Game 3: The Mystics (!?) are the team to beat, and everything else to know
They're missing four of their best players. How is this happening?
Hello, it’s me, Matt Ellentuck.
We’re three games into every team’s WNBA season, and I can now say with full confidence that I have no idea wtf is going to happen when we get to October. The teams that looked untouchable, were exposed. The team we started to doubt, instead erupted.
Buckle up. Things are starting to get fun.
I’ll shut up now.
Here’s Basketball.
The Washington Mystics clobbered the Seattle Storm. WTF
I won’t list the exhaustive rundown of players who aren’t playing for D.C. anymore, since it’s all we’ve heard about with this team, but if you’re new here, just know they lost three starters including an MVP, and then some. Yet Washington is now 3-0 after wrecking the title-favorite Storm, 89-71.
Mike Thibault is a helluva coach, but credit all of the Mystics’ role players-turned starters. Myisha Hines-Allen, Aerial Powers and Ariel Atkins are all playing incredibly well for players who were fourth- or fifth- or, in Hines-Allen’s case, a non-option. On Thursday night, Atkins finished with 22 points, and Hines-Allen had 17. As a team, the Mystics made 15-of-32 shots from range.
Washington’s defense was as good as I’ve seen it, including last season, too. The team held Breanna Stewart to 15 points, and everyone else not named Sami Whitcomb to single digits. They forced 13 steals. 13!
Will the Storm be fine? Of course. It’s only Game 3 for them after Stewart and Sue Bird missed all of last year. But sheesh, Washington. The reigning champs have been the most impressive team to date.
The Phoenix Mercury won a game!
All is far from fixed for the Mercury, but a 102-95 win over the Aces will ease some minds. Phoenix got hot against Vegas, knocking down 11-of-20 three-point attempts, jumping out to a 23-point lead at one point in the second. Diana Taurasi had an excellent night, becoming the first 38-year-old in league history to score 20+ points and 10+ assists in a game (she finished with 23 and 10.) Skylar Diggins-Smith had 22 points as well, and Bria Hartley chipped in 15. Brittney Griner scored 18.
The most noticeable difference between this game and the two losses, was Griner’s activeness, screening away the three scoring guards in high pick-and-rolls, freeing them to launch from distance. Sophie Cunningham also got her first start, and she played well, defending Angel McCoughtry for most of the night.
Friday night had to feel good for Merc fans. We knew the team would probably get off to a slower start… but not a Get Blown Out By The Sparks And Then Fold To The Fever type of first two games. A win takes a finger off the panic button, though the team’s defense leaves a lot to desire.
Betnijah Laney went off
Laney is playing next to two scoring guards with much bigger names in Courtney Williams and rookie Chennedy Carter, but she’s been the most impressive of the group. On Friday, she scored 30 points on 11-of-18 shooting (2-of-2 from deep) to lead Atlanta to an 84-78 win over the Liberty. She’s for real!
In three games, she’s averaging 19 points on 51/50/85 splits with five rebounds and three assists. That’s really freaking good. All-Star numbers. Yet to give you an idea of how competitive it is to make a WNBA roster, Laney was cut by the Indiana Fever in June. She was only signed by the Dream after Renee Montgomery and Tiffany Hayes both opted out of the 2020 season in late June.
Satou Sabally, welcome to the Rookie of the Year conversation
Sabally was good in her first two games, but she broke out in a 76-73 win over the Fever. She scored 23 points on 7-of-15 shooting to go with 17 rebounds. She’s strong as hell, can shoot, and take defenders off the dribble. Look at her crossing the hell out of 6’7 Teaira McCowan.
In three games, Sabally is averaging 15 points, nine rebounds, and two assists. And her three-point shot hasn’t even gone down yet. She’s only just heating up.
And now for the bad…
Lindsay Allen of the Vegas Aces had an inconclusive positive Covid-19 test
Shortly before the Aces game on Friday night, the team announced Allen had an “inconclusive positive” test result on Thursday for a test she took on Wednesday. The team also said she’d received a negative test result on Friday for a test taken Thursday, hence the inconclusiveness. She’s isolating off campus, and can’t return unless she registers two negative tests 24 hours apart.
The Aces played against the Mercury anyway on Friday. Let’s continue to wait this one out.
Sabrina Ionescu sprained her ankle pretty badly against the Dream
Ionescu had 10 points early in the second quarter, looking to take over her second game in three tries. I mean, shit, look at this sequence:
But then, she turned her ankle and needed assistance off the floor.
According to The Athletic’s Shams Charania, Ionescu’s x-ray came back negative. It’s a sprain, not a fracture. That’s good news. But nobody knows how much time she might miss… and this season is short as is.
The Connecticut Sun haven’t won a game yet
The Sun are one of two teams in the league not to win a game yet, along with the Liberty. It’s been a rough start for a group we expect to make the playoffs despite not having its best player, Jonquel Jones. DeWanna Bonner and Alyssa Thomas should be enough. But the Sun fell to the Sparks, 81-76, on Friday, even with those two combining for 44 points.
The Sun need to find depth behind their two leading scorers. Bria Holmes, Brionna Jones and Jasmine Thomas haven’t given them enough. Connecticut is really missing both Theresa Plasiance and Briann January, too. January is recovering from Covid-19, but Plaisance is expected to play her first game of the year on Saturday after suffering a back injury.
Will a floor-spacing big make the difference? It better. The Sun aren’t hopeless. Games have been close. But Bonner’s been elite, and it’s too much to expect her level of productivity to continue. She needs help for this team to win games.
Riquna Williams got stuck in the bathroom for 40 minutes before the Sparks-Sun game
Yeah. That. Holly Rowe reported it before tip-off.
The Las Vegas Aces’ social team is back to dunking on me.
See this:
And this:
If you’re new here, teams do this to me at random. I’m never safe.
Some additional notes
Stephanie Dolson missed her second straight game to an ankle injury
Kia Nurse sat out Game 3 after returning in Game 2 from an ankle injury
Teaira McCowan still has not started a game this year !?!?!?!?!
Matt’s power rankings:
Washington Mystics (!?!)
Seattle Storm
Chicago Sky
Los Angeles Sparks
Minnesota Lynx
Las Vegas Aces
Dallas Wings
Phoenix Mercury
Atlanta Dream
Indiana Fever
Connecticut Sun
New York Liberty
Matt’s MVP rankings:
DeWanna Bonner
Breanna Stewart
A’ja Wilson
Sylvia Fowles
Courtney Vandersloot
Matt’s Rookie of the Year rankings:
Satou Sabally
Sabrina Ionescu
Chennedy Carter
Ty Harris
Te’a Cooper
Ok, that’s it from me.
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