Sports
No. 3 Michigan tops Minnesota to clinch share of Big Ten title
Feb 24, 2026; Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA; Michigan Wolverines guard Nimari Burnett (4) is defended by Minnesota Golden Gophers guard Isaac Asuma (1) in the first half at Crisler Center. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images Elliot Cadeau scored 15 points on 6-for-10 shooting, and No. 3 Michigan pulled away for a 77-67 win over Minnesota on Tuesday night in Ann Arbor, Mich.
L.J. Cason added 14 points for Michigan (26-2, 16-1), which clinched a share of the Big Ten Conference regular-season title. It marked the program’s first share of a regular-season conference title since 2021 and its 16th in school history.
Trey McKenney added 12 points for Michigan, and Aday Mara chipped in 10 points.
Cade Tyson scored 20 points to lead Minnesota (13-15, 6-11). Langston Reynolds scored 15 points on 6-for-12 shooting, and Isaac Asuma and Bobby Durkin finished with 12 points apiece.
The injury-riddled Golden Gophers played with only six players. Michigan’s bench outscored Minnesota’s bench 35-0.
Minnesota stayed within close range of Michigan for much of the game. The Golden Gophers pulled within 51-47 with 10:19 remaining when Durkin dumped off a pass in the paint to Grayson Grove, who finished with a layup.
The Wolverines responded with a 12-2 run to grab a 63-49 advantage, which marked their largest lead of the game to that point.
Cadeau started the scoring outburst when he sidestepped to the right and drained a 3-pointer from near the top of the key. McKenney and Cason followed with 3-pointers before Grove knocked down a long jump shot with 7:40 to go.
Cason added another 3-pointer, this time from the left corner, to give Michigan a 14-point lead with 7:27 remaining.
Cadeau boosted Michigan’s lead to 70-52 when he dribbled from one end of the court to the other and finished with a flick of the wrist to spin a layup off the glass.
Durkin hit a 3-pointer from the right wing to bring Minnesota within 73-60 with 3:39 left. Reynolds added a driving layup to make it 73-62 with 3:03 remaining, but the Golden Gophers could not get within single digits the rest of the way.
Michigan led 32-28 at the end of the first half.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Celtics' Jaylen Brown critical of refs for 'agenda,' calls out 76ers' Joel Embiid
Apr 30, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown (7) dribbles the ball against the Philadelphia 76ers during the first quarter at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown on Sunday criticized officiating in the team’s first-round loss to Philadelphia and also pointed at 76ers center Joel Embiid for flopping.
Brown spoke on the streaming platform Twitch on Sunday, a day after the second-seeded Celtics lost Game 7 at home to the seventh-seeded 76ers in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Boston played without injured star forward Jayson Tatum, but Brown found other reasons for the Celtics’ downfall as Philadelphia won the last three games in the best-of-seven series.
Embiid collected 34 points, 12 rebounds and six assists in the 76ers’ 109-100 victory on Saturday. The 7-foot, 270-pounder was 9 of 11 at the free-throw line. He used his big body to draw fouls and used some physical acting to get extra calls, Brown contended.
“I mean, this is my personal opinion on basketball,” Brown said. “Some of y’all might disagree, you know what I mean? But argue with your grandma. Flopping has ruined our game.
“Embiid is a great player, one of the best bigs in … basketball history, flops,” Brown continued. “He knows it. This ain’t breaking news.”
Brown acknowledged that he has been critical of officiating in the regular season, and he believes that carried over in how referees called the series, particularly in calling offensive fouls on him.
“Why are you targeting me? They clearly had an agenda,” he said. “Maybe because I spoke, I was critical of the refs in the regular season. So you know how they responded? ‘We’re gonna call every — you’re gonna lead the playoffs in offensive fouls.’ That was the response from the officiating crew.
“You could clearly tell,” he continued. “I’ve actually spoken to some refs and they said it was an agenda going into each game. ‘Any time Jaylen brings his arm up, just from reputation, just call it.’ “
Brown said that Paul George of the 76ers and Jalen Brunson of the New York Knicks, for example, make push-off moves with their off arm when driving with the ball to create space, but they don’t get called like he does for offensive fouls.
“It’s a basketball play, whether y’all believe it or not,” Brown said. “Everybody does that when you drive, especially if you’ve got bodies on you. But Philly took advantage of it, and they took advantage of the officiating. It cost us to some degree. I’ve been doing it all regular season, not a problem. Now, all of a sudden, it’s an offensive foul every time. Keep that same energy with everybody else. That’s all I’ve gotta say.”
Brown was whistled for 10 offensive fouls in the first round, more than twice as many as the next-highest player, according to reports. In the regular season, the Knicks’ Karl-Anthony Towns was called for 65 offensive fouls, with Brown second in the league at 40.
Brown, 29, is a five-time All-Star who won the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award when the Celtics captured the league championship in 2024.
He averaged career highs with 28.7 points and 5.1 assists and matched the mark with 6.9 rebounds per game in 71 regular-season games this season. Brown averaged 25.7 points, 3.3 assists and 5.7 rebounds in seven playoff games.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Chandler Simpson Is an Anomaly for Tampa Bay Rays
Chandler Simpson has become a hot-button topic in baseball conversations. To simplify the issue, old-school guys love his high-contact approach, while modern, analytical viewers hate his game because he provides below-average offensive production according to their stats.
I don’t think either group is absolutely right on Simpson. Both groups are leaning into narratives that better suit their arguments for or against him. To analyze Chandler Simpson, I think it takes a little bit more nuance.
To start, if you think Simpson has been an overall bad player in 2026, you are objectively wrong. He’s only been a slightly below league-average hitter, while playing some of the best defense out in left field and providing tremendous value on the base paths. If you don’t agree with those sentiments, you are simply hating a guy for no reason.
However, I’m not sure he can maintain his consistent performance at the plate like he has so far this year. Simpson does have some elite traits; he carries 99th percentile whiff%, K%, and squared up percentages. He creates a ton of contact and does as much damage as he can with the slowest swing in the sport. Also, he only strikes out 8.8% of the time, so he’s going to put the ball in play very frequently.
Since he puts the ball in play a ton, he, in turn, has a ton of bad batted ball data. Simpson rarely walks and chases after bad pitches, which really limits how productive he can be offensively. Additionally, his expected stats are a mixed bag. His xBA is higher than his actual batting average, but his xWOBA outpaces his actual WOBA. What we’re currently seeing from Simpson is one of the better versions we’ve seen, unless he starts becoming more patient at the plate.
Furthermore, he has generated only an OPS+ of 95 this year, 5% below the league average, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. Simpson has stolen 11 bases this year, and in my eyes, steals should be looked at similarly to doubles when it comes to OPS. His OPS would be nearly 100 points higher if you counted his steals as doubles to his stats, and he would have an OPS+ of 116, which would be a well-above-average hitter in baseball.
Chandler Simpson is a flawed baseball player, but his polarization has been completely unfair. He’s a solid player who gets on base, plays great defense, and can steal bases. As long as those things stay consistent, he’s going to play in the MLB for a very long time.
Sports
NBA Playoff Game 1 Bet Picks: 76ers vs Knicks and Timberwolves vs Spurs Bets
Apr 23, 2026; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves guard Ayo Dosunmu (13) talks with a reporter after the game with the Denver Nuggets at Target Center. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images Look at who has crashed the second round of the NBA Playoffs – Joel Embiid. Figured there was no invite coming for the Philadelphia 76ers and their star center after he underwent an appendectomy at a really unfortunate time.
But Embiid returned for the final four games of the first-round series against the Boston Celtics and the 76ers won the last three contests to surprisingly claim the Eastern Conference series. So the heat waiting for Embiid was transferred to the Celtics, coach Joe Mazzulla and NBA Executive of the Year Brad Stevens for a horrifying collapse.
Philadelphia now looks to upend the New York Knicks on the Eastern side, beginning with Monday’s Game 1. The Minnesota Timberwolves and San Antonio Spurs also open a Western Conference series on Monday with Anthony Edwards (left knee) listed as questionable for Minnesota.
PHILADELPHIA 76ERS AT NEW YORK KNICKS
The much-maligned Embiid can hold his head high after the last three games as he also fought through his knee getting banged up in Game 7 while recording 34 points, 12 rebounds and six assists in the clinching 109-100 win in Boston. He averaged 28 points in the four games he played and the only question will be if he can play with this much juice in Game 1 against the Knicks after also banging up his right hip.
The Knicks defeated the Atlanta Hawks in six games in the first round and the clinching victory was a 140-89 beat down on Thursday, furthering the confidence of a team primed for a deep run. Guards Jalen Brunson (26.3 average vs. the Hawks) of the Knicks and Tyrese Maxey (26.9 vs. the Celtics) of the 76ers figure to put on a stellar show, similar to two seasons ago when New York took down the 76ers in six games in the first round.
New York finished the Atlanta series with victories by 16, 29 and 51 points after losing both Games 2 and 3 by one point. OG Anunoby had 29 points on 11-of-14 shooting in the decisive game and averaged 21.5 points and shot 61.1% from the field in the series. Anunoby (18-plus points, -103) was so hot that his second-lowest shooting percentage in the first round was 56.3.
The teams split four meetings in the regular season with the Knicks delivering a 138-89 whipping on Feb. 11 in Philadelphia. New York will send deluxe defensive big man Mitchell Robinson inside to slow Embiid (27-plus points, -106) so this might be a game where either Brunson (28-plus points, -112) or Maxey (25-plus points, -123) shines brightest.
Knicks minus 7.5-point spread, -108 (DraftKings)
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MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES AT SAN ANTONIO SPURS
The Spurs cruised past the Portland Trail Blazers in five games in the first round and all four victories were by double digits. MVP candidate Victor Wembanyama, still just 22, returned from a concussion to average 22 points, 13 rebounds and 6.5 blocks over the final two games of the series.
Guards De’Aaron Fox (18-plus points, -114) and Stephon Castle (18-plus points, -104) are fine compliments to Wemby (30-plus points, +117) and big reasons why San Antonio’s win total is up to 66 this season. Fox averaged 20.2 points and 6.8 assists against Portland and Castle contributed 19.8 points and 6.0 assists.
Edwards missed the final two games of the six-game first-round series victory over the Denver Nuggets but is pushing hard to be on the floor Monday. What would really hurt Minnesota is if both Edwards and stellar reserve Ayo Dosunmu (calf) both miss the game. Dosunmu (18-plus points, -111) averaged a team-best 21.8 in the Denver series – led by his electric 43-point outing in Game 4 – before missing the finale.
Of course, Minnesota also lost Donte DiVincenzo (Achilles) in Game 4 so Julius Randle (21-plus points, -106) could be carrying the load and guys like Jaden McDaniels (18-plus points, -102) and reserve Naz Reid (13-plus points, -119) will need to step up. The Spurs have the upper hand to begin with but had lost five straight games to the Timberwolves before posting a 126-123 home win on Jan. 17.
Timberwolves plus 13.5-point spread, -115 (DraftKings)
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Celtics' Jaylen Brown critical of refs for 'agenda,' calls out 76ers' Joel Embiid
Chandler Simpson Is an Anomaly for Tampa Bay Rays
