In the long, 78-year history of the New York Knicks franchise, few moments and few games exceed the drama, shock and euphoria that the final 47.1 seconds of Game 2 of their opening round, best-of-seven, Eastern Conference playoff series against the Philadelphia 76ers at Madison Square Garden on Monday night engendered.

Trailing 101-96, the Knicks appeared headed for a loss and destined to go to Philadelphia tied 1-1 after taking Game 1 on Saturday at the Garden 111-104. Instead, by the time the humongous overhead scoreboard hovering above the court showed the game had officially ended with the Knicks winning 104-101, the building literally vibrated from the crowd’s collective thunderous shouts of exhilaration. Now they head to Philadelphia up 2-0 before Game 3 tonight (7:30 p.m.). Let’s recap how the tables turned: A 23-foot, 3-pointer from near the left corner in front of the 76ers bench by Jalen Brunson with 27.1 seconds remaining; a steal by Josh Hart at 16.1, muscling the ball from the 76ers fallen Tyrese Maxey, who was lying on his back on the 76ers ensuing in-bound pass by Kyle Lowry, leading to a go-ahead 25-foot, 3-pointer by Donte DiVincenzo from behind the top of circle with 13 seconds left; two ice-cold, pressurized foul shots by OG Anunoby at 6.1 seconds; and a missed, potential game tying 3-point attempt by 76ers center Joel Embiid as time expired.

Instant classic!

“We don’t give up. I think there are a lot of teams that probably would have given up in that situation,” said Knicks center Isaiah Hartenstein, who had a critical offensive rebound to give DiVincenzo another chance to put the Knicks up after his first 3-point try was off target seconds before his decisive basket.

“It starts with Thibs (head coach Tom Thibodeau). He always believes no game is ever safe, so he instills it in us. It starts with him and the whole team had a belief that we could come back and it worked out.”

Thibodeau, who was a Knicks assistant from 1996-2003, placed Game 2 among the most memorable he has been a part of.

“Well, there have been some pretty wild finishes but that was right up there with the best of them,” he recalled. “That just shows you what the playoffs is all about. Oftentimes it’s a hustle play here, a hustle play there, just find a way to win…We got a lot of contributions from different people.”

With All-Star guard Jalen Brusnon laboring to counter the 76ers, physical, swarming defensive scheme being employed against him, shooting just 16-55 combined in Games 1 and 2, no Knick has embodied their will to win more than Josh Hart. The guard-forward has been tenacious and relentless on both ends of the court, posting team highs of 22 points and 13 rebounds in Game 1 followed by an indelible 21 points and 15 boards on Monday.

“He gives the team toughness, real toughness,” Thibodeau said of Hart. “It’s a big part of the fabric of this team.”

Game 4 is Sunday in Philadelphia at 1:00 p.m.

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It’s been an interesting couple of years for the women of Long Island University’s softball team. The LIU Sharks are again having a winning season and are looking to repeat as Northeast Conference champions and earn a trip to the NCAA Division I Softball Tournament.

“I’ve learned so many life lessons that I believe will really prepare me for after I’m done here at LIU,” said sophomore Nyae’ Dick, who grew up playing multiple sports, focusing on softball in high school. The science high school she attended did not have a softball team, so she played travel ball. In addition to sports, she focused on her studies, doing dual enrollment—attending high school and a community college simultaneously. By the time she received her high school diploma, Dick had also earned an associate degree, so she was able to enter LIU as a junior academically.

“That has allowed me to graduate with my bachelor’s degree this May,” she said. “I’ll be starting my master’s in exercise science this fall.”

As they hone their skills on the field, the players have also exercised their voices off it. When the university sought to relocate the team to its LIU Post campus on Long Island, members of the team filed a Title IX lawsuit. LIU has agreed to keep the team based in Brooklyn, at least until the conclusion of the 2025 softball season.
Dick admitted the lawsuit was stressful, but edifying. “I learned what it means to have courage and be resilient in the fight for what you believe is right,” she said.

With their location settled for now, the team still has a slate of games to play. The Sharks are in the thick of conference action, with the NEC Tournament beginning on May 9.

“I love the competitiveness [of softball], the teamwork, and the feeling of winning games together and cheering my teammates on,” said junior Jazmine Cuffie, who grew up on Long Island and started playing softball at age 10. “Everyone on this team competes and works hard together.”

Cuffie is studying childhood education and plans to become a fourth-grade teacher. Her father is a role model: He has been a teacher for 20 years and was also a collegiate athlete.

“I’m hoping to make improvements as an individual and as a team,” said Cuffie, who is graduating in December, making this her final season. “My goal is to get to the championship of the NEC, win, and go to regionals.”

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The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Denver Nuggets 126-108 on December 16, 2022. Since then, LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and the Lakers have lost 10 games in a row to Denver, including a 4-0 sweep in last year’s Western Conference Finals and two defeats in the opening round of this year’s playoffs.

The Lakers came close to ending the losing streak on Monday in Game 2 of their best-of-seven series, as they led by 20 points in the third quarter. But Nuggets point guard Jamal Murray nailed a fadeaway jumper over Davis as time expired, with the Lakers big man falling in front of the Nuggets bench as teammates mobbed Murray in celebration. The 101-99 win added to the unsolved puzzle the Lakers have in front of them that is the Nuggets.

It starts with the Nuggets’ two-time league MVP and last season’s Finals MVP Nikola Jokic, who punished the Lakers with 27 points, 20 rebounds and 10 assists in Game 2.

“Obviously, the only game that matters now is Game 3 and how we can get better,” said James after Game 2. “How we can figure this team out. So Game 3 is where my mindset is.”
James was also highly critical of the officiating, arguing questionable calls that went in favor of the Nuggets as well as non-calls impacted the outcome.  

“I don’t understand what’s going on in the replay center, to be honest,” a frustrated James said. ”(D’Angelo Russell) clearly gets hit in the face on a drive. What the f–k do we have a replay center for… [?] Makes no sense to me. It bothers me.”

James was referencing a call in the third quarter when Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. was called for a foul on Russell, which was then overturned on a challenge by Nuggets head coach Michael Malone.

“We’ve shown that we’re more than capable,” Anthony Davis said, after scoring 32 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. “We have stretches where we just don’t know what we’re doing on both ends of the floor. And those are the ones that cost us.”

“Remember this feeling as we take it back home to L.A.,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said as a way of motivating the team before game three tonight. “We got to give them that same feeling in Game 3. That needs to be the sole focus. The recovery process has to start now, us filling our cups back up. But Game 3, it’s all about Game 3 right now.”

The recent history between the two teams indicates the Lakers won’t defeat the Nuggets in four of the next five games to win the series. But that’s why the games are played. Game 3 is tonight (10:00 p.m. EST) in Los Angeles and Game 4 is Saturday night in L.A. (8:30 p.m. EST) 

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When the Yankees hosted the Oakland A’s in the Bronx last night in the third game of a four-game series, 2022 American League MVP Aaron Judge, one of the best baseball players in the world, carried atypical numbers to the plate that were more in line with those of a deer in the headlights rookie.

Before the evening’s first pitch, the Yankees center fielder was batting a disquieting .180 in 89 at-bats in 24 games with three home runs, 11 RBI, and a team-high 31 strikeouts. Somewhat surprisingly, he was booed by the fans at Yankee Stadium last Saturday while going 0-4 with four strikeouts, including making the game’s next-to-last out, in his team’s 2-0, 10-inning loss to the Tampa Bay Rays. 

Judge empathized with the fans’ reaction. “I’ve heard worse and I’d probably be doing the same thing in their situation,” he acknowledged. 

The five-time All-Star expressed a broader view of the season and his current batting troubles. “I’ve had seasons where I’ve started off worse than this through my career,” he said.  “I’ve had seasons where you start off hot and you always hit a rough patch where you hit about .150 in the whole month but it kind of gets mixed in there with the other 500 at-bats. It’s just you got to keep working, keep improving and you’ll get out of it.”

The Yankees were 16-8 after starter Marcus Stroman picked up his second win of the season on Tuesday, logging 5.1 innings, giving up seven hits, three runs, and striking out nine in a 4-3 win over the A’s. They were in first place in the American League East, a half game ahead of the 

15-8 Baltimore Orioles when yesterday’s MLB schedule began. 

In the midst of Judge fighting through an early season funk, right fielder Juan Soto, designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton, first baseman Anthony Rizzo, and shortstop Anthony Volpe have mitigated his low production. When the Yankees took the field last night, Soto led them with 20 RBI and 29 hits. Stanton topped the team with 5 home runs and was third with 12 RBI. Rizzo had 21 hits and 10 RBI, and Volpe was second on the Yankees with 25 hits and his six stolen bases were the most on the club. Additionally, third baseman Oswaldo Cabrera was having a solid campaign with 20 hits and 14 RBI.

The Yankees begin a seven-game road trip tomorrow. They are scheduled for three against the Milwaukee Brewers and four versus the Baltimore Orioles. 

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It was another animated and emotional event for Figure Skating in Harlem (FSH), which held its Reaching for the Stars Gala on April 17. Hosted by Vladimir Duthiers of CBS News, the honorees, guests and alumni were joined by U.S. Olympic skaters, including four from the 2022 team event, who earlier this year were officially recognized as gold medalists after a two-year delay.

The evening’s honorees were Tina Davis, Daria Forde, Alicia Hall Moran, and Cynthia Romano. Davis is the head of enterprise marketing and brand engagement at Citi and a member of FSH’s board. Romano, a former figure skater, is the senior managing director at FTI Consulting.

An accomplished singer and actress, Hall Moran is a long-time skater and FSH supporter. This year she was a twice-weekly volunteer skating instructor. “The ability to pop onto the ice as a Black woman fully engaged in her Blackness and stand in her Harlem neighborhood on ice with girls of color studying a sport and an artform feels very natural to me,” she said.

Forde, a 2020 computer science graduate from Barnard College, said FSH instilled confidence in her. “It means so much to me to be honored by a program that was pivotal with my trajectory and allowed me to see what it looked like to be a part of a true community,” said Forde. “Being in that environment at such a young age allowed me to know that I can enter whatever environment I want to and succeed.”

It’s been an eventful year for FSH. The performance team skated in the exhibition at the 2024 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Columbus, Ohio. During career week, a group of students went to Estee Lauder headquarters where they learned how to make and market products. The most remarkable experience was a trip last summer to South Africa for 11 girls, which FSH founder/CEO Sharon Cohen said was “magical.”

High school junior Zayda Rojas, a member of FSH for 10 years, described the trip as life changing and an opportunity to travel to the place of their ancestors.  

“I could see different cultures, how they interacted, the foods that they ate,” she said. “I felt loved and I felt nourished by the people. They were very welcoming and inclusive. I learned a lot about them and a lot about myself.”

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* This article was originally published here