Dallas wins and loses + the Celtics advance to ECF

Howdy!

Welcome to a wonderful Thursday where we are still being blessed with awesome playoff games, a full NFL schedule, and the 2nd golf major of the year. Does it get any better than this? Well, probably, but let’s skip the therapy session and jump into sports.

Sounds like a good deal to me.

Headlines

Celtics take care of business

🏀 The Boston Celtics closed out their second-round series against the Cleveland Cavaliers with a 113-98 win last night. The Cavs were without Donovan Mitchell again, but that wasn’t the main factor in the game. Shooting percentages, turnovers, and free throws were all pretty even, but the Celtics had 15 more rebounds than the Cavs. You gonna need that ball if you want to score more than Boston! Anyways, Jayson Tatum might have scored 25 points last night but it was Al Horford might have had the best showing. Horford hit 6 threes on 13 attempts and finished with 22 points and 15 rebounds… and he’s like 50 years old. He’s actually only 37, but still! Boston has made it to the Eastern Conference Finals in 6 of the last 8 seasons.

Mavs lead series 3-2

🏀 The Dallas Mavericks have a 1 game lead on the 1 seeded Oklahoma City Thunder after getting a 104-92 game 5 win in OKC last night. Luka Doncic has struggled a bit in the playoffs, but last night, he put up a triple-double with 31 points, 10 rebounds, and 11 assists. The Mavs got double-digit contributions from 5 others. OKC got 30 from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander but didn’t have anyone else score more than 13. Someone needs to step up in the playoffs for the Thunder.

Mavs win, but the Stars lose

🏒 The Dallas Stars had an opportunity to take their series against the Colorado Avalanche last night. Even better, they could’ve done it on their home ice. It was a do-or-die game from the Avs, and they came ready to play. Cale Makar scored two goals for Colorado and get this… Colorado took a lead in this game just 1 minute and 12 seconds into the 3rd period. THAT WAS THEIR FIRST LEAD OF THE ENTIRE SERIES! That’s wild. Final score was 5-3 and we’ll be heading back to Denver for game 6.

NFL Schedule Released

🏈 The NFL schedule has been released, and we’ve got 9 rematches from the playoffs, with 2 being in the first week. The Chiefs and the Ravens face off in the season’s opener, and the Rams face the Lions on Sunday night football in week 1.

Speaking of Sunday Night Football and primetime television, there are some lopsided broadcast numbers. Get this. The Carolina Panthers are the only team not to have one primetime game. Primetime is the slot where there’s only one game on, and you’ll have the most viewers. Think a good Thursday, Saturday, Sunday, or Monday night matchup.

So, if a team can have zero primetime games, can other teams have a lot?

You Betcha!

The 49ers, Cowboys, and the Jets all have 6 games each!

If you want more info on the schedule release, check this out.

PGA Championship

The drama unfolds today at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky, as the 2024 PGA Championship tees off. All eyes are on Scottie Scheffler, the red-hot World No. 1 who has dominated the past few tournaments but might possibly be tired from becoming a new dad recently. The bookmakers obviously aren’t adding sleep as a factor to their betting odds, as Scheffler is still the favorite to win.

Rory, Brooksy, Tiger, Xander Schauffele, Jon Rahm, and a bunch of other golfers will be trying to outplay Scottie in a bid to win the major tournament this weekend.

Here are some good tee times to look out for.

2024 PGA Championship Thursday pairings

No. 1

• 1:07 p.m. — Talor Gooch, Cameron Davis, Harris English

• 1:18 p.m. — Jason Day, Shane Lowry, Nicolai Hojgaard

• 1:29 p.m. — Min Woo Lee, Chris Kirk, Billy Horschel

• 1:40 p.m. — Gary Woodland, Tom Kim, Joaquin Niemann

• 1:51 p.m. — Collin Morikawa, Phil Mickelson, Matthew Fitzpatrick

• 2:02 p.m. — Rickie Fowler, Jon Rahm, Cameron Young

• 2:13 p.m. — Wyndham Clark, Brian Harman, Scottie Scheffler

• 2:24 p.m. — Patrick Cantlay, Camilo Villegas, Will Zalatoris

• 2:35 p.m. — Patrick Reed, Sam Burns, Padraig Harrington

• 2:46 p.m. — Brad Marek, Mark Hubbard, Maverick McNealy

• 2:57 p.m. — Braden Shattuck, S.H. Kim, C.T. Pan

No. 10

• 7:53 a.m. — Ludvig Åberg, Xander Schauffele, Justin Thomas

• 8:04 a.m. — Tiger Woods, Adam Scott, Keegan Bradley

• 8:15 a.m. — Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Justin Rose

• 8:26 a.m. — Cameron Smith, Hideki Matsuyama, Viktor Hovland

• 8:37 a.m. — Brooks Koepka, Max Homa, Jordan Spieth

• 8:48 a.m. — Tony Finau, Tyrrell Hatton, Sahith Theegala

• 8:59 a.m. — Akshay Bhatia, Tommy Fleetwood, Bryson DeChambeau

• 9:10 a.m. — Sepp Straka, Takumi Kanaya, Nick Taylor

📺️Here’s how to watch over the next few days.

• Thurs, May 16

  ESPN+ 7AM- Noon
  ESPN Noon - 8 PM

• Fri, May 17

  ESPN+ 7AM- Noon
  ESPN Noon - 8 PM

• Sat, May 18

  ESPN+ 8 AM-10 AM
  ESPN 10 AM-1 PM
  CBS 1 PM-7 PM

• Sun, May 19

  ESPN+ 8 AM-10 AM
  ESPN 10 AM-1 PM
  CBS 1 PM-7 PM

p.s. The PGA Championship is expected to bring in over 200k spectators to Louisville over the next few days. Someone bring me back a nice bottle of bourbon!

p.p.s Do you guys know how hard this course is today? The total length of this course is 7,609 yards. That’s 151 yards longer than the 2014 yardage when it was played at Valhalla. AND it’s a par 71! THEY EVEN HAVE A 260 PAR 3 TODAY!

Wait… there are still playoffs tonight, right?

Hell yeah, dawgs, here’s what we got.

NBA

🏀 Nuggets @ Timberwolves, 8:30 pm ET on ESPN

Nuggets lead series 3-2

NHL

🏒 Rangers @ Hurricanes, 7 pm ET on TNT

Rangers lead series 3-2

🏒 Oilers @ Canucks, 10 pm ET on TNT

Series tied 2-2

Alright, dudes and dudettes, that’s a wrap for today. We’ll catch up with you tomorrow.

-The DB