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
Braves RF Ronald Acuna Jr. leaves Rockies game with hamstring tightness
May 1, 2026; Denver, Colorado, USA; Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. (13) before the game against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images Braves right fielder Ronald Acuna Jr. left Saturday’s game at the Colorado Rockies with left hamstring tightness.
Acuna grabbed at his hamstring and pulled up when attempting to run out a grounder he hit in the second inning in Denver. He limped off the field under his own power after being examined by the team’s medical staff.
The 2023 National League MVP, Acuna entered the day hitting .248 with two homers and nine RBIs in 33 games. He led off the game with a single and scored when Drake Baldwin followed with a home run.
Acuna was replaced in right field by Eli White, who is hitting .186 with two homers and seven RBIs in 19 games.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Pirates wreck Reds; tie MLB record for consecutive walks
May 2, 2026; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Home plate umpire Willie Traynow keeps Cincinnati Reds second baseman Sal Stewart (27) away from Pittsburgh Pirates cvatcher Henry Davis after he was nearly hit by the ball during the seventh inning at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Philip G. Pavely-Imagn Images The host Pittsburgh Pirates scored 15 runs in the first four innings and took advantage of record wildness by the Cincinnati Reds to roll to a 17-7 victory on Saturday.
Rookie Konnor Griffin doubled, tripled and went 4-for-5 while driving in two, while Ryan O’Hearn doubled and drove in three as the top eight hitters in the Pirates lineup each had at least one hit while seven batters had at least two hits.
Pittsburgh also drew seven consecutive walks in the second inning — tying a major league record set in 1909 and equaled in 1983. The Pirates scored five runs in the second without a hit, becoming the first team to accomplish the feat since 1994.
Right-hander Carmen Mlodzinski (2-2) was the beneficiary of the offensive outburst. He struck out a career-high 10 while scattering eight hits, two walks and five runs over 5 2/3 innings.
Will Benson and JJ Bleday homered and Nathaniel Lowe drove in three runs for the Reds, who trailed 15-3 after four innings. Cincinnati starter Rhett Lowder (3-2) surrendered eight runs, five hits and four walks before being removed with one out in the second.
Since losing 2-0 to Cincinnati in their first meeting on March 30, Pittsburgh has won the last four by a combined 42-14 score.
For a second straight day, the game was played in raw conditions, with a game-time temperature of 43 degrees.
Lowder appeared miserable in the cold and struggled badly early. He was unable to find his rhythm or command while allowing four runs before there were two outs in the first inning. The five runs allowed in the first were a career high for the right-hander.
Lowder labored through 30 pitches in the first as O’Hearn, Marcell Ozuna and Griffin each doubled in the five-run outburst. Lowder then walked the bases loaded in the second before being pulled.
Reliever Connor Phillips came in and walked all four Pirates he faced to force in four runs. He left after throwing just five of his 21 pitches for strikes.
The last time seven straight walks were issued in a Major League game came on May 25, 1983, when three Pirates pitchers walked seven in a row at Atlanta in a 6-0 Braves win.
The five runs without a hit in the second happened for the first time since April 27, 1994, when the Seattle Mariners allowed five runs to the New York Yankees in the top of the third inning.
With the score 15-6, Pittsburgh reliever Chris Devenski was ejected for throwing inside near the ribcage of Sal Stewart to open the seventh. Stewart took exception and stared out at the mound. But the encounter did not escalate as umpires intervened.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Max Meyer, 2 relievers hold Phillies to 1 hit
May 2, 2026; Miami, Florida, USA; Miami Marlins starting pitcher Max Meyer (23) throws against the Philadelphia Phillies during the first inning at loanDepot Park. Mandatory Credit: Rhona Wise-Imagn Images Max Meyer only allowed one hit in seven shutout innings and Xavier Edwards homered in the host Miami Marlins’ 4-0 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday
Meyer (2-0) faced one over the minimum number of batters with a walk and seven strikeouts in the longest start of his career. He threw 55 strikes in 83 pitches.
Anthony Bender and Andrew Nardi each retired the side in order in the combined one-hitter.
Otto Lopez and Edwards each had two hits with a run and an RBI and Connor Norby was 2-for-3 with a run batted in for the Marlins, who evened the four-game series at one win each.
Garrett Stubbs got the lone hit for the Phillies, who had their four-game winning streak under interim manager Don Mattingly snapped. Kyle Schwarber was 0-for-3 with three strikeouts and has struck out in all eight at-bats over his last two games, tying a career high for consecutive strikeouts.
Philadelphia right-hander Andrew Painter (1-3) gave up three runs on seven hits in five innings with three walks and seven strikeouts.
The Marlins took a 2-0 lead in the third on consecutive bases-loaded, two-out walks to Agustin Ramirez and Norby.
It was the second straight inning Miami loaded the bases with one out with three consecutive singles. In the second, Painter got Graham Pauley on a foul out and struck out Esteury Ruiz swinging to end the inning.
Edwards’ one-out solo homer in the fifth made it 3-0. He drove Painter’s 1-1 four-seam fastball into the right-field stands for his second home run.
Lopez’s infield single with two outs in the sixth increased the Marlins’ advantage to 4-0.
Stubbs singled in the third with one out and was erased on an inning-ending double play.
Justin Crawford was scratched from the Phillies’ lineup because of a migraine.
Philadelphia also activated catcher J.T, Realmuto from the 10-day injured list (back spasms) earlier Saturday and designated Dylan Moore for assignment. Realmuto was hitless in three at-bats.
–Field Level Media
Braves RF Ronald Acuna Jr. leaves Rockies game with hamstring tightness
Pirates wreck Reds; tie MLB record for consecutive walks
