History Recap / MonkS5E3MrMonkAndTheBigGame

** Monk admires a golfing trophy on Aaron Hayden's mantel while he and Natalie are asking him questions. It turns out to tie him to an unsolved murder on a golf course.

* ElectrifiedBathtub: Lynn is killed in this way. The "bathtub" is a flooded locker room floor whose drain has been stopped up, and the electricity comes from a rigged hair dryer that's plugged into an outlet with a deactivated circuit breaker.

* BittersweetEnding: The Cougars lose the championship and Coach Hayden is still dead, but Monk does prove she was murdered and Stottlemeyer and Disher arrest the killer, with evidence tying him to an older murder case as well. Natalie and Julie also make up a bunch of trophies to represent all the cases Monk has solved.

* BittersweetEnding: The Cougars lose the championship and Coach Hayden is still dead, but Monk does prove she was murdered and Stottlemeyer and Disher arrest the killer when he makes a break for it. Natalie and Julie also make up a bunch of trophies to represent all the cases Monk has solved.

** Stottlemeyer mentions that siblings' DNA matches almost exactly and DNA can't help solve all murders because the DNA at the crime scene might not be in the system, specifically bringing up the unsolved murder of Paula [=McGoohan=] as an example of the latter. Both of these end up explaining why Lynn was murdered.

* ElectrifiedBathtub: It's done with a shower in a locker room, but Lynn's murder is this in essence.
* ForegoneConclusion: It appears the Cougars won by a single point, only for the referee to add 3 seconds to the clock. Monk then proceeds to believe they have already lost. Just as he predicted, the opposing team manages to score the winning shot, causing them to lose.

* YankTheDogsChain: Monk solves the murder during a timeout when Julie's team is in the lead. Lyn's brother gets arrested just as play resumes. Then Monk goes ThisIsGonnaSuck on noticing which rival player is holding the ball, realizing she's going to make a half-court three-pointer. It nets the rival team the win.

* ThatOneCase: Stottlemeyer is revealed to have a second one in this episode, after that hit-and-run that was the backdrop of a previous episode. This time, it was a two-year-old arson at a golf course.

* TwentyPercentMoreAwesome: The episode uses the standard "give 110%" cliché, although Monk (volunteering as a basketball coach) tries to settle with 100% as he claims that 110% is mathematically impossible. He eventually decides that it is acceptable for one player to give 110%, as long as a teammate drops to 90% to compensate.

* NotNowKiddo: Julie and the two [=Emilys=] tell Monk that they've told the police that they put everything away and Lynn's death couldn't have happened by accident, but no one listens because they're kids.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Viewers might recognize the Cougars' mascot, Jen, as Creator/JenniferLawrence.

* HighV

* TwentyPercentMoreAwesome: The episode uses the standard "give 110%" cliche, although Monk (volunteering as a basketball coach) tries to settle with 100% as he claims that 110% is mathematically impossible. He eventually decides that it is acceptable for one player to give 110%, as long as a teammate drops to 90% to compensate.

** Julie interviews Stottlemeyer and Disher for a project on DNA evidence. All of the information given is practically straight on. One example: Stottlemeyer mentions that no two siblings will have the same DNA — it's close to, but not exactly identical, with the exception for identical twins. Another example: one of Julie's questions is why DNA cannot be used to close every case, and Stottlemeyer replies that this is because 1) DNA is not found at every crime scene, and 2) even if there is DNA, there needs to be a match in the computer records to compare it to. This last answer, plus the unsolved murder that Stottlemeyer uses for an example, is a Chekhov's Gun for Monk later.
** Many of the girls on the basketball teams were actual players, and the final goal was a shot that was accomplished in a single take.

* PaperThinDisguise: Natalie is ejected from the game. The referee doesn't notice her sneaking back on the court as the mascot, even with the head removed.