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Philly was Unrivaled, and so was Marina Mabrey.
The Lunar Owl lit up Xfinity Mobile Arena with, inarguably, the best individual performance in Unrivaled history—and, arguably, one of the best ever in all of basketball history. The crashout queen was cashing in, pouring money into the hoop, not her jar, as she scored an Unrivaled-record 47 points behind 10 3-pointers.
Back in Miami, can Mabrey unleash more mayhem and lead Lunar Owls to a second-straight W over Phantom (7:30 p.m. ET, truTV)?
After Marina’s epic explosion, Unrivaled analyst Renee Montgomery shared that she recently had discussed shooting streaks with Mabrey, with Montgomery revealing that Mabrey, coming off a 1-for-9 performance from 3 before the game in Philly, knew she would soon bounce back and see her triples fall again. That, certainly, proved prescient. It’s also a reminder that Marina, as much as anyone, will understand if her 3s are off on Sunday evening, even if such knowledge will not inoculate her from a crash out or two.
After the highs of Philly, it will be interesting to see how both sides readjust to competing in the cozier confines of Sephora Arena.
With a win, Phantom can put themselves in position to exit Week 4 in a tie for second place, as one of the two league leaders, Laces and Mist, are guaranteed to take an L when they match up on Monday.
A Phantom victory likely will be a product on the balance of that has defined the team throughout the season. That was on display in the first meeting between these two clubs, when 38 points from Kelsey Plum, plus a 21-point and 10-rebound double-double from Aliyah Boston and a combined 32 bench points from Kiki Iriafen and Natasha Cloud, resulted in a Phantom rout, 94-60.
For Lunar Owls to keep pace, they need to replicate the Ghost Gang’s signature balance.
Barring the improbability of a second-straight Mabrey super nova, Owls will seek more scoring oomph from the rest of their roster. A return for Aaliyah Edwards, who missed the Philly affair due to injury, would give Owls extra production. However, head coach DJ Sackmann should not slice the minutes of Temi Fágbénlé; the trio of Mabrey, Fágbénlé and Skylar Diggins might be Lunar Owls’ best.
Its’ Paige vs. Point Gawd (again) in Breeze vs. Rose
The path to consistent winning for Breeze is clear, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to achieve.
Breeze needs to shoot better from 3. As a team, they’re just over 30 percent for the season, only shooting better than 40 percent from 3 in two games. Paige Bueckers is the only member of the team hitting more than 40 percent of her triples for the season; she’s at 43.3 percent on 3.8 attempts per game.
Ideally, it would be other members of Breeze swishing 3s, thereby creating more space for Paige find her spots in the midrange and/or make plays for her teammates. Instead, as opposing defenses aren’t really bothered by anyone else taking 3s, Bueckers faces a heavier offensive. The only (healthy) member of Breeze capable of creating for others, she has to carry this load in a crowd because of Breeze’s poor spacing.
In contrast, Rose, their opponent on Sunday (8:45 p.m. ET, truTV), is Unrivaled’s best 3-point shooting team at almost 38 percent.
While Chelsea Gray’s league-leading and high-volume 50 percent is responsible for much of that, Rose is also getting six attempts per game at 43.3 percent from Kahleah Copper. And while Lexie Hull is a chilly 23.8 percent from deep so far this season, her established reputation as a shooter, especially one who can get on a hot streak, results in opposing defenses still guarding her closely when she is behind the arc.
So while Gray, like Bueckers, assumes much of the initiation burden for her squad, she’s doing it in a more favorable context.
Of course, both the Point Gawd and PB are very good at making the difficult seem effortless, with their shotmaking and playmaking excellence often transcending imperfect circumstances. Don’t be surprised if a Chelsea or Paige masterpiece determines which club wins this one. Last time, Rose rode a 37-point show from Gray to the 73-69 win.
