Post your thoughts: MIN/SAC 7/29
- Thread starter mdme
- Start date
It was a rough game. Augustus had 39 points and was a one-woman wrecking crew. At one point, we had only 45% free-throw shooting to their 90%. That's unforgiveable. That, plus our only shooting 30.8% from the floor doomed any chance of victory.
Point guard productivity was poor and so was the ball handling. If we had a couple more Monarchs playing like Nicole, we would have been battling them, but too many shots bounced off the rim.
There was a nice comeback at the end, but opportunities were wasted. We've really got to play better to finish the season.
Point guard productivity was poor and so was the ball handling. If we had a couple more Monarchs playing like Nicole, we would have been battling them, but too many shots bounced off the rim.
There was a nice comeback at the end, but opportunities were wasted. We've really got to play better to finish the season.
Seimone blowing up tonight was the least of our problems IMO. I'm going to guess that our complete and utter refusal to make use of the "free" aspect of free throws tonight, the 10 turnovers in the first damn quarter and the layups we missed had more of a role in this loss.
I don't know how many damn minutes Seimone sat in the 2nd half, I meant to look that up before I posted this. But she was exploding all over us and pretty much nobody else not did much of anything except maybe Ohlde who was the recipient of a new tactic to foil white line - the side line lob over damn everybody on defense. If Ohlde scored on any other type of play it was perhaps putting back a ball off an offensive rebound, which we also liked to give up. I expect this tape to get out to every team in the league who will either see us the rest of the regular season and DEFINITELY those in the post season.
But back to Seimone and how much of a non factor her explosion was...she sat for a ridiculously long stretch in the second half. Everybody else in the traveling colors pretty much had been a spectator once she got ridiculously hot in the first half. Then she sits and they all start dropping shots. I mean seriously, does Shay Murphy ever get off the Minny bench except to play against Sacramento? When I was muttering an expletive, I looked up and she had 10 pts. I guess she's scored that many points this season in games not involving Sacramento (I say half facetiously). But alllll the time Seimone is sitting, we are doing nothing with it. Their lead got LARGER while she sat. That did not bode well for us winning this game really because I sorta sensed that Seimone was going to come back in at some pt. Zeirden was not going to tell her to take the rest of the night off, 29 pts was more than enough, or something similar to that.
I give it up to the Ms digging the heels in and playing defense and to Nicole for unleashing a torrent of her own. If I was in the mood to watch us trade baskets, I would say that the sequence where Nicole and Seimone were answering each others shots was fun to watch. I may some day look back on the last 4 minutes or so of this game and appreciate what I saw offensively from those two tonight.
We may want to take the next two games....unless of course we don't want 3rd place in the conference either. Sorta like we're adverse to the top spot.
Speedy recovery to Koz who missed the game tonight recovering from a reaction to the bee sting he was joking about on air Thursday.
I don't know how many damn minutes Seimone sat in the 2nd half, I meant to look that up before I posted this. But she was exploding all over us and pretty much nobody else not did much of anything except maybe Ohlde who was the recipient of a new tactic to foil white line - the side line lob over damn everybody on defense. If Ohlde scored on any other type of play it was perhaps putting back a ball off an offensive rebound, which we also liked to give up. I expect this tape to get out to every team in the league who will either see us the rest of the regular season and DEFINITELY those in the post season.
But back to Seimone and how much of a non factor her explosion was...she sat for a ridiculously long stretch in the second half. Everybody else in the traveling colors pretty much had been a spectator once she got ridiculously hot in the first half. Then she sits and they all start dropping shots. I mean seriously, does Shay Murphy ever get off the Minny bench except to play against Sacramento? When I was muttering an expletive, I looked up and she had 10 pts. I guess she's scored that many points this season in games not involving Sacramento (I say half facetiously). But alllll the time Seimone is sitting, we are doing nothing with it. Their lead got LARGER while she sat. That did not bode well for us winning this game really because I sorta sensed that Seimone was going to come back in at some pt. Zeirden was not going to tell her to take the rest of the night off, 29 pts was more than enough, or something similar to that.
I give it up to the Ms digging the heels in and playing defense and to Nicole for unleashing a torrent of her own. If I was in the mood to watch us trade baskets, I would say that the sequence where Nicole and Seimone were answering each others shots was fun to watch. I may some day look back on the last 4 minutes or so of this game and appreciate what I saw offensively from those two tonight.
We may want to take the next two games....unless of course we don't want 3rd place in the conference either. Sorta like we're adverse to the top spot.
Speedy recovery to Koz who missed the game tonight recovering from a reaction to the bee sting he was joking about on air Thursday.
I refuse to completely blame this loss on free throws. I think if we would have made at least half of the misses, it would have kept the game close, but on the other end of the floor, our backcourt was getting destroyed. I am very concerned about the inconsistency of the Monarchs backcourt on both sides of the ball. Between Newton, Ticha and Haynie, we did not get much at all.
I completely agree with Mdme. To me the offensive display of Augustus and Perkins and Whalen and Fernandez and Hammon and Taurasi and Pondexter shows our inability to not just guard the opposition’s best permimeter scorer but our inability to even contain them. And what happens is scoring is contagious and infectious and once players like Ms. Seimone get going and we focus so much on her, it creates space, confidence and open looks for other players to get going. That is what happened last night. Other Lynx players were wide open and began to knock shots down.
Big ups to Nicole!!! She was outstanding. There is nothing she can not do on the floor. I wish we could get some of that from other players. Very disappointing game.
I completely agree with Mdme. To me the offensive display of Augustus and Perkins and Whalen and Fernandez and Hammon and Taurasi and Pondexter shows our inability to not just guard the opposition’s best permimeter scorer but our inability to even contain them. And what happens is scoring is contagious and infectious and once players like Ms. Seimone get going and we focus so much on her, it creates space, confidence and open looks for other players to get going. That is what happened last night. Other Lynx players were wide open and began to knock shots down.
Big ups to Nicole!!! She was outstanding. There is nothing she can not do on the floor. I wish we could get some of that from other players. Very disappointing game.
Ditto
It has been a while since MBF and I have agreed on much but She gets a Big Fat Ditto for this game.
My thing about Seimone Blowing up... Seimone Blows up. That is what she does. The key is to keep everyone else at bay. We did that to some degree, but there was a stretch I believe in the 3rd where we basically left people open and they flat out hit shots.
There was alot that could have gone better. The Travel calls in the first half were downright obnoxious. On both ends. The sad part is that when it is all said and done... With Seimone Blowing up...With the supporting cast hitting shots... If we had just hit our free throws we win the ball game. We missed 13 if we hit 1/2 of that we win, or at least change the tempo of the game. 23-36 from the charity stripe will not get it done.
I which I could have appreciated the Nicole Powell Show too. It seemed like a very quiet 29 points to me. Which totally shows how talented she is. She does get a big ups for keeping us in the ball game.
The Defense really turned it up but I kinda which we played with more urgency a little sooner. I would have like to see us push the ball a little more at the 6 minute mark.
Is it just me, or does it seem like we Almost play a good ball game. 3 good quarters and one bad one. Or one person is hot but someone else is ice cold? I would love to see more of the last 2 games where we played 4 quarters of solid basketball.
But It could be worse... We have a 6 game lead on the 5th place team. Chances are we are in the play-offs unless we totally collapse. It would be nice if we can put it all together, and begin to peak before then.
Btw... Anyone have the Skinny on Why Nicole was sporting the Diana Taurasi Knee High Socks? And if she is gonna shoot like that lets get her and Kara a whole Truck full.
Edit--- Missed Shots... Good LAWD How could I forget that. Missed Lay-up, Blown Opportunities on the break. 4 pts from Kara Lawson. Well I know we are dry offensively, which makes it all the more important for us to score on the break. And even more important for us to make our free-throws. I still think FT's were the bigger determining factor than Ms Augustus going for 39. But it does look ugly on the stat sheet doesn't it.
It has been a while since MBF and I have agreed on much but She gets a Big Fat Ditto for this game.
My thing about Seimone Blowing up... Seimone Blows up. That is what she does. The key is to keep everyone else at bay. We did that to some degree, but there was a stretch I believe in the 3rd where we basically left people open and they flat out hit shots.
There was alot that could have gone better. The Travel calls in the first half were downright obnoxious. On both ends. The sad part is that when it is all said and done... With Seimone Blowing up...With the supporting cast hitting shots... If we had just hit our free throws we win the ball game. We missed 13 if we hit 1/2 of that we win, or at least change the tempo of the game. 23-36 from the charity stripe will not get it done.
I which I could have appreciated the Nicole Powell Show too. It seemed like a very quiet 29 points to me. Which totally shows how talented she is. She does get a big ups for keeping us in the ball game.
The Defense really turned it up but I kinda which we played with more urgency a little sooner. I would have like to see us push the ball a little more at the 6 minute mark.
Is it just me, or does it seem like we Almost play a good ball game. 3 good quarters and one bad one. Or one person is hot but someone else is ice cold? I would love to see more of the last 2 games where we played 4 quarters of solid basketball.
But It could be worse... We have a 6 game lead on the 5th place team. Chances are we are in the play-offs unless we totally collapse. It would be nice if we can put it all together, and begin to peak before then.
Btw... Anyone have the Skinny on Why Nicole was sporting the Diana Taurasi Knee High Socks? And if she is gonna shoot like that lets get her and Kara a whole Truck full.
Edit--- Missed Shots... Good LAWD How could I forget that. Missed Lay-up, Blown Opportunities on the break. 4 pts from Kara Lawson. Well I know we are dry offensively, which makes it all the more important for us to score on the break. And even more important for us to make our free-throws. I still think FT's were the bigger determining factor than Ms Augustus going for 39. But it does look ugly on the stat sheet doesn't it.
Last edited:
Agree with everything said. For those that weren't there, it really did not matter who was on Augustus. She could have had the entire arena on her and she would've made that shot. She can shoot from just about anywhere, with anyone on her, and her eyes closed.....it's going in.
I was hoping Ticha would break out again, but didn't see that. The lob over the paint, really isn't anything new, Detroit did it in the finals, and Conn has done it as well.
It seemed like the Monarchs couldn't buy a basket for most of the game. Shots that normally go in for everyone just weren't. Except of course Nicole. And yes it did seem like a quiet 29. But she chipped away and there it was.
Augustus will stop and pop that shot up as her defender runs by. Kara does that - rarely. And Ticha kinda does that - even more rarely.
The free throw situation, what can you say...they sucked. All of them. There seemed to be an invisible barrier around the rim, it was just pathetic.
Hopefully they can pick themselves up and remember how good they are.....
I was hoping Ticha would break out again, but didn't see that. The lob over the paint, really isn't anything new, Detroit did it in the finals, and Conn has done it as well.
It seemed like the Monarchs couldn't buy a basket for most of the game. Shots that normally go in for everyone just weren't. Except of course Nicole. And yes it did seem like a quiet 29. But she chipped away and there it was.
Augustus will stop and pop that shot up as her defender runs by. Kara does that - rarely. And Ticha kinda does that - even more rarely.
The free throw situation, what can you say...they sucked. All of them. There seemed to be an invisible barrier around the rim, it was just pathetic.
Hopefully they can pick themselves up and remember how good they are.....
It's worth a try...somehow I can't see Ticha sportin the high socks, she likes to show off her tan I guess if I had her legs & tan, Id show them off as well.
Back to basketball...as long as the team shows that intensity & a sense of urgency through-out the game they should be alright. Seattle coach Anne D. & Sue Bird mentioned, that was a huge advantage in the Monarchs win...''their offensive boards & second chance points.'' Monarchs played like they wanted it more. Thats how we have to contiue & we know the coaching staff will right behind them with encouragement.
Don't recall which Monarch player said it but, I agree...''every game is a must win''. Go Monarchs!!!!
I guess if I had her legs & tan, Id show them off as well.Back to basketball...as long as the team shows that intensity & a sense of urgency through-out the game they should be alright. Seattle coach Anne D. & Sue Bird mentioned, that was a huge advantage in the Monarchs win...''their offensive boards & second chance points.'' Monarchs played like they wanted it more. Thats how we have to contiue & we know the coaching staff will right behind them with encouragement.
Don't recall which Monarch player said it but, I agree...''every game is a must win''. Go Monarchs!!!!
