Category Archives: WNBA Today

WNBAlien Playoff Previews – Eastern Conference Finals: Indiana vs. Atlanta

#1 Indiana Fever vs. #3 Atlanta Dream

 

Regular season series: Atlanta 4-0

@ Atl. 07/19: Dream 84-74

@ Ind. 08/27: Dream 86-80

@ Atl. 08/30: Dream 92-90

@ Ind. 09/11: Dream 93-88

 

Possibly the most extraordinary thing about this series is that I saw it coming. Really, go check – I had Indiana over New York and Atlanta over Connecticut in the East semi-finals in my preseason predictions back at the start of June, then took Indiana 2-1 over New York and Atlanta 2-0 over Connecticut in my previews last week. I’m as stunned as anyone, believe me (and the least said about my West predictions the better). But the reason I – and plenty of other people – expected these teams to be the last two standing in the East is pretty simple: they’re the best teams in the conference. Indiana had a slight late-season swoon, and Atlanta took a while to get going this year, but in the end it shook itself out and left us here. Now we get to see who can take the next step and head back to the WNBA Finals – 2010’s Eastern representative, or 2009’s.

It’s an intriguing matchup, not least because the Dream beat the Fever all four times they ran into each other this season. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 09/21/2011: A brawl and a blowout cut the West down to two

There are many different ways to play the game of basketball. Many different ways to win a game of basketball. Some of them are more pleasing on the eye than others, but when you look back at the record books in future years, all it tells you is who won or lost. Both of the WNBA’s Western Conference semi-finals went to deciding games, and the spectacles they produced were very different. But when it came down to it, two teams were delighted, two were disconsolate, and the rest was just details.

However, those were some pretty exciting details. Phoenix went up to Seattle on Monday night buoyed by their reasonably comfortable victory in Game 2. They might’ve had a horrible record against the Storm over the last couple of years, and they hadn’t won in Seattle since 2009, but they had the momentum after largely dominating the game in Arizona. The Key Arena crowd would inevitably help, and the Storm had been a vastly superior team on their own floor this season, but Game 2 had left them looking vulnerable. They’d need to perform far better than they had on Saturday to close out the series.

Both starting fives remained the same, DeWanna Bonner keeping her spot in the lineup for Phoenix despite Nakia Sanford now being fit enough to take part. It made sense, considering how effective they’d been in the previous game. Before we even get into the game action, let’s get the most obvious element of the discussion out the way first – this was a physical game. From the opening tip, it was just a war. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 09/20/2011: Fever fight through

Monday night in the WNBA was an illustration of the reasons we all spend so many hours watching these damn games. Passion and drama, spirit and excitement, players laying it all on the line in the effort to keep their seasons alive and try to win a championship. If you’re reading this and you haven’t seen last night’s games, much as I hate to send readers away, I can only suggest you take a few hours to catch up first. Don’t worry, this story will still be here when you get back.

The evening started in Indiana, with the deciding Game 3 of their series with New York. Back on their home floor with their own fans behind them, the Fever had to be considered favourites to join Atlanta in the Eastern Conference Finals, but after a comfortable win for New York in Game 2 it was far from a certainty. The series seemed wide open going in, and with 40 minutes of basketball left to play it could still have easily swung either way.

Same starting fives again, with neither coach springing any surprises. It’s a bit late to change anything now. These playoffs haven’t really been about messing around with the supporting pieces anyway – it’s been a matter of wondering when the superstars are going to show up. McCoughtry and Charles both failed to fire in the other Eastern semi-final, and now we were wondering if Tamika Catchings and Cappie Pondexter would produce in the deciding game of this one. Pondexter was 11-30 in the opening two games combined, bringing her poor late-season offensive production into the playoffs. Catchings was 7-20, including a 1-8 horror show in Game 2 that also included six turnovers. Both had been outplayed by their direct matchups in Katie Douglas and Nicole Powell in at least one of the prior games.

The early signs were better for Catchings than Pondexter. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 09/19/2011: Nightmare series ends for Sun; Lynx pushed to decider

Two more WNBA playoff games, two more teams playing to keep their seasons alive on Sunday in the WNBA. Once again it was time to step up or go home, because in these best-of-three series if you can’t bounce back quickly from a loss, you’re done for.

The proposition was a little different for Connecticut than our three other Game 1 losers. The only team to drop the opening game at home – and that after losing two home games in the entire regular season – the Sun now had to go out and steal a game back in Atlanta. Just like they proved last year, the Dream don’t necessarily need home court advantage to turn teams over, and a low seed couldn’t stop them sweeping through the East and heading to the WNBA Finals in 2010. Now if they could defend their own home court, they’d have an extra couple of days to rest before taking on New York or Indiana.

The same starting fives unsurprisingly remained in place. Atlanta may have made their key fourth quarter run in Game 1 with Angel McCoughtry on the sidelines, but they weren’t about to bench their leading scorer and driving force on the basis of that. The first quarter wasn’t pretty, especially for Connecticut. The very first shot the Sun put in the air was a 17-foot jump shot from Tina Charles, which just perpetuated their central issue from the previous game – their star center taking far too many shots from outside. Meanwhile, Atlanta’s first three shots were all taken by the opposing center – Erika de Souza – and her combined distance from the basket on all three would’ve come nowhere near 17 feet. Get used to me saying this because it was a theme all night – Charles was already settling for shots from too far away from the basket.

Sun coach Mike Thibault recognised how poorly his team had opened the game, calling a timeout down just 4-2 less than two minutes into the game. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 09/18/2011: Do-or-die brings the best out of Libs and Merc

Part of me hates these best-of-three playoff series that the WNBA uses for its first two rounds. You play for months to get here, and then everything can be over in the blink of an eye. A slightly shorter regular season allowing longer playoff series would be a better framework in my eyes. But you can’t deny that it makes the postseason instantly exciting. After losing their opening games, New York and Phoenix went into Saturday’s games in do-or-die situations. Win, and they’d have a chance in a deciding game on Monday night; lose, and all the hard work all season long would’ve been for naught.

After a forgettable performance in the opening game in Indiana had still left them with a shot to win at the buzzer, New York had every reason to believe that they could turn things around in Game 2. The Prudential Center out in Newark might not have the history of Madison Square Garden, but their 12-5 regular season record there showed that the Liberty made it feel like home pretty quickly. Combining the home crowd with the extra impetus of having their backs against the wall, New York had to come out and remind everyone that they were a better team than Thursday night suggested.

The starting fives were the same as Thursday, although Shavonte Zellous was back in uniform on the Fever bench to add a little extra depth to their reserves. The necessary urgency was there from New York in the early minutes. There seemed to be more energy about their play than in Game 1, and there was more effort on the defensive end. Offensively, both Plenette Pierson and Kia Vaughn looked far more interested in being part of the solution than they had on Thursday, with Pierson knocking down two early jumpers from midrange. Even more important, Nicole Powell seemed to have discovered the shooting touch that eluded her in the previous game, finishing a layup inside before nailing each of her first three efforts from long-range. The only negative for New York in the first quarter was that once again Katie Douglas was winning her personal duel with Cappie Pondexter. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 09/17/2011: Dream steal one on the road; Lynx sneak one at home

After a nailbiter and a blowout opened up the 2011 WNBA playoffs on Thursday, the remaining first round series got underway on Friday night. With the 1-1-1 format that the league switched to last year still in play, defending your home court in the opening game has become vitally important for the higher seed. Lose on your own floor in Game 1, and your opponent has the chance to close out on home territory in Game 2. Indiana and Seattle both pulled off home victories to open their series – could Connecticut and Minnesota do the same?

Heading into their games against Atlanta, the main storylines seemed obvious. Connecticut had to find a way to stop Angel McCoughtry, while the Dream had to stop Tina Charles. If that somehow played out to a tie, then the relative performances of the supporting casts would come into play – but if either managed to take over, their teammates might not matter too much.

Both teams had their expected starting fives on the floor to start the game, a far cry from last year when Atlanta coach Marynell Meadors made heavy changes from her regular lineup for the opening playoff game. After relying heavily on her starting five during a successful second half of the season, there was no way that she would make similar changes this year.

The first half was dominated by the defenses. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 09/16/2011: And they’re off!

So last night, the real stuff got underway in the WNBA. You play the whole regular season to make the playoffs, and now they’re here. Screw it up now, and you might as well not have bothered. It’s time to put up or shut up, go hard or go home, and any other cliché you can remember that I’m forgetting. This is what it’s all about.

The first game saw Indiana hosting New York in the #1-#4 matchup out East, which you’d think ought to make the Fever strong favourites. But the Eastern Conference has been so tight this year, and the Liberty finished just two games behind their first round opponents – in reality this was arguably the most unpredictable playoff series of the four. For what it’s worth, Indiana lost five of their final seven regular season games, and New York two of their last three, but you can typically throw form out the window going into the playoffs. Everyone starts 0-0, and history doesn’t count for much.

Indiana were back to what’s become their regular starting five, with Tamika Catchings returning after sitting out the final regular season game and point guard Erin Phillips back after recovering from her ankle sprain. The only player out was reserve guard Shavonte Zellous, who sprained her own ankle in the last game against Atlanta. New York had their standard five out to open the game as well, with Cappie Pondexter reportedly still rehabbing her ankle but ready to play regardless. It’s the playoffs – if you can walk, you can play.

The early stages of the game belonged to Indiana. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 09/12/2011: East finally shakes out as regular season comes to a close

Sunday was the final day of the WNBA regular season, and there were still issues to be decided. Most importantly, the seeding and resulting first-round matchups in the Eastern Conference were still up for grabs, but the remaining games all carried some level of interest. Records were broken, a scoring title was won by the narrowest of margins, and we finally discovered who the hell would be facing whom in the postseason. Not a bad way to finish out the preamble before the real fight begins on Thursday night.

The opening game of the day, tipping off four hours before anyone else, was in Connecticut. Both the Sun and their visitors, New York, had every reason to go all out for the win. A Connecticut victory would confirm them as the #2 seeds, bringing with it the first round home court advantage that was vitally important to a team coming into this game with a 14-2 home record (and just 6-11 on the road). A New York win would’ve given them a chance to sneak into second place as well, although they would then be reliant on Atlanta beating Indiana in the game later in the afternoon. A loss for the Liberty would mean third or fourth, again depending on the later result. Regardless of the winner here, at least one team would be hanging on what happened in Indiana, but ignoring the permutations it was essentially like any other sporting event – win good, loss bad.

After a long ceremony to commemorate the 10-year anniversary of 9/11, which can’t have helped the concentration levels of the players, the standard starting fives took the floor. Maybe the teams cooled down after such a long gap was created between their warm-up and the tip-off, because the first quarter wasn’t pretty. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 09/11/2011: First Round Playoff Schedule Set

Okay everybody, my apologies, but it’s been a very long week. And your WNBAlien chief writer is very tired. So we’re going to wrap everything from the final day of the WNBA regular season in tomorrow’s column. From the struggle for positioning in the East, through the battle for the scoring title and Sylvia Fowles’s efforts to be the second player in WNBA history to average 20 points and 10 rebounds for a season, it’ll all be there. For now, here’s the entire first round playoff schedule:

 

Western Conference

 

#1 Minnesota Lynx vs. #4 San Antonio Silver Stars

Friday Sept.16th         San Antonio @ Minnesota, 9pm ET

Sunday Sept. 18th    Minnesota @ San Antonio, 5pm ET (ESPN2)

Tuesday Sept. 20th  San Antonio @ Minnesota, T.B.D. (if necessary)

 

#2 Seattle Storm vs. #3 Phoenix Mercury

Thursday Sept 15th   Phoenix @ Seattle, 10pm ET (ESPN2)

Saturday Sept. 17th  Seattle @ Phoenix, 10pm ET

Monday Sept. 19th    Phoenix @ Seattle, 10pm ET (ESPN2, if necessary)

 

Eastern Conference

 

#1 Indiana Fever vs. #4 New York Liberty

Thursday Sept. 15th  New York @ Indiana, 8pm ET (ESPN2)

Saturday Sept. 17th  Indiana @ New York, 4pm ET

Monday Sept. 19th    New York @ Indiana, 8pm ET (ESPN2, if necessary)

 

#2 Connecticut Sun vs. #3 Atlanta Dream

Friday Sept. 16th       Atlanta @ Connecticut, 7pm ET

Sunday Sept. 18th     Connecticut @ Atlanta, 3pm ET (ESPN2)

Tuesday Sept. 20th   Atlanta @ Connecticut, T.B.D. (if necessary)

WNBA Today, 09/10/2011: Liberty keep Sunday interesting and assorted other contests

Before the excitement of the Western Conference home court decider between Phoenix and Seattle last night, the East had some fun of its own. Considering I’ve already printed the resulting playoff scenarios, I’m sure you already know the result of Indiana’s trip to New York. But after covering every single game of the WNBA regular season for its first 97 days, I’m certainly not going to skip any with only three days remaining. Which means you not only get the Fever’s clash with the Liberty in this piece, but the three completely meaningless games that have also taken place over the last couple of days. If nothing else, I’m at least a completist.

Indiana seemed primed for New York to take advantage of last night. The Fever had nothing to play for, having sealed the #1 seed in the East days earlier. They’d lost their starting point guard to a nasty-looking ankle sprain in their last game (that’s the second starting point guard, after the first one blew out her knee a couple of months ago). They had no real reason to care about this game. New York, on the other hand, still had plenty to fight for. Opening the game in fourth place in the East thanks to Atlanta’s recent winning habit, two wins in their last two games had the potential to bump the Liberty as high as 2nd in the conference. That would obviously come with the added bonus of home court advantage in the first round, and after a slow start in their new home out in Jersey, the Liberty have settled in and entered this game 11-5 at the Prudential Center. After spending practically all year chasing after Indiana and Connecticut in the standings, sneaking into second on the final day of the regular season would be a nice bonus heading into the playoffs.

Third-string point guard Shannon Bobbitt took Phillips’s place at the point for Indiana – Phillips is expected to be ready for the playoffs, but there’s no point risking that ankle until then. Continue reading →