Basketball On The Internet.

BOB'S CORNER: Based in Seattle, our US correspondent BOB CRAVEN has the word on how our Aussie pair on the WNBA's Storm roster - Ezi Magbegor and Steph Talbot - have been travelling in the early going, twice running into Liz Cambage and her Aces, no less. And there's NBA news too!

WNBL MVP and Adelaide Lightning captain Steph Talbot made the final roster for the Seattle Storm, and both she and Ezi Magbegor played key roles in the Storm taking down the Las Vegas Aces and Liz Cambage, 97-83.

Talbot (left) played 17 minutes off the bench as the first sub in and scored six points and had four boards and an assist. 

Magbegor was key to keeping Cambage fairly quiet in the second half when she was inserted specifically to put her length to use on defence against her. She also managed seven points, four boards, a steal and two blocks in 16 minutes and probably would have had even better numbers, but she also picked up four fouls working against Cambage and the other bigs.

It was an excellent start for the Storm in defence of their title last year during the Covid-curtailed season. 

Las Vegas was the team the Storm destroyed in the Finals last season and was the media pick to take the title this year, due to the multiple roster changes the Storm made over the off-season. 

And, fair enough, our WNBA defending league champion Seattle Storm did not find it so easy in the second of their back-to-back season-opening series. 

Las Vegas, as you know, is led by Liz Cambage (204cm), and also by A’ja Wilson (194cm) last year’s league MVP—a very imposing front court for the women’s game—and they are the pre-season favorites to win it all this year, as Seattle has turned over six players from last year’s team.

THAT first game Seattle won was, therefore, a bit of a surprise. This week, the shoe was on the other foot. 

Las Vegas ran away with it from the beginning, quickly running up a 21-point lead, then had the Storm fight back to be down only by four entering the fourth quarter.

The effort was in vain as Vegas pulled away easily for the win. 

Cambage and Wilson again led the Aces, although Cambage only played 22 minutes, and she played a bit less than that in the first game.  No mention in the media as to why she’s playing so few minutes—she wasn’t even close to being in foul trouble. 

Fitness?  Favouring an injury?  Puzzling looking at it here from the outside.

ANYWAY, Seattle is still short a couple of bigs, including Mercedes Russell, as they return from overseas and go through the Covid-19 league quarantining procedures.  They should be able to practice and play any day now. 

But, that gave Ezi Magbegor her first WNBA start and she did not disappoint:  14 points (including 1-2 from deep), 13 rebounds—7 of them on the offensive end, two assists and a block in 26 minutes, and, unlike the first game, only two fouls.

MEANWHILE in NBA hoops, I doubt anyone knows much about or has heard much about Tony Snell.  He is maybe, in an odd sort of way, one of the most unique players the league has seen in a long time. 

He is known for spending most games just running and playing “D”, but he took it to the max in a game four years ago:  29 minutes played and, except for acquiring four personal fouls, he had no stats at all.  Everything was zeros:  no shots, no free throws, no rebounds, no blocks, no steals, no assists—you get the idea.  No one had ever played that much without registering any stats at all.

Now, fast forward to the last couple of Covid-shortened seasons.  This season, while he did not meet statistical minimums to qualify to lead the league in any of the shooting categories, he still became the first person to have a 50-50-100 season—minimum of 100 attempts for the first two categories. 

He shot 51.5 per cent from the floor, 56.9 per cent from 3-point range, and shot 100 per cent from the line.  He only took 11 free throws, but he hit them all.  In fact, he didn’t miss any free throws the previous year, either, going 32-32. His last miss was over two years ago:  March 12, 2019. 

He is also tied for the second lowest number of offensive rebounds in a season (minimum of 2000 minutes played) with nine.  He’s played for four different teams in his eight years in the league, and he has averaged 6.4 points per game in his career.

FOR those players who shoot well and who play quite a bit more, Melbourne-born Kyrie Irving just joined the most exclusive NBA shooting club: he became the ninth player ever to join the 50-40-90 club; that is, shoot 50 per cent from the field, 40 per cent from 3-point land, and 90 per cent from the charity stripe.  Only two of those nine players ever did it more than once. 

The nine are: Larry Bird, who was the first ever to do it and is one of those who did it more than once—in his case, he did it twice before anyone else did it once.

Malcolm Brogdan, who did it two years ago. He was also the first second round draft pick to win the Rookie of the Year Award (2016) since 1965.

Steph Curry—amazingly, has only done it once—the only year he averaged 50+per cent from the field in his career.

Kevin Durant

Kyrie Irving (mentioned above)

Reggie Miller

Mark Price, who was the second ever member of the club, the year after Bird’s second time doing it.

Steve Nash, who did it four times (!!!)  He is also the closest to averaging 50-40-90 for a career, where he finished at 49-42.8-90.4.

Dirk Nowitzki—and he’s an odd man out.  The official statistical minimums to qualify for this were adjusted upwards by the NBA in 2013.  Dirk got his 50-40-90 season before 2013 when the numbers were slightly lower, but he was grandfathered in.  Otherwise, he’d have been short of the requirement 3-pointers.

And, lastly, but not leastly, only one WNBA player has ever achieved this:  Elena Delle Donne in 2019, when her line 51.5-43-and a remarkable 97.4 (114-117).

HERE'S the latest news about Sabrina Ionescu, the most famous women’s basketball player from my alma mater, the University of Oregon. 

She is the all-time leader in triple-doubles—by far—in NCAA history, and is the only NCAA basketball player ever to accumulate 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 1,000 assists in a career. 

She’s also the all-time assist leader in Pac-12 history.  She was a consensus All-American multiple times, a consensus Player of the Year in 2020, and won more awards and trophies than should be legal.

She was the #1 pick in the WNBA draft last year, but her first year in the league ended almost as soon as it started with a crippling knee injury that knocked her out for the rest of the season. 

This year, she recently led her team to victory and had a triple-double in doing so.  It was the first in team history and only the ninth ever in WNBA history. 

She also is the youngest ever in the league to get a triple double, and it was only in the sixth game of her pro career, the earliest in terms of service in league history.  We can cue up Karen Carpenter here, “And she’s only just begun … “