2024 WNBA Season: Part 2 (August ---) | Page 24 | The Boneyard

2024 WNBA Season: Part 2 (August ---)

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nwhoopfan said:
Chicago beat LA to keep pace with Atlanta. Carter was back in action. Reese had 24 pts/12 rebounds.
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Carter makes such a difference for Chicago, without her the flow isn't the same, they just dont have the guards that can consistently distribute and score the way she does.

Chicago gonna need to pickup some better guards this offseason
 
DEFENSE

Last night's entertaining games demonstrated the centrality of defense to success.

The takeaway is the top four teams will do well in the playoffs.

The Dream were extraordinarily fortunate to face the hapless Wing who really had the game in hand. The aversion to defense as the Dallas league leading points allowed defense rolled over, provided the Dream with an opportunity to dream on although their defense wasn't much to write home about.

Atlanta has the more challenging set of games down the stretch compared to the Sky and based on the performance last night I would expect Atlanta to drop a minimum of four games down the stretch, that is depending upon how the contenders prepare for the playoffs.

CC and company really do have a magnificent offense when it's clicking. Unfortunately the team as constructed does not have the ability to play the defense required to move from the second tier to the top tier of w teams. If Lexie Hull is your premier defender you know you've got a problem. Kelsey Mitchell from the Arike O School of playing has never been known for defense. Neither has Smith. CC who's expected to play a monumental number of minutes cannot be expected to maintain sharp defense for 40 minutes. Connecticut in losing may have assured a matchup against the Fever and we'll get to see defense versus offense. Based on the performances last night the Fever may win one game at home in their series loss in the first round.

Cheryl Reese is delighted to match wits with the million dollar coach in the first round, a classic mismatch akin to me playing chess against Bobby Fisher. Nate has the last laugh however as he has the bigger bag, 30% larger than Cheryl's and infinitely larger than mine.

Based on everything I saw last night we're looking at a Stewie versus Pheesa finals which should be fantastic. I do believe Angel will back into the number eight hole so we'll get to see her in the playoffs as well, she should be well schooled by SB and squad assuming SB doesn't underperform ... LOL
 
azfan said:
The battle for the number two seed is consequential. No one wants to face the number six seed and everyone wants to play the number seven seed.

Tomorrow's game in Seattle is pressure filled for the Storm. No one expects them to lose including the Mercury so......
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The same #6 team that is 1-3 against both Connecticut and Minnesota? I honestly don't think either team would mind playing the Fever in the first round. But yes, they may prefer Phoenix IF Phoenix continues to play so undisciplined.

That said, I think the only team that may have a cakewalk in the first round is New York--if they face Washington, Chicago, or Atlanta. There are a lot of Lynx believers here, but their offense stalls at the most inopportune times (turnovers, errant shooting). If that happens in the playoffs, they aren't sniffing the finals.

As for the Liberty, well, they're coached by Sandy Brondello and have a notorious playoff choker at center. That's enough for me to never pick them to win anything significant.
 
WBBTakeover said:
The same #6 team that is 1-3 against both Connecticut and Minnesota? I honestly don't think either team would mind playing the Fever in the first round. But yes, they may prefer Phoenix IF Phoenix continues to play so undisciplined.

That said, I think the only team that may have a cakewalk in the first round is New York--if they face Washington, Chicago, or Atlanta. There are a lot of Lynx believers here, but their offense stalls at the most inopportune times (turnovers, errant shooting). If that happens in the playoffs, they aren't sniffing the finals.

As for the Liberty, well, they're coached by Sandy Brondello and have a notorious playoff choker at center. That's enough for me to never pick them to win anything significant.
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Undisciplined is one way to describe the lackadaisical and defenseless presence of the Merc. Side by side versus the Fever I'm sure there would be very few coaches or teens that would say yeah give me CC instead of the GOAT

As I wrote earlier the pressure's squarely on Noelle Quinn and her team tonight at Footprint arena against the spiraling Mercury. Since returning from the Olympic break the Mercury have been abysmal as they've dropped below 500. Over the same period the Fever have been on fire. The Fever demonstrated their ceiling last night against the Lynx. However when compared to the Mercury's "performance" last month against the same team in which DT and company struggled and scored 76 points on 38% shooting and had more fouls and turnovers than assists it's clear that the team from the valley of the Sun has disintegrated. The Merc are a 6.5.underdog at home and I think I'd give the points as this looks to be a double digit loss.

The teams split the June meetings. The Mercury won at home as BG was 10 for 15 from the field in a 9-point victory over the pre Gabby Storm. Phoenix shot 50% from the field and had 25 assists milestones that they have an achieved only once since then.

Cakewalk would be the descriptor for the Lynx sweep of the spirit of the Mercin the first round of the playoffs. It'll be interesting to see if the million dollar coach in the chess game against Cheryl Reeves can keep his team under double digits in the losses. The Merc certainly will be cupcakes.
 
WBBTakeover said:
The same #6 team that is 1-3 against both Connecticut and Minnesota? I honestly don't think either team would mind playing the Fever in the first round. But yes, they may prefer Phoenix IF Phoenix continues to play so undisciplined.

That said, I think the only team that may have a cakewalk in the first round is New York--if they face Washington, Chicago, or Atlanta. There are a lot of Lynx believers here, but their offense stalls at the most inopportune times (turnovers, errant shooting). If that happens in the playoffs, they aren't sniffing the finals.

As for the Liberty, well, they're coached by Sandy Brondello and have a notorious playoff choker at center. That's enough for me to never pick them to win anything significant.
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Good point about the Lynx offense. The offense can be really good or really bad... all in the same game. Heck even the same quarter! There have been a few games where the Lynx offense was on fire for the first 3-5 minutes and then the last few minutes of that quarter, nothing. The Lynx saving grace is their defense.
 
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JellyBean said:
Good point about the Lynx offense. The offense can be really good or really bad... all in the same game. Heck even the same quarter! There have been a few games where the Lynx offense was on fire for the first 3-5 minutes and then the last few minutes of that quarter, nothing. The Lynx saving grace might just be the defense.
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Bingo!

They are, IMO, the best defensive team in the league. The schemes are really good and the players are clearly buying in.
 
azfan said:
Undisciplined is one way to describe the lackadaisical and defenseless presence of the Merc. Side by side versus the Fever I'm sure there would be very few coaches or teens that would say yeah give me CC instead of the GOAT

As I wrote earlier the pressure's squarely on Noelle Quinn and her team tonight at Footprint arena against the spiraling Mercury. Since returning from the Olympic break the Mercury have been abysmal as they've dropped below 500. Over the same period the Fever have been on fire. The Fever demonstrated their ceiling last night against the Lynx. However when compared to the Mercury's "performance" last month against the same team in which DT and company struggled and scored 76 points on 38% shooting and had more fouls and turnovers than assists it's clear that the team from the valley of the Sun has disintegrated. The Merc are a 6.5.underdog at home and I think I'd give the points as this looks to be a double digit loss.

The teams split the June meetings. The Mercury won at home as BG was 10 for 15 from the field in a 9-point victory over the pre Gabby Storm. Phoenix shot 50% from the field and had 25 assists milestones that they have an achieved only once since then.

Cakewalk would be the descriptor for the Lynx sweep of the spirit of the Mercin the first round of the playoffs. It'll be interesting to see if the million dollar coach in the chess game against Cheryl Reeves can keep his team under double digits in the losses. The Merc certainly will be cupcakes.
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I guess don't see it, especially since Minnesota has already lost to Phoenix this season. There are enough players on the Mercury who could get hot enough to take a game from any of the Top 3 teams. We see what Kah can do every three or so games. Tasha starts hitting threes out of nowhere. BG might wake up and decide to go for 23+. DT is DT. Sophie could be focused enough to have an impact on both ends. They wouldn't win the series (too undisciplined and too hot-headed), but they could make it tough by pushing it out to three games before losing.

I think we agree that Phoenix has underachieved relative to their personnel, though. But they're not a team that you want to face in the first round. Ideally, you'd want Chicago (substandard guard play and questionable coaching decisions), Atlanta (poorly coached and undisciplined), or Washington (not talented and horrible coaching). Those teams aren't filled to the brim with future HOFers.
 
azfan said:
Undisciplined is one way to describe the lackadaisical and defenseless presence of the Merc. Side by side versus the Fever I'm sure there would be very few coaches or teens that would say yeah give me CC instead of the GOAT

As I wrote earlier the pressure's squarely on Noelle Quinn and her team tonight at Footprint arena against the spiraling Mercury. Since returning from the Olympic break the Mercury have been abysmal as they've dropped below 500. Over the same period the Fever have been on fire. The Fever demonstrated their ceiling last night against the Lynx. However when compared to the Mercury's "performance" last month against the same team in which DT and company struggled and scored 76 points on 38% shooting and had more fouls and turnovers than assists it's clear that the team from the valley of the Sun has disintegrated. The Merc are a 6.5.underdog at home and I think I'd give the points as this looks to be a double digit loss.

The teams split the June meetings. The Mercury won at home as BG was 10 for 15 from the field in a 9-point victory over the pre Gabby Storm. Phoenix shot 50% from the field and had 25 assists milestones that they have an achieved only once since then.

Cakewalk would be the descriptor for the Lynx sweep of the spirit of the Mercin the first round of the playoffs. It'll be interesting to see if the million dollar coach in the chess game against Cheryl Reeves can keep his team under double digits in the losses. The Merc certainly will be cupcakes.
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I don't know if it would be a "Cakewalk" if Minnesota face the Mercury in the playoffs. I think Phoenix has a lot of heart and would make things interesting in a playoff series.
 
JellyBean said:
I don't know if it would be a "Cakewalk" if Minnesota face the Mercury in the playoffs. I think Phoenix has a lot of heart and would make things interesting in a playoff series.
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I would say Phoenix has plenty of talent, but not sure about the heart. I guess they could be scary in the playoffs. I could kind of see them playing a spoiler...but I could also see them getting swept in the 1st Round.
 
Is practice overrated? Was Allen Iverson correct this whole time? I just watched the Sky/Sparks game and Chennedy Carter played 30 plus minutes after dealing with whatever landed her in the hospital and it was like she didn't miss a beat! I don't know when she was cleared to practice/play but to go 15/9/7 and no turnovers is pretty darn impressive after missing a few games.
 
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nwhoopfan said:
I would say Phoenix has plenty of talent, but not sure about the heart. I guess they could be scary in the playoffs. I could kind of see them playing a spoiler...but I could also see them getting swept in the 1st Round.
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They're showing their colors as the Storm running them out of the gym. Every element of the game is lacking for the Mercury. I'm not sure how they recapture any of their pre Olympic break mojo. This would be the third humiliation.

I'm sure the million dollar coach is thinking no mas, no mas.
 
JellyBean said:
I don't know if it would be a "Cakewalk" if Minnesota face the Mercury in the playoffs. I think Phoenix has a lot of heart and would make things interesting in a playoff series.
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I do.... and so does Skyler, Noelle, and anyone else who is watching the disintegration of the team.

At the end of the third quarter two terms come to mind when thinking about the million dollar coach's "team" - pathetic and insulting
 
WBBTakeover said:
I guess don't see it, especially since Minnesota has

I think we agree that Phoenix has underachieved relative to their personnel, though. But they're not a team that you want to face in the first round. Ideally, you'd want Chicago (substandard guard play and questionable coaching decisions), Atlanta (poorly coached and undisciplined), or Washington (not talented and horrible coaching). Those teams aren't filled to the brim with future HOFers.
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Hummmmmmm

Trailing by 21 early in the 4th quarter Phoenix looks like a team anyone would like to face in the playoffs
 
azfan said:
They're showing their colors as the Storm running them out of the gym. Every element of the game is lacking for the Mercury. I'm not sure how they recapture any of their pre Olympic break mojo. This would be the third humiliation.

I'm sure the million dollar coach is thinking no mas, no mas.
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Yeah...what was I saying about not having a lot of heart?
 
2024 WNBA eFG% vs FGA.jpg
 
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azfan said:
I do.... and so does Skyler, Noelle, and anyone else who is watching the disintegration of the team.

At the end of the third quarter two terms come to mind when thinking about the million dollar coach's "team" - pathetic and insulting
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Yeah after watching that game last night (Seattle/Phoenix). If Minnesota plays Phoenix in the playoffs, it WILL be a Cakewalk. Holy crap! Any team that plays Phoenix in the playoffs, it is going to be a cakewalk. Phoenix threw in the towel? Wow.
 
Dillon77 said:
Here's the ESPN article on Reese's injury and now-abbreviated season. Hope she heals well...

www.espn.com

Sky rookie Angel Reese's season over with wrist injury

Angel Reese, whose historic rookie year saw her lead the WNBA in double-doubles, will miss the rest of the season with an injury to her wrist.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
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Hate to see the season end that way for Angel. She was putting in that work and joy to watch. Hoping for a speedy & safe recovery.
 
Dillon77 said:
Here's the ESPN article on Reese's injury and now-abbreviated season. Hope she heals well...

www.espn.com

Sky rookie Angel Reese's season over with wrist injury

Angel Reese, whose historic rookie year saw her lead the WNBA in double-doubles, will miss the rest of the season with an injury to her wrist.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
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JellyBean said:
Hate to see the season end that way for Angel. She was putting in that work and joy to watch. Hoping for a speedy & safe recovery.
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Agreed. She accomplished a lot as a rookie. Maybe her style of play isn't pretty and doesn't work for some, but she got the job done. She also helped to bring some excitement back to a Chicago Sky team after a frustrating season of confusion last year.
 
With Angel’s injury, can A’ja Wilson attain:

(1) the most total rebounds in one season ;

(2) the most rebounds in one seaso; and

(3) the most combined rebounds/points in one season?

Angel will stilll have the highest average rebounds per game in a season if A’Ja surpasses her total rebounds per season.
 
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