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In a game that saw the two best teams in basketball each play exactly how you’d expect them to, the Golden State Warriors beat the Rockets in Houston, 119-106, to take a 1-0 lead in the Western Conference Finals. Despite the best efforts of James Harden and his 41 points, the Warriors managed to expose the Rockets’…Read more...

After dispatching the Golden Knights with a three-goal barrage in the first-period of Game 1, the Winnipeg Jets found Vegas to be a much tougher opponent in their second series meeting, and couldn’t get anywhere near a repeat performance. The Knights rode a pair of first period goals and a brilliant bounce-back…Read more...

Rays shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria, fully recovered from his freak injury last week, blasted straight through his third-base coach’s stop sign while attempting to score a go-ahead run against the Royals, but redeemed himself with an elastic slide that eluded a cannon throw from Jorge Soler and a tag attempt from…Read more...

The Boston Red Sox have a nice storied history of bench players exploring their musical gifts while not taking part in the action on the field, specifically in the cases of a couple different “bullpen bands” that played instruments like “the water bottles” and “the spoons.” Before their game tonight against the A’s,…Read more...

Controversy struck at the U-17 Euros today as Irish keeper James Corcoran earned his second yellow card of the match during the penalty shootout of a match that finished full time tied 1-1, leading to the Netherlands to claim the win.Read more...

Former NFL player Greg Hardy will fight fellow former NFL player Austen Lane on June 12 in a heavyweight bout. The two will meet on Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series, a show run by the ruddy UFC czar in which amateur fighters and others fight for a (non-guaranteed) chance at a UFC contract. Hardy trains with…Read more...

Former Overwatch League problem child Félix “xQc” Lengyel was streaming last night when he ended up in the same match as a frighteningly skilled Widowmaker player going by the handle “Kannagang.” When players on the other team suggested that he might be cheating, xQc investigated by looking at his player profile.

Beitar Jerusalem received some press Sunday when the Israeli soccer club announced that it would change its name to “Beitar Trump Jerusalem” as a gesture of appreciation for President Donald Trump for moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. (Today, Trump’s daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner celebrated the…Read more...

Jalopnik Proximity Keys Are So Bad They’re Killing People: Report | Kotaku Hundreds Of Fortnite Players Are Calling A Store Named ‘Epic Loot Games’ | io9 For the Love of God, Stop Asking the Black Panther Cast to Do the ‘Wakanda Forever’ Salute | Lifehacker How to Join the Class Action Lawsuit Over Apple’s Crappy…Read more...

Cecilia D’Anastasio: So Nintendo invited a bunch of Super Smash Bros. pros to showcase Smash 5 at E3 this year! And among some of my favorites—Armada, Zero and Hungrybox—are exactly no women. I didn’t notice an outcry. Frankly, it was about as surprising as walking outside and noticing the sky, which was very much not…Read more...

Pirates pitcher Jameson Taillon was pulled from his start against the Giants on Friday after three excellent innings because of a serious cut on his middle finger, which was likely the result of his thumbnail digging into his finger when he threw curveballs. Taillon was bleeding on the ball to point that he had to…Read more...

All right-thinking people on this planet and any others want to see Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who does very rude things to baseballs in very loud ways, called up to the majors as soon as possible. So you can imagine the excitement that was generated when Young Vlad posted this photo on Instagram:

Haha! Yes! We are back at it, tirelessly updating rosters from 22-year-old video games in order to bring you these highly accurate simulations of upcoming basketball games. WE ARE LIVE:Read more...

NASCAR teams cheat, or “bend the rules,” to say it nicely. They always have, and it’s kind of hilarious. But a “far more thorough” inspection system this year is causing all kinds of problems. Teams are mad that they keep failing, and NASCAR’s mad that teams can’t just bring legal cars.

Diamondbacks outfielder Steven Souza was mic’d up during yesterday’s game against the Nationals, and that was good news for anyone who likes their baseball accompanied by wry commentary.

On Sunday night, the Nationals completed their four-game sweep of the Diamondbacks in a primetime thriller that featured a freeze-the-outfielder smash from Bryce Harper, two Mark Reynolds dingers (?), and the third solid start in a row from Jeremy Hellickson (??). This all means exactly as much as a mid-May game can,…Read more...

Look, man, you’re not going to draw a walk here. You only get one crack at the baby sex reveal pitch, and while the father in question here does at least make a wise adjustment of trying to catch the wayward pitch instead of just letting it pass like this dude did, you have to swing. No hesitation.

Assume by default that Rafael Nadal wins any big event on clay. Take it as a given that his teeth are pressing into the trophy well before the first match gets underway. This has been true for many long swaths of the last decade, but it has maybe never been truer than right now, with Rafa still bull-strong at 31, his…Read more...

Charismatic veteran knockout artist Paul Daley did not have a good time at Bellator 199 this weekend, spending most of his fight with Jon Fitch getting ground into meat against the mat and the cage. Late in the third round, Daley was getting his head punched right next to the Bellator broadcast booth when he took…Read more...

Jorge Linares is a flashy, creative athletic freak who has, over a period of many years and much pain, been pushed into the mold of a textbook boxer, like a wild, raging river channeled into an orderly canal. Thus he possesses both the physical gifts of the freak and the carefulness of the technician. When subjected…Read more...

If you have any furniture you’ve been anxious to replace, you can save up to 70% off home goods from this huge Wayfair Summer Sale. Peruse their bed and bath discounts, home decor selection, outdoor gear, and more, and you’re sure to find at least a couple things you like. Just remember, shipping is free on any orders…Read more...

Here is a thing that happens way too often in the NBA: Two teams with stars at the same position face each other and, instead of the cool stars checking each other, so that they are competing directly at both ends of the floor, the coaches assign various other designated defenders to do the job of getting crossed-over…Read more...

Eric Reid’s collusion grievance has been in the news, but Reid’s specific situation has overshadowed a rather curious offseason phenomenon involving him and his entire position group: NFL teams aren’t keen on signing free-agent safeties.Read more...

Overwatch League matches move fast, and one key aspect of clutch plays often stays off-screen and unacknowledged: the support players who heal up the pros pulling off those killstreaks. Most of those successful takedowns happen while the damage-dealing player is in the pocket—that is to say, getting healed…Read more...

The Supreme Court just released its ruling on the state of New Jersey’s challenge of a federal law that prevented sports gambling from being legalized on the state level. In a 7-2 decision, the court ruled that the federal anti-sports gambling law was unconstitutional, giving New Jersey, and every other state for that…Read more...

The New York Mets, a team that began the season 11-1, lost their ninth game of their last 11 in Philadelphia on Sunday afternoon. Ace Noah Syndergaard, who was scheduled to start Saturday’s rained-out game against the Phillies, was skipped for reasons vague enough to be weird. Less-hairy co-ace Jacob deGrom, who…Read more...

Shohei Ohtani has a fastball that he can pump up to 100 mph and dot on all four corners of the strike zone. He has a splitter that dives straight into hell and takes the souls of many batters with it. Those are two very good pitches. If you throw those two pitches exclusively, you’re basically late-era Roger Clemens…Read more...

Gizmodo Google Employees Resign in Protest Against Pentagon Contract | Jalopnik At $44,000, Could This 2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Be Near Purr-fect? | Kotaku The Little Mystery Behind An Unused Door In Bloodborne | Lifehacker How to Enable Gmail’s New Offline Mode |Read more...

There aren’t many players in the world that can hijack a Game 1 blowout loss simply by flexing their steel trap of a memory. Then again, there aren’t many folks out there like LeBron James.

I’m sorry, what? The Caps spanked the Lightning last night. That’s two consecutive spankings! What is going on here? It would be a little too psychologically neat to posit that all the Ovechkin-era Capitals ever needed was to be underdogs, finally without pressure. Or that once they were finally able to dispatch their…Read more...

By virtue of it being a handheld unit, you probably wouldn’t want to use this Hoover carpet cleaner to clean an entire carpet. But it’s perfect for furniture and spot-cleaning stains out of rugs, and at $66, it’s within a few bucks of its best price ever. Assuming you’ve got the space for it, that sure beats renting…Read more...

Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals was never close. The Celtics went on a 17-0 run in the first quarter, and that was that. The central question of this series is whether Boston’s impressive team defense will be able to slow down a Cavs offense that ranked number one in the NBA in offensive efficiency after the…Read more...

Red Sox outfielder Mookie Betts is having a ridiculous season. He leads the majors in dingers and runs and batting average and OPS, and he’s 25 years old, and, not coincidentally, his team is tied for the best record in baseball. And he’s a two-time Gold Glove winner. And he bowls perfect games. It’s enough to make a…Read more...

Brooks Koepka shot a course-record-tying 63 today in the final round of THE PLAYERS, which was good enough to bring him into the top five of the leaderboard. Lots of good stuff in a 63, but the true highlight of his day was an amazing 208-yard approach shot on the par-5 16th hole. Check this shit out:Read more...

The new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem will be opened with a big ceremony on Monday. Ivanka and Jared will be there! I am not here to offer commentary on this development—it is deeply unpopular with basically the entire rest of the world, much like just about everything else the Trump administration has done—but to point…Read more...

After the fourth round of Saturday night’s bout at UFC 224 in Rio de Janiero, a very tired and discouraged and busted-up Raquel Pennington told her corner “I’m done. I want to be done.” She’d taken plenty of punishment from Amanda Nunes to that point—her nose was broken, her eyes and mouth were swollen—and a loss to…Read more...

The Philadelphia Fusion’s Overwatch Contenders team, University, is playing without jerseys in today’s season one finals, not due to a laundry mishap or lost luggage but apparently the giant “FU” emblazoned on their game wear.Read more...

It sucks that the Raptors fired Dwane Casey. They probably had to do it—they’ve lost like a hundred straight playoff games to LeBron James, and the systemic and cultural changes Casey engineered this past season made not even the slightest dent in James’s dominance, and they can’t any longer credibly claim to be…Read more...

Cubs catcher Willson Contreras came into Wednesday’s game against the Marlins stuck in a bit of a slump, having gone 4-for-35 over his previous nine appearances. Contreras, who smacked 21 dingers in 2017, tallied just one in April, and hadn’t had a multi-hit game since April 10. The nine-game slump dropped his batting…Read more...

Asked last spring what his retirement might someday look like, Ichiro said “I think I’ll just die.” Which made his sudden retirement, earlier this month, darkly fascinating, if not downright alarming—would Ichiro fall down dead immediately after making the announcement? Would he lay down tiredly, deliver one final…Read more...

For exclusive videos, pictures, and more, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Send us your confidential tips at tips@deadspin.com, call our confidential tips hotline at (347) 746-8471, contact our writers directly, or use our anonymous SecureDrop system.Read more...

Old man Pau Gasol wrote for The Players’ Tribune this week about the head coaching qualifications of Spurs assistant Becky Hammon, who reportedly has an interview lined up with the Milwaukee Bucks in the coming days. The upshot of Gasol’s letter is this: Hammon is exceedingly qualified to coach an NBA team, and the…Read more...

The conversation around Detroit’s hiring of Matt Patricia has, for obvious reasons, wandered far afield from whether Patricia is qualified purely in football terms for the job of head coach, to how it is possible that the Lions were unaware of an indictment for sexual assault in Patricia’s past. NFL hiring decisions…Read more...

2018 is not a grand year. Every day there’s some new catastrophe. Fans are rioting, Kanye is tweeting, and we’re all drinking shitty cocktails. But there is one beacon of hope: an Overwatch pro and his wife, and their too-wholesome-for-this-world streams.Read more...

Cubs second-baseman Ben Zobrist likes to wear all-black cleats to home games. To hear him tell it, that’s no random fashion statement—it’s done to commemorate a time in baseball’s past when all-black cleats were the norm. But baseball has collectively-bargained uniform standards, just like every other major…Read more...

However disappointed the Sixers and their fans may feel about a five-game series loss to the depleted Celtics, their season was an enormous success. They won a playoff series, and were the favorites to win another, and they certainly look closer to championship contention than all but maybe two or three other teams in…Read more...

Hamburgers, enflamed and heated by their club’s first relegation in its 99-year history, disrupted Hamburg’s match against Borussia Monchengladbach in the final minutes with flares, smoke bombs, and chants of protest:Read more...

As baseball catching implements go, the beer cup is less than ideal—it’s minimally flexible, the opening is only slightly larger than the diameter of a baseball, and there’s dang beer in there! But a man will do desperate things to bring home a foul ball from a May Giants-Pirates game:Read more...

In the eighth inning of a San Antonio Missions Double-A game Friday night, a true baseball loving snake invaded the outfield and began making his way towards the infield, no doubt in search of the best possible view of the night’s action. Unfortunately, for his curiosity and enthusiasm for America’s pastime, the sweet…Read more...

Our readers overwhelmingly voted Tommy Bahama as their favorite brand of beach chairs, and the palacial Big Kahuna model is on sale today on Amazon, just in time for beach weather. It can lie completely flat, and even comes with its own sun shade.