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🚨 HEADLINES
🏀 Magic stun Pistons: The Magic came into Detroit on Sunday and stunned the top-seeded Pistons, 112-101, for a wire-to-wire Game 1 victory. The defeat extended Detroit’s home playoff losing streak to 11 straight games, the longest in league history. NBA scoreboard.
🏒 The drought is over: Speaking of stunners, the Sabres scored four goals in the third period on Sunday to come back and beat the Bruins, 4-3, in their first playoff game since 2011. NHL scoreboard.
🏁 Reddick wins again: Tyler Reddick took advantage of a late caution on Sunday at Kansas Speedway for yet another victory, becoming the first driver since Dale Earnhardt in 1987 to win five of the first nine races in a season. “This kid is on fire,” said team owner Michael Jordan.
⛳️ Fitz holds off Scottie: Matt Fitzpatrick blew a three-shot lead over Scottie Scheffler on Sunday at the RBC Heritage, but held on to win in a playoff for this second victory of the season, and his second RBC Heritage title (2023).
🏈 Pre-draft trade: The Giants traded Pro Bowl DT Dexter Lawrence to the Bengals in exchange for a package that includes the No. 10 pick in this week’s draft. There are now six teams with multiple first-round picks, with the Giants joining the Jets, Browns, Chiefs, Dolphins and Cowboys.
⚾️ Mets skid continues: The Mets fell to the Cubs in the 10th inning on Sunday, extending their losing streak to 11 straight games, the franchise’s longest since 2004. At 7-15, they’re tied with the Royals for the worst record in baseball.
See what else is trending on Yahoo Sports.
🏆 EVERY NCAA WINTER CHAMPION
The NCAA crowned its final winter champions over the weekend, with Oklahoma (women) and Stanford (men) extending their gymnastics dynasties.*
Division I:
- Basketball: Michigan (men); UCLA (women)
- Men’s Ice Hockey: Denver
- Swimming & Diving: Texas (men); Virginia** (women)
- Indoor Track & Field: Arkansas (men); Georgia (women)
- Men’s Wrestling: Penn State
Division II:
- Basketball: Gannon (men); Grand Valley State (women)
- Swimming & Diving: Tampa (men); Nova Southeastern (women)
- Indoor Track & Field: Pittsburg State (men and women)
- Men’s Wrestling: Nebraska-Kearney
Division III:
- Basketball: Mary Washington (men); Denison*** (women)
- Men’s Ice Hockey: Hamilton
- Swimming & Diving: Denison (men); NYU (women)
- Indoor Track & Field: Rowan (men); Wash U (women)
- Men’s Wrestling: Wartburg
National Collegiate (NC): Seven winter sports are designated NC, with championships open to multiple divisions.
- Women’s Ice Hockey: Wisconsin
- Gymnastics: Stanford (men); Oklahoma (women)
- Fencing: Notre Dame (men and women)
- Women’s Wrestling: McKendree
- Skiing: Utah (co-ed)
- Rifle: West Virginia (co-ed)
- Women’s Bowling: Jacksonville State
*Gymnastics dominance: Stanford has won six of the last seven men’s gymnastics titles, while Oklahoma has won four of the last five (and eight of the last 12) women’s titles.
**Six in a row: Virginia had never won a women’s swimming and diving title until 2021. Now, the Cavaliers have won six in a row behind Olympic medalists such as Gretchen and Alex Walsh, Kate Douglass and Torri Huske.
***Unranked to champs: Denison’s women’s basketball championship was the first in D-III history by a team that started the season unranked. To make it even sweeter, the school also won the men’s swimming and diving title just four hours later.
🏀 NBA AWARDS FINALISTS
The NBA revealed the three finalists for each of its seven end-of-season awards on Sunday night.
- MVP: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Thunder), Nikola Jokić (Nuggets), Victor Wembanyama (Spurs)
- DPOY: Wembanyama, Chet Holmgren (Thunder), Ausar Thompson (Pistons)
- COY: Joe Mazzulla (Celtics), J.B. Bickerstaff (Pistons), Mitch Johnson (Spurs)
- ROY: Cooper Flagg (Mavericks), Kon Knueppel (Hornets), V.J. Edgecombe (76ers)
- MIP: Deni Avdija (Trail Blazers), Jalen Duren (Pistons), Nickeil Alexander-Walker (Hawks)
- Sixth Man: Keldon Johnson (Spurs), Jaime Jaquez Jr. (Heat), Tim Hardaway Jr. (Nuggets)
- Clutch Player: Gilgeous-Alexander, Jamal Murray (Nuggets), Anthony Edwards (Timberwolves)
Who ya got? There are some incredibly tight races this season, especially for MVP and Rookie of the Year.
Official ballots: Here’s how Yahoo Sports’ Dan Devine and Kevin O’Connor voted
🌎 THROUGH THE LENS
🇺🇸 Phoenix, Arizona — Is it finally time for a new era in Golden State? The Warriors were eliminated from the postseason on Friday by the Suns, starting the clock on a potentially eventful offseason.
Uncertain future: Draymond Green, who exited the game via double ejection (naturally), only has a player option remaining, while head coach Steve Kerr’s contract is expiring. After the game, both men acknowledged that an exit from the franchise is possible after a decade of working together alongside Steph Curry.
🏴 Manchester, England — Manchester City beat Arsenal, 2-1, on Sunday to move within three points of the first-place Gunners in the Premier League title race.
Where it stands: If City beat Burnley on Wednesday, they’ll be tied on points with five games left.
🇨🇳 Beijing, China — A humanoid robot named “Lightning” won a half-marathon for robots on Sunday with a significantly faster time (50 minutes, 26 seconds) than the human world record set last month (57 minutes, 20 seconds).
Technological leap: The performance by the remote-controlled robot marked a huge step forward from last year’s inaugural race, when the winning robot finished in 2 hours, 40 minutes and 42 seconds.
🇪🇸 Seville, Spain — New Jersey native Pellegrino Matarazzo became the first U.S.-born coach to win a major European trophy on Sunday when Real Sociedad beat Atlético Madrid on penalties to claim Spain’s Copa del Rey.
The right man for the job: The Columbia University-educated Matarazzo, 48, was hired in December when Sociedad were two points above the relegation zone. He guided the club back to safety in LaLiga (currently seventh) and to its Copa title run in what he called “an unbelievable journey.”
💯 BIG NUMBERS
🏒 19 years old
Flyers rookie Porter Martone found the back of the net late in Philly’s Game 1 win over the Penguins, becoming the youngest player in franchise history to score in his playoff debut (19 years, 174 days) and the only teenager this century to score a game-winning goal in his playoff debut.
Prep to pros: It’s been a whirlwind three weeks for Martone, who wrapped up his freshman season at Michigan State on March 28, made his NHL debut on March 31 and scored 10 points in the Flyers’ final nine games to help them clinch their first playoff berth since 2020.
⚽️ 75,824 fans
That’s how many were on hand to watch Inter Miami’s 3-2 victory over Colorado on Saturday in Denver, making it the second-largest crowd in MLS history. Only 2023’s El Tráfico (LA Galaxy vs. LAFC) at the Rose Bowl drew more fans (82,110).
The Messi effect: Three of the five biggest crowds in MLS history, and four of the top 10, have been for games featuring Lionel Messi. As is usually the case, Saturday’s fans got what they paid for as Messi scored twice, including the game-winning strike in the 79th minute.
⚾️ 51 games
Shohei Ohtani extended his on-base streak to 51 straight games on Sunday, breaking a tie with “Wee” Willie Keeler (1900-01) for the third-longest in Dodgers history. He now trails only Duke Snider (58 straight in 1954) and Shawn Green (53 straight in 2000).
Rare feat: Ohtani’s 51-game streak is the fourth-longest in MLB over the past 20 years, trailing only Kevin Millar (52 in 2007), Shin-Soo Choo (52 in 2018) and Orlando Cabrera (63 in 2006). He’s still got a ways to go before catching Ted Williams’ all-time record of 84 straight, set in 1949.
🥎 100 RBIs
UCLA infielder Jordan Woolery went 6-for-6 with four home runs (!!) and 10 RBIs on Saturday, making her just the fifth player in NCAA softball history to reach 100 RBIs in a season. Those four long balls also brought her total to 30 on the year for an extra bit of history…
30-HR club: Woolery and fellow Bruin Megan Grant (31 HR) are the only teammates in D-I history to both hit 30 homers in the same season. They’re also joined by Oklahoma’s Kendall Wells (34 HR), making this the first season ever to have a trio of hitters reach 30 home runs. They’re all chasing Laura Espinoza’s single-season record of 37, set with Arizona in 1995.
📺 WATCHLIST: MONDAY, APRIL 20
🇺🇸 Marathon Monday
The 130th Boston Marathon(9am ET, ESPN2) coincides with a late-morning Red Sox game — today’s is against the Tigers (11:10am, MLB) — just as it has every year since 1968.
The place to be: Roughly half-a-million spectators are expected to line the 26.2-mile course, with the highest concentration coming in the one-mile stretch between Fenway Park and the finish line on Boylston Street. The Sox game should end around 1:45pm, by which time the 30,000 non-elite men and women running the marathon will begin crossing the finish line.
🏀 NBA Playoffs
The first round continues tonight as the Cavaliers (up 1-0) host the Raptors (7pm, Peacock), the Knicks (up 1-0) host the Hawks (8pm, NBC) and the Nuggets (up 1-0) host the Timberwolves (10:30pm, NBC).
Denver’s dynamic duo: Saturday’s Game 1 victory marked the eighth playoff game in which both Nikola Jokić and Jamal Murray recorded at least 25 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists. That ties Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen for the most such instances by a duo in NBA history.
🏒 NHL Playoffs
We’ve got Flyers (up 1-0) at Penguins (7pm, ESPN), Senators (down 1-0) at Hurricanes (7:30pm, ESPN2) and Wild (up 1-0) at Stars (9:30pm, ESPN). Plus the series opener in Edmonton, where the Oilers host the Ducks (10pm, ESPN2).
Here we go again: The Oilers — who have lost back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals — again look like Canada’s best shot at snapping the country’s 33-year title drought. They have the fifth-best odds to hoist the Cup (+1100 at BetMGM), ahead of Canada’s other contenders in Montreal (+1400) and Ottawa (+2800).
Got plans tonight? Gametime is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events in your city. Get tickets now!
🏀 NBA TRIVIA
Jaylen Brown (26 points) and Jayson Tatum (25) led Boston’s rout of the 76ers on Sunday as both scored 20+ points in the same playoff game for the 50th time, the second most by a duo in Celtics history.
Question: Which Celtics duo is ahead of them, with 58 such games?
Hint: 1980s.
Answer at the bottom.
🍿 TOP PLAYS OF THE WEEKEND
Trivia answer: Larry Bird and Kevin McHale
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