Brittney Griner makes emotional and dominant return to the WNBA All-Star Recreation

Sports activities Information

Griner threw down two dunks and scored 18 factors in Saturday’s showcase.

Phoenix Mercury’s Brittney Griner, of Workforce Stewart, heart, reacts as she is launched earlier than a WNBA All-Star basketball sport Saturday, July 15, 2023, in Las Vegas. (AP Picture/John Locher) AP

By MARK ANDERSON, Related Press

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Brittney Griner made an emphatic and emotional return to the WNBA’s mid-season showcase occasion.

She scored her crew’s first six factors, put down two dunks and completed with 18 factors within the league’s All-Star Recreation on Saturday evening.

The sellout crowd roared when Griner was launched, and clearly moved by the ovation, she tapped her coronary heart along with her proper hand. There was little doubt, a 12 months after forcefully being absent from this occasion, that Griner was the star of the present.

“I didn’t assume I’d be right here as we speak,” Griner mentioned. “Everybody sending the letters and the love, meant lots to me.”

Griner led Workforce Stewart, captained by the New York Liberty’s Breanna Stewart, to a 143-127 over Workforce Wilson, led by the Aces’ A’ja Wilson.

Workforce Stewart’s Jewell Loyd of the Seattle Storm broke the All-Star Recreation scoring file with 31 factors, setting the mark on a cross from Griner. Maya Moore and Kelsey Plum every had the earlier file with 30 factors. Loyd earned MVP honors for the sport.

Plum really tied her personal file with 30 factors, one in every of 4 Aces competing for Workforce Wilson, who acquired loud ovations from the house crowd in pregame introductions.

Griner presently final 12 months was being held in Russia on drug prices, sparking worldwide outrage that she was being wrongfully held. The WNBA named her an honorary starter, with each participant carrying her No. 42 jersey within the second half of final 12 months’s sport.

This time Griner was really within the beginning lineup — the one one with that jersey quantity — overshadowing virtually the whole lot that occurred on the court docket.

Workforce Stewart made Griner the focus from the start. She delivered a dunk with 3:50 remaining within the first quarter off an outlet cross from Stewart. Griner additionally had a dunk simply 25 seconds into the second half.

“I referred to as my knees and talked to them and gave them a bit pep speak,” the 32-year-old Griner mentioned of her dunks.

Griner at one level within the first quarter challenged Workforce Wilson level guard Chelsea Grey of the Aces, however Grey drove previous the nine-time All-Star from the Phoenix Mercury and dropped in a reverse layup from excessive off the glass.

On the first media timeout, Griner was proven on the video board as she sat on the bench with the phrases, “WELCOME BACK BRITTNEY GRINER” on the display beneath her face.

Griner was among the many gamers who wore microphones throughout the sport, joking after lacking a 3-pointer that she “received one thing in my eye.”

The sport was performed with a 20-second shot clock quite than the same old 24, two four-point spots on both sides of the court docket have been added and there have been no free throws. The groups mixed to hit 12 four-point pictures.

New York’s Sabrina Ionescu, representing Workforce Stewart, made all three of her makes an attempt from four-range within the first half, carrying over her extraordinary capturing from the day prior to this. Ionescu set a WNBA and NBA file with 37 of a potential 40 factors within the 3-point contest. She completed with 18 factors.

Sue Hen, Seimone Augustus and Sylvia Fowles have been among the many ex-WNBA gamers in attendance, with Fowles carrying Napheesa Collier’s Minnesota Lynx jersey.

Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis and Dwyane Wade have been amongst these with NBA ties watching. Wade is shopping for an possession stake within the Chicago Sky.