Latest / The Sports Hangover Daily / Wolves Lose Ant AND DiVincenzo, Still Win by 16 | Apr 26, 2026
Transcript
- Donte DiVincenzo tore his Achilles. Anthony Edwards hurt his knee. And Minnesota STILL won by sixteen. I don't even know what to do with that information. Welcome to The Sports Hangover Daily, I'm Michael Benatar. Let's start in Minneapolis because what happened last night was genuinely wild. The Timberwolves beat the Nuggets one twelve to ninety-six to take a commanding three to one series lead — and they did it in the most traumatic way possible. Donte DiVincenzo went down in the first quarter with a torn Achilles. Season over. Then Anthony Edwards left in the second quarter with a left knee injury, severity still unknown. Denver was up four at halftime and pushed the lead to seven in the third. And somehow — SOMEHOW — Minnesota ripped off an eleven to two run and just buried the Nuggets down the stretch. I mean, think about what that says about the depth of this roster. You lose your best player and one of your key rotation guys in the same game, and you still outscore Denver by sixteen. Now look, the elephant in the room is Ant's knee. If that's anything serious, this changes everything — not just for this series, but for Minnesota's entire playoff run. We should know more today or tomorrow. But if Edwards is okay, the Wolves are about to close this out without even needing him to be superhuman. Denver looked cooked. Nikola Jokic got his numbers, he always does, but the supporting cast just doesn't have it right now. That's a team with no answers. Alright, lot to get to. Let's rip through the rest of the Saturday slate. In Atlanta, the Knicks evened things up at two to two with a dominant one fourteen to ninety-eight win. Karl-Anthony Towns had a triple-double — scored his points, grabbed ten boards, dished ten assists. OG Anunoby was fantastic on both ends with a double-double of his own. The Hawks had four guys in double figures but nobody who really took over. Jonathan Kuminga was oh for six from three off the bench, which — yeah, that's not gonna get it done in the playoffs. This series is a coin flip now heading back to New York. In Orlando, the Magic took a two to one lead over Detroit, winning one thirteen to one oh five. Paolo Banchero went for twenty-five, twelve and nine — just short of a triple-double. Desmond Bane knocked down seven threes to match that twenty-five. Cade Cunningham had twenty-seven for the Pistons but shot it poorly with eight assists. He's been doing a lot of heavy lifting on a roster that just doesn't have enough around him. And the Thunder are rolling. OKC beat Phoenix one twenty-one to one oh nine to go up three to nothing. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was doing his mid-range thing again, just pulling up from everywhere and making it look easy. The Suns are on life support, and Kevin Durant's getting treatment around the clock according to his coach. That series feels over. Quick check on where everything stands — the Lakers are up three to nothing on Houston with Game Four tonight. Celtics lead the Sixers two to one, they play tonight too. And four games on tap today: Cavs-Raptors, Spurs-Blazers, Celtics-Sixers, and Lakers-Rockets. If you're an LA fan like me, tonight could be a sweep. I'm just saying. Over in the NHL, the Carolina Hurricanes completed a four to nothing sweep of the Ottawa Senators with a four to two win in Game Four. Logan Stankoven scored the go-ahead goal in the third period. Carolina was the better team wire to wire in that series and it wasn't particularly close. The Stars and Wild played Game Four in Minnesota with Dallas holding a two to one series lead after that insane double overtime win in Game Three. And the Flyers hosted the Penguins in Game Four with Philly up three to nothing in the series — potential clincher there. On the NFL Draft front — Day Three wrapped up in Pittsburgh and the big story was Garrett Nussmeier falling all the way to pick two forty-nine. The seventh round. This dude was a projected first-rounder a year ago. An abdominal cyst pressed on a nerve, limited him to nine games last season, his yards dropped from over four thousand to under two thousand, and his stock just cratered. The Chiefs grabbed him, which — if you're Nussmeier, that's not the worst landing spot in the world. Also worth noting, Tennessee corner Jermod McCoy slid to the fourth round because of ACL and cartilage concerns. Once a surefire first-round talent, now a medical red flag with massive upside if healthy. The Raiders got him at pick one oh one, which could end up being the steal of the draft or a wasted pick. No in between. And the Vrabel-Russini situation just keeps getting messier. The Patriots' head coach skipped Day Three entirely to seek counseling and be with his family. GM Eliot Wolf said they barely communicated — just some brief morning texts and that was it. More photos have surfaced, including one from TMZ showing Vrabel and Russini appearing to kiss at a bar in New York back in 2020. Albert Breer said Vrabel hasn't been the same inside the building the last two weeks. It's just a rough scene all around. Here's my Hangover Take for today. If Anthony Edwards' knee is fine — and I'm praying it is — then Minnesota winning that game without him might be the scariest thing any remaining playoff team has seen all postseason. Because it means you can't just key on Ant and hope the rest of the roster folds. They didn't fold. They got punched in the mouth twice in the first half, lost two guys, trailed by seven in the third quarter, and still pulled away. That's a team that believes it can win no matter what. And if you're sitting there as the Lakers or the Thunder thinking about a potential conference finals matchup, you just watched a team win a playoff game on pure depth and will. That's the kind of team that's dangerous in a seven-game series because they've already proven they can survive the worst-case scenario. Good luck game-planning for THAT. That's your hangover. Go hydrate. I'll see you tomorrow.