Mercury win home opener, Cambage makes Aces debut
In the latest episodes of the Locked On Women’s Basketball WNBA Podcast, host Ben Dull is joined by Brendon Kleen to break down Friday’s game between the Las Vegas Aces and the Phoenix Mercury.
Topics discussed in the episode include:
- Liz Cambage’s 2019 season debut
- Sancho Lyttle’s return from the 2018 ACL tear
- Briann January’s red-hot 3-point shooting
- Yvonne Turner’s double-double and increased aggression attacking the basket
- the battle inside of Cambage vs. Griner
- why DeWanna Bonner’s spot in this Phoenix lineup makes them so tough for the Aces in particular to defend
- January’s defense on All-Star shooting guard Kayla McBride
- Sandy Brondello trimming the rotation down in the second half and how the team can get more out of the bench moving forward
- the waiving of Arica Carter and the anticipated return of Leilani Mitchell.
The Aces stand at 1-2 after dropping both games over the weekend. The Mercury improved to 1-1 and will prepare for their upcoming three-game road swing through Minnesota, Indiana and Chicago.
The Aces and Mercury will not meet again until August 20 in Las Vegas and play for a third time in the regular-season finale on September 8 in Phoenix.
Not only will Cambage be on track to log more minutes by the time these teams meet again—All-WNBA guard Diana Taurasi (back) is expected to have made her return to action by then. Given health, both games will be excellent late-season playoff primers, perhaps even featuring two of the teams battling it out to secure a top-two seed.
The Locked On Women’s Basketball Podcast also produced team-by-team season previews with local experts, which can be found all in one place.
You can subscribe to the Locked on Women’s Basketball Podcast on your podcast player of choice for more in-depth coverage throughout the season.
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