Tag Archives: Los Angeles Sparks

WNBA Today, 09/21/2012: Playoff ‘race’ concludes with a whimper

So last night brought the 2012 WNBA playoff chase to a conclusion in an entirely appropriate way, considering how the final two contenders have played for most of the year. Not with a bang or an explosive victory, but with the faint whistle of the air finally being sucked out of a wrinkled balloon. Or, if you prefer less flowery language, someone had to fill the spot, and finally a team was shoved over the line.

There was also a nightcap game between the teams which may well contest the Western Conference Finals, but unless you’re an optimistic Los Angeles Sparks fan, that was equally uninspiring.

 

New York Liberty 66 @ Tulsa Shock 78

  • New York had their destiny in their own hands. A victory over Tulsa would’ve stamped their ticket to the postseason. After missing the final 7 minutes of their previous game for no obvious reason, Plenette Pierson began this one on the bench, with DeMya Walker starting in her place. With Tulsa providing the broadcast, there was no information as to why, but presumably Pierson’s either carrying an injury or there was some kind of disciplinary reason. She was in the game after less than five minutes. Tulsa’s starting lineup was unchanged.
  • New York didn’t look much like a team fighting to confirm their playoff spot in the first half. In fact, most of their play looked half-hearted and aimless, with plenty of sloppy turnovers and a host of jacked up jump shots. The only effective offense was when they found Kara Braxton in the post, who took advantage of Tulsa’s lack of interior presence to provide some buckets.
  • Meanwhile, Tulsa fired away from long range and sank a host of threes, often left wide open by the lackadaisical Liberty defense. There was the occasional drive from the likes of Ivory Latta, but the perimeter bombing made up the bulk of Tulsa’s offense, and carried them to a 45-30 halftime lead. Temeka Johnson was 5-6 overall, 3-4 from beyond the arc, for 15 points in the opening 20 minutes. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 09/19/2012: Playoff Picture continues to clear, as Sky fade meekly away

Most of the important issues in the WNBA playoff race (and a lot of the unimportant ones) were decided a long time ago, which has made it a struggle to retain interest in the closing weeks of the regular season. However, technically, last night’s three games all still had some relevance to either playoff qualification or home court advantage in the postseason. Which isn’t bad with only six days left. On to the Bullet Point Breakdowns.

 

New York Liberty 66 @ San Antonio Silver Stars 77

  • The night kicked off with the only game where both teams had something to play for. Mathematically, at least. New York were the team who needed it more, with a ‘magic number’ of two heading into the night. They still needed a combination of two more Liberty wins or Chicago Sky losses just to sneak into the playoffs. San Antonio still had faint hopes of stealing home court advantage away from Los Angeles in the first round, but it was going to take wins in their last three games, and LA losing their last two, to get there.
  • Throughout the contest, San Antonio’s best player was second-year point guard Danielle Robinson, who’s had a very impressive season. She’s lightning quick, which both helps her get to the rim and pester opponents defensively. It also means that if she pokes away a steal or breaks out in transition, no one’s catching her. She’s also worked hard on her mid-range jumper, which has been falling consistently all season long. You can’t just leave her open to take that shot any more, because she’s shooting 55% from the field and it’s not just layups. In fact, she’s shooting 47% from both 11-15 and 16-20 feet, way above the league averages. Her control of the team as a point guard has improved as well. Since being drafted she’s benefitted from playing alongside Becky Hammon, who takes on a lot of the creative responsibilities, but she’s not just standing on the wing and watching Becky work any more. She’s legitimately the point guard on significantly more possessions, and has increased her assists while lowering her turnovers this season. The PG spot in San Antonio should be in good hands for years to come.
  • Robinson’s primary partner in crime early in the game was Shameka Christon, who seems to have rediscovered her three-point shooting touch recently. Which is a good thing, because she doesn’t do much else. The Silver Stars run plays designed purely to get her open from her favourite spots for three (diagonal from the rim out on the wing, on either side), and she was converting. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 09/15/2012: Two potential Finals previews, two mismatches, and one running (unfunny) joke

There were five WNBA games last night, but we’re going to split them into three very distinct categories. Firstly, there were two matchups that could’ve been previews of the WNBA Finals coming up in October. Then we’ve got two games which were won by playoff teams against squads that were either seriously understrength or just aren’t very good. Then there’s a final game which I refuse to waste more than a few words on seeing as one franchise is taking the concept of quitting on a season to a whole new level. As you might expect, the level of detail in the coverage is going to decrease significantly as we progress through this column.

 

Minnesota Lynx 66 @ Indiana Fever 64

  • For the third straight game, Minnesota were without star shooting guard Seimone Augustus due to a sprained right foot. It still seems like a precaution more than anything to worry about. The Lynx have virtually everything sealed up in terms of home-court advantage, so there’s no need to rush her back. Monica Wright once again deputised, while Indiana had their regular starting unit in place.
  • Indiana have been rolling lately, winning 10 of 12 since the Olympic break, but they’ve beaten a lot of poor teams or sides mired in losing streaks over that stretch. This was a chance to really test themselves against one of the best. The opening minutes didn’t look good, as jump shot after jump shot clanked off the iron for the Fever, and even on rare drives they were failing to convert. Point guard Briann January attacking Lindsay Whalen was the only option offering any success.
  • Meanwhile, Minnesota started quickly behind transition baskets and Rebekkah Brunson’s mid-range jumper. This was the first time we’d seen Indiana face the Lynx since Tamika Catchings’s full-time move to power forward, which created a direct matchup between her and Brunson. Each obviously creates problems for the other – Catchings has perimeter skills that make it hard for Brunson to cover her; Brunson is a bruiser inside and frequently a demon on the boards. Early on Brunson had the edge.
  • Indiana finally started to make some shots as the opening quarter progressed, with January and Catchings both connecting from outside. Katie Douglas was still ice cold, which allowed Minnesota to maintain their lead. Once again, this has become the fear for Indiana – if their shooters go cold for a night from outside, can they create enough offense via any other route to survive?
  • The defenses were active and dangerous for both teams, but Indiana’s continued to break down slightly more frequently as the first half progressed. They were switching constantly, but also pushing into passing lanes and trying to cut off entry passes. A team like Minnesota was smart enough to use that against them, and reverse passes or backdoor cuts found gaps behind the Fever defense on several occasions. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 09/14/2012: Led by stud rookie, Sparks slip by the Sky

Just the one WNBA game last night, but it was an intriguing encounter. Chicago had the most to play for, coming into Thursday half-a-game behind New York for the final Eastern playoff spot. With the season series between the Sky and Liberty tied at 2-2, if they finished with the same record it would go to conference record to decide. New York were at 9-12 (with one Eastern game left in Washington on Sunday) and Chicago at 7-13 (two Eastern games left, against Atlanta and Washington), giving the Liberty the upper hand. An upset win in Los Angeles to pull them level in the standings would’ve been huge for their postseason push.

However, LA had their own reasons to fight for the victory. 1.5 games clear of San Antonio in second place in the West, they still need wins to make sure of home-court advantage in their first-round playoff series against the Silver Stars. But more importantly, the Sparks had lost 4 of their last 5 games, several of them with fairly pitiful performances. This was the start of a four-game home stand for LA to close out the regular season, and they needed to start finding some form before we hit the postseason.

The Sky were still without star center Sylvia Fowles and veteran point guard Ticha Penicheiro, but having broken Minnesota’s 11-game winning streak on Tuesday night without either of those players, they should’ve been confident that they could survive without them. Courtney Vandersloot continued at the point, with Carolyn Swords in the paint.

As we saw when these teams played each other a couple of weeks ago, the way each team tries to set up their perimeter defense creates immediate interest. Both teams want their defensive stopper on the other side’s most dangerous perimeter scorer, which means Tamera Young guards Kristi Toliver for Chicago, and Alana Beard tracks Epiphanny Prince for LA. That’s fine for the Sparks, because the shooting guard is simply taking the shooting guard, allowing Toliver to defend Vandersloot, and DeLisha Milton-Jones to cover Young. But for Chicago, their small forward is sliding over to cover LA’s point guard. It leaves the Sky’s small backcourt of Vandersloot and Prince to cover Beard and Milton-Jones. Even on the official rosters (which tend to be generous), Chicago’s starting guards are listed at 5’8” and 5’9”. Beard and Milton-Jones are officially 5’11” and 6’1”. Basic size was going to be an issue for Chicago all night.

However, defense wasn’t the Sky’s main problem early on. Rather than just switching on practically every screen, which tends to be LA’s modus operandi defensively, they were trapping Prince and Vandersloot off ball screens with hard, active double-teams. And Chicago were absolutely atrocious at handling it. Multiple times they simply gave away the ball under LA’s pressure, unable or unwilling to make the pass out of the trap. It’s a pretty basic defensive tactic, which can be negated by quick ball movement, setting screens off the ball instead of on, or simply breaking down your defender without bringing a screen over to begin with. But Chicago didn’t manage any of that for much of the game – certainly not in the opening quarter. Continue reading →

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, 09/05/2012: Conference leaders keep rolling

The Connecticut Sun and Minnesota Lynx both led their respective conferences heading into the WNBA’s Olympic break, and both still sat in first place heading into their games last night. But their paths since the midseason hiatus have differed. Connecticut looked the more comfortable leaders in the first half of the season, but with injury issues in their post corps and some inconsistent performances, Indiana have been narrowing the gap. Minnesota had their letdown period and injury issues before the break, but have gotten healthy and are yet to lose a game in the second half of the season. Meanwhile, nearest Western challengers San Antonio and Los Angeles have started slipping up. The Sun and Lynx remain the favourites to meet in the WNBA Finals, but it’s Minnesota who’ve started to look more certain participants.

Connecticut were the first on-court last night, facing their fifth and final meeting of the season with the hapless Washington Mystics. Unsurprisingly, considering Washington were 5-21 coming into the game, Connecticut had won all of the previous four encounters. The Sun were still without starting power forward Asjha Jones due to her achilles injury, but at least her backup Mistie Mims was available again, after recovering from her own quad strain. Mims went right back into the starting lineup ahead of Kelsey Griffin. For the second straight game, Washington started Noelle Quinn on the perimeter and Ashley Robinson in the post, ahead of previous regular starters Matee Ajavon and Michelle Snow.

The official attendance released after the game read 5,980, but the number of people watching looked like it probably fell in the three-digit range. In that spirit, and due to the fact that it’s increasingly difficult to find anything worth saying about Mystics games, this report will hopefully remain reasonably short.

It’s not that this Washington team are completely untalented or consistently useless. If that were the case, they’d be losing every game by 30 points. They simply have too many breakdowns at either end of the floor, and too many mental errors to beat better teams. Their main chance of winning games at this point is the hope that a random player or two might get hot from outside, and their opponent might take them too lightly. Connecticut did their best to help Washington out early in this game, sleepwalking through the opening stages and allowing the Mystics to hold a 5-point lead at the end of the first quarter. Crystal Langhorne, Washington’s one true star-quality player, was the central figure in their offense, knocking down jumpers from the top of the key and finishing with her usual tenacity inside. The Sun seemed to have largely forgotten that they had Tina Charles as an option in the paint, and their only decent offense came from Kara Lawson jump shots. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 09/03/2012: Atlanta’s conquering heroine returns, while Sparks are exposed again

Maybe the USA should have more public holidays. Two WNBA games yesterday, and anyone who took the time to catch them during Labor Day weekend saw some decidedly entertaining basketball. Or for those of us in different countries, it was just a nice Sunday.

The games began with what hopefully was also a conclusion. Atlanta were hosting Connecticut, and Angel McCoughtry was in uniform and ready to play. She’d missed two games prior to Marynell Meadors’s departure as Dream head coach and general manager, then missed two more while ‘indefinitely suspended’ by Meadors’s replacement, Fred Williams. On Wednesday, he’d reportedly presented her with a written list of requirements that she needed to sign and comply with before being reinstated to the team. Presumably, she’d agreed to his terms, because Angel was back.

Not back in the starting lineup just yet, however. Rookie guard Tiffany Hayes continued to start, and the only change for Atlanta was Cathrine Kraayeveld beginning the game ahead of Armintie Price (possibly because Price missed a practice to attend a funeral, rather than a strange coach’s decision). Connecticut once again had Kelsey Griffin starting at power forward, with Asjha Jones and Mistie Mims still out due to injury. The Sun post corps is scraping by with about two-and-a-half options at the moment.

Besides the inevitable McCoughtry drama, the post is where much of the interest lies in this matchup. Connecticut were a better team than Atlanta for much of last season, and finished ahead of them in the standings, earning home-court advantage for their first-round playoff series. But largely because of the job that Erika de Souza did on Sun star center Tina Charles, Atlanta swept Connecticut out of the postseason. With Erika having skipped the first half of the 2012 WNBA season to prepare for the Olympics with Brazil, this was their first encounter since that playoff series (meaningless USA-Brazil international friendlies don’t count).

The big centers started going at each other from the opening possessions. Charles wasn’t backing down, but as always the physicality of de Souza was making things difficult for her. Erika forces Charles to work hard for everything she gets, including the initial post position she can set up in. While many of the efforts were moves and shots that she typically takes against everyone, it was noticeable that every attempt Charles took in the early stages – and for most of the rest of the game – was either a face-up jump shot, or a post move that took her away from the basket. Practically nothing was with Charles moving towards the rim. 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, 08/26/2012: 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 →