The Guru’s WNBA Report: New York Edges Phoenix Which Acquires Plum in Swap With L.A.; Chicago Clips ‘Vegas at the Buzzer

 By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsgurux

After playing some catch-up in the previous post involving WNBA results reaching back to Wednesday’s two narrow outcomes and noting they could become pleasant or unpleasant memories if one game decides each team’s fate in the final standings, it all became a quick wash off of Saturday’s two outcomes that were also one possession differentials.

Defending champion Las Vegas (20-9), which because of the Golden State (19-9) blown lead at Phoenix, had moved into second with its Thursday win over New York (17-13), seemingly was about to escape an upset loss at Chicago (11-18) when reigning and four-time MVP A’ja Wilson took a feed from Chelsea Gray and scored on a driving layup for an 83-81 lead with 3.2 left in regulation before a Wintrust Arena crowd of 9,025.

The Sky called time and rookie Sydney Taylor re-entered the game, took a feed from Saint Joseph’s grad Natasha Cloud and canned a 3-pointer with 0.9 on the clock for an 84-83 victory.

Down in Phoenix before a crowd of 10,097 at Mortgage Matchup Arena, New York’s Breanna Stewart made a pair of foul shots with 12.7 left in regulation for a 94-90 lead on the Mercury (11-19), enough to withstand Alyssa Thomas’ score for a 94-92 victory, making it three triumphs in four games all by narrow margins.

The loss dropped Phoenix, runners up in last season’s playoffs, into a virtual 13th place tie with expansion Toronto (10-18) and six games behind the 7th and 8th place playoff cutoffs held by Washington (18-12) and New York and a half-game behind Chicago, expansion Portland (11-18) and Los Angeles (10-17).

Plum To Phoenix

The Mercury were not done making news, however, with word coming across early in the morning when only those of us in the East who are awake in vampire hours doing things like writing these posts, got to see an ESPN flash that Phoenix ahead of the WNBA trading deadline Sunday afternoon was acquiring five-time All-Star Kelsey Plum from Los Angeles for Akoa Makani, a 2027 first-round pick and 2028 second-rounder.

It’s only the fourth time in the 30-year league history that an All-Star was dealt at mid-season.

Plum, who was leading the league in scoring, and won two team titles in her career, has been sidelined since June 21 with a lower left leg injury but was due to return Sunday in the Sparks’ game at Portland.

ESPN said it was not known whether Plum will be ready for Monday’s Mercury game at Chicago.

She held the NCAA women’s scoring record playing for Washington until Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever broke it at Iowa.

Plum is averaging career-bests 23.9 points and 6.4 assists in 12 games.

While Plum becomes an added threat for Phoenix, the Mercury have 14 games left and would need to make a huge run jumping four teams and needing New York or Washington to go into a slump.

Los Angeles has missed the postseason five straight summers with a sixth likely after being an earlier heavyweight when Candace Parker and Lisa Leslie were franchise stalwarts.

The Sparks were 2-9 without Plum and on a six-game losing streak.

Ionescu Leads Liberty Over Mercury

In the game earlier Saturday afternoon, New York’s Sabrina Ionescu had 27 points and 10 assists in the victory, and All-Star game MVP Jonquel Jones scored eight of her 16 points in the final period after earlier being in foul trouble.

Reserve Han Xu scored 17 and Breanna Stewart had 14 points and 11 boards, and the Liberty had a perfect 19-for-19 at the line.

Rutgers grad and North Philly native Kahleah Copper and DeWanna Bonner each scored 25 for Phoenix and Alyssa Thomas added 17 points.

It was Bonner’s 565th WNBA game tying Mercury great Diana Taurasi for second on the league career list.

The Liberty almost lost all of an eight-point lead in the final minute.

“Every game’s different,” New York second-year coach Chris DeMarco said. ‘They tried to play with more size.

“We felt Han’s been playing well on the perimeter and inside, with Han’s and J.J.’s ability to shoot we felt like we had extra guards in the game.”

“It’s reading the defense,” Ionescu said about Jone’s play in the final period. “We were able to get her low just by shooters being spaced. When she’s able to catch it low, it’s a lot easier than when she’s catching it higher.”

On the other side, Phoenix coach Nate Tibbetts said, “Obviously we're trying to push to make the playoffs, and we’ve got to go on a run, we understand that.

 “Every time we lose, we got to be willing to bounce back and forget this when that time comes. I've been proud of the way we've played lately, and we put ourselves in a position to win another good game today, but we didn't get it done.”

Sky Nips Aces

With the game winner, Taylor finished with 29 points for Chicago, which snapped a seven-game losing streak to Las Vegas and coach Tyler Marsh for the first time  beat his former team where he served under Becky Hammon.

Cloud had 11 points and DiJonai Carrington scored 10 for a Sky team that was 0-6 in overtime and one-score games.

The Aces’ Wilson scored 36 with 12 rebounds while Jackie Young had 18 points and 11 boards. NaLyssa Smith had 17 points, but the Aces bench produced just five points.

Chicago had trailed by ten early in the final quarter.

Wilson had 13 of her points in the third quarter.

“You don’t know until you know,” Marsh said of the game-winner. “It looked good when it left her hands. That was an option. They executed it very well. ‘Tosh made a good pass.

“There’s not many rookies with the confidence or has the confident in their coach to let them shoot 27 shots in a game,” he said of Taylor. “She has the green light from me. It’s been contained as of late. But she has that ability to be a spark for us.

“This was her moment. It’s one of many moments to come for her.”

On the loss, Hammon said, “You give up 29 in the fourth quarter and get away from defensively from what we did.

“This loss was completely avoidable if you look at it from our perspective.”

Looking Ahead

Sunday’s games have Indiana at Minnesota at 1 p.m. on ABC, Los Angeles is at Portland at 3:30 p.m. on NBC and Peacock, while at night Connecticut is at Dallas at 7 p.m. on ESPN and Disney+ and Toronto at 8:30 p.m. plays at Golden State on League Pass.

On Monday, at 7 p.m. Las Vegas is at Atlanta on NBCSN and Peacock while Seattle is at New York on League Pass.

Phoenix is at Chicago at 9 p.m. on USA.

Toronto on Tuesday is at Golden State at 10 p.m. on League Pass while on Wednesday at 7 p.m. Phoenix is at Atlanta on League Pass and Seattle returns to New York on USA.

Dallas is at Washington at 7:30 p.m. on League Pass and Los Angeles is at Chicago on CNBC and USA.