Busiest time of year

There are four sports topics to talk about this week. They are the NBA playoffs, the Major League Baseball season that's now in full swing, the NFL Draft starting next week and Masters golf.

First, the 76ers are up 3-0 in their series against the Toronto Raptors. I am pleasantly surprised with this result so far because Tyrese Maxey is becoming a star in the NBA at the perfect time to help Joel Embiid and James Harden advance in the playoffs this season. If Maxey and the rest of the supporting cast continue to play this well, I think the 76ers can make it to the NBA Finals this year. If Joel Embiid does not win the MVP award, I will be very disappointed because he has played out of his mind the whole season!

The Phillies have not gotten off to a good start at all and they better get their act together fast because the Mets and Braves are going to be quite good this year. The Mets have the best record in baseball at 9-4 and their best pitcher, Jacob deGrom, is going to be out for another month or so. It will be worse for everyone when he gets back. I’m kind of worried about Bryce Harper who has shoulder issues and we’re not even 15 games into the season. The offense is supposed to carry the team, but it has not woken up yet. I don’t expect them to win the World Series this year, but it would be nice if they contend for a playoff spot at the end of the season.

The NFL Draft starts next Thursday. There are no obvious star quarterbacks in this draft, but there are some capable ones including Kenny Pickett from Pittsburgh, Desmond Ritter from Cincinnati, and Malik Willis from Liberty, who reminds me of Michael Vick. I hope Willis does not get hurt playing in the NFL by the huge defensive players. The Eagles will not be drafting one of these quarterbacks in the early rounds. I think they should focus on getting younger players on the offensive and defensive lines. They have a few picks in the first round, numbers 15 and 18. The first round is next Thursday night. Definitely going to be paying attention to how this plays out.

I did not get to recap the Masters last week, so here's that as well. Scotty Scheffler, who is the No. 1 player in the world, won the tournament by three shots over Rory McElroy. McElroy shot a 64 in the final round to get close, but the tournament was really a two-horse race between Scheffler and Cameron Smith from Australia, who had won the Players Championship in March. It was close until the shortest hole on the course, the 12th hole. Smith made a triple bogey six to give Scheffler a big advantage. There was also the quite impressive performance by Tiger Woods. He finished in 48th place after a year-and-a-half off from playing golf competitively. Tiger has to figure out for himself if it is worth playing PGA tour events throughout the year. He was obviously in a lot of pain at times while playing the Masters. He has nothing left to prove to me.