Arike Ogunbowale (left) came into her own in the second half after the WNBA defeated Team USA 117-109 in the 2024 WNBA All-Star Game. (Photo by Alex Suritz/Getty Images)
PHOENIX — Cheryl Reeve expected it will be hard to focus on coaching Team USA in the 2024 All-Star Game because of everything else going on around the team’s training camp in Phoenix.
“I think today’s game is one of the greatest spectacles in the history of our league,” Reeve said before Team USA’s 117-109 loss to Team WNBA on Saturday night at Footprint Center. “There’s excitement not only from the national team, but from the players on the all-star team representing the W. I think all of that is converging at once to make it an incredibly exciting game.”
The atmosphere was felt all over the city, including at WNBA Live, which was packed just hours before kickoff for the sold-out games. Celebrities and stars lined the sidelines, including Aubrey Plaza, Jason Sudeikis, Sue Bird, Megan Rapinoe, Sheryl Swoopes, Shannon Sharpe and Paige Bueckers. Players have made multiple branded appearances at events over the past 48 hours, surprising and signing autographs with fans who had lined up in long queues.
Reeve, the legendary coach who led the Minnesota Lynx to four WNBA championships in seven years, said she was “thrilled to have the chance to have a great seat” at the spectacle. But the storylines and distractions have certainly taken their toll on Team USA, which held its first training camp here a week before the Paris Games, prioritizing the Olympics over an all-star celebration that would finally showcase the league’s talent.
She was also right that there are plenty of stories that can come out of the competition.
The American team will be fine
The Americans played poorly, losing the ball 14 times, mostly due to poor passing, and allowed 117 points defensively, so they probably won’t win in Paris. But there’s no need to panic.
“We have a job to do,” Reeve said, “and we know it.”
This is still a rookie group that has barely been together with the current roster. The U.S. team only had two practices on two consecutive days and a walk-through shooting session on Saturday morning before the game. That’s not a lot of time for a group that has never played together.
“This is not a time to panic, this is a time to learn and grow,” two-time Olympic gold medalist Breanna Stewart said.
Even if some players are used to playing together on their previous teams, the national team isn’t the same 12 each time, and Reeve said the muscle memory of the players from playing on the WNBA teams they played together on just a few days prior influenced their adjustment.
“You’re not going to get there instinctively if you’re not doing what you’ve always done,” Reeve said, “so you’re going to have to quickly replace what you’re doing with other teams.”
Breanna Stewart’s 31 points weren’t enough to lead Team USA to a win over Team WNBA on Saturday at the Footprint Center in Phoenix. (Photo by Alex Suritz/Getty Images)
Defensively, the team needs to come together and they didn’t have that on Saturday night, Stewart said. That can be solved with time and space away from the hectic schedule of All-Star Weekend, when players have responsibilities not only to the league but also to brand partnerships. The team next travels to London for an exhibition match against Germany before the start of the Olympics.
“I’ve been saying that ever since I got here, and Phoenix has been a great host, but I can’t wait to get to London and get focused,” said Stewart, one of the team’s new guards along with A’ja Wilson. “It’s hard to balance with everything else, the commitments I have, what’s going on during All-Star Weekend. [with] “What are you doing leading up to the Olympics? Right now I can just focus on the U.S.”
The WNBA team is highly motivated and currently features the 12 best players in the country, who are better than many of the countries the U.S. faces on the international stage.
“This is our first test and we’re glad we got it. This was something we needed, just like we did a few years ago,” Wilson said.
Although the U.S. team lost to a WNBA team in 2021, they still won their seventh consecutive Olympic gold medal.
“It was the same four years ago. [when] “The WNBA team beat Team USA,” said team prospect Caitlin Clark, “and they played flawless in the Olympics. It just goes to show how good this league is.”
Arike Ogunbowale is alive thanks to Cheryl Miller
Arike Ogunbowale said the WNBA team “knew” the U.S. team was coming hard and held them to a one-possession lead at the half. She didn’t see it coming and there was no sign of her being called out by coach Cherry Miller at halftime.
“I didn’t expect her to say my name,” Ogunbowale said. “She was talking about the team and she pointed at me, and I was like, ‘I got it.’ She just told me to take a deep breath and play my game.”
The Wings guard’s play has dominated Team USA. She was named MVP in Team WNBA’s 2021 win over Team USA with a game-high 26 points. This time, she was scoreless in the first half, but scored 21 points in the third quarter alone, eventually scoring 34 points to win her second All-Star Game MVP award. Ogunbowale barely missed a three-point shot, making 5 of 7, and brought the Phoenix fans to their feet every time she made a shot from long distance.
“As a scorer, when you make two shots like that, it gives you confidence. It looks so big,” Clark said. “I know what she’s going through. She was in the zone. And they played good defense a lot of times. When she’s in a situation where she’s hitting a step-back 3-pointer or a one-footed floater or whatever, there’s nothing you can do. You literally can’t guard that.”
Clark said she respects Ogunbowale as one of the best one-on-one players in the league. She has been selected to the All-Star team four times in her six-year career, but has only played in five of those games. The 34 points set an All-Star record, breaking the previous record of 31 points set last year by Jewel Loyd. Stewart also scored 31 points for Team USA and tied the record with 10 rebounds.
Ogunbowale was not selected to the national team because she removed her name, citing “political reasons” in the committee’s decision rather than talent. She is just the fourth player in league history to win the WNBA All-Star award multiple times, joining Lisa Leslie (three times), Maya Moore (three times) and Swin Cash (two times).
The rookies continued their stellar seasons with historic All-Star rookie records. Clark played the most minutes for the WNBA in the first half and moved the ball well to help close games. She finished with 10 assists, one shy of the record set by Sue Bird in 2017.
“That’s Sue’s record. You can’t take that away from her. That’s my mate,” Clark said.
But it was a record for a rookie in an All-Star Game. Teamwork and time were key, as her passes in the paint stunned the big men on a couple occasions. She connected with Fever teammate Aaliyah Boston and then fellow rookie Angel Reese for her 10th point of the night. Late in the game, she appeared to refuse to take the ball out of Ogunbowale’s hands when the Stars faced Team USA one-on-one.
Reese, who mostly played in the second half, finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds, the first rookie in WNBA All-Star history to record a double-double. Reese had four points and seven rebounds in the first 3:23 of the first half.
Alisha Gray isn’t a rookie, but she came close – her five steals were one shy of the six recorded by Lucy Bolton in 2001. It was the continuation of a great weekend in the desert for the Atlanta Dream guard.
I want a USA-WNBA All-Star game every year.
This was not only the most competitive WNBA All-Star game in history, but it may have been the most competitive game of any sport this year at least. The game was really tense from start to finish, and while there were some fun moments like Clark smiling because she felt like she should have made a three-point shot, and Kelsey Mitchell and Kelsey Plum tying the score, it was a quality game.
But don’t expect that to happen every year unless there are major changes to the WNBA schedule.
“When it’s not an Olympic year, I don’t want to play defense,” Wilson said during a humorous exchange with Stewart.
While Wilson and Stewart agreed that the current format would not allow for a full-blown All-Star Game, with teams playing until the night before the orange carpet celebration and leaving for the game a day or two later than normal, Stewart said adding an actual break to the condensed schedule could allow for more competitive games.
That’s unlikely. That same day, WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said the league was considering a 44-game schedule next season, without the scheduling conflicts of the Olympics or World Cup. The league is playing a 40-game season for the second time, and the collective bargaining agreement allows for a maximum of 44 games. They need to expand the size of the season. They can’t do it sooner, with the NCAA Tournament ending the first week of April and the draft a week later. It’s already a tough situation.
