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The Weekend Sports Recap

   DailyWire.com
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 20: Jon Rahm of Spain celebrates with the trophy after winning during the final round of the 2021 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines Golf Course (South Course) on June 20, 2021 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

Welcome back to your weekly overload of sports news. 

For all the fathers out there, it was the perfect opportunity to use the special weekend as an excuse to settle into the couch, watch copious amounts of sports, and maybe even fire up the grill. 

The U.S. Open concluded on Sunday — with the result being a first-time major winner — the Conference Finals are finally set in the NBA, The Stanley Cup playoffs are creeping toward the final two teams, and the College World Series is rocking and rolling in Omaha, Nebraska. 

Let’s take a look at the weekend in sports. 

U.S. Open

The 2021 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines played out the way it usually does — brutally difficult. 

To start the final round on Sunday, there were 13 players within four strokes of the lead, but the leaderboard quickly shrank. 

Bryson Dechambeau was leading the tournament entering the back nine and then imploded. In three holes, Dechambeau managed two bogeys and a double bogey, effectively ending his chance to repeat as U.S. Open champion, though he refused to call his struggles a meltdown. 

“I didn’t get off the rails at all,’’ DeChambeau said. “It’s golf. People will say I did this or did that, and it’s just golf. I’ve had plenty of times where I hit it way worse than today and I won. It’s just one of those things where I didn’t have the right breaks happen at the right time.”

DeChambeau’s debacle left Jon Rahm and Louis Oosthuizen to battle it out, and Rahm came out on top. 

Down a stroke to Oosthuizen with two holes to play, the Spaniard stood over a 25-foot putt on the 17th hole knowing he had an opportunity. Rahm sank the left-to-right putt before punching the air with multiple fist pumps. On the 18th, Rahm stared down another impossible birdie attempt and became the first player since 1982 to birdie the last two holes of the U.S. Open and win by sinking another bending putt. 

Oosthuizen still had a few holes to play, but his tee shot on 17 went into the penalty area, leaving him with a bogey. His eagle attempt from the fairway on 18 didn’t fall, and Rahm became a first-time major champion. 

Rahm was able to celebrate his win and his first Father’s Day with his 10-week old son as he heard the news. 

“Little man, you have no idea what this means right now,” Rahm said to his son. “You will soon enough.”

NBA Playoffs:

LA Clippers vs Utah Jazz

For all the basketball fans out there, how are you doing? Monday is the first night off from hoops in quite some time, and we all need it after two game sevens over the weekend and the conference finals matchups finally being set. 

On Friday night, the LA Clippers beat the Utah Jazz in game six of their second round series to advance to the organization’s first conference finals. 

Without the services of Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and — incredibly — Terrance Mann shouldered the load. In a performance that will go down in Clippers lore, Mann scored a career-high 39 points — 25 of them in the second half — as the Clips came back from a 25-point deficit to send the one-seed home in a 131-119 victory. 

“They have been starving, starved for success. They have had a lot of good teams and just caught a lot of bad breaks. We know when Kawhi went down, probably thinking the same thing over and over again,” coach Tyronn Lue said. “Our team, I just tell you, they just don’t quit. It’s a total team effort and we are all trying to win and our team is willing to do whatever it takes to win.”

The Clippers advance to play the Phoenix Suns in the Western Conference Finals. 

Philadelphia 76ers vs Atlanta Hawks. 

Also on Friday night, the Philadelphia 76ers were able to force a game seven against the Atlanta Hawks in a 104-99 win. This game doesn’t matter. Let’s move on to game seven. 

Sunday afternoon, Doc Rivers attempted to put his horrendous record in playoff-clinching games behind him — he didn’t. 

Ben Simmons was terrified to shoot the ball, essentially forcing the Sixers to play four on five basketball, and Trae Young shook off a brutal shooting night to stick a dagger three-pointer late in the fourth as the Hawks advance to their first Eastern Conference Finals since 2015. 

“This team is special, man,” Kevin Huerter of the Hawks said. “Everybody has counted us out all year. For us to make it this far and win in this building in Game 7, it’s huge for us.”

The Sixers enter the offseason at a crossroads. Simmons clearly has some type of mental block with his shot and the pairing next to Joel Embiid isn’t working. The Sixers front office needs to make a decision on Simmons because it’s clear that the team as currently constructed has plateaued.

Brooklyn Nets vs Milwaukee Bucks 

Kevin Durant proved that he’s the best player in the game, but it didn’t translate to a series victory. 

Giannis Antetokounmpo led the Bucks with 40 points and 13 rebounds in 50 minutes of action, as Milwaukee outlasted the Nets in overtime 115-111. Durant was amazing again, pouring in 48 points — and playing every minute — but his final attempt to once again bail his Nets teammates out caught nothing but air, sending the Nets home. 

After a grueling series, both teams were exhausted by the end of the evening, and Milwaukee finally seemed to vanquish their playoff demons.

Almost. The red-hot Hawks are waiting for them in the conference finals and Antetokounmpo has a chance to shut all the doubters up once and for all. 

LA Clippers vs Phoenix Suns

The Clippers – coming off their thrilling game 6 win over Utah — had just 36 hours to get ready for a Suns team on a week of rest. 

Chris Paul missed game one due to being in the NBA’s covid health and safety protocol, and Kawhi Leonard missed his third consecutive game with a knee injury. 

Paul George had 34 for the Clippers, but Devin Booker cemented his superstar status with 40 points, 13 rebounds, and 11 assists in the Suns 120-114 game one victory. 

The Clippers took an 84-78 lead in the third quarter, but Phoenix took over in the fourth quarter. Game two is Tuesday night. 

Stanley Cup Playoffs

Vegas Golden Knights vs Montreal Canadiens

Behind 43 saves from Carey Price and an overtime goal from Josh Anderson, the Canadiens took a 2-1 series lead on Friday night. Interim head coach Dominique Ducharme tested positive for covid hours before puck drop, but assistant Luke Richardson stepped in to earn his first win as a head coach.

“I would have thought my first chance running an NHL bench would be an exhibition game,” Richardson said. “But it happened to be in third round of the Stanley Cup playoffs in overtime, so it’s pretty exciting.”

“We’re just hoping to keep this thing going and we’ll get the whole group back together.”

Game four was Sunday night, and the Golden Knights found a way to even the series in an overtime thriller. 

Robin Lehner started in net in front of Marc-Andre Fleury and had 27 saves as Nicolas Roy ended it for Vegas 1:18 into overtime. 

“People act like I’m not very good, especially in our town,” Lehner said. “It was very enjoyable on Twitter today. Thank you very much for giving me that motivation.”

New York Islanders vs Tampa Bay Lightning

Josh Bailey, Matt Martin, and Mathew Barzal all scored for the Islanders, Semyon Varlamov had 28 saves and the Islanders tied the series 2-2 with the pivotal game five scheduled for Monday night. 

Major League Baseball

Once the NBA and NHL playoffs conclude, we’ll start diving into the Major League Baseball season more regularly. But for now, let’s take a look at one amazing way to end a ballgame. 

The New York Yankees turned their third triple-play of the season Sunday afternoon, beating the Oakland A’s 2-1. 

Take a look:

College World Series

There are few greater sports traditions than the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska, and we got a heck of a game on Saturday night. 

NC State beat Stanford 10-4 earlier in the day but Arizona and Vanderbilt played a 12-inning thriller late Saturday night. The Commodores won on a 12th inning single, putting them into the College World Series winners bracket. Arizona was eliminated by Stanford on Monday. 

On Sunday, Virginia beat Tennessee 6-0 and Mississippi State beat Texas 2-1 behind 21 strikeouts from their pitching staff.

Joe Morgan is the Sports Reporter for The Daily Wire. Most recently, Morgan covered the Clippers, Lakers, and the NBA for Sporting News. Send your sports questions to [email protected].

The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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