....

Not much sucks worse than seeing the evil Sparks in first place. It actually makes me glad the Comets won tonight and kept LA from running away with the conference.

At least LL didn't get her 5,000 career point on us. All she needed was one more point.
 
Oh no...what sucks worse than that, is letting them come in your house and kick your $## like that. I will join you in cheering the "defense" on Leslie scoring 5K here. We certainly seem intent to give up 5K to Mabika too.

As the team finished the handshake line and headed for the post game huddle...I watched Yo rip them a new one. They had to stand around and listen to whatever she was emphatically saying to them which had to have a few expletives mixed in because she looked REALLY pissed. She was sooooo pissed that she wanted no part of the t-shirt toss. She probably told them to hurry up and toss their shirts and get in the lockerroom so she could finish chewing their butts. Ticha tossed hers on the way to the tunnel, but the rest of them seemed to take their sweet time tossing their shirts which I found hilarious. :) They were still tossing shirts when I left for the concourse.

If you would have told me that Brunson would finally break out of her funk, that Kim Smith would shoot daggers, Dorrell would blow up, Leslie would sit the majority of the 4th quarter, Mabika would clank shots early and we'd play nearly lights out in the 1st and it would go downhill as quickly and as unexplainedly as it did I would not have believed you.

The good thing? Moms was back in uniform and back on the floor.

Ok, sign of hands on two counts....was that the WORST half time act ever?
How many of you, like me, thought there was either a punch line to the act or that it would actually get better? I'm still traumatized by it.

If they could have a worse game than this.....
 
Man, we played better down at Staples.:mad: Right now the problems seems to be consistant effort on perimeter defense and consistant execution on offense.

I have to give credit to where credit is due (I guess). If LA continues to play like this, they will be very hard to beat.

Hopefully Sunday night we will bring home a victory.
 
I keep hearing that it's not as bad as I'm making it out to be... I keep hearing after each big loss that that could be the wake up call that they needed.

Well? What the hell is taking them so long to wake up? :mad:
 
Probably because at least previously they were remotely in the other big losses. Tonight, this game was over quickly as soon as the first quarter ended. They were never in this game after that and moreso than any other game they lost this year, this was the first time it looked like they had collectively checked out. Minus Yo that is. Coach was running different groups out there and nothing happened to change things other than them occasionally scoring when LA stopped wanting to or decided to do as much stupid stuff with the basketball as the Monarchs were. They were rarely in position to rebound on either end of the floor, they still have no idea who should shoot the ball and when in this offense. Both have been problems since the preseason to varying degrees.

The lashing Yo gave them may have done it, If between that and watching how monumentally pathetic their effort was after the first half was wasn't enough to wake them up...they are essentially in a coma and this is going to be a long season.

This had to have been rock bottom. I'll be honest and say I did not see this game coming, I thought they had turned the corner after Weds game because they had done a lot of stuff better than they had been, although the offense was still weird. I keep going back to everything that was going right for a good portion of the first quarter...I did not see the blitzing coming even remotely. The arena was in stunned mode.
 
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According to the Bee, they had a players only meeting after the game. So, Yo's lashing probably did continue. I really thought this would be a very exciting game with the way they were playing in the 1st quarter. I thought, wow...here we go!!! And then they went, and, well....the bubble burst.:(

I was glad to see the rookies step up their shooting. But I'm guessing they haven't played in the "6 passes or you're out" offense long enough to know they're not supposed to shoot that much....:rolleyes:

Other teams have figured out Ticha will bring the ball up the court, then pass to Yo/Bek/Maiga/Erin at the top of the key, then what does everyone else do?? Whiz needs to make adjustments. Our shooters aren't taking the open shot. Everyone keeps attempting to pass into the paint. Why does that have to happen?? Maybe mix it up a bit. Pass 2 times then shoot...??? Other teams would not expect that from us. Powell and Kara need to practice shooting while someone is standing in front of them with hands in their faces. Just practice till their arms fall off, geez. Other players do that all the time. They don't seem to want to shoot when they're open, so why not?

Mabika is going to stop and pop all day long. Why don't our shooters do that??? Oh yeah, they have to pass....duh.....
 
Oh yeah, and that halftime show was pathetic.....I usually to watch, but had to leave.......where are the frisbee dogs???!!!!
 
I wasn't able to make it to last night's game, but it looks like this was a good game to miss. :( I get the scores after each quarter via text message, and when I saw the first quarter score I was feeling pretty good. Needless to say when the final score came in that good feeling was "diminshed" (to put it mildly).

I heard the halftime show was absolutely horrible. Sounds like a pretty bad night all around. Damn.

As MBF said, I hope this is rock bottom and the Monarchs get back on track. July is gonna be a tough month...
 
I'm not convinced its the offense that's the problem. It is giving them open looks and open lanes through which to go to the basket, which, when they take advantage of they can keep games close or push out to leads. The problem comes when they decide not to take advantage of either.

Not to single anybody out because they all are like this right now or at least have similar tendencies - how many times last night or this season for that matter have we watched for instance Nicole receive the ball on the wing and be WIDE OPEN and decide not to take that shot but rather dribble in a few steps into a defender only to then shake said defender with a jab step and get some space again AND STILL look to pass the ball back up top or try to make an entry pass to a heavily defended post player? I mean neither she nor Kara shoot when the posts screen for them as dictated by some of the offensive movement.

Last night even Ticha broke down and made some seriously questionable decisions with the ball. They all were making seriously questionable passes to no one wearing Monarchs jerseys. Dorrell and Smith at least read the defense and were aggressive and shot the ball, Brunson finally had shots fall. But they are waiting so long to generate a shot that the shots they do get aren't good or aren't as good as the one they each had 5 seconds earlier when they gave it up. They even insist on over passing after inbounding the ball with a low shot clock. All of them have to want to take a shot.

Someone sitting next to me last night said the guy doing the half time show had been on a television talent show. I told him I wished he would have given me a head's up that it wasn't going to get any better than it was.
 
In fairness to Coach...

He did make one adjustment.

Nicole is inbounding the Ball, so she is the person recieving the first pass at the top of the Key in the infamous 6-pass offense. That at least makes that person a potential threat.

Ticha and Yo were at the Autograph table. And let me tell you the Look on Ticha's face Said Volumes. She looks like she could Chew nails. She and Yo were in the mist of a intense discussion so one believes that Yo has her collective foot in peoples asses.

MBF I managed no t to fire Kim Smith Last night. The Rookies did look pretty Okay. But the wings... Mother of goodness. I have no idea what Nicole ended up with, But Hell I don't think she even Took a shot in the First Quarter. WTF...

Since the Coaching staff seems to look to MBF and Me for coaching advise, here is some. Nicole... Teams are putting their Shortest... And I mean Their Shortest Wing Defender to guard you. And you have yet to beat them. Which means Kara has a taller defender.

Number two, I could deal with the 6 pass Offense if I didn't have to deal with Dribble exibition that Ticha, Kara and Nicole want to put on.
If you don't have a Shot pass the ball cause guess what, player are getting open. Alot.

Was it me, or did the entire Arena in the 4th Quarter start yelling, Shoot the Ball? I know My section was. When we shot the Ball we did well, whether we missed or not. When we shot when we were open, we gave our rebounders a shot at getting to the ball.
My final thought are this. You play the way you practice. If they practice shooting on a fundamental level every practice, shooting shouldn't be an issue. In a league that require 3 or 4 hours of practice, how do you not take 10 to 15 minutes to do fundamental shooting drills is beyond me. Especially since that is a problem area.

I have been screaming this for weeks. Also, how about incorperating a BOUNCE PASS into the offense.

The offense could be a little more creative, but it is the excution of Offensive skills that needs work. We set Screans on Air, no contact between the screaner and the defender. We set on ball Pics, and the ball handlers dribbles away from the pic. Why set it then. There needs purpose in the Offense.

When we stayed in the 6 Pass Dribble fest... We got killed. I have to agree with Mr Mr. S£im Citrus

I keep hearing that it's not as bad as I'm making it out to be... I keep hearing after each big loss that that could be the wake up call that they needed.

Well? What the hell is taking them so long to wake up?
:mad:




Cause I was thinking the same thing...

But if what we saw at the autograph session was any indicator...


Final thought....Bekkah looked pretty good last night. Showed some nice moves. Rookies get a B+. So it wasn't a total and utter loss, even though I feel like it was. I think Bringing DeMya back was a good move. Not for now per se, but for down the road. She has quick moves and that is very encouraging. Her timing is off, but so is everyone elses. If we can get the Indiana game, and get something consistant from Nicole I think the entire Offense opens up.

Hate to put it on her, but it is what it is. She is not playing bad, she just needs to play better. After all she was the #3 pick in the Best draft right?

 
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Nice to meet Luv13Fan and Purple Reign last night. Thanks, also, to 6th for taking me to the game. No matter the score, we always have fun...and garlic fries! :)
 
I have to disagree with MBF on the offense. I think there is a serious problem there. They run the same play so often, the other team knows just to clog the middle of the court and sneak out a little when a wing gets the ball. The wing will pass before shooting, so just approaching them will do the trick.

I'm looking for more ball movement and less dribbling, too.

When the Monarchs are on offense, it looks like a mosh pit in the paint. At one point, I was admiring (gasp!) the Sparks' offensive set because they were nicely spread out, passing and creating lanes. And what is it with this team and rebounding. Up until they stopped rebounding, they were solidly in the game.

Someone needs to work on that weak-side defense, too. Usually it is either Ticha or more frequently Nicole who fail to defend the three on that side. Let's step it up, ladies!

Tomorrow's game is going to be a tough one, too. I foresee Catchings going off for six or seven threes.

GO MONARCHS!!!! We still love you!
 
I agree, she's not playing poorly...she just needs to play much better. Same for Kara. Ticha and Kristin can become more consistent if they want to as well.

I don't mind the screening...I don't think its wasted activity because last year they used to shoot with the space they got. Brunson gave one of the wings about a mile of space last night and they still dribbled through the open space and did not shoot.

I wish I had stayed around to see who came out for the autographs if that was the drama going on... Also wish someone had flipped the floor microphone on while that post game huddle was going on. ;)

STHs have a chalk talk tomorrow night with the coaching staff - that outta be even MORE interesting than they usually are. I sense with the foot Yo has planted and the new level of self accountability they seem to be asked to have - we might see them start to play with some more consistency (in a good way).
 
lilcrc and I were discussing the offense the other day and she came up with an analogy that fits rather well. Keeping in mind that the offense is anything but smooth (and rather hurky-jerky...my words), lilcrc compared it to teenagers learning to drive a stick shift. :p
 
The reason I have no issue with the offense is because it works when it works. The design of it isn't for it to be clogged, they are supposed to be moving and they arent. They are supposed to be spacing better and when they do we see the easy cuts to the basket that we saw against San Antonio.

The quotes after that game from the local reporter for SportsPageMike's publication were very telling. The one from Yo essentially says they've been spending a lot of time looking like they don't know what they are supposed to be doing in it compared to how much better they play when it looks smooth.

That's what I've had a hard time understanding, why they can flow so inconsistently from not only one game to another, but one quarter to another but also seemingly one possession to another.
 
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