“Nobody’s going to feel sorry for us”
Becky Hammon had no interest in playing the martyr. Asked at practice about the restart, the Aces coach batted the schedule question away: “Teams with a bunch of players at the tournament… nobody cares. Nobody’s going to feel sorry for us.”
She did concede the rhythm is odd. “It’s a strange pace for everybody. Everyone’s going to have to jump in and get going straight away. Every team is more or less in the same boat. Obviously, with the number of players out, it affects us a little differently.”
Four of them, to be exact. Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young went with the United States, Stephanie Talbot with Australia, Mai Yamamoto with Japan. A’ja Wilson, four times the league MVP, turned down the U.S. call for health reasons.
Try it for $0.99.
27-13, and a cushion measured in single games
The reigning champions tip off tonight in Seattle. Three wins in a row went into the break with them.
The margin behind them is thin. Two games in hand on Golden State reads comfortably enough, but Atlanta and Indiana sit a single game back. Every result between now and the end reshuffles the seeding.
Then there is the calendar, which has been kind. Two games against the Storm, then Los Angeles and Phoenix, and not one of those four opponents is still alive in the race. The teams met once this season, on June 8, and Las Vegas took it 101-91.
On the other bench, a season past saving
Seattle finish at 8-32. Last in the league, four losses in their last five.
Sonia Raman, in her first year on the bench, described her frontcourt trio as a “work in progress.” France’s Dominique Malonga and Spain’s Awa Fam both cleared 10 points a game at the World Cup, so the raw material is there.
The rest of the news is worse. Australian center Ezi Magbegor tore her ACL at the tournament and is done. Seattle also confirmed during the break that Katie Lou Samuelson will miss the remainder after surgery on her left knee. Whatever the rebuild looks like, it starts next year.
Discover the rest of the WNBA news on our mathodds website and app!
in your pocket.
Real-time notifications & alerts
Leave a Reply