May 2024 WNBA Thread, part II

[GoChips20]

New York was awful most of the first half, but closed on a 9-0 run to close the gap. They controlled the 2nd half for the most part. Good games for Stewie and Laney. JJ seemed to be taking the day off, she did nothing. Miserable game for Ionescu. Sloot was playing fairly well, but was on the bench the entire 4th quarter I think. Fiebich was big off the bench, maybe her best game so far.

Jones has the skills and physical tools to be the most dominant player in the league IMO but she disappears more often than you’d expect.

 

[Dillon77]

39-34 Chicago over Minnesota at half. Who is the only player in double figures? Well, Lindsay Allen, of course - - with 13 points on 5-5 shooting (on 3-3 from three) and 6 assists, to boot. Coach 'Spoon giving her more and more minutes. Alanna Smith and Kayla McBride has 9 and 8 points, respectively, for the Lynx. Stay tuned.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Jones has the skills and physical tools to be the most dominant player in the league IMO but she disappears more often than you’d expect.

Yeah she just did not look engaged at all today. She was severely outplayed by Tina Charles.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Caitlin will certainly get some triple doubles as a pro. Today might be the day for her first.



Meanwhile Reese and Cardoso are a combined 4-22 shooting today.

 

[nwhoopfan]

26 rebounds for Reese and Cardoso, but 5-25 shooting. That is...bad. Extremely bad, especially because most of those shots were probably from 2 feet or closer. Mabrey's 4-17 didn't help. Chicago shot 30% for the game. Led most of the way but got outscored 18-5 in Q4, Lynx pull away to win by 8.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Too bad, Clark finished 1 rebound shy of a triple double. But Fever had a big 2nd half and get the road win over Phoenix.

 

[bballnut90]

Too bad, Clark finished 1 rebound shy of a triple double. But Fever had a big 2nd half and get the road win over Phoenix.

Still had a solid game and finished with 15/12/9 despite cold shooting. Was a really entertaining game despite some bonehead plays down the stretch. Kelsey Mitchell has been huge for Indiana this year and was massive tonight.

BG was the standout for Phoenix tonight, they’re tough when she’s in the lineup.

 

[bbsamjj]

Kelsey Mitchell is a bit of a one trick pony, but she is an ELITE scorer, and always has been.

 

[Baller29]

26 rebounds for Reese and Cardoso, but 5-25 shooting. That is...bad. Extremely bad, especially because most of those shots were probably from 2 feet or closer. Mabrey's 4-17 didn't help. Chicago shot 30% for the game. Led most of the way but got outscored 18-5 in Q4, Lynx pull away to win by 8.

6-31 if you count Izzy as well

 

[azfan]

Kelsey Mitchell is a bit of a one trick pony, but she is an ELITE scorer, and always has been.

That one trick is extremely valuable. There are a number of teams that would really benefit from having this type of horse.

 

[azfan]

Well.......

The veteran team at home against the worst defensive team in the league. The Fever along with the Wing give up just under 88 points a game

So the veteran team with a million dollar coach has a seven-point lead with 4 minutes left in the game. They fail to reach the 88 point mark which the Fever on average give up. The Fever reach that 88 point mark and defeat Phoenix.

Phoenix fans are not surprised with three turnovers, a flagrant one, and missed free throws down the stretch and the upstart Fever come into the Footprint arena and show maturity and poise in defeating the Merc.

BG ... And no one else. The Fever out rebound the Merc, collect nine offensive boards, outscore the million dollar coached team in the paint.

The Mercury did win the foul contest both total, technical, although they did tie for flagrant. The headline I see in ESPN is "Mercury commit a costly late turnover on bizarre in bound play. "

Hum..... Late game bizarre in bound play, costly turnover. Veteran team. Million dollar coach, playing at home. I would conclude not a very good team.

Very entertaining game.

When the Sun roll into Footprint arena Monday night I wonder how Phoenix will react to this defeat. I suspect we'll see the efficacy of the million dollar coach and this veteran team against a very very good Sun team.

 

[Blueballer]

Well.......

The veteran team at home against the worst defensive team in the league. The Fever along with the Wing give up just under 88 points a game

So the veteran team with a million dollar coach has a seven-point lead with 4 minutes left in the game. They fail to reach the 88 point mark which the Fever on average give up. The Fever reach that 88 point mark and defeat Phoenix.

Phoenix fans are not surprised with three turnovers, a flagrant one, and missed free throws down the stretch and the upstart Fever come into the Footprint arena and show maturity and poise in defeating the Merc.

BG ... And no one else. The Fever out rebound the Merc, collect nine offensive boards, outscore the million dollar coached team in the paint.

The Mercury did win the foul contest both total, technical, although they did tie for flagrant. The headline I see in ESPN is "Mercury commit a costly late turnover on bizarre in bound play. "

Hum..... Late game bizarre in bound play, costly turnover. Veteran team. Million dollar coach, playing at home. I would conclude not a very good team.

Very entertaining game.

When the Sun roll into Footprint arena Monday night I wonder how Phoenix will react to this defeat. I suspect we'll see the efficacy of the million dollar coach and this veteran team against a very very good Sun team.

Geno would have had a heart attack coaching Phoenix. Almost everytime they fed Griner in the post she would score and/or get fouled. All they had to do was keep going to her. Geno would have harped on this constantly. They could have fouled Boston out too. But, no. Copper had to play Arike like and go 3-15. Also Cloud with some poorly advised jump shots at the end. Just give it to Griner and you could have won going away. Really dumb basketball.

 

[GCKSFN4L]

That one trick is extremely valuable. There are a number of teams that would really benefit from having this type of horse.

Agreed, I haven't always been the fondest of her play at times but Kelsey is a good player. I have always felt that she could be great as the #3 or #4 option on a team. She has often been the #1 option in Indiana and I think that's a huge reason why the Fever has been underwhelming in her tenure.

 

[GoChips20]

Agreed, I haven't always been the fondest of her play at times but Kelsey is a good player. I have always felt that she could be great as the #3 or #4 option on a team. She has often been the #1 option in Indiana and I think that's a huge reason why the Fever has been underwhelming in her tenure.

I think the knock on Kelsey is her inability or unwillingness (whichever it is) to pass. Most of the guards you could build a franchise around (Clark, Ionescu, Young, Plum, Loyd, etc.) have playmaking abilities in addition to play-finishing.

 

[bballnut90]

I think the knock on Kelsey is her inability or unwillingness (whichever it is) to pass. Most of the guards you could build a franchise around (Clark, Ionescu, Young, Plum, Loyd, etc.) have playmaking abilities in addition to play-finishing.

To be honest I always felt Mitchell was comparable to Loyd but just got dealt a rough draw by landing in Indiana. Loyd comparatively landed on a franchise with Bird/Stewart which allowed her to blossom in a way Mitchell has never been able in Indiana. Kelsey isn’t a strong facilitator but has always seemed likable and appears to be a hard worker so I’ve always enjoyed watching her.

 

[bbsamjj]

The big difference between Loyd and Mitchell imo is that Loyd is an excellent defender. She's also 3in taller than Mitchell.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Caitlin will certainly get some triple doubles as a pro. Today might be the day for her first.



Meanwhile Reese and Cardoso are a combined 4-22 shooting today.

Reese leads the W in rebounds. How many of them are her own misses? I bet it’s 3-4 per game.

 

[MilfordHusky]

I think that Horston’s greatest weakness was shot selection. She’s good inside and in the midrange. With Nneka, Ezi, Jewell, and Skylar on the floor, she’s the 5th option, so she should get open looks. I think she’s a substantial upgrade from Vivians.

 

[azfan]

Really dumb basketball.

The defining characteristic of the million-dollar coach and his two predecessors. I'm always stunned at the criticism of Sandy Brondello who did a wonderful job in Phoenix. Since her departure (really dumb sports management) I think Phoenix has mastered is really dumb basketball.

On defining characteristics of mediocrity both the GOAT and Allen will be sitting out tonight's game against the Sun. I'm wondering if there is an agenda behind this .... that is tanking? LOL no seriously the Mercs just want to go ahead and squander their strong Home Court record and I think will be successful doing that tonight.

Edit GOAT no dummie... Her off night is against the Sun, and not the Wing.

 

[ochoopsfan]

 

[ochoopsfan]

 

[bballnut90]

The defining characteristic of the million-dollar coach and his two predecessors. I'm always stunned at the criticism of Sandy Brondello who did a wonderful job in Phoenix. Since her departure (really dumb sports management) I think Phoenix has mastered is really dumb basketball.

On defining characteristics of mediocrity both the GOAT and Allen will be sitting out tonight's game against the Sun. I'm wondering if there is an agenda behind this .... that is tanking? LOL no seriously the Mercs just want to go ahead and squander their strong Home Court record and I think will be successful doing that tonight.

Edit GOAT no dummie... Her off night is against the Sun, and not the Wing.

Paying Tibbetts as much as they did with no qualifications is looking awful at the moment (and was a bad look for the league to begin with).

I think the criticisms of Brondello are warranted though. She had an unbelievable first year leading to a dominant WNBA title in 2014, but after that, Phoenix consistently hovered around .500 and didn't finished higher than tied for 5th overall in the league during the regular season despite having Griner and Taurasi during those years (not to mention players like Dewanna Bonner, Candice Dupree and Skylar Diggins-Smith during some of those seasons). They consistently underwhelmed. Nygaard/Tibbetts being worse than Sandy doesn't make Sandy great IMO.

 

[Bigboote]

That brings the roster down to 10. Will they need to do continual 7-day contracts for the rest of the season?

 

[azfan]

Paying Tibbetts as much as they did with no qualifications is looking awful at the moment (and was a bad look for the league to begin with).

I think the criticisms of Brondello are warranted though. first year leading to a dominant WNBA title in 2014, but after that, Phoenix consistently hovered around .500 and didn't finished higher than tied for 5th overall in the league during the regular season despite having Griner and Taurasi during those years (not to mention players like Dewanna Bonner, Candice Dupree and Skylar Diggins-Smith during some of those seasons). They consistently underwhelmed. Nygaard/Tibbetts being worse than Sandy doesn't make Sandy great IMO.

Noted.

Criticisms of all coaches even the greats often have a basis in fact. I will say however there would be very few merc fans who would not take the last 3 years of Sandy over the two plus that have ensued since she was politely shown the door. That is she is so so much better than the high school coach, Blue, or the million dollar coach. She was also earning considerably less than a million.

This is clearly an indictment of the malpractice of the administrative side of the organization as well as the new owner.

Based on what I've seen over the last three coaching regimes I would take Sandy back in a New York minute.

But having escaped the dumpster fire in Phoenix there's no way she would return...... Unless she were offered a salary comparable to the million dollar coach?

To paraphrase loophole Lloyd Bentsen

"I rooted for Sandy Bondello, Nate you are no Sandy Brondello."

Apologies, it may be an insult to Dan Quayle to compare him to the million dollar coach

 

[From France]

Fiebich is starting to play fairly well. A nice addition off the bench. She is someone that they need to keep.

And Marinne Johannes for next year