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The Liberty haven't completely failed in the WNBA Finals…yet

Posted on by Kennedy
The Liberty haven't completely failed in the WNBA Finals…yet

This is For The Win's daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If yes, subscribe here. Do you have any feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns in this short reader survey! This is Mike Sykes.

Good morning, winners! Happy Friday. Welcome back to Morning Win. Thanks for rocking with us today. We appreciate it.

How was the opening game of the WNBA Finals last night?

This game had everything, man. The Lynx recovered from a double-digit decline twice and probably should have won in regulation time if the officials hadn't committed some shenanigans at the end of the game.

The Liberty blew an 11-point lead with about 3:23 left in the game. Previously, they rallied from an 18-point first-half deficit after it felt like New York just couldn't miss. This was not a game Minnesota should win. Nevertheless, they found a way.

In this way, it was Napheesa Collier who rightly gave us one of the best defensive performances we have ever seen on a basketball court. She finished the game with 21 points, eight rebounds, three steals and six blocks, including this block that she somehow executed backwards (????).

If you are a Lynx fan, you should definitely have faith in your team. Minnesota just stole a game, and it had nothing to do with winning. New York played an incredible amount of basketball early on and Minnesota still found ways to disrupt the Liberty.

But if you're a Liberty fan, it's far too early to panic. Honestly, you probably shouldn't worry about this game at all.

OK. Secure. It's an embarrassing loss. Nobody wants their favorite team to end up like this. From a player perspective, no team wants to go out like that. But if you play this game the same way, you'll probably win it nine times out of ten.

The Liberty punished the Lynx on the glass with 20 offensive rebounds. Because of those offensive rebounds, the Liberty took nearly 20 more shots than the Lynx, with a total of 90 field goal attempts to Minnesota's 71. Normally the possessions are tilted that way, the game is pretty one-sided. New York just missed a lot of opportunities. The Liberty shot 37.8 percent from the field.

Think about it. New York could have ended this game several times. Breanna Stewart smokes a free throw at the end of regulation time. She also missed a layup in overtime that would have screwed things up. There were so many opportunities for the game to go the other way. Take a few shots here, make a few stops there, and we're talking a different ball game.

An embarrassing L like this doesn't mean the series is over. We've seen this before. According to Across The Timeline, the Lynx's 18-point comeback was the largest comeback in the WNBA Finals, previously achieved by none other than the New York Liberty in 1999.

Guess what? The Liberty lost that series 1-2 to the Houston Comets. It ain't over 'til it's over, folks. We still have at least two games left.

Duke pulls a prank

All of you. Are we sure Coach K isn't still on that bench? Jon Scheyer is currently cooking.

The Blue Devils coach is deep in his recruiting bag. He's already done it with Cooper Flagg. Now he has the Boozer twins. Duke could be back, folks.

Bryan Kalbrosky has more here:

“This is a huge victory for Duke men's head basketball coach Jon Scheyer, who for the second straight year has officially received the commitment of one of the top recruits in the country. Cameron Boozer is currently the No. 2 player in this class of 2025 and his brother Cayden is No. 21 in the class.

It's not exactly shocking that the twin brothers will attend the same school as their father, Carlos Boozer, who won an NCAA title at the university in 2001. For Scheyer, however, it has a big impact.

Plus, it was reportedly not a given that these incredible basketball players would transfer to Duke. So it was a big win in the post-coach Mike Krzyzewski era that the program took them over both Miami and Florida.

It's been a while since Duke has had consecutive recruiting victories like this. You'd have to go back to the 2018 class with Zion Williamson and RJ Barrett, which was somehow six years ago, folks.

The fact that Scheyer is recreating the feeling is pretty cool. Duke is going to have a lot of haters again soon.

0-2 counts are nothing for David Fry

If David Fry makes the score 0-2, he will give you a crucial playoff win. That's how it's supposed to work, right?

The Guardians catcher absolutely thrives in the worst situation in baseball: as a hitter facing the count of the ultimate pitcher. Jordan Schusterman of Yahoo Sports on Fry's success despite adversity:

“Despite the overwhelming statistical evidence that success at the plate after stumbling onto the ultimate pitching roster is an enormous rarity, Fry has thrived in such situations. MLB teams combined to hit .163/.197/.252 after falling behind 0-2.” Meanwhile, in the regular season, Fry hit .265/.307/.530 ​​in such situations, for an OPS of .837 was the best grade in baseball.”

That 0-2 count is exactly what he saw before he worked the count back to 2-2 and then hurls this moonshot into the stands to give Cleveland a decisive lead in Game 4.

Photo Friday: Aryna Sabalenka in her element

Aryna Sabalenka tees off against Madison Keys here at the China Open in Beijing. The shading in this photo alone makes it the photo of the week. Incredible shot.

Quick Hits: Big WNBA changes…Nasty work from Kendrick Perkins…and more

– Meg Hall reports on the major changes coming to the WNBA next year, including a seven-game WNBA Finals.

– Kendrick Perkins and his new company exploit high school and college athletes with NIL rights.

– Here's Christian D'Andrea with the best bets for Week 6 in the NFL.

— Here's Cory Woodroof on Geno Smith's frustration after he threw an interception against the 49ers. That looks like it hurt.

– Arthur Smith appears to attack Russell Wilson while praising Justin Fields here. Robert Zeglinski has more.

– And here is ESPN’s College GameDay this Saturday, by Charles Curtis.

-Sykes ✌️

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