Of course, what the Las Vegas Aces do to opposing teams is unfair. The defending champions of the US basketball league WNBA play their home games at Mandalay Bay – a hotel with a casino next to the legendary Strip. 10,000 people celebrate first, then they go into the hall and cause a racket. Celebrities like rapper Lil’ Wayne, who celebrated his birthday there on Tuesday evening, sit on the sidelines and shout louder than director Spike Lee at New York Knicks games. So it can happen in this heated atmosphere that you hit three free throws in a row next to the basket, like Satou Sabally of the Dallas Wings did in that semifinal game.
“It’s unique what’s happening here – and very difficult to win here. Their record is not so good for nothing,” said Sabally after the 84:91 defeat in the catacombs of the hotel-casino-arena structure. The Aces have actually only lost one game in their own stadium this season, at the beginning of August against favorites New York Liberty, who equalized 1-1 in the second semi-final series against the Connecticut Sun. “I’m counting on us to get this push from our own fans in 50:50 moments in our own hall,” said Sabally. Because of the two defeats in Las Vegas, your Wings have to win the third game of the best-of-five series on Friday: “The support can provide the few points you need in these close games.”
With this sentence she summarized the course of the game on Tuesday. The Wings didn’t lead once in this game, but they were never behind. In the third quarter, for example, they equalized with a three-pointer from Sabally, and two minutes before the end they got within five points – but the Aces found their accuracy again in precisely those moments in which the game could have been overturned. And then it got loud.
“This atmosphere is great. It’s great that so many people are there to see us play,” said Sabally, followed by a typical Sabally sentence: “Even if you lose, it’s still great to be with us Basketball can inspire so many people.”
Sabally came to the WNBA three years ago; Dallas selected her as the second player of her year in the draft. She told the SZ at the time that she wanted to stand out not only on the field but also off it: “I want to be seen as an activist,” was her plan. As a person who advocates for equality and against racism. As an athlete who uses her platform and backs her impact with performance. And her popularity has grown this year: she was recently named the league’s “Most Improved Player”, i.e. the player with the greatest development boost in the current season. “People already knew that I had talent and what I could do,” says Sabally: “But that’s official confirmation. I’m very happy about this award.”
Open detailed view
Satou Sabally for three: The Berliner, who plays in Dallas, also hits her shots from a distance.
(Photo: LM Otero/dpa)
No wonder when you consider the suffering she has been through since she arrived in the WNBA: first back pain and concussion, then problems with her Achilles heel, knee and ankle. Last season she played in just eleven games and the Wings failed in the first round of the playoffs. “I’ve always associated basketball with pain – that’s pretty sad,” Sabally remembers. In the middle of last season it all became too much for her, when she arrived at training she couldn’t breathe and was crying, she knew: it can’t go on like this. “It was the hardest time in my life. I swore to myself that it would never be like that again.”
What she did: take a short break after the season instead of immediately leaving for Turkey, where she played during the WNBA break, because women’s salaries are still only a fraction of men’s. Sabally, for example, will earn a salary of $86,701 this WNBA season.
Sabally has to find the balance between sport in America and Europe and social commitment
“Of course you would want to take a break – but hey: money talks,” she says. She will play in Europe again after this season, but no longer for Fenerbahce as before: “I don’t know for whom yet – but I could get a very, very nice contract. And I got a lot of tips from players like Alyssa Thomas or Breanna Stewart, who also plays all year round, shows how you can take better care of your body with all the effort.”
For example: swimming instead of basketball. Really rest instead of constantly trying to get a little better for the next engagement. Yoga instead of strength training. She did some self-care instead of engaging in social activities several days a week – which she still does at least once a week. “It’s just not possible for me to actively take part in a parade for the right to abortion,” she says: “But I can always use my mouth and be a mouthpiece when women are disadvantaged.”
This means finding a balance between sporting commitments in America and Europe as well as social commitment – and that is working outstandingly this season: 18.6 points per game, 8.1 rebounds and 4.4 assists. In a playoff game against Atlanta Dream in the first round, she even managed 32 points.
Now it’s the playoffs, so what we achieved in the regular season almost doesn’t matter. What counts are current values, and that’s what Sabally said on Tuesday: only five hits on 17 throws from the field, six rebounds. The Wings need more from her, and Sabally wants to deliver: “I’m happy that we now have home advantage.” They beat the Aces in the regular season – so why not again?
