Tag Archives: Los Angeles Sparks

WNBA Today, 06/25/2012: Ever Increasing Victories

So, three WNBA games this Sunday, and the levels of defeat became increasingly comprehensive as we went along. It was like the basketball gods were tired of this week and just wanted it over and done with. They had no time left for tight, hard-fought contests. This was a day where the threat of overtime never even remotely raised its head above the parapet.

First up was Atlanta’s trip to New York, a game which completed the four-game season series between these teams, despite the fact that it’s still June. Address all complaints to the WNBA scheduling department. While they’ve had a largely miserable start to the season, two of the Liberty’s four wins this year have come over the Dream, so a win in this game would’ve taken the series 3-1 and given them the tie-break over Atlanta. Assuming New York still have hopes of making the playoffs, that’s something that could come into play later in the year. Thoroughly inconsistent themselves this year, the Dream were looking to bounce back from a loss to this same Liberty squad last Tuesday.

Making that recovery far more likely was the simple fact that leading scorer and star player Angel McCoughtry was back in uniform, after missing a couple of games with an MCL sprain. There was more encouraging news for the Dream in that both Tiffany Hayes and Lindsey Harding were dressed and ready to play after their ankle injuries late in the last game. Ketia Swanier had been moved into the starting lineup, but Harding was fit enough to come off the bench. She looked like she was in a lot of pain on Tuesday night, so it was good to see her in one piece. New York were still without Plenette Pierson due to what was previously a hyperextended knee – although the official listing in the box score for this game read ‘calf strain’.

The first quarter was dominated by Atlanta. McCoughtry came out firing, but the Dream swiftly realised that they could knife through what New York were generously calling ‘defense’ at will. While the Liberty were clanking perimeter jumpers off the rim, Atlanta were constantly in the paint for layups, either in transition or in the halfcourt. It was far too easy for the Dream, and they were up 26-16 by the end of the first quarter.

The opening period also contained one of the worst charging calls you’re ever likely to see. Armintie Price was coming in for a layup, and Essence Carson was still sliding both backwards and sideways when she flopped on the ground after barely any contact from Price. Hideous call.

The only good sign for New York in the first quarter was that point guard Leilani Mitchell was already 3-3 from three-point range. In general, when Mitchell’s produced points this season, the Liberty have won games. Now they just needed to remember how to do everything else. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 06/24/2012: Favourites all cement their superiority. Just.

Sorry for the lack of post yesterday – it’s been a busy few days in WNBAlien-land. Everything should be back to normal next week. For now, we’re going to catch up on Friday night’s game, as well as everything that happened on Saturday. Everyone who was supposed to win eventually took care of business, but some of them did it with far greater ease than others.

 

San Antonio Silver Stars 76 @ Seattle Storm 82

  • Both teams went with the starting fives we’ve come to expect from recent games. Seattle’s bench was slightly shorter than usual with Victoria Dunlap out again due to concussion – but then, Brian Agler probably wouldn’t have used her anyway.
  • Those starting lineups created a matchup at center between Ann Wauters and Jayne Appel, and once again it didn’t reflect well on Wauters. The Belgian is supposed to be a top-level pivot, one of the better centers around, at least offensively. Appel, on the other hand, has been a huge disappointment for most of her WNBA career, and we’re still waiting on her to prove she even belongs at this level. Wauters makes her look good. It seems like the perfect matchup for Appel, who bodies Wauters just enough to make her uncomfortable, usually without drawing whistles. Wauters should be able to do better against her, but it’s the second time in two games between these teams that the Storm center has done practically nothing.
  • Meanwhile, defensively, Wauters continues to be a conspicuous flaw in the Storm’s structure. Everyone else is starting to work it out and find their old form, but her rotations and mobility are weak, and she gets lost an awful lot. A central part of the Storm starting the season so poorly is that Wauters was meant to be better than this. Replacing Lauren Jackson with her has proven to be a huge step down.
  • As a unit, it didn’t feel like Seattle were playing that poorly in the early stages, but they couldn’t make any shots. The team defense was still largely working as it should, but Jia Perkins came in for San Antonio and actually tickled the twine. The Silver Stars led 17-11 at the end of the first quarter as a result.
  • Danielle Adams offers a balance to Wauters: she can’t move or guard anyone either. In this game, she also couldn’t hit any shots, which essentially made her useless. Continue reading →

WNBA Todays 06/21/2012 & 06/22/2012: Double the W

Apologies for the late posting, it’s been one of those weeks where WNBAlien is restricted by non-WNBA related matters. In order to make up for it, we offer up a double dose of WNBA coverage – both of Wednesday’s games, and both of Thursday’s as well. So two later than usual, but two considerably earlier. See, it all evens out in the end.

Let’s hit the Bullet Point Breakdowns.

 

Washington Mystics 77 @ Phoenix Mercury 88

  • Already without Penny Taylor and Diana Taurasi, the Mercury were missing Candice Dupree and Nakia Sanford for this game as well. Both had picked up ‘left knee contusions’ in the loss to Tulsa on Sunday night. Assuming you believe the Mercury (more on that later). Alexis Hornbuckle and Krystal Thomas came into the starting lineup.
  • Washington stuck with the same starting five they’ve used lately (including the blowout loss to LA on Monday).
  • Most of this game was pretty awful, in terms of actual basketball. In the first half, against a woefully understrength Mercury team, Washington settled for far too many jump shots. Phoenix did the best they could with the personnel they had left, but came out with their 3-2 zone which constantly left shooters ludicrously open.
  • It’s amazing how often Mercury players seem to be close enough to challenge shots, but their arms are down by their sides. How hard is it to stick your hand in the air and make some mild effort to contest? Don’t they teach you that when you’re five? Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 06/19/2012: Sparks prove a pain in the Nnek for Mystics

Sometimes, single-game nights in the WNBA can be especially useful and interesting. It allows the focus to narrow for specific concentration on just one contest and two teams, without having to split your attention. On other occasions, it means there’s only one awful game to watch, and nothing else more deserving of your time to concentrate on. Suffice it to say, this won’t be one of the longest WNBAlien columns since the inauguration of this website.

The easy storyline coming into last night’s game was how ridiculously comfortable both teams should’ve been with facing each other. On the Los Angeles roster, Alana Beard, Marissa Coleman, Coco Miller, DeLisha Milton-Jones and Nicky Anosike are all former Mystics. For Washington, Noelle Quinn, Natasha Lacy, Lindsay Wisdom-Hylton and Shannon Bobbitt have all previously played for the Sparks. The Mystics also have LaToya Pringle on their suspended list, and Marianne Stanley and Jen Gillom on their coaching staff, all of whom were also once employed by last night’s opposition. These teams knew a hell of a lot about each other before we got started.

The important news for LA was that Nneka Ogwumike was back, after missing Saturday’s game in San Antonio in order to attend her graduation ceremony at Stanford. She went right back into the starting lineup in place of Miller. After finding a way to beat Indiana on Friday night with an altered starting five, Washington unsurprisingly stuck with that group, featuring Jasmine Thomas and Matee Ajavon in the backcourt.

It was a desperately, pathetically ugly first quarter. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 06/17/2012: Potential Playoff Primers; Prince in Pain

Just two games this Saturday in the WNBA, but both with potential playoff implications down the line. Both could even be early previews of matchups we might see in the 2012 postseason.

The first game to tip off was Chicago’s trip to Indiana. The Sky held the prettier record heading into the game, but Indiana are the team with the history of making and advancing in the playoffs. All this winning is new to Chicago and they’re going to have to keep proving themselves as the season goes along. The Fever had lost three in a row, including a disappointing performance in Washington the night before. They needed a bounce-back performance to stop this losing streak from lingering and causing serious consternation.

Chicago made a switch to their starting five, noticeably trying to match up with this year’s smaller Fever starting lineup, featuring Tamika Catchings at power forward. The Sky slid Swin Cash to the 4 to guard Catchings, bringing Tamera Young in as an extra perimeter player and moving Ruth Riley to the bench. With Riley out there, Sylvia Fowles had been forced to guard Catchings in their previous game against the Fever, which puts added pressure on Big Syl. The change allowed Fowles to take Tammy Sutton-Brown as her initial assignment, and offer her standard help defense wherever else it proved necessary.

Unfortunately for the Sky, the lineup change ultimately proved something of a waste of time. Twice inside the opening three minutes of the game, Shavonte Zellous drove around Courtney Vandersloot, who bumped her as Zellous tried to shoot. Both occasions drew fouls on the Sky point guard, Sloot went to the bench, and Riley was back in anyway. So much for the new lineup.

Despite having their pre-game plans disrupted, Chicago were flowing nicely in the opening quarter. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 06/16/2012: Blowouts, a squeaker, and a little bit of history

It was another heavy evening of action in the WNBA on Friday, with five games taking place in one night. Fortunately for me, the teams decided to take it easy on us poor writers and offer up an array of blowouts. Some of them even would’ve benefitted from a WNBA version of the mercy rule. Nonetheless, there were still some interesting moments, and one game that went down to the wire, so let’s get to it: WNBAlien Bullet Point Breakdown-style.

 

Indiana Fever 66 @ Washington Mystics 67

  • Tammy Sutton-Brown returned to the starting lineup at center for Indiana, after being losing her spot to Jessica Davenport for one game. Briann January continued to start in place of Erin Phillips at the point, with the Australian still in Europe with her national team.
  • Washington switched things up, with Jasmine Thomas, Matee Ajavon and Noelle Quinn starting on the perimeter. Dominique Canty was waived earlier in the week, and Monique Currie went to the bench. Mystics coach Trudi Lacey was clearly trying to avoid the horrendous starts her team has made a habit of lately, and was opening the game with the lineup that keyed Washington’s comeback in their previous game. She also had Canty’s replacement, Shannon Bobbitt, as a new point guard option off the pine.
  • The fresh starting lineup seemed to work for the Mystics. They avoided digging their typical first half hole, and even built a small lead in the second quarter. Indiana’s problem was that when they couldn’t get out and run off steals or long rebounds, their halfcourt offense wasn’t creating anything. There was very little going to the rim, resulting in a lot of jumpers, very few of which were falling.

WNBA Today, 06/14/2012: Parker puts on a show; Sky box out the Storm

So there were two WNBA games taking place last night, one on national television, and one available for live viewing virtually nowhere. So we likely had one of the most watched games of the regular season, and one of the least watched, taking place simultaneously. Fortunately, the one on ESPN2 was the significantly better spectacle. We here at WNBAlien, of course, play no favourites. Full coverage of both games follows, and yes, every minute of both games was witnessed. Just not live, thanks to those silly blackout rules.

Let’s start with the big game on the ‘Worldwide Leader’. Both Connecticut and Los Angeles came into this matchup with only one loss, but due to the teams they’d beaten and some late escapes the Sparks generally weren’t considered as impressive. This was their chance to prove themselves against a real test. LA had guard Alana Beard back in the lineup after she missed their previous game with a hamstring injury, but now had backup post Ebony Hoffman missing thanks to an ankle sprain. Connecticut had no injury issues, and head coach Mike Thibault stuck with Allison Hightower in his starting lineup ahead of Kalana Greene.

It was a scrappy start from the Sun, who were making too many passes that resulted in turnovers or at least tips by the Sparks defenders. LA are a long team – DeLisha Milton-Jones at small forward is far bigger than any of Connecticut’s wings, and Beard is pretty big for a guard as well – and it took the Sun a while to adapt. Meanwhile, although the Sparks were firing away a little too freely from outside, Nneka Ogwumike was doing her typical yeoman’s work on the offensive boards and cleaning up the leftovers.

Out of a timeout only six minutes into the game, we got a taste of what was to come for much of the night. The Sparks came out in their 2-3 zone – a zone which several other teams have found almost pathetically easy to score against this season – and Connecticut immediately gave up a 24-second shot clock violation. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 06/09/2012: Four Nailbiters and a Mess

Let’s get right to this: five games last night, including several tight ones (a couple of which never should’ve been remotely close at the end). And one game that left you thinking an early night would’ve been a better idea.

 

New York Liberty 76 @ Washington Mystics 70

  • Trudi Lacey made a change in her starting lineup, inserting Michelle Snow ahead of Ashley Robinson at center. Snow offers slightly more offense, without quite the defensive presence or instincts of Robinson. It’s much of a muchness, to be perfectly honest. The decaying corpse of Dominique Canty continues to start at point guard (not that Washington have glorious options to replace her with).
  • New York, as expected, kept the same starters that have led them to win their last two games. That meant Plenette Pierson had been ruled healthy enough to play, after missing nearly the entire second half of Tuesday’s game with some kind of injury (the Liberty are typically thoroughly unhelpful in regards to letting us know about things like that).
  • Unfortunately for New York, Pierson played less than three minutes of this game before subbing out, and stayed out for the rest of the night. It’s still hard to tell what the injury actually is – she didn’t seem to be clutching anything as she left the floor – but regardless of the ailment, losing her hurts this team. She’s their engine, their solid, reliable core. The Liberty have other post options, but none of them are as dependable or as mobile as Pierson.
  • Fortunately for New York, they’ve got a lot of confidence right now whoever’s out there – and they were playing the Mystics. It was already 11-6 when Pierson sat down, and the massacre snowballed for the entire first half. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 06/04/2012: So many games, so little time

There aren’t any six-game days on the WNBA schedule this year, which at least goes some small way towards keeping me sane. Yesterday, however, was one of several occasions where we get the next-best thing – one day, five games. That’s a lot of basketball, and a lot of writing. So we’re going game-by-game, chronological order, Bullet Point Breakdown-style, and hoping you all find something mildly entertaining in there somewhere.

 

Washington Mystics 86 @ Connecticut Sun 94

  • The teams came out in the ‘wrong’ uniforms (Connecticut road, Washington home), in a desperate attempt to sell a few road jerseys to the Sun fans.
  • Same starting fives as prior games for these teams, Matee Ajavon and Renee Montgomery still being used by their respective teams as bench energy despite typically playing starter minutes.
  • It wasn’t exactly gripping stuff in the first half. The Sun have more confidence than the Mystics these days, especially on their own floor, and it showed at times. But the only player they had who could offer any scoring punch at all was Tina Charles. The lack of offensive support she received meant the half drifted along with the Sun up 5 or 6 points most of the way.
  • Charles really was outstanding though, showcasing all the different ways she can score. Jump hooks, offensive boards for putbacks, running the floor for layups, mid-range jump shots – she’s got it all. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 05/30/2012: Jesus, Kristi! Superstar.

Kristi Toliver’s a polarising figure at the best of times. Gunners with little conscience often are, and when they come along with an attitude it only makes things worse. Last night was an illustration of precisely why she hasn’t been a regular starting guard in her first three WNBA seasons – especially a point guard – before she showed exactly why she’s such a tantalising talent. Oh, and there were some other players out there as well.

The Tulsa Shock came into Los Angeles last night at 0-3, and off the back of one of the ugliest games you’ll ever see against Washington on Saturday night. But new head coach Gary Kloppenburg seems to be on his way to achieving what Nolan Richardson spent the best part of two years making a mess of. Klopp knows his team doesn’t have the offensive talent of other squads in the league, but he’s got speed and quickness, a roster he can rotate without too much drop-off, and he’s got them playing high-energy, annoying defense. This is a hell of a lot closer to ’40 Minutes of Hell’ than Richardson ever got his Shock squads to play.

However, the early stages weren’t pretty for Tulsa. Continue reading →