Good Morning! I’m back in the states and ready to start writing again… but how about another moment to thank our wonderful guest writers! Sincerely appreciate all of the work you did the last two weeks!

Today is Monday, May 5th. Here’s what happened over the weekend in the world of sports.

NBA PLAYOFFS

The Denver Nuggets used a dominant third quarter to blow out the LA Clippers 120-101. On a night where superstar Nikola Jokic only had 16 points, the Denver supporting cast stepped up and outclassed LA. Once again, James Harden struggled in a game seven, scoring just seven total points– he’s now 3-4 in his career in these crucial games.

If you told me Steph Curry would have just three points at halftime, I’d be pretty sure that the Houston Rockets were controlling their game seven battle at home against the Warriors. But that was not the case. Buddy Hield was electric, dropping 30 points on the night and leading the way with six threes in the first half for Golden State. Steph took over with 14 points in the fourth quarter as the veteran Warriors survived the Rockets. They’ll take on the Minnesota Timberwolves in round two.

Round two has already begun– the Indiana Pacers took down the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers in game one. Tyrese Haliburton and Andrew Nembhard were super impressive down the stretch for Indy as they closed out a 121-112 victory on the road.

NHL PLAYOFFS

Two game sevens ended round one of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and they gave us two unbelievable finishes. My JV soccer coach used to always tell us 2-0 was the most dangerous lead in sports… I think I believe him now.

Nathan MacKinnon scored 31 seconds into the 3rd period to give the Colorado Avalanche a 2-0 lead over Dallas. But the home team answered back. Mikko Rantanen scored a hat trick in Colorado’s first game of the 2024-25 season as a member of the Avalanche. He scored a hat trick in their last game of the season as a member of the Stars, leading an incredible 4-2 comeback victory. Dallas head coach Pete DeBoer is now 9-0 all-time in game sevens, while Colorado is the first team in MLB/NBA/NHL history to lose seven game sevens in a row! Also, a keen observer (me) wrote this at the start of the series…

Dallas won on Saturday and awaited the final team to advance to round two, the winner of a game seven battle between the top-seeded Winnipeg Jets and the St. Louis Blues. St. Louis scored on their first shot of the game, and despite a rally by the home team, held a 3-1 lead late into the third period. They just couldn’t hold on long enough. The Jets pulled their goalie and scored with just under two minutes left, bringing the deficit to one. And with just 1.6 seconds remaining (1.6! So close!) Cole Perfetti scored to send the game to overtime. The first OT was scoreless, but you could feel Winnipeg start to take over this game. Finally, with four minutes remaining in the second extra period, they got their game-winner. A surprisingly positive season for the Blues ended in heartbreaking fashion, while the Jets avoided a catastrophic first-round upset and move on to round two:

EUROPEAN TROPHIES

England forward Harry Kane is one of the best goal-scorers of the century. And yet, he had never won a team trophy at the professional level… until yesterday, when Bayern Munich won the German Bundesliga. Congrats to Kane on finally ending one of the strangest droughts in soccer.

Aryna Sabalenka and Casper Ruud are your 2025 Madrid Open champions! Sabalenka was her usual dominant self, winning in straight sets in the final against a resurgent Coco Gauff. Ruud, meanwhile, fought through a difficult match against the new world number five, Jack Draper. Keep an eye on all four players next week in Rome, and more importantly at Roland Garros, the clay court grand slam at the end of the month.

MLB

Four fun bullet points from the baseball diamond–

• Tigers outfielder Riley Greene became the first player ever to hit two home runs in the ninth inning of a single game.

• Saturday was the first day in MLB history (at least since 1961) where two players had multi-home runs games that included a go-ahead grand slam in the 9th inning or later. Kyle Stowers and Daniel Schneemann with a day to remember!

• The Orioles and Royals combined for 11 total home runs yesterday! Kansas City won 11-6.

• And to celebrate May the Fourth, also known as Star Wars Day, Victor Scott II and Nolan Arenado used the force to make two spectacular game-saving catches on Juan Soto, leading the Cardinals to a victory over the Mets:

SPORTS GRAB-BAG

A mixture of fun things you may have missed the last two weeks and headlines that didn’t fit nicely into the other categories…

Scottie Scheffler tied the PGA 72-hole scoring record, winning this weekend’s CJ Cup with a score of -32 under par!

A keen observer mentioned to me during the Kentucky Derby on Saturday that they noticed one horse… released some extra weight… right before they entered the starting gate. That horse was none other than Sovereignty, who went on to win the Derby.

Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy made an interesting yet effective decision in order to help out an injured referee during a game.

The catch of the year in Major League Baseball, courtesy of this talented Dad:

One of my favorite episodes of television of all-time is Homer at the Bat. Well, the Simpsons aired a new baseball-themed episode last weekend titled “Abe League of Their Moe” and it was pretty fantastic. Highly recommend watching both.

Nike released a new commercial for A’ja Wilson’s new signature shoe, Caitlin Clark and the Fever played an exhibition game at Iowa (yes, she’s still making these shots), and the WNBA season begins in just over a week.

An update from our guest writer Ted- The Bombers soundly beat The Clappers in last week’s first round playoff joust, defeating them by way of the mercy rule, 13-3. All the players were seen crying in the dugout as their season ended just the way it started… with a crushing loss. Sorry to our favorite Charlotte softball team- you’ll get ‘em next time!

And finally, ever wondered what it was like in the control room producing a Major League Baseball game? Take a look at this fantastic behind-the-scenes clip from the Mets broadcast:

NOTEWORTHY NEWS

Lots of coaches in the NHL and NBA shuffled around the past week, but none with a greater impact than Gregg Popovich. After missing most of this season recovering from a stroke, the long-time Spurs coach has officially retired from the sidelines, moving to a role in the front office. One of the greatest coaches in any sport of all-time, Pop was the longest-tenured coach in the four major American pro sports leagues. Mitch Johnson, San Antonio’s interim coach this season has been named as his replacement.

TODAY’S BIG GAMES (all times Eastern)

NBA:

• Knicks @ Celtics, 7 PM on TNT/Max

• Nuggets @ Thunder, 9:30 PM on TNT/Max

NHL: Panthers @ Maple Leafs, 8 PM on ESPN

“My ability to be a force of nature on the floor is what I pride myself on. So whatever that looks like. It may be a turnover. It may be a missed shot. But it may be a steal. It may be a dunk. It may be a missed three. It may be a made three. It’s gonna be all of that. It’s gonna be everything. So you just take it for how it comes, and whatever happens, you go with it. … As long as I leave it on the floor, and god willing (I can) go out and continue to compete, I’m grateful for it,” Nuggets guard and future NBA Hall of Famer Russell Westbrook, describing his game