The move, which allows the Chinese equivalent of N95 masks to be imported and used by health care workers, is designed to alleviate desperate shortages of personal protective equipment.
We’re now entering our fourth week without any professional sports to keep us occupied, as the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread across the globe and has brought most nonessential activities to a standstill. It’s taking some creativity to figure out how to entertain ourselves while confined to our homes.
Fortunately for all you gamers out there, the World Health Organization (WHO) has actually recommended that you stay inside and play video games as a means of both staying connected to friends and keeping your mind active during these stressful and uncertain times.
Now, the folks at NBA 2K and several players around the league are teaming up to bring some semblance of basketball back into our homes with the NBA 2K Tournament that kicked off on Friday night and will continue through the next week, culminating in the championship round on Saturday, April 11.
Friday night’s opening-round action kicked off with No. 16 seed Derrick Jones Jr. and his Bucks upsetting No. 1 seed Kevin Durant and the Clippers, 78-62.
Derrick Jones RJ (Bucks) defeats Kevin Durant (Clippers) 78-62 @Khris22m dominated#NBA2KTourney pic.twitter.com/LsStt5MN94
— NBA Hustle (@Hustle_NBA) April 4, 2020
Despite the loss, KD had one of the highlights of the game when Kawhi Leonard hit Giannis with a mean crossover and bucket.
KD got the crossover going in the #NBA2KTourney
pic.twitter.com/XJm6Xxk2ZP
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) April 3, 2020
In the second game of the night, Zach LaVine’s Heat fell to Deandre Ayton’s Rockets, 57-41. While the game itself didn’t have many highlights, LaVine explained why he choose not to participate in this year’s dunk contest, saying he felt like he didn’t have anything to prove, although he is somewhat disappointed that he was never able to complete what surely would’ve gone down as one of the greatest dunks of all-time.
Zach Lavine talking about doing a 360 from the free throw line dunk #NBA2KTourney pic.twitter.com/NszEYIXcB9
— NBA Hustle (@Hustle_NBA) April 4, 2020
Ayton’s plan to distract him with idle chit-chat worked wonders as LaVine let his guard down a little bit before he realized it and suddenly found himself trailing.
Lmao Zach Lavine getting angry #NBA2KTourney pic.twitter.com/aNXudfCzET
— NBA Hustle (@Hustle_NBA) April 4, 2020
The third contest of the night pit Harrison Barnes against Trae Young, in a matchup between the Raptors and Bucks, and the best part by far was just how badly Twitter was going in on Barnes for getting drubbed early, despite Young’s relative inexperience.
Let’s see how Harrison Barnes is doing against Trae in 2K …… oh pic.twitter.com/xdb8rYvt9E
— Dime (@DimeUPROXX) April 4, 2020
It was a tough night for Barnes, as Young’s Bucks demolished the Raptors, 101-59.
The last game of the night was the most entertaining overall, and it’s no coincidence that it featured Patrick Beverley versus Hassan Whiteside. Prior to tip-off, Beverley was, naturally, feeling pretty confident about his chances, despite being a No. 14 seed in the tournament, claiming that he went 5-6 years straight without losing a 2K game against his Rockets teammates.
Former Hog Patrick Beverly getting interviewed by Hannah Storm of ESPN about playing #NBA2KTourney #wps @4029news
https://t.co/btPO6aFmCG
— Mitch Roberts (@4029Mitch) April 4, 2020
And Beverley lived up to his own hype as he raced out to an early lead and wasn’t shy about letting everyone hear about it.
There goes Pat Bev
— Dime (@DimeUPROXX) April 4, 2020
Beverley and his Bucks ended up running away with this one, thumping Whiteside’s Lakers by 30.
@NBA2K Players Tournament
— NBA (@NBA) April 4, 2020
Even with Beverley bringing some sorely-needed energy to the tournament, there was decidedly less trash talk throughout than you might have assumed, and overall, the lengthy interludes of dead air were a stark reminder of the heavy lifting the broadcast crew does on any given night, so hopefully 2K will explore some kind of solution to that moving forward.
The winners on Friday will all advance to the second round. First-round action will continue on Sunday with a four-game slate. You can see the full bracket here. The quarterfinals will begin on Tuesday, April 7, followed by the semifinals and finals on Saturday, April 11, all on ESPN and ESPN 2.
Here are your quick and dirty, editorial-free WWE Friday Night Smackdown results for April 3, 2020. This week’s show featured John Cena answering Bray Wyatt’s challenge for a Firefly Funhouse match, a blockbuster Tucky vs Dolph Ziggler match, and more. Make sure you’re here tomorrow for the final Best and Worst of Friday Night Smackdown column before WrestleMania.
WWE Friday Night Smackdown Results:
– The Usos opened the show, and were interrupted by the New Day. The two teams argued until The Miz and John Morrison showed up, posed on ladders on the stage, and said neither team deserves a title shot. The Usos and New Day attacked the champs, but quickly turned on each other, allowing Miz and Morrison to regain the advantage and pose on the ladders again.
1. Tamina defeated Lacey Evans and Naomi. Sasha Banks and Bayley were on commentary, and Michael Cole wore Lacey Evans’ hat. Bayley interfered in the match, attacking Naomi and setting up Tamina to hit a superkick for the win. After the match, both Bayley and Banks tried to befriend Tamina, but were kicked and Samoan dropped, respectively.
– Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels from WrestleMania 24 was shown in full.
– Braun Strowman was announced as Roman Reigns’ replacement for the Universal Championship match against Goldberg at WrestleMania via a graphic at the end of a card recap, in passing. No reason was given, and reigns wasn’t even mentioned.
2. Tucker defeated Dolph Ziggler by disqualification when Ziggler gave Tucky a Zig Zag on the ring steps. After the match, Ziggler was going to presumably kill Tucky with the ring steps but was stopped by Mandy Rose, Sonya Deville, and then Otis. At this point, a mysterious hooded figure appeared on the video screen at a control console and showed video clips that revealed Sonya Deville was behind the text messages that kept Otis and Mandy Rose apart on Valentine’s Day. Mandy left in disgust.
“The truth will be heard.”
A mysterious stranger reveals WHO really texted @otiswwe during Valentine’s Day… @SonyaDevilleWWE! #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/JsPRoJMTAS
— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) April 4, 2020
3. Daniel Bryan defeated Shinsuke Nakamura by disqualification when Cesaro interfered. After the match, Nakamura, Cesaro, and Zayn beat up Bryan and Drew Gulak.
– John Cena showed up to accept Bray Wyatt’s challenge, saying he’ll squash him at WrestleMania. Cena was then taunted by Wyatt’s puppets. The Fiend appeared on the balcony, and (regular) Bray Wyatt teleported in behind Cena to say “let me in” before teleporting away.
Let him in.#SmackDown @JohnCena @WWEBrayWyatt pic.twitter.com/urEU76AZLZ
— WWE (@WWE) April 4, 2020
In these trying times, with a pandemic killing hundreds of thousands of people around the world and medical institutions preparing to be pushed to their limits, it truly is best to listen to medical professionals and heed warnings about social distancing while taking protective measures to stay inside and help flatten the curve.
With piecemeal restrictions in place in various municipalities and states, however, it’s unclear how much those efforts have helped, how long life will be interrupted and just how bad things get as science grapples with the virus, treating it and hopefully finding a cure. One thing we do know already, however, is that those that initially downplayed the virus and its impact for political reasons have done real harm to society and threatened the lives of millions of people.
There’s so much to be done and no going back on what’s been said, but The Daily Show collected some of that bad advice in a segment it called Heroes Of The Pandumbic, which largely focused on the misinformation and doubt cast by many on Fox News in the weeks before COVID-19 was detected in all 50 states and killing hundreds of people each day. Highlighting misinformation and skepticism shared by conservative voices like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and others, it’s a direct criticism of comments from just days and weeks ago that seems downright irresponsible in current conditions, especially while cities like New York deal with a crisis they haven’t seen in more than a century.
Lou Dobbs, for example, blamed the “national left-wing media” for playing up fears of the virus to hurt Donald Trump. If you haven’t been paying much attention to conservative media, it’s a great refresher of just what’s been said in the early days of the pandemic’s rise. Tomi Lahren, for example, says she’s more concerned about stepping on a heroin needle than getting coronavirus. And on and on.
The video highlights comments from the Trump administration, including Trump himself. It also shows Hannity tracking the deaths from the virus, which he basically stopped doing when the number was at zero. As of this writing, nearly 3,000 people have died in New York alone.
We’re a few years removed now from the Lob City era in Los Angeles, and before the coronavirus pandemic put the season on indefinite hiatus, Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and company had quickly transformed the revamped Clippers into one of the top contenders in the West.
The central figures of that era have since moved on to new situations around the league, to varying degrees of success. Blake Griffin has spent the last couple of seasons in Detroit while battling various injuries, while DeAndre Jordan has found his way to Brooklyn after brief stints in Dallas and New York.
Chris Paul had a couple of near-misses with title contention alongside James Harden in Houston, but has since gone on to what was a delightful surprise of a season with the Oklahoma City Thunder, who were the No. 5 seed in the West before the shutdown. Still, for Paul, it’s hard not to get nostalgic for those Lob City days.
On a recent appearance on the “All the Smoke” podcast, he remembered his team with the team fondly, particularly his pairing with Griffin.
“It’s seriously one of those things you don’t realize what you have until it’s gone,” Paul said.
“I think about it at times. And me and Blake Griffin absolutely had our issues here and there, but I actually appreciated Blake probably a lot more after I left.”
Paul went on to discuss the NBA’s unprecedented situation with the social-distancing protocols that have put the season in jeopardy, praising commissioner Adam Silver for his communication with players around the league even amid the uncertainty of how things will play out. As president of the players’ union, Paul will likely be at the center of many of the discussions on how to move forward whenever the league is able to resume play.