Sports
Karl-Anthony Towns Will Help New York Knicks in Regular Season, Not NBA Playoffs
It’s May 18, 2025. New York Knicks forward Precious Achiuwa rushes up to the scorers’ table to check in for Karl-Anthony Towns, who just committed his sixth personal foul with 4:37 remaining in the fourth quarter of Game 6 of an Eastern Conference semifinal series.
Achiuwa takes the floor and joins four New York starters who have been playing 35-40 minutes a night for more than a month. They don’t have nearly enough gas left in the tank.
The final buzzer sounds. Milwaukee Bucks 104, Knicks 92. New York fails to reach the Eastern Conference finals for a third straight season. Back to the drawing board it goes.
Of course, May 18, 2025, hasn’t happened yet. For now, these are simply words on a screen. But in just over seven months, this could be reality for the Knicks—or at least close to it.
New York has assembled one of the most daunting starting fives in the league this offseason, trading for Mikal Bridges and Towns, who will be playing alongside Jalen Brunson, OG Anunoby and Josh Hart.
Bojan Bogdanovic went to the Brooklyn Nets as part of the Bridges deal, while acquiring Towns from the Minnesota Timberwolves cost the Knicks Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo. New York also parted ways with four back-of-the-bench guys and three draft picks to land Towns.
So buckle up, Knicks fans. You’re in for a special, special regular season.
However, no champion earns that title by utilizing a five-man rotation for 48 minutes for a minimum of 16 playoff games. And that’s why New York is going to run into problems come postseason time.
An eight-or nine-man rotation is usually what it takes to get the job done, meaning Miles McBride, Mitchell Robinson, Cameron Payne and Achiuwa would be the guys most frequently called upon to deliver valuable minutes off the bench.
That group doesn’t really inspire confidence, does it?
A healthy Towns is a clear-cut upgrade over Randle, whose selfishness and poor decision-making often spoiled a lot of promising possessions for the Knicks. But this team is really going to feel the losses of Bogdanovic and DiVincenzo, especially when New York’s core players are gasping for air by mid-April.
Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau is known to play his starters until he can’t anymore, and while you do want your best players on the floor as much as possible, it becomes problematic when they end up either injured or too tired to make any serious noise in the playoffs.
It really becomes a double-edged sword: Rely on a shaky second unit throughout the regular season, risking a top-two seed in the East, or go all in for Games 1-82 and hope for the best when things start to really matter.
We’ve seen one of these scenarios play out before, as New York gave everything it had to secure the No. 2 seed in the East last season, only to fall to the Indiana Pacers in Game 7 of a semifinal series.
In the 35 games that New York played from March 1-May 19 (regular and postseason), Thibodeau may have legitimately been trying to kill Hart, who appeared in all 35 of those contests while casually playing 40.8 minutes a night.
DiVincenzo was getting 37.4 minutes per game during that stretch, Brunson was averaging 36.0, and, even though he was hobbled by a hamstring injury, Anunoby was logging 34.8 per contest. Like Hart, DiVincenzo saw action in all 35 games, with Brunson getting into 34 and Anunoby playing in 18.
There’s a very real chance that the Knicks win upwards of 60 games this season with such a talented starting five. Problem is, banners don’t get hung for 60-win seasons. Even a 65- or 70-win campaign wouldn’t help fill up the rafters.
Heading into the marathon that is the NBA season, New York is only conditioned for the first 25 miles. That’s great and all, but it takes 26.2 to reach the finish line.
Sports
Cardinals stave off Dodgers’ rally for 6th straight win
May 2, 2026; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals right fielder Jordan Walker (18) hits a two-run home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the third inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Puetz-Imagn Images Jordan Walker slugged a two-run homer among his two hits and Michael McGreevy tossed six scoreless innings as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers 3-2 on Saturday for their sixth straight victory.
McGreevy (2-2) allowed three hits with three walks and three strikeouts. Right-hander Ryne Stanek and lefty JoJo Romero each pitched a scoreless inning before the Dodgers scored two runs on four straight hits against righty Riley O’Brien in the ninth.
O’Brien recorded two quick outs before giving up back-to-back infield singles to Kyle Tucker and Teoscar Hernandez. Max Muncy and Andy Pages followed with RBI singles before O’Brien struck out pinch hitter Dalton Rushing for his ninth save.
Los Angeles lost its fourth straight game and has scored three or fewer runs in seven of its last 11 games.
St. Louis took a 3-0 lead on four hits in the third inning. Ivan Herrera hit a leadoff double against Roki Sasaki (1-3) and scored on Alec Burleson’s double to right field.
Walker followed with a two-run blast to left field. The 372-foot shot was Walker’s 10th homer of the season and second in his last three games.
The Dodgers had plenty of early traffic on the basepaths against McGreevy, but they were held scoreless while hitting into four double plays in the first five innings.
Los Angeles put two runners on with one out in the second inning before Pages struck out and Hyeseong Kim grounded out.
The pattern continued in the third inning, when Alex Freeland hit a leadoff single and second baseman JJ Wetherholt started a double play with a diving catch on Shohei Ohtani’s liner.
Sasaki gave up three runs on five hits with two walks over six innings. He retired the final 10 batters he faced and threw a career-high 104 pitches.
Stanek replaced right-hander McGreevy to begin the seventh inning and retired two batters before Hernandez singled and Muncy walked. Both were stranded when Pages struck out.
The Dodgers were held without a home run for the fifth straight game and have hit a total of three homers in their past 11 games.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Saba Lobjanidze's brace sparks Atlanta over Montreal
May 2, 2026; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta United midfielder Saba Lobjanidze (11) reacts to his goal against the CF Montréal in the first half at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mady Mertens-Imagn Images Saba Lobjanidze scored a brace and Emmanuel Latte Lath netted the match-winner late in the first half as Atlanta United defeated visiting CF Montreal 3-1 on Saturday evening.
Alexey Miranchuk had two assists while Pedro Amador and Cooper Sanchez added an assist apiece for Atlanta (3-7-1, 10 points), which won its third straight match across all competitions and second straight in MLS play. It also snapped a four-match home winless streak (0-3-1).
Montreal (3-7-0, 9 points) saw a two-match win streak come to an end while its road losing streak reached four. It also finished the match with 10 men after Brayan Vera received a red card in the first minute of second-half stoppage time.
Latte Lath put Atlanta ahead in the sixth minute of first-half stoppage time thanks to an interception by Sanchez. The Ivorian striker played a ball forward to Miranchuk, then scored on Miranchuk’s return pass to make it 2-1.
Lobjanidze upped Atlanta United’s lead to 3-1 in the 50th minute, scoring off Sanchez’s assist.
Atlanta equalized in the 41st minute with Lobjanidze’s first goal of the year. After receiving a pass from Miranchuk, Lobjanidze’s shot deflected off Montreal goalkeeper Thomas Gillier’s hand and trickled past the goal line, tying the match at 1-1.
Matty Longstaff scored Montreal’s lone goal of the evening in the sixth minute.
Lucas Hoyos finished the evening with four saves. Gillier stopped two Atlanta shots.
Atlanta United won back-to-back MLS regular-season matches for the first time since May 24 and 28, 2025. They have outscored opponents 7-2 during their win streak.
Montreal lost for the first time under interim head coach Phillipe Eullafroy.
Miranchuk has two goals and two assists in his last three matches across all competitions.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Late penalty extends New England's unbeaten streak vs. Charlotte
May 2, 2026; Foxborough, Massachusetts, USA; New England Revolution forward Luca Langoni (41) dribbles the ball against Charlotte FC midfielder Djibril Diani (28) in the first half at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Edward Finan-Imagn Images Carles Gil’s 97th-minute penalty kick lifted the New England Revolution to a tense 1-0 victory over Charlotte FC Saturday night in Foxborough, Mass.
The Revolution (6-3-1, 19 points) broke through during stoppage time after several minutes marked by defensive gridlock. The win extends the Revs’ unbeaten streak to six league games.
Matt Turner made three saves and kept a clean sheet for the Revolution, who outshot Charlotte (4-5-2, 14 points) 14-7. Charlotte keeper Kristijan Kahlina made three saves.
The Revs faced late drama when Charlotte’s Brandt Bronico was called for a handball in the box in the dying minutes of stoppage time, and the referee failed to call an advantage on the play, which would’ve counted Diego Fagundez’s goal.
However, Gil calmly sent Kahlina the wrong way and scored the ensuing penalty to give the Revs the late winner. The goal is Gil’s third of the season.
Charlotte manager Dean Smith has faced many questions about his team’s misfiring offense, and they remain unanswered. The team’s usually prolific offense struggled to create chances in the final third, and when they did, they failed to convert.
Charlotte’s biggest chance of the first half came when Idan Toklomati received the ball just 16 yards away from the goal with a clear shot. However, Toklomati slammed his shot against the crossbar, leaving the game scoreless in the 37th minute.
The two sides struggled to challenge each other throughout the match, settling for long-range, low-quality shots.
Charlotte’s Wilfried Zaha and Revs defender Mamadou Fofana had to be separated by teammates after a brief shouting match and a couple of shoves in the second half. Zaha, who then argued with New England manager Marko Mitrovic, was booked. The yellow card is his sixth in just nine league appearances.
Charlotte nearly found an equalizer in the game’s dying minutes when Morrison Agyemang headed a shot from short range. The shot seemed destined for the upper corner of the net, but Turner deflected the ball to preserve the Revs’ victory.
–Field Level Media
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Cardinals stave off Dodgers’ rally for 6th straight win
