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After opening the season with three-straight wins, Rose, Unrivaled’s defending champions, have dropped three-straight games.
What’s the deal? Was their opening stretch of wins, earned in evermore improbable fashion, the real Rose? Or, has their current skid exposed the team’s true vulnerabilities?
There was reason to be skeptical about Rose as they reeled off three-straight wins to begin the season. After winning comfortably over Lunar Owls on opening day, Rose required heroic comebacks, powered by the clutch shotmaking of the Point Gawd, to get a two-point win over Vinyl and a four-point victory against Breeze.
Although a thrilling way to win, relying on Chelsea Gray going Gawd-mode is not sustainable, no matter if she might be the Unrivaled GOAT.
That was proven to be true in Rose’s first two losses.
Although they put a scare in Hive with a fourth-quarter charge, they could not overcome a 12-point deficit, losing by four points. Then, Rose could not out-veteran Laces, a club with as much, if not more, experienced talent, as they lost by two points. On Friday night, Rose, for the first time all season, didn’t have a chance, overwhelmed by Mist’s superior shotmaking in what became an 18-point rout.
Rose’s losses underscore the club’s dependence on Gray being great.
Her scintillating shotmaking has tailed off, as she has gone 6-for-16 and 6-for-15 in Rose’s last two games after shooting no worse than 47 percent from the field in their prior contests. In the loss to Mist, productive nights from Kahleah Copper and Shakira Austin could not overcome an inefficient outing from Gray.
But, the bigger problem for Rose has popped up on the other end of the floor.
After not giving up more than 69 points in their first three games, Rose has sacrificed 78, 70 and 89 points over their three-straight losses. While both Laces and Mist caught fire from 3, opponents also have hit better than 57 percent on 2-pointers in all three losses. That data suggests Rose is too often letting opponents get to their spots and comfortably hit their shots.
Possibly, returning to the double-big look of Austin and Azurá Stevens could refortify Rose’s defense. Since Copper has returned to the lineup, the Austin-Stevens pairing has seen reduced minutes. Overall, Stevens’ minutes and usage have declined game by game, with Rose seemingly robbing themselves of contributions from their most versatile player.
Lexie Hull’s return to health would also help Rose after the 3-and-D standout missed the club’s last game due to illness.
On Sunday afternoon, Rose will have to try to stop their slide against Phantom, a club that’s currently bursting with positive momentum (2:15 p.m. ET, truTV).
Vinyl vs. Mist will be Rhy vs. Lish
Unrivaled’s Sunday afternoon showcase begins with Vinyl, beset by their own two-game losing steak, and Mist, coming off their most complete win of the season (1 p.m. ET, truTV).
The matchup also pits Atlanta Dream besties Rhyne Howard and Allisha Gray against each other. The two are some of the best scorers in Unrivaled.
Gray is notching almost 24 points per game, helping her become just the second Unrivaled player, following the other Gray in Chelsea, to score 400 career points. While her more than seven 3-point attempts per game is powering her production, Gray also effectively takes advantage of driving opportunities.
Howard has been even more electric from behind the arc, maximizing the versatility of her 3-point shot by taking nine triples per game and making them at a 46.3 percent clip. That’s an absurd combination of volume and efficiency!
However, when she sees a familiar face across the way, Howard tends to turn on her driving aggression that, otherwise, can wax and wane. When Lish is marking her, look for Rhy to try to take her to the hoop. Likewise, expect Howard to apply her defensive playmaking talents when guarding Gray. For the season, she’s averaging about 2.5 stocks per game.
Vinyl-Mist also introduces some other potentially fun head-to-head matchups, including a face off between Unrivaled’s two tallest players: 6-foot-9 Brittney Griner vs. 6-foot-7 Li Yueru.
After shaking off a bad loss to Breeze, Mist appears to have found their best form, while Vinyl is still searching. Although Vinyl certainly has the talent to take down Mist, it seems more likely that the Misties will leave Vinyl spinning towards a third-straight loss.
