Welcome to the Basketball Hangover. We jot down NBA and WNBA stuff mostly from last night that we want to talk about. Check it out.
Teaira McCowan went for 20 and 13 in the Fever’s first win of the season.
(PHOTO CREDIT: WNBA.)
A lot of us were wondering how the hell Teaira McCowan was not starting in the Indiana Fever’s opening game against the Mystics. McCowan never got going, only scoring a single solitary lonely point. For that matter, the entire Indiana team never got going as the defending champs stomped on them before the first half was even over. Fever coach Marianne Stanley mentioned that it was a match-up issue and said that she would play more minutes in the following game.
McCowan didn’t start against the Mercury, either, but she did get that opportunity to get more PT. Teaira had an excellent game, going for 20 points and 13 boards. Half of her scoring came from the all-important fourth quarter. Plus she helped hold Brittney Griner to one field goal in the fourth after Griner made a lay-up 13 seconds into that final quarter.
A few pundits were thinking that McCowan was going to have a breakout sophomore year after being on the WNBA All-Rookie team in 2019. McCowan had a strong first year, averaging 10 points and 9 boards per game. She started 16 of the 34 games played last season and she was the Fever’s starting center in the last 7 contests. She scored a career-best 24 points twice in those 7 games and she had a 22-19 game in a win over the then-defending champions Seattle Storm. It’s why the call for her to have a sterling second season had been mentioned.
But we’ll see how Coach Stanley plays with her minutes in the next week or two. Obviously, I’d feel much better for the Fever if she started but it’s not so bad if she plays about 25-30 minutes coming off the bench. The Indiana Fever take on the Dallas Wings on Friday.
Bullet Passes
Speaking of the Wings, they had a balanced scoring attack to pick up their first win of the season. Arike Ogunbowale led Dallas with 20 points.
Two more players of note from the Wings: Satou Sabally (the 2nd overall pick in the draft) went for 12 points. Katie Lou Samuelson (traded to Dallas after an injury-riddled 2019 with Chicago) scored a career-best 12 points.
While the Wings ran away against the Liberty, we shouldn’t ignore Sabrina Ionescu blasting off in her second WNBA game. Sabrina was seemingly the only Liberty player that got it going; she went for 33 points, 7 boards, and 7 dimes. That kind of performance is why she is the future of women’s basketball.
Well, maybe she’s the NOW.
The Atlanta Dream were plastered by the Las Vegas Aces on Wednesday. A’ja Wilson showed out with 21 points and 11 boards. The ace of the Aces bench, Dearica Hamby, went for 20 points. Monique Billings of the Dream was silent in her second game; she followed her 30-13 performance with a feeble 5 points.
The NBA will resume their season tonight. Yes, I will do my best to cover both NBA AND WNBA this season. Wish me luck.
Double U Scoreboard
PHX 100 (0-2) v IND 106 (1-1)
NY 80 (0-2) v DAL 93 (1-1)
ATL 70 (1-1) v LV 100 (1-1)
Watch This Play
Ridiculous stepback trey from Sabrina here.
Sabrina Ionescu is on fire from the 3pt line after hitting this step back 3️⃣ pic.twitter.com/Ikvhi1rO8w
— WNBA Got Game (@wnbagotgame) July 30, 2020
And some people already wrote her off after the first game. Sheesh.
Rey-Rey is on Twitter at @TheNoLookPass.
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