Game Twenty-Five: 25 July, 2008

The Suspensions

Before I get into last night's game I want to talk about the suspensions. They were all on the lighter than expected side given the much more significant suspensions issued in the past for less egregious actions. The league said that they wanted to look at the incident independantly, but they have effectively lowered the bar for future discipliary actions. I agree, that given her history, Plennett Pierson deserved the largest penalty. I think Mahorn, who was in the wrong, was nonetheless made an example of rather than punished accordingly. I believe that Parker could have been more strongly sanctioned and that Deanna Nola should have received at least some penalty. Viewed independantly the punishments mostly make sense and are not worthy of all the hullaballoo being made over them. Outside of Pierson's actions, none of the actions of those involved were truly malicious. I remember the fight between Latasha Byears and Michelle Marciniak, that was pure, unnecessary aggression by both sides. I saw the NBA "Malice in the Palace" brawl and all of its over the top aggression. In this instance, to be truthful, most actions were unfortunate reactions resulting from poor choices.

The only thing that really ticks me off and hurts my respect for the league is the clear favoritism shown by allowing Parker to serve her suspension in the Houston game when the league's own rules indicate that Page should have served that suspension with Parker serving hers in last night's Liberty game. The league says the suspensions are served alphabetically, and in my alphabet PAG comes before PAR. The decision reeks of the attempt to make sure that the league's most marketable player was able to play the game held in Madison Square garden, basketball's biggest stage. In cases of discipline the business should not come before fairness.

The Game

Let's move on to more important items. I did not think the Storm had enough firepower to survive this game, but gutsy play from Griffith, Ely and Wright made a game of it in the third quarter. In the end the lack of production from Sue Bird, Swin Cash and Katie Gearlds neutralized those valiant performances. Tanisha scored and played fantastic defense on Cappie Pondexter. She really deserves serious consideration for both Most Improved Player and Sixth Woman of the Year.

"She can't do that for a long time," Gaines said. "She's a great player, but she's old. You've got to be realistic. In her younger days she would probably be a beast."

I am envisioning Yo's boxscore if we face his team in the postseason, that is, if they can actually MAKE the playoffs.

Storm
Most Effective Shooters

Player	True Shooting Percentage	Effective FG%	Floor Percentage	Points
Kelly Santos	69%	50%	79%	4
Tanisha Wright	60%	44%	63%	14
Yolanda Griffith	52%	50%	61%	17
Camille Little	47%	50%	46%	13
Shyra Ely	46%	39%	46%	10

I don't think Coach Agler is using Kelly Santos effectively. She could have played a lot more minutes in this game and I believe that it would have helped the offense.

Top Ratings

Player	Offensive Rating	Individual Rating
Kelly Santos	172.38	160.17
Tanisha Wright	136.70	112.48
Yolanda Griffith	116.70	101.42
Swin Cash	102.71	73.60
Shyra Ely	102.26	79.33

I know that she made the list, but the team needs more from Swin Cash with LJ out.

Raw Plus Minus

Kelly Santos: +6
Ashley Robinson: +1
Camille Little: -6
Tanisha Wright: -6
Swin Cash: -7
Yolanda Griffith: -12
Sue Bird: -14
Shyra Ely: -15
Katie Gearlds: -17

Most Effective Lineups

Bird-Wright-Cash-Little-Griffith: +7
Wright-Gearlds-Ely-Santos-Robinson: +4
Bird-Cash-Ely-Little-Santos: +4
Wright-Gearlds-Cash-Ely-Little: +3

Mercury
Most Effective Shooters

Player	True Shooting Percentage	Effective FG%	Floor Percentage	Points
LaToya Pringle	74%	40%	73%	14
Kelly Miller	71%	71%	56%	10
Diana Taurasi	71%	62%	60%	31
LeCoe Willingham	70%	71%	67%	11
Tangela Smith	50%	50%	42%	7

Top Ratings

Player	Offensive Rating	Individual Rating
LaToya Pringle	170.85	146.97
Diana Taurasi	139.53	129.04
LeCoe Willingham	136.05	123.03
Kelly Miller	135.63	130.89
Kelly Mazzante	104.92	82.33
Yuko Oga	104.65	78.00

Raw Plus Minus
Diana Taurasi: +14
LeCoe Willingham: +13
Kelly Mazzante: +12
LaToya Pringle: +10
Yuko Oga: +10
Tangela Smith: +7
Kelly Miller: +5
Cappie Pondexter: +4
Brooke Smith: 0
Barbara Farris: -2
Allie Quigley: -3

Most Effective Lineups
Miller-Pondexter-Taurasi-Willingham-TSmith: +5
Oga-Mazzante-Taurasi-Farris-Pringle: +4
Oga-Pondexter-Mazzante-Willingham-TSmith: +4
Miller-Mazzante-Taurasi-Willingham-TSmith: +3
Miller-Mazzante-Taurasi-Pringle-TSmith: +3