Tag Archives: Washington Mystics

WNBA Today, 07/24/2011: Where Trade Winds Might Blow, Eastern Edition

I’m intending to write another installment of ‘Your WNBA Questions Answered’ soon, so send in your queries about anything relating to the league via email, twitter, comments at the end of this piece or anywhere else you can get ahold of me. The first edition was here, if you want some idea of what sort of issues I tackled last time around. Anything about the league or the women’s game is welcome.

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Okay, so the first half of the WNBA season is over, the All-Star game is done and dusted, and there aren’t any games until Tuesday. Also, while contracts may have just become guaranteed, we still have three weeks to go until the trading deadline. Those who’ve followed the WNBA in previous seasons will know that this doesn’t exactly tend to herald a hive of activity around the league. The biggest move last year was the trade that sent Kara Braxton to Phoenix, helping them reach the Western Conference Finals only to get swept by Seattle. Which is probably exactly what they’d have achieved if they hadn’t traded for Kara Braxton. The year before, a Tamera Young/Armintie Price swap was the highlight. We have to go back to 2008 and Detroit’s move for Taj McWilliams-Franklin to find a deadline-week move that had a legitimate effect on the destination of the championship, but that trade at least illustrates that they can happen.

So I thought I’d utilise this brief pause in the season to take a look at what teams need, what they have to offer, and who might be most active in calling around for an extra piece over the next few weeks. There isn’t a single team in the league without any holes, so you never know what might happen. Eastern Conference teams today, Western Conference tomorrow, tackling the teams in order of the current standings (just as a break from my typical alphabetical order). Feel free to comment in the space below the article if you’ve got any better ideas – some of the WNBA’s GMs could use all the help they can get.

 

Indiana

The most obvious place that the Fever might be looking for help is at point guard. With Briann January out for the season after her ACL tear, they’ve been using backups Erin Phillips and Shannon Bobbitt for the last few weeks. Phillips has gotten most of the minutes, and has been doing a pretty decent job. Her shooting’s been markedly better than January’s, and her turnovers are significantly lower, but her assists are far lower than January’s as well. Even taking just her games as the starting point guard, Phillips is only at 3.4 assists per game. She isn’t a natural point, and she isn’t as comfortable in the offense as January was. Katie Douglas, who was shooting the lights out early in the year, has dropped off noticeably since Phillips replaced January, and that’s not a coincidence. Douglas has to create more herself now, and there are fewer easy shots available for her. Still, Phillips makes up for a lot of that with her own shooting.

The fact is that Indy are unlikely to find an upgrade on Phillips on the open market. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 07/21/2011: Dream, Lynx keep running, but Marion’s run is over

Before we get to yesterday’s games, first the big news from this afternoon. If the announcement that the worst team in the league is releasing their 11th player can ever truly be considered ‘big’. After 47 appearances, the Tulsa Shock finally decided that Marion Jones had served her purpose on their roster and cut her today, in order to sign backup center Abi Olajuwon. In the eyes of most WNBA fans it was about time, but some will still be sorry to see her go.

On a purely playing level, she never would’ve made a WNBA roster if her name wasn’t Marion Jones. She was a 34-year old rookie last year, who hadn’t played organised basketball in over ten years. People in that situation don’t make WNBA rosters. It’s hard enough to stick on a team when you’re coming out of college at 22 and have been working on your game for the previous decade. However, in fairness to Jones, she did improve as last season went on, and by the end of it she had at least become a vaguely serviceable end-of-the-bench guard. She wasn’t a complete joke as a WNBA player any more, and if you subscribe to +/- statistics, she even had a significantly positive impact when she was on the floor (no, you don’t want to take that too seriously).

The question I always had with Tulsa’s retention of Jones was where did they think they were going with her? Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 07/18/2011: It ain’t over till it’s over

In theory, there were three WNBA games played yesterday. In practice, there were maybe 75 minutes or so of basketball actually worth talking about. One barely watchable blowout that will only be remembered for the halftime ceremony and for clashing with the women’s World Cup soccer final; one painfully dull blowout that somehow became a game; and one game that was actually a competitive contest from start to finish. So let’s start with the game where both teams actually showed up for all 40 minutes.

After having their seven-game winning streak broken by Minnesota on Friday night, Indiana travelled to Connecticut looking to start up a new winning run. The Sun were undoubtedly happy to be back on their own floor, considering Friday’s win in New York was just their second road victory of the season. In contrast, they’ve won every home game they’ve played so far this year. Tangela Smith retained her starting spot at power forward for Indiana despite missing the entire second half of their last game, while Danielle McCray started ahead of Kara Lawson for the second straight game for Connecticut.

It’s early days for the McCray/Kalana Greene starting partnership on the wing for the Sun (and head coach Mike Thibault does like to mess around with his starters from game to game), but for the first couple of games it’s added some pep to their lineup. Lawson is usually out there just trying to keep everything under control in the early stages of a game, putting up the occasional three if she’s left wide open. McCray is a more athletic, speedier player who’s less concerned with control, and more interested in attacking. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 07/16/2011: So close, but yet so far

Another quad-game day in the WNBA yesterday, and as they all had their own interesting elements for once, we’re simply going to take them in chronological order. Keeping it a little shorter today as well, which might well be considered a good thing for those who were struggling through my 5,000-word dissertations.

New York hosted Connecticut having won four in a row and six of their last seven. The Sun, in contrast, had lost their last two and were 1-5 on the road coming in. However, the Liberty were without starting power forward Plenette Pierson after her left patella strain against Atlanta on Wednesday, which left their post rotation looking distinctly shaky. Quanitra Hollingsworth was the choice to replace her. Connecticut made a switch in their starting lineup as well, bringing in Danielle McCray for Kara Lawson, probably to give them a more natural defender for Cappie Pondexter from the tip.

It was a very even game early on, with the most noteworthy element being that Nicole Powell seemed to have maintained her shooting touch from New York’s previous game. Losing Pierson significantly cuts into New York’s grit, toughness and offensive versatility, but that starting front line of Hollingsworth and Kia Vaughn is huge. Tina Charles was getting most of her points by running the floor on breaks – getting anything inside against that length was tough in halfcourt sets. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 07/12/2011: Storm make heavy weather of Mystics

No games on Monday in the WNBA, but Seattle had their camp day game today, so we’re going to go with early coverage of the Storm’s matchup with the Washington Mystics instead of waiting until tomorrow. Details of the late game between LA and San Antonio will be in tomorrow’s piece. We’re deep enough into the season now that I think we all had a pretty decent idea of what to expect going into this one. Seattle are working hard to find some rhythm after a slow start and the loss of MVP Lauren Jackson; Washington are fighting through multiple injuries, massive turnover from last season, and excessive youth on their roster. Seattle went in as heavy favourites, especially with over 10,000 screaming kids cheering them on, but this is basketball: anything can happen.

After losing seven of their last eight games (and the win was over Tulsa), at least there was one piece of good news for Washington before this one got underway. Star power forward Crystal Langhorne, who’d missed their last three games with back pain, returned to the starting lineup. Rookie Victoria Dunlap has done a pretty nice job in her absence, but Lang is their best player and the only consistent interior threat on this roster (considering Nicky Anosike doesn’t seem capable of shooting straight from two feet any more). Having her back could only improve their chances. Hopefully Dunlap’s development while Langhorne was gone could give them more punch off the bench, now that the kid was back amongst the reserves. Still no Alana Beard or Monique Currie, of course. Seattle’s list remains the same – LJ out, and at least half the bench won’t play unless someone’s up by 20 with three minutes left.

Seattle got out to a fast start, which was hardly surprising after the beating they put on LA in the fourth quarter of Saturday night’s game. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 07/10/2011: I wish I were a gambling man

Everything below was written before Jennifer Gillom was replced by Joe Bryant as head coach of the Los Angeles Sparks late this evening. More on that tomorrow.

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Some nights, it annoys me that I’m not a more adventurous gambler. You see, I don’t like losing money, so I tend to bet small, even when I’m convinced the odds are in my favour. I also don’t have an account anywhere that offers in-play betting, which was the second factor that stopped me making a bundle last night. But let’s just say that if a) I had more guts, and b) somewhere easily accessible actually took the bets, I could’ve made some nice coin out of yesterday’s WNBA schedule.

Some games start off going one way on the scoreboard, but if you’re watching closely enough and know a little about the squads, it’s pretty easy to gauge whether the pattern’s going to last. When one team gets all the breaks, shots are going in that they rarely manage to make, and the other team are contriving to miss countless point-blank layups, chances are things are going to swing round before the night is out. It happened a lot last night. Oh and by the way, gambling is legal where I live. If it happens not to be where you reside, please don’t take this as a suggestion that you break the law. That would be wrong.

The first game last night featured Washington in Indiana, and the first instance of me scouting around for a website that would let me open an account in seconds and bet on a complete collapse by the team in front. Continue reading →

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, 07/03/2011: Storming the Capital

Nothing happened in the WNBA yesterday, but seeing as the only game all weekend was early this afternoon, I figured why wait until tomorrow to cover it. The Seattle Storm went to Washington D.C. this weekend knowing that with Lauren Jackson out for most of the season, these are the sort of games where they need to be picking up wins. With LJ missing, the margin of error is significantly smaller and they need to make the most of opportunities against the weaker teams in the league. Washington’s last game was a morale-boosting 20-point win – even if it was over Tulsa – so they were simply hoping to keep that positive energy flowing. There hasn’t been much of it for the Mystics so far this year.

Already without Monique Currie and Alana Beard, Washington suffered yet more bad news on the injury front before today’s game when star post Crystal Langhorne was ruled out with back pain. Obviously the exertion of trying to carry this franchise on her back all season had finally proven too much. Rookie Victoria Dunlap moved into the starting lineup to replace her, weakening the already desperately thin Washington bench. The game was slow and sloppy to start, a Kelly Miller turnover on the opening play indicative of what was to follow. Seattle actually hit a couple of threes in the first quarter – something they’ve been struggling with mightily all season – one from Sue Bird and one from Belinda Snell, appearing in just her fourth game this season. The typical Storm defense was forcing awkward shots by the Mystics but Washington were grabbing all the rebounds, so neither team could pull away. 18-17 Storm at the end of the first. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 06/27/2011: Deep Thinking

Three WNBA games yester… oh no, wait, four WNBA games yesterday. Almost forgot the gripping Tulsa-Washington matchup. Safe to say that we won’t be spending very long on that one. The most important event in Sunday’s games might well turn out to be the injury suffered by yet another key player, but before we get to the disappointing news let’s worry about the game of the day. Minnesota, coming off that disappointing loss in Seattle where the Storm held them to 55 points, welcomed the Eastern Conference-leading Indiana Fever to the Frozen North for their yearly visit. Two teams that had shown some form in the early stages of the season, and the first matchup between Tamika Catchings and Maya Moore – this one had all the signs of being interesting and entertaining, and it didn’t disappoint.

Indiana stuck with their new starting unit featuring Jessica Davenport at center, while the Lynx starting five was the same as it’s been all year. Part of the intrigue with this game was how the rest of the rosters would produce. Minnesota went into the year with everyone talking about how much talent they had, and whether there were enough minutes to go around. As it’s turned out, head coach Cheryl Reeve has ended up relying heavily on her starting five, while her bench players have struggled to produce, especially at the offensive end. Indiana, on the other end, have recently discovered some depth, with Erin Phillips, Jeanette Pohlen, Shavonte Zellous and even the recently demoted Tammy Sutton-Brown all offering important support from the pine. 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 →