Sparks @ Mercury - 9/17/17

[Shades]

WNBA Playoffs - Semifinals Game 3
Phoenix, AZ - 5:00 PM ET
TV: ESPN
Online: WatchESPN: Live Sports, Game Replays, Video Highlights

Game info:
09/17/17: Los Angeles Sparks @ Phoenix Mercury - WNBA.com - Official Site of the WNBA

 

[bballnut90]

LA looks really strong closing the first half. With Sims playing well I think they have the upper hand against the Lynx if they win this series. They have 4 really strong offensive threats and Beard who is the best defender in the league.

 

[bballnut90]

Wow this is a heck of a game. 2 points LA lead with 3 seconds left and Phoenix ball. Taurasi and Parker have been every bit as good as advertised.

 

[bballnut90]

LA wins. Amazing heroics by Taurasi but just too little too late. Parker with 21 points, 11 assists, 7 boards, 4 steals, 3 blocks and the game winner. The finals should be a heck of a matchup.

 

[eebmg]

BG decided she was not 6 foot 9 and forgot something as simple as help defense on Parker on the last drive. DT had no real help. Better team won but I don't see Fowles playing poorly like BG.

 

[BostonCanuck]

Great game. It was an amazing achievement by Phoenix to tie it up with less than 20 seconds remaining. But then a terrible defensive possession by Phoenix, immediately followed by a terrible offensive possession, and their season is over. That kind of inconsistency was a problem for Phoenix all series long. That and the fact that Parker outplayed Griner big time.

 

[stwainfan]

Go Sparks

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

Can they both lose? I dislike LA teams on principle, although I try to tolerate UCLA and USC teams during out-of-conference season, because it makes the PAC look good.

I don't dislike Minnesota, per se, but in my opinion, while they haven't always won, they have been the arguable best team in the "W" for years, and when I have no horse in the race, I hate to root for what I perceive as the favorite.

Actually, I won't be watching. If NY or Phoenix had made it, but they didn't.

 

[bballnut90]

Can they both lose? I dislike LA teams on principle, although I try to tolerate UCLA and USC teams during out-of-conference season, because it makes the PAC look good.

I don't dislike Minnesota, per se, but in my opinion, while they haven't always won, they have been the arguable best team in the "W" for years, and when I have no horse in the race, I hate to root for what I perceive as the favorite.

Actually, I won't be watching. If NY or Phoenix had made it, but they didn't.

If you like good basketball you should definitely watch. This is the cream of the crop for high level women's hoops and these have been far and away the best teams in the WNBA this year. Both teams have outstanding offenses led by top playmakers in the league. Should be an extremely competitive finals with both teams having a slew of scoring options, defensive stoppers and they went toe to toe last year in 5.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

If you like good basketball you should definitely watch. This is the cream of the crop for high level women's hoops and these have been far and away the best teams in the WNBA this year. Both teams have outstanding offenses led by top playmakers in the league. Should be an extremely competitive finals with both teams having a slew of scoring options, defensive stoppers and they went toe to toe last year in 5.

I appreciate the quality. I made a point of watching the first games of the semis so that I could see the teams, as this year we did not follow the WNBA (on a good year, we will actually go to a couple Mercury games, but it is difficult because we are down in Tucson). Neither my wife nor I have any particular interest in watching this year (we didn't watch last year, either, but have in the past).

Hopefully things will work out next year that we can see more games on TV, and be more "into" it for the season.

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

It baffles me (which really shouldn't be unusual!) when the announcers go on bragging about LA winning the title last year on Nneka's last second shot! As far as I remember the WNBA said the refs screwed up and didn't review the play as required by the League! The last LA/Nneka possession because the shot was AFTER the 30 second clock expired and SHOULD NOT have counted, with MN ahead by one! I could never understand how the WNBA could determine and announce LA DID NOT SCORE but they'll let the results stand even though it's wrong!
What ever happened to trying to get each call right? Because the refs screwed up why does MN pay the penalty?

 

[Carnac]

A repeat of last year's finals. The leagues two premier teams. Both teams feature a starting lineup consisting of "seasoned" veterans. No rookies or second year players here. It wasn't hard to see these two veteran teams ending up in the finals again. They are led by league leaders in various offensive and defensive categories, and two coaches that have won multiple WNBA championships. I think the Lynx win it this year, led by league MVP Sylvia Fowles, who is performing at the top of her game, can't be stopped, and wants to avenge the Lynx loss in the championship finals last year. This should be a good hard fought series.

 

[chrissaran]

The league already admitted that the refs blew it. It would be awkward to say that the league champs aren't the league champs. The ref should have been fired. How can you blow a call that determined the championship? Since it was too late to do anything about it, L.A. are the champs. However, anyone who watched the deciding game knows Minnesota won their fourth championship.

 

[bbsamjj]

It was a blown call but A LOT happened after that blown call for both teams. situation but you would need to replay the final 90 seconds of the game after that call, which is impossible to do. Also, if the Lynx had boxed out Nneka (easier said than done) on the final LA possession they'd be champs.

 

[UConnCat]

Remember the officials missed a Lynx backcourt violation in Game 4 that helped the Lynx win that game. A big difference of course was that the backcourt violation was not reviewable under league rules and the shot clock violation was. Still, unless the controversial play is the absolutely last play of a game you can't claim a blown call gave one team the win.

Time to move on and enjoy what is hopefully another great series between the two best teams in the league.

 

[MSSportsGuy]

Looking forward to what should be a great series. I posted in another thread how Whalen, Augustus and Brunson have a lot of games in their system and this could (but not necessarily will) be the last great window for the Lynx. Sims, Gray and Beard have been great so far in the playoffs for the Sparks. Here is to an entertaining series.

 

[BigBird]

Anyone else notice how much better the Lynx are when Whalen is on the floor? She has Bird-grade talent.

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

I realize that it was impossible to replay the last 90 seconds after the game is over, but To me the League officials are to blame as they have hired and maintained lousy referees for a lot of years now and it was a situation just waiting to happen then it bit them in the butt and put a cloud over the League Championship!

 

[VAUConnFan]

BG decided she was not 6 foot 9 and forgot something as simple as help defense on Parker on the last drive. DT had no real help. Better team won but I don't see Fowles playing poorly like BG.

Griner cannot be blamed for not getting over to help on Parker's last drive to the basket. Griner was guarding Ogwumike who started at the right elbow then drifted to the right corner when Parker made her move going left; A lot of ground to make up. If anyone's help defense is to be criticized look no farther than the matador effort of Number 3 in orange:

 

[MilfordHusky]

Griner cannot be blamed for not getting over to help on Parker's last drive to the basket. Griner was guarding Ogwumike who started at the right elbow then drifted to the right corner when Parker made her move going left; A lot of ground to make up. If anyone's help defense is to be criticized look no farther than the matador effort of Number 3 in orange:

If Griner had come over earlier, Parker could have dished to Nneka.

 

[UConnCat]

Griner cannot be blamed for not getting over to help on Parker's last drive to the basket. Griner was guarding Ogwumike who started at the right elbow then drifted to the right corner when Parker made her move going left; A lot of ground to make up. If anyone's help defense is to be criticized look no farther than the matador effort of Number 3 in orange:

I'm going to chalk this one up to good offense. The Sparks are able to spread the floor from all 5 positions which left a slow Camille Little trying to defend Parker. Although defense is often just a rumor for Taurusi I'm not sure there was much for her to do either. She was in no position to draw a charge (she wouldn't have gotten the call anyway) and anything more than the swipe at the ball would have been a foul which you don't want to do in the waning seconds.

 

[VAUConnFan]

I'm going to chalk this one up to good offense. The Sparks are able to spread the floor from all 5 positions which left a slow Camille Little trying to defend Parker. Although defense is often just a rumor for Taurusi I'm not sure there was much for her to do either. She was in no position to draw a charge (she wouldn't have gotten the call anyway) and anything more than the swipe at the ball would have been a foul which you don't want to do in the waning seconds.

Absolutely. LA spread the floor quite nicely. I also believe the officials would have called a foul on the play if the shot had not gone in. Ms Little got Parker on the arm going in.

 

[willtalk]

I'm going to chalk this one up to good offense. The Sparks are able to spread the floor from all 5 positions which left a slow Camille Little trying to defend Parker. Although defense is often just a rumor for Taurusi I'm not sure there was much for her to do either. She was in no position to draw a charge (she wouldn't have gotten the call anyway) and anything more than the swipe at the ball would have been a foul which you don't want to do in the waning seconds.

Actually there were two lynx guarding two Sparks on that side of the floor. Beard and Sims-Neither of which had been shooting the three the last couple of games. Taurasi should have cheated off Sims an played more towards the basket. If she had she could have provided better help defense on Parker. As it was she got there to late and wasn't even able to reach the ball she was swiping at. She didn't need to play that close to Sims.

 

[UConnCat]

Actually there were two lynx guarding two Sparks on that side of the floor. Beard and Sims-Neither of which had been shooting the three the last couple of games. Taurasi should have cheated off Sims an played more towards the basket. If she had she could have provided better help defense on Parker. As it was she got there to late and wasn't even able to reach the ball she was swiping at. She didn't need to play that close to Sims.

20-20 hindsight. It was good offense and a good play by Parker. Parker had a head of steam and the only help play would have been to try to draw a charge which is a risky play at that point in the game. What more is there to say? If you think Taurasi should have played 2 feet more off of Sims in order to try and draw a charge or force a pass to an open Sims who would have then missed the shot than I guess she made a bad play. We'll never know.

The advantage of being able to spread the floor with all 5 positions is that it makes it makes double teams and help defensive very difficult. The Sparks do that to a lot of teams.

 

[willtalk]

Hindsight is definitely easier! However on game deciding last plays like this defensive positioning is everything. Both Beard an Sims were bunched up in one area. And there were two defenders bunched up with them. One defender could have eliminated a pass to either. The real question was -What was more dangerous ? A one on one drive by Parker or a 3pt shot by Sims or Beard. Now I am not saying leave either open but just one of the defenders play off their man to help with Parker. Now I also am not saying that Taurasi needed to be in a position to draw a charge. To do that she would have had to create too much space between her and the 3pt shooters. Just one step more and she would have been able to actually hit the ball she could only swipe at. As it was she was less than a foot short and only reaching. She presented no defensive threat what so ever.All she has to do is hit the ball. She still might have missed but at least she would have been in ranger and actually had a chance. to deflect the ball. She made a bad choice at the early outset of that play. It's about recognizing floor spacing and angles to be able to provide better off the ball help.