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Good morning! Bzz.
Survival: Tyrese Maxey, you are a superstar
Sometimes we over-value the staying power of a first-round playoff performance. Someone goes off, and we love to say, “wow, a legacy performance,” and then everyone forgets about it in the next round.
Well, last night, we might’ve seen a first-round performance we’ll remember for a long time. We have to talk about Tyrese Maxey:
- With 25 seconds left, his Sixers were down six points to the Knicks — who were up 3-1 in the series — in Madison Square Garden. The crowd was frothy. A series win was right there. And then Maxey happened.
- The 23-year-old sprinted upcourt, drew a foul and hit a near-impossible 3-pointer. Bang. He made the free throw too, narrowing the lead to 96-94. Josh Hart made a free throw on the next possession to make it 97-94. Then Maxey did this:
TYRESE MAXEY FROM THE LOGO KEEPS THE 76ERS' SEASON ALIVE 🔥
Sixers/Knicks is heading to OT!
🎥 @sixers pic.twitter.com/L0kf35qWjx
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) May 1, 2024
- That’s a game-tying 3-pointer, from the logo, on the road in an elimination game. In Madison Square Garden! The only thing missing was a Reggie Miller choke motion in Spike Lee’s direction. Philly ended up winning by six, 112-106, in overtime. Just like that, the Sixers have life. Jon Stewart was flabbergasted.
An advantage the Sixers had: Nobody was out with injury. Maxey went for 46 points while the still-recovering Joel Embiid posted his first playoff triple-double with 19 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists.
Two other playoff teams — the Toronto Maple Leafs and Milwaukee Bucks — did not have such injury luck and still avoided elimination anyway:
- We should be in awe of Toronto, a cursed playoff team, for pulling off a 2-1 overtime win against the Boston Bruins without the ailing Auston Matthews, who may be the best player in hockey. All hail Matthew Knies and Joseph Woll.
- And against Indiana, the Bucks somehow looked like a title-winning team without Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard. A 115-92 Milwaukee win extends the Bucks’ season until Thursday at least, when both Lillard and Antetokounmpo could return to the lineup.
There was plenty more good playoff action last night, too:
- The Carolina Hurricanes and Colorado Avalanche are moving on, while the Predators pulled off their own feat of survival on the road in Vancouver to push their series to Game 6.
- The Cleveland Cavaliers took a 3-2 lead in a sneaky-good series against the Orlando Magic thanks to Evan Mobley’s huge block late in the game. See that and more in our full NBA recap of last night’s games.
News to Know
Bayern, Real play to thrilling draw
The first Champions League semifinal of the week delivered a match worthy of its stature, as a late surge from Real Madrid — as it’s wont to do — transformed a match that looked sure to go to Bayern Munich into a 2-2 draw. I did find it very funny that Jude Bellingham tried to spook England teammate and Bayern striker Harry Kane just before Kane buried a penalty kick. These two will finish their semifinal matchup next Wednesday.
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Trout to undergo surgery
Angels star Mike Trout will have surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee, the team announced yesterday, adding that Trout is expected back at some point this season. Trout has been riddled with injuries since winning his last MVP award in 2019. As Sam Blum writes, injuries have just become part of Trout’s legacy at this point, through no fault of his own.
More news
- PWHL New York won the No. 1 overall pick in the upcoming league draft. They’ll get the opportunity to draft Sarah Fillier, the top prospect in our PWHL rankings.
- Kristaps Porziņģis will miss Game 5 of Boston’s series with Miami — and possibly up to two weeks — after suffering a calf strain Monday night. Uh oh.
- We had a base-brawl last night between the Rays and Brewers after José Siri and Abner Uribe exchanged words on a routine ground ball. Both were ejected.
Photo of the Day: Thank you, Bee Guy
Christian Petersen / Getty Images
The start of last night’s Diamondbacks-Dodgers game was delayed due to … a bee colony forming atop the netting at Chase Field. We have confirmed Joba Chamberlain was not involved.
The man pictured above is Matt Hilton, whose confident smirk comes after removing the bees from the field and fittingly throwing out the first pitch afterward. The DBacks even thanked “Bee Guy” on the jumbotron.
Good job, Bee Guy.
Watch This Game
Soccer: Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund
3 p.m. ET on Paramount+
Another Champions League semifinal first leg, which I hope is as good as yesterday’s match.
NHL: Golden Knights at Stars
7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN
The best series of the first round meets a climactic game. Dallas has won two straight here. I’m rooting for seven games.
NBA: Mavericks at Clippers
10 p.m. ET on TNT
Ditto as above. This may be our best first-round matchup of the NBA playoffs (apologies to Sixers-Knicks), and I have no idea what to expect. Tim Cato and Law Murray tried to help me out though.
Get tickets to games like these here.
Pulse Picks
Hey, you have a new favorite baseball player. You don’t get to choose. That’s how awesome Rintaro Sasaki sounds in a piece from Andrew Baggarly today. The 19-year-old is already a legend back home in Japan. He hits the ball like Barry Bonds, and he’s following a path to the majors no one else has. Read this today.
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Melissa Lockard has a great list of 20 unheralded MLB prospects shining early this season. I’m all in on rooting for a guy nicknamed “Tugboat.”
I enjoyed this exclusive interview with Declan Rice. I’ll never tire of the athletes-reviewing-their-old-highlights story.
What happened to Colorado’s castoffs? Max Olson went deeper on the Until Saturday podcast this week, which is worth a listen. This will be a talker for months.
Kalyn Kahler revealed the identity of Prospect X this morning: Vikings seventh-round defensive tackle Levi Drake Rodriguez, who held a massive draft slumber party last weekend. I like this guy.
And finally, some post-draft NFL Power Rankings are freshly posted. The Texans get a top-five slot 👀.
Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: Unsurprisingly, the huge report on the Lakers’ murky future this offseason. Catch up if you haven’t already.
Most-read on the website yesterday: John Hollinger’s column on how we have no Steph Curry, LeBron James or Kevin Durant left in these playoffs. There’s a new generation here.
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