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 Mike Sykes.
Everyone loves to talk about the rivalries that come with sports. But the fact is that it’s kind of hard to do the whole rivalry thing in professional sports these days.
There are just some key ingredients that create rivalries that don’t really exist anymore.
For example, college sports rivalries are built on geography. The schools that normally hate each other the most are usually crosstown rivals. Think Auburn and Alabama. That’s why this whole Pac-12 thing sucks so much. You don’t get that in pro sports these days. Every team in the league normally has to play every team.
Sometimes, though, when teams run into each other enough? That spark gets created. That’s what we saw with the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors back in the day after playing in the NBA Finals so much.
It’s exactly what we’re seeing with the Las Vegas Aces and New York Liberty now in the WNBA.
It’s undoubtedly a bit premature to say this considering the fact that the WNBA playoffs are still almost a month away at this point but, man, it’s hard not to hope to see these two teams in the WNBA Finals. We’ve been hoping for that since Breanna Stewart signed with the Liberty in February. Their last two matchups have only added fuel to that fire.
The two teams just played consecutively on Tuesday and Thursday — Tuesday’s game was actually the WNBA’s Commissioner Cup Finals. And though both games ended in double-digit victories, they were both closer than you’d think.
It took Jonquel Jones’ best game of the season and a Sabrina Ionescu explosion from deep to blow open the game for the Liberty on Tuesday. And then, on Thursday, Chelsea Gray got her second career triple-double and the Aces’ first as a franchise to slowly pull away from the Liberty and tie their season series up at 2-2.
Those performances are nice. But what I’m excited by is the fire behind it all. It’s very clear that these two teams have smoke for one another.
A story in two parts. The Liberty hit a three at the end of the Commissioner's Cup game which they won.
Tonight, Chelsea Gray looked to reference it at the end of the Aces win. I'll let you play lip reader. The rivalry grows? #WNBA pic.twitter.com/ak6bwSjjcn
— Tyler DeLuca (@TylerDeLuca) August 18, 2023
The Liberty took a late shot at the end of the first game. Chelsea Gray talked trash back to them for it after beating them in the second game. There’s another game coming on August 28 that everyone will be tapped in for and we’re almost certain to see that same fire — especially as the playoffs ramp up.
This matchup here has a chance to blossom into one of the best rivalries in sports if these two teams can stick together. I really, really hope we see it.
Quick Hits: Everything we know about the Wander Franco situation … This Ja Morant card is WILD … and more
— Here’s everything we know about the Wander Franco situation from Charles Curtis.
— You’ll never guess who showed up on this Ja Morant rookie card. This is insane.
— Don’t ever let anyone tell you that playing video games isn’t useful. Just point them to Tyreek Hill. Charles Curtis has more.
— Lionel Messi spoke to the media for the first time since joining Inter Miami and addressed a wild rumor. Andrew Joseph has more.
That’s all, folks. Have a fantastic weekend.
