Mercury @ Monarchs

For the first five minutes of this game it looked like Paul Westhead's fast break, run and gun offense was going to be lethal this season. For the remaining thirty-five minutes you began to wonder how many games into the season would he fired.

After putting 17 points up while holding the Monarchs to 4 points, all in under five minutes, the Mercury fell apart. Sacramento coach John Whisenant called a timeout, talked to his team about how to handle the pressure defense and reminded them to defend. Also, at that 5:11 mark of the first quarter Cappie Pondexter had to be subbed out due to her second foul. The Mercury never recovered and fell to the reigning WNBA champions 105-78. I asked earlier this year who would be the first team to 100 in the new world of the 24 second clock...I was sure it was going to be Phoenix's first game, but never did I dream that the offensively challenged Monarchs would be the team to reach it.

BY THE NUMBERS

By my calculations each team had around 87 possessions, which is 18 more than the league average for 2005. It also happens to be smack on my estimated 86.45 possessions per game for this season based on the new 24 second shot clock. The Monarchs had an offensive rating of 120.97, around 25 points higher than their season rating for 2005. The Mercury had an offensive rating of 89.87, which is around 11 points below their 2005 rating, but 3 points higher than Sacramento allowed for the 2005 season.

Plus/Minus

Sacramento
Powell: +28
Maiga: +25
Penicheiro: +15
Smith: +13
Lawson: +13
Brunson: +12
Haynie: +12
Griffith: +12
Buescher: +8
Wilkins: 0
Dorrell: -3

Most Effective Lineups:
Haynie-Lawson-Maiga-Powell-Buescher: +7
Penicheiro-Lawson-Powell-Brunson-Griffith: +5
Haynie-Wilkins-Smith-Maiga-Buescher: +4

Least Effective Lineups:
Haynie-Lawson-Smith-Brunson-Buescher: -3
Haynie-Smith-Dorell-Wilkins-Buescher: -2

Phoenix
Lacy: +9
Pondexter: +5
Strother: +2
Rasmussen: -3
Jackson: -8
Taurasi: -12
Snell: -12
Vodichkova: -13
Miller: -13
Pettis: -14
Stevenson: -20

Most Effective Lineups:
Lacy-Pondexter-Vodichkova-Taurasi-Miller: +5
Stevenson-Snell-Jackson-Taurasi-Miller: +5

Least Effective Lineups:
Stevenson-Pettis-Vodichkova-Taurasi-Miller: -8
Lacy-Pondexter-Vodichkova-Taurasi-Miller: -5