WNBA 2023 Season, Part 2

[MilfordHusky]

In the Sun's win, AT puts up a ridiculous stat line of 27/12/14 and breaks the single-season assist record (recall that this season is longer than prior ones).

In the Liberty's 1-point win over Dallas, Stewie puts up 40/10. That's her 4th 40-piece this season, also a record. She broke Diana's record for points in a single season.

 

[MilfordHusky]

In the Dallas game, Crystal played all 40 minutes, held Sabrina to 5 points, and put up 12/3/5/5, recording more steals than the entire Liberty team.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Chicago goes to Indianapolis and clobbers the Fever, 96-69, behind 25 from Kahleah Copper and 17 each from Courtney Williams and Marina Mabrey. With the Sparks losing at Connecticut, the two teams are tied for the 8th seed. Chicago has a home game against the Minnesota Lynx and then travels to Connecticut, while the Sparks go to NY to play the Liberty, then finish up in Seattle. If the Sky and Sparks are tied after the last game, Chicago gets the nod for a better head-to-head record. Stay tuned.

L.A. was missing Nneka, Chiney, Karlie, Brown, and Clouden, all out with injuries. Ouch!

 

[nwhoopfan]

Chicago goes to Indianapolis and clobbers the Fever, 96-69, behind 25 from Kahleah Copper and 17 each from Courtney Williams and Marina Mabrey. With the Sparks losing at Connecticut, the two teams are tied for the 8th seed. Chicago has a home game against the Minnesota Lynx and then travels to Connecticut, while the Sparks go to NY to play the Liberty, then finish up in Seattle. If the Sky and Sparks are tied after the last game, Chicago gets the nod for a better head-to-head record. Stay tuned.

This one is going down to the wire.

 

[nwhoopfan]

A. Thomas may have broken Sloot's record for total assists in a season (not even remotely close to her record for average per game though), but Sloot's gotta be the only player to record 300 in 2 different seasons. She just got to that plateau again tonight.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Looks like playing the Mercury was exactly what the ailing Mystics needed. Total blowout.

How in the world does Griner play 21 minutes and grab only 2 rebounds? That's gotta be lack of effort, plain and simple.

 

[Geew1992]

L.A. was missing Nneka, Chiney, Karlie, Brown, and Clouden, all out with injuries. Ouch!

Has chiney played at all?

 

[bbsamjj]

DC has now officially clinched a playoff spot, and with Chicago's win and LA's loss last night, Chicago would currently grab the 8th seed, due to owning the tiebreaker with LA.

Remaining games:

LA: @NY, @Seattle
Chi: vs MN, @CT

 

[Dillon77]

In the Dallas game, Crystal played all 40 minutes, held Sabrina to 5 points, and put up 12/3/5/5, recording more steals than the entire Liberty team.

I was pretty amazed how many minutes starters played in the Dallas vs. NY game -- did coaches think this was the playoff game?

Dallas:

• Crystal (the aforementioned 40 minutes)
• Satou Sabally (nearly 38 minutes)
• Arike (nearly 38 minutes)

New York:

• Sloot (34 minutes)
• Stewie (33 minutes)
• Laney (32 minutes)

Some other stats that caught my eye from all the games:

• Kahleah Copper with 4 three-pointers? Sure. Azura Stevens, the same? Way to go, Z! Short-bench LA needed every one of those.
• Natasha Howard had 4 blocks for Dallas last night. One of the many others to have 2 was .... Marina Mabrey? Hard-nosed player but even I know her vertical isn't imposing!
• In addition to her rebounds, assists and points last night, Alyssa Thomas had 6 steals. Of course, she's third in the league in that category.
• Stewie did everything she could to garner that one-pt. win in Dallas, but there was one area that effort showed up. She "only" went 9-13 from the FT line. The only reason I bring that up is she's a tad under 85% for the season. Time, effort on other aspects of the game tend to catch up in some areas of shooting (legs). Will keep an eye on this once playoffs start.
• @nwhoopfan noted Britany Griner only had 2 rebounds in 21 minutes. By contrast, Megan Gustafson played 13 minutes and had 7 rebounds, while also scoring 13 points. Some of this was probably during extended "garbage time," but Gustafson's efforts are always just that....

-

 

[Dillon77]

Richard Cohen of Her Hoops Stats weighs in on the WNBA season, with thoughts on Thornton signing early, the prioritization rule (from another perspective) and the lottery race, among other things. Good read, as usual.

WNBA Dissected 2023 Week 16: What could still happen in the final four days?

As the 2023 WNBA regular season winds to a close on Sunday, we take a look at the various remaining possibilities, both on and off the court

herhoopstats.substack.com

 

[bbsamjj]

Every team has two games left to play, and here is where the middle of the standings sit:

4. Dallas: 20-18
5. Minnesota: 19-19
6. Atlanta: 18-20
7. Washington 18-20
8. Chicago: 16-22
9. LA: 16-22

All but Chicago/LA have secured a playoff spot, though seeding is very much still up in the air.

Tonight LA travels to NY (which if NY plays everyone, you got to think they have a huge advantage here).

Tomorrow night, a couple huge games:

Atlanta @ DC (Atlanta currently leads season series 2-1; if DC can win and tie it up, who owns tiebreaker for potential 6th seed)
Minnesota @ Chicago (I believe if LA loses to NY, and then Chicago beats MN, Chicago will have locked up the final playoff spot, since they own the tiebreaker over LA. Meanwhile, Minnesota could still hypothetically catch Dallas and get homecourt advantage in the first round matchup).

 

[Geew1992]

Stef dolson hitting 3s like she’s Sabrina

 

[Geew1992]

Yay Christyn

https://x.com/wbbworldwide/status/1699904390046302567?s=46&t=tn0T8yLCFh27TreR8Mp44g

 

[Bigboote]

Stef dolson hitting 3s like she’s Sabrina

The Liberty have hit seven in a row. I think 3 or 4 of those are Dolson's.

 

[Geew1992]

The Liberty have hit seven in a row. I think 3 or 4 of those are Dolson's.

She has 5 in a row. But yes it’s either 3 or 4

 

[MilfordHusky]

New York was trailing a makeshift lineup from LA by 13 points or so in Brooklyn. Then, in a game in which Sabrina broke Diana's season record for threes, Stefanie Dolson happened. Big Momma hit 4 straight in 1:47 to give NY the lead for good. Stef was 5-5 from the arc overall.

 

[JellyBean]

Holy smokes. The Sparks only played seven players and dang near beat New York. The Sparks just ran out of gas. Hats off to Layshia Clarendon. She played her heart out. I wish that we could have held on to her here in Minnesota. Clarendon is going to give you 120% effort, every time.

 

[MilfordHusky]

NYL had 32 assists on 35 buckets. Sloot had 10, as she and AT are competing for the season assist title.

 

[baggerbob]

NYL had 32 assists on 35 buckets. Sloot had 10, as she and AT are competing for the season assist title.

And Sabrina had 6 turnovers, it's a good thing Sloot came to New York.
Sabrina is careless with the ball in her hands.
Trys to make a great pass when nothing is there.
She is much better off the ball, then having it in her hands.

 

[nwhoopfan]

NYL had 32 assists on 35 buckets. Sloot had 10, as she and AT are competing for the season assist title.

Sloot has overtaken Thomas in both total assists and average per game. AT has 2 more games left, Sloot only 1. So potentially AT could finish with more assists, but Sloot could have the higher average and thus officially lead the league in assists.

 

[bbsamjj]

Rae Burrell looked like a real solid pro tonight. Hope she's able to take this momentum into next year.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Here's a little statistical anomaly: in the entire history of the WNBA prior to this season, 2 players had made 100 or more 3's in a season. Taurasi twice and Plum once. This year 3 have already reached the mark (Ionescu, Ogunbowale and Loyd), and 2 more could easily join the group (R. Howard and K. Mitchell). Yeah they are playing more games this season, but that's still kinda crazy the number could swell from 2 players who have done it to 7, just like that.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Here's a little statistical anomaly: in the entire history of the WNBA prior to this season, 2 players had made 100 or more 3's in a season. Taurasi twice and Plum once. This year 3 have already reached the mark (Ionescu, Ogunbowale and Loyd), and 2 more could easily join the group (R. Howard and K. Mitchell). Yeah they are playing more games this season, but that's still kinda crazy the number could swell from 2 players who have done it to 7, just like that.

Is scoring at a record high this year? It seems like it. Vegas is near a record pace, several players have scored 40+ (some multiple times), Wilson went over 50, multiple players average 8+ assists. Combine more output per minute with a longer season, and records are falling all over the place.

 

[azfan]

Here's a little statistical anomaly: in the entire history of the WNBA prior to this season, 2 players had made 100 or more 3's in a season. Taurasi twice and Plum once. This year 3 have already reached the mark (Ionescu, Ogunbowale and Loyd), and 2 more could easily join the group (R. Howard and K. Mitchell). Yeah they are playing more games this season, but that's still kinda crazy the number could swell from 2 players who have done it to 7, just like that.

Longer season

 

[azfan]

Stef was on fire last night for the Liberty. So glad to have the chance to see her strut her stuff. She has such joy in playing and that three-point display was a pleasure. Her teammates were overjoyed at her performance!