The Lakers’ swift collapse is done, plus a scary incident in Pittsburgh

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The Pulse Newsletter 📣 | This is The Athletic’s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox.

Good morning! Release a statement today.

Bye Bye: Woof, Lakers

There is nothing more basic in the sporting world than the consequences of one game. A loss that ends a season, a months-long effort from an entire group of people, snuffed out at a single point. 

Elimination was our common theme in last night’s NBA and NHL playoffs. The losers, as follows: 

• The Lakers are done after a 103-96 loss, and it’s a minor shock. Throughout their five-game series with the Timberwolves, it was clear Minnesota was a deeper and more athletic team. It’s a whimper ending for the team that pulled off the most surprising trade in NBA history, looked like a contender afterward and now exits in the first round. There are questions about LeBron James’ future and, ahem, Luka Dončić’s defense. Watch NBA Daily react to a ‘stupid’ good performance by one star.
  
  
• Also done in five: the Lightning, who went 0-3 at home in their series with the defending champion Panthers. Florida terrorized Nikita Kucherov in every game and it worked; he didn’t score once.
  
  
• The Canadiens joined the above losers, falling 4-1 to the Capitals to bow out in five games, too. There was no stopping the narrative superiority of Alex Ovechkin in this series. 

We also had two outliers in the not-done-yet camp:

• Winnipeg finally recaptured its verve with a 5-3 win over the Blues last night, taking a 3-2 series lead it looked destined to lose just days ago. It was the unsung Vladislav Namestnikov providing a goal and an assist as a surprise power source.
  
  
• The Rockets let out all their frustrations in a 131-116 win over the Warriors that was never close. Houston closed the series gap to 3-2, staving off elimination for now. I would not want to play Steph Curry in a closeout game at home, though. Unless I was 2016 LeBron James. 

Expect plenty of chatter about the Lakers today. We’ll have more tomorrow. Let’s keep moving:

News to Know

Belichick, CBS spar
Three days after Bill Belichick’s “CBS Sunday Morning” interview went viral, the North Carolina coach released a statement through the university decrying the network, claiming the piece suggested a “false narrative” and was “selectively edited.” The controversy focused on Belichick’s girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, who interrupted with the interview to dismiss a question about how the couple met. CBS fired back yesterday, denying multiple facets of Belichick’s statement. More on the drama here.

A troubling day
Yesterday brought multiple concerning incidents across the sports landscape: 

• In Pittsburgh, a fan fell over 20 feet from the PNC Park stands onto the field and was stretchered off before paramedics rushed him to the hospital. It was a scary moment.
  
• A Nationals staffer collapsed during batting practice and is “coherent” after going to the hospital. Full report here.
  
• Jeff Sperbeck, longtime friend and business partner of John Elway, died after a golf cart accident. Read more.

Travis announces retirement
Jets quarterback Jordan Travis is done with football, the 24-year-old announced yesterday. Travis attributed the decision to the leg injury he suffered in his final game at Florida State, which kept him out all last season after New York drafted him in the fifth round. “Despite my efforts, my leg never responded the way we hoped,” he said. Hard to imagine a more fateful injury. More details here.

More news

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Elite Problems: Stanford and its NIL purgatory

A few days ago, the Stanford football Instagram account posted a fun video of program legend and current general manager Andrew Luck making calls to season ticket holders. It was a nice thing that spoke to a deeper, darker meaning for the university. 

Luck is the scion of the football program, a lovable nerd who happened to be the best quarterback in football, aka the perfect Stanford athletics niche: smart and good. 

Yet, as Stewart Mandel and Lindsay Schnell illustrated in a fascinating story today, Stanford is woefully behind in the NIL era, its regulations and standards bogging down a once-proud athletic department. 

Two points: 

• For years, Stanford shunned anything to do with NIL. Coaches were not even allowed to talk about the topic with players, which created an air of unease. It was beneath Stanford, right?
  
  
• Take Stanford softball pitcher NiJaree Canady, a star for a powerhouse Cardinal program. After two years at Stanford, Canady left for Texas Tech, an unheralded program. Her NIL deal: $1 million, an astounding amount in college softball. Program supporters were floored. 

Stewart and Lindsay went much further, talking to more than 20 people about why the school waited so long to embrace NIL and how it’s trying to dig out of a hole. Make some time for this today.

What to Watch

📺 NBA: Knicks at Pistons
7:30 p.m. ET on TNT/Max
This has been a scrappy series (the entire first round has, really), and I suspect chippiness will be off the charts here with New York up 3-2 on the road. All of these games have been close, and if not for a 21-0 Knicks run in Game 1, Detroit would be favored to clinch here. Good game. 

📺 NHL: Kings at Oilers
10 p.m. ET on ESPN
Edmonton can end the series here. I have no idea what will happen, because the Oilers insist on playing dead for two periods every game before turning into the league’s best team. We also have a full hockey slate today where bangers abound. 

Get tickets to games like these here.

Pulse Picks

These are the stories I adore: Inside the Hurricanes’ frantic mission to get prospect Alexander Nikishin from Russia to the U.S. in time for the playoffs. There are political favors, credit card issues and a literal worldwide route included. Read it here. 

We aren’t done with NFL Draft stuff yet. Read Austin Mock’s grades for each team, including an A+ for a certain Ohio franchise. 

A great question from Zack Meisel: Why do we revere perfect games and consider four-homer games a quirk, when the latter is much rarer than the former? A fun read. 

Is Texas Motor Speedway — the place some in NASCAR want “demolished” — turning a corner? Jeff Gluck talked to the people in charge.

Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: Our story on how “Hard Knocks” backed out of a deal with North Carolina and Bill Belichick. Yes, his girlfriend was involved, per sources. 

Most-read on the website yesterday: The news report on the NFL fining the Falcons and defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich for accidentally leaking Shedeur Sanders’ draft-day phone number. Oof.

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: Harry How / Getty Images)

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