WNBA: Aliyah Boston Is Unbelievable
A quick look in the pros before returning to the regularly scheduled programming
Hello, all. I’m back from the short break ready to talk hoops.
There has been Big Ten women’s basketball news here and there, but nothing that I felt was worth diving into before team previews. By the way, I plan on starting said previews on Monday, July 3. I have a different Big Ten-themed post for next week, and then it’s time to really dive deep as we get closer to the regular season.
Until then, I wanted to talk about the women’s basketball that is currently underway.
I think the headline of this post says it all. The biggest storyline for me has been Aliyah Boston, who has managed to outperform extremely lofty expectations 11 games into her WNBA career.
Boston had been the unquestioned No. 1 player for the 2023 draft for at least two seasons, so the Indiana Fever were likely hoping for strong early returns, but I was at least under the assumption that Boston might need time to adjust her offensive game to the pro level.
You idiot. You complete fool.
Boston has entered the league on an Indiana Fever team that has struggled significantly in recent years and immediately has dominated, ranking top 20 in points and rebounds per game. She leads the W in field goal percentage and even made one of her two three attempts. Sure, why not.
The defense, something I knew would translate well, has also been stellar. The combination of all these impressive numbers puts Boston sixth in the WNBA with 2.7 win shares. Kelsey Mitchell is second on the Fever with 1.5 win shares.
She has been an unbelievable force of nature in the paint, and only seems to be getting better. After shooting under 50 percent for the first and only time this season against Minnesota, Boston scored just 4 points against the Phoenix Mercury. Her last three games since?
23 points, 14 rebounds, 6 assists vs. Washington (win)
19 points, 8 rebounds vs. Chicago (win)
25 points, 6 rebounds, 4 blocks vs. Atlanta (loss)
This level of scoring dominance is something Boston only did in spurts at South Carolina, primarily because she was never required to do so. She has quickly proven me wrong with how much her offensive game can dominate against the best competition in the world, and the Fever are likely to be a very good team soon because of it.
Aces vs. The World
It turns out I know nothing. Coming into the season, I thought the New York Liberty might be the best team in the WNBA, despite the Las Vegas Aces coming off a title and adding an all-time great in Candace Parker.
Well, the Liberty are in fact good, but no one is in the same universe as the Aces with a quarter of the season played.
At 10-1, the Aces are 1.5 games ahead of the Connecticut Sun and 2.5 games ahead of the Liberty, but that doesn’t tell the full story. The Aces have a Net Rating of +19.8, which some would call “good.” How good? The Liberty are in second with a Net Rating of +8.3. The Washington Mystics are third at +3.8. The gap between the Aces and Liberty (11.5) is more than the gap between the Liberty and the ninth-place Chicago Sky (-2.6).
Las Vegas is lapping the competition thus far, and is doing so without playing up to its full potential. Kelsey Plum, who shot 42.0 percent from deep last season, is hitting just 31.1 percent from three this year. A’ja Wilson is 0 of 8 from deep after making 31 threes on 37.3-percent efficiency in 2022. Parker, a future hall-of-famer, is scoring just 8.3 points per game.
And despite all of that, the Aces lead the WNBA in:
Wins (10)
Points Per Game (91.9)
Margin Per Game (+15.8)
Field Goal Percentage (49.7%)
Points Per Play (1.03)
Opponent Field Goal Percentage (40.4%)
Defensive Rebounds Per Game (30.0)
Fewest Turnovers Per Game (12.6)
Assist-To-Turnover Ratio (1.69)
Steals Per Game (8.9)
Blocks Per Game (5.9)
Fewest Fouls (174)
They might be good, and Jackie Young might be an MVP candidate.
Dreams To Reality
It’s been a good week to be an Atlanta Dream fan.
The Dream brushed off a tough 2-5 start to rattle off three straight road wins against impressive competition and get back to .500.
Road victories over the Liberty and Sun in back-to-back games were the clear headliners, but I was also impressed with the following victory over the Fever, which had also won its past two games.
Atlanta has made this run off excellent complimentary scoring, something that had been lacking early on. The Dream has an excellent cast of supporting scorers that can take the burden off the clear big three, and the likes of Monique Billings, Nia Coffey, Naz Hillmon and Danielle Robinson (who returned from injury Sunday) have helped make this win streak happen.
The major credit, to me, goes to two areas though. The first is Haley Jones, the rookie out of Stanford who stepped into the starting lineup out of necessity and has looked perfectly comfortable doing so. Her poise and playmaking ability has been excellent, and now that her three-point shot is finding some legs (40.0 percent on the season from deep), she is bringing key scoring to the mix as well.
The other goes to the big three of Allisha Gray, Rhyne Howard and Cheyenne Parker that I alluded to above. These three are true stars, all playing all-star caliber ball to start the season.
Gray (18.7 PPG), Howard (16.9 PPG) and Parker (15.8 PPG) make up about 60 percent of the Dream’s 85.6 points per game, a total that ranks second in the WNBA. Having three options this reliable has been critical to Atlanta’s success, as any member of the trio is able to find a big basket to regain momentum or sustain a lead.
Parker was the one who hit a shot in the final second to send the Sun game to overtime, and Gray has been the star as of late, scoring 52 combined points in the Connecticut and Indiana games. Those two have also helped Howard brush off a slow start to the year and find more of her footing.
The hopes for Atlanta this season were to make the playoffs and show the potential this roster possesses. That is coming through in a big way recently, and it makes the Dream a dangerous team to play no matter the opponent. I will give you one more chance to jump on the bandwagon before it’s too late.
Feature Photo Credit: Indiana Fever (@IndianaFever) on Twitter
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