
Green Bay plays Oakland following Johnson's 20-point performance
Green Bay, Wisconsin; Saturday, 7 p.m. EST
BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Golden Grizzlies -7.5; over/under is 145.5
BOTTOM LINE: Green Bay takes on Oakland after Jeremiah Johnson scored 20 points in Green Bay's 76-71 victory over the Detroit Mercy Titans.
The Phoenix are 3-10 on their home court. Green Bay is ninth in the Horizon League scoring 69.4 points while shooting 43.4% from the field.
The Golden Grizzlies are 10-9 against conference opponents. Oakland is 8-8 in games decided by at least 10 points.
Green Bay's average of 8.0 made 3-pointers per game this season is only 0.7 fewer made shots on average than the 8.7 per game Oakland allows. Oakland's 42.8% shooting percentage from the field this season is 4.3 percentage points lower than Green Bay has given up to its opponents (47.1%).
TOP PERFORMERS: Marcus Hall is averaging 13.6 points for the Phoenix. Johnson is averaging 10.6 points over the last 10 games.
Tuburu Niavalurua is averaging 13.9 points and 7.4 rebounds for the Golden Grizzlies. Allen David Mukeba Jr. is averaging 14.8 points and 8.4 rebounds over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Phoenix: 2-8, averaging 70.5 points, 28.8 rebounds, 14.3 assists, 5.5 steals and 1.7 blocks per game while shooting 41.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 77.8 points per game.
Golden Grizzlies: 5-5, averaging 76.3 points, 33.3 rebounds, 14.7 assists, 6.9 steals and 2.5 blocks per game while shooting 46.0% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 75.4 points.
___

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
The Engine: Alyssa Thomas driving new-look Phoenix Mercury near the top of WNBA standings
PHOENIX (AP) — A marketing panel with Castrol landed Alyssa Thomas on a NASCAR hood. While attending the panel at the WNBA All-Star game last month, Thomas was approached by the motor oil company about putting her image on a NASCAR for an upcoming race. The Phoenix Mercury star loved the idea and helped in the design process, leading to her face making a 168-lap trip around Indianapolis Motor Speedway on the hood of RFK Racing's No. 60 Castrol Ford, driven by Ryan Preece. 'It was a fitting pairing being that my nickname is The Engine,' Thomas said. 'Not too many people can say their face is on a car, let alone in a race, so it was a really cool experience.' The Mercury had a lot of unknowns heading into the 2025 season after Diana Taurasi retired and Brittney Griner signed with the Atlanta Dream. Thomas has been the driving force behind the Mercury's rise. Fitting in perfectly in first-year coach Nate Tibbets' pace-and-space style, Thomas has been stuffing stat sheets while the Mercury have racked up wins. Entering Wednesday's games, Phoenix was fourth in the WNBA standings at 21-13 after finishing 19-21 a year ago. 'She's the ultimate winner, she's the ultimate competitor,' Tibbetts said. 'She wants to win at everything.' Thomas was the three-time ACC player of the year at Maryland and an All-American her senior season before arriving in Connecticut in a draft-day trade with the New York Liberty in 2014. The 6-foot-2 forward spent her first 11 WNBA seasons with the Sun, twice leading them to the WNBA Finals while earning five All-Star nods. She's also made the all-WNBA team three times and the all-defensive team five times. Thomas arrived in the desert via an offseason sign-and-trade deal as a key part of the Mercury's rebuilding, which includes fellow newcomer Satou Sabally and Kahleah Copper, Phoenix's leading scorer a year ago. 'It was a decision that I made,' Thomas said. 'In speaking with Nate and Nick (U'ren), I just felt it was a perfect fit for me and my game, and off the court as well.' Thomas has thrived. Already the WNBA's leader in triple-doubles, she has added five more with the Mercury, including a WNBA-record three straight this month. Thomas has 20 of the 52 triple-doubles in WNBA history and her four this month match the most of any other WNBA player's career. Thomas was named an All-Star for the sixth time in her first season with the Mercury and has become an MVP contender with some of the best numbers of her career. She's third in the WNBA with 8.6 rebounds per game and second on the Mercury at 16.1 points while shooting a career-high 54.3% from the floor. Thomas' biggest impact in Tibbetts' offense may be her playmaking. Despite having the size of an interior player, she's used her vision and court awareness to become the WNBA's most prolific distributing forward. Thomas set the WNBA single-season record for assists with 316 in 2023 and is seventh on the league's all-time assists list — the only forward in the top 10. While in Phoenix, she's nearly doubled her career assist average with a league-leading 9.0 this season — over five per game more than the next closest player. 'There's just so much space and I feel like it's a perfect fit for me,' Thomas said. 'It's been a long time since I've played with this many shooters.' The Engine has been revving all season and is taking the Mercury with her. ___ AP WNBA:

Associated Press
an hour ago
- Associated Press
The Engine: Alyssa Thomas driving new-look Phoenix Mercury near the top of WNBA standings
PHOENIX (AP) — A marketing panel with Castrol landed Alyssa Thomas on a NASCAR hood. While attending the panel at the WNBA All-Star game last month, Thomas was approached by the motor oil company about putting her image on a NASCAR for an upcoming race. The Phoenix Mercury star loved the idea and helped in the design process, leading to her face making a 168-lap trip around Indianapolis Motor Speedway on the hood of RFK Racing's No. 60 Castrol Ford, driven by Ryan Preece. 'It was a fitting pairing being that my nickname is The Engine,' Thomas said. 'Not too many people can say their face is on a car, let alone in a race, so it was a really cool experience.' The Mercury had a lot of unknowns heading into the 2025 season after Diana Taurasi retired and Brittney Griner signed with the Atlanta Dream. Thomas has been the driving force behind the Mercury's rise. Fitting in perfectly in first-year coach Nate Tibbets' pace-and-space style, Thomas has been stuffing stat sheets while the Mercury have racked up wins. Entering Wednesday's games, Phoenix was fourth in the WNBA standings at 21-13 after finishing 19-21 a year ago. 'She's the ultimate winner, she's the ultimate competitor,' Tibbetts said. 'She wants to win at everything.' Thomas was the three-time ACC player of the year at Maryland and an All-American her senior season before arriving in Connecticut in a draft-day trade with the New York Liberty in 2014. The 6-foot-2 forward spent her first 11 WNBA seasons with the Sun, twice leading them to the WNBA Finals while earning five All-Star nods. She's also made the all-WNBA team three times and the all-defensive team five times. Thomas arrived in the desert via an offseason sign-and-trade deal as a key part of the Mercury's rebuilding, which includes fellow newcomer Satou Sabally and Kahleah Copper, Phoenix's leading scorer a year ago. 'It was a decision that I made,' Thomas said. 'In speaking with Nate and Nick (U'ren), I just felt it was a perfect fit for me and my game, and off the court as well.' Thomas has thrived. Already the WNBA's leader in triple-doubles, she has added five more with the Mercury, including a WNBA-record three straight this month. Thomas has 20 of the 52 triple-doubles in WNBA history and her four this month match the most of any other WNBA player's career. Thomas was named an All-Star for the sixth time in her first season with the Mercury and has become an MVP contender with some of the best numbers of her career. She's third in the WNBA with 8.6 rebounds per game and second on the Mercury at 16.1 points while shooting a career-high 54.3% from the floor. Thomas' biggest impact in Tibbetts' offense may be her playmaking. Despite having the size of an interior player, she's used her vision and court awareness to become the WNBA's most prolific distributing forward. Thomas set the WNBA single-season record for assists with 316 in 2023 and is seventh on the league's all-time assists list — the only forward in the top 10. While in Phoenix, she's nearly doubled her career assist average with a league-leading 9.0 this season — over five per game more than the next closest player. 'There's just so much space and I feel like it's a perfect fit for me,' Thomas said. 'It's been a long time since I've played with this many shooters.' The Engine has been revving all season and is taking the Mercury with her. ___ AP WNBA:


Indianapolis Star
2 hours ago
- Indianapolis Star
New Fever guard Shey Peddy hoping to be 'steady Betty' on team ravaged by injuries
INDIANAPOLIS – Shey Peddy is the Indiana Fever's most recent acquisition after myriad devastating injuries on their roster. And she hopes she can be a stabilizing force after multiple weeks of uncertainty. 'Some stability, steadiness,' Peddy said when asked what she brings to this Fever team. '... I've been called a steady Betty, so I feel like you know what you're gonna get out of me.' Peddy signed a seven-day contract with the Fever on Monday after Indiana had yet another season-ending injury, this time to Sophie Cunningham. The Fever were already down Sydney Colson (left ACL) and Aari McDonald (right foot) after they suffered season-ending injuries against Phoenix on Aug. 7. Then, Cunningham tore her MCL in her right knee on Aug. 17 against Connecticut, forcing her out for the season as well. In less than two weeks, the Fever have had three season-ending injuries — and that doesn't include Fever star Caitlin Clark's now month-long absence, as she has been out since July 15 with no timetable for return. And that has forced them to adapt. Quickly. 'You never want to see injuries happen, first and foremost,' Fever coach Stephanie White said on Tuesday. 'You hate it when it's to anyone, let alone, you know, the third season-ending injury that we've seen this year. But like I told our team at halftime (on Sunday), 'Look, yes, we've been dealt a crappy hand, but we got to play it. You got to play it anyway.'' The Fever received two hardship waivers to sign players after Colson and McDonald's injuries, coupled with Clark's extended absence. They used the first to sign Odyssey Sims to a seven-day contract to fill the void at point guard, and originally utilized the second to sign Kyra Lambert, who had not yet played in a WNBA game, to a seven-day contract as well. The Fever's original goal was to help Lambert develop, with the benefit of them having a body on the bench for depth purposes. But when Cunningham, a veteran leader on the team, went down, Indiana needed to switch gears. Peddy, 36, is a six-year WNBA veteran with ample experience overseas and in the league. So, the Fever released Lambert five days into that seven-day contract, instead opting to sign Peddy to put another veteran voice in the mix. 'It had a lot to do with it, because when you have Sophie on the floor, you have experience, and Kyra can start to learn this league, and she can really develop, and you can use her in spot minutes with Sophie, and with AB on the floor, you know, and (Odyssey Sims) on the floor, and Kelsey,' White said. 'Now not having Sophie, who has been our backup point guard, we needed somebody with experience. And Shey has experience in this league. She's good at getting people where they're supposed to get to and getting us, getting teams organized.' It helps, too, Peddy already has experience with multiple of her Fever teammates. She and Kelsey Mitchell played together overseas in Turkey, she played with Cunningham and Brianna Turner in Phoenix, and she was even teammates with Fever assistant coach Briann January at one point overseas. Peddy, who is 5-7, won't take up the same amount of space as Cunningham, 6-1, will on the court. She's also a true point guard, instead of a wing, but the Fever desperately needed depth at point considering Cunningham was acting as their backup point guard behind Sims. Peddy doesn't see herself as a scoring point guard; she's more of a facilitator and defender. Her best season scoring-wise was in 2022 in Phoenix, when she averaged 9.9 points per game in 24 stars and 34 appearances in the Valley. But the Fever, with Mitchell tied for third in the league in scoring and Aliyah Boston averaging a career-high 15.3 points per game, aren't necessarily looking for a scorer. They're looking for someone who can, first and foremost, give some veteran experience. Ball-handling and defense is also a plus. And Peddy checks all of those boxes. 'I feel like that's where my thing is: defense,' she said. 'We have a lot of scorers, and obviously I want to come down, be aggressive, hit down my 3s when I can, but my thing is to get the ball to where it needs to be and then on defense, be up on the guards, making sure everybody's in their right spots, finding the offense really well.' The Fever will become eligible for a third hardship waiver once Cunningham misses a game on Friday, and Indiana intends to sign another player at that time. They could re-sign Lambert or opt to go another direction with that hardship signing.