The Guru’s WNBA Roundup: Historic Triple Double For Thomas as Phoenix Tops Indiana; Los Angeles Still Surging; Atlanta Wins 4th Straight

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

Alyssa Harris made WNBA history Thursday night with her third straight triple double as Phoenix emphatically turned aside fifth place Indiana 95-60 before a home crowd of 17,7071 at PHX-Arena as the fourth place Mercury (19-11) pushed the fifth place Fever (17-14) back 2.5 games behind them to a half-game ahead of idle Seattle (16-14) and Las Vegas (16-14).

The win enabled the Mercury to stay locked with Atlanta (19-11) which on the road cruised at Chicago 86-65 for the Dream’s fourth straight victory before a Wintrust Arena crowd of 7,221 – the two winners pulling to just a half-game behind idle New York (19-10), the league defending champion.

The Sky loss in the Windy City dropped them in an 11th-place tie with idle Dallas (18-11).

In the other game of the night Los Angeles (14-15) in a high-scoring affair won their eighth contest of the past nine defeating last place Connecticut 102-91 delighting a home crowd of 10,780 at Crypto.com Arena formerly the Staples Center.

While the Sparks were taking their third straight to tie idle Golden State (14-15) for the eighth and last playoff spot 1.5 games behind the locked duo in sixth, the visiting Sun (8-24) beat the WNBA trading deadline earlier in the day receiving second-year pro Aaliyah Edwards from 10th-place Washington, a 2024 first-round pick out of UConn, in exchange for Jacy Sheldon, taken fifth just ahead of Edwards out of Ohio State.

In bringing Edwards near her collegiate roots, the teams also swapped rights for a first rounder in next April’s draft.

In Friday’s tripleheader on ION Minnesota (25-5) hosts Washington (13-15) at 7:30 p.m., trying to maintain or extend their 5.5 game lead on New York which makes its second visit to Dallas at the same time with the series tied 1-1.

Washington on a three-game losing streak has dropped to 10th outside the playoff cut line by a game.

Minnesota, which won the first New York meeting at home last week, travels to the Liberty Sunday (12:30 p.m., ABC/ESPN+) in Brooklyn at the Barclays Center, the duo then meeting twice more next Saturday in Minneapolis (2 p.m., CBS) and then three days later back in Brooklyn (7 p.m., NBA TV).

The third game Friday at 10 p.m. has Seattle visiting Las Vegas in a game between the two sixth place teams in which the winner will tie Indiana while the loser will drop to just a game in front of the two eighth-place teams.

On Saturday Chicago is at Indiana (8 p.m., CBS) while expansion Golden State is hosting Los Angeles (8:30 p.m.) as the two will break their eighth-place deadlock in the final playoff spot.

The expanded 44-game regular season by two ends September 11.

Phoenix Blasts Indiana

Alyssa Thomas, the former Maryland star out of Harrisburg whose entire pro career before this season was in Connecticut, had 18 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists, in becoming the first WNBA player to triple double three consecutive games.

Overall she has 19, including three in playoffs, as the Mercury won their third straight while the Fever, still without reigning rookie of the year Caitlin Clark, dropped their second after a five-game surge that was the longest since 2015 when Stephanie White was in her first coaching stay in Indiana before returning this year from Connecticut.

Over the historic span Harris has collected 41 points, 33 boards, and 32 assists.

“‘AT’s an unbelievable player,” said Phoenix coach Nate Tebbetts. “She’d probably be the first (to not discuss) but I think she’s been overlooked (for MVP) her whole career and how great she is. Just the way she plays is special.

“She wants to see her teammates succeed the way she passes the ball. We need to keep winning. To be MVP you have to be one of the better teams, obviously we’ve proven that.”

DeWanna Bonner, recently waived by Indiana after coming this season from the Sun, had 23 points for the Mercury, while Satou Sabally had 15 points and eight boards, and former Rutgers standout Kahleah Copper out of North Philly in Dawn Staley’s neighborhood had 11 points.

Indiana’s Sophie Cunningham, formerly with Phoenix, was 5-8 from deep and scored 18 points, Kelsey Mitchell scored 12, while Clark was on the bench her eighth straight game sidelined with a groin injury suffered two games ahead of All-Star weekend in Indianapolis.

The former Iowa star, injury free since sidelined back in high school, was out extensively early this season with a quad and then first groin injury.

“Phoenix was good to me but I’m way happier where I am right now,” Cunningham said on her first return. “It was good to see people, it was good to play in front of some fans but I’m way happier in Indiana.”

The Mercury’s 14-0 run in the third period kept Phoenix well in the lead.

The teams are tied 1-1 in their series in the compacted standings behind Minnesota and meet again in Phoenix Sept. 2.

The Mercury hosts Atlanta Sunday at 6 p.m. on NBA with the teams tied in third place.

Allemand’s Triple Double Highlights L.A. Win Over Connecticut

The Sparks coming from the lottery country of the standings before the surge reached 100 points the fifth time the last six games with six players scoring double figures against the Sun.

Dearica Hamby had 21 points, Tennessee collegiate standout Rickea Jackson scored 20, and Kelsey Plum collected 18 points for Los Angeles while Julie Allemand’s first triple double included 10 points, 10 rebounds, and 11 assists.

Additionally, Cameron Brink had all 11 of her points in the second half, while Azura Stevens joined Allemand with 10 points.

“I think momentum is a powerful thing and it’s not coincidental that we started playing better and more confident when we got Rae Burrell back, when we got Cam back, and Julie Vanloo brings a punch. Julie (Allemand) back from Eurobasket,” said Sparks coach Lynne Roberts.

“Talent matters. I also think there’s a different level of buy-in to what we’re trying to do and how we want to play.”

Connecticut gained a slim 51-49 leas in the first half on making half its 14 attempted 3-pointers.

Tina Charles and Marina Marbrey each collected 19 points with the visitors while Bria Hartley scored 16 and rookie Leila Lacan from France had 10 points and seven assists.

Atlanta Flies Over Chicago

The Dream dominated the second half after trailing 34-28 as Allisha Gray had 25 points in the win while Jordin Canada had 17 points, six rebounds and six assists.

Te-Hina Paopao added 12 points while Nia Coffey scored 10, and Naz Hillmon with 11 become the first on the Dream this season with consecutive 10+ efforts on the boards.

Chicago’s Rachel Banham scored 18, Kamilla Cardoso had 12 points, six boards and five assists.

Second-year pro Angel Reese out of LSU has now missed seven of her last nine games and five straight with back problems.

Atlanta won without Brittney Griner and Rhyne Howard, two All-Stars suffering with neck and knee injuries.

The game at the end with 5.9 seconds left became the latest to have a sex toy tossed on the court.

ESPN reported Thursday a source with an orchestrated group claimed the incidents were part of a marketing effort of a crypto coin his online community created and that the WNBA all its “controversy” made the league a prime target.

“Where is there already controversy and how do we intercept some of that attention,” he said. “We really wanted to make memes funny again.”

Noteworthy

Behind former La Salle star and South Jersey’s Cheryl Reeve who has won four titles with first place Minnesota in more than a decade with the Lynx, besides guiding USA to their eighth straight Olympic gold medal in Paris last summer, and New York’s Sandy Brondello who won crowns with Phoenix and now New York, Atlanta and Phoenix are under first-year head coaches; Indiana’s Stephanie White is back for second tour coming from the Sun; and then expansion Golden State and the five teams behind them are also under first-time WNBA head coaches.