Thursday, October 4, 2012

Western Conference Finals, game 1: Lynx 94, Sparks 77

This is the only major story on the game out at the moment, and it's pretty choppy, so I'll help:

- The Lynx played stifling defense from tip off, which disrupted the Sparks' rhythm. They never recovered.
- The Lynx dictated the pace of the game - slowed it down - and the Sparks like to play fast.
- Kristi Toliver's emotions finally boiled over, and she took herself out of the game. Then, Coach Carol Ross did. I knew it was a matter of time after seeing Toliver's f-word outbursts in last Saturday's semifinal against San Antonio. She needs to get that in check.
- Candace Parker, with 25 points and 11 rebounds, put the team on her back. But it takes more than two (Alana Beard 16 points) to win a ball game.
- Maya Moore, with 20 points, was looking good.
- You'd hardly know Lindsay Whalen (12 points) had a broken finger.
- The Lynx found their hunger for a second championship. They look great.
- Ross has brought the Sparks so far this year. As a coach, she is the real deal. LA will grow from this season.
- Game two this Sunday at Staples Center is no guarantee that the Sparks will win.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Painful game to watch. Hopefully some home cookin' will get LA back on track and then they can go back to MN and redeem themselves. If they don't up their game big time the series is done.

HuskyGirl1 said...

Home cookin' will be the only thing to help, lack of Guard hurts them. But why is Toliver handling the ball, she's a Sniper?! Set some screens and get her open, just like Reeves does with Maya.

Sue Favor said...

The original plan was for Sharnee Zoll to be PG, but she tore her ACL in pre-season, thus Toliver.

HuskyGirl1 said...

Keep the ball in Beards Hands, let KT do what she does best. LA has a pretty nice size line up, I would be sitting double screens for KT. Its hard getting around Lavender, Parker, and/or DMJ. I hope Ross will be prepared for gm 2

Anonymous said...

I think LA will be OK in Cali. They were off their game and got pushed around. My money is on the Sparks in LA, but they may not be able to close it out in MN.

They just don't seem as strong as MN. Length alone won't win every game. We'll see tho. I also think that Parker has an epic game in her. She's due.