👋 Good Morning Stump Nation!

Happy Friday! You made it through the week! We’ve got Luka, Usain Bolt, and more for you to get the work day off to the best start. And oh yeah, episode FOUR of our podcast dropped yesterday, if you like to laugh, you’ll like this episode!

You LOVE Podcasts? Perfect. We got just the one for you.

You DON’T like podcasts? Perfect. We have the ONLY one for you.

Links below ⬇️⬇️⬇️ 

LETS. GET. INTO. IT.  

THE DAILY STUMPED🔮

Which school has the most Division 1 National Championships in College Baseball?

• A. Vanderbilt

• B. Texas

• C. LSU

• D. USC

• E. UCLA

Answer at the bottom of The Stump!

ON THIS DAY🗓️ 

On this day in 2008…

One of the 🐐 ‘s in Olympian history, Usain Bolt, broke the world record in the 100m sprint with a time of 9.72 seconds.

Lightning fast. Another fun fact about Usain Bolt in the Olympics. He has 8 medals…

And all 8 of those medals are GOLD! If he competed he was winning, second place was not even a thought.

2008 Bolt Highlights: LINK

WHAT’D YOU MISS📰 

🏀Luka leads a Mavs’ blowout to set up a matchup verse the Celtics in the Finals

🏈HBO’s Hard Knocks to feature Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears

🏌️‍♂️David Skinns shoots a first round 62, including a stretch that included 6 birdies in 7 holes, to take the lead after round one at the RBC Canadian Open

🏒 Panthers on the verge of a Stanley Cup birth after road win in NYC

⚽️Monaco’s Camara handed a 4-game suspension for taping a LGBTQ+ logo on his uniform

🏀Brother of Nuggets star Aaron Gordon, Drew, passes away at 33 in car accident. RIP.

🏈Dolphins and WR Jaylen Waddle agree to 3-year, $84.75 million contract to make him a top-5 paid WR in the NFL

STUMP STORY OF THE DAY✍️ 

NBA Finals: Instant Reaction

NBA Finals are set! Check out our knee-jerk reactions to what should be an incredibly interesting matchup.

Make no mistake, the Mavs verse the Celtics is an incredibly intriguing matchup. To start, there’s no Curry, there’s no LeBron, no KD, none of the legends that have haunted opposing teams for years in the playoffs. This Finals marks what I believe is the official changing of the guard in the NBA. While we saw a very similar concept in the Conference Finals, there’s nothing like the Finals to put the final nail in the coffin of the last generation.

We’ll see the next generation of superstars take the court for a 7-game series, as much in the spotlight as possible in the NBA. Luka Doncic, one of the best players in the NBA, will finally be able to prove how good he is on the big stage. Luka is an incredible personality, never afraid to voice his opinion on the court, beat his chest, and swear in different languages, or so he says. The Mavericks are an interesting case study, they struggled mightily early on and made some incredible moves at the deadline. Their front office pulled all of the right strings, bringing in PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford, who have been plug and play starters and instrumental in their postseason success.

The Celtics have a very unique opportunity, despite being arguably the most storied franchise in the history of the league, it feels like this team of Celtics stars have never been able to get over the big one. Jayson Tatum is often persecuted for his inability to show up in big moments. Can this finally be his breakthrough moment? Jaylen Brown has improved his game year after year, becoming a scoring threat from all three levels of the court. Brad Stevens, the President of Basketball Operations for the Celtics, made some aggressive moves this offseason, and it’s hard to argue that they haven’t paid off. Jrue Holiday has been phenomenal, his bet on Derrick White has paid of in a big way, and the addition of Kristaps Porzingis cannot be understated.

Porzingis’ availability for this series is still up in the air, and his return to the court will loom heavy as the matchup gets underway. Similarly, the Mavericks have benefited from having Maxi Kleber and Derek Lively return from injury in the Western Conference Finals. It seems as both teams will be pretty close to full strength heading into Game One.

The juiciest piece of this series is the Kyrie Irving saga. Most NBA fans know Kyrie’s Boston situation. For those who don’t, he came to Boston, said he was going to finish his career there, and then the next year requested a trade to the Brooklyn Nets. For a few years, Kyrie kind of was in a weird position and people seemed to be focusing on his off-court antics (earth being flat and all). Was he still a superstar? Can he play nicely with other stars? Will he ever get another shot to make a deep run? Well, he’s answered all of those questions. Kyrie has been phenomenal all playoffs, his ability to play off Luka and play within the rhythm of the offense has been instrumental to the success of the Mavericks. The boo birds will surely be out in Boston as their hatred for Kyrie is strong. Kyrie is 32 now, which is crazy, but it feels like he’s the last of the old generation hanging on in this postseason.

If you’re here and looking for a prediction, I won’t give you one. I’ll leave with this, it’s a new day in the NBA. If you’re looking for the NBA of old, it’s gone. Don’t be afraid to embrace the young guns, I think you’ll find their pretty fun.

STUMP SCOREBOARD💯 

NBA🏀: Mavs def. Timberwolves, 124-103

Ligue 1⚽️: St. Etienne def. Metz, 2-1

WNBA🏀: Storm def. Fever, 103-88 ; Sky def. Sparks, 83-78

MLB⚾️: Tigers def. Red Sox, 5-0 ; Yankees def. Angels, 8-3 ; Mets def. DBacks, 3-2, Rays def. A’s in Extras, 6-5 FULL RESULTS

NHL🏒 : Panthers def. Panthers, 3-2

JUICE STATION🧃 

Quote of the Day

Song of the Day

Glue Guy of the Day

Defined: Glue Guy (Noun, Verb, Adj., etc.) - a person, thing, idea, or thought that holds together the larger group. Not the star, not the main character, but a hard hat and lunch pale type who knows its role. The GLUE of the group.

THE CORE FOUR 4️⃣

Did she just hit a bird with her golf ball?🦅 

SNOOOOOOPPPP in the house to watch Luka! 🐶 

Kareem on Bill Walton, emotional!💔 

I love Nelly but this is hard to watch🥹 

STUMP STARS🌟

THE DAILY STUMPSET🤯 

Nationals Pull Out Brooms

The Nationals completed a rare 4-game sweep of the Braves yesterday in the fallout of the Ronald Acuna Jr season-ending injury.

Jozef Kovalik Upset!

The No. 18th tennis player in the world, Karen Khachanov, fell to Serbian Jozef Kovalik in 5 sets. Kovalik lost the first two and then went 6-4, 6-3, and 6-4 to slam the door shut in the second round of the French Open!

Ohhhhhhh Nelly!

Not much of an upset, more of a shock, but LPGA superstar Nelly Korda shoots an 80 in the opening round of the US Open which included a 10 on a Par 3! She’s just like us!

WHAT TO WATCH📺️ 

NBA🏀: Only 1 series left so no ball today! NHL🏒: Oilers @ Stars (8:30 PM ET on TNT) ; MLS⚽️: NYC FC @ San Jose Earthquakes (7:30 PM ET); MLB⚾️: Tigers @ Red Sox (7:10 PM ET), Yankees @ Giants (10:15 PM ET) ; WNBA🏀: Wings @ Sun (7:30 PM ET), Aces @ Dream (7:30 PM ET) ; GOLF⛳️: RBC Canadian Open (All Day on ESPN+), US Women’s Open

MLB Full Schedule: LINK

Soccer Full Schedule: LINK