The Guru’s WNBA Report: Four Favorites Sweep Night Two of the Commissioner’s Cup - Golden State Shoots Team Record 18 From Deep

 By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsgurux

While last weekend in the WNBA’s season 30 brought a night of underdog sweeps Tuesday in the second night of the Commissioner’s Cup race belonged to the favorites with all four contests, three at home, decided by wide margins.

In the East, while it was close for a while Atlanta (6-2) pulled away to win 91-75 over visiting Connecticut (2-9) before a crowd of 3,575 at Gateway Center in suburban College Park while Washington (4-4) at home at CareFast Arena before a crowd of 4,200 in the nation’s capitol downed Chicago 90-72 handing the Sky (3-6) their fifth straight loss.

Out West, two-year-old Golden State (6-3) used a franchise record 18 makes from deep before a continued lifetime record home crowd of 18,064 at the Chase Center in San Francisco for a 95-77 victory to put away expansion Portland (6-5) while defending champion Las Vegas (6-3) gained the lone road victory 79-69 at Los Angeles (4-5) before 11,178 at Crypto.com Arena.

Howard and Gray Power Dream Over Sun

Rhyne Howard and Allisha Gray sent Atlanta to its fourth straight win in the series scoring 40 of the Dream’s 50 points in the first half – Howard, who had 36 points with eight 3-pointers in the night, going 8-for-14, with five makes from deep, for 22 points, while Gray, who finished with 26, was 5-for-10, including three 3s, scored 18, leaving the rest of the team to go 4-for-8 across the first two quarters.

It was still close, however, through the third quarter when the winners finished on a 7-0 run for a 68-65 lead that built to 10 points when the run continued for seven more to start the fourth.

Angel Reese had another double-double with 12 points and 13 points for the home team, while Jordin Canada had 12 points and 10 assists.

Connecticut’s Aneesah Morrow had 20 points and 13 boards while Saniyah Rivers and French player Leila Lacan, in her second game after finishing overseas, each scored 11, and Olivia Nelson-Ododa collected 10 points.

“Good win, good way to start the Commissioner’s Cup,” said Atlanta coach Karl Smesko, in his second season coming from a long collegiate career at the helm of Florida Gulf Coast.

“Connecticut played great that first half, they were making tough shots, they were kind of getting what they want. They battled to the fourth quarter, I just thought we got some separation – Angel had a big fourth quarter, J.C. had a double double and Rhyne and ‘Lish helped close the thing out for us.”

Iriafen Double-Doubles for Mystics Over Sky

Second-year pro Kiki Iriafen had 15 points and 11 boards for her fourth double-double and 20th in her young career behind Shakira Austin’s 17 points for Washington, while Michaela Onyenwere added 13 points for Washington, and the reserve trio of rookies Lauren Betts and Angela Dugalic off NCAA champion UCLA, and Alicia Florez Getino each scored eight points.

The Mystics won playing for the first time in two seasons without second-year pro Sonia Citron, sidelined with a left foot sprain.

Chicago reserve Sydney Taylor scored 15 points, Skylar Diggins scored 14, while Kamilla Cardoso had 12 points, 13 boards, six blocks and five assists and Elizabeth Williams scored 10 points.

The Mystics were 20-of-32 from the line compared to 16 Sky attempts.

Saint Joseph’s grad Natasha Cloud was scoreless for the visitors, who started the season 3-1 on the road but lost Tennessee standout Rickea Jackson in the win at Minnesota for the season with a knee injury and have not won since her departure.

Cloud, signed as a free agent before the start of the season when not re-signed by New York, said of the defense, “We started (the season) really strong. Obviously, losing some players, not having players, you have to adjust and pivot and find where you’re gonna piece in and plug in.”

Lucy Olsen, the second-year pro out of Villanova and Iowa, played 11 minutes off the bench for Washington, scoring her one attempt from distance with two assists and a rebound.

The Mystics have the youngest roster in the 15-team WNBA

Valkyries Fly Over Fire

Kayla Thornton made five of the Golden State record 18 threes and finished with 19 points and eight boards while reserve Janelle Salaun scored 18 as the home team led big early before dousing a late Portland rally.

Veronica Burton, questionable after suffering a bruised right quadriceps muscle in Sunday’s loss to ‘Vegas, entered the game and scored 10 points with nine assists in 23 minutes.

Portland’s Megan Gustafson, a former Iowa standout, scored 13 with eight boards, the team was 4-1 in recent games before arriving in San Francisco.

Fire guard Carla Leite scored 10 with seven assists playing against her former team.

“I think when our defense creates transition, we can kind of flow into these open threes,” Golden State coach Natalie Nakase said of the record air attack.

“Hard to match up to us when we’re maintaining space. Also, offensive rebounds, also get open threes cause it’s similar to transition.”

Wilson Leads Aces Over Sparks

Reigning and four-time MVP A’ja Wilson out of South Carolina had 25 points with 15 rebounds and five blocks for Las Vegas, which has won three of the last four league titles, including dominating the second half of last season.

She passed former Rutgers star Tammy Sutton-Brown on the WNBA career blocks list to eighth with 555.

Jackie Young added 16 points with nine helpers; Chelsea Gray added 12 points and 11 assists.

Los Angeles’ Rae Burrell had a career-best 22 points while Nneka Ogwumike had 12 points and 12 boards.

The latter passed former Tennessee and retired Indiana standout Tamika Catchings into fifth in the league with 3,315 rebounds.

Kelsey Plum, the leading league scorer, missed her third straight game for the Sparks with an ankle injury.

L.A.’s Dearica Hamby was 0-for-7, her first scoreless field goal game since July 9, 2023.

“A pretty traditional relationship building,” Las Vegas coach Becky Hammon said of her time on NBA San Antonio, which begins the league finals Wednesday night playing New York, working with Gregg Popovich and taking the experience dealing players when she became coach of the Aces. “You talk to him, you care more about what’s going on in your life than just as a basketball player.

“You get to know them. You build trust. You serve them every day. I got into coaching because I want to impact people. The winning is fun, but the women are the funnest, going through the process with them.”

Looking Ahead

On Wednesday on the USA Net twin bill, expansion Toronto visits New York at 7:30 p.m. in the East and Phoenix visits Seattle in the West at 10 p.m.

It’s the first time Toronto coach Sandy Brondello is facing her former team, let go after bounced in the first round of the playoffs by Phoenix last October after winning New York’s first title in 2024 having been one of the original eight WNBA teams in 1997.

Thursday’s twin bill on Amazon Prime has Atlanta at Indiana at 7:30 p.m. and Golden State at Minnesota at 9 p.m.

On Friday, ION and League Pass carry all three games; Connecticut at Chicago at 7:30 p.m., and Dallas at Los Angeles and Phoenix at Portland, both at 10 p.m.

On Saturday, ABC will air two West games in the afternoon: Seattle at Minnesota at 1 p.m. and Golden State at Las Vegas at 3 p.m. while in the East at night League Pass will air Washington at Atlanta at 6 p.m. followed by CBS and Paramount+ carrying Indiana at New York at 8 p.m.

For those new to paying attention to the WNBA, the league standings regarding playoff and seeds are combined without regard to the best teams in the East and West.