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🚨 Headlines
🏀 Steph sidelined: Stephen Curry will miss at least a week after straining his hamstring on Tuesday. That rules him out for Games 2, 3 and 4 against the Timberwolves, at a minimum.
⚽️ PSG 3, Arsenal 1: Paris Saint-Germain cruised into the Champions League final, where Inter Milan awaits. The French giants are seeking their first title, while Milan are seeking their fourth (1964-65, 2010).
🏒 Mammoth make it official: The Utah Hockey Club is now the Utah Mammoth. The franchise revealed its new identity on Wednesday, ending a yearlong process.
🏈 New WR2 in Dallas: The Cowboys acquired George Pickens from the Steelers, giving Dak Prescott another talented (albeit inconsistent) wideout alongside CeeDee Lamb.
⚾️ First to 25: Despite a laundry-list of injuries, the Dodgers just keep winning, becoming the first team to reach 25 wins (25-12) after trouncing the Marlins, 10-1.
🏀 Déjà vu in Boston
March Madness was lacking this year. Turns out all the lower-seed upsets, improbable comebacks and frantic finishes were merely postponed a couple months. Welcome to May Madness.
Oops, they did it again: The Knicks completed a 20-point comeback for the second time in three nights to stun the Celtics, 91-90, and go up 2-0 on the defending champs.
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The Celtics held the Knicks scoreless for nearly five minutes to start the game and their 20-point lead in the third quarter felt comfortable. Then came the final period.
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New York broke open a 21-4 run in the fourth quarter while Boston essentially shut down, going more than eight minutes without a field goal at one point.
Déjà vu: The 20-point comeback wasn’t the only thing that felt familiar in Game 2. Like Game 1, the Celtics made exactly 25% of their 3-point attempts (15-for-60 in Game 1, 10-for-40 in Game 2, 25-for-100 overall) and Mikal Bridges made another game-sealing defensive play in the final seconds.
What are we witnessing? Before this year, the NBA had never seen a 60-win team go down 2-0 in the second round of the playoffs since it expanded to 16 teams in 1984. It’s now happened twice in the last two days; first the Cavs, now the Celtics.
Meanwhile, in the nightcap…
Thunder 149, Nuggets 106: OKC scored 87 first-half points (NBA playoff record) and steamrolled Denver to even the series. Eight Thunder had double-digit points, led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander with 34 (on 11-13 FG).
Go deeper…Celtics remain calm after another collapse: ‘We can tie this thing back up’(Ben Rohrbach, Yahoo Sports)
🏒 The Moose is loose!
There are hot streaks, and there is whatever Mikko “The Moose” Rantanen is on right now.
Man on fire: Rantanen recorded a hat trick on Wednesday (all in the second period) to lift the Stars past the Jets, 3-2, in their series opener. This comes after he scored a hat trick on Saturday (all in the third period) to beat the Avalanche, his former team, in Game 7.
Some stats:
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He’s the third player with hat tricks in consecutive playoff games, joining Jari Kurri (1985) and Doug Bentley (1944).
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He’s the first player with multiple three-goal periods in the same postseason.
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He’s scored or assisted on the Stars’ last 12 playoff goals, the longest streak ever. Mario Lemieux is the next closest at nine.
The backdrop: Rantanen, who leads the playoffs in goals (8) and points (15), took a winding road to get here. The Finnish forward began the season in Colorado before being traded to Carolina, who shipped him to Dallas 40 days later. That trade already came back to haunt the Avalanche. For the Stars, it’s working out beautifully so far.
Meanwhile, in Toronto…
Maple Leafs 4, Panthers 3: Max Domi and Max Pacioretty each had a goal and an assist, and new dad Mitch Marner scored the tie-breaking goal to give Toronto a 2-0 lead over the defending champs. The series shifts to Florida for Game 3 tomorrow.
🎓 Trump, Saban to shape future of college sports
For years, college sports leaders journeyed to the nation’s capital by the dozens to lobby for congressional help amid a period of seismic change. Soon, the White House may step in, with a little help from a college football legend.
From Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger:
President Donald Trump is making plans to create a presidential commission on college athletics, the first step in what could be a months-long endeavor for solutions to the issues ailing the ecosystem, sources tell Yahoo Sports.
Trump’s involvement, though not surprising, is a landmark moment in college athletics history — the country’s most powerful elected leader potentially shaping the future of the industry. Many college sports stakeholders have been briefed on the matter. It is unclear when an announcement could come.
The commission is expected to deeply examine the unwieldy landscape of college sports, including the frequency of player movement in the transfer portal, the unregulated booster compensation paid to athletes, the employment debate, the application of Title IX to revenue-sharing payments and even conference membership and TV contracts.
Nick Saban, a central figure in the fight for college sports legislation, is expected to be integral to the commission’s work. He met with Trump during his visit to Tuscaloosa last week to give a graduation address at Alabama — a meeting that’s now transformed into plans for this executive group to be formed.
The backdrop: The White House’s involvement comes amid stalled progress on Capitol Hill, where 13 congressional hearings about college sports have been held over the last five years with little to show for it. More than a dozen bills have been introduced — but none have reached debate on the Senate or House floor.
Go deeper…Nick Saban, college sports czar?(Jay Busbee, Yahoo Sports)
📺 Watchlist: Home teams in a hole
Three home teams will try to salvage a split tonight before heading on the road, with the Capitals hosting the Hurricanes (7pm ET, ESPN), the Timberwolves hosting the Warriors (8:30pm, TNT) and the Golden Knights hosting the Oilers (9:30pm, ESPN).
More to watch: The PGA Tour’s Truist Championship tees off at Philadelphia Cricket Club (11am, ESPN+; 2pm, Golf) … No. 8 Auburn hosts South Carolina on the diamond (7pm, ESPN2) … Montreal hosts Ottawa in Game 1 of the PWHL Semifinals (7pm, YouTube).
⚾️ MLB trivia
The Mariners (22-14) have won nine straight series for the first time since 2001, when they tied the MLB record for wins in a season.
Question: How many games did the 2001 Mariners win?
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112
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116
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120
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119
Answer at the bottom.
🏀 Clutch gene
Tyrese Haliburton is 10-for-11 on shots to tie or take the lead in the final two minutes this season (including 3-for-3 in the playoffs). Do you realize how ridiculous that is?
Watch every shot.
Trivia answer: 116
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