Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I’ve got a pretty good feeling we’ll know the other two NBA and NHL finalists by the end of the night.
In today’s SI:AM:
📅 SEC and Big Ten’s new scheduling idea
🎾 Tennis rivals turned friends
💸 How NFL teams skirt the cap
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The NBA and NHL postseasons are almost over. After last night’s results, only a maximum of 20 combined games are left. And we know two of the teams that will be taking part in those final games, as the Oklahoma City Thunder and Florida Panthers won their respective conference finals to earn a spot in the championship round.
OKC flexes its muscles again
The Thunder will be playing in the NBA Finals for the first time since 2012 after stomping the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 5 of that series, 124–94.
“I thought the mental toughness displayed by the team was great,” OKC coach Mark Daigneault said. “With the opportunity to close the series out, it’s easy to drift ahead, obviously with a 3-1 lead. But we didn’t do that at all. We just played the next possession and did a great job to stack them up.”
The Thunder seemed destined for the Finals all season long. They went 68–14 in the regular season, tied for the fifth-best record in NBA history, and out-scored their opponents by an average of 12.9 points per game, the best in the history of the league. They ranked third in offensive efficiency and first in defensive efficiency. They’re led by the league’s leading scorer and Most Valuable Player, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, but he has plenty of help. Jalen Williams is an excellent second scoring threat. Chet Holmgren is a great rebounder and shot blocker who’s also a gifted offensive weapon. Luguentz Dort is an elite defender with a smooth outside shooting stroke. Isaiah Hartenstein makes all the dirty plays on the inside. They’re a well-rounded team with tremendous depth and no obvious weaknesses.
Aside from a weird 42-point blowout loss to the Wolves in Game 3, OKC has been excellent throughout these playoffs. It swept the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round, absorbed some punches from a reinvigorated Denver Nuggets team in the second round before cruising to a blowout victory in Game 7 of that series and then made quick work of Minnesota.
The Thunder are young, but they’ve been the best team in the NBA for seven months now. There’s no reason to believe that’ll change when the Finals start next week.
Panthers one step closer to a repeat
There’s a pretty good chance that this year’s Stanley Cup Final will be a rematch of last year’s. The defending champion Panthers erased a 2–0 first-period deficit against the Carolina Hurricanes last night to win the Eastern Conference final and return to the Final for the third year in a row. Now all that’s left to set up the rematch is for the Edmonton Oilers to close out their 3–1 series lead over the Dallas Stars.
Like the Thunder, the Panthers won easily in the first round, survived a seven-game test in the second round and trounced their conference final opponent. Unlike OKC, though, Florida has plenty of playoff experience.
Much of the core of last year’s championship squad remains intact. All five of Florida’s leading goalscorers from last season are still with the team: Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett, Matthew Tkachuk, Aleksander Barkov and Carter Verhaeghe. Florida did lose talented backup goalie Anthony Stolarz and key defensemen Brandon Montour and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, but most of the roster is the same.
After three straight trips to the Final, it’s all beginning to feel a bit routine for this group.
“I remember a few years ago it felt like such an accomplishment,” Tkachuk said. "This year, it’s all business.”
… things I saw last night:
5. Mike Breen and Richard Jefferson trying to fill time during the Thunder’s blowout win.
4. Pete Crow-Armstrong’s home run on a pitch way below the zone.
3. Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino’s full split to get the out.
2. Aaron Judge’s interaction with Angels manager Ron Washington after being intentionally walked twice. Judge leads the majors with 12 intentional walks, but I’m surprised the number is even that low.
1. The Panthers’ two goals in 30 seconds to quickly erase the Hurricanes’ early lead.