🏀 The odds of Maxey’s miracle | Morning Newsletter
And City Ave.’s suburban shift
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The Morning Newsletter
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Happy Thursday. Expect sun and temps in the high 80s (yes, again).
The Sixers earned their right to play Game 6 tonight thanks in large part to one player. Even the most casual of fans can find something to cheer in our top story about Tyrese Maxey’s odds-defying last-minute baskets in Tuesday’s playoff game.
And the suburban side of City Avenue is set to triple its apartment count, transforming the office and retail hub. Planners are trying to make it more amenable to residents who want to rely less on their cars.
Here’s what you need to know today.
— Julie Zeglen (morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
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Whether you follow the Sixers religiously, call yourself a fair-weather fan, or wish they would get this series over with so we can all get on with our lives — you’ve gotta admit, they’re giving us some great playoff storylines.
The most prominent right now: The Sixers were really not supposed to get this far in the first round. But in the final moments of Tuesday night’s would-be elimination game against the New York Knicks, guard Tyrese Maxey beat improbable odds by scoring seven points in 17 seconds, tying it up at the buzzer and ultimately pulling out a 112-106 win in overtime.
How improbable? With 28 seconds of regulation to go, the Sixers had a 0.7% chance of winning. Check out The Inquirer’s quick, interactive breakdown of the win that almost wasn’t.
And as we await Game 6 at the Wells Fargo Center tonight, catch up on these also-fun stories:
🗣️ Sixers owners are partnering with Fanatics’ Michael Rubin to distribute 2,000 tickets for Philly fans to attend, after Knicks fans overran our last home game.
🐔 The team is extending “Bricken 4 Chicken” to the full game for the rest of the playoff run, since the enthusiasm the free chicken promo sparked in the Sixers’ play-in game jolted them to a win.
🏆 The NBA’s Most Improved Player just keeps getting better and better. Columnist David Murphy connects Maxey’s end-of-game run to a ‘90s legend.
Think City Avenue, and you might imagine traffic, office towers, and strip malls. Great, if you love sitting in your car.
But those in charge of planning along the border between Philadelphia and Lower Merion Township are working to boost “walkability and connectivity” as the suburban stretch sees more residential development. More than 2,500 housing units have been recently built or are in the works.
“We’re looking at promoting the principles of new urbanism and encouraging a more mixed-use environment,” Lower Merion’s senior planner told The Inquirer.
Where does retail fit into these plans for change? What other amenities are on the way? Who is choosing to live along City Avenue? Commercial real estate reporter Jake Blumgart explains.
What you should know today
As the pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Pennsylvania stretched into its seventh day, it became something of a cat-and-mouse game between protesters and administrators.
The city may change how it contracts with nonprofits following intense scrutiny of overspending in the Office of Homeless Services.
City workers and addiction service providers are working to open a specialized center in Fairmount where people living on the street can seek services. The move comes days before authorities plan to clear a homeless encampment in Kensington.
Police identified a small child’s body found in a duffel bag in West Philadelphia as 4-year-old Damari Carter, who they say was beaten to death by his mother and her boyfriend late last year.
Federal authorities said a Montco woman defrauded federal disaster authorities out of more than $1.5 million designated for aiding victims of Hurricane Ida’s 2021 path through the region.
On the heels of connecting Philly to its first big solar array, officials are looking to plug into an even larger renewable energy source within the next few years to help power the city’s 600 municipally owned buildings.
A legal fight against the manufacturers of Ozempic, Mounjaro, and other diabetes and weight-loss drugs will take place in a Philly courtroom.
What’s it like to come home from prison? Reentry simulations let people experience it firsthand.
🧠 Trivia time
A new master’s program at Philadelphia’s only Ivy League school aims to prep students for “jobs that we can’t yet imagine.” What is the program’s focus?
A) Robotics
B) Biocomputing
C) Artificial intelligence
D) Economics
Think you know? Check your answer.
What we're...
🍝 Reserving: Dinner at Vetri to celebrate the restaurant’s 25th anniversary.
💃 Partying with: Philly’s reggaeton party for women, Jefatona.
🍂 Crossing (soon): Two 200-year-old Wissahickon Creek bridges that will be reconstructed with federal funding.
🧩 Unscramble the anagram
Student loans will be canceled for those who attended this system of now-closed for-profit colleges that were the center of fraud allegations. Philadelphia’s campus closed in 2018.
Hint: 🎨 🏫 (Psst, both words of the answer are plural!)
RUSTIEST TITANS
Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here. Cheers to Charlene Wiltshire, who solved Wednesday’s anagram: Broad Street Run. Philly’s annual 10-mile race — the largest in the country — returns May 5.
Photo of the day
Ashley is filling in tomorrow, but I’ll be back in your inbox on Sunday. ‘Til then, Philly.
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