This Unrivaled season gave us iconic moments.
Dominque Malonga dunked three times. Marina Mabrey scored 47 points in Philly. Chelsea Gray won the 1-on-1 Tournament.
Now, the only thing left to figure out is who will win the ultimate title. The final is set and we have No. 1-seed Phantom taking on No. 2-seed Mist in a winner-take-all matchup on Wednesday, Mar. 4 (9:30 p.m. ET, TNT/truTV).
On paper this is exactly the type of matchup everyone wants to see. We have the two top-seeded teams meeting. Both
enter this contest on winning streaks and have proven time and time again that they are the cream of the crop.
Phantom swept the season series, but their most recent mathcup was just a three-point game.
For Mist to pull off their first victory over Phantom it’s going to be all about Breanna Stewart. She had a slow start in the semifinal game, but got hot and scored 23 points. On the season, Stewart is averaging 17.3 points per game and her size and defensive ability has made her a crucial part to the team’s success. She had multiple stops down the stretch against Breeze that helped her team pull off the comeback.
If Mist guards Allisha Gray and Arike Ogunbowale also go off, that might be enough for them to take down the best team in the league and be crowned champions.
For Phantom, the most important player is Kelsey Plum. As the player averaging the most points for Phantom at 22.6 points per game, Plum will have to be the team’s offensive generator. She did a great job of that in the semifinals, scoring 31 points and the game-winner.
It’s a shame that Aliyah Boston is out for this game. She was a great pick-and-roll partner with Plum and having her out certainly will make things harder for Phantom. With Boston unavailable, other players will have to step up and carry the load. Kiki Iriafen will be heavily relied on to score and help Phantom win the rebounding battle. She’s averaging 11.9 points and 5.4 rebounds per game.
We can’t know if each team will execute their game plan and have their players perform at the top of their games. but what we do know is that this game is set to be a great one.
And at the end of the night a new Unrivaled champion will be crowned.
You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.
