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    • The Liberty haven’t completely ruined the WNBA Finals yet
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    The Liberty haven’t completely ruined the WNBA Finals yet

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    This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or refer this to you? If so, please subscribe here. Do you have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns via this short reader survey! This is Mike Sykes.

    Good morning, winners! Happy Friday. Welcome back to morning earnings. Thank you for joining us today. We appreciate it.

    How was that last night at the opening game of the WNBA Finals, huh?

    This game had everything, man. The Lynx came back from a double-digit deficit twice and probably should have won under the rules, if not for some banter from the referees at the end of the match.

    The Liberty blew an 11-point lead with about 3:23 left on the game clock. Before that, they rallied from 18 points down in the first half after it felt like New York simply couldn’t miss. This wasn’t a game Minnesota should have won. Yet they found a way.

    That was Napheesa Collier, who rightfully gave us one of the best defensive performances we’ve ever seen on a basketball court. She finished with 21 points, eight rebounds, three steals and six blocks, including this one that she somehow pulled back (????).

    If you’re a Lynx fan, you have to have absolute faith in your team. Minnesota just stole a game, and there was no point in winning. New York played great basketball early on and Minnesota still found ways to disrupt the Liberty.

    But if you’re a Liberty fan, it’s way too early to panic. Honestly, you probably shouldn’t sweat this game at all.

    OK. Certainly. It is a painful loss. No one wants to see their favorite team go out like that. From a player’s perspective, no team wants to come 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 made nearly 20 more shots than the Lynx, with 90 total field goal attempts to Minnesota’s 71. Usually the possessions are tilted like this, the game is quite lopsided. 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 that game multiple times. Breanna Stewart smokes a free throw at the end of regulation. She also misses a layup in overtime that would have thrown things into disarray. 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. The Lynx’s 18-point comeback tied the largest in the WNBA Finals, previously achieved by none other than the New York Liberty in 1999, according to Across The Timeline.

    Guess what? The Liberty lost that series 2-1 to the Houston Comets. It’s not over until it’s over, folks. We still have at least two games to go.

    Duke pulls a caper

    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 already finished Cooper Flagg. Now he has the Boozer twins. Duke might be back, folks.

    Bryan Kalbrosky has more here:

    “This is a big win for Duke head basketball coach Jon Scheyer, who has officially secured a commitment from one of the top recruits in the country for the second year in a row. Cameron Boozer is currently the No. 2 player in the class of 2025 and his brother Cayden is No. 21 in the class.

    It’s not exactly shocking that the twin brothers attend the same school as their father, Carlos Boozer, who won an NCAA title at the university in 2001. But for Scheyer it does have a big impact.

    Furthermore, it was reportedly not a certainty that these incredible basketball players would attend Duke. So for the program to land them above both Miami and Florida was a big win in a post-coach Mike Krzyzewski era.”

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

    Scheyer restoring the feeling is pretty cool. Duke will soon have a lot of haters again.

    Counting 0-2 is nothing for David Fry

    Give David Fry a 0-2 count and he’ll give you a crucial play-off win. That’s how it should be, right?

    The Guardians’ catcher absolutely thrives in the worst situation in baseball: being a hitter facing the ultimate pitcher position. Yahoo Sports’ Jordan Schusterman on Fry’s success despite setbacks:

    Despite the overwhelming statistical evidence that success at the plate after entering the ultimate pitcher count is an enormous rarity, Fry thrived in such situations. MLB teams combined to hit .163/.197/.252 after going 0-2 had fallen in the regular season, meanwhile, Fry was hitting .265/.307/.530 ​​​​in such situations, good for an .837 OPS, which was the best mark in baseball.

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

    Photo Friday: Aryna Sabalenka in her element

    Aryna Sabalenka serves here against Madison Keys at the China Open in Beijing. The shadow alone in this photo makes it photo of the week worthy. Incredible shot.

    Quick hits: Big WNBA changes…Dirty work from Kendrick Perkins…and more

    — Meg Hall has more on the big 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 week 6 bets in the NFL.

    — Here’s Cory Woodroof on Geno Smith’s frustration after an interception against the 49ers. This looks like it hurts.

    – Arthur Smith seemingly takes a dig at Russell Wilson while praising Justin Fields here. Robert Zeglinski has more.

    — And this is where ESPN’s College GameDay will take place this Saturday, from Charles Curtis.

    -Sykes ✌️

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