#designs from there. at least for joel and scott. everyone else not so much...

[v0idhaert]

scott smajor with number 7 for your spotify asks?

omg anon sorry it took me so long to get to this, but here: Scott smajor with number 7, Ghost of You by My Chemical Romance!

textless and bgless under cut, as well as really long ramble caption vvvvvvv

I hope this is alright! If nothing else, I’m so so proud of drawing hair braiding, that took. So. Long. lol, anyway yeah I also really like how Scott’s hair came out, and I’ve never made a third life Jimmy design before so I came up with this on the fly and I really like how it looks. But yeah, I saw which song it was and thought of them immediately, Scott was so distraught at Jimmy’s death in third life, (prepare for ramble that is mildly unintelligible if you are not really geeky about MCR lore lol. The main stuff you need to understand is that mcr has four albums, I Brought You My Bullets You Brought Me Your Love, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, The Black Parade, and Danger Days: The True Lives of The Fabulous Killjoys, and all of them have a lot of lore) like they are so demolition lovers coded, especially because of the whole back from the dead thing where Jimmy is alive and well in later seasons but Scott is still grieving him and the memory thing with winners remembering which means Scott remembers third life and Jimmy doesn’t, reminds me of like (from my understanding of the story, which is different from other peoples because MCR lore is very vague) the inner turmoil of the lover from the three cheers lore who went to hell, and his lover is in heaven and on one hand he wants to reunite but on the other he knows his lover doesn’t even know he’s alive (-ish. Not sure how much his situation qualifies as “living”) and feels guilty, thinking that she probably won’t even want to see him again, because he’s killed so many people and he doesn’t want to ruin her paradise (I mean she misses him too and wants to see him again but he doesn’t know that, and also he rightly recognizes that he is an actual sociopath. I’m not saying c!Scott is crazy (well, as not-crazy as you can be in life series death games. Everyone is at least a little bit off their rocker. Woah, parentheses within parentheses, what is this!?), but I am saying the guy demolition lover absolutely is. I am also saying that c!Scott has self worth issues. At least in my headcannons. I also have a similar headcannon for Joel. Maybe that’s why they hate each other, their mad that they can’t sacrifice themselves for each other and then decided a murderous rivalry was the only option/j ) but yeah so the torturing themselves over a lover who is both dead for them and also at the same time alive and well but unreachable and in a better place than them and wanting to be with them but holding back for fear of hurting them which ends up hurting them anyway (which is also a theme in the black parade, so ig you could also kinda compare Scott to The Patient, but patient always felt more Joel or Pearl coded to me. Also yes I know I already made a post about smalletho demo lovers au, but idk I can have both smalletho and flower husbands demo lovers I just like projecting my interests onto,,,,also my interests ig lol) is something Scott and the sinner demolition lover have in common. Also this song makes me cry. So much. Could barely even draw this through the tears lol/silly, and I’m exaggerating but less than you’d think. Unfortunately I am a crier. I also cry at Summertime from danger days, pretty much all of three cheers but especially I never told you what I do for a living, demolition lovers from bullets (btw for non MCR fans these are album and song names. Also the demo lover’s story starts in bullets with the song titled for them, and then is continued in three cheers for sweet revenge) as well as I don’t love you, wttbp, the end, mama, and famous last words from black parade. And those are just the MCR songs, not counting all the other sad songs from other bands. I am a CRIER lol. But yeah, thank you sm for the ask anon I really enjoyed drawing this!

[featherflight]

Less than 24 hours left before the new life series starts, time to fantasize about some fun teamups!

Joel, Scott, Martyn, Tango: One-Sided Rivalry Squared. Scott and Martyn have a nice time in the early game while their teammates are frantic. Scott and Tango are certain they are going to get randomly attacked by their teammates. Joel is not entirely sure how he got here but is incapable of betraying his team.

Impulse, Grian, Ren: RIG. They rig up so many traps. Grian and Ren spend a lot of time "discussing" (arguing) about what their new plan is, Impulse quietly stocks supplies and backup plans for when the other two throw themselves under a bus. They accomplish a lot and fail a lot.

Gem, Mumbo, Scar: Con Man meets Yes and No. Scar somehow ends up with teammates, and continuously suggests and designs new schemes and strategic ideas. Mumbo thinks almost all of his ideas, especially the crazy ones, are great. Gem is generally baffled and disagrees with most of what Scar says.

Lizzie, Etho, Pearl: The Tower, or Pell-Mell. Admittedly, they don't have a collective plan. However, if you prepare for anything and sabotage everyone else, you don't really need one. They live in a mishmash base that manages to be incredibly defensible, and their members make so many individual friends and enemies that nobody is really sure who they're allied with.

Cleo, Skizz: Ride and Die. Absolutely unbreakable team, would not betray each other, friendly to the other teams. When slighted/seriously offended, goes absolutely nuts. Attempts finesse for revenge, when that fails spectacularly, goes for intimidation and brute force. Would have so much fun together (please let them team).

Jimmy, BigB: JimB or "What are those two even doing?". In other people's perspectives, observed in the background doing random, baffling activities. Live out of several confusing stone bases scattered across the server. Have an absolute blast, develop their own secret code.

Bdubs: Just Bdubs. After going a yellow early and being rejected from two or three groups, Bdubs has decided to go it alone and make it everyone's problem. All teams can expect random gifts, traps, or shouting Bdubses at their front door at any time.

I should not have made this in the middle of the night but I hope it's at least a little interesting.

[wasyago]

the brainrot won

[gardenergulfie]

Emptober Day 4: Ribbon

Rating: G

Word Count: 2539

Relationships: Jimmy | Solidarity/Scott | Smajor1995 | Dangthatsalongname

Characters: Scott | Smajor1995 | Dangthatsalongname, Jimmy | Solidarity

Tags:Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Red String of Fate, Pre-Canon, Post-Canon, Past Lives, Alternate Universe - Empires SMP Setting (Video Blogging RPF), Friends to Lovers, Childhood Friends, Bickering, Flower Husbands, Emptober, Seablings, 

Everything was normal with it until the day he met the other rulers. It was a political meeting of nations, the first time all of them would all be together in years. Rivendell was hosting it and it would be Jimmy’s first time out of the kingdom. Jimmy and Lizzie were representing the Ocean Empire as heirs but they were allowed to meet and greet with whoever they wanted. Lizzie quickly ran off, introducing herself to the Mezalean prince and leaving Jimmy to flounder alone. He gripped the ribbon between his fingers nervously but took a deep breath and approached the first person he could see. That person was a winged elf with blue hair and a very aloof expression.

Emptober Day 4: Ribbon

--

AO3 Link

Fic below the cut

Jimmy was a pretty normal guy. I mean he was the leader of an empire but compared to the other leaders and even his own citizens he was normal, maybe even average. Just a pretty basic dude. But Jimmy had something, a part of him, that was very not normal. It was a ribbon tied around his left wrist. It was green and blue with a design of red flowers that Jimmy had never seen before. The ribbon had one end constantly trailing out of sight. It had been there for as long as he could remember and strangely enough, seemingly no-one else could see it.

When Jimmy was little he tried out some tests with the ribbon. He found out that he couldn’t tangle it, he couldn’t trip people with it, he couldn’t hang things on it, it didn’t interact with water like most fabrics did, it was just intangible to anyone or anything but Jimmy. He’d told his sister Lizzie about it but she didn’t have one and she couldn’t see or feel it. He’d even gone to the local library to do research on it which did make the bookkeeper give him a strange look, he’d never been one for academics before but he just needed to know. He found nothing but some sappy love stories about people with invisible red strings of fate that connected them to their one true love. Jimmy didn’t really believe these stories, besides he had a ribbon not a string.

Once or twice in his life Jimmy had felt a tug on the ribbon. It felt like a person on the other end of it had pulled on it. Was there someone also connected to him? Were those stories about strings of fate true? Jimmy followed the ribbon for a long time, only stopping when he realized that he was at the edge of the kingdom. If there was a person on the other end, they weren’t from his home empire.

For a while that was it. Nothing new could be found out about the ribbon and so Jimmy resigned himself to it just being a mystery forever. On the plus side, he didn’t really mind it that much. It didn’t hurt him or get stuck on anything which was nice and it was a nice texture. Sometimes when he was anxious or just restless he would twist it between his fingers and fidget with it. He got some strange looks, fidgeting with nothing, but it wasn’t that weird so no-one really questioned him.

Everything was normal with it until the day he met the other rulers. It was a political meeting of nations, the first time all of them would all be together in years. Rivendell was hosting it and it would be Jimmy’s first time out of the kingdom. Jimmy and Lizzie were representing the Ocean Empire as heirs but they were allowed to meet and greet with whoever they wanted. Lizzie quickly ran off, introducing herself to the Mezalean prince and leaving Jimmy to flounder alone. He gripped the ribbon between his fingers nervously but took a deep breath and approached the first person he could see. That person was a winged elf with blue hair and a very aloof expression.

“Hello! I’m Jimmy Solidarity of the Ocean Empire!” He said to the elf, his voice coming out louder than he intended from nerves. He winced as the elf turned to him with a mildly peeved expression.

“Scott Smajor, heir of Rivendell.” The elf said coldly. He assessed Jimmy lazily but his eyes stopped on Jimmy’s left hand, the one holding the ribbon. His cold mask dropped and Jimmy could see an expression of shock and mild intrigue before it went back up. “I’ve never spoken to a citizen of the ocean empire. Are you all this small? It's kinda cute” Jimmy bristled a bit at the insult? Flirt? He couldn’t tell but he knew enough to be offended.

“Not all of us can be as tall as elves. I am quite a normal height! And I’m not cute.” Jimmy snapped back. Scott looked briefly surprised at his retort but then smirked.

“Not cute you say? That adorable pout on your face says otherwise.” Scott says, lifting his hand to gesture at Jimmy’s expression. A hand that had a blue green and red flower patterned ribbon tied around it. The same ribbon that existed around Jimmy’s hand. Jimmy’s eyes widened and he looked at his own ribbon. Sure enough, they were connected. So there was a person on the other end of it and Jimmy had found them. But Scott? Really? This ribbon better not be one of those soul things, he does not want to be bonded to that rude elf.

Jimmy realized that he should probably respond to Scott. He’s been standing silently for about a minute now and Scott was surly waiting for him to say something.

“I wasn’t pouting! I was upset at being called cute. Not everyone likes random strangers calling them cute, you know.” Jimmy says back. Scott looks thoughtful.

“I don’t know. If a pretty boy like you walked up to me and called me cute, I don’t think I’d be complaining.” The elf says back. Jimmy sputters as he tries to think of a response. He really wasn’t someone who got flirted with often, even as a joke, and it was very disarming.

“Well I’m not you so I care.” He says back with his face bright red. He knew it wasn’t the best comeback and from Scott’s smug expression he could tell it hadn’t hit the mark he was aiming for.

“Right sure.” Scott says with an eye roll. “This conversation’s being nowhere and I already won it so why don’t we talk about something else. I could take you on a tour? I don’t think you fishfolk get the chance to see elven architecture often.” Jimmy once again bristled at Scott’s mild insult but agreed to the tour. Scott led Jimmy away from the front hall and outside into Rivendell proper. Jimmy wouldn’t admit it but Scott was a pretty good tour guide, he knew a lot about the kingdom’s history and culture and was good at talking about it, even if he still flirted and insulted Jimmy quite often. Scott showed Jimmy the sheep pens, the owl roost, and apiary, all places that Jimmy had only seen glimpses of during the trip here.

In the apiary Jimmy saw something. A red flower, identical to the ones on his ribbon. He called Scott over, asking what kind of flower that was. Scott glanced over and when he saw the red flower Jimmy was talking about he briefly touched the ribbon tied to his own hand before answering.

“Its a poppy. They’re a common flower and grow in most places. You haven’t seen one before?” The elf asked. Jimmy shook his head.

“I don’t think they grow in the swamps. I would have remembered seeing a flower this red before.” Jimmy gently touched a petal of the flower. It was beautiful and it made Jimmy feel…. weirdly bittersweet? It was just a flower. Why did Jimmy feel like crying then? He blinked away the tears that were forming and backed away from the flower. Scott was giving him an odd searching look.

“It's my favorite kind of flower.” Scott said at last. “I always make sure there’s at least one in the apiary at all times.” Jimmy was surprised at this personal info that Scott was just telling him. Scott hadn’t talked much about himself, mostly speaking about the elves and their great kingdom. Him just dropping this strange piece of personal information seems out of pace and it made Jimmy wonder why he did it. The elf was still looking at him, waiting for Jimmy to say something in return.

“It really is lovely.” Jimmy responded. “Does it have any special meanings?” Jimmy had heard of flowers having special meaning attached to them though he hadn’t learned much about them. Lizzie had but not him.

“Sleep, peace, and death are what the poppy represents.” Scott says, unconsciously tugging on the ribbon. Jimmy felt that tug, just more proof that they were connected. Sleep, peace, and death were strange meanings for the flowers on his ribbon. Maybe the type of flower didn’t mean anything but it's a magic ribbon so that was unlikely. Jimmy was hoping that his flowers meant peace or maybe sleep, death was something he’d really not want to be tied with.

Scott had been looking more and more nervous the more Jimmy thought. The elf was trying to hide it but the fluttering of his wings and shuffling of his feet gave him away. Jimmy was about to ask him about the problem when a loud gong rang across the city.

“That's the feast bell. They’re about to start dinner.” Scott says, moving towards the door to the apiary. “We need to go quickly so we’re not late.” Jimmy let the topic of Scott’s anxiety around him drop and the two rushed towards the main hall. They were separated in the crowd when they got there, Jimmy being reunited with Lizzie who asked him where he was and introduced him to her new friend Joel. Jimmy didn’t see Scott for the rest of the night, only briefly catching a glimpse of him when it was time for him to leave.

Jimmy met Scott quite a few times over the course of many years, the two becoming rulers of their own nations, Scott in Rivendell and Jimmy in the newly formed Cod Empire. They maintained a similar relationship as they had when they were young, Scott teasing and flirting with Jimmy and Jimmy getting flustered and firing back with his own bad insults. Neither of them brought up the topic of the ribbon though Jimmy was pretty sure that Scott knew at this point. The many glances at Jimmy’s left wrist was a pretty big clue to that.

Years past, Jimmy and Scott were still leading their empires and occasionally bickering with each other. The demon plagued them for a bit and in that time they became allies in a very strange way, Scott taking Jimmy on a date. The many poppies around the date place was a nice reference to the ribbon and a knowing look from Jimmy let Scott know he knew what was up. It took a couple more suggested dates for Jimmy to realize that the date wasn’t one of Scott’s normal flirts but that Scott was actually interested in him. The two took it slow, going on quite a few more dates before they were ready to speak of the ribbon out-loud.

Jimmy remembered it as a chilly evening, the two of them drinking warm tea inside of Jimmy’s house. Scott had made the excuse of it being too cold back home and that the swamp was just much warmer but Jimmy knew the elf at this point to know that Scott wanted to spend time with him. They had done some baking following a simple recipe that somehow they still managed to mess up and then salvage at the last minute. Now with a mug of tea in hand and slightly burnt cookies on a plate in front of him, Jimmy was feeling brave. He tugged on the ribbon once then twice when Scott didn’t look over from his cup of tea. The second tug caught the elf’s attention and he looked down at the ribbon resting beside them both.

“I think at this point we both know about the existence of this,” Jimmy waved his own end of the ribbon, “and the fact that it connects them. I don’t know about you but we’ve been dating for a bit. We might as well talk about it.” Scott blinked in surprise at the question coming from seemingly nowhere but nodded at set down his drink.

“I was wondering when one of us was going to be brave enough to bring up the soul ribbon.” Scott said. “I’d have thought you would have blurted the question out way before now.” Scott teased with a small smirk. Jimmy let the insult flirt fly over his head, mostly focused on the words soul ribbon.

“Wait, the soul ribbon is like a string of fate? The stuff from those love stories?” Jimmy asked. Scott looked confused at the question.

“Wait, you mean you don’t know about soul ribbons? They’re real and way more than just stories. We’re kind of living proof of that.” Scott said. Jimmy leaned back in his chair a bit more.

“The only information I found about anything similar to the ribbon was stories about red strings of fate that connect people destined to be together. They were just fiction I thought but you’re saying that it’s really real. We’re soulmates?” Jimmy asks.

“Soul ribbons are a bit more complicated than just the idea of fated couples. They’re broken promises from a past life. When two people promise to stay together but something happens where they promise is broken, the universe will step in and give them another chance. Hence, the soul ribbon.” Scott explains. “The pattern of the ribbon normally has some kind of meaning relating to the past life. Soul ribbons can’t really be studied but there have been enough cases that people are now pretty sure of their meaning.”

“So in another life, we made a promise to each other but it got broken? And poppies were important to us?” Jimmy questioned. “Well that explains why I feel so happy and sad at the same time when I see a poppy. Past life emotions, huh.” Scott reached out and took a cookie with one hand and Jimmy's own hand with another.

“I understand if this is a lot to take in.” Scott bit his lip, looking anxious. “Again, the soul ribbon doesn’t mean that we have to be together. It’s just the universe giving us a second chance. So if this is too much for you we don’t have to keep dating-“

“What? Scott no. I don’t want to stop dating. It’s strange, yeah, but I mean I already knew we were connected. This doesn’t have to change anything for us! I’m happy to know how we’re connected, this solves a mystery I’ve always been wondering about. I mean, better lovers in a past life than fated enemies in this one.” Jimmy said passionately, laughing a bit at his own joke at the end. Scott’s face brightened up and he smiled back at Jimmy.

“Was that one of your theories? Fated enemies?” Scott chuckled as he took a bite of his cookie. Jimmy rubbed the back of his neck bashfully with his free hand.

“I mean we were always bickering. It wasn’t too strange of an idea.” Jimmy defended himself.

The two of them continued to talk for quite a few more hours before they eventually fell asleep together, bundled up under a quilt. Their hands were intertwined, the two ends of the ribbons brushing against each other. The universe looked down at these second chance souls and felt pride. They really had found each other again.

[junker-town]

The 76ers need to embrace their weirdness

The Philadelphia 76ers are still finding themselves.

The 76ers weren’t built to win conventionally, they were built to win differently.

The Philadelphia 76ers are a strange basketball team. Their star is a giant low-post player in an era rendering them extinct. Their co-star is a 6’9 point guard who refuses to shoot jumpers. Their other starters are a modern center starting out of position, a max-salaried combo forward on his fifth team, and an off-guard pest who could never quite be the featured player his previous team wanted. The two stars play more minutes apart than together, even when both are actually healthy.

Saying the 76ers are bizarre is obvious, yet it’s always — always — worth repeating. No matter how hard the 76ers try, no matter how spirited their locker room actually is at any given moment, they are one weird-ass team by design. Because of that, the same qualities that make the 76ers difficult to play against — their mammoth size, positional fluidity, incoherent play style, and emphasis on trench warfare — also make it difficult for them to coalesce around each other. Their abnormality cuts both ways, and the line between that being a bug and a feature is razor thin.

At this moment, it’s a bug. Following a New Year’s Eve beatdown in Indiana, Josh Richardson said there isn’t “enough accountability” in the locker room. Philly then fell in Houston two nights later, after which a frustrated Joel Embiid lamented “it doesn’t feel like we’re getting better.” These comments come on the heels of Al Horford’s frank admission that his 76ers experience hasn’t been as fun as expected.

When it goes bad for Philly, it can look like the players barely know each other. No other team has this many sequences where two players think they can post up on the same side.

None have cramped spacing like this.

Few commit more disappointing defensive breakdowns, though that’s largely because we expect to always see the unmatched cohesion they show at their best. Ben Simmons can and does put the clamps on so many types of players, which makes baffling off-ball mistakes like this all the more frustrating.

And it’s not just the two stars that get sloppy. The 76ers are turnover-prone, yet they also make a ton of mistakes that are harder to spot. Take this moment against Houston. After a missed free throw, the 76ers cleared out the right side to set up a backdoor pass for Richardson. As the play commenced, Mike Scott bizarrely decided to cut into the lane from the left wing, right in front of Richardson! The result: a much tougher layup that anticipated because Richardson had to finish over two players.

At best, this rough patch could cost the 76ers valuable seeding in the East’s unexpectedly deep upper-middle class. At worst, it could pull the team apart. Certainly, the on-court body language isn’t ideal.

That said, it’s essential for us (and, more crucially, them) to keep things in perspective. Prior to the Indiana game, the 76ers had a better point differential against the top six teams in each conference (+5.3) than everyone else (+4.34). (Note: this included a 19-point loss to Dallas, a nominal top-six team that played without MVP candidate Luka Doncic). That gap would be much wider if you removed one 47-point blowout win against Cleveland from those 22 games against the bottom 18 teams in the league.

When the 76ers were tested by the kind of opponents they need to beat to achieve their title dreams, their weirdness provided a substantial boost. Accountability didn’t seem like much of a problem with Embiid and Ben Simmons here.

And the supposed rickety offensive synergy between the two stars seemed pretty damn good here. Take it away, Doris Burke:

And it looks even better when they execute a beautiful hi-lo like this.

Or when they use Simmons as a short roller.

When the 76ers click, they click in unexpectedly fluid ways. Entry passes to Embiid can come from angles that opponents aren’t used to seeing, which makes his physical dominance seem insurmountable. We know Simmons has the vision to throw passes others can’t, but how many point guards are also lob threats, offensive rebounding monsters, and dribble hand-off screeners at his size? (Friend of the program Kyle Neubeck hits the nail on the head: Simmons is far too versatile to be used like a ball-dominant figure). Few wings have as diverse a shot profile as Tobias Harris, which comes in handy when trying to subvert defense’s expectations or get out of a tight spot.

On the other end, Philly’s collective perimeter size combines with Embiid’s towering presence to shrink the court. Embiid and Simmons have remarkable agility for players their size, allowing the former to brace himself for full-speed drives and the latter to keep his hips on balance while taking massive lateral steps to stay with any perimeter scorer. Richardson’s a damn pest, Harris is improving his fundamentals, and rookie Matisse Thybulle lurks like a shadow from behind. Shots that opponents get off easily against anyone else don’t materialize against Philly.

Even the 76ers’ substitution patterns throw opponents off. The 76ers don’t really have a second unit. Instead, they essentially have four hockey lines: the starters, the Simmons-centric speed group with Horford playing center, the “checking line” featuring Embiid surrounded by floor spacers, and whatever mishmash of the three seems appropriate at any given time. They are multiple teams within the same game, and that throws more traditional opponents for a loop.

Describing the 76ers as four teams in one sounds like a positive way to spin their core’s lack of cohesion, but that’s exactly the point. Everything that makes the 76ers a challenging opponent also makes it more challenging for them to win conventionally. This is the price of being different, and the best thing the 76ers can do is accept that it doesn’t take much for their greatest weapon to become an anvil over their head.

Accepting the situation isn’t the same as accepting their current state. There’s plenty of low-hanging fruit the 76ers can snatch to get back on the right side of that thin line.

For one, their floor spacing can be much better even with their current personnel. They don’t need to have two players cutting to the basket at the same time, as they so often do. It’s not that hard for Simmons to cut anywhere other than directly behind Embiid.

Or for three players to go to the rim as Harris posts up. I mean, really?

If they time those cuts juuuust a bit better, they can balance the floor more effectively in transition and still maintain their bully-ball aesthetic. Seriously, why is Horford rolling into space that Simmons already occupies? Clean that up, and every role player will start to look better.

Embiid and Simmons also have plenty of fat they can trim from their own games. Embiid may never get the floor spacing he desires, but he can still roll harder to the rim than this. At least he’ll force other defenders to occupy him, thereby freeing teammates up.

Simmons certainly could use a jumper, but he’d survive better without one if he actually powered through traffic instead of always gliding around it. Simmons won’t be blessed with the spread floor that Giannis Antetokounmpo profits from in Milwaukee, but no team of his should be 28th in drives per game and 29th in points off drives. Simmons neuters the impact of his own kickout passes by delivering the ball too early.

And he’s way too big and strong to be finishing this meekly around the basket.

Among 49 players who average more than 10 drives per game, Simmons is tied for 35th (with Jrue Holiday, of all people) in shooting percentage on said plays. Some names in front of him: Ish Smith, Markelle Fultz, Dennis Schroder, Collin Sexton, Tomas Satoransky, Spencer Dinwiddie, Goran Dragic, and Jeff Teague. Simmons shouldn’t need the extra boost of an open floor to beat out those guys.

But finding the energy to make those changes requires accepting the team’s general state of affairs. In a perfect world, Simmons would take a few jumpers, Embiid would get more post-ups, Harris could actually make advanced passing reads, and Brown would empower Horford more effectively. And sure, the 76ers could use one more shooter, as well as some supplementary playmaking to phase out all those Trey Burke minutes that are way too necessary right now.

But the 76ers weren’t built to win conventionally, they were built to win differently. It’s too late for half measures.

[dweemeister]

Mary Poppins Returns (2018)

Ever since Mary Poppins (1964) gave the Walt Disney Studios acclaim from audiences and within Hollywood, the House of Mouse had toyed with the idea of a sequel. The correct circumstances never aligned – partly due to author P.L. Travers’ defensiveness to her Mary Poppins books, partly due to the demands of then-Disney chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg when he approached Travers in the 1980s. Nevertheless, Travers allowed the company to produce a stage musical version of Mary Poppins  – with the request that no one (specifically the Sherman Brothers) from the original film version be involved –  in the 1990s. Travers did not live to see the stage musical’s successful 2004 debut, but this renewal of trust between Travers (and her estate) and Disney marked a change in the wind after the belatedly famous acrimony between Travers and Walt Disney behind the 1964 film. With the blessing from the Travers estate, Disney secured the rights two a Mary Poppins sequel in September 2015.

Directed by Rob Marshall, Mary Poppins Returns  – like many recent Disney live-action films – adheres too closely to the original’s storytelling formula and, specifically in this film’s case, functional musical structure set by its predecessor. The film is nevertheless a fantastic portrayal of Mary Poppins the character. It is blessed with craftsmanship and possesses a score that – although inferior to the original (an almost-impossible bar to clear) – is among the best for an original movie musical in years.

It is 1935 in London and the Great Depression is at its height. Twenty-five years after the events of Mary Poppins, a grown-up Michael Banks (Ben Whishaw) still lives at 17 Cherry Tree Lane. Now, he lives there with his children – Annabel (Pixie Davies), John (Nathanael Saleh), and Georgie (Joel Dawson) – and housekeeper Ellen (Julie Walters). Michael, who works as a teller at his father’s old stomping grounds, the Fidelity Fiduciary Bank, is recently widowed, and his sister Jane (Emily Mortimer) has moved back in to help him with the children. Compounding these troubles is the fact that Michael has taken out a loan from the bank, but cannot pay the money bank. The bank, now led day-to-day by William “Weatherall” Wilkins (Colin Firth), is threatening to repossess the house. On a stormy day in the park across the street, Michael’s children are playing with a kite when Mary Poppins (Emily Blunt) appears. Lamplighter Jack (Lin-Manuel Miranda) is there with the children, and introduces Annabel, John, and Georgie to Mary Poppins. Mary Poppins has arrived, in her own words, “to look after the Banks children.”

Also appearing in Mary Poppins Returns are Mary Poppins’ cousin Topsy (Meryl Streep), Admiral Boom (David Warner), and first mate Mr. Binnacle (Jim Norton). Angela Lansbury, Dick Van Dyke, and Karen Dotrice (who played Jane in the original film) all make cameo appearances. Lansbury, at ninety-three years of age when this film was released, is now the oldest credited actor to appear in a Walt Disney Studios movie (Van Dyke is two months younger).

Where the 1964 original eventually revealed itself to be a reminder on how to be a loving parent despite personal flaws and professional pressures, Mary Poppins Returns’ message of loss affects all. That message appears almost the moment we meet Michael Banks. The grown-up Michael Banks is living life paralyzed in grief; his sorrow – even in the least visible moments – is self-evident to the children. For both sets of Banks children (Jane and Michael; Annabel, John, and Georgie) Mary Poppins has arrived to partially fill in what has been lost, as well as allow each set of children to see what the others need. Jane and Michael Banks – tending to the financial matters at 17 Cherry Tree Lane – have been engulfed in finding the money to pay for the loan on the family house. The most disappointing change in Mary Poppins Returns compared to the original is that this film presents an obvious villainous figure in Colin Firth’s character. Firth, in a criminal abuse of his character’s power, destroys the evidence of proof that the Banks family can pay the loan quickly. As a result, Jane and Michael Banks learn little else other than to simply be tenacious and not let their unfortunate circumstances define who they are – worthy messages both, but deeply unsatisfying compared to what could have been without a villain. For Annabel, John, and Georgie, Mary Poppins’ arrival introduces an air of childhood excitement long missing from the household. But in the end, for this new generation of Banks children, they grow to see their father’s situation through his eyes. They learn to take care of him, and let him know that he is not alone in missing a loved one.

Here again is Disney’s adherence to the original, with variations. Mary Poppins Returns will also introduce certain things that retroactively canonize (“retcon”) aspects of the original, including whether Michael and Jane remember fully what happened the first time Mary Poppins arrived (or perhaps they believed they have imagined it). Most of the retconning adds little depth to either the original or this sequel. The introduction of a villain (previously described) and a frantic race-against-time sequence just before the climax are frustrating developments. The decision not to have an antagonist separated Mary Poppins from numerous Disney animated and live-action films; today, a film without any antagonist would feel radical in contemporary mainstream filmmaking. The temptation to include a rush to the climax also befell a similarly-themed movie like Christopher Robin (2018) – a clichéd addition which does nothing except to provide composer Marc Shaiman the opportunity to craft a dexterous, technically complicated cue for the score. More on Shaiman and the music soon.

The child performers and much of the supporting cast do fine in their roles (Meryl Streep’s character should have been taken out of the film entirely). Lin-Manuel Miranda even graces the audiences with a gloriously terrible British accent just like Dick Van Dyke did as Bert in Mary Poppins. The film obviously belongs to Emily Blunt, who decided not to rewatch Julie Andrews’ performance so that she could make this portrayal of the character her own. In Mary Poppins Returns, Blunt does exactly that – embodying her version of Mary with dryness, a more pronounced vanity (never to an infuriating extent), and charm. As a character, Mary Poppins is ultimately unknowable to all. That mystique is complemented here with Blunt’s (an alto to Andrews’ soprano; Andrews is unquestionably the better singer, but it is best to go into Mary Poppins Returns without burdening Andrews-esque expectations on Blunt) excellent performance.

The stunning production design from John Myhre (2002′s Chicago, 2005′s Memoirs of a Geisha) and Gordon Sim (Chicago, 2009′s Nine) replicates Depression-era London with exterior griminess, contrasting that with the visual wonder of Topsy’s residence and the noticeably stagebound set where the grand lamplighter number occurs. Sandy Powell’s costume design, likewise, is gorgeous. But the film’s technical mastery is centered around the hybrid hand-drawn animation and live-action scenes that last around twenty minutes. In pre-production, director Rob Marshall knew that he wanted his film – in honor of the original Mary Poppins and the Disney animators who worked on that film – to employ hand-drawn animation. Yet the priorities of the Walt Disney Studios between 1964 and 2018 are day and night. Disney executives wanted Marshall to have computerized animation, to which Marshall voiced his vehement opposition. Under the now-disgraced John Lasseter and current Disney Chairman/CEO Bob Iger, the Walt Disney Animation Studios quietly and gradually released almost all of its hand-drawn animators in the mid-2010s in favor of those specializing in CGI animation – the part of the Walt Disney Company that is the spiritual center of the modern corporate behemoth no longer has the resources to make anything other than the occasional short film. A good portion of the animators who came to work on Mary Poppins Returns were hired on a temporary basis with Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar. But Mary Poppins Returns is now the first theatrical Disney film employing animation that was mostly drawn by outside animation studios. Their combined work is spectacular, but this development signals what has happened, in-house, at Walt Disney Animation Studios.

With Richard M. Sherman serving as musical consultant, it is up to composer Marc Shaiman (1995′s The American President; 1999′s South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut) and lyricist Scott Wittman (the original Broadway production of Hairspray – along with Shaiman) to compose material aligned to the Sherman Brothers’ musical identity to the original while serving this sequel for what it is. Beginning with the oxymoronic (not in the movie’s context, but reality) “(Underneath the) Lovely London Sky”, Shaiman and Wittman establish Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Jack as the seemingly omnipresent, on-again/off-again narrator through whom we enter the story. Orchestral quotations of “The Life I Lead” from Mary Poppins signal that this film will make spare, but noticeable references to the Sherman Brothers’ score. “Can You Imagine That?” – during its first appearance and later references in the score – is the effervescent entry inviting the audience (and the younger set of Banks children) to enjoy themselves during this film. “The Royal Doulton Music Hall” and “A Cover is Not the Book” might not be for everyone, but the songs introduce a certain growl and Cockney attitude to Blunt’s performance previously thought unimaginable in the cinematic Mary Poppins character (yet has some precedent in Travers’ books). Miranda also raps in “A Cover is Not the Book” – the idea of rap in a Sherman Bros. or a Shaiman and Wittman score seems antithetical to their respective styles, but Miranda makes it work.

“Trip a Little Light Fantastic” – if the dudes and dudettes reading this review can forgive the anachronistic BMX stunting – makes me believe that Hollywood’s major studios should employ Miranda in more song-and-dance musicals if they are willing to invest in the genre. “Nowhere to Go But Up” closes the film, quotes more Sherman Brothers songs, and should be listened to in context. Streep’s “Turning Turtle” is a musical dud, despite the interesting Eastern European instrumentation. Mary Poppins Returns’ best song – musically and contextually – is “The Place Where Lost Things Go”. Many of the songs in Mary Poppins Returns are analogous to songs from Mary Poppins, and this lullaby sung by Blunt and later reprised is no exception. “The Place Where Lost Things Go” is this film’s “Feed the Birds” (Walt Disney’s song from any of the films he produced). This song has a perfect marriage of melody and lyrics, but ironically (in terms of my earlier request that viewers separate Julie Andrews’ original performance of Mary when watching Mary Poppins Returns) this is the most visible moment in the film where audiences may notice that Emily Blunt does not have the musical acumen to fully carry this moment. Blunt’s performance in “The Place Where Lost Things Go”, however, is good enough to underline the film’s poignancy. Shaiman’s integration of almost all of the musical numbers into the film’s incidental score is breathtaking in orchestration and construction. Used within and outside the film, Shaiman’s score is a career cinematic accomplishment.

The original Mary Poppins, Julie Andrews, was approached by Marshall to appear in a cameo. She declined, remarking that, “this is Emily’s show,” and that she did not wish to distract from Emily Blunt’s star turn. Coincidentally, a film including Julie Andrews opened against Mary Poppins Returns’ debut in North America. The film was Aquaman (2018), and Andrews voiced the Karathen – a legendary creature of the deep that assists the eponymous superhero.

Mary Poppins Returns does not refute or undermine the legacy of the 1964 original film – lightning in a bottle for Walt Disney Studios upon its release and still the greatest live-action Disney film ever made. The brilliant central performance from Blunt is not hampered by her limited vocal range, and she assisted by incredible technical masters working behind the camera. The storytelling blueprint of the original can be found across the film, however. Though I welcome the artistry Mary Poppins Returns brings, it is yet another example of the current incarnation of Walt Disney Studios cannibalizing its famed catalogue. The studio – which is now a soon-to-be-approved studio acquisition away from being the dominant force in Hollywood – is attempting to redefine cinematic consumption on its own terms. Mary Poppins Returns, for its musical mastery, is a part of those efforts.

My rating: 7/10

^ Based on my personal imdb rating. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found here.

[santaprofit5-blog]

Our Favorite Feature Stories of 2018

[Photographs: Clay Williams, Vicky Wasik, Jennifer Burns Bright, Adam Kuban, Max Falkowitz]

For most of our readers, the feature stories on Serious Eats aren't the biggest draw—some who know us strictly for our recipes probably don't even realize we publish anything else. But when we looked back at all the features we produced this year, we were struck by both their number and their variety, and it was gratifying (especially for the feature editors among us!) to watch as the whole staff pored over the list and everyone rushed to call dibs on their favorites.

Granted, a "feature" on Serious Eats can mean a lot of very different things: a guide to a particular ingredient, or category of ingredient, or cuisine; an exploration of an odd American regional food or the history behind an iconic international one; an interview from our Obsessed series; a personal essay; a reported investigation of a segment of the food industry.

What we hope these all have in common is that readers will get from them not just what they were expecting when they clicked on the title, but more—we want our personal essays to be personal, but also teach something; we want our guides and other service-oriented pieces to be informative, but also buoyed by a strong voice and sense of humor.

Whatever category they fall into, the features described below are the ones that most resonated with the Serious Eats staff in 2018. We were fascinated by, among other things, the winding and sometimes bizarre history of soy milk in the US, the care and labor that go into making a traditional Japanese breakfast, the baking ingredients we absolutely needed to add to our (apparently understocked) pantries, and a glimpse into the mind of a veteran brewmaster. After you've read this list, we hope you'll find yourself similarly hooked.

[Photograph: Vicky Wasik]

If you know me, you know that I consider BraveTart to be nothing less than a bible. It's the first baking cookbook I've ever made multiple recipes from, and the only baking cookbook I've ever given as a gift. Every anecdote, brownie, cake, and homemade Oreo provides insight into Stella's soul and genius. And the more I learn, the more I want to learn, which is why I love this post about the pantry items Stella considers essential for baking. Knowing the exact ingredients she uses has definitely given my baking an edge, and when I combine those ingredients with her can't-fail recipes, I know I can achieve the very best version of everything I make. In Stella we trust! —Ariel Kanter, director of commerce strategy and editorial

The Baker's Pantry: All the Staples You Need to Make Amazing Desserts »

[Photograph: Clay Williams]

In the early years of Serious Eats' existence, pizza was a large part of the site's bread and butter, except that instead of bread and butter, it was bread and tomato sauce and cheese. The editors and writers of old SE covered 'za so exhaustively for so many years that, at a certain point, it felt like there wasn't much left to say. After you've written nearly every conceivable recipe, explored every significant pizza joint nationwide (plus thousands of pretty insignificant ones) in more passionate depth than any other publication could ever hope to, and basically written the book on the subject, what else is there?

That's largely why there's been so much less pizza coverage on SE in recent years—the archives speak for themselves. But that's also why it thrilled me to see pizza come roaring back in this great two-part series about pizza in one of its meccas, New York City. Written by Ed, with major assists from pizza experts Adam Kuban and Scott Wiener, the first part (linked below) catches us up to 2018 after several years of Serious Silence on pizza, while the second is a perfectly curated list of some of the very best places to grab a slice citywide. —Daniel Gritzer, managing culinary director

State of the Slice, Part 1 »

[Photograph: Vicky Wasik]

This isn't exactly a typical feature story, but by the time I'd finished reading, I'd gained much more of an understanding of how to assemble a Japanese breakfast. Sho takes readers to his grandmother's breakfast table in Japan before breaking down the significance of the meal, one component at a time. His writing is funny and warm, and it makes you feel as if a close friend is standing by to assist when this breakfast turns out to be much more complicated than you'd anticipated. —Elazar Sontag, editorial assistant

How to Make a Japanese Breakfast »

[Photograph: Max Falkowitz]

Mezcal is hands down my favorite liquor—I just love the smoky layer it adds to any cocktail. Reading about how painstakingly difficult it is to produce and distill mezcal made me fall that much more in love with the spirit itself. Max takes us through the entire journey, from the agave plant to how mezcaleros capture the smokiness that I adore so much. This very thorough and admirable mezcal bible makes me want to hop on the next flight to Oaxaca. —Grace Chen, office manager and associate podcast producer

The Spirit of Mexico: A Guide to Mezcal »

[Photograph: Jennifer Burns Bright]

As much as I love oysters, my previous knowledge of them sadly didn't extend much beyond "they taste good and sometimes make pearls." Jennifer's article has changed that for me (or brought me out of my shell?). After reading the story of the Olympia oyster and the immense effort it takes to get them on your plate, I'm now deep-diving into the world of bivalves. Their history is fascinating, but I'm mostly grateful for their comeback, because it's now the oyster I look for on any raw-bar menu. —Joel Russo, video producer

This Small West Coast Oyster Is Making a Big Comeback »

[Photograph: Vicky Wasik]

There is no argument that New York has one of the richest and most ethnically diverse food scenes in the world. This practical list makes global fare (hello, Cuban-Chinese!) accessible on a budget. I keep it bookmarked on my phone as a cheat sheet for casual nights out, when the answer to “Where do you want to eat?” is “I don’t know, but it’s gotta be good and cheap.” —Maggie Lee, UX designer

15 Under $15: Great Bites in NYC That Won't Break the Bank »

[Photograph: Chris Low]

The idea for Becky Selengut's entertaining and informative guide to the Pacific razor clam was originally hatched by Sho, who never met a mollusk he didn't like. But when I took editing responsibilities on it, it became my baby, and though it required a fair amount of coaxing into being—including coordinating a West Coast–based clamming/photography excursion, carried out at twilight, and waiting months on a shipment of live Pacific razor clams to our New York office so Daniel could test out Becky's shucking directions—it felt like a huge triumph when it was finally finished and published.

Okay, maybe my toil isn't enough of a reason for you to read this article, so here are a few real ones: To me, it represents a combination of practical guidance and instruction, "I didn't know that!" fun facts, and personal investment by the author that's ideal in a feature story. Reading it, you understand not only that Becky is an expert at gathering and cooking with these clams, but also that she loves this subject matter. Even if you'll never eat a Pacific razor in your life, it's a joy to read, especially when paired with Chris Low's lovely, moody photos of that evening clamming expedition in the PNW. —Miranda Kaplan, senior editor

Fat, Ugly, and Delicious: A Guide to the Pacific Razor Clam »

[Photograph: Vicky Wasik]

In a totally different vein from the Pacific razor clam guide, Nadia Berenstein's story on soy milk's journey from a symbol of technological progress, to a health food for religious zealots and hippie environmentalists, to international success and semi-acceptance by the American mainstream, is a great, quirky ride. It's hard not to love a serious food history in which farting emerges as a major theme. —Miranda Kaplan, senior editor

A Brief History of Soy Milk, the Future Food of Yesterday »

[Photograph: Vicky Wasik]

When Tabitha Blankenbiller pitched us a story about cooking from the American Girl doll cookbooks, I was immediately sold. One of my male counterparts, however, who grew up so far removed from the exorbitant price and captivating realism of the American Girl doll "experience" that he wasn't even sure what American Girl dolls were, was skeptical, to say the least.

I think it speaks volumes that we both wound up enthusiastic about the finished piece, which captures the peculiar zeitgeist of the American Girl doll generation with remarkable accuracy and a cutting humor. It's an irreverent bit of writing that will nonetheless resonate with anyone who has something to feel nostalgic and complicated about. I'll admit that the opportunity to spend a full day of my job building a teeny-tiny kitchen and grooming American Girl dolls for our epic photo shoot was something of a bonus. —Niki Achitoff-Gray, executive managing editor

The Great American Girl Doll Cook-Off »

[Photograph: Adam Kuban]

I really enjoyed Sho's Obsessed interview with Slice founder Adam Kuban. As a pizza-loving Serious Eater, I'm certainly the target audience for this interview, but beyond that, I find Adam's story admirable: He's turned his obsession into businesses, twice (and he's still working at it). —Paul Cline, VP of product

Obsessed: Slicemeister Adam Kuban Deep-Dishes on His Pizza Dreams »

[Photograph: Vicky Wasik]

I am so happy that amaro has gone mainstream. It used to be really hard to find here in the States, but not anymore. This piece is a great introduction to the perfect digestif, and gives a good rundown of the big-name amari on the market. —Sasha Marx, senior culinary editor

Amari 101: Your Guide to Italy’s Essential Bittersweet Liqueurs »

[Photograph: Vicky Wasik]

Sherry is one of those things folks are always trying to pair with dessert, but despite my background as a pastry chef, I don't know my way around sherry well enough to offer up any meaningful suggestions. Getting to know the various styles and sweetness levels was tremendously helpful in bettering my understanding of how to pair sherries with dessert in a way that will offer the best complement or contrast, rather than hitting all the sugar-sweet notes. —Stella Parks, pastry wizard

Sherry 101: An Introduction to the Hippest Old-Person Drink Around »

[Photograph: Vicky Wasik]

My path to the discovery of good beer was similar to Garrett Oliver's, in that I drank swill all through college before a revelatory experience opened my eyes shortly thereafter. I became acquainted with the wider world of interesting beer while working as a server at Teresa's Next Door in Wayne, Pennsylvania (a 2018 James Beard Award semifinalist for Outstanding Bar Program). The restaurant had an exhaustive beer list, and I was forced (*ahem*) to taste every beer that rotated through the taps, discovering the complexities and nuance that defined the brewing world beyond Budweiser. Everyone at the restaurant, including me, owned a copy of Oliver's canonical The Brewmaster's Table to learn about styles of beer and how they pair with food.

So I was very excited when Sho's Obsessed interview with this great brewmaster popped up, and the read did not disappoint. The dude is smart as hell and really knows his craft. He speaks so well about the past, present, and future of brewing and his own personal experience, but you can tell he's also brimming with insightful commentary on much more. Oliver's keen mind makes for a fascinating profile—my favorite Obsessed interview of the year. Now, off to find the cut material... —Tim Aikens, front-end developer

Obsessed: Garrett Oliver on Brewing Better Beer »

[Photograph: Vicky Wasik]

A pretty well-known fact about me around the Serious Eats office is that I love pasta. It's even my spirit food in my masthead photo. Every single Italian recipe that Daniel has made has been photographed (and, most likely, devoured) by yours truly. This comprehensive list not only reminds me of all the tasty bowls of pasta I've eaten, but actually gives me the confidence that I can cook a lot of them on my own! —Vicky Wasik, visual director

The Essential Steps to Mastering Italian Cuisine »

[Illustration: Misha Zadeh]

I admire this piece by Porochista Khakpour immensely, and I feel very lucky for having had the opportunity to work with her. Khakpour is an accomplished novelist and memoirist—her most recent book, Sick, was published this year—and I could read her writing on any subject. While her Nowruz piece is nominally concerned with how meaningful the Persian New Year is for her, what I find so appealing about it is that it is ultimately about how being Iranian is an essential part of her American identity, which I believe is a particularly valuable bit of insight in light of the conversations taking place across the country about immigration. —Sho Spaeth, features editor

A Time of Plenty: Celebrating Nowruz in America »

[Illustration: Tram Nguyen]

I really love the way Mithila Phadke writes, not just about the food in this piece but in general. I think this piece illustrates the range of her voice, and how it can be used to talk about both weighty and light things. What I most like about this piece, though, is that while much of the focus is on her grandmother's cooking and, of course, on her loss, it also manages to deftly underscore how little is understood of the vast and varied cuisine of the Indian subcontinent, even (and especially!) by those who grew up there. I grew up in New Delhi, and I found it incredibly edifying; I hope you all do, too. —Sho Spaeth, features editor

Ajji's Cooking: Preserving an Unsung Cuisine »

[Video: Serious Eats Video]

D. Gritzer's guide to mortars and pestles has everything I like about our service-oriented features. First of all, it goes deep—way deep. Who knew how many kinds of mortars and pestles there were, from every corner of the world: Japanese, Mexican, Thai, and Mediterranean ones, just for starters? Plus, there's plenty of history in the post, all of it engagingly presented to the reader. Finally, Daniel explains in one word what a mortar and pestle does better than more modern inventions: it crushes. Just like Daniel's story does. —Ed Levine, founder

How to Pick the Best Mortar and Pestle »

[Photograph: Jai Williams]

Interest in Lao cuisine appears to be quietly but steadily building across the United States. If, like me, you're naturally curious about it, or if you suddenly find yourself seated before a Lao menu, whip out this fun primer so you can discern muu haeng from siin haeng and learn what goes best with jaew bong. —John Mattia, video editor

A Guide to the Essential Dishes of Laos »

[Illustration: Annelise Capossela]

As a reformed picky eater, I identified so strongly with Irina's story. There's a lot of flexing in food media about the babies of chefs and writers who will eat anything put in front of them because they're the kids of good eaters. But I find the image of Irina's son eating two mac and cheese sandwiches a lot more compelling than those overdone flexes: It speaks to discernment, judgment, and developing your tastes on your own time. —Kristina Bornholtz, social media editor

The Kid Is All Right: In Defense of Picky Eating »

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Source: https://www.seriouseats.com/roundups/favorite-features-2018

[flauntpage]

Throwing the Counterpunch – Observations from Sixers 145, Nets 123

Brooklyn head coach Kenny Atkinson said before this game that he was expecting a “haymaker” from the Sixers, a team he believed was “too good and too well-coached” to fall apart after one playoff loss.

If the Sixers took a left hook on Saturday afternoon, they came back with a massive overhand right on Monday night, throwing that haymaker in the form of a 21-2 run to open the second half, leading to an outrageous 51-point third quarter and 22-point win. They pulled level with the Nets at one game apiece as the series shifts to Brooklyn, which contains more hipsters per capita than Kensington and East Passyunk combined. Philly is back in this thing with 48 hours of rest before a short trip up the highway to the Barclays Center, and maybe the best part about the blowout is that Joel Embiid only had to play 21 minutes last night before taking a seat on the bench.

Now let me be honest with you –

I’m not big on fans leaving early during any win, especially when the playoffs begin. The crowd, which was excellent last night, starting filing out with more than seven minutes remaining in the fourth quarter as both teams pulled their starters and let the reserves do mop up duty.

The early exit encapsulated a bizarre scene overall, a quirky example of just how quickly this city went from tight-sphincter worrying to 100% blowout boredom, which is hilarious to me considering how itchy and negative everything was during the two full days that followed the game one loss. It’s goofy how big of a difference one good performance can make in the mental health department, how much it changes the tone on sports radio and social media, where knee-jerk reaction is king.

And what a performance we got. The energy and purpose was ten times what we saw on Saturday, just a sense of urgency that was not there in game one. The guys who had bad games had good games, Joel Embiid was able to rest in the fourth quarter, and Brett Brown made a couple of key lineup adjustments that really helped turned this thing around, so we’ll start there, after the jump:

Rotation tweaks

Brett’s changes:

James Ennis, on a restriction, was available for 12 minutes last night.

T.J. McConnell and Jonathon Simmons were dropped from the rotation.

He had Jimmy Butler take over as the second unit ball handler, using a point-guard-by-committee approach and running out a group of Butler, Ennis, Boban Marjanovic, Tobias Harris, and Mike Scott.

Jonah Bolden was used at power forward with the starters to open the second and fourth quarters. JJ Redick remained on the bench to begin those stretches.

I asked Brett about the decision to drop T.J. and go with a different look on the second unit:

First, it’s a difficult decision because T.J. has been a part of our bloodline for a while. The energy he injects is contagious and we all get. Even if you study the stat line from the game we lost, I he was a +12, which is pretty good. You start looking at the ripple effect of maybe what can others do from a spatial standpoint. James is able to stretch the floor a little bit more. You try to give Jimmy the ball as a legitimate point guard, a point guard when Ben was not on the court. That influenced that decision. I thought T.J. handled it as we all guessed he would. He’s a wonderful teammate, but it was driven for those reasons I just said.

Key words: “spatial standpoint.”

Ennis was a +14 in the time he was out there. Boban had numerous solid offensive possessions with this unit and did a nice job showing in the middle of the floor. Butler dished seven assists and Scott went 5-7 from the floor, improving on the 1-8 performance he put up in game one.

Joel Embiid

23 points and 10 rebounds in 20:55 of play.

He made a concerted effort to get into the paint and attack the rim, and there were at least three instances I counted where he passed on three-point attempts to look for better options. In one case, he instead turned into a staggered dribble hand-off, then there was a Euro-step that got him to the line on an and-1.

Thing is, these looked like very quick decisions from him. In the most recent Milwaukee game, for example, you could see he was in two different mindsets, like he was fighting the urge to want to shoot instead. There was no hesitation to move inside tonight, and he followed up a 0-5 three-point shooting effort in game one with zero three-point attempts in game two, shooting 8-12 from everywhere else on the floor.

Said Joel on that:

“I was just taking what the defense was giving me. If you’re going to give me that much space, I feel like I can do a lot of things with it. Tonight I just decided to be aggressive and drive the ball. Some nights I’m gonna shoot it, but tonight I was just trying to be aggressive.”

Sometimes he was aggressive and other times he was patient. I wrote about possessions like these in Monday’s column:

Joel has an open three there, but instead shows some patience, brings Redick around on a staggered hand off, and they eventually cycle the ball down to Ben Simmons in the post, who is able to get a bucket over Rodions Kurucs. Tough basket, sure, but that’s just a nice job by Joel to pass on the easy look, play Redick to the second side, and work the offense instead of settling for what Brooklyn wants him to do.

Ben Simmons

No Jared Dudley last night for Brooklyn, who did a nice job in game one of defending Ben and also getting back in transition to wall him off.

Ben was aggressive early and often in game two, getting to the rim and making smarter decisions with the ball (despite three turnovers, which he wasn’t happy with). Most importantly, he rode the crowd enthusiasm, took the game one boos in stride, and delivered the performance everyone knows he’s capable of putting in.

Said Ben on that:

I’ve got a lot of love for this city and the fans here. Every time I step on the floor I try and play as hard as I can. I was just showing that. The hustle I try and give each and every game is not only for my teammates, my family, it’s for the city.

Even better than his offensive line of 23/12/10 was the defense he played on D’Angelo Russell in the third quarter, blanketing him with pressure and making life incredibly uncomfortable. Russell had zero third quarter points and shot 4-10 on 35 offensive possessions against Simmons overall.

Even some small wrinkles helped with the spacing issue in attacking the rim, like this little backdoor low ball type of screen (if that’s even a thing) to remove a body in the paint:

Great play design by the Sixers here, using how Brooklyn is covering Simmons against them. Graham is all the way back to catch the drive. Butler screens Graham right in the middle of the paint as he's attacking downhill pic.twitter.com/q9YLYK3uaT

— Steve Jones Jr. (@stevejones20) April 16, 2019

Ben was 8-12 from the floor and 2-4 from the foul line last night. His aggression on both sends really set the tempo and tone that the rest of his teammates mirrored.

JJ Redick

17 points on 7-12 shooting and 2 for 5 from three. He only played 24 minutes due to that rotational tweak, but they found some solutions with him last night.

Brooklyn is “top-locking” Redick with Joe Harris, which means they’re just standing Harris between JJ and the ball handler, which prevents a screen but leaves the basket-side empty. To that end, the Sixers have a backdoor option available due to the overplay, and on a couple of occasions they were able to counter with actions like this:

That’s the remedy to a top lock, that simple backdoor slide into the corner. Simmons can even get a piece of Harris coming in the other direction, almost as if he’s flipping the screen like an off-ball player (which is what Brooklyn does in high areas with Jarrett Allen).

JJ also got his defensive game back on track. He’s obviously not fantastic on that end, but he kept himself out of foul trouble this time around as Harris only shot 1-2 on 34 matchups against him.

Tobias Harris

The five free-throws he earned at the start of the third quarter really helped get him going. He shot three after he was fouled on a three-pointer, then got two more on a run-out and clear path foul. After hitting five from the stripe, he went on to hit three shots in a row, including this wide-open three on a blown Brooklyn defensive assignment:

Huge Brooklyn mess there. You see J. Harris again with the Redick top lock, but the multiple blown assignments leave Tobias wide open to just step back to the arc and fire.

Hopefully a bit of confidence carries him into game three. He was 5-12 last night and a team-high +30.

Jimmy Butler

Didn’t score and didn’t have to.

He’ll be happy with the 7 assists he dished out, second on the team behind Ben Simmons. Butler pointed out after his big game one performance that he felt like he could have gotten other guys more involved, and he did that Monday night, handling backup point guard duties and contributing in different ways.

Other notes:

Boban Marjanovic is 8-10 from OUTSIDE the paint in this series. The Nets are giving him wide open looks that he’s knocking down. Boban shot a team-high 14 field goals last night, which is crazy, but he hit 8 of those shots to finish at 57% on the night.

The Sixers ran their favored 12 pick and roll at the end of the first quarter and got a nice screen from Simmons on Dinwiddie, leading to a JJ three. They tried it again at the end of the third and it didn’t come off, leading to the Scott rebound and put back that got them to 51 points.

Harris could be a better finisher at the rim. I feel like he’s had a couple of dunks stuffed in recent weeks.

Embiid had a big block on LeVert at the basket towards the end of the 1st half. I thought he got all ball there but they might have whistled the body contact prior to that.

Cheesesteak egg rolls at halftime resulted in the longest media food line I’ve ever seen. There had to be 50-60 people in the line, no joke.

Ennis made a couple of tough plays, including a great hustle play on the offensive glass that resulted in a tip somehow finding its way into the basket. That was followed by a backdoor rebound and put-back. He was 2-2 last night with those two offensive boards and worked well I thought on the second unit, certainly a much-needed boost off the bench.

The Sixers scored 12 fast break points last night after mustering just 4 in game one. Their season average is 15.

Both of the flagrant fouls were the right call.

JJ’s technical was whatever. The call leading to his complaint was incredibly iffy.

Brett Brown chewed out the team at halftime. It worked.

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