16 teams left as the second round is set in the NBA and NHL playoffs

Yahoo Sports AM is our daily newsletter that keeps you up to date on all things sports. Sign up here to get it every weekday morning.

🚨 Headlines

⛳️ Scottie makes history: Scottie Scheffler won his first event of the year in historic fashion, matching the PGA Tour scoring record with a 253 (-31) in a dominant eight-stroke victory at the CJ Cup — his hometown event outside Dallas where he made his PGA Tour debut 11 years ago.

Advertisement

🎾 Madrid Open: Top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka defeated No. 4 Coco Gauff to win her record-tying third Madrid Open, while No. 14 Casper Ruud upset No. 5 Jack Draper to capture his first ATP Masters 1000 title.

⚽️ Kane’s first trophy: Bayern Munich clinched their record-extending 34th Bundesliga title, giving English superstar Harry Kane the first major trophy of his career.

🏒 Rangers hire Sullivan: The Rangers hired Mike Sullivan as their new head coach on Friday, bringing on the two-time Stanley Cup champion just two days after he was fired by the Penguins.

🏀 Melo to NBC: Carmelo Anthony is joining NBC this fall as an NBA analyst as the network prepares to cover the league for the first time in over two decades.

🏒🏀 Jets and Warriors advance to the second round

The first round of the NHL and NBA playoffs came to an end on Sunday with a pair of Game 7s in Winnipeg and Houston, leaving 16 teams still fighting for either the Stanley Cup or Larry O’Brien Trophy.

Advertisement

The Jets’ season appeared all but over on Sunday night in Winnipeg. Instead, the Presidents’ Trophy winners stunned the Blues with an unforgettable Game 7 victory in double overtime.

Wild ending: The Jets erased a 3-1 deficit in the final two minutes of regulation, including the latest game-tying goal in Game 7 history — a perfect redirect from Cole Perfetti with just 1.6 seconds left on the clock that sent the Canada Life Centre into a frenzy.

• The first overtime ended without a score, but captain Adam Lowry lit the lamp late in the second extra period to send the Jets faithful home happy with a 4-3 win.

• This was just the 14th Game 7 in NHL history that went to double overtime, and at 96 minutes and 10 seconds it was the third-longest ever.

Second round matchups:

• Maple Leafs vs. Panthers: Toronto has reached Round 2 for just the second time since 2004. Coincidentally, the first time was also against Florida, when the Panthers eliminated the Leafs in the second round just two years ago.

• Capitals vs. Hurricanes: Washington is back in the second round for the first time since hoisting the Cup in 2018. Now, the Canes will try to stop their division rivals from reaching the conference finals for just the second time in Alex Ovechkin’s 20-year career.

• Golden Knights vs. Oilers: This meeting between the 2023 champs and 2024 runners-up ensures a long-running streak continues, as either Vegas or Edmonton has reached the West finals every year since 2020.

• Stars vs. Jets: Dallas, which came back to beat Colorado in Saturday’s Game 7 behind a third-period hat trick from former Avalanche star Mikko Rantanen, will face Winnipeg in the playoffs for the first time.

Title odds: The Panthers are favored to win their second straight Stanley Cup (+425 at BetMGM), followed by the Hurricanes (+475), Stars (+500), Oilers (+525), Golden Knights (+650), Maple Leafs (+750), Jets (+900) and Capitals (+1000).

The Warriors closed out the Rockets with a 103-89 victory in Game 7 on Sunday in Houston, avoiding the ignominy of becoming the 14th team in NBA history to lose a playoff series after leading 3-1.

Advertisement

• Buddy Hield led the way with 33 points — including 22 at the half — on a scorching 12-15 from the field and 9-11 from long range, tied for the most threes ever in a Game 7.

• Stephen Curry came alive with 19 of his 22 points in the second half, while Jimmy Butler channeled “Playoff Jimmy” to the tune of 20 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists. “That’s why we’re here,” Curry said of Golden State’s critical midseason acquisition of Butler.

Second round matchups:

• Celtics vs. Knicks: This is their 15th postseason meeting, second only to the Celtics and 76ers for most all-time (22). Think Boston vs. New York for a spot in the conference finals will get decent ratings?

• Cavaliers vs. Pacers: Indiana upset Cleveland, 121-112, on Sunday in Game 1 of the only second round series that’s already begun.

• Timberwolves vs. Warriors: Anthony Edwards already eliminated one four-time champion in LeBron James. Can he send Curry and his four rings packing, too?

Title odds: The Thunder are the favorites to win the NBA Finals (+135), followed by the Celtics (+195), Cavs (+600), Timberwolves (+1600), Warriors (+2000), Pacers (+3500), Nuggets (+3500) and Knicks (+6000).

🏀 Coach Pop steps down in San Antonio

Gregg Popovich’s legendary career as an NBA head coach has officially come to an end, with the Hall of Famer stepping down as the Spurs’ head coach on Friday and transitioning to full-time team president.

By the numbers: Coach Pop, who was away from the team for most of the season recovering from the stroke he suffered in November, spent the last three decades putting together one of the most impressive, record-breaking careers in league history.

Advertisement

• With 29 seasons in San Antonio, he’s by far the longest-tenured NBA coach ever. There have been a staggering 303 coaching changes across the league since he took over the Spurs in 1996.

• His 1,422 regular-season victories are the most ever, while his 170 playoff wins and five championships both rank third. He’s also one of just three men named Coach of the Year three times (Don Nelson, Pat Riley), but the only one to do so with the same team.

Pop’s coaching tree: Though he may no longer be on the sidelines in San Antonio, Popovich’s fingerprints will remain on benches throughout the league, with every current head coach connected to him in three degrees or fewer. That includes eight coaches (28% of the league) who either played for or coached under Pop in the NBA or with Team USA.

Recipe for greatness: Popovich’s coaching tree is more than just a fun fact or testament to his longevity. It’s indicative of someone whose superpower lay in identifying and nurturing talent as a singularly great mentor, and then adapting his coaching style to find success no matter the era.

From Yahoo Sports’ Vincent Goodwill:

Every historic coach the NBA has produced can be filed in the manila folder of “unlikely,” but perhaps none fits the profile more perfectly than Gregg Popovich.

Advertisement

Popovich doesn’t have the signature style, look or even singular period of dominance like coaches who neatly fit into this category. His career has criss-crossed with others who were arguably more decorated, more famous.

The modern coach who comes to mind in this fictional argument, Phil Jackson, created a mystique around himself, bolstered by his ability to get the most out of Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant. Jackson’s triangle offense spawned imitators and his smug off-the-floor demeanor amused some and annoyed others. He was a hippie who didn’t fit what great, distinguished coaches looked like headed into the 1990s.

But winning 11 championships as a coach makes one unassailable, same with the cigar-smoking Red Auerbach, who didn’t mind engaging in Boston Garden subterfuge to torture opponents in the 1960s, when the Celtics did the most winning we’ve ever seen in a decade.

One would have to look deeper with Popovich, but the answer seems clear in its ambiguity. There is no signature style, no “Showtime” to his name. The beauty in Popovich entering this pantheon is the adaptability of his approach.

Advertisement

Keep reading.

🇺🇸 Photos across America

Fort Lauderdale — Katie Ledecky broke her own world record* (8:04.12) in the 800-meter freestyle on Saturday at the Lauderdale Pro Swim Series, shaving 0.67 seconds off the mark she set more than eight years ago at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Iowa City — Caitlin Clark scored 16 points in her preseason debut on Sunday, a 108-44 Fever rout of the Brazilian national team at her alma mater. The highlight? A deep logo three from just beyond the spot where she set the NCAA scoring record a little over a year ago.

Miami — Everything’s going McLaren’s way so far this season, as Oscar Piastri won Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix for his third straight victory and Lando Norris finished second, giving the defending Constructors’ Champions their fifth win and second 1-2 finish through six races.

Las Vegas — Naoya Inoue defeated Ramon Cardenas by eighth-round TKO on Sunday at T-Mobile Arena to keep his perfect record alive (30-0, 27 KOs) and remain the undisputed super bantamweight champion.

Advertisement

*Three records, one day: Fellow American Gretchen Walsh also broke her own world record in the 100m butterfly twice on Saturday, meaning more individual swimming world records were set in a single day this weekend (3) than at the entirety of last summer’s Paris Olympics (2).

📊 By the numbers

🐎 17.7 million viewers

Sovereignty’s thrilling victory at Saturday’s rain-soaked 151st Kentucky Derby averaged 17.7 million viewers on NBC, making it the most-watched Derby since 1989.

⚾️ 62nd player

Tigers OF Riley Greene on Friday became the 62nd player in MLB history to hit two home runs in the same inning, and the first to do so in the ninth.

Advertisement

🎾 1,534 days later

It might have come in a WTA 125 event (Challenger tour), but Naomi Osaka won L’Open 35 de Saint-Malo on Sunday in France to capture her first title in 1,534 days (2021 Australian Open), and her first ever on clay.

🥊 445 punches

Canelo Álvarez defeated William Scull in a dreadful undisputed title fight in Riyadh that featured a paltry 445 combined punches, the fewest thrown in a 12-round bout in the 40-year history of boxing stat-tracker CompuBox.

📺 Watchlist: Round 2

Three second-round series begin tonight across the NBA and NHL, with both defending champions in action and the MVP favorites going head-to-head in OKC.

Advertisement

Hoops and hockey: Knicks at Celtics* (7pm ET, TNT); Panthers at Maple Leafs (8pm, ESPN); Nuggets at Thunder (9:30pm, TNT).

*One-sided rivalry: Boston dominated New York this year, sweeping their regular-season series, 4-0, with an average winning margin of 16 points.

🏆 NBA trivia

The Spurs won five NBA championships under Gregg Popovich. Which five teams did they beat?

Hint: 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2014

Answer at the bottom.

⛳️ Unexpected visitor at the Riv

Riviera Country Club had an unexpected visitor on Friday when a tiny plane was forced to make an emergency landing on the course in Pacific Palisades that’s set to host the golf tournament at the 2028 LA Olympics. All three people aboard were unharmed.

Trivia answer: Knicks, Nets, Pistons, Cavaliers, Heat

We hope you enjoyed this edition of Yahoo Sports AM, our daily newsletter that keeps you up to date on all things sports. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.