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. Charles Curtis is filling in for Andy Nesbitt.
Just on Monday, I called for the NBA to come down hard on LeBron James for the dangerous smash to the face of Detroit Pistons big man Isaiah Stewart, an incident that was clearly escalated by a bloodied Stewart as he kept trying to go after James.
Yes, Stewart deserved the two games he’ll sit for. You can’t keep going at someone in that manner when you’re being held back and the situation is relatively calm.
But one game? For LeBron? Who appeared to retaliate to Stewart’s grab of him with a closed fist and a forearm shiver?
I know James doesn’t have the kind of history that might add a second or third game to a suspension. But he could have done worse than bloodied Stewart there. And on top of that, how does he get fewer games than the guy with blood all over his face? At least match the penalties!
On top of that, as our Bryan Kalbrosky wrote on Monday, the Lakers and Pistons will meet again in a few days on Nov. 28. This suspension of both players opens up the possibility of retaliation and, perhaps, an actual brawl, and the NBA doesn’t want that. Even if the league warns both teams ahead of time, one errant elbow — accidental or looks-like-it’s-accidental — could turn ugly.
Not great, NBA. I’m hoping we don’t see it come to that on Nov. 28.
Quick hits: Iman Shumpert won DWTS! … Mike Evans’ funny joke after TD … Best Manning MNF moments … and more.
(AP Photo/Ron Schwane)
— Congrats to ex-NBA guard Iman Shumpert, who took home the title on this season of Dancing With the Stars!
— Mike Evans remembered to keep the football that broke the Bucs’ all-time touchdown record instead of handing it to a fan like he did with Tom Brady’s 600th TD.
— The best moments from Peyton and Eli Manning’s Week 11 megacast.
— Baker Mayfield mocked Browns fans who booed him on Sunday.
— Charles McDonald broke down why Justin Herbert has the NFL in the palm of his hand.
