Game 9: Ok, Seattle Storm, we get it. Plus everything else you need to know
We heard you 17 three-point makes ago, Seattle.
Hello, it’s me, Matt Ellentuck.
We’re 54 regular season games through a 122-game season. The WNBA season is going by so quickly. Smh.
I did a thing though! Today, I published my first piece for the New York Times! It’s on the New York Liberty: The Liberty Are Showing Promise, Even in Their Struggle. You can read it here!
Ok, I’ll shut up now.
Here’s Basketball.
In case you forgot, the Seattle Storm are the best team in the league
In Sue Bird’s first game back from a bone bruise in her knee, the Storm clobbered a Chennedy Carter-less Atlanta Dream team, 100-63. Holy yikes.
First off, no shame to Atlanta for getting destroyed in this one. The Seattle Storm are stacked with two units worth of starters. They’re outscoring opponents by 14.7 points per 100 possessions on the season, just a smidge below what last year’s champion Mystics were doing to teams. Yeeeeeeeeeeeesh. They’re damn good.
But the Storm made a serious statement in this win. They matched the Mystics’ WNBA-record 18 made three-pointers in a game, and sunk them on just 30 tries. That’s SIXTY FREAKING PERCENT FROM RANGE.
Did I mention Breanna Stewart only played 24 minutes? She made one field goal, and tallied just seven points. Their frontrunner for MVP had her worst game of the season, and the Storm still outscored their opponent by 37 points!
How’d it happen? Jewell Loyd went off yet again for 20 points. Sami Whitcomb, who’s made 47 percent of her threes this year, sunk 6-of-9 for 20 points. And Alysha Clark chipped in 16, too.
I repeat, who is beating this team in a series?
Elena Delle Donne spilled some tea on Napheesa Collier and A’ja Wilson’s podcast
Please subscribe to Tea with A & Phee if you haven’t already. Last week, the two had Kevin Durant on the pod, and this week, they had Mystics MVP Delle Donne. EDD isn’t in the bubble because she is high-risk for Covid-19 due to Lyme disease. Yet last month, Delle Donne was denied the WNBA’s medical exemption that would’ve paid her full salary to stay safe and not play this season. It was shocking, and she penned an open letter about it in the Player’s Tribune.
Delle Donne shared on the pod that the Mystics agreed to pay her salary even when the league wouldn’t. She couldn’t refute the panel of physicians’ decision not to award the exemption, so the franchise took care of its star, which is great, but should not have been necessary.
But the biggest tea was Delle Donne revealing that the WNBA’s executive committee, which she serves as vice president for, did not get to choose the panel of doctors making the medical decisions. “If I chose the panel of doctors,” Delle Donne said, “I 100 percent would’ve chosen a Lyme-literate doctor on the panel.”
Odyssey Sims returned after having her son, Jaiden, in April
Unbelievable!
LOOK AT THIS TIFFANY MITCHELL DRIVE
MY ANKLES.
Now for the bad.
Sylvia Fowles left the Lynx-Aces game with a non-contact calf injury
I’m so done with injuries. This one to Fowles felt especially cruel after the Lynx were careful to sit her for two games already this season to rest her calf. Just over a minute into Minnesota’s game against the Las Vegas Aces, Fowles called for a sub.
I hope Syl is ok :/
Aerial Powers’ injury is going to cost her time, too
The good news is that D.C. signed Stella Johnson, a standout from Rider taken with the No. 29 pick in this year’s draft. The bad news is that, Powers, who’s missed the Mystics’ last three games, isn’t coming back any time soon with a hip injury. According to the team, she’s expected to miss a significant period.
The Mystics, down too many high-impact players to keep counting, are going through a real struggle. They’ve lost six straight after winning their first three. They dropped Thursday night’s game to the Sparks, 81-64.
Additional notes:
Victoria Vivians, Epiphany Prince, Aerial Powers, Tierra Ruffin-Pratt, Chennedy Carter, Diana Taurasi, Stephanie Muvunga and Shenise Johnson continued to sit out for Game 9
Sue Bird and Stefanie Dolson returned to play
Odyssey Sims and Briann January each played their first game of the season
Sylvia Fowles left Game 9 with a non-contact calf injury
Final scores:
Sun 70, Wings 66
Sky 89, Mercury 71
Storm 100, Dream 63
Fever 86, Liberty 79
Sparks 81, Mystics 64
Aces 87, Lynx 77
Matt’s power rankings:
Storm
Aces
Sparks
Lynx
Sky
Mercury
Fever
Sun
Mystics
Wings
Dream
Liberty
Matt’s MVP rankings:
Breanna Stewart
A’ja Wilson
Candace Parker
Angel McCoughtry
Sylvia Fowles
Matt’s Rookie of the Year rankings:
Chennedy Carter
Satou Sabally
Julie Allemand
Ezi Magbegor
Crystal Dangerfield
Ok, that’s it from me.
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Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!