SI:AM | Two Late Collapses in NBA and NHL Playoffs

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. It was a bad night for teams trying to hold onto seemingly comfortable leads in critical playoff games. Both the Pistons and the Wild suffered brutal breakdowns, but one was more costly than the other. 

In today’s SI:AM: 
🌎 48 World Cup covers
⛳ PGA Championship picks
😡 Pistons ticked off by non-call

Pistons in trouble after Cavs comeback

If the Pistons are going to advance to the next round of the playoffs, they’re going to have to win in seven games again. 

Detroit appeared to be headed toward a victory in last night’s pivotal Game 5 against the Cavaliers, only to wilt in crunch time and lose in overtime. 

The Pistons went on a 14–5 run in the fourth quarter to take a 103–94 lead with three minutes left, but then they went cold. They went scoreless in the rest of regulation, while Cleveland scored nine straight points to force overtime. The Cavs scored the first points of the extra period and never looked back. They went on to win, 117–113. 

The most important play of the game came in the waning seconds of regulation. Donovan Mitchell’s shot attempt was blocked by Detroit’s Ausar Thompson, who then recovered the loose ball. Thompson was bumped by Jarrett Allen, but no foul was called. Instead of Thompson shooting potential tiebreaking free throws, the game went to overtime.

Crew chief Tony Brothers, the closest official to the play, told a pool reporter that no foul was called because “both players were going for the ball and there was incidental contact with the legs with no player having possession of the ball.” 

Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff, on the other hand, was adamant that Thompson was fouled by Allen. 

“It’s clear. He trips him when he’s going for a loose ball,” Bickerstaff told reporters. “End of game situation, that’s tough.”

The Cavs have now won three straight games since Detroit took a 2–0 series lead. The Pistons will have to win on the road in Cleveland on Friday night and again at home on Sunday to save their season. 

Wild choke away their season

The Pistons are still alive, but the Wild’s breakdown sent them home. 

Minnesota trailed 3–1 in its series against the mighty Avalanche entering Game 5 last night and seemed poised to live to see another day after scoring three goals in the first period. But Colorado got one back midway through the second and then scored twice in the final four minutes of regulation to send the game to overtime. Brett Kulak scored the winner for the Avs in OT to clinch the series. 

“I think everyone feels empty right now,” Wild veteran Mats Zuccarello said after. “It wasn’t the finish we wanted. We knew it’d be a tough series. ... It’s hard to explain after a game like that.”

Not that it’ll be any consolation for the Wild, but the Avs look pretty much unstoppable. They were easily the best team in the league during the regular season. Not only did they win the Presidents’ Trophy as the team with the best regular-season record, but they also led the league in both goals scored and goals allowed. The Wild should consider themselves lucky that they were even able to get one win in the series. The Kings, Colorado’s first-round opponent, got swept. 

Next up for the Avs is the Western Conference final against either the Golden Knights or the Ducks. Vegas leads that series 3–2. Neither of those teams can hold a candle to the Avs, who won 16 more games this season than Vegas and 12 more than Anaheim. With any luck, we’ll get to see a real heavyweight Stanley Cup Final between Colorado and the equally unstoppable Hurricanes. 

The best of Sports Illustrated

• We’re launching a really cool project today: 48 individual Sports Illustrated covers featuring every team in this summer’s World Cup. Editor in Chief Stephen Cannella explains how the project came to be. You can see all of the covers here. 
• The PGA Championship is underway at Aronimink Golf Club outside Philadelphia. Here are our experts’ picks for the tournament. 
• Michael Rosenberg believes that Rory McIlroy is in a good position to follow up his Masters win with a victory at the PGA. 
• English soccer is facing its own Spygate scandal. Tom Gott has everything you need to know about the allegations and how they’re being addressed. 
• In his tennis mailbag, Jon Wertheim addresses the speculation that top players could boycott major tournaments. 
• NFL schedule release day has become synonymous with creative viral videos from teams. As we await the release of this year’s schedule, Gilberto Manzano got the inside story on how the Rams put together their popular pre-draft parody of the movie Friday.  

The top five…

… things I saw last night: 
5. Rory McIlroy’s impressive ability to identify other players’ swings. 
4. Five points in 10 seconds by the Cavaliers in overtime, thanks to Max Strus’s steal immediately after an inbounds pass.
3. An unassisted double play by the Rockies’ Jake McCarthy. Those happen all the time, right? Not by an outfielder! (Oneil Cruz’s truly dreadful baserunning made it possible.)
2. Two homers in one inning for Nationals prospect Yohandy Morales. Morales’s Rochester Red Wings put up nine runs in the third inning en route to a wild 13–11 win over the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. 
1. The funniest thing I’ve ever seen on a baseball field. An outfielder tried to make a sliding stop but ended up slamming on top of the ball so hard that it got stuck in the ground. It was buried so deep in the turf that the batter got an inside-the-park home run.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow