SATURDAY, MAY 7 , 2022. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ M2 D9
Professional basketballASSOCIATED PRESSJordin Canada had 21 points
and eight assists in her Los Ange-
les debut, Nneka Ogwumike add-
ed 19 points, and the visiting
Sparks opened the season with a
98-91 overtime victory over the
defending champion Chicago Sky
on Friday night.
Ogwumike made a jumper in
the lane with 51.5 seconds left to
extend Los Angeles’s lead to 94-91,
and she deflected a pass at the
other end that led to two free
throws by Canada. Chicago turned
it over again, and Canada sealed
the victory with two more free
throws.
Canada also made three key
free throws to tie it at 88 with
1.5 seconds left in regulation after
getting fouled on a three-point
attempt.
Key offseason acquisition Liz
Cambage added 12 points in
24 minutes for Los Angeles. Lexie
Brown and Chennedy Carter also
scored 12 points apiece.
Dana Evans scored a career-high 24 points in her debut with
Chicago. Candace Parker had
21 points, six rebounds and six
assists but also six turnovers.
Parker moved past Shannon John-
son for ninth on the WNBA career
steals list.
Emma Meesseman had
12 points, eight rebounds and five
assists in her first game with Chi-
cago. Azura Stevens added
13 points and Courtney Vander-
sloot 11. Allie Quigley did not play
because of a knee injury.l (^) STORM 97, LYNX 74: Jewell
Loyd scored 17 points, Sue Bird
added 11 points and nine assists in
starting what could be her final
season, and Seattle r eturned to its
home building with an emphatic
victory over Minnesota.
The 41-year-old Bird started her
19th season playing for the Storm
with her 550th game. Bird was
greeted with raucous applause
during pregame introductions
and equally loud roars for each of
her made baskets by the an-
nounced crowd of 12,904 in Seat-
tle’s debut in the rebuild Climate
Pledge Arena. She made a three
three-pointers and spent most of
the fourth quarter as a spectator
after Seattle outscored Minnesota
34-14 in the third quarter.
Bird’s three-pointer in the
opening moments of the second
half helped spark an 18-2 Storm
run after the teams were tied at 41
at halftime.
Breanna Stewart scored 13 of
her 17 points in the second half in
her first game after missing the
end of last season with a foot
injury.
Sylvia Fowles led Minnesota
with 16 points, and Aerial Powers
added 14.
Seattle returned to its home in
the heart of the city after three
years as a nomad. The Storm spent
the 2019 and 2021 seasons playing
in venues around the Puget Sound
region while Climate Pledge Are-
na was under construction. The
2020 season was played in the
WNBA bubble in Florida.
The Storm held a preseason
game in the building two weeks
ago, but the opener was the first
meaningful WNBA game for Seat-
tle in its home arena since Game 2
of the 2018 Finals. Seattle posted a
228-117 record regular season and
postseason combined in the build-
ing from the team’s inception
through its 2018 championship.
Epiphanny Prince added
13 points for Seattle, and Stepha-
nie Talbot had 11.
WNBA ROUNDUP
Sparks knock off defending champs
SPARKS 98,
SKY 91 (OT)
BY DAN GELSTON
philadelphia — Joel Embiid
spent the week groggy from a
concussion. His busted thumb
needs surgery.
MVP form? Not yet. But Embiid
wore his black mask and injected
the 76ers — and a skittish fan base
— with revitalized championship
aspirations.
Embiid inspired the 76ers with
his return from a facial injury,
Danny Green and Tyrese Maxey
each scored 21 points, and Phila-
delphia beat the Miami Heat,
9 9-79, in Game 3 of the Eastern
Conference semifinals Friday
night.
“We have a good chance to win
it all,” Embiid said. “We’ve got to
stay healthy.”
The Heat leads the series 2-1.
Game 4 is Sunday in Philadelphia.
Wearing a hammer-tested
mask, Embiid had 18 points and
11 rebounds after missing the first
two games of the series with a
right orbital fracture and a mild
concussion suffered in the previ-
ous round. Embiid wasn’t the
dominant force he was through-
out the season and tired as the
game went on. With Green, Maxey
and James Harden all crushing
Heat rallies with big buckets, Em-
biid didn’t have to carry the 76ers.
But the 76ers sure were glad he
was back.
“Any plan where you can have
Joel as part of the plan is a much
better plan,” Coach Doc Rivers
said.
Even Rivers couldn’t draw up a
plan that included the play that
helped put away the game: Maxey
made a full-court sprint to save a
basketball with an over-the-
shoulder toss. The 76ers kept the
ball, and Embiid buried a fallaway
bucket and sank the free throw for
an 86-74 lead.
Embiid was good. Green was
better. Green buried made 6 of 7
three-pointers through three
quarters, highlighted by ones that
snuffed Miami runs and stretched
Philadelphia’s lead to 54-50 and
57-51. Green missed 9 of 10 three-
pointers in Game 2.
Tyler Herro, though, had two
critical three-pointers of his own
in the final minute and pulled the
Heat to 68-65 to close the third. He
had 14 points and joined Jimmy
Butler as the only Heat players in
double digits. Butler led Miami
with 33 points.
“You add Jo to any team, home
or away, the game, the scouting
report, it changes drastically,”
Butler said. “It’s been like that for
his entire career.”
Maxey’s last three-pointer
made it 92-77, and suddenly the
76ers have new life in the series.
The 76ers have never won a
playoff series in 19 tries after los-
ing the first two games.
The NBA scoring champ’s re-
turn kind of helps those odds.
“Even when he’s not his normal
self, he helps us a ton,” Green said.
Embiid said he was cleared a
day earlier and just the hope he
could play had the city buzzing.
When he jogged out for warmups
wearing the mask, 76ers fans
roared and started the “MVP!
MVP!” chants that are a staple at
the arena.
“I knew his presence would
have an impact,” Rivers said. “I
was positive of that.”
He was only 5 for 12 from the
field in 36 minutes. Embiid is still
playing with a right thumb liga-
ment injury that will require off-
season surgery.
— Associated Press
NBA PLAYOFFS
Embiid’s return lifts 76ers in Game 3
76ERS 99,
HEAT 79
“I don’t love chairs,” Delle
Donne said while adjusting into
one following her 21-point, nine-
rebound season debut. It was the
first time she had played on
opening night since 2018, but
before she could talk about it, she
warned a room full of reporters
about the daily battles between
the seated position and someone
with a balky back.
“You guys shouldn’t, either.
You’ll learn one day,” she
deadpanned.
Her body shows the evidence of
a strenuous cupping therapy
session — those dark reddish
circles across her back and
shoulders. When she takes a
break, she towers over everyone
else on the Mystics’ sideline
because she sits on a special
ergonomic chair that makes the
6-foot-5 star look as if she’s
perched atop a booster seat. But
despite the appearance of being
an aging veteran, the 32-year-old
Delle Donne still looked like
herself throughout a day that
finished with an 84-70 win over
the Indiana Fever.
In the morning, she found her
rhythm — and swagger — from
beyond the three-point arc. The
Mystics finished shoot-around
with a version of knockout.
Players took turns attempting
threes. Delle Donne remained in
the same spot and swished hers.
When a teammate tried to follow
one of her velvety jumpers and
missed, Delle Donne looked her
way, smiled and waved goodbye.
“She loves being out here. You
can see it — she’s laughing,
smiling,” Coach Mike Thibault
said from the sideline while
observing the post-practice scene.
“Feels good to be doing what she
loves the most. It was taken away
from her for a while, and part of
that — I mean, she will tell you,
there’s an appreciation to be able
to do it again and an appreciation
for what she went through to get
back to this.”
By the evening, Delle Donne
was much better closer to the rim,
where very large humans who
wanted to block her shot resided.
But not once did she shy from
contact while schooling Fever
rookies Emily Engstler and
NaLyssa Smith, both of whom
had the difficult task of defending
a two-time league MVP, new body
and all.
In the fourth quarter, Delle
Donne posted up Engstler,
dribbled once, then turned and
ducked in to score through the
foul. She walked away exulting
because slow, hip-rolling grannies
can’t do what she does.
There’s nothing geriatric about
leading the team in rebounding
or teaching Smith that her real
signature move actually involves
her footwork — not her hip rolls
— then maneuvering inside the
paint to score the first of her eight
field goals. Delle Donne didn’t
play in the slow lane, but she
showed patience in serving up a
few “Welcome to the league”
moments for the neophytes.
“I had my share when I was
young, so it’s about time I get to
have those,” she joked.
At times, Delle Donne looked
BUCKNER FROM D1 like the preseason MVP favorite,
as one WNBA blogger recently
predicted. But even more, she
looked more relatable. Like a
person pursuing her passion even
when it can act cruelly in return.
She’s a little older now, with a
bit more perspective on what’s
important in life, but there’s still
more for her to learn.
“What this new body I created
can do,” Delle Donne said. “I have
put many hours, especially into
these legs. There’s times where it’s
almost like I jump and get higher
than I used to off the floor and it
messes up my timing, at times.
Just trying to figure out what it
feels like to have a base and be
able to move from below.”
When Delle Donne strutted on
the floor as the last player
introduced and fans made sure
she heard their admiration
ringing in her ears, those cheers
had to mean something more.
They know what she has gone
through just to show up. But they
don’t know the whole story.
With all due respect to the
halftime act — a guy entertained
the crowd by balancing a
sombrero on his chin, then a
table, then a ladder, then climbed
a ladder to perform the same
balancing trick with another
ladder — Delle Donne showing up
and playing might have been the
most impressive act seen on this
court since the Mystics celebrated
the 2019 title.
“She played through pain to get
us a championship,” Thibault
said. “I know just from the day-to-
day stuff, everything she’s gone
through that most people haven’t
seen but I’ve seen, that she’s done
it for two years to try to get back
to this point.”
Thibault paused as he tends to
do when he delivers a thoughtful
answer. We have seen the hip rolls
and read about how she couldn’t
even bend over to pick up items
she dropped. But he has seen the
more private torment and the
secluded work. Those six- to
seven-hour days through
December and January when it
was just her and the trainer in the
arena doing rehab. So Thibault
needed a few beats to make sure
people understand this isn’t just
another comeback story about an
injured athlete.
“The work that went into it,” he
went on, “she’s given everything
she’s had to be able to do this.”
When Delle Donne finally left
the court for the last time, with a
little more than a minute left
until a season-opening victory
was final, she doled out high-fives
all the way to the end of the
Mystics’ sideline. Neither her
expression nor her body revealed
traces of pain or fatigue. Still, she
did not travel with the team to
Minneapolis. Instead, she stayed
inside Entertainment and Sports
Arena for recovery work.
She planned to return early the
next morning to get shots up with
her forever shooting coach, her
dad. Then back on her return-to-
play protocol. And she probably
will do a few more hip rolls. That
revamped body of hers hasn’t
seen this much action in a long
time, but Delle Donne proved that
she can still be the player she has
always been.
CANDACE BUCKNER
In her ‘new body,’ veteran
still looks like her old self
PHOTOS BY KATHERINE FREY/THE WASHINGTON POST
The Mystics’ Rui Machida, left, and Elena Delle Donne g uard the Fever’s NaLyssa Smith. Machida scored two points in her WNBA debut.
Olympic gold medalist get ner-
vous after such a long layoff?
“My shot looked like I had
nerves,” Delle Donne said after
shooting 8 for 16. “I didn’t feel too
nervous, but I was struggling a
little bit to, like, get in a flow and to
trust in my legs. So I guess I might
call that a little bit of nerves or just
it’s been a while.”
All eyes were on Delle Donne
after she missed most of the past
two seasons in the wake of two
back surgeries. She played just
three games in 2021 but still
wasn’t healthy. Delle Donne spent
long, torturous days rehabbing, at
times unable to sit through dinner
with her wife or pick up items
around the house. She has learned
to walk differently and play differ-
ently. Even after the game, she had
two hours of rehab maintenance.
On the floor, she still had an
unmistakable presence. The
6 -foot-5 wing got up and down the
court throughout the night with-
out any issue, banging in the post
on offense and crashing the
boards on defense. She closed
space quickly to record a pair of
blocks and caused many in the
crowd — and on her own bench —
to hold their breath when she hit
the ground as others dived for a
loose ball around her legs. Delle
Donne bounced up without any
hesitancy and ran upcourt.
Coach Mike Thibault played
her a bit more than he wanted
(nearly 30 minutes), but she
moved well enough to alleviate
any physical concerns.
Thibault has built in days off for
Delle Donne throughout the sea-
son, and she will not travel to
Sunday’s game against the Minne-
sota Lynx but is scheduled to play
at home Tuesday against the Las
Vegas Aces.
Here’s what else to know about
the Mystics’ win:
MYSTICS FROM D1
Dominant first
The Mystics stormed out of the
gate in the first quarter, going up
15 and never trailing the rest of the
way. The team closed the quarter
on a 16-2 run. Seven different play-
ers scored in the first quarter as
the Mystics shot a blistering
75 percent from the field.
That set the tone for the entire
night. The Fever got within six
points with 5:30 left in the game,
but the Mystics answered with a
13-0 run to put the game away.
Ariel Atkins finished with
15 points and three assists, and
Shatori Walker-Kimbrough added
10 points, three assists, three
steals and two rebounds.
“It’s a good start,” Thibault said.
“Thought we came out really ag-
gressively and set a good tone in
the first half. Kind of flat third
quarter where we settled for a lot
of long jump shots after putting
them in foul trouble in the first
half and attacking the basket.
“You get four people in double
figures and another one close. The
ball moved with 20 assists and low
turnovers. That’s a lot of good
things.”
Aggressive Cloud
Natasha Cloud repeatedly pro-
claimed during training camp
that she’s a shooter. The Mystics’
point guard has long been known
as a vocal leader, table-setter and
defensive stalwart. This offseason,
though, was spent on working on
her shot. She finished with
17 points (6 for 13 from the field)
and six assists and finished the
night doing the Tootsie Roll dance
on the sideline after the game was
put away late in the fourth quarter.
She had a highlight moment in
the second quarter when she used
a step-back dribble to drop rookie
Lexie Hull to the floor. The quarter
ended shortly after Cloud hit a
pull-up jumper and jogged back
on defense with both palms raised
to the sky reminiscent of Michael
Jordan without the shrug.
“I’m a dog. That’s me, all sea-
son,” Cloud said. “I was aggressive.
If I’m not, then I let my teammates
down by not being aggressive. So
that’s my mind-set every game.
“I’m going to continue to be me
but also be a playmaker. I’ve got to
be able to score for us this season,
so I’m trying to be more consistent
with that.”
Two debuts
Fans finally got to see free agent
signee Rui Machida and No. 3
overall pick Shakira Austin.
Machida made her WNBA debut
after starring in Japan and leading
the national team to the silver
medal in the Olympics last sum-
mer. She set a single-game Olym-
pic record with 18 assists against
France in the semifinals. Machida
played just under 17 minutes and
finished with two points and two
assists. Her lone basket came on a
dribble-drive scoop layup down
the lane.
Austin played 11:39, scored
three points and grabbed three
rebounds. The former Riverdale
Baptist star and Maryland Terra-
pin was active on the defensive
end and played the deciding min-
utes in the fourth quarter after
Thibault said he simply liked how
she was playing.
Roster moves
All WNBA teams were required
to file final rosters at 5 p.m. Thurs-
day, but those rosters are far from
final. The Mystics were a perfect
example. The team applied for and
was granted a roster hardship spot
because only nine players were
available with Elizabeth Williams
overseas and Alysha Clark (foot)
out. The team signed 6-foot-2 for-
ward Stephanie Jones.
The team also claimed 6-1 guard
Kennedy Burke off waivers, and
her contract is temporarily sus-
pended as she finishes her over-
seas commitment. With the sign-
ing of Burke, former Maryland
guard Katie Benzan was released.
Delle Donne returns to form in blowout
R ookie Shakira Austin, right, battles Indiana’s Queen Egbo as
Natasha Cloud, who scored 17, p repares to reel in the loose ball.