Yahoo Sports AM: Dallas vs. Boston
In today's edition: The NBA Finals are set, the baseball team without a school, surfing in Tahiti, weekend watchlist, and more.
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🚨 Headlines
⛳️ Golf is hard: Only four players broke par during the first round of the U.S. Women's Open, and world No. 1 Nelly Korda finished 10-over after carding a 10 on a par three.
🏈 Waddle gets paid: The Dolphins have signed WR Jaylen Waddle to a three-year, $84.75M extension that makes him one of the NFL's highest-paid wideouts.
🏀 New hoops league: Unrivaled, a new women's 3x3 basketball league, will offer the highest average salary in U.S. women's pro sports when it launches in January.
🏈 Bears on "Hard Knocks": The Bears will get the "Hard Knocks" treatment during training camp, providing an inside look at Caleb Williams' rookie season.
🐝 Bruhat wins the Bee: Bruhat Soma, a 12-year-old from Tampa, won the Spelling Bee in a tiebreaker. His winning word: "Abseil."
🏀 NBA Finals: Mavs vs. Celtics
The Mavericks beat the Timberwolves, 124-103, on Thursday in Minneapolis to advance to the NBA Finals, where they'll play the Celtics.
Fun fact: This will be the first Dallas-Boston postseason meeting in any major sport.
Star duos: The Mavs' treacherous path to the Finals is the culmination of a brilliant partnership between Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving, who will face off against another elite duo in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
Playoff scoring:
Dončić (28.8) and Irving (22.8) are averaging 51.6 points per game.
Tatum (26.0) and Brown (25.0) are averaging 51 points per game.
Finals notes:
Long wait ahead: Game 1 tips off in Boston on Thursday, June 6, which is six days from now.
Early odds (via BetMGM): The Celtics are -225 to win the series, while the Mavericks are +180. Tatum is the Finals MVP favorite at -135, followed by Dončić is +190.
Prepare for 3s: The Celtics led the NBA in 3-pointers made and attempted, while the Mavericks were second in 3s attempted and third in 3s made.
NBA Finals preview: Five questions about a matchup that will be worth the wait
⚾️ Birmingham-Southern is going down swinging
The Birmingham-Southern Panthers are unique among the eight teams in the D-III College World Series: They're the only ones whose school will no longer exist when the tournament ends.
Wait, what? Today is Birmingham-Southern's last official day after the small liberal arts school decided to close forever amid financial troubles. The team has been playing on borrowed time since finding out, but rather than fold, they've become nearly unbeatable.
Catch up quick: The 168-year-old Alabama institution fought for two years to replenish its dwindling endowment, but in late March — months after being denied a $30 million loan by the state — the school voted to shut down at the end of the academic year.
The Panthers were 13-10 when coach Jan Weisberg delivered the bad news, but led by an excellent lineup and staff ace Drake LaRoche*, they went 19-4 the rest of the way to earn the No. 7 seed in the World Series.
Credit the leadership of Weisberg, who's turned the Panthers into a powerhouse: They're the fourth-winningest team in D-III since 2010 and finished as the runner-up in the 2019 CWS.
One final roadblock: Last weekend's super regional sweep over Denison came as more than one-third of the team fell ill with what was originally thought to be food poisoning, but turned out to be a strain of norovirus.
One player was hospitalized, two relievers received IV's from the dugout — and later combined for the clinching save, band-aids still in their arms — and at least three more players have gotten sick since then.
They arrived in Ohio on Wednesday via chartered flight, paid for by the NCAA, but many of their other expenses will be paid for thanks to a GoFundMe that's raised over $100,000 in the past week.
If you think this sounds like it would make a great movie, you're not alone: A documentary crew began tagging along after the Panthers advanced to the super regionals.
What's next: Birmingham-Southern's last chance to win its first World Series begins today against No. 2 Salve Regina (4:45pm ET, NCAA.com).
The last word: As the great Jake Taylor once said, there's only one thing left for the Panthers to do: "Win the whole f***in’ thing."
*Yes, that Drake LaRoche: If the name sounds familiar, it's because his father, Adam, hit 255 home runs across a 12-year MLB career that ended in 2015 when the White Sox asked him to limit how often he brought Drake, then 14, with him to the clubhouse.
🏒 Panthers push Rangers to the brink
The Panthers beat the Rangers, 3-2, in the fourth straight game between these two teams that was decided by one goal.
East Finals:
Game 1: Panthers 3, Rangers 0
Game 2: Rangers 2, Panthers 1 (OT)
Game 3: Rangers 5, Panthers 4 (OT)
Game 4: Panthers 3, Rangers 2 (OT)
Game 5: Panthers 3, Rangers 2
Where it stands: Florida is now one win away from reaching back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals, while New York faces elimination for the first time this postseason.
🌊 In photos: Surfing in Tahiti
World Surf League's Tahiti Pro ended on Thursday, providing athletes and viewers with a preview of the upcoming Olympics.
Paris will host a majority of the Summer Games, but the surfing event will take place 10,000 miles away on the French Polynesian island of Tahiti at the iconic Teahupo'o wave break.
Teahupo'o translates as "wall of skulls" or "broken skull," and the unique wave — with its signature barrel shape formed by the presence of a shallow coral reef — lives up to the name. Five people have died at what's considered one of world's most dangerous breaks.
When the Olympics begin in 56 days, many of the competitors in the Tahiti Pro event will return to represent their country. That includes reigning gold medalist Carissa Moore* of Hawaii, world No. 1 and California native Griffin Colapinto, and Brazil's Tatiana Weston-Webb, who on Wednesday became the first woman to earn a perfect 10 at this event.
*End of the road: Tahiti marked the final WSL event for five-time world champion Moore, 31, who plans to retire after the Olympics.
📆 May 31, 2007: LeBron goes nuclear
17 years ago today, LeBron James singlehandedly beat the Pistons, scoring the Cavs' final 25 points as part of a 48-9-7 masterpiece to give the Cleveland a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference Finals.
What a performance: "We thought we were the best defensive team in the NBA," Pistons forward Rip Hamilton said 10 years later. "So when [he] scored those 25 straight points, it kind of reminded me of Michael Jordan. … We felt like we were in trouble — for not just that year, but years to come."
⛳️ 1930: Bobby Jones won the British Amateur Championship, securing the first leg in what would become the only calendar Grand Slam* in golf history.
⚾️ 1937: Giants pitcher Carl Hubbell finally lost a decision, snapping his MLB-record 24-game win streak.
*A different era: Jones' Grand Slam comprised the U.S. Open, British Open, U.S. Amateur and British Amateur, which were considered the four majors at the time.
📺 Watchlist: Champions League Final
The Champions League Final is Saturday in London (3pm ET, CBS), where Real Madrid hopes to win a record-extending 15th title against Borussia Dortmund, whose lone title came in 1997.
The Bellingham bowl: All eyes will be on Madrid midfielder Jude Bellingham, 20, who was just named LaLiga's player of the year in his first season with the club after spending the previous three with Dortmund.
More to watch:
🏒 NHL: Oilers (2-2) at Stars (Fri, 8:30pm, TNT); Rangers (down 3-2) at Panthers (Sat. 8pm, ABC); Stars (Game 6) at Oilers (Sun. 8pm, TNT)
⛳️ LPGA: U.S. Women's Open (Fri-Sun, USA/NBC/Peacock)
⛳️ PGA: Canadian Open (Fri-Sun, Golf/CBS/ESPN+)
🎾 Tennis: French Open (Fri-Sun, Tennis)
🥎 NCAA Softball: Women's College World Series (Fri-Sun, ABC/ESPN/ESPN2)
🏀 WNBA: Sky at Fever (Sat. 12pm, ESPN) … Caitlin Clark vs. Angel Reese.
⚾️ MLB: Tigers at Red Sox (Fri. 7pm, Apple); Angels at Mariners (Fri. 10pm, Apple); Cardinals at Phillies (Sun. 7pm, ESPN2)
⚽️ CONCACAF Champions Cup Final: Pachuca vs. Columbus (Sat. 9:15pm, FS1)
⚽️ Friendly: USWNT vs. South Korea (Sat. 5pm, TNT)
⚽️ MLS: 13 games (Fri-Sun, Apple) … Two are free to watch.
🏈 UFL: Week 10 (Sat-Sun, Fox/ESPN/ABC) … Regular season finale.
🥍 PLL: Opening weekend (Sat-Sun, ABC/ESPN+)
🏏 Men's T20 Cricket World Cup*: Group stage (Sat-Sun, WillowTV)
🥊 UFC 302: Islam Makhachev vs. Dustin Poirier (Sat. 10pm, ESPN+ PPV)
🏁 NASCAR: Enjoy Illinois 300 (Sun. 3:30pm, FS1)
*Details: 20 teams will play 55 matches from June 1-29 using the sport's faster T20 format. The U.S. is a first-time co-host, with matches being played in Florida (Central Broward Park), New York (Nassau County International Cricket Stadium) and Texas (Grand Prairie Stadium).
🏀 NBA Finals trivia
The Mavericks are making their third trip to the NBA Finals, where they've won once (2011) and lost once (2006).
Question: Who did they face in their two previous trips?
Answer at the bottom.
🥍 The Brothers Kavanagh
Four days ago, Pat Kavanagh (six assists) led Notre Dame to a second straight national title alongside his brother, Chris (five goals). Tomorrow, he'll make his Premier Lacrosse League debut with the Boston Cannons alongside his brother, Matt.
"The opportunity to play with Matt is something I never thought was even possible. He's eight years older than me. He and Patrick Kane were my idols growing up. The chance to play with him is pretty surreal. It's gonna be weird stepping on the field with him this weekend after playing three years with Chris." - Pat on the "Pat McAfee Show"
Trivia answer: They played the Heat both times
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