Itching for the Finals

Howdy!

It’s Wednesday and we’re itching for some games. Basketball or hockey, just give us something to watch at night!

We’re one day away from the NBA Finals and just a few days away from the Stanley Cup puck drop. We get a little treat before the Stanley Cup, too, with the Belmont Stakes racing in Saratoga this year! We’ll talk more about the Cup and the Race on Friday.

For now, let’s take a closer look at some other news, preview the NBA Finals, and talk a little golf.

Vamos!

Headlines

🏈 + 💰️ Runningbacks are about to be mad! Christian McCaffrey just signed a two-year contract extension averaging about $19 million per year. He just reset the bar for RB contracts, but the only problem for the other RBs is they aren’t as good as CMC, aka the reigning offensive player of the year.

🎾 World tennis #1, Novak Djokovic is dropping out of the French Open after tearing his meniscus and still winning his 4th round match. Djokovic will need surgery and will be out for Wimbledon as well. There is a possibility he may be available for the Olympics.

🏀The WNBA is trying to get noticed this year by stirring up the controversy. Angel Reese was fined $1,000 the other night for not appearing for media, and then she was thrown out of her game last night after being T’d up twice. Not to worry about a large chunk of her salary going to the fine as fellow Chicago athlete/guard for the Bulls, Lonzo Ball is going to pay her fine.

NBA Finals

The NBA Finals tip-off game 1 between the Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks is tomorrow night at 8:30 pm ET on ABC.

We’ve got all the story lines here as a championship would be huge for the best player of both teams. Luka Doncic could seal his greatness with a ring and the same goes for Jayson Tatum. It’s going to come down to how the Celtics can stop Doncic and Kyrie Irving and if the Mavericks can stop the firepower of the Celtics starting five.

No one has been able to slow Doncic down in the playoffs, but the Celtics have one interesting factor. Kristaps Porizingis is ready to return for game 1.

The Mavericks were able to take down the best defense in the league in the Western Finals, and they might be able to do the same against the third-best defense in the league. Dallas has also stepped up its defense, but it hasn’t faced the threat of a team with bigs who can play like Boston’s bigs.

The Celtics are -225 to win the entire thing, and the Mavs are +180. Whatever you think might happen, a safe bet could be this going to game 7 at +220. It’s your money, though. Don’t gamble it all in one shot, and make sure you save some for Belmont!

The Memorial Tournament

We’ve got a great week of golf this week at Jack's Place, the Nicklaus-designed masterpiece at Muirfield Village, which has been a regular stop on Tour since 1976. This is the 49th edition and fourth since the second-course renovation in 2020, which included the rebuilding all 18 greens, relocation of several greens, contour changes on bentgrass greens, rebuilding bunkers, relocating, leveling, and seeding tees, and renovating and seeding bentgrass fairways.

We’ve got a beautiful track and we’ve got some of the best players in the world getting their game dialed in before the 2024 US Open takes place next week. It helps to have a $20 million purse where the winner will take home close to $4 million.

You can see Scottie, Rory, Xander, Collin Morikawa, Viktor Hovland and many more guys tee it up this week. Here’s the TV schedule.

Thursday, June 6: 2-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel)

Friday, June 7: 2-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel)

Saturday, June 8: 12:30-2:30 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); 2:30-6 p.m. ET (CBS)

Sunday, June 9: 12:30-2:30 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); 2:30-6 p.m. ET (CBS)

That’s pretty much all you need to know for the next few days. We’ll be back on Friday to take more Finals and look closer at the Belmont Stakes!

See ya!

-The DB