Good Morning! Here’s what happened in the world of sports on Tuesday, May 6.

NBA

With Darius Garland, De’Andre Hunter, and Evan Mobley all ruled out due to injury, the odds were stacked against the Cleveland Cavaliers last night in game two. A Herculean effort by superstar Donovan Mitchell (48 points!), however, saw the top-seeded Cavs out in front. The Pacers kept coming back, but Mitchell and his depleted Cleveland squad managed to hold a seven point lead with 57 seconds remaining. Unfortunately for the home team, that’s when everything changed. Indiana forced two turnovers, recovered two rebounds on missed free throws, and kept the ball on their offensive side of the court for the remainder of the game. That set up Tyrese Haliburton, down two with ten seconds to go…

Unbelievable. ESPN Research discovered that since 1997, NBA teams have 3 wins and 1,640 losses when trailing by 7+ points in the final minute of a playoff game. Two of those three wins belong to the Indiana Pacers during this postseason run. They’ll take a 2-0 lead back home…

The final series to tip-off saw the Golden State Warriors travel to Minnesota to take on the Timberwolves. And boy, was this an ugly game. Minnesota scored just 31 points in the first half! They shot 5-29 from three! On the other side, Golden State’s gritty performance was embodied by Draymond Green. The grizzled veteran looked like the conductor of a basketball symphony; as Warriors head coach Steve Kerr played guys you’ve never heard of, Draymond just kept dishing out assists and directing traffic, even knocking down four three-pointers of his own. Add in another star performance by Buddy Hield (a game-high 24 points) and, although the T-Wolves got close at the end, it was no surprise that the Warriors held on for a 99-88 victory. For the first time in NBA history, all four conference semifinals began with a victory by the road team.

You may have noticed one name was notably absent from that recap– the big story of the night was a hamstring strain suffered by Steph Curry. After starting the game hot with 13 points, Curry went to the locker room in the first quarter and did not return. “We're definitely game-planning for him to not be available Thursday [for game two]," Kerr said. "We don't know yet (for sure) ... we have to talk about (finding offense without Steph)." You never want to see a superstar go down on the biggest stage. Here’s to Steph making a speedy recovery.

NHL

Like their NBA counterparts, the visitors were victorious in the National Hockey League. Despite outshooting Washington 33-14, the Carolina Hurricanes actually trailed the Capitals 1-0 for most of game one. But Logan Stankoven tied the score in the third period and Jaccob Slavin snuck through a game-winner in overtime. A huge win to start this series…

After going down 2-0 in round one to the LA Kings, the Edmonton Oilers have now won five games in a row. Mark Stone scored two goals to hand Vegas a 2-0 lead early in this one, but the Oilers stormed back. Three third period goals– including this beauty from Zach Hyman to take the lead– saw Edmonton go on the road and beat the Golden Knights in game one.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

The craziest game of the day, however, may have been at the San Siro in Italy. Inter Milan hosted the second leg of a thrilling Champions League semifinal against Barcelona with the score tied after last week’s first meeting… let me tell you what went down:

• The home team raced out to a 2-0 lead. Until the 54th minute, Inter Milan was comfortably on their way to a second Champions League final in three years.

• But just like in their meeting a week ago, Barcelona wasn’t giving up that easily. Two goals in six minutes saw the game suddenly tied, with all the momentum on the side of the visitors. When Rapinha buried this shot in the bottom corner in the 87th minute, the miraculous comeback looked complete.

• And yet Inter weren’t finished. Francesco Acerbi is a defender with just four goals in his last three seasons across all competitions for Inter. Naturally, he scored on a simply fantastic shot in the 94th minute! Acebri then celebrated accordingly…

• That sent us to extra time, where Inter’s goalie Yan Sommer became the hero. Sommer saved multiple curling efforts by Lamine Yamal and Barcelona’s other wunderkind forwards, setting the stage for Davide Frattesi to slot home the game-winner. Madness in Milan on one of the greatest European soccer nights we’ve seen in recent memory (even David Beckham said so!)

MLB

Even in baseball, it was a pretty good night for late-game heroics:

• The Miami Marlins and Atlanta Braves each won with walk-offs in the 10th. Miami beat the Dodgers 5-4 while Atlanta took down Cincinnati 2-1.

• San Francisco blew a late lead at Wrigley Field, but recovered nicely in the 11th. Cubs closer Ryan Pressley entered the game with the score 5-5… he left after the Giants put up nine runs! That was enough for a 14-5 San Francisco victory.

• One of the strangest stats in baseball right now concerns Pirates ace Paul Skenes. He has just seven losses in 31 career starts, but after last night’s 2-1 defeat, four of those losses have come against a division rival, the St. Louis Cardinals. I’d also like to take this moment to highlight a piece I wrote back in 2020 about the ill-received Randy Arozarena trade. It’s taken a while, but Cardinals starter Matthew Liberatore not only matched Skenes last night, he’s looked pretty legit all season.

• And finally, the Kansas City Royals won on a walk-off single by Bobby Witt Jr. The crucial play was set up by this all-time blooper, courtesy of White Sox infielder Chase Meidroth:

NOTEWORTHY NEWS

Sovereignty, last week’s winning horse at the Kentucky Derby, will not be racing at the Preakness. Although we’re all sad to see there will be no attempt at a historic Triple Crown, it’s probably a good thing that the horse’s health has been prioritized.

Congratulations to Oklahoma City’s Sam Presti on winning NBA Executive of the Year. I’m sure if you asked Mr. Presti, however, he would trade that recognition for a spot in this year’s NBA Finals.

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, 7 PM on ESPN

• Stars @ Jets, 9:30 PM on ESPN

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: Arsenal @ PSG, 3 PM on CBS (PSG lead 1-0)

"I'm at peace with my game. Understanding that I'm trusted in these moments. I have all the confidence in the world to make these shots," –Tyrese Haliburton