The New England Revolution set out to continue their dominant home form when they host the Columbus Crew on Saturday in Foxborough, Mass.

The home/away splits are as stark as they come for New England (3-3-0, 9 points). The Revolution have been outscored 8-2 while going 0-3-0 on the road, but are 3-0-0 with a 10-1 goal differential on their own field.

New England hasn’t allowed a goal in either of its last two home matches, which defender Mamadou Fofana felt was due to a strong effort from the entire lineup.

“We are a team. So it’s (from) the defense up to the striker … To win the game with a clean sheet, it is perfect,” Fofana said.

The offensive credit has also been spread around, as New England’s 12 goals have come from nine different players. Brayan Ceballos, Peyton Miller and Alhassan Yusuf share the team lead with two goals apiece.

By contrast, five of the Crew’s nine goals this season were scored by striker Wessam Abou Ali, who sustained a season-ending torn ACL in last Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Orlando City.

“When you don’t have Wes … we don’t need to change everything, but of course we need to find other ways to get more out of more players,” Columbus coach Henrik Rydstrom said.

Diego Rossi has three goals for Columbus (1-3-3, 6 points), and Max Arfsten is the only other Crew player to score.

Abou Ali’s injury is an unwelcome obstacle for a team that seemed to be finding its form. The Crew were winless (0-3-2) in their first five matches before recording a 3-1 road win over Atlanta United on April 4 and then overcoming the loss of Abou Ali to salvage the draw with Orlando.

Forward Jamal Thiare left Wednesday’s U.S. Open Cup match with an apparent leg injury and is questionable for Saturday.

The Crew are 8-2-6 in their last 16 matches with the Revolution (regular season plus playoffs) and 3-0-2 in their last five trips to Foxborough.

–Field Level Media

The New York Knicks and Atlanta Hawks each were Cinderella stories the last time they opposed each other in the NBA playoffs.

Only the Hawks qualify for that moniker this time around.

The Knicks will begin a championship-or-bust pursuit when they host the Hawks in the first game of a best-of-seven Eastern Conference first-round series Saturday night.

The Knicks (53-29) earned the third seed in the East after recording their most wins since the 2012-13 season. The Hawks (46-36) finished in sixth place and clinched the final guaranteed playoff spot after racking up their most victories since the 2015-16 campaign.

But a successful regular season isn’t the goal for the Knicks, who reached the Eastern Conference finals last year for the first time since 2000 yet fired head coach Tom Thibodeau three days after being eliminated by the Indiana Pacers.

Thibodeau directed New York to four playoff berths in five years dating back to 2020-21 — or as many postseason appearances as the franchise made from 2001-02 through the 2019-20 seasons.

During a rare radio appearance in January, Knicks owner James Dolan said he believed the Knicks should “want to get to the Finals and we should win the Finals.” New York hasn’t won the NBA title since 1973 and hasn’t reached the championship round since 1999.

The Knicks did raise a trophy this season when they won the NBA Cup in December. But the team didn’t hoist a banner commemorating that championship — and any momentum generated by the title run disappeared during a 2-9 skid from Dec. 31 through Jan. 19.

The Knicks went 28-11 the rest of the way, including 15-10 against teams that either made the playoffs or participated in the play-in tournament.

“At the end of the day, we’ll be judged on what we do on this run,” Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns said.

Expectations were lower for the Hawks, who never built on their deep playoff run in 2021. Led by polarizing point guard Trae Young, Atlanta beat the Knicks in five games that year on its way to reaching the conference finals for the second time since 1970.

The Hawks were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs in 2022 and 2023 before getting knocked out in the play-in tournament in 2024 and 2025. The Young era ended Jan. 7, when he was dealt to the Washington Wizards in exchange for CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert.

At the time of the trade, Atlanta was 18-21 and sitting in ninth place in the East. But the Hawks won 28 of their final 43 games — including 20 of 26 following the All-Star Break, the third-best record in the NBA.

While Young played in just five games for the Wizards due to back and quad injuries, the 34-year-old McCollum averaged 18.7 points per game while Kispert collected 9.2 points per game as a key reserve over a combined 80 games.

“We’ve added stuff, we’ve taken stuff out, we’ve kind of evaluated what works, what doesn’t work and what’s going to work for this group,” McCollum said.

–Field Level Media

The NFL Draft is just a few days away, and it’s a foregone conclusion that Fernando Mendoza will be the No. 1 overall pick to the Las Vegas Raiders.

But who goes No. 2 overall at the NFL Draft in Pittsburgh?

That’s still up for some debate, as the New York Jets own the keys to when the draft actually begins. There’s been plenty of debate between Texas Tech defensive end David Bailey and Ohio State EDGE Arvell Reese.

The Jets have plenty of needs, including a franchise quarterback. Unfortunately, after Mendoza, a quarterback doesn’t exist. That means the Jets are likely to get defensive-minded head coach Aaron Glenn a difference maker on defense.

On popular prediction market site, Kalshi, Reese is more likely to be the No. 2 overall selection as of Friday evening.

He’s 59% to be the No. 2 overall selection at 61¢. Bailey is 43% to be the No. 2 overall selection at 48¢. Miami defensive end Rueben Bain Jr. is <1% – a true long shot.

There’s actually some debate here – and that favors Bailey, who is the less likely player to be selected by the Jets at No. 2 overall.

After a dominant first three seasons at Stanford, Bailey cemented his NFL Draft stock by showcasing his ability in 14 games at Texas Tech. He had career-highs in almost every category, finishing the season with 52 total tackles, 19.5 tackles for loss and 14.5 sacks. Of course, that was good enough for a consensus All-American.

Reese’s story is just as impressive – but much different.

As a true freshman, Reese appeared in just six games for the Buckeyes. In 2024, Reese played in 16 games for the national championship winning team, recording half a sack and 3.5 tackles for loss. In his final season, Reese exploded onto the scene at Ohio State. He had 10 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks. He joined Bailey as a consensus All-American.

Most organizations would prefer Reese’s age, which is just 20 years old. Bailey isn’t a dinosaur at 22 years old, but extending Reese on his second contract before he’s 25 years old is very ideal. That maximizes the window for how great players can be in one organization.

They’re also similar in size – but Reese had some real naysayers at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis because of his unorthodox pass rushing style.

There’s plenty of reason to believe that Reese should be the No. 2 overall pick. But the value on Bailey makes sense, especially if the Jets don’t feel comfortable with drafting a player that could be perceived as a bit of a tweener.