Stanzel’s Sports Takeout — BREAKING NEWS: 10.21.24
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Go time for the Wolves, who open at the Lakers on Tuesday on TNT (9 p.m.). Three of Minnesota’s first five games are nationally televised.
Gopher football back Saturday at home against Maryland.
I Stand with LeBron James; Let Them Decide it on the Court
The best basketball players on the planet deserve better officiating. Just an embarrassing night - and series - all around, compounded in the fourth quarter, as the Liberty won their first WNBA title 67-62 in overtime over the Lynx in a winner-take-all Game 5 last night. New York won its first WNBA title in its 28th season.
I don’t ever complain about officiating. But good grief. It was bad all night (Liberty 21-7 advantage from the free throw line), but with five seconds left in regulation and the Lynx up two, Breanna Stewart traveled - maybe twice - and then was allegedly fouled. They can’t review the travel, but replays clearly showed all ball yet the call was allowed to stand. Stewart, who had just missed two free throws, forced overtime.
Better yet - the Liberty’s whiny coach Sandy Brondello had just begged her team to “embellish” before ESPN cut the audio. I’ve been wondering all series why in the world ESPN is allowed to do live audio of strategy timeouts.
Brondello had also begged for better calls in a press conference after Game 4. And to be fair, the Lynx got the better of those calls.
Lest you think I’m a homer, LeBron James said this on X: “I’m sorry but that wasn’t a foul! Let the *amn players dictate the outcome of a close battle tested game.”
I don’t have much more to say about it. The Liberty’s defense was stifling. Napheesa Collier had 22 points and Kayla McBride 21. Courtney Williams was not good, 2-for-14 with five turnovers. You can’t keep shooting at that point.
But, the Liberty got a 1-for-19 performance from Sabrina Ionescu and only 13 points from Stewart and still won,
The series didn’t deserve a loser. It was sometimes beautiful, sometimes ugly.
The WNBA deserves better from its broadcasting partner, too. National broadcasters shouldn’t call Breanna Stewart by her nickname “Stewy”. And it’s every time. It's hokey. It's unprofessional.
Vikings Suffer First Loss
The bloom is off Brian Flores’ defense. Playing a serious Super Bowl contender for the first time this season, the Vikings’ defense wasn’t nearly as good as they were against the likes of the Jets and Giants. Detroit beat the Vikings 31-29 to take over first place in the NFC North.
The Vikings led 10-0 after one - they’ve outscored their opponents 58-3 in the first quarter this season. But while they’ve generally not let things slip until the second half, Detroit just dominated the second period 21-0 behind Jared Goff, who threw just three incompletions all day. The Lions had the ball for more than nine minutes in the second quarter.
The Vikings defense did make a big play to give them the lead in the fourth - a 35-yard fumble return for a touchdown by Ivan Pace, Jr., but Goff and running back Jahmyr Gibbs led the Lions down the field for a game-winning field goal.
Goff just diced up the Vikings secondary when Flores blitzed. Lions receivers typically got open with no purple jerseys anywhere near them. Six different Detroit receivers had catches of at least 18 yards.
There’s little time to recover from this one, too, as the Vikings are at the Rams on Thursday on Amazon Prime.
Wild Still Hasn’t Trailed in Regulation; 3-0-2 to Start Season
We’re about to find out what the Wild is worth. Not because they’re facing the defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers in Florida on Tuesday; because they’re doing it after two off nights in south Florida. I’ve been around long enough to see nice weather and off days fell much better Wild teams.
The Wild improved to 3-0-2 with a 3-1 win at Columbus on Saturday. Poor Dean Evason is going to have a long season. The Wild still hasn’t trailed in regulation through 300 minutes - that’s the fifth longest streak to begin a season in NHL history.
Filip Gustavsson is having a heck of a bounce back start to the season, going 3-0-1 with a 1.49 GAA and a .950 save pct.
After playing the Panthers Tuesday, the Wild heads to Tampa Bay for a game Thursday.
Loons Get Sixth Seed; Play Real Salt Lake
What a finish to the regular season for the Loons, who went 4-0-1, outscoring those opponents 10-1 in the process. They made it all the way to sixth in the Western Conference standings, meaning a three-game series with Real Salt Lake in the conference quarterfinals. Game 1 is Oct. 29 in Salt Lake. Game 2 is at Allianz Field Nov. 2. The teams tied both their regular season matchups, including a scoreless game earlier this month in Utah.
Gopher Hockey
The Gophers renewed their old rivalry with UMD and swept the Bulldogs in Duluth, 7-5 and 5-1. Now, UMD is not in the Top 20 (they’re receiving votes), but an impressive weekend for Minnesota. The well-balanced Gophers didn’t have a single player score more than one goal in either game. Minnesota has St. Thomas this weekend - Friday at Mariucci and Saturday at The X. The Tommies took the Gophers to overtime before succumbing 6-5 last year at The X.
On the women’s side, I’ll be very surprised if Wisconsin isn’t raising the NCAA trophy come spring. A lot of time left, but the Badgers are the best women’s team I’ve seen in half a decade, at least. Wisconsin beat the Gophers 5-0 on Friday and edged them 4-3 on Saturday. Friday’s game was close - 1-0 after two - but the Badgers just have too much depth. I was in attendance and Wisconsin just never stops coming at you. Their forecheck is relentless. When the Gophers would spring Abbey Murphy, there’d be three Badgers immediately in her hip pocket. Minnesota plays Minnesota State in a home-and-home this weekend.
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