Monthly Archives: July 2014

The Daily W, 07/17/2014

 

Atlanta Dream 75 @ New York Liberty 77

 

Lineups: Both teams started the same fives they’ve been using for a while, so Cappie Pondexter was healthy enough to play after missing most of the second half in the Liberty’s last game. According to the New York commentators, it was a groin problem that took her out then, possibly caused by overcompensating for the achilles issues she’s been fighting for much of the season. Natasha Lacy was available for New York for the first time after she replaced Chucky Jeffery on a seven-day deal earlier in the week (although she didn’t play). Swin Cash was facing the Dream for the first time since they traded her after barely half a season in Atlanta. DeLisha Milton-Jones – swapped for Cash – is out for the rest of the season after rupturing an achilles tendon.

 

Story of the Game: The first half was close, and the only time either side led by more than four points was when Anna Cruz hit the final shot of the half to give New York a five-point lead at the break. Perhaps energised by all the screaming kids packed into Madison Square Garden for the early tip-off, the Liberty played with a lot of energy and drive, matching Atlanta in the areas where the Dream often dominate teams. New York had just as much pace to their game, were far more successful on the offensive glass, and for once their supporting players stepped up. Tina Charles made a couple of nice plays, but was largely kept quiet by Atlanta’s length and the double-teams they sent down towards her. Pondexter showed a willingness to attack the basket, but couldn’t convert anything when she got there (and limped back to the bench at one stage in the first quarter). But Sugar Rodgers made shots and attacked the basket; Plenette Pierson was effective off the bench; Avery Warley-Talbert crashed the glass; Anna Cruz hit a few jumpers; and the combination of Alex Montgomery and Swin Cash made life difficult for Angel McCoughtry. For once the team effort around the superstars was carrying the Liberty.

Having Erika de Souza in foul trouble for much of the first half created problems for Atlanta, as did some horrible ball-stopping from McCoughtry at times, but they pieced together enough offense to stay right with New York in the opening 20 minutes. They opened the second half without McCoughtry absent for some unknown reason – she didn’t appear from the locker room until three minutes of the third quarter had already elapsed – and then New York proceeded to dominate most of the third period. Their energy and aggression was outworking the Dream. Pondexter drew de Souza’s fourth foul early in the period, sending her back to the bench, and making it easier for Charles to attack the rim rather than settle for her mid-range jumper. Rodgers continued to make plays, Atlanta couldn’t buy a bucket, and New York led by double-digits.

But basketball is a fickle game. Behind a couple of friendly calls from the officials, some missed Liberty jumpers and a little transition speed, Atlanta scored the first 10 points of the fourth quarter to tie up the game – and then we had a real fight on our hands. In a game where she finished with nine assists – so she was moving the ball to the right places at times – McCoughtry forced some horrible jump shots to kill several possessions down the stretch for Atlanta. But with Charles and Pondexter both fairly ineffective, New York couldn’t pull away.

Cruz hit a tough pullup jumper with 90 seconds left, on a play that looked like it was designed for Charles until she gave it up. Then Pondexter did a nice job containing Tiffany Hayes on a drive, but the offensive rebound was kicked back out and Jasmine Thomas nailed a three to tie the game again. Cash and Hayes had poor passes at either end for cheap turnovers before Pondexter went around staggered screens at the top of the arc and bricked a jumper with 12 seconds left. With the game tied, Atlanta didn’t call timeout, instead allowing McCoughtry to attack immediately. Montgomery tracked her down the lane, got a hand on top of the ball, and drew a jump ball rather than giving up a foul. McCoughtry tapped the ensuing toss too hard, and the ball went straight out of bounds, leaving New York five seconds to win it.

And however many shots she may have missed already, Pondexter is always going to want the game-decider in her hands. She inbounded to Pierson, took the handoff straight back, and banked in a jumper from 17 feet. Whether it was actually meant to hit the glass first, or she just got a little lucky, it didn’t really matter. With only 0.4 seconds left, Atlanta tried a lob pass to the basket for Hayes, but it was easily cut out and New York had their win.

 

Key Players: To the delight of Liberty fans everywhere, they had lots of key players for once. This is kind of the secondary option of how it’s supposed to work with the two superstars – some days they won’t hit, but they’ll still draw so much attention from the defense that the rest of the team can take advantage. Pondexter and Charles were a combined 10-36 from the field, but their teammates were 21-40, with Cruz, Rodgers and Pierson leading the way, while Cash and Montgomery played important defensive roles. It was a strong team effort, and could be a big win for the Liberty’s season. Of course, there’ve been so many false dawns for this team this year, so it could just be one good performance that’ll be quickly forgotten. New York play six of their next seven games on the road, where they’re 1-8 so far this year. Even in the East, if they go something like 1-6 over that stretch, their season may well be toast.

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The Daily W, 07/16/2014

 

Connecticut Sun 86 @ Seattle Storm 63

 

Lineups: The Storm’s starters were as they’ve been for a while, whenever everyone’s been healthy. Reserve wing Shekinna Stricklen was out after her nasty fall and resulting neck injury against Minnesota on Sunday. The Sun made a switch, benching center Kelsey Bone after several ineffective recent performances. Kelsey Griffin moved into the starting lineup.

 

Story of the Game: The game was fairly even in the first quarter, with Seattle using pick-and-rolls and slip-screens to find their way into the heart of Connecticut’s defense relatively easily. But that early stretch would prove to be one of the few periods where the Storm scored with any regularity over the course of the game. Once they started to make their first wave of substitutions, everything started to fall apart at both ends of the floor. The offense stopped flowing without Sue Bird at the point, and Nicole Powell remains a patchwork cover option at best at power forward.

Although, Connecticut largely started to creep into the lead thanks to a guard who was hitting shots. Seattle missed an endless stream of jumpers, especially in the second quarter, while Alex Bentley was lighting it up for Connecticut. Given an inch of space coming off ball-screens, she was pulling up to fire, and hitting nothing but net. The two shots she missed in the first half were both forced up in an effort to beat the shot-clock; the other six all went in.

Already up by nine at halftime, Connecticut took even further control of the game in the third quarter, dominating the offensive boards for second chance points, with Bentley and her backup Renee Montgomery continuing to pile up points from the perimeter. The Sun’s defensive rotations were unusually effective inside, leaving Seattle to settle for more jumpers and miss most of them. Maybe the tip-off was too early for the Storm, even in front of their own young crowd. It was a sleepy, tired performance from them for much of the game, and they rarely looked like making a comeback in the second half.

 

Key Players: Bentley’s hot streak in the first half set everything in motion for the Sun – if she doesn’t hit those shots then their confidence doesn’t build early on, and maybe the course of the game turns out to be rather different. But as a team, the Sun were 53% from the field and heavily out-shot the Storm throughout the contest. Much of Bentley’s backup on the scoreboard came from Bone and Chiney Ogwumike, who were also key in Connecticut’s dominance on the glass. Seattle got outworked in virtually every area.

There was little credit for any Storm player to come out of the game. This was the beginning of their run of nine home games in their final 11 outings this season, which was meant to give them the necessary burst to make a playoff push. It was a thoroughly inauspicious start.

 

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Los Angeles Sparks 86 @ Indiana Fever 78

 

Lineups: Los Angeles continue to roll with their triple-post starting lineup, alongside Alana Beard and Kristi Toliver in the backcourt. Indiana point guard Briann January was out with a hyperextended right knee suffered in their game against Atlanta in Saturday, pushing Layshia Clarendon into the starting lineup. Marissa Coleman kept her spot at small forward, in her first game against LA since leaving them as a free agent in the offseason.

 

Story of the Game: The first quarter, and indeed most of the first half, belonged to Indiana. Tamika Catchings didn’t even have to do much, with all the supporting players stepping up and producing. There weren’t many tears shed when Coleman walked away from the Sparks for nothing in the offseason, but apparently she was excited to remind them what she was capable of (albeit disappointingly infrequently). Candace Parker played some pretty insipid defense on her early in the game, but Coleman took full advantage to drill a couple of threes and then start firing in step-back jumpers from all over the floor. Indiana were also the team pushing in transition and creating cheap points for themselves early on – LA’s favourite trick being turned against them.

After being benched for a long stretch of the first quarter after barely involving herself in the game and playing with little energy, Parker was back out to start the second period and gave LA some life. She single-handedly drew the fouls that pushed Indiana into the penalty very quickly in the period, and her all-court offense at least gave the Sparks some kind of foothold in the game. But Indiana were doing a good job of both attacking the glass and getting back in transition – two tasks which can run counter to each other and prove difficult to combine – which allowed them to maintain their lead and be up by 10 at halftime. The lack of second-layer help in LA’s defense, and the rebounds they were giving up to the much smaller Fever, were pretty embarrassing for the Sparks – although if you’re surprised by disappointing sequences of play from LA at this point in 2014, you haven’t been paying attention.

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The Daily W, 07/15/2014

 

Los Angeles Sparks 90 @ Connecticut Sun 64

 

Lineups: As in recent games for both teams. Allison Hightower and Danielle McCray are still working their way back from their respective injuries for Connecticut so were still unavailable.

 

Story of the Game: All the talk around this game surrounded the Ogwumike sisters, facing each other for the first time in the WNBA. Both did indeed seem to have that extra spark of energy, and stretches of the first half felt like an energetic night in the Ogwumike back yard. Both were attacking the basket, both were finishing – often past or over each other – and both led their respective teams in scoring in the first half. LA also had Kristi Toliver looking for her own shot early and hitting a few, and were getting into the heart of Connecticut’s defense far too easily on simple middle-of-the-floor pick-and-rolls. But with some success on the offensive boards – even against the size of LA’s frontcourt – and just as many transition points as the Sparks, the Sun didn’t let the lead get too big in the first half and stayed in contention.

Until we hit the third quarter. Connecticut made a horribly slow start to the second half, with turnovers and missed Kelsey Bone layups scattering their offense. Meanwhile LA continued to pound the ball inside, finally using Candace Parker on the low block a little more, with Nneka Ogwumike and Jantel Lavender also taking advantage and transition speed adding cheap points on top. The resulting 17-4 run that opened the third quarter basically decided the game, and Connecticut were never in the contest from there on.

 

Key Players: Offensively, Parker had one of her quietest games of the season, only taking six shots. But the Sparks didn’t need any more from her. Ogwumike and Lavender were productive inside, the team as a whole hit enough jumpers and played good enough collective defense, and that eventually ran Connecticut out of the building. The Sun have now lost seven of their last eight, and haven’t been playing well for a while, but LA still had to show up and take advantage. For once, they did just that.

Chiney Ogwumike had a strong first half, but that was about it for any positive elements from the Sun. They fell apart in the third quarter, with their defense leaving big gaps through the middle and the offense stagnating against LA’s length. Their three primary guards – Alex Bentley, Katie Douglas and Renee Montgomery – combined to shoot 7-31, which didn’t leave them with much chance of staying in the game.

 

Notes of Interest: No one paid much attention to Sandrine Gruda until she threw an elbow into Briana Gilbreath-Butler’s gut late in the first quarter. Gruda used to be a Connecticut player, then decided she didn’t want to bother showing up to play for the Sun, then forced a trade to LA in the offseason. But with a four-year gap since she’d been seen in a Sun jersey, few people in the crowd seemed to remember – until she gave them something to boo about.

 

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Seattle Storm 60 @ Minnesota Lynx 77

 

Lineups: Seattle had what’s become their regular lineup in place, while Minnesota continued to play without Seimone Augustus or Rebekkah Brunson. It’s hoped that both could return soon after the All-Star break.

 

Story of the Game: The first half was reminiscent of the tight, low-scoring affairs we’ve gotten used to Seattle dragging the Lynx into. On the rare occasions that either team got the ball into the paint, both struggled to finish amongst all the defenders that collapsed on top of them to contest. That left both teams shooting a lot of jumpers, with Minnesota having to rely on a lot of those mid-range shots from their bigs that became so important in their previous clashes with Seattle this season. The Storm hit a few shots early on, and benefitted from a hot streak for Camille Little in the middle of the second period where she was successful inside and out, but spent most of the half bricking their own jumpers.

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WNBAlien/Hoop365 Special: Who Should be Going to WNBA All-Star 2014?

 

The usual analysis of Sunday’s games and previews of Tuesday’s will be up sometime Tuesday afternoon, but until then something a little different. The usual WNBAlien detail, depth and disdain, but over at Hoop365 this time, as I take a look at who should be going to Phoenix for the WNBA All-Star Game this weekend.

Just follow this link to take a look: http://www.hoop365.com/nba/western-conference/2014-wnba-all-star-game-who-should-play/

The Daily W, 07/13/2014

 

Atlanta Dream 93 @ Indiana Fever 74

 

Lineups: Considering they’ve been comfortably the best team in the Eastern Conference so far this season, Michael Cooper has decided it wouldn’t be wise to change his starting lineup after all, so Jasmine Thomas continues at point guard in the same group we’ve seen for most of the year. Off the bench, they had DeLisha Milton-Jones available for the first time after trading Swin Cash for her a few days ago. When healthy, Indiana seem relatively certain about four of their starters, but continue to play around at the small forward spot. This time it was Karima Christmas’s turn to be demoted, with Marissa Coleman coming back into the starting lineup. The Fever also had a little extra depth on their bench, with Lynetta Kizer back from the family funeral that caused her to miss one game.

 

Story of the Game: For the opening ten minutes or so, this was a very even, back-and-forth contest. The speed and energy of Indiana’s defense created offense in the opposite direction, as did the Fever’s ability to draw fouls and generate free throws with their driving attack – something they’d been good at this year even before Tamika Catchings returned. We also saw two examples of inside-out ball movement, started by Catchings, creating the catch-and-shoot three-pointers that Coleman should’ve been living off all season. But Atlanta were just as effective going the other way, running in transition at every opportunity, and dominating the offensive glass to create multiple second-chance opportunities. Often the activity and energy of players like Catchings and Erlana Larkins keeps Indiana even on the glass, but the length and athleticism of Atlanta can give them serious problems in that area. Sancho Lyttle and Erika de Souza are just so big compared to the Fever frontcourt.

It all started to go wrong for Indiana when they had to go beyond the top-six in their rotation (Christmas being relatively interchangeable with Coleman). Their offense lost all its movement and mobility without Briann January, Shavonte Zellous or Catchings on the floor, which also led directly into breakdowns at the other end, with the Dream feeding off Indiana’s misses and turnovers to generate offense for themselves. With unlikely players hitting from outside as well – Jasmine Thomas had barely made a shot for a month, and Celine Dumerc’s jump shot hadn’t made it through customs until last night – Atlanta utterly dominated the second quarter. Lin Dunn threw her starters back out once it quickly became apparent how badly the Fever reserves were being outplayed, but by then Atlanta’s momentum was away and rolling. A 20-1 run to open the second period created a 17-point Dream lead, and they’d pushed the gap to 21 by halftime.

Indiana put up a fight in the second half, but it was never quite enough. Again, they started well with their favoured group on the floor, but couldn’t quite manage to keep it going. They even showed some 3-2 zone to shake things up, something you rarely see from the Fever. To some extent it worked and they even managed to rebound better out of it than they had been from their man-to-man – something you rarely see from anyone.

But with the speed and driving tenacity of Tiffany Hayes continuing to be effective for Atlanta, plus de Souza’s size inside and more threes than the Dream ever expect to hit, Atlanta always had an answer. The gap never dropped below 10, and things got worse for Indiana when January limped out of the game with right knee pain after a collision late in the third quarter that was hard to pick out on video. She never returned, which also didn’t help the comeback effort.

 

Key Players: For once, Angel McCoughtry played a lot of minutes but was largely unproductive – and the Dream played some great stuff anyway. Hayes led the scoring with her kamikaze drives a constant source of danger (to both the scoreboard and her own limbs) with the offensive rebounding a familiar source of scoring for Atlanta as well – and the perimeter shooting an unfamiliar one. They shot 10-18 from beyond the arc, on shots that Indiana would likely have wanted them to take in the gameplan before tip-off. But Thomas, Dumerc, Hayes and Shoni Schimmel all shot well from outside, and presented yet another threat for a team that becomes virtually unguardable if they can shoot well from outside on top of everything else.

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The Daily W, 07/12/2014

 

Los Angeles Sparks 68 @ New York Liberty 54

 

Lineups: Same again for both teams, with Kristi Toliver and Alana Beard continuing to start in the backcourt for Los Angeles. New York had Swin Cash available for the first time after they acquired her in a trade for DeLisha Milton-Jones on Wednesday night.

 

Story of the Game: While we’ll go into a little more detail, the story of this one for New York wasn’t particularly complicated. The newly rejuvenated Tina Charles showed up for them again – but no one else did. And however good your one player may be, it’s very hard to win a basketball game with only one offensive weapon.

But for three periods, the Liberty gave it a decent shot. In the first quarter, it looked like Charles might get some help. Alex Montgomery hit a couple of shots when the ball was reversed back out to her away from the attention Charles drew, Plenette Pierson and Cash were hitting from mid-range just like Charles herself when LA left them in space, and the team defense was good enough to at least keep them within striking distance.

The Sparks got most of their offensive production from their starting frontcourt, with the offense initially waking up when Candace Parker started to take over in the second quarter. Some fairly pathetic turnovers from the Liberty helped as well, but it was Parker’s ability to grab rebounds or loose balls and immediately turn up-court and create quick offense that spurred LA on and pushed them into a nine-point halftime lead. Then it was Jantel Lavender going shot-for-shot with Charles in the third quarter that carried LA’s offense for a long stretch, either finishing efficiently in the lane or hitting from mid-range with her standard consistency. And she was doing all that with Charles as her primary defender, while Tina was answering at the other end over a variety of opponents, mostly with the spinning jump hook that she often resorts to in order to score before extra defenders arrive.

Behind that offense from Charles, New York managed to pull within two points late in the third quarter, but it had become glaringly obvious that Charles was the only reliable option that New York had left. Cappie Pondexter had been ineffective all night, failing to score a single point on five attempts from the field, and never came back in after subbing out three minutes into the third quarter. The MSG network were utterly useless in providing any information as to exactly why New York’s star guard and leader wasn’t playing, but the achilles problem she’s been fighting through for quite some time seemed the likely culprit. With the Sparks able to collapse even more defenders and attention on Charles than they’d been doing for the rest of the game, New York’s offense collapsed entirely in the fourth quarter. They couldn’t get her the ball, and when they did and multiple defenders forced the ball back out, no one could make a shot for the Liberty – or even seemed to want to take one. The Sparks’ offense also devolved in the fourth quarter, with a lot of one-on-one play and minimal ball movement, but with the Liberty only scoring four points in the entire period, it was still more than enough for LA to coast home.

 

Key Players: Parker, Lavender and Nneka Ogwumike were once again the most effective parts of LA’s offense, although the guards did manage to hit a few shots here and there to provide some balance. Credit the team defense for playing its part in keeping New York’s non-Charles pieces quiet, and forcing some of the demoralising turnovers that eventually finished off the Liberty. But New York gave up many of those in ways that didn’t have a great deal to do with LA.

Charles finished 10-17 for 20 points and eight boards, carrying New York’s offense for long stretches on her own. You can’t really blame her for continuing to call her own number when she was virtually the only one producing, but failing to attempt a single free throw illustrates the way jumpers and fading hooks produced much of her offense, which doesn’t tend to draw fouls. And maybe another pass or two away from the LA defenders would’ve kept her teammates more involved and more likely to keep helping her out as the game wore on. But that’s probably a vain hope. No one else in a Liberty jersey looked like they were going to score in the second half.

 

Notes of Interest: Cash looked frisky in her opening moments in a Liberty uniform, which surprisingly came as early as the first quarter. Clearly her familiarity with the sets and plays Laimbeer likes to run from their Detroit days made him more willing to throw her into the fray than he had been with new signings like Shanece McKinney and Charde Houston earlier in the season.

In news of another player we haven’t seen much of this season, Candice Wiggins looks mobile and lively after returning from her knee injury, but her shot looks painfully flat and isn’t even coming close to going in. Hopefully it’ll improve once she gets her legs under her again, because LA really don’t need another perimeter player who can’t shoot, even if she’s a reasonably active defender.

 

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Seattle Storm 88 @ San Antonio Stars 67

 

Lineups: Both teams started the groups we’ve seen in their recent games. The news on San Antonio sixth woman Jia Perkins is that her hamstring injury will keep her out at least until the All-Star break, at which point she’ll be reassessed. It looked pretty bad when she pulled up lame against Atlanta, so it’s not really a surprise that it’s proven to be a relatively serious injury. San Antonio have done a good job of surviving without her – winning four of five since she went down – but this was one game where it finally felt like they missed her contributions.

 

Story of the Game: The first quarter stayed fairly even, with a brief early lead for San Antonio developing when the game strayed into becoming a jump-shooting contest, but Seattle doing enough to quickly pull it back. Then the Storm started to pull away in the second quarter, with Shekinna Stricklen providing the impetus. Stricklen’s a frustrating player, because she’s got all the attributes – size, range, mobility, good speed, a reasonable handle – and occasionally she has breakout games like this. She’ll hit a bunch of threes, leak out on the break for transition finishes, make some hustle plays for rebounds or steals, and get everyone excited for the one hint of youthful potential on Seattle’s roster. And then she’ll disappear into obscurity for three weeks’ worth of games and we’ll all forget she exists again. Performances like she produced in this game on a regular basis would make her an all-star, or at the very least a building block for Seattle’s future. Doing it once every two or three weeks just makes you tantalising and often distinctly disappointing.

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The Daily W, 07/11/2014

 

Connecticut Sun 68 @ Indiana Fever 72

 

Lineups: Connecticut continued with what’s become they’re regular starting five (which features two rookies, two second-year players, and Katie Douglas trying to help the kids hold it all together). Indiana made their first switch since Tamika Catchings’s return, swapping Karima Christmas in for Marissa Coleman at small forward. Coleman made two poor errors in crunch time of their last game, nearly costing them the win against Tulsa, which may have been part of the motivation behind that change. The Fever’s bench was also a little shorter than usual, with Lynetta Kizer attending a family funeral and therefore unavailable.

 

Story of the Game: This was an odd game for the first three quarters. The strangeness came from the way that Indiana were largely creating better shots than Connecticut. They were finding their way into the opposing defense more consistently, and putting up their shots from significantly closer to the rim – but they couldn’t finish. They missed a ridiculous number of layups, shooting a hideous 5-17 around the rim in the first half, so creating straightforward chances proved largely pointless.

Meanwhile, much of Connecticut’s offense came on jump shots. In fairness, they moved the ball well enough to create some decent looks, but essentially they were shooting better from 15-20 feet than Indiana were shooting from 1-3. It wasn’t particularly pretty, but it gave the Sun a nine-point lead at halftime, and after leading by as many as 14 they were still up by eight at the end of the third.

But it never felt like Indiana were out of it. All they needed to do was start converting some of their chances, and the comeback was right there waiting for them. Connecticut’s offense hadn’t been good enough to truly punish them for all the misses and put the game away. Finally, in the fourth quarter, the Fever clicked into gear. It started, funnily enough, with some outside shots. Rather than continuing to miss inside under the challenges of the Sun defenders – and credit Connecticut for managing to put pressure on for most of the game without being called for fouls – Indiana kicked the ball out and hit a couple of threes. But then it was back to getting inside, and either finishing better or grabbing offensive rebounds and completing the play at the second time of asking.

The presence of Catchings was inevitably an important element in the fourth quarter charge. She’d played her part in all the missing earlier on, but she was up top with the ball in her hands for much of the fourth quarter, leading the way. The off-kilter horns set that Indiana run, where Catchings handles the ball and the nominal point guard is in the ‘post’ spot at one of the horns, is a little confusing for opposing defenses. They’re not used to defending a set like that, and switching or rotating schemes are mixed up by having the offensive players the wrong way round. Indiana used a lot of it in the fourth quarter, and Catchings went different directions on different possessions to confuse the Sun even more and produce layups.

Connecticut actually had their best offensive stretch of the game in the fourth quarter, with Douglas hitting from outside and Renee Montgomery going right by the defense for layups. But several turnovers helped Indiana’s push, with a Larkins steal on an entry pass and a Catchings poke-away in transition particularly vital. The Fever gave up a couple of late buckets to make them nervous again, but Larkins hit a pair at the line to ice the game and send all the camp day kids home happy.

 

Key Players: Catchings was the key piece once again for the Fever, finishing 8-15 for 21 points and seven boards. She’s mostly creating for herself at this point – the chemistry isn’t quite there with this set of teammates yet – but having her back is obviously crucially important for Indiana. She gives them a whole new look offensively, as well as her typical energy and aggression on the defensive end. Larkins and Briann January helped out with the scoring, while Coleman hit a couple of shots off the bench and Layshia Clarendon had her second straight productive game. Her shot’s still inconsistent, her defense isn’t great, and she’s still not really a point guard (which matters less with Catchings around to do some of the ballhandling), but on some nights Clarendon’s speedy offense clicks and she’s useful.

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The Daily W, 07/10/2014

 

Washington Mystics 72 @ Chicago Sky 65

 

Lineups: The Mystics started the same five that they’ve used in recent games. They continue to work with ten players, with Tayler Hill still recuperating from giving birth, and Jelena Milovanovic out due to a right knee strain. Chicago are still piecing things together without Elena Delle Donne and Courtney Vandersloot. For the second game in a row, Sasha Goodlett pointlessly started at center with Sylvia Fowles coming off the bench.

 

Story of the Game: Sometimes you hope that the kids that come to these camp day games are too busy screaming their heads off to watch the basketball and consider it an accurate representation of WNBA entertainment. This was one of those times. Ugly, ugly game.

There wasn’t much to choose between the sides in the first half. As usual, Washington struggled to hit any perimeter shots, but between Kia Vaughn and Emma Meesseman they managed to produce points through their posts. Early on it was inside, with Vaughn abusing Goodlett, later both started to hit the mid-range shots that Chicago were largely willing to concede.

But the Sky hung around, thanks to their own premiere mid-range shooting post Jessica Breland – who only seems to be getting more accurate from 15-18 feet – and the Mystics’ turnovers helping out their transition game. Virtually all of Jamierra Faulkner’s points came off breakaway layups created by Washington giveaways. Otherwise, with Epiphanny Prince cold, most of Chicago’s production came at the free throw line when Washington were dumb enough to foul them.

Offensively, the second half somehow managed to be significantly worse. The Mystics shot 6-19 in the third quarter yet extended their lead by eight points. Neither team could find any space, or hit a shot, or generally do anything much worth talking about when they had the basketball. Washington are a well-drilled and organised defensive team, so they were conscious of the threats. They were barely guarding people like Tamera Young, they were going under every possible screen for Faulkner, and they were sending lots of help to cover Prince and Fowles whenever they posed any kind of danger. Without Delle Donne and Vandersloot, Chicago don’t have a lot of people who scare you offensively, and it makes it harder for the ones that are left. On the bright side for Chicago, their own defense is starting to improve with Fowles rediscovering some of her old spring in the middle. She had some blocks and some mobile weak-side help that shored up a few of the holes the Sky have been leaving open in recent weeks. Of course, the fact that Washington have barely hit a shot since the season started made defense easier for the Sky as well.

Washington crept out to lead by as many as 13 points, but without any consistent offense to keep it going, Chicago made a ‘run’. The quote marks are because it was pretty extended, slow progress, and ‘run’ typically suggests some kind of pace or speed. But the Sky did start looking to feed Fowles more consistently in the post in the fourth quarter – exactly why they hadn’t been doing that all afternoon, I have no idea – and it paid dividends. She either finished or got fouled, and the Sky scored seven straight to pull within five points with just under three minutes remaining. Then no one scored, at all, for several minutes, until a pair of Ivory Latta free throws iced the game in the waning seconds. It was an appropriate way for the game to end – a long period of futility at both ends of the floor.

 

Key Players: In a game of little production, Meesseman and Vaughn gave Washington a base to work from in the first half. Rookie guard Bria Hartley hit three threes in the second half, which were important in producing just enough offense to hold Chicago at bay. The Mystics still shot 6-20 from beyond the arc as a team, and would’ve lost against a better opponent.

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The Daily W, 07/09/2014

 

Connecticut Sun 71 @ Atlanta Dream 83

 

Lineups: No changes to the starters for either team from recent games. Connecticut had Briana Gilbreath-Butler available for the first time after signing her to a seven-day contract, made possible by the exception granted when Allison Hightower had arthroscopic surgery to clean out her knee. That’s expected to keep Hightower out for two-to-three weeks.

 

Story of the Game: The game was played at Georgia Tech’s McCamish Pavillion, due to a Microsoft convention forcing the Dream out of Philips Arena for much of July. The venue didn’t make much difference to the predictable direction of the game. As mentioned in yesterday’s preview, the contest was always likely to come down to which team could keep the other out of the paint, and Atlanta were significantly stronger in that area. Much of the first quarter went jumper-for-jumper, but the Dream started to pull ahead when they started finding a little pace in transition, and attacking the rim. Connecticut were still stuck firing away from outside.

The eight-point Atlanta lead at halftime was almost a positive for Connecticut – it felt like they’d been dominated to a significantly greater extent than that gap suggested. Atlanta’s ball movement and penetration, plus the vision and passing of players like Celine Dumerc and Shoni Schimmel, was creating good looks inside and piling up points in the paint for Atlanta. Connecticut were committing sloppy turnovers, failing to convert anything amongst Atlanta’s long arms on the rare occasions they did get inside, and staying remotely close only through hitting a few threes.

After a nasty landing late in the first half, Angel McCoughtry had gone off with a bruised elbow, but started the second half and immediately knocked down a jumper just to prove she was fine (an ‘elbow’ jumper, for those who enjoy irony). In the following minutes she added a transition layup, an offensive rebound into a putback, and a couple of nice passes for teammates to finish. At times, Atlanta are a prettier team to watch when Angel’s on the sidelines, because there’s a little more fluidity and teamwork to their play. But they’re almost always a more effective team when she’s on the floor, especially when she plays her part in the overall scheme rather than trying too hard to take over on her own.

Offensively, Connecticut were a little better in the second half. Alex Bentley hit a few shots, Chiney Ogwumike gave Atlanta more of a fight on the glass, and occasionally they even managed to finish in the paint. But they never could keep the Dream away from the rim, and Atlanta’s dominance became increasingly evident on the scoreboard. They coasted through the entire fourth quarter with a comfortable lead.

 

Key Players: McCoughtry helped kill the game in the fourth quarter, but overall it was a nice team effort from Atlanta. Sancho Lyttle and Erika de Souza did the work they needed inside, McCoughtry and Tiffany Hayes penetrated consistently from the wings, and the team finished with 24 assists on 33 buckets. Michael Cooper would probably like to see them get their turnovers more under control – they had 20 in this game, and continue to ‘lead’ the league in giveaways – but this was an illustration of the current state of the Eastern Conference. In theory this was the top two teams facing each other; in practice the top team is running well ahead of the remaining five.

For Connecticut, the backcourt of Douglas and Bentley hit some shots, and Ogwumike worked her butt off to give them something in the second half, but that was all the Sun had. They couldn’t slow Atlanta down, couldn’t keep them out of the paint, and the markedly more cohesive team ran away with the win.

 

Notes of Interest: Swin Cash gave Atlanta some solid minutes as the backup power forward in the first half, one of the few times that’s happened this season. Having someone else who can play a post spot that Cooper can rely on could be very important later in the season, especially if they pick up any injuries. It’s no coincidence that the teams atop the two conferences in the WNBA right now have been two of the healthier squads so far this season.

 

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Indiana Fever 78 @ Tulsa Shock 76

 

Lineups: Both teams started the same fives as in their previous games, which for Indiana meant the second appearance of Tamika Catchings for the season. The Fever are still figuring out their rotations with her back in the mix, but trying to fit your leader and superstar back into your team is a nice problem to have.

 

Story of the Game: As with the game above, the course of this game for most of the night was defined by one team repeatedly breaking down the opposing defense and getting into the paint, while the other was largely kept away from the rim. It was Indiana who consistently found their way into the soft center of Tulsa’s defense, and converted high-percentage looks to gain the advantage. They were looking for Shavonte Zellous inside, often on those dive plays from the corner I’ve talked about before, utilising her height advantage over Skylar Diggins or Odyssey Sims. The other primary weapon for Indiana in the first half was Catchings, already back in her familiar role playing pseudo-point guard at the top of the arc. Tulsa couldn’t stop her from driving into the paint, or occasionally dropping down to post up smaller defenders if Tulsa’s defense got switched up and she was faced with a guard. She also gives Indiana another passer and creator in transition, another area where they hurt Tulsa for much of the game.

Tulsa were hanging around in contention by hitting some of those shots they tossed up from outside, and putting in their usual work on the offensive glass. With Glory Johnson and Courtney Paris, the Shock don’t need much help on the boards, but Indiana’s defensive scheme opened up some extra space for them at times. The Fever were dropping double-teams down on Paris whenever she touched the ball inside, then trying to rotate and recover around the rest of the floor if the ball moved back out. They’re good at it – their switching and rotating is, for example, far smoother than the theoretically-similar-in-principle schemes that LA use – but all the movement often shifts players out of rebounding position. So second-chance points allowed Tulsa to stay within seven at halftime.

Indiana appeared to have taken complete control in the third quarter. Tulsa had some early success using slip-screens and pick-and-rolls to get the ball inside to their posts, but that soon dried up as the Fever started an endless procession to the free throw line. They hit a couple of jump shots, opened up by the amount of help Tulsa was now sending to try to close off the paint, but most of Indiana’s points came at the line when they drove into contact and drew whistles. They were 13-15 at the free throw line in the third quarter alone, and their lead ballooned as high as 15.

But given the way these teams have played this season – Indiana have blown a lot of leads, Tulsa tend to fight their way into close games – we shouldn’t have been surprised when the score tightened up again in the fourth quarter. Indiana stopped converting on their drives, or getting the calls from the officials, and the Shock crept back. It started with a pair of Jordan Hooper threes, and continued largely at the foul line. Maybe the referees had seen how imbalanced the foul count was in the third quarter and were evening it up a little, but there were also some dumb reaches from the Fever in the closing stages, and a couple of even dumber technicals from Zellous and Briann January. The game was tied up for the first time since the second quarter when Erlana Larkins overcommitted on a hedge on the perimeter, Diggins went by her, and fed Paris for a layup with 17 seconds left in the game.

But maybe the return of Catchings really is going to help the Fever avoid some of these late game collapses. They put the ball in her hands up top, running their unusual off-balance horns set. Typically your two posts are at the elbows, but because Catchings – the nominal power forward – is handling the ball they use January as a de facto ‘post’. Catchings entered the ball to Larkins, then made to use January as a screener in the opposite direction – a very standard move from that set. But Catchings quickly reversed course, hopped inside Johnson down the lane instead of curling towards the wing, took the feed from Larkins and finished the layup. It was either a lovely play-design, or a very smart off-the-cuff cut from Catchings. Either way, it gave Indiana the lead with under six seconds left.

As usual, Tulsa gave Diggins the ball up top on their final possession, and she penetrated. But Catchings slid across to help and cut her off, Larkins slid across behind her to cover Johnson when Diggins dumped the ball off, and Johnson could only fling up a tough hook that never came close. Another play that Indiana might well not have made if Catchings wasn’t back in the mix.

 

Key Players: It might have been her second game since returning, but this was Catchings’s real comeback show. She finished 8-14 for 23 points, 11 boards, four assists and two blocks. She got some help from Zellous in the scoring column, and a little bonus production from Layshia Clarendon off the bench. Plus Larkins put in her usual work in the paint on the defensive end, while released from having to be as much of a scoring threat as they’ve needed from her for most of the season. But it was Catch’s show, and she made the plays at the end to make sure it wasn’t in vain.

Credit Tulsa for somehow finding a way to be in the game at the end, despite being outplayed for most of the night. Diggins was the primary scorer, as usual, but they struggled to break down Indiana’s defense and find space inside, which made scoring difficult. At least they did a better job of sagging inside and leaving most of the open looks for Indiana late in the game out on the perimeter, which the Fever helpfully missed. Even if they’re pretty open, giving up good looks around the arc is better than conceding layups and free throws. Hooper had a nice game again with her three-point shooting a significant threat. She’s looking like a bit of a steal as a second-round pick.

 

Notes of Interest: Remember when we thought Tulsa might’ve fixed their problems in close games? Recent results – losing five of their last six by three, three, six, two and two points respectively – would suggest that they might’ve just fluked a couple of wins. They still can’t close games out, and their interior defense is still decidedly suspect. Same old problems.

 

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Los Angeles Sparks 72 @ Minnesota Lynx 83

 

Lineups: Seimone Augustus was still out for the Lynx due to left knee bursitis, so Monica Wright continued to fill in. Los Angeles stuck with Kristi Toliver and Alana Beard as their backcourt, leaving Armintie Herrington and Lindsey Harding to come off the bench. They also had Candice Wiggins available for the first time since their opening game of the season, returning from her own knee surgery.

 

Story of the Game: LA took too many shots that Minnesota would want them to take in the first quarter – jumpers from outside by anyone other than Toliver – but between hitting some of them and an endless supply of offensive rebounds, LA stuck with the Lynx. The Sparks even led for a while in the opening period. But the Lynx offense was too much for LA to cope with once Minnesota got rolling in the second quarter, and it became something of a layup line for the Lynx. Their unselfishness and movement off the ball was finding space amongst LA’s defense and piling up points. Tricia Liston had her best half in a Lynx jersey off the bench, making plays with passes, cuts and screens as well as hitting her typical threes. Janel McCarville and Lindsay Whalen linked up – in both directions – for several nice plays. And there was always Maya Moore as an outlet option to convert at the rim and provide points. Her jump shot was off for most of the night, but when she got to the basket she was as reliable as ever. Minnesota used her size to attack LA inside whenever one of their smaller defenders was on her, rather than someone like Candace Parker.

But between Jantel Lavender hitting her mid-range jumper, the offensive rebounds, and Parker hitting several threes, the Sparks were only down by six at halftime. And then a very shaky third quarter for Minnesota handed the initiative to LA. The Sparks came out in a zone defense to start the second half, which didn’t actually work at all and was forced back into a man-to-man after a few possessions where the Lynx got wide open looks. But it at least accomplished the intended effect of throwing Minnesota off their rhythm a little. They lost their momentum, LA started picking up points through Nneka Ogwumike running the floor hard and some of the transition game that the Lynx had kept in check for most of the night, and the Sparks moved into the lead. LA produced much better ball pressure in that third quarter, which made it much harder for Minnesota to initiate their offense. LA weren’t exactly dominating when they had the ball, but when you hold your opponent to eight points in a quarter, good things will happen.

But it didn’t take long for Minnesota to reassert themselves in the fourth quarter. Cheryl Reeve woke her team up, demanded better effort on the glass, and pulled her offense even further away from the basket – which opened up space behind to get to the rim. The Lynx always run a lot of their offense through their bigs in the high post. McCarville is most well-known for her passing, but the others often do similar jobs. They came higher and higher in the fourth quarter, while the perimeter players slashed past and around them, taking passes from the bigs and slicing to the rim for great chances to score. LA, whose help defense isn’t great at the best of times, didn’t know how to cope. They couldn’t clog the paint because they were chasing the ball and the opposing players out beyond the three-point line. So they just kept leaving huge spaces for the Lynx to exploit behind their defense.

Meanwhile at the other end, LA were tossing up a lot of jumpers and no longer hitting any of them. Play long enough against the Sparks, and that’ll usually happen eventually. Minnesota are well-drilled to know who the primary threats are, so Parker and Toliver were under pressure most of the night, and Parker didn’t touch the ball anywhere near enough in the fourth quarter. A 16-3 Lynx run covered most of the fourth, and the Sparks faded away with more of a whimper than a fight.

 

Key Players: Moore was Minnesota’s leading scorer, although she needed 23 shots to pick up her 30 points. Until a couple of important shots late in the game, she didn’t hit much from outside and sometimes seemed to be forcing the ball up in search of her jump shot. But with Whalen, McCarville, Wright and others helping out, the Lynx scored 52 points in the paint and had 27 assists on 33 baskets. Apart from the third quarter where they lost their way, it was a consummate team performance that took apart one of their regular rivals.

Outside of the 20 offensive rebounds leading to 21 second-chance points, LA didn’t have much of a night. Parker’s scoring was propped up by the three triples she managed to hit in the first half, but otherwise she was ineffective whether at small or power forward. But even in a game where they shot only 34% from the field, it’s the defense that continues to let them down. The Lynx broke them down all too frequently, and looked far better prepared for what they knew was coming from the Sparks than LA did to stop them. In the end, with Minnesota working hard enough to keep LA out of transition, the Sparks couldn’t create enough points to keep up with all the holes in their own defense.

 

Notes of Interest: Minnesota’s single possession of zone defense to start games (or halves, or occasionally out of timeouts) is backfiring a little this season. Much as its pointlessness entertains me, they’ve given up some wide open looks with that zone this year (Parker drilled a three to open this game, and LA got easy chances on the couple of other possessions where the Lynx tried the zone). Reeve may want to junk the idea entirely.

Reeve did provide some extra entertainment of her own between the third and fourth quarters, with a Popovichian interview with Rebecca Lobo where Reeve walked away before the second question could even be asked. She was that disgusted with how her team had been rebounding. On maybe her neck was tired from craning it to look Rebecca in the eye.

 

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League News

 

The All-Star starters were announced during ESPN2’s double-header last night, with few surprises but one or two ridiculous choices. Shoni Schimmel and Cappie Pondexter are the guards in the East, with Elena Delle Donne, Angel McCoughtry and Tamika Catchings in the frontcourt. Diana Taurasi and Skylar Diggins are the West guards, with Maya Moore, Candace Parker and Brittney Griner filling out their frontcourt spots. Schimmel’s obviously a bit of a reach in terms of deserving her place, and makes it largely because she’s such a fan favourite rather than because her play has been worthy of inclusion – although the East guards don’t offer a lot of obvious selections. Catchings being voted in is a little comical, considering she hadn’t played a single game until Saturday. But the fans got who they wanted, and now the coaches get to pick the reserves. My article covering who I feel should make the teams will be coming up later this week.

 

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Today’s Games

 

Washington @ Chicago, 12.30pm ET

Seattle @ Phoenix, 3.30pm ET

New York @ San Antonio, 8pm ET

 

The Daily W, 07/07/2014

 

Minnesota Lynx 80 @ New York Liberty 87

 

Lineups: Seimone Augustus was out again for the Lynx due to bursitis in her left knee, so Monica Wright continued to start at shooting guard. New York weren’t going to be changing anything after Cappie Pondexter and Tina Charles showed up as a tandem for one of the first times all season and led the Liberty to a convincing win over Tulsa on Tuesday night.

 

Story of the Game: Offense dominated the first half, with neither team capable of slowing the other down consistently. The Lynx were on top to start with, as their speed and unselfishness created quality scoring opportunities for a variety of different players. They pulled ahead by as many as 12 when supporting players like Tan White and Tricia Liston started hitting threes to add on to the expected contributions from Maya Moore and Lindsay Whalen.

But even while they’d built that lead via their offensive success, the Lynx never looked convincing on the defensive end. Their transition defense was poor, allowing too many cheap points for New York on straightforward breaks, and the Pondexter/Charles duo was working as intended for New York once again. The aggressive, active, interior-attacking Charles had shown up again, and the Lynx had no answer for her whatsoever in the paint. Pondexter got her offense going with drives as well, and as is typically the case both of them were more successful with jumpers once they’d built their rhythm inside. Minnesota’s lead was gone by halftime, and the game was tied at 48. Just the kind of offensive showcase that ESPN wants from their WNBA games.

Unsurprisingly, the scoring tailed off somewhat in the second half. It’s hard to keep up that kind of production for 40 minutes, and undoubtedly both coaches were screaming about the defense during the interval. New York still seemed more up for the battle. It was as if the nationally televised contest against the reigning champs had inspired that extra edge for the Liberty, while it was just another game for the Lynx after all their big nights in recent years. But the worrying element for New York was that it seemed like they were playing harder and better, but the Lynx weren’t going away. Even with Moore failing to convert a single bucket in the second or third quarters under the attentions of Alex Montgomery and plenty of help defenders, the Lynx kept hanging around, and hanging around, and then Moore hit a three with five minutes left in the game to tie it all up again.

But that final five minutes saw New York make all the big plays, and finish with an 11-4 run that closed out the win. Anna Cruz made a couple of big shots on mid-range jumpers and tough finishes inside, Pondexter had stayed aggressive and continued going to the rim when her jumper wasn’t falling in the second half, and Minnesota missed a lot of jump shots. The Lynx tossed up some poor shots in the closing stages, between a combination of forced junk from White and Moore trying a little too hard to put the team on her back. With the respective effort levels over the course of the game, the victory was really no less than the Liberty deserved.

 

Key Players: Charles set a new WNBA career high with 32 points, and continued to work hard even though the Lynx dropped more defenders down on her in the second half and forced her to become more of a passer. This freshly aggressive Charles is fantastic to see, and the player the Liberty hoped they were acquiring when they traded several pieces for her in the offseason. But after two performances like this, the double-teams are going to be coming even faster and harder from upcoming opponents, along with efforts to prevent the ball getting to her in the first place. The Liberty need to remember that feeding her down low doesn’t have to be an end in and of itself. Even if the ball comes back out, all the attention she draws creates great looks for everyone else. It’s when she’s a passive non-factor barely even touching the ball that she fades out of games.

Pondexter didn’t shoot particularly well with players like Wright and White hounding her all afternoon, but she was still a positive balance for Charles, and between Cruz and the other supporting players the Liberty had enough. With their star duo as the ignition switch, this team’s finally looked like they have some life in them in their last two games. Running the floor, getting in the paint, attacking the glass – the lightbulb might just have come on. Of course, it’s only two games, and they were both at home. They’re 1-7 outside of Madison Square Garden this season, and seven of their next ten games are on the road. Now they have to prove they can keep this up wherever they’re playing.

The loss of Augustus (and continued absence of Rebekkah Brunson) makes things tough for Minnesota, but Cheryl Reeve won’t be happy at all with the way her team is playing defensively. That’s something that’s as much about collective movement, communication and effort as it is about the individuals available to play, and they’ve broken down too many times this year. The loss of key players tends to highlight it because the offense isn’t good enough to cover it up without a scorer like Augustus.

There also has to be a little touch of apathy setting in for a team like the Lynx that have had so much success. It’s hard to keep raising yourselves for the regular season grind. They’ll win plenty of games over the remainder of the season purely because of their talent and inbuilt chemistry, but if they could skip to the playoffs right now – as long as everyone was magically healed as part of the bargain – they’d probably settle for the second seed and happily get the real games underway.

 

Notes of Interest: Chucky Jeffery was back in uniform for New York and played a few seconds. No one ever announced a release or seven-day re-signing, but that’s what happened. Don’t you just love the WNBA information stream?

 

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Phoenix Mercury 94 @ Los Angeles Sparks 89

 

Lineups: The two teams that both went big with starting lineup changes in midseason continued that way. Phoenix were hardly going to change anything after winning six straight since promoting Penny Taylor into the starting group, but Los Angeles made a switch on the perimeter with Kristi Toliver replacing Armintie Herrington. That swap’s about as clear of a declaration of “we need offense” as you’re ever likely to see.

 

Story of the Game: A messy opening saw Phoenix score the first nine points of the game and lead by as many as 13 in the first quarter, but in the end the first half was just like the previous game – lots of scoring at both ends and neither team coming out with much of an advantage.

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