LeBron James and the Lakers embarrassing the Clippers one last time is so poetic
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 the Morning Win today. We appreciate you for your time. It means a lot to us.
I don't know how many special LeBron James games we have left. Of course, he's still great. And we should expect to see the best of him every time he touches a basketball court. But there aren't that many "best player in the world" nights left from him.
But, man, did he ever have one of those nights last night?
James essentially single-handedly turned a 21-point deficit into a four-point win, dropping 19 points of the Lakers' 37 4th quarter points after the team's offense flat-out didn't work for three-quarters of the game. He either scored or assisted on nine of the Lakers' last 11 field goals to put the game away.
And it came just in time to kick the Clippers out of the Staples Center. Er, uh, Crypto Dot Com arena. Whatever you want to call it, man.
Remember, the Clippers organization is moving to its own arena and headquarters next season. It'll be the class of the NBA next year when it opens. These two teams will have to travel when they play each other next season for the first time in nearly three decades.
That's why this game feels a bit more poetic than others. There's just something about the Lakers giving the Clippers the Jazzy Jeff treatment in this way.
Look, let's be real. If we're ranking organizations, the Clippers have by far outpaced the Lakers for more than a decade now. Sure, LA has a title to show us that the Clippers don't. But outside of that one season? The Clippers have by and large been the better team. They've won more against the Lakers lately than they've lost.
Even with that being the case, it still feels like the Clippers' "little brother" syndrome has endured. And honestly? This is why the Clippers' rebrand is so needed.
Maybe that changes when the Clippers finally get into the new building. Maybe that changes with another 11-game winning streak in this matchup. Maybe that changes if the Clippers actually win a championship. Honestly, I'm not sure exactly what it'd take.
But, for today at least, nothing can change that. The Lakers are still running LA.
The Knicks have been DENIED
Remember that wild Knicks loss to the Rockets earlier this month? How could you forget it — New York fans wouldn't stop talking about it. A bad foul call cost the Knicks a game against the Rockets and the team protested.
On Wednesday that protest was denied — even after officials admitted they were wrong.
The NBA says protests must "demonstrate that there was a misapplication of the official playing rules" instead of just an "error in judgment."
On one hand, I can see how this would be infuriating to Knicks fans. Officials admitted the call was wrong. What does it take for a rule to be misapplied?
On the other hand, I get it. Bad calls happen all the time. Does the NBA want to open up Pandora's Box of upholding this protest and replaying those final moments because of one bad call? That's a tricky spot to be in.
In the end, what's done is done. Relax, Knicks fans. They gave y'all that game back against the Pistons anyway.
RELATED: The 6 most baffling calls made by officials so far this season
Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid are somehow better than we think
The NFLPA published report cards for every organization in the league and, well, it turns out the Chiefs stink everywhere but on the field.
Robert Zeglinski has more here in his 15 takeaways column from the report card:
"I don’t know how to put this any other way, so I’ll just say it: The two-time reigning Super Bowl champion Chiefs are, for the most part, an utter disaster behind the scenes. (Yeah … they’re No. 31 overall.)
One of the sole redeeming factors for the franchise appears to be head coach Andy Reid, who was ranked No. 1 overall among all coaches. Beyond that, the Chiefs’ facilities and benefits are an abomination. Kansas had four Fs on its report card, with Clark Hunt being rated as the NFL’s worst owner who is willing to invest more in his players. The overview of the Chiefs’ significant issues for players almost reads like a full-blown essay. It’s mind-boggling."
This is honestly wild to read. It's worth reading the entire Chiefs section — the reveals are baffling considering how good that team has been. You wouldn't think this would be the environment of a franchise that legitimately seems to win every single year.
That's a testament to the greatness of Reid, as Zeglinski points out, and how incredible Patrick Mahomes is.
Clark Hunt needs to hold up his end of the bargain.
Quick hits: Our latest NBA Mock Draft ... Happy Leap Year Birthday! ... and more
— Here's Bryan Kalbrosky with his latest NBA mock draft and a surprising No. 1 overall pick.
— Here's Charles Curtis with eight celebrities who have leap-year birthdays.
— And here he is again with some leap-year discounts on food for you. Charles is always looking out, man.
— Prince Grimes has four long-shot NFL draft bets before the combine.
— Shoutout to Caitlin Clark and Lisa Bluder for shifting our attention to Lynette Woodard's scoring record. Meghan Hall has more.
— Shohei Ohtani let everyone know he was married. Good for him and whoever gets part of that $700 million deal.
That's all for us, folks! Thanks so much for reading. We appreciate you. Tap in again tomorrow. Until then, peace!
-Sykes ✌️