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| Who will win this game? |
| Mercury |
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| Aces |
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80% |
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| Total Votes : 21 |
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SCook
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 Posted: 09/28/21 11:17 pm ::: |
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| It is clear who has the Playoff experience on this Phoenix team.
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SCook
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| Posted: 09/28/21 11:20 pm ::: |
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| TotalCardinalMove wrote: |
| Peddy shouldnât be in a Mercury uniform next season. Why Walker and Smith have them at this point is also baffling since they canât play. |
All 3 of them can go. I'm sure someone would like to take Walker and develop her (Phoenix doesn't have that type of time). Also, pack Kia Nurse in there too. Get them as far away from Phoenix as possible.
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mercfan
Joined: 08 May 2013
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| Posted: 09/28/21 11:22 pm ::: |
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| TotalCardinalMove wrote: |
| Peddy shouldnât be in a Mercury uniform next season. Why Walker and Smith have them at this point is also baffling since they canât play. |
Though I like Peddy, she just has to give us more. Especially if Hartley isnât in the conversation.
Sheyâs shot is broken right now. Sheâs clearly not confident and itâs hurting in those rotations with Vaughn when two of the big three are sitting.
The bottom line is that the Mercury have to make upgrades from Nurse, Peddy, Smith and Walker. Nurse is fine but ideally off the bench.
For now, Iâm rolling with what we have because I think it is enough to make some noise.
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SCook
Joined: 09 Oct 2013
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| Posted: 09/28/21 11:28 pm ::: |
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Who needs an all star center on their team? Get BG out of this cage. The way she's been playing, her team should be tops in the league. Ugh.
Imagine being the best center in the league and the one guarding you at your height gets a team win and only has 7 points in 9 minutes. You score 24 plus have 6 assists and that's still not good enough.
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WNBA 09
Joined: 26 Jun 2009
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| Posted: 09/28/21 11:30 pm ::: |
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| SCook wrote: |
Who needs an all star center on their team? Get BG out of this cage. The way she's been playing, her team should be tops in the league. Ugh.
Imagine being the best center in the league and the one guarding you at your height gets a team win and only has 7 points in 9 minutes. You score 24 and that's still not good enough. |
Dallas!!! Lottery pick plus whatever the hell
You want that does not include Ricky & Sabally for
BG and Lets Goooo #Iight
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SCook
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| Posted: 09/28/21 11:33 pm ::: |
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| mercfan wrote: |
| TotalCardinalMove wrote: |
| Peddy shouldnât be in a Mercury uniform next season. Why Walker and Smith have them at this point is also baffling since they canât play. |
Though I like Peddy, she just has to give us more. Especially if Hartley isnât in the conversation.
Sheyâs shot is broken right now. Sheâs clearly not confident and itâs hurting in those rotations with Vaughn when two of the big three are sitting.
The bottom line is that the Mercury have to make upgrades from Nurse, Peddy, Smith and Walker. Nurse is fine but ideally off the bench.
For now, Iâm rolling with what we have because I think it is enough to make some noise. |
Phoenix was offering the max and shipping out draft picks instead of trying to find actual wings that can shoot consistently, hit 3's or pullup jumpers and play defense. But no. The solution was Kia Nurse and Megan Walker.
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FrozenLVFan
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Queenie
Joined: 18 Nov 2004
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| Posted: 09/29/21 7:43 am ::: |
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For reference, "Phoenix too hot for bebe" was part of why the Mercury could never seem to keep Maria Stepanova for, like, more than three seconds at a time. In case anyone wondered whether foreign centers with a propensity for teasing everyone in regard to their presence was a new thing.
Fans of old meme also got a good laugh about Kelsey Plum and the second unit running like a chicken with its head cut off. Truly, the Aces are embracing their heritage.
I swear to God I also remember when LaChina Robinson could call a game without devolving into a screaming banshee. Her style is regressing the exact same way Rebecca Lobo's did, and it makes me extremely sad.
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Silky Johnson
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| Posted: 09/29/21 9:14 am ::: |
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| FrozenLVFan wrote: |
| They need to allow half an hour between games for post- and pre-game discussion, and it would give them a buffer if there was one OT in the first game. I tried to stream the second game on ESPNU and there were so many technical problems with the stream that it was a waste of time. |
I kept my TV on NBA TV until the 2017 NBA Finals game was about midway through the third quarter; they never cut away to post-game coverage.
Also, since when is a half-hour buffer a requirement? That's never been true for the men's game. With the men, if Turner has the rights to the game, they'll go straight into coverage, immediately after the game. And, if they don't, they'll break into whatever bullshit they're showing in re-runs, the second that the other network stops broadcasting.
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SCook
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| Posted: 09/29/21 9:47 am ::: |
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Someone from the Phoenix bench is going to have to commit to guarding Kelsey Plum for every minute that she's on the court. It can't be Skylar if she's chasing Riquana from opening tip. Who was it that said Cunnigham was a better defender than Skylar and Kia Nurse? She is not.
Sandy is going to need to scheme defensively to get the game to slow down. Whatever she came up with in Seattle, needs to be reworked for this series. I think she needs to force the game to be a battle on the inside and not out on the perimeter. BG is your advantage there but also Aja, Hamby and Stokes paid so much attention to BG that Turner was able to get loose a few times. And the defense for the Aces is really not that good. Make them defend for an entire 40 minute game.
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mercfan3
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| Posted: 09/29/21 10:20 am ::: |
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This isnât a game that is unfixable for the Merc.
BG needs to be involved earlier. She needs to get in her rhythm. I donât care what the defense is doing, four shots for her in the first half is ridiculous, and itâs the teamâs job to set her up more.
Too many quick threes by the Mercury.
Significant improvement on DTâs ankle from the Seattle game to the Aces game, hopefully by game two we see more improvement. (Btw..a player that needed to consider retiring would be one that chose to sit the past two games outâŚ)
And Iâm gonna repeat it - Sandy needs to try Bria. The reality is that Peddy, Nurse, and Cunningham arenât good enough guards to win 3. Bria probably isnât 100%, but for half the games she played in during the season, she was better than those three, so itâs worth trying. We need some quality bench minutes. And if Hartley were to get hot, that would be helpfulâŚ(not only that, but team defense will respect Hartley more, opening things up for others.)
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TotalCardinalMove
Joined: 13 Oct 2013
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| Posted: 09/29/21 10:27 am ::: |
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| mercfan3 wrote: |
This isnât a game that is unfixable for the Merc.
BG needs to be involved earlier. She needs to get in her rhythm. I donât care what the defense is doing, four shots for her in the first half is ridiculous, and itâs the teamâs job to set her up more.
Too many quick threes by the Mercury.
Significant improvement on DTâs ankle from the Seattle game to the Aces game, hopefully by game two we see more improvement. (Btw..a player that needed to consider retiring would be one that chose to sit the past two games outâŚ)
And Iâm gonna repeat it - Sandy needs to try Bria. The reality is that Peddy, Nurse, and Cunningham arenât good enough guards to win 3. Bria probably isnât 100%, but for half the games she played in during the season, she was better than those three, so itâs worth trying. We need some quality bench minutes. And if Hartley were to get hot, that would be helpfulâŚ(not only that, but team defense will respect Hartley more, opening things up for others.) |
I think indicating that Hartley has been better than those 3 is a stretch, considering if it werenât for Cunningham we wouldnât even have gotten out the first round. I think a fairer assessment is that Nurse and Cunningham are both young and have no experience in these situations. They both are capable of having really great moments but itâs not consistent, which is an attribute of being young and inexperienced as it pertains to the playoffs.
For Peddy, she looks completely lost and out of sorts. Her confidence is gone and itâs really painful to watch. I do agree that it Bria is able to go, we should at least try her out to see what she can do at this point.
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SCook
Joined: 09 Oct 2013
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| Posted: 09/29/21 12:59 pm ::: |
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| TotalCardinalMove wrote: |
| mercfan3 wrote: |
This isnât a game that is unfixable for the Merc.
BG needs to be involved earlier. She needs to get in her rhythm. I donât care what the defense is doing, four shots for her in the first half is ridiculous, and itâs the teamâs job to set her up more.
Too many quick threes by the Mercury.
Significant improvement on DTâs ankle from the Seattle game to the Aces game, hopefully by game two we see more improvement. (Btw..a player that needed to consider retiring would be one that chose to sit the past two games outâŚ)
And Iâm gonna repeat it - Sandy needs to try Bria. The reality is that Peddy, Nurse, and Cunningham arenât good enough guards to win 3. Bria probably isnât 100%, but for half the games she played in during the season, she was better than those three, so itâs worth trying. We need some quality bench minutes. And if Hartley were to get hot, that would be helpfulâŚ(not only that, but team defense will respect Hartley more, opening things up for others.) |
I think indicating that Hartley has been better than those 3 is a stretch, considering if it werenât for Cunningham we wouldnât even have gotten out the first round. I think a fairer assessment is that Nurse and Cunningham are both young and have no experience in these situations. They both are capable of having really great moments but itâs not consistent, which is an attribute of being young and inexperienced as it pertains to the playoffs.
For Peddy, she looks completely lost and out of sorts. Her confidence is gone and itâs really painful to watch. I do agree that it Bria is able to go, we should at least try her out to see what she can do at this point. |
I see what you mean but sorry Bria has been better. In 6 games on the season, she was averaging 3.7 points per game in only about 8.5 minutes with a 56.3% fg percentage from the floor and a 57.1 field goal percentage from 3. Play her!
Kia Nurse was averaging 9.5 points per game in 32 games with a 35.9% fg percentage from the floor and a 35.3% fg percentage from 3.
Sophie was averaging 5.6 points per game in 17.5 minutes (30 games) with a 43.7% fg percentage from the floor and 41% from 3. Sophie has played in more Playoff games than Bria. But Sophie's numbers in the Playoffs have been really good.
It looks to me that all Bria is missing is opportunity and just like Sandy was sitting the bench for majority of the season, I almost feel like she's going to sit Bria until Game 3 and that can and will cost us a series.
I have no words on Shey Peddy. It's painful for her right now.
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SCook
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| Posted: 09/29/21 1:29 pm ::: |
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| mercfan3 wrote: |
This isnât a game that is unfixable for the Merc.
BG needs to be involved earlier. She needs to get in her rhythm. I donât care what the defense is doing, four shots for her in the first half is ridiculous, and itâs the teamâs job to set her up more.
Too many quick threes by the Mercury.
Significant improvement on DTâs ankle from the Seattle game to the Aces game, hopefully by game two we see more improvement. (Btw..a player that needed to consider retiring would be one that chose to sit the past two games outâŚ)
And Iâm gonna repeat it - Sandy needs to try Bria. The reality is that Peddy, Nurse, and Cunningham arenât good enough guards to win 3. Bria probably isnât 100%, but for half the games she played in during the season, she was better than those three, so itâs worth trying. We need some quality bench minutes. And if Hartley were to get hot, that would be helpfulâŚ(not only that, but team defense will respect Hartley more, opening things up for others.) |
I agree! 4 shots? Who does Phoenix think they are. She's been the strength all season and that's why I complained so much in the last game. You can only afford to go away from BG when the team is hitting 3's if that. Diana was getting open 3's because Vegas knew she was hobbled (she shot 4-13 in the Seattle game) but she was making them early because she was feeling better. The Vegas defense arguably focused in on Skylar and were effective because Skylar got into her head once she started to get scorched on the defensive end.
Please tell me what made playing Diana without Skylar or BG smart? Why the hell would you start the 2nd quarter of the 1st half with them on the bench? And then she did it again in the 3rd quarter, and to me that was what changed the game. Vegas went on runs each time. Your team is built around 3 players Sandy! 3! The 4th option is coming back from injury and you didn't consider playing her with DT or Skylar for more than 2 minutes! I know this was game 1 but woman you had a 30-21 lead at the end of the first quarter and then you gave up 31 and only scored 19 in the second quarter because of decisions that no coach, who treated this game as a must win, would consider doing.
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SCook
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| Posted: 09/29/21 1:44 pm ::: |
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| Stormeo wrote: |
| Whenever the Merc's season is over, I wonder how likely they'll be to re-sign Kia Nurse... really feels like it could go either way tbh. |
Let's hope they have sense and pack her up out of Phoenix. She's provided nothing. A healthy Bria is a better option. Keep Sophie and figure out the other pieces.
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mercfan3
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| Posted: 09/29/21 2:31 pm ::: |
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| SCook wrote: |
| Stormeo wrote: |
| Whenever the Merc's season is over, I wonder how likely they'll be to re-sign Kia Nurse... really feels like it could go either way tbh. |
Let's hope they have sense and pack her up out of Phoenix. She's provided nothing. A healthy Bria is a better option. Keep Sophie and figure out the other pieces. |
Agree..like I said before, itâs like Sandy doesnât realize DT isnât 30 anymore. Sheâs still a very good player. Sheâs a great passer and shooter when she has both legs..but sheâs not greatest player in the world Diana Taurasi anymore - and depending on her to be that is unrealistic.
DT would still excel in the role Sue Bird has had (coach in the floor, passer, three point shooter) the past could of seasons, but she shouldnât be asked to be the offense any longer.
And also agree about having both BG and Skylar out at the same time. Realistically..you always want two of BG/Skylar/DT in at all times, but thatâs hard with DTâs injury.
Rotations have always been Sandyâs weakest points though.
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FrozenLVFan
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| Posted: 09/29/21 3:11 pm ::: |
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| Silky Johnson wrote: |
| FrozenLVFan wrote: |
| They need to allow half an hour between games for post- and pre-game discussion, and it would give them a buffer if there was one OT in the first game. I tried to stream the second game on ESPNU and there were so many technical problems with the stream that it was a waste of time. |
I kept my TV on NBA TV until the 2017 NBA Finals game was about midway through the third quarter; they never cut away to post-game coverage.
Also, since when is a half-hour buffer a requirement? That's never been true for the men's game. With the men, if Turner has the rights to the game, they'll go straight into coverage, immediately after the game. And, if they don't, they'll break into whatever bullshit they're showing in re-runs, the second that the other network stops broadcasting. |
I meant between the first and second games last night. They were both very good games, but I missed a third of the second game because of the 2OT in the first game. If the games had been at 7:30 and 10, instead of 8 and 10, with planned discussion time, that extra half hour would have been plenty to cover one OT and part of the other. The WNBA has a max of what, ?19 games, you'd think they could figure out a way to let us watch all of them. The NBA has a max of 56 games in their first round alone.
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SCook
Joined: 09 Oct 2013
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| Posted: 09/29/21 3:39 pm ::: |
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| mercfan3 wrote: |
| SCook wrote: |
| Stormeo wrote: |
| Whenever the Merc's season is over, I wonder how likely they'll be to re-sign Kia Nurse... really feels like it could go either way tbh. |
Let's hope they have sense and pack her up out of Phoenix. She's provided nothing. A healthy Bria is a better option. Keep Sophie and figure out the other pieces. |
Agree..like I said before, itâs like Sandy doesnât realize DT isnât 30 anymore. Sheâs still a very good player. Sheâs a great passer and shooter when she has both legs..but sheâs not greatest player in the world Diana Taurasi anymore - and depending on her to be that is unrealistic.
DT would still excel in the role Sue Bird has had (coach in the floor, passer, three point shooter) the past could of seasons, but she shouldnât be asked to be the offense any longer.
And also agree about having both BG and Skylar out at the same time. Realistically..you always want two of BG/Skylar/DT in at all times, but thatâs hard with DTâs injury.
Rotations have always been Sandyâs weakest points though. |
Rotations have been her weakest points because the bench has been her weakest point. Every season it's the same thing. Run the starters into the ground because the bench either can't produce from lack of opportunity or they are a huge drop off from the starters. Come Playoff time, they compete and get to a series and get swept.
Does anyone know what style of play the Phoenix bench plays? I don't even think they've played any minutes together as a whole and Diana hasn't been on the court with them practically all season. Stop playing her with them. That's not her team. I understand wanting to get BG and Skylar rest. But coming back from injury is not the excuse I'm going to take when you decide to put a lineup of DT, Sophie, Peddy, Turner, and Vaughan on the floor without even thinking about Bria. Diana is the first offensive option and facilitator in that lineup. You're asking her to do too much on one leg.
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TotalCardinalMove
Joined: 13 Oct 2013
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| Posted: 09/30/21 1:47 pm ::: |
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| SCook wrote: |
| TotalCardinalMove wrote: |
| mercfan3 wrote: |
This isnât a game that is unfixable for the Merc.
BG needs to be involved earlier. She needs to get in her rhythm. I donât care what the defense is doing, four shots for her in the first half is ridiculous, and itâs the teamâs job to set her up more.
Too many quick threes by the Mercury.
Significant improvement on DTâs ankle from the Seattle game to the Aces game, hopefully by game two we see more improvement. (Btw..a player that needed to consider retiring would be one that chose to sit the past two games outâŚ)
And Iâm gonna repeat it - Sandy needs to try Bria. The reality is that Peddy, Nurse, and Cunningham arenât good enough guards to win 3. Bria probably isnât 100%, but for half the games she played in during the season, she was better than those three, so itâs worth trying. We need some quality bench minutes. And if Hartley were to get hot, that would be helpfulâŚ(not only that, but team defense will respect Hartley more, opening things up for others.) |
I think indicating that Hartley has been better than those 3 is a stretch, considering if it werenât for Cunningham we wouldnât even have gotten out the first round. I think a fairer assessment is that Nurse and Cunningham are both young and have no experience in these situations. They both are capable of having really great moments but itâs not consistent, which is an attribute of being young and inexperienced as it pertains to the playoffs.
For Peddy, she looks completely lost and out of sorts. Her confidence is gone and itâs really painful to watch. I do agree that it Bria is able to go, we should at least try her out to see what she can do at this point. |
I see what you mean but sorry Bria has been better. In 6 games on the season, she was averaging 3.7 points per game in only about 8.5 minutes with a 56.3% fg percentage from the floor and a 57.1 field goal percentage from 3. Play her!
Kia Nurse was averaging 9.5 points per game in 32 games with a 35.9% fg percentage from the floor and a 35.3% fg percentage from 3.
Sophie was averaging 5.6 points per game in 17.5 minutes (30 games) with a 43.7% fg percentage from the floor and 41% from 3. Sophie has played in more Playoff games than Bria. But Sophie's numbers in the Playoffs have been really good.
It looks to me that all Bria is missing is opportunity and just like Sandy was sitting the bench for majority of the season, I almost feel like she's going to sit Bria until Game 3 and that can and will cost us a series.
I have no words on Shey Peddy. It's painful for her right now. |
You cannot reasonably compare 6 games vs an entire season and realistically say someone has been better. I love Hartley, but I highly doubt she wouldâve been able to shoot 41% from 3 this year like Sophie did. That was top 10 in the entire league.
As for Kia, Iâm not sure Hartley wouldâve been able to defend 3s fully. Despite her shortcomings this year, at least Kia was someone that could defend at that spot. If not her, then who?
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Oof, advantage Phoenix. Hope she gets well reallllll soon.
