Interesting game tonight....we pretty much saw the offense up against WNBA level talent and although the M's did not run the pants off Phoenix like they did Team China, I still like how it looks. At times it flashed back to those goshforsaken moments of typical Monarchs offense where nothing good happens for about 5 minutes and that's pretty much what kept Phoenix in the game, because when Reina would listen to the game
the Monarchs' offense would shut off. They had Phoenix down by 12 or 13 and then for some reason stopped scoring in the 2nd half and Phoenix caught up and eventually it came down to shotmaking in the final minute or so, and the game winner that Anna DeForge hit...there was pretty much nothing you could do about that but tip your cap - she had two defenders on her, and Newton was about as close to her with a hand in her face as she could get without another whistlehappy group of refs blowing a whistle for looking in her direction. Did something change with the rules in the offseason because I honestly am not getting why so many fouls are being called now. This is getting ridiculous.
But DeForge and Taurasi as usual went nuts on us and it again was the ol' leaving the perimeter shooter uncovered thing that bothered me last Friday, and pretty much was the story of all last season. No Penny Taylor (thank goodness) or Vodichkova (they still outrebounded the Monarchs so her not being here really didn't help us out). Taurasi and Deforge finished with 39pts combined. I think last Friday they gave up 20 something pts to a guard. So their perimeter defense specifically or guard defense generally is still in need of some serious work.
The FT shooting was A-TRO-CIOUS. That needs to get cleaned up quickly. Especially if the first half of the season is going to be a foul-fest for the refs.
Brunson, Walker and Griffith played limited minutes tonight. So I think the rebounding issue may resolve itself once they're back in the mix. Looked like coach gave everybody who was vying for a spot a good opportunity to showcase themselves. If coach was playing to win this game, I think he would have changed to the lineup he finished the game with a little sooner than he did. He had Lawson, Grima, Maiga, maybe Greenwalt and one other player who I'm sure everybody knew wasn't going to take a 3pt shot I think it might have been Newton. And I remembered saying to my neighbor that there really isn't any other shooter out there but Lawson (a phrase I muttered quite a bit it seems last season). At that time, that group of backups and players scrapping for a job were going up against pretty much Phx' starting lineup sans Vodichkova and Taylor. To finish the game he brought in Powell, Miao and Buescher or Haynie and I got a little bit excited about that with the game tight. Wanted to see how that group responded. Powell and Lawson had decent looks at game winners/tiers from the Monarchs' end in the final 36 seconds, Powell actually had a much better look that she should have been able to get, she just was off center with the shot.
Buescher - not nearly the same game as she had last week offensively, but she still got it done in the minutes she had. I don't think she hurt standing today.
Maiga - she made some spectacular finishes tonight. The freakshow underneath the basket reverse was fantastic. She had a great game offensively. She might have moved off the bubble for me. I'm still torn about which C/F combos to keep.
Greenwalt/Grima - Greenwalt showed better tonight to me, and I had to give her a little bit more consideration than I had. My log jam is re: keeping both Anderson and Scott, so she might sneak under the wire if she shows she can score and defend. Grima, I like her, but she did not outplay Greenwalt enough to survive another week.
O-Scott - I STILL love her. The refs STILL are whistling her too much. Which is now making me rethink keeping her over Anderson. But I gotta think she'd just have the purpose of picking up fouls while Yo and/or DeMya are on the bench and that much she's shown she can do well
But if she has 3 fouls in a half, how effectively can she spell those too? So I have to keep Anderson and her 6 fouls, but that's probably costing me somebody like Maiga. Decisions, Decisions.
Anderson - BY FAR her most aggressive game in her young career. Reminded me of the night I saw a young Tangela Smith square up to throw down with Isabelle Fijilkowski. She was getting tired of being grabbed and yanked on the low blocks and gave a Phx player a liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitle itty bitty shove in the back after the play ended. Taurasi blocked her shot on one end of the floor, Anderson follows that with a block of her own on the very next play on the other end of the floor. She needs to get rid of the LaKeisha Frett hands and all will be good. Nice face-up jumpers from her tonight too.
Haynie - looked good for somebody with a sore ankle. She shot and scored in addition to running the offense. So that's 3 point guards now who have shown that it can be done like that in Sacramento.
Miao - um...WOW. I'm thinking how do you not keep her around? Fei Fei is the more highly touted of the two, but sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesh, I'm getting more and more impressed with Miao. She had very nice interior passes, she hit Grima with a no look over the head pass for a transition layup.
Still don't have a definitive final 11 plus a couple of IR slots. But I'm still pretty darn happy with this offense.
