Griner returns to Phoenix, and Copper said, “I’m excited for the X-Factor to go out there and give her that standing ovation she deserves.”
This is the first time in her 13 season career where she has played for a team that wasn’t Phoenix, and would love for her to get good run today. She noted that she can “feel the tears already”. Despite the back to back for Atlanta, ideally Griner gets some good run here. Griner has o16.5 PR in 9/12 games with 24+ minutes, yet has never missed this line if she runs >26 (7/7). Other tall bigs have thrived:
– Shepard 16 PR in 17min, 15 PR in 11min / Smith 16 PR in 22min
– Billings 18 PR in 19min
– McCowan 19 PR in 22min
– Yueru 23 PR in 22min
Satou and Copper return for Phoenix today after missing four straight games and the All Star Game. Tibbetts noted yesterday, “I think if you would have asked them, they would have played a week ago… It’s a day-to-day thing. They had a good day today, and it’s kind of like, how do they respond?”
Am unsure if either will be on minutes limit upon their return. Lexi Held also has been set active to play after she suffered a collapsed lung over a month ago, yet that will definitely come with sparse minutes as she still was limited in practice.
Phoenix’s defense was absolutely unreal in that 4 game stretch without Satou/Copper, having the 3rd best DRTG. In these games, they allowed the fewest PITP and the 2nd fewest Pts off TOV. This defense will see a slight hit in productivity with Monique Akoa Makani out (concussion). However the one thing they cannot control is their lack of size, as they have surrendered 40 OPP RPG in this same span (13th), notably to frontcourt.
The Dream are on the second leg of their back-to-back, with Allisha Gray notably playing through a minor illness yesterday in Atlanta’s 15 point loss.
Jordin Canada has complete command of this offense, which was already trending towards being true (from a facilitation standpoint) before, yet now even more so. She notched 21 Potentials against Vegas, the second highest mark of the season – which was 22 by Canada three games prior. Cloud is the only backcourt player to notch 7+ Ast against Phoenix in their L15 games.
The Dream uses their large frontcourt to run high sets in their PnR game, typically through Brionna Jones while Griner stays on block, thus allowing the 2nd most starting guard rebounds in their L10 games.
Defensively the Dream’s biggest threat has always been Pullup shooters due to the deep drop coverage played by their bigs. Would be a great spot for Kahleah Copper (PR) if you can rely on minutes, as ATL surrenders the most points to both PnR Ball Handlers along with Handoffs (which AT loves).
This season, handoffs have made up a fifth of Copper’s total scoring production, compared to just 5% last season when she didn’t have Thomas as a teammate. Copper notched 19 PR vs CHI (12th vs Handoffs) in 23min, 21 vs LV (10th) and then 38 vs DAL (11th).
Subsequently, Alyssa Thomas has averaged 11.3 APG against these bottom 4 handoff defenses.