2024 WNBA PLAYOFFS Discussion Thread (WNBA Finals: New York Liberty vs Minnesota Lynx; NYL WIN 3-2)

[Green Chile]

Oof, I'm so sorry. The Courtney shot before "the shot" and then Phee's crazy block on JJ was when it's like "oh **** this is happening"

And Courtney's Dad, wow. On the road, hard to imagine a better moment for a Dad than watching your baby girl just take one in a lit up Barclay's.

[MrDollarBills]

Finally getting a chance to watch now.

It's very wild already knowing the outcome. It's hard to imagine a more impressive 1st quarter than what the Liberty did. Just rolling. And JJ dominating, which always points to great things for the Liberty.

I'm sorry, MDB. I still don't know how this thing turned, but it had to be gut-wrenching.

I was sad, angry, and even more sad

[MrDollarBills]

I don't think I've been hurt so badly by a loss like this in a very long time.



Like I'm demoralized right now. Call me a bitch if you want, but man. I'm not okay I feel sick right now.

It's far from over, the Liberty were so dominant up until the very end. I appreciate your passion, it's cool to see the WNBA has fans like you.

Last night was when I realized just how much I care for the Liberty. Like I always cared but it didn't occur to me how invested and attached I am to them as a team until they hit their lowest point of the season.

It's kind of a good feeling because I didn't think I would ever feel this way about a basketball team ever again.

[MrDollarBills]

I don't think I've been hurt so badly by a loss like this in a very long time.


Like I'm demoralized right now. Call me a bitch if you want, but man. I'm not okay I feel sick right now.

This is my concern with the WNBA. I don't need any more teams to get me all wound up. I'm trying to watch without getting too invested.

This is unacceptable. I need someone else to trauma bond with. Profess your undying loyalty to the Lynx this instant

[MrDollarBills]

I don't think I've been hurt so badly by a loss like this in a very long time.



Like I'm demoralized right now. Call me a bitch if you want, but man. I'm not okay I feel sick right now.

Nah man, you're a fan, and fans feel the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat sometimes more than the athletes do.

I'm sorry you're hurting. I can't say I'm cheering for the Liberty - though they do have the best jersey in the W and the best mascot anywhere - but I'll be happy for you if they win MDB!

I just hope the gals/folks on the team are okay and are ready to fight back because we are in serious trouble right now. I'll be fine as a fan but I need the Liberty coming out looking to run them off the floor and bully ball the Lynx!

[MrDollarBills]

Good news

Thursday’s Lynx-Liberty WNBA Finals Game 1 averaged a 0.6 rating and 1.14 million viewers on ESPN, marking the largest WNBA Finals audience since Game 2 of the 2003 series on ABC (Sparks-Shock: 1.28M), the largest Game 1 audience in Finals history and the tenth-largest audience in the history of the event.

https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2024/10/wnba-finals-most-watched-game-21-years-lynx-liberty-opener/

For context, we were up against MLB and NFL last night.

[TheWitcher]

Because we stopped moving the ball

Like I don't mind Sabrina being aggressive but she took some really bad shots in the 2nd half.

Ugh. That loss hurt badly, I can't lie. Woke up thinking about it

Jonquel was too much for the Lynx, I have no idea what they can do about her. She was killing them on the glass and the offensive end.

Nothing. At least likely nothing. Coach Reeve is a bit of a sadist. There was an after game press conference while they were playing the Mercury where Alana Smith was talking about having to defend Britney Griner 1on 1 and said laughing but a bit despondent "I told Coach at half time 'I need help. Please send somebody' ".

To which Cheryl responded "and you have no idea how much we appreciate Alana dealing with the fact that we didn't."

My guess is Reeve is gonna try to get what she can out of Alana defensively and try to make the best out of it. Being up a game on the road with home court advantage secured is just gonna make the Lynx more bold in trying to.apply pressure schematically. Just my best guess.

That is terrifying, and MDB may turn into the happiest man alive.

[DonaldSanders]

Did anyone else think that Game 1 of the Finals was one of the craziest 4thQ/OTs of any basketball game they've ever watched? I know the W isn't super popular yet but I thought there would be a bit more buzz around this absolutely absurd finish. The number of times my eyes popped or my jaw dropped was pretty high because the outcome kept shifting on these huge plays & surprises.

It went toe to toe with the best NBA games finishes I've seen.

[MrDollarBills]

Did anyone else think that Game 1 of the Finals was one of the craziest 4thQ/OTs of any basketball game they've ever watched? I know the W isn't super popular yet but I thought there would be a bit more buzz around this absolutely absurd finish. The number of times my eyes popped or my jaw dropped was pretty high because the outcome kept shifting on these huge plays & surprises.

It went toe to toe with the best NBA games finishes I've seen.

I'm not sure if this qualifies as WNBA game of the year, but it definitely is in the top 4 that I've watched this year. And there have been a lot of good games this season.

[MrDollarBills]

As apart of their presentation package to the Philly government to pitch a new arena in the Chinatown area, the Sixers are also interested in WNBA expansion with both clubs playing in the arena.

More of this.

[Green Chile]

Reeve not doubling on JJ is interesting.

Lynx have no answer for JJ inside. The question is how much does it matter?

Even when it's working, the Liberty clearly weren't committed to it.
When it was working in the 1st, the LIberty were also red-hot from 3.

Griner was brought up. Nobody in the league has an answer for Griner, including the Lynx. Lynx lost one time to the Mercury (because Kah went nuts), who were probably the most disappointing team in the league even though they have a talented 6'9" player that nobody can guard.

A'ja and the 6'1" Phee are the only players I've seen consistently get wins taking over games in the post this year.

No reason to object to Reeve letting JJ go to work in the paint with no help defense. It's a 2-point play with a lot of work.

Reeve knows the most likely way they lose is the Liberty going bonkers from 3, so it makes sense if that's their main focus.

[hermes]

in 3 of the 5 games against the lynx this year, jones hasn't had very good games or was not much of a factor. i don't remember if its because she was defended differently or the liberty didn't make her the focus or she just had bad games. but she hasn't always been dominate against the lynx

[cdubbz]

The one thing I keep seeing JJ do when she gets the ball in the paint is bring the ball down where the smaller players have a chance at it. Need to see her keep the ball above her head -- no one can get to it

[Doctor MJ]

Reeve not doubling on JJ is interesting.

Lynx have no answer for JJ inside. The question is how much does it matter?

Even when it's working, the Liberty clearly weren't committed to it.
When it was working in the 1st, the LIberty were also red-hot from 3.

Griner was brought up. Nobody in the league has an answer for Griner, including the Lynx. Lynx lost one time to the Mercury (because Kah went nuts), who were probably the most disappointing team in the league even though they have a talented 6'9" player that nobody can guard.

A'ja and the 6'1" Phee are the only players I've seen consistently get wins taking over games in the post this year.

No reason to object to Reeve letting JJ go to work in the paint with no help defense. It's a 2-point play with a lot of work.

Reeve knows the most likely way they lose is the Liberty going bonkers from 3, so it makes sense if that's their main focus.

Some great discussion happening and it's pointing out a broader WNBA phenomenon I've noticed. In a nutshell:

- Unlike in the NBA, the success rate of elite interior players in the W when attempting to score never dipped the same way.
- This likely kept the W from embracing pace & space as quickly as the NBA.
- But my assessment of the the W's on/off (and other such) data, would be that this was generally less beneficial to the team's offense than you'd expect just by looking at the shooting data.
- And I would attribute this primarily to the fact that the entire model of a big "getting position" is also getting predictable to the defense. Even if you can't stop than when they get the ball, you can make it hard for the ball to get to them where they want the ball.
- The fact that post-up scoring was relatively more efficient in the W than in the NBA of course makes it less costly than if it were less efficient, but it's apparently not enough to expect to beat the best of those using other strategy.

Let me note a couple specific examples to ponder here as arguably exceptions to the rule:

1. Back when the Aces used the Twin Tower strategy with A'ja at the 4 and Liz Cambage at the 5, the team did indeed have the best ORtg in the regular season, but then they (particularly the Twin Towers) struggled to score in the playoffs against Griner's Mercury. It's entirely possible that the Aces just got particularly unlucky with the matchup, health, etc...but they did get better when they abandoned the strategy, and with a less-talented-before team (cuz no Liz) then won two titles in a row.

What was the big change? Well, they went from shooting 13.5 3PA/g to 26.4. Nearly doubling the rate and going from by far the lowest 3PAr in the league to 3rd (out of 12).

2. Napheesa's scoring a lot from the interior, so why does that seem to be working so well?

First, she's the absolute antithesis of predictable. She dances every which way to get the ball, and then when she has it she can pivot and twist astonishingly well.

Second, well: Last year they shot 20.8 3PA/g, and this year they shot 25.0 3PA/g.

Of course in neither case am I suggesting that you win simply by taking the same players you had before and have them jack 3's, but when you can do so effectively, you win more...

Third, particularly when you have a player who likes to work the interior. The spacing Phee's teammates now provide are super-charging her offensive effectiveness while depending all the more on her versatility defensively.

With none of this am I deny the reasoning of looking to attack with JJ though. I'd just say the key thing is that the players have to be very savvy about how to use JJ's gravity to turn the other players loose.

[TheWitcher]

Game day! Should be a fun one. Good luck to fans of both teams, I’ll be on the sidelines gawking at Phee.

[Sealab2024]

Game day!!! Personally I expect the Liberty to take this one in a hard fought game with NY controlling the tempo. Stewie, Sabrina and Co are just too talented to lose both at home. Courtney Williams, as good as she was Thursday, can just as easily shoot a team out of a game as in and I don't expect her 3 point shooting to continue to be as hot as it was.

Liberty 78
Lynx 72

BTW: the Minnesota Vikings have a bye this week which means the Lynx slot almost perfectly into the MN sports fans viewing landscape in its place. Between that and the buzz because of game 1 I expect record viewership this afternoon.

[bisme37]

[Green Chile]

Game day!!! Personally I expect the Liberty to take this one in a hard fought game with NY controlling the tempo. Stewie, Sabrina and Co are just too talented to lose both at home. Courtney Williams, as good as she was Thursday, can just as easily shoot a team out of a game as in and I don't expect her 3 point shooting to continue to be as hot as it was.

Liberty 78
Lynx 72

BTW: the Minnesota Vikings have a bye this week which means the Lynx slot almost perfectly into the MN sports fans viewing landscape in its place. Between that and the buzz because of game 1 I expect record viewership this afternoon.

Seems like it's been a pretty awesome calendar year for Minnesota sports fans.

[cdubbz]

Here we go! Liberty need to come out and destroy the Lynx to get their confidence back. Send a message!

[hermes]

wow that is a bright shirt