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The Golden State Warriors are NBA champions once again, topping the Boston Celtics 103-90 for their fourth title in the last eight seasons. 

Stephen Curry scored 34 points for the Warriors, who claimed the franchise’s seventh championship overall. And this one completed a journey like none other, after a run of five consecutive finals, then a plummet to the bottom of the NBA, and now a return to greatness just two  seasons after having the league’s worst record. 

For Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala, it’s a fourth championship. The first three rings came in 2015, 2017 and 2018, when Golden State was dynastic and made five consecutive trips to the finals. 

Injuries, including ones that sidelined Thompson for 2 1/2 years, and roster changes changed everything. But this season, with Thompson returning around the midway point, the Warriors were finally back. 

Andre Burakovsky scored 1:23 into overtime and the Colorado Avalanche opened the Stanley Cup Final with a 4-3 victory over the two-time defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning.

Burakovsky ended it after the Avalanche failed to score on a power play that began late in regulation when three-time champ Patrick Maroon put the puck over the glass. Burakovsky is one of only two Avalanche players who have won the Cup.

The game likely wouldn’t have even reached OT if not for big penalty kills by the Avalanche, who were 3 for 3 against Tampa Bay’s potent power play. The final kill featured a crucial save by goaltender Darcy Kuemper and a series of clears by Norris Trophy finalist defenseman Cale Makar.

An earlier kill built momentum for Colorado, which opened the scoring on captain Gabriel Landeskog’s goal 40 seconds after Josh Manson’s penalty expired. Manson — one of general manager Joe Sakic’s expensive trade deadline pickups — more than made up for a holding the stick minor with some big hits.

Starling Marte was back Sunday night, giving the Mets their first “regular” lineup in four games. 

The veteran outfielder departed Tuesday’s game in San Diego with left quadriceps discomfort. On the same night, Pete Alonso was hit in the right hand by a pitch and forced to leave the game. 

Marte failed in attempts to talk his way back into the lineup Friday and Saturday, but Buck Showalter finally relented for the Mets’ 4-1 win in the series finale against the Angels. Alonso returned to the lineup two days earlier. 

Marte went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored. 

“Marte is happy and we’ll see,” Showalter said. “We could have pushed the envelope the last couple of days. We just would like to get a feel where he is before the off day, but he’s ready to go.” 

Jeff McNeil returned to second base, after playing the previous two games in right field. 

The Tampa Bay Lightning are playing in the Stanley Cup Final for the third season in a row. With a 2-1 win over the New York Rangers in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final, the Lightning will face the Colorado Avalanche for the NHL’s top prize.

Lightning captain Steven Stamkos played hero with a pair of goals, including the game-winner late in the third that banked in off his body after a great save by Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin. Beyond that, Andrei Vasilevskiy did what he does in elimination games, which is build a forcefield around his own net. Vasilevskiy didn’t have a massive workload, but he stopped 20 of the 21 shots he faced, and he answered the bell when called upon.

Shesterkin did everything he could to force a Game 7 in New York, but his offense let him down for the final time in this series. Even on Tampa’s game-winning goal, Shesterkin made the save but was the victim of an unlucky bounce. Everywhere outside of the crease, the Rangers got thoroughly outplayed, and their five-on-five offense was non-existent. In the final four games of the series, New York scored just one five-on-five goal.

Applebee’s offers guests even more options with the nationwide launch of the new Impossible Cheeseburger.

The Impossible Cheeseburger features an Impossible Burger patty made from plants and comes topped with two slices of American cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, and pickles on a brioche bun.

Additionally, you can swap an Impossible Burger patty in any of the brand’s Handcrafted Burgers for an upcharge of $1.99 and add a side of five boneless wings for $1.

It had been more than two weeks since the Yankees had allowed as many as six runs in a game, and when Nestor Cortes retired the first nine Twins batters he faced on Wednesday, that streak seemed sure to grow.

But in a rare clunker, Cortes and the Yankees faltered, losing 8-1, to end their seven-game winning streak.

The day started with manager Aaron Boone talking about Cortes’ chances of starting the All-Star game, based on the stellar beginning to his season, but the left-hander gave up a season-high four runs in 4 ¹/₃ innings.

Cortes entered with an MLB-best 1.50 ERA, and Wednesday marked the first time he has allowed more than three runs in a start since last season — a stretch of 19 straight outings.

“There’s gonna be ups and downs in a season,’’ Cortes said. “It’s whether you come back the next time and weather the storm.”

The loss to the Twins was also a rarity, as the Yankees had beaten Minnesota five times in a row, and nine out of their last 10 meetings. Since 2015, the Yankees were 30-10 versus Minnesota — but Boone wasn’t interested in those stats.

WWE Hall of Famer ‘Hacksaw’ Jim Duggan announced he’s now “officially cancer free” in a video shared with his fans.

“I just wanted to share with everybody the great news I just received that they checked my bones, and that came out clear. The surrounding tissue came out clear. The lymph nodes came out clear. So thank God I’m cancer free.”

The 67-year-old has experienced multiple health issues in recent years, which included undergoing a heart procedure in March 2019 and once again being hospitalized six months later.

Duggan said that he was making health improvements in January, revealing he’d lost 40 pounds in adherence with advice from his doctor, while also confirming he had retired from in-ring competition at the time.

Duggan’s legendary wrestling career included notable runs in the WWE, as well as World Championship Wrestling, Mid-South Wrestling and other promotions.

The pushback from the Lightning was inevitable, and every Ranger acknowledged it after they built a 2-0 series lead in the Eastern Conference Final, but the team did not look ready for it.

The Rangers allowed the Lightning to waltz right back into the series with back-to-back wins at home, including the 4-1 beating the visitors took in Game 4 Tuesday night at Amalie Arena, to knot this best-of-the-East showdown at two-all heading back to the Garden.

The Rangers had a golden opportunity, and they swung and missed, twice. It may have cost them a trip to the Stanley Cup Final.

The Lightning looked like an entirely different team in the last two games, like the reigning back-to-back champions that they are. The Rangers, on the other hand, didn’t look anything like the squad that outscored Tampa Bay 9-4 through Games 1 and 2.

As the Lightning rediscovered their championship-winning formula, the Rangers fell back into habits that plagued them through the start of the season, when goalie Igor Shesterkin carried them to a respectable record as they worked out the kinks in their game.

It wasn’t a perfect day — Jameson Taillon fell six outs short of that — but it was pretty satisfying.

The Yankees’ long Thursday included a beat-down, a brush with history, dominant starting pitching and some dramatics.

Most importantly, the end result was two wins, 6-1 and 2-1, over the Angels in a split-admission doubleheader in The Bronx as the Yankees (36-15), who have the best record in baseball, swept a three-game series in impressive fashion.

Pinch-hitter Anthony Rizzo’s two-out, two-run single in the eighth inning of Game 2, after the Yankees had gone 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position, made a winner out of Taillon, who pitched seven perfect innings before finally allowing a hit, and then a run, in the eighth.

“I was fired up,” Taillon said. “It just felt like one of those nights where we were going to make it happen.”

The Rangers have done what no other NHL team could do in the last two postseasons.

After feeding the Lightning their first consecutive playoff losses since 2019, the Rangers look like an unstoppable and determined bunch after a 3-2 victory in Game 2 Friday night at Madison Square Garden that has this team believing in itself more than ever.

Mika Zibanejad scored a crucial third-period goal, Igor Shesterkin made 29 saves and now the Rangers will venture to Tampa, Fla., for Games 3 and 4 with a 2-0 series lead in the Eastern Conference Final.

The Rangers are picking apart the defending back-to-back Stanley Cup champions. They are poking holes in a Stanley Cup-winning ship that has stayed afloat for two seasons. There is no rhyme or reason to it — the Rangers are simply outplaying the Lightning in every sense of the word.

“It’s a huge win for us, but we just get ready for the next one,” coach Gerard Gallant said. “It’s in the past behind us. We know what we’re doing, playing a real good team like Tampa Bay. To play the way we’ve played the last two games, that’s the way we’re going to have to play to win this series.”