Phoenix or San Antonio???

[Purple Reign]

I have to ask the proverbial dreaded question, as a Monarch Fan who would you rather see in the first round.....Phoenix or San Antonio?

Me personally, I would rather see San Antonio first for the following reasons:

1. I think we have the defense to contain Hammon, Young and Riley. They are the keys, and I think San Antonio has seen glimpses of what the Monarchs will do on the defensive side of the ball in the post season

2. Playoff experience. We have it, they don't. Hammon and Vickie Johnson has played playoff ball, but how long ago was that? Ruth Riley shrinks in the post season.

3. I want to give Phoenix the opportunity to cool down in Round One. I think they will beat Seattle, and by the time we get to them (if we do) those outside shots that have been falling in the regular season will begin to fall short in the Seattle series (I hope). If they don't we won't beat them anyway.

 

[Monty'sBiggestFan]

Can we add the option, "I would like to beat them both and advance to the Finals." Order doesn't matter, we'll have to likely see both.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

I find that I tend to object to participating in public polls as a matter of principle, but I'll try to respond appropriately:

1. I think we have the defense to contain Hammon, Young and Riley. They are the keys, and I think San Antonio has seen glimpses of what the Monarchs will do on the defensive side of the ball in the post season

I don't quite agree with that; the weakness of the white line defense is the skip pass, and San Antonio is very good at that. Our defense is designed to prevent ball rotation on the perimeter, and keep the ball from going from one side of the court to the other, but whenever the ball goes over the top, we're usually left flat-footed... that's how Detroit beat us last year in the Finals, and San Antonio has the personnel to beat us the same way.

2. Playoff experience. We have it, they don't. Hammon and Vickie Johnson has played playoff ball, but how long ago was that? Ruth Riley shrinks in the post season.

Except for that year she was Finals MVP, right?

It interests me that you would say that Riley "shrinks" in the playoffs when her career playoff averages are better than her career regular season averages, even counting that last season in Detroit; if you don't count last year, her playoff numbers are WAY better than her regular season average, across the board.

I'm a little confused as to what the objective of this discussion is, since the chance of us playing anybody other than San Antonio is barely more than hypothetical at this point: we'd have to win out, AND hope that San Antonio split their remaining games, just to force a tiebreaker.

 

[RDub21]

I guess it depends on how we do against Phoenix the next two games. If we can at least get one game, then I don't really care either way, but if we get swept, then SA looks pretty good.

 

[Purple Reign]

I'm a little confused as to what the objective of this discussion is, since the chance of us playing anybody other than San Antonio is barely more than hypothetical at this point: we'd have to win out, AND hope that San Antonio split their remaining games, just to force a tiebreaker.

Then move on slick. Just trying to drum up Monarchs talk.

I do agree that the "skip pass" is a huge weakness for the white line, but my point was that our three best defenders are at the point guard, power forward and center. They can contain their players, especially with their history of stepping up their game in the post season (maybe outside of Bekkah)

As far as Ruth Riley, 2003 was a lifetime ago , did you see her in '06 against Sacramento? I do count last year she did absolutely nothing.

2006 RILEY PLAYOFF STATISTICS
4.4 PPG
38.5 FG%
shot all of 4 Free Throws
3.2 RPG
0.5 BPG (standing 6 foot 5)
in 10 games, 10 starts.

And then on top of that got traded for someone who has never played the playoffs in Feenstra and Detroit instead went with a bigger stiff in Braxton. I guarantee you that if Sacramento plays San Antonio, "Double R" will be a non factor. And if she is a factor, I will be the bigger poster and say she is, but she will not.

......moving on

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Then move on slick. Just trying to drum up Monarchs talk.

Your effort to "drum up Monarchs talk" is based on a shoddy premise, and I'll criticize it as I see fit. There is, at best, a 1-in-16 chance of us playing anybody other than San Antonio happening and it's, quite frankly, out of the Monarchs' hands, anyway. It would be different if they were in control of their own destiny, but they're not. As I said before, even if San Antonio splits their remaining two, we'd still have to win out. And if they win both, what we do is of no consequence. Hell, even if they LOSE both, we'd still have to win out in order to not play San Antonio.

I do agree that the "skip pass" is a huge weakness for the white line, but my point was that our three best defenders are at the point guard, power forward and center. They can contain their players, especially with their history of stepping up their game in the post season (maybe outside of Bekkah)

That hasn't seemed to help much against Young, whom Brunson has been matched up against, and has more or less gotten whatever she wanted against our defense in three out of four games.

As far as Ruth Riley, 2003 was a lifetime ago , did you see her in '06 against Sacramento? I do count last year she did absolutely nothing.

Well, if that's your argument, then we're doomed, because Brunson has been wretched in the playoffs, and we're pretty much counting on her to hold it together.

Like I said before, even IF you count last year in the playoffs, that doesn't change the fact that Riley STILL averages more in the playoffs than she does in the regular season, so saying that she "shrinks" in the playoffs is either horribly misinformed, deliberately biased, or a bold-faced lie.

 

[Monty'sBiggestFan]

I still want to roll both of them...

 

[shaka zulu]

The pressure is on those two teams to excel in the post season. I see these teams as two good regular season teams that will tighten up and freeze up come playoff time. When the pressure is on you to perform and it is do or die it is a whole new brand of ball game that taurasi i don't think is ready for at this time. The lack of experiece will be key against the mercury and I think the pressure will be too much for hammon and her crew as well.


Those two teams have alot of prove,the monarchs are still the defending westeren conference champions for 2 years going. The monarchs win the first 2 games at home and watch how those jumpers start getting tight and that basket starts to look funny. The monarchs no how to close games out and have been in the big games over the last 5 seasons. Playoff basketball your going to have to do more than hit jump shots.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Well, San Antonio losing tonight clinches the #1 seed for Phoenix, anyway, so I guess we'll just have to "drum up" some Monarchs talk of another kind...