Are the Celtics and Panthers cooked?

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Good morning! I will accept dried fish for soccer tickets.

In the (Playoff) Kitchen: Two defending champs, two 2-0 deficits

Look, this feels mean. But after a most consequential night of playoff hoops and hockey, looking at our results through the lens of the losers is more important. Even more importantly: How cooked are these guys? 👨‍🍳

Simmering: The Winnipeg Jets
This is a team that dominated the regular season yet barely escaped the first round. A 3-2 home loss to the Stars last night was again nerve-wracking, but Dallas is not St. Louis — namely because Mikko Rantanen is a Star. He scored all three goals last night. At 0-1, Winnipeg might already be in trouble. 

On a rolling boil: The Denver Nuggets
Yes, this series is 1-1, but did you watch that game last night? Every missed opportunity for Oklahoma City in Game 1 came back karmically in a 149-106 Game 2 win, an astounding contest from wire to wire. Nikola Jokić scored just 17 points and fouled out. The Thunder had eight players in double figures. So, yes, a tie series — but maybe not for long. 

Hard sear: The Florida Panthers
Time and time again, the Maple Leafs have the opportunity to embody their past failures, and every time they course correct. Toronto’s 4-3 win last night over the defending champs puts them up 2-0 in what we thought — and could still be! — a dogfight. 

Broken thermometer: The Boston Celtics
We’ve had over 12 hours to process the Knicks’ 91-90 win last night and I still can’t reconcile what I saw. It’s as if I’m cooking a nice cut of beef, the thermometer reads 135 degrees and yet the inside of the steak looks like rubber. Boston is still very much alive in this series, but to squander two 20-point leads at home to these Knicks is unfathomable. Another defending champion down 2-0. Another final play thwarted by Mikal Bridges. I have no idea what happens from here.

BRUNSON HITS TWO FREE THROWS.

BRIDGES TAKES THE BALL AWAY.

KNICKS TAKE 2-0 SERIES LEAD. pic.twitter.com/NbyRwQri9O

— NBA (@NBA) May 8, 2025

I’ll be sad when we have fewer fantastic playoff games every night. Let’s keep moving:

Feedback Loop: We still don’t like this

This may be one of the more interesting Pulse Polls we’ve ever done, because it’s a circle back to a poll we ran last summer on a similar topic. It also *serious tone* portends to the world at large. 

An overwhelming number of you, as I suspected, think NBC using AI to recreate Jim Fagan’s voice is lazy and cheap. I agree — I’m of the mind that AI should be used for utilitarian purposes, not creatively. 

Two points to make in this specific case: 

• The Al Michaels poll, with similar results, was by a wider margin: 95 percent of you didn’t support it. In this instance, the number dipped to about 83 percent. Hm.
  
  
• Another difference here: Michaels is still alive, while Fagan is not. Part of the Michaels weirdness was the fact that he could just, you know, record it for the network if they wished. We can’t do that with Fagan. 

Still, with all due respect to Fagan’s memory, it feels silly to focus so much on that past in this regard rather than moving forward. Find a new voice to anchor your basketball coverage for decades to come. Is that so hard? 

Thank you, as always, for voting.

News to Know

Cowboys get another weapon
George Pickens, the mercurial uber-talented Steelers wide receiver, is heading to Dallas in exchange for a third-round pick and a fifth-round pick, the Cowboys announced yesterday. The Athletic’s Dianna Russini reports the two sides had been discussing the deal since before the draft, which checks out after Pittsburgh acquired DK Metcalf earlier this offseason. The deal makes sense for Dallas, but I still don’t know what’s happening with the Steelers. We’ll have more on that this weekend.

Also: Emergency trade pod! Yes, Jerry Jones seems desperate.

Tickets for fish, please
The story of Bodø/Glimt is incredible: a small Norwegian club, playing near the top of the world, finding itself in the semifinal of a European soccer tournament. Premier League blueblood Tottenham Hotspur travels north today for their second-leg matchup, and some fans in the stands will have traded dried fish and reindeer meat for tickets. I love it, and I’m a Spurs fan. Read more here.

More news

• Remember when Paris Saint-Germain needed Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi and Neymar? Me neither. PSG is through to the Champions League final without all of them after a win over Arsenal yesterday.
  
• Tom Brady said on a podcast that he communicated with Shedeur Sanders after the 23-year-old’s fall in the draft, although it’s curious the Raiders — where Brady is a part-owner — didn’t pick Sanders.
  
• The Rams will hold a minicamp in Maui, Hawaii, in an effort to help with wildfire recovery. Cool.
  
• President Trump said a 2026 World Cup slot could influence Russia to end the Ukraine war.
  
• There is still plenty of hand-wringing over roster size limits in the House vs. NCAA settlement discussion. Read our full report.

📫 Love The Pulse? Check out our other newsletters.

What to Watch

📺 NBA: Warriors at Timberwolves
8:30 p.m. ET on TNT/Max
One question lords over everything here: Can Golden State survive without Steph Curry? He will miss at least the next three games with the hamstring injury he suffered in Game 1. Minnesota has an opening here down 1-0. 

📺 NHL: Oilers at Golden Knights
9:30 p.m. ET on ESPN
Let’s see how much of a lead Las Vegas can open up here before the eventual third-period Edmonton barrage. It’s eerie at this point. 

Get tickets to games like these here.

Pulse Picks

Two years ago, Nic Enright couldn’t see his future, exhausted from cancer treatments. He’s now on the verge of making the major leagues. Incredible story here. 

Keith Law’s first MLB mock draft of the season is out, which is cause for celebration. Yes, there’s another elite Holliday in the pipeline. Read his picks. 

Eno Sarris identified 10 stats that should worry MLB teams. He’s so good at this. 

Let’s not lose sight of the fact the Islanders won the NHL Draft Lottery on Monday. We have a fresh mock draft in light of it. See the picks. 

Rustin Dodd drank coffee like Dan Campbell, an absolute caffeine sicko. It did not go well, but it was interesting. 

Tyrese Haliburton laughs at the “overrated” jabs, but in truth, he was miserable early this season. Jared Weiss has a wonderful story on how Haliburton recaptured his joy. It shows. 

Is Dabo Swinney back? Did he ever leave? Seth Emerson writes about Swinney’s second wind in the NIL era. 

Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: The George Karl story. 

Most-read on the website yesterday: Our live blog from the PSG-Arsenal match.

Ticketing links in this article are provided by partners of The Athletic. Restrictions may apply. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.

(Top photo: Nick Turchiaro / Imagn Images)

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