The Bucks-Thunder NBA Cup Final matchup is everything a true basketball fan could want

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! Welcome back to TMW. Thanks so much for rocking with us today. We appreciate you.

There’s so much hand-wringing about the state of the NBA these days.

Complaints about teams taking too many 3-pointers have reached an all-time high. Folks are paying more attention to the league’s ratings than the actual basketball on the court.

Take it from me, folks: That’s a massive mistake because some really good basketball has been played across the league. And we’ll probably get another good one tonight between the Bucks and Thunder for the NBA Cup final.

This Cup final is offering everything folks have claimed to want to see from the NBA over the last few years.

Did you want parity? You got it. The Thunder are an NBA title contender and the Bucks hope to be one. Did you want small markets? This is Oklahoma City and Milwaukee. Did you want stars? Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has a shot at the league’s MVP award this season and Giannis Antetokounmpo already has two of his own. Did you want stakes? There’s a championship at play here, even if it is just a regular season one. That doesn’t make it meaningless — there’s money on the line for these players.

And, by the way, the Thunder and Bucks are 9th and 15th in 3-point attempts per game, respectively. So if the 50 three-pointers the Celtics take aren’t your cup of tea, don’t worry. This isn’t that. There’s variance in the styles of play here. These teams are unique and interesting.

If you’re a basketball fan, there’s almost no reason to not watch this game. But I’m sure folks will find a way.

That’s the thing. A lot of the folks who are complaining about the game simply don’t watch the game. They’re not fans of the league. The NBA only serves as a punching bag to get off lukewarm takes that get a bunch of likes and reposts on Elon Musk’s rage-bait-y hellscape of a social media platform for those people.

Does the league get in its own way at times? Absolutely. NBA League Pass probably shouldn’t be so expensive if you want people watching your smaller markets. Also, media blackouts probably shouldn’t be a thing. Splintered television rights get in the way more often than not.

Plus, the NBA needs to start treating its small markets like it actually wants them to exist. Embarrassing copy like this about the Rockets vs. Thunder matchup should never be published. That’s dumb. You can’t expect fans to care about your teams when you don’t.

Regardless, though, the basketball this season has been very good. We’re in for another good one tonight. If you’re not watching, you’re missing out.

Meanwhile, in the NFL…

We got yet another atrocious serving of Monday Night Football between two matchups: The Vikings vs. Bears and the Falcons vs. Raiders.

Both were pretty awful in their own ways. So bad that our own Meg Hall is begging the league to stop serving its fans slop in primetime television slots on MNF.

She makes the astute point that it’s kind of on us. When there’s a bad Monday or Thursday night football game, we don’t turn it off. We watch anyway. The NFL isn’t going to fix it if we don’t make them.

Here’s more:

“But perhaps that’s my fault. The NFL knows it can serve slop to fans because it doesn’t matter how terrible the product is; they will watch it. Frankly, I’m disgusted with myself and the league for subjecting me to comically lousy football.

Someone needs to pay for their crimes. We can’t go on like this. At this point, I’d be open to another alt-cast. What about Family Guy? Rugrats? Bluey? Something. ANYTHING other than what I watched Monday.”

Let’s be better, folks.

Golf’s dream matchup is here

The best players from the PGA and LIV are going head to head on Tuesday night in what they’re calling “The Showdown.”

Scottie Scheffler (No. 1) and Rory McIlroy will face off against Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau (No. 10) at Shadow Creek Golf Club in Las Vegas.

This is fascinating! Here’s more from the Sports Report on TikTok:

@the.sports.report

Who you got? #theshowdown

♬ original sound – The Sports Report

I’ve still got plenty of complaints about LIV Golf and lots of critiques about the PGA’s merger with the league.

WELL, THIS IS AWKWARD: Every quote that makes the PGA-LIV merger decision look as awkward as possible

But this is unequivocally a good thing for the golf world. These are the best players in golf, going at it.

Imagine getting LeBron James and Kevin Durant to play a two-on-two matchup in the offseason against Steph Curry and James Harden. That’s basically what this is.

Golf fans everywhere are certainly going to be tuned in. Let’s hope this lives up to its billing.

Quick hits: NFL Power Rankings … A new Logan Paul matchup? … and more

— Here’s Christian D’Andrea and Robert Zeglinski with the latest NFL Power Rankings, which have Josh Allen and the Bills sitting lonely at the top.

— Conor McGregor says he’s going to box Logan Paul before making an MMA comeback. Charles Curtis has more.

— This is the first time I’ve ever rooted for Adam Schefter. Charles Curtis will show you why.

— Christian D’Andrea says the Falcons have laid their ceiling bare with their putrid showing against the Raiders.

— Cory Woodroof has more on Justin Jefferson’s awesome shoutout to Randy Moss after scoring a touchdown.

— The Krafts seem very fed up with their own team right now. Yikes.

That’s a wrap, folks. Thanks so much for reading. We appreciate you! Have a fantastic Tuesday. Peace.

-Sykes