The Greatest Two Minutes In Sports

Happy Friday! We’re not even worried about getting paid on a Friday because some of these games are so good that it feels like we’re getting an end-of-year bonus in May! I’ll tell you who is happy to be getting paid… Kirby Smart!

We’ve got to cover scores in the NBA and NHL and then we’ve got a few other things to chat about, including tomorrow’s Kentucky Derby!

Let’s get this Friday started and you already know we’re giving you permission to leave the office early.

p.s. please click on the advertisement in today’s email. We’re lucky enough to get some sponsors sometimes and that helps pay for the referrals and keep the newsletter running. Muchas Gracias!

NBA First-Round Closeouts

The Knicks Own The Sixers!

What a series and what a game 6. This was wild. The Knicks had a 22-point lead in the game, and the Sixers flipped it on New York and even had their own 10-point lead. Whatever lead either team had didn’t matter, this game came down to the final seconds.

The Knicks showed us they were able to close a game out, especially on the road. Jalen Brunson had big back-to-back threes down the stretch, OG Anunoby threw down a massive dunk, and Josh Hart hit a huge, huge, huge triple with 25 seconds to go to give the Knicks a little extra breathing room.

Joel Embiid scored 39 last night, and while it was still a great night for him, you could tell he’s just not moving the same right now. Tyrese Maxey was not himself as he was 6 for 18 from the field and only hit on one of his six three-point attempts. He finished with 17. The surprise for Philly was Budy Hield who came off the bench and hit six 3’s and finished with 20 points. It should be noted that Kyle Lowry scored 0 points in back-to-back games.

Brunson scored 41 points for the Knicks, Donte DiVincenzo had 23, and Josh Hart scored 16. The Villanova crew scored 80 points. OG Anunoby also added 19.

Michael Rubin can buy all the tickets he wants for the city of Philadelphia, the Knicks still own you!

The Pacers Say Bye Bye To The Bucks

There are 5 guys on the basketball court at once, but the games a lot easier when more than 5 contribute. That’s exactly what the the Pacers had going last night as they knocked off the Bucks in game 6.

The Pacers had double-digit points from six guys, and their high scorers came off the bench, with Obi Toppin scoring 21 and T.J. McConnell scoring 20.

The Bucks were without Giannis again, but Damian Lillard jumped back in the lineup, and maybe not for the better. Dame finished with 28 points, but he was less than 50% shooting and only 25% from three. Without him in game 5, The Bucks dominated, and Dame’s shots got distributed to the rest of the guys. Bobby Portis finished with 20 last night and even with Brook Lopez scoring 20, the Bucks couldn’t push this to game 7. The Final score was 120-98.

Doc Rivers is the Bucks' third head coach in less than a year, and after the Bucks have been bounced in the first round in back-to-back years, you have to start to wonder: Is it the coaching? OR COULD IT BE THE FACT THAT ONE OF THE BEST PLAYERS IN THE LEAGUE HAS BEEN INJURED FOR BOTH OF THOSE SERIES?

p.s. The Pacers and the Knicks will play each other in the 2nd round.

The Maples Leafs Force Game 7

🏒 The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Boston Bruins 2-1 in game 6 of their first-round series last night. The Maples Leafs had to play another game without the NHL’s leading goal scorer, Auston Matthews. I’m not sure if anyone told Willy Nylander that he needed to pick up the slack, but he sure got the message. Nylander netted both of Toronto’s goals and Boston’s lone goal came literally in the last second of regulation.

Boston had a 3-1 lead in the series and Toronto has won 2 straight elimination games.

Kentucky Derby

We’ve got “The Greatest Two Minutes In Sports” tomorrow at Churchill Down in Kentucky. It’s the 150th running of the race and the winning horse will win $3.1 million.

The race will start around 6:45 p.m. ET, and there are 20 horses running. One horse is the clear favorite, Fierceness, who has 5-2 odds. Three-time winner John Velazquez will be riding the favorite, but it could be any of the other 19 horses that win.

The other top favorites are Sierra Leone (3-1) and Catching Freedom (8-1). Sierra Leone hasn’t finished worse than second in any of his four races. Catching Freedom is trained by Chad Brown, who had a winning horse in 2012. Flavien Prat is jockeying, and he won the Derby in 2019.

📺️ Check out all the action on NBC, and be sure to place your bets before you have too many mint juleps.

Did you see this?

🏈 Kirby Smart has become the highest-paid coach in college football after signing a new 10-year deal that is worth $130 million. It’s the first time a coach will earn $13 million in a year. Here’s something that doesn’t seem right, but I guess it is true. Kirby has been at Georgia for 9 seasons already? That can’t be true. But I guess it is. TIME FLIES.

🏈We talked about the NFL’s new kickoff rules a few weeks ago. The Pittsburgh Steelers now have an idea of how to take advantage of Justin Fields’ athleticism. The Steelers special team coordinator wants to have Fields return kickoffs. Remember, he ran a 4.45 40-yard dash, and he’s not a fragile individual. It’s probably not going to happen, though, because, you know, he is the backup quarterback, and it would be pretty dumb to get hurt taking kickoffs.

👀 We wanted to keep this separate from the basketball portion. Did you guys see Pat Bev throw a ball at a fan during the Bucks’ loss last night?

⛳️ We’re about five weeks away from the U.S. Open teeing off at Pinehurst in North Carolina, but we’ve got good news. Tiger Woods will be playing in his second major this year. Tiger has won the U.S. Open three times in his career. The last two times Woods competed in a U.S. Open that was at Pinehurst; he finished tied for third (1999) and came in second (2005).

💰️Some college athletes might finally be getting their back after the NCAA has reached an antitrust settlement worth $2.7 billion. The NCAA will have to pay back money to former athletes who were prevented from making money by selling their name, image, and likeness. The settlement also comes with a clause that the NCAA and conferences need to develop a way to pay future athletes a portion of the revenue that they generate. HUGE WIN FOR COLLEGE ATHLETES. They dedicate so much time and effort to the games, and while doing it for the love of the game is awesome, why should only coaches, ADs, and conference commissioners benefit monetarily?

We’ve got a busy weekend, let’s take a look at the schedule

NBA

Friday

🏀 Cleveland @ Orlando, 7 pm on ESPN

Cleveland leads series 3-2

🏀 LA Clippers @ Dallas Mavericks, 9:30 pm on ESPN

Dallas leads series 3-2

Saturday

🏀 Minnesota @ Denver, 7 pm on TNT

Game 1, 2 Round

Sunday (If games are necessary)

🏀 Orlando @ Cleveland, 1 pm on ABC

🏀 Dallas Mavericks @ LA Clippers, 8 pm on TNT

NHL

Friday

🏒 Vancouver @ Nashville, 7 pm on TNT

Vancouver leads series 3-2

🏒 Dallas @ Vegas, 10 pm on TNT

Dallas leads series 3-2

Saturday

🏒 Toronto @ Boston, 8 pm on ABC

Series tied 3-3

Sunday

🏒Nashville @ Vancouver, TBD if necessary

🏒 Vegas @ Dallas, TBD if necessary

🏒 Carolina @ NY Rangers, Game 1 of 2nd round, gametime is TBD

It’s another full weekend of sports. Enjoy it, because once the playoffs are over, you won’t know what to do with yourselves.

Now

Leave the office

Go to happy hour and let us buy you a drink! Share this with your friends and colleagues and we’ll send you some $$.

Cheers!

-The DB