Tag Archives: Tulsa Shock

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, 06/19/2011: Mystics are Shocking

Just the one WNBA game last night, and that was unfortunate. Because this was one I could’ve happily glossed over if there were any other games to pay attention to. Nevertheless, Tulsa fans will be delirious at getting off the schneid with a home win over Washington, and they didn’t even have to bite their fingernails as the minutes ran down. Mystics supporters, on the other hand, probably won’t be reading this. They’ll be trying to forget.

We’ll all happily forget the first half. WNBA.com’s LiveAccess was on the fritz, but the game was hideous anyway so I doubt they got too many complaints. 11-10 Shock at the end of the first quarter due to an assortment of turnovers and bricks from both teams, the game was virtually unwatchable whether you had a smooth video feed or not. In roster news, Liz Cambage was back from her concussion for the Shock, although she came off the bench and only played 16 minutes in the game, so she may not be quite all the way back. For Washington, Ta’Shia Phillips eventually entered the game, which means emergency replacement Kerri Gardin must’ve been released. Not that anyone on the Mystics bothered to inform the public. Still no Alana Beard.

Finally managing some decent ball movement, Tulsa put together a nice little run behind a Kayla Pedersen three and a couple of Jen Lacy layups to take a six-point lead early in the second quarter. Then the Mystics woke up for about six minutes of game time, pretty much the only period where they weren’t slumbering all evening. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 06/16/2011: Wild and Wonderful Possibilities for a Tulsa Roster Spot

So here’s the thing. If you’re a dedicated enough follower of the WNBA to be reading this, there’s a decent chance that you already know who Tulsa are adding to their roster to replace Miranda Ayim, waived yesterday. But I’d already written half of this before the news emerged. So I’m going to post it anyway, in the hope that it might offer a little light entertainment, even if the factual value has rather disappeared. Plus there’ll probably be another roster spot open in Tulsa soon, anyway.

The real answer is revealed at the end, by the way.

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When Miranda Ayim was waived yesterday by the Tulsa Shock, it was hardly a surprise. They’ve only played five games, but Ayim didn’t even make it off the bench in the last two, which tends to be a Nolan Richardson sign of impending release. Inevitably, fans immediately began speculating about who might replace her, and let’s face it, I’m not immune to a little speculation myself. So here they are, the numerous possibilities for that 11th spot on the roster of the worst team in the WNBA. Some serious, some just a little tongue-in-cheek.


The Guards

Tulsa only have three guards on their roster. One is Ivory Latta, who’s at least proven that she belongs somewhere in this league by now; and the other two are Andrea Riley and Marion Jones, who haven’t. Amber Holt, barely a small forward after playing her whole college career at the 4, was starting as a pseudo-guard before breaking her thumb, leaving their ‘guard’ options even shorter. So you could understand why a lot of the names being thrown around were little people who might help them around the perimeter.


Betty Lennox

Gunning scorer cut by Tulsa the day before the regular season started, reportedly injured, and possibly retiring. But this is Nolan Richardson we’re talking about. And Betty knows basketball.

Chances: Poor. Even Nolan seems unlikely to bring back someone he waived barely two weeks ago. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 06/15/2011: Lucky Fever (and Dream stuff Libs)

Okay, hands up anyone who thought Tulsa in Indiana was going to be the competitive WNBA game last night. Yeah, that’s what I thought. The Shock showed up to play the Fever with their prized rookie center Liz Cambage in street clothes, shielding her eyes from the bright arena lights. Guess that concussion she received at the hand of teammate Tiffany Jackson on Sunday was a little more serious that it may have initially appeared. Yet despite Cambage’s restriction to cheerleading duties, this one was tight all night long and actually provided some decent entertainment for the watching public on ESPN2. As for the people who searched out the Atlanta-New York game online and the dozen or so that appeared to be in the Prudential Center in New Jersey, well, they probably wished they’d watched the other game.

Cambage’s injury meant Tulsa’s fourth different starting lineup in their first five games, with Jackson, Jen Lacy and Kayla Pedersen making up the frontcourt. Your guess as to who the small forward, power forward and center were in that lineup is as good as mine – whether you saw the game or not. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 06/13/2011: Shockingly Bearable

I was all set to strip the Tulsa WNBA team of their nickname. I’d had enough, and they didn’t deserve to keep the same title as the storied franchise that won three championships back when they were playing in Michigan. Too much mismanagement, too many horrible performances, and too many completely unwatchable games of basketball that poor WNBA fans have been subjected to ever since this team moved to Oklahoma. I even had a whole new name picked out. We were going to call them the Wreck. Still a five-letter word ending in -ck, just like their official nickname; a far more fitting description for the state of their franchise and their roster; and a homophone of ‘rec’, as in the rec-league team that they frequently resemble. However, then they had the impertinence to go out and actually show some improvement against Connecticut on Sunday afternoon. Still lost, and it wasn’t really all that close, but improvement nonetheless. So, Tulsa franchise, you get to keep your nickname. For now.

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 →

WNBAlien 2011 Previews: Tulsa Shock

PG: Ivory Latta/Andrea Riley

SG: Amber Holt, it looks like/Marion Jones

SF: Kayla Pedersen/Sheryl Swoopes/Chastity Reed

PF: Tiffany Jackson/Jen Lacy

C: Elizabeth Cambage/Miranda Ayim

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Head Coach: Nolan Richardson

Significant additions: Cambage, Pedersen, Swoopes (at the box office, they hope)

Significant losses: Hard for much to be too significant given how bad they were last year, but they gave away Scholanda Robinson for nothing, Chante Black and Shanna Crossley are both out hurt, and Nicole Ohlde walked (and retired, possibly in disgust).

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Aw come on, it’s the last one, can’t I just say “they’re horrible” and leave it at that? You want more? Really? Fine. They’re really, really horrible. Despite two high draft picks and a year to mess with the roster at will, Nolan Richardson’s opening day squad in 2011 is probably worse than it was 12 months earlier. 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 →