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The New York Knicks completed the MSG-sweep of Cleveland with a stout 102-93 win on Sunday.

Tom Thibodeau made an incredible decision that could very well be credited as the deciding and game-changing choice that lifted New York above the Cavs to wrap up the weekend: he benched Julius Randle for the whole fourth quarter.

Randle played 77 regular-season games this year. He sat through a fourth quarter just eight times, once because of his season-ending ankle injury against the Heat on March 29. Obi Toppin, his replacement on Sunday, played only 14 minutes in Games 1 and 2, 15 in G2, and, finally, 20 in G4 to send Cleveland home packing.

“We were searching, and we knew this game was going to be a challenge because of the late game on Friday, short turnaround, early start today, and have to find a way to win,” Thibodeau said. “That group got going, so at some point, you make a decision—probably around the five-minute mark, six-minute mark—and rode that out.”

And rode that out they did on the way to another W, the third in this series and the second-to-last before clinching a place in the Eastern Conference semi-finals for the first time since 2013.

Pete Alonso took it personally last October when the Mets were eliminated from the postseason with a loss to the Padres in the NL wild-card series.

Alonso says he took a “deep dive” during the off-season into examining where he could improve. The results have followed through the first three weeks of the regular season.

Alonso entered Friday night’s game against the Giants tied for the major league lead with nine homers.

“I just feel really good and in control right now, which is a really good feeling,” Alonso said. “I feel like I am more of a complete player. I feel like I am playing well on both sides of the ball, offensively and defensively and I feel like I am running the bases well.”

The Mets had six victories in seven games to open this West Coast trip  as they arrived at Oracle Park on Friday, and Alonso’s hot bat ranked high on the list of reasons the team has succeeded in overcoming injuries within the starting rotation. 

On the trip, entering play, Alonso was 10-for-29 (.345) with three homers. That included a blast in Thursday’s series-opening victory against the Giants.

The Big Ten has officially completed a new seven-year media rights agreement with FOX, CBS and NBC that will be the richest-ever television agreement for a college athletic league.

The new deal, which is expected to bring in more than $7 billion for the conference, will begin on July 1, 2023 and run through the end of the 2029-30 athletic year.

The Big Ten is projected to eventually distribute between $80 million and $100 million to all 16 of its member schools over the course of the television deal.

CBS, NBC and FOX are all set to carry future Big Ten football championship games as part of the deal, with FOX remaining the conference’s primary broadcast partner, having aired the football title game annually since its initial agreement in 2011.

FOX will broadcast the 2023, 2025, 2027 and 2029 Big Ten football championship games — as well as the previously scheduled 2022 title game — and carry between 24-32 football games per season as part of the new deal.

CBS will broadcast the 2024 and 2028 Big Ten title games and broadcast 14-15 games annually.

NBC will broadcast the 2026 Big Ten football championship game and 14-16 games on its linear network, as well as eight annually on its Peacock streaming service.

Gerrit Cole’s command of his pitches has him in total command of his opponents.

The Yankees ace continued his domination this season, firing a shutout with 10 strikeouts on the way to a 2-0 win over the Twins in The Bronx.

Cole allowed just three base runners all day — on two harmless singles and a walk — and recorded 27 outs on 109 pitches for his fourth career complete-game shutout.

“It’s just old school,” Cole said. “But we had our work cut out for us today. We were facing a great team and a great pitcher, so just more satisfied with the win.”

Cole shut down a Twins lineup that had exploded for 11 runs just three days earlier, allowing the Yankees (10-6) to earn a series split. He did so with a sharp fastball, spotting it just about wherever he wanted to and using it for seven of his strikeouts while mixing in a quality curveball, slider and changeup.

New York is set for a spring to remember.

After the Islanders clinched a postseason berth with a 4-2 win over the Canadiens, all five local hockey and basketball teams have made the playoffs in the same season for the first time in 29 years.

The last time a New York team in any of the four major sports won a championship, was Feb. 5, 2012, when the Giants won Super Bowl XLVI. 

That span feels like an eternity in this sports-obsessed municipality. 

And if the last time all five local NHL and NBA teams made the postseason is any precedent, there will be plenty to cheer about over the next two months.

WWE majority owner Vince McMahon is trying to get a massive check for his wrestling empire.

McMahon is reportedly looking to sell WWE for as much as $10 billion, according to Bloomberg. 

Potential buyers include Endeavor Group Holdings, the organization that owns the UFC, along with Middle Eastern investors, per the report.

The 77-year-old executive was the wrestling giant’s CEO and chairman for 40 years and built up the WWE into an entertainment juggernaut. McMahon stepped down in June 2022 due to hush-money allegations. 

McMahon’s daughter, Stephanie, served as co-CEO and chairwoman before her father returned as an executive chairman in January. When he made his return, McMahon made it clear he wanted to sell his company.

The secret to the Mets having a successful year is simple: Play the Marlins as often as possible.

The Mets snapped a three-game losing streak Friday with a 9-3 win over Miami in their home opener at Citi Field. They’ve now won four of five games against the Marlins this season — sandwiched around being swept in a three-game set in Milwaukee.

“The Brewers outplayed us, but we’ve got to turn the page,’’ Francisco Lindor said. “It’s part of being a good baseball team. Today was a good day for the New York Mets.”

Tylor Megill, filling in for the injured Justin Verlander, was excellent, tossing six scoreless innings. The Mets hardly missed Verlander, who hopes to be back from the strained muscle near his right armpit by the end of the month.

The Mets’ hitters, who had been quiet for much of the early part of the season, erupted for a season-high nine runs.

Dennis Santana gave up a three-run home run to former Yankee Garrett Cooper with two outs in the eighth to make things interesting, but Lindor and Pete Alonso homered in the bottom of the eighth to end any drama.  

Endeavor Group Holdings, Inc. officially announced its purchase of World Wrestling Entertainment as part of its plan to merge the professional wrestling company with Ultimate Fighting Championship as a new, merged publicly listed company.

“This is a rare opportunity to create a global live sports and entertainment pureplay built for where the industry is headed,” said Ariel Emanuel, CEO of Endeavor. “For decades, Vince and his team have demonstrated an incredible track record of innovation and shareholder value creation, and we are confident that Endeavor can deliver significant additional value for shareholders by bringing UFC and WWE together.”

The deal is reported to be valued at $9.3 billion, according to Reuters.

Endeavor will hold 51% of the new combat sports and entertainment company, while WWE shareholders will hold for 49%. The report comes after WrestleMania 39, WWE’s biggest annual event.

Longtime WWE chairman Vince McMahon will serve as executive chairman, while Endeavor President Mark Shapiro will continue the same role with the new company.

Rumors have existed for years that Pete Rose played with a corked bat during his legendary MLB career, and that talk has resurfaced because of an interesting claim made by a former Montreal Expos groundskeeper.

Joe Jammer was a groundskeeper for the Expos for 11 years, including when Rose played for the team for a brief period in 1984. In a recent phone interview with Danny Gallagher of The Montreal Gazette, Jammer said Rose regularly had his bats corked in the visitors’ clubhouse by a team staffer named Bryan Greenberg that season.

“Pete Rose would have his bats corked in the visitors’ clubhouse at Olympic Stadium,” Jammer said in a phone interview from London, England, where he is now a club-playing musician.

“I found out he was corking bats. … Pete was too smart to deal with Expos equipment manager John Silverman (to cork his bats in the Expos’ clubhouse). So Bryan Greenberg, who worked in the visitors’ clubhouse, did it. He took me into a room, a door to the left, and underneath tarps there was this machine.”

Jammer said he was shown a machine in the visitor’s clubhouse that was designed for corking Rose’s bat. Greenberg allegedly told Jammer that Rose had been corking his bat for 20 years, indicating the 17-time All-Star had been doing it throughout his entire career. The reason Rose never got caught was because he was not a power hitter, Jammer claims he was told by Greenberg.

Greenberg did not deny the allegation. When reached by the Montreal Gazette, he only said that he “can’t talk about it” and does not want to answer questions. A separate source who chose to remain anonymous told Gallagher that Rose only had his bat corked a few times a year.

There were familiar chants of “M-V-P!” as Aaron Judge strode toward home plate in the first inning on Opening Day, digging his right cleat across the dirt of the batter’s box as he prepared for his first official at-bat since being named the 16th captain in Yankees franchise history.

It took all of two pitches for Judge to pick up where he left off. Having eclipsed Roger Maris’ single-season American League record with 62 home runs last year, Judge belted the Majors’ first of 2023, powering a Logan Webb sinker over the center-field wall at Yankee Stadium as the Yankees cruised to a 5-0 win over the Giants.

“You really don’t hear much when you hit it and you’re running the bases,” Judge said. “But once I hit home and saw my family there, the roar of the crowd, my teammates — that’s when you soak it in a little bit.”

Judge’s drive came off the bat at an exit velocity of 109.3 mph and traveled a Statcast-projected 422 feet. It also came against the Giants, one of the clubs that attempted to sign Judge this past off-season.