The Guru’s WNBA Round Up: New York (4-0) and Minnesota (5-0) Still Unbeaten While Paige Bueckers Shines in Dallas First Season Win and Chicago Blows Huge Lead at Phoenix

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Not only are the WNBA defending champion New York Liberty and the Minnesota Lynx, the teams that played against each other down to an overtime affair in the decisive fifth game for the finals, the only two squads quickly in the young season still unbeaten, they’re doing it with a punishing effect.

The Liberty here Tuesday night in the Barclays Center before a roaring crowd of 14,774 hosted the expansion Golden State squad in the first of two games this week, the other coming  with an encore Thursday, and handed the Valkryies a taste of how the royalty teams live with an explosive 95-67 victory setting a record by reaching 90 points in four straight season-opening wins.

Minnesota (5-0), meanwhile, was likewise handling a Seattle squad that came visiting the Target Center in Minneapolis and feeling pretty good about themselves, but the Storm managed to make it a contes before the Lynx closed the door 82-77.

Down at the bottom of the standings on the busiest night of the season with five games, in a battle of winless squads, overall No. 1 draft pick Paige Bueckers out of UConn returned with the Dallas Wings (1-4) to the state of her collegiate career and looked every bit a rookie of the year contender, scoring 21 points in an arena she was a perfect 15-0 with the Huskies at the Mohegan Sun getting her squad to the victory lane 109-87 over the Connecticut Sun (0-5).

Bueckers won Big East titles as well as multi-team-events in non-conference appearances.

The other two games were out West late and Chicago, which had set a season-start opposite record of the Liberty in point differential deficits, got out of the blown-out funk but not the loss column, yielding 94-89 in the desert to the Phoenix Mercury, which has  zipped to a 4-1 start while the Sky remain winless 0-4.

New York Goes Wire to Wire on Golden State

The Liberty dropped the first bucket and just kept dropping them ruining Golden State’s start to a challenging road trip after drawing kudos for the Vakyries’ 2-1 start at home.

All-star Brenna Stewart, who continues to be a perennial MVP candidate dating to her original days with Seattle, scored 24 for the home team while Jonquel Jones, the MVP in last season’s finals, double doubled with 13 points and 10 boards, and also dealt five assists.

Marine Johannes also was in double figures down the line for the winners, with 18 points, all collected on 6-of-11 from three-point range, while former Saint Joseph’s star Natasha Cloud distributed 10 of New York’s season-best 30 assists.

The Liberty, who raced to a 22-3 lead, were friendly pre-game to the visitors, having a short ceremony to give Kayla Thornton her championship ring earned playing the second of two seasons with New York.

“You welcome a sister home, you welcome somebody you have a lot of great memories with,” Jones said of Thornton now being on the opposing side. “That you won a championship with.

“The ring ceremony was so special for us, and she wasn’t able to be a part of that. We just wanted to make her feel special. We want her to understand when the game is being played, we’re opponents, but other than that, we’re sisters for life and something no one will be able to take away from us.”

Thornton, an expansion draft pickup, and former Northwestern start Veronica Burton, each scored 13 points for Golden State, while former Harvard star Temi Fagbenle scored 11.

In Chicago last week New York’s win was propelled by 14 from deep, grabbed 14 steals and shot from the field 37-of-74 while defensively the winners had 32 points off Vakyries’ miscues.

“Offensively, we really want to push the pace, we want to move the ball, we want to make sure that we know we’re putting in rotations and finding the best shots available,” Stewie said of her team’s explosive start on the offensive end.

Before the game, Cloud commented on the recent hire by Army of Saint Joseph’s associate head coach Katie Kuester.

“KK got the Army job. She’s a great coach. A Hawk legend, we knew each other from high school so I’m just so happy for her.”

Buekers Lights Up Connecticut in Dallas Win

The former UConn great had a natural homecoming recently when the No. 1 draft pick taken last month was with the Wings going to Minnesota where she grew up cheering the Lynx on to their four championships with the likes of Linsey Whalen, now on Cheryl Reeve’s staff, and Maya Moore,  along with Sylvia Fowles.

On Tuesday it was back to her collegiate upbringing, and she looked no different than when leading the Huskies to their 12th NCAA title last month.

Bueckers scored 21 points in Dallas’ first win after a season-opening four-game losing streak, a run she never remembered enduring, even when the Huskies endured a series of injuries, particularly to the Hopkins native her sophomore and junior seasons.

She was healthy her natural senior year but took advantage of a fifth season eligibility to come back and lead Connecticut to the NCAA championship.

“Felt great just to play like that as a team and obviously that environment is special to me,” Bueckers said afterwards. “I don’t think I ever lost here. I  was just trying to carry that into tonight.”

Several of her college teammates were in the crowd.

Dallas had 15 in the first half and the Wings hit the break ahead 14 points.

“She just continues to do things that should be surprising but are not,” said Dallas first-year coach Chris Koclanes, who was previously on Curt Miller’s staff at Mohegan and with him in Los Angeles.

Miller is now GM in Dallas.

“I take a step back to just appreciate, the type of player and even more so the type of person that she is.”

Dallas has one more trip back on June 20 but may not have many more in the future if the Mohegans decide to sale the franchise, which is being explored, and the team gets moved elsewhere.

Arike Obunbowale, the former Notre Dame standout and one of the league’s top scorers, who had been in a slump, continued to get back on track scoring 15 of her 19 points in the third quarter. Dijonia Carrington scored 21 points, and Ty Harris was scoreless, the two players making their first visit to the casino-entertainment venue since being traded to the Wings in the offseason.

Former Villanova great Maddy Siegrist, who was third overall in the 2023 draft, hit two from deep and scored 12 off the bench for the visitors.

Tina Charles, a past No. 1 pick out of Geno Auriemma’s Huskies, scored 17 points with six boards, while another former player off the team Bria Hartley scored 12 as a substitute.

Former Notre Dame star Marina Mabrey scored 19, shooting 6-12 from the field and 4-9 on 3-pointers.

Connecticut’s next attempt to get its first win comes on Friday’s five-game card when the Sun visit Indiana at 7:30 p.m. on ION.

Dallas on Thursday visits the Chicago Sky at 8 p.m. on Amazon Prime, the other game besides the second New York-Golden State meeting.

Lynx Weather the Storm to Top All 13 Teams at 5-0

Napheesa Collier was still in double figures with 16 points, but teammate Courtney Williams scored 23 as Minnesota stayed perfect and ruined an upset bid by Seattle (3-2), which had been off to an early-season surge.

Minnesota had a roster addition for another weapon in Kayla McBride, who made her season debut missing the previous games due to personal reasons.

The Lynx had a double-digit lead most of the night before Seattle began to narrow the deficit to 70-64 near the four-minute time left in regulation.

Williams, a South Florida standout the last decade, kept Minnesota over Seattle with two shots to lead 76-69 at the two-minute mark.

The Storm slashed the deficit in half plus a point at 76-63, still time at 27 seconds, and McBride connected from the line four times to get it back to plus six at 80-74 at the 14-second mark.

“Just like old times, Kayla at the free throw line to ice a victory,” said Reeve of her return. It was great. For her to be on the team was a good pick-me-up, for her teammates and her team, everybody settling in. They felt whole again and  that was really obvious in our body language.”

Erica Wheeler got it down to three from deep for the Storm, but Collier connected twice from the line and Seattle lost the ball on their last possession.

Collier filled the stat sheet adding five boards and five steals, while Alana Smith collected 16 points and McBride finished with 15 for the Lynx.

Seattle got 20 from Gabby Williams, Skylar Diggins scored 18, while Nneka Ogwumike had 11 and Wheeler scored 10.

 

Minnesota gets another challenge playing at Phoenix, Friday, while the same night Seattle hosts Atlanta.

All Friday games are on ION and the WNBA’s League Pass streaming site.

Phoenix Rallies to Keep Chicago Winless

Second-year pro Angel Reese made some WNBA history and while she became the fastest person to reach 500 points and 500 boards, the performance got the Sky (0-4) a better challenge but still the same winless result blowing a 16-point lead in the second half as Phoenix (4-1) took a 94-89 victory at before a crowd of 8,818 at PHX Arena in the Southwest.

Satou Sabally scored 20 points for the Mercury, while newcomer Kitija Laksa, who starred at South Florida, had her best effort with 18 points.

Free agent signee Alyssa Thomas had 10 points, 15 assists, seven boards, three steals and a pair of blocked shots for the winners. Kathryn Westbeld and rookie Monique Akoa Makani out of Cameroon each scored 13 points and the two teamed to hit on five 3-pointers in the final period.

Reese had 13 points and 15 boards for the Sky, Ariel Atkins had 21 points, former South Carolina standout Kamilla Cardoso, in her second season, had 16 points and nine rebounds.

Free agent signee Courtney Vandersloot had 15 points and 11 assists, while Kia Nurse snapped out of her 3-point shooting slump, connecting on four from deep and had 14 points.

In the third period when Chicago reached the high end of the kind of differential the Sky has been on the other end; it began to slip away off a 12-2 run concluded by Vandersloop’s layup.

The Mercury had not led since early in the game, but Sabally made a driving layup to put Phoenix ahead 74-73 with seven minutes remaining in regulation.

Akoa Makani and Laksa had consecutive connects from beyond the arc with five minutes ahead to make it 80-85 and the Mercury were on the way for another triumph.

As mentioned earlier, Phoenix hosts Minnesota Friday, while Chicago will take a shot getting their first win hosting Dallas Thursday.

Dream Plays Like One to Edge Los Angeles

Last winter as the NCAA season tipped off, Karl Smesko was continuing his long era on the sidelines at Florida Gulf Coast while Lynne Roberts was doing the same at Utah.

But soon thereafter as the WNBA had eight vacancies at the time, Smesko was taken by Atlanta while a few days later Roberts was on her way to the Los Angeles Sparks.

Tuesday night they crossed paths for the first time this season in Crypto.com arena, formerly the Staples Center, in Tinseltown and Atlanta (4-2) continued its nice start winning 88-82 as Allisha Gray scored 25 points as the Dream stopped a late rally by the Sparks (2-4).

The Dream had been up 17 late in the third period when Kelsey Plum highlighted a 14-3 L.A. run with six points and a dime and suddenly Atlanta was clinging to a slim 69-67 lead with five minutes to go.

Threes from Rhyne Howard and Gray enabled the visitors to maintain the differential the next two minutes.

The home crowd got excited as Azura Stevens hit one from beyond the arc with one tick off a minute remaining to cut it to 81-77 but Naz Hillmon hit a similar shot to get the Dream to safe territory and then Gray locked the door with four connections from the line.

Howard had 15 points, nine boards, and seven assists for the winners, while Brionna Jones scored 13, Hillmon scored 11, and and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough scored 10.

Los Angeles’ Dearica Hamby had 28 points, eight assists, six boards, and four swipes, Plum scored 27 with five assists and four steals. Stevens double doubled with 10 points and 11 boards.

The Dream won despite free agent sensation Brittney Griner sidelined with a knee injury.

Plum will take her turn Friday night against a former team when L.A. v isits the Las Vegas, while as mentioned Atlanta is at Seattle.

There’s only one game Wednesday, Indiana (2-2) at 7:30 p.m. makes a detour on the road heading to the CFG Bank in Baltimore to play the Washington Mystics on NBA TV.

It’s the first game for the Fever without Caitlin Clark, who is sidelined with a quad injury, the game having been moved up the road the way many other hosts with small arenas have done for bigger crowds anxious to see the former Iowa great.

The sister Capital Center in downtown Washington, home of the NBA Wizards and NHL Capitals, is undergoing renovation.

The Mystics with the youngest roster in the league at 29 years got off to a 2-0 start winning the season opener at home over Atlanta and started its road trip winning at Connecticut but then suffering three narrow losses starting with expansion Golden State’s first-ever win in the game played in San Francisco at the Chase Center, home of the NBA Warriors.