Victor Wembanyama delivered 15 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter in his return from a calf injury and the San Antonio Spurs earned a spot in the NBA Cup West final with a 111-109 upset of the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday night in Las Vegas.
Devin Vassell scored 23 points and De’Aaron Fox and Stephon Castle added 22 apiece as San Antonio handed the Thunder just their second loss in 26 games this season.
The Spurs will play the New York Knicks in Tuesday night’s NBA Cup final. The Knicks beat the Orlando Magic 132-120 earlier Saturday in the other semifinal.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 29 points for the Thunder, who had their franchise-record 16-game winning streak halted. Oklahoma City had not lost since Nov. 5 at Portland.
Wembanyama returned after a 12-game absence and was limited to 20 minutes. He collected nine rebounds and San Antonio outscored the Thunder by 21 when Wembanyama was on the floor.
Jalen Williams had 17 points, seven rebounds and four steals and Chet Holmgren added 17 points for Oklahoma City. Alex Caruso had 11 points, eight rebounds and three steals off the bench and Isaiah Hartenstein contributed 10 points and nine rebounds.
The Thunder pulled within 106-105 on a dunk by Gilgeous-Alexander with 14.9 seconds left.
Castle made two free throws with 9.8 seconds remaining to give San Antonio a three-point lead. After the Thunder again pulled within one, Vassell made two free throws with 3.3 seconds left to give the Spurs a 111-108 lead.
Williams was fouled and made the first free throw with 1.5 seconds left. He missed the second on purpose but Caruso’s follow sailed behind the basket.
The Spurs made 41.1% of their field-goal attempts, including 13 of 42 from behind the arc, while winning for the 18th time in 25 games this season.
Oklahoma City shot 41.3% from the field and was just 9 of 37 from 3-point range.
The Spurs took their first lead at 57-56 on a basket by Fox with 8:45 left in the third quarter.
That was part of a 10-0 run that ended with Vassell’s trey to put San Antonio up six with 7:58 remaining.
Fox made two free throws with 0.1 seconds to go as San Antonio took a 78-77 lead into the final stanza.
The Spurs were up five in the fourth quarter before the Thunder used a 11-3 push to take a 93-90 edge on Caruso’s basket with 6:47 remaining.
At the outset, Oklahoma City jumped out to a 14-4 lead and ended up with a 31-20 advantage after the opening period.
Wembanyama entered for the first time at the start of the second quarter and the Spurs immediately went on a 9-2 run.
Later in the quarter, the Thunder went on a 14-2 burst and took a 47-31 lead on Caruso’s basket with 3:53 left in the first half.
San Antonio finished the half with 11 straight points to trail 49-46 at the break.
French qualifier Valentin Royer ousted No. 1 seed Andrey Rublev 6-4, 7-6 (2) on Saturday at the Lynx & Co Hangzhou Open in China.
It was the opener for Rublev, who had a first-round bye. For Royer, it was his first win over a Top 20 opponent, fueled by 32 winners to 19 for the Russian.
Royer advanced to the quarterfinals and will play Learner Tien, who defeated Italian Giulio Zeppieri 6-4, 6-3. Also moving into the quarters were third-seeded Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan, who came from behind to beat Australia’s Aleksandar Vukic 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-4 in two hours, 13 minutes.
Corentin Moutet of France and Tomas Martin Etcheverry will face off in another quarterfinal. Fourth-seeded Moutet eliminated fellow Frenchman Arthur Cazaux 6-7 (1), 6-3, 7-6 (3). Etcheverry, of Argentina, sent Australian Rinky Hijikata packing 6-1, 6-4.
Yibing Wu defeated dropped the first set but came back to defeat Sebastian Korda 4-6, 6-1, 6-4. Czech Dalibor Svrcina eliminated China’s Zhizhen Zhang 6-4, 6-3.
Chengdu Open
Taro Daniel of Japan and Alexander Shevchenko of Kazakhstan advanced to the quarterfinals in upsets in Chengdu, China.
Daniel topped third seed Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 to move on to his first quarterfinal since Auckland in January 2024. He will play Shevchenko, who took out sixth seed Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard of France 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5), 6-4.
Top seed Lorenzo Musetti of Italy needed three sets to knock out Serbia’s Dino Prizmic 7-5, 3-6, 6-2. Musetti had 10 aces and 11 unforced errors. Next up for Musetti is qualifier Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia, who topped Mackenzie McDonald 6-2, 7-6 (4).
As an assistant dean of diversity and inclusion at USC, Dr. Althea Alexander spent time speaking in high school classrooms across the United States, in search of undeveloped talent among Black and brown students in hopes of guiding them toward the field of medicine.
She mentored minority medical students and sought to improve the school’s efforts to recruit diverse students. Her work, spanning five decades, paid off tenfold: She influenced the career paths of hundreds who would go on to become medical school deans, chief executives and even California’s surgeon general.
Alexander, 89, died on July 17 after suffering a brain hemorrhage, according to her daughter, Kim Alexander-Brettler. Her mother formed deep and enduring relationships driven by a passion for civil rights and sincerity in helping young people better themselves and their communities, Alexander-Brettler said.
“It’s not anything she had to practice,” Alexander-Brettler said. “It came from her soul. It came very naturally for her to give.”
Alexander arrived at USC in 1968, becoming the first female and Black faculty member. At the time, there was one Black and one Latino medical student enrolled. Alexander sought to change that. USC estimates that she influenced the lives of at least 800 minority students at the Keck School of Medicine by her retirement in 2019.
In 1969, she became the inaugural dean of Minority Affairs, which would later become the Office of Diversity and Inclusion. In 1992, she told The Times that she believed students of color were never told that they had the intelligence, capability or sensitivity to become doctors, and she wanted to instill that in them as early as she could.
She spoke at high schools and encouraged students to keep in touch. She promised the students and their families that if they put in the work, she would help them as best as she could to find them a place in a medical school.
“We have to train young people to make a contribution to society,” she told The Times. “If someone would give us a grant to start in kindergarten, I would do that.”
Among them was Dr. Diana E. Ramos, who was a high schooler headed to USC for undergrad when she met Althea and her husband, Fredric. At an annual check-up, Ramos met a nurse practitioner who introduced her to her boss, Fredric, after learning she wanted to be a doctor. He introduced her to his wife, an assistant dean at USC’s medical school, and from then on, Althea became a guiding force for Ramos, who was born in South Central and the first in her family to go to college. Ramos graduated from USC’s medical school in 1994.
“Whenever I was wanting to give up or just needed a little pep talk, she was always there,” said Ramos, who became California’s surgeon general in 2022. When Ramos took on the role with lingering feelings of inadequacy, Alexander quelled those doubts and told her she was fit for the job. “Of course,” her mentor told her. “Why not you?”
At USC, Alexander pushed admissions to consider non-traditional experiences in addition to grades and test scores, such as considering an applicant’s work and family history. She and her family hosted dozens of students, often for months at a time, in their home. Alexander helped others pay rent and bought cars for those who couldn’t afford them so they could attend school, Alexander-Brettler said.
Alexander had a national and international influence as well, with many of the students at USC going on to study across the country. At a memorial service held Saturday, where former students shared stories of her impact on their lives, speakers shared how Alexander encouraged them to come to the U.S. from China to expand their medical education.
She did not shy away about speaking bluntly about racism in the medical field. She previously told The Times about an instance when she went to the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center to seek aid after breaking her arm. A white attending resident told her to “hold your arm like you usually hold your can of beer on Saturday night.”
“What are you talking about?” she demanded. “Do you think I’m a welfare mother?”
She told students that they would surely confront the same issues.
“This is not a utopia,” Alexander would say. “You are what you are. … You cannot die on every hill here. If somebody makes a racist comment in class, you cannot spend all your energy on that. Be principled and deal with it. Say: ‘I don’t appreciate that.’ Then, move on.”
She shared a passion for civil rights advocacy, joining protesters during the East L.A. protests in 1970, and had a United Farm Workers flag hanging in her office signed by Cesar Chavez.
Alexander had known her husband, Fredric Eugene, since they were children because their parents were union organizers. But in 1959, a young civil rights leader named Martin Luther King Jr. reintroduced the two. Fredric and Althea married at the Unitarian Church in downtown L.A. Fredric died in 2009.
Althea Alexander was born March 16, 1935, in Berkeley. In addition to her daughter, she is survived by her son, Sean Alexander, and granddaughters Danielle and Lauren Brettler.
Alexander loved music and made a habit of attending live performances. Alexander-Brettler recalled one Prince concert at the Forum where she begged her mom to leave as it approached midnight because she had work the next day. But Alexander insisted that they stay through all four songs in Prince’s encore, dancing all the while. To close Saturday’s memorial service, USC’s marching band performed.
“It was the cherry on the top,” Alexander-Brettler said. “We had a party at the end there.”
Alexander’s legacy lives on: In 1997, one USC alumna established the Althea Alexander Endowed Scholarship Fund to support minority medical students. A group of students established the Althea and Fredric Alexander Student Support Fund to financially support medical students’ professional development where donations can be made in her memory.
Period films give us a glimpse into what life was like during a completely different era of history. Well, sort of. They may give us an idea how people lived, but since they’re movies, we need to leave room for a certain degree of artifice. Movies are designed to either entertain us, or to explore universal themes, or to provide a feast for our senses. They’re not designed to tell us the truth, and nothing but the truth.
So, that’s why it’s not surprising to learn that some of the most popular period films ever made are full of historical inaccuracies. As with most films based on true events, creative liberties are taken to ensure the narrative flows in an effective, compelling way. But when you add the period element — think ancient civilizations, English royal society, or wars that spanned multiple years — there are even more opportunities for facts to be replaced by fiction. It could be a certain style of clothing that hadn’t been invented yet, or the inclusion of a historical figure who, by all accounts, shouldn’t have been alive during the events of the film.
In some cases, these changes feel completely warranted. Reality is almost always messier than what’s presented to us on the big screen, and leaving out certain details results in a more satisfying end result. Other times, the inaccuracies are so glaring and obvious, they take us out of the film entirely. Here are ten period movies that relied on audiences’ suspension of disbelief to tell their (mostly) true stories.
Historical Movies That Are Wildly Inaccurate
These films are based on real people and events … but just barely. Most of what was up on screen was invented by screenwriters.
DOUGLAS COUNTY, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – Any parent of an athlete knows how competitive high school sports can be and how upsetting it can be when your child doesn’t get playing time.
But parents at one metro Atlanta high school said their football program is recruiting and playing athletes who don’t even live in the district.
Some Douglasville parents are alleging that Olten Downs, head football coach at Alexander High School, is recruiting teens who don’t live in the district. One parent even admitted she is allowing a recruit to use her address, even though he does not live with her.
The Douglas County School System has confirmed an internal investigation was conducted. As a result, the district determined some conversations with prospective athletic parents had been “inappropriate” and said “appropriate corrective action” would be taken.
Recruiting allegations
Kimberly Churchill’s son has been playing football in Douglasville since he was old enough to walk.
“He started off on the peewee football team, playing rec and then when he got to high school, he started playing on the JV level and varsity level,” Churchill said.
As he entered junior year at Alexander High School, Churchill’s son had dreams of being a starter. But as the season unfolded, his mom said he was replaced by kids he had never seen in school before.
“One kid is driving an hour to school and an hour from school each day,” Churchill said.
After Churchill’s son quit the team, she sent a complaint to the Georgia High School Association (GHSA), which oversees extracurricular activities for nearly 500 public and private schools in Georgia, alleging Downs was “recruiting out-of-district players for his football team.”
After Churchill’s son quit the team, she sent a complaint to the Georgia High School Association or GHSA, alleging that Coach Olten Downs was “recruiting out of district players for his football team.”(Rachel Polansky)
Churchill is not the only Douglasville parent making these claims.
Another mother who, fearing backlash, did not want to be identified because her son still plays for Alexander, admitted she is allowing Downs to use her address for one of his recruits, even though the recruit does not live with her.
Downs, the mother said, “called me on the phone. He said, ‘I have a student that lives in Atlanta, and he wants to come out here to have a better life for himself and to play football and I was wondering if you would be okay allowing this kid to use your address?’
“I said, that’s fine,” the mother recounted. She said shedidn’t know at the time GHSA’s bylaws prohibited such an arrangement. “Even now, I don’t know if I’m gonna get in trouble,” she said. “I don’t know the ramifications.”
Downs did not respond to Atlanta News First Investigates’ emails. When asked directly about the allegations during halftime at Alexander High football game, Downs did not respond and ran off the field.
When Atlanta News First Investigates tried to get Coach Downs’ side of the allegations, he ran away.(WANF)
While Downs did not speak, another parent recorded a call between her and one of Downs’ assistant coaches. That call was shared with Atlanta News First Investigates.
During the call, the assistant coach asked if she’d provide her address for an incoming recruit to use.
“He needs to have the address; he can live with me. I have no problem with that but, if he has an address, he’ll be able to go to that school; he’ll be able to go to Alexander,” the coach said.
When the parent appeared to hesitate, the assistant coach added this: “I’m the type of person like you scratch my back, I scratch your back.” The mother who recorded the call took that to mean her son would be given more playing time.
“I don’t want any of the kids to get in trouble,” the mother said. “I just want it [recruiting] to stop happening.”
Recruiting or undue influence
The GHSA defines recruiting or undue influence as “the use of influence by any person connected directly or indirectly with a GHSA school to induce a student of any age to transfer from one school to another … for athletic or literary competition purposes.”
GHSA also has the ability to impose penalties including fines, probations, suspensions or forfeiture of games. That’s what happened in 2020 when south Georgia’s longtime football powerhouse, Valdosta High School, was hit with $7500 in fines for recruiting violations. Five of their players were deemed ineligible, they were made to forfeit season wins, and banned from playoffs.
Atlanta News First Investigates uncovered GHSA investigated 93 claims of recruiting or undue influence over the last three years. Only 23 of them resulted in disciplinary action.
Atlanta News First Investigates uncovered that GHSA investigated 93 claims of recruiting or undue influence over the last three years. Only 23 of them resulted in disciplinary action.
This handwritten list was provided by GHSA. (Rachel Polansky)
While accusations are common, GHSA Executive Director Robin Hines said his staff rarely has enough evidence to punish programs.
“You can’t really move forward if it’s not going to pass legal muster,” Hines said. “It’s a shame you have to look through that lens but if you can’t support it in court, then you probably don’t need to be moving forward.”
Atlanta News First Investigates also learned 13 employees make up GHSA’s office. Only one of them is responsible for investigating misconduct.
Nonetheless, Hines said his office is properly staffed. “Ninety-nine out of 100 times, it’s [complaints or allegations] usually by disgruntled members of the community that send those things. Some of them may turn out to be true but that’s few and far between.”
Hines also said when allegations are deemed credible, GHSA will send a “letter of inquiry” to the district and ask the school to conduct its own internal investigation.
When Atlanta News First Investigates asked if such an inquiry had been sent to Alexander High School, GHSA said it does “not comment on on going investigations.”
“I’ve complained,” Churchill said. “Other moms have complained. Again, nothing has been done.”
With one month left in the season, Churchill believes tactics like recruiting have taken the game out of athletes’ hands.
“It’s just a mess and it needs to stop,” Churchill said.
Local school system responds
Atlanta News First Investigates has requested additional complaints regarding Downs since February 2021 from the Douglas County School System. The system said the public records would cost $3,360. We reduced the scope, and the price tag still remains more than $3,000. Atlanta News First is continuing to follow up on that public records request.
Meanwhile, Atlanta News First Investigates also requested an interview with Trent North, the Douglas County School System superintendent. System spokesperson Portia Lake sent this statement:
BERLIN — Officials in Europe and the U.S. praised the awarding of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize to activists standing up for human rights and democracy in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine while authorities in Belarus scorned the move.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine this year has pushed Moscow’s relationship with its Western neighbors to a new low. Even before that, ties had been fraught over President Vladimir Putin’s backing for pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine, his support for authoritarian Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and Syrian leader Bashar Assad, and his repression of political opponents, such as dissident Alexei Navalny at home.
“I hope the Russian authorities read the justification for the peace prize and take it to heart,” Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said after the Nobel Committee awarded the 2022 prize to imprisoned Belarus rights activist Ales Bialiatski, the Russian rights group Memorial and the Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties, which is focusing on documenting war crimes.
“It sends a signal that keeping civil society down is protecting one’s own power. It is seen from the outside and it is criticized,” he said.
French President Emmanuel Macron was among the world leaders who quickly hailed the laureates, tweeting that their prize ”pays homage to unwavering defenders of human rights in Europe.”
“Artisans of peace, they know they can count on France’s support,” the French leader said.
U.S. President Joe Biden said the winners “remind us that, even in dark days of war, in the face of intimidation and oppression, the common human desire for rights and dignity cannot be extinguished.”
“The brave souls who do this work have pursued the truth and documented for the world the political repression of their fellow citizens — speaking out, standing up, and staying the course while being threatened by those who seek their silence,” Biden said in a statement.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg congratulated the winners, tweeting that “the right to speak truth to power is fundamental to free and open societies.”
Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod said the award needs to be seen against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine.
“There is war in Europe. Your work for peace and human rights is therefore more important than ever before,” he said to the winners. “Thank you for that.”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the three groups “fully deserved” the awards.
“The bravery, passion and clarity with which (they) are fighting for freedom and justice deserves the highest respect,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of European Union leaders in Prague.
In Paris, exiled Belarus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya told The Associated Press that the award was “recognition of all the people who are sacrificing their freedom and lives for the sake of (Belarus).”
Over the last two years, the government of Belarus has waged a violent crackdown on journalists and protesters who say that the 2020 presidential election was rigged, beating thousands, detaining tens of thousands and charging rights defenders with cases that the opposition calls politically motivated. Many have fled the country for their own safety.
“Physically, you know, this prize will not influence their situation but I am sure it (will) influence the moods and intentions of other countries to help those people who are behind bars,” Tsikhanouskaya said.
Svetlana Alexievich, a Belarusian journalist and writer who won the 2015 Nobel Prize in literature, called Bialiatski “a legendary figure.”
“What Viasna, founded by him, has done and is doing in the current circumstances, is in his spirit, in his philosophy,” Alexievich told reporters Friday.
She added that Bialiatski is “seriously ill” and needs medical treatment, but is “unlikely to be freed from behind bars.”
Belarus’ Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, denounced the Nobel committee’s decision to award the prize to Bialiatski as “politicized.”
Ministry spokesman Anatoly Glaz said “in recent years, a number of important decisions — and we’re talking about the peace prize — of the Nobel committee have been so politicized, that, I’m sorry, Alfred Nobel got tired of turning in his grave.”
Olav Njølstad, director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute, dismissed the criticism.
“I’m quite sure we understand Alfred Nobel’s will and intentions better than the dictatorship in Minsk,” he said.
Meanwhile, a senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also took issue with the award, saying the Nobel Committee “has an interesting understanding of (the) word ‘peace’ if representatives of two countries that attacked a third one receive (the prize) together.”
“Neither Russian nor Belarusian organizations were able to organize resistance to the war,” Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted. “This year’s Nobel is ‘awesome.’”
But Oleksandra Matviichuk, a Ukrainian lawyer who heads the Center for Civil Liberties, said the award was for the groups, not the countries they were based in. In an interview with German weekly Der Spiegel, she said her co-laureates had spoken out clearly against Russia’s hostility toward Ukraine since 2014.
“They always called things by their name,” she said. “That’s why Ales Bialiatski is in prison now and Memorial is banned.”
“It’s not about the countries, but about the people who are jointly standing up to evil,” she said.
———
Follow all AP stories about the Nobel Prizes at https://apnews.com/hub/nobel-prizes
Drum Roll Please! Da-dum-da-dum-da-dum-da-dum-dum.
It’s time to kick off Austin Pets Alive’s Human of the Month sponsored by RightWorks’ social impact program, KindWorks. Our relationship with this generous company began when they made a donation during Winter Storm Uri. When we reached out to thank their team, we were thrilled that they wanted to begin an ongoing relationship. KindWorks was born soon after the conversation and is allowing us the opportunity to highlight our amazing humans and the work they put in at APA!. It is our pleasure to launch this feature by introducing you to Patty Alexander, our PASS Program Manager, and Online Adoption Manager.
There’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes at APA! — innovative thinking, a spectrum of emotions, and of course, the long hours that go into providing lifesaving care and attention to each and every animal that walks through our doors (or lands in our inboxes or social media channels in Patty’s case!).
Patty has been with APA! for nearly eleven years and has been an extraordinary asset to our team. As the PASS Program Manager and Online Adoptions Manager, Patty is responsible for supporting individuals who are struggling with keeping their pet in their home, and either helping to determine a solution or helping to find a new loving home all while supporting the mixture of emotions that can surface during these delicate times. These roles require a lot of time and attention to detail, as well as challenges along the way, but APA! always cuts a new path. This is Patty’s favorite part of being a member of the APA! family because as she puts it so well, “we are creative, outside the box, problem-solving, innovative team.” Being a part of helping people find solutions is one of the best parts of Patty’s workday.
One of Patty’s prized memories at APA! was when a good samaritan reached out asking for help when he found a dog at his construction site, who had been shot. She helped raise $5,000 via crowdsourcing in order to help save the dog. The construction worker drove the dog to find help and unfortunately lost his job because of his action. Not only did Patty fundraise to provide this sweet pup a lifeline, but she also helped this hardworking, heroic man find a new job. Patty encompasses our APA! motto — helping people help pets.
You may be thinking, “Wow! Patty must be in the office 24/7!” Well, sort of… After becoming obsessed with blogs by people who sold everything to travel the world, Patty followed suit in 2014. She sold her belongings, loaded up her four-legged friends, and set off to work remotely from different locations. Talk about an adventure!
We are so thrilled to choose Patty for our RightWorks’ KindWorks Human of APA! sponsorship. Our team and all our dear animals at APA! thank you for your hard work and constant support!
Be sure to follow along throughout the rest of the year to learn more about some of the amazing people supporting the animals of APA!.
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/CFHWEPEWSJCDJCA3BNPLH4SM5E.jpg)
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/63EEWR3ZNFGMFKOVHCZS6UHN2Q.jpg)
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/UN2DDS2LXZFHZPTK5LL4FOGKXM.jpg)
