From The Sports Desk: The NBA’s Final Four is here

The Cleveland Cavaliers shocked the basketball world Sunday with a 31-point road win in Game 7 to advance past the Detroit Pistons and into the Eastern Conference Finals. There they’ll meet the red-hot New York Knicks, who have not lost in the postseason since May.

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In the West, the Victor Wembanyama-led San Antonio Spurs will face the defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder in a matchup of the top two teams in the league. That series starts tonight and will be streamed on Peacock .

Also, our World Cup countdown continues with Colombia star Luis Díaz. For more WNBA and World Cup coverage, check out the NBC News website .

NBA Conference Finals Preview

After a blowout win Sunday by the Cleveland Cavaliers over the Detroit Pistons in Game 7 of their second-round series, the conference finals are now set: The Cavaliers will play the New York Knicks in the East, and the San Antonio Spurs will play the Oklahoma City Thunder in the West. Here’s a quick preview of both matchups.

Let’s start with the Thunder and Spurs, a titanic clash that begins tonight between the two best teams from the regular season. Let me put this as simply as I can: Whether you love the NBA or not, you need to find a way to watch every minute of this series. This is the first time since 1998 that two teams with at least 62 regular-season wins have met in the playoffs, and we should be in store for an incredibly hard-fought battle.

This matchup features two ascendant young stars in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Victor Wembanyama (who finished first and third in MVP voting, respectively), exciting young talent, a legitimate regional rivalry and two suffocating defenses. It’s as high-level as hoops gets on the court, with the added bonus of animus and history off the court to ratchet up the tension.

San Antonio won the regular-season series over OKC 4-1, but the Thunder practically never had their full squad available. Game 1 should be a little bit of a feel-out process for both sides.

In the East, the dominant Knicks will take on Cleveland. New York has won seven straight playoff games and owns a playoff-best 20.0 net rating. The Knicks should be heavily favored this series as the Cavs have labored through the playoffs, needing seven games to win in each round.

Cleveland is coming off its most inspiring performance, however, eliminating Detroit on the road. It will have to overcome the duo of Karl-Anthony Towns and Jalen Brunson , who are thriving. Brunson is averaging 27.4 points on a career playoff-best 48.5% shooting, while Towns is averaging a career playoff-best 6.6 assists, adding 17.4 points for good measure.

World Cup Countdown

Leading up to the 2026 World Cup, we’re counting down 26 players to watch. They may be household names or unsung heroes, but they are crucial to their team’s success. They are the players you need to know before the games start. Today’s entry is Colombia’s Luis Díaz .

The 29-year-old Colombian winger/midfielder is one of the best goal scorers in the sport, currently lighting it up on the club level for Bayern Munich, after three years with Liverpool. Diaz should be eager and aggressive in what will be his first World Cup appearance after Colombia missed out on the 2022 tournament.

Exactly how excited is Diaz to play in his first World Cup? He scored a whopping seven goals during qualification, second only to Argentina’s Lionel Messi among South American players. In between qualifiers, Diaz also helped Colombia reach the 2024 Copa América Final, scoring two goals in a tournament in which Los Cafeteros finished second. In only 72 appearances for Colombia, Diaz has already scored 21 goals, putting him fourth on the country’s all-time list.

He also has a flair for the dramatic. In Diaz’s first major tournament with Colombia, the 2021 Copa, he scored his first goal via bicycle kick against Brazil. He should also be familiar with American soil, scoring once each in two friendlies that took place in the United States last fall.

Colombia’s best finish at the World Cup came in 2014, when the country made it to the quarterfinal. It could be in a position to make its best run yet, as Diaz is entering the tournament hot. Between the Bundesliga and Champions League, during the 2025-26 season, Diaz scored 22 goals, a career-best mark. With a hot scorer in the prime of his career, Colombia could be a major threat as long as Diaz is in top shape.

Friday’s entry was South Korea’s Son Heung-min . Read about him here .

What We’re Reading

With ICE officers potentially at World Cup matches, vendors are weighing the risk of working .

Warriors coach Steve Kerr nearly walked away from Golden State.

Listen closely for Jamal Crawford’s new, signature catchphrase.

The woman who keeps beating men in ultramarathons runs on mashed potatoes.

Jannik Sinner has completed the “Career Golden Masters” at just 24.

Aaron Rodgers is a Steeler again, officially.

What We’re Watching

Arguably the best matchup that could take place in the NBA happens tonight, when the Spurs will face the Thunder in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals. San Antonio is led by superstar big man Victor Wembanyama, who is averaging 20.3 points, 10.7 rebounds and 4.1 blocks over 10 postseason games. His counterpart, Oklahoma City’s do-everything guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, has the Thunder a perfect 8-0 so far in the playoffs.

Meanwhile in the NHL, we get a Game 7 between the Montreal Canadiens and Buffalo Sabres to determine who goes to the Eastern Conference Finals. Buffalo is coming off a dominant 8-3 win to push this series to the brink. The winner will take on the Carolina Hurricanes.