🏀 Caitlin Clark is Her

Happy Wednesday! Today we take a break from the gridiron besides a few headlines. The NBA, NHL and college hoops had plenty of action to keep us busy. Speaking of college ball, Caitlin Clark did something more impressive than yesterday’s WTF Stat and has us at a loss for words. That woman is simply incredible. Thanks for joining us today, let’s dive in.

WTF Stat: Ravens QB Lamar Jackson is 20-1 against NFC teams in his career. He also has the exact same record as Tom Brady through his first 77 starts at 58-19.

🏈 Dalvin Cook and the New York Jets have parted ways allowing him to join a contender for the playoffs - Cook only had 67 carries for 214 yards for the Jets

🏈 Sean McVay has committed to returning to the Los Angeles Rams as head coach next season, while Bill Belichick, in typical fashion, says his focus is on the Jets and not his future with the team

🏈 Panthers owner David Tepper has been fined $300K for throwing a drink from his box at a Jaguars fan during Sunday's loss in Jacksonville

🎾 Rafael Nadal made his return to the court and won his first singles match in over a year defeating former world No. 3 Dominic Thiem at the Brisbane International

⚽ Wayne Rooney only lasted 15 games as the Birmingham City manager being fired after a stretch of nine straight loses

College Basketball - Top Games

• NCAAW | #4 Iowa 76, Michigan St. 73: Caitlin Clark (40 PTS, 5 REB) capped off her 40-point game hitting a buzzer-beating step back three-pointer from the logo for the win - she is utterly amazing, nothing else to say

• NCAAM | #8 North Carolina 70, Pittsburgh 57: Armando Bacot (16 PTS, 10 REB) scored his 2,000th career point in the road win - UNC -4 was our Prime Lock of the Day from yesterday on the bottom of the newsletter, upgrade here to unlock daily access!

• NCAAM | #14 Duke 86, Syracuse 66: The Blue Devils opened up their ACC schedule with a slaughtering of the Orange - Duke beat G-Tech earlier this year but the conference long slew of conferences games for most Power 5 schools starts this week

See the full college scoreboard here.

NBA - Top Games

• Oklahoma City Thunder 127, Boston Celtics 123: Despite 30-point games from Jayson Tatum (30 PTS, 13 REB, 8 AST) and Kristaps Porzingis (34 PTS, 10 REB), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (36 PTS, 7 REB, 7 AST) was too much in front of the home crowd as a 40-point Thunder 3rd quarter was the difference maker - OKC is a real contender at 23-9 (4th best in NBA)

• Philadelphia 76ers 110, Chicago Bulls 97: The 2022-23 MVP was back in the lineup from an ankle sprain and in a big way as Joel Embiid (31 PTS, 15 REB, 10 AST) notched his 7th career triple-double

• Memphis Grizzlies 106, San Antonio Spurs 98: Have you ever seen a point guard dunk on a 7’4” man? Ja Morant (26 PTS, 10 AST) did Victor Wembanyama (20 PTS, 7 REB) dirty with this slam

See the full NBA scoreboard here and the current standings here.

NHL - Top Games

• Colorado Avalanche 5, New York Islanders 4 (OT): The Avs trailed entering the final period, but a Valeri Nichushkin power play goal assisted from Nathan MacKinnon sent the game to OT and then MacKinnon scored a power play goal of his own to send the home crowd into a frenzy

• Washington Capitals 4, Pittsburgh Penguins 3: The Caps came out firing in Pittsburgh scoring four 1st period goals and luckily that was enough for Ovi and crew as they took the foot off the gas not finding the back of the net the rest of the night

• Carolina Hurricanes 6, New York Rangers 1: The Hurricanes scored more than the Carolina NFL team this past weekend (not hard as the Panthers put up a goose egg) pouring in six goals on the only team in front of them in the Metropolitan Division standings

• Winnipeg Jets 4, Tampa Bay Lightning 2: The Lightning struck first north of the border, but the Jets flew back netting four unanswered goals on Tampa

See the full NHL scoreboard here and the current standings here.

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Who leads the NHL in total points at the moment?

A. Connor McDavid

B. David Pastrnak

C. Nathan MacKinnon

D. Nikita Kucherov

On January 3, 1920, the Boston Red Sox agreed to send Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees for just $125,000 in cash and a $350,000 loan, essentially Broadway tickets. This started the "Curse of the Bambino" where the Red Sox did not win a World Series until 2004, a streak that included some heartbreaking loses.

NBA

• Chicago Bulls @ New York Knicks 8:30pm ET, ABC

• Miami Heat @ Los Angeles Lakers 10:00pm ET, ESPN

• Full Schedule

NHL

• New Jersey Devils @ Washington Capitals 7:30pm ET, TNT

• Full Schedule

College Basketball

• NCAAM: #16 Clemson @ Miami 8:00pm ET, ESPN

• NCAAM: Xaiver @ Villanova 8:30pm ET, FS1

• Men’s: Full Schedule

• NCAAW: #23 TCU @ #6 Baylor 8:00pm ET, BIG12 N / ESPN+

• Women’s: Full Schedule

Grab $20 off tickets to your favorite games, concerts and events using code TORCH20 at Vivid Seats - Promo is for first-time buyers and orders over $200!

Trivia Time Answer

D. Nikita Kucherov. The Tampa Bay Lightning veteran has 26 goals and 37 assists for 63 points. He sits two points ahead of Nathan MacKinnon.

Prime Lock of the Day

Subscribe to Blitz Prime to unlock this betting slip. For those already signed up, enjoy the winner!

NBA

• Miami Heat @ Los Angeles Lakers: Heat ML

Hope your 2024 is off to the start you wanted. If not, there’s always tomorrow! See you then.