This is the online version of our daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Subscribe to get irreverent and incisive sports stories, delivered to your mailbox every morning. Here’s Charles Curtis.
The year was 2014.
The Golden State Warriors had just finished a 51-31 season, the most since Don Nelson’s Dubs had won 50 in 1993-94. A franchise that had struggled for decades was suddenly on the rise. But a first-round exit in seven-game series to the Los Angeles Clippers was a rough one. A team with Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green should have gone farther.
I bring all this up because you may know what happened next, and it’s what should happen next with the Boston Celtics.
The Warriors fired head coach Mark Jackson and turned to a guy named Steve Kerr. Four rings later and we know now how right that move was.
I see all your “BREAK UP THE CELTICS” tweets. That’s not the right solution here. The Celtics have looked disjointed all year, and we know the core of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart can be a title contender year after year, especially with the supporting cast of Robert Williams, Al Horford and Sixth Man of the Year Malcolm Brogdon (sorry, Grant Williams, it’s been a rough series).
When a team like that plays like this, it’s got to mean a coaching change. The other ton of tweets I’ve seen is for Brad Stevens to come down from the front office to coach again. That’d be fun, but how about we find a coach that unlocks the potential that’s there, getting the Celtics across the finish line when they’re 90 percent of the way there?
Joe Mazzulla is clearly not the answer. He shouldn’t have been in the first place, but Ime Udoka was the answer until his suspension due to a relationship with a woman in the Celtics organization. Now, he’s the Rockets’ head coach.
So let’s pump the brakes here. Any serious trades shouldn’t be considered here. Even if the Celts get swept by the Miami Heat — who are masterfully coached game after game by Eric Spoelstra — the move is to find a coach who can take the talent that’s there and turn the team around.
Quick Hits: Brooks Koepka wins the PGA Championship … Michael Block won the week … and more.
— Brooks Koepka won his fifth major with the 2023 PGA Championship win, and although his wife, Jena Sims, wasn’t there, she had the best response on TikTok to questions about her absence.
— The best story of the week by far was Michael Block, the club pro who played an unreal four rounds of major championship golf. Part of the fairy tale: He hit a hole-in-one on Sunday and had to ask Rory McIlroy if it went in.
— I love Jamal Murray’s response to being asked about burying the Lakers.
