Tag Archives: Los Angeles Sparks

The Daily W, 05/26/2014

 

San Antonio Stars 62 @ Los Angeles Sparks 83

 

Lineups: San Antonio started the same group as on Friday night in Phoenix, likely to be their starting five for most of this season, barring injury or Dan Hughes deciding he needs more size than Kayla McBride at small forward. Los Angeles had Nneka Ogwumike back from her lower back strain, but this time it was Alana Beard’s turn to miss out, due to a mild ankle sprain. She was replaced in the lineup by Armintie Herrington. Candice Wiggins was still in street clothes due to her swollen left knee.

 

Story of the Game: LA flew out of the traps and dominated the early stages, scoring the first 13 points of the game and leading by as many as 16 in the first quarter. When they’re active, aggressive, and playing with pace, the Sparks can be very difficult to stop. Kristi Toliver’s jumper was dropping, Ogwumike was cleaning the glass, Lindsey Harding was attacking off the dribble and then Sandrine Gruda and Jantel Lavender came off the bench and kept them rolling. It was like trying to hold back the tide for San Antonio.

But everything swung back around in the second quarter. The Stars threw in a little 2-3 zone to mix things up, and once they started hitting some shots it slowed LA’s transition game and their offensive flow dissolved. But halftime a game that initially looked like a mismatch was practically dead even again.

The dominant figure in the second half was Candace Parker, who was the main player in rebuilding LA’s lead in the third quarter, then pushing it out again after it dwindled to five points early in the fourth. Jayne Appel – with plenty of help – does the best she can against Parker, but the Sparks star’s array of skills makes her difficult for anyone to handle. Appel has the size and physicality to compete with her in the paint, but not the footspeed or agility to handle her off the dribble or in transition. And Parker’s range forces her to extend out further than she’s comfortable with. The LA commentators would’ve had you believe that Candace was walking on water by the end of the game – she wasn’t quite that good – but she helped carry LA to a comfortable win.

 

Key Players: Parker was clearly the central piece for the Sparks after they let San Antonio back into the game, although Toliver and Lavender continued to provide scoring support. Ogwumike was her usual self, quietly filling the complementary role and doing all the dirty work.

The LA defense still looks just as volatile as it did last year. At times, their sheer size and mobility creates turnovers or swamps opponents, then it feeds into their offense and becomes even more destructive. On other occasions their help defense in particular is absolutely dismal. Parker stunting towards Hammon when the Stars guard was about to finish a layup, basically letting her score so she could jump back to cover someone else, was the most egregious example. But there were several others. It’s these fluctuations that sometimes come back to haunt LA in the postseason. Being consistently very good is usually a better idea than being exceptional for long periods and poor for others. They struggle with that.

Jia Perkins was the main player that dragged San Antonio back into the game, and then kept them afloat in the second half and made it a contest for as long as possible. Dan Hughes did what he could with funky small lineups and different defenses, but in the end his team couldn’t keep up. More of his players need to show up offensively on a night-to-night basis. Sophia Young-Malcolm hasn’t done much yet after returning from her ACL tear, Shenise Johnson is still flattering to deceive, Kayla McBride is still trying to work out the pro game, Shameka Christon is basically decomposing before our eyes – the list goes on. Organisation and collective production can only go so far against an opponent as talented as LA.

 

Notes of Interest: As many of us suggested coming out of the draft, McBride really does look like duplication of what San Antonio already has on its roster. If she develops and becomes really good at her perimeter-based scoring game, she may live up to that #3 overall pick. But in terms of helping the Stars win before Hammon retires, it’s looking like other selections would’ve been more useful.

 

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Indiana Fever 82 @ Atlanta Dream 77 (OT)

 

Lineups: Angel McCoughtry returned after missing the previous day’s game with a rhomboid (shoulder) strain, replacing Matee Ajavon in the lineup. Shoni Schimmel and Jasmine Thomas continued as the starting backcourt (Schimmel’s playing the point guard role the vast majority of the time). Indiana went with the same five again, still missing Tamika Catchings due to her bad back. On the bright side, backup point guard Sydney Carter was available again off the bench after recovering from her ankle sprain.

 

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The Daily W, 05/19/14

 

Connecticut Sun 87 @ Minnesota Lynx 90 (OT)

 

Lineups: Same again for Minnesota, with Damiris Dantas continuing to fill in for Rebekkah Brunson. Connecticut promoted rookie forward Alyssa Thomas into the starting lineup in place of point guard Alex Bentley. Part of that may have been to have an extra perimeter defender with some size on the floor to handle Seimone Augustus and Maya Moore, but it’s also a move that wouldn’t exactly be miles outside the box against anyone. Allison Hightower has been handling many of the point guard duties for Connecticut for years now, and can comfortably slide over, while Thomas’s development is a big part of the Sun’s future.

 

Story of the Game: As this was Minnesota’s home opener, the pre-game festivities involved raising the 2013 championship banner and handing out the rings. The Lynx then proceeded to play the first half like they’d drunk too much wine at the party. They were uncharacteristically sloppy, giving up too many cheap turnovers, and leaving too much space to exploit in their defense. The Sun shot unsustainably well, but Minnesota helped them find that rhythm. Chiney Ogwumike also had far too much room to work in the paint. While in some ways it was just a bad half, and those happen to every team, we’re going to see more defensive breakdowns from the Lynx early in the season than we’re used to, simply because they’ve got a lot of new pieces in the mix once you get past the four returning starters. It’s difficult to play on-a-string defense when not everyone knows which way (and how far) that string is meant to stretch.

It took a while for the expected comeback to kick in during the second half – Connecticut’s lead rose as high as 16 – but it arrived eventually. Maya Moore was the unsurprising catalyst, drilling several shots late in the third quarter, while the team defense also started to force turnovers and create transition chances.

It briefly looked like the young Sun squad were going to be overwhelmed by the charging Lynx, but they pulled themselves together and stuck around in the fourth quarter. After Janel McCarville turned an ankle while trying to bring the ball up the floor, it took a ridiculous second-chance basket by Moore, a Lindsay Whalen baseline jumper, a dreadful Katie Douglas turnover, and a tough leaning jumper over defenders from Seimone Augustus to tie the game and send it to overtime. Whalen dribbled the ball straight out of bounds on an inbounds play in the middle of all that, too.

It was all Ogwumike early in OT, scoring the first five points of the extra period, but from there Whalen took charge. She’d generally had an awful night of missed layups and turnovers, but isn’t the kind of character to sit down and hide on the end of the bench. Her driving finishes and earned free throws turned the game in Minnesota’s favour, before she hit a deep jumper to give the Lynx a three-point lead with 12 seconds left. Douglas found Alyssa Thomas wide open for a three to potentially tie it, but shooting from deep is not exactly the rookie’s forte. She airballed it, and the Lynx had pulled off the comeback win.

 

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The Daily W, 05/17/2014

 

A new regular feature here at WNBAlien – quick recaps of the previous night’s games, mentions of who played and who stood out, notes on anything interesting that might’ve cropped up, and anything else that seems worth talking about. Just without the ridiculous length of previous seasons. Most days, it should go up much earlier than today’s initial example.

We’ll still look in depth at certain games and teams when it’s warranted, especially when there aren’t four or five games on a single evening.

There’s also an injury report at the bottom, collating the news on who missed out last night and who got banged up while playing.

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Minnesota Lynx 89 @ Washington Mystics 77

 

Lineups: Brazilian rookie Damiris Dantas got the start at power forward for Minnesota in place of the injured Rebekkah Brunson. Belgian youngster Emma Meesseman got the nod to start at the same spot for Washington in the place vacated by Crystal Langhorne. Otherwise starters as you’d expect, including Kara Lawson making her debut in the Mystics backcourt.

 

Story of the Game: Maya Moore came out firing, carrying the Lynx into an early lead. Washington’s bench unit helped them get into the game, led by Stefanie Dolson drilling a trio of deep jumpers when the Lynx left her alone. Minnesota maintained a single-digit lead for most of the night behind Moore and Seimone Augustus, but Ivory Latta bombing from outside kept Washington in it. Then Tierra Ruffin-Pratt joined in and the Mystics actually took a very brief lead with 8 minutes left.

But Minnesota’s starters responded, tightened up defensively and hit a series of jumpers to pull away again. Ballgame over.

 

Key Players: Latta and Ruffin-Pratt were the only players who really showed up offensively for Washington, with the occasional flash from Meesseman and Dolson. Some weak rotations defensively – with Augustus and Moore the main culprits, surprisingly – left Latta too open from outside in the second half.

But it was those same two Lynx stars who carried much of Minnesota’s offense over the course of the game. Dantas also had a nice debut, and fit in smoothly as part of the starting core. Asia Taylor, the other rookie post the Lynx retained from camp, looks awfully small and thin for a frontcourt player. You can afford to be one or the other, but when you’re both it’s hard to survive in this league without moving more to the perimeter.

 

Notes of Interest: This is going to become a theme as we go through the other games from last night – solid, impressive rookie performances, but with sequences where they’re still working out what they can get away with at this level. Dolson made some shots, and had a lovely touch pass for a Tianna Hawkins bucket, but was called for at least a couple of illegal screens. Even though many of the refs are the same, that’s the kind of thing that can be called differently in the pros from the college game. Dantas made the necessary hustle plays, and generally kept things simple, although there were a few miscommunications. It looks like she’s already realised that there’s so much freaking talent on her team she doesn’t need to do anything too outlandish. Just fill your role, rook.

 

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New York Liberty 75 @ Connecticut Sun 54

 

Lineups: Spanish ‘rookie’ (it’s her first year in the WNBA, but she’s 27) Anna Cruz got the start at the point for New York (so much for Cappie Pondexter at ‘lead guard’). DeLisha Milton-Jones was at power forward despite Plenette Pierson being in uniform and seeing a few minutes of action. Pierson doesn’t look physically ready to play starter minutes yet.

The perimeter of Alex Bentley, Allison Hightower and Katie Douglas was about what we expected from Connecticut, but Kelsey Griffin started in the frontcourt next to Chiney Ogwumike. Kelsey Bone and Ogwumike will surely be the best frontcourt pairing this franchise can offer over the course of the season.

 

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WNBA 2014 In-Depth Previews: Los Angeles Sparks

 

Lindsey Harding/Candice Wiggins
Kristi Toliver/Armintie Herrington
Alana Beard/Farhiya Abdi
Nneka Ogwumike/Sandrine Gruda
Candace Parker/Jantel Lavender/Nikki Greene

That’s it. This vet-laden team couldn’t even dream of fitting a 12th player in under the salary cap.

 

Significant additions: Gruda, Herrington, Wiggins
Significant losses: Marissa Coleman, Jenna O’Hea, Ebony Hoffman and A’dia Mathies are all gone. No one’s too upset.

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The Sparks were a very good team last year. They had their flaws, and some ugly nights, but based on points per possession over the course of the regular season they were the second-best offensive team in the league, and the second-best defensive team. Of course, with the way American sports works, their season was defined by the disappointing first-round playoff exit at the hands of Phoenix, rather than any success they’d had before that point. Even worse than an upset playoff defeat, the franchise looked like it might be dropping out of existence – or at least moving to a different city – during the offseason. Then a new ownership group led by Magic Johnson swooped in to save them and keep them in LA, and the planning for the 2014 season began. Being the Sparks, of course, they weren’t content to bring everybody back and try again with what they had. They were going to go out and pursue as many veteran upgrades as they could possibly acquire, to make the squad as imposing as possible. And it worked. They’re deeper and scarier than ever with a significantly improved bench, and they’ll be taking another run at the Western Conference. Anything less than a championship will be a disappointment – again – for this group.

 

The core of last year’s strong squad remains intact – the five starters and first post off the bench all return – but first let’s look at what they’ve added. On the perimeter Candice Wiggins and Armintie Herrington came over from Tulsa and Atlanta respectively to deepen their options. Wiggins hasn’t developed into quite the player she once looked like she might become, and she didn’t have a great season with the Shock last year. But she’s still an energetic defender, can do a serviceable job at either guard spot, and she can still knock down open threes at a pretty good rate – and this roster needed someone besides Kristi Toliver who could do that, especially after letting Marissa Coleman and Jenna O’Hea leave. Wiggins is also a player who might not have looked great as a starter that was expected to help lead Tulsa out of the basement, but will look like a luxury bonus coming off the bench in LA. Herrington can’t shoot, but she can run like the wind and she’s an elite perimeter defender. She has a history with Sparks head coach Carol Ross, so it wasn’t a big surprise to see them reunited, except that fewer minutes might be on offer for her in LA than were available with the Dream. In fact, one of the few problems Ross might have with this roster is keeping everyone happy with enough playing time. They’ll be hoping that winning will keep everyone content regardless of how the minutes are distributed.

 

They added a nice piece in the paint as well, with French post Sandrine Gruda making her return to the WNBA after three years away. Gruda’s a long, talented player at either spot down low, with some range on her shot and useful mobility. She’s also played alongside Sparks superstar Candace Parker with UMMC Ekaterinburg for several years now in Europe, so the chemistry should already be there. Considering the pairing of Parker and Nneka Ogwumike was already one of the strongest in the WNBA, with center Jantel Lavender a very useful third option, adding Gruda makes LA’s post rotation start to look a little ridiculous. Ross should be able to rotate them enough to keep everyone fresh and constantly on the attack, and they should be able to exploit opposing benches. The starters have to rest at some point for their opponents, and during those sequences LA should have significantly more interior talent on the floor than practically any team in the league.

 

That’s why adding these new pieces makes the Sparks look so imposing – they were already so good, and the meaningful pieces are all back (and all healthy, as far as we know). Parker won the MVP award again last year, carrying the offense at times with her all-around game and remarkable agility for her size. She has her flaws defensively, but when she’s in full flow there aren’t many offensive talents in the women’s game on her level. Ogwumike continues to quietly develop into an all-star calibre talent alongside her, leaping out of the gym to grab rebounds and scoring efficiently in the paint whenever she gets the chance. Lavender has been somewhat inconsistent as a pro, unguardable one night and invisible the next, but part of that comes down to the talent in front of her keeping her off the floor. She’s a big body with range to 15 feet who gives a slightly different look from the others, and she can affect games when given the chance.

 

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WNBA Today, 09/24/2013 (Part Two): Sparks dreams dashed by Mercury in dramatic decider

 

So Atlanta were in – now it was on to the decider in a series that had provided rather more offense. The Mercury and Sparks had thrown haymakers at each other, both stolen a game on the road, and ended up here. After the season began with everyone talking about the power of the top three teams in the West, it seemed only appropriate that the first-round should be completed by this. One game to decide who’d face the Lynx in the Western Finals, and who’d be left considering their season a significant disappointment.

 

There was a change in the starting lineup for Phoenix, with the visible pain Penny Taylor was in at the end of Game 2 keeping her out of Game 3 entirely. Returning from her knee surgeries has been a problem all season, and if she was missing a deciding playoff game you know she really wasn’t able to move on it at all. Briana Gilbreath came back into the lineup, which changed up some of the defensive assignments. Kristi Toliver now had Gilbreath to hide on, so she didn’t have to spend as much time worrying about covering DeWanna Bonner (not that Bonner had done much to attack that matchup during this series). Lindsey Harding isn’t much bigger than Toliver, but she’s generally a better defender, and she slid over onto Bonner. But it also gave Phoenix an extra perimeter defender that they could rely on, and Gilbreath started the game on Harding. That allowed Diana Taurasi to move over onto Alana Beard, who she could help away from more consistently than Harding. Losing Taylor could never be a positive, but it had the potential to make Phoenix a more effective defensive team.

 

But the most noticeable difference in the opening stages from the previous games was Kristi Toliver’s offense. She came in a dismal 4-22 from the field in the series, bricking endless jumpers in Game 1 before disappearing entirely as Game 2 wore on. But she was firing away again, hit a step-back over Candice Dupree to open her account, then a transition three shortly afterwards. This was a scary prospect for Phoenix, because Toliver being icy cold had been a big help to them so far in this series. With Taurasi and Brittney Griner missing several decent looks in the opening period, it was some surprising success from Bonner and the usual smoothness of Dupree that kept the Mercury even at 19-19 at the end of the opening period.

 

The second-quarter was kind of insane. If you follow me on Twitter, you’ll have seen that it even provoked me into a little ditty, which went along the lines of “I can’t guard you, You can’t guard me, Let’s all score, together!” LA looked like they were taking control early on, led by Candace Parker. Phoenix have struggled to guard her through much of this series, with Dupree their best option but rarely a particularly successful one. Parker abused her on a series of drives, and helped push the Sparks into an eight-point lead.

 

But then there was the other end of the floor. As it has been for much of the season – and probably should’ve been for even more of the season – the Taurasi-Dupree pick-and-roll became Phoenix’s go-to play. While Dupree couldn’t really guard her, Parker was being even more embarrassingly roasted in the reverse matchup. Her pick-and-roll defense was neither one thing nor the other – she wasn’t staying with the roller to cover the finish, or jumping out on the ballhandler to cut off the pass. She was just sort of watching while Dupree went sailing past (and the rotation to help behind her was pretty awful as well). Dupree also beat her on a couple of straight-up isolation drives and a jumper or two, and just kept piling up points. By halftime she was 10-13 for 20, and the Mercury were shooting 58% for a 42-40 lead.

 

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WNBA Today, 09/22/2013: Desperation fuels Dream and Sparks to force deciders

 

For many years, I’ve been saying that the WNBA’s regular season goes on too long. In fact, that’s true in most American sports. They play for months on end to decide nothing more than which terrible teams to eliminate, and who plays whom in the games that actually matter. And, of course, to decide the vital home-court (or field, or whatever) advantage. Six games into this year’s WNBA playoffs, and all that time fighting for home-court is looking even more pointless.

 

Last night’s action began in Washington, where the Mystics were looking to close out their first playoff series win since 2002. Atlanta had been so pedestrian and lifeless in Game 1 that it seemed like Washington had every chance to complete the job, especially considering the Dream’s dismal road record over the course of the season. Since their 10-1 start to the year, Atlanta had gone 1-12 away from Philips Arena. They also made a change in the post, and not the one they would’ve made by choice. Sancho Lyttle was still out, and she was joined in street clothes by replacement Le’coe Willingham due to a right knee problem picked up in practice. That forced Aneika Henry into the starting lineup, leaving only the decaying remnants of Ruth Riley on their bench as interior backup.

 

Let’s get one thing straight from the start – this was not a pretty game. This was the uglier sister to Game 1’s initial ugly sibling. If I say something good happened in the next few paragraphs, it’s relative to all the other rubbish that we had to sit through over the course of this game. But at the very least, we have to credit the Dream for making it ugly. They came out with vastly better energy than in Game 1, doubling and trapping and generally harassing on the defensive end. It wasn’t a typical man-to-man, more a constant stream of double-teams where they trusted themselves to be able to rotate and cover well enough to avoid being exploited elsewhere on the floor. Making that one basic change led to much greater energy in their play elsewhere on the court, feeding into their offense and their rebounding. Occasionally, anyway.

 

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WNBA Today, 09/20/2013: Atlanta embarrassed, LA exploited, as Mystics and Mercury open playoffs with road upsets

 

It was a slightly strange opening to the WNBA playoffs this year. Kind of a cross between a whimper and a bang. Upsets always shake things up and make things a little more interesting, with the best-of-three format immediately putting pressure on everybody. But the crowds weren’t great (often a problem in the first-round when teams are selling tickets on such short notice), and the first game was so lacking in energy (and shot-making) that it threatened to send everyone to sleep. Which if you think about it, just makes this article all the more important. Maybe you dozed off during the game, and require this informative piece to let you know what happened. On with the coverage.

 

The postseason began in Atlanta, where the Dream played host to the Washington Mystics. With both sides finishing at 17-17 there obviously wasn’t that much between these teams, although Atlanta have a much more successful recent history than Washington. The Mystics hadn’t made a playoff appearance since 2010, and hadn’t won a playoff game since 2004. They’ve won one playoff series in the franchise’s entire 16-year history. Having made the Finals twice in recent years, Atlanta had the pedigree, but they’d also struggled in the second half of this season after their 10-1 start. A team photo with Sancho Lyttle in uniform had raised faint hopes that she might be returning from her broken foot for the playoffs, but she was in street clothes yet again (it’s 9 1/2 weeks since her surgery, by the way. Recovery was supposed to take 6-8). Armintie Herrington’s shoulder problem was presumably a little more serious than initially believed, because Tiffany Hayes started the game in Herrington’s regular spot. Herrington was available off the bench, but it was a change to their regular lineup that probably wouldn’t have been made if she was fully healthy. Hayes is their bench energy, and Herrington’s something of a stabilising force for the starting group. It works better that way round.

 

Washington opened the game in a 2-3 zone, which briefly made me wonder if head coach Mike Thibault was going to go heavily against the typical coaching manual and use that defense consistently throughout the game. Zones against Atlanta can be effective, because the basic tenet when facing the Dream is to make them beat you from outside. But the zone was gone after just one possession. We saw it a couple more times during the night, just to keep Atlanta a little off-balance, but it was a change-up move rather than the regular defense.

 

Frankly, Washington didn’t need to make many changes from their basic man-to-man, because Atlanta struggled to break them down all night long. The Dream got out on the break a couple of times in the first quarter, even opening the game with a 4-0 run when Matee Ajavon was twice stripped by Angel McCoughtry for steals. But Thibault called an early timeout to calm his team down and remind them to take care of the ball, the Mystics became more careful and made sure to work back in transition, and Atlanta’s offense utterly collapsed. Between Kia Vaughn, Crystal Langhorne and Michelle Snow, the Washington posts where bodying up Erika de Souza in the paint and forcing her further from the hoop than she wanted to be. When she threw up shots after the ball was tossed into her in the post, she had someone right on top of her and nothing went in. Similarly, Atlanta’s perimeter players weren’t creating anything easy. If they managed to get anywhere near the rim, they were forced to attempt the finish under heavy pressure and missed consistently. Angel McCoughtry couldn’t get around Monique Currie, so penetration was difficult, and if she managed to force an effort towards the rim Currie was right in her face. With little pace to their game, Atlanta couldn’t score.

 

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2013 WNBA Playoff Previews: Western Conference First Round – Los Angeles Sparks vs. Phoenix Mercury

 

By the numbers (over entire regular season):

 

Los Angeles (24-10) vs Phoenix (19-15)

 

Points scored per 100 possessions: 102.73 (2nd in WNBA) – 99.6 (4th)

Points conceded per 100 possessions: 93.99 (2nd) – 100.4 (10th)

Rebound percentage: .494 (7th) – .486 (10th)

 

Season series between the teams: Tied 2-2

06/14 @Pho, Mercury won 97-81

07/14 @Pho, Sparks won 88-76

07/18 @LA, Mercury won 90-84

09/15 @LA, Sparks won 89-55

 

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Since back in the preseason, the 2-3 matchup in the Western Conference’s first-round looked appetising. With three teams expected to be real powers in the West, whichever two were forced to play each other were going to have a real fight on their hands. Then the Phoenix Mercury went and changed the script, in a variety of ways. Initially it was by failing to live up to expectations, producing a mediocre team despite the return of several important players and the addition of Brittney Griner. Then a midseason coaching change led to a new outlook and a new philosophy, and ultimately kept them in that same top-three they were always supposed to be a part of. Meanwhile, all the Los Angeles Sparks have done is produce their second consecutive 24-10 season, while exhibiting a variety of strengths and frailties along the way. Eventually, we’ve been left with a first-round playoff series that looks just as intriguing as it did back at the start of the year.

 

Phoenix are a strange team to figure out. Since Russ Pennell took over, they’ve gone 9-4 and exhibited a much greater willingness to actually put some effort and concentration into playing defense. They’ve still had breakdowns at times, and that record doesn’t show the cupcake schedule they’ve faced since Pennell arrived, but there’ve definitely been noticeable improvements. Although at times under Pennell they’ve struggled on the offensive end. He’s left much of the offense alone, with a tweak here or there, but they’ve had games where turnovers have piled up and the players looked like they barely knew each other. Now they’re in the postseason, they don’t have any more games against weak opposition, and they’re unlikely to get away with performances like that.

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WNBA Today, 09/16/2013: Regular season ends as Mystics take #3 seed and Fever happily settle for #4

 

Sunday saw the conclusion to the WNBA’s 2013 regular season, with a surprising amount still to be decided. There were some minor questions around home-court advantage in theoretical WNBA Finals matchups, but the main issue remaining was in the Eastern Conference playoff race. With the #3 and #4 seeds still to be decided, the matchups in the first-round were also still up in the air. And there was still a chance that Indiana and Washington could finish off their games, and be left waiting around for the Atlanta result to decide their fate. It was a strange state of flux to be sitting in, heading into the final day of the season.

 

Indiana Fever 80 @ Connecticut Sun 82

  • Playing in the first game of the day, the Fever made the first conspicuous move in relation to deciding the seeding for the Eastern playoffs. If you want to be generous, you could say that their decisions suggested that they didn’t mind whether they faced Chicago or Atlanta in the first-round. After all, neither a win or a loss would definitively decide their opposition. But more accurately, it seemed like they wanted the Sky. Tamika Catchings took the day off to rest a sore back (I’ll resist making the standard joke about how it was caused by having to carry this team all season); Briann January sat out to rest a sore shoulder; and Shavonte Zellous was excused to attend a funeral. The Zellous issue was presumably legitimate, but if they really wanted to win this game, Catchings and January undoubtedly would’ve played. It left the Fever with just seven healthy bodies, and a distinctly makeshift lineup.

 

  • The moves made plenty of sense for Indiana. While Chicago have clearly been the best team in the East this season, the Fever have a great record against them over the years and went 3-1 against them this season. It also made sense in planning for the future, because a loss would give them a strong chance of the #5 overall pick in next year’s draft, while a win might move them down that order. If they were happy to play the Sky instead of the Dream, you could argue the players should’ve ‘rested’ for more than just this one game.

 

  • Of course, Indiana had a decent chance to win anyway. All of Connecticut’s injuries had them down to seven players as well, with Tan White the latest casualty due to a broken finger. And while you can rest as many players as you like, once you take the court instincts tend to kick in. No one’s going out on the floor playing to lose.

 

  • The reason I didn’t expect Indiana to rest so many players was the return of Katie Douglas. This was just her second game back after missing almost the entire season with a back problem, and it seemed like they’d want her to rebuild chemistry with the other key players on the roster. Clearly they didn’t think that was a big deal, presumably due to the number of years Douglas has already played with most of these teammates. There were some communication issues during this game, most noticeably between Douglas and Karima Christmas, where switches and defensive rotations weren’t particularly smooth. While she’s been watching from the sidelines all season, turning that into movement on the floor is very different, and Douglas needs to get up to speed very quickly. It’s a transition for Christmas right now as well, because she’s being asked to play some power forward after Indiana were forced to release Jessica Breland due to Douglas’s return. Christmas has been playing small forward all season, and while the amount of switching within Indiana’s defense means she’s had practice sliding inside, it’s not quite the same thing. Her help instincts and rotation moves aren’t quite those of a player used to playing in the paint.

 

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WNBA Today, 09/13/2013: Sparks hold off Lynx as appetites whetted by spicy preview of potential Western Finals

 

Most of the major issues may have been decided already, but there’s still a little spice left in the WNBA’s regular season, as last night illustrated. There was an appetiser before the game everyone was looking forward to, but we’re going to skip straight to the main course. Details of the early game can be found lower down, for those who requite strict chronological order or who really enjoy their starters.

 

The main event saw the fifth and final meeting – in the regular season – of the Western Conference’s top two. Heading into the season, most saw a clear top three in the West, but Phoenix’s issues left Minnesota and Los Angeles to break away. The Sparks have slipped up a little more frequently over the course of the year, so the Lynx had already secured the #1 seed in the West before last night, but bragging rights were still on the line. And barring a first-round upset, these two teams will be seeing each other again in almost exactly two weeks’ time in the Western Conference Finals.

 

Both teams came in healthy, with their usual starting lineups, and almost inevitably it was Minnesota who got off to the quicker start. The perimeter of Lindsey Harding, Kristi Toliver and Alana Beard has matchup problems against the Lynx, and we’ve seen this several times before. They’re significantly smaller than Minnesota’s dangerous trio of Lindsay Whalen, Seimone Augustus and Maya Moore, so guarding them is immediately difficult. It’s made even more so by the way Minnesota have been working on developing a post attack with their wings this season. That said, most of the early damage was done by Moore on Beard, which ought to be one of the safer pairings for LA. You still wonder if the Sparks might not be better off bringing either Harding or Toliver off the bench, and opening with a bigger wing like Jenna O’Hea or Marissa Coleman against the Lynx starters. Once Monica Wright comes into the game for Augustus or Moore, the Harding/Toliver pairing can cope – they both have someone on the floor they can cover. It’s just that initial lineup that gives them problems.

 

With Janel McCarville also happily taking and hitting the open jumpers Candace Parker was letting her have, Minnesota went out to a 15-8 lead midway through the first quarter. That quietly extended to 21-10 because LA had no offense besides Parker. She was effective backing down various defenders and finishing or even hitting a jump shot or two, and abused Devereaux Peters once the young post came off the bench for Minnesota. But absolutely no one was offering her any help for the Sparks. They were just watching her work, and missing shots when she occasionally gave up the ball.

 

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