Steph Curry and the Warriors are fully back, plus the NL West is already dominating again

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Happy Tuesday all!

Let's get right to it.

Good morning to everyone but especially to...

THE GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS...

When Stephen Curry starts mouthing "I'm back" and shimmying after scoring, you know you're in trouble. The Nuggets are in deep trouble, and every team with championship aspirations should take notice: The Warriors absolutely belong in the title-contending tier as well. Last night, Golden State demolished Denver, 126-106, to take a 2-0 series lead.

Curry scored 34 points in just 23 minutes off the bench.
Jordan Poole continued his incredible improvement with 29 points and eight assists while Klay Thompson added 21 points.
Draymond Green had six points, six assists and three steals but, per usual, his impact went well beyond the box score. He thoroughly frustrated MVP favorite Nikola Jokic, who was ejected in the fourth quarter.

The Warriors broke open a close game with a 44-point third quarter in which they truly looked half-NBA team, half-Harlem Globetrotters with absurd 3-pointers, jaw-dropping passes and just general offensive genius to go along with active, feisty defense.

During the Warriors' peak, they put out a "Death Lineup" consisting of Curry, Thompson, Green, Kevin Durant and Andre Iguodala. Now, with Poole playing terrific basketball, they're discovering a similarly scary lineup, writes our NBA reporter Colin Ward-Henninger.

Ward-Henninger: "The full unit took the court with 6:02 remaining in the second quarter with Golden State trailing 43-35. By the time the halftime whistle sounded, the Warriors led, 57-51. The new death lineup, which has yet to receive a proper nickname, launched a 22-8 run in half a quarter, and the way they did it should terrify not only the Nuggets, but whichever teams get in their way in upcoming playoff rounds."

... AND ALSO A GOOD MORNING TO THE PHILADELPHIA 76ERS

The 76ers have taken a 2-0 series lead over the Raptors after a dominant 112-97 win last night.

Joel Embiid had a game-high 31 points and 11 rebounds.
Tyrese Maxey starred again with 23 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. He's now scored 61 points over the first two games of the series.
James Harden had 14 points, six rebounds and six assists.
Doc Rivers earned his 100th career playoff coaching win, passing Red Auerbach and moving into a tie for fourth all-time with Larry Brown.
It was huge for the 76ers to defend home court considering ace defender Matisse Thybulle won't play in Games 3 or 4 (or 6, if necessary) because he doesn't meet Canada's COVID-19 vaccine requirement.

Maxey has been outstanding in the two games, and Embiid's dominant performance will garner the headlines, too. But another key is that Philly is surviving when Embiid isn't on the court. During the regular season, the 76ers were outscored by 1.9 points per game when he was on the bench. So far in the playoffs, the 76ers are outscoring Toronto by 6.0 points per game when he's on the bench.

The Raptors' best hope is to win the minutes Embiid is on the bench by a big margin. Right now, they're losing them by a big margin.

Honorable mentions

Jalen Brunson scored a career-high 41 points to lead the Luka Doncic-less Mavericks over the Jazz, 110-104. The series is now tied 1-1.
Marcus Smart won NBA Defensive Player of the Year. He's the first guard to win the award since Gary Payton in 1996.
Browns star Denzel Ward is now the highest-paid cornerback in NFL history.
Freddie Freeman homered in his first at-bat against his former team, the Braves.

Not so honorable mentions

Miles Boykin, a 2019 third-rounder, was released by the Ravens.
The Red Sox will be without several players when they play the Blue Jays in Toronto next week due to Canada's vaccine mandate.

MLB Power Rankings: NL West is at the top (again) ⚾

It's early, but the NL West is figuring to be very competitive again. After dueling down to the wire for the division crown last year, the Dodgers and Giants are No. 1 and 2, respectively, in MLB expert Matt Snyder's MLB Power Rankings.

1. Dodgers -- "They'll be spending a lot of time here. Unless the Giants do."
2. Giants -- "Carlos Rodón has 21 strikeouts in 12 innings. His live, talented arm in the hands of the Giants' magicians is a scary combo."

Last year, the Dodgers finished with 106 wins, good for the second-most in baseball. Unfortunately for them, that was also second-most in their own division behind San Francisco's 107. It's shaping up to be more of the same this season.

As for who's next up in the Power Rankings...

3. Mets
4. Blue Jays
5. White Sox

Meanwhile, the Angels are trying to prove that the Dodgers and Giants aren't the only top-flight clubs in the Golden State, and they're up to No. 9 after going 5-1 last week. You can see the entire Power Rankings here.

Which college football coaches are under the most pressure? 🏈

We had a wild start to the college football offseason, and while things have settled down for the most part, our excitement for the 2022 season has not. One reason for that excitement is the coaching movement, which, to recap, has included...

Lincoln Riley to USC
Brian Kelly to LSU
Mario Cristobal to Miami
Lots of others.

So, which coaches -- new or returning --are under the most pressure this season? Our Barrett Sallee has identified his top seven, including Riley in his first year with the Trojans.

Sallee: "Many have tried, but few have succeeded to lead USC back to the glory days of Pete Carroll in the 2000s. Riley has stepped up to the plate after further establishing Oklahoma as a national power, and has hit the transfer portal in a big way by luring several players -- including former Sooners starting quarterback Caleb Williams -- to Los Angeles. His up-tempo, spread-based, run-focused offense will be a big selling point with recruits in southern California, which means that College Football Playoff appearances -- yes, plural -- should come in the not-too-distant future."

Riley making a College Football Playoff appearance this year is a tall task. Two coaches -- Riley at Oklahoma and Ryan Day at Ohio State -- have made the CFP in their first year under a new coach, but both programs were powerhouses when those coaches took over. The same can't be said about USC. Riley has lots of work to do, and there will be plenty of eyes on him every step of the way.

You can see the rest of the list here.

Brady, Rodgers to face Mahomes, Allen in The Match VI ⛳

"The Match" coming is back, and this time there are no professional golfers involved. The sixth installment will instead feature Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers taking on Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen on June 1 at the Wynn Golf Club in Las Vegas. In case you're not familiar, The Match features some big names facing off on the golf course, with money being raised for charity.

There's always plenty of jokes, trash talk (which has already started) and good -- and not-so-good -- golf. Here's the history.

Tiger vs. Phil (2018): Phil Mickelson def. Tiger Woods
Champions for Charity (2020): Woods and Peyton Manning def. Mickelson and Tom Brady
Champions for Change (2020): Mickelson and Charles Barkley def. Manning and Stephen Curry
The Match IV (2021): Rodgers and Bryson DeChambeau def. Brady and Mickelson
Bryson vs. Brooks (2021): Brooks Koepka def. DeChambeau

Basically, this is one of just a few things in sports Brady hasn't won, but he'll have a pretty good chance this time around playing with Rodgers, who golf expert Kyle Porter says "is probably the best pure golfer out of this group."