Lynx over Storm...

[wire chief]

...by 14. Anyone know why Siemone isn't playing?

 

[Goodies07]

...by 14. Anyone know why Siemone isn't playing?

Seimone has a right quad strain. She's day-to-day.

 

[MilfordHusky]

The score was 25-8 after the first quarter. Minnesota won by 24 and had 6 players in double figures. Taj led on 8-8 shooting. Dev had a career high. Maya had 12 and 5.

If anyone knows about winning streaks, it is Maya. How far can they go? 9-0 is the league record to start a season, 1 more than the Lynx have now. If Seimone is healthy, is 34-0 even remotely possible?

 

[rocky rococo]

This year may say a lot about just what is possible. These Lynx might be the best WNBA team ever, particularly as to depth. When the end of your bench is Amber Harris and Erin Thorn you're in good shape. There are several teams that have starting backcourts that are no match for Wiggins and Wright off the Lynx bench. I also think the Minnesota starters could at least hold their own with the great Houston and Los Angeles lineups of the earlier years of the league. True Seattle is a woeful team right now, but Minnesota just delivered that major beatdown without their most explosive offensive player.

 

[CamrnCrz1974]

This year may say a lot about just what is possible. These Lynx might be the best WNBA team ever, particularly as to depth. When the end of your bench is Amber Harris and Erin Thorn you're in good shape. There are several teams that have starting backcourts that are no match for Wiggins and Wright off the Lynx bench. I also think the Minnesota starters could at least hold their own with the great Houston and Los Angeles lineups of the earlier years of the league. True Seattle is a woeful team right now, but Minnesota just delivered that major beatdown without their most explosive offensive player.

Still a long, long way to go to catch Houston in 1998 (27-3). Houston had Janeth Arcain, one of the best players in the world, as the first player off the bench. Houston also had Sheryl Swoopes, Cynthia Cooper, and Tina Thompson as three of the team's starters.

As for Seattle, missing Lauren Jackson is a pretty big deal. That is the reason why Seattle is woeful (not to mention trading away several veterans from the past few years - Cash, Willingham, etc. - for youth/draft picks).

 

[wire chief]

And Peters looks like an inspired draft pick, playing twice the minutes as Adair last night, who herself ain't no slouch.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Still a long, long way to go to catch Houston in 1998 (27-3). Houston had Janeth Arcain, one of the best players in the world, as the first player off the bench. Houston also had Sheryl Swoopes, Cynthia Cooper, and Tina Thompson as three of the team's starters.

As for Seattle, missing Lauren Jackson is a pretty big deal. That is the reason why Seattle is woeful (not to mention trading away several veterans from the past few years - Cash, Willingham, etc. - for youth/draft picks).

That Houston team was loaded. Then L.A. became stellar. Is Minnesota as good? With key players hurt or out for the Olympics, can Minnesota break some records? This could be interesting. They seem to be able to outscore a lot of teams by 20 points in a half.

 

[VAMike23]

I think L.A. will have something more to say about the Western Conference this year. To me (as a huge Lynx fan), the distance is not that great between the two teams.

I think these two teams are easily the class of the West, and it will be tight in the conf finals, with Minnie coming out on top. The East is still hard to figure. Probably Conn and Indiana, but who knows.

 

[rocky rococo]

Still a long, long way to go to catch Houston in 1998 (27-3). Houston had Janeth Arcain, one of the best players in the world, as the first player off the bench. Houston also had Sheryl Swoopes, Cynthia Cooper, and Tina Thompson as three of the team's starters.

As for Seattle, missing Lauren Jackson is a pretty big deal. That is the reason why Seattle is woeful (not to mention trading away several veterans from the past few years - Cash, Willingham, etc. - for youth/draft picks).

I do hope you noticed I carefully chose my words, words like "possible", "may", "might". I'm not saying (yet) that they are the equal or better than those great early teams, but that it seems not unreasonable to start evaluating them in that context. I agree that CC, SS and TT are still far and away the best "Big 3" the WNBA has seen. On the other hand, it strikes me as unlikely that the Comets' starting center in that period would even make the Lynx roster. I have no recollection of Houston's backup posts at all. Again, what I think sets this Lynx team apart from any previous WNBA team is its depth. This is true in the starting lineup as well as the bench. Who are the "weak Lynx" in the starting lineup? Maya Moore and Taj McWilliams-Franklin? Some "weak" those are. It's just that one of them's a little young and one of them's a little old. No Tiff Johnsons there.

Last year was really no time for making comparisons, except maybe to 2003 Detroit, of everything coming together like a thunderclap. As another poster suggested, this year's LA is very good, with the only notable "weakness" being some minor deficiency at PG. Those LA-Minnesota games are going to be true tests that I'll be watching very closely with just this thought in mind.

 

[VAUConnFan]

Still a long, long way to go to catch Houston in 1998 (27-3). Houston had Janeth Arcain, one of the best players in the world, as the first player off the bench. Houston also had Sheryl Swoopes, Cynthia Cooper, and Tina Thompson as three of the team's starters.

As for Seattle, missing Lauren Jackson is a pretty big deal. That is the reason why Seattle is woeful (not to mention trading away several veterans from the past few years - Cash, Willingham, etc. - for youth/draft picks).

It is amazing how incredibly average a great point guard becomes in the absence of very good teammates.