2023-06-05 23:00:00
M.A. Voepel | ESPNReading: 7 min.
On Sunday, one of the WNBA’s superteams, the New York Liberty, gave up a 19-point lead and lost, while another, the Las Vegas Aces, overcame a 10-point deficit and won.
Is the Connecticut Sun, a team that lost its scoring and rebounding leader last season, poised to move into first place in ESPN’s WNBA Power Rankings?
The Aces are still No. 1 in our Week 3 rankings, but only by a hair over the Sun. They will collide twice this week in Connecticut. And by now next week, we might have a change at the top.
The Sun no longer has former MVP Jonquel Jones (now with New York) or veteran coach Curt Miller (now with the Los Angeles Sparks), but Alyssa Thomas, DeWanna Bonner and Brionna Jones are still strong figures on the team. Thomas has injected himself into the early MVP discussion following several strong performances, including Friday’s game of 16 points, 16 assists and nine rebounds.
In five of the Sun’s seven games, Thomas has had at least 10 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. In total, she has 28 such games in her WNBA career, according to ESPN Sports & Information research, second only to the Aces’ Candace Parker (61).
Speaking of Parker, the Chicago Sky lost her and Courtney Vandersloot (Liberty) in the offseason and currently have eight players available. Still, the Sky traveled to New York and took advantage of a Liberty team that didn’t slam the door following a massive lead.
The Sky, along with the Sun and the other eight teams not named Aces or Liberty, have clearly had enough of talking regarding Las Vegas and New York being packed with talent.
With a Friday-Sunday weekend slate in which all nine WNBA games were decided by single digits (average winning margin was 4.0 PPG), Sky guard Courtney Williams put the stamp.
“There’s so much hype around superteams,” Williams said. “I mean, no criticism…but hey. At the end of the day, we’re here too.”
1.Vegas Aces
The defending champion Aces know that no WNBA team has had a perfect season. Still, they want to remain undefeated for as long as possible. But last week, two teams at the bottom of the standings put pressure on them. On Friday, it took a signature jump shot by Chelsea Gray to help them pull away from Atlanta 92-87. On Sunday, it took the double-digit rally to beat Indiana 84-80, the first time this season that Las Vegas hasn’t scored at least 90 points.
A great game by A’ja Wilson (27 points, 10 rebounds) and some key plays at the end saved the Aces. Next up, though, is a rematch of last year’s WNBA Finals with two games once morest the Sun.
2. Connecticut Sun
The Sun got their second win over the Mystics last week, but then lost their first game of the season in New York. The Liberty made life difficult for Alyssa Thomas, who scored just five points, all on free throws. She had double-doubles in her first three games. For now, the Sun remains in the Power Rankings.
3. New York Liberty
After Breanna Stewart and Vandersloot won their “homecoming” games in Seattle and Chicago, respectively, it looked as if the Liberty were going to finish last week 3-0. But they blew the big lead away in their rematch with Sky on Sunday. The 86-82 loss, combined with the fact that the Liberty only beat the Sky 77-76 in Chicago on Friday, shows that New York has work to do to be more cohesive and close out games.
4. Chicago Sky
The Sky lost by 18 points in Atlanta on Tuesday, followed by the news that Rebekah Gardner is out indefinitely with a foot injury, adding to their staffing issues. What did the Sky do then? They almost beat the Liberty in Chicago, and then they beat them in Brooklyn. Kahleah Copper had a combined 47 points and 16 rebounds in those two games. Chicago traded places with the Liberty in the Power Rankings, dropping one spot, but the fact that they’re so close means congratulations to the Sky.
5. Los Angeles Sparks
The Sparks’ 99-93 overtime win at Phoenix on Friday was the last of four very entertaining games that night, and the highest score of them (the extra period helped, of course). Guard Lexie Brown’s career-high 26 points led the Sparks. The next day, back home in Los Angeles, Nneka Ogwumike set the tone with 27 points and 14 rebounds in beating Seattle 92-85. The Sparks’ only losses so far are to the Aces.
6. Washington Mystics
While the Sparks were able to win on back-to-back nights, the Mystics were not. They outscored Dallas 75-74 on Friday, but fell to Minnesota 80-78 on Saturday, the Lynx’s first win this season. Elena Delle Donne, who didn’t play in consecutive games last season, logged 33 minutes in both games, but with different results: 23 points on 46.7% shooting on Friday, 12 points on 33.3% on Saturday.
7. Dallas Wings
Injuries have kept forward Satou Sabally from being at his best for his first three seasons since he was the No. 2 pick in the 2020 draft. But he has been a standout so far in 2023, averaging 22.2 points and 10.7 rebounds. Last week, the Wings beat Minnesota but lost in Washington and Connecticut. They play five of their next six games at home, where they are 2-0.
8. Atlanta Dream
The Dream lost their home opener on May 28 to Indiana, but bounced back last week by beating Chicago and challenging Las Vegas before falling by five. Cheyenne Parker stood out once morest the Aces with 25 points and 11 rebounds. She was largely responsible for the Dream outrebounding Las Vegas 36-31.
9. Indiana Fever
The Fever went 0-2 following ending their 20-game losing streak on May 28. But considering those losses came to the top teams, Connecticut (Tuesday) and Las Vegas (Sunday), by a combined seven points, Indiana doesn’t fall in the Power Rankings. In fact, it was the best winless week the Fever might have had. Aliyah Boston, who was ESPN’s unanimous preseason selection for WNBA Rookie of the Year, has played well, although she was limited to seven points once morest fellow former South Carolina Gamecocks star A’ja Wilson of Las Vegas. Vegas.
10. Phoenix Mercury
Center Brittney Griner will return to her home state of Texas this week, and many Baylor Bears plan to attend the first of the Mercury’s two meetings with the Wings on Wednesday. Maybe Phoenix can do something there. The Mercury lost their only game last week by six points in overtime to Los Angeles, but had a chance to win in regulation. Griner is off to a good start, averaging 22.0 points and 8.8 rebounds.
11. Minnesota Lynx
The Lynx were, understandably, extremely upset with their 0-6 start. After an 89-84 loss at home to Connecticut on Thursday, coach Cheryl Reeve was highly critical of Minnesota’s defense in particular. The Lynx did a much better job that Saturday, finally getting into the win column, 80-78 in Washington. Tiffany Mitchell’s rebound and basket then her own miss gave Minnesota the winning basket in the final seconds. We’ll see if the Lynx can take advantage of it this week.
12. Seattle Storm
Guard Jewell Loyd is doing everything she can, including a 37-point effort, with eight 3-pointers, in Saturday’s loss at Los Angeles. She is averaging 28.8 points for Seattle, which also lost to New York last week with former Storm star Stewart now leading the Liberty. There seems to be little doubt that this will be a challenging year for the Storm. But with three home games this week, they just might be able to get their first win of 2023.
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