Big news: Starting this week for the upcoming men’s soccer World Cup, we’re going to be moving to a three-newsletter-a-week publishing schedule! That’s 50 percent more newsletters! You’ll be getting a World Cup preview on Wednesday, then another newsletter on Friday.

You know how I’m always saying “if more of you become paid subscribers to the newsletter, I’ll be able to expand and produce more content?” That’s actually happening! I wasn’t lying! Because we’ve essentially doubled our subscriber base from 2025, I’m able to pay Louis, the editor of Sports!, to edit more newsletters, and there’s a new writer coming aboard soon. So thanks for that!

(And if you’d like to make more newsletters possible … here’s where to upgrade.)

— Rodger Sherman

Today’s Lineup

1. The Stanley Cup Final is NUTS

2. Wemby is a future GOAT, but he’s not there yet

3. An all-time clutch USA title at the 3×3 World Cup

🏒🥅 The Hockey is Hockey-ing 🏒🥅

It’s helicopter cocaine motorcycle season. The Stanley Cup Final has so far been one of the most bonkers on record. Every game has been decided by one goal, every game has featured a team blowing a lead of at least two goals, and the last two games have both gone to overtime. On Saturday night, Las Vegas’ Shea Theodore scored a game winner by shooting the puck past the goal, off the back wall, and off the skate of Carolina goalkeeper Brandon Bussi.

After a lengthy review to determine “whether he called glass” (jk), the Knights took a 2-1 series lead.

Whether you’re an actual hockey fan or just swooping in for some intense drama, it’s been an incredible series.

• Let’s start with Game 1. Carolina took a 2-0 lead in the first period, but Vegas scored three straight goals across 13 minutes of game time, and won 5-4 on a Tomáš Hertl goal with three minutes to go. This was the most boring game of the series so far.

• In Game 2, Vegas took a 2-0 lead, only for Carolina to storm back. Vegas tied the game with 80 seconds left and Carolina won 4-3 in overtime.

• And then. Game 3. My goodness.

• After a scoreless first period, Vegas scored four in a row in the second, including the fastest hat trick in Stanley Cup Final history by Mitch Marner, who scored three goals in 6:09. Then Vegas was awarded a rare penalty shot early in the third period, but Bussi, a rookie who hadn’t played since the end of the regular season over a month ago, came into the game and stoned Marner. (Marner apparently didn’t notice that Bussi had come into the game, even though Bussi is a lefty and starter Frederik Andersen is a righty.)

• After Bussi’s stop, Carolina scored four goals to force overtime.

• And then, after eight combined goals in two periods, the two teams played an entire OT without scoring! It took until double overtime for Theodore’s game-winner.

• I looked it up: There have been just two Stanley Cup Finals in which every game was decided by one goal: 1968 (when Montreal swept; poor St. Louis, losing four straight one-goal games) and 1951 (when all five games went into overtime.) If the Canes and Knights can go to six one-goal games, they’ll make history. So that’s what I’m rooting for.

👽 An Alien Grows Up 👽

In some movies, the aliens show up on Earth and we’re toast. They’re bigger, they’re stronger, they have more advanced technology than us. Our cities are reduced to rubble, and we’re barbecued chicken. It’s the sort of domination we might have expected from Victor Wembanyama, who is nicknamed The Alien for his inhuman combination of long limbs and fluid movement unlike anything the basketball world has ever seen.

In other movies, the aliens aren’t quite ready to take over Earth. Their bodies might be magnificent, but they’re built for a different planet. They can be defeated by trying to breathe our air, or by getting punched in the face by Will Smith.

In the final 30 seconds of Game 2 of the NBA Finals, Wemby played just about the worst 30 seconds a basketball player can play. He missed a shot to take the lead, committed a turnover on the other end of the floor by throwing the ball off Stephon Castle’s back, compounded that turnover by immediately fouling Jalen Brunson for the game-winning free throw, then missed a potential game-winner at the other end.

Wembanyama came into the NBA fully formed in so many ways. He quickly became one of the most elite defensive players in league history, and he was already capable of moving and shooting in ways unlike any player his size, ever. But the ending of Game 2 showed he’s still got some things to figure out, physically, mentally, and skill-wise.

• OK, before we get to Wembanyama, here’s your biweekly rundown of Knicks excellence: With the win over the Spurs, the Knicks now have a 13-game winning streak, the second-longest in NBA playoff history and the third-longest in Knicks franchise history, regular season or postseason.

• They now have the best three-game span in NBA playoff history in terms of net point differential, the two best four-game spans, the four best five-game spans, the four best six-game spans, the four best seven-game spans, the six best eight-game spans, the seven best nine-game spans, the seven best 10-game spans, the six best 11-game spans, the five best 12-game spans, the four best 13-game spans, the three best 14-game spans, the three best 15-game spans, the three best 16-game spans, the three best 17-game spans, the three best 18-game spans, and the two best 19-game spans.

• Yes, I’m looking all this up every game. Back to Wemby:

• The lowlight, of course, is the late turnover, a blunder that cost San Antonio the game. (The French announcers’ call is worth a listen, especially if you don’t speak French.) I don’t hold it too harshly against Wembanyama, since it was just a miscommunication. But it is one of the costliest turnovers in NBA history, and it seemed to reflect his inexperience.

• What really stands out to me are Wembanyama’s last two shots, both jumpers from 20-plus feet over Mitchell Robinson. Here’s where he shot from:

• Wembanyama is 3-for-20 this postseason on shots from 16-to-24 feet. That’s 15 percent. That’s bad. I probably shoot 15 percent on shots from 16-to-24 feet. And those were the shots he took with a Finals game on the line. I was fist-pumping the moment the ball left his hand. Wemby may be superhuman … but he’s not an elite mid-range shooter.

• Why did he take those shots? I think he’s tired. It’s harder to get the look you want after playing 40 minutes. And it’s harder to execute once you do shoot. (To the extent that “clutchness” exists, I suspect it has as much to do with stamina and ability to perform despite fatigue as it does mental toughness.)

• Wemby is averaging 30.4 minutes for his career, and 29.2 this season. He’s averaging 39 minutes per game against the Knicks. That’s a huge increase! He’s getting more touches per game (71, up from 58.5 during the regular season) and he’s running more miles per game (2.9 miles, up from 2.1 during the regular season). And this is his first playoff run, and he’s coming off a seven-game series.

• Wemby also had a terrible close to Game 1. He dribbled the ball off his foot with 50 seconds left, leading to an iconic Jalen Brunson bucket that all but iced the game. Then he missed a three on the Spurs’ next possession.

• The Spurs face a real dilemma. Wembanyama is clearly running out of gas in these games, but their backup center, Luke Kornet, is getting played off the court from the moment he enters the game. Kornet has scored zero points and the Spurs have been outscored by 14 points in his 18 minutes of gametime. His minus-27.9 net rating is the worst in the series by a significant margin.

• It feels like they can’t take Wembanyama off the floor, but they also can’t play him more.

• Very few young superstars win the NBA Finals in their first playoff appearance (in the last 50-ish years, it’s basically just Magic Johnson, who joined a squad led by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.) That Wembanyama has come this far at 22 years old is already impressive.

• But since there’s never really been a player with his body type and skill set, he’s going to have to chart his own developmental journey. Figuring out how to increase his strength and stamina while also staying healthy could be tricky.

• As a Knicks fan, I hope his alien evolutionary timeline takes a little while longer … at least a week.

🔫🇺🇸 MK Ultra 🔫🇺🇸

Team USA won the Women’s 3×3 World Cup on a picture-perfect game winner by LSU’s Mikaylah Williams. 3×3 games are played to 21, and the Americans trailed 20-19 in the gold medal match against Australia when Williams pulled up from beyond the arc. Game, set, gold medal:

(Yeah, kinda feels like they should play win-by-two, right?)

Team USA went 7-0 in the tournament, which might make you think it was just blowout after blowout … but in fact, they won all their games by three points or fewer. And if you go back and watch them, you’ll see one Williams game winner after another.

• Their first game was an 18-15 win over Hungary. The final shot: a layup by Williams. Not the most impressive game winner in the set, tbh.

• Next up: Australia, their eventual opponents in the gold medal game. Team USA won 21-18, with the game ending on a foul line pull-up by Williams. 

• The next day, they beat Spain 21-18 on a two-point dagger by Williams.

• Their quarterfinal against France was an 18-16 win … believe it or not, no Mikaylah Williams game winner. Nice of her to let somebody else have one!

• But in the semifinals against Azerbaijan, it was Williams once again on a 19-18 overtime game winner, another free throw line pull-up.

• (Overtime is first-to-score-two, regardless of whether you win by two. No, I’m not mad about it.)

• The gold-medal-winning winner, though, was one of the biggest shots in the history of competitive international 3-on-3 basketball. It was the first time the gold medal match at the World Cup or the Olympics has been decided by a score of 21-20, in which one team was a point away from winning only to get sniped.

• Shambolic defense from the Australians. Why aren’t you doing everything to keep those shooters from taking twos when it’s the only way you can lose on that possession? And why did the defender jump into the air when Williams wasn’t even pump-faking?

• The 2024 men’s Olympic gold medal game had a similar come-from-behind two-pointer. The Netherlands beat France 18-17 in overtime on a walk-off two by Worthy de Jong.

• Williams might just be the best 3×3 player in the world. She was the back-to-back-to-back leading scorer at the 2021, 2022, and 2023 U18 3×3 World Cups. (And she was about two years younger than everybody at that first one!) Ahead of the 2024 Olympics, she was on a U23 team that played an exhibition at the WNBA All-Star Game against the Olympic Team USA, and almost won the damn thing.

• She was gonna be playing a big-time sports competition this week no matter what. As a high schooler, Williams was an elite softball prospect who committed to play at Louisiana-Lafayette for Gerry Glasco. Glasco brought a bunch of his Lafayette players to his new job at Texas Tech, which played in the Women’s College World Series last week.

• As for the Team men’s USA 3×3 squad … once again the roster was built out of 3×3 circuit guys while the women’s team was built out of elite college basketball players, and once again it finished well off the podium, losing in the quarterfinals to France.

• I am once again begging to be put in charge of the Team USA men’s 3×3 program. Until I get the gig, I’ll be over here celebrating Mikaylah Williams.

🏌️‍♀️⛳️ PHEW ⛳️🏌️‍♀️

Nelly Korda won the U.S. Women’s Open with the most nerve-wracking two-foot putt you’ll ever see. Incredible work with the blimp shot and the super slow-mo of the ball rolling around the lip:

Korda, btw, is having one of the most dominant golf seasons in recent memory — she’s won both majors this year and finished Top-2 in eight of nine events.

🇸🇪😳 HE CAN LOSE?!?! 😳🇸🇪

Swedish pole vaulting god Mondo Duplantis lost an event for the first time since 2023 in front of an adoring home crowd in Stockholm. Duplantis was on a 40-meet win streak before this weekend. Earlier in the year, he complained specifically about the venue in Stockholm, calling it an “unreliable” pole vaulting venue. Congrats to Australia’s Kurtis Marschall on getting a rare win … although he apologized to the Swedish crowd for “spoiling the show.”

🐎🏆 Golden again! 🏆🐎

Golden Tempo won the Belmont Stakes in another incredible last-to-first performance. It was the second time in two years that a horse won the Kentucky Derby, skipped the Preakness, then won the Belmont to go two-for-two in two Triple Crown races. Before Sovereignty last year, no horse had won two legs of the Triple Crown since Justify won all three in 2018.

🏆🐶 DOGTROVERSY???!?!?!? 🏆🐶

19-year-old Mirra Andreeva won the French Open and posed with the championship trophy with her adorable dog!

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…

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EXCEPT IT WASN’T HER ADORABLE DOG. She was posing with her coach’s dog, Luna. Her own adorable dog, Ressy, is a labradoodle she got in November after her mom promised she could get a dog if she reached the WTA Top 20. Andreeva had Ressy with her at Indian Wells, but the dog was nowhere to be seen in Paris.

Many questions: How does Ressy feel about this? WHERE IS RESSY? Why didn’t Andreeva bring her own dog even though Roland-Garros literally hired a dog concierge for all the players who wanted to bring their dogs? Where was the dog during the match? Is it aura-farming to pose with somebody else’s dog? If the Knicks win the Finals, will Mitch Robinson pose with one of his 19 dogs and the Larry O’Brien Trophy?

On Deck is written by Aidan Weiss and Rodger Sherman.

🤠🗽 SPURS-KNICKS 🗽🤠

Game 3: Monday, 8:30 p.m. ET; Game 4: Wednesday, 8:30 p.m. ET. Both in New York (ABC)

New York is two games away from an NBA championship. If they win those two games Monday and Wednesday, there might not be a New York by Friday. The flip side of that Wemby section earlier … we also should credit Karl-Anthony Towns! He’s not only doing great work defensively (allowing Mike Brown to maintain lineup switchability and generally avoid going double-big) but he has also been elite offensively, averaging 19 points and 12 rebounds through two games with the best plus-minus of anyone on the team.

🎰⛈️ GOLDEN KNIGHTS-HURRICANES ⛈️🎰

Game 4: Tuesday, 8 p.m. ET in Las Vegas; Game 5: Thursday, 8 p.m. ET in Raleigh (ESPN)

Is there a legit goalie controversy in Carolina? Bussi played well after replacing Freddie Andersen, who gave up those four goals. Who starts Game 4?

🏃🏃‍♀️ NCAA Track & Field Championships 🏃🏃‍♀️

June 10-13, in Eugene, Oregon (ESPN/ESPN2)

Both the men’s and women’s competitions are at the same venue, with the men competing on Thursday/Saturday while the women compete Friday/Sunday. NCAA.com ran down some of the records that could be set in Eugene. Maybe the #1 athlete to watch: BYU’s Jane Hedengren, a true freshman who has already broken the NCAA’s 5,000- and 10,000-meter records in her first year running college track.

Wanna hear me talk out loud about the Knicks instead of merely reading me writing about the Knicks? Great news! I went on Phantom Island last week to pitch my conspiracy theory on how the Knicks suddenly became good despite still being owned by James Dolan, the meddling billionaire whose scheming has been squashing the team’s success for 30-ish years.