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 rocking with TMW today. We appreciate you. I hope you’re having a fantastic week so far.
You’re having a much better week than Ed Malloy’s officiating crew last night.
I’m sure you’ve seen it by now, but the officials in the Knicks-Rockets game essentially handed Houston a win. Aaron Holiday was rewarded with a phantom foul call on a late 3-point shot after Jalen Brunson gave a good closeout. He hits the free throws and the Knicks lose, to make a long story short.
In the official pool report after the game, Malloy — who was the crew chief for the night — admitted that the call was erroneous after looking at a video review.
“The contact which occurred after the release of the ball therefore is incidental and marginal to the shot attempt and should not have been called,” Malloy told reporter Fred Katz, who got the pool report. But by then it was too late — the call was made and the game was over.
As our Prince Grimes writes here, it’s possible that the Knicks would’ve lost the game anyway. But that’s not the point here, he explains:
“Of course, it’s possible the Knicks would have still lost in overtime if no foul was called, but I’m sure they would have appreciated the opportunity to find out. Especially considering they came back from an 11-point fourth-quarter deficit to tie the game.”
Making that call completely changed the outcome of the game right then and there. If the Knicks were to protest the loss, there’s likely nothing that would come from it. There’d still be another L on New York’s record and with how tight the standings are in the East, that could come back to haunt the team.
I’m not normally one to advocate for punishment in sports. It’s just sports at the end of the day. And, to be clear, officials are punished for making bad calls in the NBA at times. They get pulled off assignments and shifted around — but we rarely see it happen.
But this can’t just be a “my bad” situation — something should be done. Whether that’s the NBA suspending the crew or simply sitting the official who made the call down, I’m not sure. But something needs to be done.
It’s not going to take away from the Knicks’ loss here. But it’d at least ensure that there’d be some tightening up on the referee’s end from here on out.
So what do we think, folks? Should there be a punishment? Here’s a quick poll for you to let us know your thoughts. Let us know what you think.
I’ll reveal the results in Thursday’s newsletter.
The 49ers just need to lie
I need the 49ers to learn how to lie. Because what’s happening right now is just embarrassing.
The team had no idea what the rules for overtime were in the playoffs. That’s embarrassing enough as is. We should probably just leave it there, right? Right? Wrong, apparently.
But now, Kyle Shanahan is telling people they chose to receive the coin toss because “we wanted the ball third.” THIRD? WHAT? EXCUSE ME? Charles Curtis has more here.
“The San Francisco 49ers head coach has addressed why he wanted his team to start overtime in the Super Bowl with the ball — his idea was, if they scored and the Kansas City Chiefs matched, the Niners would get the football in a sudden-death situation.
Now, that’s all fine and good in theory (if your team knows the new-ish playoff overtime rules, and some of his players admitted they didn’t). But the team that possess the ball second has some advantage — they know if they need a field goal to tie it back up or a touchdown to win. It’s four-down territory all the way, too, which means play calls can be more diverse.”
In theory, as Charles said, that makes sense. In practice? Whew, boy. The 49ers were cooked as soon as the game went into OT. That’s becoming abundantly clear. And that’s why folks are roasting Shanahan today.
It’s Victor Wembanyama’s world
The rest of us are just living in it. The Raptors found that out the hard way on Monday night.
Triple-doubles with blocks are always impressive. But the way Big Vic did it was so destructively thorough. It’s no wonder Scottie Barnes left the court early. I might never pick up a ball again after seeing that.
Get this. Wemby put up 27 points, 14 rebounds, 10 blocks and five assists. He’s one of eight players in league history to have a 25-10-10-5 stat line but also the only one to do it in less than 30 minutes.
LESS THAN 30 MINUTES, Y’ALL. What’s your favorite show right now? Chances are a full episode probably ended before Wemby was done annihilating the Raptors.
We should’ve known what time it was when he showed up to the game like this.
Wemby's pregame fit 👀🔥 pic.twitter.com/5FGWAjHkVx
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 13, 2024
Victor Wembanyama. Destroyer of Worlds.
Quick hits: Chris Jones is the hero of the Super Bowl … Who stands in the Chiefs’ way? … and more
— Robert Zeglinski detailed how Chris Jones completely saved the Chiefs in the Super Bowl here. They better pay that dude.
— Cory Woodruff has 10 teams that could stand in the way of a three-peat for the Chiefs … including the Cardinals???
— Kyrie Irving is picking Sabrina Ionescu against Steph Curry. That might be good money, folks. Meg Hall has more.
— Tiger Woods’ new brand looks so cool. Charles Curtis explains it all here.
— Here’s Christian D’Andrea with three things the 49ers need to do to break through and win a Super Bowl.
— SHOHEI OHTANI IS BACK, FOLKS!
That’s all, party people! Until tomorrow. Remember, tap into our poll to let us know what you think about the Knicks’ situation. I’ll bring the results back on Thursday!
Be safe out there, folks. Peace. We out.
-Sykes ✌️
