6 hours ago 2

The Pacers, the NBA's comeback kings, strike again

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🚨 Headlines

🏀 SGA wins MVP: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander beat out Nikola Jokić to win his first MVP, earning 71 first-place votes to Jokić's 29. Giannis Antetokounmpo finished a distant third.

💔 Irsay dies at 65: Longtime Colts owner Jim Irsay "passed away peacefully in his sleep" on Wednesday afternoon, according to the team.

⚽️ Spurs win Europa League: Tottenham beat Manchester United, 1-0, in the Europa League final to claim their first trophy since winning the 2008 EFL Cup.

🏈 Tush push survives: The Eagles' beloved "tush push" survived at least another year, as the latest proposal to ban the play fell two votes short of passing.

🍿 Bills, NFC East on "Hard Knocks": The Bills will be featured on HBO's "Hard Knocks" this summer, while the in-season edition will follow the NFC East.

🏀 The comeback kings strike again

The Pacers did it again, staging yet another unbelievable comeback to beat the Knicks, 138-135 (OT), in Game 1 of the East Finals.

ICYMI…

The Knicks led by as many as 17 points in the fourth quarter and by 14 points with 2:45 remaining.
The Pacers scored 23 points in the final 3:14 of regulation, the most any team has scored in such a stretch in playoff history.
Aaron Nesmith became the first player in NBA history to make six 3s in the fourth quarter of a playoff game. All six came in the final five minutes.
Tyrese Haliburton hit what appeared to be the game-winner at the buzzer (then gave the Reggie Miller "choke" sign), but his foot was on the line and the game went to OT.

Stat of the day: Since 1996, teams that have trailed by 7+ points in the final 50 seconds of the fourth quarter or OT in the playoffs are 4-1,702. This year's Pacers have three of those wins.

What's next: The Knicks will look to even the series tomorrow night in Game 2.

🏒 Speaking of comebacks...

The Stars staged one of their own, erasing a 3-1 deficit to beat the Oilers, 6-3, in Game 1 of the West Finals.

Late flurry wins it: A trio of power-play goals in the third period made the Stars the first team in NHL history to earn multiple wins in regulation of the same postseason after being down two goals in the final period.

🎾 Can Djokovic defy the aging curve?

Djokovic during Wednesday's win at the Geneva Open. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images)

Novak Djokovic, who turns 38 today ahead of next week's French Open, is running out of time to win Grand Slam No. 25. In fact, if history is any indication, he's already too late.

Father Time: For decades, even the greats didn't win majors long after turning 30. Rod Laver's last one came at 31. Same with Pete Sampras and Billie Jean King. Arthur Ashe, Andre Agassi and Chris Evert were 32. Heck, Steffi Graf and Björn Borg never won a slam in their 30s. Then, the four greatest players ever came along and changed that — but even they have a limit.

The rule of 36: Serena Williams won 10 Grand Slams in her 30s, including her 23rd and final major at age 35. The Big Three one-upped her.

Roger Federer's 20th and final slam came at age 36 at the 2018 Australian Open. So did Rafael Nadal's, winning his 22nd slam at Roland Garros (where else?) in 2022.
That leaves Djokovic, who's won an astonishing 12 majors since turning 30 and can still add to that tally. But if he doesn't, the 2023 US Open will remain his 24th and final slam… which he won at age 36.

The lone exception: Ken Rosewall won the 1972 Australian Open at age 37, making him the oldest major champion of the Open Era (since 1968). But the draws were much less competitive back then, and even he admitted that "it's not good for tennis generally for me to still be winning."

Djoker's uphill battle: If anyone's going to defy the aging curve, it's Djokovic, who is famously obsessive about keeping his body fit. But for the first time in a long time, he looks beatable.

He's 13-7 so far this season including multiple three-match losing streaks. He also failed to win a major last year for the first time since 2017 (though he did win Olympic gold).
As the No. 6 seed in Paris, the French Open will be no picnic, with No. 1 Jannik Sinner and No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz both likely in his way. It's also the major where he's had the least success.

Looking ahead: If Djokovic flames out at Roland Garros, his last best shot at winning No. 25 is probably the upcoming Wimbledon, where he’s won seven times and reached six straight finals on a surface whose shorter points are much more forgiving on older legs.

🥎 Super Regionals preview: Oklahoma is hitting its stride

Sophomore outfielder Kasidi Pickering went 5-7 with 9 RBIs during regionals. (Rawlings Softball)

The NCAA softball Super Regionals begin today with a familiar team at the top, as four-time defending champion Oklahoma is the highest seed left in the 16-team field.

Dynasty in Norman: The Sooners (48-7) went a mind-blowing 235-15 over the last four seasons en route to a record four consecutive championships.

The Sooners were flat-out dominant in the regionals, winning all three games by mercy rule with a combined score of 31-3.

Super Regional matchups: The 16 remaining teams will play best-of-three series this weekend hosted by the higher seed, with the winners advancing to next week's Women's College World Series.

No. 2 Oklahoma vs. No. 15 Alabama
No. 3 Florida vs. Georgia
No. 4 Arkansas* vs. Ole Miss
No. 5 Florida State vs. No. 12 Texas Tech
No. 6 Texas vs. No. 11. Clemson
No. 7 Tennessee vs. Nebraska
No. 8 South Carolina vs. No. 9 UCLA
No. 16 Oregon vs. Liberty

SEC dominance: Oklahoma is one of nine SEC teams who made the Super Regionals, tied for the most ever by a single conference.

*Player to watch: Arkansas senior first baseman Bri Ellis was named Softball America's Player of the Year after leading the nation in on-base (.646) and slugging percentage (1.142) while batting .457 with a program-record 26 HR and 72 RBI. Watch this video for a good laugh.

📺 Watchlist: Thursday, May 22

🏀 Timberwolves (0-1) at Thunder (8:30pm ET, ESPN) | West Finals, Game 2

A word of advice for Minnesota: Beware the third quarter. No team had a better third-quarter net rating this season than the Thunder (+14), which won that period 32-18 in Game 1.

🏒 Panthers (1-0) at Hurricanes (8pm, TNT) | East Finals, Game 2

Florida has been a menace away from home in these playoffs, scoring 38 goals through their first eight road games. That's tied with the 2022 Avalanche for the most through eight postseason road games in NHL history.

⛳️ Charles Schwab Challenge (8am, ESPN+; 4pm, Golf)

Scottie Scheffler goes for three straight victories after winning the Byron Nelson and PGA Championship by a combined 13 strokes. He leads a field of 135 golfers teeing it up at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas.

🏒 Minnesota Frost (0-1) at Ottawa Charge (7pm, YouTube) | PWHL Finals, Game 2

The defending champs are on the ropes after losing Game 1 of the best-of-five series in overtime.

Plus:

🏀 WNBA: Fever at Dream (7:30pm, Prime) … Caitlin Clark has at least 20 points, 10 assists, 2 steals and 4 made threes in each of her first two games.
🥎 NCAA Softball: No. 12 Texas Tech at No. 5 Florida State (7pm, ESPN2); No. 11 Clemson at No. 6 Texas (9pm, ESPN2) … Super Regionals.

Today's full slate.

🏀 NBA trivia

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the eighth player this century to win the scoring title and MVP in the same season.

Question: Who was the most recent one to do it before SGA?

Hint: This decade.

Answer at the bottom.

📸 Photo finish

The thrill of victory.

Trivia answer: Joel Embiid

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