Paige's Wings Page (merged thread) | Page 11 | The Boneyard

Paige's Wings Page (merged thread)

Paige did most of the heavy lifting but really good showings too for fellow rookies Quinerly and James in limited minutes. For all the gloom and doom talk of her playing with Arike, Paige is adjusting to the league quite well IMO. Stats through 5 games:

14.6 ppg, 6.4 assists, 4.6 rebounds, almost a 3:1 A/TO ratio, 41.7/33.3/79.2 shooting splits.

Looking ahead they should have some easier games coming up against Chicago and LA too.
 
bballnut90 said:
Paige did most of the heavy lifting but really good showings too for fellow rookies Quinerly and James in limited minutes. For all the gloom and doom talk of her playing with Arike, Paige is adjusting to the league quite well IMO. Stats through 5 games:

14.6 ppg, 6.4 assists, 4.6 rebounds, almost a 3:1 A/TO ratio, 41.7/33.3/79.2 shooting splits.

Looking ahead they should have some easier games coming up against Chicago and LA too.
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It's like Arike's comments in the post game interview before the broadcast ended. They've been together as a team for a total of 4 weeks. Nothing was going to change overnight. Let's see how they do against Chicago and LA.
 
I was at the game, and it was a pretty special night. A few empty seats but virtually a full house, many Sun fans but of course the arena was also filled with fans with Paige Bueckers shirts of both the UConn and Wings variety. It was also nice that UConn emcee Conor does the Suns games as well. There were a couple of jugglers who did the halftime show and they were very good. It was loud, it was shlockey at times, but it was all good.

I don't think Paige could have played much better than she did. She is already the leader of that team and her midrange game was sensational. She showed a great ability to get herself open in the open court as well as the half court with speed, shiftiness, and above all change of pace. Really in total control and her total game - shooting, passing, defending, was terrific. The game seemed to be moving at her pace and she seemed to be moving exceptionally well. She was not intimidated in the slightest and was not afraid to "push back" against a physical defender. She will be a great WNBA player.

I watched her coming out of timeouts when she was getting set for the play, offensive or defensive, and it she was always exchanging chit chat, banter and smiles with whomever she was guarding or was guarding her - Hartley, Sheldon, Mabrey, Rivers - she has a special personality and while they would be going at each other moments later as hard as they could, she has clearly and not surprisingly formed positive relationships with both teammates and opponents.

These games have a different feel than the UConn games. Even the way Paige played looked a bit different - perhaps dribbing to her spot in the lane area more than she typically did at UConn. And the little things, UConn is so structured in its pregame routine and the WNBA approach seems a bit casual by comparison. The offenses rely a great deal on getting into the open court and on utilizing picks to set up mismatches and open shots in the halfcourt.

After the game, Paige was signing numerous autographs in the tunnel to the locker room. But at one point someone spoke to her and she sprinted an immediate beeline to the other end of the court and met with a young person, looked from a distance to be a young boy with special needs of some sort, and she spoke to him at length and took selfies with him and his family. She is a wonderful person as well as a wonderful player. It was a very touching moment.

I was actually impressed by how well the Wings played. My expectations were low going in, but they actually played quite well. I thought that they played with intensity and purpose on both ends and their offense seemed to flow pretty well. Actually thought that some of the second unit - particularly Siegrist, Charles, and James - played very well, better than the starters. Siegrist should definitely be playing more, I think she and Paige play well together. They are not great in the frontcourt with Naylessa Smith and Hines-Allen, not sure why McCowan does not play more. If you think she is big, wait until you see her in person. Oh my.

I think the jury is out on Arike. She only scored two points in the first half and that is when the Wings offense looked the best. I think the coach made a concerted effort to get her involved in the second half and she did put up some numbers although a lot of it was hoisting threes outside of the offensive flow. I think she is making an effort to fit more within a team offensive structure but time will tell if that it like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. She was out early working on her offense with an assistant coach and having watched that for about ten minutes, there is no doubt she is an elite shooter.

The Suns are in for a long season. Their talent level is not there, two very legit scorers in Mabrey and Charles, who looked great - I don't think they can afford to play them only 28 or 29 minutes although Mabrey did have five fouls. Bria Hartley had a nice game as well. A bit of levity occurred when she missed all three free throw attempts and then hit a three on the next possession. Not sure about the coach - could not figure out his substitution patterns or rationale and no idea why he called a timeout with 1:15 left. Charles is better than any of the inside players for the Wings but other than that, the Wings have better overall talent.

And finally, have to give a big Bronx cheer to the referees who called 47 fouls, especially the guy referee. The players on both sides were getting frustrated and I don't blame them. It slowed the game down to a crawl at times. The WNBA has to do better.
 
I only got to see the 9-minute highlight reel, but even from that I can see that Paige is adjusting to the WNBA and her teammates and they are starting to figure out to work alongside Paige, move without the ball, etc. Lots of assisted baskets, which are a huge sign of this.
 
I watched the replay of the game on the WNBA app and it seemed when Arike was engaged in the second half and made some impressive long shots with opponents in her grill, whenever Paige passed her the ball (&, as a result, Arike was much more open) she missed the shot. Hopefully, she'll acclimate to dealing with being efficient while being open...
 
Basingstoke said:
I watched the replay of the game on the WNBA app and it seemed when Arike was engaged in the second half and made some impressive long shots with opponents in her grill, whenever Paige passed her the ball (&, as a result, Arike was much more open) she missed the shot. Hopefully, she'll acclimate to dealing with being efficient while being open...
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It was odd that Arike seemed to shoot better off the dribble with someone up on her than when she was wide open off a catch and shoot opportunity from Paige. If Arike had knocked down a few of those opportunities, Paige would have chalked up a double-double.
 

Paige Bueckers gives CT fans a glimpse of her UConn past in her first WNBA win​

"The WNBA, it's a different beast,” Diana Taurasi said recently on ‘No Offseason: The Athletic Women’s Basketball Show.’ “You have to change your outlook on wins and losses. You take the wins as far as getting better every single game, and as you can tell with Paige from game one to game two, she was a different player. And from game two to game 10, she's going to be a different player. And that's going to go for their team, as well, as they learn each other on the court and off the court.​
​
"The one thing I know about Paige: she's so grounded, she's so patient, she's so prepared. I think she's learned that over the past four or five years. And all those things she learned at Connecticut, they're going to change the way you look at that team. One day, she's going to end up being the best player in the league, for sure."​
 
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