New York and Minnesota still leading the way, both unbeaten heading into Commissioner's Cup play
NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Liberty and Minnesota Lynx picked up right where they left off last season when reaching the WNBA Finals.
Both teams have gone undefeated through their first seven games this year with the Lynx set to host Phoenix on Tuesday night in a Commissioner's Cup matchup.
The Liberty and Lynx faced off last season in the in-season tournament final with Minnesota coming away with the victory. New York got revenge, winning the WNBA championship for the first time in franchise history.
The two teams are each 7-0 this season, marking the latest that more than one franchise had been undefeated this long into the season since both the Lynx and Los Angeles Sparks started 2016 winning their first 11 games.
New York has dominated its opponents so far, averaging 91.9 points a game, and winning by nearly 23 points a contest. That includes a 48-point victory over Connecticut, the second-largest margin of victory in WNBA history.
Minnesota has been finding ways to win close contests. Before beating Golden State by 11 on Sunday, the Lynx had won their previous four games by a total of 18 points.
The Lynx and Liberty won't play in the regular season for a few more months with their four matchups coming in the span of a few weeks — the first of which is on July 30.
Power poll rankings
New York led the way as the No. 1 team in the power poll again this week. Minnesota was right behind in second. The national voting panel chose Phoenix third and Atlanta fourth. The Dream moved up three places. Las Vegas, Seattle and Indiana were the next three. Washington, Golden State and Chicago followed. Los Angeles, Dallas and Connecticut rounded out the poll.
Commissioner's Cup
The WNBA will play its annual in-season tournament over the next few weeks. Each team will play the other teams in their conference one time during that window. The West will have six games with the addition of expansion team Golden State. The East will play five. The teams with the best record in each conference will face off in the title game. The winning team receives a $500,000 cash prize pool to divvy up as well as each player on that squad will get $5,000 in cryptocurrency from Bitcoin.
Player of the week
Allisha Gray of Atlanta earned Player of the Week honors for the second time in her career. The Dream guard, who also won the award in June 2023, averaged 26.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4 assists to help Atlanta win both its games last week on the road over Los Angeles and Seattle. Other players receiving consideration included A'ja Wilson of Las Vegas, Napheesa Collier of Minnesota and Sabrina Ionescu of New York.
Game of the week
Indiana at Chicago, Saturday. Caitlin Clark may still be sidelined with a quad strain for this rematch between the Fever and Sky. The game will be broadcast on CBS in primetime, the first for the network in WNBA history.
___
AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fox News
15 minutes ago
- Fox News
Trump one of 'supportive' voices to back Pete Rose's removal from ineligible list, MLB commish says
Scrutiny increased over Pete Rose's Baseball Hall of Fame eligibility once the former Cincinnati Reds star died last year, as President Donald Trump weighed in with his own thoughts on the issue. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred removed Rose, and several other players, from the ineligible list in May, allowing the possibility of those athletes being voted into the Hall of Fame. He admitted at a news conference owners meeting on Wednesday that Trump's support for Rose was one of the many factors that went into the decision. "The president was one of a number of voices that was supportive of the idea that this was the right decision," Manfred said. "Obviously, I have respect for the office and the advice that he gave I paid attention to, but I had a lot of other people that were weighing in on the topic, as well." Trump wrote on Truth Social in March that he planned to pardon Rose. He and Manfred met in April about Rose's Hall of Fame candidacy. "Major League Baseball didn't have the courage or decency to put the late, great, Pete Rose, also known as 'Charlie Hustle,' into the Baseball Hall of fame. Now he is dead, will never experience the thrill of being selected, even though he was a FAR BETTER PLAYER than most of those who made it, and can only be named posthumously. WHAT A SHAME!" the president wrote. "Anyway, over the next few weeks I will be signing a complete PARDON of Pete Rose, who shouldn't have been gambling on baseball, but only bet on HIS TEAM WINNING. He never betted against himself, or the other team. He had the most hits, by far, in baseball history, and won more games than anyone in sports history. Baseball, which is dying all over the place, should get off its fat, lazy a--, and elect Pete Rose, even though far too late, into the Baseball Hall of Fame!" Rose died last September at the age of 83 from hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. The effort to get Rose a plaque in Cooperstown took a step forward on May 13. "This issue has never been formally addressed by Major League Baseball, but an application filed by the family of Pete Rose has made it incumbent upon the Office of the Commissioner to reach a policy decision on this unprecedented issue in the modern era as Mr. Rose is the first person banned after the tenure of Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis to die while still on the ineligible list. Commissioner Manfred has concluded that MLB's policy shall be that permanent ineligibility ends upon the passing of the disciplined individual," the MLB said. Rose admitted to gambling in 2004 after years of claiming his innocence. He died in September and predicted 10 days before his death he would not make the Hall of Fame until after he died, if at all. It was found that Rose gambled on the Reds, only to win, while he was both a manager and a player. Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Fox News
20 minutes ago
- Fox News
Keith Urban describes turning point that led him to sobriety after years of addiction
Keith Urban is reflecting on the turning point in his years-long battle with drug addiction and alcoholism. During a recent appearance on "The Zane Lowe Show," the 57-year-old country star recalled the moment he knew he had to make a decision that would affect the rest of his life. "All through the years of drinking and doing drugs and all the rest of it, I always had this very specific voice inside of me that goes, 'One day, you're gonna come to a crossroads or a fork in the road, and it'll be the final one,'" Urban said. "'You're either gonna choose to get out of this s--- or you're never gonna get out of it. That day is gonna come and it won't be like well, if you mess it up this time, maybe next time. There won't be a next time. And you'll know when it comes,'" he continued. "This went on for years." The four-time Grammy Award winner explained that the critical junction came when his wife Nicole Kidman called an intervention for him in 2006 shortly after they married. "I knew that was it," Urban said. "I'm like, 'Oh, this is that fork in the road.'" The New Zealand native, who has been sober for almost 19 years, told Lowe that finally extricating himself from the throes of addiction and its repercussions was a relief. "I didn't come to America for that," Urban said. "I came to America to make music and record and tour, and grow as an artist and as a human being. I didn't come to America to end up in rehab and courthouses and s---. That's not why I came here, so I'm like, 'What am I doing?'" "But it took a few, a few shots," he admitted. Over the years, the "Somebody Like You" singer has been transparent about his journey to sobriety. In a 2021 interview with Rolling Stone, Urban recalled that his troubles began after he moved to Nashville from Australia, where he had previously released four hit albums. Urban explained that he felt like an outsider as a foreigner trying to make it in the country music scene. "I knew that was it. I'm like, 'Oh, this is that fork in the road.'" "Nothing I'd done before meant s---," he says. "I felt like I was meant to be here, I had this absolute burning belief, but I was out of step with everything. I mean, what do you do when you're doing your best, and it's not enough?" "When I was onstage, I felt good, but if I was not onstage, I was very, very insecure," he added. "I felt like I didn't have much of anything to offer. I was just an alien." Urban recalled that a painful breakup with a woman who had told him that the "novelty of you has worn off" had fueled his descent into addiction. "You might say, 'Big deal.' But I was feeling insecure, and the fact that me and my accent would be a novelty to somebody cut me to the core," he said. "Oh, my God. Really bad. It devastated me. It was a turning point. After that, s--- started to really go awry." "I stepped up my drinking," he continued. "I started doing more drugs. Yeah, man. The whole back end of the Nineties were just awful." After years as a struggling artist, Urban made his career breakthrough in 1999 when he released his self-titled debut album. The record, which notched four singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and was certified platinum, launched Urban into country music stardom. Despite finding career success, Urban continued to struggle with his addictions to alcohol and drugs. He told Rolling Stone that he was in denial about the extent of his addiction after growing up with an alcoholic father. "It took me a long time to get sober," he said. "Took me a long time to recognize my alcoholism. A long time, because I didn't drink like my dad, so I compared everything to him. So it just took a long time for me. But I was able to finally make the right choice in my life, that I wish my dad would have made." In 2015, Urban's father Robert died after a long battle with prostate cancer. After two failed stints in rehab, Urban was finally able to conquer his own addiction problems after he married Kidman. Four months into their marriage, Urban agreed to enter rehab again at the urging of Kidman and his loved ones. "That's the point right there where she really should've just walked," Urban told Oprah Winfrey in 2010. "I'm just so glad she didn't, and she made a decision to turn around and initiate ultimately this intervention, and it was done in such a way that the love in that room at that moment was just right. I was like, 'Put the cuffs on, let's go.'" In a 2020 appearance on the podcast "Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard," Urban recalled that he realized he would lose the love of his life if he continued down the path that he was on. "She's just the one, that was it," Urban said of Kidman. "She's the one that I was searching for my whole life, and everything not only changed, but had to change in me if I was going to go that road." "It was literally like, 'You either get this right now, or you are never, ever going to get it right. This is your one shot,'" he continued. "Really, it felt so obvious and I knew where I was going. I was going into the light finally. It was everything I was looking for and then some. I mean, beyond." While speaking with Rolling Stone, Urban said that it was a "miracle" that their marriage survived. "I was spiritually awoken with her," the singer said of Kidman. "I use the expression 'I was born into her,' and that's how I feel. And for the first time in my life, I could shake off the shackles of addiction." Urban and Kidman, who will celebrate their 19th wedding anniversary on June 25, are parents to daughters Sunday, 16, and Faith, 14. In June 2024, Urban gave a heartfelt tribute to Kidman when she was honored with the 49th AFI Life Achievement Award. The couple's daughters joined their parents at the star-studded event, which marked the girls' red carpet debut. During his speech at the ceremony, Urban recalled how Kidman's love for him persevered despite the rocky start to their marriage. "We got married in June 2006, and barely four months into our marriage, my addictions that I'd done really nothing about, blew our marriage to smithereens, and I went into the Betty Ford Center for three months," he told the crowd. "Four months into a marriage, I'm into rehab for three months, with no idea what was going to happen to us," he continued. "And if you want to see what love in action really looks like, give that a whirl." "Nic pushed through every negative voice, I'm sure, even some of her own," Urban added. "And she chose love. And here we are tonight, 18 years later." In a video of the speech, Kidman was seen wiping away tears while sitting in the audience next to Sunday and Faith. Ahead of performing at the 2023 Academy of Country Music Awards, Urban shared the secret to their successful union. "It's always family first," he said in an interview with Fox News Digital. "It's balanced, so it means it goes out of balance sometimes, and we just put it back in balance," Urban added. "It's never perfectly in balance, but we get it back on track." Since becoming sober, Urban has helped other musicians who were struggling with addiction. In a 2017 interview with the Tennessean, country singer Brandtley Gilbert recalled how Urban saved his life when he was at his lowest point in his battle with alcohol and drugs. Gilbert told the outlet that he started drinking alcohol as a young boy and became addicted to painkillers when he was in high school. His addiction continued after he became a successful singer-songwriter in Nashville. In 2011, Gilbert developed pancreatitis after years of abusing drugs and alcohol. He ended up in the hospital and entered rehab after he was discharged. However, Gilbert had decided to check himself out after a few days against his doctors' advice. He recalled that his alcohol counselors and managers urged him to stay one more day so that he could meet with someone, who turned out to be Urban. "I remember thinking, these (expletives) are pulling out all the stops," Gilbert told the outlet. The "Country Must Be Country Wide" singer said that he was "annoyed" upon first meeting Urban and was thinking to himself, "You don't know me, man." However, the two began to connect when Urban asked him about why he feared giving up drugs and alcohol. "I told him, I don't think I can do my job," Gilbert recalled. "I don't know if I can ever play a song at my shows without being (messed) up. Or writing, I was worried my songs wouldn't be the same, that I wouldn't be on everyone else's level." Gilbert remembered that Urban said he had once harbored those same doubts and anxieties and he also was afraid when he started performing without the crutch of drugs and alcohol. However, Gilbert told the Tennessean that Urban eventually found "he was a better performer, a better writer, he had more fun, he was a better husband and a better man without drugs and alcohol." Gilbert recalled that his conversation with Urban had a huge impact on him. "My whole world flipped," he said. "At that point, I was like, 'All right.'" The singer has now been sober since December 2011. "If it weren't for him, I don't know if I'd be sober or be in this business anymore," Gilbert said of Urban. "I'd probably be dead," he added. Last September, Urban released his latest album titled "High." In a press release, Urban revealed that the album's title was inspired by his interpretation of the multi-faceted meaning of the word "high." "What makes you 'high' can mean whatever you want it to mean," he said. "It might be physical, spiritual, herbal, meditative, chemical or musical, but it's definitely a place of utopia." He continues, "For me it's my family, my friends, and this rollercoaster musical journey I'm on. Playing guitar, writing songs and the place where I always feel high — playing live. Every night I get a chance to bring an energy and a release to people." During his appearance on Lowe's podcast, Urban shared that he was "intentionally" reclaiming the word "high" when naming his album. "The sort of dark humor of the word 'high' for a guy like me is just kind of too right on the money," he said. "It's a great word because it means so many things to different people. Different things," Urban continued. "It's meant different things to me through my life. It means something different now than it did 19 years ago." Urban told Lowe that getting high to him means "playing on stage." "It always has," he said. "That was always my safe place, was being on stage." "My troubles were off-stage but being on stage was always my really happy place," he added.
CBS News
21 minutes ago
- CBS News
Wildfire smoke continues into the Pittsburgh region along with multiple storm chances
Thursday begins on a very warm and smoky note across most of Western Pennsylvania and Northern West Virginia. Wildfire smoke and haze have mixed down to this surface, resulting in code yellow to code orange air quality, meaning that the condition of the air is unhealthy for those with any underlying health conditions. WEATHER LINKS: Current Conditions | School Closings & Delays | Submit Your Weather Photos This wildfire smoke and haze will continue to be in place across our area through 2-3 p.m. this afternoon before thunderstorms develop. The outflow winds from these thunderstorms should finally help to stir up the atmosphere a bit and mix out the smoke. Severe weather chances over the next three days KDKA Weather Center Ahead of the storms, high temperatures will easily reach the low to mid-80s, which is a few degrees above normal for this time of year. Speaking of storms, the SPC has most of our area in a level 1 out of 5 severe risk for today and tomorrow. Storms should form in the increasingly moist air ahead of a cold front and a weak disturbance moving in from the northwest. We should see development around 3 p.m. Thursday, with the highest coverage generally in our northwest zones, although some models suggest there could be simultaneous development in the Laurel Highlands and Ridges as well. Initially, coverage will be isolated, but as storm tops collapse and weaken, this may spawn new development in different areas. Low temperatures and rain chances on Thursday evening KDKA Weather Center Storm coverage should diminish after 8-9 p.m. with only scattered showers overnight, but another disturbance moving in during the mid-morning hours of Friday will likely re-ignite storms during the midday and afternoon hours. There will not be a ton of wind shear today and tomorrow, so these will be more pulse-like, disorganized storms with a localized "microburst" wind threat along with hail. Winds could gust upwards of 60-70mph in isolated spots along with pea to quarter-sized hail. Rain chances over the next week KDKA Weather Center The cold front will eventually sag south into the region by early Saturday with a chance of early morning showers. Most of Saturday into Saturday night is trending drier as we will be in between systems. On Sunday, moisture will return north ahead of a strong low system and cold front poised to arrive on Monday. We could see storm chances increase as early as Sunday afternoon, with the higher chances moving in on Monday. This system will have much stronger winds aloft accompanied by sufficient moisture and some instability, so we will need to keep an eye on the severe weather threat with next Monday's system. Lingering showers and storms will continue on Tuesday, before a cold front moves in, resulting in drier conditions by the following Wednesday. 7-day forecast: June 5, 2025 KDKA Weather Center Stay up to date with the KDKA Mobile App – which you can download here!
