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Good morning! Thinking about all of you in Los Angeles this morning.
About That Big Game: Cavs-Thunder lived up to the hype
If that was a finals preview, we will be lucky. Because Cleveland’s 129-122 home win over Oklahoma City last night was a good game in terms of both tension (decided in the last minute) and quality. Two takeaways:
- The Cavs are simply the league’s best team right now, as Joe Vardon writes. They are 32-4 and on pace for nearly 73 wins. That number would tie Golden State’s NBA record. No one’s saying they’ll pull it off, but to be nearly halfway there is amazing for a team we all thought would just be pretty good.
- Cleveland got a dud from its best player and still beat the West’s best team. Donovan Mitchell scored just 11 points on 3-of-16 shooting. Max Strus and Ty Jerome combined for 32 points off the bench, a sign of this team’s superior depth.
Here’s hoping we get deep playoff runs from both of these teams. Moving on:
About Tonight’s Game: Reputations on the line in Miami
We turn our attention to this evening. Our first 12-team Playoff semifinal is here: Notre Dame–Penn State, a battle of teams hoping for their first championships since the 1980s. The stakes are palpably enormous, arguably even larger than the Ohio State-Texas semifinal, where each team has a title within the last 20 years. This is why we watch college football, right?
Three things that interest me, plus a Good Bet:
1. Can James Franklin officially shed the big-game bugaboo?
Penn State’s coach has long — and maybe deservedly — had a reputation for shrinking in big games. He has won two decisively in this Playoff run, yet those were against teams with lesser talent. Notre Dame is a match. If the Nittany Lions win here as the 1.5-point underdog, then no matter the title-game result, we should probably lay this stereotype to rest.
2. Can Notre Dame complete the program overhaul?
Though I am loath to admit, the Fighting Irish are clear winners in the Brian Kelly-to-Marcus Freeman transition. Freeman, 38, has the Irish on the verge of a national title, a stratosphere that Kelly yearned for when he left Notre Dame to coach my LSU Tigers. And you know what? Long-hated Notre Dame might even be likable under Freeman. That’s a lot to play for, in addition to the eternal glory of winning a title.
3. Will Penn State remain calm?
I thought Audrey Snyder’s analysis of the Nittany Lions was spot-on in this article from last week, in which she noticed that Penn State played its best football in the waning minutes of a Big Ten title game loss to Oregon after going down big. This team had been tight all season in big games until then. They’ve learned something from this. Two comfortable Playoff wins prove it.
Good Bet: UNDER 44.5.
Cop out? Absolutely. Both of these teams have personnel issues, as Notre Dame is dealing with crucial injuries and Penn State’s lack of a WR1 could plague the Nittany Lions against the Fighting Irish’s stingy defense. This will be tight and low-scoring. (Odds via BetMGM)
Pulse bets record overall: 27-41-1
News to Know
Wildfires have sprawling effects on sports
The awful, deadly fires spreading through Southern California have killed at least five people and displaced 100,000 more, according to latest figures. The sports world is obviously impacted by such a sweeping disaster: The Los Angeles Kings postponed their game last night, Clippers star Kawhi Leonard missed last night’s Denver matchup to be with family that evacuated and the Lakers are considering their options for tonight’s game against Charlotte. Mark Puleo has a thorough summary.
Bears to interview Campbell
The Chicago Bears will speak with Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell about their head-coaching position, a source confirmed to The Athletic yesterday, giving the Bears maybe the broadest mix of candidates thus far in this cycle. Campbell, coming off a school-record 11-win season, joins Mike Vrabel and Pete Carroll as known Chicago interviewees. See our full report here.
Also, Tom Brady’s Raiders apparently reached out to Bill Belichick, who told them he has no plans to leave UNC already. 👀
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Hi, My Name Is: Basketball’s progressive press fiend
Basketball teams that are described as analytics-driven usually have this bent: They shoot a lot of 3-pointers. You can extrapolate styles from there, but in about 99 percent of said squads, the emphasis on 3 > 2 reigns.
Jim Crutchfield is progressive, but possibly in the most opposite way. Crutchfield is the 69-year-old coach at Nova Southeastern, a small Division II school in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. And as CJ Moore detailed in a fantastic story yesterday, Crutchfield is probably your favorite coach’s favorite coach:
- For starters, the dude wins. Crutchfield is 112-4 in his last four seasons at Nova Southeastern. He has also twice taken two programs — Nova Southeastern and West Liberty, his first head-coaching job — from single-digit wins to 20-plus wins in two-year spans.
- How? He has a system that’s plenty simple: His team presses. The entire game. The Sharks wear down opponents mentally and physically. Crutchfield has a great quote in the story about how people don’t like being chased, which … fair. Fear is ripe for analytical data too.
- How “progressive” is he? He doesn’t watch much basketball. Big pickleball guy, and is so out of touch with the basketball world that he literally doesn’t know the celebrity NBA coaches seeking him out for advice. The story has some great anecdotes on that front.
The lingering question is whether this system can work at a higher level, and the answer remains murky. He has to recruit specifically for his system, and he’s probably too old to start anew in Division I. But his coaching tree could carry on the legacy somewhere bigger — and there’s also the possibility of Nova Southeastern moving up to DI.
There’s plenty more in the full story, which I thought was really fun.
Watch, Listen and Play
📺 CFB: No. 6 Penn State vs. No. 7 Notre Dame
7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN
As stated above. Just watch it.
📺 NHL: Maple Leafs at Hurricanes
7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN+/Hulu/Disney+
If football’s not your thing, here’s a game between two of the better teams in the Eastern Conference. Auston Matthews is having a … unique season, by the way.
Get tickets to games like these here.
🎧 “NBA Daily” looks ahead: Was that an NBA Finals preview? Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Pulse Picks
The most popular person in the Bills facility is the barber. Make time for Tim Graham’s story today, which will make you happy.
Austin Mock explains why each AFC team will/won’t win the Super Bowl. We’ll have more from this tomorrow.
The net front is the nastiest place on an NHL rink. Mark Lazerus has an interesting guide on how the league’s best players survive in the sport’s most chaotic space. Sounds painful.
The term “artificial intelligence” is almost oversaturated right now. But, as Jordan Campbell detailed, it could change soccer in massive ways. Eerie, to be honest.
Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: Our news story on the death of former Orioles pitcher Brian Matusz.
Most-read on the website yesterday: Chad Graff’s story on how Jerod Mayo’s year went so wrong. Catch up if you missed it.
(Top photo: Chris Coduto / Getty Images)
