Knicks, Nuggets storm back with dramatic game-winners | Examining 76ers, Lakers collapse

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Happy Tuesday, everyone! It's Zach Pereles back in the saddle -- thanks to Austin for filling in -- and what a day to return.

Let's get right to it.

Good morning to everyone but especially ...

THE DENVER NUGGETS AND THE NEW YORK KNICKS

Jamal Murray. The Denver Nuggets. What more can I say?

Denver stormed back from a 20-point deficit to beat the Lakers101-99 on Murray's buzzer-beaterover the outstretched right arm of Anthony Davis to take a 2-0 series lead.

After trailing 68-48 in the third quarter, Denver outscored Los Angeles 53-31 the rest of the way.

Murray himself outscored Los Angeles 6-2 in the final minute, fittingly hitting jumpers over both LeBron James and Davis. Isabel Gonzalez has a great piece on the Nuggets' cold-blooded point guard.

Nikola Jokic finished with 27 points, 20 rebounds and 10 assists. It's his fourth career 25/20/10 playoff game. Everyone else in NBA history has combined for four. So, yeah, not bad!

As Hall-of-Fame coachRudy Tomjanovich once said, "Don't ever underestimate the heart of a champion." The reigning champs showed they have plenty of heart in their quest for a repeat.

That was the craziest finish of the night, although the nearly 20,000 fans at Madison Square Garden might disagree. The Knicks have officially brought magic back to The Garden. In an absolutely wild comeback/76ers collapse (really both), New York flipped a 101-96 deficit in under 30 seconds to a 104-101 win and a 2-0 series lead.

Sam Quinn broke down the last minute.

Kyle Lowry made a free throw to put the visitors up five, butJalen Brunson got a friendly bounce on a 3-pointer to cut New York's deficit to two with 27.1 seconds left.

Lowry then threw a risky inbounds pass to Tyrese Maxey, who got the ball poked away, recovered it, fell to the ground and threw the ball away in the process, opting not to call (or forgetting he had) a timeout.

Donte DiVincenzo missed a wide-open 3-pointer, but Isaiah Hartenstein

got the offensive rebound in between four different 76ers, and DiVincenzo cashed his second chance, putting New York ahead, 101-100.

Hartenstein blocked Maxey on the other end, OG Anunoby made two free throws, and Joel Embiid's heave at the buzzer went begging.

The Knicks are up 2-0 despite massive struggles from Brunson, their leading scorer, and the absence of Julius Randle, their second-leading scorer. Instead, they have unsung heroes like the tireless Josh Hart (21 points, 15 rebounds), the opportunistic, efficient Hartenstein (18 points, eight rebounds) and, of course, DiVincenzo (19 points). James Herbert has more on

just how integral DiVincenzo is to New York.

Honorable mentions

The Cavaliers beat the Magic, 96-86, to take a 2-0 series advantage. Five Cavaliers scored in double figures, led by Donovan Mitchell's 23. Cleveland is holding Orlando to an average of just 84.5 points, the fewest by any team through two playoff games since the 2019 Pacers.

The Chiefs

extended Andy Reid, Brett Veach and Mark Donovan.

The Broncos released new uniforms and

signed

Levi Wallace. Cody Benjamin ranks the new uniforms league-wide.

Here's our top 75 transfer tracker.

Tiger Woods' TGL team

addedMax Homa, Tom KimandKevin Kisner.

AfteraddingPurduetransferMason Gillis,Dukejumped in

Gary Parrish's Top 25 And 1

Congrats to Matt Ryan on calling it a career!

JJ Redick will interview for the Hornets' job.

Cody Williams

declared for the NBA Draft. He goes 16th in Kyle Boone's latest mock draft.

Here are the

best spring football transfer portal fits so far.

The NCAA D-I Boardapproved allowing instant eligibility for multi-time transfers.

Inter won Serie A.

And not such a good morning for ...

THE LOS ANGELES LAKERS AND THE PHILADELPHIA 76ERS

The ending was all too fitting: Murray being mobbed by his teammates inches from Davis, who could only pick himself up and sulk away.

For so much of the night, Davis had been brilliant, but he went scoreless and took just one shot in the fourth quarter. Even James' greatness -- 12 fourth-quarter points -- couldn't make up for that, and James' wide-open miss with 16 seconds left proved to be another missed opportunity.

Simply put, the Lakers went away from everything that was working, Sam Quinn writes. And here are the three biggest mistakes Darvin Ham made. Now, a team the Lakers sought out after last year's sweep is halfway to sweeping them again.

Speaking of meltdowns, we've seen a lot of them from the 76ers. This one might be the worst. But it was much more than the last minute that sunk the 76ers.

Embiid isn't close to 100%. While 34 points is nothing to sneeze at, he needed 29 shots to get there, and he wasn't his normal, dominant self at either end. New York nabbed 12 offensive rebounds and outscored Philadelphia 40-28 in the paint.

Still, the struggles when Embiid exits

remain. Philadelphia outscored New York by three in Embiid's 39 minutes and got outscored by six in the nine minutes he sat. He's being pushed beyond his brink, but the 76ers have no chance without him.

The non-Embiid, non-Maxey (35 points, 10 assists) players shot 12 for 33 (36%) from the floor.

The referees didn't help -- the 76ers plan to file a grievance -- but you often create your own luck ... or lack thereof.

It's the same story every postseason. Embiid is hobbled. The supporting cast isn't good enough. They can't close. Postgame, Embiid had the audacity to say,"We should be 2-0. We're good. We're going to win this series."

Should begets you nowhere. Embiid and the 76ers should know that better than anyone.

Not so honorable mentions

Aaron Boone got ejected because a fan heckled the umpire. Really.

The Falcons and Eagles could be facing punishment for tampering in the

Kirk Cousins and

Saquon Barkley deals, respectively.

Rashee Rice will reportedly face a multi-game suspension for his role in a multi-vehicle accident.

Neither team did well in the Zach Wilson deal, Cody says in his trade grades. Man, the

2021 quarterback class was awful.

Jakob Junis was hospitalized after being hit in the neck by a ball during batting practice.

NFL Draft: Our latest (and nearly last) mock drafts

We're just two days away from the NFL Draft, and Ryan Wilson has submitted his penultimate mock: what teams should do. Here's Ryan's top five:

Bears: QB Caleb Williams -- "This hasn't changed since last August, and I never understood why any other player was in the QB1 conversation ..."

Commanders: QB Jayden Daniels -- "No player improved more over the last 12 months ..."

Patriots: QB Drake Maye -- "If the Patriots can be patient ... he'll have a chance to be really good."

Cardinals: WR Marvin Harrison Jr. --

"NFL evaluators know how good he is ..."

Chargers: WR Malik Nabers -- "Nabers has Ja'Marr Chase-type potential from the moment he steps onto an NFL field ..."

Interestingly, Ryan says quarterback-needy teams sitting outside the top three should see who falls, not trade up. That meansfive quarterbacks go in the top 12 of this mock.R.J. White, meanwhile, has a trade-filled mockand his favorite

draft prop bets.

Quarterback has been the talk of the draft for months, and the headlines keep coming.

One anonymous head coach said he'd pick Daniels over Williams, and Pete Prisco agrees in his own "what they should do" mock draft.

The Commanders took an

unorthodox -- and not unanimously popular -- approachin their interview process.

Could this surprise team select a quarterback?

Michael Penix Jr.

made his case.

But there's plenty of talent among players who rush the quarterback, too. Former Vikings GM Rick Spielman divided top edge rushers into tiers, with NFL comparisons and best fits.

Scottie Scheffler wins RBC Heritage, his fourth win in five events

Not even Mother Nature can stop Scottie Scheffler. The world No. 1finished off a three-stroke victory at the RBC Heritage on Monday, becoming the first player since Tiger Woodsin 2006 to win an event the week after winning a major and the first player to win four PGA Tour events in a five-start span since Woods in 2007.

In the last month and a half, Scheffler has ...

Won the Arnold Palmer Invitational

Won The Players Championship

Tied for second at the Houston Open

Won the Masters

Won the RBC Heritage

... and netted a cool $16.25 million.

Simply put, Scheffler isplaying as well as anyone has since peak Woods, Kyle Porter writes.

Porter: "39 and 67.5: Scheffler has opened the season with -- count 'em -- 39 consecutive rounds at par or better. His scoring average is currently 67.50. The PGA Tour record for scoring average in a season is 67.79 by Tiger."

At this point, Scheffler not winning would be bigger news than him winning. With the PGA Championship next month, it's not unreasonable towonder about a Scottie Slam. He's that good, and no one is close.

What we're watching Tuesday

Game 2: Capitals at Rangers, 7 p.m. on ESPNGame 2: Suns at Timberwolves, 7:30 p.m. on TNTGame 2: Lightning at Panthers, 7:30 p.m. on ESPN2 Astros at Cubs, 7:40 p.m. on TBSGame 2: Pacers at Bucks, 8:30 p.m. on NBA TVGame 2: Avalanche at Jets, 9:30 p.m. on ESPNGame 2: Mavericks at Clippers, 10 p.m. on TNTGame 2: Predators at Canucks, 10 p.m. on ESPN2

The PGA Tour

The First Cut

80 teams are set to tee off this weekend at TPC Louisiana! The PGA Tour continues with the Zurich Classic of New Orleans this Saturday and Sunday at 3 PM ET on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.Watch Live

The First Cut takes you inside the ropes of the golf world, on the PGA Tour and beyond. Tournament previews and picks, deep dives into the players and storylines that matter in the sport of golf.Listen Now

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