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.
Gooooood morning, Winners! Hope you’re having a fantastic week so far. How many times have you asked yourself what day it is this week? I’ve done it no less than 15 times and it’s only — wait, what day is it? … Wednesday! … 16 times.
Anyway, the Detroit Pistons lost. Again.
That’s not surprising. But look on the bright side! At least this time the Pistons came close to a win! The team played the Nets close at home for most of the game and even took a small lead in the fourth quarter.
On the not-so-bright-side, Cade Cunningham had to play the entire second half for the Pistons to get to that point. And, boy, was he brilliant. He scored 41 points in the game — 37 of them came in the second half. It still wasn’t enough to carry the Pistons to a win.
There were some inexplicable coaching decisions made down the stretch. Ausaur Thompson only played nine (!!!) minutes all game. Alec Burks — who was a team-worse -25 — played 26 minutes, including the moment where he shot an inexplicable 3-pointer down the stretch.
That’s been the thing all season with this team. Cunningham will turn lemons into lemonade with the team’s starters and have the game in a manageable space. Then Monty Williams will play a bench unit that just completely folds. It’s like carefully building a house of cards and then trying to add a brick to the top of it. It just doesn’t make sense.
That’s what’s led to this historic losing streak from the Pistons — the longest streak in NBA history for a single season. I have to apologize. I thought the Pistons were going to be able to steal this one. We were close. It just wasn’t meant to be.
There’s good news. Pistons fans aren’t tapped out. That building is still full on its worst nights.
The crowd for a team that has 26 straight losses. This city loves the Pistons, man. pic.twitter.com/pVbwLUj7CI
— James L. Edwards III (@JLEdwardsIII) December 27, 2023
That’s good to see, man. Those fans deserve to watch a winner again. Hopefully, they’ll get one soon. Or, at least, maybe Tom Gores will sell the team, per their request.
NEXT CHANCE: The Pistons will face the Raptors at home on Dec. 30. That’s probably the next best chance to win.
Lane Kiffin is a hypocrite
Listen. I know nobody likes to work during the holidays. But when you’re paid the big bucks, sometimes that’s what you have to do.
Someone should tell that to Lane Kiffin, who complained about the transfer portal impacting his team’s preparation for the Peach Bowl this weekend.
The thinking is that Kiffin and his staff have to work players in the transfer portal to coax them into their program and keep his own players from leaving. He has to do all that while also preparing for a bowl game. Kiffin is annoyed by that. He called it a “terrible system” and compared it to free agency in professional sports as if he’s dealing with professionals.
Maybe that’s fair. That is a doing a lot. But, hey, man. The game is the game. Plus, it seems to have worked out well for Kiffin. Our Meghan Hall has more on that here.
That colossal signing didn’t stop Kiffin from quietly (and rather calmly) slamming the system during a Tuesday media session where Max Ralph of All Penn State on Fan Nation asked him about the timing of schedules in December.
Honestly, man, if I had a dime for every time a coach complained about the transfer portal I’d be rich at this point.
Coaches need to accept that the port is a thing. It is now an essential piece to being a great college football program. Freedom of movement for players is a good thing. Could it use a bit more organization? Sure. But a coach like Kiffin could leave a school for his next job at any moment and leave players high and dry — even during bowl season. It’s not a problem that the kids can do the same thing.
Sorry, Lane. But you’ll have to deal with it.
No one is great in the NFL
Watching the NFL has been so weird this season. It feels like the action and games have all been pretty good, but there’s been something missing all season.
Nobody has looked dominant. It’s hard to trust anyone — even the Ravens. Our Christian D’Andrea has more in his latest Power Rankings.
“Baltimore, a team that already has losses to the flawed Indianapolis Colts and Pittsburgh Steelers, remains vulnerable in its quest to take down the AFC’s top seed.
Behind them lies a frustrating upper crust liable to be blown out by a less talented opponent any given week. We know this because the Detroit Lions, Dallas Cowboys, Kansas City Chiefs, Miami Dolphins, Buffalo Bills and Philadelphia Eagles have each scraped the dizzying heights of Super Bowl contention and had that post-win bliss stomped out by garbage teams before they could stamp their place on the contenders’ list.
As a result, no one is trustable. Not even a Ravens team and its likely MVP quarterback who also happens to be 1-3 with a 68.3 passer rating in the postseason. Whether that’s a feature or a bug depends on how much predictability you like in your playoffs. But either way, it’s made our power rankings a total crapshoot where we’re forced to just sorta shrug and say ‘yeah, I *guess* the Cowboys are 2023’s fifth-best team.’,”
Maybe this changes at some point in the postseason. Maybe it doesn’t. Regardless, I think we’re in for a wild and weird postseason this year.
Quick hits: Do you believe in love? … The Pop-Tart Bowl trophy looks tasty … and more
— The power of love made the Raiders-Chiefs the most-watched Christmas Day NFL game since 1989. Cory Woodruff has more.
— The Pop-Tart Bowl is everything I love about college football. All these wacky bowl games are so fun. Meghan Hall has more.
— Brock Purdy and John Harbaugh totally look related. Here’s Mary Clarke with more.
— Patrick Queen absolutely ripped the 49ers “cute” playstyle. Here’s Cory again with more.
— Prince Grimes has the most disagreeable betting lines for Week 17 here for you. Come get this money.
—This has got to be the worst trick play ever, right? Right.
That’s all, folks. Thanks so much for rocking with The Morning Win today. We appreciate you. Have a fantastic Wednesday. Let’s chat again soon. We out. Peace.
-Sykes ✌️