ESNY’s Tuesday Morning Shootaround

Rams dominate Wild Card weekend finale.

Welcome to the Morning Shootaround!

Monday’s action was capped by a blowout to close out the weekend for the NFL playoffs. The Arizona Cardinals thought they had a gameplan. Then the Rams put it on them early and often.

We’re keeping Budda Baker in our thoughts today after a scary hit had him headed to the hospital.

We’ll now wait to see what the fallout is in Arizona and look forward to the divisional round of the NFL’s playoffs. Who’s your Super Bowl pick now?

What we’re watching on Tuesday:

• NHL: Islanders @ Flyers — 7 PM ET
• NBA: Timberwolves @ Knicks — 7:30 PM ET
• CBB: Canisius @ St. Peter’s — 2 PM ET
• CBB: Niagara @ Manhattan — 7 PM ET
• CBB: #15 Iowa State @ #18 Texas Tech — 9 PM ET

Bridges over troubled waters

The Knicks hosted the Hornets in a matinee at MSG on Monday. It didn’t go as well as the Knicks faithful would have hoped. Miles Bridges had a career day and Charlotte built a big lead in the first half that the Knicks couldn’t overcome.

An #NBAAllStar worthy ?️erformance for MILES BRIDGES!

Player of the Game vs NYK | @HusqvarnaUSA pic.twitter.com/zDS6Lllg07

— Charlotte Hornets (@hornets) January 17, 2022

Net loss

No Kevin Durant meant problems for the Nets in Cleveland on Monday. Darius Garland and Evan Mobley were terrific for the Cavs as they were able to pull away in the fourth quarter for a 114-107 win.

.@dariusgarland22 has a couple more assists to dish out — one to his @cavs teammates and one to the best fans in the league.#LetEmKnow | #NBAAllStar | @SerenaWinters pic.twitter.com/MGZqbI3YaQ

— Bally Sports Cleveland (@BallySportsCLE) January 17, 2022

Isles knock off Flyers

The Islanders got goals from four different skaters and Ilya Sorokin stopped 26 shots in a nice win on Monday night. No team in the NHL has missed more games because of COVID, so there’s still time for the Isles to right the ship and get back into the playoff conversation.

? Nelson & Beauvillier Postgame Availability ? pic.twitter.com/flzfowho4Y

— New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) January 18, 2022

Game of the Day

The best game yesterday was in the Big Ten where #4 Purdue and #17 Illinois needed two (2) overtimes to decide a winner. The game had everything you would want from a regular season college basketball game. Purdue came away with a big win against an Illini squad that hadn’t lost in Big Ten play.

You serious, Andre Curbelo? ?@papicurbelo11 // @IlliniMBB pic.twitter.com/vKUX9sOYwW

— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) January 17, 2022

Bottoms up for Pronger

At his jersey retirement in St. Louis, Hall of Fame defenseman Chris Pronger took it to another level. Cheers on one helluva career, Chris!

Chris Pronger chugged a beer after his @StLouisBlues jersey retirement speech ?pic.twitter.com/XGZi3HaDwz

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) January 18, 2022

Mayock out in Vegas

Add the Raiders to the growing number of teams looking for a new general manager — and potentially head coach. Mike Mayock was relieved of his duties on Monday after the Raiders’ season from hell came to a close. We’ll see what this means to the future of Derek Carr as well.

#Raiders GM Mike Mayock was informed that he won’t be retained, source said. Jon Gruden resigned in October, Mayock now out in January.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 17, 2022