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🐻 Good morning to everybody however particularly …

CODY BELLINGER AND THE CHICAGO CUBS

After a resurgent season, Cody Bellinger was in search of a house. And the Cubs — the group he had that resurgent season with — had been in search of a bat. The match seemingly made in heaven turned the match made in actuality late Saturday, with Bellinger and the Cubs agreeing to a three-year, $80 million deal.

Bellinger, 28, slashed .307/.356/.535 in his first season in Chicago, the batting common representing a profession excessive and the on-base and slugging percentages his greatest since his 2019 MVP season with the Dodgers. He additionally lastly stayed wholesome, which helped, and there are many causes the Cubs ought to imagine his success will proceed, Dayn Perry says.

If you happen to’re questioning why it took till nicely into spring coaching for a participant of Bellinger’s caliber to signal, you are not alone. And there are nonetheless huge names on the market — significantly Blake Snell, Jordan Montgomery and Matt Chapman, all of whom had been amongst our high 10 free brokers and all of whom are Scott Boras shoppers. R.J. Anderson predicted what occurs to the remainder of the “Boras 4.”

• Anderson: “On the threat of studying an excessive amount of right into a single knowledge level, Bellinger’s contract raises the chance that Boras is open to accepting shorter-than-anticipated offers at this stage of the method. Bellinger had been anticipated to obtain five-plus years heading into the offseason, in response to a number of public estimates. … It could make a sure sense on paper, significantly for Snell and Chapman. Each have been high-quality performers, but every has a dangerous profile.”

👍 Honorable mentions

😬 And never such morning for …

COURT STORMING, KYLE FILIPOWSKI AND THE DUKE BLUE DEVILS

A Wake Forest group sitting on the bubble welcomed No. 8 Duke to city Saturday. In entrance of a raucous crowd, the Demon Deacons and Blue Devils went back-and-forth with 14 lead modifications and 14 ties, magnificent shot-making and heroic efforts. Wake Forest received, 83-79, behind 29 factors from tremendous switch Hunter Sallis and a few key stops late to get on the precise aspect of the bubble in Jerry Palm’s estimation.

It was regular-season faculty basketball at its perfect, the right treatment for the post-Tremendous Bowl, pre-March Insanity sports activities doldrums.

Till it wasn’t.

What occurred between Kyle Filipowski and court-storming followers is unacceptable. A fan careening into Filipowski’s knee — inflicting the Blue Devils’ star huge man to keel over in ache and be escorted out by a plethora of Duke personnel — ought to by no means, ever occur. However it did. And now we’ve to cope with the fallout.

You’ll be able to watch the incident nonetheless you need — completely different speeds and angles. Kyle Boone did simply that and has an glorious breakdown. As chaos unfolds round him, Filipowski places his arms out, positive, however, once more, he ought to by no means be on this scenario. Plus, he is allowed to guard himself. As soon as he obtained clipped, getting him off the courtroom turned hectic and harmful. Jon Scheyer didn’t know Filipowski’s standing transferring ahead.

As Kyle identified, there have been fans on the court before the buzzer even sounded. That is removed from the one court-storming incident this season, however that is essentially the most damaging one to date. Postgame, Scheyer requested, “When are we going to ban court-storming?”

I have been a proponent of court-storming for a very long time, citing that it is tremendous enjoyable, one thing that distinguishes faculty sports activities from the professionals, and many others. I now not suppose that. There simply aren’t options. I’ve seen coaches pull gamers seconds early (one thing Scheyer could not do due to the shut nature of the sport), and Scheyer famous there was a delay in court-storming when he performed. However that places far an excessive amount of pointless duty on coaches (it is not their job), gamers (it is also not their job), safety personnel (overwhelmed), and hundreds of rambunctious followers (uh … good luck controlling them).

Court docket-storming is enjoyable when finished appropriately. However it may well’t be finished appropriately. And a season-defining win for Wake Forest changing into a aspect story — relatively than the story — was the unhappy outcome.

There was, nonetheless, glorious motion elsewhere across the nation:

👎 Not so honorable mentions

• Listed here are the suspensions from Friday evening’s brawl between the Warmth and Pelicans: Jimmy Butler, Naji Marshall and Nikola Jovic obtained one sport; Thomas Bryant and Jose Alvarado obtained three.
• Draymond Inexperienced unloaded on Grant Williams.
• Cam Newton was concerned in a struggle at a 7-on-7 soccer match.
• Kylian Mbappe was booed by PSG followers in his first look since he introduced he’ll go away the membership this summer time.
• Weston McKennie had two assists Sunday for Juventus … but in addition dislocated his shoulder.
• Malocolm Dandridge will sit as Memphis investigates potential educational misconduct.

 🏀 Prime storylines for the NBA’s stretch run

We’re inside six weeks till the top of the NBA common season, and that has Brad Botkin zeroing in on key storylines between now and the season’s finish on April 14. I went over a couple of when the NBA returned from the All-Star break final week, however Brad does a wonderful job going far more in-depth. One among my favorites is …

• Botkin: “Are the Knicks a matchup no one desires to see within the first couple rounds or a reliable risk to problem for a spot within the Finals? I will let you know this: Bojan Bogdanovic, who had 5 3s in his Knicks debut, and Donte DiVincenzo on reverse sides is lots of area for Jalen Brunson to function. OG Anunoby is a premier playoff defender. Isaiah Hartenstein protects the rim and rebounds like a madman, and there is nonetheless an outdoor probability that Mitchell Robinson makes it again for the playoffs. Toughness. Capturing. Rim safety. A creation wizard in Brunson. A one-on-one bully in Julius Randle. A top-10 offense and protection. The marks of at the least a fringe contender are all there. May the Knicks be even higher than that?”

🤕 Trae Younger to overlook at the least 4 weeks with finger harm

Hawks All-Star guard Trae Younger will miss at the least 4 weeks as a result of a ligament tear in his left pinkie. He suffered the harm in Friday’s loss to the Raptors.

• Younger is averaging 26.4 factors and 10.8 assists this season, the one participant averaging at the least 25 factors and 10 assists. He is on tempo to affix Russell Westbrook and Oscar Robertson as the one gamers to take action in consecutive seasons.
• The Hawks (25-32) are presently Tenth within the Japanese Convention, 3.5 video games forward of the Nets for the ultimate play-in spot. Atlanta has the NBA’s Tenth-best offense, largely because of Younger’s excellence, however are additionally final in protection, an space the place Younger struggles however had improved, Brad famous earlier this month.

The Hawks have disillusioned, and the Younger-Dejounte Murray guard pairing hasn’t constantly labored like Atlanta envisioned when it shelled out for Murray in 2022. Younger has been the topic of commerce rumors just lately, too, given the group’s struggles. Now he’ll need to hope his teammates can hold issues collectively earlier than what’s going to certainly be an attention-grabbing offseason.

📺 What we’re watching Monday

🏀 Raptors at Pacers, 7 p.m. on NBA TV
🏀 Miami at No. 10 North Carolina (M), 7 p.m. on ESPN
🏀 No. 11 Baylor at TCU (M), 9 p.m. on ESPN
🏀 No. 11 Colorado at No. 12 UCLA (W), 9 p.m. on ESPN2
🏀 Warmth at Kings, 10 p.m. on NBA TV
⚽ USWNT vs. Mexico, 10:15 p.m. on Paramount+