Sports Report: Nuggets, Golden Knights win their 1st titles, Man City completes treble, Novak Djokovic stands alone

Confetti manufacturers and parade organizers had a busy week as the celebrations just kept coming.

In the past week, we've had multiple historic championships, from NBA and NHL franchises taking home their first trophy to a college softball team and English soccer club completing a three-peat and a treble, respectively.

There's a lot to get to this week as the Denver Nuggets won their first NBA championship and the Vegas Golden Knights won their first Stanley Cup Final. The Oklahoma Sooners won their third straight NCAA softball title, Manchester City completed the historic treble and Novak Djokovic won his 23rd Grand Slam to become the most decorated man in tennis. Let's dig in.

NBA

Nuggets beat the Heat, win first title

The Denver Nuggets defeated the Miami Heat 94-89 on Monday night to win the organization's first NBA title in history. The Heat, as they have throughout the postseason, put up a tough fight down to the final minutes. Jimmy Butler brought Miami back to life late in the fourth quarter with a personal 8-0 run to put the Heat ahead, but Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray had an answer for every move. Jokic was in prime form with 28 points and 16 rebounds to facilitate a win on his home court and earn himself the Finals MVP honor. Jokic's play was particularly important on Monday as the Nuggets struggled mightily from 3-point range, shooting 5-of-28 from deep. Fortunately for Denver, the Heat weren't much better and were outrebounded 71-50.

In other news:

NHL

Golden Knights pummel Panthers to win Stanley Cup

The Vegas Golden Knights dominated the Florida Panthers in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final 9-3 to win its first title in the organization's brief history. Vegas' nine goals tied a record for the most in a Cup Final, and a third of those goals came from a hat trick by Mark Stone. The Golden Knights also received goals from Nic Hague, Alec Martinez, Reilly Smith, Michael Amadio, Ivan Barbashev and Nicolas Roy. After Vegas came out with a 2-0 lead in the first period, the Panthers found some life with an Aaron Ekblad goal to cut the lead in half. But the Golden Knights answered with four straight goals in the period to go up 6-1. Florida, playing without star forward Matthew Tkachuk, added two more goals but it wouldn't come close to being enough. Vegas goalie Adin Hill turned in a solid performance with 32 saves, and forward Jonathan Marchessault, who notched an assist in the game, received the Conn Smythe Trophy for playoff MVP.

In other news:

MLB

A's fans stage 'reverse boycott'

Oakland A's fans showed up in mass quantities for Tuesday night's game against the Tampa Bay Rays in what was a planned "reverse boycott." Official attendance for the game was 27,759, the largest home crowd of the season. The purpose of the boycott was to show A's ownership, including owner John Fisher, that fan support was not the reason for an attendance decline over the past few years, which Fisher had pointed out as one of the reasons Oakland was interested in moving to Las Vegas. Fans wore T-shirts that said "SELL" and roars of "Sell the team" could be heard numerous times throughout the ballgame. The A's, who made the playoffs in 2020, currently have the lowest payroll in baseball after Fisher and the organization parted ways with players like Matt Olson, Matt Chapman, Sean Murphy, Chris Bassitt, Frankie Montas, Marcus Semien and Sean Manaea. Unfortunately for A's fans, the Nevada Senate passed a $380 million bill on Tuesday to help fund a new stadium in Vegas.

In other news:

NFL

Vikings release Dalvin Cook

The Minnesota Vikings released running back Dalvin Cook on Friday as the team makes cuts to its salary cap. Cook, who was a second-round pick by Minnesota in 2017, made the Pro Bowl four times in his career and ranked sixth in the NFL in 2022 with 1,173 rushing yards. It was the fourth straight year that he rushed for at least 1,000 yards. More notably, however, was the fact that he started every game in 2022 for the first time in his career, despite injuring his shoulder early in the year. Cook is open to a variety of deal structures, but he is eyeing a contract somewhere near $10 million per year, according to NFL Network's Tom Pelissero. Meanwhile, over in New York, running back Saquon Barkley has not been seen at the team's mandatory minicamp this week. Barkley, who has not signed a non-exclusive franchise tag worth $10.091 million, has until July 17 to sign the tag.

In other news:

College Sports

Oklahoma wins 3rd straight WCWS title

The Oklahoma Sooners are champions, again. For the third straight year, the Sooners' softball team dominated their way through the Women's College World Series and came away with a championship. Potentially even more impressive than the three-peat is the NCAA softball record 53-game winning streak they ended their season on. Jordy Bahl, one of the top pitchers in college softball, tossed a two-hit shutout for the Sooners in Game 1, and Cydney Sanders and Grace Lyons provided the firepower in the form of back-to-back homers to lead Oklahoma to a 3-1 victory in Game 2 over the Florida State Seminoles. The title is Oklahoma's sixth in the last 10 years.

Stanford punches ticket to MCWS

Eight teams are left as the Men's College World Series field was decided Monday night in a couple of Game 3's. It's been a dramatic tournament, to say the least, but the drama was at an all-time high Monday night when Texas and Stanford were locked in a battle. Twice Stanford took a three-run lead in the game, and twice Texas put up three-run innings to tie the game. But with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Stanford catcher Alberto Rios rocketed a line drive that everyone in the stadium thought was gone, except for the Longhorns' defense. Rios began his celebration halfway between first and second, but quickly realized the ball was still in play and scrambled safely to second. Texas then seemed to get out of the inning when Drew Bowser hit a high fly to shallow right-center field, but Texas outfielders Dylan Campbell and Eric Kennedy were unable to find the ball in the night sky and it dropped for a walk-off hit. The rest of the MCWS field consists of top-seeded Wake Forest, Florida, LSU, Tennessee, TCU, Virginia and Oral Roberts.

In other news:

Soccer

Man City completes treble

After securing the Premier League title on May 20 and defeating Manchester United at Wembley Stadium on June 3 to win the FA Cup, Manchester City officially completed the historic treble by beating Inter Milan on Saturday to take home the Champions League title. They became the first English club to achieve the feat since their local rivals did it in 1998-99. The lone goal of the Champions League final came from midfielder Rodri in the 68th minute to secure the trophy for City and manager Pep Guardiola.

Tennis

Djokovic, Swiatek win French Open

Novak Djokovic set the men's Grand Slam singles record with his 23rd title over the weekend after beating Casper Ruud in the finals of the French Open, putting him ahead of tennis greats like Rafael Nadal (22) and Roger Federer (20). Margaret Court is the only person who has won more majors, with 24. Meanwhile, world No. 1 Iga Swiatek won her third French Open over the weekend, staving off a comeback attempt by Karolina Muchova in the finals to notch her fourth Grand Slam and solidify her status at the top of the league.

Quick Hits

Olympic Tragedy: U.S. Olympic champion sprinter Tori Bowie, who was found dead in her Florida home on May 2, died from complications of childbirth, according to an autopsy report. She was estimated to be eight months pregnant and in active labor at the time of her death.
Belmont Stakes: After days of speculation on whether or not the Belmont Stakes would be held due to the air quality alerts affecting the area last week, the race did go on, and Arcangelo emerged victorious Saturday in the third and final race of the Triple Crown series.
Canadian Open: Golfer Nick Taylor sunk an impressive 72-foot eagle putt on the fourth hole of a playoff against Tommy Fleetwood on Sunday to become the first Canadian in 69 years to win the Canadian Open. Fellow Canadian Adam Hadwin sprinted onto the green to congratulate Taylor, but he was tackled by a security guard in a comical misunderstanding.

Sports Report Quiz

World No. 1 Iga Swiatek won her _______ French Open of her career on Saturday.
In Vegas' 9-3 rout of the Panthers in Game 5, ____________ notched a hat trick.
Oakland A's fans packed the stadium on Tuesday night and chanted "______________" throughout the game.
Former Vikings running back Dalvin Cook ranked _______ in the NFL in 2022 with 1,173 rushing yards.

Be sure to check out next week's edition of the Sports Report to see the correct answers!

Answers from last week's quiz: 1) 41 2) Duncan Robinson 3) Jonathan Marchessault 4) 6

Published by

Comments / 0