With the first week of Unrivaled officially wrapped up and in the books, it’s time to address some key takeaways from the league’s debut.
Three Undefeated teams
After the completion of the first 12 games of the season, we can all come to the first and most obvious takeaway from this weekend, which is that there were three teams that left without a blemish on their record. The Vinyl, Lunar Owls, and Laces all won both of their matchups and now share a 3-way tie for first place. I expected The Vinyl to be in this undefeated position, since they’re led by elite scoring guards, Rhyne Howard and Arike Ogunbowale. These two didn’t disappoint as they shared the floor as teammates and proved my prediction of being impossible to guard. Out the gate in their first matchup they were hitting stepback jumpers and getting to their spots at an efficient rate. Seeing these two elite scorers coincide with one another is so truly special. Now you topple that with Vinyl the beneficial efforts of Dearica Hamby, who finished with 17 points and 13 rebounds against Rose and 22 points against Phantom, they’re going to be extremely tough to beat. Lunar Owls and Laces’ also got off to fast starts just like Vinyl, which was quite surprising. The Lunar Owls showcased how fast they’re already gelling with one another on offense, as they were the only team to shoot over 50 percent from the field in both of their wins against the Mist and Rose basketball clubs. They sit atop of the league in points per game with 81.5 which is tied with Vinyl. Courtney Williams, Allishja Gray, Napheesa Collier, and Skylar Diggins-Smith have all been contributing to the dangerously balanced scoring attack. Collier came on strong with 27 points in their opener and then followed that with an even more impressive 31 point game. Cameron Brink hasn’t played yet and that hasn’t held them back from winning either game. The Laces are the 3rd and final unbeaten team so far and that would be attributed to them dominating the glass and sharing the ball. They lead all teams in rebounding and assists which has translated from the box score to the scoreboard. 28 and 20 points have been their margins of victory to open the season and it looks like they won’t slow down anytime soon because almost every member of the team is averaging double-digit points, which means that everyone is finding and making comfortable looks within the offense at an efficient clip.
Phantom BC's suprisingly poor debut
One of the more shocking performances from this past weekend definitely has to go to the Phantom Basketball Club. A team that has built in chemistry with Sabrina Ionescu and Satou Sabally would usually hold their own in any setting, but their debut together on Phantom Basketball Club didn’t go as planned. Phantom suffered two of the largest defeats in all of the league after losing to the Laces by 38 in their first game and Vinyl by 15 in their second. In their first appearance as a team against the Laces, they looked extremely out of sync on both sides of the ball. Nothing was falling for them, as they finished with a 32% field goal percentage which includes them going 9 for 25 from three. Their defense was tremendously sloppy as they weren’t switching or recovering to open shooters in a timely manner. The Laces got so many open catch and shoot 3’s, there were also many times that Phantom mis-communicated on ball screens that left the screener’s roll to the basket wide open. Their second matchup against Vinyl was a bit better than the first one. Phantom increased their shooting percentage from the field to 51.9%. Even though they had improvement shooting the ball they turned it over 14 times compared to the 10 times their previous outing. For the Phantom Basketball Club to be competitive in this league they must cut down on turnovers and increase their defensive intensity and awareness immediately.
Best Game
The inaugural game of the league between the Lunar Owls and Mist basketball clubs was by far the best game of the weekend. This was a fast-paced battle from start to finish. The Mist got out to an early 11-0 run, but the Lunar Owls would counter-punch back to cut that early lead in half. Allisha Gray would blow by her defender for a layup to put the Lunar Owls down 2 at halftime. It was incredible to see Jewell Lloyd go for 30 while hitting 4 three’s on 9 attempts. Aside from her being on a heater it was the complete opposite from her familiar running mate, Breanna Stewart. “Stewie” went 2/11 from the field and was struggling to find any true rhythm the whole game. Napheesa Collier from the Lunar Owls was someone that matched the scoring performance of Jewell Lloyd. Collier finished the game with 27 points on an efficient 11/19 from the field. She had a tough and-one in the 3rd quarter that gave some momentum back to her team as they were trailing. At the end of the 3rd quarter, Ms. Jackson started to shine as she hit a contested pull up jumper and corner three to extend the lead to 10 with 20 seconds left. After the 3rd quarter the game shifts to a target score that either team must hit to officially win the game. The target score of this game was 84. Rickea Jackson would put the Mist up 7 after she scored the first basket over Skylar Diggins-Smith. However, Skylar Diggins-Smith would respond and go on a tear to close the game herself. She hit two clutch 3’s, one to tie the game and then one to win the game over the hand of Dijonai Carrington.
This game had everything that you would expect from seeing the best women basketball players go up against one another. The late clutch buckets, changes in momentum, intense defense, and incredible skill this league showcased with this first game not only has me excited as a basketball fan, but as a sports fan in general. It’s beautiful to see these women being trailblazers for a concept that can and will progress the game for the future generations of women basketball.