I had my hopes up that this would not be the epic battle for last place, as I wrote about a couple of weeks earlier. But after a small victory run, the Lynx have lost four straight to indeed be the worst team in the Western Conference. They gave it the old college try against Sacremento at Williams Arena last Friday, but it's apparent that youth, the lack of a low post game, mediocre defense, inconsistent shooting, and poor depth are the rocks in the sack that's plummeting this team quickly to the bottom.
Houston shot more and made more than our ladies, dominated on the boards, and also had a decisive edge in the paint, where we have struggled all season. Nicole Ohlde was again a no show, especially on offense. Harding rebounded from a bad game on Friday but her shooting inconsistency and overall inability to run an offense (what little of it there is, outside of Augustus) continues to plague this club and forces them to be a primarily jump shooting team. If the shots fall, great, but as we saw last night when you jack up 13 three pointers and hit only two, you're asking for trouble, especially if that's one of your main offensive weapons.
It's time to regroup for this club and see what options they can develop for next year's squad. This time, they should understand the need for a superior low post presence, or trade for some accomplished parts. Vanessa Hayden's potential return next year will not be the decisive move they need to move up the ranks. They need to dump what they have in the front court and start over, and hope Harding develops and Augustus stays motivated enough to contribute to this team.
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3 comments:
Yeah.
Ouch. Painful games for the Lynx. What do you think of AJ's performance so far? She seems to be doing well for the team.
And if you were to rank the current rookies, who would you say are the ones you've been most impressed with?
I think this rookie crop hasn't been as great as in other years. Other than Harding who has been inconsistent all year, I think Armintie Price for Chicago has been pretty solid, and has really added a presence for the Sky. Otherwise, the only other rookie I've been regularly following has been Jessica Davenport for the Liberty, most because she's such a big presence in the paint. I picked her up because her Ohio State team got upset by the Marist ladies in the NCAA's last year, and she was a total thug about it, trying to get physical with the smaller Marist girls, and throwing cheap shots whenever possible. For some reason, I've decided to focus on her, to see how she would make out. I thought she would make more of an impact right away, but it actually looks like McCarville has taken a lot of her minutes lately. Good for Janel.
Yeah, I agree the rookie class is not as strong as other classes.
On the other hand, Sidney Spencer, in the games I've seen her, is doing okay, and Ivory Latta, whenever she surfaces from behind the bevy of guards at Detroit, has played well. She was there the entire 2nd quarter during the Phx-Det game and played extremely well, I thought. Several assists, and several baskets made. She had no turnovers and only one missed basket.
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