Elena Delle Donne was named the WNBA Eastern Conference Player of the Month for the second time this season.
The Washington Mystics’ star averaged 20 points per game during August and had consecutive 30-point outings against Phoenix and Seattle. She also had 6.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game during the month.
Her Mystics did not lose a game in August until the regular season finale, which snapped the team’s impressive eight-game winning streak.
Delle Donne is a league MVP candidate after finishing the regular season in the top five in points (20.7 per game), top 10 in points (7.2 per game) and with an impressive rate of 40.5 percent 3-point shooting.
Delle Donne’s dominance caught the eye of The Ringer basketball writer Shea Serrano, whose partly fictional piece “Elena Delle Donne Is a Monster Giant Right Now” described the forward in the language of legendary lore with phrases like “she has activated the full strength of her atomic power.”
Delle Donne and her equally important teammates shot up the standings in the home stretch of the season to win the No. 3 playoff seed. The Mystics will host a second-round, win-or-go-home playoff game Thursday night at the Charles E. Smith Center.
• Adam Zielonka can be reached at azielonka@washingtontimes.com.
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