Tag Archives: Los Angeles Sparks

WNBA Today, 09/07/2013: Postseason four become official in West, reach brink in East, on five-game Friday

 

Another quintuple-game night in the WNBA on Friday, and all five of them had playoff implications of some description. Whether it’s officially confirming your spot in the postseason, fighting for seeding, or just playing spoiler while you look forward to the lottery, the regular season isn’t quite done yet.

 

Washington Mystics 70 @ Connecticut Sun 77

  • Although if you happen to be a Connecticut Sun fan, you could’ve been forgiven for thinking your team had already decided the season was over. With the mathematical calculations finally confirming that the Sun’s chances of making the playoffs were finished (realists had confirmed that eons ago), two more Sun players were shut down for the season. The team confirmed that Kara Lawson wouldn’t be returning for the rest of the year with lingering issues from her bruised knee, while Tina Charles was shut down with sore knees and various other aches and pains that everyone’s always feeling by this stage in the season. Making sure they stay below everyone else in the standings would also help Connecticut’s lottery chances, of course (and give them the #1 pick in a dispersal draft in the unfortunate event that any other team ceased operations over the offseason).

 

  • But in case you haven’t noticed me pointing it out several times over the course of the season, both here and on Twitter, the Sun have invariably been a better team with Tina Charles on the bench this season. Plus, when a team hears that their opponent is missing virtually their entire starting five (remember, Asjha Jones, Danielle McCray, Allison Hightower and Kelly Faris are all out for various reasons as well as Charles and Lawson), they tend to relax. The Mystics came out with very little energy, and we saw what might well have been the quickest timeout of the season. Mike Thibault brought everything to a halt after just 45 seconds, with his team trailing 5-0.

 

  • Washington struggled to find any of their usual energy and focus throughout the first half, but they did at least crawl into a pretty tedious contest. They didn’t hit many shots, but they managed to drive into contact enough to earn trips to the free throw line and gather up some points. Connecticut had a drought in the middle of the half where their basic limited level of talent was highlighted, but over the course of the half they shot significantly better than Washington. The rotations and help in the Mystics defense weren’t crisp at all, and Tan White led the Sun to a 36-34 halftime advantage.

 

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WNBA Today, 09/05/2013: Lynx and Dream battle to important victories over conference rivals

 

Two games in the WNBA last night, both with significant playoff implications. While the eight teams who’ll be participating in the postseason have become relatively clear, only Chicago as the #1 seed in the East have already settled into a particular spot. The final two weeks of the season could still have a heavy influence on positioning, matchups, and home-court advantage in the playoffs. Everyone’s still battling to finish as high as they can.

 

We’ll start in the West, because the clash between Minnesota and Los Angeles had been a long time coming. These two have broken clear as the top teams in the conference as the season’s worn on, but the three previous times they faced each other this year took place so early in the season that they feel like distant memories. LA came out 2-1 up in those games, with all three resulting in blowout wins for the home team. But the important numbers heading into last night had little to do with those encounters. The Lynx were 1.5 games ahead of the Sparks at the top of the West with five games left on Minnesota’s schedule (just four for LA). The Sparks were probably going to have to win both this game and their final regular season meeting with the Lynx back in LA next Thursday to sneak up into the #1 seed. A split would still give them a chance, but would leave them relying on Seattle beating Minnesota in their upcoming double-header. It was a definite longshot unless LA did the work themselves.

 

Fortunately for all neutrals, both teams were healthy and had everyone available, so the starting units were the same groups we’ve grown accustomed to over the season. It was Minnesota who got off to the fast start with the home crowd behind them. They were pushing the ball quickly down the floor to create early offense, and already looking to those dive-in post-ups they’ve been working on with Seimone Augustus and Maya Moore since midway through the season. You may remember me mentioning in prior articles that the matchup with LA was one prime reason that this has clearly become a focus of the staff in Minnesota. With a perimeter of Lindsey Harding, Kristi Toliver and Alana Beard, somebody on that group is going to be noticeably undersized against the Lynx wing she’s trying to guard. With Toliver on Lindsay Whalen and Beard trying to handle Moore, usually it’s Harding struggling to deal with Augustus. From the opening possessions, Augustus was deep in the paint exploiting her size advantage over Harding. Barring injury, a significant coaching move or an upset in the first round, we’ll be seeing plenty of that in the Western Conference Finals, as well.

 

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WNBA Today, 09/04/2013: Dream overcome injuries to dominate disappointing Sparks; plus Wednesday night picks and previews

 

Monday games are unusual in the WNBA. In fact, this year all of the league’s regular season outings on a Monday came on national holidays – the Memorial Day double-header that ESPN used to kick off their coverage, and the Labor Day game in LA this week. Presumably there’s some market research somewhere that suggests people don’t want to go out to games on the first day of the working week. But for the Los Angeles Sparks and Atlanta Dream there was no vacation day, as their respective battles for playoff positioning provided some entertainment for the rest of us.

 

The Sparks at least came into Monday’s game assured of their playoff spot. In fact, they’re virtually certain (to all but the mathematicians) of a top-2 seed in the West. But both LA and Minnesota are well aware of how important home-court advantage could be in a potential Western Conference Finals clash between the two, and LA were trailing by just a game coming into this one. The two matchups between the Sparks and the Lynx still on the schedule could well be the deciders, but if LA don’t take care of business in their other games down the stretch they might not matter. Atlanta are still to secure their postseason berth – officially – but with New York floundering the Dream are practically there. However, after opening the season 10-1, Atlanta had gone 4-12 since, dropping into a three-way fight for the 2/3/4 seeds in the East. Washington and Indiana haven’t exactly been charging, but if Atlanta couldn’t find a couple of wins before the end of the season, home-court advantage in the first-round could easily slip away.

 

Atlanta’s problems in the second half of the season have stemmed from their injuries. Sancho Lyttle is still out due to her broken foot, having played just six games all season. Tiffany Hayes was out again with swelling in the knee that was operated on in midseason. And Armintie Herrington was still missing due to her concussion. On the bright side, Angel McCoughtry was fit enough to retake her starting spot after one game coming off the bench due to an ankle sprain, but that was the only good news for the Dream. They’ve really struggled when both Hayes and Lyttle have been out, and missing Herrington compounds things. Their scoring options and bench are both relatively limited to begin with – so losing three of their top six players is hard to take. Playing LA just makes it look worse – the Sparks have stayed pretty damn healthy all year long.

 

However, it was Atlanta who managed to craft out a first quarter lead in this game. Early on, LA were hitting jumpers and missing everything at the rim, to the extent that you started to wonder if they were better off just firing away from the perimeter – even Candace Parker, who normally delights opponents when she settles for outside shots. But that backfired as the opening period wore on and the jumpers stopped falling. It felt like LA had been practicing spin moves, but not very successfully. They were repeatedly spinning and twisting around, only to find a Dream defender still stood right in front of them making the shot difficult. LA’s offensive production dried up.

 

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WNBA Today, 09/01/2013: Favourites all take care of business as playoff picture continues to clear

 

Four games on Saturday night in the WNBA, all four won in varying degrees of comfort by the favourites. So the playoff picture is continuing to resolve itself – mostly by default because we’re running out of games – but there weren’t exactly a lot of shocks to go around. With two weeks to go in the regular season, if you can’t make a pretty good guess at what’s coming by now, you haven’t been paying attention.

 

Los Angeles Sparks 80 @ San Antonio Silver Stars 67

  • At stake in this one: Los Angeles continue to chase Minnesota for the #1 seed in the West, coming into the day one game back. As a sideline, Chicago are right up with the pair of them for home-court advantage in a theoretical WNBA Finals. San Antonio were still in with a mathematical chance of chasing down Phoenix or Seattle for a playoff spot, albeit a very small chance. Bizarrely enough, a Silver Stars loss in this game would confirm Seattle’s place in the postseason, while Phoenix would still be catchable – despite Seattle sitting in fourth while Phoenix were in third. Schedules, tie-breakers and mathematics can be strange bedfellows.

 

  • LA had their usual starting lineup, and their roster as healthy as ever, but San Antonio began the game with yet another new starting unit. Danielle Robinson was still out with strained/sprained knee (the team have used both words to describe it), and now her replacement Davellyn Whyte was missing as well (reportedly with a foot problem). That shifted Shenise Johnson over alongside Jia Perkins in the backcourt, with Shameka Christon coming in to start on the wing. It’s a perimeter that had some success in their win over Tulsa the night before, but obviously their bench became even shorter.

 

  • While LA led by as many as 11, it was ultimately a fairly tight first half. The Sparks were looking to push whenever they could, but becoming a little ponderous and static when forced into halfcourt sets. San Antonio started slowly but came back into the game late in the first quarter through better defensive energy and Jia Perkins making plays on offense. Dan Hughes would love to have Perkins as his sixth woman energy from the bench, but the injuries have forced her into a much bigger role this season. She’s not always the most efficient scorer, but sometimes she can be electric.

 

  • The other place where San Antonio found success in the first half was on the offensive glass. With Candace Parker and Nneka Ogwumike, LA have a clear athleticism advantage in this matchup over players like Danielle Adams, Jayne Appel and Cathrine Kraayeveld. While Parker was doing her typical job of filling the stat-sheet in a number of areas, the Sparks were getting outworked on the glass and the Silver Stars were staying alive with second-chance opportunities. They took 11 more shots than LA in the first half, thanks to a 10-2 advantage in offensive rebounds, and it allowed the Silver Stars to trail only 35-30 at halftime.

 

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WNBA Today, 08/28/2013: Storm squeak past Silver Stars to reach brink of postseason; Western elite beats Eastern also-rans

 

We’re starting to hit that point in the season. Where everyone knows which teams are good, and which teams are on the brink of giving up on the year as a dead loss. So last night’s three WNBA games saw two very predictable results that maintained the status quo, and just one tight, interesting contest. We’ll be starting with that one, obviously.

 

Seattle Storm 72 @ San Antonio Silver Stars 71

  • This was another of those double-features the WNBA has introduced this season, where teams play twice in the same city within barely 48 hours. So everyone had fresh memories of the dreadful game on Sunday where Seattle barely showed up and got what they deserved. After the Storm lost that game, this one became very important. It tied the season-series between the teams at 2-2, and pulled San Antonio within three games of the Storm in the standings. Another win for San Antonio would both narrow the gap to two, and secure the head-to-head tie-breaker over Seattle. The squads were identical, both sides starting the same units as point guard Danielle Robinson continues to miss out for San Antonio with her strained knee.

 

  • Robinson’s replacement Davellyn Whyte was firing and hitting from outside early on. That’s the one advantage Whyte gives you over D-Rob – she’s not afraid to fire away from deep, and occasionally she’ll get hot. Robinson rarely lets fly from further than 18-feet.

 

  • As has often been the case this year, Seattle started slowly. Brian Agler called his usual early timeout – it’s virtually a tradition at this point – and they pulled themselves out of it with the help of Tina Thompson. From there, the entire first half stayed very tight. Thompson was the leading light for Seattle, hitting little hooks and fadeaways inside or popping out beyond the arc for her trademark deep threes. It gave the Storm a presence and a primary option that they never really found on Sunday in the previous game, and their energy on the glass was important as well.

 

  • Between Whyte, Jia Perkins and Danielle Adams, San Antonio were hitting enough shots to keep pace. Even with a 19-7 deficit on the boards, they had the game tied at 31-31 at halftime.

 

  • The second half was a different experience. The game became more frantic and helter-skelter at times, with one key move from San Antonio head coach Dan Hughes having a big effect on the game. In an effort to handle Thompson and track her movement better, the Silver Stars began to treat her as a small forward. Instead of trying to guard her with Danielle Adams, who had to chase Thompson around screens and try to follow her out when she popped beyond the arc, they gave Shenise Johnson and Shameka Christon the assignment. That left Adams on either Shekinna Stricklen or Noelle Quinn. Obviously it was a risk to some extent. Adams is relatively light on her feet, but she’s not used to guarding perimeter players. And Thompson is still capable of posting up, so Hughes was trusting Johnson and Christon to be able to handle that. To a large extent it worked for San Antonio, as Thompson definitely cooled off in the second half.

 

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WNBA Today, 08/27/2013: Sunday, Bloody (awful) Sunday

 

Sunday was not an entertaining day of WNBA basketball. It was filled with sloppy play, teams who barely showed up, and other teams winning almost by default. And then it exploded into a frenzy of craziness right at the end. So this column’s going to follow the same path. We’ll cover all the tedium first, and build to the big finish. I won’t hate you if you skip to the end.

 

Seattle Storm 64 @ San Antonio Silver Stars 70

  • As mentioned in my pick for this game in the last column, I couldn’t understand why so much money seemed to be flooding in on San Antonio. Seattle’s Temeka Johnson had looked ready to return before the end of their previous game despite taking a hit to the head (and was indeed fit to start this one). Meanwhile, opposing point guard Danielle Robinson missed San Antonio’s last game with a sprained right knee (and ultimately missed this one as well). Seattle have been the better team during the season, and have even produced a little consistency lately, beating Indiana, Los Angeles and Phoenix in their last three games. San Antonio have been fighting, but pretty poor all year. Even on the road, Seattle seemed like they ought to be favourites. Of course, maybe my picks are offered free of charge for a reason.

 

  • Seattle were atrocious in the first half of this game (they were pretty bad throughout, but let’s look the opening 20 minutes first). After tearing LA and Phoenix apart for long stretches of recent games, they looked completely bemused by San Antonio’s defense, and utterly incapable of creating anything decent against it. The shot clock ran down without the offense going anywhere, they forced up bad shots under pressure because they couldn’t find anything else, and then the turnovers started piling up. It’s a typical reaction when you can’t break a defense down – especially for the Storm, but really for any team. You start forcing passes into tiny holes or even holes that never existed in the first place, and they become cheap, easy takeaways for the opponent. It was a return to the Storm from much of last season, where constantly handing over possession consistently killed their offense. Although, as long as the turnover went out of bounds or bounced around for a while so Seattle could get back and set their defense, it didn’t make much difference. They weren’t hitting anything when they held on to the ball long enough to shoot anyway.

 

  • San Antonio weren’t exactly a smooth-running machine themselves. The defense was obviously doing the job, shutting down Seattle, but the offense was pretty mediocre. They beat the Storm in transition a couple of times by running harder down the floor, and Jia Perkins made a few shots, but that was about it. They pulled ahead largely because Seattle couldn’t score. The Silver Stars did get a few nice plays from Shenise Johnson, who had to play some point guard with Robinson out and Davellyn Whyte picking up some early fouls. It probably won’t hurt Johnson to spend some extra time with the ball in her hands, making decisions and making plays. She needs the work, and she needs the responsibility to force her to step up. It might be just her second year in the league, but she’s supposed to become a big piece of the puzzle for this franchise going forward – not just a decent complementary player. San Antonio led 34-24 at halftime.

 

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WNBA Today, 08/21/2013: Western leaders lose, Eastern leaders win, and Shock fall to Mercury yet again

 

It was a busy Tuesday in the WNBA this week, with four games competing for our attention last night. As always, all of them are covered for you right here. On to the Bullet Point Breakdowns.

 

Minnesota Lynx 75 @ Atlanta Dream 88

  • Having ended their surprising three-game losing skid with a comfortable win over New York on Sunday, the Lynx came in looking to build another winning streak against the team they swept in the 2011 WNBA Finals. In fact, the Dream hadn’t beaten Minnesota since 2010, back before Maya Moore turned pro. However, after two consecutive wins Atlanta looked like they might’ve found some form, ending a horrible streak of eight losses in nine games. Plus, they came in with a 10-1 record at home this season, the best in the WNBA.

 

  • Minnesota had Monica Wright available again after she missed a game due to a bruised quad. Le’coe Willingham continued to deputise for the injured Sancho Lyttle for Atlanta.

 

  • The Dream got off to the much quicker start in this game, and although Minnesota briefly came back into it as the first quarter continued, Atlanta dominated most of the first half. Early on it was Lynx turnovers and Dream offensive boards that were leading to Atlanta’s edge, with Erika de Souza making the most of her size advantage in the paint. As the half progressed, it was the active hands and constant energy of the Dream defense which kept Atlanta on top.

 

  • As always, Angel McCoughtry was a major part of the Dream’s success, but she had help. First from Erika, then from Tiffany Hayes, who continued her impressive recent form. Hayes brings such energy and hustle to the team at both ends of the floor, and even if her shooting can be streaky (and she shoots her threes from somewhere down around her knees) she gives Atlanta another legitimate threat from the perimeter. Fred Williams also seems to have decided – partly because of how good Hayes has been – that the small lineup with McCoughtry sliding to power forward has become his ‘first-change’ option. He’s gone to it in the first quarter of both their last two games and used it for long stretches, with Aneika Henry used purely as Erika’s backup at center. It keeps their energy constantly high, because that small group know they have to work their butts off to move and help each other due to their lack of pure size.

 

  • Williams also smartly switched up his rotation a little in this game. Leading 20-17 at the end of the first quarter but on top, he left McCoughtry in rather than benching her for her typical rest at the start of the second quarter. The Dream have suffered ugly lulls in that period in many recent games, but instead they kept their momentum rolling, built a lead, and McCoughtry still got some rest later in the half anyway. Williams recognised that they couldn’t afford the lull against Minnesota, and navigated around it nicely for once.

 

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WNBA Today, 08/17/2013: Western summit continues to tighten; Eastern picture remains muddied

 

Four games last night in the WNBA. We had a couple of upsets – one minor, one huge. And a couple of home wins – one comfortable, one blowout. Let’s go to the Bullet Point Breakdowns to take a look.

 

Washington Mystics 66 @ New York Liberty 57

  • New York came into this one just half-a-game behind the Mystics for the final playoff spot in the East. Having beaten Washington twice in recent weeks, a win for the Liberty also would’ve sealed the season-series tiebreaker should these teams end up level at the end of the season. The Mystics came in having beaten the best and the worst the WNBA has to offer in their last two games, Minnesota and Connecticut. Now they had to take on an opponent from somewhere in the middle.

 

  • The lineups were the same as usual for these teams, although New York had veteran forward DeLisha Milton-Jones in uniform for the first time after claiming her off waivers from San Antonio.

 

  • The first half was ultimately very even. Washington built a small lead early with their starters, thanks to the fact that they have more players who can shoot than New York. Cappie Pondexter was utterly invisible in the first quarter. As has been something of a theme lately, the Mystics lost their way a little when their bench players came in, and New York slid back into it largely due to Washington’s offensive futility. Then the rest of the half played out with Pondexter actually making a couple of shots, while Plenette Pierson and Crystal Langhorne entertainingly went to war down low.

 

  • The third quarter was even more forgettable than the first half. Desperately scrappy basketball, too many turnovers, defense dominating and not a lot of points being scored. A 34-33 New York lead at halftime became a 45-44 Washington lead after three periods.

 

  • It didn’t take long in the fourth quarter for the victor to become clear. Matee Ajavon, Kia Vaughn and Tierra Ruffin-Pratt all nailed jumpers in the opening moments, turning a one-point lead into an eight-point gap. In a game where points had been at a premium all night, that felt like a chasm. Defensive decisions and defense in general had become rather too easy for the Mystics. Pondexter couldn’t hit a shot to save her life in the second half, and New York don’t have many other players who can shoot (especially considering Bill Laimbeer’s continuing reluctance to play Leilani Mitchell). So the defense increasingly collapsed into the paint, and made it harder and harder for New York to force the ball inside. So they spent the fourth quarter either being swamped in the paint when they continued to try to get there, or watching Pondexter brick jumpers.

 

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WNBA Today, 08/14/2013: Sparks hold on to beat Sky, as Delle Donne’s foot causes concern

 

Just one game in the WNBA last night, as the Chicago Sky completed their pair of games against the West’s elite with a trip to Los Angeles. The Sky beat Minnesota in overtime on Sunday, and now they had the chance to back-up that victory with a result against the Sparks. But it wasn’t going to be easy. LA had just come home from a successful road trip, winning four in a row after a rocky start in Tulsa. With the chance to move within a game of the Lynx at the top of the Western standings, LA were just as up for this game as Chicago.

 

The same starting lineups we’ve grown used to with these teams over the season began the game. The defensive matchups were always going to be interesting, because both sides have players that are so difficult to deal with. Chicago had Sylvia Fowles on Candace Parker, and Swin Cash on Nneka Ogwumike, hiding Elena Delle Donne as usual on the weakest offensive option available – Alana Beard. At the other end of the floor, LA started with Parker on Delle Donne, creating a matchup between the Sky’s prized rookie and the established veteran whose skillset most closely resembles her own. That left Ogwumike trying to handle Fowles in the post, and Kristi Toliver sliding over onto Cash – so that Beard could guard Epiphanny Prince. With that much cross-matching, inevitably the teams couldn’t always line up as they desired when the action switched quickly in transition, but that was what they were trying for.

 

The entire first half was a tight, competitive contest, with 15 lead changes taking place. Delle Donne hit a couple of shots early, as Parker failed to extend all the way out to guard her so Delle Donne simply fired away right over the top. As always, LA did everything they could to push up the court quickly, and find early offense in transition. It resulted in a few cheap points for LA, but also a few unnecessary turnovers when Lindsey Harding or Kristi Toliver were a little too desperate to try to force something.

 

The mismatches both teams had and their effectiveness in trying to capitalise on them were intriguing. Obviously, the reason you can hide weaker defenders on players like Beard and Cash is that you’re not afraid of them hurting you with their offense. But both of those players are former All-Stars, and it’s tempting to go to them when they’re handed a clear advantage on the offensive end. At the same time, it’s a generally a win for the defense if Beard is trying to hit a reasonably open jumper, or Cash is trying to post up Toliver and create a lane for an entry pass. You’d generally prefer to see that as a defense than one of the offensive stars taking the shot. So we saw a couple of efforts from Beard, and we saw both Cash and Tamera Young trying to post up Toliver, but the offenses didn’t go back to that well very often. Better to just let the weaker defenders hide than take yourself out of your own offense while trying to attack them.

 

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WNBA Today, 08/11/2013: Sparks and Fever continue to improve, Liberty and Dream continue to struggle

 

Two WNBA games on Saturday, one early and one late. Each was between a team who’ve been moving forwards and winning games lately, and a team who’ve been struggling. So the results shouldn’t have come as a big surprise.

 

The opener was in New York (well, New Jersey – back to New York next year), where the Los Angeles Sparks were the visitors. The Liberty have been frustratingly up and down lately, which is at least better than the consistent turnover-riddled losses that were a repetitive story earlier in the season. The Sparks have been strong, picking up their game even before Candace Parker returned from her wrist injury. This was the fifth and final game of a road trip for LA, and they’d swept the previous three against Eastern teams after a disappointing start in Tulsa. They were looking to finish strong in New York before heading home.

 

The lineups were the same as in recent games for these teams. New York started out okay, sliding Plenette Pierson inside for a pretty basket off the pick-and-roll on their opening possession and playing some solid interior defense. They even forced Nneka Ogwumike to the bench quickly after she picked up two fouls inside the first four minutes of the game. But the Sparks began to pull away thanks to significantly better perimeter shooting. Both teams were neutralising each other in the post. The size and athleticism of Ogwumike, Parker and Jantel Lavender was enough to body up on New York’s posts and make them miss inside. Everything was rimming out. At the other end it was mostly a similar story, with the Liberty strong enough in the paint to keep LA out. Parker even helped them out by consistently bricking shots from about 19 feet. But Kristi Toliver was hitting jumpers, and the likes of Lindsey Harding, Alana Beard and Marissa Coleman joined in as the first half wore on. That made the big difference on the scoreboard.

 

Cappie Pondexter was doing what she could to carry the Liberty offense, and it was nice to see her both drive for layups or fouls, and nail a three in the kind of situation where she’s been firing 19ft twos most of the season. But that wasn’t really enough. When the Liberty have been successful lately, it’s been through Pierson, Kara Braxton and Kelsey Bone providing consistent scoring inside. They couldn’t do that, so New York struggled to score.

 

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