Tag Archives: Minnesota Lynx

WNBA Today, 08/27/2011: Playoff chase still has some Shocking twists

Okay let’s face it, the big WNBA event of Saturday night came late in the evening, when many saner people than I had already gone to bed. But we’re going to build up to it, Shock fans (oops, spoiler alert). Every game yesterday had at least some level of playoff implications, so it’s not like we can just ignore all the basketball that went before in favour of those few final seconds. However much we might want to.

Having already covered the Phoenix-Connecticut matchup in yesterday’s column, next up was San Antonio’s trip to face Minnesota. While the Lynx are still playing to mathematically win the West and seal home court advantage throughout the playoffs, their regular season is already winding down. Everyone knows they’ve won the conference, and they’ve got a couple of games on Indiana for home court. Their last few matchups are more about preparing for the playoffs than anything else. The situation in San Antonio is a little different. Having lost eight of their last ten, the Silver Stars were only 1.5 games ahead of LA for the fourth and final playoff spot in the West heading into this one, and the gap seems to have been decreasing by the day. A road game against the Lynx obviously wouldn’t be your first choice to turn a spiralling record around – in fact it might be just about last on this list this year – but it’s dire straights for San Antonio at this point. They need to scrap for any possible win they can find, and if they can snatch a couple in unlikely places it’ll be an added bonus.

Helping the Silver Stars out for this game, Danielle Adams was finally back in uniform after missing 11 games due to her mid-foot sprain. Bear in mind that Seattle went 10-10 without Lauren Jackson, while LA went 5-10 without Candace Parker – San Antonio were even worse, at 3-8 without Adams. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 08/24/2011: Cappie explodes; San Antonio sink; Tulsa toil.

For anyone who missed it, I covered two of Tuesday’s games in yesterday’s column. Now it’s time for the remaining three. Chronologically, Minnesota’s trip to Tulsa came first, but let’s face it, top vs. bottom doesn’t mean a great deal at this point in the season. So we’ll get to that game at the end. First, the two contests that involved teams still fighting it out for playoff positions, and even to make sure they reach the postseason to begin with.

Live on ESPN2 in the US, Cappie Pondexter returned to Phoenix with her New York Liberty squad for the second time since forcing a trade prior to the 2010 season. When she went back last season the teams ended up in a scuffle that led to Pondexter being ejected from the game, so it was an interesting choice for national TV. If you’d had to assign probabilities of a brawl for every game all season, this one might’ve had the highest value on the schedule. Maybe they were working on the age-old maxim of “any publicity is good publicity”, and hoping there might be some extra-curricular activity. The chances of any kind of scuffle decreased a little when news filtered out that Diana Taurasi would miss her second straight game due to back spasms. Apparently she wanted to play, but the Mercury medical staff decided against it. Probably a good idea considering how chippy the game was always likely to become.

After winning four of their last five games, Phoenix had moved 1.5 games clear in second place in the West. However, with a four game road trip coming up, this would’ve been a nice game to win to send them out on their travels on a positive note. For New York, the win Atlanta completed over Chicago just before this game tipped off gave them a little breathing room to make the playoffs, but made their grasp on 3rd place even more tenuous. It’s still a combination of trying to hold Atlanta off while trying to chase down Connecticut for them, just as it’s been for several weeks now. They were helped out a little for this game by the return of backup center Quanitra Hollingsworth, deepening their post rotation and reducing their reliance on recent acquisition Kara Braxton. It was Braxton’s first appearance back in Phoenix since being dumped for pennies on the dollar by the Mercury earlier in the season, due to her attitude and a physical altercation with Olayinka Sanni. Judging from the boos that greeted her when she entered the game, the Mercury fans didn’t exactly welcome her back with open arms. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 08/21/2011: Wild West heating up

Saturday was a big night for the WNBA’s Western Conference, as all five teams still in with a shot of the playoffs featured. With one superstar having already returned, another making her first appearance in months, and a third taking the night off due to pain, it’s all gotten a little extra-interesting as we head into the final weeks of the regular season. The one East-only matchup had an exciting finish as well, but we’ll get to that at the end. First, the West.

Opening up our Western slate, the Los Angeles Sparks travelled out to face the league-leading Minnesota Lynx. With Candace Parker back in the fold, LA – somehow – managed to beat East-leading Indiana on Thursday night. To my eyes, as regular readers will remember, it was far more down to an inept performance from the Fever than a particularly impressive one from LA. Still, it had to give them extra confidence heading into the game with the Lynx. Compared to San Antonio, LA’s schedule is very straightforward for the rest of the season, meaning their playoff hopes are still alive despite being three games back prior to Saturday night. A win in Minnesota would get that playoff push off to a heck of a start. It hardly mattered, but the Lynx went into this game knowing that a win would officially, 100% statistically confirm that they’d made the playoffs for the first time since 2004. It’s been a foregone conclusion for weeks, but when you’ve been on the outside looking in for so long, it’s always nice to make these things official. There’s also still the small matter of home court advantage throughout the playoffs to fight for.

Minnesota’s starting five has barely changed all season, and nothing was any different for this one. LA stuck with the five that ‘worked’ against Indiana. The Sparks’ defense immediately presented itself as the exact same style and concept that they offered against the Fever. They were switching on everything, not bothering to fight over or around any screens regardless of the players involved. Lindsay Whalen’s not dumb. She brought Taj McWilliams-Franklin out to set screens on three Lynx possessions within the first three minutes of the game. Each time, LA switched and Taj was left being defended by Ticha Penicheiro. Yeah, that’s not going to work. Three easy buckets resulted, two for Taj on layups and one for a wide open Rebekkah Brunson when the ball was kicked to her. I hate this LA defense with a passion. It’s dismal.

The scary thing was that Minnesota started messing it up. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 08/19/2011: A New York state of desperation

There were three games in the WNBA yesterday, but one turned out to be the game of the night by some distance. So we’re going to concentrate on the top contest and worry about the others later. After blowing out league-leading Minnesota in their previous game, Connecticut headed into last night on a high. Having won 10 of their last 13, they were looking upwards with hopes of chasing down Indiana, rather than worrying about what was going on behind them. Despite being just one place lower in the Eastern standings, and only 2.5 games behind the Sun, things haven’t been quite so rosy for New York of late. They finally scraped a win over Washington on Tuesday night, but three losses in four prior to that and some tired-looking performances had left them glancing over their shoulders at Atlanta and even Chicago. A win over Connecticut would’ve provided a much needed fillip, and resurrected faint hopes of catching the Sun for home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. It also had the potential to reassure players and fans alike that they were going to make the postseason in the first place.

The pre-game news for New York wasn’t good. Quanitra Hollingsworth was still in street clothes due to her ankle sprain, limiting the Liberty’s post options for the second straight game. Joining her on the bench was Nicole Powell, out due to a bone bruise or a left-knee contusion, depending on which injury report you wanted to listen to (they’re essentially the same thing, just phrased differently). Powell hasn’t had the greatest of seasons to say the least, but losing your starting small forward rarely increases your chances of victory. Essence Carson replaced her in the starting lineup. The Sun had everyone available, and stuck with the same starting five that they’ve used throughout their 10-3 run.

The first half was nip and tuck all the way, without either team managing to take control. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 08/17/2011 (extra): You can go home again, but you might not enjoy it

Told you I’d be back with the final game from Tuesday night. Hope no one was holding on with bated breath, because it really wasn’t worth it. With Minnesota heading out to Connecticut, all the talk was about just one person – Maya Moore. Returning to the area where she had so much success in college, the first appearance of the WNBA’s presumptive Rookie of the Year back in Connecticut had helped the Sun sell out the Mohegan Sun Arena for this game. Moore’s team has had a couple of tight contests recently, and even dropped a game in Phoenix, but they’d still won 11 of their last 12 games. Hilariously, they’ve already won more games this year than the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves managed in the entire 2010-11 NBA season. The T-Wolves played 82 games; the Lynx only needed 23 to surpass their win total. However, the Sun won’t have been cowering at the prospect of facing the WNBA’s hottest team. 9-3 themselves in their last 12 games, Connecticut are still chasing after Indiana for the top spot in the East and have only lost twice at home all season. They won’t have wanted to make Moore’s homecoming a pleasant one.

The usual fives took the floor to start the game, without any fresh injuries or absences to report. Moore put a three in the air on her first touch of the ball, but when it rimmed out the stage was set for how the opening minutes were going to play out for her and the Lynx. Many of the fans may have showed up to see Moore, but it was the Sun they’d end up cheering for. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 08/15/2011: Welcome to Big Syl’s World

Well I waited and waited, but it wasn’t to be. Unless some unlikely news is about to slide out beyond the deadline, the final day for WNBA teams to make trades this season passed without even a mild whimper. Not one single move. I’m not remotely surprised, but I am a little disappointed. Trades are fun, and they shake things up. It’s not like there are a plethora of teams who don’t need any help this season. Practically everyone has a hole somewhere, and in most cases more than one. The problem is that we’ve only got twelve teams. It’s hard to make a deal when the trading partners are so limited. Ah well, guess we’ll just have to concentrate on the basketball instead.

Two games yesterday, but the late tip involved Tulsa so it’s more like one-and-a-half. The game featuring two actual professional basketball teams was in San Antonio, where Chicago were the visitors. After losing four of their last five, and with Atlanta on a hot streak, the Sky had dropped 1.5 games out of the playoff spots in the East. It was starting to look like Pokey Chatman’s first year in charge was going to end exactly the same way as every other Sky season – counting lottery balls. So they had every reason to be up for this game. San Antonio were coming off their most impressive performance since Danielle Adams started missing games with her foot injury, a 13-point win in Connecticut that was significantly more comprehensive than that sounds. With Phoenix and Seattle having lost in previous days, San Antonio had the chance to create a little separation from those two in the Western standings if they could maintain that level of performance. Considering Chicago’s 2-9 road record, they seemed to have every chance.

However, the opening minutes of the game offered a glimpse of how the entire afternoon was going to play out. Sylvia Fowles hit a layup; Sylvia Fowles grabbed a board; Sylvia Fowles grabbed another board; Sylvia Fowles hit another layup – I think you can see the I’m trying to paint here. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 08/13/2011: Sometimes, prayers are answered

Who knew that the basketball gods were WNBAlien readers? The day after I give in, admit defeat and ask for close games over any kind of tedious blowout, they deliver with three nailbiters. They even spaced the schedule out nicely so that the games didn’t clash. Do you think they only deal with basketball, or would the same powerful beings respond if I asked for Megan Fox?

While I wait for Megan to arrive, let’s take a look at last night’s games. Forgive me if I gloss over the first 35 minutes of most of them – we’ve got a lot of crunch time to deal with today. The opening game of the evening was in Washington, where the Mystics had returned to their familiar style of finding a way to lose against Atlanta on Tuesday night. Yesterday the visitors were New York, who were looking for revenge after losing in the same arena less than a week earlier. When you’re fighting for playoff position, you’re not really supposed to lose to the worst team in the East once, never mind twice.

There was nothing much in it for most of the first quarter as the teams felt each other out, but late in the first and running into the second, the Liberty made a push. It was mostly on threes that they built their advantage, with rookie Alex Montgomery knocking down a couple, Leilani Mitchell adding one and then Nicole Powell joining in. In the face of the barrage, Washington lost their rhythm and started turning the ball over, which only made it more difficult to halt the tide. New York led 34-21 by the middle of the second period.

Matee Ajavon, the primary perimeter weapon for Washington most of this season, had been kept quiet to that point. Directly up against former college teammates Cappie Pondexter and Essence Carson, you never know quite how a player is going to respond to facing people who know her game inside and out. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 08/10/2011: Everybody plays!

So, six games yesterday in the WNBA, because apparently the league wants to punish me for something I did in a previous life. However, they made the mistake of leaving today free, which means I can spread things out. In this column you get the top teams from either conference, because if you’re in first you earn the right to be discussed first. Plus I threw in the LA-Tulsa game because I figure barely anyone watched it so a recap might be useful. The other three games will be covered tomorrow. The WNBA’s plan to exhaust me by overloading their schedule on certain days is foiled again.

So we start out with Indiana, looking to rebound from their disappointing loss in Chicago on Sunday with a home game against San Antonio. The Fever haven’t had to face a great deal of adversity this season, besides working out what to do when Briann January went down (which was a pretty straightforward decision). Losing one game to the Sky was hardly a disaster, but the manner of the 19-point loss to a team that they’ve dominated in the past necessitated a response. You don’t want games like that to linger. San Antonio have been patchy themselves lately, losing three straight before beating Tulsa by just eight points on Saturday. The recent record would look a lot prettier if they’d had just a little more luck in either of two last-second losses to Minnesota, but their offense has struggled at times since Danielle Adams suffered her foot injury. They’re still battling for wins, but everything becomes more difficult when you lose a key weapon.

The first quarter was dominated by defense. There were several turnovers on either side, but this was less the sloppy giveaways that we’ve seen from teams like Tulsa, LA, Phoenix and Seattle this season, more two hard-nosed defenses fighting each other tooth and nail. These were forced turnovers, not aimless passes sailing over teammates’ heads for no good reason. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 08/09/2011: Sextuple Tuesday

Yes, six games tonight in the WNBA, as every team in the league takes to the floor. In honour of that (and the fact that there were no games yesterday), WNBAlien brings you some game notes and things to watch out for in all six contests.


Atlanta @ Washington, 7pm ET (ESPN3 in the US, LiveAccess in most other places)

This one could actually be pretty interesting. The Mystics have played some decent stuff lately, finally grabbing their fourth win of the year against New York on Saturday. They also keep claiming that they’re still chasing a playoff spot, and if they honestly believe that then this is one of the games that they have to win – Chicago and Atlanta are the obvious suspects to track down if they were to somehow pull it off.

Crystal Langhorne and Matee Ajavon have been carrying Washington of late, Ajavon especially exploding against New York, but they may struggle against Atlanta’s weapons. The Dream can match up with the Mystics’ speed, although after Armintie Price hurt her ankle in the last game they might be without the most natural option to guard Ajavon. An increasingly healthy Sancho Lyttle could make things difficult for Langhorne inside, but when she’s in the mood Lang can score against anybody. On the opposite side of the ball, Marissa Coleman’s defense may be improved from what it once was, but it’s still hard to see how she’ll keep up with Angel McCoughtry. The Mystics defense will have to be alive and offer Coleman a lot of help to keep McCoughtry quiet.

After two disappointing losses, Atlanta creamed Seattle on Sunday afternoon, and will be looking to carry that momentum on into this game. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 08/08/2011: Lesson One – Turnovers are Bad

A quad-game Sunday in the WNBA this week, and we’re going to start at the very beginning – because apparently it’s a very good place to start. Seattle went into Philips Arena in Atlanta on a three-game win streak, but also with a 4-7 road record for the season that’s a little misleading. Two of the wins were in Tulsa, one in Washington, and only the victory in Phoenix just after the All-Star break really meant anything. This is a team that’s still struggling to perform without the support of the Key Arena crowd. That simultaneously makes winning a few of these games even more vital, because they’re in a three-way battle with San Antonio and Phoenix for second-place in the Western Conference. Which would result in home-court advantage for at least one round of the playoffs. Hopefully Lauren Jackson will be back by then, and perhaps lower the Storm’s reliance on their own floor, but that #2 spot could mean more to them than any of their rivals.

Atlanta are in the midst of their own playoff battle, but in their case it’s a matter of overtaking Chicago to even make the postseason. Losses to New York and Connecticut in their last couple of games haven’t helped, so they needed to get back to winning ways. Head coach Marynell Meadors shook up her starting lineup in the hope that it would reenergise her team, reinserting Angel McCoughtry and Sancho Lyttle as the starting forwards. It’s still unclear exactly why McCoughtry was ever removed, but it makes sense to open the game with your leader and star on the floor. With Lyttle, it was just a matter of waiting until she seemed healthy enough to take her place – she’s clearly the best option at power forward for this team, as long as she’s in one piece.

The opening stages were, unfortunately for the Storm, a microcosm of the entire 40 minutes. Continue reading →