Welcome to the Basketball Hangover. I write about what’s happening in the WNBA daily as we try to heal from this pandemic.
The Sky are making up for that huge losing streak.
(PHOTO CREDIT: AP.)
Suddenly, the Chicago Sky is one of the hottest teams in the W.
The Sky defeated the Connecticut Sun, who have lost two straight. Of course, that coincided with the exit of Jonquel Jones, who was playing like an MVP before going back overseas to finish her commitments.
The Sun led, 40-31, before the Sky caught them near the end of the third quarter. From there, Chicago poured it on as the Sun could not make a field goal in a four-minute stretch. Not only did they miss Jonquel and Alyssa Thomas but DeWanna Bonner shattered many a glass window with her 3/16 performance. Candace Parker‘s three brought the lead up to 14 late and of course, it’s hard to threaten a team when the deficit is that big.
But yeah, having a healthy Candace Parker helps. Ever since she came back, the Sky have won four straight games, which is following a 7-game slide. They’ve managed to go from 11th to 6th fairly quickly. Courtney Vandersloot had her fourth double-double, scoring 12 points and dishing out 10 assists. Sloot also had four steals in the win.
The Sun are now 8-4 and it’s possible Jonquel Jones could be back before the month ends. They have four games schedule for the rest of June so we’ll see. In the meantime, they’ll get two more shots at the Sky, including a quick rematch on Saturday. We’ll see if the Sun can break some streaks then.
Bullet Passes
The two hottest teams are the finalists from last season, the Seattle Storm and the Las Vegas Aces. The Storm knocked the Fever down to 1-13. Breanna Stewart had a dominant 21 points and 15 boards.
The Aces blew out the Liberty again. Sabrina Ionescu did return but played in limited minutes. Kelsey Plum led Vegas in scoring again with 18.
The Mystics got 32 points from Ariel Atkins and a career-best 25 from Theresa Plaisance as they barely escaped the Dream.
And my niece would probably get mad if I didn’t give a shoutout to her favorite, Kayla McBride, as she led the Lynx with 22 points in their victory over the Wings. She probably won’t read this ever but I gotta cover my bases.
WNBA Scoreboard
June 17, 2021
Watch This Play
Nice pick here by Dearica Hamby. Then Plum does a spin move and dish to Liz Cambage.
OHHHH BABBBBY 🥶
📺 @CBSSportsNet pic.twitter.com/73z7qxD0OF
— WNBA (@WNBA) June 18, 2021
An ace play by the Aces. Well done.
Everyone, please take care of yourselves during this pandemic. And that goes for everyone involved with the WNBA as well.
You can find Rey-Rey on Twitter at @TheNoLookPass.
You can also check out Rey-Rey’s podcast, Rey-Rey Is Fundamental, for more basketball content and, really, whatever else.
R.I.P. Nala.