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๐ Good morning to all, but especially to …
CANADA
An incredible 4 Nations Face-Off came to an incredible end, thanks to an incredible player. Connor McDavid scored a blistering shot to the upper corner 8:18 into overtime to lift Canada over Team USA,ย 3-2, in the championship.
Of course, McDavid doesn’t even get that chance if not for Jordan Binnington. The up-and-down Blues goalie pulled off a performance reminiscent of his 2019 Stanley Cup Game 7 — in the very same building, in fact — stonewalling several great chances for the Americans, including two from goal-scorer extraordinaireย Auston Matthews.
McDavid’s winner also conjures up the happy memory ofย Sidney Crosby‘s overtime winner against the U.S. in the 2010 Winter Olympics gold-medal game. History, it turns out, has a way of repeating itself.
But this isn’t about history. This is about the future, where the game is going. The arrow is very much pointing up, making the sport of hockey as a whole a big winner from the past week and a half, Chris Bengel writes.
- Bengel: “Regardless of what country you were pulling for, hockey fans were by far one of the biggest winners. After all, there hasn’t been a best-on-best tournament in the hockey world since the World Cup of Hockey back in 2016. NHL players, such as McDavid, Auston Matthews, and Nathan MacKinnon, hadn’t been able to suit up for their respective countries since entering the league prior to this event.”
๐ Honorable mentions
๐ And not such a good morning for …
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VICTOR WEMBANYAMA AND THE SAN ANTONIO SPURS
Victor Wembanyama‘s season is over. The Spurs star was diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis in his shoulder. He had experienced low energy recently, and after things didn’t improve following a vacation after All-Star Weekend, he underwent tests revealing the condition.
- Deep vein thrombosis is the development of a blood clot in veins deep in your body because the vein is injured or the blood flowing through it is “too sluggish,” per the Cleveland Clinic. Possible causes include long periods of inactivity — as an NBA player, Wembanyama takes long plane rides, for example — or dehydration.ย Here’s our full explanation.
- The Spurs are optimistic this is a one-time issue, which is very, very good news. Other NBA players have had DVT, most notably Chris Bosh, whose condition ended up being career-ending. On the other hand, Brandon Ingramย had season-ending DVT in 2019, had surgery and won Most Improved Player the next season.
Wembanyama is on a superstar track, if he’s not there already. He’s averaging 24.3 points, 11 rebounds and a league-leading 3.8 blocks. The only other players to do that in a whole season are Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Keep in mind that Wembanyama just turned 21.
Obviously this is a huge blow for the Spurs. Sam Quinn looked at three ripple effects from the injury, including …
- Quinn: “The Spurs are likely headed for the lottery —ย That may not be what the Spurs were planning when they traded for Fox, but it’s obviously not a bad place to be. This is a very strong draft class, and if Wembanyama continues to progress as he has thus far, the Spurs won’t be using their own first-round pick in the lottery again for quite some time. It never hurts to add one extra blue-chip talent.”
It also re-opens the Defensive Player of the Year race, which Wembanyama had all but clinched. Players must play 65 games to be eligible for individual awards; Wembanyama has played 46. Jaren Jackson Jr. and Evan Mobley are among the betting favorites after Wembanyama’s injury, but Sam likes a different player on one of the league’s best teams.
๐ Not so honorable mentions
๐ Ranking top 25 NBA players this season, plus who will make difference during stretch run?
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The NBA got fully back underway last night post-All-Star break, and with the regular season roughly two-thirds of the way over, Brad Botkin ranked the league’s top 25 players so far.
The player ranked No. 1 isn’t the current MVP favorite.
- Botkin: “Nikola Jokic — He’s been the best player not just this season, but this is one of the greatest seasons we’ve ever seen from anyone at any time. Jokiฤ is on pace for the highest PER in history. He’s third in points per game, second in assists, fourth in rebounds and fourth in steals. The Nuggets’ point differential plummets by 24 points per 100 possessions when he leaves the court.”
That seems like a good argument for MVP for me, though it’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (No. 2 on Brad’s list) who currently has that title.
Not on that list? Luka Doncic, who missed much of the season with injury and is still finding his footing playing for the Lakers alongside LeBron James. But Doncic leads Colin Ward-Henninger’s list of players who could define the stretch run. Also on that list is …
- Ward-Henninger: “Chet Holmgren —ย The Thunder were arguably the best team in the NBA even without Holmgren, but with him they can not only distance themselves from any Western Conference competition, but can also give themselves a much better shot against any of their potential Finals opponents from the East. … Holmgren takes the Thunder from a great defensive team to a virtually impenetrable one.”
๐ 2024 NFL season grades
USATSI
Four teams earned grades in the “A” range in Bryan DeArdo’s 2024 NFL grades. Three — the Eagles, Chiefs and Commanders — were probably pretty easy guesses. The fourth? Maybe not as obviously, but certainly well-deserved.
- DeArdo: “Broncos — A- | Denver’s 2024 season started with some criticism after the team paid Russell Wilson $39 million to play for theย Steelers. Few people were discussing that by season’s end, however, as rookie quarterbackย Bo Nix enjoyed an exceptional campaign while helping the Broncos snap their nine-year playoff drought.”
Denver bet really big on Sean Payton, who in turn bet big on Nix. Both delivered.
On the other end of the spectrum, six teams got an “F.” Yikes!
๐บ What we’re watching this weekend
Friday
๐ Knicks at Cavaliers, 7 p.m. on ESPN
๐ No. 16 Marquette at Villanova, 7 p.m. on FS1
๐ No. 14 Michigan State at No. 12 Michigan (M), 8 p.m. on Fox
๐ Timberwolves at Rockets, 9:30 p.m. on ESPN
Saturday
๐ No. 6 Tennessee at No. 7 Texas A&M (M), noon on ESPN
๐ Oregon at No. 11 Wisconsin (M), noon on Fox
๐ Wild at Red Wings, 12:30 p.m. on ABC
๐ No. 8 Iowa State at No. 5 Houston (M), 2 p.m. on ESPN
๐ Capitals at Penguins, 3 p.m. on ABC
๐ Georgia at No. 1 Auburn (M), 4 p.m. on ESPN
๐ Oklahoma State at No. 23 Kansas (M), 4 p.m. on CBS
๐ No. 17 Kentucky at No. 4 Alabama (M), 6 p.m. on ESPN
๐ No. 3 Duke vs. Illinois (M), 8 p.m. on Fox
๐ Lakers at Nuggets, 8:30 p.m. on ABC
Sunday
๐ UConn at No. 10 St. John’s (M), noon on Fox
๐ No. 1 Notre Dame at No. 13 NC State (W), noon on BTN
๐ No. 17 West Virginia at No. 10 TCU (W), noon on ESPN2
๐ Knicks at Celtics, 1 p.m. on ABC
๐ Oilers at Capitals, 1 p.m. on TNT/truTV
๐ No. 13 Purdue at Indiana (M), 1:30 p.m. on CBS
๐ No. 3 UCLA at Iowa (W), 2 p.m. on Peacock
๐ No. 9 North Carolina at Louisville (W), 2 p.m. on ESPN
๐ Mavericks at Warriors, 3:30 p.m. on ABC
๐ Rangers at Penguins, 3:30 p.m. on TNT/truTV
๐ No. 25 Illinois at No. 4 USC (W), 4 p.m. on FS1
๐ No. 7 LSU at No. 14 Kentucky (W), 4 p.m. on ESPN
โฝ USWNT vs. Australia, 5 p.m. on TBS
๐ Grizzlies at Cavaliers, 7 p.m. on ESPN
๐ Thunder at Timberwolves, 9:30 p.m. on ESPN
