The best basketball of the weekend was found wherever Notre Dame’s Arike Ogunbowale was found in a clutch situation. On Friday, Ogunbowale hit a wonderful game-winner to lift the Irish over undefeated UConn in the Final Four. On Sunday, she won Notre Dame a national title over an incredible Mississippi State team with a truly absurd buzzer beater — one of the crazier title-winning shots at any competitive level.
AriK.O.!
We have that and more in Monday’s NBA newsletter.
Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images
In the process, Arike became a legend. She cited Kobe Bryant’s Mamba Mentality in the post-game interview after both games; she shot 9-21 against UConn and 6-21 in the championship game, so the Bryant comparison works on multiple levels. (That’s a joke, everyone.)
What’s even cooler is that Ogunbowale’s buzzer beater capped a killer comeback from Notre Dame. All three Women’s Final Four games were compelling and full of great basketball, and the two Notre Dame victories were as dramatic as you could ever ask for. (Yes, UConn’s dominance is good for women’s basketball ... because it makes shocking defeat all the more dramatic.) Between this weekend and the tension-ridden 2017 WNBA Finals, women’s basketball is riding a real high.
Playoff Picture Update
Let’s make this update snappy. The Sixers, Cavaliers, and Pacers had good weekends. The Wizards, Bucks, and Heat did not. The Blazers, Nuggets, Spurs, and Jazz had good weekends. The Clippers and Pelicans did not. The Thunder were mixed.
The upshot in the East: the Cavaliers and Sixers are still virtually tied for the No. 3 seed, with Cleveland holding the advantage on projected tiebreakers. They play Friday in a potentially crucial game. The Pacers are holding tough just one game back in the loss column. The Wizards are now four games back in the loss column, and just one game ahead of both No. 7 Miami and No. 8 Milwaukee for the No. 6 seed. The Pistons have slightly re-entered the conversation with a five-game winning streak — word to Reggie Jackson — but they are still four games out with five to go, so it’d take an incredible miracle to get in.
The upshot in the West: the Blazers have a three-game gap for No. 3, the Spurs have taken sole possession of No. 4 with a one-game cushion over the Thunder and Jazz, and the Wolves and sliding Pelicans have just a one-game lead over No. 9 Denver. The Clippers are two games out.
No games scheduled for Monday in apparent deference to the men’s college basketball championship game.
Scores Galore ...
PHI 119, CHA 102
WAS 94, CHI 113
HOU 83, SAS 100
IND 111, LAC 104
ORL 88, ATL 94
DET 108, BKN 96
DAL 87, CLE 98
OKC 109, NOP 104
UTA 121, MIN 97
MIL 125, DEN 128 (OT)
PHX 107, GSW 117
MEM 98, POR 113
SAC 84, LAL 83
... And So Much More
Everything you need to know before Monday’s national title game between Michigan and Villanova ... including about the preseason Wolverines’ paintball trip that set this whole thing off.
Speaking of Michigan, Chris Webber was snubbed for the Basketball Hall of Fame again. This makes no sense.
I also wrote about how it will be fascinating to watch how the NBA and its G League infrastructure deal with Darius Bazley, a top-10 recruit who is bypassing college to go straight from high school into the G.
Anthony Davis tricked everyone about shaving his unibrow. The Basketball Gods punished this nonsense with a couple of Ls for New Orleans.
Uhh ... the Spurs just held the Rockets to their lowest point total since 2016? And Kawhi Leonard isn’t even back? Oh, OK.
And finally: repeat after me. LU-KA DON-CIC!
Be excellent to each other.
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