HORSE RACING
Kentucky Derby runner-up
Epicenter, starting in
the No. 8 spot, is the
6-5 Preakness favorite. D10BASEBALL
Justin Verlander, at 39 and
nearly two years removed
from Tommy John surgery,
looks as good as new. D3
KLMNO
SPORTS
TUESDAY, MAY 17 , 2022. WASHINGTONPOST.COM/SPORTS M2 D
Nationals at Marlins
Today, 6:40 p.m., MASN2When the season
finale of
controversial
HBO series
“Winning Time”
aired last week, it
garnered more
than 1.6 million
viewers across all
platforms. Jerry West probably
wasn’t one of them. But it
wouldn’t be a reach to believe the
NBA legend’s criticism of his
portrayal in the show — as a
tempestuous and profane
malcontent who vacillates
between anger and despair —
helped boost ratings.
Count me as one of the
curious. I tuned in for all 10
episodes. As a snobby sports fan,
at times I was hate-watching just
to nitpick the show for taking
creative license as it retold an
already dramatic story laid out in
Jeff Pearlman’s book “Showtime.”
How convenient it is in Episode 5
that a baby Kobe Bryant just
happens to be in the stands when
his dad’s team plays the Los
Angeles Lakers in Magic
Johnson’s rookie debut. And,
sure, let’s suspend disbelief as the
1979-80 Lakers took that make-
or-break Christmas road trip to
SEE BUCKNER ON D2
I n ‘Winning
Time,’ soul of
the underdog
shines through
Candace
Buckner
There are many
ways to look at the
Phil Mickelson
debacle. You can
say he’s getting
what he deserves,
being so
ostracized that he
can’t even bring
himself to show up at the PGA
Championship a year after his
miracle victory in the event.
You can say the huge gambling
debts he ran up, according to Alan
Shipnuck’s new book, “Phil: The
Rip-Roaring (and Unauthorized)
Biography of Golf’s Most Colorful
Superstar,” are a result of his
arrogance and lack of discipline.
You can say all of this has
happened — including his
throwing in with an upstart golf
circuit funded by Saudi Arabia —
because he has always believed
he’s the smartest guy in the room.
SEE FEINSTEIN ON D5
Mickelson’s
self-inflicted
collapse keeps
getting sadder
John
Feinstein
BY BEN GOLLIVERDallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic
has many skills, but concealing his emo-
tions isn’t one of them.
The Slovenian sensation can be angsty
with officials, touchy when tested by
opponents and gleeful after drilling a big
shot. In good moments and bad, look
elsewhere for a poker face. In the best
moment of Doncic’s young NBA career, he
was all dimples and teeth.
“You can’t get this smile off my face
right now,” he said.
There were plenty of reasons for joy
following Dallas’s 123-90 Game 7 victory
over the Phoenix Suns on Sunday night, a
stunning blowout that eliminated the
reigning Western Conference champions
on their home court. For the Mavericks,the wire-to-wire victory completed a re-
markable comeback from a 2-0 deficit in
this second-round series and delivered
their first Western Conference finals ap-
pearance since their 2011 title season.
Doncic and the Mavericks will face Ste-
phen Curry’s Golden State Warriors in
Game 1 on Wednesday in San Francisco.
Doncic scored Dallas’s first eight points
and never looked back, needing just 30
minutes to pour in a game-high 35 points.
After picking apart Dallas’s defense earli-
er in the series, Phoenix guards Chris Paul
and Devin Booker combined to shoot 0 for
11 in a dreadful first half. Remarkably,
Doncic had 27 points at halftime, match-
ing Phoenix’s team total. It only got uglier
from there: Dallas built a 46-point lead in
the final period, and Phoenix center Dean-
dre Ayton played less than four minutes inthe second half following an exchange
with Coach Monty Williams.
“It was a good old-fashioned a-- whoop-
ing, beginning to end,” said Booker, who
had several tense interactions with Don-
cic during the series. “As a team, we have
to own it.”
Paul vowed that Phoenix would be back
next season — “I’m not retiring tomor-
row,” he said — but the thoroughness and
force of Dallas’s victory turned the series’
prevailing narrative upside down. Instead
of wondering whether the 37-year-old
Paul would finally be able to get a ring, the
talk turns to the 23-year-old Doncic’s first
title chase.
The whiplash is real. Don’t forget:
Dallas was under .500 and in the West’s
eighth seed on Jan. 1. On Feb. 10, the
SEE DONCIC ON D2Cold-blooded chillerDoncic’s Game 7 masterpiece vs. top-seeded Suns puts Mavericks star in rarefied airBY LIZ CLARKEThe NCAA gave notice recent-
ly that penalties could be coming
for universities whose boosters
use endorsement deals to coax
recruits or transfers to enroll
amid the evolving rules of ama-
teurism in college sports.
One high-profile booster who’s
not worried about the enforce-
ment staff’s scrutiny is Miami
graduate John H. Ruiz, a billion-
aire entrepreneur and lawyer
who has pledged to spend at least
$10 million on athletes he be-
lieves can help promote his busi-
nesses.
Roughly 10 months after the
NCAA allowed college athletes to
profit from their name, image
and likeness largely in response
to a Supreme Court ruling, Ruiz
says he is more than halfway to
his goal, having signed or
reached the final stage of con-
tracts with more than 100 ath-
letes — most of whom play
football, baseball or basketball
for the Hurricanes.
LifeWallet, his company that
deals with medical records, ac-
counts for roughly $5 million in
NIL deals, Ruiz said in a recent
telephone interview, while his
niche company, Cigarette Rac-
ing, accounts for $300,000 to
$400,000.
Ruiz, who was characterized
as “the Knight in Shining Armor
for Hurricanes fans” in a recent
Miami Herald profile, insists
that the work the athletes do in
exchange for their compensa-
tion, which generally consists of
filming commercials or promot-
ing the brands on social media,
has generated a significant re-
turn for his companies.
Yet he also believes the still-
evolving NIL landscape is rid-
dled with unfairness, putting
universities in states with re-
strictive rules at a competitive
disadvantage to those in states
with no rules while leaving stu-
dents and their families vulner-
able to exploitation, given the
fact that few are experienced in
SEE NCAA ON D6Miami’s billionaire booster
defends big-dollar NIL deals
BY JESSE DOUGHERTYmiami — Aaron Sanchez’s final
pitching line against the Miami
Marlins — 3^2 / 3 innings, eight hits,
four earned runs, three walks —
gave a sound description of the
right-hander’s outing Monday
night for the Washington Nation-
als. So, too, did a pair of second-
inning sinkers at LoanDepot
Park.
The first, thrown in a 1-2 count
to Garrett Cooper, ran back over
the plate and clipped the high and
outside corner for strike three.
The second, thrown in a 1-2 count
to Avisaíl García, instead leaked
over the plate and was bashed for
a solo homer. Both batters are
right-handed. Based on where
Keibert Ruiz set up his glove, the
pitches were intended for similar
spots.
Before missing against García,
Sanchez had set down the first
four batters he faced. After the
misplaced pitch, the Marlins
reached him for a walk, a double,
a two-run single, a double and an
RBI single. That accounted for the
bulk of Miami’s scoring in an 8-2
SEE NATIONALS ON D3Nats stymied by an ace — and their own sloppinessMARLINS 8,
NATIONALS 2LYNNE SLADKY/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Starter Aaron Sanchez lasted just 3^2 / 3 innings, giving up eight hits, four earned runs and three walks.MATT YORK/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Luka Doncic got to spend plenty of time on the bench with a smile on his face as the Mavericks pounded the Suns and advanced with a 123-90 victory Sunday night.PGA Championship
Southern Hills Country Club, Tulsa
Thursday to Sunday, ESPN and CBS
Western Conference finals, Game 1: Mavericks at Warriors | Tomorrow, 9 p.m., TNT