WNBA News, (Post-) Game Comments for June

[nwhoopfan]

Aces look terrible today. Plum can't hit anything and Young is totally rusty since coming back from injury. And their defense is making Minnesota look great so far.

 

[Iluvacc2]

Why does Becky hammon look like cruella de ville

 

[Iluvacc2]

Aces look terrible today. Plum can't hit anything and Young is totally rusty since coming back from injury. And their defense is making Minnesota look great so far.

MoJeff is outplaying all of the Aces guards so far. Plum and the Aces can't drop a penny in the ocean right now, Gray is looking for her too much right now, they need to establish Wilson and Hamby inside and hope J Young can get going cause Minny doesn't have anyone that can guard her.

 

[eebmg]

Arike, Gray and Mabrey all 20+, Dallas gonna beat LA.

only 3 Bench points from Dallas.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Well, when a terrible 3 point shooting team hits 8-18 in the first half, what can you do? Lynx up 11 at the break. Aces are 3-14 behind the arc.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Minny hit a 3 to start Q3 to go up 53-39. It's now 59-57 Vegas. That turned around in a hurry.

 

[eebmg]

Can MN hold off the floodgates? They are holding on after 3Q 74-73 but Aces with 34 pts in 3Q.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Q3 just got wild. Both teams scoring at will, just taking turns. Plum got it going, driving to the hoop. I swear the refs have it in for her all year. She just about has to get assaulted to draw a foul call. She's driving and drawing contact ALL THE TIME, lots of swallowing the whistle. Been happening the entire season.

 

[nwhoopfan]

I don't recall seeing Plum get in an opponents face before. She took exception to a hard foul from Powers.


Shepard is having a big game for Minny. You'd think she'd be mismatched going up against Wilson, but she's holding her own when they've been matched up together.

 

[nwhoopfan]

I don't really love seeing Wilson taking 3's, but she's had a couple games where she's been knocking them down. That one might've just about finished it. Aces up 7 now.

 

[eebmg]

When Wilson is 22 on 3's including a big one to extend the lead to 7. Not liking the outcome but Lynx are at least fighting hard. Moriah and Sheppard in the thick of it.

Maybe getting sick of the Tank for Paige talk.

 

[nwhoopfan]

How are the Lynx only 3-12? They certainly haven't been playing the way they have today with a record like that.

 

[eebmg]

Of course, a Hamby 3pt shot. Uuurrrghhh

 

[nwhoopfan]

Shepard had a monster game, but what was she thinking there? Took a 2 at the buzzer when they were down 3. 96-95 final. Jessica w/ 22 pts/18 reb off the bench.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Jefferson finished w/ 23 pts/7 assists.

Wilson w/ 25 pts/8 reb. Plum 21 pts/6 assists.

Hamby had the shot of the game. Lynx cut the 7 point deficit down to 2, she had a dagger 3 from the corner.

 

[eebmg]

I have to say, the WNBA games seem to be far more competitive than prior years. I would guess the fraction of blow out games (15+ differential) is far less than previous years.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Okay, had to look at a replay of that final sequence. Minny didn't have a timeout to set up something...but why would they inbound to Shepard at 3/4 court w/ 5 seconds left? Where were all the guards? That seems like a failure by the whole team.

 

[Dillon77]

Morning-after comments on the games I saw enough of to comment:
Liberty-Storm

• Gabby had best game of this season (10-15, 2-3 from three and 9 rebounds) and her usual all-round hustle. That's the player I used to admire/hate from an ND perspective!
• Stewie goes for 11 in 1st half, takes 3rd quarter off and adds 7 in the 4th to restore order.
• Stewie's step-back from the baseline and Gabby's drive from the right-hand side and three at the shot-clock buzzer sealed the win.

• Marine Johannes is pretty much a finished product (9-12, 5-16 from 3 and 4 assists). She's both exciting and heady.
• When Rebecca Allen comes back -- along with the recently returned Didi Richards -- Brondello will have zounds of options.

-Dangerfield can play traditional PG with Sabrina at off-guard, but if Brondello wants to go big, Ionescu can be lead guard and play with Johannes and some combination of Whitcomb, Richards (for defense) or Allen (for both).
- Thought the Xu-Dolson combo had its moments. and they both benefitted from dishes from Johannes. If Xu continues to improve, that team is going to be Trouble.

• As Sue Bird noted in post-game comments, Liberty were a class act for Sue's last regular-season game in NYC. And she was every bit the charismatic leader.
• How about putting Sue on Cheryl Reeve's coaching staff for a few World Cups and Olympics, then have her take over the USA National team.

Wings-Sparks

• Hard to beat Dallas when Arike Ogunbowale has 27, (9-18, 5 of 9 from three), Marina Mabrey has 21 (9-16, 3-8) and Allisha Gray 20 (7-13, 3-6).
• Coach Johnson got 0 pts and only 3 assists in 22 minutes from back-up PG play of Veronia Burton and Tyasha Harris. At this point, AMA (Arike, Marina, Allisha) seem to take turns being the lead distributor. Last night, it was Gray with 6 assists, Mabrey with 5 and Ogunbowale with 3.
• As noted, Johnson really trusts AMA and Izzy Harrison and Thornton on the floor. And Sabally, if and when she's back.

• Both Ogwunike sisters had double-doubles in their return to Texas, but Cambage looked like she only wanted to play in stretches of the game.
• Canada had one of those games which explains why she didn't seal the deal as heir designate to Sue in Seattle. Just horrible.

Aces- Lynx

• As noted, Aces were there for the taking. Wilson and Hamby kept them close.
• How off were they? Even though those two scored well, Jessica Shepard outrebounded the Aces' front line 19-17 -- in 28 minutes.

• MoJeff with utterly fantastic game, finishing with 23 points (10-14, 3-4 from three and 7 assists).
• Shepard has 22 points (9-11) to go with those 19 rebounds. Geesh, nearly at 20-20 effort off the bench!
• On one hand, have to wonder why Shepard is coming off bench the last two games. On the other hand, given how she's played, it seems like she's energized by playing either of the two forward slots which, btw, she did at ND.

 

[eebmg]

Atlanta (significantly undermanned) leads Dallas 29-21 after 1Q.

 

[PoppaBear]

Howard having a great game.

 

[eebmg]

After ice cold first quarter, Arike over the last few minutes of 2Q hitting multiple moon balls. But if she sticks to pattern, will look for harder and harder shots until they are impossible to make. Mabrey with a sub par game all around.

Myah Caldwell (U. GA) on first hardship game having an electric impact for Atlanta.

 

[bballnut90]

Morning-after comments on the games I saw enough of to comment:
Liberty-Storm

• Gabby had best game of this season (10-15, 2-3 from three and 9 rebounds) and her usual all-round hustle. That's the player I used to admire/hate from an ND perspective!
• Stewie goes for 11 in 1st half, takes 3rd quarter off and adds 7 in the 4th to restore order.
• Stewie's step-back from the baseline and Gabby's drive from the right-hand side and three at the shot-clock buzzer sealed the win.

• Marine Johannes is pretty much a finished product (9-12, 5-16 from 3 and 4 assists). She's both exciting and heady.
• When Rebecca Allen comes back -- along with the recently returned Didi Richards -- Brondello will have zounds of options.

-Dangerfield can play traditional PG with Sabrina at off-guard, but if Brondello wants to go big, Ionescu can be lead guard and play with Johannes and some combination of Whitcomb, Richards (for defense) or Allen (for both).
- Thought the Xu-Dolson combo had its moments. and they both benefitted from dishes from Johannes. If Xu continues to improve, that team is going to be Trouble.

• As Sue Bird noted in post-game comments, Liberty were a class act for Sue's last regular-season game in NYC. And she was every bit the charismatic leader.
• How about putting Sue on Cheryl Reeve's coaching staff for a few World Cups and Olympics, then have her take over the USA National team.

Wings-Sparks

• Hard to beat Dallas when Arike Ogunbowale has 27, (9-18, 5 of 9 from three), Marina Mabrey has 21 (9-16, 3-8) and Allisha Gray 20 (7-13, 3-6).
• Coach Johnson got 0 pts and only 3 assists in 22 minutes from back-up PG play of Veronia Burton and Tyasha Harris. At this point, AMA (Arike, Marina, Allisha) seem to take turns being the lead distributor. Last night, it was Gray with 6 assists, Mabrey with 5 and Ogunbowale with 3.
• As noted, Johnson really trusts AMA and Izzy Harrison and Thornton on the floor. And Sabally, if and when she's back.

• Both Ogwunike sisters had double-doubles in their return to Texas, but Cambage looked like she only wanted to play in stretches of the game.
• Canada had one of those games which explains why she didn't seal the deal as heir designate to Sue in Seattle. Just horrible.

Aces- Lynx

• As noted, Aces were there for the taking. Wilson and Hamby kept them close.
• How off were they? Even though those two scored well, Jessica Shepard outrebounded the Aces' front line 19-17 -- in 28 minutes.

• MoJeff with utterly fantastic game, finishing with 23 points (10-14, 3-4 from three and 7 assists).
• Shepard has 22 points (9-11) to go with those 19 rebounds. Geesh, nearly at 20-20 effort off the bench!
• On one hand, have to wonder why Shepard is coming off bench the last two games. On the other hand, given how she's played, it seems like she's energized by playing either of the two forward slots which, btw, she did at ND.

The older ND starting 5 from 2018-19 is absolutely crushing it as pros:

Shepard-9.6 points, 8.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists this year after injury riddled seasons
Ogunbowale-19 points per game, 2x All WNBA
Mabrey-14 points per game and stellar percentages
Young-leading MVP candidate with ridiculous numbers (17.8 points)
Turner-2x All Defensive Team

The irony is, the team they lost the title to, Baylor, has been mostly duds as pros with none of their starters making any impact in the league.

 

[TheFarmFan]

The older ND starting 5 from 2018-19 is absolutely crushing it as pros:

Shepard-9.6 points, 8.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists this year after injury riddled seasons
Ogunbowale-19 points per game, 2x All WNBA
Mabrey-14 points per game and stellar percentages
Young-leading MVP candidate with ridiculous numbers (17.8 points)
Turner-2x All Defensive Team

The irony is, the team they lost the title to, Baylor, has been mostly duds as pros with none of their starters making any impact in the league.

IMHO, that Baylor team ran a really, really effective system offense, so none of the principals were stretched outside their role. (thus why Tara could exploit them so effectively with even less talent - she is great at breaking down system offenses.)

For better and sometimes worse, that ND starting 5 were much less organized but much more capable and well rounded as individual players. Jackie Young is one of my favorite college players of the 2010s. And that's saying something, given who coached her... Other than maybe Mabrey, I'm not at all surprised the Irish have all had success as pros.

 

[eebmg]

Aces with a quick smackdown of the Sky 15-4 in fiorst 4 minutes.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Young-leading MVP candidate with ridiculous numbers (17.8 points)

I don't think so at this point. She only missed a couple games, but Wilson and Plum have both really picked up their games in her absence and then her first couple games back not being up to par. She is on fire so far today though.