2025 WNBA Regular Season Discussion Thread

[MrDollarBills]

I saw no issue with what took place. The eye poke is one thing but what Mabrey did was unnecessary. Cunningham defended her teammate. Everyone moves on.

Yeah, everything but the Mabrey charge we will see time & time again. Clark is crazy good, must be defended aggressively, is physical in response (she's a push-off queen), and is super chirpy. Shes going to get into minor scraps constantly, throughout her career.

It's gonna happen. I wish people wouldn't make it out to be an international incident or go "See?? This is why she should play in Europe!!" even tho Euro hoops is just as, if not more physical than the WNBA.

We've said it over and over again, CC talks a lot out there. Sometimes it gets wholesome (Stewie and CC having a laugh over those long logo threes) and its in good fun.

Other times, you get last night. And CC isn't some innocent spectator, she gets physical and pushes people all the time. She knocked Angel on her ass like Week 1 of the season it goes both ways here.

[NoStatsGuy]

jacy sheldon really out there doing her thing lol

It was effective. The Sun had Jacy picking up Clark at 3/4s court and bodying her up, then would swing a hedge defender toward Clark at half court. That tactic pretty much took away Clark's outlet passes, slowed the Indy offense, and limited Clark's ability to get into the lane. Yeah she scored 20, but 12 of those came on difficult 3 pointers and 4 more on technical fouls.

Oh, and although I rarely support retaliation in sports, Cunningham made the right play. You can't let the opposition treat your superstar the way that the Sun did after Clark got poked in the eye. You gotta send the message, "Don't **** with her." The Edmonton Oilers made sure, first and foremost, that teams didn't mess with Wayne Gretsky. Hard play is one thing, but cheap shots can't be tolerated.

I saw no issue with what took place. The eye poke is one thing but what Mabrey did was unnecessary. Cunningham defended her teammate. Everyone moves on.

yea no issue at all. this is what the fans wanna see aswell. true raw emotions

its just she really getting a reputation from what i can tell. Didnt she injure a couple players on the fever, last time they played? Shes kinda the pat bev of the wnba, no?

im really just now starting to pick up on the season for the ladies.

[MrDollarBills]

It was effective. The Sun had Jacy picking up Clark at 3/4s court and bodying her up, then would swing a hedge defender toward Clark at half court. That tactic pretty much took away Clark's outlet passes, slowed the Indy offense, and limited Clark's ability to get into the lane. Yeah she scored 20, but 12 of those came on difficult 3 pointers and 4 more on technical fouls.

Oh, and although I rarely support retaliation in sports, Cunningham made the right play. You can't let the opposition treat your superstar the way that the Sun did after Clark got poked in the eye. You gotta send the message, "Don't **** with her." The Edmonton Oilers made sure, first and foremost, that teams didn't mess with Wayne Gretsky. Hard play is one thing, but cheap shots can't be tolerated.

I saw no issue with what took place. The eye poke is one thing but what Mabrey did was unnecessary. Cunningham defended her teammate. Everyone moves on.

yea no issue at all. this is what the fans wanna see aswell. true raw emotions

its just she really getting a reputation from what i can tell. Didnt she injure a couple players on the fever, last time they played? Shes kinda the pat bev of the wnba, no?

im really just now starting to pick up on the season for the ladies.

Sheldon has beef with a few players from the Fever from what I recall.

Eyepokes are hard to judge because of how freakish those plays are. Same thing I said with Dijonai last year, I highly doubt anyone goes out there with the intent to gouge someone's eye out. But not gonna lie, she probably did try to hit her in the face

[hermes]

is eye poking common in basketball? i don't really watch that much basketball but it seems to occur in the wnba a lot more frequently than elsewhere

[hermes]

so should mabrey be suspended for a game? that was the most egregious part of the whole thing to me. should have been ejected but the refs couldn't control the game. the league needs to step up and police things if the refs aren't going to, unless they want this to become NHL 2.0

[Ice Man]

is eye poking common in basketball? i don't really watch that much basketball but it seems to occur in the wnba a lot more frequently than elsewhere

They happen in the NBA, too. Maybe less often but I couldn't say for sure. As for Jacy Sheldon, she faced Clark for 4 years in college as a Big Ten rival, now 2 years in the WNBA, and likely in AAU ball as well. So, they are old & familiar combatants.

[MrDollarBills]

is eye poking common in basketball? i don't really watch that much basketball but it seems to occur in the wnba a lot more frequently than elsewhere

Inadvertent eye pokes happen from time to time yeah. I've seen plenty of NBA players having to stop play to get their contact lens put back in.

[MrDollarBills]

so should mabrey be suspended for a game? that was the most egregious part of the whole thing to me. should have been ejected but the refs couldn't control the game. the league needs to step up and police things if the refs aren't going to, unless they want this to become NHL 2.0

Mabrey should have been kicked out for that. A suspension? Eh. I dunno. But frankly the league probably needs to suspend both Sophie and Mabrey just to send a message.

Those refs need to be reprimanded as well.

[jc23]

couple of thoughts on the game and Clark and the WNBA:

wnba
-these refs are not good but i highly doubt they are paid well. so you get what you pay for.
-i imagine its more difficult to ref the womens game due to the strength difference compared to men. I see women bumped on their butts way more then i do the men.
-i have grown to like the chippyness of the wnba. i find that W players care more about the regular season then nba players do.
-listening to Stephen A and Monica Mcnutt this morning and i agree with both. there is some CC resentment and she also brings much of it on herself. Both can be true. CC has been involved in way too many situations compared to her teammates for it to be coincidence.
-still, what Maybery and Cunnigham did deserved ejections. When you watch both in slow mo you can see how either player could have caused an injury.

fever
-outside of the Liberty it feels like every team we have played is now a blood rival. I have a feeling it wont be like that vs the Linx. Only the teams that cant win off talent and play seem to be getting grimy with us.
-Cunningham earned her ejection but it was also nice to see a Fever player show that one good turn deserves another and cheap shots on Clark will not go unnoticed this season.
-Howard seems to be a hustle player who gets her baskets in the paint (correct me if im wrong). that is something the Fever need more of. They really get beat up down there and give up a ton of second chance points.

Clark
-already mentioned; she is a trash talker who will poke and prod you all game. Have no problem with players returning the favor. what Maybery did was way over the top.
-only aspect of her game i dont like is the complaining to the refs.
-just being on the court makes the Fever elite. so much is done to trap or pressure her that your defense will have holes for AB, Mitchell and crew to take advantage of. AB's passing is really coming along.
-looks like she has her legs back, those deep 3 looks stephortless.
-Caitlin about to make Jacy Sheldon into her own personal Gerald Wilkins
-CC might have over done it with that last 3. initial reaction i liked, then it went on for too long.

[MrDollarBills]

https://www.reddit.com/r/wnba/s/lstDdjjBAz

^now this is funny, Marina's mom and sister react to last night

Imagine the Sky's locker room last year, with Chennedy, Mabrey, and Angel!

Imagine the practices !!

[MrDollarBills]

Are people still pretending CC isn’t out there getting cheap shotted weekly lol. Bizarre behavior all around

I watched Liberty vs Fever the other day and there were no cheap shots against her. Stop lying.

This is the Dave Portnoy side of CC's fanbase in action. Always gotta make stuff weird.

i don't even know who Dave Portnoy is
this sounds like some terminally online derangement

Dave Portnoy is a casual that only pays attention to the W when someone knocks CC on her ass.

[MrDollarBills]

It's funny how when the season started, CC literally knocked Angel on her ass in a similar way that Mabrey did last night and it was crickets from the national media and CC's weird cult.

I wish folks, especially the casual media would actually watch these games and understand context before going on tirades about how CC should be wrapped in bubble wrap. It's beyond annoying.

[hermes]

i'm not a big fan of the excessive physicality, its all fun and games until people start getting seriously hurt. which we are probably on course for since the referees are unwilling or unable to reign any of it in. maybe this is what the wnba wants, they do promote the tough and physical play

i feel like entertaining basketball can be played without shoving people to the ground, pulling their hair, poking them in the eye or clubbing them in the face.

[MrDollarBills]

i'm not a big fan of the excessive physicality, its all fun and games until people start getting seriously hurt. which we are probably on course for since the referees are unwilling or unable to reign any of it in. maybe this is what the wnba wants, they do promote the tough and physical play

i feel like entertaining basketball can be played without shoving people to the ground, pulling their hair, poking them in the eye or clubbing them in the face.

I love the physical play, but body checks and blows to the face aren't physical plays. That's excessive contact. Mabrey should have been ejected just like Sophie was.

I agree with you, and the officials need to clean up a lot of the play around the league on those screen plays, because it tends to get ugly at times and causes altercations

[hermes]

It's funny how when the season started, CC literally knocked Angel on her ass in a similar way that Mabrey did last night and it was crickets from the national media and CC's weird cult.

I wish folks, especially the casual media would actually watch these games and understand context before going on tirades about how CC should be wrapped in bubble wrap. It's beyond annoying.

the cc-reese play was more akin to what cunningham did (grab someone and forcibly pull them to the ground) and both of those happened during play

mabrey's was during a dead ball and looked more like checking from hockey

[Ice Man]

that is something the Fever need more of. They really get beat up down there and give up a ton of second chance points.

That they do. Aside from Howard (and maybe Bonner?) the Fever are lacking agile bigs who can snare defense rebounds in the paint. (Boston and Dantas are bulky and strong, so they are effective at boxing out if the ball bounce toward them, but if it bounces elsewhere they are slow to react.)

[MrDollarBills]

It's funny how when the season started, CC literally knocked Angel on her ass in a similar way that Mabrey did last night and it was crickets from the national media and CC's weird cult.

I wish folks, especially the casual media would actually watch these games and understand context before going on tirades about how CC should be wrapped in bubble wrap. It's beyond annoying.

the cc-reese play was more akin to what cunningham did (grab someone and forcibly pull them to the ground) and both of those happened during play

mabrey's was during a dead ball and looked more like checking from hockey

That's true, I'd put it on the level of Cunningham's play, but to be fair grabbing someone by the neck like that while going full speed is extremely dangerous, so even then the Clark hit on Reese was a bit below that in terms of violence.

I think we can all agree that there's really no need to do any of this. Just play ball and let skills decide who is right and wrong.

[jc23]

Read on Twitter

you will see an uptick in viewership when the Fever and Sun play again. for all the wrong reasons of course; drama is a draw.

[KembaWalker]

Read on Twitter

you will see an uptick in viewership when the Fever and Sun play again. for all the wrong reasons of course; drama is a draw.

if you want to get your social media followers up, just cheapshot CC. social media engagement, even negative, is worth more than the WNBA could possibly fine.

this stuff will just continue

[Slim Tubby]

It's funny how when the season started, CC literally knocked Angel on her ass in a similar way that Mabrey did last night and it was crickets from the national media and CC's weird cult.

I wish folks, especially the casual media would actually watch these games and understand context before going on tirades about how CC should be wrapped in bubble wrap. It's beyond annoying.

the cc-reese play was more akin to what cunningham did (grab someone and forcibly pull them to the ground) and both of those happened during play

mabrey's was during a dead ball and looked more like checking from hockey

Any updates on Phee's injury that you've come across, Hermes?

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