After Indiana and Minnesota both held on to home court advantage in Game 1 of their respective series, it was up to Atlanta and Phoenix to win Game 2 back on their own courts and force a decider. The former had to overcome the loss of a key player, the latter had to bounce back from being destroyed in the opening contest, so there was an extra element to both of Sunday afternoon’s games. Just in case they needed more than the fact that they were playing to keep their seasons alive.

Atlanta were back home for Game 2, but they’d lost their starting center. As expected, Erika de Souza had disappeared off to Colombia for the FIBA Americas tournament to help Brazil try to qualify for the 2012 Olympic Games. We could argue for hours over the choice to play for country over club but regardless of the various opinions on the subject, the Dream were left without a big piece of their frontcourt. Indiana had needed an outstanding (and unlikely) shooting performance from Tangela Smith to take Game 1, but with their opponents shorn of someone who played 37 minutes in that game, they had to think they were in with a chance of the sweep.

Dream coach Marynell Meadors decided to shake things up a little with de Souza out of the picture. Instead of the straight-up switch which would’ve involved Alison Bales sliding into the starting five, she opened the game with Erika’s fellow Brazilian Iziane Castro Marques on the floor. Izi had chosen to stay in Atlanta rather than fly out to play for Brazil, partly because her contract is running out and she’s worried about earning a new one, if you believe her comments in the press. More likely, she just preferred to stay with the Dream, expects Brazil to survive without her, and also expects to be in the Olympic team next year anyway. Castro Marques has always had something of a sense of entitlement when it comes to the Brazilian National Team. For Atlanta, it meant Angel McCoughtry sliding over to a theoretical power forward spot, with Sancho Lyttle the only true big on the floor. It’s a similar tactic to the one used by Meadors to make it through the opening two rounds of the playoffs last year, and inevitably makes them even faster than they already were. It’s also a tactic they can get away with against Indiana, because McCoughtry vs. Tangela Smith at the 4 is a mismatch in Atlanta’s favour, not Indiana’s.

The Fever opened the game defending the Dream pretty much straight up – Katie Douglas on Armintie Price at the 2, Tamika Catchings on Castro Marques at the 3, and Smith on McCoughtry at the 4. It didn’t last long. Continue reading →

So with the preliminaries of the first round out of the way, we’re down to our last four teams for the 2011 WNBA playoffs. Both Conference Finals series got underway last night, with everyone looking to get off to a good start. As with the previous round, the 1-1-1 format for the best-of-three series put the immediate pressure squarely on the teams with home court advantage – drop the opening game on your own floor, and the lower seed would have the chance to close things out on Sunday afternoon.

There’d already been celebrations over in the East, where Indiana‘s Tamika Catchings was named the league’s Most Valuable Player for 2011 earlier in the day. While it was a richly deserved award for a player who could easily have won it in previous years but never had, the announcement came with its own set of distractions just when she needed to concentrate. I’m sure Catchings was delighted to finally win an MVP trophy, but the WNBA Championship ring that has always eluded her is undoubtedly higher up her list of priorities. She’d probably have prefered to have spent the day preparing herself for Game 1, not smiling happily for the cameras and participating in press conferences. That being said, Atlanta had their own pressures. With Erika de Souza wanted by Brazil for the FIBA Americas tournament that starts on Saturday, Game 1 was expected to be the only game in the series where the Dream had their full squad intact. If they couldn’t steal the opening contest on the road, they’d have to win the last two without their starting center. So the opening game was crucial for both teams.

The starting fives were as expected, the same units these teams have been opening games with for months now, but the defensive matchups were interesting. As mentioned in the WNBAlien series preview, Atlanta were once again trying to hide Angel McCoughtry on Tangela Smith, keeping her away from Catchings and hopefully out of foul trouble. At the other end, the initial assignments were Erin Phillips taking fellow point guard Lindsey Harding, Katie Douglas chasing McCoughtry around, and Catchings on Armintie Price – but those three were very fluid. Douglas and Catchings especially were generally taking whichever Dream wing happened to be closest to them on any possession, and if they crossed paths and it was easier to switch than fight across, they simply swapped over.

It was a tight first quarter, and in fact a pretty closely fought first half. The pace of the game, mentioned as a vital element of the series in the preview, was largely in Indiana’s favour. There wasn’t too much charging from end-to-end, and most possessions were being developed in the half court. But, Indiana were giving up far too many turnovers early in the game. Continue reading →