It was the best kind of problem, the kind of quandary we aren’t faced with enough. It was a rare occasion when representatives of New York’s four major sports were forced to share the spotlight, a quasi-equinox that split focus among events that warrant undivided attention.
As the most promising Knicks team in 24 years tried to stomp out the 76ers and the Islanders tried to save their season — and the Yankees tried to remain in first place — the Jets and Giants tried to find hope in their respective top 10 draft picks.
It was a carousel of emotions, bouncing from one extreme to the next in the span of seconds, circling back again and again. It offered multi-screen viewers a better seat than anyone in Philadelphia, Elmont, Detroit or The Bronx.
It went by in a blur, this exhilarating and exhausting amalgamation of stress and joy and angst, crammed into a window lasting a little more than three hours. It was almost too much to fully absorb in real time.
So, here’s a breakdown of an unusually chaotic night in New York sports:
7:08 p.m.: Nestor Cortes fires his first pitch, forcing Oakland’s Esteury Ruiz to pop up.
7:18 p.m.: The Yankees end the first inning scoreless after their first three runners reach base, with Anthony Rizzo hitting into an inning-ending double play.
7:30 p.m.: Jose Trevino hits a two-out, two-strike solo homer — his second of the season — off the foul pole in right field to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead in the second inning.
7:35 p.m.: Oakland’s Nick Allen — who is married to the daughter of Aaron Boone’s brother, Bret — ties the score at Yankee Stadium with a solo homer off Cortes.
7:40 p.m.: The puck drops at UBS Arena, kicking off Game 3 between the Islanders and Hurricanes.
7:42 p.m.: The A’s take a 3-1 lead on Tyler Nevin’s two-run shot to right.
7:43 p.m.: Game 3 between the Knicks and 76ers tips off in Philadelphia.
7:46 p.m.: Less than five minutes into the game, Carolina’s Brent Burns buries a shot from the point past Ilya Sorokin — making his first start in eight days — to give the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead.
7:58 p.m.: Long Island falls silent, as Dmitry Orlov puts the Hurricanes up 2-0 midway through the first period.
8:03 p.m: Officials turn to review for the third time — all due to 76ers fouls — in the first eight minutes after Joel Embiid, while seated, makes a dangerous swipe at a leaping Mitchell Robinson’s legs, resulting in a flagrant foul call against the reigning MVP.
8:06 p.m.: Trevino ends the fourth inning by hitting into a double play, leaving another three runners stranded.
8:11 p.m.: Chicago is on the clock with the first pick in the NFL Draft.
8:19 p.m.: The Bears select quarterback Caleb Williams, USC’s 2022 Heisman Trophy winner.
8:29 p.m.: With the 76ers leading, 44-41, Embiid barrels into Robinson and picks up his third foul with 6:27 remaining in the second quarter. He remains in the game and doesn’t commit another foul the rest of the night.
8:39 p.m.: Long Island comes alive. Anders Lee feeds the puck in front to Pierre Engvall, who cuts the Islanders’ deficit in half, just shy of three minutes into the second period.
8:46 p.m.:Sorokin is pulled for Semyon Varlamov after surrendering the Islanders’ third goal — to Sebastian Aho, from distance — on 13 shots.
8:52 p.m.: Jalen Brunson is back. The Knicks’ star shakes off his recent struggles to score 17 first-half points, giving the Knicks a 58-55 lead at halftime.
8:52 p.m.: Daniel Jones is smiling somewhere. The Giants give their quarterback an explosive weapon by taking LSU’a All-American wide receiver Malik Nabers with the sixth overall pick.
8:56 p.m.: With Juan Soto at first, Aaron Judge — representing the tying run — goes down swinging. Giancarlo Stanton does the same, ending the seventh.
9:07 p.m.: The Giants pass on a new franchise quarterback, but six teams in the first 12 picks took their shot — tying the 1983 record — with Atlanta stunningly selecting Michael Penix Jr. — who tore his ACL twice in college — with the eighth pick despite signing Kirk Cousins to a $180 million contract ($100 million guaranteed) this offseason.
9:08 p.m.: Brock Nelson slams home a rebound to get the Islanders within one, with 2:21 remaining in the second period.
9:11 p.m.: The Jets trade the 10th overall pick to Minnesota — who replaced Cousins by selecting Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy — moving back one spot and sending the 203rd overall pick in exchange for a fourth (No. 129) and fifth-round pick (No. 157).
9:26 p.m.: The Jets pass on All-American tight end Brock Bowers, making a sensible, but unsexy, choice, in drafting Penn State offensive lineman Olumuyiwa Fashanu with the 11th overall pick.
9:32 p.m.: Again representing the tying run, Judge flies out to right field — dropping his average to .186 — and the A’s (10-16) claim a 3-1 win, splitting the four-game series at Yankee Stadium. The Orioles (16-8) inch ahead of the Yankees (17-9), who have lost six of their past 11 games.
9:39 p.m.: Embiid scores 18 points in the third quarter, putting the Sixers up by 13, entering the fourth quarter
9:49 p.m.: Varlamov turns away a 2-on-1 rush. All hope is not lost.
9:51 p.m.: After declaring that Philly is the “better team” and would still win the series despite dropping the first two games at Madison Square Garden, Embiid begins to back it up, hitting his fifth 3-pointer to set a career-high in playoff points.
9:56 p.m.: Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen makes the stop of the series, with a glove save from his back on a game-tying attempt from Alexander Romanov with 5:48 remaining.
10:06 p.m.: All hope is lost. The Islanders are held scoreless in the third period for the third time in the series. Carolina claims a 3-2 victory, and can complete the sweep Saturday on Long Island.
10:18 p.m.: Brunson is brilliant, finishing with 39 points and 13 assists. Embiid is incredible, scoring 50 points in the Sixers’ 125-114 win to give Philly a chance to even the series in Game 4 on Sunday.
Today’s back page
What a difference a year makes?
Virtually all of the Rangers’ postseason shortcomings over the past three decades are irrelevant to this Presidents’ Trophy-winning roster — except one.
Though the Rangers appear in control of their first round series — holding a 2-0 lead, heading into Friday’s Game 3 in Washington — it was only one year ago that the team looked even more dominant, opening the postseason by taking a pair of games in New Jersey by a combined score of 10-2. The Rangers dropped the next three games and lost the series in Game 7.
If this is truly a different team, the core that contributed to that collapse won’t give the Capitals a moment to believe they can crawl back into the series.
The presence of a different coach should only help. Since the Stanley Cup run with the Hurricanes in 2006, Peter Laviolette has won the first two games of a playoff series on seven occasions. Each time, his team closed out the series.
The Capitals, though, looked much improved in the 4-3 loss in Game 2, and performed far better at home (22-12-7) this season. The crowd at Capital One Arena may also be able to wake up Alex Ovechkin, 38, who has recorded one total shot in the first two games of the series.
“We’re going back home now, we’ll get an opportunity to be able to control the matchup for [Ovechkin],” said coach Spencer Carbery. “He can flip it. That’s one thing about Ovi, he can flip it in one game and can all of a sudden be a difference-maker and help us and be a driver in winning us a game on home ice.
“There’s no doubt we’re in a difficult spot going back home, but being able to play on home ice … there’s been some games that I was caught off guard by the energy in the building and our fan base. Game 3 back in our building, a playoff game, I’m excited to see what that looks like.”
A lion in winter
Rafael Nadal needed just 63 minutes to cruise to a 6-1, 6-0 win over 16-year-old American Darwin Blanch in the first round of the Madrid Open.
His greatest victory came in leaving the court without limping.
Playing just his third match this year — and sixth match since January 2023 — the 37-year-old, 22-time Grand Slam champion faced no challenge against an opponent who was born after he won his first French Open and demonstrated no physical issues from the various injuries that have convinced Nadal to retire later this year.
Before the match, Nadal said he isn’t certain he will appear at Roland Garros — where he has won 14 titles — next month.
“If I arrive in Paris the way I feel today, I will not play,” Nadal said. “I will play Roland Garros if I feel competitive. If I can play, I play. If I can’t play, I can’t. It won’t be the end of the world or the end of my career. I’ve still got goals after Roland Garros, like the Olympics.
“The goal is to be on court and enjoy it as long as possible. Try to finish the tournament alive in terms of body issues and enjoy the fact that I will be able to compete one more time, and at home in Madrid.”
If Nadal makes it to the French Open, it may end with the saddest sight of his career. Nadal, who has a 112-3 record at Roland Garros, would face the toughest draw of his career, as he’s currently playing in Madrid as an unseeded player at a major tournament for the first time in two decades. Even in his limited appearances, he’s shown little resemblance to the long-dominant lefty force, most recently winning more than two matches in a tournament at the 2022 U.S. Open.
On Saturday, Nadal will face Alex de Minaur in the second round at Madrid, less than two weeks removed from the Australian dominating the matchup, 7-5, 6-1, in Barcelona. It ranked among the worst performances of Nadal’s career, featuring 11 winners and 42 unforced errors. The visual was startling, justifying why he will soon say goodbye.
How much can change in nine days? How much more does Nadal have left?
What we’re reading 👀
🏈 It’s never too early to grade the draft, and The Post’s Ryan Dunleavy has ’em for every pick in the first round.
🏀 The Knicks had a chance to all but bury the 76ers, but, as Mike Vaccaro notes, there’s a reason why Joel Embiid is the reigning MVP and that was clear in Philly’s series-saving win. If you ask Tom Thibodeau, though, the reason the Knicks lost may have started with the Sixers’ parade to the free-throw line.
🏈 Bill Belichick was more personable and opinionated while breaking down the first round of the draft with Pat McAfee than he was in more than two decades of coaching the Patriots, and fans loved it.
🏀 It may be hard to feel much sympathy for Joel Embiid for a lot of Knicks fans, but the fact that he is playing while fighting a case of Bell’s palsy is pretty impressive.
🏈 Joe Schoen tried to trade for the Patriots’ No. 3 pick, but when he couldn’t, he pivoted to Malik Nabers. In doing so, Steve Serby writes the Giants avoided “making the kind of killer mistake that other franchises have made for the likes of Ryan Leaf and JaMarcus Russell and Jeff George and Josh Rosen and Trey Lance and Mac Jones and Zach Wilson, among others.”
🏒 There’s no other way to say what the Islanders need facing a 3-0 hole to the Hurricanes beyond the fact that they need a miracle.
🏈 The Jets are in win-now mode, which makes the drafting of Olu Fashanu a bit curious considering he may play off the bench to start, argues Mark Cannizzaro, and that could make for a lot of pressure on GM Joe Douglas.
