The Little Things

[my2cents]

As a Red Sox fan, the thing that bothered me the most about Derek Jeter was the little things that he did to win games. Yes he hit home runs and had key hits, but he also moved runners along with bunts and hitting behind runners. Whatever was needed.
Maya Moore was the same way. She never reacted to what was happening in a game, she anticipated the play and was always in position to make a positive play.
Against Louisville, we will talk about Paige's shooting and blocks, but she made a lot of plays that don't show up in the boxscore.
In the second half alone, she deflected a pass along the baseline that skipped off a Louisville player. Turnover to UCONN..
She also stripped a shooter of the ball when the player was going up for a shot. She had a lot more, I just remember those two.
As fan,s we get excited about scoring, but those little things that Paige does are what wins games.

 

[RedStickHusky]

As a Red Sox fan, the thing that bothered me the most about Derek Jeter was the little things that he did to win games. Yes he hit home runs and had key hits, but he also moved runners along with bunts and hitting behind runners. Whatever was needed.
Maya Moore was the same way. She never reacted to what was happening in a game, she anticipated the play and was always in position to make a positive play.
Against Louisville, we will talk about Paige's shooting and blocks, but she made a lot of plays that don't show up in the boxscore.
In the second half alone, she deflected a pass along the baseline that skipped off a Louisville player. Turnover to UCONN..
She also stripped a shooter of the ball when the player was going up for a shot. She had a lot more, I just remember those two.
As fan,s we get excited about scoring, but those little things that Paige does are what wins games.

Her court sense really does amaze at times...

 

[Bigboote]

Kelly Faris wasn't that widely recruited, and early in her UConn tenure, a reporter asked CD what attracted her to Kelly. CD said, "I saw her take a charge." The UConn coaches notice the little things.

 

[oldude]

One additional aspect of Paige’s game is her constant movement off the ball on offense. Years ago it was said that John Havlicek used to run 5 miles a game, constantly curling and running defenders into screens. Opponents hated guarding him, because they could do a great job 90% of the time, but the other 10% of the time, Havlicek would put up 30 on them.

With Nika & KK handling more of the pg duties for the Huskies, Paige is free to run her defender all over the court, through screens, flashing out to the 3-pt line, backdoor cuts, curls and post ups in the paint. On her first 3-pt shot against Louisville, Paige ran her defender into a hard screen from Nika, received a pass from KK and buried the shot.

As the season goes on, and Paige’s teammates get more comfortable in the offense, opposing coaches will experience nightmares trying to figure out how to defend Paige off the ball.

 

[LwrcasefaN]

Kelly Faris wasn't that widely recruited, and early in her UConn tenure, a reporter asked CD what attracted her to Kelly. CD said, "I saw her take a charge." The UConn coaches notice the little things.

Great minds. Same reason I proposed to my wife.

 

[Boreifs]

One additional aspect of Paige’s game is her constant movement off the ball on offense. Years ago it was said that John Havlicek used to run 5 miles a game, constantly curling and running defenders into screens. Opponents hated guarding him, because they could do a great job 90% of the time, but the other 10% of the time, Havlicek would put up 30 on them.

With Nika & KK handling more of the pg duties for the Huskies, Paige is free to run her defender all over the court, through screens, flashing out to the 3-pt line, backdoor cuts, curls and post ups in the paint. On her first 3-pt shot against Louisville, Paige ran her defender into a hard screen from Nika, received a pass from KK and buried the shot.

As the season goes on, and Paige’s teammates get more comfortable in the offense, opposing coaches will experience nightmares trying to figure out how to defend Paige off the ball.

In other words, playing like a wing. She is desperately needed to fulfill that role in the half court offense

 

[BRS24]

One additional aspect of Paige’s game is her constant movement off the ball on offense. Years ago it was said that John Havlicek used to run 5 miles a game, constantly curling and running defenders into screens. Opponents hated guarding him, because they could do a great job 90% of the time, but the other 10% of the time, Havlicek would put up 30 on them.

With Nika & KK handling more of the pg duties for the Huskies, Paige is free to run her defender all over the court, through screens, flashing out to the 3-pt line, backdoor cuts, curls and post ups in the paint. On her first 3-pt shot against Louisville, Paige ran her defender into a hard screen from Nika, received a pass from KK and buried the shot.

As the season goes on, and Paige’s teammates get more comfortable in the offense, opposing coaches will experience nightmares trying to figure out how to defend Paige off the ball.

+100. Rip Hamilton also comes to mind, as he learned it from Reggie Miller.

 

[Boreifs]

Great minds. Same reason I proposed to my wife.

You saw her take a charge?

 

[LwrcasefaN]

You saw her take a charge?

Better than that. I did it. Rec league. lol

 

[CL82]

Great minds. Same reason I proposed to my wife.

 

[dtbtbtb]

Another thing i saw Paige trying is to posting up other players. Unfortunately, she didn't get the ball whenever she was posting up but if there is anybody who will get a good shot out of it is Paige.

 

[oldude]

Better than that. I did it. Rec league. lol

That’s an odd way to meet a woman. Happy it worked out for you…

 

[fireford]

Better than that. I did it. Rec league. lol

I'll bet you accuse her of flopping to this day.

 

[LwrcasefaN]

That’s an odd way to meet a woman. Happy it worked out for you…

There is no blueprint to love. It happens how it happens. lol

 

[HopJim]

NE Patriots were (focus on WERE) another example of how to beat other teams consistently through their attention to detail.

 

[JRRRJ]

There is no blueprint to love. It happens how it happens. lol

Colleen sent me an email asking permission to copy a few lines out of my match.com profile into hers...

 

[WLT1717]

As a Red Sox fan, the thing that bothered me the most about Derek Jeter was the little things that he did to win games. Yes he hit home runs and had key hits, but he also moved runners along with bunts and hitting behind runners. Whatever was needed.
Maya Moore was the same way. She never reacted to what was happening in a game, she anticipated the play and was always in position to make a positive play.
Against Louisville, we will talk about Paige's shooting and blocks, but she made a lot of plays that don't show up in the boxscore.
In the second half alone, she deflected a pass along the baseline that skipped off a Louisville player. Turnover to UCONN..
She also stripped a shooter of the ball when the player was going up for a shot. She had a lot more, I just remember those two.
As fan,s we get excited about scoring, but those little things that Paige does are what wins games.

Paige has a lot of work to do on the defensive end but she cares, and that’s important. As she gets stronger, she can develop that side of her game for the more physical WNBA. But what always strikes me is the joy with which she plays. Reminiscent of Magic Johnson. Her flash, savvy, skill and enthusiasm dazzle - and make the game electric, especially in the open court.

 

[Bone Dog]

Paige. Defense. Hahahaha!!!!

Watching the UCLA-tOSU game, I heard the comment that Betts had a career high of 5 blocks in this game and I just laughed.

Sure, Paige could play even better defense. But she's not doing a shabby job even now. I suspect she'll do just fine in the W.

 

[Zarathustra]

My wife abstained from calling technical fouls. It makes for excellent team "chemistry"! There is no "I" on our team.

 

[Skeets]

Paige. Defense. Hahahaha!!!!

Watching the UCLA-tOSU game, I heard the comment that Betts had a career high of 5 blocks in this game and I just laughed.

Sure, Paige could play even better defense. But she's not doing a shabby job even now. I suspect she'll do just fine in the W.

Especially after 2 more years at UConn honing her skills

 

[YoDore]

Colleen sent me an email asking permission to copy a few lines out of my match.com profile into hers...

Sneaky. I like her.

 

[ERWUC65]

There is no better example today of a player to emulate who has all of the attributes of the great players mentioned in this thread, yet while relatively undersized, is arguably one of the 25 greatest players of all time... and that is Steph Curry. He is perpetual motion on the court, spends hours training his body, honing his shooting to perfection and always finding new ways to score. A note of importance to all our Huskies is that Steph, from his Davidson days, has always had to deal with ankle issues, some quite debilitating enough to put him on the sideline for a while, but he always came back and learned how to work with his body to overcome these problems.

 

[BBallF]

As a Red Sox fan, the thing that bothered me the most about Derek Jeter was the little things that he did to win games. Yes he hit home runs and had key hits, but he also moved runners along with bunts and hitting behind runners. Whatever was needed.
Maya Moore was the same way. She never reacted to what was happening in a game, she anticipated the play and was always in position to make a positive play.
Against Louisville, we will talk about Paige's shooting and blocks, but she made a lot of plays that don't show up in the boxscore.
In the second half alone, she deflected a pass along the baseline that skipped off a Louisville player. Turnover to UCONN..
She also stripped a shooter of the ball when the player was going up for a shot. She had a lot more, I just remember those two.
As fan,s we get excited about scoring, but those little things that Paige does are what wins games.

When you watch her play live from good seats, you are taken aback at her ability to anticipate the second pass, not the one about to be made but the likely one coming next. It's interesting just to watch her on defense. Right now, I doubt there is another defender in the country that has the same aptitude.

 

[Bone Dog]

As great as Paige is in my estimation, lately she seems to have more trouble than usual corralling passes. Part of the problem maybe off-target passes thrown to her. But over the last three games it seems like she's had to break stride or otherwise forego a play because she had to take an extra second to control the ball. Perhaps this is a lingering effect of the thumb injury, or it may just be that Nika and Paige are out of sync. I expect this problem will resolve itself soon enough.