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Good morning! Make a weird serve today. Coming up:
- 👀 The Knicks’ comeback
- 👑 Arsenal’s crowning
- 😳 A little-league grand slam
Another One: Sure, more OT
There was no way last night could top Monday’s playoff slate across three sports leagues. But the NBA did its best to keep up at Madison Square Garden. Quickly:
- With 7:40 left in the fourth quarter, the visiting Cavaliers led the Knicks 93-71. Vibes were bad. A big Game 1 atmosphere went poof.
- Jalen Brunson got to work. He scored 15 in the fourth quarter, and New York went on an 18-1 run. Regulation ended in a 101-101 tie, and the Knicks reeled off a 14-3 overtime advantage. Just like that: New York is three wins away from the finals.
Read more from the scene here. Onward:
Bookends: The joy of a trophy, the pain of banishment
It was a remarkable day of English soccer at both ends of the fortune spectrum. Consider:
Good 🏆: Arsenal
As we prefaced last week, Arsenal has officially won the 2026 Premier League title after Manchester City drew against AFC Bournemouth yesterday. It is a title 22 years in the making, and it crystallizes how good the club has been all season.
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It was an emotional day for everyone involved. Of course, we have the inside story on how this champion was built. It’s worth your time.
Bad ❌: Southampton
The English Football League officially banished Southampton from the Championship play-off final — which will determine a Premier League spot next year — after the club admitted to spying on rival teams. Don’t forget the funny picture.
The fallout isn’t quite funny, though, as missing out on an EPL slot means no shot at an extra £200 million (about $270M) in broadcast revenue that Premier League teams earn. It’s so bad that Southampton players are considering legal action against the club.
Let’s keep moving:
News to Know
Rice gets jail time
Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice is spending 30 days in jail for violating his probation, according to Dallas court logs, and will likely miss OTAs. The probation stems from his involvement in a high-profile car crash in Dallas two years ago. Rice, 26, is set for release on June 16, five days after OTAs end. Read our full story.
Kidd, Mavs part ways
Jason Kidd is out as coach of the Mavericks, ending a fascinating five-year tenure as lead man of a franchise he played for. Kidd, along with star Luka Dončić, led Dallas to the finals in 2023-24. In the years following, the franchise sold to new owners, traded Dončić, drafted Cooper Flagg and hired Masai Ujiri as president of basketball operations. I guess it was time for a fresh start.
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Alcaraz to miss Wimbledon
Tennis superstar Carlos Alcaraz will miss a second straight major this season at Wimbledon, where he’s won twice, because of a wrist injury. He lost the championship match last year to Jannik Sinner, of course, who figures to be the overwhelming favorite next month. The last time a man not named Sinner or Alcaraz won a Grand Slam: Novak Djokovic in 2023. More on Alcaraz’s troubling absence here.
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More news:
- The Vancouver Canucks fired coach Adam Foote after one whole year in charge. It was a pretty bad season.
- Garrick Higgo parted ways with his caddie after the Tee Time Tragedy of 2026. Tracks.
- The NAACP called on fans and athletes to boycott schools in eight Southern states the organization says are moving to limit Black voting rights. See more.
- Clemson defensive tackle Hevin Brown-Shuler will likely miss the entire 2026 season to undergo treatment for Hodgkin lymphoma, the school announced yesterday.
- The NHL upheld its sanction on the Golden Knights for violating the league’s media policy. What a weird story.
Odds, Ends: Quite a strange day
Sometimes the sports world produces a moving, overarching story that compels hours of discussion. Some days produce multiple moments that are so delightfully odd that you have to write a whole section about them.
Today is the latter, with three odds and an end:
Oddity No. 1: A little-league grand slam
What a delightful concept that theoretically should never happen on an MLB field. And yet there was Nationals right fielder James Wood pulling it off in Washington’s 9-6 win over the Mets yesterday. I doubled the speed on this GIF to emphasize the hilarity:
JAMES WOOD. LITTLE LEAGUE. GRAND SLAM. 🤯😭 pic.twitter.com/UDooLAdTfy
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) May 20, 2026
It’s just the eighth such homer in modern MLB history. Read more fun tidbits here.
Oddity No. 2: The quick serve
Hungarian tennis player Zsombor Piros pulled out a serve that can be called wily at best and cheap at worst in French Open qualifying yesterday:
It’s plenty legal and caught opponent Henrique Rocha off guard, as the ball bounced twice harmlessly for the funniest ace you’ll see. It still feels like when a boxer doesn’t dap up his opponent at the start of the fight and instead opts for a sucker punch.
Charlie Eccleshare has more on the epidemic of off-kilter serves in tennis.
Oddity No. 3: A tough typo
Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba was the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year last season, which was well warranted. Except the trophy he received didn’t say so:
To be clear, that does not say “Defensive.” It reads “Oefensive,” according to the league, which is worse in my mind. Smith-Njigba seemed pretty peeved with the whole affair.
End: The teenage ump
Jameson Morris is a senior at Potlatch High School in Idaho who picks up extra work as a youth baseball umpire. Pretty normal stuff, except for when a coach goes ballistic over a … song selection.
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It was the basis of a video that went viral last week, in which Morris impressively kept his cool while a coach got very upset about Rob Zombie’s “Never Gonna Stop.” The coach and his entire team ended up forfeiting the game over the dustup.
Keith Law scored an interview with Morris, which was really great. Cool kid.
Watch Guide
📺 NBA: Spurs at Thunder
8:30 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock
This can’t be better than Game 1, can it? … Can it? Please? If you need to soak in the Wemby sunshine a bit more, read Marcus Thompson II’s incredible piece from yesterday.
📺 NHL: Golden Knights at Avalanche
8 p.m. ET on ESPN
And here’s the first game of the Western Conference final, in which Colorado is a solid favorite. It just seems like every team without a coach is just waiting for the Golden Knights to lose so they can interview Bruce Cassidy. Hm.
📺 WNBA: Wings at Sky
8 p.m. ET on USA
This is still a great game — particularly with Dallas stars Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd — but the loss of Chicago guard Rickea Jackson for the season stings.
Pulse Picks
A former NFL player bombed at an open mic event, which sounds like my nightmare. He thinks everyone should try it.
Have hot takes on the College Football Playoff debate? Sound off here.
We have a full Women’s College World Series preview coming this week, but Molly Keshin’s recap of a wild regional slate is well worth a look.
The poor, poor Sabres. Matthew Fairburn and Pierre LeBrun wrote the inside story of the heartbreaking end to Buffalo’s storybook season.
The NWSL has entered a new era: red cards and hair-pulling.
Bill Self almost walked away from Kansas this offseason after 24 years in charge. CJ Moore has a beautiful story on what brought Self back.
Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: Dan Pompei’s story on NFL superagent Tom Condon and his latest fight.
Most-read on the website yesterday: The Arsenal Premier League title live blog.
📫 That’s all for now! Say hello at thepulse@theathletic.com, check out our other newsletters and connect with me on Instagram for more.