Greetings my peeps and welcome to the All Things Basketball Podcast with your boy GD.
In this episode I will break down WNBA All-Star Weekend, the Skills Challenge, the 3-point
contest and of course the All-Star game.
So we'll break that down, we'll talk about everything.
So just sit back, relax and enjoy the show.
Okay guys, it's your boy GD back once again with All Things Basketball Podcasts and this
episode I'll be doing will be all about the WNBA.
I will be covering All-Star Weekend and then also I will cover What's Ahead as far as
the second half of the season and so forth.
Now I may have to break it up into 2 episodes we'll see.
Once again it's producing on the fly so we'll see how it goes.
Alright so without any further delay let's get into it.
So we had All-Star Weekend that just passed for the WNBA.
We had Friday in the afternoon, we had the Skills Challenge and then following that we
had the 3-point contest.
Let me just say this right quick.
Friday afternoon in the summer, maybe not the best idea.
Friday evening in the summer maybe you can do a little better with that.
So in the afternoon, who's watching in the afternoon?
People still at work, all those sort of things so yeah I didn't understand that thinking
as far as that goes.
But nonetheless the contests were done and we'll talk about each of them.
First up the Skills Challenge.
Skills Challenge, well they changed it from last season.
Last season it was an individual but this year they did like a team of 2.
What they did was of course you have the host team, team aces with Chelsea Gray and Kelsey
Plum and then you had team Wings with Erika Agumbawale as well as Sato Sabali and then
you had Team Dream who had Alyssa Gray and Cheyenne Parker.
Then you had Team Liberty with Sabrina Inescu as well as Courtney Van Dessloot.
After the first round both the Team Liberty as well as team aces emerges out of it.
So they move on to the final round and then in the final round Team Liberty goes first
and then team aces will follow and they pretty much crushed the time because they timed it
off.
So in the end Chelsea Gray and Kelsey Plum prevail.
So you have the first set of contests and it goes to team aces and of course Las Vegas
is the host team so of course everyone's happy about that.
Now we move on to the 3 point shootout.
Now the 3 point shootout that had 6 players involved and it went in this order.
Dejanay Carrington for the Connecticut Sun followed by Erika Agumbawale of the Dallas
Wings and then followed that with Kelsey Mitchell of the Indiana Fever.
Then Sabrina Inescu of course New York Liberty, Sammy Whitcomb of the Seattle Storm and then
the last person is Jackie Young of the home team the Las Vegas aces.
Dejanay goes first and she scores an 18 which normally in a contest like that that score
may hold.
She started out pretty cold.
It wasn't until she got to about the second rack to where she started kind of heating
up but Dejanay Carrington she scores an 18.
So that's how you start and then she's followed by Erika Agumbawale and she scores a 21.
Then Kelsey Mitchell she fires up a 15 so that puts her in a precarious spot and then
comes Sabrina Inescu and Sammy Whitcomb.
Both of them just obliterated the thing.
26 for Inescu and Whitcomb she had 28 and then also Jackie Young the last one to go
only scores a 15.
It seems like with her shot she has to dribble and shoot so it was kind of difficult for
her in that regard.
And then she missed one of the starry ball I guess that's what they call it.
She missed one of those so who knows what her score could have been if she got that
in second.
So nonetheless so in the end Dejanay, Kelsey and Jackie Young they're all eliminated.
So it's on to the second round and your finalists are Erika Agumbawale followed by Sabrina Inescu
and then Sammy Whitcomb who had the best score of the round she went last.
So Erika Agumbawale she scores a 11 she was ice cold she was one who said added dribble
and she would have shot better but you know they're not doing that.
Then comes Sabrina Inescu who had a pretty good first round.
The second round was a thing to behold guys.
She missed the first shot she went on to sink 20 straight shots guys and in the end she
ends up sinking 25 of 27 shots with a score of 37 out of a possible perfect score which
is 40.
So you talk about a performance for the ages.
Oh man.
Cut this.
Yeah so Sabrina Inescu with a racket breaking round for either men or women.
I'll get into that when we're done with this.
So Sabrina Inescu obliterates the record and now she's the one ahead putting major pressure
on Sammy Whitcomb to surpass what she did in the first round with the 28.
And then after a while it became pretty much how we say a non factor.
So she missed a few early on and then after that that was it.
So in the end Sabrina Inescu she wins the three point shootout.
Sabrina Inescu.
Whew.
And it was an amazing performance.
I couldn't believe what I was seeing guys.
She really shot it well.
And to the people who say oh she's shot with a smaller ball so it doesn't matter.
I don't care if she's shot that thing with a Nerf ball.
She sank 25 or 27 shots man from long distance the same distance as the NBA so missed me
with that nonsense.
That performance was incredible.
Any way you slice it.
So much so that Steph Curry while he's on the golf course he facetimes her and congratulates
her and so forth.
So much now that they challenge each other to a three point shootout.
They're having fun with it.
Which you know the weekend is a fun weekend so why not have some fun.
And Steph Curry would go the next day on the golf course and sink a hole in one.
That's a story for another day.
So Sabrina Inescu she wins the three point contest.
Congrats to her.
Congrats to of course team Aces as well for winning the skills challenge.
But that was a performance I don't think I'll ever see.
It was amazing.
So all props to Sabrina Inescu.
So with that said guys that is your Friday night events.
Let us move on to Saturday.
The official game which I couldn't watch in real time by end up watching the replay which
was great.
It was no commercials or anything.
It was wonderful.
The game itself.
Well let me first go to the roster because I believe I talked about the reserves.
I didn't talk about the draft any.
Well you could talk about the draft right quick.
So on July 8th there was the draft with Asia Wilson and with Breonna Stewart.
So they begin the draft and Asia goes first.
Of course she's going to take her point guard.
Chelsea Gray.
Breonna Stewart with her first pick.
She picked Brittany Garna.
So the draft kind of fell the way I thought it would for the most part with Asia Wilson
taking a lot of her teammates a lot of South Carolina alumni as well.
She took also two of the Connecticut Suns players.
Alyssa Thomas and DeWanna Bonner.
Then for Breonna Stewart you know she took her teammates as well and players that she's
played with before like a jewel Lloyd of course.
Eze Magbeth Gore and even players that she played with overseas like she played with
Brittany Garna overseas.
So in amongst the reserves Breonna Stewart went first and with her first pick she took
her point guard Courtney Van Nesslou which opened the door for Asia Wilson to take her
player and that was Kelsey Plum amongst the reserves.
And then you know it went back and forth so forth.
And then the last player ended up getting picked for Asia Wilson was Elena Deladon.
And unfortunately Elena Deladon was unable to play she's still dealing with the ankle
issues.
I'll talk about that when I talk about the mystics in the second half of the season.
So her replacement ends up being Ryan Howard which was fitting because she was tearing
it up since she got snubbed so it was just fitting for her to get the All-Star knot.
So you had all three of your Lana Dream in the game.
So that's how it shook out guys.
Now let's talk about the game itself.
The game itself was close in the beginning but actually after the first quarter team
Breonna was up by a point.
And then come the second quarter in the third quarter they just blew the doors open.
At the half they lit by 10, 73, 63 and then your final score when everything is set and
done.
143, 126.
In the game you had your moments of course.
You had Brittany Granna of course putting down a dunk so you know that'll get the folks
excited.
And you know she was doing her thing talking her stuff.
You know they miked her up as well.
So just throughout that weekend because she was there for the Friday festivities as well.
You know it was just nice having her back and involved in All-Star weekend.
And you know they asked her about what the players did for her last year and so forth
and she's like you know she felt it and you know she appreciated it.
You know she's just taking the time to smell the roses sort of speak.
Good for her.
I was glad to see it and Friday she was sitting with Alyssa Thomas and DeWanna Bonner.
They was just having fun over there.
That's what you want to see.
It's a fun weekend.
It's laid back.
You know everybody's interacting.
Players from other teams and so forth.
You want to see all that.
So it was a good weekend for that.
It was very good weekend for that.
So I talked about the Brittany Granna dunk in the game.
Then you had other moments in the game.
You had Aja Wilson.
She was cutting up the whole game.
And then it was weird because twice in the game you had the ball being stuck.
It hit the top of the backboard and got stuck.
You could have bet that it made a ton of money if you did a prop bet.
But that's another story.
So the second time they had Aja do it.
Gave her the broom.
They were throwing Chelsea Greys over there and they break out into the dance and stuff.
So it was cute stuff for the fans and everybody there and so forth.
So you know you got folks.
Oh just play the game.
Listen to that.
And I'll just take a line from the movie Stripes.
Lighting up Francis.
It's a four star game.
So just what are we doing here?
Nonetheless you're there to have fun.
That's the whole thing.
You're there to have fun.
Then you got other people.
Oh they didn't play any defense.
Hello.
I mean you could poke problems with each and every all star game if you want to.
Even the baseball all star game you can poke holes in that.
The fact that you have to take a player from every team.
I mean you could go back and forth about all these all star games.
Keep it central on basketball.
The cry is oh they don't play any defense.
So forth.
I hear you.
It seemed like they tried to get in there and defend.
But in the end offense is what excites the fans.
Now ask yourself this.
Would you be happy with a 90 to 88 all star game?
No you wouldn't be happy with that.
So I say go ahead.
All the three point shots.
The four point shots even.
That's fine.
I'm not going to kill that.
You want to add these extra things to the game.
It's no problem.
I guess that's my rant.
I'll just leave it at that.
So let's just go through each of the players that played in the game.
So again team Stuart 143 team Wilson 126.
Brianna Stuart didn't score a lot in this game.
Only nine points.
Didn't shoot it all that great.
But I tell you what guys she was a distributor of the basketball nine assists with six rebound.
If you're Brianna Stuart you'll take that as long as your team wins you'll take that.
Jewel Lloyd of course she ends up being the MVP of the all star game 31 points.
She shot everything from three point range guys.
So that's how you get 31 points along with six assists and four rebounds.
So Jewel Lloyd had one heck of a game.
And of course you know Jewel Lloyd is known as the gold mamba.
Oh by the way, Kobe Bryant rubber stamped that name to her.
So he has his blessing on that for everybody who's got their panties in a bunch over that.
Relax.
Sato Sabali she had a nice game.
19 points for her with eight rebounds.
Necca Awumake she had a quiet game six points 11 rebounds though and five assists.
Brittany Griner had a very nice game.
18 points along with 13 rebounds two blocks one of which she got on Kelsey Plum.
Oh boy that was such an emphatic block.
And then it was funny because there was a moment in the game with Brittany Griner that
is where like four of the players from team Wilson came and surrounded her.
I was like what in the world and she of course threw it out to the open person and they knocked
down the shot that was the end of that.
But Brittany Griner had a very good game on their bench.
The Fija Collier man she had a nice game 20 points for her along with six rebounds Sabrina
Nescu doing her thing.
She shot everything from three five or 12 from three 18 points for her as well as a
couple of four pointers.
And she had oh by the way eight assists as well.
Khalia Copper had a nice game 16 points shot it well three rebounds and then Courtney
Vanus Lute as he Mac McGurk and Kelsey Mitchell each of them had two points so quiet games
from them.
So that is your story as far as team Stuart goes for team Wilson.
Adrian Wilson with a nice game 20 points five rebounds.
Aliyah Boston I thought she was going to have a very nice game.
She started off quick with the six points after that you didn't hear from her.
But she did pull down 11 rebounds Chelsea Gray bit of a quiet game for her five point
seven assists though along with six rebounds.
Marika Agumbale 18 points you know she's going to get her points no matter how many
shots she put up there and she put up a lot guys along with six rebounds five assists.
Jackie Young quiet game for her six points didn't shoot it all that well three rebounds.
Then your bench Kelsey Plumb has been on a tear guys and she's carried that to the
All-Star game 30 points for her along with five assists and she nearly oh by the way
I kind of buried a lead with Jewel Lloyd those 31 points are the most in a All-Star game
which is surprised I thought it'd be more but she got 31 and Kelsey Plumb had a chance
to break that record but she was unable to.
Ryan Howard with a nice game replacing Elena Deladon with 16 points along with three rebounds
three assists Cheyenne Parker her teammate 14 points along with six rebounds shot it
well too and Alyssa Gray the other teammate 10 points and then it was weird.
DeWanna Bonner and Alyssa Thomas DeWanna Bonner zero points for her Alyssa Thomas only two
points I guess if you're the coach for team Stuart definitely white you're pretty happy
because your players didn't exert themselves too much nonetheless quiet game from those
two but Stewie gets her revenge and on ages home court nonetheless so that is your All-Star
game guys some news coming out of All-Star weekend a few news items Dwayne Wade becomes
part owner of the Chicago Sky Dwayne Wade a Chicago native so the Chicago native now
is a part owner of the Chicago Sky so kudos to him for investing and you know putting
his money for to be part of this franchise he has a affinity for women's basketball very
much an advocate for it so he put his money where his mouth is so I give him all the props
for that we'll see what happens with that now this man's got his money spread all over
the place he's got part ownership here with Chicago Sky he has part ownership with the
Utah Jazz the man is all over the place there but nonetheless he's a part owner now so congratulations
Dwayne Wade for next year's All-Star game it will be held in Phoenix Arizona guys so
the All-Star game coming to the Valley of the Sun and the Phoenix Mercury will be the
host team so that should be pretty fun it'll be pretty hot as well but that's the way it
goes guys Phoenix Mercury will host it next year so that's your bit of news there the
Los Angeles Sparks there to release Destiny Henderson who they signed to a hardship contract
they're gonna release her and then activate Lacia Clarentin because she was out with
the foot injury but now she is healthy now coming out of the All-Star break she missed
14 games with the foot injury so the Sparks will get Clarentin back and you know I'm
pretty sure they're happy to have her back but they had to release Destiny Henderson
who knows maybe Destiny can latch on somewhere else before the season ends but she played
well for the Sparks I thought she played well in the limited time she played there so listen
she has game man she just has to find a spot that's right for her we'll see what happens
with her but again we circle back to expansion having those additional teams maybe you don't
see a Destiny Henderson bouncing around like that so we'll see how that goes so alright
guys that is it for All-Star weekend so we tie a bow on that it was a fantastic All-Star
weekend again the fans everybody was happy with the end product and Juleoi All-Star MVP
she got the nice big heavy trophy as opposed to last year Kelsey Plum she got the T cup
but yes so the league did right in that regard oh before I go Kelsey Plum speaking of her
she did bring up the issue of tickets for All-Star game how the players weren't given
tickets for the game and I'm like wait a second what's up with that and I broke it down actually
on social media okay so you have 144 players right 22 of those players make the All-Star
team that leaves you with that's 120 tickets and if the person want to bring a plus one
240 tickets in a 12,000 seat arena commissioner can we give your players a ticket at least
I mean come on some people say oh you know they complain about the lack of pay now they
complain about this they all they do is complain no this is the right thing to do let the players
be allowed to come to the game on a ticket that you give them I don't see any harm in
that you want to tell me oh that's a ticket we could sell I don't go along with that yeah
yeah you gotta do right by the players there give them a ticket for crying out loud and
if you know they want to bring somebody fine give them a second ticket so at least give
them two tickets in a 12,000 seat arena you can spare it alright guys that is it the next
episode I do we'll be looking at the second half of the season and also my mid-season
awards I'll give those out as well so alright guys once again I thank you for listening
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