USA DAWN: NEWS AND UPDATES

Now, you’ve got to wonder. Maybe LaVar Ball would have killed Michael Jordan one-on-one when Ball was in his prime. Maybe Lonzo Ball is already better than Steph Curry. And maybe Nike, adidas or Under Armour, if they had vision, should give LaVar Ball a $1 billion in exchange for an endorsement deal with Ball’s three sons — Lonzo, LiAngelo and LaMelo. All of LaVar’s heretofore absurd demands and statements — including that Lonzo would end up with the Los Angeles Lakers — no longer look so absurd after the Lakers secured the No. 2 pick in the NBA draft and likely a chance to draft Lonzo. Of course, LaVar Ball celebrated with customary modesty. “I know I must be a genius to plan it this well,’’ he told the CBS affiliate in Los Angeles Tuesday after the lottery. “Genius” is not the word most people have used to describe LaVar Ball, the human bullhorn who has exchanged insults with Charles Barkley, his sons’ since-fired high school basketball coach and anybody else who ...

The review embargo for  Horizon Zero Dawn  has lifted, and I will invite you to read my own full take on the game, along with many, many others who are praising it as pretty excellent. I gave it a 9/10, though it’s getting scores even higher than that from a few major outlets, and it current sits at an enviable 88 Metascore. It’s a big win for Sony, who  already  had a big win in 2017 with  Nioh , and shows that Nintendo isn’t the only company that can produce a large stable of must-have exclusives these days. It’s a must-play for PS4 players, even those that may have gotten sick of open world games. In fact, this is what I view as  Horizon Zero Dawn ’s greatest strength. The ability to take many things you probably hate about open world games and turn the concepts on their heads. When you write a review, it has to be structured a certain way, but I wanted to take the opportunity today now that the embargo has lifted to talk about this i...