Fever dropped the game to the Liberty 88-90. It was an entertaining game to watch, even if it didn’t end the way that I wanted it to end.
Dwelling On The Ending- Always in a close game where one basket and one play determine winning and losing, it is easy to dwell on those last plays. As a fan, I thought there were three critical calls and no calls in each of the last three possessions. My take…
88-88- Bonner goes to basket and has shot blocked by Natasha Cloud with no calls. On the replays, I would say this was a bad no call, she was contacted and should have shot ft’s.
88-88- Sabrina Ionescu draws contact going to the basket and a foul is called. I don’t think it would have been called in most cases. The contact was initiated by the offense, and the defense was straight up. This should have been a no-call.
88-90- 2 seconds to go, the Fever get it to Clark, going to her left she attempts to get off a three and has the ball knocked out by Cloud. As much as I would like it to be a foul, I don’t think there was a foul there.
Extra Basket You Give Up in Runs- It doesn’t matter if it is high school or pros, the real difference in games like this are the extra points you give up during runs. In the second quarter, the Fever let the Liberty go on a 14-2 run. When another team goes on a run, it is always can you stop the run a basket or two sooner. The difference in the game was if they could have stopped the run when it was 10-2.
Need Good Not Great- I am just looking from a distance, but my analysis is that for the Fever and for Clark, playing the Liberty was a “big game.” The Liberty are the champs, they are the measuring stick. I thought Clark in many regards was the Clark from the beginning of last year’s season. She looked like she felt, “To beat the Liberty, I have to be great.” So she tried to make the great passes, not the good passes.
The result, she had some spectacular passes and assists. But she had 10 turnovers. You cannot play at a championship level and have a point guard committing 10 turnovers. My theory is that on most nights Caitlin’s good is enough for the Fever to win, and if she is focused on being good, she actually will make many great plays.
Talk, Talk, Talk- Whether there was confusion on how to defend ball screens and staggers, or if there was a problem with execution- the Fever were horrible on their screen defense. Early in the game, Jones had a layup line off ball screens.
The last play of the Liberty where Ionescu came off the handoff, it was completely misplayed. My guess is that talking more will solve a lot of these problems.
When In Doubt- When in doubt, the Fever need to go back to Boston screening on Clark. Their efficiency is off the charts. Boston gets the quick rolls and has such good hands.
Boston & Howard- They are developing into a nice post defensive tandem. In second half they were much more physical.
Staggers- Coach White has already added a nice touch to the offense when she moves Clark off the ball and has her in position to come off a stagger with Cunningham, Boston, Hull, or Mitchell being the point guard. They will get better and better reading options off this.
Tyrese Halliburton- Seeing him in the front row, totally engaged shows some of the growing excitement of the WNBA.
Brightest Spot- Lexie Hull has emerged as doing the same things she did in the second half last year but doing them even better. Inserting her in the starting lineup was a real plus. Here is what she contributes:
1- Energy- she is a magnet for 50/50 balls and o-rebounds.
2- Threes- she has become a great three point shooter.
3- Backdoor cuts- if there is anyone setting up backdoors better than Hull, I want to see it.
4- Ball pressure- she is quick enough and long enough to pressure the ball in both the full and half court. Her ability to draw fouls on people who set ball screens is a tribute to her fighting to stay with the ball.
Losing the game is tough but it is fun to watch the Fever as they keep developing. On TV, the atmosphere and arena feel like an NBA playoff level. The crowd loud and engaged.
I then watched some of the next WNBA game on TV, and the atmosphere and facility seemed more like a D3 game on ESPN3.
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