PHOENIX MERCURY 97 – DALLAS WINGS 90 (2 OT) AT COLLEGE PARK CENTER, ARLINGTON, TX

I was absolutely enthralled by the end of the Mercury/Wings game yesterday – words I probably never imagined typing. The Wings are my league pass team. Teaira McCowan, Maddy Siegrest, Arike Ogunbowale, Sevgi Uzun, and Monique Billings are such a great starting 5 and I love seeing Jacy Sheldon come off the bench. But honestly, I did not expect this game to become the instant classic that it eventually transformed into. The Mercury have been a pretty boring team to start the season. But I guess that is changing with Brittney Griner back and Diana Taurasi on her revenge tour (more on that in a second).

The game started with Arike and Brittney Griner trading jumpers. Griner was back from injury on Friday but this felt like her coming out party. The game rounded into a team effort on both sides with Uzun nailing some key shots behind the arc for the Wings. Meanwhile, in a welcome surprise, Jacy Sheldon provided 17 minutes off the bench for Dallas (who looked great in their TEXAS “Rebel Edition” jerseys – got to get me one of those) and a few clutch buckets and dishes. But maybe more importantly Sheldon also was a part of a few key defensive stops that helped the Wings stay in the game. Her high motor was really revving on Sunday.

Meanwhile for the Mercury, Sophie Cunningham lead the way in clutch 3’s and just being everywhere all the time to keep the Mercury in it (BTW I always love how you can always tell where Sophie Cunningham is on the court as you just have to look for the long sleeves). And of course, Kaleah Copper was her usual productive self at the most clutch times of the game – with eight of her 24 points in the second OT to help seal the win for the Wings.

As the fourth quarter wound down, it looked like the Merc were going to run away with it but Uzun hit a clutch three and Arike kept pushing and pressuring until the Merc were on their heels. Arike drove with seconds left on the clock but guess who was waiting to cleanly break up the play and then taunt the crowd afterward – 41 year old veteran, and US Olympic Team member, Diana Taurasi.

And to be fair, Taurasi seemed to have the most “presence” on the court of any of the players on either team. She was positively Lebron-esque last night. And I’m not talking about the Cleveland Lebron (either era) or the Heat Lebron – I am talking about the post 2020 in-your-face, old man energy Lebron. It is hard to think that such a well-played and focused game was not deliberate on the part of Taurasi. Frankly she looked pissed throughout – almost playing with a literal chip on her shoulder.

I mean Taurasi always kind of seems on edge and she had been the focal point of much media speculation on Saturday when Caitlin Clark was left off the Olympic roster. People wondered why Taurasi was on the team. Surely at 41 years old she had to be washed. And over people like Clark and to be fair, Arike as well? Come on.

But Taurasi showed EVERYONE why she is still on the Olympic team yesterday afternoon. Sure she was a +14 with 20 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists. But she is also just EVERYWHERE on the court defensively, breaking up key plays and knowing how to get under players’ skin at just the right time. There may be other players that were less deserving than Caitlin Clark on the Olympic roster but Taurasi is not one of them.

LOS ANGELES SPARKS 96 – LAS VEGAS ACES 92 AT CRYPTO.COM ARENA, LOS ANGELES, CA

Meanwhile in Los Angeles, I was predicting doom and gloom for the Sparks. Another Sunday night snooze – a scheduling phenomenon where west coast teams get the late Sunday at 6PM PST/ 9PM EST start – and it just always seems to catch them off guard. It is something that has lulled many a Laker team to sleep on a Sunday night only to wake up on Monday with a big fat L.

Not to mention, The Sparks’ opponent, the Las Vegas Aces, had been absolutely spanked on Friday night by the Seattle Storm on Friday night 78-65. And that loss led to this epic Becky Hammon half-time interview:

To be fair, the Aces got out to a 14 point lead and it looked like my prediction of a double digit loss for the Sparks was on the horizon. But expect the unexpected in the WNBA. And the Aces got both last night. The Sparks fought back – largely on the shoulders of the expected Dearica Hamby and the (somewhat) unexpected Aari McDonald off the bench. To be fair, outside of Hamby, it was the bench that was cooking for the Sparks in this game. They averaged a +8 with not one player off the bench in the minus category. McDonald, Li Yueru, Stephanie Talbot and especially Rae Burrell. RB had some major 3 pointers in the final minutes that put the Aces away, exactly when they were looking like they were going to come back and possibly snatch that sleepy Sunday W from the hands of the Sparks (which again, has happened A LOT this season – Fever, Wings, I could go on).

The Sparks’ pair of hyped rookies Cameron Brink and Rickea Jackson were fine last night. Neither set the world on fire but neither let their team down. Brink can space and play D and Rickea can score but they almost are like one complete player if you combine all of their powers and talents. I’m not saying this is something to be concerned – and I do think Cam is closer than Rickea, maybe a lot closer – but it might be something to keep an eye on.

Hopefully more teams will now give more energy to Hamby, Aari, and Jackson and let Cam finally cook under the rim and start scoring a little more. If Cam can start to average over 10 a game, I honestly think she could be at the top of the ROY conversation. But without filling that box score in the points column, it is a hard thing to do, even in this day and age, where everyone still looks at points specifically as the defining mark for success (I mean just look at the way people talk about Caitlin Clark).

Interestingly, like Jimmy Butler on Friday, everyone was talking about ANOTHER celebrity sitting courtside. This time it was USC Trojans phenom Juju Watkins at the game taking selfies. Even A’ja Wilson went up to her after the game for a hug and a photo. On the one hand, this continued presence could be a distraction for a Sparks team that is coming into their own. But the truth is, the star presence now at every game is probably a welcome distraction for the Sparks – and maybe one that they can use to their advantage as visiting teams might not be as used to it. The Lakers sure did at one time during the emerging “Showtime” era.

But let’s turn our attention to the Aces. What is going on? Is it just growing pains with Kate Martin now entering the starting line-up? Are adjustments coming in the week ahead? Kate is an absolute sharpshooter when it comes to 3’s and honestly jumpers generally. She scored 13 last night and was a +1 – but Martin also had three personal fouls and two turnovers. More critically, I did see her get burned on D, noticeably, a few times last night.

But I like Kate. She has the potential to be one of the league’s most valuable shooters. It is great to see her succeed on the WNBA label and now become a starter. If she can nail the D, and that is a big “if”, she would honestly be a more complete player than either Cam Brink or Rickea Jackson. Maybe it was just an off night.

But maybe there is real work to be done there. And to be fair, the press conference after the game last night was a lot of laughs and celebration for Martin’s start. Sure the Aces lost but they played tough. And the Aces did not get blown out – like Friday. Hammon was also ejected with 20 seconds to go but still seemed all smiles after the game. I trust Becky Hammon and I trust that she saw something that she really liked from Martin last night. And I trust Hammon to adjust and coach Martin up on D and give her some tips. But I do think, like Cam and Rickea’s development, this is maybe another rookie’s development to keep an eye on.