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It’s only been eight days since Unrivaled got its second season underway, but all eight teams already have three games under their belts, with two more to come for each this weekend. Only the reigning champions, Rose BC, made it to 3-0, but six of eight teams have positive scoring margins so far (thanks in part to the struggles of the other two). Here’s where things stand heading into the second full week of play in Miami.
Weekend results: Def. Vinyl 69-67 (Fri.), def. Breeze 73-69 (Sun.)
Week 2 schedule: Fri. vs. Hive (0-3), Sun. vs. Laces (2-1)
The reigning champs won a pair of fantastic games over the weekend, first ripping Vinyl’s souls out in a title game rematch on Friday and then holding off the internet’s (and my) favorite new team Breeze on Sunday. Rose finished the first game on a 15-6 run to steal a 69-67 win, capped off by back-to-back 3-pointers by Chelsea Gray on the team’s final two possessions with Vinyl just two points from the win themselves. Gray is averaging a silly 31.7 points per game through the first three games this season, with Friday’s 23-point outing the only time she hasn’t topped 30 so far. Sunday’s 37-point outing was the fifth 30-point game of Gray’s Unrivaled career, one shy of tying Napheesa Collier for the most in league history (including the playoffs). The Point Gawd has also led Rose to average the fewest turnovers per game (5.7) and post the league’s best assist-to-turnover ratio (2.06) despite being fifth in assist rate (44.9% of field goals).
Weekend results: Def. Lunar Owls 94-60 (Sat.), def. Mist 64-61 (Mon.)
Week 2 schedule: Fri. vs. Laces (2-1), Sun. vs. Hive (0-3)
Rose might be the league’s last unbeaten, but last season’s last-place finisher Phantom boasts the best scoring margin (+30) after the first week of play. That’s mostly due to Friday’s dismantling of the shorthanded Lunar Owls, in which Phantom tied the Unrivaled single-game scoring record (94 points) and tied the second-largest margin of victory in league history (34 points). While most of the players have turned over, there had to be some catharsis for holdover Natasha Cloud, who was on the team last year when it was on the wrong end of the previous 94-point game at the hands of the Lunar Owls last February. Phantom was also the team on the losing side of the most lopsided game in league history last January against Laces, who it will face on Friday in the first game of the weekend. That’ll feature a matchup of two of the league’s most impactful newcomers, Phantom’s Kelsey Plum (fifth in the league with 22.7 points per game) and Laces’ Brittney Sykes (fourth with 24.3). Plum is also third in the league averaging 5.7 assists per game, but more than half of her points (38 of 68, 55.9%) and almost two-thirds of her assists (11 of 17, 64.7%) came in Friday’s blowout.
Weekend results: Lost to Laces 83-81 (Sat.), def. Lunar Owls 84-72 (Mon.)
Week 2 schedule: Fri. vs. Phantom (2-1), Sun. vs. Rose (3-0)
Sykes has been said to have taken the fact that she was left unprotected after making the championship-sealing free throw personally on Unrivaled broadcasts, and it has certainly looked that way on the court. Slim’s scored at least 19 points in all three games, a total she reached only once last year with 21 in the title game. Sykes has gone 8-for-17, 9-for-17 and 9-for-16 from the field in her three games for Laces, which comes out to a 52% mark from the field including 9-of-19 from deep (47.4%). The long-range shot has been a bit less consistent, with a 5-for-7 outing in the team’s lone loss sandwiched between 2-for-6 marks in the wins, but at least for three games, Sykes has fit in perfectly alongside incumbent stars Jackie Young (16.3 points, 3.7 assists per game) and Alyssa Thomas (10 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists per game). Thomas, by the way, has the incredibly on-brand distinction of being the only one of the 45 players to appear in a game so far this season who hasn’t attempted a 3-pointer. May she never change.
Weekend results: Def. Laces 83-81 (Sat.), lost to Phantom 64-61 (Mon.)
Week 2 schedule: Sat. vs. Lunar Owls (0-3), Mon. vs. Breeze (2-1)
My picks to win the title didn’t look quite as cohesive over the weekend as they did on Monday, although Mist still managed to come back once as large as 11 points in Friday’s win over Laces. The hole was seven points through three quarters, the second-largest a team has overcome in an Unrivaled game, bested only by the 10-point deficit Vinyl overcame entering the final frame of its upset of Lunar Owls in last year’s semifinals. Another sluggish start caught up to Mist last night, however, as it was unable to overcome a five-point hole entering the target-scored final frame against Phantom. Mist is seventh in effective field-goal percentage (48.1%) and sixth in 3-point percentage (23.3%) among other discouraging early offensive returns, but in fairness it’s also second in opponent effective field-goal percentage (46.2%) and has held opponents to a league-best 47.3% inside the arc.