The Guru’s WNBA Report: New York Downs L.A.Winning the Front of a Road Back-to -Back While Siegrist Matches Career-Best With 22 to Give Dallas One-Point Upset at Indiana

Updating with Minnesota Clinching a Playoff Spot

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

Defending WNBA champion New York (21-11) got its three-game road trip and front end of a back-to-back off to a winning start  Tuesday night as the Liberty broke their second-place tie with idle Atlanta (20-11) by topping ninth-place Los Angeles (15-17) in a high-scoring 105-97 shootout before a crowd of 11,862 at Cryptco.com Arena to inch closer within six games of Minnesota (27-5), whom they visit Saturday.

The loss dropped the Sparks, who are just outside the eight-team playoff cutoff, by a game behind Seattle (16-16), which they swept 2-0 last week in narrow victories, and just a half-game ahead of 10th-place Washington (14-17) in the low end of the race to make the field which will be settled Sept. 11 on the final day of the regular season.

The loss also officially put idle Minnesota in the playoff field since winning the series with the Sparks gives the first-place Lynx the tie-breaker.

In the other game, which featured two explosive scoring runs and whose outcome affected a team in the tight middle of the pack, Villanova graduate Maddy Siegrist, in her first start in just over two injury-sidelined months, equaled her three-year high in the WNBA with 22 points to lead 11th place Dallas (9-24) to a stunning 81-80 upset at Indiana (18-15) before a crowd of 16,027 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

Reigning rookie of the year Caitlin Clark remained out of action with an aggravated groin injury since July 15 that occurred late in a game against last-place Connecticut (5-26) in Boston and the Fever are now 10-10 overall without their star after falling a half-game from a fifth-place tie with Las Vegas (18-14) to just a game in front of the 7th-place expansion Golden State Valkyries (16-15) and 1.5 games in front of Seattle.

The loss deprived Indiana of making headway the other direction where the Fever now trail fourth-place Phoenix (19-12) by two games for the last spot that offers  home-court advantage in the best-of-three first round. They also trail New York by 3.5 games for the second place spot that also gives home advantage in the semifinals.

Until earlier this season in two prior stints out of uniform, Clark had been injury-free her rookie season and entire collegiate career at Iowa where her scoring elevated national attention to women’s hoops with record stadium attendance and TV ratings.

Clark also missed the Commissioner’s Cup championship win at Minnesota on July 1 in a game that’s not part of regular season records as well as the 3-point skills competition at All-Star weekend in Indianapolis besides the game itself in which she was a team captain by gaining the most votes from fans picking the 10-member starters pool for both squads.

New York Balance Yields Season-Scoring High to Douse Sparks

Belgian Emma Meesseman had 24 points, her best performance since her recent arrival as a free-agent signee, to help the Liberty stay above the teams right behind them and not fall further behind the Lynx, who are off until hosting New York and are already 2-0 in the four-game series against the team that edged them in the WNBA finals in overtime at the finish in the decisive Game 5 last October.

“Our approach is different and we pay attention to detail so it made it easy to read more what’s happening on the court and hopefully every game is going to be like that,” Meesseman said after the game of quickly becoming more comfortable.

“We’re still adjusting, but it felt good today.”

Finals MVP Jonquel Jones, who missed a month with a leg injury as the Liberty fell from sharing the fast start at the top of the standings with Minnesota, scored 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds and coach Sandy Brondello equalled Richie Adubato with their franchise-best 100 wins.

Brondello, who won a title with Phoenix, can go alone in front Wednesday, part of a league four-game package when New York completes the back-to-back at Las Vegas at 9:30 p.m. on ESPN.

“It means a lot,” said Brondello of the milestone and who was doused afterwards in the locker room by her players. “It’s a privilege to coach the New York Liberty. I’ve had a lot of good players the four years in New York and the credit just goes to the team.”

“We heard about it before she came in, so we had a few ideas, but we said, ‘let’s let the coaches get to her first’ and then, we just showered her with water,” Jones said.

Late in Tuesday’s game Saint Joseph’s graduate Natasha Cloud scored on consecutive layups to put the visitors up double digits 96-85 ahead of teammate Sabrina Ionescu scoring with 1:22 left and then Cloud, who had 11 points, scored again to make it 102-91.

Leonie Fiebich scored 20, while Ionescu had 14 points and six assists as New York bounced back from Sunday’s loss to Minnesota in Brooklyn.

“Everyone playing in the best league understands it’s really hard to repeat, but that’s the challenge we’ve had to embrace,” Brondello said. “Last year was last year, this is a whole new year, we’ve got different players, we’ve got new challenges, and obviously all the challenges, we’ve had a lot of injuries this year, but we stay together, obviously excited when we get everybody back and make sure we’re peaking at the right time.”

All-star Breanna Stewart, out since late last month with a bone-bruise until closer  to the playoffs, continued to be joined on the sidelines with Nyara Sabally (knee) and now Isabella Harrison, who is in the concussion protocol.

The Liberty, who set a league record early this season twice connecting with 19 makes from distance, set a Los Angeles opponent high with 14 beyond the arc.

The Sparks’ Kelsey Plum scored 26 points while Dearica Hamby scored 21 with eight rebounds and four steals.

“They are the defending champs, and they have that pedigree, “ said Sparks coach Lynne Roberts before the game. “They are really, really good, and well prepared. Everybody in this league goes through times when you're short handed, but that doesn't change your culture, or who you are as a team.

“They're used to winning, and every time they put on their uniform, they're not hoping to win, they're executing to win, so I'm not thinking too much about that (Liberty injuries) at all.

 “They have Sabrina and Jonquel and then Emma, they have eight but it's a good eight.”

 Los Angeles, which played its fifth game in eight days, had been hot rising from a lottery-bound outfit, in part due to now-healed injuries, to a playoff contender.

Azura Stevens added 17 points and Rickea Jackson scored 16, but Cameron Brink, recently returned from missing most of her rookie season, only played five minutes and scored two points in the first half.

“I just felt like we were missing a little umph today,” Roberts said. “Defensively, we were not great. Giving up 105. We still scored 97, (but) we just were a little bit off, but we still scored almost 100 and did some good things.

 “You have to give credit to New York, I thought they did a good job. Their zone slowed us down a bit,” Roberts continued.

“We just didn't play well defensively. I think, offensively, we know who we are, we know what we're good at, we know what gets us away from that. When we play with pace and we share the ball, we're tough to beat. We had 23 assists, and only 7 turnovers.

“But New York shot 56% and had 14 threes. It's tough to beat a team when they shoot like that, shooting percentage is a direct correlation of shot quality, which means they were getting great shots,” Roberts said.

“So we've got to do a better job, defensively, our staff knows that, the players know that. There's not a lot of time to teach and practice, but these guys are pros, and they understand, and I have not lost an ounce of faith or confidence in them.

 “It's just a tough night for us tonight, but this is that part of the season, and again, you've got to give New York credit, they came to play, they made shots, they played well. They beat us.

“And so, the only thing we can do is get up and ready to attack. We play at Dallas on Friday, and hopefully we play better defensively.”

Los Angeles visits Dallas at 7:30 p.m., part of a five-game slate all on ION, highlighted by the WNBA’s first regular season game in Canada with Seattle and Atlanta at Rogers Arena in Vancouver at 10 p.m.

Toronto, which had an exhibition game in the city, joins the WNBA with Portland next season.

Siegrist Stars in Dallas Win at Indy

The Wings in 11th but tied with Chicago (8-23) 18.5 behind first and three in front of basement-dwelling Connecticut, snapped a five-game losing streak but it wasn’t easy though it started that way after coming into Midwest 2-11 in the last 13 games.

Dallas jumped to a 21-9 lead near the end of the first quarter but then after being ahead 78-61 with 6:38 left in regulation made just one shot the rest of the way, surviving Indiana’s closing 19-3 run ending on Kelsey Mitchell’s basket with 33.4 left.

“Our starts, our first and third quarter, gave us a good cushion,” said first-year coach Chris Koclanes. “We just then gutted it out and gritted it out and got enough stops, and that’s what it comes down to can we still give that defensive effort down the stretch.

“So just happy with the intensity and we eked it out in a tough environment,” he said. “This is a tough place to play, the fans are incredible. So when they start going on those runs it gets loud,” he explained.

“So when we get enough stops throw enough punches back, a really good growth moment for our young group.”

Stephanie White is new this year at Indiana but not to the WNBA or Fever franchise coming from the Connecticut Sun and a previous stint leading the team to a title when Hall of Famer and former Tennessee great Tamika Catchings was the face of the franchise.

“Our attention to detail wasn’t very good and they got ahead on some easy ones,” White said of how it went for Indiana.

 “And we did some uncharacteristic things with the ball in our hands. Fouling, getting to the free throw line, and turnovers. There’s no defense for transition turnovers.”

And on the offensive end: “All our point guards are injured – that’s the first thing. Dallas turned up the pressure, they made it a little more difficult for us to bring down the ball and initiate offense and it became a little bit more disruptive.”

Overall No. 1 pick Paige Bueckers out of NCAA champion UConn in April missed a shot for the Texans from the lane with 14 seconds left, the rebound going to the Fever.

Mitchell was crowded trying to shoot a game-winner causing Stephanie Clark to take a timeout with 1.7 seconds left.

The ball went back to Mitchell, who scored 24 with four from deep, but her attempted 3-pointer to rescue the Fever from the corner hit the backboard as time expired.

“Our defensive energy, we got them to force some tough shots,” White said of the big rally. “More than anything, when it starts on the defensive end, it allows us to get to run in transition and play faster and we’re at our best when we do that, especially with the point guard situation, you’re not holding onto the ball a long time.

“It was a physical game and I think there is a double standard on how people get their calls. I think Kelsey Mitchell, number one, is held or chopped on every freaking possession and never gets a call off the ball.

“I think Aliyah Boston is the worst officiated post player in the league, she never gets a call, there’s a double standard there but again if you’re going to allow us to be physical, you have to allow both teams to be physical.

“It’s tough when you dig yourselves a hole. In the first quarter, the third quarter we dug ourselves a hole. Turnovers were scored. Easy buckets. Free throws. Again I continue to be proud of the toughness and resiliency of this group, but our margin for error is small and now even smaller,” White said. “And now everybody’s hungry.

“Dallas came in, they played very well. They shot the ball very well. They’ve been playing well, they’ve just not been able to finish games.

“For us, our margin is small. Our self-inflicted wounds, we can’t afford those. We have to be more locked in from the jump.”

Siegrist, who got activated from the injury list last week in New York, had the kind of night with her 22 points that was commonplace her senior season when she led the nation, including Clark, in scoring and carried Villanova to the Top 10 in the Associated Press women’s poll and NCAA Sweet 16 before Dallas made her the third overall pick of the 2023 draft.

“For me, the most important thing was getting a win tonight,” Siegrist said. “So whatever that took, knowing they’re a really tough team, that was the mentality going in. Without ‘Rike (Arike Ogunbowale) we knew it was going to be step up by committee but obviously it feels good when shots are going in, I just want to be more consistent.

“When the game was on the line we were getting stops,” Siegrist said. "There were stretches we were not scoring and JJ (J.J. Quinerly), she helped us a ton defensively.”

Siegrist shot 9-13 from the field including 3-5 from distance and pulled five boards.

Bueckers, who is now fourth alone with the fastest start in double digit games in the WNBA with all 26 from opening day, scored 16 but the Wings were missing \\Ogunbowale with a right knee injury.

Chinese second year player Li Yueru scored 20 off the bench.

Indiana is also banged up beyond Clark, losing Sydney Colson (ACL) and Aari McDonald (foot) for the season in last Thursday’s loss at Phoenix.

The Fever since signed Odyssey Sims, with L.A. earlier in the season, to a hardship deal but she was scoreless in her debut at 0-4 in 13 minutes.

Behind Mitchell, Sophie Cunningham and Aliyah Boston each scored 14, the latter also grabbed five boards, while Natasha Howard had 12 points and 12 boards for a double double.

Recent free agent signee Chloe Bibby off the bench scored 11 for the Fever, who next host Washington at 7:30 p.m., Friday while the same time as mentioned Dallas hosts Los Angeles.

Besides the game in Canada, the two other Friday games are Golden State at Chicago at 7:30 p.m., and Las Vegas at Phoenix at 10 p.m.

Besides the New York-Las Vegas game Wednesday at 9:30 p.m., a low-end playoff pursuit has expansion Golden State at Washington at 7:30 p.m., Atlanta is at Seattle at 10 p.m. on ESPN3 in a must-win for each team’s separate playoff aspirations, while half of the four likely lottery-bound teams for next April’s draft has Connecticut hosting Chicago at 7 p.m.