Ace in the hole

The WNBA’s second round knockout games were Sunday. In the opener, the L.A. Sparks just destroyed the hobbled Seattle Storm. The Sparks will move on to face the Connecticut Sun.

The second game, between the Las Vegas Aces and Chicago Sky, wasn’t quite so simple.

Dearica Hamby, named the league’s Sixth Woman of the Year before the game, had the most bizarre game-winner I’ve seen in some time. Down two with time winding down, Hamby picked off a dangerous pass from the Sky’s Courtney Vandersloot. Hamby misread the clock and fired up a quick halfcourt shot, despite there being seven seconds left and having a teammate wide open under the Sky basket, available for the tying score. But Hamby took it and made it, shocking everyone watching in the building and everywhere else on the planet. The Sky couldn’t answer despite plenty of time remaining on the clock. Aces win.

Matt Ellentuck breaks down 10 wild things about the play. What strikes me is that Las Vegas couldn’t score anything down the stretch. The Aces went up 90-85 with 3:32 left in the fourth quarter. Their next six possessions, with the season on the line: 0-4 from the field with two bad turnovers. Liz Cambage went cold, A’ja Wilson dribbled off her leg, Kayla McBride missed a layup, Kelsey Plum threw a bad pass. The Sky grinded back to a 92-90 lead. The Aces just couldn’t score ... until the absurd shot from Hamby went in.

Sometimes, life is like that. Doing things the right way just doesn’t work, and you try something truly crazy and frankly foolish, and it works. Let Dearica Hamby be the matron saint of inexplicable solutions.

The Aces will play the Washington Mystics in a best-of-5 series that tips off on Tuesday in D.C.

Spain won the 2019 FIBA World Cup title game easily over Argentina, whose magic ran out on Sunday. Spain was the last non-United States nation to win a world title back in 2006 when the Redeem Team fell short. This Spanish squad was, as Marc Stein writes, its own Redeem Team of sorts after falling short in recent years.

Because of Team USA’s massive struggles in this tournament, Spain never even had to beat the Americans to claim gold. That doesn’t make it any less sweet. Marc Gasol completed the ultra-rare FIBA/NBA double with the championship, and Ricky Rubio was named the tournament MVP. Joining Rubio on the all-tournament team were Gasol, ageless wonder Luis Scola (who had a really tough gold medal game), Bogdan Bogdanovic, and Evan Fournier.

Watching Spain finish the job was magical. Watching Argentina shock everyone by making the final was magical. FIBA is flawed, and global competition could be way better. But it speaks to the beauty of the sport and its international prominence that something so awesome can come out of it at the end of the summer.

Matt Ellentuck wrote a deep, lovely piece on the blueprint of the Las Vegas Aces. There is a grasshopper invasion involved.

Before the World Cup final, I wrote about how important familiarity appears to be in international basketball.

The Pistons signed Joe Johnson to a non-guaranteed contract. Good for Joe and good for the Pistons.

The NBA is considering really boosting the penalties for tampering. I’m most interested in the enormous fine for reaching agreements before free agency opens. That gives a helluva lot of power to the scoop artists, who can cost teams money simply be reporting, which is their job.

Rodger Sherman on Shaun Livingston, who announced his retirement after redefining what success means.

Should the Celtics, who made up one-third of the Team USA roster, be worried about a FIBA hangover?

Happy trails to K.C. Johnson, who always knew just what everyone else wanted or needed to know about the Bulls.

Be excellent to each other.