Good Morning! Today is Thursday, November 13. Here’s what happened this week in the world of sports.

NBA

I’ll admit, it’s hard to keep up with the NBA right now. I counted four buzzer-beaters or late-game winners on Monday, including this awesome sequence by Wemby. Then last night, Jokic dropped 55, the Thunder beat the Lakers by 29, and Steph Curry scored 46. Is there such thing as too many highlights? Instead of trying to tell you about each game, let’s take a look at the early season standings:

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Cade Cunningham and the Pistons are off to a rocking start, while the preseason favorites, the Cavs and Knicks, are in position at the top of the table. The rest of the East is bunched together– excluding three teams not listed. The Nets, Pacers, and Wizards each have one win and double-digit losses. Good thing it’s a stacked draft class!

WESTERN CONFERENCE

There’s so much star power in the west. SGA and the defending champs are still the team to beat, but Jokic, Wemby, Luka, KD, and Anthony Edwards are hot on their heels.

NHL

That went pretty well for the NBA, right? Let’s try out a standings refresh for the National Hockey League, too:

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Atlantic Division

Injuries have hit the champs hard, as you see the Panthers towards the bottom of the division.

Metropolitan Division

Sidney Crosby was a top trade candidate coming into this season… instead, the Penguins are scoring goals and winning games. Can they make a serious playoff push?

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Central Division

The Avalanche look like the best team in hockey, while the Mammoth have shocked everyone with their early season success. Let’s not talk about the Blues…

Pacific Division

The young Anaheim Ducks may have arrived early… this team is legit! And here’s a bonus Connor McDavid goal, because it’s filthy:

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Early season college hoops deliver great results, and yet it’s hard to tell what exactly it all means. A lot changes between November and March. For now, I’ve got two great moments from the men’s and women’s games:

Wake Forest may have lost to (6) Michigan in a thrilling overtime battle, but guard Myles Colvin gave us one of the highlights of the season:

And how about this performance from Notre Dame guard Hannah Hidalgo! 44 points, nine rebounds, and the most steals ever recorded by one player in a division one game:

NEWSWORTHY

Nico Harrison has been fired as the general manager of the Dallas Mavericks. It’s been less than a year since Harrison decided to trade franchise cornerstone Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers; based on that trade and new reports about his tenure, I would wager it’s unlikely that he gets a job in an NBA front office ever again. For Mavericks fans, the healing process has begun.

Meanwhile, the New York Giants have fired head coach Brian Daboll. While rookie QB Jaxson Dart showed promising signs of development under Daboll’s leadership, the 20-40-1 record midway through his fourth season just wasn’t good enough.

We’ve got a new NBA all-star game! 24 all-stars will create three teams in this year’s competition, representing two Team USAs and one Team World. The selection process will look similar, with the commissioner filling in the gaps to make sure each team has enough players. Sounds exciting! And may as well give this format a shot, since it can’t get much worse.

It’s award season in Major League Baseball… Stephen Vogt and Pat Murphy were named Managers of the Year, the first time in league history both managers won back-to-back seasons… Nick Kurtz of the A’s and Drake Baldwin of the Braves were named Rookies of the Year… and to no one’s surprise, Paul Skenes and Tarik Skubal won the 2025 Cy Youngs. Skenes was a rare unanimous selection, and this was Skubal’s second win a row.

Clippers guard Bradley Beal will miss the rest of the season due to hip surgery.

The city of Pasadena and the Rose Bowl have filed a temporary restraining order to keep UCLA from breaking their lease and moving football games to SoFi Stadium. It’s already expensive, but now this one may get messy.

THIS WEEKEND’S BIG GAMES (all times Eastern)

THURSDAY:

• NCAAB: (2) Purdue @ (8) Alabama, 7 PM on ESPN2

• Jets @ Patriots, 8:15 PM on Prime

FRIDAY:

• Heat @ Knicks, 7 PM on Prime

• NCAAF: Clemson @ (20) Louisville, 7:30 PM on ESPN

• Warriors @ Spurs, 9:30 PM on Prime

• NCAAB: (5) Arizona @ (15) UCLA, 10 PM on Peacock

SATURDAY:

• (9) Notre Dame @ (22) Pittsburgh, Noon on ABC

• (11) Oklahoma @ (3) Alabama, 3:30 PM on ABC

• (21) Iowa @ (17) USC, 3:30 PM on Big Ten Network

• NCAAB: (3) UConn @ (7) BYU, 7 PM on Fox

• (10) Texas @ (5) Georgia, 7:30 PM on ABC

• NCCAW: (2) South Carolina @ (8) USC, 9 PM on Fox

SUNDAY:

• Buccaneers @ Bills, 1 PM on CBS

• Bears @ Vikings, 1 PM on Fox

• Bengals @ Steelers, 1 PM on CBS

• NCAAB: (1) Houston @ (22) Auburn, 3 PM on ESPN

• Seahawks @ Rams, 4:05 PM on Fox

• Chiefs @ Broncos, 4:25 PM on CBS

• Lions @ Eagles, 8:20 PM on NBC

“There's no doubt that Pete's pursuers are prime to pay the power piper. Pete picked a perfect period to play preeminently at really a primary position. A playoff-parched plethora will pounce to participate in the polar plunge,” –MLB superagent Scott Boras, when asked if his client Pete Alonso would be willing to DH more often in the future

Have a wonderful weekend! See you on Monday… may all of your conversations be as happy and positive as this one: