Front Row Seat: The shot that saved the Knicks
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John Gennaro
John Gennaro
NBA Playoffs
Jalen Brunson and the shot that may have saved the Knicks as we know them - The Athletic
On the surface, what Brunson did Thursday night in Detroit, hitting a game-winning 3 with 4.3 seconds left to help the Knicks win a bloodbath of a six-game series against the feisty Pistons, was needed to advance to the next round. It was a shot that’ll live in New York’s history as one of the greatest in the franchise’s archives. Those two things are clear. That shot will forever be talked about. Yet, it also may have saved jobs. It may have saved these Knicks as we know them. Those things, as it pertains to this series, well, we’ll never get to find out.
The final points of Brunson’s 40-point performance carried the weight of a franchise. For the NBA’s Clutch Player of the Year, though, that’s nothing new.
NBA playoffs: Clippers rally to force Game 7 vs. Nuggets - Yahoo Sports
After a blowout loss in Game 5, the Clippers recovered with a complete effort in a 111-105 win on Thursday at the Intuit Dome to force a winner-take-all game Saturday in Denver. The winner's reward: a date with the No. 1-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder.
Anthony Edwards trolls everyone who picked Lakers to beat Timberwolves in playoffs: 'Lakers in 5' - Yahoo Sports
The "Lakers in five" phrase rose to prominence due to ESPN analyst Shannon Sharpe. While giving analysis, Sharpe would rhyme three phrases and then follow it up by saying, "Lakers in five." It was Sharpe's way of saying the Lakers would win, or that the Lakers winning was inevitable.
As Edwards left the arena, he gave fans his own rendition of Sharpe's phrase.
JJ Redick says Lakers roster must 'get in championship shape' next season after first-round loss to Timberwolves - Yahoo Sports
Redick didn't mention any player in particular when making that comment. But it's difficult to hear that and not think of Lakers guard Luka Dončić, whose conditioning has been questioned in that past. When Dončić was sent to the Lakers as part of a blockbuster deal with the Dallas Mavericks, reports indicated that Dallas' concerns about Dončić not being in shape, along with an upcoming supermax extension this summer, led Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison to make the trade.
But Redick's comments about conditioning are especially strange given his controversial choice in Game 4 to keep all of his starters in for the second half without a substitution. Redick abandoned that strategy in Game 5 — Dončić, LeBron James, Rui Hachimura and Austin Reaves all played around 40 minutes in Wednesday's loss — but not before walking out of a news conference after a reporter questioned the choice.
San Diego Padres
Padres’ Xander Bogaerts working on ‘going back to the old me’ - San Diego Union-Tribune
Truth is, Bogerts seems a bit shook now. Not by any external feedback but by all the work he has done and that he hasn’t been able to find a consistent stroke. People around the organization have spoken about his confidence being diminished, and Bogaerts doesn’t altogether deny it.
MLB Wealth Transfer Drives Fierce NL West Competition - Sportico
Is the baseball world, once centered around the fast-growing payrolls in the AL East, starting to move west? As players like Manny Machado and Willy Adames sign contracts that bring them to the NL West, more people are starting to view it as the most important (and expensive) division in MLB.
Adrian Morejon bolsters Padres bullpen - Our Esquina
“I feel the biggest change in my career has been the mental aspect,” Morejon said. “Working on my mind, working on myself. I had a lot of injury problems in 2021. That’s something I can’t change, but I matured.
“I’m 26 years old. I’ve come to know my body a whole lot better, so that’s definitely allowed me to stay healthy and be able to contribute.”
San Diego FC / Soccer
FC Dallas heads to Snapdragon after ‘win for the ages’; SDFC defender suffers setback - San Diego Union-Tribune
Andrés Reyes’ nightmare season has taken another turn.
The San Diego FC defender “still has some lingering knee issues,” Varas said, and is being evaluated by team doctors.
Acquired from the New York Red Bulls in December for $600,000 in general allocation money, Reyes made his SDFC debut in the club’s April 20 loss to Charlotte. He played 44 minutes before receiving his second yellow card of the game, and was sent off by officials. Reyes was suspended for last week’s loss to Real Salt Lake as a result.
How Ryan Reynolds & Co. bought Wrexham's path to promotion - ESPN
Of course, spending doesn't automatically equal success. Paying the guy who plays Sunday league and works at your favorite coffee shop a League One salary doesn't suddenly turn him into a League One-level player. Wrexham have had to at least be competent at team-building and player identification to experience all the immediate success – and they've probably been better than that.
One more
The Progress Report: San Diego’s Middle Sports Experiment Is Sticking Around - Voice of San Diego
What started as an experiment in 2022 has evolved into a mainstay that includes dozens of San Diego Unified middle schools and thousands of students. Officials have been so impressed with the program that they’d like to expand it.
Alright, that's going to do it for today's edition of Front Row Seat. I'll be back on Monday, and every weekday, to try and make it easier for you to follow the news.
Feedback is welcome (in the comments below, in my inbox or on the Section 1904 Discord server) and feel free to send me any links that you think I missed and I'll try to include them tomorrow.
