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.
Gooood morning, Winners! Thanks so much for rocking with TMW today. We appreciate you giving us a bit of your time today.
Folks, I am here on behalf of Rudy Gobert today. Can we cut the guy some slack? Everybody is trying to take away his Defensive Player of the Year award after Tuesday night’s Game 5 against Nikola Jokic.
Draymond Green is leading the charge. The reason he doesn’t believe we’ll see a Game 7 in this series is because Rudy Gobert can’t get a stop.
"The big Frenchman is sitting on that podium speaking his native language. We, we, we need to do this. You, you, you need to get a stop… It's you, my man, that is getting cooked [by Nikola Jokic]."
Draymond Green sounded OFF on Rudy Gobert 👀
pic.twitter.com/S96Zd862NA— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) May 15, 2024
“The big Frenchman is sitting on that podium speaking his native language. We, we, we need to do this. You, you, you need to get a stop,” Green said. “It’s you, my man, that is getting cooked. So, it’s no we.”
That’s harsh. But it’s also fair! Gobert was getting cooked. When Gobert was the primary defender on Jokic in Game 5, he scored 18 points on 8-9 shooting from the field. That’s bad. Really bad.
But listen, man. Let me tell y’all something. Nobody was stopping Nikola Jokic last night. Not a soul. You could’ve surrounded the basket with a literal brick wall and I’m convinced that a couple of those Dream Shakes Jokic got off would’ve made it come crumbling down Big Bad Wolf style. That’s not how that story goes, but you get the point. There’s nothing anyone could’ve done.
READ MORE: The Nuggets shouldn’t be counted out against the Timberwolves
These are the moments that make great players as great as they are. Jokic took that game in his hands from the jump and would not let it go. That doesn’t mean Gobert is ineffective or not deserving of the DPOY.
All it really means it that we’re watching the best player in the league play basketball. This is what that looks like. Enjoy it.
Unless you’re a Wolves fan, of course. Then, well, good luck in Game 6.
The Bruins survive
After the Panthers took a commanding 3-1 lead against Boston with Sam Bennett’s antics behind them, it felt like the Bruins might be cooked.
Now, a few days later, this series has a chance to go the distance.
RELATED: I still can’t believe this wasn’t goal interference
The Bruins won a tough one on the road against the Panthers in Game 5, staving off elimination with a 2-1 win. Jeremy Swayman has made a ton of important saves in this one, but none bigger than this one here.
Jeremy Swayman saves the season pic.twitter.com/p7nEeQ6vgW
— Evan Marinofsky (@EvanMarinofsky) May 15, 2024
That’s one final save to prevent OT and keep the Bruin’s season alive. Now, Boston will get a Game 6 at home. This is getting good.
Maybe Diana Taurasi was right
Diana Taurasi warned us about Caitlin Clark and other rookies’ struggles coming into the league. That was on full display through Clark on Tuesday.
Clark struggled from the field in her debut with the Fever on Tuesday. She shot a paltry 5-for-15 from the floor while shooting 4-for-11 from deep to score 20 points. She also had the most turnovers (10) in a WNBA debut. Her first game wasn’t great.
Don’t worry about it, though. Our Meghan Hall says everything will be alright. Here’s why:
“The WNBA is full of elite defenders and scorers that Caitlin hasn’t seen yet. The Fever and Caitlin looked out of sorts because the core is really young. Also, the Sun are highly underrated and seemingly didn’t have any drop-off Tuesday from their 2023 top-three ranked defense.”
That was a tough first crack at things for Clark. The game seems a bit fast for her right now. She’ll catch up eventually.
In the meantime, though, don’t trip over a few bumps in the road. That goes for the rest of the rookies, too.
Quick hits: NFL on Netflix … Get Harrison Butker out of here … and more
— The NFL is officially coming to Netflix. Fans hate it. Streaming and sports, folks. It’s the future, I guess.
— Charles Curtis is calling for the Chiefs to do something about Harrison Butker’s hateful comments here. Let’s hope they do it.
— Y’all see these championship rings for the Aces? SHEESH. Meg Hall has more.
— Bronny James is kind of downplaying wanting to play with his dad. He just wants to be an NBA player. Bryan Kalbrosky has more.
— Caitlin Clark’s scoring prop drew more bets than any other debut in the WNBA or NBA. Prince Grimes has more.
— Here’s Charles’ running list of everything we know about the NFL schedule so far again. Stay tapped in on this one.
That’s a wrap, folks. Let’s do this again tomorrow. Until then! Peace.
-Sykes ✌️