Last year’s first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs was relatively chalky. Only two lower-seeded teams — Edmonton and Florida — advanced to the next round (and ultimately the Stanley Cup Final).
As evidenced by the six new teams in this year’s field, there is an element of unpredictability that has been missing recently. Here are three lower-seeded teams that can pull off first-round upsets:
Opponent: Pittsburgh Penguins
Odds of winning series: 55.1 per cent
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The eighth edition of the “Battle of Pennsylvania” is certainly the unlikeliest, as neither team was predicted to make the playoffs at the start of the season.
Pittsburgh, which is back in the playoffs for the first time since 2022, was an offensive powerhouse during the regular season, finishing third in scoring and fifth in expected goals. But Philadelphia, making its first post-season appearance since 2020, was one of the league’s top defensive teams this season, especially after the Olympic break. From Feb. 25 to April 16, the Flyers were third in expected goals against per 60 minutes (2.69).
More specifically, the Flyers shut down their opponents off the rush following the Olympics, allowing the fewest rush scoring chances per 60 minutes (4.99) and fewest total rush goals (eight). The Penguins, meanwhile, generated the fourth-most rush chances per 60 minutes (7.03) and scored 71 rush goals in the regular season, tied for second most. That will go a long way in determining who wins this series.
There is also the question of whether Penguins goaltender Stuart Skinner can put his shaky playoff performances from his days in Edmonton behind him. Skinner made 16 quality starts in 27 tries (59.3 per cent) for the Penguins following the trade last December, but he posted a quality-start rate of just 46 per cent (23/50) for the Oilers in the playoffs.
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Opponent: Vegas Golden Knights
Odds of winning series: 52.9 per cent
On the surface, it seems odd that the playoff-inexperienced Mammoth are favoured against the battle-tested Golden Knights, who are 7-0-1 since John Tortorella replaced Bruce Cassidy as head coach late last month.
Vegas has continued playing excellent defence under Tortorella, leading the league in expected goals against per 60 minutes since March 30. And now the Golden Knights are getting outstanding goaltending as well. Carter Hart is 6-0-0 with 5.3 goals saved above expected (GSAE) since Tortorella took over behind the bench. He has allowed 10 goals in his six starts (1.66 goals-against average).
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Despite the recent improvement in net, however, the Golden Knights finished the regular season with the worst goaltending in the league based on GSAE. If Vegas’ goaltending reverts back to its pre-Tortorella form, then Utah has a path to win the series.
The Mammoth have a host of dynamic skaters, starting with captain Clayton Keller, whose 417 slot-driving plays (passes and carries) ranked sixth in the league during the regular season. Dylan Guenther led all forwards with 177 one-timer attempts, and he scored 17 of his team-high 40 goals in that fashion. And Nick Schmaltz is an incredibly effective net-front player, scoring 23 of his 33 goals this season from the inner slot, tied for sixth most in the league.
Defensively, the Mammoth are no slouches, either. Their defensive-zone denial rate of 49.9 per cent led the league, right ahead of the Golden Knights at 49 per cent.
Opponent: Carolina Hurricanes
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Odds of winning series: 45 per cent
This is the Spider-Man pointing meme of first-round playoff series. Carolina and Ottawa share many similarities. For one, they are two of the top teams in the league at tilting the ice. The Hurricanes (54.4 per cent) and Senators (54 per cent) ranked fourth and fifth, respectively, in expected-goal share at five-on-five during the regular season. (In all situations, Ottawa finished second in expected goals against per 60 minutes, while Carolina finished fifth.)
The Hurricanes won at least one playoff series in each of coach Rod Brind’Amour’s first seven seasons and can become the third team in league history to extend that streak to eight by defeating the Senators. But despite leading the league in shot attempts on an annual basis, Carolina has had difficulty scoring at times in the post-season. In the Hurricanes’ 10 series wins under Brind’Amour, they have averaged 3.47 goals per game. But they have scored only 2.03 goals per game in the seven series they have lost.
Ottawa has what it takes defensively to frustrate Carolina. One key to a Senators upset will be the play of their shutdown line, which is anchored by Selke Trophy candidates Michael Amadio and Shane Pinto. The linemates generated 54.9 per cent of the expected goals at even strength during the regular season despite starting only 17.7 per cent of their shared shifts in the offensive zone. (Amadio and Pinto will surely get acquainted with the Hurricanes’ top line of Andrei Svechnikov, Sebastian Aho and Seth Jarvis.)
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Senators goaltender Linus Ullmark is also entering the playoffs on a bit of a roll. He saved 5.8 goals above expected over his final six starts of the regular season.
Welcome to Fully Equipped’s weekly Tour equipment report. Every Friday of PGA Tour weeks (plus other times, if news warrants), GOLF equipment editor Jack Hirsh runs you through some of the biggest news surrounding golf clubs on Tour, including changes, tweaks and launches.
Rickie Fowler is using his third different Cobra OPTM driver of the season this week at the RBC Heritage — but his driver switches are not because of poor performance.
Coming into the week, the 37-year-old ranks 17th in accuracy, 18th in total driving and 18th in total driving efficiency, a combined measure of how far he is carrying it and his total yardage compared to his clubhead speed. He’s positive in SG: Off-the-Tee at just under three-tenths of a shot.
Got some more info from Cobra Tour Rep Ben Schomin, who told me Fowler has actually been fit for three of Cobra’s OPTM heads this season, here is him using the OPTM LS at the Players last month. He confirmed the driver Fowler is using this weekend is the same low lofted Max-K… https://t.co/7IzAwHfzpmpic.twitter.com/xGjx8v6dJ5
So why is Fowler continuing to cycle through drivers? This week, he’s using the OPTM MAX LS-K prototype driver, which his good friend Gary Woodland won with last month, but for most of the season, it’s been the OPTM X, the driver most of Cobra’s Tour players use. But he’s also used the OPTM LS earlier this year at the Players.
Turns out, Fowler and Ben Schomin had confident fits in all three of Cobra’s OPTM heads used on Tour.
“This is an interesting and good story,” Schomin told GOLF. “By mid-December last year, we had him fit very well into OPTM LS, X, and Max K. I think that’s a strong testament to our new lineup.
“He had three distinct drivers and the biggest decision was trying to decide which worked best at that time. He’s played the majority of the season with OPTM X, but has also played a couple of tourneys with OPTM LS. His overall driving stats have been good.
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“So it’s not that he’s lost and searching, but rather has confidence in all three and wants to test drive their performance on the track.”
Rickie Fowler and Gary Woodland are close and they’re influencing each other’s bags for sure.
First it was Woodland gaming a center-shafted GoLo and Cleveland Offset wedge after seeing Fowler do it.
Now Fowler appears to be taking a page from Woodland’s book by playing his OPTM… pic.twitter.com/GQEUXCOsqy
Fowler also made a change in shaft length recently, going from a 44.125″ — one of the shortest on Tour — shaft UST LinQ Powercore White to 45″. The added length is potentially one of the reasons he wanted to consider the more forgiving Max-K head.
So far, that’s working well for Fowler as he opened with rounds of 65 and 69. He ranks 35th in SG: OTT, picking up nearly sevent-tenths of a stroke and has missed just seven of 28 fairways.
It shouldn’t be surprising either that Fowler is taking after Woodland. Woodland’s Cleveland RTZ offset lob wedge and Scotty Cameron center-shafted GoLo putter only ended up in his bag after Fowler started the year with them.
Michael Kim broke his 3-wood. Then he stole’ Max Homa’s
Perhaps the worst time at a PGA Tour event to have an equipment issue is Wednesday afternoon, but that’s exactly the situation Michael Kim found himself in this week.
Kim took to Twitter Wednesday evening, as he so often does, as one of golf’s best personalities on the platform, to reveal he discovered a crack in his TaylorMade Qi10 3-wood.
“I was getting ready to hit my tee shot on 18 with my 3 wd and noticed a decent-sized crack on the face,” he wrote. “All the trucks are gone so the rep is trying to get it shipped overnight. My head pro from home is also shipping my backup from my locker.”
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Tour Trucks leave Tour sites Wednesday around noon to get to next week’s event on time.
Have something happen after then, and you’re kinda at the mercy of FedEx or the local golf shop.
Michael tees off at 11:00 tomorrow, so it seems like he’ll be using Max Homa’s 4-wood for… https://t.co/kN1s1ZUPgO
Earlier in the week, this would have been a non-issue as the Tour trucks from each OEM that follow the PGA Tour week-to-week could have easily built him a new one. But the Tour trucks typically leave events on Wednesdays around noon each week to have enough time to make it to the next event.
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With the trucks already bound for New Orleans and next week’s Zurich Classic, Kim found an interesting solution. He intended to play with a borrowed Qi4D 3HL-wood from Max Homa.
In fact, Kim later wrote that several other pros offered their backup 3-woods to him, but Homa’s seemed to work the best, despite having a wildly different shaft, a Ventus Black 8-X with Velocore+ compared to his usual Graphite Design Tour AD UB-7 X.
“Def different profile, but it worked pretty well on the range,” Kim later told GOLF. He also added that he was expecting to get his backup 3-wood from his home course in time for his 11:00 a.m. tee time Thursday.
Luckily, it did arrive in time, but Kim said he remembered that he had flattened his gamer earlier this year, but not his backup, which has been sitting in his locker at his home course. Every shot overdrew on the range, he wrote. Again, no trucks around capable of making the lie adjustment to a fairway wood.
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So Kim ended up gaming Homa’s 4-wood and despite the difference in shaft, he said he really liked it, enough to even ask TaylorMade to build him one. He hit 3/4 fairways with the club and gained .32 shots when playing it off the tee.
Titleist, TaylorMade begin seeding new lines
The week after the Masters was a big one for seeding of new products as both TaylorMade and Titleist launched new gear at Harbour Town.
TaylorMade had three players using its new 2026 Spider putters, including Tommy Fleetwood and Jacob Bridgeman, who are both using new versions of the Spider Tour.
It’s the second putter change in three weeks for Fleetwood, who changed the alignment aid on his Spider Tour Black the week before the Masters. TaylorMade Tour Rep James Holley said the new model is identical to his old putter but with a different finish and wider “Pilot’s Eye” alignment aid.
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Pierceson Coody is using the Spider Tour F he first put into play four weeks ago at the Valspar Championship. TaylorMade
TaylorMade also tied for the overall putter count after the first round with 21, but then pushed ahead in the second round after Ryo Hisatsune switched to a TaylorMade blade. Last year, TaylorMade had just 12 putters in play at this same event.
Tommy Fleetwood (first two pictures), Jacob Bridgeman (third picture, both Spider Tours) and Pierceson Coody (fourth, Spider Tour F) all are using TaylorMade’s new 2026 Spider putters at Harbour Town this week.
Elsewhere, Titleist officially launched its GTS fairway woods at the RBC Heritage.
Cameron Young and Johnny Keefer both previously added the GTS3 7-wood at the Valero and the Masters, respectively, but four more GTS fairway metals were in play as well.
Bud Cauley (GTS3 15.0), Joe Highsmith (GTS2 13.5) and Jordan Smith (GTS2 13.5, GTS3 18.0) all added new GTS fairway metals for Harbour Town.
As with the drivers, there are few technical details out there right now, but from images, we do know both the GTS2 and GTS3 feature adjustable heel-toe weighting in addition to a silver face that was seen as a prototype on Young’s GT1 3-wood.
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Titleist also had six GTS fairways in play at Harbour Town after they officially launched on Tour this week.
Cameron Young (pictured) and Johnny Keefer played the GTS3 7-wood at the Masters.
Here’s who else played them: Bud Cauley: GTS3 15.0 Joe Highsmith GTS2 13.5 Jordan… pic.twitter.com/Cx4jjCIF7D
GTS2 also appears significantly shallower than the GTS3.
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There was, however, no mention of the GTS fairway wood that GolfWRX spotted Michael Brennan testing at the Houston Open three weeks ago at the GTS driver launch.
Check this out
This section is dedicated to cool photos we’ve snapped recently on Tour, but haven’t had a reason to share yet. For this week, check out Harris English’s 15-year-old Ping Scottsdale Hohum mallet.
Harris English has been using this putter since his senior year of college.
Jack Hirsh/GOLF
Odds and Ends
Some other gear changes and notes we’re tracking this week.
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Karl Vilips is playing without a driver this week, going with an R7 Quad Mini, 3-wood and a 7-wood … Patrick Cantlay became the first player to add Titleist’s GTS4 driver and three others also added a GTS driver this week … Jhonattan Vegas is the latest player to move into Callaway’s *still* unreleased Apex MB ’26s … Jason Day added Ping’s prototype mini driver … TaylorMade had 72 fairway woods in play with the next competitor at 24 … Denny McCarthy added an R7 Quad 11.5 … Chris Gotterup is playing his TaylorMade P770 3-iron … Jordan Smith is the latest player to get ‘Spidered’, adding Spider tour X … J.T. Poston has a new Qi4D 7-wood … Tommy Fleetwood switched to a Titleist SM11 T-Grind lob wedge … Garrick Higgo switched from a 9.0 to 10.5 Ping G440 K.
3 things you should read/watch
A selection of GOLF content from the past week that may interest you.
We’ve engineered a super stable structure by removing excess weight to create high MOI and legendary Spider performance.
STEEL WIREFRAME
Allows engineers to better control weight distribution and CG location.
HYBRAR ECHO® DAMPENER
HYBRAR is behind the face to dampen unwanted vibrations, delivering premium sound and feel on every putt with the best possible sensation.
DIFFERENT CG LOCATION
Each Spider Tour model features different CG locations for optimal putter fitting.
TSS WEIGHTING
TSS weights provide balanced weighting and help optimize performance for all various putter lengths.
GUNMETAL PVD FINISH
The durable PVD coating creates a beautiful high-quality finish.
TRUE PATH™ ALIGNMENT
The patented alignment system provides visual clarity and helps golfers better envision the line to the hole.
WHITE TPU PURE ROLL™ INSERT
Made from a combination of Surlyn and aluminum, the white TPU Pure Roll™ insert creates a softer feel. Grooves are angled at 45° to encourage optimal forward roll as well as better sound, feel and overall roll characteristics. The white insert also creates better symmetry with the white True Path alignment.
REFINED HOSEL DESIGNS
Spider Tour Series includes two different hosel shapes and designs. The small slant produces toe hang, and the double bend produces a face balanced design.
The KING 3D Printed TOUR irons utilize 3D printing technology to unlock a new realm of performance. Their one of a kind design features the most forgiving blade shape on the market, delivering the forgiveness that aspirational players need, and the sleek looks and soft feel that better players desire.
3D PRINTED STEEL CONSTRUCTION
Each iron is fully 3D printed from 316 stainless steel. 3D printing provides significant advantages over traditional methods of casting and forging, unlocking more design freedom and significant performance improvements.
FORGIVING PLAYERS BLADE SHAPE
3D printing has unlocked new design possibilities, enabling COBRA engineers to create a compact blade shape with the mass properties (high MOI, low CG) of a game improvement iron without sacrificing looks and soft feel that better players demand.
INTERNAL LATTICE STRUCTURE
COBRA took a muscle-back blade shape (similar in size and shape to the KING TOUR iron), and transformed the inside of the blade into a complex internal lattice structure to reduce the weight of the club by 33%. That discretionary weight was repositioned to optimize feel, CG position, and MOI.
PERFORMANCE FOR THE MODERN PLAYER
Inspired by one of the most iconic models in TaylorMade history, the R7 Quad Mini Driver pays homage to what’s come before, while creating its own modern identity in the same breath. It’s that very modern design that incorporates proven TaylorMade technologies to give golfers versatility and playability.
R7 QUAD WEIGHTING SYSTEM
The new quad weighting system features four movable weights (13g x2, 4g x2) that provide the ultimate in spin management and shot shape control. Forward CG creates a penetrating flight best suited for maximizing distance whereas rear CG helps prioritize control and ease of use from the deck. Shot shape can also be fine-tuned helping create the most optimal flight. Additional weights can be purchased for a wider range of adjustability.
INFINITY CARBON CROWN
A new satin Infinity Carbon Crown has been added to the R7 Quad Mini Driver chassis creating a stunning look while saving weight for better mass optimization. The cosmetic package is clean, elegant, and confidence-inspiring.
For 38 consecutive major starts that spanned a decade, Rory McIlroy didn’t win a major. Now, after his back-to-back Masters titles, he has won two in his past five starts.
So, what’s next? Another Irish star is predicting big things.
“Rory could win 10 of them at this stage, or five of them, anyway,” said Padraig Harrington, speaking at Concession Golf Club in Florida on Tuesday ahead of this week’s Senior PGA Championship. “He probably will still be competitive at 50 years of age around that golf course. For him, it was interesting that he won that one with his short game, which makes him even better a player.
“He’s always been a superb chipper, but now it’s with the putting and things like that,” he continued. “A very rounded game and a game that looks like it has a lot of longevity in it. So he’s in a very nice place going forward, particularly at that tournament that you would think. It’s amazing when you win one, that he’s now got two, and we’re thinking that maybe two or three or five would be realistic around that golf course.”
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Harrington’s point that McIlroy, who turns 37 next month, could compete at Augusta National past his prime isn’t crazy. Jack Nicklaus famously won at Augusta National at age 46 in 1986. Tiger Woods was 43 when he won in 2019. Even Fred Couples, who plays little golf these days, became the oldest player to make a Masters cut when he made the weekend as a 63-year-old in 2023.
Last week, McIlroy held a six-shot, 36-hole lead at Augusta but lost it all in the third round Saturday. He started Sunday sharing the lead with Cameron Young but fell back after a double-bogey 5 on the par-3 4th hole, but he took control with back-to-back birdies on 12 and 13 and beat Scottie Scheffler by one.
“He showed some real good character there,” Harrington said. “You know, psychology-wise he really won that tournament. His mentality and how he went about things, that’s a very strong showing for him. He obviously still has the physical side of the game, but to show that short game and the mental side of the game means he looks like he would be a very strong force for a while to come in the game.”
While we won’t make our own claims regarding how many more Masters titles McIlroy might win, we will say he has work to do. Nicklaus holds the record with six Masters victories. Woods has five, and Arnold Palmer won four. If McIlroy wins one more, he’ll be the sixth golfer to win three.
Stephen Curry delivered when it mattered most as the Golden State Warriors came from behind to beat the Los Angeles Clippers 126-121 in the SoFi NBA Play-In Tournament.
Golden State trailed by 13 points with under 10 minutes remaining, but closed the game on a 16–5 run to keep their season alive.
Curry led the charge, finishing with 35 points and seven three-pointers, including 27 in the second half.
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“That’s what you live for right there,” Curry said.
While Curry controlled the offense, Draymond Green anchored the defense, limiting Kawhi Leonard in the closing stages.
Leonard managed just two shots in the fourth quarter before the game slipped away.
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“Hall of Fame defender. It was hard to even get shots up,” Leonard said.
Curry’s moment came late when he knocked down a go-ahead three with 50 seconds remaining, falling into the crowd as the shot dropped.
“This is what you work all year for, all summer, offseason,” Curry said. “We’re not guaranteed a (playoff) series yet, but these nights make everything worth it… Considering how our season has gone… for us to play the way we did tonight was special.”
Head coach Steve Kerr also said:
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“For one night, we’re us. We’re champions again,” Kerr said. “I don’t care. Just absolutely beautiful to watch.”
After a difficult regular season, the win leaves Golden State one victory away from securing a playoff series.
“I know we’re not satisfied,” Curry added. “We want to go to Phoenix and guarantee a playoff series against OKC. That’s the next goal… The eight guys that got on the floor all had a part in making it happen.”
Barry Walker has spent every Vancouver Whitecaps game this season leading fan chants and holding up signs that read “STAY CAPS STAY.”
The 75-year-old superfan said the posters replace the ones he previously carried that said “Go Caps Go.” He swapped them out as rumours around the future of the Major League Soccer club grew in recent months.
“Of course we want our Whitecaps to stay. We don’t want them to go to another city, so that’s the intention of the signs,” he said in an interview Friday.
Walker, who said he has not missed a Whitecaps home match in 12 years, has made it his mission to increase fanfare at the games.
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“The crowds are getting more educated. They’re loving the team more and every year is getting a little better,” he said. “The last couple of years have been fantastic.”
Similar calls were made earlier this week by midfielder Thomas Muller, who encouraged fans to fill the lower bowl during games at BC Place.
The Whitecaps faced Sporting Kansas City at BC Place on Friday, winning 3-0.
An announced crowd of 21,777 fans attended the match, marking the 18th consecutive MLS game with more than 20,000 people at the stadium.
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Throughout the game, the crowd was engaged, gasping at a near header goal at the 2nd minute, then jumping from their seats and erupting in cheers when Emmanuel Sabbi scored a scrappy goal at the 13th minute mark.
The same energy came at 23rd and 28th minutes, as the team scored two more before halftime.
Fan Kevin Schachter, 42, said it is “huge” for him to have a local MLS team in Vancouver where he can attend games live.
The Winnipeg native said he moved to Vancouver a few years ago and has become “quite a significant supporter since.”
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“I know there’s a risk of losing the club and that would be devastating,” he said in an interview.
The team made its first MLS Cup final appearance last year, where it fell to Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami.
New Whitecaps fan Lauren Bugliarisi said it is her first year with season tickets.
“We started following closely after the end of last season when it was picking up and we were winning a lot after the playoffs,” the 30-year-old said in an interview ahead of kickoff Friday.
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“It feels like the first team that I’ve followed that has gone far. It’s just nice to get to cheer for Vancouver and see us go far and be doing well.”
Bugliarisi said she feels the excitement around the sport has continue to grow this year as the FIFA World Cup nears. Vancouver will host seven matches in June and July.
“That’s part of the reason why we started following Vancouver as well,” she said of the tournament. “It feels like it’s going to be this next wave of sports for our city.”
Alison Martin, 31, sported a Whitecaps scarf as she made her way to her seats alongside her father.
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They’ve have seasons tickets since around 2015, she said, and have “pretty much been to every game since.”
“I love coming to these games. I find it’s the best sporting experience throughout the Lower Mainland, and now that we also have the (Northern Super League’s) Vancouver Rise, it is fantastic,” Martin said, noting she has seasons tickets to Rise games as well.
“It just seems like every weekend there’s a soccer game.”
She said the fan experience has grown in recent years.
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“It’s always just been so electric. I always tell people like if you want to have a good sporting experience come to a Whitecaps game,” Martin said.
“If they left the city, it would be really sad and I think there would be a huge gap in the sporting community and the energy of the city.”
For some, including Schachter, it’s about soaking up every minute of live professional soccer in case the end is near.
“If this is the last time we have a top-tier team, I want be here for every moment of that,” he said.
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But Walker is doing what he can to prevent that from happening, and is encouraging other Vancouverites to do the same.
“I think people should know they should come here and watch the Whitecaps. Simple as that, because it’s going to help the team stay here,” he said. “We have to get behind the team.”
Go back and look at all the NBA preseason predictions. Just about everyone had the Orlando Magic being a top-four team in the East and a legitimate threat to win the conference. They had the star duo of Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero. They had the defense. The depth. They made the big trade for Desmond Bane, sending four first-round picks to the Memphis Grizzlies in a clear signal that they, too, believed this was their chance to rise in a wide-open East.
It did not exactly go according to plan.
Orlando struggled all year to establish any sustainable momentum. Injuries hit them pretty hard. Jalen Suggs (to whom Orlando’s lineup successes are highly connected) and Wagner combined to miss 73 games. But it was more than that. The team was just off.
Banchero became a punching bag for his inefficiency and dumb decisions, even though the numbers were remarkably similar to past seasons. As expectations rise, so does frustration, and even when Banchero had solid stretches, the Magic were still a blah team.
They wound up in the Play-In Tournament and lost to the Philadelphia 76ers in the 7-8 game, largely in the same uninspiring fashion they displayed all season. It made it seem like Friday night’s do-or-die game vs. the Charlotte Hornets was a forgone conclusion. The Magic would lose, slink into the offseason, fire Jamahl Mosley and start looking at potential trades for Banchero.
That also did not go according to plan.
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Instead, the Magic obliterated the Hornets, who showed up expecting to put on their usual circus act, only to realize the Magic were there for a demolition derby.
It was the version of the Magic that everyone expected to see from the start this season, especially with the physical, at times straight-jacket, defense. Banchero was superb with 25 points, taking and making efficient shots and making quick decisions to get downhill and finish with force.
And again …
And again …
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And when Charlotte managed to cut the drive off, he did this:
This was superstar stuff from Banchero, who was hesitant in all the wrong ways on Wednesday against Philly but isn’t exactly new to playing like this in the biggest games. He averaged 29-8-4 on 44% 3-point shooting against the Celtics in the playoffs last year, and he has averaged 28 points, 8.5 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 2.3 steals on 41.8% 3-point shooting across 12 career playoff games.
Is this version of the Magic a threat to the Pistons?
There’s no saying this will carry over against the top-seeded Detroit Pistons in the first round. But there’s also no saying it won’t. Again, this is the team the Magic were supposed to be all along. Banchero has had sustained stretches of this kind of play. He’s a superstar-level talent. Bane has been good all season. Wagner is rounding back into form. Suggs is a beast. This is about as talented as a No. 8 seed team can be in the Eastern Conference, and they are facing something of a mirror-image opponent in the Pistons.
Both teams smother you with physical defense that is officiated way more leniently in the playoffs; this stands to be an absolute street-fight series. Both teams struggle to shoot. The Magic don’t have a creator like Detroit’s Cade Cunningham, but you could make a case that Orlando’s big three of Banchero, Wagner and Bane represent more star power than Cunningham and Jalen Duren.
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Both teams do the bulk of their damage inside. Nobody gets to the free-throw line more than the Magic, but the Pistons are close. Orlando is a good offensive rebounding team, but Detroit is better. Everything about a series like this screams slugfest, which might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it could be fun nonetheless.
Can the Magic beat the Pistons? Probably not. When you have a whole season’s worth of evidence against a single game, go with the former. But don’t completely rule out the Magic, who are not your typical No. 8 seed in terms of talent.
If they bring the fight like they did Friday night, the team everyone expected to show up all season might actually stick around a little longer.
Cole Palmer has shut down talk of a move to Manchester United by insisting that he has “no plans” to leave Chelsea.
Palmer, a Manchester City academy graduate and boyhood United fan, has been linked with a switch back to his home city amid struggles this season at Stamford Bridge.
But the England international has reiterated his commitment to the Blues ahead of the visit of United on Saturday evening.
“Everyone just talks,” he told The Guardian when probed on the reports. “When I see it I just laugh.
Cole Palmer has shut down reports linking him to Man United (Getty)
“Obviously Manchester is my home. All my family are there, but I don’t miss it. Maybe I’ll miss it if I don’t go for three months or something. But then when I get home I think there’s nothing there for me anyway.
“I’ve got no plans to move from Chelsea. We’ve still got a lot to play for. We’ve got the FA Cup semi-final [against Leeds] and if we finish in a Champions League spot it puts us in a good position to sign players that we need.”
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There were claims earlier this season that Palmer was homesick after enduring a challenging period marked by injury and a dip in form.
The 23-year-old has managed 10 goals in all competitions this term, down from 18 last season and 27 in a stunning debut campaign in 2023/24.
Chelsea head coach Liam Rosenior firmly stated that Palmer is “very happy” at the club in a direct response to reports of homesickness.
“I’ve had numerous conversations with Cole and he seems very happy to be here, he is very happy to be here,” Rosenior confirmed.
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“He’s a huge part of our plans in the long term. He’s an outstanding player. Every player goes through difficult moments in their career in terms of injury. It’s not any reflection of his quality.”
Palmer’s statement of commitment to Chelsea acts as a refreshing change of pace for the Blues hierarchy, who have seen a couple of their top stars question the project in recent weeks.
Enzo Fernandez (left) and Marc Cucurella have both questioned the Chelsea project they are involved in (Getty)
Chelsea require a change in fortunes in their bid to earn Champions League qualification this term, sitting four points off fifth-place Liverpool having lost four league games in their last five.
But Palmer says that he and his teammates have the trust of the owners to achieve, which is one of the reasons captain Reece James put pen to paper on a long-term contract in March.
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“We spoke to the owners and they’re sure of the players that are going to do it,” Palmer added. “Reece won’t sign a six-year contract if he’s not spoken to the owners and the directors.
“Me and Reece spoke a lot. About things we need, players we need to sign and how things need to be. He wouldn’t sign a new contract if he didn’t know what was going on.”
England U23s beat Sweden 3-0 to win European Competition
England Women’s Under-23 team won the European Competition after a 3-0 victory over Sweden Women’s Under-23 team.
Isobel Goodwin, Hannah Silcock and Olivia McLoughlin scored the goals.
England went ahead early with two goals in the opening nine minutes and stayed in control. The third came shortly after half-time, with Lenna Gunning-Williams setting up McLoughlin.
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After losing 5-0 to Germany in their opening game, England recovered to reach the final, winning four matches in a row, including against the Netherlands in the semi-final.
Chloe Sarwie impressed again after her performance in the previous round.
It’s the first success for head coach Lydia Bedford, who only took charge last month.
;)
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