3 reasons why Sabrina Ionescu's game-winning shot is one of the greatest we've ever seen

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, folks. Welcome back to the Morning Win. Thanks so much for rocking with us today. We appreciate you stopping by.

Please tell me you saw Sabrina Ionescu’s Game 3 clinching shot against the Lynx on Wednesday. What an incredible series this has been. These teams are delivering each other blow after blow after blow, but none was greater than the 3-point bomb Sab dropped on the Lynx to finish that one off. As our Meghan Hall writes, it was so filthy. Not bad for an All-WNBA second-teamer, huh?

LISTEN TO IT HERE: Ryan Ruocco’s call of Sabrina’s game-winner will give you chills

This game-winner wasn’t just an incredible shot. I’d argue it’s one of the greatest we’ve ever seen. Period.

Now, I know that probably sounds like a lot. We’ve seen a ton of game-winners in the history of both the WNBA and the NBA. A lot of them have been pretty incredible. But let me explain what puts this one up there for me.

Specifically, there are three things.

First is the distance. A 28-foot 3-pointer to win the game is an incredible feat no matter how you slice it.

Sure, it’s not quite a 37-footer like Damian Lillard’s shot a few NBA seasons ago that put away the Oklahoma City Thunder. It’s definitely not Teresa Weatherspoon’s 3-point heave that might still be the best shot in the history of the WNBA.

But it’s still pretty darn far. And considering that she did it while shaking an excellent defender off her in Kayla McBride, I’d argue that it was a pretty difficult one even when you put the distance aside. Add on the distance and we’re talking stuff of legend here.

Second is the circumstance. Remember, New York was down by 15 points at one point in this game. Breanna Stewart had to implore her team not to let this one slip away. The Liberty didn’t take a second lead until the waning moments of the fourth quarter.

To put it simply, New York wasn’t supposed to win this. That shot was a punctuation point for what is now the third-largest comeback win in league history. That means something, folks. If the Liberty win this series, this is the moment we’ll all come back to.

Third is the moment. Game 3. The clock is winding down. Breanna Stewart was been cooking, but Napheesa Collier defended her excellently in the last couple of minutes of the game. It was no longer in Stewart’s hands.

Enter Sabrina, who, quite frankly, had been awful up until about a minute left to play.

It didn’t matter. Her teammates trusted her to get a look. That’s what she did. And she ended the with it.

ONE OF THE BIGGEST SHOTS IN LIBERTY FINALS HISTORY FROM SABRINA IONESCU

The Liberty takes Game 3! #WNBAFinals presented by @YouTubeTV pic.twitter.com/Whv0AMnNl9

— WNBA (@WNBA) October 17, 2024

It just doesn’t get any better than this, man. This is championship basketball at its finest. What a shot.

Welcome back, Lonzo Ball

Lonzo Ball is playing NBA basketball again for the first time in over two years.

He made his preseason debut with the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday after being out due to a left knee injury. Ball has had several procedures done over the last 33 months to his knee, including a cartilage and meniscus transplant. All of that to get back to this moment.

Despite it all, it doesn’t look like he’s skipped a beat. He scored 10 points off the bench for the Bulls to go along with one rebound, one assist, one steal and one block in 15 minutes. He impacted the game across the stat sheet.

Lonzo Ball coming back was an awesome story on its own. But if he can come back and still be an awesome player for the Bulls despite all he’s been through, that’ll make the story even better.

We’re rooting for you, Zo. Go get ’em.

Loophole closed

Dan Lanning has been (kind of?) taking credit for the 12-men on-the-field penalty that essentially sealed Oregon’s win against Ohio State last Saturday.

You’ve surely heard enough about this by now, but the idea was basically that Lanning intentionally sent a 12th man on the field with 10 seconds left in the game to ensure a stop against Ohio State before being penalized and running the clock down a bit. After the penalty, there were only six seconds left on the clock. So Oregon could run its regular defense and Ohio State could only run one more play.

The more we talk about this, the more it seems (to me!) that Lanning didn’t actually do this on purpose.

But intentionality doesn’t matter anymore. It won’t happen again.

The NCAA has officially closed the loophole that was exploited here. Michelle Martinelli has more detail in her story here. This is what the NCAA had to say:

“After the Two-Minute Timeout in either half, if the defense commits a substitution foul and 12 or more players are on the field and participate in a down, officials will penalize the defense for the foul and at the option of the offended team, reset the game clock back to the time displayed at the snap. The game clock will then restart on the next snap. If the 12th defender was attempting to exit but was still on the field at the snap and had no influence on the play, then the normal substitution penalty would be enforced with no clock adjustment.”

Now, when something like that happens, the clock will reset if the offended team wants it to be. Ohio State would still have the opportunity to run a couple of plays and take the penalty yardage, too.

Shoutout to Dan Lanning. His false ingenuity here just ruined it for defenses everywhere.

Quick hits: Angel Reese puts the WNBA on blast … Is the NBA compromised? … and more

— Here’s Charles Curtis on Angel Reese telling us her WNBA checks can’t pay her rent. Sheesh.

— Prince Grimes has a fascinating take here on the NBA’s new in-game cell phone ban and what it’s truly meant to prevent.

— Here’s Andrew Joseph with stadium options for the Rays after Tropicana Field’s roof was ripped to shreds by Hurricane Miltion.

— Here’s Michelle Martinelli on which undefeated teams could lose this weekend in college football.

— Here’s Christian D’Andrea with straight-up picks for the NFL this weekend.

— Shohei Ohtani experienced the most painful foul ball ever. Here’s Cory Woodroof with more.

That’s a wrap, folks. Thanks so much for reading. We appreciate your time. Have a fantastic Thursday. Peace.

-Sykes