The Guru’s WNBA and UPSHOT Reports: Vegas Wins West Cup Showdown with Minnesota; Indy Stays in Hunt With Third Straight; Portland Edges Dallas; L.A. Wins Battle of Dueling 40-Point Scorers; Greensboro Stops UPSHOT Leader Jacksonville

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsgurux

Storylines keep pouring out of WNBA games like fireworks on the Fourth of July, especially in the current intra-conference races for the two spots in the Commissioner’s Cup championship on June 30.

And so it was on the four-game card Saturday that with idle New York being the only unbeaten team left in the East competition, that overall defending playoff champion Las Vegas (10-3) before a home crowd of 10,330 at the Michelob ULTRA Arena withstood a deep rally fueled by a season-best 29 points from overall No. 2 draft pick Olivia Miles to snap the eight-game win streak by Minnesota (10-3) with a 100-97 victory to become the only unbeaten West team in the race.

The Aces’ reigning MVP A’ja Wilson had 24 points and 10 boards to put the winners in the driver’s seat with one week left in both races.

Indiana (8-5) moved to a half-game behind New York, which owns a Cup win over the Fever and hosts Washington Sunday at 3 p.m., by winning 85-75 at Connecticut (2-13) before a crowd of 8,910 at the Mohegan Sun Arena as Caitlin Clark had 25 points and five assists while reserve Sophie Cunningham, who finished with 11, shooting 4-for-5 from the field, including 3-for-4 from deep, also had her scoring account for an 11-3 ending by the winners in the fourth quarter.

The game was billed as Clark’s farewell appearance at Mohegan with the Sun, who are 0-5 in the Cup series, set to relocate next summer under NBA ownership in Houston.

However, with Clark likely to make the 2028 Olympic team that will compete in Los Angeles and the state of Connecticut devoid of a pro team for the moment after this season, it would not be surprising for USA to play a friendly at Mohegan the next two seasons.

Dallas (8-5), virtually out of the Cup chase with two losses, was without reigning Rookie of the Year Paige Bueckers due to right ankle soreness and expansion Portland (7-8) took advantage to snap a four-game losing streak winning 84-83 for its first Cup victory courtesy of Emily Engstler making the second of two foul shot attempts with two seconds left before a home crowd of 14,612 at the Moda Center in Oregon.

The fourth and final game of the night may have been a footnote with both teams out of the Cup pursuit but Los Angeles (7-6), which won 111-102 in overtime, and host Phoenix (4-11) before a crowd of 9,234 at the Mortgage Matchup Center in Arizona made WNBA history on a pair of career-performances as league-leading scorer Kelsey Plum (26.6) collected 43 points for the triumphant Sparks and the Mercury got a personal-best 41 from Rutgers alum and North Philadelphia native Kahleah Copper.

It’s the first time in the 30-year WNBA history a game produced dueling 40-point efforts.

“That was an offensive display by both Kah and KP,” said Los Angeles second-year coach Lynne Roberts. “When they both have it going like that, it’s impressive and fun to watch.”

“In the offseason this year, I really took my weight room strength and conditioning to another level,” said Plum, a nine-year veteran and former No. 1 pick who had been the NCAA career scoring leader at Washington before Clark broke her record. “And another thing is just mentally I’ve grown and been a lot more patient. I appreciate that Coach gives me the freedom to really go out there and just play.”

Copper joins Hall of Farmer Lauren Jackson (2007) as the only two league players with 40 points in a loss and with 10 boards she’s the first Phoenix player with a 40-point double-double.

UPSHOT Action: In the new four-team UPSHOT league, Greensboro (5-4) at home stopped a two-day sweep by first-place Jacksonville (6-3), the Groove beating the visiting Wave 83-79 as the winners, trailing 37-28 at the half rallied to outscore the opposition 55-42 in the second half, including 29-20 in the fourth quarter.

Greensboro, whose coach Janice Washington coached at Lincoln University in the Philadelphia Western suburbs, got 16 points from Jessica Timmons, Philly’s Diamond Johnson had 15 points and seven rebounds, Kamaria McDaniel and Colorado grad Mya Hollingshed each scored 14 and Tayanna Jones Bell scored 11 points.

Jacksonville, coached by Philadelphia native Jess Bogia, got 16 points and eight boards from Tennessee grad Rennia Davis, Taylor Soule scored 13, Jasmine Walker and Khayla Pointer each scored 11, and Ariel Hearn scored 10 with Pointer and Hearn each grabbing six rebounds.

On Sunday the Savannah Steel (4-4) at 2 p.m. plays at the Charlotte Crown (2-6).

Games can be watched free on the league’s YouTube channel.

Aces Win Streak Reaches Six at Expense of Lynx

Perfect shooting from the line at 7-for-7 in the last 44.3 seconds enabled Las Vegas to top Minnesota with just a Monday visit to Dallas and at Phoenix Wednesday left on the Cup schedule.

The payout is $500,000 in the player prize pool in the final plus each team names an organization to receive a donation.

Referencing the final, the Aces’ Chelsea Gray said, “It’s kind of like a midseason measuring stick. It’s always good to play for charity and a bigger purpose, and you know everybody liked money, right?”

Gray behind Wilson’s night had six 3s and after tying a WNBA record with nine the previous game, the 15 two-game attack ties a record set by Minnesota’s Kayla McBride in 2024 and retired Phoenix star Diana Taurasi in 2020.

Gray had 23 points and seven assists while Jackie Young had 16 points and 10 boards.

“These are two really good teams just going blow for blow,” Las Vegas coach Becky Hammon said. “I’m sure both me and (Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve) are going to be looking at the defensive end.

“She’s not happy giving up 100, and I’m not happy giving up 97. At the end of the day, it was probably fun to watch. But one of those games that, as a coach, probably drives you crazy.”

Reeve, the former La Salle star out of South Jersey and 17-season coach at Minnesota to be inducted in the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville June 27, said of the game and Miles’ performance, “What forever reason we were back on our heels to start the game and it just felt like we kept scratching and clawing and that’s what we said to them.

“Give us a chance and fight, fight, fight. And let it fall, wherever it might. We put ourselves in position, we gave ourselves a chance,” she continued.

“We can’t give up 100 on the road. We gave ourselves a chance but obviously a lot of things we can do better.”

Minnesota is still without perennial MVP candidate Napheesa Collier, who was expected to return this month from offseason surgery on both ankles.

“We just played one of the best teams in the league and (Miles) found her way through and she made some pretty big plays but we got to get more off our bench, they certainly did. Our starters have to do everything. There’s a lot of pressure on the starters. Defensively, we’re not there.

“This was a game (Miles) was curious what we were going to get, I was curious what we were going to get from ‘Liv knowing Becky was going to do something different, when you have a rookie like that … willing yourself at the end, that’s a special player.”

Fever Stays in Cup Hunt with Win Over Sun

Though Indiana has righted itself for now after a 4-4 month of May, questions keep coming up up over social media dissection of speculation of internal team discord with the generational star that Clark is.

“She quipped, according to ESPN, “I think it’s speculation. Opinions. I don’t know about reports.”

“I don’t think you’re talking about journalism,” Indiana coach Stephanie White said. “And so if we’re going to continue to create news from fans on social media or bots on social media, or whatever it may be, then that’s a problem, right? I think legitimate news sources need to report legitimate news.”

Clark now has 14 games in her three-year career with 25 points tying retired Hall of Famer Cynthia Cooper for most within a player’s three years in the league.

It’s also the third time she’s had consecutive 25-point games.

The Fever continued to blow double digit leads but they are 3-1 in those games, the loss being the recent foul-plagued affair in New York.

“We had a lot of missed layups tonight,” Clark said. “And those are the little ones that can kind of help us sustain our lead rather than making it so much more difficult on ourselves.”

On the other side, the 2-13 ties the Connecticut record for worst 15-game start. Olivia Nelson-Ododa led the home folks with 12 points.

Wings Clipped by Fire

Dallas coach Jose Fernandez said prior to the game of withholding Bueckers, also saying she’ll be listed day-to-day after getting hurt during Thursday’s game with Minnesota, “Paige is who she is. Trust me, Paige wants to be on the floor tonight. But the best thing for her longevity, for her career, for the franchise is making sure we take care of her, and she takes care of her body.”

Portland’s Bridget Carlton scored 20, making 6-of-10 from deep, Iowa alum Megan Gustafson scored 16, Engstler scored 11, while Sarah Ashlee Barker and Carla Leite each scored 10 points.

Dallas’ Arike Ogunbowale scored 22 points, rookie Azzi Fudd, the No.1 overall pick in April’s draft, scored 18, Aziaha James had 17, Jessica Shephard had 13 points and 14 boards, and Villanova’s Maddy Siegrist had five points with a pair of two boards and assists each.

Looking Ahead

On Sunday, Washington is at New York at 3 p.m., on NBA TV, which is now part of the League Pass package at no extra cost, and Atlanta is at Toronto the same time on League Pass.

With New York all agog after the NBA Knicks won their first title since the 1970s Saturday night it will be interesting to see how long the Liberty gets eclipsed in the city.

On Monday, Las Vegas at Dallas at 8 p.m. is on USA while at the same time League Pass will carry Phoenix at Minnesota.

At 10 p.m., Los Angeles at Golden State is on NBCSN and Peacock.