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. Thanks so much for reading the Morning Win today. Did y’all watch that Bucks game last night?
Man. I have a question for every team in the league right now — especially the Miami Heat.
How in the world did y’all let this happen?
Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo are about to set the NBA on fire. This is so clearly the best team in the East and it only took one game for us to find out. Yeah, some kinks need to be worked out against the 76ers, sure. But this is a team that’s going to win, like, 60 games off of their stars doing what works best for them.
Those two combined for 64 points on 42 shots in their first game together without a lick of chemistry at this point. What’s scary is that Dame time was still Dame time. Lillard scored 14 straight points (!!!!!!!) for the Bucks in the final four minutes of the game. He completely took over in crunch time to finish with 39 points — the most ever for a Bucks player’s debut game with the team.
But Giannis is the team’s star, right? Certainly, he’ll want the crunch time shots at some point. Right? Maybe not. The dude just doesn’t seem to care.
Lillard told reporters that this is what Giannis wanted him to do all along.
Damian Lillard had the ball in his hands down the stretch tonight, scoring 14 straight points in the final four minutes.
He told us about conversations he's had with Giannis regarding closing games out, including Antetokounmpo giving him the keys late in the action tonight. pic.twitter.com/e0Bvxuunzx
— Gabe Stoltz (@Stoltzy3) October 27, 2023
“They inbounded it to Giannis and I was just kind of reading him like, ‘What do you wanna do?’ And he was like ‘Come get the ball.’ So I kind of ran to half court and I let him bring it up and he brought it to me. You know, he wanted me to make that final decision. For a player of his level to respect me in that way, it means a lot to me but I think it just shows that his No. 1 priority is to be the best that we can be and win games”
That right there? That’s the scariest part. Antetokounmpo is empowering Lillard to take over in this way. There was no prying of teeth here. Egos didn’t need massaging. Antetokounmpo was just like “go cook” and Lillard responded affirmatively.
Look, man. I don’t know how this happened. But a whole lot of teams are going to regret this.
Yes, Miami. I’m looking at you.
Meanwhile, in Philadelphia…
The 76ers find themselves in a precarious situation that isn’t going away anytime soon.
Team security didn’t allow James Harden to travel with the Sixers to Milwaukee on Thursday so he couldn’t play in the team’s season opener.
I’m not chiding the 76ers for that decision. Harden skipped out on the entire preseason and on practicing with the team over the last week or so — you can’t let him play after that. At the very least, he’s probably not in shape for it at this point.
But if this becomes a long-term thing, what do you do if you’re Philadelphia? The 76ers competed well with Milwaukee. It’s clear that if Philly gets the right trade package for James Harden, it’s still one of the best teams in the East. But, at the same time, it could take a while for that to develop. It’s something that might not ever develop.
Daryl Morey is willing to wait, though, if his liked tweets are any indication.
Buckle in, Sixers fans. Looks like you’re in for another bumpy, drama-filled season.
RELATED: The 76ers are full of distractions and dampened expectations — again
A little excitement please, Al?
Al Michaels is a legend. We already know. But can we be honest? His calls need some seasoning right now. A little excitement would be great. Can we get some flavor, Al? Please?
My colleague, Charles Curtis, wrote about his bland calls this morning. It’s bad.
“Before we go on, let’s say this: Michaels is a legend, a first-ballot Hall of Fame play-by-play voice who has decades of amazing calls under his belt and has been there for some of sports’ biggest moments (also, dude has never eaten a vegetable, which is wild).
But the complaints about his low energy continue to dog him this year during Thursday NFL games, and there are definitely examples of some calls that are less than exciting. What gives? Who knows?”
I hate to say this, but it might be time. Al has been in the booth for decades. Maybe he’s just tired of this? He could just not be feeling it anymore. And that’d be fine — I’d get it!
But if that’s the case, it’s time to let somebody else sit in that seat.
Photo Friday: The LeBron Leap
Normally, I hate it when people constantly barrage us with LeBron James’ age. We know he’s older. We know he’s great. We don’t need to be constantly reminded.
Until he does something like this. LOOK AT THIS PICTURE, Y’ALL.
My guy is getting UP. He could probably give Victor Wembanyama a high-five right there. The dude is ridiculous. Here’s Bryan Kalbrosky with more.
“What in the world are we looking at right now?!?! It seems fake, like so many things LeBron has accomplished, but it is 100 percent real.
If he still has this much spring and bounce in his game this later in his career, who knows: Maybe he will have the longevity to play alongside his two sons, Bronny and Bryce, in the NBA after all.”
Maybe, BK. Maybe.
Quick hits: Somebody get our Dolly Parton cover list to Dolly … Shirtless Ryan Fitzpatrick … and more
— The staff came up with 10 songs Dolly Parton should do covers of. They’re all completely ridiculous. Don’t look at my suggestion.
— Ryan Fitzpatrick is flexing shirtless on camera for Bills fans. Yes, you read that correctly. Here’s Charles with more.
— Robert Zeglinski has five teams that should go to the fire sale route for the NFL’s trade deadline and five teams that should go all in. Broncos fans, I’m sorry.
— We’ve got a Slappy sighting! Tortsy, be careful! Cory Woodruff has more
— Adam Schefter knew about Jalen Ramsey’s return before Jalen Ramsey did. Sounds messed up, right? Robert Zeglinski has deets.
— Charles Curtis has you covered on the College GameDay travel schedule for Week 9. Happy almost Saturday, folks!
Thanks so much for reading today. We appreciate you. Have a fantastic weekend. Let’s do this all again next week. We out.
-Sykes ✌️