WNBA Preview: Paige Bueckers returns home, defending champs New York Liberty meet Indiana Fever
Opening weekend in the WNBA has come and gone with eight matchups taking place in the first three days of the regular season.
History was made with the first WNBA regular season game ever being played at the Chase Center for Valkyries vs. Sparks and the Liberty watched their first-ever championship banner hit the Barclays Center rafters.
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But history couldn’t occur without also some major drama. All of the talk in WNBA circles right now is the aftermath of the Fever’s home opener against rival the Sky where Caitlin Clark committed a take foul on Angel Reese and as a result the WNBA opened an investigation into hate comments within Indiana’s Gainbridge Fieldhouse toward Reese. This all comes just days after the league announced their new campaign “No Space for Hate” a platform meant to target instances like these.
Once again the WNBA is enduring narratives questioning the league’s physicality following the flagrant foul from Clark and Reese’s subsequent reaction. Former WNBA player Chiney Ogwumike hopped onto ESPN’s First Take to explain that hate shouldn’t be tolerated in basketball and that the flagrant foul was a part of the game.
She explained that she saw tension between the Liberty’s Jonquel Jones and Chelsea Gray of the Aces in New York and then technicals flew in Connecticut after Washington’s Shakira Austin and Connecticut’s Kariata Diaby were battling for position.
”This happens in the WNBA,” she said. “The WNBA is what a lot of people celebrate the NBA for embracing right now. It’s a physical league. This had gasoline because it had two megastar players, household names, but my number one theory is if the players are unbothered we should be too.”
In addition to drama, there was some injury news that rocked the league within its first few days of play. Sparks wing Rae Burrell lasted 41 seconds in the Sparks first game of the season before going down with an injury where she couldn’t put a lot of weight on her right knee. The Sparks expect Burrell to miss anywhere from six-to-eight weeks. So she’ll be out for a couple of months. Also, the Phoenix Mercury announced that franchise face Kahleah Copper got a left knee arthroscopy and gave her a four-to-six week timetable to return to basketball activities. Phoenix’s center Natasha Mack injured her back and will also be out for two-to-three weeks.
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Anyway, the league’s first weekend also produced a ton of impressive rookie performances especially coming from Washington duo in forward KiKi Iriafin and wing Sonia Citron. In two regular season games, Iriafin has established herself as the Mystics’ second option to Brittney Sykes. And Citron has had a slew of welcome to the league moments, but that hasn’t gotten her too rattled. In two games she averaged 17 points, 2.5 assists, 1.5 rebounds, shooting 64.7 % from the field and 40 % from three equating to 25 fantasy points.
Speaking of the Mystics, they shockingly remain 2-0 heading into the first full week of play. Will that continue?
WNBA: Chicago Sky at Indiana Fever
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Here are five matchups to watch in the WNBA’s first full week of regular season play:
Atlanta Dream @ Indiana Fever
(Tuesday, May 20 at 7 p.m. ET on NBA TV)
This is the first of two games in a home-and-home series between the Dream and the Fever. Atlanta is looking to bounce back after a 94-90 loss to the Washington Mystics where Atlanta struggled to defend and allowed Washington to shoot 50.8 % from the field. Head coach Karl Smesko explained postgame that in training camp his focus was more on the offense and he wasn’t surprised that his team’s defense struggled. I highlight this first matchup because I’ll be really curious to see how Brittney Griner matches up against Aliyah Boston, a matchup Boston has historically struggled with because of Griner’s strength, size and length. While Indiana’s defense was lauded for how it played against the Chicago Sky, it’s worth remembering the backcourt personnel the Fever were defending. A strength of Atlanta’s are their more dynamic guards in Rhyne Howard and Allisha Gray who are better one-on-one shot creators than Chicago’s Ariel Atkins and Courtney Vandersloot.
Dallas Wings @ Minnesota Lynx
(Wednesday, May 21 at 8 p.m. ET on WNBA League Pass)
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Paige Bueckers will return to home state Minnesota to play her first game as a pro in the arena she grew up going to against the team she grew up watching. While the Lynx won this first matchup on Friday handily 99-84 after a competitive three quarters, Bueckers will look to show out against her personal home crowd in Minneapolis. I’ll be curious to see what adjustments first-year head coach Chris Koclanes makes to counter the Lynx’s aggressive ball-pressure which is what Koclanes thought hindered the pace of the Wings’ offense. While the sample size is limited, after two games played, the Lynx are the third worst rebounding team in the league. What does Dallas do to take advantage? But also even if Bueckers comes out with a more dominant stat line, Wednesday night is the Lynx’s home opener. Sure the Minnesota crowd will welcome back Bueckers, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be rooting for her.
Golden State Valkyries @ Los Angeles Sparks
(Friday, May 23 at 10 p.m. ET on ION)
Not only are the Valkyries the first WNBA expansion franchise to play in 17 seasons, but they also give the W its first same state matchup since the Sacramento Monarchs folded in 2009. On opening night these two teams played in San Francisco and the Sparks won 84-67 pretty decisively on the back of new franchise player Kelsey Plum who had a historic night scoring 37 points (11-of-19 shooting), two rebounds, six assists, five steals and four three-pointers in her Sparks debut. How does Valkyries head coach Natalie Nakase attempt to neutralize Plum who she coached for years in Las Vegas as an assistant? Nakase, an Anaheim native and UCLA alumna, will return home to LA for her very first game coaching at the helm. To defeat the Sparks in this second matchup, the Valkyries will have to get out more in transition as in game one they only had nine fast break points to the Sparks’ 17.
Phoenix Mercury @ Seattle Storm
(Friday, May 23 at 10 p.m. ET on ION)
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While this matchup will be on at the exact same time as Valkyries vs. Sparks, I recommend watching both on multiview. The Storm were smacked 81-59 by the Mercury in the season opener on Saturday. How will Seattle respond to that in their home opener against the same team on Friday? Storm head coach Noelle Quinn explained that she believed her team didn’t get downhill enough in that first game against the Mercury, and didn’t put themselves in position to get shots at the rim. Phoenix appeared fine without Copper as superstars Alyssa Thomas and Satou Sabally took the brunt of the scoring load. The only other double-digit scorer for Phoenix was undrafted rookie guard Lexie Held who had 11 points (4-of-9 shooting), two rebounds, three assists and a three-pointer in her WNBA debut. Will that be enough for Phoenix in Game 2 against the Storm? We’ll have to watch to find out.
New York Liberty @ Indiana Fever
(Saturday, May 24 at 1 p.m. ET on CBS)
New York and Indiana had strong opening weekend debuts against their natural rivals in Las Vegas and Chicago. With two of the strongest schemers in the league in New York’s Sandy Brondello and Indiana’s Stephanie White going up against each other, this is bound to be a high level basketball game. Brondello has coached both new Fever acquisitions in DeWanna Bonner and Natasha Howard. And White helped create a scheme that neutralized Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu during multiple WNBA semifinal games during her tenure in Connecticut coaching the Sun. A matchup to watch will be following how Natasha Cloud defends Clark and how the Liberty use their length to their advantage to stop Indiana’s second most reliable option in Kelsey Mitchell. Expect Leonie Fiebich to take on this assignment. Another matchup to pay attention to will be Jonquel Jones vs. Aliyah Boston, two very physical centers who have previously frustrated each other with physicality and frustration over who’s getting calls and who’s not. Expect this game to be physical with a ton of threes taken. That’s how some of the best WNBA games are meant to be.
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