WBNA Playoffs - here we go! | Page 3 | The Boneyard

WBNA Playoffs - here we go!

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TheFarmFan said:
Not sure how to upload this from my phone, but I'll post it later: the crowd stayed and gave a standing ovation to our players like they just won the championship. And honestly, in our hearts, they did. What a season.
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Great season for the Valkyries. Nakase and Burton won individual awards. They probably set a record by selling out 18,200+ seats over 23 games, including 1 in San Jose, roughly 50 miles from home.
 
TheFarmFan said:
Not sure how to upload this from my phone, but I'll post it later: the crowd stayed and gave a standing ovation to our players like they just won the championship. And honestly, in our hearts, they did. What a season.
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Hats off to the Golden State Valkyries, the coaching staff, and the fans!! What a game. GSV played hard, shot the ball well, and played an all around great game. For the season, GSV (along with Atlanta) is everything that makes the WNBA exciting and a joy to watch, again to me. I love the GSV fans. They are in the game from the opening tip to the final whistle. The GSV fans have set the standard for all expansion teams and their fans. Will other teams reach the level or exceed the level of GSV? Maybe. Maybe not. Either way, GSV fans have set the bar.
As a team. If GSV can keep the roster and the players stay humble, develop their games, and understand & embrace their current roles on the team. GSV is going to be a huge problem next season. Again, great game and great game.
 
MilfordHusky said:
Great season for the Valkyries. Nakase and Burton won individual awards. They probably set a record by selling out 18,200+ seats over 23 games, including 1 in San Jose, roughly 50 miles from home.
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The audience was fully invested the whole game and it was awesome. Don't know who caused the audio issues but having no commentators for a bit gave us a chance to appreciate it.

This 1-1-1 format has provided fans some great games. Wasn't sure about this change but the games in Seattle and San Jose have me thinking differently. Maybe the travel and turnaround times are an okay trade off.
 
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TheFarmFan said:
Here it is. We ride or die in Ballhalla.



And you can even see me on the far left, about 8 rows up! Really proud of everything about how tonight went except those last 4 seconds.
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Congrats on buying your season tickets and the experience you got to enjoy all season. Wow!
It will be interesting to see how the powers-that-be add to this core group next year. Given how they selected/augmented this year, I'm sure the fan base will have a lot of trust in the process.
 
TheFarmFan said:
Here it is. We ride or die in Ballhalla.



And you can even see me on the far left, about 8 rows up! Really proud of everything about how tonight went except those last 4 seconds.
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Welp.....................no pressure for us Tempo fans to match this. None, whatsoever...................... 😉
nervous k&p GIF by myLAB Box
 
cancontent said:
Welp.....................no pressure for us Tempo fans to match this. None, whatsoever...................... 😉
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No dog in the fight whatsoever, but you are already way behind Golden State and Portland in both mascot and logo. They have a couple of the strongest combinations I have seen in any sport.

Tempo is turrbul. Name and logo look like something from a Nintendo game that couldn't get afford the licensing agreement.
 
nwhoopfan said:
I'm gonna tempt fate. Almost 30 point margin w/ less than 3 minutes, even I can't jinx that.

So...paging @azfan. Any comments?
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Hard thing accomplished, win on the road in the playoffs and ending the losing streak. In matching the Liberty win in Phoenix beating a NY squad at home ( with an injured Stewie) Nate did something hard. Although maybe not that hard?

I would guess many would have anticipated the series would be tied at this point although not in the manner in which it became tied.

Unlike the opener in the series the Merc shot the ball well.

Phoenix has to feel good coming home to face a New York squad with an injured Stewie who is struggling but playing.

Other comments.

Winning a first round playoff series in which you're the higher seed might be an expectation rather than a way to go moment for Nate. In my mind it's telling that when you do something you're supposed to do ie higher seed with a home court advantage winning we find celebratory fandom thinking yeah this guy is worth 1.2 million. If true then wouldn't Cheryl be worth twice that with her sweep? .

That said I'm delighted at the hometown team opportunity to advance tonight and, assuming Nate and the Merc take care of business, what should be an interesting series against the top ranked Lynx.

Hummmm ...... Any pressure on the million dollar coach or is this just business as usual?
 
Dillon77 said:
Congrats on buying your season tickets and the experience you got to enjoy all season. Wow!
It will be interesting to see how the powers-that-be add to this core group next year. Given how they selected/augmented this year, I'm sure the fan base will have a lot of trust in the process.
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I expect they will sign their 2025 pick (#5 overall).

en.wikipedia.org

Justė Jocytė - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
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azfan said:
Hard thing accomplished, win on the road in the playoffs and ending the losing streak. In matching the Liberty win in Phoenix beating a NY squad at home ( with an injured Stewie) Nate did something hard. Although maybe not that hard?

I would guess many would have anticipated the series would be tied at this point although not in the manner in which it became tied.

Unlike the opener in the series the Merc shot the ball well.

Phoenix has to feel good coming home to face a New York squad with an injured Stewie who is struggling but playing.

Other comments.

Winning a first round playoff series in which you're the higher seed might be an expectation rather than a way to go moment for Nate. In my mind it's telling that when you do something you're supposed to do ie higher seed with a home court advantage winning we find celebratory fandom thinking yeah this guy is worth 1.2 million. If true then wouldn't Cheryl be worth twice that with her sweep? .

That said I'm delighted at the hometown team opportunity to advance tonight and, assuming Nate and the Merc take care of business, what should be an interesting series against the top ranked Lynx.

Hummmm ...... Any pressure on the million dollar coach or is this just business as usual?
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Let's not gloss over the fact that NY is the defending champs, and despite a few personnel losses with the additions of Cloud and Meesseman they have even more talent than last year. Technically Phoenix is favored since they have the higher seed, but anything short of returning to the Finals is a massive underachievement for Brondello and the Liberty. Even w/ Stewie less than 100%, they have another league MVP (JJ), a Finals MOP (Meesseman), and 2 other players who have played significant roles on Championship teams (Ionescu and Cloud). By comparison Phoenix has...Copper with one Finals MOP, no MVPs, AT who has been to the semis or finals numerous times but never gotten over the top. Oh, I guess there is Bonner who was with the Merc when they won titles ages ago, but she was probably 3rd or 4th option on those teams.

So to say Nate is supposed to win this series and just leave it at that is not really an accurate assessment in my view.
 
nwhoopfan said:
So to say Nate is supposed to win this series and just leave it at that is not really an accurate assessment in my view.
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Leave it ... Leave it.........leave it. I've been justly accused of a number of shortcomings over my life but leaving it.... That's a first. Never before been described as one who would leave it.

In a segment in my online certificate program evaluating coaching we spent some time on the math of sport: strengths and shortcomings. This is reflective of the fun of debating sports numbers there are lies, damn lies and sports statistics. As part of my extended response to the welcome victory of the Merc on the road in New York (this is a portion of where I did not leave it...lol). I pointed out that Nate did do a hard thing just not as hard as it would have been had Stewie not had a strained MCL. Roster construction and analysis aside because I do think that Natasha Cloud was the reason for the victory in game one, that Sabrina is critical for the success of the team, and that JJ actually is extraordinarily key to the performance of this team. And I would point out that JJ is not playing all that well right now although much of what she's doing is not appearing in the box score. But....I digress, rather than....

So Nate did something that was hard just not as hard as it would have been had there been no sprain In contrast when Sandy went into Phoenix in the first game if I'm not mistaken Phoenix was it full strength that is no walking wounded. So she did something that was hard.....er.

Leaving aside the challenge of winning on the road teams really care about seating after all that's really the only reason for the regular season. So as the number four seed playing the number five seed one would expect if seeding was properly done and reflective of performance that the four seed would beat the five seed. I got a c+ in this portion of the online program of applying math to evaluation of coaching. Maybe that's why I remember it so well.

We'll both be watching tonight this will be fun as a Merc fan I have my fingers crossed. And to miss quote a political debate I knew Nikki Blue, I evaluated Nikki Blue, and Nate you are no Nikki Blue.
 
azfan said:
Leave it ... Leave it.........leave it. I've been justly accused of a number of shortcomings over my life but leaving it.... That's a first. Never before been described as one who would leave it.

In a segment in my online certificate program evaluating coaching we spent some time on the math of sport: strengths and shortcomings. This is reflective of the fun of debating sports numbers there are lies, damn lies and sports statistics. As part of my extended response to the welcome victory of the Merc on the road in New York (this is a portion of where I did not leave it...lol). I pointed out that Nate did do a hard thing just not as hard as it would have been had Stewie not had a strained MCL. Roster construction and analysis aside because I do think that Natasha Cloud was the reason for the victory in game one, that Sabrina is critical for the success of the team, and that JJ actually is extraordinarily key to the performance of this team. And I would point out that JJ is not playing all that well right now although much of what she's doing is not appearing in the box score. But....I digress, rather than....

So Nate did something that was hard just not as hard as it would have been had there been no sprain In contrast when Sandy went into Phoenix in the first game if I'm not mistaken Phoenix was it full strength that is no walking wounded. So she did something that was hard.....er.

Leaving aside the challenge of winning on the road teams really care about seating after all that's really the only reason for the regular season. So as the number four seed playing the number five seed one would expect if seeding was properly done and reflective of performance that the four seed would beat the five seed. I got a c+ in this portion of the online program of applying math to evaluation of coaching. Maybe that's why I remember it so well.

We'll both be watching tonight this will be fun as a Merc fan I have my fingers crossed. And to miss quote a political debate I knew Nikki Blue, I evaluated Nikki Blue, and Nate you are no Nikki Blue.
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Okay. Of course the MCL is not to be overlooked. But let me add, as long as we're talking about numbers and statistics and lying and all that, while the series is tied at 1-1, winning on the road in OT is not quite the same as winning on the road by 26 in regulation, right?
 
Indiana closed the game on a 7-0 run. The last few Atlanta possessions were not good.
 
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Smith and Bell combined for...2 points. Stokes didn't even play, but still getting the same kind of production from some of the starters.
 
Go Fever! Go Aces! Two of the last 5 standing. One more to be decided tomorrow. I was sad to see the Dream lose after such a stellar season but someone has to lose.

On the other hand, the Storm massively underachieved this season. I think the organization may need to rethink their strategy. Maybe they should pull a Sun and wipe the slate clean and start over. They have a good group of players but I highly doubt they'll win a championship with this core group. Something clearly isn't working and I think it is a mixture of the coaches and players.
 
I hope this solidifies that a 1-1-1 format is far superior to 2-1. Every series has had fantastic games so far which wasn't the case last season where home teams went 8-0.

Congrats to the Fever for pulling out a massive win on the road and their first series win in 10 years. Putting up a 24:6 A/TO ratio with their 4th different PG this year is unbelievably good, props to Odyssey Sims for filling in so well.

Also, I'm shocked at how close the Storm/Aces game was. Aces nearly get bounced in the first round after winning 17 straight games. Wild stuff. If the Aces reach the WNBA Finals this year, there's a good chance A'ja will climb as high as #3 all time in career playoff points by the end of the season at just 29 years old.
 
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bballnut90 said:
I hope this solidifies that a 1-1-1 format is far superior to 2-1. Every series has had fantastic games so far which wasn't the case last season where home teams went 8-0.
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I agree. I liked the playoff format change from the 2-1 to the 1-1-1 setup. Just a great feeling to see the lower seeded teams fanbase come out strong and support their teams. Plus, the games were very competitive. Well done, WNBA.
 
JstVisiting said:
No dog in the fight whatsoever, but you are already way behind Golden State and Portland in both mascot and logo. They have a couple of the strongest combinations I have seen in any sport.

Tempo is turrbul. Name and logo look like something from a Nintendo game that couldn't get afford the licensing agreement.
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I was referring to the crowd size in this case.

The team name and logo is another matter entirely. They definitely whiffed on that. 😆 😭My only hope is that someone finds a way to redesign it in the future. The Raptors original logo wasn't a hit either but fortunately MLSE got someone to redesign it into something cool.

Blame it on these darn "help us name our team" campaigns. It gave us both the Raptors and now the Tempo. So help me if Toronto lands another expansion team..................we never seem to learn from our mistakes in this area. 😉
 
nwhoopfan said:
Wilson w/ a huge game, 38 points, more than half of the Aces' total, but Young comes up with the game winner.
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According to the study I posted (earlier in this thread) by Her Hoops Stats, Young is the "most clutch" player in the league when it comes down to hitting paydirt in the last five minutes of a game (or OT). (BTW, Wilson isn't far behind.) Granted, this was a put-back, but credit Young for knowing she had to shoot off the jump rather than bring it down surrounded by taller players.
 
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MilfordHusky said:
Indiana closed the game on a 7-0 run. The last few Atlanta possessions were not good.
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Fever outscored the Dream 38-29 in 2nd half, getting double-digit scoring from all their starters and 10 rebounds from the Twin "T's" off the bench (Timpson and Turner).

Jordin Canada produced at double-double (18 points, 10 assists) and Gray had a solid 19-point game. Rhyne Howard scored 16 points but had to take a mess of shots to get there (7-18 overall, 2-8 from three) to get there.

I'll be very interested in seeing if the Dream go after more players who can fit Karl Smesko's three-point dominant offense next year.
While they certainly did much better than last year, this team could use some more accurate three-point shooting. More to the point, some snipers who have the mindset to find the right spot, time and time again. I could see the Dream be a landing spot for Sami Whitcomb or Lexi Held. Or a Marina Mabrey.

So, off go the Fever against the Aces, who will undoubtedly be the favorites. But, then again, so were the Dream. Stay tuned.
 
Dillon77 said:
Fever outscored the Dream 38-29 in 2nd half, getting double-digit scoring from all their starters and 10 rebounds from the Twin "T's" off the bench (Timpson and Turner).

Jordin Canada produced at double-double (18 points, 10 assists) and Gray had a solid 19-point game. Rhyne Howard scored 16 points but had to take a mess of shots to get there (7-18 overall, 2-8 from three) to get there.

I'll be very interested in seeing if the Dream go after more players who can fit Karl Smesko's three-point dominant offense next year.
While they certainly did much better than last year, this team could use some more accurate three-point shooting. More to the point, some snipers who have the mindset to find the right spot, time and time again. I could see the Dream be a landing spot for Sami Whitcomb or Lexi Held. Or a Marina Mabrey.

So, off go the Fever against the Aces, who will undoubtedly be the favorites. But, then again, so were the Dream. Stay tuned.
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I think both Howard and Hillmon are at the end of their rookie contracts as well. If I'm correct, Hillmon did a heck of a job to enhance her resume for the free agency market.
 
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