Tag Archives: Phoenix Mercury

WNBA Today, 07/06/2011: Temperatures rise in the desert, and the Fever stay hot

One event sparked most of the discussion in regards to last night’s three WNBA games, but you know what? It was essentially a minor incident and had very little to do with actual basketball, plus it happened in the middle of a pretty terrible game. So on principle, I’ll cover that game second. It would’ve gone last except that even I can’t come up with a good reason to move Chicago-Washington up the playlist.

So first up, the second and final regular season meeting between the two teams I predicted to reach the WNBA Finals this year, Indiana and Seattle. The Storm won their first matchup fairly comfortably a couple of weeks ago, but that was before Lauren Jackson went down with an injury that could cost her the season. The Fever, of course, are also dealing with injury issues of their own, after starting point guard Briann January tore her ACL in their last game and was ruled out for the rest of 2011. This was the first test of how they were going to cope. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 07/02/2011: Whistles, whistles everywhere

You know how some nights the games just don’t seem to want to end? Yeah, last night was a long one in the WNBA, even though we only had three games. Maybe a directive went out from the head office that they hadn’t heard enough whistles in the first month of the season, because we sure got plenty of them to kick off July. Sometimes it really feels like they want us to watch the three people out there in those ugly beige-and-orange shirts more than the ten wearing the basketball uniforms.

The first game to tip off at least had a modicum of flow to it, with New York and San Antonio battling it out in the wilds of New Jersey. The sparse crowds at the Liberty’s adopted home (where they’re intending to play for the next three seasons) aren’t providing much of a home court advantage so far, and there was more bad news for New York before the tip. Essence Carson, one of their bright spots this season, suffered an eye injury in warmups and couldn’t play, not even appearing on the bench through the course of the game.

The first half was pretty painful for us neutrals. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 06/29/2011: Pain and suffering. Plus some basketball.

Okay, I’ll get to last night’s games in a minute, but first the really important news – all the freaking injuries. This is just depressing. As reported yesterday, Candace Parker was already gone for six weeks with her knee injury. Then last night Indiana starting point guard Briann January crashed into Penny Taylor, twisting her own right knee before collapsing to the ground in agony. An MRI today confirmed everyone’s worst fears, and January’s done for the 2011 WNBA season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament. Meanwhile, the Seattle Storm were at the White House, visiting the President as part of their reward for winning last year’s championship. During the visit, head coach Brian Agler dropped the bombshell that Lauren Jackson will be having surgery on her hip tomorrow, not waiting three weeks and hoping that rest would be enough as originally planned. The surgery has an estimated recovery time of 8-12 weeks, which is going to leave the tantalising possibility of an LJ return hanging over Seattle’s season. Eight weeks would give her six regular season games to play, 10 weeks only two, and 12 weeks would bring her back right around the Conference Finals. Regardless of how that plays out, the Storm are going to spend the vast majority of the season without their best player.

I’m so tired of losing so many important players every single year. The women’s game doesn’t have the depth of talent to cope, and because most of these ladies play practically 12 months a year the injuries become all the more inevitable. It’s hard to blame the players that decide to skip the WNBA when you see what can happen to those who never take a break. Until we reach some distant mystical wonderland where the women’s game is popular enough for players to make the bulk of their earnings in the WNBA, I don’t know that there is any solution to the global women’s basketball calendar. But it’s just so sad that so much talent ends up on treatment tables instead of the hardwood every damn season.

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Anyway, back to the games. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 06/26/2011: Old Dogs Still Bite

You know how in every sports movie, there’s a scene where the big, bad reigning champ shows our plucky young hero that he isn’t actually ready yet? He might’ve thought he was, or he might’ve just been wandering along the road minding his own business, but one way or another the old power has to show that they’re still in charge. Still the big man. Still on top. Well last night, a couple of teams that have seen the WNBA Finals in recent years showed a pair of shiny new upstart teams that the balance of power hasn’t quite swung just yet. They might have been there, done that and bought the t-shirt, but they aren’t going to hand anything over without a hell of a fight.

Okay Phoenix, I see you. I get the message. Four wins in a row for our first old dog; finally a win against a team that can vaguely rebound and moderately shoot (as requested here yesterday); and, most importantly of all, some tiny signs of actual defense from a team in Mercury uniforms. Really! I swear! I can’t stop using exclamation marks because it’s so unlikely! Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 06/25/2011: Storm -1 Still Blow a Gale

Sometimes, basketball games are about more than just winning and losing. Sometimes, even just three weeks into a season, a team has to go out on the floor and prove that they still belong. That they’re still the champs, and that the route to this year’s title still goes through them. That without their star player they can still compete with the best teams in this league. And that however horrific their offense might be, you’re still going to have trouble scoring points against them. Ladies and gentlemen, your Seattle Storm!

For anyone who caught yesterday’s article before the late update (or the few of you with the temerity to not even read it at all), Lauren Jackson has been ruled out for ‘a minimum of three weeks’ with ‘a labral injury in her left hip’. They’re going to let her rest, then try physical therapy, and if she doesn’t respond well enough only then will they resort to surgery. So the Storm went into last night’s game at home to Minnesota not just smarting from the ass-kicking they took from the Lynx two weeks ago, but shorn of last year’s WNBA MVP. However, as we all know, in life and in sports – beware of the wounded animal.

Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 06/22/2011: Night of Celebration finds a Hollywood Ending

It was WNBA madness yesterday, with five games spread from lunchtime until midnight on the US East Coast. I spread the load a little with a Pseudo-Live Game Diary of the early game between Atlanta and Chicago, so now we get to focus on the four late games. Here’s the quick tale of the first three: two decent teams beat two crappy teams even though they were without a key player for most or all of the night; and one mediocre team beat another mediocre team who were missing a key player of their own. The end. Okay not the end, and I’ll cover all three games in a little more depth towards the end of this article, but first we’re going to skip to the night’s showpiece event – New York @ Los Angeles, a rematch of the first ever WNBA game, commemorating the WNBA’s 15th season.

Firstly, this was the most entertaining game we’ve had so far this season, so if you didn’t watch it, I’ll wait while you go and check out the archive. Go on, I’ll still be here when you get back. You can even just click here and it’ll start for you. See how good I am to you?

Anyway, on to the analysis. Continue reading →

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

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

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

WNBA Today, 06/18/2011: Four times the Fun

Four games last night, and the first to tip off was one of two that turned out to be somewhat competitive, with the shorthanded Dream travelling to Minnesota. With Sancho Lyttle off playing for Spain for the next couple of weeks, everyone and their dog was predicting yet another big game for Rebekkah Brunson, and we weren’t to be disappointed. Atlanta went big to start, replacing Lyttle with 6-7 behemoth Alison Bales, and it was reasonably successful for a while – but it didn’t last. A fun back-and-forth first half between two teams that are happy to push the tempo ended up 39 apiece, but in the third quarter the Lynx made their move. With Whalen pulling the strings and Brunson racking up the rebounds, Minnesota went from 43-41 down to a 54-43 lead in the blink of an eye. Brunson made a couple of typically athletic plays, Augustus hit a pretty jumper, Whalen dropped in a couple of buckets and Maya Moore had a steal that led straight into a breakaway layup. That’s the scary thing about this Lynx team – they can hurt you from essentially any spot on the floor. Even when they go to the bench, you’ve got the likes of Candice Wiggins and Monica Wright coming in, but it’s that Whalen/Augustus/Moore/Brunson/Taj starting lineup that’s doing most of the damage. Stop one or two pieces, and they’ll just come at you from another angle.

Continue reading →

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

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

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

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

WNBA Today, 06/05/2011

Four games yesterday as the season got going in earnest and we got our first look at how most of the WNBA teams are shaping up in 2011. Phoenix were in Seattle as the Storm collected their championship rings and then picked up right where they left off last year. Seven straight times they beat the Mercury last season, and it always felt like they were in control of this one, despite reigning MVP Lauren Jackson only taking one shot in the entire first half. The Merc could never get their running game going which left the whole contest being played at Seattle’s pace, and in the face of that the Mercury are never going to have much chance. Seattle are more precise in their execution, far smoother defensively, and when it comes to Phoenix they’re actually deeper than their opponents as well. The Storm blew the game out to a 19-point lead with under 5 minutes left before a late charge led by 11 Taurasi points in the space of 90 seconds reduced the scoreline to a respectable 78-71. Phoenix made a mess of trying to foul to stop the clock in the final seconds, but it wouldn’t have made any difference. Continue reading →