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Message: [QUOTE="TheFarmFan, post: 5338635, member: 9403"] [B]Indy v. Aces:[/B] I was really impressed with Boston's defense on Wilson and Hull's defense on Young. Neither lit up the score sheet on offense but both shut down the Aces #1 and #2 options, and Gray and Evans were not enough to offset it without the nonexistent help they got from the rest of the roster. Not only did A'ja not look like herself (probably the hangover from the MVP celebration), but Hull drew a really nice foul on Wilson to draw her 4th and get her to sit during the stretch Indy really padded its lead. And I will say: Sims has been a revelation for Indy. I could see at times where she really went rogue (and it didn't work), but even with that, it's surprising she hasn't stuck on a roster consistently. But yeah, the Aces really whiffed on defending Mitchell - the kickback from Boston (guarded by THREE Aces) out to a competely uncovered Mitchell for an easy trey midway through the 4th was really indicative of the whole night for the Aces on D. Breezy Bri also turned in a very admirable performance. For game two, I'll be interested to see how the Aces can scheme to get Wilson and Young free of Boston and Hull - A'ja had much more success against Howard, and Young on the few occasions she could get free of Hull. I will be very surprised if the Fever can count on a combined 41 points from Mitchell and Sims, so the Fever's bigs will probably need to step up more, and you know A'ja's gonna come out pissed after shooting 6/22. [B]Fever v. Lynx:[/B] Whatever Nate said during the halftime locker room speech, he better do the opposite next game - woof. What a terrible second half of basketball. Even despite that, it felt like Phoenix was in control for most of three quarters, and in the first half, I thought they were really distributing the ball well and finding all sorts of ways to beat their defenders inside... and then just took some realy lazy, bad shots down the stretch, at exactly the same time Courtney Williams went off. I also thought Phee really broke things open towards the end. It was interesting that Cheryl benched Smith in favor of Kiundikova, who had four or five really clutch possessions in a row to lock in the win for the Lynx. Another example of how well Reeve makes adjustments down the stretch in close games. For game two, Sabally needs to get going - she was the weak link for the Merc offensively, although she did pretty will defensively. It'll also be interesting to see if Akoa Makeni can come back at full strength - the Merc's defense really suffered once they had to put Whitcomb on Williams, who ran her ragged. And does anyone know why Mack's minutes are relatively limited? Is it conditioning/fatigue related? It felt like her minutes were Phoenix's most productive but she kind of disappeared down the stretch in the second half. Overall, two fun game 1s although neither was close in the last couple of minutes. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach