Good Morning! Today is Monday, May 12. Here’s what happened over the weekend in the world of sports.

NBA

Unfortunately I cannot recap all six basketball games that were played this weekend, because that would take far too long. But what I will do is tell you where each series stands, and what to watch for as we inch closer to the conference finals:

• Denver and Oklahoma City has become a slugfest. The Nuggets won a tight game three on Friday in overtime, despite one of Nikola Jokic’s worst-ever games. But after holding Denver to just eight points (eight points!) in the first quarter yesterday, the young Thunder finally closed out a game in crunch time to even the series 2-2. I think it’s time for the MVP candidates, Jokic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, to take over and duel for real– who will emerge as a champion as these two evenly-matched teams battle it out?

• Game three between the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks was a lot more like what we thought this series would be. Boston was at their best, shooting New York out of the gym. “This is the fun part. You don't get into the journey for it to be easy. It's been dark, but in a good way. You've just got to tap into your darkness, and that's it,” explained Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla. Although New York leads 2-1, it appears the defending champs remain confident.

• Jimmy Butler dropped 33 points, Jonathan Kuminga emerged with 30, the Warriors played swarming defense for four quarters… and without Steph Curry, they still lost to the Timberwolves 102-97. Julius Randle was awesome, recording a triple-double in the win. Golden State needs to steal one game without Steph. Even the greatest shooter of all-time would have trouble coming back from 3-1 against this Minnesota team.

• Speaking of 3-1 leads, the Indiana Pacers are on the verge of knocking out the Cleveland Cavaliers. Pacers forward Benedict Mathurin actually tried to knock out a Cavs player yesterday and was ejected, but that’s not the point here. Indiana led 80-39 yesterday- that’s a 40-point lead! The top-seeded Cavalivers are banged up and simply being outplayed by the high-flying Pacers. A reminder, however, that this series is not yet over…

NHL

Just like in the Association, a lot happened on the ice. Each series, however, is still extremely close–

• The Hurricanes won game three at home, and hold a 2-1 lead over Washington.

• After Winnipeg shut them out on Friday, Dallas erupted for three goals in the third period yesterday at home. The Stars lead the Jets 2-1.

• We’ve got fireworks in Florida! The Panthers won both home games, with an OT victory on Friday and a 2-0 nail-biter last night. But the story of this series is the physicality, as neither team is even pretending to like the other. This series heads back to Toronto tied at two games apiece.

• And that brings us to the best on-ice moment of the weekend, the goal that gave Vegas life and kept Edmonton from a 3-0 series lead. Take a look at this:

MLB

Let’s give out some awards!

• TEAMS OF THE WEEKEND: We start in the Midwest, where both the Minnesota Twins and St. Louis Cardinals are riding eight-game win streaks into this new week. Looking ahead at the schedule, we’ll see if they can keep the streaks going against some tougher competition…

• PLAYERS OF THE WEEKEND: Tigers ace Tarik Skubal is on a quest for a second-straight Cy Young. Skubal pitched seven shutout innings with 12 strikeouts in a win on Friday evening. And let’s hear it for Yankees rookie Jasson Dominguez! The Martian, as he’s known, hit three homers in a single game! 

• “THAT CAN’T BE TRUE” OF THE WEEKEND: The Colorado Rockies lost 21-0 on Saturday. 21-0! That included Padres rookie Stephen Kolek throwing a complete-game shutout. But when Colorado actually won a game yesterday, they fired their manager, Bud Black. When asked about Black, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts gave us the quote of the weekend: “I don’t think Casey Stengel could change the outcome of that ballclub. That’s not the manager’s fault.’’ So yeah, it’s not going too well right now in the mile high city.

• MOMENT OF THE WEEKEND: This super awesome comeback on Friday night. The Dodgers trailed by three in the ninth inning. But you're never out of a ballgame when you have Shohei Ohtani:

SOCCER

With a thrilling 4-3 victory over Real Madrid yesterday, FC Barcelona have all but clinched a La Liga title. It’s the first season in the rivalry’s history that a team has won all four matches between the two super clubs.

From the best in the world to the worst… the LA Galaxy are winless after their first 12 games in the MLS this season. You may remember that last year’s champions lost a week ago to Sporting KC despite not allowing a shot on goal. Well on Saturday, the Galaxy got embarrassed 7-0 by NY Red Bull. We don’t cover the MLS often in this publication, but when a team performs that terribly, it doesn’t go unnoticed.

NOTEWORTHY NEWS

Saints quarterback Derek Carr announced his retirement after 11 seasons in the NFL, due to lasting damage from a shoulder injury. New Orleans will turn to Spencer Rattler, Jake Haener, or second-round pick Tyler Shough as their new QB this season.

Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator of Hamilton, has picked out the subject for his next great biopic… the Molina brothers! We don’t know much about the story yet, but Benji Molina has confirmed that it will not be a musical.

Brothers Jace and Josh Jung played against each other for the first time as professional baseball players this weekend. A dream come true, and the Jungs made sure to enjoy every minute:

Sinner has taken over Rome! (I was really close to making that the title of today’s post) The world number one has returned from his three-month suspension to huge crowds in his home country. His second match is going on as you read this, but I have a feeling it won’t take long for Jannik Sinner to remind us why he’s won the last two Grand Slams. The guy is really, really good at tennis.

And in case you hadn’t heard, the Pope is a White Sox fan. Check out this footage from the 2005 World Series on Fox:

TODAY’S BIG GAMES (all times Eastern)

NBA:

• Celtics @ Knicks, 4:30 PM on ESPN

• NBA DRAFT LOTTERY: Between games, ESPN will air the Cooper Flagg sweepstakes– the Jazz, Hornets, and Wizards have the best odds of winning the first pick

• Timberwolves @ Warriors, 10 PM on ESPN

NHL:

• Capitals @ Hurricanes, 7 PM on TNT/Max

• Golden Knights @ Oilers, 9:30 PM on TNT/Max

MLB:

• Pirates @ Mets, 7:10 PM

  • Paul Skenes on the mound!

• Diamondbacks @ Giants, 9:45 PM on FS1

TENNIS: The Italian Open in Rome

• (4) Coco Gauff vs Emma Raducanu, 9 AM on Tennis Channel

• (29) Matteo Berrettini vs (6) Casper Ruud, 1 PM on Tennis Channel

If I was the closer for the Phillies, I’d write this on my hat, too: