Tag Archives: Los Angeles Sparks

WNBA Today, 06/20/2011: Blowouts and Beginnings?

Firstly, apologies for the late hour of posting. Once in a blue moon I actually have other things to do besides watching and writing about the WNBA. Another quadruple-game day yesterday, and three of them ended up in blowouts of one description or another, so let’s start with the only one that didn’t. Indiana visited Phoenix, the last team left in the league without a win (and it’s kind of embarrassing to lag behind Tulsa, even if the Merc had played three games fewer than the Shock due to the quirky WNBA schedule). The Mercury were desperate for a win to get their season started, and after being held to a miserable 54 points on 29% shooting by the Storm in their previous game, the Fever will have been salivating at the prospect of facing some nice friendly Phoenix ‘defense’.

The Mercury got off to their now-customary early lead, pushing out to an eight-point edge behind some transition scores and Kara Braxton actually managing to make a few layups. That made a nice change, after the number of point-blank efforts she’d missed in the opening three games. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 06/12/2011 (Part Two): She’s on Fire!

Part One of today’s coverage was posted earlier here, if you missed it

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Friday night, the San Antonio Silver Stars blew out that rec-league team from Oklahoma again, moving to a completely meaningless 2-0 record. Saturday night, they finally had to play a real basketball team, when the 0-2 Atlanta Dream came into the AT&T Center searching for their first win of the season. Atlanta finally had their full roster available, with Angel McCoughtry starting for the first time this year after recovering from her knee sprain. The first play of the game was McCoughtry’s layup attempt being smacked right back in her face by Ruth Riley, but Atlanta still took the initiative early, opening up a six-point lead by the end of the first and a 35-28 advantage by halftime. As the scoreline might suggest, this was by no means the prettiest game of basketball you’ve ever seen.

As expected by anyone with eyes and a modicum of sense, Atlanta’s size was giving San Antonio problems, especially on the glass. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 06/06/2011: Mone makes me eat it, and the Libs are alive! Aliiive!

 Yes, we’re going with sub-headings now. Figured it might make things a little more interesting.

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Now that’s more like it. Our first game of the season with a grandstand finish; the first upset road win that confounds expectations; and the first game of the year where LaChina Robinson makes me talk to a computer monitor – now the WNBA season is really underway! Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 06/04/11

As a break from the previews, here’s the very first installment of the regular daily coverage. I’m making a concession to the fact that most of my readers are American and going with the silly US way of writing the date.

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After all the talking and all the debates, the games that matter finally got underway last night. Seriously late last night, if you live anywhere besides the West coast of the US (or far enough east that it was early today instead), but regardless, we’re off. It was a pretty good game too, as openers go. The WNBA tends to be a mess in the early weeks, thanks to players arriving late due to overseas commitments and the short preparation time available in the first place. However, in years such as 2011 without a World Championships or Olympic Games, that issue is alleviated somewhat. Most teams had everyone in town from the first day of training camp and that should lead to better performances to start the season than we’re used to

LA held off Minnesota in Staples Center last night, 82-74, behind Candace Parker showing what she can do when her arms and legs are solidly attached, and a ridiculous barrage of three-pointers from their guards in the second-half. Continue reading →

WNBAlien 2011 Previews: Los Angeles Sparks

And we’re back. You guys are just gonna have to trust me that what you find below was mostly written and entirely conceived before last night’s game. I promise.

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PG: Ticha Penicheiro/(Quinn if they’ve got any sense, Lacy and Toliver if they don’t)

SG: Noelle Quinn/Kristi Toliver/Natasha Lacy

SF: DeLisha Milton-Jones/Jenna O’Hea

PF: Tina Thompson/Ebony Hoffman

C: Candace Parker/Jantel Lavender/LaToya Pringle

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Head coach: Jennifer Gillom

Significant additions: A healthy Parker, and a completely revamped bench.

Significant losses: Nothing much. Marie Ferdinand-Harris, Betty Lennox, Lindsay Wisdom-Hylton and others have left – big deal.

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This one isn’t complicated. The decidedly aging starting lineup is yet another year older and closer to retirement; the bench is almost entirely turned over from last year’s reserves (quite rightly, considering the last lot stunk); the head coach is still completely unproven at this level – and yet it’s all about one woman. Continue reading →