Welcome to the Basketball Hangover. I write about what’s happening in the WNBA daily as we try to heal from this pandemic.
The Phoenix Mercury win another close game against the Chicago Sky.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Rob Schumacher/Arizona Republic.)
Even without Diana Taurasi, the Phoenix Mercury keep rolling.
It really helps to have 6’8″ Brittney Griner on your team. And of course, she’s not the only star on that squad. They were a vaunted “Big Three” after Skylar Diggins-Smith went to Phoenix last year.
It didn’t look great early in the fourth, though. The Chicago Sky, who were the victims of a Kia Nurse buzzer-beater two nights before, went up by 13 early in the stanza. But that’s why you have an ace PG like Skylar, who led the Merc back with 13 points in a 19-6 closing run. Diggins-Smith even made the technical free throw to tie the game with 37 seconds left after Courtney Vandersloot was T’d up. However, neither Skylar nor Courtney made their attempts of a go-ahead shot and they went to OT.
The Sky went up by 5 in OT before the Mercury struck back with 7 straight points. Then after a Stefanie Dolson bucket, Griner was able to get in a lay-up to give Phoenix a two-point lead. Skylar split her foul shots to give the Sky one more chance but Vandersloot’s three didn’t go.
Phoenix is now 5-3 and on a three-game winning streak. Of course, the streak was helped by beating the Sky in back-to-back games but all three wins have been close. Skylar went for 28-9-6 while Griner had a double-double with 16 points and 12 boards (including yet another dunk, which you can see below). Nurse is also having a nice bounceback season after a disastrous shooting Wubble campaign.
The Sky are in quite a tailspin and it’s really not helping that Candace Parker continues to be on the sidelines. They’ve lost 6 straight and while the season has a long way to go, getting off to a 2-6 start is not ideal. They might tire themselves out trying to catch up to the rest of the league. And it’s disappointing because they were one of the trendy picks to go all the way with the addition of Parker.
Either way, the Mercury are holding out well with Taurasi still out for probably a month or so. But with the way they’ve been playing as of late, I think Phoenix is going to be just fine.
Great night of professional hoops for the city of Phoenix.
Bullet Passes
A’ja Wilson went for 30-13-5 in the Aces‘ victory over New York. Liberty have now lost two straight.
Meanwhile, the consistency of Betnijah Laney continues to astound. She had 23 in that loss but that means she’s also scored 20 or more in all Liberty games this season.
The Sparks will be without Nneka Ogwumike for 4-6 weeks but that didn’t matter against the Fever. I think the Fever are talented but that 1-9 record doesn’t really show it.
Kristi Toliver was on for the Sparks with 22 points.
Griner now has 16 of the 24 WNBA dunks in league history (that includes all-star games). And that’s also two dunks in a week.
WNBA Scoreboard
June 3, 2021
Watch This Play
Brittney Griner drove in and dropped the hammer!
😤 @BRITTNEYGRINER DUNKS. AGAIN.#CountIt pic.twitter.com/VzmduzoLS9
— WNBA (@WNBA) June 4, 2021
But hey, let’s lower the rim. Right, fellas? Hah.
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.