WNBA Today, 07/26/2013: Storm and Fever head into break with important road wins; listless Liberty back to losing

 

Yes, this article is going up rather late. Especially considering all three WNBA matchups yesterday were day games. For that I apologise. The problem was that I skipped the New York-San Antonio game yesterday in favour of watching Indiana-Tulsa, which left me catching up with the Liberty and Silver Stars today via archive. And I kept having to pause the game to find more interesting things to do, so that my will to live didn’t slip entirely away. Thank goodness there were two rather more interesting games yesterday to take us into the All-Star break.

 

Indiana Fever 71 @ Tulsa Shock 60

  • Tulsa’s three-game winning streak and the recent performances of their Glory Johnson/Liz Cambage frontcourt had hopes rising for the Shock heading into this one. Indiana had a disappointing home loss to New York on Tuesday night, but have been steadily improving since their painful, injury-riddled start to the season. Both teams continued with the same starting lineups they’d been using in recent games (so Skylar Diggins continued to come off the bench behind Angel Goodrich at the point for Tulsa).

 

  • The Fever struggled on Tuesday night against Plenette Pierson and New York’s post attack, which led to obvious concerns about how they’d handle Johnson and Cambage. Indiana are undersized inside with Tamika Catchings and Erlana Larkins as their posts, but they usually make up with it through energy, effort and teamwork. It was always more likely that Tuesday would be an aberration rather than the beginning of a trend. They did fine against Tulsa’s young bigs. The expected double-teams dropped down on Cambage whenever she touched the ball inside, forcing the ball back out or leading to tips and strips when she tried to make moves through multiple defenders. The Shock had some early success cutting into the paint from the weak side when Indiana tried to double-team, leading to layups rather than perimeter shots, but it didn’t last long. The effectiveness of Indiana’s defense doesn’t just come from closing in on opponents with traps and double-teams – it’s how quick they are to rotate and recover if the ball makes it out. The opportunities dried up for Tulsa.

 

  • At the other end of the floor, Indiana were missing too many layups, which is nothing new. These are the two worst-shooting teams from inside 5-feet in the entire WNBA, and the Fever are the only team in the league below 50% from that range (Tulsa are just barely above 50%). But Catchings and Karima Christmas made a few jumpers, Shavonte Zellous got into the paint and consistently looked to score over the smaller defenders who were trying to guard her, and the Fever were consistently aggressive in transition off turnovers. It felt like they should’ve been up by more than 38-34 at halftime.

 

  • After a poor first half, Nicole Powell was replaced by Roneeka Hodges to start the third quarter. Powell never took the floor in the second half, so there may have been an injury of some kind affecting her.

 

  • Indiana held a narrow lead throughout the third quarter. It never hit double-digits, but it was also rarely below six or seven points. The Fever were being troubled by Cambage’s size inside, and having to find ways to navigate around her, but they were making every hustle play and winning every 50/50 battle. Tiffany Jackson-Jones and Diggins made a couple of plays in the period, including a halfcourt three at the buzzer from Diggins, but the Shock as a whole were scrabbling to stay in the game.

 

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WNBA Today, 07/25/2013: Home is where the victors are, as WNBA hits midway point

 

Scattered through the afternoon and evening, yesterday saw three games in the WNBA, as we definitively hit the midway point of the regular season (102 games down, 102 to go). It wasn’t perhaps the most auspicious collection of games to reach that milestone, but there were one or two moments worth talking about. Let’s go to the Bullet Point Breakdowns.

 

Chicago Sky 78 @ Washington Mystics 82

  • Both teams began the game with their established starting lineups, although Mystics power forward Crystal Langhorne was reportedly a game-time decision due to back spasms.

 

  • Chicago pulled out to a big early lead in this game, largely by virtue of simply shooting much better than Washington. Despite Elena Delle Donne missing several jumpers, the Sky as a whole were much more successful in hitting shots. Sometimes it’s that simple. The Mystics were also bailing them out far too frequently with cheap fouls, helping Chicago build their lead. The advantage was as big as 21 points midway through the second quarter.

 

  • Washington got back into it in the same way they’ve been successful for most of the season – they became the aggressors. A step up in intensity on defense, and a more concerted attack mentality on offense from players like Langhorne, Monique Currie and Matee Ajavon quickly cut into the lead. After shooting three free throws in the opening 14 minutes of the game, Washington shot nine in the remaining 6 minutes before the break. The gap was down to nine at 44-35.

 

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You’ve read WNBAlien – now sit back, relax, and listen instead!

 

My appearance on the Dishin’ & Swishin’ podcast is now live HERE. Yes, that really is my accent. We talked All-Star ahead of Saturday’s game, discussing who deserved to be there, whether the fans and coaches had chosen correctly, and other aspects of the first half of the season. If the audio merely whets your appetite, you can read more about my All-Star choices in the feature that went up earlier this week here.

Normal, text-based WNBA coverage will continue later tonight.

WNBA Today, 07/24/2013: Post play and Pondexter help New York steal one in Indiana

 

While most of the focus seemed to be on who would be named as All-Star reserves (more on that in the Notes section below), there was also a basketball game going on in the WNBA last night. New York travelled to Indiana having lost eight of their previous ten games, including several heavy defeats. They were in desperate need of a win to reinvigorate their season. It was especially important considering their opponents were the Fever, who’d slipped past the Liberty into the Eastern Conference’s fourth playoff spot by winning six of their last seven. New York needed to make sure they stuck around in the mix with Indiana, Washington and even Atlanta if the Dream’s losing streak persists – otherwise thoughts really will turn to next year’s lottery.

 

The Liberty had an extra player available, after signing former Mercury guard Samantha Prahalis (although she never made it onto the court). Indiana also had a point guard back, as Erin Phillips was available again after taking a game off to rest her knee. Both teams stuck with the same starting lineups they’ve used in recent games.

 

From the very start, New York looked to go down low, and attack via their size advantage in the post. It was Plenette Pierson and Kara Braxton to begin with, then Kelsey Bone joining the party once Braxton’s foul trouble and general wildness sent her to the bench. The impressive element for New York was that they were forcing the ball inside without turning the ball over. Turnovers have been a bugaboo for New York all year, and they were facing the team that led the WNBA in forcing them. But the ball was generally reaching the Liberty posts without being tipped or stolen, and they were attacking the Fever defense for consistent points without giving the ball away. Pierson in particular made several nice interior passes when extra defenders came to help, dropping the ball off for easy finishes for her teammates. It looks so pretty when those tight, intricate passes actually work. So often this season New York’s attempts have ended up hitting an arm or a leg and ending up in the hands of the other team.

 

Unusually for New York, they were making too many errors at the other end of the floor to build a lead. Indiana couldn’t hit many shots, but they were finding points in transition by beating New York down the floor, or getting cheap points when the Liberty lost concentration on simple things like inbound plays. The Liberty even had Cappie Pondexter hitting long jumpers for once – she’s missed a huge number of long twos this season, but three of them dropped in the first half. It’d still be nice if she’d take half a step back and turn them into threes, but once they go in it’s a good shot.

 

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WNBAlien Feature: Picking the 2013 WNBA All-Stars

 

The WNBA community did a pretty solid job of selecting the All-Star starters this year. Not perfect (we’ll get into that in a minute), but we’ve seen some bizarre names voted in by the fans in previous years (Jayne Appel and Anna DeForge spring to mind). There was no one in that category this time around. But you know what? One of the benefits of deciding your own hypothetical All-Star rosters is that you can blithely ignore the voting public anyway. So before the results of the coaches’ votes for the reserves are released tonight, let’s decide who deserves to be heading to Connecticut for the big game on Saturday afternoon.

 

East

 

Guards

 

The fans had to vote for two guards and three frontcourt players, then the coaches had to provide two guards, three frontcourt, and one wildcard extra. So we’re looking to fill all of those, and because I like to ease into these things, we’re starting with the Eastern Conference. It’s easier in the East, because there simply aren’t that many players worth considering. Perusing the backcourt players available, our options are severely limited. Herrington, Bentley, Thomas and Hayes all seem like reaches from Atlanta, so there are zero candidates from the team that led the East for most of the first half of the season. Injuries or poor performance has knocked out Douglas, January and Phillips from last year’s conference champs. And even the hosts for the All-Star game have played so poorly this year that you can argue over whether they have deserving candidates.

 

So by my count we have seven vaguely viable possibilities. Epiphanny Prince and maybe Courtney Vandersloot in Chicago; Shavonte Zellous in Indiana; Ivory Latta in Washington; Cappie Pondexter in New York; and Kara Lawson or Allison Hightower in Connecticut. Lawson’s typically the Sun’s best perimeter player, but she’s missed 40% of their games through injury so far this season. It’s hard to overlook that without supreme performance when available, and she’s been good but not great. Latta and Prince both started the season strongly but have tailed off a little as it’s progressed (Prince also missed a few games through a combination of an ankle sprain and representing Russia at EuroBasket Women). Hightower’s improvement has been impressive, but she’s still the best of a bunch in Connecticut that have been awful as a whole. Pondexter continues to rank highly in raw scoring averages, but her percentages and efficiency have been terrible, she started the year playing no defense whatsoever, and she’s the central part of a team setting a record-breaking turnover pace.

 

So it’s not a great list. Pondexter’s an interesting case. She’s clearly been voted in more because of her superstar status and reputation than her performance this season. But she is still a star and carrying a heavy load on a team that expects her to generate a large percentage of their offense. To me it comes down to five – Prince, Zellous, Latta, Pondexter and Hightower – and it’s a matter of how you want to order them. And now that I’m trying to do this, maybe the East isn’t so easy after all.

 

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WNBA Today, 07/22/2013: Shock’s dynamic duo impress again; Fever and Lynx keep winning

 

Yesterday was the third consecutive day of WNBA triple-headers, but it was a slightly more intriguing slate than the previous offerings. We had a rematch from Friday night, with two Eastern playoff contenders still trying to prove themselves in different ways. Tulsa were hoping to indicate that their recent upturn in form was more than just a fluke, facing an Atlanta team trying to arrest a recent slide. And finally, two of the three Western powers faced off, with a win streak and a new defense in the mix. This was a nice way to finish off the weekend.

 

Indiana Fever 65 @ Washington Mystics 52

  • Here we had our two potential Eastern playoff teams. With Connecticut looking terrible and New York floundering, most bets would probably be on both these teams making the postseason, but it’s far from a certainty at this stage. Washington lost narrowly to this Fever team on Friday, but the Mystics have been a significantly better team on their own floor this season. Indiana came into this game having won five of their previous six, and are in the process of turning around their season.

 

  • Washington were as healthy as ever, but slightly worryingly Indiana guard Erin Phillips sat this one out. She missed the Fever’s first 11 games of the season with a meniscus tear in her knee, but had returned to play in their last three. Apparently she was kept out of this one as a precautionary measure due to some recent knee pain. Hopefully she just needed a little rest, because her return has been an important boost for Indiana.

 

  • If we wanted to be nice and generous about the opening stages of this game, we could call it a defensive battle. More accurately we could say that neither team could make a shot to save their lives. Everyone missed every kind of shot you could imagine, and Washington led 9-8 after the opening quarter. One shot was made in the opening 21 attempts of the game.

 

  • Washington got some solid interior defense from backup post Emma Meesseman after Crystal Langhorne picked up early fouls and had to sit. That was nice to see, because the main area that was concerning about Meesseman coming to the WNBA was whether she could handle the physicality of this league. She always looked a little lightweight to me in Europe. Indiana are one of the smaller interior teams in the league, but they’re as physical as anyone. She stood up to the fight.

 

  • Indiana started to pull away in the second quarter by virtue of actually hitting some shots. Not many, but Tamika Catchings and Karima Christmas made enough to make an impact, considering Washington still couldn’t score. Lin Dunn and her staff have done a nice job of re-shaping Indiana’s defense to keep it as effective as ever under the new defensive three-seconds rule. They had some problems earlier in the year, caused as much by all the injuries as anything else, but they’re back up to their previous heights now. The low-post double-teams that they used to bring with a weak-side defender along the baseline have essentially disappeared – because that second defender used to loiter in the paint so she could arrive quickly, and the new rule makes that tough to get away with. Their double-teams are now coming from the more traditional high defender on the strong side, but the activity, recovery and teamwork of their defense continues to make it very successful. Washington’s Crystal Langhorne had absolutely no impact on this game due to the double-teams and defensive pressure.

 

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WNBA Today, 07/21/2013: Sky and Silver Stars hold on at home; Ogwumike carries Sparks to a steal in Seattle

 

Three games of basketball last night in the WNBA, and largely speaking all three were relatively close throughout. Just because that was often down to neither team playing well enough to take charge of the game, doesn’t take away from the excitement of a tight contest, right?

 

Connecticut Sun 52 @ San Antonio Silver Stars 60

  • Yes, the basketball (and scheduling) gods decided we had to watch both these struggling teams twice on consecutive nights. The Sun put up a stinker in Tulsa on Friday, while San Antonio were dominated on their own floor by Minnesota. No one was betting on a classic.

 

  • Both teams were down a player from the previous evening, with DeLisha Milton-Jones out for San Antonio due to a knee problem we saw her pick up against the Lynx, and Kara Lawson missing again for Connecticut due to her own reported sore knee. Shenise Johnson stepped back into the starting lineup for the Silver Stars, while the useless Iziane Castro Marques was finally demoted by Anne Donovan for the Sun. Tan White moved into their starting lineup in her second game back after recovering from a broken finger.

 

  • San Antonio felt like the better team for most of the first half. Their ball movement, chemistry, and basic willingness to work for each other was significantly better than Connecticut’s. Danielle Adams was their primary offensive weapon, happily setting up on the low block and hitting short jumpers over people like Kelsey Griffin. But there were other threats around the floor as well, and Jayne Appel working on the glass, which gave the Silver Stars some balance.

 

  • Connecticut, of course, have had no balance all year. It’s usually Tina Charles and not much else, and often it feels like we’re not even seeing the full extent of Tina. She finished the first half of this game with a dominant-looking stat line of 7-15 for 16 points and 6 rebounds, but it still felt like she was on auto-pilot. She’s so good and so gifted that she can produce like this even when she doesn’t appear fully engaged in the contest. I suggested on Twitter that ‘Going Through the Motions’ was the anthem for her 2013 season (yes, from the Buffy musical episode), and I stand by that. A half-interested Tina Charles is just still this good.

 

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WNBA Today, 07/20/2013: Fever and Shock struggle to narrow wins; Lynx dominate again

 

A triple-game night in the WNBA yesterday, featuring two games that were predictably tight, and one that was a predictable blowout. Sometimes, in a general sense, it’s not hard to see what’s coming. But the devil’s in the details, so let’s go to the Bullet Point Breakdowns to take a closer look.

 

Washington Mystics 70 @ Indiana Fever 77

  • The same lineups we’ve come to expect from these teams lately began the game. The only new health note was that backup forward Jessica Breland was available again for the Fever.

 

  • Neither team led by more than five points in a first half that never quite took off. Indiana kept Crystal Langhorne very quiet, but were hurt by some poor transition defense and some effective driving from Matee Ajavon and Tierra Ruffin-Pratt. The Fever shot extremely poorly – one of those days where they desperately needed Katie Douglas and/or Jeanette Pohlen to be healthy so they could knock down an outside shot or two – but compensated with unusual success on the offensive glass and their usual series of steals. Indiana led 32-31 at halftime.

 

  • The Fever began the second half without much energy, and Washington took advantage. The Mystics scored the first 10 points of the third quarter and dominated much of the period. Indiana’s defense has remained solid despite their injuries this season, but all the ins and outs have left them without quite the same level of chemistry and communication they’ve had in previous years. Two wide open Kia Vaughn layups in the third quarter highlighted that, along with Breland’s rustiness after her injury. Also, Washington simply hit more shots from the perimeter than the Fever. After an 0-5 first half, Shavonte Zellous had finally discovered her shooting tough for Indiana, but she wasn’t getting much support. Between Ajavon, Vaughn, Michelle Snow and Ivory Latta, the Mystics were finding ways to build a lead.

 

  • The final moments of the third were difficult for Indiana, and it looked like they might be letting the game slip away. Zellous went down holding her right leg, raising fears that they might have suffered yet another injury to a key player. Then Catchings picked up a technical foul after complaining vociferously about the lack of a call when Ruffin-Pratt shoved her out of bounds during the fight for a rebound. Then Lin Dunn added another tech on top for bitching about that. Latta had just made three free throws after Larkins ran through her on an outside shot, and sank two more freebies for the technicals. Indiana were a little lucky to be as close as 62-55 at the end of the third.

 

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WNBA Today, 07/19/2013: Liberty malaise continues against Sky; LA’s home perfection pierced by Phoenix

 

There was a distinct sense of déjà vu about much of Thursday’s WNBA slate. Just like Wednesday, we had one early game, one late. Just like Wednesday, the early game ended in a hideous blowout win for the road team. Just like Wednesday, the late game was in LA, with the Sparks trying to defend their perfect record on their home floor. Unfortunately for LA, the repetition only went so far.

 

We began out in Jersey, where the Liberty were hosting their second (of three) Camp Day games this season. I guess that’s one way to boost attendance. The big injury news for this game was that Sky center Sylvia Fowles was out (and not even with the team) due apparently to that same right ankle that she’d sprained earlier this month. She did tweak it in their recent game against Connecticut, but came back out of the locker room and returned to that game, so everyone had assumed she was okay. Maybe the Sky simply figured there was no need for her in this game so she could stay home and rest. Backup center Carolyn Swords was the natural fill-in to start in her place.

 

For New York, Plenette Pierson was back in the starting lineup ahead of Kelsey Bone, with Bill Laimbeer searching for some way to energise his team. It’s been ugly for the Liberty lately, losing six of their previous eight games, topped off by the embarrassing 31-6 third quarter against Indiana on Saturday night. Their season’s been heading in the wrong direction for a while.

 

Unfortunately for Liberty fans, the first quarter of this game simply brought back memories of that dismal period against the Fever. It was a mess – the same kind of mess we’ve been seeing on a pretty regular basis from New York lately. Down 9-0 in under two minutes before Laimbeer called his first timeout, it was 27-7 when he tried again after seven minutes of play, and the Liberty trailed by as many as 25 before the opening period was over.

 

That opening 10 minutes saw the now very familiar parade of New York turnovers, as they tried to make passes through traffic that made them virtually impossible. They keep trying to force the ball to their post players, and balls are constantly poked away by opposing defenses, often without much need for movement or effort. Even on plays that aren’t technically turnovers, New York passes are constantly tipped or deflected, and after they eventually manage to corral the ball they’re left with rushed and desperate offensive possessions just to get something up before the shot clock expires. Kara Braxton took too many elbow jumpers – there’s a reason they’re giving you that shot, Kara – there was a painful lack of ball movement, and the confidence has clearly drained out of this team after recent performances. The only positive was that Cappie Pondexter was attacking the basket off the dribble, something she’s done rather too infrequently this season, but it wasn’t remotely effective. Courtney Vandersloot – whose defense has taken a leap forward this season, and who never would’ve been trusted to defend Pondexter in previous years – did a good job of staying in front of Cappie without fouling. Then either Vandersloot or her teammates would reach in and deflect the ball or just let her miss or cough the ball up amongst the traffic. Meanwhile, Pondexter’s teammates were standing around wondering if they’d ever become part of the offense.

 

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WNBA Today, 07/18/2013: Sparks deal defeat to Dream, while Shock swamp Storm again

 

Yesterday saw two WNBA games, between pairs of teams in very different situations. Our early game featured two franchises whose highest potential reach this season is likely the fourth playoff spot in the Western Conference – although both might admit in their more honest moments that they’d be better off in the lottery. The late game involved opponents with much higher aspirations in 2013, both hoping for a deep postseason run. Maybe it wasn’t a surprise which game turned out to be distinctly more entertaining.

 

First let’s get the early mess out of the way. It was Seattle’s Camp Day, with thousands of kids packing into Key Arena ready to scream their heads off. Brian Agler stuck with the starting lineup he went with in their win against shorthanded Atlanta on Sunday night, which meant Shekinna Stricklen’s second start on the wing. For Tulsa there were changes. Regular starting point guard Skylar Diggins was out after tweaking her ankle in their previous game (and apparently took the opportunity to take a trip back to Notre Dame, rather than rehabbing in Tulsa), which pushed Angel Goodrich into the starting lineup instead. Glory Johnson had recovered sufficiently to return after her neck problem, and Gary Kloppenburg decided to try the Liz & Glory frontcourt that he’d largely been avoiding, pairing Johnson with center Liz Cambage from the start. Tiffany Jackson-Jones, recently returned from her stress fracture, wasn’t announced as injured but went from starting their last game to spending all day on the bench. That was strange, unless there was a physical issue that caused the decision.

 

Tulsa had won only three games all season coming into this matchup, but two of those wins had come over the Storm – a desperate mess of a first half helped illustrate why. Cambage absolutely murdered Seattle in the opening minutes, and it set the tone for the rest of the half. She drove past Camille Little from the elbow for a running finish on the first possession of the game, then proceeded to back down Little or Tina Thompson and finish with ease at the rim on multiple occasions. Seattle’s starting frontcourt is undersized in terms of pure height, but usually they do a decent job of masking that with positioning and strength – Cambage was just too big, and the double-teams far too slow to arrive, leading to yet another dreadful start for Seattle.

 

Other teams around the league have managed to neutralise Cambage with quick double-teams forcing her into mistakes, or ball pressure forcing the Shock into errors when they try to pass the ball to her. Apart from the occasional problem that Cambage created for herself by driving wildly into the lane without looking where she was going – which invariably leads to offensive fouls – the Storm did a poor job of making entry passes difficult, and an equally terrible job of stopping her inside. When they eventually started sending lots of help down to her later in the first half, she moved the ball out successfully and the Shock were left with wide open looks from outside which even they managed to knock down at a reasonable rate.

 

Besides the Cambage dominance, the main feature of the first half was turnovers. Lots and lots of turnovers. Seattle’s offense was going nowhere, looking sleepy and aimless. When they remembered they were supposed to they tried to attack Cambage on pick-and-rolls, but not with any level of conviction. She still has problems at times on defense, always instinctively wanting to fade back into the paint and clog the lane, regardless of where her man or the ball are. Little and Tianna Hawkins took advantage of that occasionally by hitting shots in space when Cambage hadn’t tracked them out to the perimeter, but in general Seattle failed to punish her. They just drove into traffic without much sense of direction, or threw the ball away. Tulsa actually had even more turnovers themselves, on sloppy passes or offensive fouls, but the combination of Cambage being too big and Riquna Williams too quick overcame that for the Shock. By halftime, Tulsa led 45-26.

 

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