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It’s been less than 48 hours since the Houston Rockets survived their Game 7 slug-fest against the Oklahoma City Thunder, so there was no rest for James Harden and company before their second-round showdown with the top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers tipped off on Friday night.

The Lakers, on the other hand, had six days to rest before Game 1, having completed the gentlemen’s sweep of the Blazers last weekend. As it turned out, rest would not factor into the final outcome of this one as the Rockets cruised to a relatively easy 112-97 win on Friday.

Here’s what we learned as the Rockets and Lakers kicked off their second-round series.

James Harden Has Rediscovered His Swagger

After struggling to make shots in Game 7 against Denver a couple of days ago, Harden was back in full effect on Friday night, leading all scorers with 36 points on 12-of-20 shooting for the game, including 3-of-6 from three-point range. Maybe it was the series-saving block on Luguentz Dort that reinvigorated him, but Harden was on fire from the opening tip, scoring 25 points in the first half to led the Rockets to a double-digit lead before halftime.

Harden in his bag

25 1st half points pic.twitter.com/AhkQhH9hfB

— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) September 5, 2020

But it wasn’t just his shot that was on. Harden was getting into the paint at will and got to the free-throw line 11 times in the first half, as the Lakers bigs failed to cordon off his driving lanes. Game 1 found Harden at his best once again, which is bad news for the Lakers.

The Rockets’ Small-Ball Attack Is Working On Both Ends So Far

Aside from LeBron (20 points, eight rebounds, seven assists) and Anthony Davis (24 points, 14 rebounds) getting their numbers, the Rockets’ defense was stifling at times during this contest, particularly in the fourth quarter when they held the Lakers’ scoreless for a four-minute stretch that resulted in a 14-0 run to push the lead to nearly 20. Neither Bron nor AD scored for the first seven minutes of the fourth, and by that point, the game was already out of reach.

The Lakers were ice-cold from downtown, going 11-of-38 from behind the arc, and they weren’t much better inside the arc, shooting just 42 percent overall amid the Rockets’ swarming defense. And it was individual efforts from across Houston’s roster, as their small-ball roster was able to limit the Lakers’ effectiveness despite their size advantage.

The NBA’s top defense in the playoffs pic.twitter.com/fkDuvEylGp

— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) September 5, 2020

This defensive sequence from P.J. Tucker on Anthony Davis

Locked him up. pic.twitter.com/hD5eaCTQdG

— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) September 5, 2020

The Lakers will need to make some adjustment in Game 2 to better exploit their size and put more pressure on the Rockets’ smaller defenders.

LeBron Was Very Hostile Toward Russell Westbrook For Some Reason

Not that it was anything personal, but LeBron seemed to be really going after Westbrook Friday night, on both sides of the court. It started with this vicious jam on Russ in the first half.

No Ceilings

(: ESPN) pic.twitter.com/CdShohumxw

— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) September 5, 2020

And Bron wasn’t finished quite with Westbrook yet.

LeBron James: Incredible across all 94 feet.

(: ESPN) pic.twitter.com/yFkn5CBrFH

— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) September 5, 2020

Not by a longshot.

Another BIG LeBron block.

4Q underway on ESPN pic.twitter.com/rQRsljMfCK

— NBA (@NBA) September 5, 2020

Of course, Russ would get the last laugh in this one. He finished with 24 points, nine rebounds, and six assists, but had a tough shooting night, going just 10-of-24 from the field overall and 1-of-5 from downtown.

The Lakers will try to even the series when Game 2 tips off Sunday at 8:30 ET on ABC.

Fans have been pressing Rihanna about new music for quite some time and the singer has enjoyed playing into their anticipation. But it seems like Rihanna’s fans may be getting a fair amount of Rihanna content in the upcoming year. Just yesterday, a song written for Rihanna’s upcoming ninth studio album was teased on social media and now, infamous director Peter Berg has reportedly confirmed a Rihanna documentary is slated for next summer.

In an interview with Collider, Berg announced the documentary, saying it will be out on Amazon some time around the Fourth of July. During the conversation, Berg gushed about the singer’s impressive career:

“The Rihanna doc is something I’ve been working on with her for almost four years now. Amazon’s gonna release it summer next year, sometime hopefully around the Fourth of July. It’s been a really epic journey, the past four years with her. […] She’s a remarkable woman, who everyday seems to grow and branch out into new businesses and new endeavors at a rate that it’s almost hard to keep up with. So every time we think we’re going to finish the movie and put it out, she does something like start a fashion line like Fenty, or her lingerie line, or her skin care line. She’s firing on all cylinders, she’s making new music now and she’s having so much success in business and she’s such an entrepreneur that we’re letting it grow, but we are gonna try and close it up in the spring and release it in the summer.”

The singer has yet to confirm the documentary, but it seems as though the film will cover her music career as well as her business endeavors.

Read Peter Berg’s statement above.

Going into Game 3 on Friday night, the No. 1 seed Milwaukee Bucks had somehow found themselves on the ropes. After a wild final sequence in Game 2, which was ultimately decided at the foul line thanks to some arguably overzealous officiating, the Bucks fell into a precarious 0-2 hole to a Miami Heat team that’s been picking them apart since the series started.

That trend continued on Friday night when the Heat stunned the Bucks in Game 3 with a 115-100 victory to put Milwaukee on the brink of elimination. Here’s what we learned from Miami’s third straight victory in this second-round series as they take a commanding lead over the team that was once considered the prohibitive favorite to come out of the East.

Jimmy Butler Cannot Be Stopped

Jimmy Butler has been a nightmare for the Bucks all series. He set a playoff career high of 40 points as he led the Heat to a Game 1 victory, and he followed that up by knocking down the game-winning free-throws on Wednesday to lead Miami to a stunning 2-0 series lead.

He didn’t let up on Friday night, taking over in the second half and finishing with a game-high 30 points on 7-of-13 shooting, to go along with seven rebounds and six assists. Fourteen of those points came off free-throws as he got to line 19 times in this contest. He single-handedly outscored Milwaukee 17-13 in the fourth quarter and led an 11-1 run in the final four minutes to seal a historically-insurmountable 3-0 lead, putting the No. 1 seeded Bucks just a game away from elimination.

One. Point. Game. pic.twitter.com/OcevQMrBRe

— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) September 5, 2020

With the win, the Heat moved to 7-0 in the postseason, behind another big night from Jimmy Buckets.

The Bucks Needed More Splash Mountain And Others

After being conspicuously quiet in Games 1 and 2, Middleton had 14 points in the first half and made two of his three three-point attempts, and it looked like he was poised to finally step up as Giannis struggled.

Midrange master. pic.twitter.com/GaO06XWKcP

— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) September 4, 2020

But Middleton scored just four points in the second half as the Bucks collapsed and blew a double-digit lead going into the fourth quarter. Brook Lopez also came alive in the early going, scoring 13 points in the first half on 5-of-7 shooting, but he eventually went cold he second half, finishing with 22 points and going just 3-of-9 from behind the arc.

Milwaukee also didn’t get much from Eric Bledsoe, who scored eight points on the night on 2-of-9 shooting.

What’s Up With Giannis?

Giannis went 0-of-7 from downtown in this one, and the Miami Heat have been more than happy to oblige him in that endeavor. Despite the modest progress he’s made with his long-range shooting the past two seasons, it’s not where Giannis is at his best. He does his most damage when he’s doing things like this.

Smooth handles. pic.twitter.com/6RXPULCpqh

— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) September 5, 2020

As tempting as those wide open threes might seem, he’s playing right into the Heat’s game plan. Of course, there could be another reason for that. Giannis appeared to tweak his ankle in the first half and was visibly wincing on several trips down the court. It’s the worst possible time for something like that, but Giannis somehow found another reservoir of strength to help lead a 9-0 run in the third quarter to push the Bucks’ lead back to double digits heading into the fourth quarter.

Of course, that didn’t last, and now the Bucks are in big trouble. No team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit in the postseason. The Bucks will literally have to rewrite history in order to keep their championship hopes alive when a potentially-deciding Game 4 tips off Sunday at 3:30 ET on ABC.

DC Comics is celebrating accomplished women with a new young adult graphic novel series. The comic company tapped a number of female and non-binary authors to create the anthological collection Wonder Women Of History. The series will spotlight seventeen iconic women who have groundbreaking work in music, science, politics, and activism, and one of the graphic novels centers around Beyonce.

New York Times bestselling author Laurie Halse Anderson, who was the project’s editor, explained to Nerdist why she was “instantly” on board with the series: “Wonder Woman has been an iconic figure for girls and women around the world for generations. She gave me the example of a woman who combined justice, compassion, athleticism, and power that I needed. When the good people at DC brought up the idea of an anthology of real-life Wonder Women to me, I was on board instantly.”

Along with Beyonce, some other women featured in the series include Serena Williams, Marsha P. Johnson, Janelle Monáe, Emma Gonzalez, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and Rep. Rashida Tlaib.

Wonder Women Of History goes on sale on 12/1. Pre-order it here.

Janelle Monáe is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

After the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha Wisconsin last month, players around the league decided to stage walkout right in the middle of the NBA postseason. The stoppage of play last two days, and part of the negotiations to resume play put the onus on the owners and the league to enact a plan that would promote social reform.

Following several meetings between the Board of Governors and the players association, the NBA announced a multi-pronged plan that devote funds to social initiatives in poor and minority communities around the country, a media campaign designed to education the public on these causes, and a plan to turn team-owned arenas into voting locations in the coming elections.

For the Miami Heat, however, the latter part of that plan was apparently foiled recently, as Miami-Dade County officials reportedly rejected their bid to use American Airlines Arena as a place citizens could come and cast their votes in November. Clearly unhappy about that outcome, the Heat issued the following statement on Friday.

Heat requested that American Airlines Arena be designated as a polling place this fall.

Miami-Dade County officials declined.

To say the Heat are upset would be an understatement. https://t.co/0sTXrT6Qmr

— Chris Mannix (@SIChrisMannix) September 4, 2020

In the letter, the organization argues that they were initially led to believe that it was a done deal and that their request was rejected without any further explanation. The Heat have apparently been discussing this possibility well before the Board of Governors implemented it as part of their plan.

Florida is historically a swing state in presidential elections and its set to be so once again in November. LeBron James and other athletes have organized the More Than A Vote initiative that seeks to educate citizens about voting rights and voter suppression tactics and help as many people as possible have their vote counted. But as it stands, those residing in the Miami-Dade area will have to cast their votes elsewhere.

Kanye West announced he was officially running for president on the Fourth Of July. Despite some road blocks along the way, namely being removed from several states’ ballots, Kanye’s campaign is pushing forward in hopes he will receive votes in the November election. Kanye’s campaign finally filed their first report with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) on Friday, and it shows the rapper is apparently paying out of pocket for most of his election efforts.

According to documents his campaign filed with the FEC, Kanye loaned his own campaign an impressive $6,760,000. His personal loan was the only one his campaign has received thus far for the period starting July 15 and ending August 31. He has, however, received a handful of donations totaling $11,472.

per The Hollywood Reporter:

The only other source of income for his campaign were eight relatively small-dollar donations from seemingly typical citizens, ranging from $200-$1,000.

The campaign currently has debts totaling more than $1.2 million, with almost all of that owed to “Fortified Consulting” of Tempe, Arizona. That company shares an address with Lincoln Consulting Group, a political consultancy co-founded by Nathan Sproul, the former executive director o the Arizona Republican Party.

While Kanye fronted his campaign $6.7 million, much of the loan has already been spent on operations expenditures. In less than two months, the rappers campaign has used up $5.8 million of the loan on day-to-day costs, meaning they have about $900,000 left in the bank. Meanwhile, Trump’s FEC report states his campaign has $120 million on hand while Biden’s campaign has $98 million.

It seems as though Kanye will have no problem continuing to finance his campaign as the rapper was recently named the highest-paid male celebrity of 2020. The rapper also recently flexed his bank account after denying he’s being paid to help Trump’s re-election efforts, saying “Bro, can’t nobody pay me! I got more money than Trump!”

Mike Tyson is returning to the ring, and with that we’re getting another look at the mindset of one of the most feared boxers on the planet as he gets ready for his next bout. That includes a look at how he views hurting people, and some of the strange things getting up for a fight does to his body.

In an appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience, Tyson got into some very specific details about his boxing career. Namely, that he used to get a very specific kind of excited when he really got going in the ring. Tyson was talking about how he struggles with the fact that he can really hurt someone in the ring before he admitted that the excitement about a fight can be overwhelming for his body sometimes.

“It’s orgasmic sometimes,” Tyson admitted. “What does it mean when fighting gets you erect?”

The topic came up when Rogan asked a question about getting excited about certain fights over others, and how he’s able to tap into a certain mindset that’s made him so successful over the years. Tyson went back to talking about how his body could get aroused during a fight.

“That’s how I’d get when I was a kid,” he said.

Rogan admitted that it was a very “strange thing to say,” to which Tyson replied that he wanted to see if he was “really bright” or not and could understand what he meant. Rogan tried to justify it, saying that only Tyson can understand what that means because there’s no one quite like him when it comes to boxing. Tyson later admitted that he doesn’t ask God for help when fighting, a definite separation of his sport from other areas of his life.

“I just don’t want to be involved with that kind of mindset,” Tyson said. “People do, I just don’t like the way that I think and don’t want god to be involved with the way I think at that time.”

It’s an interesting look at Tyson’s mindset heading into his next fight, and where he is in his life right now. Tyson admitted that fighting, and being on camera, is addicting. Getting back into it is feeding into his ego, and there’s a lot about his process to get ready for a fight that seems strange to anyone else.

They might be living in four-star luxury accommodations, but being quarantined from the rest of the world — and each other, for that matter — isn’t easy for anyone. Paul George recently spoke about the emotional and psychological toll its taken on his mental health to be isolated from friends and family members for so long.

Fortunately, for the players who’ve made it to the second round, they are now able to bring their families inside the bubble after a period of quarantine, and it’s brought no shortage of adorableness, as the broadcast Thursday night was able to cut to a room full of socially-distanced toddlers and moms who were watching the games from backstage.

But apparently not everyone has been able to reunite with their family members. When speaking to reporters on Friday, Nuggets head coach Mike Malone sounded off about the league’s decision not to allow coaches to bring their families to Orlando.

Denver coach Mike Malone points out that it’s Day 60 in the bubble and he thinks it’s “criminal in nature” for the NBA not to let coaches bring in families. “I say shame on you, NBA. This is crazy. I miss my family.” pic.twitter.com/oBTve7zB3m

— Kyle Goon (@kylegoon) September 4, 2020

Transcript via ESPN:

“First, I’m going to say something that has nothing to do with your question,” he said. “Today is Day 60. Alright? The guys that came down here on July 7, and there weren’t many of us because we were ravaged with COVID. This is the original crew. This is day number 60. The reason why I bring that up is because the players have their families here, which they deserve, which is the right thing to do. The referees are allowed to bring one guest, which is great for the referees. The coaches, the coaches are not allowed to bring anybody.”

***

“I say shame on you NBA,” said Malone, who is married with two daughters. “This is crazy. I miss my family. And I think I speak for me, I speak for my coaches and probably all the coaches down here. Sixty days and not having access and being granted the privilege to have my family come here to me is criminal in nature, and that shouldn’t be at all. So I wanted to get that off my chest.”

According to the report, there have been ongoing negotiations between the league and the coaches association about potentially bringing family members inside the bubble, but there’s been nothing definitive as of yet. The league later issued the following statement in response to Malone on Friday.

The NBA has this to say in response to Michael Malone’s comments today, in which the Denver coach expressed serious frustration that coaches haven’t been allowed to have family in the bubble. pic.twitter.com/JCM5ARGhhe

— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) September 4, 2020

Depending on how far the Nuggets and other teams advance in the postseason, it could be more than three months before coaches are able to reunite with their families.

(ESPN)

Some couples are just meant to be together. Sarah, 38, and Jenni Barret, 37, have gone through some major changes as a couple and after 15 years of marriage, have managed to find themselves happier than ever.

Jenni and Sarah both met through a friend at Arizona State University in 2004. But back then Sarah was called Sean. Jenni identified as a straight woman and Sean, a straight man.

“I knew he was The One as soon as he gave me a killer head massage that same night,” Jenni told The Daily Mail. The couple tied the knot in December of 2005.

---

At the time, Jenni didn’t know about her fiance’s gender issues, but she thought it was a little unique that she took such an interest in their wedding plans.

“I didn’t clock it at the time, but looking back at the wedding, Sarah was a bit of a bridezilla,” Jenni says. “I was happy to elope and get married just us two, but she organized every part of the big day, from tableware to the venue – all I did was try on the dress and turn up.”

via JenniBerr / Instagram

The couple would go on to have two boys, Morgan in 2007 and Toby in 2009.

After the birth of their second child, Jenni began to notice that Sarah would buy clothing traditionally meant for women.

“She started buying a lot of clothes like that, which were on the edge of what is seen as male or female,” Jenni says. “She would wear a nightie to bed and on date nights she’d be wearing countless layers of clothes with a bra underneath, so no one could see. I noticed something going on, but it wasn’t hurting anybody so I left it.”

However, the couple’s suspicions that their eldest son, Morgan, may be gay brought the issue to the forefront in their relationship.

“We’d suspected Morgan was gay since he was about two,” Jenni says. “He just can’t hide it — not that we would ever want him to. He was born singing theme tunes and being over the top.”

The discussions about Morgan’s sexuality pushed Sarah to put a mirror up to herself and have a tough conversation with Jenni.

“Sarah rolled over one evening in bed in 2016 and told me, ‘I really need to talk to you – I think I’m trans.’ I’d come to realize why I’d always been so drawn to her, it was because of who she was on the inside — a woman — and not her shell,” Jenni said.

“I turned around and said, ‘That’s ok, I think I’m gay.'”

What began as a heterosexual relationship had transformed into a loving lesbian marriage. The next job was explaining the situation to their children.

“We explained that Daddy had a girl’s brain and that it was in the wrong body — but doctors would fix it,” Jenni says. “Now, we’re both Jewish, the boys call Sarah ‘Eema’ — Hebrew for Mother.”

Sean changed her name to Sarah and began to take a combination of of testosterone blockers and estrogen every day. The couple set up an Instagram account to celebrate their unique family.

“We’re so proud of our LGBT family, although we do always say that, after Morgan came out in 2018, Toby must feel left out,” Jenni says.

“He jokes that he’s going to have to come out as bisexual to fit in!”

It seems Taylor Swift‘s 2017 copyright infringement lawsuit over their 2014 hit “Shake It Off” isn’t over just yet. Though the case was dismissed in early 2018 after a judge found the plaintiffs didn’t have sufficient evidence for an infringement, that decision was apparently overturned by an appeals court last October. And now, the case is now set to move ahead.

Songwriters Sean Hall and Nathan Butler originally filed the lawsuit against Swift’s “Shake It Off” and are seeking a percentage of profits from the hit. The pair said it boasted commonalties to the song “Playas Gon’ Play,” which they wrote for 3LW, the early ’00s girl group composed of Naturi Naughton and Cheetah Girls stars Adrienne Bailon and Kiely Williams.

According to NME, LA judge Michael Fitzgerald gave Butler and Hall the go-ahead to proceed with the lawsuit as they “have sufficiently alleged a protectable selection and arrangement or a sequence of creative expression.” The arrangement in question is Butler and Hall’s chorus, which reads: “Playas, they gonna play, and haters, they gonna hate.”

In a statement to Billboard after the case’s decision was originally overturned, Hall said: “We are happy the court unanimously sided with us. We simply refuse to sit still and have our creative work be culturally appropriated as if it never existed. This case is giving voice to all of those creatives who can’t afford to stand up and protect their work in the face of well-financed Goliaths.”

Swift’s team responded to Hall’s statement, saying: “Mr. Hall is incorrect, the court did not unanimously side in their favor, the court sent the case back to the lower court for further determination. […] These men are not the originators, or creators, of the common phrases ‘Players’ or ‘Haters’ or combinations of them. They did not invent these common phrases nor are they the first to use them in a song. We are confident the true writers of ‘Shake It Off’ will prevail again. Their claim is not a crusade for all creatives, it is a crusade for Mr. Hall’s bank account.”

Listen to “Shake It Off” and “Playas Gon’ Play” above to compare the works for yourself.