The Liberty haven't completely blown 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 so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.

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

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

This game had everything, man. The Lynx came back from being down double-digits twice and probably should’ve won in regulation if not for some shenanigans by the officials at the end of the game.

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 just couldn’t miss. This was not a game Minnesota was supposed to win. Yet, still, they found a way.

That way was Napheesa Collier, who legitimately gave us one of the greatest defensive performances we’ve ever seen on a basketball court. She finished with 21 points, eight rebounds, three steals, and six blocks, which includes this one she somehow did backward (????).

If you’re a Lynx fan, you should absolutely be confident in your squad. Minnesota just stole a game, and it had no business winning. New York played some incredible basketball to start 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 be sweating this game at all.

OK. Sure. It’s an embarrassing loss. Nobody wants to see their favorite team go out like this. From the player’s perspective, no team wants to go out like this. But if you play this game the same way, you’re probably winning it nine times out of 10.

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 90 total field goal attempts to Minnesota’s 71. Usually, the possessions are tilted like that, the game is pretty lopsided. New York just missed a ton of opportunities. The Liberty shot 37.8 percent from the field.

Think about it. New York could’ve 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’ve knotted things up. There were so many opportunities for the game to go the other way. Make a couple of shots here, get a few stops there, and we’re talking about a different ball game.

An embarrassing L like this one doesn’t mean the series is over. We’ve seen this before. The Lynx’s 18-point comeback tied for the largest in the WNBA Finals, previously pulled off by none other than the New York Liberty in 1999, per Across The Timeline.

Guess what? The Liberty lost that series, 2-1, to the Houston Comets. It ain’t over til it’s over, folks. We’ve still got at least two more games to go.

---

Duke pulls off a caper

Y’all. Are we sure Coach K isn’t still sitting on that bench? Jon Scheyer is cooking right now.

The Blue Devils’ coach is deep in his recruiting bag. He already pulled off Cooper Flagg. Now, he’s got the Boozer twins. Duke might be back, folks.

Bryan Kalbrosky has more here:

“This is a major win for Duke men’s head basketball coach Jon Scheyer, who officially landed a commitment from one of the top recruits in the nation 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 is 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. But it is majorly impactful for Scheyer.

Plus, it was reportedly not a lock that these incredible basketball players would go to Duke. So for the program to land them both over Miami and Florida was a major win in an era post coach Mike Krzyzewski.”

It’s been a while since Duke had consecutive recruiting wins 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.

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

---

0-2 counts are nothing to David Fry

Give David Fry an 0-2 count and he’ll give you a crucial playoff win. That’s how that’s supposed to go, right?

The Guardians’ catcher absolutely thrives in the worst situation in baseball: Being a batter facing the ultimate pitcher’s count. Yahoo Sports’ Jordan Schusterman on Fry’s success in the face of adversity:

“Despite the overwhelming statistical evidence that success at the plate after stumbling into the ultimate pitcher’s count is a tremendous rarity, Fry has thrived in such situations. MLB teams combined to hit .163/.197/.252 after falling down 0-2 in the regular season. Fry, meanwhile, hit .265/.307/.530 in such situations, good for an .837 OPS that 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 belting this moonshot into the stands to give Cleveland a decisive lead in Game 4.

Thursday? Fry Day.#ForTheLand | #GuardsBall pic.twitter.com/FuK5rqZi7S

— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) October 11, 2024

Making the impossible look easy is a gift. Fry and the Guardians have that going for them. On to Game 5 for all the marbles.

---

Photo Friday: Aryna Sabalenka at the China Open

Aryna Sabalenka is serving against Madison Keys here at the China Open in Beijing. The shading in this photo alone makes it photo of the week worthy. Incredible.

---

Quick hits: Major WNBA changes … Nasty work from Kendrick Perkins … and more

— Meg Hall has more on the major changes coming to the WNBA next year, including a 7 game WNBA Finals.

— Kendrick Perkins and his new company are exploiting 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 throwing an interception against the 49ers. This looks like it hurt.

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

— And here’s where ESPN’s College GameDay will be this Saturday, from Charles Curtis.

-Sykes