From The Ringer

  • Can Joel Embiid Still Save the Sixers’ Season?

    If you’re the Philadelphia 76ers, Monday night’s Game 2 collapse yielded devastating news, but also one pretty good reason to feel cautiously optimistic about the rest of the first-round series against the New York Knicks. Let’s start with the bad first. Up five with 27 seconds to go, Philly gave up a corner 3 to Jalen Brunson and then, instead of calling timeout to advance the ball, turned it over in chaotic fashion as Madison Square Garden physically shook. “The first thing is obviously they...

  • ‘Shogun’ Delivers a Satisfying Conclusion With an Understated Finale

    In the sixth episode of Shogun, Lord Yoshii Toranaga’s (Hiroyuki Sanada) war council gathers in Ajiro to form a strategy against Lady Ochiba (Fumi Nikaido), Lord Ishido Kazunari (Takehiro Hira), and their manipulations of the Council of Regents. With a depleted army and few options at the war council’s disposal, Toda Hiromatsu (Tokuma Nishioka) suggests that the time has finally come for “Crimson Sky.” Hiromatsu describes the perilous plan as a “single, violent rush on Osaka Castle,” one that...

  • Advantage Chelsea and Lyon in the UWCL Semifinals

    Flo Lloyd-Hughes is joined by Jessy Parker Humphreys to discuss the first legs of the UEFA Women’s Champions League semifinals. They catch up on Jessy’s marathon trip and hear from Gilly post-London. Then they dive into huge games as Chelsea took a slender 1-0 lead against Barcelona and Lyon pulled off a huge comeback against PSG. Host: Flo Lloyd-HughesGuest: Jessy Parker HumphreysProducers: Jonathan Fisher and Flo Lloyd-Hughes Subscribe: Spotify

  • Rick Ross Is the Wild Card in the Drake-Kendrick Beef

    Drake has a problem. It isn’t—at least not yet—Kendrick Lamar, who escalated a decade of tacit rivalry into open conflict with a diss verse on “Like That,” currently the no. 1 song in the country. (Kendrick has yet to answer Drake’s first response, “Push Ups (Drop & Give Me 50),” leaked last weekend.) Nor is Drake’s problem the larger onslaught of disgruntled collaborators who’ve suddenly teamed up against him, with disses of their own, in the aftermath of “Like That.” Yes, Drake is greatly...

  • The Sixers Survived. Now Can They Advance Past the Knicks?

    Apply all the clichéd adjectives you want to the Philadelphia 76ers’ 105-104 win over the Miami Heat in Wednesday’s play-in game: gritty, old-school, physical, hard-nosed. This was not the beautiful game, but rather a scrappy slopfest befitting a high-stakes postseason contest. The four players who took the most shots made a combined 33 percent of their attempts: But after overcoming a 12-point half-time deficit and several rounds of boos from the home crowd, the 76ers can breathe a sigh of...

  • First-Round Playoff Verriables. Plus, Batum Saves the Sixers.

    Justin, Rob, and Wos start with their reactions to the two Eastern Conference play-in games, first with the Sixers beating the Heat, and then the Bulls beating the Hawks. They also briefly discuss their thoughts on Sixers-Knicks in the first round and how injuries will impact the Heat and Bulls moving forward. Then, they talk about Jontay Porter getting a lifetime ban from the NBA for betting. In the second part of the podcast, they debut a new segment called “The Verriables,” where they answer...

  • Arsenal Go Out of the Champions League to Bayern

    Ian is joined by Ryan Hunn and Arsenal Vision’s Clive Palmer for instant reaction to Arsenal’s defeat to Bayern, which saw them go out of the Champions League at the quarterfinal stage. There’s talk about the game, how this Arsenal side has progressed, what might help the team in games like this, and whether tiredness as well as a lack of experience, played a factor. Host: Ian WrightGuests: Ryan Hunn and Clive PalmerProducers: Ryan Hunn and Roscoe BowmanAdditional Production: Jonathan Fisher...