A brawl in the NBA, plus early Olympic highlights |

10/02/2026 13:15 - The Pulse Newsletter 📣 | This is The Athletic’s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox. Good morning! I have no comment on the king cake baby discussion roiling the food world. Inside this email: 🥊 NBA fight 🏅 More Olympic drama 🎾 What shape is a ball? We must start this morning in Charlotte, where we saw a full NBA skirmish last night. It came in a gritty 110-104 Pistons win over the streaking Hornets, sparked by a hard foul by Charlotte forward Moussa Diabaté on Pistons center Jalen Duren. Here’s the feistiest moment from...