Donovan Mitchell rallies Cavs to Game 7 win; Kyle Larson sets NASCAR record with photo finish at Kansas

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Good morning everyone, but especially…

DONOVAN MITCHELL AND THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS

Falling behind by 18 points in the first half it’s probably not the best Game 7 strategy, but it worked for the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday. DonovanMitchell caught fire and helped the Cavs get back to a 106-94 beat the Orlando Magician.

With 4:17 remaining in the second quarter, Paulo Banchero hit a couple of free throws to give the Magic a 49-31 lead. At that moment, it looked like Orlando might waltz into the second round, but the The Cavaliers flipped a switch and completely reversed the momentum with Mitchell leading the way.

Mitchell finished the game with 39 points, nine reboundsIt is five assists. At the third quarterthe Magic had no tricks up their sleeves to slow down Mitchell, who went for 17 points when the Cavs went from fell by 10 to lead by eight.

• The Cav’s 18 point recovery it was the greatest of the NBA play-by-play era (since 1996-97).
• Mitchell’s 89 points in Games 6 and 7 are a new franchise record for two-game playoff stretch.
• This was the first grade the Cavaliers have won without LeBron James since they beat the Nets in 1993.

Our own Sam Quinn wrote about how important it was for the Cavaliers to overcome the obstacle in the post-LeBron era.

• Quinn: “They took their first big step in that direction on Sunday, and it’s a bigger step than any Cavaliers team without James has taken in three decades. They have a long way to go before they can measure up to LeBron, but with their Game 7 victory, Garland, Mitchell, Evan Mobley, Max Strus and Isaac Okoro can at least enter the history books with Daugherty, Nance, Price , Ehlo and Sanders as starters for the Cavaliers to lead the team to the second round.

The Cavaliers will now assume the No. 1 position Boston Celtsa team that has been resting since eliminating the Miami Heat in five games. That series begins Tuesday night in Boston.

Honorable mentions

And it wasn’t such a good day for…

THE GOLDEN KNIGHTS OF VEGAS

Heavy is the head that wears the crown, and the Vegas Golden Knights lost their title as kings of the NHL on Sunday night. O Dallas Stars eliminated the current Stanley Cup champions, 2-1on a Game 7.

This series loss will poke the Golden Knights for many reasons, but perhaps the worst pain comes from the fact that they won 2-0 in the series after winning the first two games in Dallas. Historically, teams that won their first two away games they were 89-21 all timebut that record is a little worse now.

Instead, Vegas lost the next three games and needed a Game 6 win just to force Game 7. After jumping out to a 2-0 lead, the Golden Knights’ luck ran out in attack.

• The Golden Knights scored just seven goals in the last five games from the series.
• Tomas Hertl registered only a goal in the series after being acquired within the trade deadline.
• After placing 11 goals in last year’s Stanley Cup run, Ivan Barbashev finished this series with zero goals.

Ultimately, Vegas made life difficult for itself when it fell to second place as a wild card in the Western Conference, but there’s no shame in losing to the Stars. This was a clash of the titans, and as I pointed out in my Game 7 recapone of them had to go home early.

• Nivison: “This series was highly anticipated and did not disappoint. Despite the distance between these two teams in the standings, it was a clash of two true Stanley Cup contenders and one had to lose. The Stars deserved to win, but the defending champions brought a lot of fight in what was a true heavyweight fight.”

After going all-in at the trade deadline again in 2024, the Golden Knights will have to watch the rest of the postseason From home.

Not-so-honorable mentions

Larson wins via photo submission at Kansas Speedway

On Saturday, the Kentucky Derby finished with a photographic finish when Mystic Dan overcame Sierra Leone It is Eternally young by a nose. Don’t be surpassed, NASCAR produced a own photographic finishing with Kyle Larson winning the closest race in Cup Series history.

O AdventHealth 400 it went into overtime on Sunday night, and the end was worth waiting for. Larson fought his way to the outside Chris Buescher in turns 3 and 4, and these two crossed the finish line almost simultaneously.

Unfortunately for Buescher, the word “almost” is key here. After a review, NASCAR officials determined that Larson beat Buescher to the finish line by 0.001 secondsbecoming the the closest result the Cup Series has ever seen.

Larson needed every inch of the track to attack Buescher, and as you might expect, he’s excited to be racing on more 1.5-mile tracks.

• Larsson: “Simply amazing… I wish we had another mile. We all complained about the [aero] package and everything, but these cars run amazing.”

Larson and Buescher were the two best cars at Kansas, with the former leading 64 laps and the latter running ahead for 53 laps. In the end, Larson had the last laugh and six points more than Buescher in the Cup Series standings.

The picks for the second round of the NBA playoffs have arrived

With the Cavaliers’ Game 7 victory over the Magic, the first round of the NBA playoffs is already in the books. With the second round approaching, the CBS Sports experts shared their picks for each confrontation.

O Minnesota Timberwolves It is Denver Nuggets their second-round series has already begun, and the T-Wolves the upset arose with a 106-99 victory on Saturday night. The rest of the series will begin this week, and the CBS Sports NBA experts have called their shots.

One of the most anticipated clashes is the Eastern Conference matchup between the New York Knicks It is Indiana Pacers. Even though the Pacers defeated the Milwaukee Bucks in six games, our experts don’t think they have enough to surpass Jalen Brunson and the battle-tested Knicks.

James Herbert chose the Knicks at five because of your lack of faith in the Pacers defense.

• Herbert: “I think the Sixers series prepared New York well defensively and I’m worried about the Pacers on the glass. It’s possible that Tyrese Haliburton goes into his supernova mode early in the season and makes that prediction look silly, but I’m not convinced that Indiana is strong enough on defense to expose the Knicks’ over-reliance on Jalen Brunson.”

There were some other interesting nuggets From the experts’ second round picks:

• Jasmyn Wimbish took a risk when the single to defeat the Timberwolves about the defending champions.
• Even with a Kristaps Porzingis injuryeveryone sees one short series between Celtics and Cavs.
• Five of the six experts wait one Game 7 Between the Thunder It is Independents.

What will we watch on Monday

Tigers in Guardians6:10 pm on FS1
Game 1: Pacers at Knicks7:30 pm on TNT
Game 1: Bruins vs. Panthers8pm on ESPN
Game 2: Timberwolves at Nuggets10pm on TNT