Under the most unlikely of scenarios, the Toronto Tempo came back from a sixteen point deficit to beat the Connecticut Sun 101 – 97 on the road in the teams’ second matchup in a week.
We break down the good, bad, and outlook
The Good
We have seen her do this before, but still have to pick our jaws up from the floor. Marina Mabrey did it again, scoring 21 points in the fourth quarter, and establishing a new career high 37 points. She was simply sublime in the 4th, hitting five 3-pointers and attacking the closeout and splitting defenses for layups. It seemed like the Sun may have thought that this game was over before then. Their defense was shell-shocked and defended like they were in quicksand while Mabrey simply could not miss.
If you haven’t caught this game yet, do it. Mabrey’s performance will dazzle you and make you a believer.
Beyond Mabrey’s sensational game, we also want to give a shout out to Tèmí Fágbénlé, who also scored a career high this game with 19 points. She also nearly attained a double-double with nine rebounds. This was the most confident we have seen Fágbénlé since returning from injury. She played with less hesitancy and far more fluidity, taking shots and being part of good ball movement. Defensively, our team still has a long way to go to protect the paint, but this game was largely positive for Fágbénlé.
We also want to give a big shout out to María Conde who contributed 19 points off the bench, hitting five 3’s with swagger. It feels like you can really tell when Conde is feeling her shot (her legs mid-air have a tell) and she was on fire tonight.
Finally, we note the improvement in ball movement. There were more moments in this game where we saw an extra cut or an extra pass and it led to good results. More of that, please!
The Bad
Like the previous game against the Connecticut Sun, the weaknesses amongst the Tempo team are glaring. The Sun outscored the Tempo in the paint, 54 – 32. The combination of Brittney Griner, Aneesa Morrow, and Olivia Nelson-Ododa further got their hands on too many offensive rebounds or tip out for second and third chances on defense. They put on a clinic in the third quarter and it looked like the Sun were going to run away with this game, thanks to those clear advantages.
In addition, the Tempo once again struggled with their transition defense. We have noticed that while the Tempo are excellent when they turn their opponents over and attack in transition, we are not very strong in defending this same situation. The speed of the Sun’s attack in transition led to automatic points. This is reminiscent of the Tempo’s struggle against players like Allisha Gray.
The Outlook
As with the last time the Tempo faced the Sun, they played the Dream next in their house.
This rematch comes on the heels of an event-filled first matchup. You can read about why in that game’s report, but we anticipate the Atlanta fans will not be kind to Izzy and the Tempo will have to weather that storm.
More importantly, in that first game against the Dream, the Tempo really struggled to contain Atlanta’s star-studded combo of Allisha Gray and Rhyne Howard who scored 26 and 24 respectively.
The Tempo need a better defensive game plan to prevent them from going off again. And, we will have to do so without our best two defensive guards available.