Knicks stun Spurs with biggest NBA Finals comeback | World Cup preview

Happy Thursday, sports fans! It's a great day for (most of) us -- between the Knicks going up 3-1 in the NBA Finals, the Stanley Cup Final now being a best-of-three series, and that month-long quadrennial competition, aka the World Cup, which will commence in a mere matter of hours.

I also can't believe I'm typing these words as a lifelong fan, but more than 11 weeks into the season, the Chicago White Sox are in first place in the AL Central. Sports are beautiful and unpredictable, and the world's biggest sporting event should only add to that in the coming weeks.

Let's dive into all the sports news you need to know this morning.

1. Knicks pull off a historic comeback for 3-1 NBA Finals lead. The Knicks were down by 29 points on Wednesday night, but a hot second half and the Spurs going ice cold allowed New York to pull off the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history to take a commanding 3-1 series lead. (We've got more on this epic game below.)
2. Patrick Mahomes becomes the NFL's first half-a-billion-dollar player.  The Chiefs reworked Mahomes' contract, setting their megastar quarterback up to earn an NFL-best $64 million per year. Mahomes is coming off a torn ACL and LCL in 2025, but the Chiefs clearly have faith in the quarterback who has led them to three championships.
3. Ronald Acuña Jr. lands on the injured list. To date, the Braves are the best team in baseball, but former MVP Acuña Jr. is now sidelined with a left hamstring strain. To make matters worse, the mighty Braves have lost back-to-back games to the upstart White Sox.
4. Who will win the College World Series? Eight teams are left in the quest to crown a college baseball national champion, and we have a look at which team should win every first-round game.
5. WNBA quarter-season grades.  We are a quarter of the way into the WNBA season and it's time to grade how each team has done thus far. The Lynx lead the way with an A+ grade.

One of the most unique sporting events in modern history takes place this weekend when UFC Freedom 250 lands on the South Lawn of the White House. Storylines abound heading into the controversial event, including the co-main event, which pits Ciryl Gane against Alex Pereira for the interim heavyweight championship. Gane sidelined heavyweight champ Tom Aspinall after poking both of his eyes. Gane told CBS Sports' Shakiel Mahjouri that he rejects the narrative that he's a dirty fighter.

With the event being held at such a unique location, I looked at some of the most distinctive venues that have hosted mixed martial arts events over the years. What longtime MMA fan can forget when Bodog Fight held fights on a scorching hot canvas in Costa Rica? But Wednesday's most interesting feature was Chris Hummer's look into Josh Hokit's time as a high school and college football player. Hokit has gotten off to an incredible start in his UFC career, but has also taken on a controversial and "cringe" persona during his fighting career. Hummer got closer to the story of Hokit's history than many have been able to achieve.

• Hummer: "In his first game playing for Tedford -- with now Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer calling plays as offensive coordinator -- Hokit did all of these things:
  
  
• Run for two scores
• Throw a 65-yard touchdown
• Line up as an attached tight end
• Line up in the slot
• Played in five different special teams roles
  
  "Christian, who also served as Fresno State's special teams coach, said Hokit was always one of his first choices for any special teams unit."

Whether you're Go, New York, Go New York, Go! or Go Spurs Go! you had a reason to love 50 percent of last night's Game 4 between the Knicks and Spurs at Madison Square Garden. The problem is games are 48 minutes, not 24 minutes, and the Knicks used every one of those second-half minutes -- seconds really -- to eke out an improbable 107-106 victory to take a commanding 3-1 series lead back to San Antonio for Saturday night's Game 5.

Down 76-49 at halftime, the Knicks would need to make shots and make stops while hoping the Spurs would do the exact opposite. Slowly, New York started to find its footing, helped by Victor Wembanyama picking up a crucial flagrant foul that seemed to give the Knicks the jolt they needed. (It also made his  Game 3 non-call shove of Jalen Brunson an even bigger deal in the broader context because Wembanyama would be subject to an automatic suspension after his fourth flagrant foul point this postseason.)

New York cut the deficit to 15 points at the start of the fourth, but halfway through the frame, the lead still hadn't shrunk. But that's when the Knicks really went to work. Spurs by 11 ... Spurs by 7 ... Spurs by 4 ... Then the Knicks actually took a 105-104 lead with 1:22 remaining. The building was electric. Spike Lee, Ben Stiller, Taylor Swift and Timothée Chalamet were some of 19,000 fans in the building bopping around like school kids.

Two of the final three possessions came down to heads-up plays by OG Anunoby. A block on an ill-advised attempted layup by De'Aaron Fox that would've given the Spurs a three-point lead with 11 seconds to play on one end and then a tip-in after a Brunson miss at the other end gave New York a one-point lead with 1.2 seconds left. 

In the end, the Knicks took the Spurs' 76-point first half, literally the most productive 24 minutes of basketball in the NBA Finals, and rewrote the lasting narrative by coming back from 29 points down to win the game, which is another NBA Finals record. (And here are the 16 biggest moments that shaped the historic comeback.) The Theater at Madison Square Garden, indeed.

The biggest sporting event in the world kicks off with a pair of matches today. The new expanded tournament features 48 teams divided into 12 groups of four. The top two teams in each group will advance to the knockout rounds, with the eight best third-place teams joining them. If you need something to help you keep track of the action, we have a printable wall chart to track all of the action. In what could be considered the World Cup's "set-piece era," corner kicks could be more important than ever before.

We have tons of World Cup content ahead of the tournament's start at 3 p.m. today, including a look at how Mauricio Pochettino has preached vibes over tactics for the United States. Most interesting, however, is Sandra Herrera's look at one reason to support all 48 teams  in this year's Cup. Here's Sandra's reason to support the USNMT.

• Herrera: "The leading hosts of the tournament, with the most markets and games, the United States modern generation wants to show they're better than their 2022 round of 16 exit, and they'll get friendly crowds to prove it."

Also read:

• USMNT's Chris Richards says he's ready for World Cup opener against Paraguay after ankle injury
• Can World Cup games go into overtime? How extra time works in 48-team format
• What is VAR? How video assistant referee works at 2026 World Cup, are there challenges, what to know
• 2026 World Cup predictions, expert picks: Brazil, France and Spain divide opinion on who will win it all

It's no secret that things have long been shady in college football recruiting. As an "old," I remember watching the movie Johnny Be Good in the 1980s and having my eyes opened to the fact that not everything may be above board when it comes to recruiting high school football stars.

Even in the era of the transfer portal and NIL, with college players given more power and financial security than ever, shady behavior has not stopped, as Chris Hummer explained.

• Hummer: "From birthday cards stuffed with cash to a top recruit being sent on a cruise after a trip to a school so he couldn't visit elsewhere, schools find ways to get around unofficial-visit rules.
  
  "'The schools want to get players on campus by any means necessary,' said a high school coach at a prominent school in the Northeast. 'The financial incentive is clearly there if you can persuade the parents to come and make it as easy as possible on them.'"

• A Lubbock judge may have granted Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby a temporary injunction against the NCAA that will technically allow Sorsby to play in the upcoming season despite his admission that he bet on the sport dozens of times, but Texas Tech's decision on whether they will allow Sorsby to play will have far-reaching consequences.
• Even knowing the above, Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt shows no signs of backing down on the school's handling of Sorsby.
• After years of health struggles, Colorado coach Deion Sanders says he is now cancer-free heading into his fourth season as head coach for the Buffaloes.
• Sky guard Skylar Diggins said her team needs to break away from their "loser mentality" if they want to save the season.
• Here is everything we know about the July 3 wedding of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce.
• Eric Bossi spent three weeks watching incoming Duke freshman Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje, who many NBA scouts believe could be a future No. 1 pick in the draft.
• A Stefon Diggs return to New England? Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel says, "I wouldn't say anything is off the table."
• Las Vegas is proving to be an MLB launching pad through the first few days of the Athletics' six-game stretch in the city.
• After suffering a frightening concussion in the WNBA Finals, the Liberty's Satou Sabally is embracing a new version of herself.
• What is wrong with the Red Sox at home? That's one of the key questions in the latest edition of MLB trends.
• Who are the under-the-radar breakout stars for every NFC team  heading into the next NFL season?

⚾ Cardinals at Mets, 1:10 p.m. on MLB.TV
⚽ World Cup: Mexico vs. South Africa, 3 p.m. on FOX
⚾ Cubs at Rockies, 3:10 p.m. on MLB.TV
⚾ Dodgers at Pirates, 6:40 p.m. on MLB.TV
🏀 Sky at Fever, 7 p.m. on Prime Video
⚾ Braves at White Sox, 7:40 p.m. on MLB.TV
🏒 Stanley Cup Final: Golden Knights at Hurricanes, Game 5, 8 p.m. on ABC
🏀 Mercury at Wings, 9 p.m. on Prime Video
⚽ World Cup: South Korea vs. Czechia, 10 p.m. on FS1