The Aces picked up a win vs Indiana to end their 3 game skid, and this will be the first leg of a back-to-back to end an eight game stretch that featured 7 at their home stadium. Aces absolutely need to pick up both these wins before entering a 5 game roadtrip, and this starts with Connecticut tonight.
The Connecticut Sun are awful, hosting a 2-12 record that features 6 straight losses, and will be playing one of the trio of Aces, Lynx and Storm for their next six games. In June, they not only have the worst DRTG (113) yet also have the worst ORTG (90.5). Now with Marina Mabrey out for 2-4 weeks, that ORTG falls further on the year to 86.4. CON surrenders 39.1 OPP RPG (13th), 21.3 OPP APG (11th) and 13.8 FGM at the Rim (13th).
Tina Charles with an appalling 34.5% usage rate when Mabrey is off the court this season, producing 21.3 Pts per 30min. Lindsay Allen is the team leader in ball handling now despite being off bench, but we get a lot of Sheldon and Rivers from the starters.
I get most intrigued by the rookie duo of Rivers and Morrow, both extremely talented. Only Rivers has been able to generate consistent minutes as of late, as the LSU product Morrow still has to fight for frontcourt minutes with Charles & Nelson-Ododa. She has averaged 20 PR per game across her last three, despite playing just under 20 minutes per contest.
The Aces defense has surrendered the 3rd most PITP in June, by far the worst aspect of their defense. A’ja noted in postgame that they, “Really need to defend the Pick-and-Roll better” after Boston went for 26 points. Hammon prior to this game vs Indiana, “Our defense was atrocious again in the third quarter, and that was the first five, not that second unit”. Boston joined 6 other PF/Cs to notch >15 Pts vs Aces this month.
Can take any Aces player to succeed, yet A’ja Wilson likely has the most motivation to get a quality game under her belt; Noted after an 8-21 shooting performance vs Indiana that, “It wasn’t a typical A’ja performance. Every win is a need for us.”. She shot 13 times in the 1H vs Indiana, while also notching 13 in the 1H against CON last meeting – both of these marks being season high.
The Valkyries host Liberty today, who are expected to be with Sabrina Ionescu today after she missed the last game with a neck injury. The Valks have won 4 straight home games, which included double-digit victories over The Aces, Sun and Fever. At home in June they rank:
– 3rd in DRTG
– 1st in OPP PITP (24)
– 1st in OPP Pts off TOV (11)
Most impressively is how they have absolutely swarmed this top options, as the only frontcourt player to reach 20+ Points against them this month has been Napheesa Collier (who else?). Granted, Stewart did cover this mark in both games at Barclay’s to kick off the season, producing 19 FTA in their most recent meeting.
Temi Fagbenle was activated by the team after her EuroBasket team (Great Britain) was eliminated, which further bolsters the interior defense of this squad. Salaun remains out as France is onto the elimination round. With Fagbenle, Thornton and Hayes all in the mix, Billings has yet to crack double-digit scoring.
The Liberty lost their statistically two most impactful defenders in Jonquel Jones (ankle, out 4-6 weeks) and Fiebich (EuroBasket). They have ranked in the same groupings as Chicago, Sparks and Sun in DRTG, Pts off TOV and 2nd Chance Pts in these last 4 games.