Monday, August 20, 2018

August 19th, 2018: Los Angeles at Connecticut

Just the Facts, Ma'am: The Sparks mounted a second half comeback, but it was the Sun who rose victorious in their regular-season finale, coming away with the 89-86 win behind 27 points from Jasmine Thomas and a 17-point, nine-rebound, seven-assist game from Jonquel Jones. Candace Parker led five Sparks in double figures with 20 points, adding 10 rebounds.

For grinding out defense, inexplicable arrival times, terrible calls, making the extra pass, fighting through screens, and tiny Gopher pups, join your intrepid and conclusive blogger after the jump.

Barring a deep run in the playoffs by the Sun, these will likely be the last GNoD of the season, since the less said about the Liberty the better, and the Sun are in Providence for the play-in round. So I'm going to try to make them good.

Our lovely and helpful ticket rep, Lindsey, has arranged for us to be at a pregame event in one of the suites, where Amber Cox will be giving a State of the Team address (and of course encouraging people to buy season tickets for next year). Snacks seem good. I'm eyeing the outlet on the counter for my phone. I'm favorably impressed by the clarity of language in their season ticket agreement. Novel concept, they actually tell you when they're going to bill you! (yes, I may still harbor some resentment towards the Liberty rep who once screwed up our card so badly that we had to hand him cash every game)

Sorry for the laughter, Amber, but your contingency plan involves the Liberty beating Phoenix. I love her sense of humor.

(this is a really nerdy point, but I love the custom header on the PowerPoint slides) (oops, spotted the first typo)

So far it's basically Connecticut Sun 101, with the basics of the league, the team, and the personnel. aaaand there's the second typo, which is not good when it's a player's name. Sorry, Shekinna.

OH MY GOD TINY RACHEL BANHAM IN A LYNX JERSEY no, I get the point that this is about our players who grew up idolizing W players, and that the league is a goal to strive for even if you're not an athlete because there are management positions and whatnot, but TINY RACHEL BANHAM IN A LYNX JERSEY I IZ DED

The enticement to buy/renew season tickets is pretty good, and under beer circus stances I would allow myself to be lured. But a full plan is not workable for us, and I can't lay down money for a partial right now, no matter how nice the coasters are. Playoff tickets aren't enough of an inducement for a one-game round.

I was hoping for a little more inside baseball and a little less timeshare, but maybe we can buttonhole her later. There's still twenty minutes before the gates open. I mean, she does have to schmooze with the people who are laying down money today, and I do get that.

The “In the Paint” series concluded today with a poster of the entire team. Challenge accepted. Failed but accepted. On the plus side, the second and third posters are signed and ready for hanging on the wall. I think my favorite of the series is still the first; it captures both Jonquel Jones and the Sun's entire vibe best.

We are currently filling out an extremely detailed survey on the game day experience. The Sun are leaving no stone unturned.

Truth be told, I could put up with the Anthem a lot more if they did it as a singalong more often.

The fan appreciation messages from the team were good stuff. I thought it was interesting that both Layshia Clarendon and Chiney Ogwumike emphasized supporting the league almost as much as much as supporting the team.

It's 52-41 Sun at the half. Los Angeles has made the flashier plays, but Connecticut has answered with big shots every time.

If this whiny brat in the row in front of us doesn't turn around and pay attention to the game, I will not be responsible for my actions. Why drag the kid here when he clearly doesn't want to be here?

Nike really messed up the Sparks' gold. It's a bright, flat yellow.

To the family that came in five minutes into the fourth quarter, made a fuss about their seats, and left with about 1:30 left: why? It's not even like they went straight home- we saw them in line for the burger joint as we were leaving an hour after the game. I feel so bad for the kid in her Candace Parker jersey. Your folks can't get you there in time and they bail when the going gets tough?

That got closer than it had to be at the end, and there will be words to come about just why it got so close. But first will come the rest of the words.

I was surprised that Brian Agler decided to go to Karlie Samuelson so abruptly in the second half. (And to the autograph hounds working the rail behind me before the game: yes, she has a name. She's not just "Katie's sister". Not everything revolves around UConn.) She and Sydney Wiese, at different times in the game, were used to set up three-point shots, and that was pretty much it. Odyssey Sims got some good run in the second half, and she abused Rachel Banham driving the lane- she accelerated at will and hit the shot at the bucket.

Driving into Maria Vadeeva is not a smart life choice. If you throw a shot directly at her, she's going to block it. Her hands aren't great on passes, but she's a good big body inside. Essence Carson, the GNoD's favorite unique special unicorn, had herself a very nice offensive day, and kept up the defense, too. All things considered, I'm still happy for her. I like her and I wish her well, just not when she's playing one of my teams.

We didn't see a lot of Alana Beard. She had a really nifty offensive rebound in the third quarter, but LA was getting enough firepower from the bench with Carson and Sims that Agler decided to go heavy offense over heavy defense. I do remain impressed with Beard's tenacity, though. Chelsea Gray fired off some spectacular passes, and I'm grateful that her teammates missed the shots she set up for them on the behind-the-back passes. There's a tough, physical presence to her that gives the Sparks a lot of flexibility in the backcourt to create mismatches. Riquna Williams, I imagine, did not make a lot of friends today in the Nutmeg State. She was undercutting all day and not getting called for it; with the amount of times she blatantly reached in or tripped someone, she should have fouled out of the game. I take the kinds of plays where someone can get injured seriously. It seemed like beautiful perfect karma that she missed the wrong free throw and then banked in the one she was clearly trying to miss (you could see the over-compensation in her shooting form- she was definitely aiming long).

Longtime readers of the GNoD know that I loathe Ohio State institutionally (except for Jessica Davenport, and I guess I have to put up with Katie Smith) so I'm already not going to be the world's biggest Jantel Lavender fan. But that off-the-ball shot to Courtney Williams's midsection was dirty and cheap, and she should be ashamed of it. She was having herself quite the nice offensive day, even remembering where the three-point line was most of the time, so that kind of nonsense was completely unnecessary. She took advantage of more than one mismatch (like, seriously, why would Jasmine Thomas ever be on a post player?) and scored both insdie and out. Candace Parker looked frustrated much of the night; every time a shot didn't go in, she looked like she wanted to blame literally anyone but herself. I suspect La Leslie has been a bad influence in her on-court demeanor. It's a shame, because when she has her head fully in the game, she's a holy terror. She can make the ball look like an extension of herself, she moves with grace and fluidity, and she's got a full toolkit. She was killer on the offensive glass for LA; I think at least three of her baskets were on putbacks. She insinuated herself into spaces she shouldn't have been able to fit into.

I was impressed with the way LA used screens. There was a lot of motion to their offense, and it kept Connecticut running. Unfortunately for the Sparks, the Sun are good at that running bit.

We kind of had a sense that Chiney Ogwumike would not be available for the Sun not when she didn't start the game, but when Brionna Jones was the first sub off the bench in the first half. Brionna tries hard, but her reaction time was extremely slow. There were plays that it looked like her teammates were expecting her to make that she hesitated too long on, and they looked like plays other post players on the Sun roster would have made. But, wow, did Morgan Tuck ever step up. The three she hit at the end of the first almost brought the house down, but more importantly, she brought tough defense inside. I didn't know if she had it in her to be that good against someone as good as Parker, but she answered the bell. Game stories will talk about Jas's 27 points, or JJ flirting with the triple-double, but Morgan was the unsung hero of this game. Betnijah Laney was all over the place. She needs to work on her ballhandling, as long as she also keeps whatever skill/instinct I don't have the word for that allows her to realize exactly how bad the possession is going to get and somehow save it.

This wasn't Rachel Banham's day. It was pretty clear early on when her first shot was way off target, but she had to take a long shift in the third quarter, and it showed. She couldn't keep up with Sims, and she couldn't answer on the offensive end the way we needed her to. She is still very adorable when tiny and wearing a Lynx jersey. (Yes, that PowerPoint slide killed me dead from cute and I am writing these notes from beyond the grave, that's why they're taking me so long.) Layshia Clarendon committed uncharacteristically stupid fouls, but still ran the offense with a steady hand. I would have liked to see more of her and less of Rach in this one, but I understand the necessity. As long as we don't talk about that floater in the lane. You're not Mark Jackson, Layshia. You'd be a better commentator than he is.

(As an aside, the husband and I have a difference of opinion on the "double-point" backcourt with Jas and Layshia. He thinks it causes confusion. I think that as long as Jas is raining threes, the roles are clear.)

Speaking of! Jasmine Thomas took advantage of the openings created for her and rained down threes and teardrops. She has her days when she's hot, and there have been a lot of them lately. So fun to watch. I think part of the trouble we got into in the second half had to do with her foul issues shortening the rotation. Courtney Williams was not quite the same after that shot from Lavender, but she adapted- after missing two jumpers badly, she started knifing through the lane and got two back-to-back buckets. She's so fun to watch. She's like someone brought a can of Red Bull to life, only without the smugness from the advertising campaign.

Shekinna Stricklen was usually the one hitting the big shot to quiet the Sparks' run. She also had a nice defensive play late in the game that got us going. I still feel like there's so much more she can be than a jump shooter, that there's so much more potential for her to unlock to be a more well-rounded player, but at some point I will have to accept that it's not happening. Alyssa Thomas threw the ball to a lot of Sparks. The one shot she hit was a beauty- she spun off Vadeeva like something out of a slow-motion martial arts movie. But the 'point forward' concept doesn't work as well against a tall team like Los Angeles, especially when they have on occasion deployed the maneuver themselves. (Hi, Candace.) I don't know what I enjoyed more about Jonquel Jones in this game: those incredible fingers controlling rebounds like a puppeteer, or her consistent ability to make the extra pass. I don't think those were passes she would have made four years ago. I don't know if those were passes she would have made last year. But she consistently saw a teammate in a better position, and almost always, those teammates rewarded her with the assist. Just a phenomenal demonstration of team play. (Admittedly, trying to make the extra pass on a 1-on-0 fast break was not a good plan, since Jas was about two feet behind the spot she was passing to.)

We have to learn to control our fouls better. It would help if we had better officiating. But there are things we can control, and reach-ins are one of them. Recognizing how things are being called is another. LA was forced to foul deliberately at the end and still ended up with more free throw attempts than we did. This bothers me to my soul.

You know what else bothers me to my soul? Kurt Walker and that nonsense call on JJ. JJ is standing there doing her best impression of a six-and-a-half-foot tall bright orange pole, and Riquna Williams leaps into her like someone with a death wish. Somehow this is a three-shot foul. I haven't been this upset about a three-shot foul since Nadirah McKenith got called for that one on Skylar Diggins. (Rest in peace, Bonita, and I never truly meant you any ill, but that was still a terrible call.) I don't think every single call went for LA and against Connecticut the way the crowd did, but there were some pretty awful ones, many of which seemed to involve Riquna Williams dive-bombing people's ankles.

(As an aside- "Riquina" is a new and exciting typo. Sunterns, I am disappointed in you.)

I felt the crowd could have been louder, but it was nice to hear spontaneous noise instead of just cued noise from the PA.

It was quite a lovely experience to actually feel happy leaving a basketball game. I had started to forget what it was like. I'm looking forward to the playoffs. Thanks for putting up with us, Sun fans.

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