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WNBA Today, 08/25/2012: Who needs Angel? And Sky suffering continues

Just two games last night in the WNBA, and it wasn’t exactly the high-flying, top-end teams providing the entertainment. In fact, heading into the matchups, the four franchises were a combined 27-59 this season. But as a Dolphins fan whose other option was watching that miserable team slog their way through another preseason defeat, basement-dwelling WNBA basketball was looking pretty appetising. And just because they’re down at the bottom, doesn’t mean the games can’t be close and exciting.

First up, we had Atlanta’s trip to Washington. The miserable Mystics actually won a game last week (albeit over one of the poor teams we’ll look at later), so at least they’d found some shred of light in the darkness of their 2012 WNBA season. Atlanta had played some decent basketball since the Olympic break, but were still dealing with the essentially unexplained absence of Angel McCoughtry. So they were only the favourites for this game, rather than the vastly overwhelming favourites.

Atlanta once again went with rookie Tiffany Hayes to fill McCoughtry’s spot, while Washington coach Trudi Lacey had decided she was done with this bizarre idea of playing a consistent lineup, and brought Noelle Quinn back in for Matee Ajavon. In fairness, when you keep losing games, you search for anything different that might help turn the tide.

The yin and yang, joy and frustration of Atlanta forward Sancho Lyttle was illustrated within the space of the opening few minutes. She started the game up on the low block, taking an entry pass, which was nice to see. Then she drifted out to beyond the arc, jacked up a three that missed, and following an Armintie Price offensive board, threw up another jumper from only slightly closer. Brick number two. Then she used those long limbs to poke the ball away from Crystal Langhorne, drove hard from the low post to score in the lane over Langhorne, then moments later ran the floor hard and knocked down another short finish in the lane. These are the things that are great about Lyttle. She can jump out of the gym to score over anyone, she’s got nice touch, she’s a strong defender – but that fondness she’s developed for outside jump shots is aggravating. Okay Sancho, we get it, you can shoot the three now. But you’re shooting 29% out there, and your overall field-goal percentage has plummeted to a career-low of 43%. More of those interior finishes, less of those bombs from 18-feet and out. Please.

As for the overall basketball game, it was about what we’ve come to expect from most Mystics games. Their defense was breaking down constantly, with the number of open layups for Atlanta frankly embarrassing. Offensively, the Mystics were giving the ball up far too cheaply, as lazy, sloppy turnovers once again plagued them. Atlanta happily grabbed the turnovers and ran, as they invariably do, and started to build a lead. It didn’t take long to hit double-digits, and it kept getting bigger. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 08/24/2012: Comebacks, non-comebacks, and the Sparks send a message

Last night in the WNBA was all about comebacks. One superstar returned for her first appearance of the year; one was supposedly on the brink, then yet again absent; another was a hot topic of conversation despite her team not even having a game. There was even a storming comeback to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in one of the games, while the dominant performance in the evening’s big matchup was by a player in her first season back after years out of basketball.

So read on, enjoy, and please come back again soon.

 

New York Liberty 89 @ Phoenix Mercury 77

  • So Diana Taurasi was supposed to play in this game. The Mercury swear her name was on the lineup sheet, and she was even going to start. Then apparently she felt dizzy and light-headed in warmups, so Phoenix head coach Corey Gaines pulled her. She spent the rest of the night offering encouragement from the bench. Now it’s perfectly plausible that someone who had multiple wisdom teeth removed last week, and has been on prescription drugs since, might not feel 100% when asked to play professional sports. And you’d expect the Mercury to be extra-careful with her, especially considering they have few remaining reasons to win games this year. But you just had to laugh. She’ll probably play eventually this season, and the Mercury are bad enough to carry on losing even with her on the floor, but on the face of it the excuses are becoming increasingly ludicrous. Maybe she’ll miss Saturday’s game with a hang nail.
  • Continuing the comeback theme, New York’s star and leader is Cappie Pondexter. She made her name and won a couple of titles with the Mercury, before forcing a trade to the Liberty. She’s had some spiky encounters with her old team in the years since, including one minor fracas that got her ejected. Plenette Pierson and Kara Braxton both have chequered histories with the Mercury as well, but without quite the same profile.
  • Same starting five again for New York; Nakia Sanford arbitrarily in for Avery Warley in the post for Phoenix. The Mercury also had recent signing Briana Gilbreath in uniform for the first time, and with their pile-up of injuries, she had to join the action pretty quickly.
  • The early minutes were just like every other recent Mercury game. Terrible defense, allowing the Liberty whatever they wanted inside or out; and DeWanna Bonner and Sammy Prahalis taking virtually every shot at the other end, mostly from long range. With Pondexter leading the attack and point guard Leilani Mitchell knocking down threes, New York inevitably grabbed a comfortable 30-16 lead by the end of the first quarter. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 08/23/2012: McCoughtry mystery, while Dream pile on Sky’s misery

Last night the WNBA finally offered up an opportunity to concentrate on a specific matchup, rather than splitting our attention between at least three games. The Chicago Sky made the trip down to Atlanta in a desperate state. They’d lost seven games in a row, and 11 of their last 12. They’d also been beaten at home by New York only the night before, a defeat that left them perilously close to giving up their playoff position in the standings. Not helping matters, leading scorer Epiphanny Prince twisted her right ankle late in that game, in only her second game back after breaking a bone in the same foot. Star center Sylvia Fowles limped off in the final minute as well. Both started against the Dream, but neither looked 100% healthy.

Atlanta had their own issues. They’d beaten this same Chicago team in their first game after the Olympic break, then been turned over fairly comfortably by Indiana the following night. Given New York’s level of performance for the first half of the year, and Chicago’s collapse, Atlanta’s playoff spot had begun to look fairly secure. But a glance at the standings showed that if they dropped this contest, the Sky would move within half-a-game of them and seal the tie-breaker over the Dream. It was a big game for Atlanta to cement their position in the East.

Matters were complicated when it was revealed that star scorer Angel McCoughtry wouldn’t play for Atlanta, for what were described only as ‘personal reasons’ by head coach Marynell Meadors. McCoughtry was at the game, and smiled happily through a pre-game ceremony honouring her and Meadors for winning gold in London. Backup center Yelena Leuchanka was also in street clothes (no one seems to have bothered to ask or report what’s wrong with her). However, while Leuchanka sat with her teammates on the bench and cheered along with them, McCoughtry was on the other side of the floor sitting opposite the Sky bench throughout the game. She didn’t even join the player huddle after the game finished, as far as I could see. Asked afterwards if McCoughtry would play in Atlanta’s next game, Meadors said “I don’t know. I can’t answer that.” So no one outside the organisation seems to know what the hell is going on. McCoughtry’s rubbed coaches and teammates the wrong way with her attitude in the past, so it could be that this is a tacit suspension for something she did, without officially suspending her. It could be a health issue that wasn’t obvious, which the team don’t want to reveal. Maybe there actually is some kind of personal reason that allowed her to attend but not play. At this point, your guess is as good as mine.

Anyway, on to the basketball. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 08/22/2012: Western powers roll; Sun survive a scare; Sky keep falling

Five games last night. They really don’t think about the poor writers when they come up with these schedules. For those of you who prefer the standard article format, rest assured that it will return on nights when there are fewer games to discuss. But for now, on to the Bullet Point Breakdown of all five games from Tuesday.

 

Tulsa Shock 80 @ Connecticut Sun 82

  • Starting forwards were still missing for both teams, Asjha Jones with her achilles issue and Kayla Pedersen presumably still suffering from the flu-like symptoms which kept her out on Sunday. Mistie Mims was again the replacement for Connecticut, while Tulsa went with Chante Black this time to fill Pedersen’s spot. Presumably in the hope that Black could help slow down Tina Charles. Ivory Latta also received her first start since the Olympic break, at that revolving wing spot where Gary Kloppenburg keeps rotating through his options.
  • The opening minutes were a little embarrassing for Kalana Greene. She’s basically out there for her defense, because she doesn’t offer a great deal at the other end of the floor. Her assignment to start this game was Roneeka Hodges, who was ridiculously open for two three-pointers to kick off Tulsa’s scoring.
  • In Greene’s defense, Hodges was wide open for her third triple as well, seconds after Greene was finally benched. Some of it came down to Connecticut’s defensive scheme, rather than individual failings, as became increasingly clear all night.
  • Connecticut’s defense, most of the time, is based around a similar idea to a lot of defensive systems in this league: the basic view that there aren’t that many players in the WNBA who can consistently knock down the three. They try to cut off penetration, and if anyone gets beaten off the dribble, the help sags inside to cover. Inevitably, that leaves shooters open on the wings at times, because that’s where the help is coming from. But they’ll live with that if they have to. You rotate and recover as quickly as possible to challenge the three if the ball gets kicked out, but that shot’s an acceptable risk compared to the potential layup attempt you’d otherwise give up. Tulsa got a bunch of those open threes on the wing in this game (and didn’t actually hit that many – so the plan mostly worked). Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 08/20/2012: OT tedium in the East, no surprises out West

It was a weird day of WNBA basketball yesterday. Usually, games which go down to the wire are exciting, however poorly played they might’ve been. The opening game on Sunday illustrated that there are occasionally exceptions. The second game was so predictable, and so uncompetitive, that it set a new record for the fewest notes I’ve ever made about any WNBA game I intend to write about. Then the final contest, between arguably the best and worst teams in the WNBA, was refreshingly entertaining until it turned into a blowout in the fourth quarter.

Sometimes, the world of the WNBA is a strange one.

 

Chicago Sky 71 @ Washington Mystics 75

  • Washington trotted out the same starting five, while Chicago once again went small with Swin Cash at power forward and Tamera Young on the wing. At some point, you wonder if Sky coach Pokey Chatman might try starting the only true power forward on her roster – Le’coe Willingham – in that power forward slot she keeps messing around with. Willingham hasn’t made the greatest start as a Sky player, but at least she’d be a straightforward fit. Maybe that’s just too logical.
  • Michelle Snow picked up two very quick fouls, not that that was ever likely to make a great deal of difference to Washington’s performance.
  • Cash struggled at times defensively, because sliding to the four against Washington means trying to guard Crystal Langhorne. And when the Mystics actually managed to run something coherent and get Langhorne the ball – which wasn’t often – she’s too polished an interior scorer for Cash to deal with.
  • Chicago eventually built something of a lead late in the first quarter, although it was more down to the lack of offense or organisation from Washington than anything impressive from the Sky. If your opponent can’t score, eventually you should move ahead even if your own offense is poor. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 08/19/2012 (Part Two): Eastern power holds; LA complete Storm sweep

On with the slightly more timely coverage of Saturday’s games, where Eastern clashes went exactly as the standings would suggest, and home-court advantage wasn’t enough to compensate for injuries and absences in the one Western contest.

 

New York Liberty 74 @ Connecticut Sun 85

  • Two teams which had faced each other only two days earlier in New York clashed again. Connecticut were looking for a quick rebound, after a pretty miserable loss on Thursday night. They were still without Asjha Jones due to her achilles injury. As you’d expect, New York kept faith with the same lineup that helped win the previous game.
  • It was quickly apparent that Connecticut weren’t going to perform as they had 48 hours earlier. Tina Charles, who was utterly anonymous on Thursday, was straight into the action with a little jump hook over Plenette Pierson. Kara Lawson, also terrible in the last game, immediately started knocking down shots. A couple of days to think about their performance and rest up, plus the return to their own home court, appeared to have helped the Sun enormously.
  • Although while their offense was much improved, Connecticut couldn’t stop New York at the other end in the early stages. Nicole Powell and Cappie Pondexter in particular were firing away and making shots, keeping pace with Connecticut. In fact, the Liberty held a narrow lead after a high-scoring first quarter, 26-23.
  • Turnovers began to hurt the Liberty, and Connecticut took more of a grip on the game as the first half progressed. For possibly the first time all season, Sun coach Mike Thibault decided to simply ride Charles as far as he could, letting her play the entire 20 minutes of the first half. She rewarded him with 9-13 shooting for 19 points by the break, largely on layups and finishes around the rim. This was a Tina Charles making a statement, showing definitively that Thursday night was merely a blip. The Sun were up 47-43 at halftime, despite allowing New York to shoot 55% from the floor to that point. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 08/19/2012 (Part One): Catching Up

Yes, I know this is desperately late, but yesterday sitting in the pub and watching the start of the English Premier League season took precedence over writing about the WNBA (even though the first really important game isn’t until Monday). But just in case anyone still cares to hear my thoughts about Friday night’s WNBA games, here you go. It was at least a small step up on the three snoozefests that got the season back underway the night before.

 

Washington Mystics 69 @ Minnesota Lynx 98

  • Yep, we’re going to get the game only a mother or a blowout fan could love out of the way first. The Lynx reopened their season with their roster back in one piece, Rebekkah Brunson, Jessica Adair and Devereaux Peters all having recovered from their respective injuries over the break. Brunson returned to her customary spot as the starting power forward, alongside the three Lynx gold-medalists (who’d all somehow made it back from London in time to play).
  • Washington kept faith with the same starting lineup that lost in Indiana the night before (the schedulers sure weren’t kind to the Mystics – a road back-to-back against the Fever and Lynx to kick off the second half. That was never going to end well.)
  • Brunson came back from London with some seriously ugly fluorescent yellow shoes.
  • It didn’t take long for the vast gap in talent, chemistry, confidence, and everything else required to win basketball games showed up in this one. From the opening tip Minnesota were moving the ball well and stepping into shots with clear belief that they could make them, while also finding repeated holes in the Washington defense. The Mystics, on the other hand, looked tired and defeated well before the first quarter was over, with them already facing a 26-15 deficit.
  • While a home game against Washington was a nice way to ease back into the WNBA, there were no signs of Olympic hangover from the Lynx players we saw win gold only six days earlier. Seimone Augustus couldn’t miss with that pretty jumper (along with several wide open layups), Lindsay Whalen was playing her typical solid all-around game from the point, and Maya Moore slid right back into rhythm on the other wing. It was like they’d never left (after all, they closed the first half playing Tulsa twice – so those were comprehensive blowouts too).
  • The Minnesota bench kept things rolling as necessary as, although it was interesting to see Amber Harris as the first post off the bench, ahead of Peters and Adair. Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve sometimes makes decisions like that based on matchups, so we’ll see if that rotation decision continues in future games. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 08/17/2012: They’re baaaaaack!

Yes, with barely time to catch our breath after all the Olympic excitement, the WNBA got back underway last night. Some still seemed to be suffering from an Olympic hangover; some looked rested and rejuvenated; some picked up right where they left off; and one quite literally didn’t even bother to show up. Regardless, WNBAlien is back for the stretch run of the regular season, before we hit the games that really matter in September. Three games last night, and we welcome everyone back with a Bullet Point Breakdown of all of them. Enjoy.

 

Connecticut Sun 66 @ New York Liberty 79

  • As much as anyone in the league, the Liberty welcomed the Olympic break. Without a single player heading to London, they had time to heal from a variety of injuries and try to rebuild some of the chemistry that had been sorely lacking in the first half. Plenette Pierson was back in the starting lineup after recovering from her left calf/knee injury. Kia Vaughn and DeMya Walker, who both suffered with injury issues in July, looked healthier as well.
  • Connecticut, on the other hand, were one of the few teams who would’ve prefered if the season had kept on rolling. With a 15-4 record from the first half, their only fear coming back was that the momentum they’d built would’ve been killed off by the break. Due to a strained achilles, they also had to play without one of their gold medallists, as Asjha Jones was sidelined. Jones is only expected to miss a week or two, and was replaced by backup Mistie Mims.
  • New York made an extra unforced change, promoting Nicole Powell back into the starting lineup over Essence Carson. Possibly an attempt to recapture last season’s form by reinstituting something close to last season’s rotation.
  • It wasn’t exactly a glorious first half to welcome the world back to WNBA basketball. Still, Pierson clearly made a difference for New York. Her hustle, her energy, her interior presence and her basic leadership gives this team something they’d been missing late in the first half of the season. Of course, the Liberty were pretty terrible even in the games she played this year, so it wasn’t all about her. At times it was noticeable that the Liberty had been together as a group for the last couple of weeks, while Connecticut had been without Jones and Tina Charles – New York were a little more cohesive. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 07/14/2012: Have a Nice Summer!

So after four teams completed their schedules for the opening half of the season on Thursday, the remaining eight finished it all off yesterday. At this point, everyone needs a rest, including the bedraggled writers. So one last time until we pick it up again in a month, let’s head to the Bullet Point Breakdown and take a look at the games that closed out the WNBA until August 16th.

 

Washington Mystics 70 @ New York Liberty 53

  • Thanks to the collapse in Chicago (and the inconsistencies in Atlanta), New York somehow started yesterday only 2.5 games outside the playoffs. This despite some deplorable performances in the first half of the season, and a 6-11 record. On the bright side, they had DeMya Walker fit enough to start again at power forward, and Kia Vaughn ready to play off the bench after recovering from her concussion.
  • The less said about Washington’s play in the opening months of the season the better. They once again went with Jasmine Thomas over Shannon Bobbitt as their starting point guard.
  • Cappie Pondexter and Essence Carson came out firing in the early passages for New York. The Liberty might have had most of their posts back, but all the shots were still coming from the guards.
  • Washington had Monique Currie playing aggressively on offense – again, Mystics coach Trudi Lacey has jerked her minutes around so much lately, Currie may have felt the need to shoot while she could – with Crystal Langhorne the inevitable main alternative. They balanced out New York’s guard scoring in an even first quarter.
  • The rest of the game, with all due respect to Washington’s efforts, largely came down to a dismal performance from the New York Liberty. Yes, we can give some credit to the defense the Mystics produced, but that’s the WNBA’s 10th-rated defense we’re talking about. They’ve barely been able to stop anyone all year. New York were bringing most of this on themselves.
  • There was so little energy and application from New York. It was like they expected the return of Walker and Vaughn to provide the necessary production, so the effort level they’d produced when they were down to practically one post player disappeared. Without the extraordinary offensive display Pondexter came up with in their previous game against Indiana, it left the Liberty falling behind. Even to a team as bad as Washington.
  • So the Mystics led 36-27 at halftime, partly because they’d managed to shoot 43%, but mostly because the Liberty were a dreadful 27% from the field.
  • The second half didn’t get any better for New York. It looked like the Liberty players would rather have been on vacation already, and some of them had checked out a little early. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 07/13/2012: The Beginning of the End of the Beginning

Finally it’s upon us – the end of the first-half of the WNBA’s 2012 season. Heading into yesterday, every team in the league had one game left before the month-long break that splits this year’s schedule. Apart from the 13 players heading for London, everyone finally has time to kick back and rest their weary limbs, before spending some time in the gym to work on whatever’s been going wrong in the first half. For the vast majority of teams and individuals, this is a welcome respite in a season that’s suffered from a host of injuries to important players.

The first teams to close out their pre-Olympic schedules were Tulsa and Minnesota, sneaking the Lynx’s Camp Day in just before the break. At 3-14, the Shock have once again done a whole lot of losing this season, but with a few renewed signs of promise. Minnesota have dropped so many games recently – a three-game losing streak broken only by a win over Tulsa on Tuesday – that they’d fallen into a tie with Connecticut for the best record in the WNBA at 14-4. Still, after setting a new WNBA record by shooting virtually 70% from the field against the Shock in their last game, the Lynx were looking to complete back-to-back wins and head into the break on a small upswing.

The starting lineups were the same as two days earlier, with Maya Moore at power forward in the absence of Rebekkah Brunson, Jessica Adair and Devereaux Peters. Minnesota started out pushing the ball up the floor quickly, looking for early offense. Besides their halfcourt ball movement, this is how the Lynx pile up easy points when they’re in rhythm – speed and an attack mentality, finding their way to the basket before the defense is even set up. It’s part of what they’d been missing during the losing streak, and they re-discovered it during the two games against Tulsa. We’ll have to wait until after the Olympics to see if they’ve improved their own play, or if it was largely caused by the step down in opponent.

Tulsa managed to hang around through the first quarter, primarily because they started trapping and playing high-pressure defense, which knocked the Lynx briefly out of their stride. Alongside that, Riquna Williams came into the game off the bench and started firing away – as always – and produced some scoring that hadn’t been on offer from the starting unit. Her offense pulled the Shock within 22-21 at the end of the first.

There was a brief little scuffle early in the second quarter between Candice Wiggins and Temeka Johnson. Wiggins has a tendency to get under the skin of opponents with her pesky defense and endless jawing, while Johnson seemed to be in a bad mood all afternoon, but there was nothing much in it. The officials handed out technicals to the pair of them. There was no real reason why that moment should’ve been a turning point – the Lynx are experienced enough not to need a brouhaha to energise them – but the game was tied at 31 when it occurred. Barely five minutes of game time later, Minnesota were ahead 52-33 and the contest was virtually over. Continue reading →