Guru’s WNBA Report: Temple’ Dupree Joins Elite Group As Indiana Survives Near-Squandered Lead to Edge New York

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

It was a milestone night for for former Temple All-American Candice Dupree and a key win for her Indiana Fever, beating the New York Liberty 86-79 Thursday in the nightly WNBA trifecta from the ING Academy in Bradenton, Fla., near Tampa/St. Petersburg.

 

In the other two games, Washington’s woes continued with a sixth straight loss, falling 81-64 to the Los Angeles Sparks while in a fight for sole possession of second place, which carries the other double bye slot to the semifinals, the Las Vegas Aces topped the Minnesota Lynx 87-77.

 

First place Seattle, which was idle, meets Dallas at 8 p.m. Friday after a key game starts an hour earlier at 7 with the Connecticut Sun meeting the Chicago Sky in a twitter cast. The night’s activity concludes with the Phoenix Mercury meeting the Atlanta Dream at 10 p.m.

 

With the halfway point on the reduced 22-game-per-team regular season schedule looming ahead Sunday and Monday, playoff talk begins to segue into prominence.

 

Unlike the changes made to the regular season, which had a delayed start and has all the teams housed in the Florida complex due to the coronavirus, the playoff format remains the same with the top two overall teams without regard to conference affiliation gaining a double bye to the semifinals, while the other six teams involved have the 5^th seed meeting the 8th in a one-game knockout and the 6^th seed meeting the 7^th likewise in the other opening round.

 

 The two winners then advance to another one-game knockout against the third and fourth place finishers, pairings based on the seed advancement, and then likewise, the two second-round winners move on to the semifinals with pairings again determined by the seed advancement.

 

So as the postseason stretch drive looms on the horizon, for the higher teams right now the imperative is to beat those who have been struggling, while the lower teams are in a must-win mode.

 

And of course the higher teams are focused premium finishes in what has been a frenzied pace playing every other day, the breaks coming the best for teams that play Saturday and then don’t play again until Wednesday after Monday serves as the universal idle day.

 

The one exception to the Monday rest day was last week.

 

Thus, in reviewing the Indiana game, while New York’s designs on a championship are off for another year, the one-win start to date meant if getting to the field would be reward enough, Indiana took care of its business grabbing one against a struggling opponent.

 

The Fever, who have been in rebuild mode for several seasons, are at the moment 4-5 in seventh, a game behind the idle Phoenix Mercury, but just one ahead of a triple tie among the Connecticut Sun and Dallas Wings, which were idle, at 3-6, and Washington, the defending champions who fell to the Sparks for the Mystics’ sixth straight loss after surprisingly taking their first three games.

 

That was a surprise considering Washington is missing a myriad of key players with Saint Joseph’s grad Natasha Cloud taking the opt-out to concentrate on fighting for social justice, while Delaware grad Elena Delle Donne still has back issues relating to last season besides her vulnerability to the Covid-19 illness off her ongoing struggle with Lyme Disease.

 

Former Maryland star Kristi Tolliver signed with Los Angeles as a free agent in the offseason and then used this season’s opt-out option.

 

Injuries have placed the Mystics roster below the 10-player due line into hardship territory and prior to Thursday’s game they picked up rookie Stella Johnson, the nation’s leading collegiate scorer out of Rider, who was drafted by Phoenix, cut before opening day, then signed by the Chicago Sky, which also had roster limits problems at the time.

 

As for the on-court action, in the Indiana game for the Fever, former South Carolina star Tiffany Mitchell, a former South Carolina star, had 19 points, former Ohio State star Kelsey Mitchell scored 18, and Julie Allemand had 13.

 

The game nearly got away from Indiana, having had a 16-point lead by the Fever whittled to two with 37.7 seconds left in regulation Before Kelsey Mitchell took a pass from Allemand and fired a three-pointer to preserve the win under first-year coach Marianne Stanley.

 

A women’s basketball hall of famer, Stanley played in the Immaculata championship era, coached Old Dominion to three national titles, including one in the NCAA, and also had a head coaching gig in the WNBA with Washington and was on staffs at New York and Los Angeles while later returning to the Mystics under Mike Thibault and was on the champions of last season.

 

Teaira McCowan grabbed 13 rebounds in the win.

 

Temple’s Dupree, one of the WNBA’s elder stateswomen, scored 11 and joined an elite prestigious group of former WNBA all-stars Lisa Leslie, Virginia coach Tina Thompson, and Fever vice president of basketball operations Tamika Catchings as the sole players surpassing 6,000 career points and likewise 3,000 rebounds.

 

Former Connecticut star Kia Nurse fired 21 points, paced by 11-of-12 free throws, for New York, while Layshia Clarendon had 20 points and Jazmine Thomas scored 11 off the bench.

 

Sabrina Ionescu, the overall No. 1 pick out of Oregon last April, continues to be sidelined for the Liberty with a sprained left ankle probably for the remainder of the season.

 

“They found a way to stay competitive all night,” said New York head coach first-year coach Walt Hopkins of his squad.

 

Meanwhile, Los Angeles, which plays Indiana on Saturday, gained its third straight, beating Washington 81-64 to improve to 6-3 overall with Minnesota, which fell in its second place showdown with Las Vegas.

 

Riquana Williams off the bench scored 13 for the Sparks, while Nneka Ogwumike had 12 points, Brittney Sykes scored 10, Chelsea Gray scored 11, and reserve Kristine Anigwe, a former Cal star,  scored 11. Former Tennessee standout Candace Parker grabbed nine rebounds.

 

Washington’s Ariel Atkins scored 20 points, shooting 8-for-11 from the field, Belgian Emma Meesseman, the first to win the playoffs MVP honor as a reserve, had 12 points and 11 rebounds, and Myisha Hines-Allen scored 10.

 

Rider’s Johnson saw action, scoring two foul shots in five minutes of playing time.

 

The Sparks outscored the Mystics in every quarter and forced 21 turnovers.

“Defensively, we’re making more of a concerted effort as a team,” Sparks head coach Derek Fisher. “More people are taking individual pride in what they’re doing on the defensive end.”

 

 Citing his deep roster, Fisher noted, “We tend to focus on the star players and the big names, but I do believe those complimentary players make all the difference in the world.”

 

In the Vegas win, A’ja Wilson continued to perform on an MVP regular season caliber as she scored 23 points, shooting 10-for-16 from the field, while blocking four shots and grabbing eight rebounds.

 

Free-agent signee Angel McCoughtry scored 21 while former Notre Dame stars Kayla McBride scored 21 and reserve Jackie Young scored 16.

 

Minnesota got 21 points and nine rebounds from second-year pro Napheesa Collier out of Connecticut while former UConn star Crystal Dangerfield scored 14, and Kayla Alexander scored 11.