Gameplan

• WATCH
NBA playoffs
The Nuggets got off a 15-year schneid last month, winning their first playoff series since 1994. Facing the Lakers in the Western Conference finals gives them a chance to end another nasty streak. (Games 2 and 3 are on Thursday and Saturday on ESPN and ABC, respectively.) Denver has never beaten Los Angeles in the postseason; the four losses include sweeps in 2008 and 1987.

• WATCH
NCAA Lacrosse Championships
New blood? Not here. A familiar crowd will gather in Foxborough, Mass. (Saturday's games are on ESPN2; Monday's final is on ESPN.) In one semi, defending champ Syracuse faces Duke, making its fourth final four appearance in five years. In the other, top seed Virginia (seven final four trips in the last 10 years) meets Cornell (two in the last three years).

• ENJOY
Interleague play
Baseball purists still cringe, but 35,587 interleague fans can't all be wrong. That was the average crowd for last year's AL-NL games, the highest attendance since interleague play debuted in 1997 and 2% higher than the 2007 average. One team that won't be happy when the crossover starts on Friday: the Pirates, who have the majors' worst interleague win percentage (.380).

• GET
A whiff of Tony Stewart
Since 2006 the NASCAR driver has raised money for charity by auctioning off towels used to mop his brow after Sprint Cup wins. It's been awhile (he got his first victory in seven months last Saturday), but Stewart fans, start your bidding! Submit an offer—the towels are unwashed and autographed—at oldspice.com. Proceeds go to the Tony Stewart Foundation.

• WATCH
French Open
Dinara Safina is the world's top-ranked women's player, and last weekend she won her second straight tournament on clay, the Madrid Open. That makes her a good bet to win her first Grand Slam title, at the French Open, which begins this Sunday. (Early-round matches are on ESPN2.) Safina, a 23-year-old Russian, lost in the final to Ana Ivanovic last year at Roland Garros.

• WATCH
Indy 500 Of course Danica Patrick will attract attention at the Brickyard. (Will she win! Will she bicker on pit road!) But the better show on Sunday (ABC) could be the IRL's generational showdown. Last year's champ, Scott Dixon, a grizzled 28, will try to beat two descendants of racing royalty. Graham Rahal, 20, son of Bobby; and Marco Andretti, 22, grandson of Mario, start in the top eight.

The Pop Culture Grid
[This article contains a table. Please see hardcopy of magazine or PDF.]