Hello, hoopheads! It’s another glorious day here in the greatest city in the world, where celebrations broke out across the five boroughs just before midnight to celebrate the momentous occasion that is our beloved New York Liberty mascot Ellie’s birthday! I’m told a few people were also excited about the Knicks winning the city’s second basketball championship in three years (and its first NBA title since 1973), but most of the debris across the five boroughs was obviously strewn in Ellie’s name. The celebratory seafoam squad is tied for the longest win streak in the WNBA after the Las Vegas Aces, who have also won six straight, ended the Minnesota Lynx’s eight-game win streak last night in an absolutely outstanding basketball game. Chelsea Gray followed up her WNBA-record-tying 9 triples in the previous game with 6 more, tying the WNBA record for the most in a two-game span, A’ja Wilson did GOAT things (24 points, 10 rebounds, 3 blocks, the usual) and Jackie Young had a second straight points-assists double-double with 16 and 10. Young also drew the defensive assignment on Minnesota rookie phenom Olivia “Love Takes” Miles — who had 29 points — on a crucial possession in the final seconds, with Young forcing Miles’ only miss of a 12-point 4th quarter (she started the frame 5-for-5 from the field). Elsewhere on a busy Saturday, the Indiana Fever blew a double-digit lead to a third straight sub-.500 team, but held on for a third straight win, the Portland Fire edged the Dallas Wings (who were without Paige Bueckers) and the Los Angeles Sparks held off the Phoenix Mercury in overtime while LA’s Kelsey Plum and Phoenix’s Kahleah Copper became the first opposing WNBA players to top 40 points in the same game.
Today’s WNBA slate features a pair of games, starting with Ellie’s actual birthday celebration when the Washington Mystics (5-6) visit the New York Liberty (9-4) (3:00 ET, NBA TV/local affiliates). This is the second meeting between New York and Washington, who played an overtime thriller on Mother’s Day which the Liberty eventually held on to win. The Liberty were notably shorthanded in that game, which saw hardship signing Julie Vanloo play 13 minutes while Sabrina Ionescu, Satou Sabally, Satou Sabally and Rebecca Allen were all unavailable. That’s a perfect segue to tell you that in addition to Big Ellie’s big day, the Liberty are also celebrating their first clean injury report of the season. Ionescu, who has played only one game so far this season, was not given an injury designation yesterday following seven straight missed games due to back soreness. While I’m very excited to have my favorite hooper back on the floor, I hope the Liberty recognize that they have the ability to ease her back into things after playing very little basketball over the last nine months, because this team is rolling right now and seems to have developed real chemistry.
All six of the Liberty’s consecutive wins have come by at least seven-point margins, and all of them have felt pretty decisive regardless of the margin, as the Libs have ascended to third in offensive rating (107.7 points per 100 possessions), defensive rating (99.7 points allowed per 100 possessions) and net rating (+7.9 points per 100 possessions) at Her Hoop Stats. The streak has them in a position to clinch the Eastern Conference’s berth in the Commissioner’s Cup championship game with a win either today or Wednesday against the Chicago Sky. The latest win was perhaps the Liberty’s best performance yet this season, and certainly their most impressive, as they routed the second-best team in the Eastern Conference so far and my pick to win the WNBA title, the Atlanta Dream, by a 104-90 margin on the road on Thursday. That statement win saw the Liberty post a season-high offensive rating of 123.8 points per 100 possessions while scoring 8 more points than any other team had so far (and 21 more than anyone but Minnesota had) against a Dream defense that remains the league’s second-best-rated (99.2 points allowed per 100 possessions), just ahead of New York’s. Four of the Liberty’s five starters scored at least 16 points in that win while hitting at least 50% of their field goals, with both halves of the French backcourt connection (Pauline Astier and Marine Johannes) among that group. I find it impossible to say that a version of Ionescu who has played only one WNBA game in the last nine months should immediately send either Astier or Johannes back to the bench, a pair of players who canned back-to-back deep 3-pointers late in the 1st half against the Dream to create a 7-point cushion at the break. They’ve earned the right to continue starting while Ionescu gets her legs under her.
Washington avoided a third straight loss in a an 86-85 win over Toronto on Friday night thanks to Sonia Citron’s buzzer-beater off of a jump ball in the final seconds, as well as Lauren Betts’ career-high 18 points and crucial win on that jump ball (albeit with a significant height advantage). That buzzer-beater came after Washington had let a 13-point lead through three quarters slip away and also capped a 6-for-16 night from the field for Washington’s second-year star. Shooters shoot, as they say. Betts went 8-for-9 from the field in one of her first opportunities to play extended minutes, which arose due to the absence of Kiki Iriafen. With Iriafen set to miss another game due to a sprained ankle, Betts will likely have another chance to make an impression against the Liberty. Betts stepping up when given the chance is the latest proof that lack of talent is not a problem for this extremely young Mystics squad, but consistency has been an issue so far. Washington sits 10th in offensive rating (101.1), defensive rating (102.8) and net rating (-1.7) at Her Hoop Stats and just seems prone to extreme swings from game to game, particularly on defense. By that token, here are their last five defensive ratings: 110.8, 84.7, 136.3, 87.6 and 100.0. Some of that is certainly related to the opponents, but a number like 136.3 (which was posted by the Dream) doesn’t happen unless both teams play their part.
Today’s other game, which is pretty inconsiderately starting simultaneously with Ellie’s birthday party, sees the Atlanta Dream (8-4) visit the Toronto Tempo (7-6) (3:00 ET, local affiliates/League Pass), which means you already know what happened in the teams’ last games if you’ve been paying attention. The Dream are back at the start of a win-win-loss pattern they’ve now repeated four straight times to start the season. They’ve posted offensive ratings over 105 points per 100 possessions in four of their last six games after doing so just once in the first six this season, while Thursday was only the second time they’ve allowed a rating higher than 105.1 on defense (also in a loss at Minnesota). The Tempo have matched the Dream’s win-win-loss pattern over their last six games, with their 100 points per 100 possessions on Friday marking just the second time they’ve been held under 105 in the last half-dozen games. That’s been the end of the floor where Toronto makes its money so far, with the 5th-rated offense (107.5) and 12th-rated defense (106.7) in the league, but that strikes me as not a great profile going up against an Atlanta team with the league’s second-rated defense (see above) and an offense gathering momentum (see earlier this paragraph).