Tag Archives: Indiana Fever

WNBA Today, 09/10/2012: Sunday afternoon’s for basketball too

Paying no heed to the opening Sunday of the NFL season, there were five WNBA games on the slate yesterday. But we’ll get to those in a moment – unusually, there’s been some moderately worthwhile news emerging from our league over the last 24 hours.

Firstly, as announced by Cindy Brunson at the WNBA’s Inspiring Women Luncheon (and then first reported by Mel Greenberg via @womhoopsguru), the WNBA draft lottery will be televised by ESPN for the first time on September 26th. That’s much earlier than they’ve held the lottery before, but it should help build some buzz for the league heading into the playoffs. The extra interest this year obviously surrounds the 2013 graduating class that’s led by Baylor center Brittney Griner, with Elena Delle Donne and Skylar Diggins considered pretty nice consolation prizes. It’s good to see both the League and ESPN showing that they’re invested in coming up with new ways to draw people into the WNBA, and get them talking about its potential.

The WNBA also announced today that they’re bringing back the concept of involving fans in the Most Valuable Player Award voting. It’s something they tried in 2008 when Candace Parker won the award, but there’s been a little more thought (and significantly more sense) put into the idea this time. Four years ago the fan voting was weighted as 25% of the overall vote, with the media balloting accounting for the remaining 75%. This time, the entire fan vote will count equal to one media member, with the results sliding in alongside the 41 individual voters. So rather than 25%, the fans’ opinions will be worth about 2.4% this time around. That’s a much better idea, if they really want to give the great unwashed a hand in the MVP award. Many of the media who are given a voice may not actually watch enough games for my taste, but the MVP shouldn’t be allowed to become just a popularity contest. Even I will take the media over the general populace in a vote like this. If you want to join in, you can vote daily here.

In less pleasing news for the WNBA, Mechelle Voepel at ESPN.com published a piece last night revealing that Kayla Pedersen and Temeka Johnson have both missed games recently due to yet another staph infection hitting the Tulsa Shock. It’s the third time in three years that Tulsa players have suffered from staph issues, and it’s not something that paints the franchise or the league in a nice light. It’s also slightly disappointing in the way it highlights the obvious lies that get spouted by teams and the league in relation to injuries. Pedersen was out with ‘flu-like symptoms’, and then just out with no explanation; Johnson had an ‘ankle/abdominal injury’. All of that might be true, but it’s also obviously an attempt to fudge reality.

While Voepel was revealing that unsavoury news on ESPN’s online portal, the TV branch was messing around with their schedules. In case you were expecting to see the Seattle @ Indiana game on ESPN2 on Wednesday night, be aware that you’ll now need either NBA TV or LiveAccess to see that game. Instead, ESPN2 will now be showing the far less interesting Connecticut @ Phoenix game several hours later. The Sun have also already stated that star center Tina Charles will be staying home from that game to rest hip and groin injuries, and recover from general fatigue.

And having got all that out of the way, let’s take a look at the basketball that was actually played yesterday.

 

Minnesota Lynx 81 @ San Antonio Silver Stars 62

  • While San Antonio are back in one piece after center Jayne Appel returned on Friday, Minnesota began this game with star guard and leading scorer Seimone Augustus in street clothes. She was out due to a sprained foot suffered against Atlanta a couple of days ago (although she had been ready to go back into that game, so it’s unlikely that it’s particularly serious). Monica Wright replaced her in the starting lineup. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 09/08/2012 (Part Two): East meets West, while the Sky keep hope alive

So while we’ve already looked at the standout game from Friday night, there were four other games of varying levels of interest as well. Three were cross-conference matchups, which are always more intriguing purely because the teams play each other far less frequently. The squads don’t know each other quite as well, and players clash with different opponents for a change. The fourth was the vital matchup between the two teams still squabbling over the only playoff spot yet to be decided. So let’s get to it.

 

Los Angeles Sparks 96 @ Washington Mystics 68

  • We’re getting this one out of the way as quickly as possible, rather than giving it pride of place at the top of the column because it deserves it. The starting fives were the same again for both teams.
  • There were actually a few positive signs for Washington early on. They were creating points by being aggressive off the dribble, and exploiting the flaws in LA’s pick-and-roll defense (which had been highlighted for them in several recent LA losses to better opponents).
  • Unfortunately for the Mystics, Candace Parker opened the game actually scoring in the paint. Yes, Parker was posting up, looking for feeds down low, and running for finishes in transition as well. That’s what we’ve needed to see from her for a while.
  • LA started to take control towards the end of the first quarter, when Alana Beard was on the floor with a bunch of Sparks backups. It was Jenna O’Hea’s second straight impressive outing, and her arrival looks to have given the LA bench the shot in the arm they were hoping for. She knows her role, she can consistently hit that corner three, and she doesn’t try to do too much in other aspects of the game. So kind of like what Marissa Coleman was supposed to be offering all year, but has largely failed miserably to provide. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 09/07/2012: Dream hold off Fever in likely playoff preview, while it’s blowout-city elsewhere

Apologies for the lack of update yesterday – your WNBAlien correspondent was at the Paralympic wheelchair basketball, watching the USA lose to Australia in the semi-finals for a change. For the record, the women’s semi ended with the kind of screw-job by the officials that would’ve caused years of bitching and moaning from Americans, if it happened in a version of the game they actually pay some attention to. Fortunately for the referees in question, the Paralympics appears to be an even smaller blip on the radar in the US than the WNBA.

So, back to our regularly scheduled programming. In an effort to catch up, we’re going to discuss the one game from the last couple of days that’s worth talking about in detail, then Bullet Point Breakdown the remaining two (which were such consummate blowouts there’s not much to go into). So first up, the probable playoff preview from Wednesday night in Atlanta.

Indiana were the Dream’s visitors, and while nothing’s set in stone just yet, there’s a strong chance that these teams will be meeting in the first round of the postseason. Indiana had narrowed the gap with Connecticut at the top of the Eastern Conference to two games before this matchup, but it’s still going to take a strong finish to have any chance of overhauling the Sun. Atlanta, even while enduring the recent mess surrounding their coaching change and Angel McCoughtry, have continued to win enough games to comfortably hold off New York and Chicago in third. So there was a little extra spice to this game, because everyone knew going in that they were likely to meet again in three weeks’ time, in far more meaningful circumstances.

Indiana opened the game with the same starting five we’ve grown used to; Atlanta still had Angel McCoughtry coming off the bench behind rookie Tiffany Hayes, although Armintie Price regained her starting spot ahead of Cathrine Kraayeveld at the other wing spot. Inside five minutes, Price had picked up two fouls, leading to another sign that the Dream’s recent history is starting to be put behind them. When the same thing had happened a couple of weeks ago (while Marynell Meadors was still running the team), Kraayeveld came into the game as Price’s replacement, sending a message to McCoughtry. This time, McCoughtry subbed in. The franchise is trying to move on, and the only reason Angel is still a ‘reserve’ at this point is that Hayes has played so well as a starter. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 09/02/2012: Triple-header topped off by Merc surprise

Triple-header Saturday in the WNBA, with the three games neatly spread out so that you could catch all of them with a little rest inbetween, or pick and choose to your heart’s content. Of course, inevitably, the only one worth watching finished when the sun was coming up in my part of the world, but you still have to applaud the effort of the schedulers. This was a significant upgrade on nights when four games take place simultaneously, WNBA.

On to the Bullet Point Breakdowns.

 

Washington Mystics 73 @ New York Liberty 79

  • Both teams made changes to their starting lineups. Trudi Lacey shuffled her Mystics pack yet again, promoting Noelle Quinn over Matee Ajavon at shooting guard (for the second time in 10 days), and Ashley Robinson over Michelle Snow at center. Shifting deckchairs on the Titanic, again.
  • New York’s changes at least seemed to serve a purpose. Essence Carson replaced Leilani Mitchell in the backcourt, while Kara Braxton came in for Kia Vaughn at center. Essentially, John Whisenant was putting all his scorers on the floor from the beginning. Using Carson over Mitchell would seem to put more pressure on Cappie Pondexter to run the offense, but Carson can pass the ball as well and offers more of a threat to score. Vaughn’s barely been involved in the offense lately, while Braxton is always looking to score while she’s on the floor – even if she can’t keep moving for long. This was a clear effort to create more offense.
  • It sort of worked in the early stages, but a lot of New York possessions were boiling down to Carson or Pondexter going one-on-one. That’s useful on occasion, but you don’t want to revolve your entire offense around it.
  • For Washington, Monique Currie was driving, drawing fouls as she often does. Crystal Langhorne was finishing inside, as she typically does when they can get her the ball. And the guards hit a couple of threes. That was enough to hang around in the first quarter.
  • However, Washington’s offense disintegrated in the second period, as their common affliction – turnover disease – returned with a vengeance. The Liberty still had Pondexter and Carson making plays, and received a boost when the aggressive and effective version of Kara Braxton made an appearance. She and Michelle Snow – a similarly talented yet painfully frustrating center – went at each other, and both scored buckets past the other’s half-hearted defense. Braxton eventually came out on top by making one or two extra plays, and having guards who could find her in better positions. The Liberty were up 45-32 by halftime. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 08/31/2012: Five games, zero trades

Apologies for the lateness of this posting, but while yesterday was the trade deadline in the WNBA, today was the transfer deadline for English Premier League soccer teams. And because something actually happens on deadline day over here, following those events was higher up my priority list than detailing last night’s WNBA action.

In case there’s anyone still wondering, no trades whatsoever took place before the WNBA deadline. No big deal for Angel McCoughtry, no tiny deal for the 11th player on the end of a lottery team’s bench. In Connecticut, Tan White signed contract extension for an extra year and Jessica Moore was signed through the end of this season. That was it for transaction news league-wide. Ah well, maybe next year. On to the basketball.

 

Indiana Fever 76 @ New York Liberty 63 and

Washington Mystics 59 @ Atlanta Dream 82

  • Yes, for the first time in WNBAlien history (but probably not the last) we’re combining two games into one Bullet Point Breakdown entry. Two tight but exceedingly dull first-halves led into comfortable second-half victories, so this is all they deserve.
  • New York and Indiana had their expected starting fives on the floor again, while Atlanta and Washington were also both the same as in their previous appearances. Which meant Matee Ajavon kept her starting spot for the Mystics, and Angel McCoughtry was still nowhere to be seen for the Dream.
  • Again, remarkably tedious first-halves. In New York, Indiana’s offense was largely coming down to whether Tamika Catchings and Katie Douglas could hit shots, and their limited accuracy kept the Fever’s offense from being particularly effective. The Liberty themselves were turning the ball over so often that they barely even seemed to have the chance to take a shot. Indiana led 30-26 at halftime.
  • Meanwhile in Atlanta, the turnovers were just as plentiful, but more evenly spread between the opponents. Sancho Lyttle – thank the heavens – was looking to pass more from the top of the arc rather than fire up threes, but the Dream were missing a host of layups even when they held on to the ball long enough to shoot. Between Crystal Langhorne’s ability to actually finish inside and Monique Currie hitting a few shots, Washington were actually competitive in the first half, and finished it up 33-31. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 08/29/2012 (Part Two): …and the Basketball

Yes, in amongst all the off-court shenanigans, they’re still playing some games. However, if the players can do whatever the hell they want, so can I. So chronology is going out the window today, and the Bullet Point Breakdown is kicking off with far and away the most entertaining game of the evening. Who cares if it was the last one to finish? Coverage of all the other games is here as well, you just have to scroll down a little.

 

San Antonio Silver Stars 84 @ Minnesota Lynx 96

  • While the maelstrom has been whirling elsewhere, both these teams just keep on riding the waves. Minnesota came in having won six straight, while San Antonio’s only loss in their last 14 games was last week in Los Angeles. Both teams had their well-established starting lineups out there to open the contest.
  • The matchups when these teams face each other continue to be absolutely fascinating. Compared to most teams, Minnesota are big on the perimeter. Lindsay Whalen isn’t huge, but she’s muscular and physical for a point guard; Seimone Augustus and Maya Moore are both pretty tall and strong for wings. San Antonio, on the other hand, are kinda tiny. Danielle Robinson and Becky Hammon make a diminutive backcourt, and while Shameka Christon is a similar size to Augustus and Moore, 5’8” Jia Perkins sees plenty of minutes as the de facto small forward. So inevitably, San Antonio has to deal with Minnesota shooters by using significantly smaller defenders on them, challenging as much as possible, and sending help. The Lynx, at the same time, have to worry about keeping up with the quick and tricky Silver Star guards.
  • Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve blinked first in the initial chess match, replacing Whalen and Moore with Candice Wiggins and Monica Wright less than 4 minutes into the game. That fixes the matchup problems for San Antonio, because there are instantly enough smaller players on the floor for them to guard more naturally. It was odd to see Reeve make that move even earlier than her usual rotation would dictate.
  • While the use of Hammon to defend Moore in the past has been particularly interesting and effective – and we saw that again periodically throughout this game – San Antonio also seem to have developed a fondness for using Robinson to guard Augustus. Presumably it’s because they like Robinson’s ability to use her quickness chasing Augustus around all the screens that Minnesota set for her, and at least be somewhere near her to challenge on jump shots. Because in straight-up matchups, Augustus can shoot right over her.
  • This was a fun game, played by two teams that are obviously brimming with confidence. Both teams were more than happy to push the pace whenever they had the chance, and both have the necessary team ethos to play effective defense. Neither could create much separation on the scoreboard. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 08/26/2012: Superstars return, as WNBA leaders keep on winning

So with four games yesterday in the WNBA, and four comfortable wins for the obvious favourites, most of the interest was focussed on the soap operas. Would Angel McCoughtry return from her ‘personal reasons’ for Atlanta? Would Dream coach Marynell Meadors let her? Would Diana Taurasi finally play for Phoenix? Or would her dog eat her shoelace to keep her off the floor? Would the stars of Los Angeles and New York become so tired of all the attention drifting elsewhere that they’d start a fight to compete?

Well that last one’s a little unfair, but I had to throw in something from the other games. On to the Bullet Point Breakdown, where all will be revealed.

 

Minnesota Lynx 84 @ Atlanta Dream 74

  • As reported by Rebecca Lobo and her ESPN cohorts an hour or two before tip-off, McCoughtry was in uniform and ready to play in the nationally televised rematch of last year’s WNBA Finals. But there was still no coherent explanation for the absence, and Angel was ‘no longer a captain’ (they used to have three, now it’s just Armintie Price and Sancho Lyttle). So something happened, but we still don’t know exactly what.
  • Tiffany Hayes kept her starting spot ahead of McCoughtry. Minnesota, typically free from drama, had their standard five on the floor.
  • As she’d already illustrated in the two games Angel spent off-court, Hayes is developing into a pretty useful alternative. She was the one driving into the paint to create offense for Atlanta in the early minutes, while Minnesota settled for – and missed – a series of perimeter shots.
  • Barely three minutes into the game, Meadors got to make a pretty obvious point to her returning star. Armintie Price had picked up two quick fouls, and the straight swap off the bench would clearly have been McCoughtry. Instead, Meadors went to Cathrine Kraayeveld, who’s barely a small forward at the best of times – never mind when Maya Moore and Monica Wright are playing that spot for the other team. That was a pointed “the team’s bigger than you, Angel” statement from the coach. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 08/24/2012: Comebacks, non-comebacks, and the Sparks send a message

Last night in the WNBA was all about comebacks. One superstar returned for her first appearance of the year; one was supposedly on the brink, then yet again absent; another was a hot topic of conversation despite her team not even having a game. There was even a storming comeback to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in one of the games, while the dominant performance in the evening’s big matchup was by a player in her first season back after years out of basketball.

So read on, enjoy, and please come back again soon.

 

New York Liberty 89 @ Phoenix Mercury 77

  • So Diana Taurasi was supposed to play in this game. The Mercury swear her name was on the lineup sheet, and she was even going to start. Then apparently she felt dizzy and light-headed in warmups, so Phoenix head coach Corey Gaines pulled her. She spent the rest of the night offering encouragement from the bench. Now it’s perfectly plausible that someone who had multiple wisdom teeth removed last week, and has been on prescription drugs since, might not feel 100% when asked to play professional sports. And you’d expect the Mercury to be extra-careful with her, especially considering they have few remaining reasons to win games this year. But you just had to laugh. She’ll probably play eventually this season, and the Mercury are bad enough to carry on losing even with her on the floor, but on the face of it the excuses are becoming increasingly ludicrous. Maybe she’ll miss Saturday’s game with a hang nail.
  • Continuing the comeback theme, New York’s star and leader is Cappie Pondexter. She made her name and won a couple of titles with the Mercury, before forcing a trade to the Liberty. She’s had some spiky encounters with her old team in the years since, including one minor fracas that got her ejected. Plenette Pierson and Kara Braxton both have chequered histories with the Mercury as well, but without quite the same profile.
  • Same starting five again for New York; Nakia Sanford arbitrarily in for Avery Warley in the post for Phoenix. The Mercury also had recent signing Briana Gilbreath in uniform for the first time, and with their pile-up of injuries, she had to join the action pretty quickly.
  • The early minutes were just like every other recent Mercury game. Terrible defense, allowing the Liberty whatever they wanted inside or out; and DeWanna Bonner and Sammy Prahalis taking virtually every shot at the other end, mostly from long range. With Pondexter leading the attack and point guard Leilani Mitchell knocking down threes, New York inevitably grabbed a comfortable 30-16 lead by the end of the first quarter. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 08/22/2012: Western powers roll; Sun survive a scare; Sky keep falling

Five games last night. They really don’t think about the poor writers when they come up with these schedules. For those of you who prefer the standard article format, rest assured that it will return on nights when there are fewer games to discuss. But for now, on to the Bullet Point Breakdown of all five games from Tuesday.

 

Tulsa Shock 80 @ Connecticut Sun 82

  • Starting forwards were still missing for both teams, Asjha Jones with her achilles issue and Kayla Pedersen presumably still suffering from the flu-like symptoms which kept her out on Sunday. Mistie Mims was again the replacement for Connecticut, while Tulsa went with Chante Black this time to fill Pedersen’s spot. Presumably in the hope that Black could help slow down Tina Charles. Ivory Latta also received her first start since the Olympic break, at that revolving wing spot where Gary Kloppenburg keeps rotating through his options.
  • The opening minutes were a little embarrassing for Kalana Greene. She’s basically out there for her defense, because she doesn’t offer a great deal at the other end of the floor. Her assignment to start this game was Roneeka Hodges, who was ridiculously open for two three-pointers to kick off Tulsa’s scoring.
  • In Greene’s defense, Hodges was wide open for her third triple as well, seconds after Greene was finally benched. Some of it came down to Connecticut’s defensive scheme, rather than individual failings, as became increasingly clear all night.
  • Connecticut’s defense, most of the time, is based around a similar idea to a lot of defensive systems in this league: the basic view that there aren’t that many players in the WNBA who can consistently knock down the three. They try to cut off penetration, and if anyone gets beaten off the dribble, the help sags inside to cover. Inevitably, that leaves shooters open on the wings at times, because that’s where the help is coming from. But they’ll live with that if they have to. You rotate and recover as quickly as possible to challenge the three if the ball gets kicked out, but that shot’s an acceptable risk compared to the potential layup attempt you’d otherwise give up. Tulsa got a bunch of those open threes on the wing in this game (and didn’t actually hit that many – so the plan mostly worked). Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 08/19/2012 (Part Two): Eastern power holds; LA complete Storm sweep

On with the slightly more timely coverage of Saturday’s games, where Eastern clashes went exactly as the standings would suggest, and home-court advantage wasn’t enough to compensate for injuries and absences in the one Western contest.

 

New York Liberty 74 @ Connecticut Sun 85

  • Two teams which had faced each other only two days earlier in New York clashed again. Connecticut were looking for a quick rebound, after a pretty miserable loss on Thursday night. They were still without Asjha Jones due to her achilles injury. As you’d expect, New York kept faith with the same lineup that helped win the previous game.
  • It was quickly apparent that Connecticut weren’t going to perform as they had 48 hours earlier. Tina Charles, who was utterly anonymous on Thursday, was straight into the action with a little jump hook over Plenette Pierson. Kara Lawson, also terrible in the last game, immediately started knocking down shots. A couple of days to think about their performance and rest up, plus the return to their own home court, appeared to have helped the Sun enormously.
  • Although while their offense was much improved, Connecticut couldn’t stop New York at the other end in the early stages. Nicole Powell and Cappie Pondexter in particular were firing away and making shots, keeping pace with Connecticut. In fact, the Liberty held a narrow lead after a high-scoring first quarter, 26-23.
  • Turnovers began to hurt the Liberty, and Connecticut took more of a grip on the game as the first half progressed. For possibly the first time all season, Sun coach Mike Thibault decided to simply ride Charles as far as he could, letting her play the entire 20 minutes of the first half. She rewarded him with 9-13 shooting for 19 points by the break, largely on layups and finishes around the rim. This was a Tina Charles making a statement, showing definitively that Thursday night was merely a blip. The Sun were up 47-43 at halftime, despite allowing New York to shoot 55% from the floor to that point. Continue reading →