Bigboote
That's big-boo-TAY
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61 points at halftime??
2025 WNBA Regular Season
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Bigboote
That's big-boo-TAY
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Players not named A’ja were 7-43 from the floor including 1-10 by the other front court players. Newly acquired Nalyssa Smith had 100% of that 1.
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Not gonna lie, watching Las Vegas struggle this season and last season has been hard. That joy and teamwork they showed during their back to back title seasons is no more. All I see is a super star, A'ja surrounded by players who are a shell of themselves out there and new teammates who are finding themselves. Jewell Loyd. 30 minutes and only 3 shots and 2 points? Poor Chelsea Gray. She will have flashback moments out where she is on point and then she will have moments where she is forcing things. A pass. A shot. Tough to watch. Jackie Young is in that same window. Great win for Indiana. They destroyed my Minnesota Lynx and they molly whopped Las Vegas. Huge win for them and their confidence without Caitlin.
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They've seemed to have turned a corner over these past two games. I think a big part of it has to do with Aari McDonald bringing her aggressive defense and another part is just the team starting to find an identity without Clark on the court.
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nwhoopfan
hopeless West Coast homer
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Hats off to Dallas' trio of rookie guards combining for 68 points! Got a nice win over Phoenix. They seem to have turned a bit of a corner lately.
edit--all 3 shot 50% or better from the field, all 3 started; James had 28, 23 for Bueckers, 17 for Quinerly
edit--all 3 shot 50% or better from the field, all 3 started; James had 28, 23 for Bueckers, 17 for Quinerly
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No idea. Absolutely none.
Dillon77
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@Bigboote
46-24 Indy at half and...it got worse.
A'ja Wilson the only Ace in double figures (29) and the only person anywhere close to a decent shooting percentage. After hitting her first shot, newly acquired NaLyssa Smith misses her next five. However, she did grab 7 rebounds or 4 more than anyone else on the team! (And that's not a good thing....Aari McDonald had 7 rebounds from the point for Indy, while Howard had a double double.
Wrote a post about this last week: this breakdown is not just about the players, but front office and coaching staff, to boot. If this team doesn't get into some kind of spurt before/just after All-Star break, ownership needs to examine/revamp front office.
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Last night was about the first time all season James looked like the player she was at State these last 2 years. She looked comfortable on the floor and confident.
Part of it is the roles she's been asked to play for the most part. Earlier in the season she wasn't even playing, but when they started playing her she has basically been asked to stand in the corner and be a floor spacer. That's never who she was in college. At State she was always at her best with the ball in her hands and creating for herself or others. She will make mistakes and take some shots that you wish she didn't, but she's at her best off the bounce and she can get HOT and absolutely carry a team. She CAN catch and shoot, but it always seemed to me that she found her rhythm by giving her freedom and letting her play with the ball in her hand.
Last night she was doing her patented hesitation cross over, no look passes, step backs, she was in her bag. When she gets going like that and plays with flare - that's when she is at her best. There will be times where you are frustrated with some decisions she makes or ambitious shots or passes she tries - but man, there are times she is absolutely unguardable.
Paige is such a great player because she's so versatile. You can give her the ball and let her run the team, or like much of last night, you can use her off the ball and she can be hyper efficient as a catch and shoot player. Quinerly and James need to be a little more ball dominant to squeeze the most out of their potential IMO.
James has a long ways to go defensively, she's slight of build and gets blown by or caught up in screening action too often. That's her biggest issue right now IMO. But that girl is a walking bucket if you give her the freedom to be herself. Last night continued to make me believe that the Wings are better off trading Arike and allowing the rookies to take on a bigger role on this team. There aren't enough shots to go around for that team. Arike, Quinerly and James are all ball dominant players and Paige certainly can be if needed, heck she's the best of all of them but is more versatile in how she can play and contribute. I just think that Arike sort of blocks James and to an extent Quinerly. Too much redundancy on the roster at the guard spot.
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The book is Clark doesn’t play defense. Makes ya wonder since the defense has been way better the last 4 games she’s been out
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I hope this makes sense, but I think James is going to become the realized potential of what we all want Arike to be ... maybe by year 3 or 4 in Dallas?
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To be fair, the announcers also mentioned Coach White said the team's defense while Clark has been injured wasn't great in some of their losses. It could be a combination of factors, not just the fact Clark is out.
Winning on the road is hard. Only one road team was able to win last night. And, it was not Phoenix. This performance was on par with the ACES.
Interesting as Dallas only had 8 players in uni. Do we lay this broken egg at the feet of little Nate or is this a full organizational breakdown. AT struggled but then again this was a LV type effort by the Merc. Is it a one off? Or is the shine off the rose? For 1.2 million what the Merc CEO called an intentional "significant investment" one has to wonder. This was clearly a negative ROI on the Merc intentionality. Dallas has one of the worst defenses in the league - and the Merc matched it.
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Another inditement of the Phoenix effort defensively. Or is Denny Green applicable here in thinking about the Merc perimeter defense -
all world - how much is her and how much is this the defensive "effort" of the Merc
The only road team to pick up a win.
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If we all knew, one of us would either be coaching that team or be in the front office hiring some of us to help with player personnel moves. I definitely would be playing Sarah Ashlee Barker more than 5 minutes.
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After I read about how Golden State released Vanloo, it hurt a little but glad to see Vanloo got scooped up.
Dillon77
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On one hand, Minnesota's 92-75 victory over Washington was a pretty straight-forward story: 'Phee Collier and her cronies came back from a 24-16 first-quarter deficit with two straight 24-17 quarters to get the win. The Lynix kept the Mystics' backcourt of Citron and Sykes in check, as well as Kiki Iriafen.
In defeat, the Mystics got two performances off the bench from their young core group:
People have been calling the Mystics about Edwards' availability. To me, this is one reason why the Mystics should hold onto AE unless there's an offer you simply can't refuse. That performance, in roughly 18 minutes, against one of the best teams in the league is an example of what she can bring.
In defeat, the Mystics got two performances off the bench from their young core group:
- Aaliyah Edwards shot 6-7 from the field and 3-4 from the FT line to score 15 points. She also grabbed 6 rebounds.
- Guard Lucy Olsen shot 7-10 from the field and 4-4 from the FT line, en route to 1 19-pt. night.
People have been calling the Mystics about Edwards' availability. To me, this is one reason why the Mystics should hold onto AE unless there's an offer you simply can't refuse. That performance, in roughly 18 minutes, against one of the best teams in the league is an example of what she can bring.
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Bigboote
That's big-boo-TAY
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Edwards and Olsen had more points than the starting five. Add in Engstler and those three had over half the Mystics' points. I know it's only one game, but I'm with you -- the coach oughta be playing Edwards more, and the front office shouldn't trade her unless someone offers a really good package.
EricSD
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Gotta say, I LOVE seeing Vegas continually get their butts kicked. Chicago and Vegas are 2 teams who can't lose enough for my taste. Just one fan's opinion. I know some folks on here root for them...
Side note, Hammon needs to take it down a notch and look in the mirror. She basically has the same team of starters swapping out Loyd for Plum. It's pretty clear Plum is light years better while Loyd is fading, but come on Becky. Take some ownership. This is the 2nd or 3rd time she's thrown her team under the bus. It is shocking any of the players still want to play for her, and if I were one if them, I'd be close to a big "F-You" to Becky.
I get that she lost 2 assistants to Golden State and Chicago - so are we saying they basically ran the team while Hammon was busy doing other things - is that why her team sucks this season? Oh and while you are at it, blame the refs and the other team for playing a "rugby match". Good grief. Get her some cheese for that whine.
"That's a complete lack of professionalism to come here with that effort," Hammon said of the Aces, who at 8-9 are fifth in the Western Conference. "They played better yesterday in practice by a lot. I don't know how you step onto the floor with 20,000 people in the stands and perform like that. It is the worst offensive night I've ever seen [since] I've been here in the last four years."
"They were in the paint [getting] downhill layups all night," Hammon said. "I don't really have any answers for you. The effort and the focus just were not there. I thought they were grabbing and holding us, so it's a rugby match. My team doesn't want to play rugby, so we get our ass kicked. There has to be some fight back if they're going to allow that kind of physicality. My team has to step up and match that physicality, period."
"One team is fickle, and one team is not. One team is three steps behind, one team is not. They got all the 50/50 balls. They busted our ass in every kind of way. There's just no bones about it. It's one of the worst games I've ever seen."
Side note, Hammon needs to take it down a notch and look in the mirror. She basically has the same team of starters swapping out Loyd for Plum. It's pretty clear Plum is light years better while Loyd is fading, but come on Becky. Take some ownership. This is the 2nd or 3rd time she's thrown her team under the bus. It is shocking any of the players still want to play for her, and if I were one if them, I'd be close to a big "F-You" to Becky.
I get that she lost 2 assistants to Golden State and Chicago - so are we saying they basically ran the team while Hammon was busy doing other things - is that why her team sucks this season? Oh and while you are at it, blame the refs and the other team for playing a "rugby match". Good grief. Get her some cheese for that whine.
"That's a complete lack of professionalism to come here with that effort," Hammon said of the Aces, who at 8-9 are fifth in the Western Conference. "They played better yesterday in practice by a lot. I don't know how you step onto the floor with 20,000 people in the stands and perform like that. It is the worst offensive night I've ever seen [since] I've been here in the last four years."
"They were in the paint [getting] downhill layups all night," Hammon said. "I don't really have any answers for you. The effort and the focus just were not there. I thought they were grabbing and holding us, so it's a rugby match. My team doesn't want to play rugby, so we get our ass kicked. There has to be some fight back if they're going to allow that kind of physicality. My team has to step up and match that physicality, period."
"One team is fickle, and one team is not. One team is three steps behind, one team is not. They got all the 50/50 balls. They busted our ass in every kind of way. There's just no bones about it. It's one of the worst games I've ever seen."
TheFarmFan
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I definitely felt like her criticism was a little over the top. If Loyd thought Noelle was verbally abusive..
What's super fascinating to me is that when the Valks lose Nakase blames herself and the players blame themselves. Totally opposite culture. In some respects it's interesting that Nakase and Hammon seem to have clicked so well because their styles are very different off court. Maybe a yin and yang thing and Becky needs some new yin to dial her yang down a notch. Cause whether she's right about the players' efforts or not, it wasn't a good look and I don't see how that inspires rather than deflates her team.
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The coach for the galleries said she thought doing it face to face was more professional. Also, didn’t know she skipped the celebration
Losing Parker, but then losing Clark who is a complete player all around, with a do whatever is needed mentality makes Las Vegas just an ordinary team. Every great team needs a dog, some one who will do all the little things. Without worrying whether anyone notices. Clark has won 3 tittles with Seattle and Las Vegas without ever being a star, but always did what was needed.
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