May 2024 WNBA Thread, part II

[cancontent]

Okay WNBA scheduling geniuses, who came up with the idea for three games at 3 pm and one at 4 pm? This couldn't be staggered over the course of the day?

I'm good with multiple screens but c'mon....this seems ridiculous.

 

[Dillon77]

Boston??

@cancontent also nailed me on this one: Edwards.

While I wrote this, I probably had my eye on whatever EuroCup game was going on and the auto-correct program for whatever server I was on probably saw "Aaliyah" and typed in "Boston" because, well, that's the favorite of the algorithm. And since it's spelled correctly, I -- and another program -- just missed it. All a long way of saying, yes: Edwards. (but both of you know I know that.....)

 

[JellyBean]

Watching this current season of the Lynx, I have not only been impressed with the shooting of Kayla McBride, which opens up the floor for Courtney and Natisha, but having players make shots takes a lot of pressure off Napheesa. Also, the addition of Alanna Smith is playing huge dividends on both ends of the court. She is annoying on defense. Just watch other teams try to do a post entry pass. Smith plays the angles and makes it tough for those entry passes. I hope coach Reeve and her staff are charting deflections because Alanna gets at least 2-3 per quarter which sparks the Lynx transition offense. Then on the offensive end of the court. Alanna can give you the long ball (3-point shot) or put it on the deck and finish with either hand on either side of the glass. Alanna is that young lady!! I am glad that we have her, Courtney, and Natisha. Minny is deep! I can't wait for this Commish Cup match up with New York!!

 

[Dillon77]

LA Sparks Sign Queen Egbo

This is now her fourth (?) team: Indiana, Washington, Connecticut, LA. Obvious need to an extra front-court player. Will see how much PT, help comes out of this situation for both player and team.

MSN

 

[Rb335]

Had the pleasure of catching the Liberty at Barclays yesterday. The place was absolutely rocking, especially after a track down block by Stewart to save a transition layup. Yesterday was one of those days where you could really see and feel the growth of the WNBA. Last season, the liberty had the upper bowl of the arena closed for all games except for once against Vegas and then the post season. In a regular season matchup against a the sparks, the upper bowl was 3/4 open, and packed. Attendance was 13k+. A great environment and the home team put on a show.

 

[cancontent]

LA Sparks Sign Queen Egbo

This is now her fourth (?) team: Indiana, Washington, Connecticut, LA. Obvious need to an extra front-court player. Will see how much PT, help comes out of this situation for both player and team.

MSN

The story about getting her jersey together was quite the effort from what was explained during the game yesterday. Duct tape, the go to solution for everything!

 

[cancontent]

Looks like Canada is making her season debut today.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Ionescu is killing it again today. Seems like she's been on a whole different level the whole time Sloot has been out. Will be interesting to see what happens once Courtney returns.

Is it just me, or is nobody really talking about Sabrina? She did make the Olympic team, but it's like she's so 2 or 3 years ago or something.

 

[cancontent]

Ionescu is killing it again today. Seems like she's been on a whole different level the whole time Sloot has been out. Will be interesting to see what happens once Courtney returns.

Is it just me, or is nobody really talking about Sabrina? She did make the Olympic team, but it's like she's so 2 or 3 years ago or something.

I've seen articles on Ionescu and posts on social media about her performance so far this season. She's been getting her fair share of recognition this season from my perspective.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Is Dallas really the worst team in the league currently? Indiana and Washington got off to tough starts, but both finding their footing. LA in contention for worst as well. Chicago and Atlanta both won some games early, both heading the wrong direction now.

 

[nwhoopfan]

I've seen articles on Ionescu and posts on social media about her performance so far this season. She's been getting her fair share of recognition this season from my perspective.

Maybe it is just me. Obviously talk about Caitlin, both positive and negative, has dominated the story lines so far. A bit of chatter about the other rookies, A'ja, Stewie, Taurasi's still got game, Griner's back, AT doing her thing, Collier a bit under the radar but getting MVP mentions, new faces in Seattle, just seems like you gotta go WAY down the list before Ionescu comes up.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Connecticut has been leading the league all season, but suddenly they are on a 2 game losing streak and NY has passed them by.

edit--and Sun tied w/ Lynx for 2nd

 

[nwhoopfan]

In a few more ticks of the clock Dallas will officially have the worst record in the league, and Mystics will have won 4 of their last 5 games.

 

[Viet Vet]

Carolyn Peck at halftime of the Indiana-Chicago WNBA game, “Indiana was intentional for getting the ball down low”.

“intentional for getting”? Nice syntax.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Is Dallas really the worst team in the league currently? Indiana and Washington got off to tough starts, but both finding their footing. LA in contention for worst as well. Chicago and Atlanta both won some games early, both heading the wrong direction now.

I think injuries are playing a big factor. Howard is back, but Sabally is still out. Washington is missing Austin, Sykes, and Edwards. But Dallas has the worst record now, and Chicago is struggling. Atlanta was missing Canada and Parker-Tyus and is missing Rhyne Howard.

 

[Baller29]

I love the rookie inside duo for Chicago. They need more guard help though…

 

[baggerbob]

Liberty have continued to win with Sloot, and Sabally out. Then Laney has missed the last 2. Stewart, and Sabrina need to start playing less minutes. Especially Stewart, because she can guard so many positions, she usually is on the floor a lot during the Olympics.

 

[Reypl21]

Reese vs Smith has been entertaining, along with this game as a whole. Reese is truly a competitor and very active on the glass. She's destroying Smith on the boards, including several key offensive boards. Smith gave her the "too small" gesture and then Reese scored 2 "and-1's" on her. Smith is bad defensively

 

[cancontent]

So, nothing about how Seattle seems to be trending upwards? The boxscore from today was impressive.

 

[cancontent]

Maybe it is just me. Obviously talk about Caitlin, both positive and negative, has dominated the story lines so far. A bit of chatter about the other rookies, A'ja, Stewie, Taurasi's still got game, Griner's back, AT doing her thing, Collier a bit under the radar but getting MVP mentions, new faces in Seattle, just seems like you gotta go WAY down the list before Ionescu comes up.

A silver lining to this could be the fact that media are finding more to talk about than previous seasons.

 

[cancontent]

In a blowout loss, Atlanta gets Amihere on the court for 12 min. Stat line of 4 points, 6 rebounds, 2 blocks and 0 fouls. Hopefully, this gives the coaching staff some more confidence in getting her out on the floor.

 

[Baller29]

Indiana and Chicago game was entertaining lots of close players and built up drama keeping you on the edge of your seat.

Best game for Angel so far

 

[Dillon77]

A silver lining to this could be the fact that media are finding more to talk about than previous seasons.

Ugh, to paraphrase the Who, "meet the new players, we'll talk about them just like the old players." You'd think the only Fever and Sky players who contributed to the terrifically entertaining game were Clark and Boston and Angel Reese. Now, they did have a whole lot to to do with it, but that's all Holly Rowe wanted to let the world know about. Geesh.

So, smaller venue but:

• Diamond DeShields hit two three's to help make up for a Marina Mabrey clunker day shooting. But that was primarily filled by Chennedy Carter who gets off to these near-perfect starts shooting.
• Coach Witherspoon made a key move having Lindsay Allen in for the entire fourth quarter to run the half-court offense. Very smooth and the 7 assists helped.
• At the end of the game, I was surprised that at least one play wasn't designed to get Clark the ball for a logo three or allow her to go one-on-one on the much smaller Allen.

The one element that screams effort to me with Reese is her ability to grab rebounds. Cardoso worked it today, too, finishing with 10 rebounds, along with those 16 points.

 

[bballnut90]

Game of the season so far was Indiana/Chicago. Back and forth and some brilliant play on both sides. Clark was great (17 points, 13 assists, 6 board and 4 steals) but Reese was the star today and won the game for Chicago. She absolutely dominated Nalyssa Smith head to head and took over the game in the 4th carrying Chicago to the win. Her shots were never the iso plays that never work, she looked in rhythm and finished well. Cardoso quietly had a fantastic night too. Clark dominated the first 3 quarters but was very quiet in the 4th, no assists and just 1 triple. I’m not sure what happened but the ball movement stopped and the Boston/Clark connection disappeared after those 2 had a monster third quarter. Indiana is leaps and bounds better than they were a month ago, I think a loss like this will be good for them long term. For this “not being a rivalry”, Chicago sure brought the fire and deserved the win. Also shoutout to Chennedy Carter who was great.

 

[azfan]

The Lynx sure put on a clinic tonight. The Mercury have looked pretty good recently, but the result wasn’t in question almost from the beginning. Collier with another great all-around game, including a block of Griner that had all the Minnesota fans smiling.

The Merc look pretty good at home. They're a horrible road team I mean a horrible and I wonder why that is?

If the remainder of their schedule and the playoffs were all at Footprint Arena I think the Merc might be able to make it to the semiz. As it is they'll continue to float up and down in the mid pack of the W largely dependent on whether their most recent game was on the road or not.

 

[packwrap]

Maybe it is just me. Obviously talk about Caitlin, both positive and negative, has dominated the story lines so far. A bit of chatter about the other rookies, A'ja, Stewie, Taurasi's still got game, Griner's back, AT doing her thing, Collier a bit under the radar but getting MVP mentions, new faces in Seattle, just seems like you gotta go WAY down the list before Ionescu comes up.

Ionescu certainly has to be motivated by Clark, as she was the original Clark. She had the California high school hype, (in jest) single handedly drove Oregon to NCAA glory, and invented the flashy assist and triple double.

Then COVID knocked out Oregon, and she lost her first WNBA season to injury. Next thing you know, you are not the story anymore. Kind of like Paige and Azzi post injury.

I've always liked Sabina's game. Happy to see her playing well.

 

[nwhoopfan]

So, nothing about how Seattle seems to be trending upwards? The boxscore from today was impressive.

They were trending upward, then trending downwards prior to today's nice win. After winning 6 in a row, they've lost 3 of 5 including previous 2 games.

 

[Baller29]

 

[nwhoopfan]

I think Reese was 9-11 from the FT line today. If she can do that, there's no reason she can't add a mid range shot to her repertoire. You could say she doesn't need to, based on how effective she can be. But looking around the league, pretty much all of the really good bigs are versatile and have some shooting range.

 

[bballnut90]

Ugh, to paraphrase the Who, "meet the new players, we'll talk about them just like the old players." You'd think the only Fever and Sky players who contributed to the terrifically entertaining game were Clark and Boston and Angel Reese. Now, they did have a whole lot to to do with it, but that's all Holly Rowe wanted to let the world know about. Geesh.

So, smaller venue but:

• Diamond DeShields hit two three's to help make up for a Marina Mabrey clunker day shooting. But that was primarily filled by Chennedy Carter who gets off to these near-perfect starts shooting.
• Coach Witherspoon made a key move having Lindsay Allen in for the entire fourth quarter to run the half-court offense. Very smooth and the 7 assists helped.
• At the end of the game, I was surprised that at least one play wasn't designed to get Clark the ball for a logo three or allow her to go one-on-one on the much smaller Allen.

The one element that screams effort to me with Reese is her ability to grab rebounds. Cardoso worked it today, too, finishing with 10 rebounds, along with those 16 points.

I mean, those players really did dominate today though and are some of the biggest names in the sport. Can’t blame ESPN for focusing on them when the hype is huge and they’re almost all having career games.

I also was surprised Indiana didn’t get the ball to Clark or run action for Boston since that connection worked so well earlier in the game. I think the bad Nalyssa Smith attempt late was her going rogue rather than a designed play. And the Boston 3 was also a botched play design. Clark has definitely taken a step back offensively in volume. She isn’t looking for her shot as much and is picking and choosing her spots which has helped Indiana a lot IMO. Better ball movement and teammates are getting involved well . That said, she 100% should be the player taking most shots late in the game whether she’s shooting an off balance 3 or driving to the basket. Smith shouldn’t be taking those looks. And at the very end, Clark passed back to Boston who was in a bad spot when she should’ve tried to make a play herself. She and the rest of Indiana will learn from this.