4. Brittney Griner
Like Cambage, Brittney Griner stands tall over every other player in these playoffs. Standing at 6-foot-9, she actually is the tallest remaining player and plays very much like it. After leaving the WNBA bubble early last season and having what some could consider a ‘down year’ — she averaged 17.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and was leading the league in blocks before she left — Griner came back this season to re-establish herself as the premier big in the WNBA.
This season, while leading the Pheonix Mercury to the fifth seed, the two-time Defensive Player of the Year led the league in blocks with 1.9 a game and was second in points per game at 20.5, she was also second in field goal percentage, 58 percent, and sixth in rebounds with 9.5 boards a game. She was also a member of the gold medal-winning Olympic team this summer.
Griner was dominant in the regular season, having one of the best seasons in her nine-year career, there won’t be too much in her way from continuing such dominance in the playoffs. Hopefully, Griner gets off another one of her exciting throwdowns: she’s the all-time league leader in dunks with 23 — no one even comes close, Lisa Leslie and Candace Parker are next with just 2 throwdowns.
Expect Griner to feast on plenty of low post opportunities while her star backcourt teammates, Skylar Diggins-Smith and Diana Taurasi create opportunities for themselves and others outside of the paint.
The Mercury play the New York Liberty tonight at 10 p.m. ET.