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bballnut90 said:
Pretty remarkable how well Phoenix is doing as a 2 woman team with DT out (5-5 since DT's injury) considering they get next to nothing from Nurse, Walker, Cunningham and Peddy offensively and are still grinding out wins.
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Might be an unpopular opinion, but I feel like Taurasi is a hit or miss at this stage in her career. Defense was never her strong suit, so when her shot isn’t falling, she’s not super effective.
 
bballnut90 said:
Pretty remarkable how well Phoenix is doing as a 2 woman team with DT out (5-5 since DT's injury) considering they get next to nothing from Nurse, Walker, Cunningham and Peddy offensively and are still grinding out wins.
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After the big 2, Cunningham was really good for them yesterday. They don't win that game without her.
 
Shades said:
Griner’s sudden emergence of a midrange game is causing some teams problems.
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I've thought it before, but watching her last night, I was scratching my head wondering why she never developed into an MVP player in the W. If she was consistent, she would be the most unstoppable player in the league.

One of the announcers last night must have declared about 10 times "that's an MVP play" when Wilson did something. Griner had quite a few more "MVP plays" than Wilson did, especially in OT.
 
Dillon77 said:
As for "deconstruction," I'm starting to scratch my head about Coach Johnson's avowed strategy to play 10 players at all times at various times and in varying permutations. Maybe she's trying to make a point and/or get to a new approach (waves of young 'uns). But it sure seems to have negative effect on closing out games. Who's in? Are there plays set up for them?
  • What is Sabally and Arike doing on the bench with 2 minutes left in the game?
  • If you're going for a three, how can Arike or Mabrey not have screens set for them? Thonton was 2-8 in this game and shot a critical brick. Lynx must've been smiling.
  • Yes, multiple players are gettiing 20+ minutes, but Wings are also losing games that they should have a chance to win. That's a coach's job, too. If it's frustrating to a fan, I can only wonder how it is for players.
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I didn't notice Sabally out; I was thinking Arike was sitting out awhile to cool her head off. She'd gotten a technical and continued jawing at the refs.

I think Johnson is maybe trying to be the anti-Reeve. I watched the whole game last night. With about five minutes left and the Lynx up by a few, I was thinking that if this had been 2-3 weeks ago, I'd be betting on the Wings. The Lynx had blown a few games they'd led in the fourth quarter, but they've been finishing games strongly lately.

I hope you watched the second half last night, as Fowles sat quite awhile and Shepard played really well. No points, but she got some rebounds and looked really tough.
 
nwhoopfan said:
I've thought it before, but watching her last night, I was scratching my head wondering why she never developed into an MVP player in the W. If she was consistent, she would be the most unstoppable player in the league.

One of the announcers last night must have declared about 10 times "that's an MVP play" when Wilson did something. Griner had quite a few more "MVP plays" than Wilson did, especially in OT.
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The fact that Griner has never been an MVP and that Phoenix has only made 1 finals trip with her/DT is a major headscratcher to me. You have one of the best players of all time in Taurasi and the most physically dominant post player of all time in Griner, and they've hovered around .500 in 8 of the 9 years Griner has been in the league. DT has missed two of those seasons, but still, a team like Phoenix should be miles ahead of a franchise like Minnesota who lost 4 of their 5 core players in Whalen/Moore/Augustus/Brunson in short time frame and has put up comparable results to Phoenix.
 
bballnut90 said:
The fact that Griner has never been an MVP and that Phoenix has only made 1 finals trip with her/DT is a major headscratcher to me. You have one of the best players of all time in Taurasi and the most physically dominant post player of all time in Griner, and they've hovered around .500 in 8 of the 9 years Griner has been in the league. DT has missed two of those seasons, but still, a team like Phoenix should be miles ahead of a franchise like Minnesota who lost 4 of their 5 core players in Whalen/Moore/Augustus/Brunson in short time frame and has put up comparable results to Phoenix.
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I think this is largely an indictment of the coaching of Brondello, which has been noted many times.
 
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nwhoopfan said:
I think this is largely an indictment of the coaching of Brondello, which has been noted many times.
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I can agree Brondello has produced very mediocre results given her talent level. Kim also took a lot of heat on this board for only winning one title with Griner in 4 years. Maybe the common thread here is as good as Griner is and can be she is also very inconsistent with her effort. She doesn't demand the ball often and rarely works to get position during the games of hers I've viewed.
 
Bigboote said:
hope you watched the second half last night, as Fowles sat quite awhile and Shepard played really well. No points, but she got some rebounds and looked really tough.
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I watched quite a bit of it and caught Jess doing her work in the paint. Knock on wood, I think she's getting there. Wouldn't be suprised if Coach Reeves is telling her to give the team some minutes doing exactly what you described. The scoring will come. And it will.
 
Especially once DT went down earlier in the season, Griner seems to have taken it on herself to finally play like the dominant player she always could be. I don't know who's to "blame" for why this hasn't happened before on a consistent basis, but it's been a full 5 seasons since she, a 6-9 once in a generation player, has averaged more than 8rpg, and this year she's shot up to 9.5rpg while also being in the top 5 in he league in scoring, blocks and FG%.

But Phoenix is an average to bad defensive team (They rank 9th out of 12 teams in defensive rating), which could work if they had an amazing offense...but they don't (8th out of 12 teams in offensive rating). As others have said, Griner and SDS can get you far, but without DT, the pieces around them are pretty weak.
 
bbsamjj said:
Especially once DT went down earlier in the season, Griner seems to have taken it on herself to finally play like the dominant player she always could be. I don't know who's to "blame" for why this hasn't happened before on a consistent basis, but it's been a full 5 seasons since she, a 6-9 once in a generation player, has averaged more than 8rpg, and this year she's shot up to 9.5rpg while also being in the top 5 in he league in scoring, blocks and FG%.

But Phoenix is an average to bad defensive team (They rank 9th out of 12 teams in defensive rating), which could work if they had an amazing offense...but they don't (8th out of 12 teams in offensive rating). As others have said, Griner and SDS can get you far, but without DT, the pieces around them are pretty weak.
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Kind of a head-scratcher isn't it? One, for all the reasons you bring up and also because I think there are -- or at least planned -- complementary pieces in place that for some reason don't end up making the whole better.

Bri Turner, in Grinter's absence last year, was named to the WNBA First Team and led the league in blocks. This season she's right behind Griner at 8.8 rpg and 1.7 bpg. This theoretically could/should be a twin tower of defense and rebounding, but hasn't necessarily worked. While Turner has wheels, I'm not sure she has the speed to come out to the perimeter and deal with quicker #4's.

On offense, Bri passes up looks and seemingly defers to others. That can hurt overall team efficiency on offense. I felt Sophie Cunningham did this when she came off the bench.

Coach Brondello. has said Turner is a "5." Maybe it's best to exchange one of your 5's (Turner) for a true 4. For instance, Dallas truly needs an inside defensive presence and they're playing Thornton as a 3, when she's a true 4 (but Sabally is there). Just a thought.

And/or of course, the 3, for whatever reason, is up and down.

Lastly, re: Griner. BG has not maximized her WNBA career, I agree. But she reports to duty for the U.S.A. team and when she's on, raises the stakes for anyone playing the U.S. This year, I think BG, Fowles and Tina Charles make matters virtually impossble for any other team. And that' not even taking Stewie and Wilson into account.
 
Dillon77 said:
Kind of a head-scratcher isn't it? One, for all the reasons you bring up and also because I think there are -- or at least planned -- complementary pieces in place that for some reason don't end up making the whole better.

Bri Turner, in Grinter's absence last year, was named to the WNBA First Team and led the league in blocks. This season she's right behind Griner at 8.8 rpg and 1.7 bpg. This theoretically could/should be a twin tower of defense and rebounding, but hasn't necessarily worked. While Turner has wheels, I'm not sure she has the speed to come out to the perimeter and deal with quicker #4's.

On offense, Bri passes up looks and seemingly defers to others. That can hurt overall team efficiency on offense. I felt Sophie Cunningham did this when she came off the bench.

Coach Brondello. has said Turner is a "5." Maybe it's best to exchange one of your 5's (Turner) for a true 4. For instance, Dallas truly needs an inside defensive presence and they're playing Thornton as a 3, when she's a true 4 (but Sabally is there). Just a thought.

And/or of course, the 3, for whatever reason, is up and down.

Lastly, re: Griner. BG has not maximized her WNBA career, I agree. But she reports to duty for the U.S.A. team and when she's on, raises the stakes for anyone playing the U.S. This year, I think BG, Fowles and Tina Charles make matters virtually impossble for any other team. And that' not even taking Stewie and Wilson into account.
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The 2 best players in the world in Stewie, and Wilson, add Charles , Fowler, and Griner, if you get any defense from the guards, very hard for anyone to stay close.
 
baggerbob said:
The 2 best players in the world in Stewie, and Wilson, add Charles , Fowler, and Griner, if you get any defense from the guards, very hard for anyone to stay close.
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Assuming the Olympics go off as planned, the gold medal for Olympic WBB is the surest of sure things.
 
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bbsamjj said:
Especially once DT went down earlier in the season, Griner seems to have taken it on herself to finally play like the dominant player she always could be. I don't know who's to "blame" for why this hasn't happened before on a consistent basis, but it's been a full 5 seasons since she, a 6-9 once in a generation player, has averaged more than 8rpg, and this year she's shot up to 9.5rpg while also being in the top 5 in he league in scoring, blocks and FG%.

But Phoenix is an average to bad defensive team (They rank 9th out of 12 teams in defensive rating), which could work if they had an amazing offense...but they don't (8th out of 12 teams in offensive rating). As others have said, Griner and SDS can get you far, but without DT, the pieces around them are pretty weak.
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I haven't watched a lot of WNBA basketball this year, but seriously how on earth is Phoenix a less than stellar defensive team with 4 starters being Kia Nurse, BG, Brianna Turner and Diggins-Smith??
 
bballnut90 said:
I haven't watched a lot of WNBA basketball this year, but seriously how on earth is Phoenix a less than stellar defensive team with 4 starters being Kia Nurse, BG, Brianna Turner and Diggins-Smith??
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The only thing I can say is that defense has to be played as a team, and good individual defenders don't make a good team defense if they don't play in concert. The Mercury look disorganized about half the time on offense and on defense.
 
McCowan's playing like her senior year in college tonight. Indiana's up 11 over the Liberty going into the fourth quarter.
 
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Phoenix knocks off Las Vegas and Seattle back to back games. Still no D. Big games for Griner and SDS again.
 
Minnesota all over Las Vegas in Q1. Dantas going off. No Cambage tonight (the Seattle Aussie Olympians were also out tonight).
 
nwhoopfan said:
Phoenix knocks off Las Vegas and Seattle back to back games. Still no D. Big games for Griner and SDS again.
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Seattle without Talbot or Ezi is not a very good team. Las Vegas minus Liz still has most of their best players, Hamby should play more.
 
Clarendon is killing the Aces again.

A'ja is 3-14 shooting today. Oof. Not what they needed w/ Cambage not playing.
 
Plum and Hamby leading them w/ 12 points each. It might be time to shake up the starting lineup. Not a high enough energy level from the starters it seems like. Why wait 5+ minutes into the game to get a shot in the arm from a couple of bench players?
 
Lynx hammering the Aces w/ Collier doing nothing much, who would've guessed that would happen?

edit--when I typed that she had 3 points on 1-9 shooting, she's hit a couple buckets in a row since
 
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I don't know if this is true or not. On Rebkell they are saying Brondello instructed her Aussie Olympians to sit out the last couple games before the break. So...she kept a couple players from her opponent's team from playing in a game she's coaching, that's gotta be a conflict of interest isn't it? Everything about the WNBA in Olympics years is just bizarre though.
 
Aces in the too little too late department have cut a 17 point deficit down to 10, but only 30 seconds left. Another good 2nd half for Plum after a quiet first half. She's tied for a game high 18 w/ Clarendon.
 
Not good news. That was a hard collision Crystal did not look good. Not sure if it was a blatant moving pic.

"They had two more fouls [eight] than Layshia Clarendon [six]," said Reeve, who was particularly angered by what appeared to be a moving screen by A'ja Wilson that Lynx point guard Crystal Dangerfield crashed into in the third quarter, injuring her right shoulder. Last year's WNBA Rookie of the Year did not return to the game.

Balanced Lynx thump Las Vegas for sixth consecutive victory - StarTribune.com

Napheesa having some offensive difficulties. Especially with her handle leading to TO's but is the clear leader of the defensive side and communicates all the time Only played 36.5 minutes. :eek:
 
Bigboote said:
McCowan's playing like her senior year in college tonight. Indiana's up 11 over the Liberty going into the fourth quarter.
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Teiara has potential to do well and she's had some good games, just needs to string together a few in a row. Being on Indiana doesn't help matters.

My hope for Vivians is shrinking. Her injury after her rookie year really slowed her down. I didn't think she would be an all star but hoped she would be a consistent starter in the league. Still love the Lady Dogs though.
 
baggerbob said:
Seattle without Talbot or Ezi is not a very good team. Las Vegas minus Liz still has most of their best players, Hamby should play more.
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Seattle without Bird, Loyd, and Stewart is a lottery team. Leave those three players out and start Ezi, Talbot and rest of the Seattle players and see how good they are.
 
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