Lynx @ Sparks - 8/27/17

[Shades]

Los Angeles, CA - 7:00 PM ET
TV: ESPN2
Online: WatchESPN: Live Sports, Game Replays, Video Highlights

Game info:
08/27/17: Minnesota Lynx @ Los Angeles Sparks - WNBA.com - Official Site of the WNBA

 

[willtalk]

The outcome of this game will have major impact on the season ending Sparks- Suns game. If the Sparks lose to Min. then that the last game will have no impact on their seeding. Thus they might choose to cut the minutes of their starters. It would just be a tune up for the playoffs. A real advantage for the Suns who can use help in respect to maintaining the 3rd and perhaps even the 4th position.

 

[Geew1992]

The outcome of this game will have major impact on the season ending Sparks- Suns game. If the Sparks lose to Min. then that the last game will have no impact on their seeding. Thus they might choose to cut the minutes of their starters. It would just be a tune up for the playoffs. A real advantage for the Suns who can use help in respect to maintaining the 3rd and perhaps even the 4th position.

Then again, they may play anyway because they will be able to rest with a bye the first 2 rounds

 

[Geew1992]

Let's go Lynx

 

[triaddukefan]

Light em up, Sparks.

 

[Kaizen]

What happens? Lynx has no defense at all?

 

[triaddukefan]

Makes me so mad this isn't on TV

It is on TV.... ESPN 2

 

[BigBird]

13-2 run for LA to end the half. Too many turnovers, rushed shots, missed bunnies, and generally poor play by MN. Maya hasn't solved Beard's defense, and Rene has been wobbly at the point.

Hard to be Lynx-optimistic at the moment.

 

[JellyBean]

Let's go, Lynx. We gotta get the defense going in this 2nd half.

 

[stwainfan]

 

[MilfordHusky]

L.A. is the best team in the league right now. N.Y. may be a close second. Minny needs to get healthy and play harder and more effectively.

 

[willtalk]

Then again, they may play anyway because they will be able to rest with a bye the first 2 rounds

I fully expected them to play starters. It was just a matter of how many minutes they would invest by them in order to get the win. If the win can move them up with Min. then they would go all out.

 

[msf22b]

If LA shuts down Maya consistently, like this evening; they are the far better team.

 

[UConnCat]

L.A. is the best team in the league right now. N.Y. may be a close second. Minny needs to get healthy and play harder and more effectively.

Sadly, you're correct. The Sparks have gotten younger, more athletic and better and the Lynx are older, less athletic and not as good. The Lynx struggle against athletic teams and turn the ball over entirely too much. Getting Whalen back will help some, but probably not enough.

The Lynx have 3 more games (@ Indiana, vs Chicago and vs Washington) and will clinch home court advantage if they win out. That'll help.

 

[Carnac]

This just in.........................the Sparks are for real!!! I thought this year's WNBA championship was the Lynx to lose. At one point early in the season, they were cruising along without a care in the world. Now, it looks like that's what they may do.

Speaking of "straws", Whalen being out does not help either. This was a h-u-g-e 11 point win for the Sparks. Not only for possibly home court advantage if these two meet for the championship, but as a sure-fire confidence builder. As I watched the game this afternoon, it struck me why these two teams are by far, the best two teams in the W.

They both have seasoned, mature veteran starters and bench players. If you look at other teams in the league, many of them have many first, second and third year players on their rosters, and maybe one old seasoned vet.
These two teams don't have a lot of youth or inexperience on their roster. Seasoned mature veterans up and down both rosters. Odyssey Sims continues to pay dividends for the Sparks since coming over from the Wings, and becoming a starter. Here's the cherry on top, they are also coached by coaches that have won multiple WNBA championships.

Tip in: BIG Syl is still my league MVP for the regular season.

 

[UConnCat]

The Lynx just signed a young, talented player: 6-1 Italian F Cecelia Zandalasini. She's 21 years old and was a free agent because she was undrafted a year ago. She'll be available to play immediately and the Lynx will own her rights going forward.

I mentioned Zandalasini in the thread I started on the Road to the FIBA World Cup. She made the all-tournament team at the Eurobasket 2017, averaging 19 ppg for Italy. She was in the class of 2015 and Hoopgurlz ranked her #4 behind Durr, Lou and Shepard. There was talk about her playing college ball in the states but she chose to sign with a pro team in Italy.

This is a smart move by the Lynx, perhaps not so much for this season but next season and beyond. For the remainder of this season she'll get a taste of life in the WNBA and the Lynx will get to evaluate her.

Italian league star Cecilia Zandalasini signs with Lynx

 

[Shades]

The Lynx just signed a young, talented player: 6-1 Italian F Cecelia Zandalasini. She's 21 years old and was a free agent because she was undrafted a year ago. She'll be available to play immediately and the Lynx will own her rights going forward.

I mentioned Zandalasini in the thread I started on the Road to the FIBA World Cup. She made the all-tournament team at the Eurobasket 2017, averaging 19 ppg for Italy. She was in the class of 2015 and Hoopgurlz ranked her #4 behind Durr, Lou and Shepard. There was talk about her playing college ball in the states but she chose to sign with a pro team in Italy.

This is a smart move by the Lynx, perhaps not so much for this season but next season and beyond. For the remainder of this season she'll get a taste of life in the WNBA and the Lynx will get to evaluate her.

Italian league star Cecilia Zandalasini signs with Lynx

It's an interesting move, and maybe a telling move. She's too short to be a post. Not sure if she has guard skills, and she didn't put up great 3-pt stats in the Italian league. Hopefully she can improve in that area, because I see her as a backup to the SF (Maya).

Now if they want a backup to SF, that means they intend to go with 12 players instead of the 11 they've been going with the last couple of seasons. Pierson already announced her retirement, so I'm guessing her salary will be replaced by Howard's spike in salary as a free agent. So any other post backups will have to be on the cheap side. They might also move on from one of their pricy backup vet guards. Summitt Hoops reports that Jia Perkins is the most expensive player on the roster. Is she worth that? She has been stepping up as of late, but for Perkins to stay on with the Lynx, I would think her salary has to be negotiated down a fair bit. It'll be interesting to see what happens.

 

[UConnCat]

It's an interesting move, and maybe a telling move. She's too short to be a post. Not sure if she has guard skills, and she didn't put up great 3-pt stats in the Italian league. Hopefully she can improve in that area, because I see her as a backup to the SF (Maya).

Now if they want a backup to SF, that means they intend to go with 12 players instead of the 11 they've been going with the last couple of seasons. Pierson already announced her retirement, so I'm guessing her salary will be replaced by Howard's spike in salary as a free agent. So any other post backups will have to be on the cheap side. They might also move on from one of their pricy backup vet guards. Summitt Hoops reports that Jia Perkins is the most expensive player on the roster. Is she worth that? She has been stepping up as of late, but for Perkins to stay on with the Lynx, I would think her salary has to be negotiated down a fair bit. It'll be interesting to see what happens.

No downside to this move for the Lynx.

As for her 3-pt stats, she shot 50% at Eurobasket (7/14 in 7 games) and in the most recent Euroleague season. The sample size is small as she doesn't take a lot of 3-pointers. I know Reeve mentioned her being a potential back-up to Maya, but if she turns out to be pretty good she could also allow Reeve to move Maya to the 4 against smaller, quicker lineups. The Lynx need to get more athletic and moving Maya to the 4 against certain teams/lineups would help.

 

[Shades]

No downside to this move for the Lynx.

As for her 3-pt stats, she shot 50% at Eurobasket (7/14 in 7 games) and in the most recent Euroleague season. The sample size is small as she doesn't take a lot of 3-pointers. I know Reeve mentioned her being a potential back-up to Maya, but if she turns out to be pretty good she could also allow Reeve to move Maya to the 4 against smaller, quicker lineups. The Lynx need to get more athletic and moving Maya to the 4 against certain teams/lineups would help.

Maya at PF has always been an emergency type of thing. Not an ideal situation to rely on.

 

[UConnCat]

Maya at PF has always been an emergency type of thing. Not an ideal situation to rely on.

I disagree. It's not emergency at all; in fact, it would be ideal against certain teams/lineups (e.g., the Sun) that are smaller, more athletic and have given the Lynx trouble this season. Maya is quite comfortable at the 4, it's the position she played at UConn. She spreads the floor better than Brunson which would give Fowles more room in the lane. The problem is that the Lynx don't have someone to play the 3 effectively when Maya is moved up front. I'm not at all suggesting the Lynx start games smaller, but it would be a nice option against certain teams. Unfortunately, the Lynx roster doesn't allow it.

 

[Justavisitor]

I disagree. It's not emergency at all; in fact, it would be ideal against certain teams/lineups (e.g., the Sun) that are smaller, more athletic and have given the Lynx trouble this season. Maya is quite comfortable at the 4, it's the position she played at UConn. She spreads the floor better than Brunson which would give Fowles more room in the lane. The problem is that the Lynx don't have someone to play the 3 effectively when Maya is moved up front. I'm not at all suggesting the Lynx start games smaller, but it would be a nice option against certain teams. Unfortunately, the Lynx roster doesn't allow it.

The problem would be defensively and also rebounding, even against a team like Connecticut, where Maya would end up on the block trying to defend, out rebound, and block out Alyssa Thomas.

 

[UConnCat]

The problem would be defensively and also rebounding, even against a team like Connecticut, where Maya would end up on the block trying to defend, out rebound, and block out Alyssa Thomas.

She would do just fine at that, thank you very much.

 

[Justavisitor]

She would do just fine at that, thank you very much.

Actually, she wouldn't. You don't have to agree, but rebounding amongst the bigs is not something she does well and defending against a post is also an area where she struggles. This is not a knock, because she doesn't have the size for the banging in the paint and would stay in foul trouble due to trying to defend a mismatch.

 

[UConnCat]

Actually, she wouldn't. You don't have to agree, but rebounding amongst the bigs is not something she does well and defending against a post is also an area where she struggles. This is not a knock, because she doesn't have the size for the banging in the paint and would stay in foul trouble due to trying to defend a mismatch.

I don't agree with you on much and this is yet another example. She's not that much smaller than Nneka and the two of them regularly guarded each other in college.

If you read my post you would see that I was talking about playing against smaller/more athletic lineups. Maya also has to be defended at the other end of the court as well and she'd would have an advantage over bigger defenders. There were some games a couple of years ago when the Lynx would go smaller in stretches (with Maya at the 4) and they looked terrific. Again, it's about match-ups.

 

[Justavisitor]

I don't agree with you on much and this is yet another example. She's not that much smaller than Nneka and the two of them regularly guarded each other in college.

If you read my post you would see that I was talking about playing against smaller/more athletic lineups. Maya also has to be defended at the other end of the court as well and she'd would have an advantage over bigger defenders. There were some games a couple of years ago when the Lynx would go smaller in stretches (with Maya at the 4) and they looked terrific. Again, it's about match-ups.

I'm not looking for agreement. Maya can in no way defend Nneka. She'd be giving up 3 inches. Obviously, I read your post, because you mentioned Connecticut as being a team with a small line up and I mentioned Ayssa Thomas as the player she'd be trying to defend and stop from rebounding.

College has nothing to do with the pros. These players we are discussing are far removed from those college playing days. Nneka's game has grown leaps and bounds since those days. She knows where her advantage is and she uses her tools to dominate on the blocks, even against bigger players with her much improved foot work.