Tag Archives: Chicago Sky

WNBA Today, 08/04/2013: Sun, Fever and Mercury prevail as WNBA standings continue to tighten up

 

Another triple-header in the WNBA last night, and the team with the weaker existing record won all three of them. Everyone’s back underway now after the All-Star break, and so far there’s been something of a concertina effect tightening up the standings. Off to the Bullet Point Breakdowns to examine last night’s action.

 

Connecticut Sun 88 @ New York Liberty 66

  • The teams were unchanged for this matchup from their previous games, both in the players available and their starting lineups (although Kara Lawson was listed as ‘Not with Team – Family Issue’ rather than out due to her bruised knee, for what that’s worth). Both were trying to build from wins, after New York produced another dominant post display to beat Washington, and Connecticut scraped together a fourth quarter comeback to beat an understrength Indiana.

 

  • The opening stages were exactly what most probably would’ve expected. The Liberty pounded the ball inside, and ended up with a series of layups and post finishes for Plenette Pierson and Kara Braxton. The Sun help defense was slow to arrive (if it arrived at all), leaving far too much room for bigs on the pick-and-roll. At the other end of the floor, Tina Charles was already drifting further and further away from the rim to fire jump shots, and no one else was hitting anything, just as has been the case all year for Connecticut. It was a familiar story.

 

  • Then a funny thing happened. Renee Montgomery and Allison Hightower made consecutive threes out of a timeout midway through the first quarter, and that opened the floodgates. For the rest of the first half, Connecticut were suddenly making shots they’d been missing all season. The return to fitness of Montgomery and Tan White have given them more options, but even the likes of Kelly Faris and Kelsey Griffin were drilling perimeter jump shots. It gave Connecticut a foothold in the game that they’ve rarely had this year, because of the constant steam of bricks they’ve been firing up.

 

  • New York were still the more efficient team offensively for most of the first half. Cappie Pondexter continued to shoot horrendously, as she has done for the vast majority of the season, but when she stuck to creating for teammates and dropping off passes it led to good looks. There’s been a little bit more patience to the Liberty passing in recent games, making the pass when the opportunity actually presents itself rather than when they feel they’re supposed to pass. By halftime the Sun shooting had kept them right in the game, and the Liberty led just 34-33, but New York were up 26-8 in points in the paint. Typically, that suggests the team relying on outside shooting will cool off and the team scoring inside will pull away in the second half.

 

  • But of course, it doesn’t always work out that way. When you start making a few shots, everything can begin to look better. The sun shines brighter, the birds sing sweeter, you put some effort in on defense – the list goes on. After already beginning to fade in the second quarter, New York’s post attack continued to tail off in the third, as they failed to find the same space that had been on offer at the start of the game. The parade of jumpers continued to drop for the Sun now their confidence was up, leading to some drives for higher-percentage looks as well. Connecticut’s lead continued to stretch out throughout the third quarter, and New York didn’t have an answer. They were being comprehensively out-shot by the Sun.

 

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WNBA Today, 08/03/2013: Fowles and Cambage carry teams to victory in the paint; Lynx coast past Silver Stars again

 

Now we really know the WNBA has kicked back into gear after the All-Star break – three games last night, all of them missing superstars of the women’s game due to injury. Such is the WNBA in 2013. On to the Bullet Point Breakdowns to take a look at the action.

 

Los Angeles Sparks 89 @ Tulsa Shock 96

  • The late-breaking news before this one was that Los Angeles star Candace Parker was out due to a right wrist problem. Nothing seems to have emerged yet as to how or when she suffered the injury, and she was with the team, but Jantel Lavender started in her place. It’s unknown whether Parker will be available for LA’s next game on Sunday in Washington. Tulsa kept the same starting lineup that led them to three wins in their final four games before the break.

 

  • The opening possession of the game saw Glory Johnson go straight past Lavender with a drive from the elbow, while drawing a foul. It was clearly a screw-up from the LA defense (which is a little ridiculous off an opening tip). Nneka Ogwumike should’ve been on Johnson, with Lavender on Liz Cambage. But it illustrated an extra level of difficulty that the Johnson/Cambage pairing throws at defenses. A lot of teams in this league have relatively interchangeable post tandems, so switching when the opposing 4/5 combinations cross, or just picking up whichever is nearest in transition isn’t a problem. But Johnson and Cambage present such differing threats that teams may need specific defenders on each of them. It just makes post defense and interior rotation that little bit more complicated.

 

  • Lavender picked up a second foul moments later and went to the bench. Now LA had to handle Tulsa’s posts with Ogwumike and Ebony Hoffman.

 

  • It was Tulsa who got off to the quicker start. Most of their halfcourt sets start in the ‘horns’ formation, then roll into a high-low balance with Johnson at the elbow and Cambage in the paint after the point guard uses one of them as a screen. It’s not complicated, but it can be very effective. They were also playing much quicker than LA in the early going, looking to push and attack. The Shock have moved away from firing endless threes in recent games, driving more even when they can’t get the ball inside to their talented posts. It’s made them a more dangerous team, and leads to more fouls and free throws.

 

  • The other obvious change in Tulsa’s recent run of good form is that it’s coincided with Angel Goodrich coming in as the starting point guard. The move was forced when Skylar Diggins sprained an ankle and missed a game, but Goodrich hasn’t let her back in. Citing that as the reason for Tulsa’s upswing would be unfair to Diggins – the health of Cambage and increasing development of her pairing with Johnson has been key, and came at a similar time – but it’s hard to write it off as complete coincidence. Goodrich is an active little thing, she keeps them moving, and she knows how to run a team. Her confidence to score herself is slowly increasing as well, after she looked almost afraid to shoot early in the year. She’s also managed to play well enough defensively to prevent being exploited on that end despite her tiny stature. Diggins has struggled to adapt to the pro game, and still can’t finish in traffic for love nor money. The big-name rookie might get her job back eventually, but right now head coach Gary Kloppenburg is quite rightly sticking with what’s working and going with the rookie third-round pick.

 

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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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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, 07/19/2013: 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, 07/13/2013: Sky overcome one-woman team in Connecticut, while Mystics’ depth holds off San Antonio

 

Once again, yesterday saw a pair of WNBA games on the schedule, with the action tipping off in Connecticut where the Chicago Sky were the visitors. It’s games like this where the Sky have to continue proving that they’re a legitimately improved team from previous years. They’d won five of their last six, and they were visiting a struggling, understrength team – it’s a contest they should have gone into confident of success, but the kind of game they’ve blown in previous years. Even sitting pretty in second place in the East, there are still plenty of scars from all the years of failure. They’re still working to consign those memories to history and become a real power in this league.

 

Historically, Connecticut have been one of those powers. But with Mike Thibault gone, Asjha Jones taking the year off, and a variety of injuries in their backcourt it’s been a rough season so far for the Sun. The positive for this game was that they had one of those guards back, with Kara Lawson in uniform after missing their last four games with a bruised knee. Iziane Castro Marques was still starting at off-guard, but Lawson was ready to play from the bench.

 

By the time Lawson made her first appearance – after barely three minutes of action – the Sun were already trailing 12-0. It was an ugly, ugly start for Connecticut. As has become the pattern for them, if Tina Charles touches the ball anywhere near the rim, double and triple-teams instantly surround her. If she successfully kicks the ball out to a teammate, they invariably clank a shot off the iron. And more often than not, Charles becomes frustrated with that process down low, so she drifts further and further away from the basket to receive the ball. For a post, she’s a pretty good jumpshooter, but they’re lower percentage shots and result in very few drawn fouls. It’s been an ineffective way to try to win games this season.

 

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WNBA Today, 07/11/2013: Flying Fowles lifts Sky past Mystics; sloppy Mercury upset by Silver Stars

 

We had a pair of early tip-offs in the WNBA yesterday, as thousands of kids descended on arenas in Chicago and Phoenix for their yearly Camp Day games. Sometimes players struggle to wake themselves up time to perform in these games, but it’s always nice if they end up as watchable contests – we have to encourage the next generation of WNBA fans to keep coming back.

 

The first game was in the Windy City, where the Washington Mystics were the visitors. For once, both teams had healthy rosters, with Tamera Young returning from the ankle injury that kept her out of the Sky’s last game to give Pokey Chatman a full bench to utilise. The Mystics reached two significant marks with recent wins – Mike Thibault went past Van Chancellor on the all-time WNBA coaching wins list, and the franchise equalled the highest win-total from the Trudi Lacey era. With 22 games still to go. Now they can just concentrate on continued improvement.

 

While much of the talk last season around the Sky surrounded Epiphanny Prince’s breakout year, and most of the discussion this year has been about rookie starlet Elena Delle Donne, one important player used this game to remind everyone that Chicago already had a superstar before either of those two arrived – Sylvia Fowles. Big Syl was aggressive and active from the very start, running the floor hard, fighting for position in the paint, and leaping after every rebound. While she’s put up pretty solid, consistent numbers this season, too many times she’s been performing relatively quietly while rarely touching the ball in Chatman’s largely predictable offense. This was the Fowles we always want to see, a dominant presence at both ends of the floor who demands the ball inside, or just goes and gets it on the offensive glass. All this despite playing through a bone bruise on her foot and still recovering from a recent ankle sprain. Maybe she needs to be slightly injured even more often, if this is the result.

 

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WNBA Today, 07/08/2013: Sky and Lynx expose frailties of Liberty and Mercury in dominant wins

 

Only two games yesterday in the WNBA – which is pretty light for a Sunday this season – and on top of that, both turned out to be very one-sided. This was not a day for nail-biting drama in the WNBA.

 

Our first game was in New Jersey, at the Prudential Center that the New York Liberty are calling home for the third straight year (back to Madison Square Garden next season, assuming everything goes to plan). Considering they’ve been far more successful on their own floor this season, it should’ve been a welcome return for the Liberty after a four-game road trip. However, their visitors were the Chicago Sky, who finally seem to have amassed enough talent that even they can’t avoid winning basketball games. They also had center Sylvia Fowles back in the lineup after missing just one game due to her sprained ankle.

 

The first 15 minutes of the game were relatively even, with Katie Smith once again tasked with guarding Elena Delle Donne and doing the best job she could. Neither team was shooting particularly well, but Cappie Pondexter was finding her way to the rim often enough to keep the Liberty in it. Then the Sky discovered a very simple way to create points. Whether it was Courtney Vandersloot, Epiphanny Prince or Delle Donne, someone would penetrate slightly into the New York defense from the top of the key. They didn’t need to get to the rim, or even beat their defender – it just needed to be enough to attract attention from the strong side defender guarding the Sky player on the wing. As soon as that defender took a step inside to help prevent the penetration, the easy kick-out pass went to the shooter who’d been left in extra space, and that player knocked down the shot. Remarkably simple, and it worked several times in the space of a few minutes for Chicago. It’s essentially the basis of beating any reasonably solid defense – you make them bend, and then exploit whatever space they’ve left behind. It turned a three-point game into a 41-32 halftime lead.

 

The same semi-penetration and kick move worked for Chicago in the third quarter, and so did a lot of other things as the Sky turned the game into a rout. Even when it was simple one-on-one basketball through Prince or Delle Donne, offense was coming much more easily for Chicago, while New York were having to work incredibly hard for anything they got. Pondexter has looked better in the last couple of games, but she’s scoring much more efficiently on catch-and-shoot opportunities than dribbling into shots herself – and the team doesn’t have enough alternative weapons to create chances for her. Playing her off the ball a little more would be nice, but it feels like the Liberty would probably turn the ball over before she could run around a couple of screens and break open to receive a pass. The offense is still too ponderous and predictable, still too prone to trying to make the perfect pass through invisible gaps, and it allowed the Sky to pull away to a comfortable lead.

 

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WNBA Today, 07/03/2013: Sun, Mercury and Sparks all defend their home court, while Sky crumble without Syl

 

With no games on July 3rd or 5th (but bizarrely one on the 4th itself), the WNBA packed four games into the schedule last night. So to cover it all, it’s a midweek WNBAlien Bullet Point Breakdown.

 

Tulsa Shock 69 @ Connecticut Sun 88

  • Shock head coach Gary Kloppenburg moved Liz Cambage back to the bench to start this game, with Jen Lacy taking her starting spot back from the big Aussie. Maybe he wanted to keep Cambage out of early foul trouble, or just didn’t like the matchup between her and Tina Charles. Fortunately, Glory Johnson was healthy to play after an awkward twist to her knee in their previous game, and making sure she was part of the action may also have played into the decision to bring Cambage off the bench. Johnson rather disappeared from their offense when the focus was on Cambage in their last game. Connecticut had the same list of injuries as in recent outings – Kara Lawson, Renee Montgomery and Tan White all sidelined – so Iziane Castro Marques started at shooting guard once again.

 

  • We got a taste of vintage Izi in the opening quarter, with some crazy-looking floaters that found their way in, and “no, no, no… yes!” shots from outside. She didn’t do much after the first quarter besides play deplorable defense and turn the ball over, but the Sun have been so desperate for perimeter offense lately that they’ll have been happy to see her come alive – however briefly.

 

  • Once Cambage did enter the action you could clearly see why Kloppenburg had been wary of using her against the Sun. On defense Tulsa kept her as far away from Charles as possible, afraid of what even this year’s version of the Sun center would do to her. When the Shock had the ball, Connecticut dropped down to double-team every time she touched it, and it was reminiscent of Bad Kara Braxton. The double-teams weren’t just pressuring Cambage into giving up the ball, but were forcing errors and creating turnovers. Even when the double-team wasn’t imminent, she became so conscious of the possibility that she was rushing into offensive moves and missing. She’s got lots of talent and obvious physical gifts, but there’s still some way to go for Cambage at this level.

 

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WNBA Today, 06/30/2013: Mercury beat Sun amid flood of fouls; Sky hold off Sparks despite loss of Fowles

 

Two oddly similar games in the WNBA last night. There were a grand total of zero lead changes in either game, but both drifted along for much of the evening while threatening to become competitive, without ever quite managing it. It was a meandering night of basketball, that never quite took off.

 

The first game to tip off was in Connecticut, where the Sun played host to the Phoenix Mercury. Connecticut continue to work without Kara Lawson, Renee Montgomery and Tan White, leaving Iziane Castro Marques to start once again at shooting guard. With Asjha Jones taking the year off, the frontcourt was supposed to be the Sun’s big problem this year – as it turns out, they’ve had just as much trouble with their guards. Phoenix had the same starting lineup that’s been successful recently, and came in having won six of their last seven games. They also had a nice surprise for everyone available off the bench.

 

The early minutes suggested Tina Charles was energised for her first professional clash with Brittney Griner, as we saw more direct attacking in the post from Charles than has been evident in her play this season. She was going right at the rookie, trying to prove that there were already some pretty talented centers in the WNBA before the mega-hyped youngster arrived. Early on, Charles also had the benefit of Phoenix leaving Griner isolated to defend Charles straight-up, rather than the endless double and triple-teams that have been sent her way this season. However, even Corey Gaines and the Mercury aren’t that dumb defensively, and the double-teams quickly started to arrive.

 

Phoenix’s offense was unsurprisingly led by Diana Taurasi, continuing to illustrate her awesome scoring ability and her willingness to create, which helped Candice Dupree join the scoring. One no-look feed that led Dupree in for an easy layup was particularly pretty.

 

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