WNBA Playoffs - Congrats WNBA Champion Chicago Sky!

[Doctor MJ]

taurasi the goat, career high at age 39

She’s really something.

Her success with playoff upsets is like nothing I’ve seen in NBA history.

I will say I consider Maya Moore to be more impressive as an overall player, but purely as a scorer, there’s no one in the women’s game that matches Taurasi. Calling her Kobe-esque significantly underrates the degree of her high pressure success.


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[Doctor MJ]

How come Liz doesn’t start for aces?

There are major fit concerns with Wilson and Cambage along with endurance concerns with Cambage, so Laimbeer has been using a staggered approach.

Interestingly while everyone sees these two as the best players on the team, it’s the supporting player Jackie Young with the huge plus minus numbers.


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[Pelon chingon]

I heard the mercury vs liberty series got booted from their own stadium to make way for a concert headlined by a colombian singer named "maluma" and his "papi juancho" tour LULZ what!? They ended up playing at Grand Canyon university arena with a capacity of 7k. Did they even sell that game out?

[bisme37]

A couple of Game 3's on today. Connecticut vs Chicago is at the half right now and it's a two point game. Bonner going off for the Sun and the Sky are getting a great team effort. Game 3 of Phoenix vs Vegas is on a little later.

Thought I'd bump the thread in the event anyone else is watching and wants to chime in.

[Mauro Pedrosa]

I’ve got a deep passion for Diana Taurasi

[Doctor MJ]

A couple of Game 3's on today. Connecticut vs Chicago is at the half right now and it's a two point game. Bonner going off for the Sun and the Sky are getting a great team effort. Game 3 of Phoenix vs Vegas is on a little later.

Thought I'd bump the thread in the event anyone else is watching and wants to chime in.

It's really interesting that we're seeing a team that dominated offensive rebounding all-year getting beaten on the boards by a team for whom that wasn't a strength. Connecticut may have enough to take this series even without their normal competitive advantage, but they really need to be able to keep that advantage going if they want to win the title.

[Doctor MJ]

More thoughts:

On Chicago:

Vandersloot is the closest WNBA analogue I've seen to Steve Nash. She's not the shooter that Nash is, but when she runs an offense her style, it looks like Nash.

Still watching to see how Vandersloot & Parker will blend together in the long term. Parker's used to be being able to be the focal point of her teams.

Quigley incidentally is a clear example of the Reggie Miller-type working off-ball to get a shot.

On Connecticut, the big thing to note is that MVP Jonquel Jones is being stymied so far. Jones is seen as essentially the analogue to KD on offense while being a legit defensive anchor on defense, but she hasn't been looking like it here. If she doesn't end up looking like an MVP-level player in the playoffs, it's going to be hard for them to win the title.

[cupcakesnake]

excellent stop by Parker.

[cupcakesnake]

Another huge defensive sequence by Parker wow!

Pretty wild end to this game.

[bisme37]

Wow what a thriller that was. Both teams came up with some awesome defensive stops but Conn just couldn't covert on couple layup opportunities at the end. Bonner and Alyssa Thomas were great but my girl Jonquel needs to get back to her MVP dominance if they're going to take the series. Copper, Parker and Quigley were great for the Sky. Chicago goes up 2-1 in this best of 5.

[cupcakesnake]

Part of me does feel like the appeal of the WNBA is how old school it is. I get more excited for these clash of the titans games between Griner and Cambage than I should. Even though we know (and can plainly see) how inefficient a lot of this post up scoring is, I'm still anticipating each possession they play against each other. Cambage is 1-3 and Griner is 1-3 though lol.

I do really like watching Cambage. She's such a jerk.

[cupcakesnake]

What's the point of dragging Griner out of the paint if you're just going to take a jump shot over her? Terrible read by Plumm

[bisme37]

The Mercury just put a good old fashioned butt whupping on the Aces. Up 2-1 in their best of 5.

[Doctor MJ]

These playoffs are getting interesting.

Since 2016, when the WNBA began with the double-single-elimination in the first two rounds of the playoff, and thus giving double byes to the top 2 regular season teams, the top 2 regular season teams have played in the finals against each other every year but one - and that year it was the #1 beating the #3, so only a slight deviation and both teams still got at least one bye.

We're now on the cusp of a final between two teams that had to play both single-elimination rounds, because they weren't good enough during the regular season to earn byes. If this happens, wow, super out-of-the-ordinary.

It makes you ask if there was something timeless that might have predicted this knowing very little about the actual teams in question. And of course, there are things.

The obvious trope here is that while Connecticut and Las Vegas were clearly the best teams in the regular season, and while both have previously made the finals in this era, both had their success this year on the back of new breakthroughs.

For the Sun, it was Jonquel Jones emerging as the resounding MVP of the league where her prior rise had been something of a slow burn - she was first Most Improved Player and then 6th Person of the Year. If Jones could be as effective in the playoffs as in the regular season, there really wasn't any reason to think they'd lose to anyone. The good news? Connecticut still feels like the more able team in their current series, it's just a matter of whether they can find their rhythm against the savvy veteran Sky. I'd probably still consider them the favorite in that series, and if they win that one, the favorite against whoever they play. Even if they lose this series, this might be only a bump in the road before Jonquel has her Giannis 2021 moment.

But of my, the Las Vegas Aces could be in some real trouble both now and going forward. The concept of this Aces team is essentially coach Laimbeer going Full Laimbeer. Between A'ja Wilson and Liz Cambage they have possibly the two best interior scorers in the game. If that really works, that's a dynasty.

It has to be noted what it says to be trying to win with an offensive-oriented twin towers, and this is completely antithetical to the state of the art in the NBA. There are stats those in the WNBA can point to show that this is working - most relevant here: the Aces had the best ORtg in the regular season, but there are also some red flags indicating post offense isn't working as well as folks in the WNBA think it is.

I've looked at the Aces all year and wondered if they can just brute force their way to the title. Important not to make too much of one game, but going down 2-1 in a Best of 5 series by having your offense run into an absolute wall against a meh defensive team when that's supposed to be your strong suit is a dark place to be. If they end up losing this series resoundingly, it's going to effectively going to refute the theory of the team, and with a star as temperamental as Cambage, things could go Ben Simmons.

On the underdogs currently winning: I don't think there's anything that's going to convince me that this Mercury or this Sky is an ultra-elite team, but there's now a very real chance one of them is going to win the whole shebang. The Mercury in particular could end up with a major "team of destiny" vibe with Taurasi becoming a true crossover sports icon on a level that I don't think we've ever seen from women's basketball, even though she's really past her prime and this is only possible because there are several other exceptional players on the team.

[prophet_of_rage]

How come Liz doesn’t start for aces?

I think it's just temporary because she recently had covid and is still getting back into shape. She's always started when I've watched the Aces before last night.

This.

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[jehosafats]

A couple of Game 3's on today. Connecticut vs Chicago is at the half right now and it's a two point game. Bonner going off for the Sun and the Sky are getting a great team effort. Game 3 of Phoenix vs Vegas is on a little later.

Thought I'd bump the thread in the event anyone else is watching and wants to chime in.

Connecticut let game 1 get away from them. I didn't expect it but they had it, until they ran out of gas. They should be up in this series.

[cupcakesnake]

But of my, the Las Vegas Aces could be in some real trouble both now and going forward. The concept of this Aces team is essentially coach Laimbeer going Full Laimbeer. Between A'ja Wilson and Liz Cambage they have possibly the two best interior scorers in the game. If that really works, that's a dynasty.

It has to be noted what it says to be trying to win with an offensive-oriented twin towers, and this is completely antithetical to the state of the art in the NBA. There are stats those in the WNBA can point to show that this is working - most relevant here: the Aces had the best ORtg in the regular season, but there are also some red flags indicating post offense isn't working as well as folks in the WNBA think it is.

I've looked at the Aces all year and wondered if they can just brute force their way to the title. Important not to make too much of one game, but going down 2-1 in a Best of 5 series by having your offense run into an absolute wall against a meh defensive team when that's supposed to be your strong suit is a dark place to be. If they end up losing this series resoundingly, it's going to effectively going to refute the theory of the team, and with a star as temperamental as Cambage, things could go Ben Simmons.

I'm not sure if this series should be the bellwether for WNBA twin towers. The Mercury may be an average defense, but in terms of specifically interior defense, they're well suited for this matchup. They start multiple rim protectors. This is the best shot-blocking team in the league and a strong rebounding team. Brittney Griner and Briana Turner are a tough matchup for A'ja Wilson and LIz Cambage. Turner (and a lot of well-timed double teams) completely smothered A'ja when she got inside yesterday.

It's also very clear that Liz Cambage isn't healthy. She's only 2 weeks back from covid, and while she's shooting the ball okay, she really isn't rebounding, posting up, or getting to the line at all. She's been operating out of the high post, or as a spot up shooter, and mostly getting finesse shots in the middle of the paint. She just seems to have none of that characteristic Liz Cambage bully ball, regardless of whether she's sharing the court with A'ja as much. I do think it's clear that A'ja and Liz aren't the ideal match for each other. Liz usually surrenders the post to A'ja and operates as somewhat of a finesse-y mid-post big. The Liz Cambage who looked like an MVP candidate in Dallas, has never consistently shown up in Las Vegas. But this playoff run has been more than just awkward fit. Cambage is playing 19mpg, and we've seen both her rebounding rate and free throw rate cut in half.

Also, not that I've followed well enough to know for sure, but has Cambage been tempermental in Las Vegas? I know she has had high profile clashes with Dallas and the Australian National team, but everything I've heard from her in LV has been hunky-dory.

[Calvin Klein]

If anybody could send me a way to watch these games I'd appreciate it

[bape_lovers]

if Canada has a team, definitely would watch

[cupcakesnake]

If anybody could send me a way to watch these games I'd appreciate it

pm'd you a link that's been working for me