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Friday’s Unrivaled matchups lived up to the hype with two great games.
First, we saw Phantom squeak out a victory against Rose 75-63, and then we witnessed two undefeated teams—Lunar Owls and Laces—play down to the final possession. In that game, the Lunar Owls won 75-73 thanks to a Skylar Diggins-Smith game-winning free throw.
Phantom back in the win column
Basketball is a team game, but in 3×3, each individual matters even more. For Phantom, getting Sabrina Ionescu back certainly changed things. She shot 70 percent from 3-point range and scored 32 points in the win. Ionescu also grabbed a game-high tying nine rebounds.
With Ionescu, Brittney Griner and Satou Sabally on the same team, this 2-3 Phantom squad suddenly appears to be a tough team to beat.
Rose lost this one in the second half when Ionescu got hot, allowing Phantom to begin to pull away. In the fourth, they never seriously threatened to come back, and Sabally ended the game with a made 3-pointer.
Rose had a balanced attack with three players taking 15 or more shots, but Azurá Stevens played best, scoring 19 points on 8-for-15 shooting, along with grabbing six rebounds. Still, she missed all five 3-pointers, and the team struggled overall in that department, going 3-for-16 as a team from deep.
Will Lunar Owls ever lose?
When two top teams play against one another you hope the game is as good in actuality as it appears on paper. Lunar Owls-Laces was all that and more on Friday.
Both teams exchanged the lead throughout the game, but Laces had control entering the fourth, and they almost came out victorious. However, some solid defense by Lunar Owls and late-game heroics from Napheesa Collier and Skylar Diggins-Smith flipped the result in their favor, keeping them unbeaten five games into the season.
Collier continues to dominate in Unrivaled. She had a game-high 26 points and missed just four shots. Allisha Gray was right behind her with 19 points in the win, followed by Diggins-Smith, who ended the night scoring 16 points and shooting 50 percent from the field.
For Laces, Kayla McBride led the team in both rebounds and points, securing eight boards and scoring 26 points. Tiffany Hayes was also effective with 17 points, and Jackie Young made her Unrivaled debut and ended the night with 12 points.
Young’s production may not seem impressive, but she carried Laces in the fourth, scoring all nine points the team had in the final frame. It was almost enough to come out with the win, and if they had pulled it out, she most certainly would’ve been the star of the game.
Instead, this matchup became about Lunar Owls’ resiliency. Four points away from a loss, they responded by going on a 9-2 run to give Laces their first defeat. There is still a lot of basketball left to be played, but Lunar Owls are starting to look unbeatable in Unrivaled.
Key takeaways
Health is wealth, and with Phantom getting back Ionescu, they suddenly have an abundance of riches. Rose certainly has the talent to be great, but they’ve been disappointing. Angel Reese isn’t scoring enough, the Point Gawd Chelsea Gray looks like a mortal and if Stevens is your leading scorer, I already know you lost the game.
Lunar Owls are the best in the league until someone proves otherwise. They’ve squeaked out two wins, so it should be fun watching other clubs give it their best and try to become the first to beat them. Laces were right there, and Young was so good in the clutch. Their defeat is more about one side having to lose, rather than them playing poorly. Still, they’ll look back at those late-game misses and wonder what could’ve been.
