WNBA Injury Report: Gray's Hand, Loyd's Leg Loom Over Wednesday's Game 2s

The scores from Sunday's WNBA semifinal Game 1s are in the books: Dream 92, Liberty 82; Valkyries 71, Aces 60. But the numbers that will matter most by Wednesday might be two that never made a box score — the status of Atlanta guard Allisha Gray's left hand and Las Vegas guard Jewell Loyd's left leg. Both players left their Game 1s hurt. As of Sunday night, neither team had an update.

Gray's injury was the scarier-looking of the two, and it came in waves. At the 3:59 mark of the first quarter, the Dream guard went down holding her left wrist and hand area, stayed on the floor for a few moments, and was helped to the locker room. She returned to the bench late in the first quarter and checked back in at the 8:30 mark of the second with her ring and pinky fingers taped together on her left hand — her shooting hand.

It didn't take. Gray missed a field goal attempt, ripped the tape off and threw it toward the bench, then kept playing with visible intensity — she even dove on the floor for a loose ball and was credited with a steal. But at the 3:44 mark, just before halftime, she hit the deck again going for another loose ball, came up cradling the same hand, and went back to the locker room for the second time. She was ruled out before the half. When she returned to the bench, her left hand was heavily wrapped, with a splint on her ring finger.

Dream coach Karl Smesko had no update after the game. "Hopefully, she'll be OK," he said. "Obviously, she's been a huge reason we've been so successful this year." That is an understatement: Gray was averaging 22 points on 47 percent shooting with 2.5 steals per game in the playoffs before Sunday, per USA Today — the engine of Atlanta's season on both ends of the floor.

What saved the Dream was the roster around her. DeWanna Bonner started the second half in Gray's place and delivered 23 points and nine rebounds, playing multiple positions as Atlanta adjusted on the fly. Jordin Canada took over the scoring load with 25 points, 20 of them after halftime, plus five steals. "We know that (Allisha Gray) is a big piece to our team," Canada said. "She brings a lot to our team … but you know, it's a next-man-up mentality that we have. We told her that we had her back, and whoever comes off the bench or one of the starters, we gotta bring it for her." They brought it. Whether they can keep bringing it without Gray is now the biggest question of the series.

It is a bigger swing than it might look. Gray isn't just a scorer — she's the perimeter defender who makes Atlanta's havoc system go, the player whose pressure turns into the live-ball turnovers that buried New York on Sunday. Bonner is a veteran champion and proved she can fill the minutes, but there is no replacing a two-way engine in a best-of-five against a Liberty team that has already shown it can win a series as an 8-seed.

In San Francisco, the Aces' bad day got worse two minutes into the third quarter. Jewell Loyd, the veteran guard who had been crucial in Las Vegas' first-round escape past Indiana — Hammon singled out her Game 3 elimination-game performance — went down with a left leg injury and did not return. She finished scoreless, 0-for-2 from the field with both misses from three, plus two rebounds, an assist and a turnover in limited minutes. The team said she was being evaluated. Hammon had no immediate update afterward.

Loyd's injury landed on a roster that was already held together with tape. The Aces entered the semifinals without NaLyssa Smith, Stephanie Talbot and Dana Evans — all key rotation pieces. "We're a little bit depleted right now," Hammon said before tip. "We just have to be next woman up." After the 71-60 loss, with Loyd's status unknown and the rebounding margin sitting at 52-25, the frustration boiled over. Hammon said she could have ended her entire news conference after discussing rebounding, because that was the entire issue — then added: "Good news is we played like [expletive] and lost by 10."

Kierstan Bell absorbed Loyd's minutes, playing 21 of them with three points, two rebounds and two blocks. But the math is getting stark: the defending champions are down to a short rotation against the deepest team in the league. USA Today's winners-and-losers column put it plainly — with Las Vegas this banged up, Golden State's depth could be the deciding factor of the series.

The injuries weren't the only health subplot of the weekend, either. The Liberty didn't know until game time whether Han Xu would be available Sunday after she missed Saturday's practice with a fever; she played eight minutes off the bench with three points and two rebounds, and Jonquel Jones lauded her for pushing through, per USA Today's live coverage. And Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase coached Sunday just two days after going down on the sideline in the series-clinching win over Dallas. October basketball is a war of attrition, and the attrition is winning.

So where does this leave Wednesday? Game 2s tip with the Liberty visiting the Dream at 7:30 PM ET on ESPN, followed by the Aces visiting the Valkyries at 9:30 PM ET on Peacock/NBCSN. If Gray can't go, Atlanta's formula — havoc defense, Canada's downhill pressure, Bonner's veteran steadiness — has to hold up for another 40 minutes against a desperate Liberty team that cut a 16-point deficit to five four times on Sunday. If Loyd can't go, Las Vegas has to find rebounding and shot-making from a bench that is running out of bodies, in the loudest building in the league.

The honest answer is that nobody knows yet — and on Sunday night, both coaches said exactly that. Smesko is hoping. Hammon is waiting. Wednesday's Game 2s will tell the story. For the full picture of where both series stand, here's our daily roundup.