Tag Archives: Washington Mystics

The Daily W, 06/09/2014

 

Washington Mystics 64 @ New York Liberty 81

 

Lineups: New York started the same as in other recent game. Washington went back to the lineup they used the last time they played the Liberty, nine days earlier. That meant Tierra Ruffin-Pratt sliding to shooting guard, and Jelena Milovanovic coming in at small forward. Bria Hartley went back to the bench. It worked last time against New York.

 

Story of the Game: Nothing worked this time for the Mystics. This game was essentially over by halftime, as Washington floundered and were blown off the floor by a Liberty team that suddenly found their stride. New York scored the first 10 points of the game, largely on jump shots from Cappie Pondexter and Essence Carson, while Washington forced up a lot of jumpers at the other end and hit nothing. The Mystics eventually found a few points when Kara Lawson came off the bench and showed some signs of the Lawson of old, who’d barely made an appearance this season. She hit a three on a kick-out, a pullup three in transition, and then capped off the first quarter with a last second steal and bomb from about 30 feet. All that only allowed the Mystics to stay within five points at the end of the opening period.

Without any more Lawson heroics in the second quarter, New York blew the game open. Some of the Liberty’s success was simply down to one of those freak exceptional shooting nights. They only scored six points in the paint in the second quarter, but totalled 32 behind the jump shots raining in from all over the floor. But you also have to give credit to the Liberty for the pace they played at, the way they moved the ball and exploited the opportunities presented to them, and the energy and enthusiasm they carried through the game. They created good shots, which always increases your chances of a night like this where the basket looks a mile wide. They were up by 22 at halftime.

There was never even a hint of a comeback in the second half, and the entire fourth quarter was garbage time. New York shot 26% in the second half, scored just eight points in the fourth quarter, and yet it was probably the most relaxing 20 minutes of basketball for Liberty fans all season.

 

Key Players: Cappie Pondexter was a ridiculous 10-11 from the field, with the only shot she missed all day a forced three under heavy pressure to beat the shot clock. Not a single one of the 11 attempts came from within 12 feet, as she just dropped in jump shots at will. If that Cappie showed up every night this team would not be 3-5 and looking up at most of the Eastern Conference. Anna Cruz and Alex Montgomery had nice games alongside her as well, with Tina Charles not needing to be any more than solid.

The whole game was an example of how easy basketball can seem when your shots are dropping, because the Liberty looked like a completely different animal from what we’ve seen for most of the season. But they were never tested. There was never a period of adversity that posed any tough questions for them, or forced them to keep their heads up while things looked like they might be going wrong. It takes more than one swallow to make a summer, so let’s see if any more come flying by before we get too excited. But that very first swallow can sometimes be a lovely sign of things to come.

Washington are going to have games like this. They’re solid, and organised, and they can beat anyone on a given day, but they’re not super-talented and sometimes teams will just out-play them. The solitary positive for the Mystics from this game was that Lawson hit some shots. Just like with the Liberty, we don’t know yet whether that was a fluke or a sign of future continued success, but it’s a damn sight better than all the bricks she’s been throwing up in previous games.

 

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Minnesota Lynx 85 @ Los Angeles Sparks 72

 

Lineups: Same group for Minnesota that they’ve been using all season. After dropping to the bench for one game due to her ankle problem, Candace Parker was back in the starting lineup for LA, with Jantel Lavender back on the bench. The starting perimeter was Lindsey Harding, Alana Beard and Armintie Herrington again, leaving Kristi Toliver to continue coming off the bench. This was expected to be Toliver’s final game before rejoining the Slovakian national team for their remaining EuroBasket Women 2015 qualifiers.

 

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The Daily W, 06/07/2014

 

Before reading today’s column, there’s an extra WNBAlien article for you to enjoy over at Hoop365.com HERE. It covers the strong starts from Chicago and Minnesota, plus various items of interest from around the WNBA. Please check it out.

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Indiana Fever 64 @ Washington Mystics 61

 

Lineups: Tamika Catchings was still out for the Fever (and didn’t even travel with the team, so is also very unlikely to be playing tonight in Connecticut). Making things worse for the Fever, point guard Briann January – who’d been shooting the lights out lately – was also out after tweaking her ankle in practice. Layshia Clarendon started in her place, allowing Sydney Carter to continue her role coming off the bench. Washington opened with the same group that helped them beat Connecticut the night before, with rookie Bria Hartley in the lineup ahead of veteran Kara Lawson.

 

Story of the Game: Indiana were horrible for the opening 12 minutes of the game. Couldn’t hit a shot, no movement, no rhythm, no finishing – ugly. That was with both Clarendon and Carter trying their hand at running the team. After falling behind by as many as 16 points, the Fever finally got something going when Lin Dunn without a point guard, unless you count rookie gunner Maggie Lucas (which you really shouldn’t). Neither of the backup point guards had been doing anything at either end of the floor, so they simply let the likes of Shavonte Zellous and Marissa Coleman start with the ball in their hands and went from there.

With Zellous and Coleman leading the way, and finally hitting a couple of shots, the Fever came back into a game that Washington had been leading almost by default. The Mystics weren’t playing that well themselves, but had moved into the lead due to how poorly Indiana had played. Washington still led by nine at halftime.

Fever center Erlana Larkins had managed to pick up four fouls in the first half, the final one on a harsh call where she chased down a loose ball, slipped to the ground, and an opponent fell over her. Despite that foul trouble, she started the second half as normal, and proceeded to be the best player on the floor for the next 20 minutes – while playing all 20. She was a beast on the offensive glass, finished via post moves and putbacks, hustled after everything, kicked out for several open threes by teammates, and generally led the Indiana turnaround. With Washington continuing to be as mediocre as they’d been for most of the night, that swing changed the game.

Behind drives and bombs from Hartley and Ivory Latta, Washington managed to pull within a point late in the game. After a pair of Coleman free throws, the Mystics needed a three to tie in the final nine seconds. Natasha Howard extended her long limbs to block Hartley’s effort, and when the ball dropped to Stefanie Dolson she made the mistake of passing off to Kia Vaughn well inside the three-point arc. By the time Vaughn kicked it back out to Lawson, time had expired and the Fever had held on.

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The Daily W, 06/06/2014

 

Washington Mystics 74 @ Connecticut Sun 66

 

Lineups: Rookie guard Bria Hartley got another start in the backcourt for Washington, maybe hoping she’d be energised by returning to play in front of many of the fans who loved her in college. The Sun stuck with the same lineup from their previous game, which meant the Chiney Ogwumike/Kelsey Bone pairing remained in the post, even though Kelsey Griffin was available again after her illness.

 

Story of the Game: Washington were on top for most of the first half. Kia Vaughn and Emma Meesseman were the post pair having the most success, and their developing chemistry could be a big plus for the Mystics in the future. Mike Thibault likes to mix and match his lineups, but if he notices a particular unit working well together he’ll use his rotations to make sure they’re on the floor together as often as possible. Meesseman has the all-round game and mobility to be effective in various areas, Vaughn has the size and work rate to fight in the paint and a pretty reliable mid-range shot. They gave Ogwumike and Bone problems.

Their teammates were chipping in as well, and the Mystics shot a high percentage in the first half to stay in front. The primary source of points for Connecticut was Ogwumike, who continues to impress. She gets those same hustle points off energy plays and offensive boards that we’ve been watching her sister Nneka pick up for a couple of years, but she’s also a focus of their offense within sets (something Nneka’s never been given a chance at in Los Angeles). With a lot of jumpers that weren’t going in from the rest of the Sun players, their deficit would’ve been a lot more than eight at halftime without Ogwumike’s efforts.

The Sun came back into the game in the third quarter. They were much more active and energetic on defense, the Washington offense stalled, and the scoreboard evened out. Connecticut also benefitted from a run of scoring from Alex Bentley. When your point guards are Bentley and Renee Montgomery, you have to accept that you won’t always run a perfect offensive set. They’re both prone to breaking off and looking for their own points at times, rather than playing the classic distributor role at the point. But sometimes that’s what you need to kick your offense into gear and wake your team up. Along with drives to the hoop and an answered prayer for three as the shot clock expired, Bentley tossed in a behind-the-back pass to Allison Hightower for a three. Connecticut were right back in the game.

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The Daily W, 06/02/2014

 

Atlanta Dream 76 @ Connecticut Sun 85

 

Lineups: Connecticut’s Kelsey Griffin was out with what was worryingly reported as a gall bladder problem. That made the decision for Anne Donovan in the post, although she later said that Kelsey Bone would’ve started at center alongside Chiney Ogwumike anyway. Kelley Cain was also available again off the bench after her foot injury. Atlanta went with the same five as in their previous game, and the absence of Inga Orekhova on the bench proved to be a telling sign of who was being cut to make room for Celine Dumerc’s imminent arrival.

 

Story of the Game: The two young Sun posts bookended the first half for Connecticut, Bone getting them off to a strong start, and Ogwumike dominating the closing stages. The Sun led for most of the opening 20 minutes, with Atlanta’s only consistent success coming via the offensive boards. Both teams displayed some terrible transition defense at times, but Connecticut were more consistent in attacking with pace and taking advantage of Atlanta’s lapses. Renee Montgomery got another chance to make an impression after her strong finish to their previous game, and gave the Sun the burst of speed and scoring that’s always been the central positive to her game. It’s still not entirely clear why Donovan has left her stuck to the bench through most of their early games.

Both teams were sloppy in the second quarter, as turnovers started to dominate the action. Angel McCoughtry was having a tough time getting anything going, with both Katie Douglas and Alyssa Thomas doing a decent job on her defensively. But Angel tends to be her own worst enemy at times, and she started to force things and make it worse. She was 0-9 at the interval, and Connecticut led by double-digits.

It didn’t get much better for the Dream in the second half. They cut the gap to six early on, but the Sun quickly pushed it back out, and were fairly comfortable for the rest of the afternoon. After some poor displays so far this season, it was a nice respite for Connecticut, and they’ll be hoping it’s a sign of things to come.

Atlanta were frustrated, and started losing their heads. McCoughtry screamed about a defensive lapse – that was her own fault – and was benched. Michael Cooper picked up a technical of his own. And then Matee Ajavon added her second tech of the game to get herself ejected – she’d been a disaster on the floor anyway, so it was no great loss. To add injury to a fairly insulting performance, Tiffany Hayes picked up a painful knock while running into a screen with only three seconds left in the game.

 

Key Players: It’s hard to pick out anyone worth mentioning for Atlanta. Hayes and Erika de Souza were the most effective scorers, and Shoni Schimmel had a few decent moments when Cooper used her – which wasn’t all that much – but no one had the best of days. For all of Cooper’s talk about wanting to play even faster than the Dream have in the past, Atlanta haven’t been earning as many points off turnovers as in previous seasons. The loss of Armintie Herrington hasn’t helped in that area. Without those steals and breaks to ignite their play and provide cheap points, they lack the electricity that this team possesses at its best. In fact, they’re giving up more points off their own miscues than they’re creating via takeaways. But Cooper’s still settling in, Dumerc’s arrival will help, and they’re in the East – they’ve got plenty of time to improve.

Ogwumike and Bone, the post pairing many of us have been begging for since opening day, was the bedrock for this performance and should be for the Sun going forward. Kelsey Griffin is a nice player, but she’s a good energy backup. Bone’s a 23-year old true center, and the partnership she might develop with Ogwumike could be their core for a decade.

The Sun also look better with Alex Bentley or Montgomery as the ‘point guard’, allowing Allison Hightower to help out with initiating the offense but putting another creator next to her. It may mean they need to be a bit more creative to find minutes for Alyssa Thomas, but it’s far from impossible.

 

Notes of Interest: This was the promising, potential-laden Connecticut Sun that many of us wrote about in the preseason. If they can play like this more often, Anne Donovan might save her job yet.

 

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Los Angeles Sparks 84 @ Washington Mystics 92 (3OT)

 

Lineups: With Kristi Toliver in Slovakia representing her recently-adopted nation, Armintie Herrington and Alana Beard started on the wings for Los Angeles. Candice Wiggins was still out with her swollen knee – more on that in the ‘League News’ section at the end of this article – so the Sparks were looking thin on the perimeter. Especially as Carol Ross doesn’t really trust young Swedish backup Farhiya Abdi. Mike Thibault tinkered with his starters again, bringing Kara Lawson back in while Jelena Milovanovic went back to the bench. That slid Tierra Ruffin-Pratt to small forward, while Lawson joined Ivory Latta in the backcourt.

 

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The Daily W, 05/31/2014

 

New York Liberty 60 @ Washington Mystics 68

 

Lineups: New York stuck with the same five, but Mike Thibault made significant changes to his starting group. Kara Lawson and Monique Currie were both benched, with Tierra Ruffin-Pratt and Jelena Milovanovic coming in on the wings. In Ruffin-Pratt’s case you could see it as a defensive switch, bringing in someone who could cover Cappie Pondexter more effectively than Lawson. Considering Essence Carson isn’t playing well enough for a defense to need to adapt for her, Milovanovic for Currie was a straight coach’s decision. Neither Lawson nor Currie has been playing well enough to really have any complaints.

 

Story of the Game: Washington were the team on top for most of the first half. Kia Vaughn was their primary offensive weapon in the opening quarter, finding space inside off simple plays for high-low feeds from Emma Meesseman. Then Vaughn started hitting her jumper from the elbow, and even added a layup in transition after running the floor hard. The Mystics were the more active team in general in the first half, more willing to push the ball and look for quick offense, and more attacking in halfcourt sets.

The Liberty managed to stay in touch, largely because Pondexter was having one of her more accurate shooting nights and point guard Anna Cruz was hitting from outside. Their focus on stuffing the ball inside to Tina Charles gets them in trouble sometimes, because the team becomes too focussed on feeding her, which leads to turnovers because the passes are so obvious. They still rarely show evidence of having enough ball movement or perimeter shooting to take advantage of the attention she draws down low. And the Liberty also got destroyed on the glass in the first half, which didn’t help. Charles was being outplayed by the opposing posts.

Washington’s lead hit 12 in the third quarter, before Pondexter led the comeback charge. She was raining jumpers from outside, had a drive-and-kick for a Cruz three, and basically dragged her team back into the game without a lot of help. This was the superstar Cappie we’ve seen too little of in the last couple of years.

The ridiculous Liberty bench unit lacking Pondexter, Charles or Carson was in evidence again at the end of the third. They survived for a couple of minutes, just about.

The fourth quarter stayed tight until the final five minutes, although Pondexter saw little of the ball and Charles remained as ineffective as she’d been all night. Then Ivory Latta took over for the Mystics. She drilled a three, had a couple of driving layups while Cruz just waved her by, and then sealed the game in the final 30 seconds with another step-back three – she fired that last one way too early in the shot clock, but once it went in no one cared.

 

Key Players: Vaughn early and Latta late was enough for Washington, along with the collective effort throughout. Just like last year, this is going to be the most balanced team across 10 or 11 players all season long, as Thibault uses everyone to get the job done. In many ways that’s the reverse of how the Liberty have been built, but ironically it was the starting center and combo-guard who led the Mystics to victory in this one.

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The Daily W, 05/25/2014

 

Seattle Storm 73 @ Washington Mystics 65

 

Lineups: Seattle stuck with the same group that lost to Connecticut the night before, with Alysha Clark in that third perimeter spot they’re unsure what to do with. Ivory Latta regained her starting spot in the Washington backcourt from Bria Hartley – apparently Latta missed a couple of practices last week due to a minor injury, which may have been the reason Hartley replaced her against Indiana.

 

Story of the Game: The first half was a low-scoring affair. Emma Meesseman scored at will early on for the Mystics, initially using her height advantage inside, then hitting jumpers when given too much space from mid-range. But she didn’t get a lot of offensive help from her teammates.

Seattle went super-small at times in the second quarter, with Nicole Powell becoming their center. But it seemed to upset the Mystics more than the size limitations hurt Seattle. Washington were thrown off their rhythm by knowing they should be attacking the mismatches, and focussing too much on that. Seattle doubled hard and with more organisation than we’d seen from them in previous games this season, managing to recover well enough to survive. The Mystics also just missed several good looks when the ball was rotated away from the double-teams. The Storm also finally manged to exploit the other side of being undersized, when Powell knocked down a pair of threes – the other team’s bigs aren’t used to guarding players like her, so she should find open looks when forced to play ‘center’.

Both teams were better offensively in the second half, and Seattle were scrambling less on the defensive end because Camille Little and Crystal Langhorne played the vast majority of the minutes inside. The Storm were noticeably better than in any of their three previous games, using backdoor cuts and more motion to pierce into the heart of the Washington defense. They also hit some shots, which always helps. Shekinna Stricklen made her first meaningful impact of the 2014 season with back-to-back threes that keyed a Seattle run in the third quarter to build a lead, and they largely maintained it from there. After looking tired for several minutes, Sue Bird drilled a huge three with 90 seconds left in the game to help ice it. Die Bitches apparently still lives.

 

Key Players: The three primary scorers for Seattle were Bird, Little and Tanisha Wright, but it was a collective performance. There was better cohesion, and they fought their way to the finish line just like we’ve seen them do many times over the years. It remains to be seen if they can produce this kind of result regularly, or against stronger opponents, but at least it got them off the mark for the season, and prevented an ugly 0-4 from appearing in the standings.

Meesseman’s early burst was the most memorable sequence for Washington, who didn’t have a great day. The ball movement and perimeter shooting wasn’t good enough to punish Seattle when their defense broke down. We’re also still waiting for the real Kara Lawson to show up in a Mystics jersey.

 

Notes of Interest: Jenna O’Hea has been getting good looks for the Storm – and they’ve been running sets specifically designed to break her open for threes – but she’s not been knocking them down. A career 45% shooter from three-point range in the WNBA, she’ll likely snap out of it, but the physical pounding from playing power forward for the Storm may not be helping. She sometimes had to chase players like Diana Taurasi around when she was playing for LA, but she never had to hold up against the likes of Candice Dupree or Emma Meesseman in the paint. Powell was given all the backup post minutes by Brian Agler in the second half of this game.

If you’re like me and mute or switch over as soon as the halftime buzzer sounds in most games, hold on a minute or two for Mystics home games. They talk to head coach Mike Thibault, and he’s invariably insightful and amusing in his honest analysis of the first half. It’s worth sticking around for.

 

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The Daily W, 05/24/2014

 

Seattle Storm 59 @ Connecticut Sun 71

 

Lineups: After two dismal performances last weekend, Seattle made a change to their starting lineup with Alysha Clark replacing Noelle Quinn at small forward. Replacing one mediocre wing with one of their eighteen other mediocre wings was never going to make much difference, but why not? Connecticut stuck with the same group that had started their previous two games.

 

Story of the Game: On the bright side for Seattle, they didn’t get taken apart to quite the same extent as in their games last weekend. On the negative side, they lost by double-digits for the third straight game, and to a much weaker opponent than the ones that beat them in the first two. The Storm made a decent start, but that quickly dissipated and Connecticut pulled in front for good in the second quarter. It was only a six-point lead at halftime, and still only six early in the fourth quarter, but the Sun dominated the closing stages to ease home fairly comfortably.

Seattle’s lack of size was painfully evident in this game. They got Crystal Langhorne more involved in the offense than she had been in their previous outings, and Camille Little’s physical low-post defense affected Chiney Ogwumike’s post-up attack, but the flaw was still a significant problem. Most of Ogwumike’s production came via the offensive glass and second-chance looks, while Kelsey Bone looked like a giant in the paint when she came off the bench for the Sun. And it’s not just about the one-on-one issues, or the rebounding. Being so small means you have to send more help when defenders are overmatched, which opens up bigger holes elsewhere when the ball is reversed – and makes the rebounding issues starker because a second post is often dragged out of position.

Little and Langhorne are already a small starting pair – and Langhorne doesn’t ‘play big’ like Tina Thompson seemed capable of in the same role last year – but when either needs a rest or is in foul trouble, the likes of Jenna O’Hea, Nicole Powell and Clark are masquerading as post players. Brian Agler has no faith in his only actual backup post, Angel Robinson, and didn’t use her until garbage time. It’s going to hurt them all year, probably even more once teams have more video and gameplan to attack it repeatedly.

The same turnovers and sloppiness as in their first two games also affected the Storm, although they made some runs to keep themselves in the game when they managed to inject some pace. At the moment, they rarely look capable of scoring enough points to balance what they’ve got left to offer on the defensive end.

 

Key Players: Despite Little’s defense, Ogwumike still led the Sun with 18 points on 7-12 from the floor. She’s got enough athleticism and works hard enough that she can find points even when it’s difficult to produce on standard post touches. Kelsey Bone also had her first good game in a Sun jersey while exploiting her size advantage, and Kelsey Griffin picked up boards and made hustle plays all night.

Allison Hightower also showed off her continually improving offensive game, featuring strong drives (always to her left) and a decent jumper. She’s not really a point guard – she’s an initiator who can bring the ball up and start your offense, but she isn’t an instinctive creator for teammates – but she’s a productive player whatever you’re asking her to do.

Langhorne was Seattle’s only double-digit scorer, while everyone else hit a shot or two as the night went along, but without any consistency. Agler and his team have a lot of work to do.

 

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Washington Mystics 79 @ Indiana Fever 63

 

Lineups: Indiana were unchanged, with Tamika Catchings still unavailable due to her sore back. They swapped injured backup guards, with Layshia Clarendon back from her concussion, but Sydney Carter wearing a boot to protect a sprained ankle. Washington made a surprise change to their backcourt, with Ivory Latta – one of the few productive offensive players in their opener – relegated to the bench in favour of rookie Bria Hartley. It was evidence of the truth behind Mike Thibault’s statements that he sees his roster as having three strong, interchangeable guards. And maybe of the need for more instant offense from his reserves.

 

Story of the Game: Indiana got off to an awful start in the first quarter, semi-recovered in the second, and then meekly surrendered in the second half. After two losses last weekend that were at least closely contested games they could’ve won, this was a depressingly lifeless performance where they were outplayed for most of the night by the Mystics.

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The Daily W, 05/23/2014

 

There often won’t be columns on the days when there’s no WNBA action to report, but enough has happened in the last couple of days to be worth talking about so here’s a little bonus piece. With four games tonight, there are also some mini-previews to be found if you scroll down.

 

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League News

 

Epiphanny Prince has reported to the Chicago Sky, been unsuspended, and is expected to return for the team tomorrow night. There’s still been no explanation beyond ‘personal reasons’ for her absence, but it’s understandable that some of these players need a little time between their overseas commitments and the WNBA just to breathe. Due to the World Championships this year the WNBA season started early, which meant anyone playing a full European season had virtually no break. Maybe Prince just needed a little time to sort her head out. The Sky cut Aaryn Ellenberg to make room for her on the roster. They wouldn’t have needed to, but Sylvia Fowles was also quietly unsuspended on Monday. Exactly why they did that remains unclear, although hopefully it means her recovery from hip surgery is going well.

 

Prince, fortunately for the Sky, isn’t in Russia’s squad for their EuroBasket Women 2015 qualifiers this summer. But there are other WNBA players who might be required. Kristi Toliver was just naturalised by the Slovak Republic, whose qualifiers begin in just over two weeks. She’ll likely be gone from the Los Angeles Sparks for at least a couple of weeks in June. Phoenix has several players who might go missing for a while, including Ewelina Kobryn already confirmed as leaving to help Poland in their games. Shay Murphy is Montenegrin these days, and Anete Jekabsone-Zogota is still part of the Latvian set-up, so it remains to be seen if they’ll stay with the Mercury rather than heading to Europe. Both Emma Meesseman and Farhiya Abdi have committed to staying with their respective WNBA teams rather than playing for their countries this year. Ironically, Abdi might gain some playing time with the Sparks while her ‘Slovakian’ teammate is overseas.

 

Sadly our first in-season year-ending injury occurred this week, with San Antonio guard Davellyn Whyte ruled out with an ACL tear. After partially tearing an Achilles tendon late last season, it’s unfortunate for her that another serious injury has taken her down again so soon. San Antonio started the season with eight perimeter players on their roster, so they’ve got plenty of guard cover to fill the spot, especially if Becky Hammon returns from her ankle sprain soon. But with Whyte a fringe backup, there’s also the option to cut her (while paying her off for the remainder of the season) and sign a replacement. They have the cap space to do that, as long as the new player is relatively cheap. They may well just roll with what they’ve got for now, and save that option for later in the season if an extra player becomes a necessity at a certain position.

 

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Tonight’s Games

 

Seattle @ Connecticut, 7pm ET

If the Storm play like they have in their first two games, and the Sun replicate their first half performance from Wednesday’s loss to Chicago, this one will be virtually unwatchable. Hopefully, with both teams yet to record a win, there’ll be a sense of desperation fueling them and it’ll be a little better than that. The Storm have been off since Saturday night, and they needed the practice time to develop some much-needed cohesion after looking like they barely knew each other’s names in their opening games. Crystal Langhorne has barely been heard from so far in a Storm jersey, which needs to change, but basically the whole team’s attitude and level of competence needs to improve. Sue Bird doesn’t usually run teams that look this disorganised.

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The Daily W, 05/17/2014

 

A new regular feature here at WNBAlien – quick recaps of the previous night’s games, mentions of who played and who stood out, notes on anything interesting that might’ve cropped up, and anything else that seems worth talking about. Just without the ridiculous length of previous seasons. Most days, it should go up much earlier than today’s initial example.

We’ll still look in depth at certain games and teams when it’s warranted, especially when there aren’t four or five games on a single evening.

There’s also an injury report at the bottom, collating the news on who missed out last night and who got banged up while playing.

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Minnesota Lynx 89 @ Washington Mystics 77

 

Lineups: Brazilian rookie Damiris Dantas got the start at power forward for Minnesota in place of the injured Rebekkah Brunson. Belgian youngster Emma Meesseman got the nod to start at the same spot for Washington in the place vacated by Crystal Langhorne. Otherwise starters as you’d expect, including Kara Lawson making her debut in the Mystics backcourt.

 

Story of the Game: Maya Moore came out firing, carrying the Lynx into an early lead. Washington’s bench unit helped them get into the game, led by Stefanie Dolson drilling a trio of deep jumpers when the Lynx left her alone. Minnesota maintained a single-digit lead for most of the night behind Moore and Seimone Augustus, but Ivory Latta bombing from outside kept Washington in it. Then Tierra Ruffin-Pratt joined in and the Mystics actually took a very brief lead with 8 minutes left.

But Minnesota’s starters responded, tightened up defensively and hit a series of jumpers to pull away again. Ballgame over.

 

Key Players: Latta and Ruffin-Pratt were the only players who really showed up offensively for Washington, with the occasional flash from Meesseman and Dolson. Some weak rotations defensively – with Augustus and Moore the main culprits, surprisingly – left Latta too open from outside in the second half.

But it was those same two Lynx stars who carried much of Minnesota’s offense over the course of the game. Dantas also had a nice debut, and fit in smoothly as part of the starting core. Asia Taylor, the other rookie post the Lynx retained from camp, looks awfully small and thin for a frontcourt player. You can afford to be one or the other, but when you’re both it’s hard to survive in this league without moving more to the perimeter.

 

Notes of Interest: This is going to become a theme as we go through the other games from last night – solid, impressive rookie performances, but with sequences where they’re still working out what they can get away with at this level. Dolson made some shots, and had a lovely touch pass for a Tianna Hawkins bucket, but was called for at least a couple of illegal screens. Even though many of the refs are the same, that’s the kind of thing that can be called differently in the pros from the college game. Dantas made the necessary hustle plays, and generally kept things simple, although there were a few miscommunications. It looks like she’s already realised that there’s so much freaking talent on her team she doesn’t need to do anything too outlandish. Just fill your role, rook.

 

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New York Liberty 75 @ Connecticut Sun 54

 

Lineups: Spanish ‘rookie’ (it’s her first year in the WNBA, but she’s 27) Anna Cruz got the start at the point for New York (so much for Cappie Pondexter at ‘lead guard’). DeLisha Milton-Jones was at power forward despite Plenette Pierson being in uniform and seeing a few minutes of action. Pierson doesn’t look physically ready to play starter minutes yet.

The perimeter of Alex Bentley, Allison Hightower and Katie Douglas was about what we expected from Connecticut, but Kelsey Griffin started in the frontcourt next to Chiney Ogwumike. Kelsey Bone and Ogwumike will surely be the best frontcourt pairing this franchise can offer over the course of the season.

 

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WNBA 2014 In-Depth Previews: Washington Mystics

 

Ivory Latta/Bria Hartley
Kara Lawson/Kalana Greene/(Tayler Hill)
Monique Currie/Tierra Ruffin-Pratt
Emma Meesseman/Tianna Hawkins/Jelena Milovanovic
Kia Vaughn/Stefanie Dolson

plus maybe the suspended Quanitra Hollingsworth at some point as an extra big, if she ever deigns to show up.

 

Significant additions: Lawson, Hawkins, Dolson, Hartley
Significant losses: Crystal Langhorne, Matee Ajavon, Michelle Snow, Hill for at least part of the season

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After a couple of embarrassingly terrible years, Mike Thibault took over and made this franchise respectable again last season. He turned over half the roster, created a cohesive and deep team, and just flat-out got them playing again. They didn’t have the most talent in the league, but they were organised and they worked hard, and finished the season at exactly .500. That’s a big step up when you were 11-57 combined in the previous two years. Now there’s a new test – whether they can take the next step. A risky trade gave up a player they’ve built around for a long time, but there are some other new pieces on a young team that’s still hoping to improve from within. Sometimes becoming ‘decent’ is a relatively straightforward first step. Getting to ‘good’ can be much trickier.

 

The Crystal Langhorne trade on draft night means that Monique Currie is now the only remaining player from the pre-Thibault era. But continuing the roster turnover wasn’t a good enough reason to give up a still relatively young all-star calibre player, unless Tianna Hawkins or Bria Hartley turn out to be very, very good. Hartley joins a backcourt that’s now going to have to be the driving force for this team. Ivory Latta will team with Kara Lawson as the starters in a pairing that will be hard to guard, with both players capable of running the offense or scoring in bunches. Latta’s a quick, dynamic player who’s learned how to distribute a little more rather than always looking for her own shot. Lawson’s one of the best outside shooters in the women’s game, and will be delighted to reunite with Thibault after being unhappy that he was dismissed in Connecticut. Hartley can do a little of everything as the backup to both, and they recently added Kalana Greene – another former Sun player – to be an extra defensive option on the wing. Sometime during the season Tayler Hill may also return from her pregnancy to provide another option – although after a disappointing rookie season and the baby, it’s probably best not to expect much from that avenue until 2015.

 

At small forward they’ve got a strong, physical pair in Currie and Tierra Ruffin-Pratt, who impressed last season after being picked up as an unrestricted free agent. Neither is entirely reliable on a night-to-night basis, but between them they can cover the spot competently and break out at times. Ruffin-Pratt should be more comfortable in her second season, and might take another step forward. Greene could get some minutes at the 3 as well when necessary.

 

Down in the paint is where they’re going to have to work things out as they go along. Langhorne may not have produced in the last couple of years quite as well as she had beforehand, but she was reliable. Now the only big on the opening day roster with significant WNBA experience is center Kia Vaughn. She’s a solid pivot, a decent defender, and capable of providing some interior scoring and rebounding, but you can’t consistently run your offense through her. She’ll be backed up by rookie Stefanie Dolson, another graduate of the UConn production line, just like Hartley. Jayne Appel was the most common comparison for Dolson, but Dolson’s a little more aggressive in looking for her own offense. She’s also a good passer from the high and low post, and Thibault will make use of that.

 

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