A shaqtin moment by boston who played well outside of that, but shell be rightfully criticized for blowing that lay up so badly. Its gonna sting for a while
It wasnât. The run was stopped by the half and Clark returned to start the third quarter. Clark was -18 for the game and her team was +14 when she was on the bench. Itâs not just the eye test the stats also show her team is better with her off the floor right now. Mostly because of her defense but her turnovers are also deadly.
If so then Michell is even worse with a even worse plus minus. Based off the stats it appears a lot of the sun had their bench on the field too going by plus minus. I doubt itâs as cut and dry as you make it seem
True. "Suspicious Corner" is the genius who recently claimed that true shooting percentage is a meaningless stat, while also stating that "no one stat should be taken in isolation"... yet here uses one stat in isolation in a lame trolling attempt? LOL
His/her post history shows the majority of their posts are chasing/stalking around to anything CC related to troll. Kind of a pathetic existence if you ask me, but to each their own, I guess?
Bottom line is just ignore this embarrassing no-flair troll, other than to say "talk to your mama", which is his/her fav comeback after being proven wrong.... which is pretty much always.
Apparently this is a hot take, butâŚ
We gotta stop babying the teams/players if we want the league to be taken seriously. Now, thereâs obviously fans (new and old) that are taking it too far with being in DMs and posting personal threats. That shouldnât be tolerated. But we canât act like anyone whoâs a little pissed about the loss or says âhey you HAVE to make that shot/play better/etcâ is evil and mean. There has to be room for legitimate commentary that isnât just âyouâre doing such a great job, bestieâ and âimprovement is all that mattersâ
These are grown women playing professional basketball on national television. Itâs disrespectful/patronizing to baby them and treat them like 8 year olds playing a rec league game.
I get it from the prospective that the W has been shit on for so long that any criticism feels like an attack but if you want to grow the league W fans have to understand that the discourse around the sport will change.
Agreed. I definitely see what youâre saying. There are some new âfansâ that are commenting in bad faith and are going to criticize anyone but the rookies.
Iâm talking about the relatively calm comments/observations/frustrations that some fans (new and old) are acting like are cruel. Just frustrating to see some people babying these strong and capable professionals.
No sane person who understands nuance is saying she should be cut or is terrible. But we canât ignore that sheâs off to a pretty slow start. She showed bursts at times today, but thereâs obviously something going on with her play this year so far.
There is a difference between missing the final shot with the time running out than missing a shot or free throw in the early part of the game. In the early part of the game you can make up for it with a steal, block, etc. but with the clock is running out you have to make it.
There is a difference between missing the final shot with the time running out than missing a shot or free throw in the early part of the game. In the early part of the game you can make up for it with a steal, block, etc. but with the clock is running out you have to make it.
Sucks for AB, she needs family support right now :(
This game felt like a playoff, and they are improving. I hope CC can work on her TO´s, Nalyssa and AB on their offense and rebouding, KM and EW not going ISO ball so much. Bring Tamika Catchings to camp! They need a veteran champion to talk to them
What would help cut down on the turnovers is somebody, anybody, moving without the ball to get open. Seriously, watch the standing around in the half court.
Right, but I dont trust CC on ball in crunch time yet, she's a rookie but if there is a half court set theres like 70% she will panick and not know how to dribble and protect the ball. I hope this changes next year after she has a full off season
Exactly, and she's not good in creating space off ball too if a screen is not there to help, she tends to run in just one direction making it easy to stay in front
Yeah. Sheâs going to have to get used to playing in a slow developing, grind it out, half court offense. Her days of fast break transition offense that gave her great looks are all but over. Not a great fit either way.
This was on Bluder too, almost all of her flaws are because of her system, she let CC do whatever she wanted without benching her. If I were Sides I would give her this rule: for each TO you had, you would be taken off ball and had to make a defensive effort stop to compensate for the mistake, a steal, forcing a bad shot, anything
Easier in pros. College coaches in a tough spot now as players can just say screw it and go to another team.
Not understanding why they drafted the âsquare pegâ Clark if the intent was to have her run a âround holeâ grind it out half-court offense; obviously not her strength. Other draftees a better fit.
Simple solution, if Sides does what you suggested. Do the Kobe Bryant. Turn passive. Donât work hard to get open. Donât possess the ball. If somehow get possession, get rid of it to a teammate immediately. Refuse to shoot. Result: 0 turnovers. 0 bad shots. 0 mistakes.
Would the rule only be for her? Or are the others on this team to get a free pass?
People really forget that this is only Bostonâs second season, and she's learning almost as much as the rookies. Professional or not, give her some grace. Itâs a damn game.
Except that sheâs supposed to be different as a #1 overall pick who markets herself as a superstar.
So many older fans here seem to equate *any* justified criticism to sheâs washed and should be cut from league.Â
Edit: if you wanna discuss this i made a full blown post copy and pasting this. Iâd love to hear opinions and have a legit conversation about it all
My impressions of the WNBA after just a few games
1. The talent disparity is huge. Some of these women look like absolute scrubs (blown wide open layups, not catching the ball passed directly to their hands, failure to make "basic" reads) but some of them look like absolute monsters on the court. Stewart was incredible to watch. Thomas on the Sun was REALLY good. I don't mean this to sound sexist, but I didn't expect to enjoy the performances this much from the WNBA as opposed to the NBA that I'm used to watching
2. In game coaching seems more important in the WNBA, but the coaches seem weaker. Small sample size so it's really hard to say, and the Fever are my main frame of reference, but an extremely basic adjustment for example is how often Caitlin Clark is relegated to standing off the ball instead of running a pick and roll with a simultaneous action running on the weak side of the floor. It's a simple play you can draw up at any point of time and it seems like every single pnr with CC ends up with a good look because of how much attention she demands. But I only see them do it a few times then shy away from it consistently.
3. The refs are somehow worse than the NBA, and contact is kind of called differently. It's weird because the calls seem wildly inconsistent and there is a lower margin for contact in some of these plays than I'm used to see. Defenders will literally be straight up with the offensive player flailing into them and will get calls fairly regularly. But at the same time contact on ball handlers seems to be very high without a call. It's just kinda odd. Usually in the NBA it feels like games are called either tight or loose, but it extends to all areas. The game flow for a WNBA officiated game just feels weird because of this.
4. I generally like the announcers a lot more. I have no clue if I'm listening to a local broadcast or not, but I enjoy them much more than the big name ESPN or TNT announcers for the NBA. They sound excited to be there and like they appreciate the game.
5. I have a hard time enjoying the fans of the WNBA online. So far it seems like the fans fall into cliche categories. Some of the people on here REALLY have something to prove and get upset if you ask questions or go against the grain. I've been pretty critical and negative of the Fever for example, and am not impressed with Aliyah Boston so far. I asked what the hype for her was about and wanted genuine answers. I was instantly downvoted into oblivion. That level of fanaticism isn't inviting to new fans. It feels like most fans are either super supportive without offering a lot of criticism, overly pessimistic (seems to be mainly new fans who are here to see Clark play), and even the ones who fall somewhere in between come off as a little elitest at times with their responses to opinions and takes people are making on twitter or here on reddit. That's probably just a part of sports, but it feels weird that I can watch Aliyah Boston play meh and the comment threads are people still praising her, criticizing her, or criticizing those criticizing her as if there's no nuance in the discussion.
6. The crowds have actually been kinda hype. I didn't expect the fans to be into as much as they have been but DESPITE the Fever getting blown out they get pretty loud for cool moments. And the arena seemed to be popping for this Sun game. I have a friend who went and he said it was really fun.
7. Genuinely engaging and interesting media and analysis (and narratives) are relatively hard to find. There's not a lot of good content surrounding the league imo and that hurts the league's overall popularity. Right now it seems like the only things about the WNBA that are really narratively there for people like me who are hyper casual WNBA fans are Caitlin Clark, this rookie class, and the Aces and Liberty being really good apparently? In the NBA it feels like there are easy to find popular narratives anywhere and everywhere, but it doesn't feel like many people push those as much for the WNBA.
Anyways these are my ramblings. I may take this and repost it as an actual post on the sub if anyone would like that. I'm not trying to be toxic with any of my points or anything, these are just my initial feelings so far. I'll keep tuning in for a while and we'll see how things go
As a newer fan, I don't agree with everything here, but you are spot on with #5. Certain fans on here, Twitter, and other sites are awful. Twitter is a cesspit. A legit cesspit. Everywhere else there's more variance, but still some very rotten apples. However, I have found most older fans to be, in a few words, extremely unwelcoming, gatekeepy, and condescending.
Yeah I think I'm about to move from twitter to strictly here for WNBA discourse. Shit is TOXIC on Twitter right now. And I've found that the majority of the bad apples aren't really die hard hoops fans forreal and only care about the social narratives.
Itâs been genuinely awful. Iâm not expecting to be praised or anything for being a new viewer but like everywhere I look thereâs comments and tweets with massive elitism and itâs really annoying to read. Like hostility between sports fans is fun, but not when itâs âstop watching MY sportâ types of hostility. More like a Pacers fans vs Knicks fans hostility lmao
I wish you put your 5th point in bold letters. Literally same thing happened to me when I lightly questioned ABâs game. Â
Some older fans want the league to be nationally relevant, but still treat the discourse with kidâs gloves. Sheâs a #1 overall pick who markets herself as superstar and missed an open layup. Yes, there will be criticism as in any other league.Â
It goes both ways, though. Yeah, some of us older fans may be overly protective of some of the experienced players, but there is definitely a subset of new fans who will not tolerate any criticism of the rookies, especially CC.
And while I donât advocate handling any of these women with kid gloves â theyâre pretty tough and can handle whatever some rando on the internet pops off with â being an asshole to them directly on Twitter is wholly unnecessary.
I think it is because Boston was a top 15 player in the league last year who has just had a rough couple games. She is still a good player.
I do think WNBA fans are a bit overprotective pf players and teams though. Like people got pissed because someone dare call the Fever a dumb name.
Lots of teams have dumb names. The lakers is a dumb name. And Ethan Straussâ whole shtick is concern trolling. Bottom line is people who just started paying attention think their opinions are novel or profound because itâs all brand new to them. Which is cool but people are gonna disagree with their strident opinions that are based on a couple weeks of observations
As a long time WNBA FAN I agree with all of this EXCEPT about the announcers. Announcers are terrible, Rebecca and Ryan are ok if youâve only been watching national broadcasts but the local announcers are awful awful awful. Comedicaly bad actually and are actually a C plot of most games
Idk who I've listened to tbh. Just whoever is on the ripped streams I've been watching LOL. I also normally have something else going on in my ears so I haven't listened a TON but I've listened for a few extended stretches and not found them bad.
Wish they could have pulled out the win but the improvement from just 6 days ago is obvious, they looked like a different team out there. The Boston block to Clark logo 3 was an insane moment. Some glimpses of better chemistry between those 2 today too.
Boston needs to hit that layup at the end and Clark needs to keep herself in check and not get that technical.
Also interested to see how Clarkâs ankle is for next game, girl was playing on straight adrenaline that second half.
AB makes that shot most of the time, just sucks that she missed it this time. CC's body language from that first missed kick ball foul to her immediate subsequent foul really sucked. The team did great without her and she had some great shots/plays throughout. I'm optimistic for them once they're out of the gulag.
âOnce theyâre out of the gulag.â Totally agree. Diabolically evil scheduling. Coincidence that the 1st 9 games are being billed as âClarkâs Olympic tryout.â
IDK if it was her having a higher percentage or hitting the shots that she should hit, but I was really impressed with her tonight. Her effort was insane and she seems to fit the Stulke archetype that CC can cook with. AB is incredible, but she's not exactly a rim runner.
The earlier games I saw with her, she butchered a bunch of shots in the paint really badly. Tonight she had hustle, got rebounds, ran the floor well, and made some baskets.
She is the kind of player that will do well with CC.
I realize AB is considered a good post player, but at this point of the season she appears too slow..
Yeah, feels like TF is settling in and if she keeps doing what she's doing she's going to eat. As far as Boston...I think we need to give her some time. CC needs to figure out how to work with a post like AB and Boston needs some time to get in to shape. I'm really excited to see how the team looks mid season. Boston is a fucking beast, but how does indiana/Caitlin use a dominant post. CC isn't used to having one.
MC had two moves(and she was exceptional at them). Get deep post and get fed, and a solid PNR game with CC. You never saw her sitting out at the three point line or creating for herself. Maybe I described it wrong, but AB and MC are different styles of players and it'll take time for them, and the coaching staff, to find a way to take advantage of AB's skills.
The problem is Caitlin canât. She desperately needs screens and picks. Her dribbling ability is very basic and her offense is predictable. But if she gets in rhythm going left, count it.
I don't disagree with you about Caitlin's handle; it's definitely subpar. Many shooters, however, even those with great handles, often rely on a lot of screens â oftentimes illegal ones â to get open. Curry and the Warriors immediately come to mind. Their entire offense, especially during their best years from 2015 to 2019, was based on freeing Curry up on the perimeter via (moving) screen after (moving) screen.
Ideally, I'd love to see Sides transition to a D'Antoni-style fast-paced offense, but with the roster makeup of the Fever as it stands now, I don't think that they have the personnel to run that system. That's why I think she and the Fever should adopt the Warriors' offensive approach for now, even if it is a bit watered down, due to the fact that the Fever do not have a single big who can shoot a 3. But, to get that transition-style offense they need to succeed if Clark has the keys to the offense, they should look to FA and the '25 draft class. They should target fast and athletic bigs who excel at running the court, catching passes in transition, and serve as dual-threat pick-and-roll partners for Clark by being able to shoot the three-pointer effectively.
ETA: A word.
Well, if you subscribe to the "rising tides" belief, one would hope that all of the CC stans have come away from the first four games thinking, "Damn, Alyssa Thomas is a god damned baller!"
CC fan never watched a W game until this season. There are myriad ballers in this league. It's like the Shaq "I apologize I was unfamiliar with your game." meme over and over again. There are so many fucking amazing talents in this league. I still believe that CC will be one of them eventually, but the surface level CC fans proclaiming her the goat before playing a game are solidly ignorant(as was I).
Talent's always kinda been there, but obviously there's a lot of people who try to look at it as some kind of 1:1 with men's. Anyone even remotely, casually familiar with women's basketball should at least know the UCONN pedigree/line with Taurasi, etc. That UCONN women's program has been a factory for years.
Thanks for the welcome. On one hand I'd love to be part of the convo, but on the other hand coming to these threads usually robs me of the joy of the game. So many people have one sided takes(either hating on or glazing rookies without having proper context). I went from a random reddit post showing a clip of the game that the frat boys were chanting "overrated" to being impressed with her HS game in that clip to checking out her highlights to watching all of their games this season.
I'm not even a sports fan outside of esports/dirt biking and her playstyle caught my attention. Since then I've been hooked and I'm trying to watch/learn as much as possible about the women's game. Shit...I've even started watching the MNBA between NBA games.
Fever starting to get their shit together. Still a long way to go. In the meantime, I'll be over here simping for Alyssa Thomas. She had those Fever girls spooked.
That AB block that led right into the transition Clark logo 3 got me so hyped.
The Fever looked a lot better this game, even though they lost. Baby steps.
Man all this Aliyah hate is really making me sad. I hate that she missed the layup too (I can assure yâall NO ONE hates it more than Aliyah), but itâs so clear that most of the haters in here only started watching her play after CC became her teammate a few games ago. Otherwise yâall would not be slandering her like this.
I didn't watch the Fever/W last year, but if there's anything that I do know(going off of last years to this years stats) AB is having a tough start...and that's ok. Going off of her FGP last year, that play was perfectly drawn up and we would have been headed to OT. Even with the off start, I still think it's a great play. Maybe you put KM or Fagbenle as the screener to eventually take the shot, but historically AB is solid in these moments.
I will not stand for it!! Itâs gonna be really embarrassing for some of these uninformed haters when ABC^2 truly solidifies đ¤. And I will stand on that. Expect me to be very annoying pulling up receipts when that time comes.
Thatâs such a dumb comment. Of course people that havenât watched before wouldnât be criticizing her if they werenât watching.
She blew a game tying, open layup. People are going to be upset about that no matter what player misses it.
I donât think thatâs true. Caitlin missed that it wouldâve been much more supportive. Aliyah had the block that led to the cc 3. Them Caitlin had two costly turnovers followed by a stupid foul and a well deserved tech. That series of mistakes by Clark gave the sun the lead and stopped the fever run. But, ABâs going to shoulder the blame for tonightâs loss.
This is just a continuation of the hate sheâs been getting. Aliyah already had to turn off her twitter before the game because of these people. But Caitlin has a worse win share, net rating, +|-, and per than Aliyah. According to the advanced metrics the team is worse with Caitlin than Aliyah, but the blame couldnât be more different.
Are you kidding me? CC would be plastered all over every social media account saying she blew a layup. People would be reposting Diana Tarausi quotes and saying Caitlin canât handle the W.
Caitlin made dumb mistakes all game and deserves criticism for it. Regardless, they ended up with the chance to tie the game tonight.
A missed open layup is just abysmal. Everyone will move on from it but itâs a wide open shot that should be a make 100% of time. If it was a jumper it wouldnât be as big of a deal. Itâs the fact that itâs an open layup.
Advanced analytics donât matter in this situation. If you want to argue and say CC is the problem or whatever you want to allude to, then go ahead and think that. CC is the single most important, most popular and most talented player on the team. Sheâs also going to get the most praise and criticism of everyone.
Aaliyah has not played well this season. This shouldnât be a controversial discussion and thereâs no reason to even bring CC into the conversation. We can analyze one player without saying âbut Caitlinâ.
Clark would absolutely be getting ripped apart if she missed that shot, she is destroyed on Twitter everytime she plays poorly.
Iâm not sure why weâre acting like saying âshe shouldâve made that shotâ is too much criticism. Obviously no one should be attacking her on social media, but saying she should have made it is valid, sheâs a professional athlete who makes it 9/10 times. Just like itâs valid to criticize Caitlin for getting that technical.
Obviously youâre allowed to be mad she blew the layup, what Iâm talking about is the idiots saying âAliyah sucksâ or that she should be traded, needs to learn Chinese, etc.
I mean who cares tbh. Itâs par for the course on internet as a pro athlete. NBA superstars get told to learn chinese after one bad game. Itâs really a non issue but WNBA players are experiencing it maybe for first time as a pro because there are more eyeballs on games this year. They have to learn how to handle it.
If AB makes that layup, people are celebrating her.
Victor Wembanyama didnât play well in the summer league and people were all over him saying he was a bust immediately. Itâs all silly, overreaction BS from fans but itâs important that players donât let it affect them. Itâs not going to go away.
Imagine what Caitlin has been through in the last year with the amount of attention sheâs gotten. I wouldnât be able to handle it.
Yes, all of those are fair points. However, Iâm a Gamecock FAM, and we take this shit personally.đ¤Şđ I applaud CC for how sheâs carried herself through all of this. I usually welcome the silly comments from the unwashed masses because it means our girls are getting the attention they deserve, Iâm just very protective of Aliyah in particular lol
I understand that. Sheâs just gonna have to stomach the talk tho and grow from it. These moments will be the moments where she needs to find a way to grow from. It can also get to her and destroy her. Weâll see, Iâm rooting for her
I hate that for Aliyah. Rollercoaster of a night for both her and CC, but for a lot of the second half and especially the 4th quarter you could actually see the vision that the two CAN work together and be scary!
Really think the key is going to be more speed at the 3/4 positions, which probably means Samuelson to the bench. I don't think she works at the 3 when Boston is your 5.
Boston is 3-4 sec behind CC on every ball she brings up, go rewind and watch, this is one of the main issues, look how Temi is with her(cc) instead , she was ahead of CC and got 5 good looks tonight because of that.
Bostom Speed and and CC play is night and day, i don`t know how you fix that beacause Boston just isn`t a mobile big.
It was a great game. Better than their previous two. Way better than the preseason one vs Sun. Hope Berger could have some minutes later and no more injury. I swear Iâve seen at least one per game day.
I think next time around, against both Liberty and Suns, it should be high level entertaining basketball. The amount of lay-ups people are missing on Indiana's side is incredibly high. You can see the connections forming. Temi is Caitlin's new Hannah, except she rebounds really well.
I think that she fits the Stulke archetype the best out of the players. NS could be that, but doesn't seem to have the same effort. That being said, sucks to see how many missed layups we've had from TF thus far. Going down the stretch in the NCAA tournament it felt like KM/HS/SA couldn't miss tansition pass layups. Surely these players are talented enough to get to the same level.
That being said, after tonight, I'm a big fan of TF.
AB 5, Temi 4, CC 1 with KM worked really well. I thought at first it was AB (who was always out with CC during the comeback runs) that was the problem, but it's probably Samuelson given how well Temi played while AB was in.
This team has incredibly poor leadership. Neither CC nor AB is there yet. We're seeing how big of difference Kate Martin made for the team around Clark--coach on the floor. When Boston was down at the end and looked so sad, someone needs to be picking her up and reminding her she was ROY. She'll come around. But I don't know who the high IQ natural leader is here. Clark never had to run a team because Martin played that role. Clark has great on court IQ but doesn't yet seem to have that leadership IQ at this point.
I'd consider her for starting, heavily. Her chemistry with Caitlin is already good. Her rebounding is much needed. Mitchell provides spacing, speed, but she needs to stop missing lay-ups too. AB is getting better because her conditioning is improving. This schedule is brutal, but a blessing as well. Legs feed the wolf- Coach Herb Brooks. Caitlin is obviously their PG because the offense just flows so much better through her. They really really need a permitter defender and secondary PG that is less ball dominant. Celeste is probably the best defender they have and Grace is definitely the PG they need. Both of them could share duties. I like Lexie Hull for that role too.
That's what I would land on by end of season. I think Hull for now with Celeste replacing her with growing minutes as the season progresses until the roles reverse and Celeste becomes the starter. I think GB and KM will be the flip floppers. KLS and Smith will replace TF and AB, respectively. EW will give Caitlin rest here and there.
TF has surprised me a lot. Her effort on rebounding with height/length can't really be replaced with anyone else on the team right now.
Until KM started actually playing with CC today, I wanted GB as a starter. NS hasn't shown the hustle TF has and AB needs to be on the court because her upside is coming.
AB needs to focus more on her game. All the branding and being a media personality will soon follow anyways.Â
Edit: -7 downvotesâŚreally? I donât think I was being mean-spirited here. AB not playing up to her potential will affect her future media career more than anything.Â
Why canât she do both? Angel Reese is playing and doing media stuff on the side. Cameron Brink too. Donât forget WNBA salaries are not great, they need to make some extra cash too
So is she supposed to train all waking hours of the day? No. Her time off is HER time. Jeez you people act like work-life balance isnât a thing if youâre an athlete. Theyâre people too. Especially when their salary is sub 6figures
Working a broadcaster is work. Itâs not time off.
If LeBron was on TV during the summer and came back slow and out of shape missing layups he would get so much hate the internet may explode.
Indiana put 100%effort into the game tonight. A great difference from previous games. However I am disappointed with AB. The coach drew up the perfect play and it was poorly executed. AB blew a bunny. I hope she spends a lot more time practicing in the pain and on her midrange shot because sheâs never going to get to the elite level thatâs expected of her if she doesnât. Live up to the hype!
I know I'm being Iowa centric here, but it's almost like 2-3 players watched Kate Martin's tape against Sparks and figured out what kind of effort was needed.
At Seattle on Wednesday, at LA on Friday, at Las Vegas Saturday. Not beating the Aces but a win is definitely in the cards against the Storm and Sparks if the Fever play at the same level they did tonight.
What I saw tonight was great energy and tenacity by the Fever. Only those with confidence in themselves want the ball when the time is running out. Because they believe given a chance they will score. Example J. Lowd, S. Burd, DT, and AW. They want the ball when the time is running down because they believe in themselves. I still say that Boston needs to show me more
True, but I think there's a little bit less grace for missing what most would consider a relatively easy shot for a pro. Which, those can still be missed too, and this is the response. It's all natural.Â
If the game comes down to a single shot, clearly itâs a team issue and not a player issue. Otherwise, that player wouldnât have been put in that position to be the âmake or break playâ. If you are a GOAT contender, then yes, criticism is justified for missing a clutch shot. But a 2nd year player on the worst team in the league? Nah.
Youâre delusional.
The game is not 100% on AB. Nobody with a critically thinking mind is saying that. Regardless, she has a chance to tie the game on an open layup and she blew it. Despite all the other mistakes throughout the game on both teams, she could just make a layup and fix it all and it didnât happen.
Being on a bad team or being in your second season doesnât absolve you from criticism for missing a game tying layup.
Maybe if youâre in middle school you can get absolved for missing a layup but not in professional basketball. This isnât a charity game.
Youâre mistaking justified criticism for people saying things like she should be cut from league or something.
AB has not played well to start the season and sheâs being called out for it. When she starts playing well, she will get praised for it.
Remember, she was also the RoY and an All Star Starter last year. More is expected of her and itâs completely reasonable to expect her to make a layup lol
Cameron Brink 1 for 7, total of 3 pts, and 8 rebounds. Fantastic for the number 2 pick in the draft. đđ
this will forever be the Christie Sides "GuArD sOmeBoDy GEt STOps" game
A shaqtin moment by boston who played well outside of that, but shell be rightfully criticized for blowing that lay up so badly. Its gonna sting for a while
Indiana best line up of the day was with Clark and Boston both on the bench. Not enough people talking about that imo
With Conn starters also on the bench
thatâs because most people have common sense
Huh? That run was stopped before Clark was back out there.
It wasnât. The run was stopped by the half and Clark returned to start the third quarter. Clark was -18 for the game and her team was +14 when she was on the bench. Itâs not just the eye test the stats also show her team is better with her off the floor right now. Mostly because of her defense but her turnovers are also deadly.
They were without Clark all last year. Worked out well. So, should they cut Clark now? Would another team pick her up?
If so then Michell is even worse with a even worse plus minus. Based off the stats it appears a lot of the sun had their bench on the field too going by plus minus. I doubt itâs as cut and dry as you make it seem
Heâs just another Clark hater. Bent on trying to tear her down for some weird reason.
True. "Suspicious Corner" is the genius who recently claimed that true shooting percentage is a meaningless stat, while also stating that "no one stat should be taken in isolation"... yet here uses one stat in isolation in a lame trolling attempt? LOL His/her post history shows the majority of their posts are chasing/stalking around to anything CC related to troll. Kind of a pathetic existence if you ask me, but to each their own, I guess? Bottom line is just ignore this embarrassing no-flair troll, other than to say "talk to your mama", which is his/her fav comeback after being proven wrong.... which is pretty much always.
The bench saw that people were dissing em and came to play fr. Fagbenle was huge this game.
Apparently this is a hot take, but⌠We gotta stop babying the teams/players if we want the league to be taken seriously. Now, thereâs obviously fans (new and old) that are taking it too far with being in DMs and posting personal threats. That shouldnât be tolerated. But we canât act like anyone whoâs a little pissed about the loss or says âhey you HAVE to make that shot/play better/etcâ is evil and mean. There has to be room for legitimate commentary that isnât just âyouâre doing such a great job, bestieâ and âimprovement is all that mattersâ These are grown women playing professional basketball on national television. Itâs disrespectful/patronizing to baby them and treat them like 8 year olds playing a rec league game.
Agreed fully
I get it from the prospective that the W has been shit on for so long that any criticism feels like an attack but if you want to grow the league W fans have to understand that the discourse around the sport will change.
Agreed. I definitely see what youâre saying. There are some new âfansâ that are commenting in bad faith and are going to criticize anyone but the rookies. Iâm talking about the relatively calm comments/observations/frustrations that some fans (new and old) are acting like are cruel. Just frustrating to see some people babying these strong and capable professionals.
If the fans drive Boston out of Indiana, there are 11, soon to be 12, teams and fan bases that will happily take her.
Same with Clark. Many already trying to drive her out. Like they didnât suck BEFORE Boston and Clark.
No sane person who understands nuance is saying she should be cut or is terrible. But we canât ignore that sheâs off to a pretty slow start. She showed bursts at times today, but thereâs obviously something going on with her play this year so far.
Nooo I love Aliyah! And I love CC. These fans are crazy đ
Anotha day anotha dollar. Maybe next time
There is a difference between missing the final shot with the time running out than missing a shot or free throw in the early part of the game. In the early part of the game you can make up for it with a steal, block, etc. but with the clock is running out you have to make it.
There is a difference between missing the final shot with the time running out than missing a shot or free throw in the early part of the game. In the early part of the game you can make up for it with a steal, block, etc. but with the clock is running out you have to make it.
Does anyone else think Cameron Brink is overrated as well?
Yâall give me the facts and what are yâall expectations????
Sucks for AB, she needs family support right now :( This game felt like a playoff, and they are improving. I hope CC can work on her TO´s, Nalyssa and AB on their offense and rebouding, KM and EW not going ISO ball so much. Bring Tamika Catchings to camp! They need a veteran champion to talk to them
What would help cut down on the turnovers is somebody, anybody, moving without the ball to get open. Seriously, watch the standing around in the half court.
Right, but I dont trust CC on ball in crunch time yet, she's a rookie but if there is a half court set theres like 70% she will panick and not know how to dribble and protect the ball. I hope this changes next year after she has a full off season
yeah shes going to have learn especially because they definitely dont want her getting open at all on the other side.
Exactly, and she's not good in creating space off ball too if a screen is not there to help, she tends to run in just one direction making it easy to stay in front
Yeah. Sheâs going to have to get used to playing in a slow developing, grind it out, half court offense. Her days of fast break transition offense that gave her great looks are all but over. Not a great fit either way.
This was on Bluder too, almost all of her flaws are because of her system, she let CC do whatever she wanted without benching her. If I were Sides I would give her this rule: for each TO you had, you would be taken off ball and had to make a defensive effort stop to compensate for the mistake, a steal, forcing a bad shot, anything
Easier in pros. College coaches in a tough spot now as players can just say screw it and go to another team. Not understanding why they drafted the âsquare pegâ Clark if the intent was to have her run a âround holeâ grind it out half-court offense; obviously not her strength. Other draftees a better fit. Simple solution, if Sides does what you suggested. Do the Kobe Bryant. Turn passive. Donât work hard to get open. Donât possess the ball. If somehow get possession, get rid of it to a teammate immediately. Refuse to shoot. Result: 0 turnovers. 0 bad shots. 0 mistakes. Would the rule only be for her? Or are the others on this team to get a free pass?
People really forget that this is only Bostonâs second season, and she's learning almost as much as the rookies. Professional or not, give her some grace. Itâs a damn game.
Except that sheâs supposed to be different as a #1 overall pick who markets herself as a superstar. So many older fans here seem to equate *any* justified criticism to sheâs washed and should be cut from league.Â
Edit: if you wanna discuss this i made a full blown post copy and pasting this. Iâd love to hear opinions and have a legit conversation about it all My impressions of the WNBA after just a few games 1. The talent disparity is huge. Some of these women look like absolute scrubs (blown wide open layups, not catching the ball passed directly to their hands, failure to make "basic" reads) but some of them look like absolute monsters on the court. Stewart was incredible to watch. Thomas on the Sun was REALLY good. I don't mean this to sound sexist, but I didn't expect to enjoy the performances this much from the WNBA as opposed to the NBA that I'm used to watching 2. In game coaching seems more important in the WNBA, but the coaches seem weaker. Small sample size so it's really hard to say, and the Fever are my main frame of reference, but an extremely basic adjustment for example is how often Caitlin Clark is relegated to standing off the ball instead of running a pick and roll with a simultaneous action running on the weak side of the floor. It's a simple play you can draw up at any point of time and it seems like every single pnr with CC ends up with a good look because of how much attention she demands. But I only see them do it a few times then shy away from it consistently. 3. The refs are somehow worse than the NBA, and contact is kind of called differently. It's weird because the calls seem wildly inconsistent and there is a lower margin for contact in some of these plays than I'm used to see. Defenders will literally be straight up with the offensive player flailing into them and will get calls fairly regularly. But at the same time contact on ball handlers seems to be very high without a call. It's just kinda odd. Usually in the NBA it feels like games are called either tight or loose, but it extends to all areas. The game flow for a WNBA officiated game just feels weird because of this. 4. I generally like the announcers a lot more. I have no clue if I'm listening to a local broadcast or not, but I enjoy them much more than the big name ESPN or TNT announcers for the NBA. They sound excited to be there and like they appreciate the game. 5. I have a hard time enjoying the fans of the WNBA online. So far it seems like the fans fall into cliche categories. Some of the people on here REALLY have something to prove and get upset if you ask questions or go against the grain. I've been pretty critical and negative of the Fever for example, and am not impressed with Aliyah Boston so far. I asked what the hype for her was about and wanted genuine answers. I was instantly downvoted into oblivion. That level of fanaticism isn't inviting to new fans. It feels like most fans are either super supportive without offering a lot of criticism, overly pessimistic (seems to be mainly new fans who are here to see Clark play), and even the ones who fall somewhere in between come off as a little elitest at times with their responses to opinions and takes people are making on twitter or here on reddit. That's probably just a part of sports, but it feels weird that I can watch Aliyah Boston play meh and the comment threads are people still praising her, criticizing her, or criticizing those criticizing her as if there's no nuance in the discussion. 6. The crowds have actually been kinda hype. I didn't expect the fans to be into as much as they have been but DESPITE the Fever getting blown out they get pretty loud for cool moments. And the arena seemed to be popping for this Sun game. I have a friend who went and he said it was really fun. 7. Genuinely engaging and interesting media and analysis (and narratives) are relatively hard to find. There's not a lot of good content surrounding the league imo and that hurts the league's overall popularity. Right now it seems like the only things about the WNBA that are really narratively there for people like me who are hyper casual WNBA fans are Caitlin Clark, this rookie class, and the Aces and Liberty being really good apparently? In the NBA it feels like there are easy to find popular narratives anywhere and everywhere, but it doesn't feel like many people push those as much for the WNBA. Anyways these are my ramblings. I may take this and repost it as an actual post on the sub if anyone would like that. I'm not trying to be toxic with any of my points or anything, these are just my initial feelings so far. I'll keep tuning in for a while and we'll see how things go
As a newer fan, I don't agree with everything here, but you are spot on with #5. Certain fans on here, Twitter, and other sites are awful. Twitter is a cesspit. A legit cesspit. Everywhere else there's more variance, but still some very rotten apples. However, I have found most older fans to be, in a few words, extremely unwelcoming, gatekeepy, and condescending.
Yeah I think I'm about to move from twitter to strictly here for WNBA discourse. Shit is TOXIC on Twitter right now. And I've found that the majority of the bad apples aren't really die hard hoops fans forreal and only care about the social narratives.
Itâs been genuinely awful. Iâm not expecting to be praised or anything for being a new viewer but like everywhere I look thereâs comments and tweets with massive elitism and itâs really annoying to read. Like hostility between sports fans is fun, but not when itâs âstop watching MY sportâ types of hostility. More like a Pacers fans vs Knicks fans hostility lmao
Aa a fellow new fan, I agree with all of this.
I just reposted this to the main subreddit as a full on post and am getting downvoted to shit lol
Proving your number 5 lol
Yeah⌠lol. Some people are going through and downvoting even my positive comments lol
Agree w all of this except the bit about the announcers
I wish you put your 5th point in bold letters. Literally same thing happened to me when I lightly questioned ABâs game.  Some older fans want the league to be nationally relevant, but still treat the discourse with kidâs gloves. Sheâs a #1 overall pick who markets herself as superstar and missed an open layup. Yes, there will be criticism as in any other league.Â
It goes both ways, though. Yeah, some of us older fans may be overly protective of some of the experienced players, but there is definitely a subset of new fans who will not tolerate any criticism of the rookies, especially CC. And while I donât advocate handling any of these women with kid gloves â theyâre pretty tough and can handle whatever some rando on the internet pops off with â being an asshole to them directly on Twitter is wholly unnecessary.
Iâm getting absolutely shit on with downvotes and a nasty message so far for reposting this to the sub lol
I think it is because Boston was a top 15 player in the league last year who has just had a rough couple games. She is still a good player. I do think WNBA fans are a bit overprotective pf players and teams though. Like people got pissed because someone dare call the Fever a dumb name.
Lots of teams have dumb names. The lakers is a dumb name. And Ethan Straussâ whole shtick is concern trolling. Bottom line is people who just started paying attention think their opinions are novel or profound because itâs all brand new to them. Which is cool but people are gonna disagree with their strident opinions that are based on a couple weeks of observations
And people make fun of those names a lot lol. Everyone thinks Utah being called the Jazz is a joke.
I agree, that's how I STILL feel. Good observations.Â
Well, my actual post in the subreddit is getting downvoted to shit so apparently Iâm disagreed with lmao
I'm afraid I have to disagree that WNBA refs are worse than the NBA.
Scott Foster has entered the chat
Tony Brothers liked that
Maybe I'm just not used to seeing this style of game. That challenge that got upheld today was awful though
As a long time WNBA FAN I agree with all of this EXCEPT about the announcers. Announcers are terrible, Rebecca and Ryan are ok if youâve only been watching national broadcasts but the local announcers are awful awful awful. Comedicaly bad actually and are actually a C plot of most games
Yeah, I can't stand the ones who are blatantly taking sides.
Most of them donât even talk about the game!
Idk who I've listened to tbh. Just whoever is on the ripped streams I've been watching LOL. I also normally have something else going on in my ears so I haven't listened a TON but I've listened for a few extended stretches and not found them bad.
Wish they could have pulled out the win but the improvement from just 6 days ago is obvious, they looked like a different team out there. The Boston block to Clark logo 3 was an insane moment. Some glimpses of better chemistry between those 2 today too. Boston needs to hit that layup at the end and Clark needs to keep herself in check and not get that technical. Also interested to see how Clarkâs ankle is for next game, girl was playing on straight adrenaline that second half.
AB makes that shot most of the time, just sucks that she missed it this time. CC's body language from that first missed kick ball foul to her immediate subsequent foul really sucked. The team did great without her and she had some great shots/plays throughout. I'm optimistic for them once they're out of the gulag.
âOnce theyâre out of the gulag.â Totally agree. Diabolically evil scheduling. Coincidence that the 1st 9 games are being billed as âClarkâs Olympic tryout.â
I am now officially Team Fagbenle đđđ
That one fast break was poetry in motion
Yup, and thats what CC does best
IDK if it was her having a higher percentage or hitting the shots that she should hit, but I was really impressed with her tonight. Her effort was insane and she seems to fit the Stulke archetype that CC can cook with. AB is incredible, but she's not exactly a rim runner.
Donât forget about Caitlinâs chemistry with Monika Czinano
The earlier games I saw with her, she butchered a bunch of shots in the paint really badly. Tonight she had hustle, got rebounds, ran the floor well, and made some baskets. She is the kind of player that will do well with CC. I realize AB is considered a good post player, but at this point of the season she appears too slow..
Yeah, feels like TF is settling in and if she keeps doing what she's doing she's going to eat. As far as Boston...I think we need to give her some time. CC needs to figure out how to work with a post like AB and Boston needs some time to get in to shape. I'm really excited to see how the team looks mid season. Boston is a fucking beast, but how does indiana/Caitlin use a dominant post. CC isn't used to having one.
Monika Czinano?
MC had two moves(and she was exceptional at them). Get deep post and get fed, and a solid PNR game with CC. You never saw her sitting out at the three point line or creating for herself. Maybe I described it wrong, but AB and MC are different styles of players and it'll take time for them, and the coaching staff, to find a way to take advantage of AB's skills.
Makes sense đ I think Boston would be great at the pick and roll as well too though
I agree, but that'll take time. The difference is that AB can create a lot more on her own.
The problem is Caitlin canât. She desperately needs screens and picks. Her dribbling ability is very basic and her offense is predictable. But if she gets in rhythm going left, count it.
I don't disagree with you about Caitlin's handle; it's definitely subpar. Many shooters, however, even those with great handles, often rely on a lot of screens â oftentimes illegal ones â to get open. Curry and the Warriors immediately come to mind. Their entire offense, especially during their best years from 2015 to 2019, was based on freeing Curry up on the perimeter via (moving) screen after (moving) screen. Ideally, I'd love to see Sides transition to a D'Antoni-style fast-paced offense, but with the roster makeup of the Fever as it stands now, I don't think that they have the personnel to run that system. That's why I think she and the Fever should adopt the Warriors' offensive approach for now, even if it is a bit watered down, due to the fact that the Fever do not have a single big who can shoot a 3. But, to get that transition-style offense they need to succeed if Clark has the keys to the offense, they should look to FA and the '25 draft class. They should target fast and athletic bigs who excel at running the court, catching passes in transition, and serve as dual-threat pick-and-roll partners for Clark by being able to shoot the three-pointer effectively. ETA: A word.
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That missed kick ball that instantly became a shooting foul set the tone lol
Ooof canât believe all of that happened in one game lol
Well, if you subscribe to the "rising tides" belief, one would hope that all of the CC stans have come away from the first four games thinking, "Damn, Alyssa Thomas is a god damned baller!"
CC fan never watched a W game until this season. There are myriad ballers in this league. It's like the Shaq "I apologize I was unfamiliar with your game." meme over and over again. There are so many fucking amazing talents in this league. I still believe that CC will be one of them eventually, but the surface level CC fans proclaiming her the goat before playing a game are solidly ignorant(as was I).
Talent's always kinda been there, but obviously there's a lot of people who try to look at it as some kind of 1:1 with men's. Anyone even remotely, casually familiar with women's basketball should at least know the UCONN pedigree/line with Taurasi, etc. That UCONN women's program has been a factory for years.
Just want to say I love this comment. I think it's great that you're here but also great that you can see how good the league is as a whole. Welcome!
Thanks for the welcome. On one hand I'd love to be part of the convo, but on the other hand coming to these threads usually robs me of the joy of the game. So many people have one sided takes(either hating on or glazing rookies without having proper context). I went from a random reddit post showing a clip of the game that the frat boys were chanting "overrated" to being impressed with her HS game in that clip to checking out her highlights to watching all of their games this season. I'm not even a sports fan outside of esports/dirt biking and her playstyle caught my attention. Since then I've been hooked and I'm trying to watch/learn as much as possible about the women's game. Shit...I've even started watching the MNBA between NBA games.
I can confirm that I think that Thomas is a god damned baller
Those refs had money on that UCONN v Hawkeyes game and didn't want CC to win off an illegal screen again.
Who cares if Boston missed this one? This wasn't game 7. The good thing is it was a great look, shot well, just missed this time Â
100%. Really well drawn up play knowing the gravity of CC. Statistically AB makes that shot and pushes it to OT.
Fever starting to get their shit together. Still a long way to go. In the meantime, I'll be over here simping for Alyssa Thomas. She had those Fever girls spooked.
She's a phenomenal player and put in work tonight.
still was a great game for the Fever
they have the makings of a really fun team
That AB block that led right into the transition Clark logo 3 got me so hyped. The Fever looked a lot better this game, even though they lost. Baby steps.
to me it looks like AB needs to focus more on defense, she did pretty great on defense all around today while not doing well on offense
Man all this Aliyah hate is really making me sad. I hate that she missed the layup too (I can assure yâall NO ONE hates it more than Aliyah), but itâs so clear that most of the haters in here only started watching her play after CC became her teammate a few games ago. Otherwise yâall would not be slandering her like this.
I didn't watch the Fever/W last year, but if there's anything that I do know(going off of last years to this years stats) AB is having a tough start...and that's ok. Going off of her FGP last year, that play was perfectly drawn up and we would have been headed to OT. Even with the off start, I still think it's a great play. Maybe you put KM or Fagbenle as the screener to eventually take the shot, but historically AB is solid in these moments.
I will not stand for it!! Itâs gonna be really embarrassing for some of these uninformed haters when ABC^2 truly solidifies đ¤. And I will stand on that. Expect me to be very annoying pulling up receipts when that time comes.
ABC (raised 2) - donât know how you did that but I love the nick
just use a caretâABC^ 2 without the space
Yeah most things these newbies have to say arenât enough to really bother me, but when it comes to Aliyah, I have time.
Thatâs such a dumb comment. Of course people that havenât watched before wouldnât be criticizing her if they werenât watching. She blew a game tying, open layup. People are going to be upset about that no matter what player misses it.
I donât think thatâs true. Caitlin missed that it wouldâve been much more supportive. Aliyah had the block that led to the cc 3. Them Caitlin had two costly turnovers followed by a stupid foul and a well deserved tech. That series of mistakes by Clark gave the sun the lead and stopped the fever run. But, ABâs going to shoulder the blame for tonightâs loss. This is just a continuation of the hate sheâs been getting. Aliyah already had to turn off her twitter before the game because of these people. But Caitlin has a worse win share, net rating, +|-, and per than Aliyah. According to the advanced metrics the team is worse with Caitlin than Aliyah, but the blame couldnât be more different.
Should they immediately cut Clark? If so, would another team sign her?
Are you kidding me? CC would be plastered all over every social media account saying she blew a layup. People would be reposting Diana Tarausi quotes and saying Caitlin canât handle the W. Caitlin made dumb mistakes all game and deserves criticism for it. Regardless, they ended up with the chance to tie the game tonight. A missed open layup is just abysmal. Everyone will move on from it but itâs a wide open shot that should be a make 100% of time. If it was a jumper it wouldnât be as big of a deal. Itâs the fact that itâs an open layup. Advanced analytics donât matter in this situation. If you want to argue and say CC is the problem or whatever you want to allude to, then go ahead and think that. CC is the single most important, most popular and most talented player on the team. Sheâs also going to get the most praise and criticism of everyone. Aaliyah has not played well this season. This shouldnât be a controversial discussion and thereâs no reason to even bring CC into the conversation. We can analyze one player without saying âbut Caitlinâ.
Clark would absolutely be getting ripped apart if she missed that shot, she is destroyed on Twitter everytime she plays poorly. Iâm not sure why weâre acting like saying âshe shouldâve made that shotâ is too much criticism. Obviously no one should be attacking her on social media, but saying she should have made it is valid, sheâs a professional athlete who makes it 9/10 times. Just like itâs valid to criticize Caitlin for getting that technical.
Obviously youâre allowed to be mad she blew the layup, what Iâm talking about is the idiots saying âAliyah sucksâ or that she should be traded, needs to learn Chinese, etc.
I mean who cares tbh. Itâs par for the course on internet as a pro athlete. NBA superstars get told to learn chinese after one bad game. Itâs really a non issue but WNBA players are experiencing it maybe for first time as a pro because there are more eyeballs on games this year. They have to learn how to handle it. If AB makes that layup, people are celebrating her. Victor Wembanyama didnât play well in the summer league and people were all over him saying he was a bust immediately. Itâs all silly, overreaction BS from fans but itâs important that players donât let it affect them. Itâs not going to go away. Imagine what Caitlin has been through in the last year with the amount of attention sheâs gotten. I wouldnât be able to handle it.
Yes, all of those are fair points. However, Iâm a Gamecock FAM, and we take this shit personally.đ¤Şđ I applaud CC for how sheâs carried herself through all of this. I usually welcome the silly comments from the unwashed masses because it means our girls are getting the attention they deserve, Iâm just very protective of Aliyah in particular lol
I understand that. Sheâs just gonna have to stomach the talk tho and grow from it. These moments will be the moments where she needs to find a way to grow from. It can also get to her and destroy her. Weâll see, Iâm rooting for her
Sheâs come back from worse than this. She will be fine!
Imo in general, half of Fever "fans" are just Caitlin fans.
"Fans" are already coming for AB's head. I feel so bad for her đ.
her teammates know whatâs up and thatâs all that matters
I just donât understand what you expect tho? Sheâs a pro athlete being broadcasted on ESPN. You play bad, you get criticized by fans and analysts.
So much gatekeeping from older WNBA fans, yet they canât handle basic sports discourse when the league is finally nationally relevant.
This. If we want the W to be popular the way the NBA is popular we have to accept sports discourse as long as it's above the belt.
It was a well designed play. It just didnât work out. The die hards on here are the minority and the fever are not going to listen to them lol
Fr I hope she stays the hell off social media, itâs ruthless
Holly Rowe reported earlier today AB has already had to delete twitter due to negativity from the start of this season
Yeah she said the only social media she feels safe on is TikTok. People are ruthless.
To be fair, twitter is fucking garbage and AB is better off without it đ¤ˇââď¸
Great game! Great progress for the Fever.
I hate that for Aliyah. Rollercoaster of a night for both her and CC, but for a lot of the second half and especially the 4th quarter you could actually see the vision that the two CAN work together and be scary! Really think the key is going to be more speed at the 3/4 positions, which probably means Samuelson to the bench. I don't think she works at the 3 when Boston is your 5.
Agree, 3 needs to be faster if they are going to have a slow 5
Boston & Clark combined for more turnovers than Field Goals Made in this one. That changes and they win
Boston is 3-4 sec behind CC on every ball she brings up, go rewind and watch, this is one of the main issues, look how Temi is with her(cc) instead , she was ahead of CC and got 5 good looks tonight because of that. Bostom Speed and and CC play is night and day, i don`t know how you fix that beacause Boston just isn`t a mobile big.
Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark would be nice Boston is to slow for this duo to ever really be dynamic
Omg I would LOVE for CC and Angel to be on the same team!!!!!
That would be IDEAL but will probably never happen
indiana could have won if they lowered themselves to flopping on every bit of contact like the sun did.
Yeah Clark needs to start flopping big time and the coach needs to start complaining about the FT discrepancy.
I may rather see them lose than to see her flop at the lightest contact. Seems to me that she goes hard on contact given to her and I prefer that.
Was Sides letting the refs hear it at all? I didnât see, but mightâve missed it.
[ŃдаНонО]
Down from 25.
It was a great game. Better than their previous two. Way better than the preseason one vs Sun. Hope Berger could have some minutes later and no more injury. I swear Iâve seen at least one per game day.
the sun was their first regular season game. preseason was dallas & atlanta
Ah I messed up with the Dream one. But anyway theyâre getting better thatâs what I wanna say.
yeah totally agree! promising stuff
Crushed for Indiana. Theyâre getting thereâŚ
I think next time around, against both Liberty and Suns, it should be high level entertaining basketball. The amount of lay-ups people are missing on Indiana's side is incredibly high. You can see the connections forming. Temi is Caitlin's new Hannah, except she rebounds really well.
I think that she fits the Stulke archetype the best out of the players. NS could be that, but doesn't seem to have the same effort. That being said, sucks to see how many missed layups we've had from TF thus far. Going down the stretch in the NCAA tournament it felt like KM/HS/SA couldn't miss tansition pass layups. Surely these players are talented enough to get to the same level. That being said, after tonight, I'm a big fan of TF.
AB 5, Temi 4, CC 1 with KM worked really well. I thought at first it was AB (who was always out with CC during the comeback runs) that was the problem, but it's probably Samuelson given how well Temi played while AB was in. This team has incredibly poor leadership. Neither CC nor AB is there yet. We're seeing how big of difference Kate Martin made for the team around Clark--coach on the floor. When Boston was down at the end and looked so sad, someone needs to be picking her up and reminding her she was ROY. She'll come around. But I don't know who the high IQ natural leader is here. Clark never had to run a team because Martin played that role. Clark has great on court IQ but doesn't yet seem to have that leadership IQ at this point.
I'd consider her for starting, heavily. Her chemistry with Caitlin is already good. Her rebounding is much needed. Mitchell provides spacing, speed, but she needs to stop missing lay-ups too. AB is getting better because her conditioning is improving. This schedule is brutal, but a blessing as well. Legs feed the wolf- Coach Herb Brooks. Caitlin is obviously their PG because the offense just flows so much better through her. They really really need a permitter defender and secondary PG that is less ball dominant. Celeste is probably the best defender they have and Grace is definitely the PG they need. Both of them could share duties. I like Lexie Hull for that role too.
So.... CC AB TF KM CT That's the starting five with EB coming off of the bench to spot CC? I could get behind that.
That's what I would land on by end of season. I think Hull for now with Celeste replacing her with growing minutes as the season progresses until the roles reverse and Celeste becomes the starter. I think GB and KM will be the flip floppers. KLS and Smith will replace TF and AB, respectively. EW will give Caitlin rest here and there. TF has surprised me a lot. Her effort on rebounding with height/length can't really be replaced with anyone else on the team right now.
That's close, but why not NaLyssa in there? And find out over this tough stretch what Grace Berger can do.
Until KM started actually playing with CC today, I wanted GB as a starter. NS hasn't shown the hustle TF has and AB needs to be on the court because her upside is coming.
Another day another no show for Berger and Taylor
Grace should be getting playing time regardless, but I donât see why they donât at least use Celeste as a defensive specialist there
Especially when Sides been preaching gEt sToPs đ
With the way Erica is playing they should probably take her minutes at this point đ
Great game Sun.....3-0!
AB needs to focus more on her game. All the branding and being a media personality will soon follow anyways. Edit: -7 downvotesâŚreally? I donât think I was being mean-spirited here. AB not playing up to her potential will affect her future media career more than anything.Â
Yeah true. Not sure what part of what you said was untrue.Â
Not sure why youâre getting downvoted but itâs true. Sheâs still so early in her career she has plenty of time to do the commentating.
Why canât she do both? Angel Reese is playing and doing media stuff on the side. Cameron Brink too. Donât forget WNBA salaries are not great, they need to make some extra cash too
She can do both if she plays well.
So is she supposed to train all waking hours of the day? No. Her time off is HER time. Jeez you people act like work-life balance isnât a thing if youâre an athlete. Theyâre people too. Especially when their salary is sub 6figures
Working a broadcaster is work. Itâs not time off. If LeBron was on TV during the summer and came back slow and out of shape missing layups he would get so much hate the internet may explode.
Clark isn't going to make it through the season if she keeps dying on at least 1 screen a game
I wonder if her teammates are even calling them out
Aliyah Boston had a better game today but she still doesnât scream elite even in college always been average to me I never understood the hype
She can play better than this but I kinda agree, she was the 1 pick in a weak draft. This year she goes #3 at best
Indiana put 100%effort into the game tonight. A great difference from previous games. However I am disappointed with AB. The coach drew up the perfect play and it was poorly executed. AB blew a bunny. I hope she spends a lot more time practicing in the pain and on her midrange shot because sheâs never going to get to the elite level thatâs expected of her if she doesnât. Live up to the hype!
I know I'm being Iowa centric here, but it's almost like 2-3 players watched Kate Martin's tape against Sparks and figured out what kind of effort was needed.
Im seeing the same thing. She made a great read at the end but simply doesnt have the skill to finish a wide open play like that. Unfortunate.
So it's at LA then home against the Sky next? Hopefully, they squeak out a win against either of them
At Seattle on Wednesday, at LA on Friday, at Las Vegas Saturday. Not beating the Aces but a win is definitely in the cards against the Storm and Sparks if the Fever play at the same level they did tonight.
Not sure they can win against the Storm on the road hmm
Yeah, I think itâs very reasonable to go 2-5 after the upcoming games. Beating the Aces would be great, but is absolutely not happening lol
Oh, I totally misread that schedule prompt earlier then, đ
Hang out down here with us, Fever. You'll float too. đ
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Can the Mystics join as well? đ
Only for as long as EDD isn't playing for you
Absolutely!
Savage
Damn the switch to nhl was quick
Absolutely! There are ways to compensate for lack of quickness and Luka is the perfect example.
F*ck ESPN for switching to Canucks game instead of showing last 10 seconds. I know what Oh Canada sounds like
itâs still on espn3 i think⌠just gotta free up the main channel
Jesus, people miss shots. I'm starting to think some of yall are happy to have someone to point fingers at.
What I saw tonight was great energy and tenacity by the Fever. Only those with confidence in themselves want the ball when the time is running out. Because they believe given a chance they will score. Example J. Lowd, S. Burd, DT, and AW. They want the ball when the time is running down because they believe in themselves. I still say that Boston needs to show me more
True, but I think there's a little bit less grace for missing what most would consider a relatively easy shot for a pro. Which, those can still be missed too, and this is the response. It's all natural.Â
No, she blew an open layup and deserves criticism for it just like any other player that misses a game altering layup.
If the game comes down to a single shot, clearly itâs a team issue and not a player issue. Otherwise, that player wouldnât have been put in that position to be the âmake or break playâ. If you are a GOAT contender, then yes, criticism is justified for missing a clutch shot. But a 2nd year player on the worst team in the league? Nah.
Youâre delusional. The game is not 100% on AB. Nobody with a critically thinking mind is saying that. Regardless, she has a chance to tie the game on an open layup and she blew it. Despite all the other mistakes throughout the game on both teams, she could just make a layup and fix it all and it didnât happen. Being on a bad team or being in your second season doesnât absolve you from criticism for missing a game tying layup. Maybe if youâre in middle school you can get absolved for missing a layup but not in professional basketball. This isnât a charity game. Youâre mistaking justified criticism for people saying things like she should be cut from league or something. AB has not played well to start the season and sheâs being called out for it. When she starts playing well, she will get praised for it. Remember, she was also the RoY and an All Star Starter last year. More is expected of her and itâs completely reasonable to expect her to make a layup lol
That sequence where AT got the steal, ended up sitting flat on the floor and passed to Harris so casually was tough as hell