Phoenix vs. LA 08/28

[Kaizen]

Phoenix 70, LA 66
DT 26pt, Parker 25 pts
A sloppy game in both teams.

 

[EricLA]

It was an excellent win for Phx. Up 9 with 2 minutes left, LA went on a run to make it close. Bonner and Bone tried single handedly to give the game to LA, but Candace was equal to the task with her own bad decisions. Parker was not good at the top of the key. She fashions herself as a guard, but she's not. At least not this game.

 

[BigBird]

I hate to guess the number of point-blank shots that were missed by both teams in this game, some of them at critical moments. Hard to think that's "good for the game."

Frankly, something's also amiss with BG. She is slow, badly positioning herself, and has lost her shot. I like her, and I hope she gets out of whatever physical or mental funk she's in.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Candace responded very nicely to Friday's 4th quarter benching with 25 points, 13 boards, 7 assists, 3 steals, and 1 block. OTOH, she also had 6 TOs. Most importantly, Phoenix beat L.A. The Sparks started 20-1, but are 1-4 since then. They dropped behind Minnesota in the playoffs race. Home court advantage could be huge in these playoffs.

As Eric notes, Candace prefers to play outside. She is a finesse player.

 

[easttexastrash]

Bonner drives me crazy. She is so shot-happy and makes some crazy drives to that basket and gets caught in places she shouldn't.

BG looked timid again. It's as if when she went back to Phoenix from the Olympics that she reverted back to be the player that doesn't believe that she should be taking shots before the ball has touched the hands of all of her teammates. Are the coaches saying something about ball movement that BG is taking to an extreme or is it her own thinking that she should not look for her own shot until the veteran players on the team get a shot to launch one? One she is hesitant she leaves her shots short. If someone could get her to get to the rack like she did on those two plays in the third of fourth quarter and look super aggressive, nobody will stop her. But like DT said, she just has to decide if she wants to do it.

 

[Plebe]

This was a fascinating game, even if it was often sloppy and chippy. At one point in the 3rd quarter, the commentators noted some extracurriculars:

Holly Rowe: "Well, there is a real personal battle brewing out here on the floor. Candace Parker and Diana Taurasi have been having words all night. Every time Diana makes a basket, she gives the death glare to Candace Parker. I've seen a few, I will call them "pleasantries" but they're not so pleasant, back and forth. And you can see things getting even more heated today."​

LaChina Robinson: "You're right, Holly. It has really gotten heated between those two. Pam, you mentioned earlier the fact that Candace Parker was left off of the Olympic team and definitely has something to prove, and Diana's coming back from the Olympics on top of her game. With two passionate players like that going head to head, and you add to that a rivalry ... this is going to be fun."

And a little latter:

LaChina: "You know, I was just thinking about this. I think Candace Parker and Diana Taurasi would both be on the all-trash-talk team of the WNBA."​

And in the postgame interview:

Holly: "You and Candace Parker ... I felt like, this is a rivalry, but it got really back and forth tonight. Why is it ratcheting up tonight?"

Diana: "I mean, she's a great player. She can do it all. She can dribble, pass, shoot, steal, block ... I mean, she does it all. So it took a team effort, and she still had a great game ..."​

 

[Geew1992]

Bonner drives me crazy. She is so shot-happy and makes some crazy drives to that basket and gets caught in places she shouldn't.

BG looked timid again. It's as if when she went back to Phoenix from the Olympics that she reverted back to be the player that doesn't believe that she should be taking shots before the ball has touched the hands of all of her teammates. Are the coaches saying something about ball movement that BG is taking to an extreme or is it her own thinking that she should not look for her own shot until the veteran players on the team get a shot to launch one? One she is hesitant she leaves her shots short. If someone could get her to get to the rack like she did on those two plays in the third of fourth quarter and look super aggressive, nobody will stop her. But like DT said, she just has to decide if she wants to do it.

I kept sayin BG needed to channel her inner Geno.

 

[MilfordHusky]

I saw just a few clips, but BG looked slow--definitely slower than a couple of years ago.

 

[EricLA]

Just goes to show, how players do in the WNBA is not necessarily indicative of how they will do on the National Team. Geno asked most players to do less than they do for their respective WNBA teams mainly because there was just so much talent on Team USA. But I don't know how to explain Griner's quickness and overall effectiveness for Team USA compared to her more plodding performances for Phx since the break. Maybe she just had a bad game, maybe she wasn't feeling well, but maybe it's the coaching and how the team plays with her...

 

[easttexastrash]

Just goes to show, how players do in the WNBA is not necessarily indicative of how they will do on the National Team. Geno asked most players to do less than they do for their respective WNBA teams mainly because there was just so much talent on Team USA. But I don't know how to explain Griner's quickness and overall effectiveness for Team USA compared to her more plodding performances for Phx since the break. Maybe she just had a bad game, maybe she wasn't feeling well, but maybe it's the coaching and how the team plays with her...

Eric, when you say "performances" which other performance are you talking about? BG looked pretty darn good in the first game back against Dallas with 13 points, 8 rebounds and 6 blocks in only 25 minutes of play. If that is a "plodding" performance I hope she can plod like that more often.

 

[easttexastrash]

What concerned me most in the LA games were a couple poor decisions with fouls. BG allowed LA to get under her skin and bate her into fouling and she bit, hook, line and sinker.

 

[EricLA]

Eric, when you say "performances" which other performance are you talking about? BG looked pretty darn good in the first game back against Dallas with 13 points, 8 rebounds and 6 blocks in only 25 minutes of play. If that is a "plodding" performance I hope she can plod like that more often.

"BG looked timid again. It's as if when she went back to Phoenix from the Olympics that she reverted back to be the player that doesn't believe that she should be taking shots before the ball has touched the hands of all of her teammates."

Your words not mine. I didn't see her first game back so I can't comment specifically on how she's doing but the general consensus seemed to be (on the board) that she was not playing as well as she did at the Olympics.

 

[easttexastrash]

"BG looked timid again. It's as if when she went back to Phoenix from the Olympics that she reverted back to be the player that doesn't believe that she should be taking shots before the ball has touched the hands of all of her teammates."

Your words not mine. I didn't see her first game back so I can't comment specifically on how she's doing but the general consensus seemed to be (on the board) that she was not playing as well as she did at the Olympics.

So you now base your posts on my posts and not by watching the games?

BG did look more hesitant to take shots, even in the Dallas game, although her performance was still good in that game. Phoenix is not a good fit for her. There is no PG that looks to get her the ball like there was in the Olympics. All of the guards are shoot-first guards, either by Brondello's design or by the choice of the players. It is as if in the Phoenix offense that she still does not feel that she should be shooting and I have to believe that it is a result of the offensive scheme that Brondello has implemented.

 

[wallman]

Yeah ETT on Bonner, she drives me nuts too.

BG always seems to perform better if they can run a pick and roll through DT, when DT gets in foul trouble, I don't think that gets done as much or they don't have any one else who runs it as well. Without DT on the floor directing traffic, the Mercs offense doesn't flow as well.