Breakthrough Game For Kelly Faris

[JoePgh]

The Sun beat Tulsa on Wednesday evening despite trailing until the middle of the third quarter.

For us here, the big news is that Kelly Faris played 27 minutes (compared to 8 for Alyssa Thomas, 13 for Chelsea Gray, 14 for Shekinna Stricklen, and 16 for Kayla Pederson). She scored just 5 points (1 for 1 on 3's), but she had 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and only 1 turnover. She played the entire 4th quarter and about half of the third quarter.

As usual with Kelly, her impact on the game is not really apparent in these statistics. She guarded Karima Christmas, Riquna Williams, and sometimes Odyssey Sims, and was only really beaten once on a drive to the basket. She stopped many more drives than that. Teammates looked for her on outlet passes and seemed to know exactly where to find her.

Contrary to those who say that Anne Donovan doesn't appreciate her, it was rather apparent (as it has been in recent games) that Donovan has growing and now major confidence in Kelly's floor game and especially in her defense on quick guards and small forwards. A few times I saw her gather the team in a huddle prior to a free throw and lead the conversation in that huddle.

I am starting to believe that her roster slot is reasonably secure.

 

[MilfordHusky]

I wondered whom she defended. Odyssey shot 6-16 and Riquna shot 3-10. 27 minutes must be a career high for Kelly.

 

[JBMudd]

Odyssey got almost all her points in the first half.

 

[Beemer]

Alyssa Thomas only played 8 minutes due to injury (shoulder)

Kelly's defense was outstanding and that was what the Sun needed to shut down the Shock. Her level of D brought up her teammates' play on D something you don't see in stats but it was there.

 

[MattF]

Geno knew her gifts and savvy and counted on her. I regret it took Donovan so long to figure out what was in front of her nose in and Faris' history. Kudos to Faris for sticking it out. She is a winner, a fighter and always comes back.
Looks like Seattle is also realizing what Geno knew about KML.

 

[ThisJustIn]

Geno knew her gifts and savvy and counted on her. I regret it took Donovan so long to figure out what was in front of her nose in and Faris' history. Kudos to Faris for sticking it out. She is a winner, a fighter and always comes back.
Looks like Seattle is also realizing what Geno knew about KML.

I'm thinking the players needed to have done something different to earn their court time. Let's see if a "breakthrough" turns into more consistent playing time.

 

[DobbsRover2]

I wondered whom she defended. Odyssey shot 6-16 and Riquna shot 3-10. 27 minutes must be a career high for Kelly.

Tulsa is actually by far the worst shooting team in the league by far at 38.2% even though oddly they are the 3rd best scoring team. The reason for that oddity is that they live on the line with by far the most FTAs of any team, an average of 23 a game. One of the key stats for the Sun was that that even though Tulsa shot much better than usual at 43%, they got 17 FTAs which is 6 below their average in a game they lost by 6. The Sun got only 11 FTAs but made up for it by going 8-17 on 3s. So Faris and the Sun players did a good job on D on keeping Tulsa off the line. Tulsa's proficiency at getting the foul calls is understandable on a team with Sims (in only 14 games) and Diggins (9 games before the ACL), but it's Riquana Williams and Karima Christmas with 24 game under their belts that have piled up the most freebies.

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

I think it was more that Kelly Faris showed what her talents are and you need a Kelly Faris on your team! More than Anne Donovan had an epithany and decided to stick with Kelly! Kelly made it impossible to take her out, she impacted the game in so many areas!
The question now is does Kelly keep playing 20+ minutes or does she go back to the bench and play 4 minutes a game! I doubt AD learned anything positive by Kelly's performance!

 

[ThisJustIn]

I doubt AD learned anything positive by Kelly's performance!

lol

 

[bruinbball]

After Kelly's 18 minutes, 8 point performance against Minny in the OT win where Kelly was guarding Maya as she missed the shot to win the game in OT, Kelly's next two games were 3 minutes and 4 minutes. Kelly's PT never seems to be determined by her play, but how Donovan feels the players in front of her are playing.

 

[DishNSwish]

After Kelly's 18 minutes, 8 point performance against Minny in the OT win where Kelly was guarding Maya as she missed the shot to win the game in OT, Kelly's next two games were 3 minutes and 4 minutes. Kelly's PT never seems to be determined by her play, but how Donovan feels the players in front of her are playing.

Isn't that how it works when you're 11 player on the team? Whose minutes should she be taking?