Chelsea Gray began Unrivaled with questions surrounding her standing in the WNBA as one of the league’s elite players.
Unrivaled’s championship game proved one undeniable fact
Chelsea Gray showed the world that despite an injury-riddled season in the WNBA, she’s still one of the basketball’s best players.
Photo by Rich Storry/Getty Images
Noa Dalzell is a senior writer covering the WNBA and all of women’s basketball for Breakaway, SB Nation’s women’s sports vertical, as well as the Celtics for CelticsBlog.
The Las Vegas Aces star finishes a champion — thanks to a dominant month of basketball that saw her explode for a league-record 39 points in the semifinals and follow that up with an 18-point, 8-assist performance in the championship game.
And, after discussions around whether the veteran guard’s best days are behind her, it’s undeniable that there are very few guards, if any, who are better than Gray in all of women’s basketball.
Gray was able to overcome some first-half shooting struggles to score 15 second-half points, headlined by a halfcourt heave that came at the end of the third-quarter buzzer and gave the Rose a slight advantage heading into the final period.
In large part due to the veteran guard’s play, the Rose defeated the Vinyl 62-52 to win the inaugural Unrivaled championship. She was ultimately named the Unrivaled Finals MVP, averaging 29.5 points in the playoffs and shooting 44% from three.
“Just a testament to my work that I’ve been putting in this whole year,” Gray said in TNT’s postgame celebration. “And a testament to my team, man.”
First-time head coach Nola Henry profusely praised the Las Vegas Aces guard.
“Chelsea carried us on her back all season long,” she said.
How Chelsea Gray and the Rose Club got it done
It wasn’t just Chelsea Gray who excelled for the Rose club in the championship game. Brittney Sykes exploded for 21 points, sealing the deal with an and-one drive to win at all. Azura Stevens added 19 points and 16 rebounds, and the Rose were able to overcome the absence of All-Stars Kahleah Copper and newly-crowned Defensive Player of the Year Angel Reese to win it all.
“Obviously, Angel’s not here,” Stevens said in TNT’s championship presentation. “So, being the other big, I just had to step up... so happy and proud of my team.”
The squad was ultimately able to overcome a 2-4 start to the season, finishing the season 8-6 and securing the second-best record in the league. That positioned them to face the Laces in the first round of the playoffs, who they defeated on Sunday before advancing to the championship.
“Just a team full of relentless dawgs that refuse to be denied,” Henry said.
The Vinyl fell short of a championship
On the other side of the bracket, the Vinyl completed the biggest upset of the year on Sunday night when they beat the Lunar Owls, who were 13-1 in the regular season. The Vinyl finished the season with a 5-9 record, but utilized a balanced attack spearheaded by Dearica Hamby, Jordin Canada, and Rhyne Howard to punch their ticket to the championship.
But Hamby was limited to just 8 points in the championship, Howard shot 8-22 from the field en route to 22 points, and Canada wasn’t able to recreate her hot shooting from the semifinals, sinking just 3 of 12 shots.
In turn, the Rose come out victorious.
At the conclusion of their championship celebration, Chelsea Gray held up a shirt that listed out the preseason rankings, which predicted that the Rose would finish sixth overall in the standings, last in a pool of six teams.
Gray wasn’t surprised at the outcome.
“I put in the work,” she said. “I know it’s going to come to fruition.”
