The Guru’s WNBA Roundup: New York’s Huge Rally Blocks Atlanta Putting Indiana Through Tiebreakers in the Commissioner’s Cup Title Game July 1 at Minnesota

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

NEW YORK – Up 17 points at 64-47 with 3:56 left in the third period here at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on a busy Tuesday night in the WNBA in their first meeting of the season against the defending league champions, the Atlanta Dream (8-4) suddenly had their visit and seemingly open road to a spot in the Commissioner’s Cup title game on July 1 transformed into a nightmare the rest of the way with the New York Liberty executing a 39-17 rally to a bounce-back 86-81 victory before a nearly packed house of 15,149 fans.

However, the team that got the most out of the New York (10-1) effort was over in the Midwest where the Indiana Fever (6-5) in Caitlin Clark’s second game back from missing five games with a quad strain injury coasted to an 88-71 win over the Connecticut Sun (2-9)  before a home crowd of 16,284 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

Had Atlanta won, the Dream would have succeeded the Liberty, who had taken part in the two earlier Cup championships with a split, but instead the three teams went 4-1 in the in-season tourney on the East side of the standings and Indiana grabbed the tiebreaker.

The Fever followed up Saturday’s home win over New York, Clark’s first game back, in which they handed the Liberty their sole loss of the season in front of the third-most viewed WNBA game on ABC, a total of 2.2 million peaking at 2.8 million, up 76% over last summer’s network average airing league games.

Meanwhile on the West side, Minnesota (11-1), in front of a home crowd of 8,802, added to the ongoing misery of Las Vegas’ season to date, routing the Aces 76-62 despite losing Lynx leading sensation Napheesa Collier to back problems during the contest.

After winning two WNBA championships in 2022 and 2023 following a move from San Antonio and then bowing to New York last year in the semifinals, the Aces (5-6) have struggled the first month after touted as one of the championship contenders.

Minnesota finished 5-1 in the Cup standings to return to the title game won last year over New York, which got its revenge in the league finals three months later with a narrow win in overtime in the decisive Game 5.

Unlike the Cup tourney, the eight WNBA playoff slots are seeded based on overall record without regard to geographical placement.

In the other three games, the first night this season that a max number six were on the card in the 13-team league, Washington (5-7) rallied for a 79-72 win at Chicago (3-8) as 7,579 attended at Wintrust Arena; Seattle (7-5), which would have gained the Cup championship if Minnesota had lost after handing the Lynx their sole loss last week, crushed Los Angeles 98-67, dropping the host Sparks to 4-9 before their home crowd of 10,581 at crypto.com Arena ; and Dallas (2-11) snapped a seven-game losing streak in front of a home crowd of 6,061 at College Park Center on the campus of Texas-Arlington in the suburbs winning 80-71 over the surprising expansion Golden State Valkyries (5-6).

Ionescu Helps Turn the Tide for New York

Sabrina Ionescu made it two straight 34-point games to lead the Liberty with 15 of them in the finishing surge while Breanna Stewart collected 11 of her 23 points during the rally.

“I was really proud of the way we fought,” Ionescu said. “Obviously that game could have easily gone the other direction. You saw a team that stayed together, dug really deep and then kind of figured it out.

“I’m really impressed with the way we’re able to do that because we haven’t been put in that situation this year, to go down that big. All these experiences are going to help us play in games as the season goes on.”

WNBA Finals MVP Jonquel Jones returning from an absence of several games had a double double of 10 points and 10 boards.

Atlanta rookie Te-Hina Paopao out of Dawn Staley’s South Carolina squad following a transfer from Oregon had all 16 of her points in the first half, while Allisha Gray coming off a career-high in Sunday’s win at Washington was held to 14 points, Brionna Jones and Rhyne Howard each scored 13 points.

Paopao being hot with 6-7 from the field and making four from deep powered the Dream to a 43-40 halftime lead.

It got worse for the home folks facing their largest deficit of the season as Atlanta nailed their first seven attempts from the field.

Helping New York was the play of Marine Johannes off the bench with +23 for the game after she entered.

“We had to find some energy,” Liberty coach Sandy Brandello said of the insertion. “And we did. We needed it.”

New York finally caught up with Saint Joseph’s grad Natasha Cloud out of Broomall making it 76-76 with 3:56 left in regulation on an old-fashioned three-point play.

Stewart scored twice on the next two possessions to push the Liberty into the lead helped by offensive boards to maintain control.

As teams will now cross geography with the Cup race to the championship game concluded, New York next hosts Phoenix, Thursday, at 7 p.m. on the first game of an Amazon Prime twin bill which will air Indiana at Golden State in San Francisco at 10 p.m., the only two games that night.

Phoenix, the only team not playing Tuesday night, travels Wednesday to Connecticut at 7 p.m. on the WNBA streaming League Pass, the only game on Wednesday’s slate.

The Mercury were 4-2 in the Cup standings but were eliminated from any tiebreakers as were the Valkyries.

Clark Powers Indiana to Title Game

In Indiana’s win, Caitlin Clark had 20 points, six assists and four from beyond the arc in a controversial physical game in which three players were tossed late and the social media crowd were aghast that Marina Marbrey wasn’t shown the exit earlier after defending Clark.

The game had long since been decided when the Sun’s Jacy Sheldon with 46.1 seconds left grabbed a steal and went the other direction to be fouled hard by Indiana’s Sophie Cunningham, who had finally returned to action in Saturday’s win.

Sheldon jumped up and got into a shoving match with the two thrown out along with Lindsay Allen.

In the third period, Sheldon poked Clark in the eye and Marbrey entered the fracas and shoved the Indiana star to the floor.

Three technicals were called sending Clark to the line connecting on all three attempts for a 58-45 lead.

Kelsey Mitchell scored 17 for Indiana while Natasha Howard scored 16 with 12 boards for her 50th double double. Damiris Dantas scored 13 points.

The Sun’s Tina Charles scored 20 while Olivia Nelson-Ododa added 14 points and Jaelyn Brown scored 13.

As mentioned, Indiana is at Golden State Thursday late while Connecticut on a back-to-back hosts Phoenix Wednesday.

Minnesota Shakes Off Collier Injury to Return to Cup Final

Though Napheesa Collier, who had become an early leader in the league MVP speculation, was lost early in the third with back problems, Courtney Williams powered Minnesota to a return hosting Indiana this time in the Cup championship on July 1 at the Target Center in Minneapolis by scoring 18 of her 20 points in the second half.

Minnesota had trailed 39-30 at the half, the lowest output for the Lynx this season, while the Aces were without reigning MVP A’ja Wilson her third straight game sidelined with a concussion.

Alanna Smith had 10 points and 13 boards for the Lynx while off the bench Diamond Miller and Natisha Hiedeman each scored 12 points.

Las Vegas got 12 points from Jewell Loyd and Tiffany Mitchell scored 10.

The Lynx never led until Smith scored her points with 4:14 of the third quarter and she later scored to send Minnesota into the final period up 56-52.

The Aces then went cold and furthermore in the contest committed 21 turnovers which the Lynx mined into 27 points.

Las Vegas hosts Seattle at 10 p.m. on ION Friday, while Minnesota on Saturday hosts Los Angeles at 10 p.m. on NBA TV.

Bueckers and Ogunbowale End Dallas’ Skid

Paige Bueckers, the overall No. 1 pick last April out of UConn’s 12th NCAA championship contingent, had 20 points while former Notre Dame star Arike Ogunbowale had 19 points, six helpers and three steals as the Wings finally won at home, their only other triumph winning at Connecticut 109-87 in late May.

Kaila Charles was also in double figures for Dallas with 10 points and three steals.

Golden State, which had had some surprising early season success in their league debut, besides selling out every home game with 18,000+ fans in the Chase Center they share with NBA Golden State in San Francisco, got 18 points from Monqiue Billings, while Kayla Thornton scored 17, Laeticia Anihere scored 14, and Tiffany Hayes had 10.

UConn coach Geno Auriemma, who was at the Women’s Hall of Fame in Knoxville for the induction of Sue Bird last weekend, was at the game featuring a reunion of Huskies between Bueckers and former Princeton star Kaitlyn Chen prior to transferring as a graduate.

Chen had been a surprise Golden State pick draft night, didn’t make the opening day roster, but was recently added.

The Valkyries have a bunch of foreign players who soon will be unavailable for several weeks playing internationally for their homelands.

Golden State next hosts Indiana Thursday as mentioned at 10 p.m. on Amazon Prime video while Dallas Friday is at Connecticut 7:30 p.m. on ION.

Washington Rallies Over Chicago

Down 12 at the half, the visiting Mystics took flight over the Sky paced by Brittney Sykes scoring 32 points propelled by 13-24 from the field.

Washington owned the third period on Chicago 24-12 to knot the score 56-56 heading into the final period.

At the 2:17 mark of the final minute, Sykes scored with an add-one for a 74-70 lead.

It was plus three for the visitors with 37 seconds remaining when Sykes grabbed an o-board but was unable to score.

However, Kiki Iriafen, one of two sensational Washington rookies, scored off another offensive board for a five-point lead.

Kamilla Cardoso’s shot for Chicago was blocked by Shakira Austin and Sonia Citron, the other star rookie, made two from the line to clinch the outcome finishing with 13 points and nine rebounds.

Lucy Olsen, the rookie from Villanova and Iowa out of Collegeville, played four minutes in this one with zero statistics for the Mystics.

Cardoso for the Sky had 18 points and 10 rebounds, Angel Reese had a double double with 17 points and 10 boards, and Ariel Artkins scored 10 with seven boards.

Washington is at Atlanta Friday at 7:30 p.m. on ION while Chicago Saturday hosts Phoenix at 1 p.m. on ABC and ESPN+.

Seattle Blasts Los Angeles

The visiting Storm entered its game with Los Angeles having handed Minnesota its only loss and rolled over the injury-riddled Sparks but the Lynx having rallied to win earlier Tuesday night was the ticket to stop Seattle and return to the Cup title game.

The Storm got 26 points from free agent acquisition Nneka Ogwumike, shooting 12-16 from the field, while Skyler Diggins and Erica Wheeler each scored 15 points. Additionally, Gabby Williams had a franchise best eight steals with 11 points and seven assists but left the game early in the fourth period with an ankle sprain. Alysha Clark had 14 points, thriving on 4 of 5 attempted makes.

The Sparks, missing Kelsey Plum with a right leg injury and Odyssey Sims for personal reasons, got 17 points from Rickea Jackson, while Azura Stevens had 16 points and 10 boards. All 12 of rookie Sarah Ashlee Parker’s points came from four 4-pointers.

Former Temple star Shey Peddy is now on Los Angeles while Grace Berger, who starred at Indiana and was babysitting Saturday night, according to the Associated Press, when she got the call signed for the rest of the season to help the Sparks depleted roster.

Seattle is at Las Vegas Friday at 10 p.m. on ION while Los Angeles is at Minnesota Saturday at 8 p.m. on NBA TV.