Scoring and scorching this summer, the T .500 Toronto Tempo weren’t meant to be this good, this soon.
Tell that to Masai Ujiri, recently named one of TIME’s magazine’s ‘100 Most Influential People In Sports’. The former Toronto Raptor general manager and president, incredibly influential in Canada’s first major basketball championship in 2019, now back in The 6 as the principal owner of one of the WNBA’s newest franchises. Alongside the returning Portland Fire for the celebration of the W’s 30th anniversary.
Setting the Tempo, ‘She The North’ are looking for an even bigger, breakthrough debut than reigning ‘Coach of the Year’ Natalie Nakase’s Golden State Valkyries last season.
A big reason for this is the MVP campaign Brittney Sykes is putting on for the city, but with her injured last Thursday against her former Los Angeles Sparks side on the slide, another former purple and gold star showed that the rest of the roster was not just slim pickings.
Fellow SLAM cover star, Marina Mabrey, a powerhouse pick in this epic expansion for the franchise, set a new scoring record for the Tempo team. Eclipsing the previous double 38-point outings from the great Britt.
The 29-year-old gunner did more than that though, as she held up the celebration like NBA champion and finals MVP Jalen Brunson. Opening a can of whup-you know what in the Coca-Cola Coliseum against her old flame. So hot from beyond the arc in downtown Toronto, that everyone in town was pulling for how she put the Wilson through the ring.
The former Notre Dame college star had more fight than the Irish as she tied the WNBA record for points scored in a game. A perfect way to mark the league’s anniversary. Her 53 put her right next to another old Spark in former Las Vegas Aces superstar Liz Cambage. Matched by another one, in the generational A’ja Wilson.
Bam Adebayo could show A’ja Wilson how to hit the 100-point chasing mark, but the only player in both WNBA and NBA history to win a championship, scoring title, league (a record fourth) and finals MVP, and Defensive Player of the Year in the same season (not to mention the fastest player in W history to reach 5,000 points), needs no help.
Mabrey massacred a Sparks team who haven’t been able to plug the bleeding since Kelsey Plum, another MVP favourite, went down with an injury. Just days after ‘Don’t Let The Lipstick Fool You’ legend Lisa Leslie marked the inaugural WNBA game, as another, player president Nneka Ogwumike, rewrote history against the New York Liberty in the clutch.
And some ignorant male members of the basketball community are still talking about mascara.
We see you like a Sophie Cunningham pointing meme.
In this 125-97 rout of a home-stand, Marina, who is no longer on the Del Rey, like Lana, demanded the ball in the T-Dot as she drained from downtown like snow turning to ice-water in spring. That’s exactly what she had in her veins.
Mabrey mainlined the floor with a 17-for-28 (9-18 from three) line and her hot hand was contagious. Julie Allemand, yet another one-time LA Spark, had a double-double of 13 points and 14 assists on the revenge tip. Setting up Marina, who was anything but cold. The visiting team’s 21 points apiece, from Dearica Hamby and Madame President, just wasn’t enough for the hot temperature for the Tempo.
“We want Mabrey! We want Mabrey!” Fans cried amongst cheers that came after brief boos following her check-out time of a minute left in the game.
In the highest scoring game in the Toronto Tempo’s tepid history, Marina Mabrey could have broken the record if she shot until the buzzer, but it hardly mattered for someone now part of an even bigger three.
“Sorry. Next time.” The Toronto star said.
Soon, we’ll read all about it.
No maybe.
