Hello, hoopheads! The portion of the WNBA season characterized by early midweek starts and hordes of children shrieking with glee is upon us, with the season’s first camp game tipping off just a few hours after this hits your inbox. We’ll get to that one in a bit, but a few things happened last night that are worth noting first. For starters, the Minnesota Lynx (18-6) held off the Phoenix Mercury (8-17) by a 104-100 margin to sweep the season series and gain a small measure of revenge for last year’s bitter semifinal loss. Kayla McBride (37 points, 11-for-17 from the field) and Rookie of the Year Olivia Miles (33, 10-for-16) became the first pair of Lynx teammates with 30 points in a game (21st in WNBA history) and the second pair of teammates with at least 33 points in a game in WNBA history. McBride might well be able to name the other pair without thinking too hard about it, because she was there when Odyssey Sims (39 points) and Skylar Diggins (34) did it for the Tulsa Shock against KMac, Becky Hammon (as a player) and the San Antonio Stars in July 2014.
Miles’ 33 points last night were also the most by a Lynx rookie, although it’s worth noting that Seimone Augustus scored the previous Lynx rookie record of 32 points on four occasions in 2006 (that was worth it mostly to give Augustus a shout). Miles also became the fastest WNBA player to 400 points, 100 rebounds and 100 assists, or put differently, the first player to reach 400/100/100 in her first 22 WNBA games, as shown in that link to Across the Timeline. Miles was not, however, the first WNBA player or rookie with 400/100/100 in a 22-game span, as someone seems to have told Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve, which Reeve then repeated to the media, who didn’t see fit to fact-check it before printing her quote. That’s why you have me! Less positive for the Lynx than McBride and Miles’ big night was the fact that recently returned forward Dorka Juhász didn’t play after being downgraded to doubtful because of a knee injury in the hours before the game. That said, Napheesa Collier’s return from dual ankle surgeries could come any time and would be an excellent gift to the kids at tomorrow’s Sparks-Lynx camp game (albeit a far less excellent gift to the Sparks).
Monday’s other game saw the Atlanta Dream (14-10) earn a much-needed win over the Los Angeles Sparks (10-12) to avoid a seventh loss in the last eight games. The Dream looked like they might let it slip away for a while in the fourth quarter, even letting Los Angeles briefly take the lead in the final minutes, but Atlanta took control with a 9-0 spurt fueled by Angel Reese. She started the run with a somewhat stunning tie-breaking 3-pointer (she’s now 3-for-22 from deep), then added two free throws to push the lead to five points and finally poked free a steal that went right into the arms of Jordin Canada who took it the rest of the way for fast break layup that forced a Sparks timeout with under two minutes to play and suddenly down a touchdown. The Dream finished with an offensive rating of 122.7 points per 100 possessions according to Her Hoop Stats in the 101-92 win, which probably had to do with facing the league’s worst defense, but perhaps it was the Spark the Atlanta offense needed nonetheless. Reese led the way with 23 points on a clean 7-for-11 (63.6%) from the field and 8-for-8 at the line while adding 13 rebounds (her league-best 16th double-double), 2 assists, 3 steals and 3 turnovers. The Dream defense has definitely not been at the same level over the last several games as it was to start the season, allowing a second straight rating over my “good offense” threshold of 105 points per 100 possessions and fourth such rating in the last six games, but I think they’re still playing good enough defense to get rolling again if the offense can stay hot for any significant period of time.
Under most circumstances, a pre-noon arrival at Mohegan Sun on a Tuesday would be cause for concern, and the list of exceptions will get shorter after the Portland Fire (10-13) visit the Connecticut Sun (5-18) (11:00 AM ET, local affiliates/League Pass) for Connecticut’s last camp game. The Fire have at least been on Eastern time for a couple of days and didn’t seem terribly bothered by an afternoon tip in the Southeast about 40 hours after a home game in the Pacific Northwest, given they beat the Dream by 10 points on Saturday, but I still can’t help but think of this as an 8 AM body time start for the visitors. If you’re one of the readers who knows me personally, you know that I am not exaggerating when I say that playing a basketball game in front of hundreds of screaming children at an hour my body believes to be 8 AM is my idea of motherforking torture. WNBA players, however, are built different. Google docs is trying to make me change that to “built differently,” but this ain’t that kind of newsletter my little chili babies. It is, however, the kind of newsletter that will roll right through that little blue squiggle with a sarcastic comment and an extra Good Place reference before telling you that the Fire are looking for a third win in four games after losing seven of nine. A win this morning — I got halfway through “tonight” before remembering — and another one on Thursday night at Washington could get the Fire very close to the No. 8 seed, but I’d urge anyone considering buying Fire stock to peek at the stretch of schedule they have coming up after the Mystics. Since you, again, have me, I’ll just tell you that the Fire finish their four-game road trip in Minnesota, then they head into the All-Star break hosting the surging Dallas Wings (16-8). After the break comes a visit to Las Vegas (17-7) and then one from Indiana (14-9). If the Fire come through that four-game stretch any closer than they are to the No. 8 seed right now (two games back), I’ll be pretty surprised. The Sun were never a factor in the playoff race, nor were they ever going to be during this death march of a final season in Connecticut. I’m not going to say that I hope all of the kids there to see them go home unhappy, but I absolutely am going to say that I hope the detestable Sun lose, like I do every time they play, and I’m comfortable with the fact that the kiddos will be sad if that happens.
The lone evening game in the W tonight sees the Washington Mystics (11-10) visit the Toronto Tempo (10-13) (7:00 ET, NBA TV/local affiliates), who did not take advantage of their opportunity to do the funniest thing imaginable and list Marina “Buckets Without Borders” Mabrey as probable with a back injury following her plunking by Betnijah Laney-Hamilton on Sunday. Not that there’s been another dark-haired guard with a penchant for scoring a lot of 3-pointers and making a scene on the court who’s prominently been listed as “probable (back)” this season or anything. The Tempo’s injury report does contain Kiki Rice and Brittney Sykes, who remain sidelined, while Temi Fágbénlé has been upgraded to questionable on her road back from a concussion (an upgrade to questionable often is a prelude to a player’s imminent return from concussion protocol, but is not a guarantee). Washington has a clean injury report, and as I will continue to point out when teams in this region of the standings match up the rest of the way, these games could end up being some of the most impactful on the playoff race. That’s because the head-to-head matchups between the teams chasing the No. 8 seed will go a long way towards determining who gets it, whether via tiebreaker or by providing the slim difference between finishing 8th and 9th in the standings. Toronto is looking for its first win over Washington in three tries, having lost the first game in franchise history by three points and then a visit to the U.S. capital by one point last month. The teams will meet again next month in D.C., with their four-game series a rarity this season (each WNBA team plays two opponents four times). Mabrey finished Sunday’s win over Laney-Hamilton the New York Liberty with 30 points, her second straight 30-point game and third this season. A third straight 30-burger would give her just the 13th three-game streak in a single season in league history and only the second one by a player other than A’ja Wilson in the last five seasons. Wilson has had five such streaks since 2022, including one which ended a few days ago, and Rhyne Howard had one in 2024, but no one else has done it since 2021.