ONE37pm's WNBA Friday Preview for July 2nd

This is actually the second straight matchup between the two teams, so let’s start with the Sky. First of all congratulations to one of the all time GOATs Candace Parker for making her sixth All Star appearance. Also major congratulations to Kahleah Copper and Courtney Vandersloot for their All Star selections as well. The Sky had a rough start to the season, and their troubles coincided with Parkers’ left ankle sprain that she suffered in an early season matchup against Atlanta.

As soon as she came back, the Sky’s season turned aroundback, their season began to turn around, and they have won eight out of their last nine games. Saturday’s matchup against the Wings saw strong performances from Courtney Vandersloot, Diamond DeShields, Allie Quigley, and Ruthy Hebard, as the Sky continues to march their way up the standings. 

Alright let’s head over to Dallas. Big shoutout to Arike Ogunbowale and Satou Sabally for their All Star selections as well. Currently sitting at 6th in standings, the Wings are having a decent year, but will need to be careful as we approach the midway point as seeds 6 through 9 could very well be interchangeable as the Liberty, Mercury, and Mystics aren’t too far behind them record wise.

As you all know, only the top eight seeds get a spot in the playoffs, and while these next four games aren’t “must wins,” I think it would be nice if they could notch as many wins as they can before the break to give themselves more of a lead in case there is an adjustment period once they return (this is applicable to all teams by the way). Expect for Ogunbowale to have a stellar game as usual, and I think Dallas could get the win this time around if Kayla Thornton can get to double digits, along with Marina Mabrey. We shall see.

Not much has changed with the Aces since our last blog except the fact that they seem to be even more dominant than before. Liz Cambage and Dearica Hamby will be part of the WNBA All-Star team (Cambage will play for the Australian Olympic team), and of course, A’Ja Wilson and Chelsea Gray will be representing team USA in the summer games as well. Standout point guard Kelsey Plum will also be participating in the Summer Olympics as a part of the 3x3 team, which is a new addition to the games, meaning that the Aces will be well represented in Tokyo.

Now as far as the season is concerned, the Aces are ranked 1st, so there isn’t much to worry about, but the margin is slim between seeds 1 through 3, and the Seattle Storm and Connecticut Sun are on their heels. Ideally the Aces would like to keep their number one spot, so for that reason, I think they would like to close out these games before the break strong. They handled the Sparks pretty easily on Wednesday, so if they have a similar performance tonight, they should be able to get the W again.

Okay let’s move on to the Sparks. Let me first start by commending Nneka Ogwumike for the rare talent she is. It is my hope that we can see her be a part of the Olympic squad one day because she totally deserves it. Also during the Olympic break, Ogwumike will be a part of the highly anticipated Space Jam: A New Legacy movie dropping on July 16th. Fans can expect to see the star as Arachneka, a Tune Squad member who takes on the form of a spider. We’ll talk more about Space Jam later, but as far as the Sparks, I would love to see Los Angeles make the playoffs, and they aren’t too far off from being able to qualify. Their pre-break schedule however is going to be tough as they have the Aces tonight obviously, back to back matchups against the Seattle Storm, and a final game against the Minnesota Lynx. It’s going to be difficult for sure, but one game at a time.

Last but not least we have Atlanta vs Seattle. Congrats to Courtney Williams on her All Star appearance, which is well deserved! Atlanta is another team that is going to have to do some fighting to climb in the standings, and similar to the Sparks, they also have a tough pre-break schedule as the Storm, Aces, and Connecticut make up the next three games on their schedule. The Dream will close it out against the Indiana Fever on July 11th, and as far as this matchup goes, we all know the Storm are very tough to battle against, but I really liked their total team effort against the New York Liberty the other night. Everyone got involved in some way, and you definitely need an “all hands on deck” approach when it comes to dealing with the Storm. 

As far as Seattle, they are currently sitting pretty at No. 2, and could end up overtaking the Aces for that top spot. Sue Bird, Jewell Lloyd, and Breanna Stewart are all Olympians, and will head to Tokyo in a few short weeks to compete for Gold, and like the Aces, are in a really good position heading into the interim. In addition to Atlanta, Seattle will close out this final week with back to back matchups against the Sparks and Mercury. The same way the Aces want their top spot, the Storm want it too, and you better believe they want to try to get as many wins as they can during the next several days.