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Playoff Report

The race for No. 6

The brackets are gone, but there is still basketball happening. And it’s just getting good. A quick NBA reset before the playoffs take shape:

• Most of the field is sorted, aside from a massive logjam in the West. Five teams — the Warriors, Lakers, Clippers, Pelicans and Timberwolves — are vying for the Nos. 5 and 6 seeds, a.k.a. the spots that aren’t in the Play-In. It’s a tight race.
• All five teams are within two games of each other. Each has either two or three games left to play. There is a complicated web of tiebreakers that will be sorted through. We’ll get there later in the week.
• We also have an opportunity for hijinks. The fifth seed will play the surging Suns, who could be West favorites with Kevin Durant. The sixth seed gets the upstart Kings. While Sacramento has had a fantastic year, logic says to avoid Durant and Devin Booker if possible.

Today, the Warriors occupy the fifth Seed, and the Clippers are sixth. To help me sort through the mess, I forced NBA newsletterman Zach Harper to tell me what will happen:

I’m making you pick. Who gets the No. 6 seed? And do you think we’ll see any seed manipulation to avoid the Suns?
Zach: I think the Clippers ultimately snag it and relegate the Lakers to the Play-In. Their next game is against each other, but the Clippers have the tiebreaker. They also face Phoenix on the last day of the season, and the Suns won’t need that game. Teams will absolutely want to avoid Phoenix in the first round, but if you try to angle a little too much this final week, you could mess up and find yourself in the Play-In. Can’t risk getting too cute in the standings.

If you aren’t reading Zach and Shams Charania every weekday in The Bounce, it’s a good time to rectify that. Sign up here.

Green Jackets

Hello, friends

Augusta, Georgia, is once again the epicenter for polo shirts everywhere. The Masters tees off tomorrow and, yes, Tiger Woods is around.

Brendan Quinn and Brody Miller are helming our coverage from Augusta this week, and Brody was gracious enough to Slack me about it:

Let’s get straight to it: Tiger is +6600 to win. I shouldn’t bet that, right?
Brody: Is it a “good” bet? No. Is it worth the fun wager? Sure. Watching Woods practice on Monday and Tuesday was watching a legendary golfer still possess all the skill necessary to compete at Augusta. His game is in a good spot. I just don’t trust his body to hold up for four more days.

What’s the vibe like there, with LIV guys back in the fold?
Brody: It feels less dramatic than it did at the Open Championship last year. Most of the guys are getting along, with Cameron Smith and Bryson DeChambeau both talking about how PGA Tour players still embraced them on the practice range. Rory McIlroy even played a practice round with Brooks Koepka. It just feels like less of a “thing” this year. There’s still a clear desire from LIV guys to perform well and make a statement, though.

I won’t hold you to your picks in The Athletic’s golf staff snake draft. Give me your winner and one player outside the top 10 world ranking who could surprise us.
Brody: Deep down I think Rory wins it. He’s played well here lately and discussed shedding the scar tissue of past failures. He’s probably on a mission to overcome the disappointing loss at the Open Championship last year. The top three of McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Scottie Scheffler are clearly in a tier of their own right now, and one of those three is the right pick. Outside of the favorites, I’ll say Sungjae Im. He’s one of the most steady players on tour, always in the top 30, and he was first-round leader last year at Augusta. He’s one of the world’s best players nobody knows.

Don’t miss Brody’s story on DeChambeau, who’s actually benefited from the LIV tour’s lack of spotlight. Justin Ray also has 10 things you should know before the first round tees off tomorrow.

Pimento cheese sandwiches for everyone.

Briefs

Yes, 1:57
We’re six games into MLB’s regular season and the sport’s new rules have already made a massive difference. Take the piece of art produced by the Twins and Marlins last night: a one-hour, 57-minute game that ended just before 8:45 p.m. local time. As of Monday, game times were down 25 minutes from last year. Just watch a game, and you’ll see the difference. No moments are wasted — no staredowns, no copious adjustment of batting gloves, no filler whatsoever.

I thought Jayson Stark’s interview with Theo Epstein, who helped spearhead a lot of these tweaks, was particularly illuminating. It’s early, but baseball feels like a better product, even if Manny Machado was mad about a pitch clock violation yesterday.

Clark defends Reese
The howling debate over Angel Reese’s title-game taunt raged into Tuesday, with celebrities and pundits from across sports and politics weighing in. Caitlin Clark, the target of said celebration, defended Reese’s actions in an interview yesterday, saying she had “nothing but respect” for the LSU star and that Reese “should never be criticized for what she did. I competed, she competed.” Clark also said she would politely decline a possible White House invitation from First Lady Jill Biden. Let’s hope the discourse softens a bit. Chantel Jennings smartly argues that players like Clark and Reese talking trash is actually good for the game.

The Mets are cursed, vol. ∞
Tommy Hunter hit the 15-day injured list yesterday with back spasms, the Mets announced, making that nine of their pitchers on the IL. We are six games into the season. Nine! It feels impossible. As Tim Britton points out, the sad feat is an unlucky combination of having the oldest rotation in baseball and a relief corps with injury histories. You expect these blows to come in the summer, not in April. The Mets are 3-3.

Feedback Loop

Didn’t know y’all were cops

I was truly stunned by our poll result from yesterday. As you can see above, an overwhelming majority of you — 78 percent to be exact — said fans who storm the field should be arrested. No mercy.

Just 16 percent of you thought it was harmless, while a tiny 6 percent wanted more. I thought about doing another poll asking about punishment, but I don’t think I want to know the answer. The Pulse is officially against field stormers.

Thank you, as always, for voting.

Pulse Picks

The NWSL continues to flourish. A star-studded crew will head up a new franchise in the Bay Area next year.

A wild story is brewing in Arizona, where a Cardinals executive is accusing team owner Michael Bidwill of workplace discrimination. There are burner phones and alleged illegal communications.

The Victor Wembanyama card market is exploding. The only problem? There’s only one card, and it’s located in editions of SI for Kids. Nando Di Fino dives down the rabbit hole.

Draymond Green, motivated autism activist. Daniel Brown has the story of how Green got involved.

Steph Curry is going to star in an NBC mockumentary. No joke.

Jason Jones chatted with Sonny Vaccaro about “Air,” in which Matt Damon portrays the legendary shoe executive.

Should college football teams play actual spring games? Andy Staples makes the case.

(Photo: Stephen Lew/USA Today)