đź‘‹Â Good morning! How jam-packed was this weekend in sports? Fox is airing the World Cup and wasn't even the busiest network as three champions (Knicks in the NBA, Hurricanes in the NHL, Louisville Kings in the UFL) were crowned on ABC. In today's edition: Knicks win it all, Canes hoist the Cup, World Cup opening weekend, two near-perfectos, UFC at the White House, Hamilton back on top, and more. |
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BING BONG! CHAMPIONS AT LAST |
(Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) |
For the first time in 53 years, the Knicks are NBA champions, clinching their long-awaited title on Saturday night with yet another comeback win over the Spurs. The long wait is over: New York's triumph broke one of the longest championship droughts in North American sports and united generations of Knicks fans — those who remembered the championships of yesteryear (1970, 1973) and those who spent decades only hearing about them. The longest waits between titles among "Big Four" teams: |
- Cubs: 108 years (1908-2016)
- White Sox: 88 years (1917-2005)
- Red Sox: 86 years (1918-2004)
- Twins/Senators: 63 years (1924-87)
- Eagles: 57 years (1960-2017)
- NY/SF Giants: 56 years (1954-2010)
- NY Rangers: 54 years (1940-94)
- Knicks: 53 years (1973-2026)
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Man of the hour: Two years ago, Jalen Brunson took $113 million less than he was eligible to receive — a financial concession that gave the Knicks the flexibility to build the roster that ultimately won them a championship. Brunson, fittingly, earned Finals MVP after scoring 45 points in the title-clinching game. Per usual, he gave all the credit to the guys around him. "Everyone bonding, coming together, having the mindset of just believing in each other, never giving up, no matter what the situation was, made this all possible. Yes, it may look like [the contract] had something to do with it, but it's a credit to my teammates." The series in a nutshell: New York led for only 23.6% of game minutes but turned it on when it mattered most, pulling off three of the five biggest comebacks in Finals history. San Antonio led by 8+ points at the end of every first quarter and held the lead in the final four minutes of all five games… and only won one of them. A truly unprecedented choke job. |
The celebration: New Yorkers celebrated late into the night on Saturday, taking to the streets to revel in glory. NYT's Matt Flegenheimer captured the scene beautifully: So this is how it feels. It is giggling, weeping, spinning, convulsing, mosh-pitting, truck-honking, law-skirting, trumpet-playing, cowbell-ringing, off-key-singing, cigar-lighting, all-night-ing — remembering to remember it all, as if Knicks fans would ever forget. It is hugging strangers so hard they go airborne, fist-bumping cabbies as they crawl through concrete delirium, high-fiving kids on shoulders (and adults on shoulders), climbing stoplights and trees and scaffolding to wave the team flag higher, swiping utility cones and wearing them as hats because they are orange. It is tears blotting the pavement outside Madison Square Garden, where New Yorkers had for generations walked off disappointment after debacle after heartbreak after OK-that's-just-cruel. It is kick-lining together to Sinatra in a Broadway bike lane ("Start spreading the newwwwws …") as a man nearby stands on a bus-stop bench to make an announcement to no one and everyone in particular ("Ladies and gentlemen! We have just witnessed historyyyyyyy!") — and it is the whole block calling back with the primal, guttural screams that stir dogs and babies and civilizations and memories of relatives who would have loved this team. What's next: The ticker-tape parade is scheduled for Thursday at 10am ET, with celebrations beginning near Manhattan's Battery Park before traveling north along Broadway through the Canyon of Heroes and ending at City Hall. |
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CANES WIN TITLE, FINISH OFF EPIC RUN |
(Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) |
The Hurricanes blanked the Golden Knights, 3-0, on Sunday night in Las Vegas to win the Stanley Cup Final in six games and secure the franchise's second title (2006). And they did so with an all-time great playoff run, going 16-3 for the fewest losses by a champion since the 1988 Oilers (16-2). |
(Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) |
Unlikely hero: Rookie goaltender Brandon Bussi didn't play a minute in the postseason until Game 3 of the Cup Final, when he was forced into action to replace an injured Frederik Andersen. Four games later, the undrafted 27-year-old etched his name into Hurricanes lore, stopping 81 of 87 shots and becoming the first rookie since 1937 to record a Cup-clinching shutout. |
(Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) |
Playoff MVP: 20-year veteran Jordan Staal, 37, scored six goals in the Cup Final en route to winning the Conn Smythe Trophy, making him the oldest player ever to be named MVP of the playoffs. And 17 years after winning the Cup in 2009 with the Penguins, he also now holds the NHL record for longest gap between titles. |
(Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) |
Franchise legend: Rod Brind'Amour is the most important person in Hurricanes history, and there is no close second. Since moving from Hartford in 1997, the Canes have won 104 playoff games, and Brind'Amour was either a player or coach in 102 of those wins (98.1%). The former captain, who played center for Carolina from 2000-10, is just the fourth man to captain and coach the same NHL team to a title. |
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AMERICAN MUSCLE: USA DOMINATES OPENER |
Folarin Balogun celebrates with Chris Richards after scoring the USMNT's third goal against Paraguay. (John Dorton/USSF/Getty Images) |
The USMNT entered the World Cup with numerous question marks and, it's probably fair to say, higher hopes than expectations. They left Friday's opener in Los Angeles with nothing less than the most emphatic win in team history. USA 4, Paraguay 1: The Americans raced out to a 1-0 lead on an own goal in the seventh minute and never looked back, going up 3-0 before the half en route to a 4-1 victory. The last time they won by that many goals in a World Cup match? 1930. The last time they scored that many goals in a World Cup match? Never. |
- The star of the match was striker Folarin Balogun, whose brace made him the first American with multiple goals in a World Cup game since 1930 and put him fifth on the USMNT's all-time World Cup scoring leaderboard.
- The final goal of the evening, a highlight-worthy trivela off the foot of midfielder Gio Reyna, came after 26 consecutive passes. Joga bonito, indeed.
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Wild stat: The U.S. have already scored more goals than they did in the entirety of the 2022 World Cup (3), which is impressive regardless of their opponent. But to do it against Paraguay, who had allowed just one goal total across their last four qualifiers, should give fans reason to believe that they could be in store for a magical summer. Steven Goff, Yahoo Sports: Taking into account the World Cup's magnitude, the pressure of being a host, SoFi Stadium's sweeping backdrop, the weight of an opening match, the number of eyeballs watching on screens both wide and handheld, this victory stands alone in U.S. men's soccer lore. Keep in mind the U.S. has not won much in the sport's preeminent competition: nine victories in 37 prior matches over 11 appearances and, since 1990, just two victories in 22 attempts against South American and European opponents. The Americans have been more apt to pull off a seismic upset (England in 1950, Colombia in 1994, Portugal in 2002) than to dominate an opponent with pedigree. So to not only win but to do so in such a punishing, attractive style shook a nervous fan base at home and sent tremors rippling across planet fútbol. The movement and fluidity, the hunger and confidence, the interplay in tight space and service from distance, the finishing touches … it was a ballet under a translucent roof that drew standing ovations. Was that really the same U.S. program that for years has disappointed and infuriated, never conjured a badly needed breakthrough moment, played hard and gutted out some good results but rarely charmed us? It was. |
Cyle Larin celebrates with his teammates after scoring a late equalizer for Canada. ( Charlotte Wilson/Getty Images) |
Weekend recap: The USMNT's victory was one of 10 games this weekend across five groups. |
- Group B: With a pair of 1-1 draws, Canada (against Bosnia and Herzegovina) and Qatar (against Switzerland) both earned their first-ever World Cup point.
- Group C: Scotland held off Haiti, 1-0, for their first World Cup victory since 1990, while Brazil and Morocco played to a 1-1 draw in one of the best on-paper matchups of the group stage.
- Group D: Australia stunned Turkey, 2-0, in a result that delivered a surprising jolt to the Americans' group. The U.S. plays Australia on Friday.
- Group E: Ivory Coast defeated Ecuador, 1-0, with a 90th-minute goal to hand them their first loss in 20 matches, and Germany demolished Curaçao, 7-1, in the tiny island nation's World Cup debut.
- Group F: Japan and the Netherlands drew, 2-2, in a thrilling clash that saw all four goals scored in the second half, and Sweden rolled to a 5-1 win over Tunisia for their most goals in a World Cup match since 1938.
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(John Fisher/Getty Images) |
⚾️ 104.5 mph  Brewers ace Jacob Misiorowski yet again broke his own record for the fastest pitch of the pitch-tracking era (since 2008), throwing a 104.5 mph fastball in Friday's 6-0 win over the Phillies as part of one of the greatest pitching performances in MLB history. The Miz struck out 15, walked none and allowed just one hit in the 95-pitch shutout — a near-perfect game that continued his historic hot streak. Since May 1, he's 7-0 with 80 strikeouts, 9 walks and a 0.17 ERA, the lowest in any eight-start span since earned runs became official in 1913.  Speaking of near-perfectos: Dodgers righty Yoshinobu Yamamoto lost his in the eighth inning on Saturday after retiring the first 23 batters he faced. Combine that with his previous start, when he set down the final 22 batters he faced, and his streak of 45 consecutive batters retired is tied for the second-longest in MLB history.  🏀 40+ points  Kelsey Plum (43 points) and Kahleah Copper (41) made history on Saturday, becoming the first pair of players in WNBA history to both score at least 40 points in the same game. Plum's Sparks outlasted Copper's Mercury, 111-102, in overtime.  Elsewhere: The Aces (10-3) beat the Lynx, 100-97, to snap their eight-game winning streak and leapfrog them into first place; the Liberty (10-4) won their seventh straight game in Sabrina Ionescu's return, joining Vegas and Minnesota (10-3) as the WNBA's only 10-win teams. |
(Clive Mason/Getty Images) |
🏎️ 106 wins  Lewis Hamilton won Sunday's Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix for his first Formula 1 victory since joining Ferrari last year, and his record-extending 106th overall. Hamilton's triumph snapped a five-race winning streak for Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who suffered mechanical failure with four laps to go.  Meanwhile, in France: Toyota beat BMW and Cadillac in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, earning their first win since 2022 and ending Ferrari's streak of three straight victories in the crown jewel of global endurance racing.  ⛳️ 239th start  Bud Cauley is a winner at last, holding off the field on Sunday at the Canadian Open for his first PGA Tour victory in his 239th start, which had been fifth-most among active golfers without a win.  Comeback kid: The 36-year-old Alabama native — who was roommates with Justin Thomas when they played for the Crimson Tide — had a promising career until a car crash in 2018 left him with five broken ribs, a broken leg and a collapsed lung. Cauley returned from a nearly four-year hiatus in 2024, carded four top-10 finishes in 2025 and finally broke through in 2026. |
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WATCHLIST: MONDAY, JUNE 15 | Georgia's Joey Volchko shut down Texas on Saturday with 15 strikeouts in a complete game victory. (Georgia Athletics) |
⚾️ College World Series  The action in Omaha continues this afternoon with an elimination game between No. 6 Texas and No. 7 Alabama (2pm ET, ESPN). Then it's No. 3 Georgia vs. Oklahoma (7pm, ESPN) for a spot in the semifinals. Tomorrow, the winner of the first game takes on the loser of the second game for another spot in the semis.  Weekend update: No. 5 North Carolina booked the first semifinal spot with a 5-2 win over No. 16 West Virginia; Troy beat Ole Miss, 12-8, to eliminate the Rebels and earn its first CWS win in program history.  ⚽️ World Cup, Day 5  Today's slate begins with Spain vs. Cape Verde in Atlanta (12pm, Fox), followed by Belgium vs. Egypt in Seattle (3pm, Fox), Saudi Arabia vs. Uruguay in Miami (6pm, FS1) and Iran vs. New Zealand in Los Angeles (9pm, FS1).  Player to watch: Lamine Yamal, 18, has already helped lead Barcelona to back-to-back LaLiga titles and Spain to the Euro 2024 championship. Now he'll make his World Cup debut, where he'll make his case as the world's best player.  More to watch: |
- ⚾️ MLB: Rays at Dodgers (10pm, ESPN) … Tampa's Nick Martinez (6-2, 2.43 ERA) has the third-best ERA in the AL. How will he fare against the NL's best offense?
- 🏀 WNBA: Aces at Wings (8pm, USA); Sparks at Valkyries (10pm, NBCSN) … A'ja Wilson (Aces), Paige Bueckers (Wings) and Kelsey Plum (Sparks) are among the top MVP candidates at the season's quarter-mark.
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The Knicks are the ninth NBA franchise to win at least 3 championships. Question: Can you name the other eight? |
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Trivia answer: Celtics (18), Lakers (17), Warriors (7), Bulls (6), Spurs (5), 76ers (3), Heat (3) and Pistons (3)Â |
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