The Pulse newsletter 📣 | This is The Athletic’s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Pulse straight to your inbox.
Good morning! Free chicken for everyone.
The coming week: All hail the Western Conference
There are normal basketball weeks, and then there is this week. Yesterday’s NBA regular season finale, usually a quiet day, was electric. The playoff games are set, with the Play-Ins starting tomorrow. And tonight we have one of the most interesting WNBA drafts of all time.
We’ll start with the current pros. Here is our Eastern Conference playoff run:
Two things:
- Boston is the big favorite in the East, but I would be wary of Philadelphia, who sits in seventh place and has a Play-In date with the Heat on Wednesday. This game will be so much fun.
- The Knicks should be happy to win second placebut I have doubts about their progress without Julius Randle. Maybe Jalen Brunson averages 35 points per game while playing 48 minutes each night.
And here is the West:
Oh baby. This is our best installment, due to the sheer talent across the board. Two things:
- Huge, huge props to the Thunder for clinching the No. 1 seed, edging out the defending champion Nuggets. I’m excited to see what the youngest No. 1 in league history looks like in a playoff series.
- Each series is fascinating. The Mavs and Clippers have a long history in the playoffs. Minnesota, just one game behind the top seed, instead sees Kevin Durant and Devin Booker. LeBron James, Steph Curry and Zion Williamson are all on Play-In teams. Phew.
And before all that, Catilin Clark has his moment tonight:
We also have more fun playing basketball later. But first, the green stuff:
Legacies: Scottie Scheffler claims an era
A few months ago, we were all worried about Scottie Scheffler’s putter. One club stopped the best ball striker since Tiger Woods from becoming arguably the best generally player since Tiger.
There are no more worries. Not for Scheffler, who completed a competitive Masters field yesterday for his second green jacket in three years. His fence was amazing to look at. With victory, he undoubtedly becomes the best player of this era.
Just look at these numbers:
- Scheffler now has nine PGA Tour victorieswhich includes these two major tournaments, two Players Championships and two Arnold Palmer Invitational victories. There are three players with two green jackets and two championship players: Jack Nicklaus, Woods and Scheffler. Gadzook.
- Scheffler, 27, is the fourth youngest player to win two Masters titles. The others: Nicklaus (25 years old), Woods (25 years old) and Seve Ballesteros (26 years old).
- He has been world No. 1 for 83 of the last 107 weeks. It is Hard to imagine him falling off the perch anytime soon.
There is a scenario in which Scheffler also enjoys 10 more years of top-notch golf. Who is there to stop him from racking up major victories? Rory McIlroy last won a major in 2014. Brooks Koepka has made a nice comeback, but is nowhere as consistent. Jon Rahm is possible, but he missed the cut this week.
Justin Ray compiled a list of stunning statistics from Scheffler’s victory, drawing more than one comparison to Woods. Brendan Quinn also wrote a beautiful ode to the unknowns of golfwho have never been as present as yesterday at Augusta National.
- Another Masters story that I loved: Neal Shipley, the low amateur this week at Augusta, got to play with Tiger Woods on Sunday, an experience the Ohio State graduate student will never forget. Brendan Quinn a great article on Shipley’s dream week.
News to know
White Sox add Pham
Tommy Pham is join the Chicago White Sox on a minor league contract, Athleticism» reported Ken Rosenthal. It’s been a strange offseason for Pham, who helped guide the Diamondbacks to the World Series last year and yet couldn’t find a job over the winter. The 36-year-old was No. 33 on our MLB Free Agent Big Board, but had to wait until the first month of the season to land with the league’s worst team on a minor league deal. Odd.
Gauthier’s rapid recovery
Boston College hockey star Cutter Gauthier has signed with the Anaheim Ducks and is set to make his NHL debut tomorrowjust three days later lose NCAA title game. This also happens months later Gauthier fended off the Philadelphia Flyerswho selected him fifth overall in 2022. What a year.
No more news
Things to see: Boban delivers chicken
At Clippers home games, fans receive free chicken sandwiches from Chick-fil-A if the opposing team misses two consecutive free throws. Boban Marjanović, who played for the visiting Rockets yesterday, stepped to the free throw line after missing his first shot. The crowd was frothy.
Marjanović, one of the best personalities in the league, played in front of the crowd and delivered one of the best moments of the season on his last day:
“AHH HE GAVE HIM CHICKEN! HE’S A MAN OF THE PEOPLE! HE’S A MAN OF THE PEOPLE!”
“Do you think he did that on purpose?”
“HE DID IT! HE GAVE OUT FREE CHICKEN!” 🏀🍗🎙️🤣pic.twitter.com/7wVKUMPDRU
– Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 15, 2024
This was an intentional miss in Game 82 in a contest that didn’t matter for playoff positioning. With sandwiches to boot. Click the gif to watch the video, which features a crazy and funny call from the Clippers commentators.
There’s almost a 100 percent chance I’ll say, “HE GAVE THEM CHICKEN!” HE’S A MAN OF THE PEOPLE! randomly to my wife this week.
Watch this match
NHL: Bruins vs. Capitals
7 p.m. ET on NHL Network/NESN
All playoff spots in the Western Conference are clinched, but we still have work to do in the East. Five teams are vying for two places, including the Caps, who will face the Atlantic Division leader while clinging to a wild card spot via the tiebreaker. It’s going to be a fun week.
MLB: Royals vs. White Sox
7:40 p.m. ET on ESPN+
The White Sox are already putridbut the Royals are a nice surprise at 10 a.m.-6 p.m.. They are only a half-game away from what should be a competitive AL Central this year. Small sample? Maybe. If so, watch while they have fun. If it’s real, get there early.
Pulse selection
On Friday, Katie Strang released a shocking and in-depth report into the rape and sexual assault allegations against the former Kentucky swimming coach Lars Jorgenson. I invite you to read the full story.
Free agent deals for Saquon Barkley And Josh Jacobs signal a change in how the NFL values running backs? Jeff Howe I looked at the numbers and left without.
I loved this from Max Olson: the five types of college programs you encounter in the transfer portal. No one is better than Max at writing about the portal.
THE Marc Pape hire to Kentucky may have encountered initial resistance, but his catchy introduction at Rupp Arena was enough to rile up college basketball’s most passionate fan base.
Most clicked in the newsletter yesterday: The latest update on the Arizona Coyotes possible/probable move to Salt Lake City.
Most read on the site yesterday: If you haven’t seen it, Caitlin Clark’s SNL Cameo Is Worth Watching.
Subscribe to our other newsletters:
The rebound 🏀 | Liquidation ⚾ | Full time ⚽ | Athletic FC ⚽| Main tire 🏁 | Until Saturday 🏈 | City Scoop 🏈
(Photo: Zach Beeker/Getty Images)