The Guru’s WNBA Roundup: Atlanta Sends New York Dipping to 5th; Las Vegas Streak at 10 by Beating Washington; Connecticut Wins Third Straight

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

Just three games in the WNBA were played Saturday, all completed in the afternoon offering more time to chew the outcomes before the next three come down the pike on Sunday.

In terms of the winners, none saw their current situation a month ago.

And considering when some prominent players return from the injured list when the playoffs open up on Sunday, Sept. 14, with all eight teams playing that day in the best-of-three first round, some teams with regained strength could very well be playing their series from the underside, but it would be no upset if any emerge to the semifinals.

All of which is saying it went from bad to worse for the defending champion New York Liberty (22-15) who lost 78-62 at Atlanta (24-13) in part caused by the absence of Sabrina Ionescu who didn’t make the trip after suffering a foot injury in Thursday’s loss to Chicago.

A win would have claimed the series and elevated the champs back into a second-place tie with the Dream, who drew a crowd of 3,305 at the Gateway Center in suburban College Park.

Instead, the outcome enabled Atlanta to sit alone in the two spot 5.5 games behind first-place Minnesota (29-7) while New York dropped to fifth, two games behind the Dream and a half-game behind fourth place Phoenix (22-14), which at the moment holds the last home court advantage in the openers for what would be a 4-5 series meeting.

In the nation’s capital soaring Las Vegas (24-14) won its tenth straight beating Washington 91-81before 4,200 at CareFirst Arena to take third a half-game behind Atlanta, stay a game up on Phoenix and 1.5 in front of New York while sending the Mystics (16-21) closer to elimination joining Connecticut (9-27), Chicago (9-27), and  Dallas (9-28) in the draft lottery pool.

While Minnesota is still the only team to officially earn a playoff participation card in what is a nine-team fight for the remaining seven spots there is some mild separation in the group with the top five teams chasing home advantage in the openers and in one of the best-of-five semifinals.

A 2.5 games differential is between New York and sixth-place Indiana (19-17) which is just a half-game in front of Seattle (19-18), a game in front of expansion Golden State (18-18) and 1.5 in front of Los Angeles (17-18) in the fight to just still be alive when the regular season ends Sept. 11.

Saturday’s other game saw Connecticut win 94-84 at Chicago before 8,412 at Wintrust Arena in the Windy City.

A month ago, New York was still holding its own in second though having slid from a team best 9-0 start and nearly even with the Minnesota team it beat 3-2 last October in the Finals for the first championship in the Liberty’s 29-year history dating to the WNBA inaugural summer of 1997.

The fall began when Finals MVP Jonquel Jones was lost for a month with a leg injury and then in late July All-Star Breanna Stewart was sidelined with a bone bruise in her right knee and has yet to return, which might occur next weekend.

In the current span, New York is the only of the top five this season to register losses to all three teams already eliminated, a differential that could be telling when the final standings arrive 18 days from now.

Stewart’s absence was somewhat compensated earlier this month with the free agent signing of past WNBA standout Emma Meesseman, who hadn’t played in the league since 2022, but the Belgian native had been the top star in Europe.

In 2019 she was the first reserve player to be named Finals MVP when Washington won its only title.

While New York has been on the downside, the league had a hand in compacting the four-game Minnesota series with the Liberty the past several weeks, the Lynx winning the first three until the Liberty prevailed at home in the Barclays Center in Brooklyn last Tuesday.

The joy was short-lived when two nights later at home Chicago closed out with an 8-0 run as second-year pros Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso reach posted double doubles.

In recent weeks Atlanta under first-year coach Karl Smesko from Florida Gulf Coast began to get hot, making Saturday’s meeting a challenge for New York that had plenty of room to stretch on the round-trip charter to Georgia with Ionescu, Stewart, Nayara Sabally, and Isabelle Harrison unable to play.

“I don't know who the eighth seed is going to be, but they can win it all,” Smesko said. “They're that good.

“These teams can get hot, get on a run. There's more good teams in the league right now than I can ever remember,” he continued. “Who knows, maybe the best teams just advance. But I would not be surprised if this is just a wild playoffs and things you don't expect to happen (do happen).”

 A month ago, Las Vegas, which had won consecutive titles in 2022-23 and made the semifinals last fall losing to New York, was jumping in and out of the playoff scene until the current surge.

And Connecticut was deep in the basement with its worst record since brought to New England in 2003 and has now climbed out with its first win streak at three.

The Sun was put up for potential sale in May and in recent weeks off ongoing reporting, two bids of $350 million have been made with one group wanting to put the team in Boston, the other in Hartford, and the league in another option sending it to Houston, whose previous Comets won the first four WNBA titles.

On Sunday, three games are on the card: Golden State, trying to be the first expansion team to make the playoffs, is at Dallas at 4 p.m.; Washington, on the second of a home weekend back-to-back, hosts Seattle, both teams still in playoff contention, at 3 p.m., and Minnesota looking for a weekend sweep of Indiana hosts the Fever at 7 p.m. on CBSSN.

The Lynx have managed to go 7-3, most of it with reigning Defensive Player of the Year and front-running MVP candidate Napheesa Collier on the bench with an ankle sprain.

Two of those losses, the only Lynx consecutive setbacks all season, were at New York and Atlanta last week before winning at Indiana Friday night.

On Monday, New York hosts Connecticut at 7 while Las Vegas is at Chicago at 8 p.m. on NBA TV.

Magic Numbers

Minnesota – 1 to clinch home court in the first round; 2 to clinch top seed and overall home court.

Atlanta – 2 to clinch playoffs

Las Vegas – 2 to clinch playoffs

Phoenix – 3 to clinch playoffs

New York – 4 to clinch playoffs

Atlanta Cruises Past New York

Taking advantage of the Liberty’s shorthanded roster of eight players, the Dream slightly tightened their second place hold as Allisha Gray scored 19 points and Brionna Jones collected 17 as the Dream set a franchise record for victories.

Naz Hillmon added 11 points to the Dream total.

 Down with a deep deficit, New York launched a 15-0 run in the third but could not get below a double-digit differential.

“Obviously, this was a very important game,” Smesko said. “I know New York was short handed. I thought, you know, especially in the first half we played a great first half moving the ball, getting great shots, defense was really good and give New York credit,  they kept fighting , they made a run and I really think maybe the biggest play in the game was Naz (Hillmon) offensive rebound and get it to (Gray).

“I think everybody took a deep breath once, you know, that three-point play happened.”

Atlanta has won 9 of its last 11and in the 2-2 series each team won at home.

“I thought our second half was good, but we just didn’t have the edge,” said New York coach Sandy Brondello. “I think we tried. But we didn’t have the execution down. We didn’t have many offensive rebounds. We had too many turnovers.

“Second half was way better. We saw a way more connected team. It was good to go to the bench, and they played hard.”

The Liberty’s Kennedy Burke scored 13, Jones had 11 points, and Meesseman scored 10.

Past Liberty flaws showed themselves with the Dream winning the rebound battle by nine, scoring 21 points to the visitors’ 7 on the offensive glass and taking care of the ball with just seven turnovers while picking up 18 points on 13 miscues by New York.

“A lot of the ones we had... were just stuff that normally doesn't happen for us,” said New York's Jones. “When we have simple turnovers like that, you get a little bit tighter with the ball because you don't want to turn it over. I think it's us being a little bit more focused and a little more locked in, and I think we can do a better job with that.”

“It just starts on the defense,” Burke added. “Once our defense is great, then the offense comes easy for us. So, it's mostly just about effort, giving it for 40 minutes and not doing it for only one half.

“We have to go into the next (7) games with the mindset to win every single one of them,” Burke said. “And Sandy mentioned it, how we're just in a tough spot, but we have to really just stick together and really want to win, basically. You know, just to be in a better seeding.”

Atlanta has another big game Wednesday hosting Las Vegas at 7:30 p.m. on NBA TV.

Wilson Leads Las Vegas to 10th Straight Dimming Mystics’ Playoff Hopes

Reigning MVP A’ja Wilson had 36 points and 19 points in for her 19th double double as the Aces’ surge continued moving within a half-game of Atlanta.

While Minnesota’s Collier had been considered the MVP frontrunner off her performance and the Lynx record, the former South Carolina standout’s role during this streak clearly puts her in the discussion to retain her award.

Phoenix’s Alyssa Thomas is there also off her collection of triple doubles.

On Saturday Wilson became the first WNBA player in history with multiple seasons having at least 10 games in each reaching 30 points.

Reserve Dana Evans added 21 points in just 23 minutes while Jackie Young scored 10.

“Who’s as good as A’ja Wilson?” said Aces coach Becky Hammon. “That's where you start with the conversation. That's your answer. She’s top three in every major statistical category but most importantly efficiency. She's number one in efficiency. And to me, people need to do that kind of homework.

“Don’t get tired of her greatness. I don’t want the world to miss her.”

Washington had been a surprise all season with the league’s youngest roster and went on a brief run to stay in the playoff hunt after a series of trades signaled the organization was placing more emphasis on the future.

But a three-game skid has the Mystics drifting toward joining the group in the draft lottery.

Standings wise, they’re still close but the schedule is brutal the rest of the way with seventh place Seattle coming to visit 24 hours after this one went by the boards.

Kiki Iriafen, the number four overall pick by the Mystics in April’s draft right behind Washington’s choice of Sonia Citron, had 21 points and a personal best 15 boards while Shakira Austin scored 18 and Citron scored 13.

Citron also became the first Mystics rookie in the team’s history with 500 points, 150 rebounds, 80 assists, and 40 steals.

Iriafen had her 14th double double.

Rookie Lucy Olsen, the Collegeville native out of Villanova and Iowa, played 13 minutes off the bench scoring six points shooting 3-6 from the field.

The home team threatened early to stop the Aces’ streak, taking a 15-point lead but Las Vegas was up 44-39 at the half after a 12-point advantage in the second quarter.

Washington was within single digits after three quarters trailing 68-61 only to have the Aces erupt over the final 10 minutes.

Connecticut Tops Chicago

The UConn graduate duo of Tina Charles and Bria Hartley carried the Sun to a season-best third straight win, the only win streak of the season having started with a 2-0 home and home sweep of Washington, to also diminish the Mystics’ playoff aspirations.

Charles scored 23 with 10 boards for her 200th career double double – already the WNBA career leader - while Hartley also scored 23, shooting 8-9 from the field, including a perfect 3-3 on makes from deep.

The Sun had built a 21-point lead with 3:21 left in the third before the Sky moved within four in the next quarter with five minutes left in a game in which both teams were recently eliminated from the playoff hunt.

Marina Mabrey added 20 points while rookie Saniya Rivers off the bench scored 13 points.

Chicago’s Kia Nurse, another Huskies alum, scored 19, while Kamilla Cardoso followed up her play in the win over New York with 18 points.

Angel Reese matched A’ja Wilson’s season 19 double double total with 11 points and 11 boards. Ariel Adkins scored 12.

The Sky lost first-year coach Tyler Marsh two minutes into the second quarter when he was tossed by referees for complaining about a no-call.

Connecticut mined 26 points out of Sky turnovers.