Tag Archives: Phoenix Mercury

WNBA Today, 07/22/2013: Shock’s dynamic duo impress again; Fever and Lynx keep winning

 

Yesterday was the third consecutive day of WNBA triple-headers, but it was a slightly more intriguing slate than the previous offerings. We had a rematch from Friday night, with two Eastern playoff contenders still trying to prove themselves in different ways. Tulsa were hoping to indicate that their recent upturn in form was more than just a fluke, facing an Atlanta team trying to arrest a recent slide. And finally, two of the three Western powers faced off, with a win streak and a new defense in the mix. This was a nice way to finish off the weekend.

 

Indiana Fever 65 @ Washington Mystics 52

  • Here we had our two potential Eastern playoff teams. With Connecticut looking terrible and New York floundering, most bets would probably be on both these teams making the postseason, but it’s far from a certainty at this stage. Washington lost narrowly to this Fever team on Friday, but the Mystics have been a significantly better team on their own floor this season. Indiana came into this game having won five of their previous six, and are in the process of turning around their season.

 

  • Washington were as healthy as ever, but slightly worryingly Indiana guard Erin Phillips sat this one out. She missed the Fever’s first 11 games of the season with a meniscus tear in her knee, but had returned to play in their last three. Apparently she was kept out of this one as a precautionary measure due to some recent knee pain. Hopefully she just needed a little rest, because her return has been an important boost for Indiana.

 

  • If we wanted to be nice and generous about the opening stages of this game, we could call it a defensive battle. More accurately we could say that neither team could make a shot to save their lives. Everyone missed every kind of shot you could imagine, and Washington led 9-8 after the opening quarter. One shot was made in the opening 21 attempts of the game.

 

  • Washington got some solid interior defense from backup post Emma Meesseman after Crystal Langhorne picked up early fouls and had to sit. That was nice to see, because the main area that was concerning about Meesseman coming to the WNBA was whether she could handle the physicality of this league. She always looked a little lightweight to me in Europe. Indiana are one of the smaller interior teams in the league, but they’re as physical as anyone. She stood up to the fight.

 

  • Indiana started to pull away in the second quarter by virtue of actually hitting some shots. Not many, but Tamika Catchings and Karima Christmas made enough to make an impact, considering Washington still couldn’t score. Lin Dunn and her staff have done a nice job of re-shaping Indiana’s defense to keep it as effective as ever under the new defensive three-seconds rule. They had some problems earlier in the year, caused as much by all the injuries as anything else, but they’re back up to their previous heights now. The low-post double-teams that they used to bring with a weak-side defender along the baseline have essentially disappeared – because that second defender used to loiter in the paint so she could arrive quickly, and the new rule makes that tough to get away with. Their double-teams are now coming from the more traditional high defender on the strong side, but the activity, recovery and teamwork of their defense continues to make it very successful. Washington’s Crystal Langhorne had absolutely no impact on this game due to the double-teams and defensive pressure.

 

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WNBA Today, 07/19/2013: Liberty malaise continues against Sky; LA’s home perfection pierced by Phoenix

 

There was a distinct sense of déjà vu about much of Thursday’s WNBA slate. Just like Wednesday, we had one early game, one late. Just like Wednesday, the early game ended in a hideous blowout win for the road team. Just like Wednesday, the late game was in LA, with the Sparks trying to defend their perfect record on their home floor. Unfortunately for LA, the repetition only went so far.

 

We began out in Jersey, where the Liberty were hosting their second (of three) Camp Day games this season. I guess that’s one way to boost attendance. The big injury news for this game was that Sky center Sylvia Fowles was out (and not even with the team) due apparently to that same right ankle that she’d sprained earlier this month. She did tweak it in their recent game against Connecticut, but came back out of the locker room and returned to that game, so everyone had assumed she was okay. Maybe the Sky simply figured there was no need for her in this game so she could stay home and rest. Backup center Carolyn Swords was the natural fill-in to start in her place.

 

For New York, Plenette Pierson was back in the starting lineup ahead of Kelsey Bone, with Bill Laimbeer searching for some way to energise his team. It’s been ugly for the Liberty lately, losing six of their previous eight games, topped off by the embarrassing 31-6 third quarter against Indiana on Saturday night. Their season’s been heading in the wrong direction for a while.

 

Unfortunately for Liberty fans, the first quarter of this game simply brought back memories of that dismal period against the Fever. It was a mess – the same kind of mess we’ve been seeing on a pretty regular basis from New York lately. Down 9-0 in under two minutes before Laimbeer called his first timeout, it was 27-7 when he tried again after seven minutes of play, and the Liberty trailed by as many as 25 before the opening period was over.

 

That opening 10 minutes saw the now very familiar parade of New York turnovers, as they tried to make passes through traffic that made them virtually impossible. They keep trying to force the ball to their post players, and balls are constantly poked away by opposing defenses, often without much need for movement or effort. Even on plays that aren’t technically turnovers, New York passes are constantly tipped or deflected, and after they eventually manage to corral the ball they’re left with rushed and desperate offensive possessions just to get something up before the shot clock expires. Kara Braxton took too many elbow jumpers – there’s a reason they’re giving you that shot, Kara – there was a painful lack of ball movement, and the confidence has clearly drained out of this team after recent performances. The only positive was that Cappie Pondexter was attacking the basket off the dribble, something she’s done rather too infrequently this season, but it wasn’t remotely effective. Courtney Vandersloot – whose defense has taken a leap forward this season, and who never would’ve been trusted to defend Pondexter in previous years – did a good job of staying in front of Cappie without fouling. Then either Vandersloot or her teammates would reach in and deflect the ball or just let her miss or cough the ball up amongst the traffic. Meanwhile, Pondexter’s teammates were standing around wondering if they’d ever become part of the offense.

 

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WNBA Today, 07/15/2013: Injury bug continues to play key role as Silver Stars, Mercury and Dream all fall

 

Sunday saw a triple-header of WNBA action, so it’s off to the Bullet Point Breakdowns to cover it all:

 

San Antonio Silver Stars 84 @ Connecticut Sun 86

  • Both teams stuck with the same starting lineups they’d used in their last games. For San Antonio that meant second-year wing Shenise Johnson retaining her small forward spot ahead of Shameka Christon; for Connecticut, Iziane Castro Marques continued to start with Kara Lawson still coming off the bench in her second game since returning from injury. Castro Marques has been desperately ineffective since joining the Sun, whether starting or as a reserve, which in truth is only a continuation of how poor she was in Atlanta and Washington the last two years. At some point, WNBA teams will eventually stop signing her. At the very least, her minutes will continue to disappear for Connecticut with Lawson back and Renee Montgomery reportedly approaching a return as well.

 

  • The first half was remarkably streaky, eventually ending up in virtual stalemate. Both these teams are deeply flawed. San Antonio, lacking stars Becky Hammon and Sophia Young, don’t have the same level of scoring threat that they’ve possessed in previous seasons. They’ve also been one of the worst rebounding teams in the league for years, and nothing’s changed on that front. Connecticut still have the same gaping hole at power forward that they started the season with, the injuries have hurt the backcourt, and Tina Charles has lacked offensive support all year. It all balanced out and ended up even.

 

  • Charles settled for too many jumpers in the first half, just like she has all season, despite San Antonio sending far fewer double-teams at her than she’s seen from most opponents this year. Most teams have seen the lack of firepower around Charles and swarmed her, forcing any other Sun player to try to beat them. The Silver Stars sent help occasionally, but largely trusted Jayne Appel to do the best job she could while everyone else stayed home.

 

  • At the other end of the floor, San Antonio missed a procession of layups, whether under pressure or not. As a team that doesn’t usually take many shots near the rim, maybe they were too close. After trailing by as many as 11 points earlier in the first half, once they stepped back and started firing jumpers, Jia Perkins and Danielle Robinson shot San Antonio back into the game. The Silver Stars trailed just 34-32 at halftime.

 

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WNBA Today, 07/11/2013: Flying Fowles lifts Sky past Mystics; sloppy Mercury upset by Silver Stars

 

We had a pair of early tip-offs in the WNBA yesterday, as thousands of kids descended on arenas in Chicago and Phoenix for their yearly Camp Day games. Sometimes players struggle to wake themselves up time to perform in these games, but it’s always nice if they end up as watchable contests – we have to encourage the next generation of WNBA fans to keep coming back.

 

The first game was in the Windy City, where the Washington Mystics were the visitors. For once, both teams had healthy rosters, with Tamera Young returning from the ankle injury that kept her out of the Sky’s last game to give Pokey Chatman a full bench to utilise. The Mystics reached two significant marks with recent wins – Mike Thibault went past Van Chancellor on the all-time WNBA coaching wins list, and the franchise equalled the highest win-total from the Trudi Lacey era. With 22 games still to go. Now they can just concentrate on continued improvement.

 

While much of the talk last season around the Sky surrounded Epiphanny Prince’s breakout year, and most of the discussion this year has been about rookie starlet Elena Delle Donne, one important player used this game to remind everyone that Chicago already had a superstar before either of those two arrived – Sylvia Fowles. Big Syl was aggressive and active from the very start, running the floor hard, fighting for position in the paint, and leaping after every rebound. While she’s put up pretty solid, consistent numbers this season, too many times she’s been performing relatively quietly while rarely touching the ball in Chatman’s largely predictable offense. This was the Fowles we always want to see, a dominant presence at both ends of the floor who demands the ball inside, or just goes and gets it on the offensive glass. All this despite playing through a bone bruise on her foot and still recovering from a recent ankle sprain. Maybe she needs to be slightly injured even more often, if this is the result.

 

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WNBA Today, 07/08/2013: Sky and Lynx expose frailties of Liberty and Mercury in dominant wins

 

Only two games yesterday in the WNBA – which is pretty light for a Sunday this season – and on top of that, both turned out to be very one-sided. This was not a day for nail-biting drama in the WNBA.

 

Our first game was in New Jersey, at the Prudential Center that the New York Liberty are calling home for the third straight year (back to Madison Square Garden next season, assuming everything goes to plan). Considering they’ve been far more successful on their own floor this season, it should’ve been a welcome return for the Liberty after a four-game road trip. However, their visitors were the Chicago Sky, who finally seem to have amassed enough talent that even they can’t avoid winning basketball games. They also had center Sylvia Fowles back in the lineup after missing just one game due to her sprained ankle.

 

The first 15 minutes of the game were relatively even, with Katie Smith once again tasked with guarding Elena Delle Donne and doing the best job she could. Neither team was shooting particularly well, but Cappie Pondexter was finding her way to the rim often enough to keep the Liberty in it. Then the Sky discovered a very simple way to create points. Whether it was Courtney Vandersloot, Epiphanny Prince or Delle Donne, someone would penetrate slightly into the New York defense from the top of the key. They didn’t need to get to the rim, or even beat their defender – it just needed to be enough to attract attention from the strong side defender guarding the Sky player on the wing. As soon as that defender took a step inside to help prevent the penetration, the easy kick-out pass went to the shooter who’d been left in extra space, and that player knocked down the shot. Remarkably simple, and it worked several times in the space of a few minutes for Chicago. It’s essentially the basis of beating any reasonably solid defense – you make them bend, and then exploit whatever space they’ve left behind. It turned a three-point game into a 41-32 halftime lead.

 

The same semi-penetration and kick move worked for Chicago in the third quarter, and so did a lot of other things as the Sky turned the game into a rout. Even when it was simple one-on-one basketball through Prince or Delle Donne, offense was coming much more easily for Chicago, while New York were having to work incredibly hard for anything they got. Pondexter has looked better in the last couple of games, but she’s scoring much more efficiently on catch-and-shoot opportunities than dribbling into shots herself – and the team doesn’t have enough alternative weapons to create chances for her. Playing her off the ball a little more would be nice, but it feels like the Liberty would probably turn the ball over before she could run around a couple of screens and break open to receive a pass. The offense is still too ponderous and predictable, still too prone to trying to make the perfect pass through invisible gaps, and it allowed the Sky to pull away to a comfortable lead.

 

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WNBA Today, 07/03/2013: Sun, Mercury and Sparks all defend their home court, while Sky crumble without Syl

 

With no games on July 3rd or 5th (but bizarrely one on the 4th itself), the WNBA packed four games into the schedule last night. So to cover it all, it’s a midweek WNBAlien Bullet Point Breakdown.

 

Tulsa Shock 69 @ Connecticut Sun 88

  • Shock head coach Gary Kloppenburg moved Liz Cambage back to the bench to start this game, with Jen Lacy taking her starting spot back from the big Aussie. Maybe he wanted to keep Cambage out of early foul trouble, or just didn’t like the matchup between her and Tina Charles. Fortunately, Glory Johnson was healthy to play after an awkward twist to her knee in their previous game, and making sure she was part of the action may also have played into the decision to bring Cambage off the bench. Johnson rather disappeared from their offense when the focus was on Cambage in their last game. Connecticut had the same list of injuries as in recent outings – Kara Lawson, Renee Montgomery and Tan White all sidelined – so Iziane Castro Marques started at shooting guard once again.

 

  • We got a taste of vintage Izi in the opening quarter, with some crazy-looking floaters that found their way in, and “no, no, no… yes!” shots from outside. She didn’t do much after the first quarter besides play deplorable defense and turn the ball over, but the Sun have been so desperate for perimeter offense lately that they’ll have been happy to see her come alive – however briefly.

 

  • Once Cambage did enter the action you could clearly see why Kloppenburg had been wary of using her against the Sun. On defense Tulsa kept her as far away from Charles as possible, afraid of what even this year’s version of the Sun center would do to her. When the Shock had the ball, Connecticut dropped down to double-team every time she touched it, and it was reminiscent of Bad Kara Braxton. The double-teams weren’t just pressuring Cambage into giving up the ball, but were forcing errors and creating turnovers. Even when the double-team wasn’t imminent, she became so conscious of the possibility that she was rushing into offensive moves and missing. She’s got lots of talent and obvious physical gifts, but there’s still some way to go for Cambage at this level.

 

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WNBA Today, 06/30/2013: Mercury beat Sun amid flood of fouls; Sky hold off Sparks despite loss of Fowles

 

Two oddly similar games in the WNBA last night. There were a grand total of zero lead changes in either game, but both drifted along for much of the evening while threatening to become competitive, without ever quite managing it. It was a meandering night of basketball, that never quite took off.

 

The first game to tip off was in Connecticut, where the Sun played host to the Phoenix Mercury. Connecticut continue to work without Kara Lawson, Renee Montgomery and Tan White, leaving Iziane Castro Marques to start once again at shooting guard. With Asjha Jones taking the year off, the frontcourt was supposed to be the Sun’s big problem this year – as it turns out, they’ve had just as much trouble with their guards. Phoenix had the same starting lineup that’s been successful recently, and came in having won six of their last seven games. They also had a nice surprise for everyone available off the bench.

 

The early minutes suggested Tina Charles was energised for her first professional clash with Brittney Griner, as we saw more direct attacking in the post from Charles than has been evident in her play this season. She was going right at the rookie, trying to prove that there were already some pretty talented centers in the WNBA before the mega-hyped youngster arrived. Early on, Charles also had the benefit of Phoenix leaving Griner isolated to defend Charles straight-up, rather than the endless double and triple-teams that have been sent her way this season. However, even Corey Gaines and the Mercury aren’t that dumb defensively, and the double-teams quickly started to arrive.

 

Phoenix’s offense was unsurprisingly led by Diana Taurasi, continuing to illustrate her awesome scoring ability and her willingness to create, which helped Candice Dupree join the scoring. One no-look feed that led Dupree in for an easy layup was particularly pretty.

 

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WNBA Today, 06/28/2013: Offense, offense everywhere in Mercury squeaker over Mystics

 

The opening days of the 2013 Phoenix Mercury season were a trip into WNBA Bizarro Land. Who were this passionless group, trying to play halfcourt basketball at a pedestrian pace? After three losses and an admittance from head coach Corey Gaines that he’d been an idiot – plus a minor injury to their rookie phenom that might’ve been a blessing in disguise – the Mercury have been rediscovering their identity ever since. With the return to high-paced, offense-focussed basketball they’ve found a lot more success, led by the renewed energy of superstar Diana Taurasi, who isn’t quite ready to hand this team over to Brittney Griner just yet. Last night’s sole WNBA game was the epitome of Mercury basketball – high energy, a scoreline that reached triple-digits, and some of the most pathetic and discombobulated defense you’re ever likely to see on a WNBA floor.

 

Of course, there was another team involved as well. The Washington Mystics came in at 4-4 after an unexpectedly bright start to the season, dampened a little by a three-game losing streak on their recent road trip. In the short time he’s been in charge, new head coach Mike Thibault has already generated an entirely different atmosphere around this franchise. It feels like they’re already moving in the right direction, even though the core group still features several players that were present under the previous regime. Thibault’s Connecticut Sun teams were 5-1 against Gaines’s Mercury over the last three years, so he clearly knows how to exploit Phoenix’s weaknesses, and the Mystics had already given them a scare last week when these teams faced off back in Arizona. They weren’t going to be afraid of the Mercury’s star names or the hype they’ve generated this year.

 

As in their last game against Los Angeles, Thibault went with veterans Michelle Snow and Matee Ajavon in the starting lineup, presenting Phoenix with a slightly different look from the one they faced the previous week. The backcourt of Ivory Latta and Tayler Hill looked really small against the Mercury, who currently start games with 6’0” Diana Taurasi as their shortest player. Ajavon is technically listed at two inches shorter than Hill, but her constant attacking mentality put someone on the floor from the start who would go at the Mercury. It made them seem less dwarfed by Phoenix’s starting lineup.

 

The first real moment of intrigue in the game was less than three minutes in, when Taurasi was called for her fifth technical foul of the season. She was fouled by Ajavon while trying to get around a pick, and then caught Ajavon in the face/neck area while trying to brush her off with her off-arm. On its individual merits, it was a desperately soft call. But it’s something Taurasi does constantly whenever a defender is making any kind of contact with her, and she virtually never gets called for it. So maybe it was a little bit of karmic retribution that for once the action drew a penalty. Remember, a player’s 7th technical foul in a season (and 9th, 11th, 13th etc.) leads to a one-game suspension, so she’s already getting close. Although we have no idea how many of the five so far have subsequently been rescinded by the league.

 

So let’s talk about the Mercury’s defense. They have some problems on an individual level – Candice Dupree was abused by Crystal Langhorne for most of the night, Griner still isn’t entirely comfortable defending the pick-and-roll, and DeWanna Bonner seems to be getting picked off incredibly easily this season. But it’s the team-level elements that continue to be dismaying. They seem to change what they’re doing on a game-to-game basis, and once one tack proves to be a disaster, they switch everything up in the middle of the game and confuse themselves even further. They started this game with a noticeable aversion to switching on the defensive end, which defeats much of the purpose of having such a big lineup on the floor. One of the major advantages of a group like that should be that you can switch whenever necessary without creating particularly dangerous mismatches. But Washington kept running a play where a wing – usually Monique Currie with Bonner trying to chase her – would curl along the baseline around a staggered screen from both Mystics bigs. Bonner would get horribly caught on the picks, and no one else would bother to move out onto Currie, who’d be left wide open from 15 feet to shoot, drive, or pick her nose for five minutes while waiting for a defender to arrive. Later in the game, the Mercury started trying to trap the ballhandler on pick-and-rolls, which didn’t remotely work either because they’re not very good at it, and left the roller wide open because their rotations couldn’t cover the gaps left behind. It was terrible.

 

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WNBA Today, 06/26/2013: Dream coast home, while Taurasi-Griner tandem too much for Silver Stars

 

Yesterday saw two contrasting games in the WNBA. An early inter-conference game in front of thousands of kids, where the result seemed like virtually a foregone conclusion; and a late game on national TV between two Western Conference rivals that was nip and tuck until the final seconds. Both had their moments, but it’s safe to say that ESPN2 will be happy with their choice.

 

Indiana made the trip to Atlanta with yet another injury to add to their ridiculous list. Rookie guard Layshia Clarendon tweaked her ankle again at the tail end of their loss to Chicago on Saturday, so she joined Tamika Catchings (back), Katie Douglas (back), Erin Phillips (knee), Jessica Davenport (tibia) and Jeanette Pohlen (ACL) on the sidelines. A team that now has 14 players on their roster thanks to all the exceptions they’ve been granted was down to 8 healthy bodies once again. Atlanta were still without Sancho Lyttle due to her commitments at EuroBasket Women, but after temporarily suspending Lyttle and signing Ruth Riley to fill the hole, they had 11 players available.

 

The Fever made a change to their starting lineup, after backup center Sasha Goodlett had been unimpressive enough on Saturday to be benched after one start. Jessica Breland moved into the spot. Elsewhere everything was as expected.

 

Yet again, Angel McCoughtry was the dominant personality in the first quarter. Either she’d heard the comments of people who didn’t appreciate her 33-shot display against Connecticut on Sunday, or her coach had asked her to be a little more unselfish, because she came out looking to pass. She was penetrating and trying to kick out to teammates, rather than constantly flinging up shots. However, some of the passes were horrible and blind, leading to turnovers rather than open looks. And when those plays dissolved, or if she drove and didn’t get the call from the officials she wanted, Angel stood around pouting and whining in traditional McCoughtry style. Barely four minutes into the game, Indiana already led 10-4 and Atlanta had spent multiple defensive possessions playing 4-on-5 while McCoughtry chose bitching over working back in transition. Dream head coach Fred Williams sat her ass down on the bench.

 

It was 20-12 Fever by the time Williams put McCoughtry back in, late in the first quarter. Karima Christmas and Shavonte Zellous had done a nice job of attacking off the dribble to create points for Indiana, while the Fever’s constant double-teams whenever Erika de Souza touched the ball down low were forcing kick-outs to Dream shooters who couldn’t hit. Of course, Angel’s still Angel – love her one minute, hate her the next. She had an assist and a long jumper before the first quarter was even over to ignite the Dream comeback.

 

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WNBA Today, 06/20/2013: Lynx teach Mercury a lesson on the glass; Shock hold off sorry Sky

 

With one WNBA game played virtually as late as possible yesterday, followed by another as early as they could plausibly schedule it today, we bring you an oddity in WNBAlien coverage: two days in one column. Wednesday night and Thursday morning, all in one go.

 

The Phoenix Mercury went into last night’s contest having rediscovered some form in recent games. After a horrible start that had many wondering about head coach Corey Gaines’s job security, they’d run off three straight wins with a return to their all-offense, free-flowing attack. But after road wins against two weakened teams and a home victory over an LA Sparks squad that barely showed up, last night promised to be a sterner test. The Minnesota Lynx hadn’t been at their best in their previous few appearances, but they’re still the Western Conference champions of the last two seasons, and regardless of all the preseason hype surrounding Phoenix – the title of Best in the West still goes through Minnesota.

 

The injury news was the same for both teams as in recent games – everyone available for Minnesota; Brittney Griner restricted to limited minutes for Phoenix, plus Penny Taylor and Alexis Hornbuckle still sidelined. A rotation change for the Mercury was announced initially, with the odd move of replacing Briana Gilbreath with Charde Houston on the original lineup sheets, but when the teams went out for tip-off Gilbreath was on the floor. So just a red herring.

 

The Mercury had some success early on with Diana Taurasi and Candice Dupree running pick-and-rolls, but that quickly dried up. The kept firing away from outside throughout the first half, but with virtually no transition opportunities they were largely kept in check by the Lynx. Taurasi continued her impressive return to form, but there wasn’t a lot of help out there for her.

 

However, at the other end of the floor, Minnesota’s offense wasn’t as successful as they often are against the Mercury either. Maya Moore was their one effective weapon, but as a team they missed a lot of decent looks and some sloppy ballhandling led to unnecessary turnovers. They managed to be slightly more successful in transition than the Mercury, but even with a high pace to the game there wasn’t much effective offense. Minnesota held a slim 40-37 lead at halftime.

 

Central to the Lynx limiting Phoenix’s offense was their rebounding effort. Part of the reason Gaines has benched point guard Samantha Prahalis in favour of sliding Taurasi over to ‘lead guard’ is that it makes them big at every spot on the floor. After getting beaten on the glass in their three losses to open the season, the Mercury had come out on top on the boards in their subsequent three wins (despite less of a contribution from Griner). The taller lineup helps for the basic reason of ‘size matters’ – put more height on the floor and you’ll probably grab more rebounds. It’s helped them with the return to a fast-paced running game as well, because efficient rebounding makes it much easier to get out on the break. But with Moore’s activity and pure athleticism leading the way, the Lynx were winning the battle on the glass 23-17 at halftime, and it was a key part of their lead.

 

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