Axios Sports: The NBA's unexpected Final Four

Plus: Rahm's first major and MLB's No. 1 prospect. | Monday, June 21, 2021

Open in app View in browser   Presented By Curex   Axios Sports By Kendall Baker ·Jun 21, 2021 👋 Happy Monday! Don't forget to send in your "Why we love sports" stories. Just reply to this email with your submission. Can't wait to read them. Quote du jour: "I got here two hours early so I could watch you guys talk sh*t on Twitter, to motivate me." Who said it: Backup goaltender Robin Lehner after leading the Golden Knights to a 2-1 win over the Canadiens. Today's word count: 1,741 words (7 minutes). Let's sports...     1 big thing: 🏀 The NBA's unlikely Final Four Graphic: Sarah Grillo/Axios   The NBA postseason has arrived at the conference finals stage following a wildly entertaining, Game 7-filled weekend. East Finals: No. 3 Bucks vs. No. 5 Hawks West Finals: No. 2 Suns vs. No. 4 Clippers (PHX leads 1-0) Last night ... Devin Booker had his first career triple-double (40-11-13) to lead the Suns past the Clippers, 120-114, in Game 1. Photo: Christian Petersen/Getty Images The contenders: After years of experienced stars (i.e. LeBron James) and preseason favorites competing for titles, this season has produced one of the most unexpected Final Fours in NBA history. For just the second time since the NBA/ABA merger and the first time since 1994, neither No. 1 seed made the conference finals. Kawhi Leonard is the only starter on the remaining teams with a ring — and he's injured. The four contenders have won a combined two championships, and they both came decades ago (Bucks: 1971; Hawks: 1958 when they were based in St. Louis). Notes: Comeback kids: The Clippers are the first team to erase two 2-0 deficits in one postseason, and this is the first postseason in history with three 2-0 comebacks (Bucks over Nets). On the doorstep: Chris Paul's 10 All-NBA selections are by far the most of any player that's never appeared in an NBA Finals. Mr. Consistent: Paul George is the fourth player over the last 10 seasons to score 20+ points in each of his team's first 14 playoff games, joining Kevin Durant, LeBron James and James Harden. Shoutout Nate: Nate McMillan took over a 14-20 Hawks team and guided them to the conference finals. Heckuva job. Game of inches: If not for KD's oversized shoes (he wears a full size bigger in games), he may have hit a game-winning three, rather than a game-tying two. Philly has a problem: His name rhymes with Ken Timmons. 📆 Tonight: No game! Enjoy the night off, hoops fans.     2. ⛳️ Rahm hits clutch putts to win U.S. Open Photo: Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images   In his first event since testing positive for COVID-19, Jon Rahm birdied the final two holes — thanks to two clutch putts — to win the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. Why it matters: This is Rahm's first major victory and makes him the first Spaniard to win the U.S. Open, ending a six-year streak of American winners. How it happened: Rahm began the final round three strokes off the lead held by Louis Oosthuizen, Russell Henley and Mackenzie Hughes. Henley and Hughes fell out of the top 10 on a hectic Sunday that saw Rory McIlroy and other big names threaten the lead before cratering. Oosthuizen finished second, his sixth runner-up in a major. Only two golfers have more: Phil Mickelson (11) and Tiger Woods (seven). The backdrop: The win comes two weeks after Rahm was forced to withdraw from the Memorial Tournament with a big lead because of a positive COVID-19 test. That likely cost him a $1.7 million payday, but the 26-year-old made up for it in San Diego. The winner of the U.S. Open gets $2.3 million. Storybook stuff: Rahm celebrated his first Father's Day with his first major, and did so at Torrey Pines, where he won his first PGA Tour event and proposed to his wife, Kelley, in 2016. Go deeper: Inside Rahm's 15-day rollercoaster ride (ESPN)     3. ⚾️ Wander Franco has arrived Photo: Mary DeCicco/MLB Photos via Getty Images Wander Franco, the top prospect in baseball and MLB's next "can't-miss kid," is being called up to the big leagues, the Rays announced Sunday. Watch: Wander being given the news Backstory: Franco, 20, grew up in the Dominican Republic and dropped out of school at age 12 to train to become a professional baseball player. Four years later, he signed with the Rays for $3.83 million. "In Latin America, the path Franco took is not unique. Thousands of kids drop out of school and train for eight hours a day, six days a week." "The kids, almost always poor, relish the chance, knowing full well that every year the game chews up and spits out hundreds who couldn't cut it, leaving them unemployed and unschooled." — ESPN's Jeff Passan in his 2019 profile of Franco By the numbers: Franco tore up rookie ball at age 17, hitting .351 with 11 HR and recording more than twice as many walks as strikeouts. This season at Triple-A Durham: .315/.367/.586, 7 HR, 35 RBI (in 39 games). "Franco carries himself with the self-assuredness limited to a subset of the small subset that comprises the world's best players. Greatness can blossom from fear; Franco's comes from certitude." — Passan More MLB: Reminder: Starting today, umpires will check pitchers for foreign substances after they've pitched (closers will be checked before entering the game). Triple play machine: The Yankees have already turned three triple plays, matching the MLB record for most in a season. Here's the latest. Schwarber on fire: New Nationals leadoff hitter Kyle Schwarber tied an MLB record with five homers in a two-game span. He also has nine in his last 10 games.     A message from Curex Treat the source of your seasonal allergies, not just the symptoms     Curex uses at-home allergy immunotherapy to meaningfully reduce the underlying cause of indoor/outdoor allergies. Here's how: The treatment exposes your body to small amounts of an allergen over time, habituating the immune system and reducing its reaction. Find out more.     4. ⚾️ Baseball's back on Cape Cod Logos: SportsLogos.Net; Map: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios Every summer, college baseball stars arrive on the eastern shores of Massachusetts to play in the famous Cape Cod League, where games resumed this weekend after a canceled 2020 season. The history: The CCBL was founded in 1885 and was limited to Cape Cod residents until 1963, when it was officially sanctioned by the NCAA and began recruiting college players. The prestige: Over a thousand MLB players have spent at least one summer on the Cape, including Hall of Famers Carlton Fisk, Frank Thomas, Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell. The charm: Players live with host families and work side jobs (like bagging groceries), all while playing games almost daily during a 44-game regular-season schedule. Photo: Simon M. Bruty/AnyChance Productions/Getty Images The teams: The CCBL has 10 teams representing 10 small towns, all within an hour drive. Residents have strong allegiances to their home team, hanging signs in their yards and talking baseball over breakfast. East Division: Brewster Whitecaps, Chatham Anglers, Harwich Mariners, Orleans Firebirds, Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox West Division: Bourne Braves, Cotuit Kettleers, Falmouth Commodores, Hyannis Harbor Hawks, Wareham Gatemen Photo: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images The ballparks: Each field differs in a variety of ways, adding to the mystique. The Chatham Anglers have a gorgeous stadium that seats 8,000 people, while the Orleans Firebirds play at a middle school. "You go to Wareham and the dirt is gray. You play at our park in Orleans and it's really short down the lines and 415 in center. You play in Chatham, you have to worry about the fog rolling in. They all have so much character, and there's just this deep sense of nostalgia." — Jordan Betts, former Red Sox minor leaguer and CCBL "graduate"     5. 🇺🇸 Photos across America Photo: Steph Chambers/Getty Images EUGENE, Oregon — Allyson Felix made her fifth Olympic team, and first as a mother, following a thrilling second-place finish in the 400 meters at the U.S. Track & Field Olympic trials. Photo: Tom Pennington/Getty Images OMAHA, Nebraska — It was all or nothing for Simone Manuel at Sunday's U.S. Swimming Olympic trials. Her Tokyo hopes came down to one last event — the 50-meter freestyle — and she won. What a moment. Photo: Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images NEW YORK — A yoga class is held on the Edge Observation Deck in Manhattan, billed as the "highest outdoor sky deck in the Western Hemisphere" at 1,131 feet.     6. 🌎 Photos around the world Photo: Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images MONTREAL, Quebec — 3,500 fans, the maximum allowed at indoor venues in Quebec, made all the noise they could during Game 4, but it wasn't enough to propel their team to victory. Vegas 2, Montreal 1 (OT). Photo: Matthew Lewis/UEFA via Getty Images BAKU, Azerbaijan — Switzerland beat Turkey 3-1 on Sunday to secure third place in Group A at Euro 2020. They now face an anxious wait to see if they'll reach the last 16. Latest headlines. Photo: Yuichi Yamazaki/Getty Images TOKYO — Olympics organizers said Monday that venues can be filled up to 50% capacity when the Games kick off on July 23, AP reports.     7. ⚡️ Lightning round Graphic: Axios Visuals   ⚾️ College World Series: Underdogs went 4-0 this weekend (Arizona, NC State, Virginia, Mississippi State all won) ... Today: Stanford vs. Arizona, 2pm ET; Vanderbilt vs. NC State, 7pm (both on ESPNU). 🥇 New record: Ryan Crouser obliterated a 31-year-old world record in the shot put at the U.S. Olympic trials with a heave of 76 feet, 8 1/4 inches. 🏁 Racing roundup: Kyle Larson won his fourth straight race in NASCAR's Nashville return, Max Verstappen won in France to extend his F1 lead, Álex Palou won in Wisconsin to reclaim the IndyCar lead. 🥞 15 hours at Waffle House: A Mississippi journalist documented how he paid his fantasy football debt: 24 hours at a Waffle House, with each waffle consumed shaving off an hour. Dive in. 🏋️ Scotland strong: Tom "The Albatross" Stoltman is the 2021 World's Strongest Man, the first Scotsman to wear the crown.     8. 📆 June 21, 1997: The WNBA tips off Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios   24 years ago today, the WNBA played its inaugural game, a 67-57 win for the New York Liberty over the Los Angeles Sparks. The big picture: The league began with eight teams, and through a sequence of expansions, contractions, and relocations, now has 12. Remaining originals: Las Vegas Aces (originally Utah Starzz), Los Angeles Sparks, New York Liberty, Phoenix Mercury. Expansion teams: Dallas Wings (Detroit/Tulsa Shock), Washington Mystics, Connecticut Sun (Orlando Miracle), Minnesota Lynx, Indiana Fever, Seattle Storm, Chicago Sky, Atlanta Dream. Folded teams: Charlotte Sting, Cleveland Rockers, Houston Comets, Miami Sol, Portland Fire, Sacramento Monarchs. 🏆 Championships: WNBA history is full of dynasties, and it all began with the Comets, who won the first four titles behind Cynthia Cooper, Sheryl Swoopes and Tina Thompson. 4x: Comets ('97-'00); Storm ('04, '10, '18, '20); Lynx ('11, '13, '15, '17) 3x: Sparks ('01, '02, '16); Shock ('03, '06, '08); Mercury ('07, '09, '14) 1x: Monarchs ('05), Fever ('12), Mystics ('19) Go deeper: Inside the WNBA's inaugural game, 25 seasons later (ESPN)     9. 🏀 NBA trivia Photo: Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images   Doc Rivers has now lost four straight Game 7s, tied for the longest Game 7 losing streak in NBA history. Question: Who is the only other NBA coach to lose four straight Game 7s? Hint: Happened this century. Answer at the bottom.     10. 🎥 Top plays: Weekend edition Source: @ATLHawks The weekend began with John Collins posterizing Joel Embiid. It ended with Collins wearing a photo of the dunk on his shirt. 🏀 Collins over Embiid ⚽️ Gorgeous goal 🏒 Puts the team on his back 🥇 Shot put world record ⛳️ Rahm's putt on 17 🏀 KD forces OT ⚽️ Laser beam ⚾️ O's double play ⛳️ What an eagle 🏒 Carey Price save 🥊 Rosado KO ⚾️ Winker robs Hosmer ⚽️ Chipped in from distance ⚽️ Fábio!!! 🥏 What a grab ⚾️ Another triple play ⚾️ Classic Baez ⚽️ Quite the debut 🏀 Boogie slam ⚾️ Hot corner throw Watch all 20.     A message from Curex How Curex allergy is treating allergies differently     Curex is an innovative telehealth platform that unites allergy clinicians, allergy-testing labs and leading pharmacies. The company's personalized treatments include: Virtual visits to discuss medical history. At-home allergy testing. Custom allergy immunotherapy treatment.   Talk tomorrow, Kendall "Shoutout to all the dads" Baker Trivia answer: Rick Adelman 🙏 Thanks for reading. 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