Mavericks take Game 1; Panthers shut out Rangers; Brink tops Clark in rookie rankings

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Good morning everyone, but especially…

KYRIE IRVING AND LUKA DONCIC

O Minnesota Timberwolves could have seen Kyrie Irving It is Luka Doncic in your nightmares last night. This is because the Dallas Mavericks‘dynamic duo torched the Timberwolves for a combined 63 points en route to a 108-105 victory in Game 1 of the NBA Western Conference Finals.

This game was a tale of two halves for the Mavericks’ biggest stars. In the first half, Irving scored 24 of his 30 points and kept Dallas in the game while the rest of the team only had 35 points. Before this game, Irving was averaging just six points per game in the first half in the playoffs, so the Mavs are lucky he pressed the button earlier this time.

Not to be left behind, Doncic wanted to help Irving and turned on the afterburner in the final stretch. Doncic scored 15 of his 33 points in the fourth quarter, including a step-back jumper that gave the Mavs a four-point lead with 49 seconds remaining.

Doncic has had a somewhat uneven postseason run as he battled some injury issues, but he may finally be in good shape. In his key takeaways, our own Jack Maloney says there are signs that Doncic’s peak is returning at the right time.

• Maloney: “In his last three games, Doncic is averaging 31 points, 8.6 rebounds and 9.7 assists. This is the Doncic who made First Team All-NBA and finished third in MVP voting. If the Mavericks want to win the series, they’ll need this version of their star to stick around.”

At the battle between Doncic and Timberwolves star Antonio Eduardo, the first round goes to the skilled Slovenian. That’s not to say Edwards was bad in Game 1. Coming off a tremendous performance in Game 7 in the second round, Edwards nearly had a triple-double, recording 19 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists.

Honorable mentions

And it’s not a good day to…

THE NEW YORK RANGERS

New York may be the city that never sleeps, but the guards‘The offense didn’t get out of bed for Game 1 of the NHL Eastern Conference Finals. For the first time this postseason, New York was eliminated in a 3-0 loss to Florida Panthers.

The Rangers’ unstoppable attacking force met the immovable object that is the Panthers’ defense, and the Panthers refused to budge on Wednesday night. All New York could muster was 23 shots on goal, and their lethal power play went 0-2 while only getting four shots on the Florida goalie. Sergei Bobrovsky.

It’s not often that Rangers find themselves on the wrong end of a difficult situation. One of the most explosive teams in the NHL this season, the last time New York laid goose eggs was on December 9, in a 4-0 loss to the Washington capitalsas our own Chris Bengel points out in his recap.

To be fair, New York scored a goal. Turns out it was on its own network. With just 3:48 remaining in the third period and the Panthers leading 1-0, Alexis Lafrenière diverted one Carter Verhaeghe pass between the legs of the Rangers goalkeeper Igor Shesterkin in a moment of rupture for the blue shirts.

On paper, New York has the advantage in net in this series, but has utterly failed to test Bobrovsky with dangerous scoring chances. That will have to change for the Rangers to win Game 2, but generating offense will continue to be a difficult task against a Panthers team that is now allowing just 2.25 goals per game.

Game 2 will be on Friday night at Madison Square Garden, and you can follow the entire conference finals schedule with our complete NHL playoff bracket.

Not-so-honorable mentions

NFL Offensive Infrastructure Ratings

The old cliché is that defense wins championships, but try telling that to Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs.

Offense rules the modern NFL, and teams must be able to score to compete for the Super Bowl. Of course, getting the right combination of offensive pieces is easier said than done, and some teams have been more successful than others.

In our NFL offensive infrastructure rankings, CBS Sports experts analyzed every offense in the league, taking the following into consideration:

• Quarterback
• Game Caller
• Offensive line
• Wide receivers and tight ends
• Runners

O New England Patriots were in a terrible league on their own, but at least they can only go up from here. O Carolina Panteras, Las Vegas Invaders It is Denver Broncos they were also not far ahead of New England.

Closer to the top, there were some intriguing rankings in Tier 2, which covered numbers 4-9. Perhaps the biggest surprise was that the Houston Texans were tied with the Los Angeles Rams for the sixth. Our own Jared Dubin explained how the Texans have made such huge strides in 2023.

• Dubin: “CJ Stroud performed like an elite quarterback last year. If he does that again, his rating will go up, and the Texans will likely go up as well. We would just like to see him again before rating him that way. Given the The addition of Stefon Diggs to the receiving corps and what we hope will be an improved offensive line, let’s just say we are optimistic about the prospects of a repeat performance.”

Check out which NFL offenses were head and shoulders above – and below – the rest in our full rankings.

NCAA agrees to pay $2.8 billion in historic settlement

Amateurism, the fundamental concept upon which the NCAA was built, may be coming to an end in college athletics.

On Wednesday night, the NCAA Board of Governors voted to accept $2.8 billion antitrust lawsuit settlement in the case of House v. NCAA. The SEC and Pac-12 are expected to do the same thing on Thursday.

The landmark case now sets the stage for some monumental changes in college athletics. The ramifications will be far-reaching, and while it’s impossible to know how it will all play out right now, our own Brandon Marcello has hit on some of the key points.

• Former athletes will be compensated for previous NIL income restrictions.
• Power Four schools could pay athletes $20 million annually under a new revenue-sharing agreement.
• Scholarship limits can be increased while list sizes are reduced.
• Group of Five schools and nonprofit sports may struggle to stay afloat.

By accepting this agreement, the NCAA and its member institutions will also take a major financial hit.

• The NCAA will be responsible for paying 40% of this $2.8 billion settlement.
• The other 60% will be funded by reduced revenue sharing with Division I conferences.
• These 32 leagues will see a total of $1.6 billion in lost revenue over the next decade.

This is a huge step toward the next era of college athletics, but the battle is far from over. The shadow of Title IX looks big, and Marcello explains how this could be a key at work.

• Marcelo: “Title IX also complicates things, and future court battles may arise. The unspoken truth among administrators is that they seem unlikely to advocate equal pay for athletes whose sports earn less than football and men’s basketball.”

Brink tops Clark in our WNBA rookie rankings

The WNBA’s newest crop of stars now have a few games under their belt, and one player has stood out among the rest.

#1 overall pick Caitlin Clark played well, despite the Indian Fever0-5 start. Clark is averaging 17.8 points, 5.8 assists and 4.6 rebounds per game. Not bad for a newbie, but not good enough for first place in our Isabel Gonzalez’s WNBA Rookie Rankings.

That honor belongs to Cameron Brinkold Stanford star and the second overall pick of the Sparks of Los Angeles. Brink may not be scoring as much as Clark, but she wasted no time in taking her stingy defense to the professional level.

• González: “Naismith’s 2024 Defensive Player of the Year is already translating her elite skills on that end of the court to the WNBA. Brink shot just 2-for-2 from the field on Tuesday, but added eight rebounds, three assists, three steals and four blocks in an excellent all-around effort.”

Brink’s teammate, former Lady Vols stand out Rickea Jackson, also ranked in the top five after shooting 42.9% from three-point range in his first three games. Clark will face Brink and Jackson on Friday night when the Sparks host the Fever. Stay tuned to see if this matchup shakes up the rookie ratings.

What will we watch on Thursday

Round 1: Charles Schwab Challenge4pm on Golf Channel
Heaven in Freedom7pm on Prime Video
Game 2: Pacers at Celtics8pm on ESPN
Game 1: Oilers in the Stars8:30 pm on TNT