Tag Archives: Tulsa Shock

WNBA Today, 05/26/2013: Sun and Dream open up with victories

 

Four more teams got their WNBA seasons started last night, and just because I feel like it, we’re going to go Bullet Point Breakdown on both of them. Away we go.

 

New York Liberty 69 @ Connecticut Sun 81

  • Day two of the season, and I’m already tired of writing about injuries. The Sun were obviously without Asjha Jones, skipping the entire season to rest various ailments. New York were without both Plenette Pierson and Cheryl Ford due to knee pain (which is especially worrisome with Ford, considering her history with knee issues and the ever-present concerns about her surviving a WNBA season). The Liberty are hoping both will be ready for their home opener against Tulsa on Friday.

 

  • Third-year forward Kelsey Griffin slid into Jones’s starting spot for the Sun, while the rest of their lineup was the same one Mike Thibault used for most of last season. Ann Donovan, sensibly, isn’t going to try to change too much about a team that went 25-9 last year. New York opened with rookie forward Toni Young next to Kara Braxton in the post, and Leilani Mitchell at point guard alongside Cappie Pondexter and Essence Carson on the perimeter. For now, the Pondexter-as-‘lead guard’ concept is on hold.

 

  • For the record, backup Sun post Mistie Mims is now Mistie Bass again. NBA writers and broadcasters have it really easy on the name-changes compared to those of us on the women’s side.

 

  • Toni Young spent most of this game indicating that she has a long way to go as a pro player. There was one offensive board and putback in the second half where she skied for the ball and illustrated her pure athleticism. Otherwise she looked pretty lost.

 

  • Kelsey Bone, on the other hand, had a heck of a debut. The #5 overall pick in this year’s draft was matched up with 2012 WNBA MVP Tina Charles during most of her minutes and gave Charles everything she could handle at both ends of the floor. Bone stood up to her defensively, made a couple of nice buckets, and generally just looked ready for this level. There was one particularly pretty step-through move past Charles late in the first half – especially impressive for a player who hasn’t even played in Europe yet (or under John Whisenant, who loved to teach that).

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2013 WNBA Season Previews: Tulsa Shock

 

PG: Skylar Diggins/Angel Goodrich

SG: Candice Wiggins/Riquna Williams

SF: Nicole Powell/Roneeka Hodges/Jennifer Lacy

PF: Glory Johnson/Tiffany Jackson-Jones/Kayla Pedersen

C: Elizabeth Cambage

 

Significant gains: Skylar Diggins, Elizabeth Cambage, Candice Wiggins, Tiffany Jackson-Jones, Nicole Powell.

Significant losses: Ivory Latta, Temeka Johnson (plus Amber Holt got cut).

 

Last year was a season of small but vital steps for the Tulsa Shock. They may have finished just 9-25, but that equalled their win total from the previous two years combined, and they pulled themselves off the bottom of the Western Conference (albeit assisted in that step by Phoenix’s capitulation). Nolan Richardson was long gone, and with Gary Kloppenburg taking over the team finally had some structure and a sense that they knew what they were doing. There were still bumps in the road, and the talent on the roster didn’t quite match up to most of the other teams, but they were finally headed in the right direction. After an offseason that’s produced a collection of new options, including a headlining rookie, their first meaningful free agent addition and a player they thought had quit on them yet again, they’re primed for another step. The question is how far are they ready to jump?

 

The Shock’s two leading scorers from last season – also their top two in assists – are both gone. And yet despite losing Ivory Latta and Temeka Johnson for nothing, Tulsa are probably happier about their backcourt situation than they’ve ever been before. Finishing third in the lottery meant disappointment at missing out on Brittney Griner, but it resulted in Notre Dame’s Skylar Diggins, who may be just what they needed. She’s a high-profile young woman, revels in the spotlight, and she’ll do everything she can to make people take notice of this franchise. She’s also a pretty darn good point guard, who can score herself and run a team. She may need a little time – it’s rare for anyone to be handed the keys to a pro team as a rookie and be an immediate success – but she should get there. At the very least, she’ll make sure more people know the Shock exist. Alongside her will be Candice Wiggins, technically acquired in a trade from Minnesota (it was essentially a free agent addition, consummated via trade). It’s going to be interesting to see what Wiggins is still capable of. In her first two years as a pro she was a fearless driver, getting to the rim and the free throw line with regularity. Then she suffered a torn meniscus in her knee and a ruptured achilles in quick succession. When she returned she was a completely different player, barely driving at all, and firing the vast majority of her shots from behind the three-point arc. It’s hard to know for sure whether that was purely because Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve asked her to become an outside threat, or if Wiggins simply doesn’t have that driving capacity any more. If she can rediscover that aspect of her game and vary it up more, she becomes a major weapon; if she’s just the backup guard we saw the last two years in Minnesota, she’s far less dangerous.

 

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2013 WNBA Draft Preview, Part 1

Welcome back, everybody! As always, it’s been a long offseason for the WNBA, and WNBAlien took a similarly lengthy hiatus to recharge the batteries. But Monday night sees one of the most highly anticipated drafts in the league’s history, so it’s time to take a look at what might happen. Below is a reminder of the important moves each team has made in the offseason, a look at the remaining holes in each roster, and a guess or two at where the GMs might be leaning with their picks. Not so much a mock draft as a reintroduction to the world of the WNBA.

So here we go, in draft order from the top on down.


Phoenix Mercury

Gains: Very little so far, but an awful lot after Monday night. And they’re likely to be less ‘injured’ this year.

Losses: Also nothing much.

Picks: #1 and #26

 
This has been rehashed countless times in every outlet that pays any attention to the WNBA at all. They tanked, we all know they tanked, but it’s over and it worked. There’s no debate about the pick, with 6-8 Baylor behemoth Brittney Griner the first choice of absolutely everybody. Even Mercury head coach Corey Gaines should be able to improve his defense simply by sticking Griner in the middle of it and letting her play. She won’t hurt on offense, either.

The #26 pick could be anything and is unlikely to stick on the roster through training camp (as is the case with most players taken after the first round in WNBA drafts).

The Mercury have also re-signed DeWanna Bonner and have Penny Taylor returning from a serious knee injury. Plus this season they might actually give a crap about winning basketball games. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 09/23/2012 & 09/24/2012: Final weekend wraps up regular season

You can look at this article two ways. Either it’s a bumper edition to celebrate the conclusion to the 2012 WNBA season, covering a whole weekend of action all in one go. Or the games were so meaningless and such a constant procession of tedious basketball that I’m getting them all out of the way in the most expedient way possible. It depends on whether you’re a glass-half-full or a glass-half-empty kind of person. Either way, below you’ll find (mercifully brief) coverage of all six games played on Saturday and Sunday this weekend, bringing the regular season to a close.

Check back over the next few days for WNBAlien’s postseason awards, and in-depth previews of all four first-round playoff series. Plus, of course, there’ll be the usual analysis of every playoff game once the postseason begins on Thursday night, right through to the WNBA Finals.

 

Tulsa Shock 74 @ New York Liberty 91

  • Plenette Pierson was back in New York’s starting lineup, after the one-game absence where she was replaced by DeMya Walker. The Liberty’s crack broadcasting crew provided no information on why she was benched, or showed any awareness that it had even occurred. Tulsa were unchanged again.
  • Based on their rotation, New York took this game surprisingly seriously. Head coach John Whisenant was essentially treating it like any other regular season game. Based on how they played for most of the first half, the players couldn’t have cared less. Their rotations were slow, they were beaten down the floor in transition, and the offense looked half-hearted. Tulsa were both 7-15 from three-point range in the first half, and leading in points in the paint. The Shock led 50-40 at halftime, but New York’s performance barely merited even that.
  • And then in the second half, the Liberty decided to play. There was much better defensive pressure on the ball, that led to some transition opportunities, and finally they were awake. New York also showed more willingness to play inside-out in this game than we’ve seen in several recent contests. They were channeling some offense through Pierson and Kia Vaughn, rather than constantly relying on Cappie Pondexter and Essence Carson to do everything from the perimeter. They won’t have a prayer against Connecticut in the first round without at least making the Sun’s posts work on the defensive end, so that needs to continue next week. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 09/21/2012: Playoff ‘race’ concludes with a whimper

So last night brought the 2012 WNBA playoff chase to a conclusion in an entirely appropriate way, considering how the final two contenders have played for most of the year. Not with a bang or an explosive victory, but with the faint whistle of the air finally being sucked out of a wrinkled balloon. Or, if you prefer less flowery language, someone had to fill the spot, and finally a team was shoved over the line.

There was also a nightcap game between the teams which may well contest the Western Conference Finals, but unless you’re an optimistic Los Angeles Sparks fan, that was equally uninspiring.

 

New York Liberty 66 @ Tulsa Shock 78

  • New York had their destiny in their own hands. A victory over Tulsa would’ve stamped their ticket to the postseason. After missing the final 7 minutes of their previous game for no obvious reason, Plenette Pierson began this one on the bench, with DeMya Walker starting in her place. With Tulsa providing the broadcast, there was no information as to why, but presumably Pierson’s either carrying an injury or there was some kind of disciplinary reason. She was in the game after less than five minutes. Tulsa’s starting lineup was unchanged.
  • New York didn’t look much like a team fighting to confirm their playoff spot in the first half. In fact, most of their play looked half-hearted and aimless, with plenty of sloppy turnovers and a host of jacked up jump shots. The only effective offense was when they found Kara Braxton in the post, who took advantage of Tulsa’s lack of interior presence to provide some buckets.
  • Meanwhile, Tulsa fired away from long range and sank a host of threes, often left wide open by the lackadaisical Liberty defense. There was the occasional drive from the likes of Ivory Latta, but the perimeter bombing made up the bulk of Tulsa’s offense, and carried them to a 45-30 halftime lead. Temeka Johnson was 5-6 overall, 3-4 from beyond the arc, for 15 points in the opening 20 minutes. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 09/17/2012: Sunday, bloody awful Sunday

Welcome to the new, little-publicised WNBA event: Unwatchable Sundays! Oh alright, that’s a touch harsh. We had an impressive upset to start, and an exciting finish to close, but wow was there a load of dross in the middle. The 2012 WNBA regular season isn’t so much limping to its conclusion as it’s crawling there on its hands and knees, begging for mercy. The playoffs are now only 10 days away, thankfully.

 

Tulsa Shock 80 @ San Antonio Silver Stars 70

  • San Antonio came into this game with lingering hopes of catching the Los Angeles Sparks for 2nd spot in the West and home court advantage in the first-round (although those hopes have been fading since LA started winning a few games). Tulsa have been playing for nothing but pride for quite some time now, but some decent performances have illustrated that they’re still fighting for wins, not ping-pong balls.
  • The central issue in this game all afternoon came down to our old favourite cliché: “it’s a make or miss league”. Tulsa shot well from outside, racking up threes consistently; San Antonio fired away just as often, and kept missing. Sometimes it’s as simple as that.
  • I had the benefit of watching this game via archive rather than live, so having already seen the boxscore and noticed the significant discrepancy in three-point shooting, I kept a close eye on that aspect of the game. There really wasn’t one particular way that Tulsa created their three-point shots. There were a few on drive-and-kicks, which you’re always going to give up occasionally in San Antonio’s typical defensive schemes, where the wing defender is expected to shade in and help protect the lane if necessary. There were a few where defenders went under ball-screens, and the Tulsa shooter simply fired away with the space that created (arguably preventable by the defense if the post shows harder or if you fight over the screen, but they were hardly major breakdowns). And there were a couple which just came off solid ball movement or players moving well off the ball and finding space. There wasn’t one horrible, noticeable failing in the Silver Stars’ defense. They just got lit up.
  • Although this game did send me off looking for team stats on opponents’ three-point shooting percentage, and San Antonio are the worst team in the league in that category. So maybe there is a more systemic issue – all the help necessary to contain opponents in the paint and somewhat fix their rebounding issues may have led to too much room on the perimeter. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 09/15/2012: Two potential Finals previews, two mismatches, and one running (unfunny) joke

There were five WNBA games last night, but we’re going to split them into three very distinct categories. Firstly, there were two matchups that could’ve been previews of the WNBA Finals coming up in October. Then we’ve got two games which were won by playoff teams against squads that were either seriously understrength or just aren’t very good. Then there’s a final game which I refuse to waste more than a few words on seeing as one franchise is taking the concept of quitting on a season to a whole new level. As you might expect, the level of detail in the coverage is going to decrease significantly as we progress through this column.

 

Minnesota Lynx 66 @ Indiana Fever 64

  • For the third straight game, Minnesota were without star shooting guard Seimone Augustus due to a sprained right foot. It still seems like a precaution more than anything to worry about. The Lynx have virtually everything sealed up in terms of home-court advantage, so there’s no need to rush her back. Monica Wright once again deputised, while Indiana had their regular starting unit in place.
  • Indiana have been rolling lately, winning 10 of 12 since the Olympic break, but they’ve beaten a lot of poor teams or sides mired in losing streaks over that stretch. This was a chance to really test themselves against one of the best. The opening minutes didn’t look good, as jump shot after jump shot clanked off the iron for the Fever, and even on rare drives they were failing to convert. Point guard Briann January attacking Lindsay Whalen was the only option offering any success.
  • Meanwhile, Minnesota started quickly behind transition baskets and Rebekkah Brunson’s mid-range jumper. This was the first time we’d seen Indiana face the Lynx since Tamika Catchings’s full-time move to power forward, which created a direct matchup between her and Brunson. Each obviously creates problems for the other – Catchings has perimeter skills that make it hard for Brunson to cover her; Brunson is a bruiser inside and frequently a demon on the boards. Early on Brunson had the edge.
  • Indiana finally started to make some shots as the opening quarter progressed, with January and Catchings both connecting from outside. Katie Douglas was still ice cold, which allowed Minnesota to maintain their lead. Once again, this has become the fear for Indiana – if their shooters go cold for a night from outside, can they create enough offense via any other route to survive?
  • The defenses were active and dangerous for both teams, but Indiana’s continued to break down slightly more frequently as the first half progressed. They were switching constantly, but also pushing into passing lanes and trying to cut off entry passes. A team like Minnesota was smart enough to use that against them, and reverse passes or backdoor cuts found gaps behind the Fever defense on several occasions. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 09/13/2012: Four blowouts and a windbag

It’s fair to say that last night was not exactly an evening of WNBA basketball for the ages. Four games, all ending in double-digit margins, three of them featuring teams who would love the 2012 season to just end. While the fourth game involved a team missing its entire starting backcourt. It was a night of blowouts and minimal excitement, and Carolyn Peck. Yeah, if you missed it, I wouldn’t worry too much.

 

Washington Mystics 62 @ New York Liberty 75

  • This game was yet another repeat of countless other Mystic appearances over the last couple of years – enough fight in them to make it competitive for a while, but not enough quality or composure to play a full 40 minutes.
  • For the first three quarters, Washington were in this. They spent most of the first half trailing by 5 or 6 points, with Cappie Pondexter dominating the ball even more than usual for the Liberty. Monique Currie was aggressive going to the rim, constantly creating layups or free throws, and Noelle Quinn hit a couple of shots from outside. Against a New York team that looked a little anxious, and was sometimes playing too quickly for their own good, that was enough to be within 37-34 at halftime.
  • It was still all Currie for Washington in the third quarter – by the end of 30 minutes she had 22 points with only one bucket that wasn’t either at the rim or from the foul line. Fortunately for New York, Currie’s opponent at small forward – Nicole Powell – was having one of her rare effective scoring nights, with 15 points of her own on a perfect 5-5 from the floor. Considering Pondexter was receiving little help from anywhere else, it was a good thing for New York that Powell’s offense had decided to show up for once.
  • In fact, the recent additions to New York’s starting lineup – Essence Carson and Kara Braxton – who’d been moved into the starting unit precisely to provide more offense, were benched for virtually the entire fourth quarter. Braxton played less than 9 minutes all night. Instead, it was Leilani Mitchell and Kia Vaughn given the opportunity to help New York home.
  • And despite a 55-55 tie heading into the fourth quarter, it was ultimately very comfortable for the Liberty. Vaughn kept knocking down her mid-range jumper (and the Mystics kept leaving her wide open to take it), Plenette Pierson was linking up with Pondexter and sliding to the rim to finish (Washington struggled to cover the pick-and-roll and slip-screens all night long), and that was enough. Currie cooled off in the fourth quarter, and no one else could buy a basket for the Mystics. That was it. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 09/09/2012: Déjà vu for Storm and Shock

As mentioned in the past, as a rule I typically enjoy single-game nights in the WNBA. It provides a slightly more relaxing evening, and allows you to focus in on the matchups and development within one contest. However, most rules have occasional exceptions.

The problem with last night was that we’d seen it all before. And it’s not like you had to cast your mind back very far. Seattle faced Tulsa – in another single-game WNBA night – only two days earlier, and blew the Shock out in Key Arena. The only difference last night was that the venue had switched to the Shock’s own BOK Center back in Oklahoma.

Still, sometimes these quick-turnaround home-and-home games can be interesting, because you see what improvements either team has made to counteract what went wrong in the previous encounter. The first switch for Tulsa was to reinsert Kayla Pedersen into the starting lineup in place of Chante Black. Considering how the Shock had been ripped apart in the paint two nights earlier, you couldn’t blame Gary Kloppenburg for changing things up. Of course, Pedersen came off the bench in that game and was just as ineffective as the starters, but it was worth a shot. Tulsa also had veteran point guard Temeka Johnson back in uniform after missing a couple of games due to ankle and abdominal injuries, although Ivory Latta continued to start at the point. Seattle were unchanged.

Okay, enough with the pretense, this game was ultimately very, very similar to the encounter two nights earlier. The Shock couldn’t remotely handle Seattle inside, with Lauren Jackson’s size and strength, and Camille Little’s outstanding footwork and slippery movement far too much for them. In fact, having reminded themselves of their superiority over this team in the paint on Thursday, Seattle went inside far more in this game. They’d relied on an outstanding shooting night to pull away in the previous game – this time the base for everything came from the posts. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 09/07/2012: Dream hold off Fever in likely playoff preview, while it’s blowout-city elsewhere

Apologies for the lack of update yesterday – your WNBAlien correspondent was at the Paralympic wheelchair basketball, watching the USA lose to Australia in the semi-finals for a change. For the record, the women’s semi ended with the kind of screw-job by the officials that would’ve caused years of bitching and moaning from Americans, if it happened in a version of the game they actually pay some attention to. Fortunately for the referees in question, the Paralympics appears to be an even smaller blip on the radar in the US than the WNBA.

So, back to our regularly scheduled programming. In an effort to catch up, we’re going to discuss the one game from the last couple of days that’s worth talking about in detail, then Bullet Point Breakdown the remaining two (which were such consummate blowouts there’s not much to go into). So first up, the probable playoff preview from Wednesday night in Atlanta.

Indiana were the Dream’s visitors, and while nothing’s set in stone just yet, there’s a strong chance that these teams will be meeting in the first round of the postseason. Indiana had narrowed the gap with Connecticut at the top of the Eastern Conference to two games before this matchup, but it’s still going to take a strong finish to have any chance of overhauling the Sun. Atlanta, even while enduring the recent mess surrounding their coaching change and Angel McCoughtry, have continued to win enough games to comfortably hold off New York and Chicago in third. So there was a little extra spice to this game, because everyone knew going in that they were likely to meet again in three weeks’ time, in far more meaningful circumstances.

Indiana opened the game with the same starting five we’ve grown used to; Atlanta still had Angel McCoughtry coming off the bench behind rookie Tiffany Hayes, although Armintie Price regained her starting spot ahead of Cathrine Kraayeveld at the other wing spot. Inside five minutes, Price had picked up two fouls, leading to another sign that the Dream’s recent history is starting to be put behind them. When the same thing had happened a couple of weeks ago (while Marynell Meadors was still running the team), Kraayeveld came into the game as Price’s replacement, sending a message to McCoughtry. This time, McCoughtry subbed in. The franchise is trying to move on, and the only reason Angel is still a ‘reserve’ at this point is that Hayes has played so well as a starter. Continue reading →