RebKell's Junkie Boards

[J-Spoon]

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WNBA Announces The Officials For The 2018 Playoffs

http://www.wnba.com/news/wnba-announces-the-officials-for-the-2018-playoffs/

The 16 referees assigned to the 2018 WNBA Playoffs are below:

Isaac Barnett (2 WNBA seasons) Roy Gulbeyan (20)

Tiffany Bird (5) Byron Jarrett (11)

Eric Brewton (17) Brenda Pantoja (7)

Tiara Cruse (5) Michael Price (19)

Cheryl Flores (6) Billy Smith ( 8 )

Maj Forsberg (10) Jeffrey Smith (17)

Janetta Graham (7) Kurt Walker (19)

Tim Greene ( 8 ) Jeff Wooten (7)

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I'm a lonely frog
I ain't got a home

[Shmermerer1]

[WNBA 09]

[scrappy]

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Atlanta's record with each of the playoff refs

1-3 Barnett
1-2 Bird
3-1 Brewton
4-1 Cruse
3-1 Flores
2-0 Forsberg (both against LA)
2-2 Graham
2-3 Greene
1-3 Gulbeyan
4-1 Jarrett
2-0 Pantoja
1-1 Price
4-1 B Smith
4-0 J Smith
4-1 Walker
4-0 Wooten

_________________
I'm a lonely frog
I ain't got a home

[Randy]

Just refresh my memory, which of those refs (if any) are from the Delle Donne invisible basket game?

[WNBA 09]

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[tfan]

Won
LA (3)
Phoenix (3)
Seattle (2)
Lynx (4)

Never won
Atlanta
Connecticut
Dallas (disregarding "historical franchise")
Washington

After first round, “never won” still at 50% - all former Eastern Conference.

[Shmermerer1]

[calbearman76]

[CamrnCrz1974]

[NYL_WNBA_FAN]

I like some parts of this format better than others. The idea of the two best teams meeting in the finals makes perfect sense. Best of 5s in the semis and finals is similarly exciting.

Looking at the one-and-dones, Bill Laimbeer brought to our attention at the time the decision was made that it was done for the purpose of television. And we have indeed seen a handful of highly entertaining one-and-dones. OTOH, if you look at the situation LA found themselves in, they had to fly from LA to CT for a Sunday game. Bus it down to NY to fly back to LA for a Tuesday game. Fly back cross country to DC for a game Thursday with a beat-up team for a game that hardly made for riveting TV. They'd have probably lost anyway but I'd have liked their chances better with two days off before a best-of-3, although with my 1-2 format they'd have had to travel back to LA, it still would have been way less taxing than the way they had to do it under the current format. And if the purpose is for TV, then watching DC wax a travel-fatigued and physically beaten up Sparks team is certainly counter to the intent.

For me, a better approach is to have the top 6 make the playoffs. 6 vs 3 and 5 vs 4 in a best of 3 following a 1-2 format so you don't have multiple cross country trips in one series. The odds of a 7 or 8 seed making the finals let alone winning it is quite low. When Phoenix made the semis as an 8 seed (when they clearly had better personnel) maybe they would have played a little harder and gotten a top 6 instead. You could maintain the semis and finals formats. I think cross country semis are still not ideal (potentially inconvenient start times for fans of a team in a time zone), but I get the premise. You want the best teams having a chance to meet in the finals. That certainly makes perfect sense...and the last two finals have been epic as a result.

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The poster formerly known as LibWNBAFan.

[mavcarter]

The only thing I don’t like about the format is literally the top two seeds getting to relax and rest for a week.

[Rock Hard]

[Aladyyn]

[toad455]

Going forward and looking at Finals' dates, only the Seattle Storm & Key Arena have a conflict for Game 1 on Sept. 6. Wonder if they'll change the date to the 7th or play the game elsewhere(Alaska Airlines Arena?).

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LET'S GO LIBERTY!!!!!!

Twitter: @TBRBWAY

[toad455]

Have to wonder if the Mystics make the Finals if they'd consider playing at the Verizon Center in College Park, MD?

_________________
LET'S GO LIBERTY!!!!!!

Twitter: @TBRBWAY