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🏀 Five things to know Monday
- Karl-Anthony Towns and the Knicks return home tonight for Game 3. Madison Square Garden will be the epicenter of the sports universe Monday night when the Knicks attempt to push the Spurs to the brink of elimination. Their perfect start to the NBA Finals makes them hefty favorites to close the series out before long, and it hardly feels like an overreaction to say Towns is the primary reason why they are near the precipice of a championship. His Finals MVP case gets stronger with each minute he keeps Victor Wembanyama in check, although Jalen Brunson will also have a shot at the award if New York does, in fact, win two more games. Towns' contributions might go even further than helping the Knicks take down the Spurs; there might not be a need to go after Giannis Antetokounmpo this offseason, after all.
- Mitch Marner's historic postseason continues Tuesday in Game 4. Saturday's hat trick (the fastest in Stanley Cup Final history) is a tough act to follow, but amid the most prolific individual postseason run in Golden Knights history, it almost feels as though Marner still has more magic up his sleeve. On the heels of a thrilling double-overtime victory, he and Vegas return to the ice Tuesday night in an attempt to go up 3-1 on Carolina.
- Alexander Zverev and Mirra Andreeva are French Open champions. It's the first career grand slam title for both Zverev and Andreeva, who pocketed more than $3 million apiece with the biggest wins of their lives. Zverev, 29, took the men's title in a five-set win over Flavio Cobolli and thus finally broke through for a major win after coming up short in three previous finals appearances. Andreeva, 19, captured the women's championship in straight sets over Maja Chwalinska to become the 12th female teenage winner at Roland-Garros.
- Golden Tempo pulled off another come-from-behind win in the Belmont Stakes. Just like he did last month in the Kentucky Derby, Golden Tempo rallied from last place to become the first horse across the finish line. Another improbable win fueled speculation that Golden Tempo could have won the Triple Crown had he raced in the Preakness Stakes, but it was a historical performance nonetheless as trainer Cherie DeVaux became the first woman to win two Triple Crown races. She and the rest of the team will split a $1.2 million payout.
- J.T. Poston emerged victorious from a marathon final day at the Memorial Tournament. Sunday was a long one at Muirfield Village. The morning featured the conclusion of Round 3 -- which was cut short the day prior due to weather -- and at the end of the final round, there was a two-man tie atop the leaderboard. Poston and Ryan Gerard thus played two additional holes, wherein the former secured the victory. It was the fourth win of Poston's PGA Tour career and his first in a signature event.
⚽ Do not miss this: What we learned from USA's final World Cup tune-up
The scoreboard showed a 2-1 loss, but the United States Men's National Team put together a promising performance in its final match before the World Cup. The USMNT fell to Germany in its third loss in four outings, and even in defeat, there were enough positives in the attack (including a marvelous Antonee Robinson goal) to suggest the Americans could be in for a strong showing when tournament play opens this week.
Among the biggest takeaways from the match were Mauricio Pochettino's lineup decisions. One major question remains unanswered as Chris Richards missed another game because of injury, but otherwise, we have a pretty good idea as to who will trot out as the starting XI in the June 12 World Cup opener against Paraguay.
Our Chuck Booth explained why the USMNT could be in good shape even if not at full strength.
- Booth: "With Chris Richards still recovering from an ankle injury that has kept him out of action since May 17, even if he's healthy enough to face Paraguay, it would make sense to ease him back into action. Richards is back to doing group work with his teammates, but if Pochettino isn't ready to risk him out of the gate, Mark McKenzie has done more than well enough to inspire confidence starting the opening game."
The friendly also confirmed our suspicions that the matchday atmospheres will be incredible in the coming weeks. While Chicago will not host any World Cup games, the city gave the USMNT quite the send-off to the tournament.
📈📉 Parity abounds in MLB Power Rankings
The regular season is about 40% complete, and nearly every MLB team should feel as if it has a chance to make the playoffs. Even the underperformers are still mathematically alive in the postseason race. Our Matt Snyder pointed to the myriad clubs that turned things on in the second half last year, and he also noted that only the Angels, Giants and Rockies are more than 5.5 games out of the field.
- Snyder: "As far as I'm concerned, that still means we've got 27 teams with a realistic chance of winning the World Series here in 2026. Not too bad for a sport that is supposedly so unfair due to the lack of a salary cap, huh? And, sure, there are plenty of teams technically within shouting distance of the playoffs that I would say have basically no real shot to win it all, but I'm not gonna tell their fans to avoid hope."
What does that mean for this week's power rankings? The moral of the story here is just because your team is on the lower rungs of the ladder, that doesn't mean it's time to call it a lost season quite yet.
There's still hope for these teams and others:
22. Athletics (↓1)
23. Mets (↓1)
24. Tigers (↑5)
🏈 Our favorite NFL offseason trades
Blockbuster trades have been a defining feature of the NFL offseason. There were two of them last Monday alone, and those deals came after a plethora of needle-movers in the spring. Here are just a few of the biggest moves, for reminders' sake:
- The Browns traded Myles Garrett to the Rams.
- The Eagles traded A.J. Brown to the Patriots.
- The Bears traded D.J. Moore to the Bills.
- The Dolphins traded Jaylen Waddle to the Broncos.
To evaluate the best trades of the year, we as an NFL writing staff sat down for a roundtable. The task: Name your favorite trade. More writers picked the Garrett trade than any other. It's hard to blame them. There was some variety in the votes, though.
John Breech and I were in agreement with our pick. Here's my thinking:
- Dexter Lawrence to the Bengals: Was there a more mutually beneficial trade this offseason than the Giants and Bengals swapping Dexter Lawrence and a first-round pick? I think not. This is a move that helps Cincinnati maximize the Joe Burrow-Ja'Marr Chase era and that allows New York to build its young core around Jaxson Dart.
👍👎 The best (and not-so-best) of the rest
- Chris Billam-Smith defeated Ryan Rozicki at Zuffa Boxing 07 in what might be a new contender for Fight of the Year. Also, the Zuffa Boxing 10 card is set and will feature the inaugural middleweight championship.
- The Orioles are finally rounding into form thanks to their much-improved rotation. That's even with their Sunday loss that came as a result of a controversial no-call.
- Broncos linebacker Jonathon Cooper faces domestic violence charges after his arrest Thursday night.
- While MLB and the MLBPA continue collective bargaining talks, President Trump urged them to implement a salary cap.
- The Bears are one major step closer to building a new stadium in Indiana.
- Caitlin Clark's struggles are partially to blame for the Fever's slow start.
- It was smooth sailing for Gabriel Bonfim in his dominant UFC Fight Night win over Belal Muhammad.
- Our college football insiders tapped their sources for post-spring intel on the ACC's top teams and players.
- Kawhi Leonard was interviewed in the NBA investigation into potential salary cap circumvention.
- Denmark and Ukraine abandoned their friendly on Sunday after Christian Eriksen collapsed on the pitch for a second time since 2020. He is "conscious and doing well," the Danish FA said.
- WWE SmackDown featured a couple of King and Queen of the Ring bouts and saw Cody Rhodes and Gunther agree to a rematch.
- These 15 games will define the 2026 college football season.
- Don Mattingly explained why the Phillies will keep Andrew Painter in their rotation despite the rough start to his career.
- There's a battle for the No. 3 pick in our latest NBA mock draft.
- Chelsea Gray passed her coach, Becky Hammon, and became the Aces' all-time leader in assists.
- Our division-by-division NFL win totals picks continue with the NFC West.
- With the 2026 ACC/SEC Challenge set, we ranked all 16 matchups and predicted the winners.
📺 What we're watching Monday
⚾ St. John's vs. No. 7 Alabama, Game 2 (continued), noon on ESPN2
⚾ Oklahoma vs. No. 15 Kansas, Game 2 (continued), 1 p.m. on ESPN2
🤼 WWE Raw, 2 p.m. on Netflix
⚾ Yankees at Guardians, 6:40 p.m. on FS1
🏀 Fever at Mystics, 7 p.m. on NBC Sports Network
🏀 NBA Finals: Spurs at Knicks, Game 3, 8:30 p.m. on ABC
⚾ Astros at Angels or Nationals at Giants, 9:38 p.m. on MLB Network
⚾ Reds at Padres, 9:40 p.m. on ESPN Unlimited
🏀 Storm at Aces, 10 p.m. on USA Network
⚾ Brewers at Athletics, 10:05 p.m. on Peacock
