What to watch in sports this week: Playoffs, Champions League semis and 151st Kentucky Derby

New York Times

28-04-2025

'I got a color TV so I can see the Knicks play basketball,' Sugarhill Gang's Big Bank Hank famously flexed back in 1979. Almost a half-century later, and just about everyone owns a flatscreen (if not a full fleet of devices to stream from). Better still, we can tune in to more than just the New York Knicks, though Sunday's stunner in Detroit was very much worth watching.
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This week's national TV slate is absolutely loaded, from nightly NBA and NHL postseason looks to main-stage racing events (F1's Miami Grand Prix and the 151st running of the Kentucky Derby). We also get two banger matchups in the Champions League semifinals, a primetime look at the Los Angeles Dodgers superteam and the unofficial WNBA debut of Paige Bueckers. Let us know what we're sleeping on for the week ahead, and of course, make sure to 'up jump the boogie.'
The NBA put on a show Saturday and Sunday. All this went down across one weekend:
This week's action keeps rolling onward. KAT and the Knicks return home to The World's Most Famous Arena seeking a series closer. The Lake Show and its starry cast are unnervingly close to early-season hiatus. LA and Denver should be allowed to go a full 10 games. There are between two and four playoff games on each night this week. Set your lasers accordingly.
Read next: Anthony Edwards and the complicated pathway to becoming the face of the NBA
Hockey saw pro basketball's frenetic weekend, laced up the skates, and went Annie Oakley on 'em. Wind the tape back:
The ever-chaotic NHL postseason is on all week, and it gives us multiple games on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Coming into Monday, four different series were knotted at 2-2.
Read next: NHL Power Rankings: The playoff teams 1-16, plus — who is stepping up?
'The last few weeks of this season could be so spectacular that we forget about almost everything that came before. Football's a strange game in that respect. We've suffered at times this season. It's felt like everything has gone against us and it's not been our year. But suddenly, there's this path to glory opening up in front of us.
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Sometimes it defies analysis. Arsenal sense their moment, sense their opportunity, and it's difficult to disagree. Paris Saint-Germain in the semi-finals, and what a tie that promises to be. London and Paris, Arsenal, with all the French heritage in the club historically. PSG have been in brilliant form and were superb against Liverpool and Aston Villa. But Arsenal are the vanquishers of Real Madrid, the conquerors of the holders, and perhaps favourites at this point. If you knock out Madrid, it's very hard to dismiss that idea.' — James McNicholas in Handbrake Off
'The first bars of Coldplay's 'Viva la Vida' rang out and Barcelona's fans went wild. On the pitch, possibly more than half of the players didn't know why. Some because they weren't in Barcelona in 2009, others because they were less than five years old. That Coldplay song was the soundtrack to Pep Guardiola's treble, and since his departure, it has not been played again.
The message was clear: this Barcelona team has a special aura once again. They won the Spanish Super Cup in January against Real Madrid — who they have scored 12 goals against in three games this season — they have now won the Copa del Rey, they are top of La Liga, and they are in the semi-finals of the Champions League.
We shall find out in the coming weeks what happens in the European competition when they face Inter. In the domestic competitions, they are very well positioned. And what is most surprising is that there is talk of a treble in April, considering that this season was supposed to be a transitional one.' — Laia Cervelló Herrero
Here's a cool change of pace for the sporting schedule, and an apt way to usher in some early summer vibes. This year's tourney is the 13th edition of the suntanned international competition, and the first to be hosted in Africa. It takes place in Victoria, the capital of the Republic of Seychelles, and the Mahé coast will provide a serene and majestic setting. The 16-team action begins Friday, May 1, and runs through Sunday, May 11. Brazil is the reigning champion and the most decorated program in beach soccer, with six titles in 22 years.
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Read next: The 2024 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup: Sun, sand and overhead kicks
All-galaxy talent Paige Bueckers was nothing short of sensational in her women's college basketball career. She was a unanimous All-American, a pioneering personality and a graceful national champion. Up next, of course, is the W, a league surging in popularity and rapidly expanding its talent pool. Preseason work doesn't count for stats or records, fair enough, but a first look at Bueckers in her Dallas threads is worth watching. A'ja Wilson's Aces are among the best in the game. Arike Ogunbowale is going to take Bueckers under her wing (Wings), and DiJonai Carrington should take another step forward with more spacing on the floor.
Read next: Which WNBA Draft players are the best fit with their new teams?
'D. Wayne Lukas, a four-time winner of the Kentucky Derby, sat in the front row. A few rows back, sat seven-time winner Bob Baffert, in Louisville for his first Derby after a three-year ban. Across the aisle from Baffert, Michael McCarthy, trainer of this year's favorite, Journalism, sat beside his daughter, Stella.
And on the other side of the setup for the Derby draw, stood a person in a horse head and jockey silks, hooves crossed at the ankles, casually hanging at a high-top bar table. Derby week officially kicked off with the perfect mix of the splendid and the absurd here on Saturday night, the sport's stars doing on-camera TV interviews as they rubbed shoulders with a person who took time to rent a horse head.
Mixed in the sublime evening, the 151st run for the roses got down to business, with the post positions drawn for the 20-horse field. Journalism, slated by odds maker Mike Battaglia as the 3-1 favorite, drew the eighth position, a fortuitous spot in Derby history. Nine winners have come from the 8-spot, the second most of any place in the field. Only two other horses earned single-digit odds, Sovereignty at 5-1 and Sandman at 6-1. Both, however, are outside, in the 17 and 18 posts, the crowd audibly groaning when their positions were announced.' — Dana O'Neil
'Each Formula One race has its own identity.
Monaco is known for its history. Circuit of the Americas is the American track for motorsport fans. Las Vegas embraced the sport's glitz and glamor. But nailing down the identity of the Miami Grand Prix is complicated as the world of F1 merges with the culture of a vibrant city known for its food, art, and nightlife.
It's a race where people want to be seen, with celebrities and influencers flooding the campus. And it is unashamedly Miami, merging the racing product with high-end entertainment and local culture. The attendance continues to grow each season, even with the viewership numbers dipping in 2023. This year, the race set a record for the live U.S. television audience as Lando Norris secured his first F1 victory. However, it doesn't mean Florida's F1 race has escaped criticism, whether about the track in year one or the over-the-top driver introductions in year two.
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However, Miami and F1 somehow struck the right balance in year three.' — Madeline Coleman
Let's appreciate the institution of 'Sunday Night Baseball' before it leaves us at the end of the 2025 season. Yep, roll the music!
This one sells itself. It's Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman (each with an MVP trophy) versus Austin Riley, Ozzie Albies, Marcell Ozuna and Matt Olson (all former Silver Sluggers). Atlanta has a nightmarish start, dropping its first seven games, but the hosts begin this week with a more respectable 12-15 record. LA is the incumbent World Series titlist and the team to beat until proven otherwise.
Read next: Dodgers' Tyler Glasnow leaves second consecutive start with injury
NYT archives: Monday — On this date (April 28) in 2011, future NFL MVP and preeminent dab enthusiast Cam Newton was drafted No. 1 overall by the Carolina Panthers.
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(Photo of Bukayo Saka: Justin Setterfield / Getty Images)