Kansas City Chiefs general manager Brett Veach concurred with team owner Clark Hunt, saying that quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ recovery from knee surgery is “ahead of schedule.”

In a Monday interview on SiriusXM NFL Radio, Veach said, “”I think it wouldn’t surprise you guys, the way it’s been really inspiring just to see — my mind, I’ve been there before with Pat, he had that dislocated knee (in 2019) and worked his tail off and came back in three weeks. I knew that this bump on the road wouldn’t slow him down at all.

“But I mean, this guy has been in the building — especially like a player that has accomplished everything and can do anything he wants. He can hire his own trainers and be wherever he wants; he’s in our building every single day. Even when he goes away for a few days, say, to Dallas for a weekend with his family, he takes one of our trainers with him.

“So, needless to say, he’s way ahead of schedule. I think the biggest challenge that we’re going to have is protecting him from himself. I’m sure when we get to St. Joseph, Missouri, for training camp, he’s gonna want to be full-go, but we are going to have to hold him back a little. And again, I don’t want to put a timetable on it, but I think you guys know the type of person and competitor that Pat is. I would just say, we are in a really good place right now.”

Mahomes, 30, tore the ACL and LCL in his left knee in a Dec. 14 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. The two-time NFL MVP sat out the rest of the season and the Chiefs (6-11) missed the playoffs for the first time since 2014.

Mahomes has guided the club to five Super Bowl appearances and three championships since being drafted 10th overall out of Texas Tech in 2017. He is 95-31 as a starter in the regular season and 17-4 in the postseason.

Veach expanded upon what Hunt had said at the NFL annual meetings in Phoenix in late March.

“By every indication, Patrick is ahead of schedule, and he’s worked really hard to be ahead of schedule,” Hunt said. “Knowing how that plays out in terms of being ready for contact, I don’t think any of us can speculate. But he’s doing fantastic, and we certainly hope we’re going to bounce back this year. We absolutely think we’re a playoff team again, for sure.”

The Chiefs traded for Justin Fields in March and drafted former LSU signal-caller Garrett Nussmeier in April’s NFL draft. Fields has started 53 games while playing for the Chicago Bears, Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Jets, while Nussmeier was a seventh round selection after making 23 starts in five seasons in Baton Rouge.

–Field Level Media

Former Pittsburgh Pirates player and coach Bob Skinner, who also had managerial stints with the Philadelphia Phillies and San Diego Padres, has died. He was 94.

Known by the nickname “Sleepy” during his time with the Pirates, the San Diego-area native played nearly nine of his 12 major league seasons in Pittsburgh, earning three All-Star Game nods and winning a World Series with the club in 1960.

“We are saddened to relay the news of the passing of former Pirates outfielder and coach Bob Skinner,” the Pirates said in a statement. “Skinner was a member of the 1960 World Series Championship Pirates and a coach on the 1979 World Series Championship team. He made his Major League debut with the Bucs in 1954 and played nine of his 12 seasons in Pittsburgh.”

Skinner served as a Pittsburgh coach for 10 seasons over two stints (1974-76, 1979-85).

Skinner also won a World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1964 after a midseason trade from the Cincinnati Reds.

After he retired as a player following the 1966 season, Skinner became manager of the Phillies’ Triple-A affiliate in San Diego in 1967 then took over as manager in Philadelphia when Gene Mauch was fired 54 games into the 1968 season.

Skinner resigned as Phillies manager in 1969 with the team off to a 44-64 start as he was going through a reported feud with star player Dick Allen.

Skinner returned for a second stint as Pirates batting coach in 1979 as the team won the World Series. He also had coaching stints with the Padres (1970-73, 1977), California Angels (1978) and Atlanta Braves (1986-88).

Skinner also had a one-game stint as an interim manager of the Padres in 1977, and finished 93-123 as a major league skipper.

In 1,381 career games as a player, Skinner batted .277 with 103 home runs and 531 RBIs for the Pirates (1954, 1956-63), Reds (1963-64) and Cardinals (1964-66).

Skinner is the father of former major league catcher Joel Skinner, who played nine seasons with the Chicago White Sox, the then-Cleveland Indians and New York Yankees. Joel Skinner was a longtime minor league manager who also was interim manager of Cleveland for 76 games in the 2002 season.

–Field Level Media

It does not take much for championship-starved Big Apple basketball fans to daydream about what an NBA title run by the New York Knicks might look like.

The Knicks have given their fans even more reason to dream over the last 11 days.

The third-seeded Knicks will look to continue their dominant run and take a commanding lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals Wednesday night, when they host the seventh-seeded Philadelphia 76ers in Game 2 of the best-of-seven series.

Jalen Brunson scored 27 of his game-high 35 points in the first half Monday, when the Knicks rolled to a 137-98 victory.

The win was the fourth straight for the Knicks, who closed out the Atlanta Hawks with three consecutive lopsided victories in their six-game first-round series.

New York, which fell behind Atlanta with consecutive one-point losses in Games 2 and 3, beat the Hawks 114-98 in Game 4 on April 25 before routing them 126-97 in Game 5 on April 28 and 140-89 last Thursday night.

“You hope that at this time, you’re the best version of yourselves,” Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns said.

The best version of the Knicks has been historic. New York is the first NBA team to win three straight playoff games by at least 25 points apiece.

The Knicks are also the second team to end one series and begin another with consecutive victories by at least 30 points. The 1986 Boston Celtics beat the Hawks 132-99 to end an Eastern Conference semifinal series before routing the Milwaukee Bucks 128-96 in the Game 1 of the conference finals.

The Celtics went on to win the NBA title. These Knicks are 11 wins away from that destination — and unlike their fans, not quite ready to entertain such notions under Brunson, their famously tunnel-visioned captain.

“Honestly, you’ve got to take this game with a grain of salt and just kind of move forward,” Brunson said. “I don’t think we’re going to see that team that we saw in Game 1 in Game 2. They’re going to be ready to go.”

The loss wiped away any momentum the 76ers had after they advanced to the conference semifinals by overcoming a 3-1 series deficit against the Boston Celtics in the first round — the first such comeback in franchise history.

But the 76ers’ success against the Celtics serves as a reminder a series doesn’t have to be defined by one — or two — blowouts. Philadelphia’s Game 1 and Game 4 losses to Boston were each by 32 points.

The 76ers are hopeful they’ll benefit from a more routine prep for Game 2. The series opener Monday night tipped off fewer than 48 hours after Philadelphia’s 109-100 Game 7 win over the Celtics.

“Emotional rollercoaster — you go from a Game 7 and one day off and you are right back into another matchup,” 76ers forward Paul George said. “I think there was some carryover trying to get up and get prepared for this next matchup. But we should have done a better job.”

The 76ers had no shortage of areas that needed work during Tuesday’s off day. Philadelphia scored fewer than 100 points for just the seventh time in the last 37 games dating back to Feb. 19 while allowing the Knicks to shoot 63.1% from the field, a New York franchise record for a playoff game.

“Yeah, we had breakdowns tonight, but they also shot the (heck) out of the ball,” George said. “It’s a game of adjustments. We’ll make adjustments, see what we need to get better at.

“But again, same as last series. They don’t get any points (in Game 2) for going up big tonight.”

–Field Level Media