WNBA Week 2: The Unbeatable Aces, BG’s Resilience, Fit of the Week

The second week of the 2023 WNBA season is in the books! The Aces remain undefeated, the Lynx finally got a win, Chicago is showing us and everybody else, and what in the world is going on with the Mystics. Natalie and Heather are hashing it all out in their WNBA weekly chat — now with a Fit of the Week from EIC Carmen Phillips!

Heather: Natalie, hello! How are you feeling after destroying me at WNBA Fantasy Basketball over the weekend?

Natalie: Ha! Well, it feels like a small slice of redemption after you beat me in last year’s Fantasy Basketball championship. But it wouldn’t have been possible without the defense the Indiana Fever played on Kelsey Plum yesterday, limiting her to 9 points on 4 of 15 shooting. The Aces were able to squeak out a win but they certainly didn’t look as infallible as they did in Week One. What’d you think of that game and how the Aces played overall during Week Two?

Heather: There were so many good, close games this weekend, but I do have to say that the Aces/Fever on Sunday was my favorite. During week one, my wife — who, by the way, is rooting for YOU at fantasy basketball — sincerely asked me if I thought the Aces would go undefeated. I was like, “No way, this league is way too competitive for them to not lose a single game,” but they did feel untouchable for a minute there. Especially when the Liberty, the other “super team” that was being tossed around in the same breath as the Aces, have struggled so much.

It felt good to see the Aces come back down to earth, especially at the hands of the Fever! You and I have been big Aliyah Boston believers, and, I think, both very impressed with how fast she’s climbing that W learning curve. And certainly she’s making a huge difference in that organization! But A’ja Wilson held her to seven and the Fever still had them on the ropes until the buzzer. There’s something cool happening in Indiana and I am thrilled to see it. Meanwhile, the Aces? Yeah, they’re residing on earth with us mere mortals again, but they still do seem like a team that’s poised to win another championship at this point.

What excited you during Week 2?

Natalie: Well, first, thank you to Stacy for the support!

I definitely agree with you that I don’t think the Aces will go undefeated this season. I think they’ve look vulnerable against the Dream and the Fever and now they’re heading to Connecticut for a match-up with Alyssa Thomas and the Sun on Tuesday…so it feels like a matter of time before the parity in the league catches up with them. I’ve said, probably for the last year or so, that I’ve been worried about the minutes that the Aces are putting on their starters and I’m wondering if we’re starting to see the effects of that now. Neither Plum nor Chelsea Gray looked up to par yesterday…we’ll see how they hold up for the rest of this Aces roadtrip.

I don’t know how much the Aces did to contain Boston…I think…