If you’ve ever wanted a bigger and brighter look at Saturn, this week may be your best chance.
The Ringed Planet is reaching a big milestone for 2021 when it moves to opposition around 1 a.m., Aug. 2, which is a once-in-a-year occurrence, according to EarthSky.org.
“At opposition, Saturn rises in the east around sunset, climbs highest up for the night and sets in the west around sunrise,” EarthSky said.
Saturn will move directly opposite the Sun from Earth and can be seen all night long, according to NASA. The planet will also be at its brightest and will reach its highest point in the sky around midnight.
If you’re hoping to get an up-close glimpse of Saturn and its rings though, you’ll probably need a telescope, the Farmer’s Almanac said.
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And, if you miss this instance of seeing Saturn, don’t worry. You’ll also be able to see Saturn in the evening sky for the rest of August and throughout the rest of the year.
“Saturn and Jupiter will stay rather close together on the sky’s dome throughout 2021. They’ll remain fixtures of the evening sky for the rest of this year,” according to EarthSky.
To learn more about Saturn and when to see it, click here.
He was a 28-year-old student and member of a communist group in Iran serving a 10-year prison sentence in 1988 when, according to his family, he was called before a committee and executed without a trial or defense.
Family members said they did not get the body, a will or the location of a burial site. They received a duffle bag with a wristwatch, a shirt and a certificate that did not specify execution as the cause of death.
The student, Bijan Bazargan, was among an estimated 5,000 prisoners belonging to armed opposition and leftist groups in Iran, who Amnesty International and other rights groups say were executed in the summer of 1988.
Bijan Bazargan was among an estimated 5,000 prisoners who Amnesty International and other rights groups say were executed in 1988.
Now, a Swedish court will prosecute a former Iranian judiciary official for war crimes and murder in connection with Mr. Bazargan’s death. The case carries some notably public and damaging implications for Iran’s president-elect, Ebrahim Raisi, who helped decide which prisoners lived or died during those mass executions.
The defendant, Hamid Noury, 59, was indicted on Tuesday in Sweden, under what is known as the principle of universal jurisdiction, a tenet of international law that theoretically allows any national court to pass judgment on defendants in egregious crimes regardless where they have been committed.
His trial begins on Aug. 10 — less than a week after Mr. Raisi takes office nearly 3,000 miles away in Tehran. The trial, which is expected to last until next April, risks exposing new details about Mr. Raisi’s role — a period of history that he has sought to minimize or ignore.
Mr. Noury served as an assistant to the deputy prosecutor at the Gohardasht prison where Mr. Bazargan and hundreds of prisoners were sent to the gallows.
The mass executions represent one of the most brutal and opaque crackdowns by the Islamic Republic against its opponents. International rights groups say they amount to crimes against humanity.
“Some people tell us to forgive and forget, but we can’t,” said Laleh Bazargan, Mr. Bazargan’s sister, a 51-year-old pharmacist who migrated to Sweden and lives in Stockholm. “The truth must come out, for the sake of closure and for accountability.”
Mr. Raisi, 60, was a member of the four-person committee that interrogated prisoners and issued execution orders. Mr. Raisi has said he was acting under the direction of the founding father of the revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who had ordered a committee be formed to facilitate the executions.
Allegations of Mr. Raisi’s work on that committee have shadowed him through his ascent in Iran’s hierarchy, where he had been the head of the judiciary before the June election that vaulted him to the presidency. Amnesty International has called for a formal investigation of Mr. Raisi’s past.
Although Mr. Raisi will enjoy diplomatic immunity if he travels abroad as the country’s president, the Sweden case could, at the very least, confront him with a vexing optics problem as he sets to engage with the world.
The United States, which placed Mr. Raisi on a sanctions list two years ago for rights abuses, is obliged to grant him a visa as host country of the United Nations should he wish to attend the General Assembly in New York this September. Even so, six Republican senators asked President Biden to deny Mr. Raisi and other top Iranian officials visas for that gathering, the world’s biggest diplomatic stage.
Iran’s Mission to the United Nations said through a spokesman that it had no comment about the trial in Sweden and that Mr. Raisi’s travel plans for the General Assembly remain unclear because of the Covid-19 pandemic. But Mr. Raisi is scheduled to speak at the event, either in person or virtually.
The case against Mr. Nouri appeared to make him the first Iranian defendant in a criminal prosecution that invokes the principle of universal jurisdiction. Iranian officials and operatives have been convicted in Germany, France and most recently Belgium for assassinations and terrorism-related plots inside those countries — but never for crimes committed inside Iran, legal experts said.
“The trial is extremely important for breaking the cycle of impunity from Iran to elsewhere for officials accused of serious human rights violations,” said Shadi Sadr, a prominent human rights lawyer in London.
In announcing the charges against Mr. Noury, Sweden’s public prosecutor, Kristina Lindhoff Carleson, said that the “extensive investigation resulting in this indictment shows that even though these acts were committed beyond Sweden’s territory and more than three decades ago, they can be subject to legal proceedings in Sweden.”
The prosecutor’s statement said the defendant was suspected of having participated in the mass executions, intentionally taking the lives of prisoners and subjecting them to torture and inhumane treatment. Such actions, Swedish authorities said, violated the Geneva Conventions.
The prisoners were mostly members of an armed opposition group, the Mujahedeen Khalq, now widely known as the M.E.K., and leftist political groups. Human rights activists have said most of the executed prisoners had not been convicted of capital crimes and had been serving prison sentences.
Mr. Noury was arrested at Stockholm’s airport when he arrived to visit family in 2019. Activists had learned of his travel plans and had alerted the authorities, who denied him bail. They began an investigation, interviewing dozens of victims’ family members, survivors and Iranian human rights activists who had for years recorded testimonies and details of the mass executions.
Mr. Noury’s lawyer has told Swedish media that he denies the accusations and that the authorities arrested the wrong man.
The Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation, a Washington-based Iran rights advocacy group named after a pro-democracy Iranian lawyer assassinated in 1991, published a report in 2010 on the 1988 mass executions. The report was prepared by a U.K.-based lawyer who was the head of an international tribunal on Sierra Leone’s civil war.
Roya Boroumand, a daughter of Mr. Boroumand’s who is executive director of the foundation, said its subsequent investigation showed that Mr. Noury, known by the alias Hamid Abbasi, had been the right-hand man for the deputy prosecutor of the Gohardasht prison.
She said Mr. Noury and others like him had played an active role in questioning prisoners, preparing the list of names for the so-called death committee, and then escorting listed prisoners from their cells blindfolded down a dark hallway to a room where the committee members, which included Mr. Raisi, interrogated them.
The committee asked the prisoners about their political beliefs and willingness to condemn comrades and express fealty to the Islamic Republic. The committee often made an on-the-spot decision on whether the prisoners lived, Ms. Boroumand said.
“The significance of the Sweden case is not about a person, it’s about the Islamic Republic being put on trial,” said Ms. Boroumand. “It’s coming back to haunt them and hopefully it will prevent repetition of such crimes.”
The mass executions took place in Tehran’s Evin prison and in Gohardasht prison in Karaj, about 12 miles west of Tehran. In Gohardasht, the condemned were hanged on pipes at an adjacent area known as Hosseiniyeh, which is typically used for religious ceremonies and prayers. The bodies were buried in mass graves in secret locations.
About 30 plaintiffs, including Mr. Bazargan’s sister, are expected to testify against Mr. Noury at the trial in Sweden.
Ms. Bazargan said she thinks of her brother every day. She was 13 when he was arrested at 23 and had been allowed to visit him once a year until his execution five years later.
In an interview, she recalled him as a protective and caring older brother, taking her to the movies and restaurants, giving her advice about school and friends.
For many years, Ms. Bazargan said, she had imagined what she would say if brought face-to-face with one of the people suspected of responsibility for executing him.
That day is now scheduled for Oct. 19 in a courtroom in Stockholm.
“I want to look him in the eye and say, ‘Speak,’” Ms. Bazargan said. “Speak of what you have done. Speak of what you did to him. Speak of how you killed so many people.”
On August 1 and 2, Saturn will be at opposition, meaning the Earth will be located between the ringed planet and the sun. This is when the outer planet will be at its most luminous, making for a brilliant night sky view.
Saturn’s opposition is at 2 a.m. ET on August 2, or 11 p.m. PT for those on the West Coast, according to EarthSky.
Once Venus sinks below the horizon after the sun sets, Jupiter will be the brightest object in the sky, EarthSky said. To find Saturn, look just west of Jupiter.
If you’re hoping to catch a glimpse of Saturn’s famous rings, you’ll need to whip out a telescope, according to the Farmer’s Almanac.
“Sunday night into Monday morning much of the Midwest and portions of western California will see mostly clear skies,” CNN meteorologist Haley Brink said. “A swath of cloudy skies will exist across the Northwest into the Rockies, across many southern states and into the Northeast.”
Don’t worry if your town has cloudy weather at the beginning of August because Saturn will remain bright in the sky for the rest of the month, EarthSky said.
Saturn is the sixth planet from the sun, and it would take nine Earths to span the diameter of the gaseous planet, according to NASA — and that’s not including the rings.
Full moons
Typical of a normal year, 2021 has 12 full moons. (There were 13 full moons last year, two of which were in October.)
Here are all of the full moons remaining this year and their names, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac:
August 22 — sturgeon moon
September 20 — harvest moon
October 20 — hunter’s moon
November 19 — beaver moon
December 18 — cold moon
Be sure to check for the other names of these moons as well, attributed to their respective Native American tribes.
Meteor Showers
The Perseid meteor shower, the most popular of the year, will peak between August 11 and 12 in the Northern Hemisphere, when the moon is only 13% full.
Here is the meteor shower schedule for the rest of the year, according to EarthSky’s meteor shower outlook.
• October 8: Draconids
• October 21: Orionids
• November 4 to 5: South Taurids
• November 11 to 12: North Taurids
• November 17: Leonids
• December 13 to 14: Geminids
• December 22: Ursids
Solar and lunar eclipses
This year, there will be one more eclipse of the sun and another eclipse of the moon, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac.
November 19 will see a partial eclipse of the moon, and skywatchers in North America and Hawaii can view it between 1 a.m. ET and 7:06 a.m. ET.
And the year will end with a total eclipse of the sun on December 4. It won’t be visible in North America, but those in the Falkland Islands, the southern tip of Africa, Antarctica and southeastern Australia will be able to spot it.
Visible planets
Skywatchers will have multiple opportunities to spot the planets in our sky during certain mornings and evenings throughout 2021, according to the Farmer’s Almanac planetary guide.
It’s possible to see most of these with the naked eye, with the exception of distant Neptune, but binoculars or a telescope will provide the best view.
Mercury will look like a bright star in the morning sky from October 18 to November 1. It will shine in the night sky from August 31 to September 21, and November 29 to December 31.
Venus, our closest neighbor in the solar system, will appear in the western sky at dusk in the evenings through December 31. It’s the second-brightest object in our sky, after the moon.
Mars makes its reddish appearance in the morning sky between November 24 and December 31, and it will be visible in the evening sky through August 22.
Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, is the third-brightest object in our sky. It will be on display in the morning sky through August 19. Look for it in the evenings August 20 to December 31 — but it will be at its brightest from August 8 to September 2.
Saturn’s rings are only visible through a telescope, but the planet itself can still be seen with the naked eye in the mornings through August 1 and in the evenings from August 2 to December 31. It will be at its brightest during the first four days of August.
Binoculars or a telescope will help you spot the greenish glow of Uranus in the mornings through November 3 and in the evenings from November 4 to December 31. It will be at its brightest between August 28 and December 31.
And our most distant neighbor in the solar system, Neptune, will be visible through a telescope in the mornings through September 13 and during the evenings September 14 to December 31. It will be at its brightest between July 19 and November 8.
Artist’s rendering shows X-rays striking radioluminescent nanoparticles in the brain, which emit red light that triggers a sodium (Na+) and potassium (K+) ion influx and thereby activates brain neurons. Credit: Zhaowei Chen/Argonne National Laboratory
Scientists make pivotal discovery of method for wireless modulation of neurons with X-rays that could improve the lives of patients with brain disorders. The X-ray source only requires a machine like that found in a dentist’s office.
Many people worldwide suffer from movement-related brain disorders. Epilepsy accounts for more than 50 million; essential tremor, 40 million; and Parkinson’s disease, 10 million.
Relief for some brain disorder sufferers may one day be on the way in the form of a new treatment invented by researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory and four universities. The treatment is based on breakthroughs in both optics and genetics. It would be applicable to not only movement-related brain disorders, but also chronic depression and pain.
This new treatment involves stimulation of neurons deep within the brain by means of injected nanoparticles that light up when exposed to X-rays (nanoscintillators) and would eliminate an invasive brain surgery currently in use.
“Our high-precision noninvasive approach could become routine with the use of a small X-ray machine, the kind commonly found in every dental office,” said Elena Rozhkova, a lead author and a nanoscientist in Argonne’s Center for Nanoscale Materials (CNM), a DOE Office of Science User Facility.
Traditional deep brain stimulation requires an invasive neurosurgical procedure for disorders when conventional drug therapy is not an option. In the traditional procedure, approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, surgeons implant a calibrated pulse generator under the skin (similar to a pacemaker). They then connect it with an insulated extension cord to electrodes inserted into a specific area of the brain to stimulate the surrounding neurons and regulate abnormal impulses.
“The Spanish-American scientist José Manuel Rodríguez Delgado famously demonstrated deep brain stimulation in a bullring in the 1960s,” said Vassiliy Tsytsarev, a neurobiologist from the University of Maryland and a co-author of the study. “He brought a raging bull charging at him to a standstill by sending a radio signal to an implanted electrode.”
About 15 years ago, scientists introduced a revolutionary neuromodulation technology, “optogenetics,” which relies on genetic modification of specific neurons in the brain. These neurons create a light-sensitive ion channel in the brain and, thereby, fire in response to external laser light. This approach, however, requires very thin fiberoptic wires implanted in the brain and suffers from the limited penetration depth of the laser light through biological tissues.
The team’s alternative optogenetics approach uses nanoscintillators injected in the brain, bypassing implantable electrodes or fiberoptic wires. Instead of lasers, they substitute X-rays because of their greater ability to pass through biological tissue barriers.
“The injected nanoparticles absorb the X-ray energy and convert it into red light, which has significantly greater penetration depth than blue light,” said Zhaowei Chen, former CNM postdoctoral fellow.
“Thus, the nanoparticles serve as an internal light source that makes our method work without a wire or electrode,” added Rozhkova. Since the team’s approach can both stimulate and quell targeted small areas, Rozhkova noted, it has other applications than brain disorders. For example, it could be applicable to heart problems and other damaged muscles.
One of the team’s keys to success was the collaboration between two of the world-class facilities at Argonne: CNM and Argonne’s Advanced Photon Source (APS), a DOE Office of Science User Facility. The work at these facilities began with the synthesis and multi-tool characterization of the nanoscintillators. In particular, the X-ray excited optical luminescence of the nanoparticle samples was determined at an APS beamline (20-BM). The results showed that the particles were extremely stable over months and upon repeated exposure to the high-intensity X-rays.
According to Zou Finfrock, a staff scientist at the APS 20-BM beamline and Canadian Light Source, “They kept glowing a beautiful orange-red light.”
Next, Argonne sent CNM-prepared nanoscintillators to the University of Maryland for tests in mice. The team at University of Maryland performed these tests over two months with a small portable X-ray machine. The results proved that the procedure worked as planned. Mice whose brains had been genetically modified to react to red light responded to the X-ray pulses with brain waves recorded on an electroencephalogram.
Finally, the University of Maryland team sent the animal brains for characterization using X-ray fluorescence microscopy performed by Argonne scientists. This analysis was performed by Olga Antipova on the Microprobe beamline (2-ID-E) at APS and by Zhonghou Cai on the Hard X-ray Nanoprobe (26-ID) jointly operated by CNM and APS.
This multi-instrument arrangement made it possible to see tiny particles residing in the complex environment of the brain tissue with a super-resolution of dozens of nanometers. It also allowed visualizing neurons near and far from the injection site on a microscale. The results proved that the nanoscintillators are chemically and biologically stable. They do not wander from the injection site or degrade.
“Sample preparation is extremely important in these types of biological analysis,” said Antipova, a physicist in the X-ray Science Division (XSD) at the APS. Antipova was assisted by Qiaoling Jin and Xueli Liu, who prepared brain sections only a few micrometers thick with jeweler-like accuracy.
“There is an intense level of commercial interest in optogenetics for medical applications,” said Rozhkova. “Although still at the proof-of-concept stage, we predict our patent-pending wireless approach with small X-ray machines should have a bright future.”
The related article “Wireless optogenetic modulation of cortical neurons enabled by radioluminescent nanoparticles” appeared in ACS Nano.
Seeing schizophrenia: X-rays shed light on neural differences, point toward treatment
More information:
Zhaowei Chen et al, Wireless Optogenetic Modulation of Cortical Neurons Enabled by Radioluminescent Nanoparticles, ACS Nano (2021). DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.0c10436
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New method could shine ‘a healing light’ on the brain for those with movement disorders (2021, March 24)
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With the 2021 Players Championship fast approaching, the key question everyone’s asking is the same across the golf world: Who are you picking to win at TPC Sawgrass? With a tremendous, star-studded field — and with just one month until the Masters — the first big event of 2021 should be an epic ride from Thursday’s first round onward.
The storylines are plentiful this week, and the last player to win on this course — Rory McIlroy back in 2019 — leads them. McIlroy has not won since the fall of 2019, and in recent weeks, he has bemoaned a game that’s not quite sharp enough. He was at the epicenter of the 2019 Players (for his win) and the 2020 version (for his leadership through the COVID-19 shutdown). Will he be again this year?
Joining McIlroy are a suddenly-surging Jordan Spieth (three top fives in four events) and last week’s champion (and winner of three of his last 15 events), Bryson DeChambeau. We could go on for hours about the rest of the storylines, but those are three that pop with The Players on deck.
So what is going to happen this week at TPC Sawgrass? Let’s take a look at a full set of predictions and picks from our CBS Sports experts along with a full slate of 2021 Players Championship odds. All odds via William Hill Sportsbook.
Winner — Patrick Cantlay (22-1): If you look at strokes gained, he’s been the best player in the world in 2021. Just like his Presidents Cup partner Xander Schauffele, Cantlay has no holes in the game. He opened with 67 last year before the whole thing got canceled. I’ve been ready to pick him for this event for about six weeks now.
Sleeper — Corey Conners (80-1): What’s not to love here? He’s been better tee to green this year than Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau and is coming off a near-miss last week at Bay Hill. You could also talk me into Sergio Garcia at 70-1 or Joaquin Niemann at 50-1, but I like Conners more at this number.
Top 10 lock — Jon Rahm (16-1 to win): There’s no such thing as a top 10 lock at TPC Sawgrass, but Rahm nets top 10s as frequently as anybody in the world (58 in 114 official starts worldwide, 51%). He’s seventh in the world this year in strokes gained tee to green and coming in a bit under the radar (for him).
Star who definitely won’t win — Rory McIlroy: Nobody has ever successfully defended here, and every winner since 2004 (except for Tiger Woods in 2013) was a first-time champion. Combine that with his odd one-off poor round, and I don’t think the game is quite sharp enough for him to grab a second-straight Players.
Top 5 in order: Patrick Cantlay, Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Jon Rahm, Hideki Matsuyama
Surprise prediction: Jordan Spieth will miss the cut. This normally would not be a surprise prediction, but Spieth has finished in the top five in three of his last four events and is genuinely one of the best iron players in the world right now. However, he does not normally play well at TPC Sawgrass — even when he was playing the best golf of his life — and has missed four of his last five cuts at The Players.
Winner — Viktor Hovland (25-1): Winners at The Players tend to be random and not fit a particular mold. It’s a tough tournament to predict, so let’s get a little long with the pick to win. Why not Hovland? The Norwegian has finished in the top 5 in four of his past six starts on the PGA Tour. That includes a win at the Mayakoba Classic just before the holidays. The knock against Hovland is his chipping. Aside from the atrocious quad in round two of the WGC Workday, his short game hasn’t been that bad. I’ll take the 23-year-old ball striker to get his third PGA Tour victory.
Sleeper — Cameron Smith (50-1): He’s notched a trio of top five finishes for the season thus far. Smith broke out in my eyes with a T2 finish at the rescheduled Masters in November. He was in contention at the WGC-Workday Championship last month before a disastrous 77 on Saturday killed any hopes of winning. Before the meltdown at Concession, he finished T4 at the Genesis Invitational gaining 10 strokes tee to green for the week. Not too shabby. If the young Aussie avoids a big number, I believe he will finish near the top of the leaderboard.
Top 10 Lock — Tony Finau (25-1 to win): One of these days, Finau will get his second PGA Tour win. It probably won’t be this week. But lately, if he tees it up, he’s liable to finish inside the top 10 seeing as he’s done so in five of his last seven worldwide starts. Let’s avoid all the disappointment of another “close but no cigar” finish by cashing in a top 10 ticket this week instead.
Star who definitely won’t win — Rory McIlroy: This almost feels like cheating. Rory may have gotten lost in the woods while helping in the search for Jordan Spieth. Something a lot of people missed last week was McIlroy falling outside the top 10 in the Official World Golf Rankings for the first time since 2018. Rory is looking for a spark. He remarked after Sunday’s round at the API: “I need something and I just don’t seem to have it.” He may be the defending champion, but I’m not buying any McIlroy stock this week.
Top 5 in order: Viktor Hovland, Tony Finau, Tyrrell Hatton, Dustin Johnson, Will Zalatoris
Surprise prediction — Jordan Spieth misses the cut: I bet Spieth to miss the cut last week, and I’m going to do the same thing again this week. What’s the definition of insanity? Jordan “is back” … but I’m still going to fade him at a course where he hasn’t had great history. A T4 in 2014 is his lone top 40 finish at this event. He hasn’t performed well here during peak years, and he’s looked lost in the depths. Temper expectations and don’t be surprised if Spieth misses the cut for the fifth time in his career at The Players
Want the sharpest DFS advice, picks and data-driven golf analysis? Listen below and subscribe to The First Cut Golf podcast where we explain what’s happening on the course so you can win off of it, including a complete preview of The Players Championship below.
Adam Silverstein, deputy managing editor
Winner — Justin Thomas (20-1): Outside of a missed cut at the Genesis Invitational two weeks ago, Thomas has been on a roll since the start of the season in September. He’s finished no worse than 15th at any event he’s played with three top fives already. This is the time of year where Thomas teases you into believing he’s a good pick to win the Masters with a win at a significant event in the lead up. Looking for his 14th PGA Tour win and first since last August, there’s some good value here on J.T.
Sleeper — Billy Horschel (70-1): One of the streakiest golfers on the PGA Tour, Horschel finds success in lumps. And while he fell from grace this past week missing the cut at Bay Hill after finishing T2 at the WGC-Workday Championship, Horschel has four top 10 finishes since early December. He likes to be tested by tough courses, and considering he lives about 15 minutes away from TPC Sawgrass, he’s quite familiar with this course. Great odds for a surging golfer with some home-course advantage.
Top 10 lock — Tony Finau (25-1 to win): Look, we all know the deal with Finau at this point. He has five top-five finishes in his last seven events. He might win this thing, but he probably won’t. But if I’m putting lock status on a guy to finish in the top 10, there’s simply no better choice out there right now.
Star who definitely won’t win — Rory McIlroy: I hate to make this category a sweep, but he’s the obvious choice considering his declining game. McIlroy stating that he needs to find himself is a clear indication that something isn’t working whether physically, mentally or both. Unlike my compatriots, I’ll give you a bonus here if you’re looking for a change of pace: Hideki Matsuyama.
Top 5 in order: Justin Thomas, Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay, Tony Finau, Billy Horschel
Surprise prediction — Rickie Fowler will be incontention: It may only be for a round or the majority of a day, but Fowler has been taking so many body blows for his play as of late, that I think he’s going to find plenty of external motivation to give it a go at least once over these four rounds. Fowler is 125-1 to win the Players, so don’t go putting anything on him, but this is a course he’s familiar playing. Just when you count Fowler out, maybe he’ll surprise you a little.
Who will win the Players Championship, and which long shots will stun the golfing world? Visit SportsLine now to see the projected leaderboard and best bets, all from the model that’s nailed six golf majors and is up over $11,000 since the restart to find out.
Team LeBron rolled over Team Durant in the NBA All-Star game on Saturday, as Giannis Antetokounmpo, Stephen Curry and Jaylen Brown took a big lead over Bradley Beal, Jayson Tatum and Kyrie Irving into the fourth quarter and ended the game with a 170-150 victory.
Here’s what transpired.
The big picture
It’s an All-Star Game. There’s very little big picture. No real defense was played, some highlights were created and nobody got hurt. Sunday’s action wasn’t the most exciting All-Star Game, but if everyone remains healthy, the league will likely consider it largely a success.
Player of the Game
Giannis Antetokounmpo: 35 points, 16-for-16, 3-for-3 from three.
Steph Curry had some viral moments, which makes him the real winner, but it’s impossible to pick a different player of the game when Antetokounmpo literally did not miss a shot (even if his 3-pointers banked in).
Celtics Player of the Game
Jaylen Brown: 22 points, 8-for-12 from the floor, 5-for-7 from three.
Brown helped Team LeBron pull away down the stretch with several shots in the fourth quarter and converted a four-point play. Tatum’s 21-point performance was nice, but a little less flashy, and the All-Star game is all about flash.
Highlight of the game
Both Damian Lillard and Stephen Curry pulled up from half-court in the first half, and both buried their attempts. Lillard later ended the game with a half-court 3-pointer.
The best professional basketball players are incredible.
DAME AND STEPH FROM HALF COURT.
This is wild. pic.twitter.com/UnHphdX86g
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 8, 2021
Celtics highlight of the game
Brown took some ambitious shots, including this turnaround over James Harden that grabbed the attention of the TNT booth.
ooOOOoOo pic.twitter.com/zwnmGY9DE7
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) March 8, 2021
Three takeaways
1. The new format with the Elam Ending can be great, but it requires a more competitive score entering the fourth quarter. Team Durant (which, of course, did not have Kevin Durant, who missed the game due to injury) appeared disheartened and uninterested in the fourth quarter, while Team LeBron continued firing up open 3-pointers and burying them. Team Durant was also without Joel Embiid, who — along with Team LeBron’s Ben Simmons — was ruled out before the game due to contact tracing.
2. The All-Star game was very long with a lot interruptions and fanfare, but the format — with the Skills Challenge, 3-Point Contest and Dunk Contest interspersed throughout the evening — actually seemed like a reasonable structure. All-Star Saturday nights often feel incomplete. All-Star Sunday, when it only features the game, is a little anticlimactic. Packing it all together was a lot of content, but having too much on one night actually made for a better product.
3. The dunk contest wasn’t great. Anfernee Simons won by flying through the air and nearly kissing the rim, and Obi Toppin had a couple of nice dunks, but this certainly wasn’t a showdown between Zach LaVine and Aaron Gordon.
Anfernee Simons tried the kiss the rim dunk 😘 pic.twitter.com/hZYyQdPcTl
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 8, 2021
The dunk contest generally seems to be electric or bad with little room in between. Fans probably need to accept that while the electric years are more of a rarity, they are well worth watching when they come around.
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Another contender traveled to Brooklyn to take on the Eastern Conference favorites on Tuesday, and another contender fell against the might of their big three. This time, it was the Los Angeles Clippers attempting to contain the unstoppable Nets, and they failed in a 124-120 defeat at the hands of the NBA’s best offensive trio. Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden combined for 90 points in the victory and came back from a 12-point first-half deficit to take the game and move within two of the Philadelphia 76ers for the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference.
The Clippers can at least leave New York satisfied that they held their own in the measuring stick contest. The Clippers opened the season with big wins against the Lakers and Nuggets, but have played a weak schedule since then. Now, more than 20 games into the season, they’ve seen where they stand against one of the teams they might need to beat in order to win the championship. Here is what they, and the Nets, can take away from Tuesday’s clash of the titans.
1. Brooklyn’s formula
Ignore the hiccups against Washington and Cleveland. Ignore the gaudy opposing point totals, the season-high individual scoring numbers from opponents and the late-game mistakes. Brooklyn has now played three playoff teams since acquiring James Harden, and a formula is beginning to present itself: keep the game in the 120s, not the 140s, get efficient offense from all three stars, and trust that one of them will break out with a 40-point explosion or monster triple-double.
That, in essence, is what happened against the Clippers. Irving led the way with 39 points, but Durant and Harden combined to shoot 64 percent from the field. Brooklyn’s defense has actually fared better on a relative-basis against good offenses (ranked 20th against top-10 scoring units since acquiring Harden, per Cleaning the Glass) than it has against mediocre ones (dead last) and bottom-10 opponents (23rd). That suggests that effort, to some extent, can lift the Nets up to competence, and it has against their best opponents.
On paper, this is what the Nets would probably want a Finals game to look like. Their offense, as a whole, is defense-proof. No team is ever going to lock down all three of their stars at once. They don’t have to be great on defense. They just have to be good enough to supplement an offense that will give them a chance against any opponent, and it was on Tuesday.
2. Big or small?
When Brooklyn played Milwaukee in its first possible playoff preview of the Harden era, it devoted 38 of a possible 48 minutes to DeAndre Jordan in an effort to deter Giannis Antetokounmpo at the basket. It worked, but Steve Nash has remained adaptable. Jordan played only 16 minutes against the Clippers as Jeff Green got the remaining 32 at center.
In theory, the plan worked. The Nets won the game, and even with Green as their small-ball five, they more than held their own inside. The two teams tied with 44 paint points apiece and Brooklyn won the rebounding battle 44-39. The Clippers aren’t a particularly paint-oriented team. The bulk of their shots are jumpers, and switching tends to be the best defense against such offenses. But playing that way allowed Kawhi Leonard to hunt for ideal matchups quite a bit early on. He managed to find Irving and Joe Harris on several early possessions as the Clippers built their first-half lead, and that strategy is going to be a common one Brooklyn should expect against elite offenses in the playoffs.
That’s not to say that, on balance, small-ball is a negative. Aside from the spacing benefits, it makes it far easier for the Nets to park Harden in the post defensively, where he is most comfortable and made an enormous impact on Tuesday. But the Nets won Jordan’s minutes by six points and lost Green’s by two. That’s not an enormous difference, but it points to the difficulty of shifting between identities. If the Nets can’t master one approach, how will they split the difference against teams that can punish both?
3. Who’s ready for primetime?
Every Nets starter played at least 32 minutes in this game. Four Clippers starters did, and Marcus Morris gave them 31 minutes off of the bench. Both teams held on for dear life when their reserves had to play. Not a single Clippers reserve had a positive point-differential. Brooklyn’s backups aside from Jordan attempted only five shots.
The Lakers won the championship last season for a variety of reasons, but nailing their minimum-salary signings was one of the biggest. Getting Dwight Howard, Markieff Morris and Rajon Rondo off of the scrap heap allowed them to play through the entire postseason without worrying about devoting minutes to any outright liabilities.
The Clippers are getting closer to that. Nic Batum has been a revelation, and Reggie Jackson is slowly starting to return to his Detroit form. The Nets still have a ways to go. They’ve allowed Landry Shamet to play through his struggles, but he’s still hovering around 30 percent from behind the arc. Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot has been too inconsistent, and while Bruce Brown’s defense is sorely needed, he’s shooting less than 20 percent on corner-3’s so far this season.
The Nets trust only six players right now. The Clippers run deeper than that, but watching Luke Kennard play only four minutes in such a big game isn’t particularly encouraging. Brooklyn has the time and tools to improve its bench. The Clippers can reasonably hope that their answers are internal. But right now, both are relying very heavily on their starters to win games. That can work in the regular season, but champions need role players like Rondo and Howard to step up if they’re going to last four rounds.
4. Don’t forget who the Clippers were missing
Not to rain on Brooklyn’s parade, but this wasn’t quite the possible Finals preview we were hoping for largely because of one absence. Irving scored 39 points in this game, but the absence of Patrick Beverley, an All-Defense point guard, likely contributed to that. The Clippers are over 10 points per 100 possessions better with Beverley on the floor (allowing 101.7 points per 100 possessions) than they are with him off of it (111.8).
That isn’t to say that Beverley would shut Irving down. Nobody can do that. But rarely do All-Defense selections allow 39 points on 15-of-23 shooting. In a game with such thin margins, Beverley making Irving work a bit harder, or at least giving the Clippers more matchup versatility and limiting Jackson’s minutes on the floor, might have made all the difference. Eventually, the Nets are going to run into a team with three high-end perimeter stoppers in the postseason. Boston has three between Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. Philadelphia has three between Ben Simmons, Matisse Thybulle and Danny Green. Milwaukee has never proven willing to deploy their best players this way, but Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday would all pose problems for Brooklyn’s stars. We still haven’t seen how the Nets would handle such defensive depth. They’ve had at least one exploitable matchup in all of their games thus far, but that is eventually going to change, and pegging Brooklyn’s playoff potential is going to be impossible before we see how they handle that.
No character actor does awkward like Alan Tudyk, the man who gave “Firefly” its goofy soul and stole “Rogue One” out from under nearly everyone else in the cast despite never appearing onscreen in his own flesh.
Syfy’s “Resident Alien,” based on a comic book series, splits the difference by casting Tudyk as an extraterrestrial stranded on our planet after his malicious mission goes awry. Here, Tudyk is a being who goes by the highly unusual name Dr. Harry Vanderspeigle and forces the citizens of Patience, Colorado to live up to the town’s name in virtually every interaction with him.
The remoteness of the place and its need for a new town doctor pretty much forces them to after their longtime physician turns up dead. In the way of all out-of-the-way places where the odds are good and the goods are odd, Harry’s weirdness and flat affect seem harmless. The guy whose life he swiped happens to be a wealthy part-time resident, and that also helps immensely since nobody truly knew him.
On the whole the audience sees his character as most townsfolk see him, as another human who isn’t comfortable in his own skin, hasn’t quite mastered the subtleties of body language or what to do with his face and with negligible interpersonal skills.
A couple of people see the “doctor” for the huge-eyed amphibian-looking creature that he actually is, and that frightens him and them, until fright gives way to curiosity and curiosity evolves into something like caring.
This is the story “Resident Alien” is trying to tell from the perspective of Tudyk’s bizarre yet charming character, and when it does that it’s a sweet series that places to the actor’s natural ability to surprise g us in new ways in every episode.
If you were to judge by the title’s dual significance – the term “resident alien” is used to describe an immigrant who attains lawful resident status in the United States – you may be expecting the show to use Harry’s situation to metaphorically examine the obstacles faced by newcomers in a land that seems welcoming but actually isn’t.
Presenting Tudyk’s character as both the stranger in a strange land and in the role of interspecies bigot enables the show to approach this well-worn concept in an unusual way. He’s an outsider hiding in plain sight who learns English and Earthly customs by binge-watching “Law & Order,” but he’s also a member of a race utterly convinced of its own superiority.
Harry explains in one of the show’s many instances of voiceover narration that if the universe had a scale for intelligence, “humans would land right below lizards.” Crashing on our planet forces him to interact with the lower life forms he believes us to be, and he slowly begins to realize the many ways his kind misunderstands and underestimates humans.
Nevertheless he refuses to veer from his original directive even as it increasingly is at odds with his burgeoning emotions and evolving connections with the people around him like Asta Twelvetrees (Sara Tomko), the physician’s assistant who works with him at the town’s medical clinic.
Harry and Asta make a wonderful platonic pair because they both feel like outsiders, and the people who are the most interesting to follow also fit this description even if they don’t specifically say it out loud. And they each nurture relationships that are established solidly enough to make for interesting storylines.
Asta’s best friend D’Arcy (Alice Wetterlund) is a heavy-drinking bartender with dollar signs in her eyes who throws herself at Harry, and her efforts to overlook his complete lack of charisma allow Wetterlund to shine through her antics.
But a nerdy kid named Max (Judah Prehn) can see through his disguise, and this preoccupies Harry more than a horny whiskey-slinger ever could. The alien quickly makes it a priority to eliminate this tiny menace but predictably Max turns out to be a worthy adversary.
Viewing the world through Harry’s calculating, emotionally chilled perspective enables the show to circumvent potential discomfort with addressing any realistic issues related to race and culture in Patience, at least initially. Small moments acknowledge the existence of ordinary human prejudice in this world, particularly when a subplot involving Max’s smarter friend, a classmate who wears a hijab, comes into play.
All told, though, Patience is a kindly and TV-diverse type of town that breaks free of the usual portrayals of small town tensions in ways that can be a tad cloying. Corey Reynolds, for example, plays the town’s sheriff Mike Thompson as a combination of Boss Hogg and Rosco P. Coltrane, and in case we’re not picking up the homage he loudly dotes on his designer pooch Cletus.
He’s also the only Black man you see on the streets of this mountain town, which could be a clue that he’s overshooting in his efforts to fit into the culture. Or maybe this is an entirely unnecessarily flourish.
Playing up the ridiculousness of its characters gives the show a slight “Northern Exposure” flavor. Building upon this is the script’s considerate exploration of Tomko’s character through the lens of her personal life also highlights Asta’s Native American heritage in ways that feel genuine and unforced, and the fact that I have to point that out tells you how unusual that still is in TV.
Where “Resident Alien” doesn’t entirely work is its desire to be many shows at the same time as it meanders its way to figuring out which stories it eventually wants to tell. The alien-as-metaphor for immigrants or outsiders is a well-trodden path in TV, seen in series that treat it with solemnity (“Alien Nation” and “Roswell” come to mind) and with a surfeit of humor (“A.L.F.”, “3rd Rock from the Sun” and “Mork & Mindy” which, like this show, is set in Colorado).
“Resident Alien” takes what we know about those shows and gestures at modernizing its paradigm to connect with 2021 audiences with a semblance of profundity through this alien that is equal parts genius and ignoramus.
If his misadventures and Asta’s emotional journey were the season’s main events, that would be more than enough to successfully sustain the first season. Instead the writers decide that every character needs several cases to keep them busy. Just because a show is blessed with an able ensemble cast doesn’t mean that every character needs a mystery to chase in order to seize our interest, but if that’s the approach they’d better be doing something vital to the main plot or something absolutely fascinating. This not the case here.
Indeed, I haven’t even mentioned the government agency pursuing Harry through these episodes because the representatives of said agency aren’t even interesting enough to mention. You could cut most of the scenes featuring this D-plot and have a leaner, more meaningful tale.
When “Resident Alien” resists the urge to meander and sits with Harry’s various epiphanies about the human need to belong and yearning to forge bonds with others, it glimmers with the potential to be a show that’s as heartfelt and contemplative as it is dark and funny. These strengths become lost in its initial journey, but with Tudyk serving as its beacon that may not matter. He’ll just keep on stealing our attention until the rest of the show figures out where it need to go.
“Resident Alien” premieres Wednesday, Jan. 27 at 10 p.m. on Syfy.
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