With reigning MVP Elena Delle Donne missing her sixth straight game with a thumb injury, the odds were not in the favor of the Chicago Sky in their one game elimination against the Atlanta Dream.
The Sky’s Courtney Vandersloot was the best fit for the MVP’s shoes.
Vandersloot filled the box score with the best playoff game of her six-year career in Sunday’s 108-98 victory at Allstate Arena: 21 points, 13 assists and four steals.
The fourth-seeded Sky were on fire most of the afternoon, shooting 55 percent from the field, and the No. 6 seed Dream just couldn’t extinguish it, proving the oddsmakers who picked Atlanta in the desert wrong.
“We were so ready to play,” Vandersloot said. “Super ready.”
The second-round victory advances Chicago to a best-of-five WNBA semifinal series with No. 2 Los Angeles. The Sky, even without leading scorer Delle Donne, put up 108 points on the scoreboard.
That ties the WNBA postseason record for points in a regulation game. Only one playoff game in WNBA history has seen teams score more points: Game 1 of the 2009 WNBA Finals, when Phoenix beat Indiana 120-116 in overtime.
The oddsmakers may pencil the Sky as underdogs in their series against the Sparks however they will compete.
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