Top WNBA Highs, Lows, and Uh-ohs after May 19, 2023's Four Games
Top observations of the WNBA's opening night
After each day of games, The Fadeaway is going to take a look at some of the previous night’s “highs, lows, and uh-ohs.”
With the WNBA’s opening night behind us, here are 10 observations of what looked good, what looked rough, and what we’d like to forget moving forward.
Highs
She's Back
As great as the start of the W's opening night was, nothing topped seeing Brittney Griner back on a WNBA floor for the first time in 579 days.
There had been talk of the Phoenix Mercury’s 100-day plan to get Griner's mind and body back into game shape. It was a tall task considering there was no real idea on how she’d adjust, but the six-time all-star wasted no time reminding the world of who she is and how dominant she can be on a basketball court as she put up 18 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 blocks in 25 minutes.
Though the Mercury got blitzed by 23 points, very little of that had to do with Griner. So little in fact that she had a plus/minus of -9, respectable in a game that had four Mercury teammates at -17 or worse.
Seeing number 42 back on the floor was easily the highlight of the night. And if we're honest, it'll be a moment that will be tough to top all year.
The Legends Look Healthy
It's only one game, but watching Elena Delle Donne and Diana Taurasi playing at the level they did last night gave me chills.
In a game full of highlights, no play of Delle Donne’s was more impressive than this block on former MVP Breanna Stewart. One that immediately led to a head’s up assist in transition:
Delle Donne has spent the past few years battling chronic back and health issues, but she was quite simply the best player on the floor against the New York Liberty. Her level pace and ability to affect the offense in both transition and the half court consistently gave the Washington Mystics a boost. More impressively, her defense on Stewart—holding her to 12 points on 3-10 shooting and 0-5 from three—kept the Liberty's best weapon in check all night.
When it comes to Taurasi, that box score—one filled with bad stats and poor shot selection—isn’t indicative of just how fresh she looked in her 19th year in the W.
Need proof?
Instead of solely settling for bad jumpers like she did much of last year, Taurasi took the first quarter to attack the basket like someone who wasn’t afraid of the punishment that might come with it.
Each team in the W has a 40-game schedule this season—the most amount of games in the league’s history—so load management will be something to keep an eye on. Still though, Delle Donne and Taurasi reminded us all why they’re two of the best to have ever played the game.
Kahleah Copper is Scary
If you’re new to the WNBA or are simply a fan who’s had their eyes closed for the past couple years, one of the W’s brightest young stars goes by the name of Kahleah Copper.
And she’s simply dangerous.
Copper used the Chicago Sky’s first game to put on an absolute clinic. It was a reminder that Chicago might have lost some of its key players over the offseason, but that doesn’t mean it needs to take a step back. At least as long as Copper is playing the way she’s capable of.
There’s arguably not a player in the league who’s smoother with the basketball and capable of executing on offense at all three levels (outside the arc, in the mid-range, and at the basket).
With a small exodus of the Sky’s talent, Copper will be tasked with the largest role of her career and is on the early MVP watchlist.
The W is Wide Open
What a fun season we’re about to have.
The Washington Mystics absolute dismantling of the New York Liberty made it clear they’re a serious title contender. It also showed there’s an opportunity for the W to have more parity than its had in recent years.
Sure, we haven’t seen the defending champion Las Vegas Aces—who only got better with the addition of future Hall-of-Famer Candice Parker—play yet. I get that. But there are reasons to believe the talent gap between the teams is shrinking.
The Indiana Fever won’t be challenging for a title, but they already appear to be playing with a heart that hasn’t been there for years. Don’t be surprised to see them win a couple games they couldn’t have come close to last season.
I’ll be watching the Atlanta Dream and Dallas Wings closely as they come out of the gate as well. The Dream’s, Rhyne Howard, will need to take a step up and be far more efficient than she was in her Rookie of the Year campaign, but she easily has the talent to make it happen. Dallas’, Teaira McCowan, is at the top of my most anticipated players to watch this season, too. McCowan is a near-lock to get a double-double every night she touches the floor and has the chance to provide the Wings with an interior threat they’ve been missing for awhile.
One team to be on the lookout for? The Los Angeles Sparks. Curt Miller’s addition as the head coach after years of success with the Connecticut Sun made an immediate impact as the team played at a level it didn’t come close to sniffing all of last season—putting up an opening-night high of 94 points in its win over the Mercury. We’ll dive deeper into this team when we look at the power rankings at the top of next week, but don’t sleep on Los Angeles.
Lows
The Sun will be Dimmer for the Foreseeable Future
Yes, Connecticut began its year with an opening night win. Nobody's going to be upset about starting off the season with a 1-0 record, but it couldn't be clearer that this year's team is a vastly different than it has been in the past few years.
And that's far from a good thing.
Connecticut did everything in its power to blow a 15-point fourth-quarter lead to the Indiana Fever and showed just how much they’ll miss the constant threat of the New York Liberty’s Jonquel Jones.
Buckle up Sun fans… This is a different team than you’re used to, and the season might be a long one.
Minnesota Needs to Find Its Zone
The Minnesota Lynx aren't going to be a good team this year. They lack much of the offensive versatility that other top organizations possess, oftentimes putting together sloppy offensive possession after sloppy offensive possession.
Believe it or not, though, this “Low” has a caveat.
Their zone defense couldn’t be more active and fun to watch! Midway through the third quarter and seemingly out of answers, the Lynx went to a zone in hopes of disrupting Chicago's hot shooting and effective isolation play. And it was a thing of beauty.
Now, they couldn’t rebound for anything out of it and gave up a painful amount of second-chance points, but I’d like to make a plea to the Lynx: become the first professional basketball team to not even play man-to-man defense and commit fully to the zone.
I know that’s a ridiculous request. I know it’ll never happen. But I can’t think of something more fun for an organization who is bound to struggle all season. And I’ll be honest. I like fun.
Uh-ohs
The Statues of Liberty
A lot will be said about the beat down the Washington Mystics put on the New York Liberty and the fact that the game was never remotely competitive. Time-and-time again, the Liberty were sloppy with the ball, poorly spaced, and slow down the floor in transition.
Quite bluntly, New York was in awful shape.
It was so bad—and this is rough, everyone…—that the Mystics’ Natasha Cloud ended her HALFTIME interview calling out New York’s poor conditioning:
There are no shortage of Liberty players to point the finger at, but we’ll chalk the opening night’s sole “Uh-oh” up to a total team lack of effort.