{"id":1291501,"date":"2023-05-21T06:10:18","date_gmt":"2023-05-21T10:10:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/celebs-the-vp-and-a-road-ovation-brittney-griner-mercury-settle-into-new-normal-as-wnba-season-tips-off\/1291501\/"},"modified":"2023-05-21T06:10:18","modified_gmt":"2023-05-21T10:10:18","slug":"celebs-the-vp-and-a-road-ovation-brittney-griner-mercury-settle-into-new-normal-as-wnba-season-tips-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/celebs-the-vp-and-a-road-ovation-brittney-griner-mercury-settle-into-new-normal-as-wnba-season-tips-off\/1291501\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebs, the VP and a road ovation: Brittney Griner, Mercury settle into ‘new normal’ as WNBA season tips off"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a><\/div>\n

LOS ANGELES \u2014 Nothing about the 2023 WNBA season opener in Los Angeles was normal. Not the fanfare, the pregame questions, the standing ovation for the visiting team\u2019s entrance, nor the vice president of the United States making an appearance.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, that really wasn\u2019t normal. Yeah. I mean \u2026\u201d Phoenix Mercury head coach Vanessa Nygaard trailed off.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe this is the new normal,\u201d Diana Taurasi quipped after her 19th season officially began. \u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

The day began with joy for Nygaard, who spoke glowingly in the hours before the game about Brittney Griner being back home in the United States<\/a> and playing professional basketball again. It was her first game in the WNBA since the 2021 Finals<\/a> and her first in any professional basketball environment since being wrongfully detained in Russia in February 2022 and released in a prisoner exchange in December.<\/p>\n

But after a 94-71 loss<\/a> to the Los Angeles Sparks \u2014 themselves in a new normal under first-year head coach Curt Miller \u2014 at Crypto.com Arena on WNBA\u2019s opening night, the mood shifted considerably. As soon as the official sent the ball into the air and Griner tipped it to Taurasi, it became business.<\/p>\n

Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner controls the ball against Los Angeles Sparks forward Joyner Holmes during the season opener on Friday at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. (AP Photo\/Ashley Landis)<\/figcaption>
ASSOCIATED PRESS<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still a basketball team. We still have a job, which is to represent the city of Phoenix and play great basketball. We\u2019re trying to win these games,\u201d said Nygaard, in her second year as Mercury head coach. \u201cSo there are a lot of things that I think are going on that are really positive, but we have to stay within our group and our bubble, and stay focused on what\u2019s the most important, which is getting better and helping the Mercury win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Griner scored 18 points shooting 7-of-9 with 6 rebounds, 4 blocks and 2 assists over 25 minutes in one of the more normal aspects of the night. The 10th-year center dominated early and laid in buckets with ease. She averaged 20.5 points, 9.5 rebounds and 1.9 blocks over 32.8 minutes per game during her MVP-worthy season in 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot good. Didn\u2019t get a dub. So whatever I did out there, you know \u2026\u201d Griner said of her performance. \u201cIt was nice to be back on the court.\u201d<\/p>\n

Griner said she felt the love from the fans who came out, and was visibly overcome with emotion when the in-house announcer gave her a \u201cwelcome back BG\u201d moment ahead of the game. She said it was a slew of emotions having not heard it in a long time, and she was taking it in, but staying focused.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, I\u2019m at work. I have a job to do,\u201d Griner said. \u201cI can\u2019t get caught up in the moment. Kind of feel it, but put it to the side for a little bit and feel it later.\u201d<\/p>\n

After morning shootaround, she embraced each member of the ESPN crew in town for the broadcast and thanked them for all they did for her. Media packed her corner of the gym to take photos and videos, and reporters not normally on a WNBA beat were there for the night. But after Griner spoke postgame, they mostly cleared out and Nygaard asked, \u201cWhere\u2019d everybody go?\u201d as she stepped into the room for her own remarks. Both she and Griner have called on more media coverage beyond the stories that cross into the national conscience.<\/p>\n

In one of the most non-normal moments of the evening, the Mercury entered the arena of 10,396 fans to cheers and a standing ovation. When she stepped to the free-throw line for the first time, a group whooped before she even touched the ball.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, it was great. But like honestly, c\u2019mon now LA. We didn\u2019t sell out the arena for BG? Like, I expected more to be honest,\u201d Nygaard said. \u201cIt was great, it was loud. But how was it not a sell out? How was it not a sell out? But it was great. I like when the other team cheers for my players. So I enjoyed that part.\u201d<\/p>\n

The attention on Griner took over the day and was the subject of most questions for both the Sparks and the Mercury. Vice President Kamala Harris spoke with the teams before the game<\/a>, and met Sparks forward Nneka Ogwumike, the WNBA Players Association president, at halfcourt to accept a Sparks jersey. Her husband, Douglas Emhoff, is a Sparks fan.<\/p>\n

Billie Jean King sat courtside and posed for a photo with South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley ahead of the game. Leslie Jones of \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d fame urged the crowd on and stood to wave a towel. Ex-Lakers greats Pau Gasol and Robert Horry, along with Lakers head coach Darvin Ham, were all in attendance. Magic Johnson, a Sparks team co-owner, was around and featured on the Jumbotron while chatting with WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just weighed so heavily all last year I think on every player, certainly on us as a league,\u201d Engelbert said. \u201cI think it\u2019s just so heartening to see the fan reaction.\u201d<\/p>\n

The largest reaction will likely be seen on Sunday when the Phoenix X-Factor fandom sees Griner play a regular season game at Footprint Center for the first time in 610 days. The Mercury (0-1) host the Chicago Sky (1-0) in what they\u2019re calling the \u201cWelcome Home Opener.\u201d<\/a> The contest is scheduled to tip at 4 p.m. ET on ESPN and the fanfare will surely follow.<\/p>\n

\"United
United States Vice President Kamala Harris laughs while standing with Brittney Griner and other members of the Phoenix Mercury in the locker room before their game against the Los Angeles Sparks at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on May 19, 2023. (Mario Tama\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption>
Mario Tama via Getty Images<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

\u201cWe went around every city we went in last year and BG was a story,\u201d Nygaard said. \u201cIt\u2019s a story everywhere we go. So this year it\u2019ll be a story of joy, a story of happiness, a story of welcome back. That positive energy will probably help our team and be less of a distraction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phoenix was without Sophie Cunningham and Megan Gustafson, who were not with the team due to injury, and Skylar Diggins-Smith remains on maternity leave. That impacted their ability to stay in it with Los Angeles, even though the Mercury went up early. Even so, it was clear the weight of the moment has been there for a team that has been weighted down for more than a year now.<\/p>\n

Surrounded by media at a table in the corner of the court after shootaround on Friday morning, Taurasi described the emotional toll of last season and how little it had to do with basketball.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we get back [to Phoenix], hopefully, things will get back to normal,\u201d Taurasi said after basketball should have become the main focus. \u201cI mean, they\u2019ll never be normal again.\u201d<\/p>\n

For now, this is the new normal.<\/p>\n

From:AOL<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES \u2014 Nothing about the 2023 WNBA season opener in Los Angeles was normal. Not the fanfare, the pregame questions, the standing ovation for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1291501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbimBl-5pYF","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1291501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1291501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1291501\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1291501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1291501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1291501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}