Thursday, June 05, 2008

Game Eight: Storm @ Shock 4 June, 2008

The game went better than I predicted, with strong first and fourth quarters from the Storm, but they dug too big a hole for themselves in the third quarter, and after pulling within 3 points at the 2:10 mark of the fourth on a Jackson free throw they stopped playing defense and were too tired to score. They lose by 10. They allowed the Shock to out rebound them at the offensive end of the floor, giving up 13 rebounds for 34%. They only got 20% of their own offensive rebounds. They failed to control Nolan, and then let Katie Smith embarass them with 33 points and seven rebounds. LJ did a solid job inside and out, executing the game plan with seeming ease, but the perimeter players came up short. The perimeter players I called out in yesterday's preview (Cash, Swoopes, Bird, Wright and Gearlds) totaled 24 points while LJ had 27 on her own.


STORM
MOST EFFECTIVE SHOOTERS


Player

True Shooting %

Eff FG%

Floor %

Beck

150%

150%

0%

Griffith

102%

100%

77%

Ely

67%

67%

39%

Jackson

58%

55%

43%




Welcome back to the shooting list, Lauren. Again, where is Katie Gearlds? Ely is playing very well this year. She and Tanisha are forming a solid bench. Beck hit her only shot, but it was a nice one. When Santos returns, and if Katie can find her shot again, this team could be potent.


BEST RATINGS

PlayerOffensive RatingIndividual Rating
Griffith

163.64

157.65

Jackson

96.71

90.45

Wright

90.17

81.67

Cash

87.35

75.92

Tanisha continues to be solid offensively, but the Storm can't have Bird, Cash, Swoopes and Gearlds all having off days at the same time.


RAW PLUS/MINUS
Beck: -1
Robinson: -2
Swoopes: -3
Griffith: -3
Bird: -3
Ely: -3
Gearlds: -6
Jackson: -8
Wright: -8
Cash: -13


MOST EFFECTIVE LINEUPS

Bird-Wright-Swoopes-Robinson-Griffith: +5
Bird-Swoopes-Ely-Jackson-Griffith: +2
Bird-Swoopes-Ely-Jackson-Robinson: +2


Shock
MOST EFFECTIVE SHOOTERS

PlayerTrue Shooting %Eff FG%Floor%
Smith

68%

58%%

59%

Hornbuckle

63%

63%

42%

Thomas

50%

50%

52%

Nolan

43%

36%

54%

Katie and Alexis were spot on shooting and Deanna and Katie got themselves to the line.

BEST RATINGS



PlayerOffensive RatingIndiv Rating
Smith138.19122.27
Nolan

110.33

93.26
Thomas103.5385.28
Hornbuckle102.7088.43

People always harped than Lambier didn't use his rookies in past seasons. Perhaps his previous rookies just weren't good enough. This year's draft has to be the most productive in league history.


RAW PLUS/MINUS
Thomas: +12
Smith: +10
Pierson: +8
Powell: +7
Sanni: +7
Hornbuckle: +2
Nolan: +2
Sam: +1
Ford: 0

Katie wanted to stay 33, she refused to score that last point on her 34th birthday.




MOST EFFECTIVE LINEUPS

Smith-Powell-Nolan-Ford-Sanni: +7
Smith-Powell-Nolan-Pierson-Braxton: +7
Smith-Hornbuckle-Nolan-Pierson-Thomas: +5
Smith-Hornbuckle-Pierson-Ford-Thomas:+4

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Worst in league team 3 pt FG%, so far.

Do you think there is any lack of floor stretching link to Jackson by far career low FG%?

Patrick said...

I am not sure what is hurting Lauren. I notice a ton of fronting going on from opposing defense which is limiting her shot attempts down low, meaning she is back to being on the high block or on the perimeter where percentages are bound to drop. I don't recall fronting being a problem in past years, so I don't know why it is affecting her in this offense. Swoopes is not looking for her shot much after her slow shooting start, while Betty was never shy about putting the ball up. Lennox's reputation as a streaky shooter may have forced the defense to be more honest on the weak side.

Patrick said...

as for three point shooting, a reader (perhaps you) pointed out earlier that might be a problem. When Gearlds is hitting, the Storm have done very well...I, for one, did not count on Bird, Swoopes and Gearlds all being off on the same night this much. Bird is such a cerebral player that she is more often victim of her own thinking. Sheryl is trying to determine her role and her identity. She will have it by the playoffs. She is still a great player, and her defense is better than the Storm have had...at least as long as I have been a fan. However, she is not as fast, sure or frankly, mean on offense as she has been historically.

Anonymous said...

Yes I made the comments about 3 pointers.

Thanks for the feedback.

Has the fronting been single coverage or double?

Anonymous said...

How much and how well does Swoopes play when with a good deal of the bench? Should she play with them more?

Patrick said...

The fronting is single coverage ball denial. When she does get the ball on the block the double generally comes quickly, though in the Detroit game she took to using her trademark turnaround jumper before the double could get there.

Agler does not really play his bench as a unit. He has used 80 different rotations so far this season. He is still tinkering as proven by his addition of three-five new rotations each game.

Swoopes plays about 25% of her minutes with bench players. The bench overall has not been good from a +/- perspective. Swoopes is -33 in her bench pairings but +21 in her starter pairings. Her best bench pairings are Beck (+3) and Santos (+3). Unfortunately Santos is not currently with the team since she is playing for Brazil in an Olympic qualifier.

Anonymous said...

The 4 teams with best records right now are 4 of the 6 teams shooting 35+% from 3.
You may be able to do fine another way and it isn't a guarantee of success (as the other 2 teams show) but it seems like a significant element.

Last season all 8 playoff teams shot 34+% from 3.

Anonymous said...

If Storm shot 34% on 3 they'd scored about 3 more points. With a point differential of less than 1 right now that might prove a huge deal on season W-L.

Anonymous said...

Actually the 2 other teams above 35+% from 3 right now- one is currently playoff ranked and the other is a half game back from that. So even though they aren't doing great, they aren't so bad either.

But 3 pt % could swing by mid-season. Hopefully will for Storm.