Just finished both games..some thoughts:
Sky/Sun
-Kahleah Copper is blossoming in the role we all thought Diamond Deshields would take. She is absolutely electric and is establishing herself as a true star in the league
-Vandersloot is the best PG in the league by a long shot right now. Such a strong passer and she has that calm but intense Sue Bird like demeanor at the end where you feel extremely confident with the ball in her hands. She knows when to call her own number and when to pass to others. She missed a big free throw at the end but was incredibly good down the stretch.
-Jonquel Jones is as skilled as anyone but doesn't appear to have that "give me the ball and get out of the way" mentality that the best go to players have. Being an MVP and someone who often operates on the perimeter, there is zero reason why she should only have 20 shots in the last 2 games. Time for her to step up with her back against the wall.
-Alyssa Thomas gives Connecticut a huge boost with her toughness and ability to score. Down the stretch she was getting the best of Parker on both ends and nearly willed Connecticut to a win. Gotta feel for January for blowing the last minute layup, she isn't going to sleep well tonight. I expect another highly competitive game on Wednesday.
Mercury/Aces
-I think Phoenix is playing by far the best basketball in the league right now, and that largely is due to Griner. BG just looks SO much more focused and composed out there. She's rebounding well, passing well, and just seems really focused. Happy for her that she's putting it all together now. If she continues this play and can lead Phoenix to a title, I think she'll get a lot more respect from women's basketball fans (myself included) when talking about all time greats since the focus hasn't always appeared to be consistent.
-Brianna Turner absolutely dominated A'ja Wilson tonight. 23 points, 17 boards on 9-12 shooting while A'ja had 8/6 on 2-14 shooting. Former #1 and 2 recruits back in 2014, and they also battled it out as freshmen in the Final Four. A'ja has emerged as a much bigger star, but Turner has established herself as one of the best glue players in the league since she does so many little things well and is comfortable deflecting to her stars while stepping up as needed. Every time she's out there you know she's going to hustle, play good defense, crash the glass and fill her role well. Title teams need players like that to come in and do their job at a high level. Turner is one of the best at filling that role. Always appears to be a great teammate and work hard. Very happy to see her have a career night.
-Speaking of A'ja, what has happened to her? She hasn't had 1 noteworthy game yet and was just awful tonight. I know there's a lot of talk about A'ja establishing her legacy with a title, but she also had consistency issues in the 2019 playoffs and Vegas got slaughtered in the finals last year. I have no problem with a star player losing, but it's how you lose or win that matters. She needs to do a lot more if she wants to get to the next level of being a legend.
-Everyone on Vegas was bad tonight. The body language was awful by several players, they were out hustled and outrebounded 58-29 (and keep in mind, Vegas starts 6-8 and 6-5 in the front court), and just got soundly beat. I don't see them going out quietly on Wednesday but they picked a bad time to start playing some of their worst basketball of the season.
