video shoots, pedals used by the band on tour, stage equipment, and other personal items from White’s musical collection. “Third Man Records is proud to disperse pieces of its history into the world via an online garage sale/auctiperon,” the label said in a statement, “featuring guitars, amplifiers, personal items, notes, stage equipment, and other one-of-a-kind items from the label’s archives and owner Jack White’s musical career and collection.”

Third Man Records will be donating a portion of the proceeds made from auction sales to benefit the John Peel Centre, Gideon’s Army, and the Detroit Phoenix Center.

The auction kicks off 8/26 at 10 a.m. EDT on Online Nashville Auctions. Check out the full collection of items for sale here.

Carly Rae Jepsen has remained focused on her music and her fans while in quarantine. Following 2019’s Dedicated, the singer shared a full-length collection of album B-sides in May. But Jepsen didn’t stop there. The singer shared the buoyant single “Me And The Boys In The Band” Tuesday alongside a pastel-colored video as an homage to late nights on the road while on tour.

Directed by Jake Chamseddine, the “Me And The Boys In The Band” visual offers a glimpse into each touring members’ life in quarantine. Jepsen herself has found ways to stay entertained in her home while several other musicians in her backup band are preoccupied with kids and home life.

In a statement about the song, Jepsen said she longs for the days of touring:

“On the road. That was the life. I miss travel and performing and my band mates who over the years have become my adopted brothers. Through romantic relationships good and bad I have always found myself again in the late-night conversations with my band. Here’s to all the shows we have played and have yet to play. The late-night dancers we turn into on the long bus drives and the tourists we become in the early mornings. Here’s to nostalgia city and keeping close the ones that know you best. Can’t wait for more. Till then a from home ‘pick me up’ song from all of us to you. Me and the boys and the band! Big thanks to Jack Antanoff, Tavish Crowe, Jared Manerika and Nik Pesut for making this jam come together from a distance.”

Watch Jepsen’s “Me And The Boys In The Band” video above.