Phoenix Mercury vs Connecticut Sun - 9/09/20

[nwhoopfan]

Overtime with 2 exhausted teams.

Exactly what both don't want.


Tuner is doing some work w/ 20 rebounds. A. Thomas has 17.

 

[MilfordHusky]

GOAT with a bomb gives Phoenix the lead at 1:46 in OT. Skylar with a pull-up makes the lead 5 points.

 

[nwhoopfan]

59 pts. and 13 assists combined for DT and SDS. Turner and Vaughn have combined for 22 pts. and 28 reb.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Phoenix just can't corral a defensive board.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Connecticut missed several bunnies late.

 

[MilfordHusky]

GOAT makes 2 FTs to increase the lead to 6 with15.8 to go.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Technical foul on Skylar on the inbound. Not smart!

 

[MilfordHusky]

Connecticut cut the lead to 3, but used too much time. 2 secs left.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Mercury hold on 100-95.

 

[MilfordHusky]

100-95, Phoenix final.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Some interesting stat lines:

Turner: 10/21/5/2/4

Skylar: 33/1/6/2/1

Diana: 28/2/7/0/0

Bonner: 32/10/3/1/1

Thomas: 18/17/5/3/1

 

[Blueballer]

Boy is boxing out a lost art. And if I start a team I want A. Thomas. She is a mad dog going after that ball. Turner and Vaugn refused to put a body on her and Thomas was in position all the time the get rebounds. Just terrible on their part.

 

[Orangutan]

Boy is boxing out a lost art. And if I start a team I want A. Thomas. She is a mad dog going after that ball. Turner and Vaugn refused to put a body on her and Thomas was in position all the time the get rebounds. Just terrible on their part.

How many rebounds did you want from Turner? 35?

 

[nwhoopfan]

How many rebounds did you want from Turner? 35?

Yeah, I saw she had 14 defensive rebounds, seems like she must've been doing something right.

 

[Orangutan]

Yeah, I saw she had 14 defensive rebounds, seems like she must've been doing something right.

10 o-boards from Thomas is certainly a crazy number but yeah, I feel like Turner did her share on the glass.

 

[Blueballer]

How many rebounds did you want from Turner? 35?

I don't care about the box score. Watch the game at crunch time. Thomas killed them both. It's not always about the points or the rebound numbers, it's when you get them. If one of them put a body on Thomas it could have made the game a lot easier. Turner had some boards but Vaughn had what 7? She's got to do better than that against an undersized CT team that doesn't have Jonquel Jones this season.

 

[clbabson]

I don't care about the box score. Watch the game at crunch time. Thomas killed them both. It's not always about the points or the rebound numbers, it's when you get them. If one of them put a body on Thomas it could have made the game a lot easier. Turner had some boards but Vaughn had what 7? She's got to do better than that against an undersized CT team that doesn't have Jonquel Jones this season.

"Undersized" compared to whom? PHO had Vaughn and Turner as F/C and that's it. I mean Taurasi was guarding Bonner at least for most of the first half. CT has Bonner/Thomas/Jones/Plaisance/Mompremier - the first two being traditionally very good rebounders.

 

[Orangutan]

I don't care about the box score. Watch the game at crunch time. Thomas killed them both. It's not always about the points or the rebound numbers, it's when you get them. If one of them put a body on Thomas it could have made the game a lot easier. Turner had some boards but Vaughn had what 7? She's got to do better than that against an undersized CT team that doesn't have Jonquel Jones this season.

Yeah, I'd be interested to see the whole game and see who was matched up with Thomas. But boxing her out is easier said than done.

In that one sequence near the end of the 4th where the Sun got two offensive rebounds (then called timeout and threw the ball away on the inbounds) Thomas just blew right threw a Mercury player who had position. Not a foul either. Just made a legal play on the ball and displaced the Phoenix player.

Not enough to even simply have better position. Without a proper box out she will go around and/or through you. But she's so active it's hard to body her up.

 

[Dillon77]

"Undersized" compared to whom? PHO had Vaughn and Turner as F/C and that's it. I mean Taurasi was guarding Bonner at least for most of the first half. CT has Bonner/Thomas/Jones/Plaisance/Mompremier - the first two being traditionally very good rebounders.

Turner and Thomas both played 42:48 yesterday (as did Bonner), the most on their respective teams. Before going any further with this, I think all three gave great efforts overall and left virtually everything there, much like Boston and Toronto in their marathon.

Can folks box out more? Sure, but sometimes match-ups don't come down to tallest vs tallest and oftentimes your opponent is not in front of you. Thomas and Bonner are both superb rebounders and Thomas has always been a great offensive rebounder: she's relentless and her movement (quick feet, spins) make her tough to keep track of. And Bonner has really long arms and often just snatches the ball even when she is boxed out.

Turner, btw, has long arms, too. While only 6'3", she plays taller, particularly on defense.

I'll choose to applaud all three efforts...and I have not even touched on DT and Sky yet.

 

[clbabson]

Turner and Thomas both played 42:48 yesterday (as did Bonner), the most on their respective teams. Before going any further with this, I think all three gave great efforts overall and left virtually everything there, much like Boston and Toronto in their marathon.

Can folks box out more? Sure, but sometimes match-ups don't come down to tallest vs tallest and oftentimes your opponent is not in front of you. Thomas and Bonner are both superb rebounders and Thomas has always been a great offensive rebounder: she's relentless and her movement (quick feet, spins) make her tough to keep track of. And Bonner has really long arms and often just snatches the ball even when she is boxed out.

Turner, btw, has long arms, too. While only 6'3", she plays taller, particularly on defense.

I'll choose to applaud all three efforts...and I have not even touched on DT and Sky yet.

I agree with all of this. Turner is never going to be an offensive juggernaut but she is active and opportunistic on offense and her defense/rebounding is pretty high level. It was a really great/fun game all around!!

 

[Shades]

Here are the Diggins highlights from this game.