Predictions for the NBA Finals, Stanley Cup Finals and the 50th Memorial Tournament, the seventh Signature Event on the PGA Tour this season

It’s down to the Eastern Conference champions, the New York Knicks, and the Western Conference champions, the San Antonio Spurs, competing for the NBA Championship and the Larry O’Brien Trophy as World Champions.

The Spurs, led by seven foot, three inch phenom center Victory Wembanyama, from Le Chesney, France, he does that Bo Jackson France thing, leads a talented, elite group of young players. They will square off with the talented former Villanova trio of Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, and Mikal Bridges, all winners of a national championship at ‘Nova, along with superb big man 7’0″, 245 Karl Anthony Towns, from the University of Kentucky, and an 11 year veteran.

The Spurs have the home court advantage as they finished with the better regular season record. The Spurs average 23 to 24 year olds on their team, while the Knicks are led by 30 year old Karl Anthony, the 29 year old Brunson, the 31 year old Hart, and the 29 year old Bridges.

The Knicks haven’t won an NBA Championship since 1973, when the great Willis Reed, Walt “Clyde” Frazier, Earl “the Pearl” Monroe, Bill Bradley, a future senator from New Jersey, the great Dave DeBusschere, one of the greatest NBA names of all time and a heckuva player, and their elite sixth man, Phil Jackson, an 11 time winner as a coach for the Chicago Bulls and the LA Lakers, as well as his championship with New York as a player played in Madison Squeeh Gaaden. Dick Barnett was another terrific player for the Knicks as was Jerry Lucas in their heyday in the early ’70’s. Just a classic team coached by a classic coach in Red Holzman. Those guys were vintage New York. Tough, scrappy, unflappable, incredible talents. Several have passed away, but they say that Walt “Clyde” Frazier is still one of the best dressed men in the City at 81 years old. He was stylish, and, and also scored 36 points and dished out 19 assists in their 1970 game seven championship victory over the Lakers, a game in which Reed played despite having a torn thigh muscle he suffered in game 5, which kept him out of the rest of that game and game 6. He hobbled onto the court at Madison Square Gaahden for game 7 in front of a raucous, passionate crowd, scored the first four points and made it through the game. It was an incredible inspiration to his teammates and the city. It will go down as one of the all time most courageous performances in NBA history. Don’t make’em like they used to.

The Spurs have quite a tradition as well. With “The Big Fundamental,” Tim Duncan, the amazing Tony Parker at point guard, and the exceptional Manu Ginobili, the Spurs won 5 titles, in Duncan’s case, and 4 with Parker and Ginobili. Duncan won it with the Admiral, David Robinson, in 1999, and the trio of Duncan, Parker and Ginobili won it all in 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2014. The Hall of Famer Gregg Popovich coached all of those teams. Duncan, Parker and Ginobili are all in the Hall of Fame, as are Reed, Frazier, Earl the Pearl, Senator Bradley, Dave D. and Coach Jackson from the Knicks. A lot of great memories, but it’s been a minute for these two teams to be in the spotlight. The Spurs defeated the Knicks in the 1999 NBA Championship in 5 games.

Here is the TV Schedule.

All games are at 7:30 P.M. CT/8:30 ET and all will be broadcast by ABC. Best 4 of 7

Game 1: Wednesday, June 3rd: Knicks @ Spurs

Game 2: Friday, June 5th: Knicks @ Spurs

Game 3: Monday, June 8th, Spurs @ Knicks

Game 4: Wednesday, June 10th, Spurs @ Knicks

Game 5: Saturday, June 13th, (if necessary), Knicks @ Spurs

Game 6: Tuesday, June 16th (if necessary) Spurs @ Knicks

Game 7: Friday, June 19th (if necessary) Knicks @ Spurs.

The Spurs are favored by 67-33% to win the series and the Larry O’Brien Trophy.

The Decision

My heart is with the Knicks. Both my daughters and my son in law live in New York, and I’ll be there seeing them the weekend of game 5 in San Antonio, so we’ll be going to dinner that Saturday night and then at a sports bar in the city watching the game with passionate New Yorkers at 8:30 P.M. ET/7:30 CT.

Friday Night, we’ll be at the Mets-Braves game at Citi Field. Friday morning we’ll be at the New York Metropolitan Museum, the Met. Saturday morning we’ll be at Rumble Boxing Studio, and at Hamilton Saturday afternoon. Pumped to see them and watch our New York Knickerbockers capture their third ever NBA Championship. Give me Brunson, KAT, Hart and Bridges, the veterans, to lead the Knicks to their first NBA Championship in 53 years (1973).

Knicks over Spurs in 6

MVP

Jalen Brunson

Stanley Cup Prediction

Carolina Hurricanes vs. Las Vegas Golden Knights

TV Schedule, All games at 7 P.M. CT/8 ET on ABC, Best 4 of 7

Game 1 Today, Vegas @ Carolina

Game 2, Thursday, 6/4, Vegas @ Carolina

Game 3, Saturday, 6/6, Carolina @ Vegas

Game 4, Tuesday, June 9th, Carolina @ Vegas

Game 5, (if necessary) Thursday, June 11th, Vegas @ Carolina

Game 6, (if necessary) Sunday, June 14th, Carolina @ Vegas

Game 7 (if necessary), Wednesday, 6/17, Vegas @ Carolina

Verdict

I’ll take my pre-playoffs pick to win it all before the Stanley Cup Playoffs commenced and take my pre-playoffs MVP, the Conn Smythe Award winner for most valuable player in the NHL Playoffs. I had Carolina over Colorado before the playoffs started. Here I’ll take:

Carolina over Vegas in 5

Conn Smythe Award winner

Sebastian Aho, center ‘Canes

Winner at the 50th Memorial Tournament

It’s the seventh Signature Event on the PGA Tour, and the prolific Jack Nicklaus’s Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin Ohio as the 50th Memorial Tournament commences Thursday with an elite field playing for a $20 Million purse and a $4 Million first place paycheck. The course is a stock 72 and plays at 7,569 yards. No.18 is a beast of a par 4 to finish off the round, especially on Sunday. It’s 480 yards with bunkers on the right off the tee and a slope into the woods on the left hand side off the tee. The green is long, but not wide, with a deep sand trap on the left side. The greens will be stimping at 13, very quick, and the rough will be 4 inches high.

Jack’s there to greet the players on Sunday, so that’s always special. Always a thrill to shake hands with the greatest of all time with 18 major championships under his belt. 6 Masters, 1963, ’65, ’66, ’72, 75, and ’86 (at 46 years old), 4 U.S. Opens, 1962, ’67, ’72, ’80. Three Open Championships (British Opens), 1966, ’70, and ’78, and 5 PGA Championships, 1963, ’71, ’73, ’75, and ’80. That personifies the greatest of all time in golf. And he was and is the classiest ambassador of the game along with Arnie, Gary Player, Ben Hogan, Sam Sneed, Bobby Jones, Lee Trevino, Tom Watson, those guys. Still don’t make’em like they used to.

Odds: Scheffler, 3/1; Rory, 10/1; Cam Young, 16/1; Xander Schauffele, 18/1; Ludvig Aberg, 18/1; Matt “Fitzie” Fitzpatrick, 22/1; Si Woo Kim, 22/1; Russell Henley, 30/1. He put on a clinic at the Charles Schwab at Colonial in Fort Worth last Sunday taming Hogan’s Alley with three straight birdies on 16-18 in regulation, and a birdie from 5 feet in the first playoff hole, number 18, versus Eric Cole. Henley hit his second shot to 5 feet and drained the putt to capture the title. Henley was iron. Tommy Fleetwood, 30/1; Patrick Cantlay, 30/1; Ben Griffin, 33/1; Bob McIntyre, 40/1; Sam Burns, 40/1; Min Woo Lee, 40/1; Rickie Fowler, 45/1; Justin Thomas, 45/1; Hideki, 45/1; Maverick McNealy, 50/1; Jordan Spieth, 55/1; J.J. Spaun, 55/1; Chris Gotterup, 60/1; Harris English, 60/1; Adam Scott, 60/1; Justin Rose, 65/1; PGA Championship Champion Aaron Rai, can’t get over that 68 foot birdie putt on 17 at Aronimink Golf Club in Newton Square, PA. on Sunday to capture the 108th PGA in mid May. Rai is at 80/1. Seems like a good sleeper pick.

Weather

Thursday, 84, Sunny, winds SSW 8 MPH.

Friday: Partly sunny, 86, SW 12.

Saturday, 40% chance of t-storms in afternoon. 83. Wind SW 14.

Sunday, 30% chance of showers in the morning, then clearing up in the afternoon. 85, Winds, W 10.

TV

Thursday-Friday, 1-5 P.M. CT/2-6 East, Golf Channel

Saturday-Sunday, 11:30 A.M.-1:30 P.M. CT/12:30-2:30 East, GC; 1:30-5 P.M.CT /2:30-6 P.M. ET, CBS.

This is the seventh of the eight Signature Events in 2026. Collin Morikawa won the first, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am (2/12-2/15), Jacob Bridgeman won the second, The Genesis Invitational (2/19-2/22), Akshay Bhatia won the third, the Arnie (3/5-3/8), Matt “Fitz” won the fourth, the RBC Heritage (4/16-4/19), Cam Young won the fifth, The Cadillac Championship (4/30-5/3), and Kristoffer Reitan? of Norway, won the sixth, The Truist Championship (5/7-5/10). The eighth Signature Event will be the Travelers Championship, 6/25-6/28 played at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, CT.

There are 72 players in the field at the Memorial as the field is smaller for the Signature Events than they are for regular tour events with most all of the elite players competing in the Signatures.

The cut is top 50 and ties, and anyone within 10 shots of the lead after the first 36 holes, Thursday-Friday. The purse is $20 million with $4 Million going to the winner as this is a player sponsored event like the Genesis was by Tiger Woods, and the Arnie was. The first place check for the other 5 is $3.6 Million. Second place at the Memorial gets $2.2 M, third gets $1.4 M, and 4th a mil, so a good week at the office for the top guys come late Sunday afternoon. Everybody also wants to win this tournament because it’s Jack’s event.

Winner

I’m going to take the 30 year old from Seoul, South Korea. He’s knocked on the door several times this season and I expect him to knock it down at Muirfueld Village.

Si Woo Kim

Saturday

The 158th Belmont Stakes, Preview/Prediction

The 5th Signature event on the PGA Tour, The Cadillac Championship, WP’s birthday

Trump National Doral, the Blue Monster course, aptly named, will host the 5th Signature event of the PGA Tour season Thursday as 72 tour players tee it up in Miami for the Cadillac Championship. This will be the 56th time the tournament will be played at Doral. It was played as the Doral Open from 1962-2006, and as the WGC Cadillac from 2007-2016. It took a hiatus from a while after some controversy with President Trump. But it’s back now and ready to roll.

Leading the field is Scottie Scheffler, as Matt’ Fitzie” Fitzpatrick, as Bama Golf likes to call him, is taking the week off after winning three of the last four events he’s entered, which includes the Valspar Championship, the RBC Heritage, the fourth Signature event this year, good for a $3.6 million first place check, and last week at TPC Louisiana in the Zurich Classic playing with his brother Alex, who, thanks to big brother hitting a bunker shot to a foot on the par 5 18th for birdie, earned his tour card and is in the field this week.

Per the Trump National Golf Club website, there are many terrific and intensely challenging holes on this course sand and water all over the track. The 15th hole is a 157 yard, Par 3 with a peninsula green demanding the player to land it safely over the water and accurately onto the green with water on all four sides of the green. With the wind playing a role this week, 15 could be somewhat a bear for the players. Hole 16 is a 370 yard, Par 4, that is drivable for the longest hitters, Scheffler being one of them, but there are four bunkers surrounding the green, so the best play may be to hit a fairway wood or a 4 or 5 iron and play for birdie. Hole 17 is a 458 yard, par 4, it doglegs left to right, so a good drive carries the right hand fairway bunker and gives the player an optimal second shot. Could be a birdieable hole, but with the wind coming up this week/weekend, maybe not. I want to go back one more hole before describing the terrifically challenging 18th at the Blue Monster. The 12th hole is a 667 yard, par 5 with the wind definitely impacting how the players navigate this hole. Several bunkers align the 12th. There is one on the right side of the fairway, one on the left, and the green is heavily bunkered with five surrounding it. These guys are the best, so they can handle these holes better than anybody in the world, so it may not be as daunting as it sounds to a weekend player. But with the wind this week, it may very well be. The 18th is a 473 yard, par 4 and is considered one of the toughest holes on the PGA Tour. Water runs all along the left side of the hole, so hitting it to the right side of the fairway is a must. Getting in the right rough and dealing with those palm trees is no bargain, so the player will need to keep it in the short grass. The bermuda rough will be at 3 inches, so the player will have to probably chip it out of the rough on 18 and try to get up and down for par. Any slight draw, and the player is “dead in the water.”

The course is playing 7,739 yards and is a stock par 72. At 7,739, according to Rob Bolton of PGA Tour.com, the Blue Monster is the second longest course on tour this year only 26 yards shorter than Torrey Pines. The fellas will be tested.

The bermuda greens will be stimping at 12, so decent speed, but, as of now, the wind will be a major factor. Dick Wilson designed the course in 1962. He’s known for several other courses, including Bay Hill in 1961, and The Greenbriar. Gil Hanse redesigned the course in 2013-14. Hanse also redid Olympic Club in San Francisco, Southern Hills in Tulsa, and Winged Foot in New York. All of three of those courses are consistent major venues.

Weather

Thursday: Sunny, 85, winds SSW at 10-20 MPH.

Friday: Partly sunny, 86, winds SSE 10-15.

Saturday: Sunny, 88, Winds, S 15-25.

Sunday, not so great, as of today, but could change. T-storms likely, 82. 90% chance of t-storms. Winds NNE 10-15. So, the wind will totally change direction on Sunday.

Challenging wind conditions are in store. I know the players are hoping Sunday won’t be an inclement day. Florida has intermittent spurts of t-storms and they can pass through quickly. Remains to be seen.

TV Coverage

Thursday-Friday: 2-6 P.M. CT, 3-7 ET, Golf Channel.

Saturday-Sunday: 11 A.M.-2 P.M. CT/ 12-3 ET, GC; 2-5 P.M. CT/3-6 ET, CBS, Paramount+.

Odds

Scheffler: 3/1; Cam Young: 12/1; Morikawa, 20/1; Chris Gotterup, 25/1; Tommy Fleetwood, 27/1; Min Woo Lee: 27/1; Russell Henley: 27/1; Sam Burns, 27/1; Jake Knapp, 30/1; Si Woo Kim, 33/1; Hideki, 33/1; Adam Scott, 35/1; Maverick McNealy, 35/1; Vik Hovland, 35/1; Kurt Kitayama, 40/1; Jacob Bridgeman, 40/1; Justin Rose, 40/1; Nicolai Hojgard, 40/1; Harris English, 40/1; Michael Thorbjornsen, 40/1; Jordan Spieth, 50/1; Akshay Bhatia, 50/1; Gary Woodland, 50/1: Sepp Straka, 55/1; J.J. Spaun, 60/1; Shane Lowry, 70/1; Jason Day, 70/1; Justin Thomas 70/1.

White’s World’s winner

I’m going to kind of go out on a limb here and take the 36 year old from Valdosta, Georgia (great high school football country), by way of the University of Georgia, and now living in Sea Island. He finished tied for 4th at the RBC Heritage two weeks ago, and played pretty solidly at Augusta National finishing tied for 30th at one under. He’s won 5 times on tour. He won the 2013 Fed Ex St. Jude Classic in Memphis at TPC Southwind, the 2017 OHL Classic at Mayakoba in Mexico, the 2021 Sentry of Champions in Hawaii, the 2021 Travelers Championship, the final Signature event this season, the 8th one, and he won the 2025 Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey. He’s an excellent putter as he is 8th on tour in Strokes Gained: Putting. He putted very well at Harbour Town two weeks ago at the RBC Heritage. Give me:

Harris English

Sleeper

I’ll take the guy who ate at Craft’s/ 280 a few nights ago. He was with his family, so I don’t think he made it to the Fennec. Derrick doin work.

Sepp Straka

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And Last, but most importantly…

Today is Walter “WP” Pittman’s 35th? birthday. Just joshin’ Walter. You’re better at your age than many of these early to mid 30 somethings are at their’s. Hope you’re having a phenomenal day. The Blog appreciates you.

Saturday

The 152nd running of the Kentucky Derby: Preview/Prediction.

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