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Good morning! Wear something bold today. Inside:
- 😤 Minnesota’s grit
- 📻 RIP, John Sterling
- 🏈 Dion Jordan’s incredible path
While You Were Sleeping: The playoffs are getting better
Each year, the first round of the joint NBA/NHL playoff calendar takes a toll on me. Some nights can include eight postseason games, all shouting for their own attention. It becomes overwhelming in the nicest sense of the word.
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Then the second round begins. Things quiet a bit, and the matchups get even better. They bring me back in, which happened like clockwork last night.
Quickly:
In the NBA: There is no grittier team in these playoffs than the Timberwolves, who edged the juggernaut Spurs 104-102 on the road in Game 1 of their conference semifinal series. Anthony Edwards played on a bum knee. Victor Wembanyama had more blocks than points. Somehow, Minnesota is up 1-0.
- Oppositely, the Knicks obliterated the visiting 76ers in Game 1 of their series, and are the East favorite in my eyes. Since losing to the Hawks in Game 3 of their first-round series, New York is 4-0 with an average margin of victory at 33.75 points per. Yowza.
In the NHL: We had two close games, led by another overtime, of course. Carolina skated past Philadelphia, 3-2, in extra time, stifling what felt like the Flyers’ best chance to get back into this series. The Hurricanes have not lost a game in the playoffs.
- Vegas and Anaheim tried to hit OT, too, but a late icing wave-off pushed the Golden Knights ahead and left the Ducks irate. A late empty-netter from Mitch Marner put the game out of reach for Anaheim. Read more on that here.
More tonight. Let’s keep moving:
News to Know
Sterling dead at 87
John Sterling, owner of one of the most iconic radio careers in baseball history, died yesterday at 87 years old. Sterling spent 36 years as the voice of the Yankees and called 5,060 consecutive regular-season games. Thuhhhh Yankees win! Andrew Marchand wrote a great remembrance worth your time today.
Skubal out indefinitely
Tigers ace Tarik Skubal will undergo surgery to “remove loose bodies” from his elbow, a phrase I always find unsettling for a procedure experts insist is routine. It is definitely a blow for both Skubal, who’s in line for a record payday this offseason, and the Tigers, who have World Series hopes due in large part to the back-to-back Cy Young Award winner. Deep, deep sigh.
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Mavs tap Masai
Masai Ujiri will be the new team president and alternate governor in Dallas, the Mavericks announced yesterday, an intriguing new path for a franchise under intense scrutiny. Ujiri, the architect of Toronto’s 2019 championship team, must officially clean up the residual mess from the Luka Dončić trade and subsequent roster teardown, though Rookie of the Year Cooper Flagg is clearly a big draw. Still, it’s a big task.
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More news:
- “Pablo Torre Finds Out” won a Pulitzer Prize yesterday for its reporting on the Kawhi Leonard/Aspiration scandal. It’s a first for The Athletic.
- Liberty star Sabrina Ionescu will miss two weeks with a foot injury, a source told The Athletic. A bummer with the WNBA season starting Friday.
- Celtics star Jaylen Brown accused 76ers center Joel Embiid of flopping too much. Read his full comments.
- Two sides of a series: The Magic fired coach Jamahl Mosley after the team’s meltdown against the Pistons … who signed coach J.B. Bickerstaff to an extension.
- The SEC will use the ABS challenge system in its upcoming conference baseball tournament. It’s a first for college baseball.
- The PWHL suspended Minnesota Frost forward Britta Curl-Salemme one game for an illegal check to the head in Game 1 of Minnesota’s first-round playoff series. Read more here.
- Juke Harris, the top available men’s college basketball transfer, chose Tennessee over North Carolina and Michigan. He will have a huge impact.
Turnarounds: The unbelievable tale of Dion Jordan
If Dion Jordan had followed a normal path for a first-round NFL Draft pick, he’d probably be resting off his riches somewhere after a lengthy career in the league. None of that is true for him, but that’s not a bad thing, either.
Jordan has done enough living over his 36 years to last a few “normal” lifetimes, as Dan Pompei wrote in a beautiful story today. Two things I want to highlight:
- After the Dolphins picked Jordan, a talented defensive end out of Oregon, at No. 3 in 2013, he lasted just two seasons in Miami and tallied only three sacks in that time period. He lost a year due to multiple violations of the league’s substance abuse policy. He bounced around for four more seasons before bowing out of the NFL entirely.
- The story is not just of a bust, though. Jordan’s traumas have been consistent throughout his life, from birth to college and beyond. He has dealt with depression and addiction, not to mention consistent injury issues that took their own mental toll.
Now? Jordan is the head coach at Eureka College, a DIII school in rural Illinois. He makes $40,000 a year. He is happy.Make time for Dan’s piece today.
Watch Guide
📺 UCL: Atletico Madrid at Arsenal
3 p.m. ET on Paramount+
These two are tied on aggregate heading into this final leg of the Champions League semifinal, which means the match winner advances to the final. The first leg was a brutish 1-1 draw. Let’s hope for more action here.
📺 NBA: Conference semifinals
7 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock
We start this evening with Game 1 of Cavaliers-Pistons, where anything could happen. Both teams have top-line talent and regular-season success. Both looked horrendous at times in the first round. Wild cards everywhere. Lakers-Thunder follows at 8:30 p.m., and I suspect L.A. runs into a wall here.
📺 NHL: Wild at Avalanche
8 p.m. ET on ESPN
Just one hockey game tonight, and let’s hope it’s another doozy. Game 1 of this series ended with 15 combined goals. I don’t know if we’ll get there, but it’s worth a watch nonetheless.
📺 MLB: Dodgers at Astros
8:10 p.m. ET on TBS
Houston isn’t great this year, but Shohei Ohtani is pitching for L.A., and that should be enough to watch for all of us.
Get tickets to games like these here.
Pulse Picks
I don’t know if I could love the conceit of a story more: Every superstar MLB hitter has his kryptonite pitcher, which could be a Cy Young winner or a random journeyman. Read this today.
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Our MLB Power Rankings are always full of great nuggets. This week’s version is out this morning, featuring a new team at No. 1 and a never-before-seen bottom two. See all of it here.
We talked about the Oilers’ situation with star Connor McDavid. Look across Canada to Toronto, too, where the Maple Leafs are now on the clock with Auston Matthews.
Sam Amick has a new NBA mailbag full of news, led by a big one: Tom Thibodeau wants back in.
It’s time for another round of answering your questions in The Pulse. Submit them here and we’ll do our best to answer them, or find someone who can.
Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: The Golden Glizzy.
Most-read on the website yesterday: Jayson Stark’s story on the unhittable Mason Miller, again.
📫 That’s all for now! Say hello at thepulse@theathletic.com, check out our other newsletters and connect with me on Instagram for more.