Opening night time of Unrivaled “was all the pieces we have been hoping for,” Lunar Owls participant and league co-founder Napheesa Collier mentioned Friday.
In the inaugural game, Collier’s Lunar Owls took down Breanna Stewart‘s Mist, staging a fourth-quarter comeback that was sealed by two 3-pointers by Skylar Diggins-Smith. Then Arike Ogunbowale‘s Vinyl received Game 2 over Angel Reese‘s Rose.
What did the brand new 3-on-3 girls’s professional basketball league do for an encore?
After Laces routed Phantom to open Day 2 on Saturday, Lunar Owls have been again in motion towards the Rose. Diggins-Smith hit her second game-winning shot in as many days — this time a successful free throw — to attain all 9 of her factors within the second half. Collier completed with a game-high 31 factors.
Kayla McBride led the Laces with a game-high 28 factors, taking pictures 7-for-15 from past the arc.
Here’s how Saturday performed out.
Game 2 takeaways: Lunar Owls 79, Rose 70
Diggins-Smith received it for the Lunar Owls once more Saturday afternoon — and supplied the league’s first game-winning shot coming from the free throw line. Unrivaled’s free throw guidelines appear to be well-received thus far for dashing up the sport. They additionally amplify each make and miss. That meant Rose’s 4 misses — together with three after halftime — actually got here again to chew them in a recreation the place they have been tied within the third quarter and finally misplaced by 9. Three of the 4 contests this weekend have been determined by single digits, so free throw taking pictures might actually sway some outcomes all through the season.
But Collier’s mesmerizing play — 58 factors in lower than 24 hours and doing all of it on the court docket — additionally helped the Lunar Owls enhance to 2-0. She is the primary participant to have a number of 25-point video games in Unrivaled historical past and the third to attain at the least 30 in a recreation — all whereas carrying the load of co-founding this league, which she does together with her hallmark composure and steadiness. What a weekend on and off the court docket for Collier, who has shined individually whereas shepherding a profitable opening weekend for this new league.
One factor I’ll be watching transferring ahead: Through 4 video games, it is clear the one-hour TV window for every contest is simply too brief. On Saturday, the ultimate recreation concluded nearer to 4:30 p.m. ET than 4 p.m. as scheduled. Will TNT should cope with longer video games, or will Unrivaled tweak any guidelines to hurry issues up additional? It’ll be attention-grabbing to see whether or not the rest concerning the recreation format is adjusted — midseason or maybe main into Year 2 — now that we have seen the way it works. — Alexa Philippou
Game 1 takeaways: Laces 86, Phantom 48
On the heels of a triumphant opening day that completely captured what Unrivaled officers mentioned the league aspires to be, the beginning of Day 2 had a palpable drop-off in power.
Perhaps it is as a result of the primary recreation of the day tipped at 2 p.m. ET. But the sport between the Laces and Phantom was an old school blowout. The Phantom struggled to get something happening both finish of the condensed court docket. There was no stress. No drama. No suspense.
If these video games aren’t shut and it is not a battle to the ultimate game-winning bucket, Unrivaled’s recreation loses a variety of its intrigue. In the constructing, the quiet lulls have been lengthy — so lengthy the hype man went round attempting to get spectators to do the wave. Others migrated to the gamers from different groups within the stands hoping for an image.
By the time the fourth quarter arrived, the Laces already had the sport within the bag. It was only a matter of how rapidly they may attain the successful rating. — Kendra Andrews
Phantom definitely underperformed, however now that we have seen all six Unrivaled golf equipment take the ground, are the Laces the early favourite for the league’s greatest workforce? There’s loads to love about this group: They can shoot (making 13 3-pointers Saturday), transfer the ball very well and have already got sturdy chemistry. After we noticed an honest quantity of iso ball on Friday, with no workforce registering greater than 14 assists in a recreation, the Laces completed with 23 — a testomony to their skill to hit pictures but in addition to the workforce’s offensive circulation and gamers’ dedication to taking part in collectively.
McBride was the star with 28 factors and 7 3s, however all Laces gamers who performed scored double figures — no different workforce achieved that by the primary three video games.
There was some concern concerning the Laces’ lack of rim safety, however it did not harm them Saturday: Phantom managed simply 48 factors on 33% taking pictures, and the Laces restricted Satou Sabally and Brittney Griner to a mixed 16 factors.
What’s much more promising is that this group will solely get higher at any time when two-way star Jackie Young returns from damage. One attention-grabbing tidbit: The format is clearly totally different, however it’s notable that half of the Laces — Tiffany Hayes, Stefanie Dolson and Young — are all 3×3 Olympians, with Dolson and Young successful gold collectively in Tokyo. — Philippou
