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, family! Welcome back to the Morning Win. Thanks so much for giving us a few minutes of your time today. We so appreciate you.
I don’t know if it’s possible to have the NBA’s MVP race wrapped up before the All-Star break but, uh, I think Joel Embiid just did it.
Yes, other players are out there more than worthy of consideration. Nikola Jokic is having an incredible season so far. So is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. We can throw Luka Doncic in there, too.
But, hey, man. When you score break one of Wilt Chamberlain’s franchise records? You earn yourself a crown. That’s what Embiid just did with a 70-point barrage against the San Antonio Spurs.
He broke Chamberlain’s franchise scoring record of 68 points. He also added 18 rebounds and 5 assists, which is something Wilt actually never did.
The entire NBA was impressed. Embiid even had Kevin Durant’s jaw on the ground. His reaction to hearing about Embiid’s historic night was wholly appropriate.
“Seventy? He had 70?” Durant said. “It’s the peak of basketball, in my opinion.”
Warning: There is some NSFW language in this video
I love watching Kevin Durant post-game pressers because his love of basketball shows through, and there are moments where someone asks him something that really gets the hoop fan in him (that also happens to be a basketball genius) going.
Loved this reaction and answer. pic.twitter.com/W1fXt5RjKa
— Sam Vecenie (@Sam_Vecenie) January 23, 2024
Durant couldn’t be more right. There’s so much skill around the NBA. Every night there are special performances to watch. Monday night was a perfect example. On a night where Embiid scored 70 points, Durant scored 43 and hit a game-winning shot, Karl-Anthony Towns had his own impressive performance (more on that in a second). The NBA is insane right now.
That’s what makes Embiid’s performance so special, though. At a time when we get great performances on a nightly basis, this guy continuously one-ups the competition by doing the impossible. That’s why he’s the NBA’s MVP right now. And it might not be close.
Of course, there’s still plenty of time left in the season. Injury can change that — if Embiid misses too many games, he’s out on a technicality (which would be horrible, btw).
But, pushing all that aside, this is a one-man race now. The trophy is Embiid’s to lose.
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They can’t all be winners
Speaking of epic performances, Karl-Anthony Towns also scored 62 points on Monday while Embiid dropped his 70.
Towns had 44 points at the half, which was the fourth most points scored in a single half in league history. It certainly felt like he might be able to go for 80 points at one point in the game. He made 10 3-pointers, folks.
So why isn’t this one being talked about more? Because the Timberwolves lost. Not only did the Wolves lose, but Towns actually got benched down the stretch for Kyle Anderson.
Wolves head coach Chris Finch didn’t like the way the Wolves were playing. He thought Towns was shot hunting for a big number.
Chris Finch continued to rip the Timberwolves' performance tonight
Also said KAT was "hunting a big number" pic.twitter.com/yRdNAKR61o
— Oh no he didn't (@ohnohedidnt24) January 23, 2024
“Of course, we’re going to try to feed a hot hand. But, at some point, we’ve got to get back to making the right play,” Finch said. “There’s a lot of ways to be immature. There was a lot of immature performances here throughout the roster. We totally disrespected the game.”
To be fair to Finch, that is what it looked like down the stretch. Towns only scored four points in the 4th quarter. He couldn’t close the game out.
Don’t get it twisted — the performance was still impressive. In the end, 62 points is still 62 points. But getting a win would’ve made this so much sweeter.
The worst beat ever
I don’t know if you all have seen how Texas A&M-Corpus Christi fumbled the game against McNeese, but boy, was it brutal. And if I thought it was brutal then I just know the bettors out there were sick.
Corpus Christi fouled intentionally late in the game thinking the team was up by three points while actually only being up by two. McNeese makes one, misses the next free throw but then the team gets an offensive rebound for a putback to win the game.
Brutal.
A brutal beat on Texas A&M-Corpus Christi ML (+220) 😭
They foul McNeese up 2 thinking they were up 3.
McNeese goes 1-of-2 and A&M-Corpus Christi can't grab the rebound and McNeese hits the game-winner.
They also blew an 18-point second half lead.pic.twitter.com/htS47RPs17
— Action Network (@ActionNetworkHQ) January 23, 2024
Here’s Prince Grimes with more:
“That is just a brutal way to lose for Texas A&M-CC, especially at home against the Southland Conference’s top team.
To make matters worse, the Islanders led by as much as 18 points in the second half. On the bright side, they still covered +5.5 for anyone who took them against the spread.”
There are probably worse ways out there to lose. But, honestly, y’all? I can’t think of any. That’s brutal.
Quick hits: The WWE Raw’s massive move to Netflix … Barbie snubs … and more
— Our Christian D’Andrea has more on the $5 billion deal between WWE Raw and Netflix and also why it means your favorite sports will be streaming soon.
— Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie missing out on Oscar noms is infuriating (and exactly what the movie warned us about). Meghan Hall has more here.
— Baseball Hall of Fame nominations are coming soon! Charles Curtis has your locks here.
— Here are the NFL Playoff Power Rankings from our Christian D’Andrea. My Lions are looking good, folks.
— Funny Gregg Popovich is the best. Cory Woodruff has more here.
— We’ve also updated our NFL head coaching hire tracker with Brian Callahan going to Tennessee.
That’s all, folks! Thanks so much for reading today. Let’s chat again tomorrow. Until then, peace! We out.
-Sykes ✌️
