SBNation.com User Blog: Sam James

Have the Fever Faded? Atlanta Dream at Indiana Fever, 7PM EST

Sam James — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 22:39:27 -0000

7pm EST || WNBA PREVIEW || Fever PREVIEW || WNBA LIVE ACCESS

Have the Fever faded?

The Fever have surrendered home games against some of the best in the East, but have yet to win in Atlanta, Washington or Connecticut.

Tonight will be some answers.

GameThread: Connecticut Sun at Indiana Fever, 1PM EST

Sam James — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 16:37:59 -0000

In a rare day game, the kids of "Kids Day" are out in full force, filling the middle bowl, clapping their Bam Bams, cheering wildly with every cameo on the jumbotron and creating an unnnaturally loud and boisterous playoff atmosphere here at Conseco FieldHouse.

And all that 20 minutes before the game tips off!

A quick rundown of the news.

The Pacers, and subsequently the Fever, are staying in Conseco Fieldhouse and in Indianapolis following a 30 million dollar community bailout of the small-market team, ostensibly to upgrade CFH and to cover operating expenses.
The Fever waived "Fever Energizer" Shay Murphy and signed rookie Joy Cheek on Sunday. It's not yet clear to outsiders what necessarily motivates the moves.
Katie Douglas won the three point shoot out.
Tamika Catching's knee is bother her, so she's been limiting her discretionary playing time.
Since the Fever shut down Tina Charles to 1-8 shooting and 4 rebounds in their last meeting, she has played well, but the Sun have lost three straight games and are just 3-7 on the road.
The lack of WNBA parity may be a good thing. Except for the Storm, no one on either coast ever has an uncompetitive game.

Audrey Reynolds breaks down the Chicago Sky's 0-4 record vs the Indiana Fever

Sam James — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 15:00:44 -0000

Audrey Reynolds breaks down the Chicago Sky's 0-4 record vs the Indiana Fever

Videos, links and gory details from the Sky's latest home loss against the Fever.

Game thread: Indiana Fever and Chicago Sky Meet Again

Sam James — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 21:03:37 -0000

They meet again, at All-State Arena, Chicago, Sunday 6PM EST

WNBA Preview || Live Access || Other Stuff

Massey Predicts: Fever 73.8, Sky 72.0, 57% Fever Win

Expect this game to be harder fought and more sophisticated than the prior two matchups, which saw the Fever sweep the Sky within the first week of the WNBA season.

The Chicago Sky are coming off a scintillating wins over the top teams Washington Mystics and the Connecticut Sun. Their first 4-0 win streak came from the emergent offensive play of Big Syl, but the latest streak is coming from the emergent offensive play of the Sky's backcourt, Epiphanny Prince and Jia Perkins. Epiphanny Prince is playing confidently and taking over games at critical moments. Jia Perkins is hitting her shots and scoring. Despite their 5-8 record, a functional offense will make this team hard to stop, especially at All-state Arena.

As Audrey Reynolds notes, the Sky are in their unstoppable phase:

There's no reason the Sky can't win this game.

Michelle Voepel on Sylvia Fowles' Offensive Emergence

Dishin 'n' Swishin talks to Big Syl

Epiphanny Prince Number 2 in Rookie Rankings

Meanwhile, the Fever lost a hard fought game to the Storm in Seattle. Despite the loss and an abysmal 4th place in the Eastern Conference standings, the team is playing well. The Fever front-line and team defense has had success against the big stars of the league, such as Tina Charles and Sylvia Fowles, not necessarily by locking them down, but by making every touch and every play difficult for them. The problem that has hurt them several times is that the inside focus gives the outside shooters a chance to make plays. On occasion, someone like Renee Montgomery or Sue Bird have gotten hot at crucial moments in the game, and made a difference in the game's outcome. It's not clear if the Fever can respond quicker to a player getting hot or not. Sometimes it can be hard to recognize in the flow of the game whether its a short lucky streak or a player "in the zone." In Renee Montgomery's place, the response wasn't made in game at all, it was made in the subsequent matchup. In Sue Bird's case, she dropped 3 treys in 90 seconds. Not sure that the defense could have responded quicker to that kind of outburst.

The Indiana Fever beat all the top teams this week at Conseco

Sam James — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 18:23:06 -0000

The Indiana Fever beat all the top teams this week at Conseco

Now they play four on the road and will not be back until July 8th. Here's how they did it.

Fever Win Against the WNBA's Best, But Fail to Gain in Standings

Sam James — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 04:32:32 -0000

After winning three consecutive home games this week against the Connecticut Sun, the Seattle Storm and the Atlanta Dream, the Indiana Fever remain stuck in third place in the Eastern Conference. That's how tough the Eastern Conference is.

Indiana proved that at this point in the season, they are as good as the top teams in the WNBA. But they have yet to prove they are better. They have a chance this week to prove it, if they can beat the Seattle Storm in their Key Arena "fortress" on Friday. But the Storm should be far better prepared for Indiana's defense after losing 72-65 last Thursday.

For the Fever, the game with the Dream was fairly representative of its three-game homestand. All three games featured substantial double-digit Fever leads by mid-game, huge comebacks weathered by late game and all the right plays made down the stretch to win.

On Saturday in Indianapolis, the Fever were saved by the bell, as the Dream ran out of time to come back from a 55-41 halftime deficit.

"I wish we had one more minute on that clock," Dream head coach Marynell Meadors said. "If we had one more minute and one more timeout, I think the outcome might have been a little different. This team has a huge heart. They dug and they dug and they dug, 'til they got the thing really close."

It's not clear, however, that the Fever would have succumbed with more time. Unlike games the prior week, the Dream was never able to tie the score in the fourth quarter.

"People fail to realize the game of basketball is a game of highs and low," explained Fever forward Tamika Catchings. "You'll go on a streak where you are hitting, hitting, hitting. And then you might go on a slump for a little bit, hopefully not too long, but a couple shots where you don't hit."

Fever guard Katie Douglas said, "They're going to make runs, we're going to make runs. Hopefully, like you saw, our runs were a little bit longer than their runs tonight, and that's why we were able to get the win tonight."

Four developing factors have contributed to the Fever's recent wins.

First, anchored by Fever point guard Briann January (recently returned from injury), the bench platoon of Jessica Moore, Jessica Davenport, Shay Murphy and Shavonte Zellous continues to produce offensively and defensively.

"Our bench showed why we have the best bench in the league," boasted Catchings after defeating the Dream. "The starters had a lead, they came in and not only did they sustain it, they extended it. They came out with a lot of energy, high energy, hitting a lot of shots, getting steals, transition; got the Donkey Kong block in there, Jessica Davenport."

Second, the offense has re-focused on inside play and inside-outside passing as opposed to outside shooting and around-the-perimeter passing. The 55-point outburst in the first half of the Fever-Dream game shows what the Indiana offense is capable of and is working toward. A majority of those points came in the paint, where Tammy Sutton-Brown scored a season-high 16 points largely on layups. The team is actively looking for players in the post, players cutting to the basket without the ball, and ways to get into the paint.

Third, the Fever team defense has been able to stop other teams' offensive stars, frustrating Tina Charles, Lauren Jackson, Sue Bird and Angel McCoughtry.

"It's going to be a team defensive game," said Fever forward Ebony Hoffman. "It's not going to be one person playing a lock-up type of defense. It's going to be all of us helping each other and trying to get the job done."

The Fever held Connecticut Sun rookie star Tina Charles to just two points on 1-8 shooting with just four rebounds, both season lows by a large margin.

"Our whole team was focused on not letting Tina get good touches and I thought that was key for us," explained Dunn.

The Fever also limited the Seattle Storm offense to a season-low 65 points as their offense stagnated in misguided attempts to exploit mismatches on Lauren Jackson.

"What Indiana does is they switch a lot of screens." explained Seattle Storm guard Sue Bird. "That puts someone like Tully, January, even Catchings on Lauren is a mismatch for us to get the ball inside. But they’re not stupid. They know it’s a mismatch so they send a lot of people to [Jackson]."

Bird went on to say, "We shot ourselves in the foot. We forced it instead of taking what they gave us like we did at the beginning of the game."

When facing Atlanta, the Fever got out to their 55-41 first-half lead against the Dream with Angel McCoughtry on the bench for 9 minutes and 58 seconds of the half, having scored only six points and saddled with three fouls.

Importantly, the Indiana Fever's league-leading defense depends critically on intensity, focus and precision rotations.

"Any time you're a second late in this game, people are going to make plays," explained Douglas. The margin for error in Indiana's defensive schemes is slim.

Finally, Tamika Catchings' clutch plays late in the fourth quarter when the game is tied or close has made the most impact in securing the wins. Catchings will never be the Most Superlative Player, racking up ungodly points and rebounds like Lauren Jackson or Diana Taurasi. Catchings' game has never been about the boxscore or statistics, but about the game played on the court, hard work, a passion for defense and a will to win.

With the additional rest courtesy of the Fever bench, Catchings has been better able to pick her spots for transcendent play. For example, she broke the Connecticut Sun's back after a 60-all tie.

"Catchings was great down the stretch," said Connecticut Sun head coach Mike Thibault. "She made every play they need to make. Katie [Douglas] had a couple of shots, but Catchings' 12 points and five rebounds was huge."

"You have to point out Catchings," said Dunn. "She had that will to win. 'I'm gonna rebound. I'm going to defend. I'm not going to let you get anything easy.' When she raises her game defensively, it takes the rest of the team up."

"She's going to give you everything on both ends of the court. That's something we definitely need," said Sutton-Brown.

The paucity of defensive statistical modeling means that these statistics will uniformly fail to show Catchings' contributions to the Indiana Fever's success that can be witnessed in each game. She's not just the MVP for a winning team in the tough Eastern Conference, she's playing like the MVP of the league, whether she's recognized for it or not.

Against Atlanta, the Dream got within two points several times in the final six minutes. The Dream were down 91-89 with the ball and 10.9 seconds to go, but of course Catchings stole the ball.

"I saw the play develop, because we got burned five times during the game coming off the post player to help," said Catchings. "Whoever was driving didn't want to shoot it. They wanted to pass it to the post underneath. [So] stay low, sneak in and get it."

Catchings' steal, among other things, undermined Sancho Lyttle's superlative 20-point, 20-rebound game. The rebound total was Lyttle's career-high and a WNBA season-high. But all that didn't translate into a win.

Game Thead: Atlanta Dream at Indiana Fever, 7pm EST

Sam James — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 21:39:29 -0000

7pm EST || WNBA PREVIEW || WNBA LIVE ACCESS

Two great teams meet up tonight at Conseco Fieldhouse, 7 PM EST

No preview necessary. Talk about it here.

Storm ambushed by the Fever's high energy defense, 72-65

Sam James — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 21:03:16 -0000

(Who's fouling who? Lauren Jackson and Jessica Davenport battle under the basket.

Photo courtesy of Josh Flynn.)

The Eastern Conference's domination over the West continues as Indiana Fever downed the WNBA-leading Seattle Storm, 72-65 on Thursday. The Storm are 7-0 against the anemic West, but are now only 2-2 against the East.

Seattle's only other loss came May 27th at Chicago, 84-75, their lowest point total before facing Indiana.

In a pregame interview, when asked whether the two teams represented a clash of styles, Fever forward Ebony Hoffman replied, "I think we both play tough. Seattle has this year changed its style. They are a lot tougher now. They've added LeCoe Willingham and a few other pieces they have. I think it's still a matter of wills. However a team gets the job done is how they get it done. If we can't get shots at the end, we rev up our defense. Some teams in the West, they rev up their offense."

Seattle imposed it's will early. But after scoring 27 points in the first quarter, the Storm scored only 38 in the next three quarters, including a 7 point 2nd quarter. The low final score suggests that the Fever won the battle of wills this time.

In addition to homecourt, the Fever had several other advantages, beginning obviously with their defense.

"Our full court pressure had worn them down some. They looked a little fatigued." said Fever coach Lin Dunn.

Dunn also credited the change in the 2nd quarter to renewed defensive intensity "[In the first quarter] we missed some rotations. We weren’t talking on defense. They came out with enormous energy and we were a step slow. We made some adjustments. Initially we were trapping, then we changed that to switching."

The Storm also recognized the increased defensive intensity.

"We ran a pretty good offense, but they were not quite as engaged defensively as they can be." Storm coach Brian Agler said.

"We got off to a pretty good start and then they really turned up the energy and made it difficult for us and then the time kind of ran out on us." said Storm gaurd Sue Bird. "It was a combination of them turning up their intensity up, getting out and denying, pressuring the ball, getting their hands balls, causing turnovers. They put us on our heels rather than going into attack mode. We ended up reacting just a little too late."

That intensity caught the Seattle Storm offguard as their multidimensional offense stagnated with attempts to exploit mismatches on Laren Jackson which crippled the type of ball movement typically associated with Storm basketball.

"What Indiana does is they switch a lot of screens." said Bird. "That puts someone like Tully, January [on Jackson], even Catchings on Lauren is a mismatch for us, to get the ball inside. But they’re not stupid. They know it’s a mismatch so they send a lot of people to her."

Agler also noticed the offensive missteps. "There were some things they gave us that we didn’t see and we tried to force some things we thought were there." he said. "Every time they take something away, they give you something. I don’t think we did a good job recognizing what that was."

"We shot ourselves in the foot." echoed Bird. "We forced it instead of taking what they gave us like we did at the beginning of the game."

(Katie Douglas squares off with Svetlana Abrosimova. Photo courtesy of Josh Flynn.)

They say no one expects the Spanish inquisition. Even if one expects the Indiana Fever defense, how can a team really prepare for it?

"We prepared." said Bird. "We had a couple of days to prepare. You don’t know what it’s like until you play against them. We knew what they were going to do but it’s a matter of going out there against it."

Because few teams play with Indiana's high energy defense, adjusting to that intensity withn the context of a single game can be a challenge.

"It’s disappointing anytime you don’t play up to your expectations, whether you are playing a back-to-back or have a couple of days to prepare." said Storm coach Brian Agler. "They challenged us, physically and mentally. Our response was sort of a rollercoaster. Sometimes we responded, sometimes we didn’t. We responded inconsistently."

"We haven’t played against them, or a team like that, so it will be a learning process and I hope we get better from it." continued Agler.

Expect Seattle to handle Indiana's defense much better next time. The two teams meet again next week in Seattle on Friday, June 25th.

Seattle Storm vs. Indiana Fever: 7pm EST

Sam James — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 18:10:02 -0000

7PM EST || WNBA Preview || WNBA Live Access

This is the gamethread, your appetizer before the game 7 of the NBA Finals.

Indianapolis -

My girlfriend spent one evening this week in a closet with her best friend, stockpiled with water, chocolate and a cellphone. Some people are deathly afraid of storms.

However, if you are Tammy Sutton-Brown, you go out after the storm and snap pics of rainbows for your tweeps.

For the past week, storms have rolled through Indiana, uncharacteristic of normally sunny mid-June days, complete with tornado warnings and other harbingers of tonight's game between the Seattle Storm (9-1) and the Indiana Fever (6-4).

For the Fever, Tom Reitman does a great job covering the main two foci of the Indiana collective:

Reduce unforced turnovers and mental lapses
Maximize the inside game with post-ups of bigs, big wings and drives

Turnovers are a sign both of very physical games and of a cantankerous offense that has improved over the years but is still hard to execute, especially with a team that lacks exceptional outside shooting by many of the players.

Most of the bruhaha this week has been about Storm coach Brian Agler's inevitable 100th win coming tonight, or tomorrow, or sometime soon.

It would be quite humorous for me to tell you about the mindset of the Storm coming into tonight's game, considering the mass of ink and intellect spent on the Seattle Storm on these pages and those around the WNBA. The cascades of superlatives and the statistical fanblog wankery that follow the Storm (and the Mercury) is so voluminous that I've been hearing the Door's famously ominous tune in my head all week as

"Writers of the Storm, dun-do-duh-dun".

The main saving grace of course is that the Seattle Storm and it's merry band of fans and intrepid journalists and pixelated commentators is that the Fever probably doesn't strike much fear into anyone's ears at the moment. The commentary is so inwardly focused on the teams' nigh-invulnerability and all the ways each arbitrary strand of contribution guarantees success that this particular match has not generated nearly the conversation it deserves. Rather the discussion is compacted into the Storm-centric three-games-in-four-nights challenge, of which this is merely the first hurdle.

Amid all that analysis and the destabilizing force that a 9-1 record invokes on rational thought, it's hard to remind oneself that Lauren Jackson and Sue Bird are mortals and that the Storm is still just an WNBA team.

And one on the road.

Writers of the Storm, there's a killer on the road....

Thursday - Guys Night Out - Indiana Fever vs Seattle Storm

Sam James — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 21:43:08 -0000

Thursday - Guys Night Out - Indiana Fever vs Seattle Storm

Get your buddies together for Guys Night Out this Thursday, June 17, when the Fever faces the Seattle Storm at 7:00 p.m. You'll receive a ticket to game and all you can eat and drink
for only $25. Plus, you'll meet members of the Indiana Pacemates dance team.

Click here
to purchase your Guys Night Out ticket and see the 2009 Eastern Conference Champs.

Can't make it to this week's game? Attend Guys Night Out
on Thursday, July 8, when the Tulsa Shock visits Conseco Fieldhouse. Don't miss out on this opportunity for great food and great basketball.

Indiana Fever Locker Room Confidential, 77-67 over Sun

Sam James — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 02:49:06 -0000

Here are videos of postgame interviews with the Indiana Fever stars of Sunday's home win over the Connecticut Sun, starting with Fever coach Lin Dunn's postgame presser.

Overall, the attendance and crowd excitement for this game was pretty raucous.

The Sun were down 20 points before coming back in the 3rd and 4th quarter to tie the game at 60-all with seven minutes to go.

100613 Lin Dunn Postgame Presser.AVI (via samjames009)

Better defensive intensity this game than on Friday, shutting down Tina Charles and Renee Montgomery (Tully Bevilaqua deserves credit for blanketing Montgomery).
Catchings was incredible in the clutch. (No kidding, watch the last seven minutes of this game to see why)
The team needs to stop complaining about calls. (Yes, that means you, Katie!)
The team still is needs practice time to work out offensive kinks. (The whole team has only practiced once together with Briann January and Shavonte Zellous)
Big week this week at home: Seattle and Atlanta. (Fans, these are going to be great, GREAT games!)

Here are videos of postgame interviews with the Indiana Fever stars of Sunday's home win over the Connecticut Sun, starting with Fever coach Lin Dunn's postgame presser.

Overall, the attendance and crowd excitement for this game was pretty raucous.

The Sun were down 20 points before coming back in the 3rd and 4th quarter to tie the game at 60-all with seven minutes to go.

100613 Lin Dunn Postgame Presser.AVI (via samjames009)

Better defensive intensity this game than on Friday, shutting down Tina Charles and Renee Montgomery (Tully Bevilaqua deserves credit for blanketing Montgomery).
Catchings was incredible in the clutch. (No kidding, watch the last seven minutes of this game to see why)
The team needs to stop complaining about calls. (Yes, that means you, Katie!)
The team still is needs practice time to work out offensive kinks. (The whole team has only practiced once together with Briann January and Shavonte Zellous)
Big week this week at home: Seattle and Atlanta. (Fans, these are going to be great, GREAT games!)

Tamika Catchings, postgame

100613 Tamika Catchings.AVI (via samjames009)

Talks about complaining about calls during the Sun's 3rd quarter comeback
Required Intensity... Catchings talks about 40 minutes of intensity, but that clearly wasn't this game.

Katie Doulgas, postgame

100613 Katie Douglas.AVI (via samjames009)

It's tough to put away any team at the half, no matter how many points you are up.
It's a solid win against a solid team.
The team is moving better on defense. If we are a second late on our defensive rotations, in this league, they'll punish us.

Tammy Sutton-Brown on her defense and on Tamika Catchings' clutch play.

100613 Tammy Sutton-Brown.AVI (via samjames009)

Our defense is hard work, but that's all we have.
It was a great win, especially against the Sun's great post players.

Tina Charles Shut Down, Connecticut Sun Still Chasing First Road Win

Sam James — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 02:37:05 -0000

The Connecticut Sun's league-leading homecourt advantage is probably a statistical artifact derived from the simpler fact that the Sun have won all of their home games, but also have lost all of their road games.

The weekend home-and-home series between the Sun and the Indiana Fever further reinforced that wedge. The Sun won Friday's game at the Mohegan Sun 86-77, but lost Sunday's game at Conseco Fieldhouse, 77-67. In both games, the home team got an early lead, the away team tied the game in the 4th quarter and the home team got the stops and the scores to win the game.

Sun coach Mike Thibault talked about the home-and-home series. "The two teams are kind of eying each other. As we go down the road, you could end up playing each other in the playoffs. There's enough of a rivalry between them. Knowing that it was like a mini-playoff series, I was disappointed at the start."

"We understand we have to become a tougher team on the road." said Sun guard Kara Lawson. "We've got to play LA and then we've got to play Phoenix next week. We've not won a road game a month into the season. We have to focus on that. We've got to be tougher. We got to be better defensively in the first halves. In all of our road games we fell behind. We played better second halves, but have not been able to get over the hump."

Thibault echoed those sentiments, saying, "My biggest concern is, aside from the series part of it, is that I thought we would have had a better start to the game tonight than we did. Obviously we jumped them a little bit early at our place and I knew they would be more aggressive defensively coming into tonight."

"I felt now that we're whatever number of games we are into the season, I thought we would handle it better. And we didn't. It's one thing to miss shots, but to not rebound the ball well enough and to have, I'll say, sloppy turnovers, not even them making a great play. That disappointed me," continued Thibault.

Rookie Tina Charles was shut down for the first time in WNBA play on Sunday, having her first major struggle since joining the WNBA. She shot 1-8, didn't make it to the free-throw line, scored only 2 points and worse still, grabbed only 4 rebounds in 23 minutes of play.

"She wasn't very good tonight. You'll have to ask her. I wish I knew. One, she needs to handle the double teams a little better. The other night she did a good job, tonight she struggled a bit more, but she didn't rebound the ball tonight. Whereas the other day, even when she was struggling offensively, she was rebounding the ball. She ended up with 11, 12 rebounds. I wish I had the answer," said Thibault.

It was a concerted effort by the Indiana Fever effort to limit Charles' touches and to frustrate her play.

"Our defensive effort was much higher tonight. We brought a lot of energy, intensity. We set the tone that we were going to defend better than we did Friday night. I thought we did a really good job with our team and individual defense on Charles. You have to give Tammy Sutton-Brown a lot of credit. She fought her all night long. And the team, our whole team was focused on not letting Tina get good touches and I thought that was key for us," said Fever coach Lin Dunn.

Describing her play, Tammy Sutton-Brown said, "Just hard work. We know that's a big part of the game, especially us being a defensive team and wanting to run, we have to get rebounds. Connecticut has some of the better rebounders in the league. That's been a big focus for us all week... Unless we make stops and take care of business and stop players, we're not going to win."

In addition to Sutton-Brown's defense, Tamika Catchings and Jessica Davenport also took turns on Tina Charles. In one spectacular play, Catchings poked the ball out Charles' hands, Briann January dove to the floor, saving the ball from going out of bounds. In another series, Davenport's length bothered Charles' shot on one possession and her shot was then blocked by Davenport on the subsequent possession, coming down in Davenport's hands.

Because Tina Charles is a rookie, few teams have had the opportunity to play against her enough to build up a book on her strengths and weaknesses in the WNBA game.

Mike Thibault went on to say, "This is part of the learning experience she's going to go through. These games are going to pile up a little bit now. People are going to be gunning for her. They are reading her press clippings. She just needs to learn how to adjust."

Looking ahead, the Connecticut Sun will have a lot of opportunities to win their first road game.

"This is a good test for us. This stretch of the season will tell us who we are. We've got this game and counting it we've got 7 of our next 9 on the road," concluded Thibault.

If the Sun can't get some road wins in this next stretch, they could quickly find themselves going from top of the Eastern Conference all the way to the bottom.

Related Links:

Indiana Fever Locker Room Confidential, 77-67 over Sun

Connecticut Sun Stop the Indiana Fever 86-77, Rematch tonight at 6PM EST

Sam James — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 16:59:55 -0000

FRIDAY, Sun 86, Fever 77: WNBA Preview || Fever Preview || AP Recap of Game 1

SUNDAY, 6.00PM EST: WNBA Preview || Fever Preview || WNBA Access

Recently, the Seattle Storm has been credited with having a fortress. This season, however, the Connecticut Sun, undefeated at home, have the greatest homecourt advantage. Massey Ratings estimates the Sun's HA to be worth 7.71 points per game. Seattle comes in third with 4.78 points per game.

Why the Sun have such huge homecourt advantage is an unanswered question, but they held serve despite being down five points going into the fourth quarter and the game slipping away from a 72-72 tie with 180 seconds left. The win over the Fever (5-4) on Friday put the Connecticut Sun (6-2) in first place in the Eastern Conference.

Today, the two teams rematch, this time on the Indiana Fever homecourt.

It's not clear to me whether the Indiana Fever lost Friday's game in the 1st quarter or the 4th. In the first, the Fever started off sluggishly, missing uncontested layups and firing up airballs. Ebony Hoffman started the game exceptionally lousy, but picked up her play in the 2nd and 3rd quarters. Excluding another Kobe-game by Jessica Davenport (8-8, 18 points), the team shot a miserable 27% from the field. Zellous had a fairly typical game, going 0-6 on a few drives, outside jumpshots and one clock-expiring attempt. On one inbounds, she curled toward the baseline to receive the inbound and shot an open 12-footer. You want any other player taking that shot and having Z inbound the ball. Z did go to the line, but not much, making only 2 of 4.

The defense was not where it needed to be, as the Sun pushed the pace and scored 45 points in the first half. In that first quarter, the Fever fell behind largely as a result of some broken plays and 50-50 balls. Renee Montgomery's career scoring night started with 12 points in the first quarter initially a missed three pointer followed by a few successful inside the paint plays.

Despite the off-kilter Fever start to the game, the game was characterized by a lot of physicality and intensity. Kara Lawson was hit twice on one play and dislocated her shoulder. No call, the play went on with some players going to help out Lawson and others scoring on the other end against a broken defense.

Jessica Moore and Jene Morris didn't see much playin time last game. Jessica Moore had a scratch on her eye. Jene Morris lost playing time because Briann January is back in uniform, pitching in 11 minutes off the bench on her road to full recovery.

Still, by the 4th quarter, the Fever had worked its way back into the game. Montgomery's career night, dropping 29 points on the best defense in the league, didn't destroy the Fever in the fourth quarter. With 3 minutes to go and a 72-all tie, it was the tandem of Tina Charles and Renee Montgomery that did in the Fever. Montgomery tied the game 69-all with a layup assisted by Charles. Then Charles went to work inside going to the line twice. Montgomery made another 3 (25 points by then) and Charles made a layup plus a foul. With 86 seconds to go, the Sun were up 80-72 and went to the line for their final 6 points, 4 of which were made by Montgomery for her 26th-29th points.

During that short span of 95 seconds, Charles was unstoppable and the Fever missed a shot and turned the ball over twice.

The Fever just had trouble making their own shots and plugging all the holes posed by the inside-outside game of the Connecticut Sun, particularly in the clutch.

Tonight is Lucas Oil Family Night at Conseco Fieldhouse:

Join the Fever this season for Lucas Oil Family Nights presented by The Indianapolis Star!

For the same price as a game ticket alone, the Family Night package includes a ticket to the game, a t-shirt and a voucher for a hot dog, chips, and Pepsi product.

Tickets start at just $15! A minimum purchase of 4 tickets is required.

Indiana Fever Vs. CT Sun Weekend Series Preview

Sam James — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 19:22:35 -0000

Indiana Fever Vs. CT Sun Weekend Series Preview

It's a matchup of top East Coast teams in a home-and-home series this week.

Sunday's game at Conseco FieldHouse is Family Day sponsored by Lucas Oil. For the same price as a game ticket alone, the Family Night package includes a ticket to the game, a t-shirt and a voucher for a hot dog, chips, and Pepsi product. Tickets start at just $15! A minimum purchase of 4 tickets is required.

Indiana Fever vs. Connecticut Sun Home-and-Home Weekend Series

Sam James — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 03:04:59 -0000

FRIDAY, 7.30PM EST: WNBA Preview || WNBA Live Access || Fever Preview

SUNDAY, 6.00PM EST: WNBA Preview || WNBA Access || AP Recap of Gm 1

This is the series preview and the game thread for Friday and Sunday's games. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. We're green like that.

There's ten teams on deck tonight. But fortunately we have WNBA Live Access to stagger the games for us.

The WNBA schedulers have received some criticism lately about games conflicting with the NBA Finals. The questions echo from Watergate: "What did the WNBA schedulers know about the NBA Finals, and when did they know it?"

We know the schedulers must navigate the inscrutable forces of international league play and the humiliation of higher priority arena uses (boy band Hanson is in town?), all while cutting travel costs to the bare bones. Who knows what complex alchemy -- a blood pact between dismal economics and wonky computer-aided rocket science -- those schedulers embarked upon to come up with the WNBA 2010 season schedule.

The butterfly flaps its wings in Tokyo, and we have the biggest, nastiest oil disaster in the gulf. Can you really say that by moving those few conflicting WNBA games a day or two off their dates wouldn't have thrown the whole WNBA schedule off? Can you promise that moving those few games would not cause the looming world-ending disaster of 2012?

I thought not, mundane spectator.

Despite the flaws in the WNBA schedule, we do have some things to be thankful for. In particular, God bless the WNBA schedulers for these home-and-home series!

There's an unmatched level of intensity and completeness about them. Taking a page from baseball, it's a mini-playoff series with the layered complexity of game-to-game adjustment. At the end of the series, we will have a clear picture of which team is clearly better, or if the teams are relatively even. In a one-off game, we might not if a home win was simply home court advantage.

Here are two teams playing great basketball featuring stellar league-leading defenses and modest offenses, stacked with massive depth ready to grind it out this weekend. This battle will not be a contrast in styles, but a purifiction and a refinement of East Coast basketball. Massey Ratings gives Connecticut the edge in the series, Hollinger's power rankings put Indiana slightly on top.

This is a big step up in competition for both teams. Both teams recently beat the New York Liberty and both blew out the Silver Stars without Becky Hammon. They now each face a formidable and resourceful team at the top of the WNBA.

The Connecticut Sun and the Indiana Fever achieve similar levels of success on the defensive and offensive ends, but do so in substantially different ways, dictated by their personnel.

Indiana has the edge on defense, led by the incomparable Tamika Catchings. In raw statistical terms, the Fever out-steal and out-block the Sun 11.4 to 8.3 and 6.3 to 3.0, respectively. Throw in that Sun games typically have five more possessions per game, and the steals+blocks of 19.7 to 9.3 is huge. Further, these stats are merely the tip of the defensive harassment iceberg. For every steal, there are five more deflections and near steals that don't get recorded in the stats. For every block, there are five more shot-changing interferences that do not make it into the box score. All of those deflections and changes in shots affect not only the flow of the other team's offense, but also their confidence.

While all that sounds like a huge defensive advantage for the Fever, Kevin Pelton provides a more holistic estimate of defense, which puts Indiana and Connecticut 1st and 2nd in the league, by a considerable margin. The Sun appear to achieve that defensive rating through superior rebounding and through positional team defense as opposed heavy pressure backed by steals and blocks.

The Sun, anchored by the uncommonly polished low post play of rookie Tina Charles, have the cleaner offense. They also have an enviable inside-outside game bolstered by the outstanding shooting of Tan White and Anete Jekabsone-Zogota. The Sun also tend to play at a quicker pace, getting about five more shots off per game.

Meanwhile, the Fever's offense has been carried by the fearsome twosome of Katie Douglas and Tamika Catchings. The bench doesn't shoot particularly well, and the other starters may score opportunistically but do not carry much of an offensive load. Can the tandem of Catchings-Douglas handle the offensive load all the way to a title? Can a confident Zellous or an energized Murphy make it a big three?

In purely statistical terms, the production of the two offenses are as similar as you might find in the league. Indiana is 9th in FG% at 42.8 and the Sun are 10th at 42.6%. At the arc, the Fever are 34.7% (7th) and the Sun are 34.3% (9th) but shoot 3 more attempts per game. The Sun are 79.4% from the line, compared to the Fever's 76%, but they get to the line fewer times than the Fever.

As depth goes, both teams will play 11 players over 10 minutes each, 10 players over 18 minutes each. The Sun have Asjha Jones back in the starting lineup and have had center Sandrine Gruda back with the team for the past week. The Fever may get lucky with Gruda not playing her best WNBA game, but otherwise these two teams should show a lot of personalities and styles of play on the court throughout the series.

This series reminds me of a line from Alien Resurrection. An alien is feasting on the remains of the captain and a shotgun barrel rises out of a hole in the floor, into the alien's mouth. Boooom! Ripley shoots the alien cephalus into bits and climbs out of the hole in the floor.

Call: It was like killing one of your own kind!

Ripley 8: It was in my way.

That's how this home-and-home series will be for the Connecticut Sun and the Indiana Fever: it won't be personal, but these two teams are in each other's way to the top of the Eastern Conference. If they have to blow each other's heads off to get there, then that's just how it has to be.

Deconstructing the Myth and the Dogma of WNBA Parity

Sam James — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 01:17:14 -0000

Anyone looking at today's standings would marvel at the notion of "WNBA Parity". Following Sunday's 89-51 humiliating destruction of the Minnesota Lynx after Thursday's 79-57 thrashing of the Silver Stars by the Indiana Fever, I started digging into the Myth and the Dogma of WNBA Parity.

The Myth of Parity

At the conference level, which I wrote about a week ago, the numbers can be best seen from Massey's Ratings: Eastern Conference teams have won 10-4 over Western Conference teams. That margin was severely exacerbated by Sunday's results (not included).

Following those observations, others have started looking into the topic this week. Fortunately, Kevin Pelton stepped up with some solid numbers.

One team that has found balance is Indiana, which surged from last in the league in offense to seventh on the strength of an 89-51 win at Minnesota on Sunday. That was the Fever’s third consecutive victory, and Indiana is starting to look like the juggernaut that reached the WNBA Finals last season. The Fever’s defense remains far and away the league’s best.

KP doesn't find much evidence for parity at the conference level, team level, game level or even player level (Tamika Catchings with a single game per of 65?! Yikes!).

I think there's no question at the moment that there are some very bad teams in the WNBA cellar and that there's some outstanding teams at the top.

The Dogma of Parity - Why it matters

Parity is a fundamental guiding principle of the WNBA, a notion that cuts at the core of what the league is about, and how the league differs from the incumbent paradigm of professional sports. Unlike other leagues, the WNBA does not have fluff - a predetermined stable of Washington Generals teams facing an elite selection of Harlem Globetrotter teams.

The importance of parity is that quality is maintained in the small 12-team league. The WNBA cannot afford to have teams that are predetermined losers or games that don't count.

Parity is about fairness in the league on the surface but the subtext is about quality despite so few teams. Rather than a microcosm of the NBA distribution of teams, the WNBA hope to be a microcosm of the NBA's best teams, say only the playoff teams, without the meaninglessness the New Jersey Nets and the LA Clippers.

"It’s so hard to predict," Orender said about what is ahead. "The parity comes off of strength because there’s just so much quality talent, and organizations have done such a tremendous job of melding that talent, picking talent that’s right for them, having them jell. It’s really exciting. It’s fun to watch."

Mechelle Voepel expounds on the notion, comparing the current WNBA to women's sport of 20 years ago and to the current men's pro leagues.

"You know, here’s a definite upside to the WNBA: There is a sense of real competitive balance." -Mechelle Voepel

Competitive balance, however, is not all good. Parity can be vexing--that somehow quality teams are handicapped from greatness and bad teams are subsidized with talent. If any team can, and does, win, what is the value of hard work, dedication and team engineering? Is parity evidence of strength or uniform weakness?

What can we know about that strength or weakness, or even appreciate, when every game seems to be decided by solely by injuries, slight vagaries of chance scheduling and home court advantage?

Ex Ante Parity, Not a league full of 0.500 teams

The disparity that we see in today's WNBA doesn't bother me as much as a field of 0.500 teams would. The WNBA should not strive for ex post parity, but for ex ante parity.

At the beginning of this season, it was clear in reading the previews, the GM surveys and all the various comments posted around the WNBA village that no one had strong feelings about the dominant forces in the league. Too many things had changed. Too many teams had the talent and the tools do come out on top. Each game mattered. In my view, there was ex ante parity or at least ex ante uncertainty.

Even now, the Sparks and the Lynx are loaded with talent. With some tinkering perhaps they may yet turn it around. The 0-4 Chicago Sky figured out what they needed to do to get the ball to Big Syl and went on a 4-0 streak. Alternatively, it only takes an unlucky circumstance or play upturn the fortunes of some favorites. Then with player movements, the draft and all of the external noise which influences WNBA economics and win-loss outcomes, any team in the cellar this year may put itself in a far better position to win next year.

Ex Ante Parity as Upward Mobility

There are teams in the WNBA cellar and teams with 0.800+ records, but there is a lot of upward mobility in this league. More so than parity, what I see is a great opportunity for each team to better itself and to have a shot at winning. That's what is exciting about the WNBA.

SBNation remembers Indiana Legend John Wooden

Sam James — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 20:27:16 -0000

SBNation remembers Indiana Legend John Wooden

From Q McCall:

On the night of John Wooden's passing this past Friday, SBN's UCLA Bruins blog sent out an all-call to SBN writers for thoughts on John Wooden. The site has switched to a black/gray background since that day and Nestor has threaded together the contributions from around the network in a post today.

In case you missed it, Swish Appeal got quotes from Phoenix Mercury general manager and UCLA alum Ann Meyers-Drysdale, Indiana head coach Lin Dunn, and Seattle Storm head coach Brian Agler as well.

It's getting hot in here - the Indiana Fever have won 5 of 6!

Sam James — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 03:07:03 -0000

It's getting hot in here - the Indiana Fever have won 5 of 6!

If you haven't been following, 2009 WNBA Eastern Conference Champs are rolling. Big games in the next two weeks against the best teams in the WNBA. Next home game, Sunday, June 13 against the Connecticut Sun.

The Fever Week in Review: Week 3 (5-3, 3rd in the East)

Sam James — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 15:36:48 -0000

One week ago, Indianapolis celebrated 99th year of the Indy 500. The early season of the WNBA has been a lot like the Indy 500 in that most teams have been trying to tune-up their cars while racing them at 250 miles per hour.

The Indiana Fever "car" had initially stalled at the green light (thank you, Istanbul), but has since torn through the field, even as the Coach Lin Dunn continues to tinker on the Fever's engine.

After starting 0-2 in a pair of opening weekend games against the Washington Mystics and the Atlanta Dream, the Fever have won 5 of 6. The Fever have just finished three games in four days going 3-0, with two of them blowouts. On Thursday, the Fever led San Antonio by as much as 30, winning 79-57. Yesterday, the Fever shattered the well-advertised myth of WNBA parity with a 38 point (89-51) win over Minnesota Lynx on their homecourt.

With approximately a quarter of the season's games played (8 of 34), the Indiana Fever's preseason is officially over.

Even so, the Fever's winning streak has come largely against losing teams in the cellars of both conferences: San Antonio (2-5), Minnesota (2-7), New York (2-4). The sole loss came against the Tulsa Shock, who are 3-4. The two wins against Chicago took place before the team climbed up to 4-4 this week.

Looking ahead, the upcoming five games over the next two weeks represent a substantial test for the Indiana Fever, as they compete against the best teams in the WNBA.

This week, they'll face the greatly improved Connecticut Sun (5-2) in a home-and-home series. Next week, the Fever will have a rematch against the Eastern Conference leader, the Atlanta Dream (7-2), sandwiched between a home-and-home against the WNBA and Western Conference leader, the Seattle Storm (8-1).

These five games will be of tremendous importance to gauge the Fever's personnel and scheme against teams the Fever expect to face in the playoffs. Further, the statistical potpourri of analysis against the weak field Indiana has defeated will not provide a good indication of how ready Indiana is for the WNBA's early season elite.

The Fever will not play the Seattle Storm again in the regular season and the Fever will not play preseason favorite Phoenix Mercury until August.

(Indiana Fever's Shay Murphy drives on the New York Liberty, courtesy Sue Wilden, SportsPageMagazine.com)

Developments

Defense

The Indiana Fever's success starts with their defense, and the Fever have held opponents to 68 points per contest.

The 79-74 loss to Tulsa disturbed the team because they failed to get key stops down the stretch. Massey Ratings reports this upset the "Least Likely Result" of the WNBA season thus far.

"What our success was and knowing how we obtained our success from last year was making our identity on the defensive end. In Tulsa, we couldn't get stops. Every time in a close game, we normally could get stops and find ways to win." said Douglas. "Any time you're a second late in this game...people are going to make plays."

"We just talked about the things that we wanted to do as a team and how we wanted to be known throughout the league," Catchings said. "Last year, we were that defensive team that everybody knew. That’s the one thing that we have to get back to. Tonight was a huge night for us from that standpoint."

Following the loss in Tulsa, the Fever have held San Antonio to 57, New York to 73 and Minnesota to 51. Regarding the Minnesota game, Coach Dunn said "I thought tonight we probably defended as well as we have defended since back to the playoffs."

(Tamika Catchings' 27 points against the Lynx is not her season-high. Courtesy of David Sherman/NBAE/Getty Images)

Offense

The Fever's strangulating defense has been good all season, primarily because it had to be. The Fever's historically anemic offense was in critical condition to start the season. More so than jet-lag, the team has been out-of-sync.

In first five games of the seasons, primary scoring option Katie Douglas was in an awful shooting slump. Douglas was shooting 33% from the field and taking less than 10 shots per game. That slump was compounded by a rusty offense that forced Douglas to put up bad shots late in the shot clock. In the past three games, Douglas has shot 64% from the field, 53% from three and is taking more shots as well.

Douglas is filling in at the PG spot, which seems to have been the impetus in her improved shooting.

"She had the ball in her hands a lot more coming down the floor, so she was able to create for herself and kind of say, 'Okay, I've got a shot, we don't even need to run anything.'" explained Coach Dunn. "And we want to run early offense. And I think when she does have the ball in her hands like that, sometimes she gets early, quick shots that she doesn't get if we set up."

"It's an adjustment for me." said Douglas about managing the point.

Even with Douglas shooting well, the offense relies too heavily on Douglas and Catchings. For example, at half-time against the New York Liberty, Douglas and Catchings were 7-13 and had scored 22 points in the half. The "Rest of the Team" was 5-21 and had scored 13 points.

Indeed, it looked as if the rest of the team had lost confidence on offense and were playing "hot potato," passing the ball away from themselves as quickly as possible until, finally, Douglas would shoot it.

Occasionally, other players do step up. Veterans Tammy Sutton-Brown, Ebony Hoffman and Tully Bevilaqua can be counted on to put in a few shots each game. Shay Murphy scored 36 points on 12-24 shooting in two games against Chicago. Jessica Davenport put 11 points on the Silver Stars in 8 minutes on a surprising array of shots. Shavonte Zellous went to the line 12 times against the New York Liberty and scored 23 points. Jene Morris is still finding her way as a rookie.

Rotation

Indiana's front line is as solid and as well-defined as any in the league. Tammy Sutton-Brown anchors the center spot and Ebony Hoffman at the power forward with Jessica Davenport and Jessica Moore coming in relief. All are solid defenders that provide infrequent, largely situational offense. For example, Ebony Hoffman's scoring often improves against teams that give up open shots, like Phoenix.

On the perimeter, auditions continue. The starters are set with Briann January, Katie Douglas and Tamika Catchings, but with January injured, aspiring rotation players have more playing time to make their case.

With great back-to-back games against the Chicago Sky, Shay Murphy earned more playing time. With that time, she's shown solid defense and outstanding perimeter rebounding (in 22 mpg, she leads the team with 6.4 rpg), but a poor outside threat. She's has been putting extra time in shooting and makes her shots in practice, but it has not yet translated into the games. Were her shooting to improve, her rebounding and defense would make a strong case for starter's minutes over Ebony Hoffman.

Recently acquired Shavonte Zellous is also getting a lot of playing time. She stays on the floor for 20 mpg with her intense defense and the ability to play the point in limited stretches. She also provides a hopeful scoring option for the Fever, displaying a classic slasher game. Zellous doesn't have much of an outside shot, where she's 12% from three, but she can drive and get to the line. She's 50% from the field at close range and an 86% free throw shooter. With a 23 point game against New York, she's rested fears about her play in Tulsa, where she didn't get to the line and shot just 16% from the field for 4 ppg.

Personnel

Briann January's sprained medial collateral ligament is healing. At best she will be ready for the Connecticut series, but may be held out longer for precautionary reasons.

New York Liberty at Indiana Fever, 7PM EST: Game Preview

Sam James — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 11:50:45 -0000

New York Liberty (2-3) at Indiana Fever (3-3)

Saturday, June 5, 2010, 7PM EST

WNBA Preview || Live Access || Fever Preview

Don't those team logos clash? Yes they do.

The Foxwoods New York Liberty

The New York Liberty are amid a four-game road trip and have just played the Connecticut Sun less than 24 hours ago and lost, 75-68. The game got as close as a Cappie Pondexter 3 to tie it with 32.5 seconds left, but Caps was her lowercase self, going 3-14 in 32 minutes of play. With the exception of rookie reserve Kalana Greene, who shot 6-8, 13 points, +7 plus/minus, the New York Liberty shot horribly (35%) last night.

I don't expect the New York Liberty not to snap back from the Connecticut Sun game, but back-to-backs on the road will wear on this team that only gives significant minutes to six players, one of whom (Taj at 39) is ancient.

"It was an off night," Pondexter said. "I've faced a lot of defenders in my life. It was more me. You have off games. We have another game tomorrow night so it's nothing to get down about."

For Mel Greenberg, last night's game was as much about an off-court rivalry as it was on-court.

The game had an extra element of business rivalry because of the news earlier in the week that Foxwoods Resort Casino, located near the Mohegan Sun establishment, had ponied up $1 million to become the fourth to have its name worn on WNBA team jerseys.

Of course, the Mohegans actually own the Sun, having paid the $10 million in the last decade to acquire the former Orlando Miracle.

Although the sponsorship deal is just for 10 by 4 inch space on the jersey, I plan to acknowledge Foxwoods every time I mention the New York Liberty. Foxwoods Resort Casino deserves to get some bang for their advertising dollar, and I'm more than willing to oblige.

Later this week, I'll be revealing the five corporate sponsors that should step up and support the Indiana Fever with their advertising dollars.

The Indiana Fever

The Indiana Fever are coming off a break-out game for Katie Douglas in their 79-57 blowout of the Silver Stars. The Fever were up by as much as 30 in that game, one where everything seemed to go right for the team.

The day before the game, the team reaffirmed its identity as a defensive powerhouse.

"We just talked about the things that we wanted to do as a team and how we wanted to be known throughout the league," Catchings said. "Last year, we were that defensive team that everybody knew. That’s the one thing that we have to get back to. Tonight was a huge night for us from that standpoint."

That defensive team wasn't just about holding a Backy Hammon-deprived Silver Stars offense to 57 points, it was about grabbing 82% of their defensive rebounds and 38% of their offensive rebounds. 38%!

Getting hip with Early Offense

All that heady defensive talk is good coming from the Fever, but there's been more interest on the Fever's anemic offense as of late.

In Kevin Pelton's most recent pace-adjusted numbers (June 1st), the Fever are second in defensive efficiency but also dead last in offensive ratings. What hurt most is that the Atlanta Dream have kicked off the season at the top of the defensive ratings and second on the offensive side. The Fever need to step up on the offensive end, as Kevin Messenger's "first to 74 points wins" post alluded to a few days ago.

There are a few encouraging signs for the Fever's offense.

First, Katie Douglas got her groove back, to the tune of 22 points on 9-12 shooting.
Second, Shavonte Zellous may not make her shots (15% on the season!), but she gets to the line, where scoring happens off-the-clock.
Third, Coach Lin Dunn in last game's postgame presser, uttered some of the most encouraging words yet: "Early Offense".

From Kevin Pelton again:

PACE

Team           Pace
-------------------
Tulsa          85.1  <--- Shavonte Zellous describes this as the "BamBamBamBam" offense
Phoenix        83.6
Atlanta        82.2
Minnesota      81.7
Los Angeles    81.2
San Antonio    79.6
Connecticut    77.7
Seattle        77.0
Washington     76.1
New York       76.1
Indiana        75.2  <--- Where, like in Detroit, Plays Happen
Chicago        73.2

Looking at the pace, it's a lot more clear why some players, including Shavonte Zellous might have been caught off-guard in Nolan Richardson's system, having come from Detroit where there was a much more structured and cantankerous offense. Like Detroit's offense, so has been Indiana's.

Therefore, to hear Coach Lin Dunn get hip with "early offense" is a great sign for the Fever. Besides pushing up the pace, early offense should make it easier for the Fever to score.

What is early offense? Here's a quick primer.

This simply put is to advance the ball quickly into the front court areas and attack before the defense is able to become organized into a disruptive force.

As defensive specialists over the many years of coaching, we have found the most difficult teams to defend were the ones with offenses that pushed the ball into the front court hash mark areas in the time span of 2 to 3 seconds. This early offense push creates quick medium jump shots, or penetration lay-ups, or kick out passes for scores to occur before the defense had a chance to set up and disrupt any organized set play.

We have also found that when teams walked the ball up the court, they were much easier to defend because the defense was able to get its players back into positions near the basket were they could execute pressure denials, traps to disrupt the offensive flow and to force rushed shots as time on the clock became a factor.

(Check out that link for a few nice schematics and diagrams.)

So, why the reference to early offense from the defensive juggernaut Indiana Fever?

It's more by accident, actually. With Briann January out, the ball is more in the hands of primary scoring option Katie Douglas. This means that when she brings the ball up the court, she can shoot as soon as she's open and shoot in rhythm. It's a good situation until January comes back, but I hope the team will be looking at incorporating early offense more into their play.

John Wooden - A Sad Day, but a Day to Celebrate

Sam James — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 22:40:47 -0000

John Wooden - A Sad Day, but a Day to Celebrate

In the heart of Indiana, Fever Coach Lin Dunn talks about John Wooden as her players take the court. Larry Bird also makes a statement.

Indiana Fever frustrate sinking San Antonio Silver Stars, 79-57

Sam James — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 03:26:03 -0000

Fever vs San Antonio - More The Indianapolis Star Galleries

Like engineering disasters, there's never one clear reason for the Indiana Fever's 79-57 blowout of the San Antonio Silver Stars.

In fact, the conflagration of contributing factors make one's first impulse to condemn the game as an aberration, bury the tape and move on.

However, if we get our hands dirty a little and mess around in the wreckage of yesterday's game, we may find a few more clues. Clues not to the game that was, but to the games that will be.

WNBA / AP Recap || Indy Star Recap || SA Express Recap

The Sinking San Antonio Silver Stars

Olaf's expression said it all this game. When the Silver Stars "the SS!" played well, they failed to gain ground, when they played poorly, the wheels came off.

It's Becky Hammon's fault

There's no question in my mind that this loss is on Becky Hammon. Although Edwige Lawson-Wade played well in relief, I have no idea how the Silver Stars scored even 57 points without her on the floor. Unfortunately, 57 isn't enough to win a college game, much less a WNBA game. Chamique Holdsclaw got the ball in her hands more and had an on par game. The rest of the team did not, and there was no one to pick up Hammon's slack.

The Silver Star is the third highest medal of valor granted in the US Military. They don't grant it to deserters. Phantom quad issues aside, if there's no MRI twitpic, it's desertion.

Seriously, we hope Becky Hammon gets better and I hope my electronic hate had nothing to do with her choice to sit out of the Fever game and deprive Indiana fans of her great potpourri of playmaking.

Weak Rebounding and a Lack of Physical Play

"We were outworked, outplayed" - Young

Understatement.

Despite blaming this loss on Becky Hammon, I find it very hard to blame her for her team's inability to rebound, try as I might. Super Star Cult Figure PG Becky Hammon's limping in Seattle's game and absence in this game may explain the SS' low scoring, (56 and 57 points, respectively), but it doesn't excuse the inability of the Silver Stars to rebound. The Silver Stars were outrebounded 38-27. As a team, they share the distinction with the Tulsa Shock of having the worst rebounding differential in the league, both at -5.

The total rebounding differential depends on the possible number of defensive or offensive rebounds available, so this differential may simply indicate fewer available defensive rebounds. As an indication of aggressive, physical play, consider the offensive rebounding. The Fever pulled down 14 of 37 (38%) possible offensive rebounds. The Silver Stars only managed 6 of 33 (18%) possible offensive rebounds.

No matter how I try, I can't pin that on PG Becky Hammon.

What's next for the Silver Stars

The shocking thing for the SS was that 57 isn't their lowest score this season. With Becky Hammon limping, they only put up 56 against the Seattle Storm the game before.

Now at 2-4, the prognosis is just awful. It's not just that the team is 2-4, but how the team got to 2-4 and what lies ahead in the near future. The team has already lost 3, three, THREE home games. Those are heartbreakers.

Now with Hammon out with a lingering injury that has bothered her since the preseason (read: could be a while before she comes back), in the next 5 games, the SS face the following:

6/6 @Connecticut (Two Connecticut Sun scouts were at the game tonight. I looked a one of the notebooks and it said "We should start Kerri Gardin and Asjha Jones...Silver Stars broken")

6/11 Tulsa (this home game represents the Silver Stars best hope of win)

6/13 @Altana, 6/18 @Phoenix 6/20 @Seattle - ouch!

The SS could easily come out of this 3-8.

it's a disaster that will only be weathered by the fact that the SS have an owner that loves them and an NBA franchise that supports them (Spurs Guard George Hill was at last night's game, Tony Parker's made it to a home game).

Bob Corwin sitting next to me said Jayne Appel's face up 3-pointer near the end of the game was the only positive thing he saw in the game for the Silver Stars. Appel also committed four turnovers and several rookie fouls on her way to 7 points on perfect shooting in 12 minutes of play. Her ability to shot the outside jumper may help her WNBA game....

The Fever's Falcon Punch

Three stories stand out for the Fever. First, the return of Katie Douglas' offensive form. Second, the ongoing auditions for bench roles, starring new Fever guard Shavonte Zellous. Finally a shout-out to Jessica Davenport for some big plays.

Here's Indiana Fever Coach Lin Dunn's postgame presser.

155 seconds - 100603 Dunn Stars 57 Fever 79.AVI (via samjames009)

Coach talks about how nice it was to have Katie Douglas put up 22 points
Talks about Shavonte Zellous' play
Unfortunately, I didn't get in a question about Zellous' shot-selection (Z was 1-8 from the field)

"Katie Douglas finally has shaken off her jet lag." - Cliff Brunt

After much hand-wringing over Katie Douglas slow start this year, the Indiana Fever's primary scoring option Douglas put up 22 points on 9 of 12 shooting (3 of 5 from 3), easily eclipsing her prior season high of 13 points.

Says having ball in her hands more has helped (she's the backup PG while Briann January is out)
Has some swelling in her thumb

Katie Douglas is a great defender, so when she can also light it up offensively, she can will the game. In this one, those contributions on both sides of the ball came together for a godlike +28 plus/minus.

Shavonte Zellous gets to the line

Shavonte Zellous is getting the chance to prove she can help the Fever this year. She got 24 minutes in this game, including some time at the point, flanked by Shay Murphy and Jene Morris with Jessica Moore and Jessica Davenport up front. I like that lineup a lot.

Incomprehensibly, Zellous was unable to improve on her abominable season-long 16% shooting average. She shot 1-8! That's 12.5%! Yikes!

At the same time, she did manage getting to the line a Fever season-high 9 times (made 8 of 9) and did enough good things (10 points, 3 assists, 3 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 crazy block) to earn praise from the coach.

I guess I knew Shavonte Zellous might be a big story this game, so I talked to her in the pregame shootaround about her first week with the Fever.

Zellous talks about her first week with the Fever
Coaches told her to be aggressive
Unlike the Detroit and Indiana offenses with set plays, the Tulsa offense is "BamBamBamBam".

Following the game, the press corps caught up with Shavonte Zellous:

Here is yesterday's Fan Chat with Shavonte Zellous

Jessica Davenport puts on her Kobe

Davs scored 11 points in 8 minutes. She played a total of 18 minutes and finished 4 of 9 shooting. Her scoring was fantastic in the first half, hitting almost everything on an array of shots.
One of the features of the small lineup (which starts Shay Murphy in place of Ebony Hoffman) is that it pushes Jessicas Davenport and Moore back in the rotation, behind Ebony Hoffman. Perhaps this game Jessica Davenport was making a statement that she wanted to play.

Briann January Injury Update

Sprained medial collateral ligament in her right knee is actually a small tear
Does not require surgery will heal on its own
Despite reports of expected return being a week to 10 days, it may actually be longer, two to four weeks.

Tully Bevilaqua gets the final say....

San Antiono Silver Stars at Indiana Fever Game Thread

Sam James — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 22:22:04 -0000

Isn't the WNBA about adjustments?

After debuting the slick smaller lineup with Shay Murphy in for Ebony Hoffman last game, the Indiana Fever are going with their vintage lineup.

Meanwhile the Silver Stars are not only going with a guets coaching staff, but also word here is the best PG of 2009 will be out with a strained quadracep!

Silver Stars	at	Indiana Fever
Edwige Lawson-Wade	PG	Tully Bevilaqua
Roneeka Hodges	SG	Katie Douglas
Sophia Young	SF	Tamika Catchings
Chamique Holdsclaw	PF	Ebony Hoffman
Michelle Snow	C	Tammy Sutton-Brown

It's wouldn't be unusual to me if the Silver Stars came out and played great short-handed, but the Fever have equally strong incentives to want to win this game.

San Antonio Silver Stars at Indiana Fever, 7pm EST: Game Preview

Sam James — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 03:11:43 -0000

Yahoo! Preview - WNBA Live Access

SA Silver Stars (2-3) at Indiana Fever (2-3)

7pm EST - The Only WNBA Game on Tonight

The Western Conference is in the Cellar

The bad news for both teams is that they sport losing records five of 34 games into the season. The worse news in Feverland is that if the playoffs started today, the 5th-seeded Fever would be OUT. Okay, now that's silly, of course, to discuss seeding so early in the season. But it's less silly than what's going on in the heavily touted Western Conference, where a 2-3 record ties you for 2nd! And then someone wants to tell me that the Phoenix Mercury lead the league in defense?! What is going on there in the Western Conference?

At this early stage, each conference has been part of 34 games, a season if you will. The Eastern Conference winning percentage is 56% (19-15) to the Western Conference's 44% (15-19). Today's game will either widen that margin or provide a step in restoring parity.

We've heard a lot about the Western Conference's superiority and it is only a four game disparity early in the season. Perhaps as the season progresses the West will pick up their games.

Who are the shockingly monochromatic San Antonio Silver Stars?

First, we'd like to congratulate the Silver Stars coaching team on their new addition:

KSAT_12 _Becky_Hammon_June 1st.mpg (via SilverStarsNation)

SAN ANTONIO (AP)—Silver Stars coach Sandy Brondello has given birth to a baby girl.

The coach of the WNBA team and her husband, associate head coach Olaf Lange, welcomed their second child Monday. Brondello is expected to miss two games before rejoining the team next week.

Lange and general manager Dan Hughes, who stepped down as head coach prior to the season, will fill in starting Thursday at Indiana. San Antonio finishes a road trip Sunday at Connecticut.

Brondello and Lange also have a 3-year-old boy.

Most of the early previews about the veteran Silver Stars are outdated, with the quixotic early season arrival of the ever enigmatic Chamique Holdsclaw from the Atlanta Dream. What amazes is how the Dream can shed that talent and still top the league for the moment.

Of course, Holdsclaw's downsides are looming larger all the time.

The Silver Stars are more than happy to add Holdsclaw to their aging, happy and somewhat easy-going nucleus of Sophia Young, Michelle Snow and, of course, Becky Hammon.

Speaking of Becky Hammon, Ben York & SlamOnline and all of Texas love Becky Hammon... Let me count the ways:

January 2010: Becky Hammon: A Portrait of Integrity - Hammon is a living testament to where dedication, hard work, faith, and seizing the moment can get you. More than her play on the court, Hammon has created a perfect example for young women to follow.
May 2010: Fans Interview: Becky Hammon - ...I think many athletes want to be remembered for what they did on the court, which is fine, but I’d rather be remembered by my teammates, fans, people that I work with, as someone who treated everyone kindly. I’d like to be remembered as someone who united people, was a peacemaker, someone who treated people fairly, and as someone who helped other people. I love basketball, but I love and value people far more than anything I could possibly accomplish on the basketball court.
June 2010: The Power of Belief - Becky Hammon = Steve Nash, only better.

There's a wide WNBA culture that roundly lauds great players like Becky Hammon for her achievements both on and off the court. It's practically a lovefest that says all women's professional athletes are in this together and that any achievement by one is an achievement for all.

Horsepucky. Let me be the first in the WNBA to hate Becky Hammon. I'll probably lose my media creds for saying this, but if we passed on the corridors, I'd hipcheck her into the stands!

Ok, just kidding. Besides I'm sure Michelle Snow's shadow would be enough to spook me. However, I am serious about not liking Becky Hammon this afternoon. That goes for all the desperados in the chain-gang black, gray and white uniforms.

What's up this week with the Fever?

"Don't Panic!" has been the early season refrain.

Indeed, the slow start has been expected even as we plunge into game 6 and 7 in week three of the season. Even so, we should keep in mind that many other teams are also still putting themselves together, and should be getting back to a high level of play later in the season as well. The Fever's circumstances are not altogether unique in the league.

The team still has a ways before coming together and I'm not sure anyone can say how long it will take to shed the hangover from that high level of play in the Turkish playoffs a few weeks ago. Add to that, the loss of Briann January for the next few games. Her role in stabilizing the team is really not well communicated by her early stats.

As such, the team will likely continue to use the extra minutes to invest in Jene Morris and to evaluate Shavonte Zellous. Jene Morris' last game out wasn't very strong, but consistency is a pretty high bar early in the season for a rookie. At this point, it is about giving her a lot of chances to get her bearings on the court and hoping that investment will pay off down the line.

As for starting lineups, there's no specific word on whether Coach Dunn will go start Shay Murphy in place of Ebony Hoffman again. Both Murphy and Hoffman appeared to play fine in the Tulsa game despite the Fever starting the smaller lineup with Murphy. Murphy's rebounding has been excellent from the perimeter and she's been aggressive in taking shots within a sputtering offense.

Missing Briann January...

Sam James — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 19:54:58 -0000

Here's four photos by Max Simbron of a veteran Coach Lin Dunn talking to her rookie point guard Briann January in the heat of the 2009 WNBA Finals...

We may never know what they were actually discussing and I'm sure it involved some "euphemisms" but under all that verbage, I think this is really what was being communicated.

January is out "for a few games" with a sprained MCL. You think this Indiana Fever team (now 2-3) isn't missing her 25mpg? I am. I hope she gets well soon.

Here's four photos by Max Simbron of a veteran Coach Lin Dunn talking to her rookie point guard Briann January in the heat of the 2009 WNBA Finals...

We may never know what they were actually discussing and I'm sure it involved some "euphemisms" but under all that verbage, I think this is really what was being communicated.

January is out "for a few games" with a sprained MCL. You think this Indiana Fever team (now 2-3) isn't missing her 25mpg? I am. I hope she gets well soon.

W.N.B.A.’s Mistie Bass Learns Lessons in Bahrain (NYT)

Sam James — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 07:38:39 -0000

W.N.B.A.’s Mistie Bass Learns Lessons in Bahrain (NYT)

An somewhat oldie story dug up by Audrey at Chicago Sky Hoops.... Amazing story, too big not to share. Thx Audrey!

Indiana Fever @ Tulsa Shock - Game Preview

Sam James — Sat, 29 May 2010 16:03:27 -0000

WNBA Preview - WNBA Live Access at 8pm EST

The Wicked Witches of the WNBA

What a difference an offseason makes.

For years, the Detriot Shock were the Indiana Fever's unconquerable nemesis. Until last year, long time Fever players like Tamika Catchings and Ebony Hoffman simply could not get past Detriot.

"There's not really a key to what it is," Catchings said of the Fever's dominance over Chicago. "I believe our rivalry for them [the Sky] is probably like our rivalry with [the Shock]."

The Wicked Witches of the East's reign of terror, anchored by Bad Boy Bill Laimbeer's brutal will, lasted from 2003 to 2008, when they went to the finals four times and won three titles. Last year of course, the House of Fever dropped like an anvil out of the sky and squashed the Wicked Witches of the East, partially diminished under Rick Mahorn's rule. The Fever put enough pieces in place to finally triumph in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Shock. It wasn't a moment too soon, because the Detroit Shock, like the witch doused with water, evaporated after the loss and will never be seen again.

The Tulsa Shock in the West, perhaps the lesser sister of the Detroit Shock of the East, carries on, but the team (now 1-3) is little like its predecessor. The team in Tulsa has received a warm early welcome from fans, but players have evacuated since Detriot orphaned the franchise. Says Kevin Messenger,

No longer are Bill Laimbeer and Rick Mahorn leading the cast of veterans led by Katie Smith, Deanna Nolan and Cheryl Ford. Smith has gone to Washington, Nolan is taking a year off and Ford remains sidelined with bad knees. That leaves Plenette Pierson, Kara Braxton and Shavonte Zellous as top guns from last year’s squad which fell to Indiana in the Eastern Conference Finals.

What a world, what a world!

As we look to the game tonight, we have the incomparable freelantz in full effect, on site for the game and will be posting the game thread and recaps, complete with courtside and lockerroom coverage.

As for the Fever, they come to Oklahoma with a few ongoing stories of their own, which provide some keys to this game.

[1] KT KANT SHOOT?

Justin Albers singled out Katie Douglas' poor shooting since last year's Finals and into the season as a serious issue. She went from the Fever's leading scorer at 17.6 ppg on 41% shooting to just 7.8 ppg on 34% shooting.

Seriously? Is this the same player we were arguing should be an Olympian just last year?...

But maybe, just maybe, she has lost something. Maybe she has played too much basketball. Maybe her legs aren't what they used to be.

As disastrous as that is, it's not like other returned starters Ebony Hoffman and Tammy Sutton-Brown are lighting things up.

I'd like to ask the coaching staff, but haven't had a chance yet, as to what they've seen. Perhaps she's missing open shots or shots she normally makes.

But having actually watched the games, it may be the lackluster offense that is hurting Katie Douglas' shot. First, Katie shot just fine in Turkey. I know the barometric pressure of the sea-side city of Istanbul may have been different, but the latitude is about the same as here. Second, I see her forcing up shots when the offense stagnates. As a primary offensive option, it's her job to force those shots up and her shooting percentage has suffered. Douglas' shooting percentage may be an effect of the offensive health of the team, rather than a cause.

What hasn't suffered, however, is her stifling defense.

Still, as I discuss below, four games in the WNBA is an eternity and "what have you done for me lately, Katie" will rear its head soon. The team has had its second full week of fallow time to get the offense in working order. How Douglas shoots this game, and how starters Hoffman and Sutton-Brown also shoot, is something to watch this game.

[2] Shay 4 Sixth

The hot press this week in Indianapolis has been the emergent play of Shay Murphy, "the Fever Energizer." Ok, that's a really awful nick, and I promise never to use it again, but I needed to plop in the official link.

"I think the thing that we know for sure now is, Shay wants to be our sixth man, and she's looking good at that sixth-man spot," Fever coach Lin Dunn said. "I think she's in a situation where she not only can be the first perimeter player off the bench, but she may start some games when we go small."

Arguably, her perimeter rebounding has always been a part of her game, but now with large minutes she's able to put up wow-numbers. Last week, she carried the Fever in two wins against the Sky with a Lebronesque stat line of 20 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists. Yowza!

"One of the things we talked about coming into this year was losing Tamecka Dixon and having somebody else come in and step up and fill those shoes, and I think by far, she's come in and played over and beyond expectations," Fever star Tamika Catchings said. "We need her to keep it up."

Sometimes she was the beneficiary of the luck of the anointed, like when she was the recipient of two uncontested layups because she failed to run back on defense after throwing the ball away. She can also miss shots in a hurry. On the other hand, she played really well with Jene Morris also on the floor.

Now is the time whether she can wrest that sixth woman spot that has eluded her. She'll be given the playing time to make her case for the spot. That's something to watch for this game, although I'll be looking for more evidence that it's the Murphy-Morris tandem that makes it all work.

[3] Fever Assassin Shavonte Zellous' Last Chance?

With so few roster spots and such fierce competition, four lackluster games is enough to go from a top rookie, an established rotation player dropping 11 ppg to traded for a second round pick and the precarious 11th roster spot. That's like sitting in the kitchen trash, just waiting to get thrown out.

Former Tulsa Shock player Zellous will be in a Fever uniform today following a trade yesterday.

For the Fever, the choice was an easy one.

Despite tiny gunner Allie Quigley's surprising triumph in securing the last roster spot over long range shooting bigs, incumbent Christina Wirth and favorite Joy Cheek, Quigley's fate was sealed last weekend when she went 0-2 in 8 minutes and then rookie Jene Morris came in and just killed the Sky with drives, 3-pointers and a few assists, all the while showing off some sick cross-overs.

Meanwhile, it's always smart to pick up a player like Zellous, who has a knack for playing well against your team. Even if you park her on your bench, that's just good security so another team doesn't use that weapon against you. However, when players play well against your team, it's often a sign that they are a good fit with your play style. No one knows why Zellous has played so poorly to start the season. She had the chance to be a big part of the Shock, but lost playing time quickly.

The Fever are hopeful that Zellous can regain her mojo from her rookie season, but she may have to do it with short minutes. If Zellous can succeed anywhere, her best chance should be with the Fever, who have seen her at her best. If not, the Fever didn't give up much for Zellous and may find someone else for that last spot. There is no security when you're 11th on the roster. Ask AQ. One bad game and you may be out of the WNBA. Perhaps forever.

[4] Rebounding

Nolan Richardson's big reason for freeing up Zellous' roster spot, as Dishin n' Swishin reveals, is to get better rebounding in the lineup. Since that's a concern for the coach, that should be something to watch in this game.

Fever get Zellous, Waive Quigley

Sam James — Fri, 28 May 2010 17:35:29 -0000

News Release

The Indiana Fever has acquired second-year guard Shavonte Zellous from the Tulsa Shock, in exchange for a 2011 second-round draft pick, it has been announced by Chief Operating Officer and General Manager Kelly Krauskopf. To accommodate the move on the Fever roster, Indiana has waived Allie Quigley.

Zellous was a first-team selection on the WNBA's adidas All-Rookie Team last season while playing for the Shock in Detroit. She ranked second among rookies with 11.9 points per game. She finished second in the WNBA behind the Fever's Tamika Catchings with 155 free throws made and she averaged 1.8 assists per game. She was instrumental in leading the Shock to the Eastern Conference Finals against the Fever, averaging 15.6 points, 2.8 assists and 1.2 steals per game in five playoff appearances.
Her scoring high was 25 points at Atlanta (6/26/09) when she hit 17-of-19 free throws. Her playoff scoring high was 23 points in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals against Indiana.

A 5-10 guard from the University of Pittsburgh, Zellous averaged 4.0 points and 16.8 minutes per game in four appearances with Tulsa this season. She will don a Fever uniform Saturday when Indiana plays at Tulsa.

Following its first visit to the WNBA Finals and three consecutive sellout crowds during the 2009 WNBA Playoffs, the Indiana Fever is eager to pursue a sixth straight playoffs appearance and a return trip to the Finals in 2010. The Fever plays host to the San Antonio Silver Stars on Thursday, June 3 (7:00 p.m.), and entertains the New York Liberty on Saturday, June 5 (7:00 p.m.). Season tickets are available at FeverBasketball.com or by calling (317) 917-2500.

The Fever jumped at the chance to grab the high-scoring perimeter player that gave them fits in the Eastern Conference Finals. For the final roster spot in preseason, the Fever had selected Allie Quigley over incumbent Christina Wirth and favorite Joy Cheek. Both Wirth and Cheek were big and had range to shoot the three. The Fever went with 5'10" 140lb Quigley as a high scoring option instead.

Zellous, despite putting up lackluster stats this year, is a clear upgrade over Quigley. Zellous' numbers are way down in the first four games of the season, so I'm not quite sure if that's injuries, a lack of early season focus or what. Hopefully we'll hear more about that soon.

Some links

Shavonte Zellous: Success story and emotional leader

Zellous hard to defend

Zellous is the player the Shock look to when teams double Nolan, or is the focal point of the offense when Nolan is getting a rest, which, granted, is rare.
"I think that I needed to help out a lot since Katie was a big part of the offense with Deanna," said Zellous after Wednesday’s win. "So I have to come out on the floor, off the bench, and give us some energy and help with some of the scoring." And, in an odd way, replacing Smith with Zellous may have made Detroit a more difficult team to defend.

She’s faster, more athletic, just as capable of finding an open teammate...

Around the Web: Sky/Fever Weekend Aftermath

Sam James — Mon, 24 May 2010 21:51:25 -0000

I like to give the games at least a day to sink in and let the collective internet response bubble up.

Is Katie Douglas' poor shooting a serious concern? Can we expect more scintillating play from Shay Murphy? Can Coach Steven Key get more out of Shameka Christon? Should WNBA referees be calling more fouls on physical play inside the paint?

All this and more in the Sky/Fever addition of "Around the Web".

Game 2 Coverage

Chicago Sky vs. Indiana Fever - Recap - May 23, 2010 - ESPN

Shay Murphy had 16 points and nine rebounds, and Jene Morris and Briann January each scored 12 for the Fever, who improved to 13-4 all-time against the Sky, including 8-1 at Conseco Fieldhouse.
"There's not really a key to what it is," Catchings said of the Fever's dominance over Chicago. "I believe our rivalry for them is probably like our rivalry with [the Shock]."

Fever's bench players turn tide | IndyStar.com | The Indianapolis Star

But what the Fever got from their bench Sunday night might have exceeded their wildest expectations. Shay Murphy tallied game highs of 16 points and nine rebounds, and rookie Jene Morris added 12 points to lead Indiana to a 69-61 win over the Chicago Sky.

Murphy’s emergence as the sixth woman of the Indiana Fever - Justin Whitaker

But her performance was not a surprise against the Sky as Murphy’s best games in the WNBA have come against Chicago. Her previous career-high came against the Sky last season when she scored 15 points. It seems to be the Sky brings out the best in Shay Murphy.

“Everyone makes jokes about it all the time,” Murphy said. “ ‘You know if every game was against the Sky you would be the leading scorer in the league‘ but I don’t really think about it. It is just a funny coincidence.”

Daily Herald | Murphy's 16 points leads Fever past Sky 69-61

The Fever stretched a five-point lead to 61-50 after Murphy's five straight points early in the fourth quarter.

Sky can't find the cure to chill the Fever - Max Rottenstein

Indiana guard Shay Murphy continued to be the bane of the Sky's existence by leading the Fever with 16 points, including making 80% of her free-throws from 18 inches behind the line. “I want to have a positive impact, no matter whether I’m scoring, rebounding or defending," said Shay of her approach this season. "I had a great year in Spain. I became more aggressive and attacked the basket.”

Good news and bad comes from Fever wins - Justin Albers

Then we get to the first four games of this season, where the struggles have gotten worse. Douglas is hitting only 34 percent of her shots and, get this, scoring only 7.8 ppg.

Seriously? Is this the same player we were arguing should be an Olympian just last year?

Justin Albers is concerned about Katie Douglas' bad shooting this season. I'm not. Watching the games, some of her shots were forced, possibly forced as a result of an out-of-sync offense. Once the kinks are worked out, she'll be more effective in getting higher percentage shots off. KT's defense is still savage, causing havoc and deflections everywhere. The last thing I'm worried about is Katie Douglas' shot.

FEVER: Chris Denari's Blog

The big difference-maker on the weekend was Shay Murphy. We saw glimpses of this last season, but her two performances against the Sky were just what this team needed heading forward.

As I argue in my recap, Shay Murphy's ability to rebound from the perimeter is something she's always had. Whether she can produce on other dimensions as well as she has against the Sky is something we'll have to see.

The Sports Network - Game 2 Review

Game 1 Coverage

Indiana Fever vs. Chicago Sky - Recap - May 22, 2010 - ESPN

Catchings scored eight of her team's first 10 points in the extra session, including the go-ahead layup with 13.5 seconds left that gave the Fever an 88-86 lead.

Game 1 - Bad habits catch up with the Sky in home opener - Max Rottenstein

Sky head coach Steven Key was both seen and heard arguing with referees on both ends of the court especially when, under her own post and amid a swarm of Indiana defense, Sylvia Fowles was taken to the hardwood and the entire crowd heard Key shout, “There’s got to be something there!” as the referees’ whistle did not signal a personal foul against the Fever.

Shameka Christon enjoying freedom with Chicago Sky - ESPN Chicago

Sky coach Steven Key's basketball mentality is still different from that of any coach Christon has encountered. Key wants his players to experiment on the court without worrying about boundaries and consequences. When they do eventually make a mistake, Key will explain what went wrong.

Catchings makes herself right at home, sinks Sky :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Sky

''We know defensively that we're very capable; we just can't give up easy layups,'' Key said.

''There is no defense for a turnover that leads to a layup.''

That's exactly what proved to be the dagger for the Sky.

FEVER: Straight From The Messenger

Last night's game was a very big win for the Fever. And I'm not making that statement merely because the returning starters looked crisp together or because Indiana got it's first win of 2010. It was a big win because of the way it happened.

Chicago Sky Hoops

why is Cathrine Kraayeveld trying to defend Tamika Catchings 1-on-1 the ENTIRE game?

A good question. In Game 2, a number of Sky players all took turns covering Catchings.

The Sports Network - Game 1 Review

Indiana Fever Sweep Chicago Sky 69-61 in weekend home-and-home series

Sam James — Mon, 24 May 2010 20:50:13 -0000

The Sky are falling

The Sky / Fever Winless Rivarly Weekend ends with a clear winner, and unfortuntely, a very clear loser. With the back-to-back wins, the Fever inch up to 2-2 respectability, the Chicago Sky are at an awful 0-4, with hard road schedule going forward, facing the Seattle Storm, the Minnesota Lynx and the Atlanta Dream.

The Sky have some good pieces put around Olympian Sylvia Fowles. Dominique Canty showed off a few powerful drives and was able to finish. It's unclear why Shameka Christon played so little in Sunday's game (12:38 minutes, lingering neck injury?), she did a reasonable job containing Tameka Catchings when assigned to her and also contributed a few 3s that helped the Sky's best run of game. During that stretch, the Sky were 13-0 in 4 minutes against the Fever's best players.

Amid the team's franchise best home game attendance yet, you'd like them to get home and get some wins in front of their fans. Welcome to the brutality of the WNBA schedule matched with very competitive opponents.

Post-game Audio, Interviews and Links to be posted shortly.

The Fever Introduce: The Shay and Jene Show!

The big story in the two games with the Chicago Sky has not been the lackadaiscal cross-court passing nor the pressure defense the frustrated the Sky's offensive sets, but rather the emergent play of Eshaya Murphy and Jene Morris.

The continued foggy play of the late-returned starters has really opened up continued opportunities for the Fever bench to come in, play well and potentially save games. And such was the case today.

First, it was Jene Morris, who played in the second quarter after getting no playing time the night before. Jene Morris came into a 14-14 tie game with 3 minutes left in the first quarter. Murphy just checked in a minute earlier. For the next nine minutes, it was all Jene Morris and Shay Murphy. Morris nailed a 3 from the corner. Murphy rebounded a miss by the Sky's Tamera Young. Morris hits a 15-footer. Jene Morris and Tamera Young trade steals to end the first quarter. In more than a few cases, Jene Morris made scores out of stagnant possessions.

Looking at the stat-sheet, it's just all Murphy-Morris everywhere. In the second quarter, Murphy grabs a few more rebounds and makes a shot off a Morris assist. Morris is scoring as well from the corner, once on a driving layup and once more with another 3 pointer. Morris gets in another assist and a rebound before the pair are substituted out with 4 minutes to go in a the second quarter and the Fever are up 33-27.

With the Fever starters back in, the Sky went on a 13-0 tear that best models what they need to perfect. Shameka Christon made her 3 pointers, Sylvia Fowles got the ball inside for layups and fouls, Cathrine Kraayeveld did all her damage in this stretch as well with a 3, a layup and hitting 2 from the charity stripe. The half ended with the Sky up 39-33.

In the third quarter, Coach Dunn started Murphy to get the Fever back into the game. Offensively, Murphy was rather ineffective, but still active in getting rebounds. The team went on another push once Jene Morris substituted in with 5 to go in the quarter.

What's the outlook for the Murphy-Morris lineup?

First, the game was a great one for Jene Morris. Her play on both ends of the court means that she may wrest playing time from turnover-prone Allie Quigley.

For Shay Murphy, this weekend back-to-back has been a great one. 36 minutes, 20 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists on Saturday followed by 25 minutes, 16 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists on Saturday. Her field goal percentage could be better, but her rebounding from the perimeter is huge.

Now, to be sure, there's nothing necessarily surprising with Shay Murphy's uncanny rebounding, she's averaged 10 rebounds per 40 minutes her entire career, but now Shay Murphy has shown she can sustain her short-minute rebounding productivity over the longer stretches.

Overall the Murphy-Morris combination just killed this game. Both players are earning more playing time. We know the Fever starters will continue to get back into Fever form, but Shay Murphy and Jene Morris represent new weapons for this ballclub. Fans can only hope for an encore.

Line-up Laboratory

At the end of the game, we saw another small backcourt for the Fever. Coach Lin Dunn closed the game Tully Bevilaqua and Briann January on the court for their defense, to lock in the win. Overall, Coach Dunn seems pleased with her perimeter player options and may continue to mix-and-match to see what different combinations can deliver.

Pressure Defense

While both teams had considerable trouble passing the ball in their halfcourt offenses, the impact of the Fever's pressure defense had a greater impact on the Sky's plans. Turnovers remained high on both sides, but the inability of the Sky to get the ball into the Sylvia Folwes made their best player shockingly ineffective.

Indiana's pressure defense was in full effect in this game. The Fever's pressure and anticipation was outstanding. The box score fails to show the number of deflections nor the number of times Fever players got their hands on balls. The Fever's pressure defense also required the Chicago Sky's offense to give up considerable ground in the halfcourt. Besides denying Sylvia Fowles, a pass around the perimeter would require a player at the foul line to run back to the arc to receive the pass, or if at the arc, to run almost all the way back to the half court line to receive the pass or risk a deflection, turnover and a fast-break uncontested lay-up at the other end.

Appreciation for Tammy Sutton-Brown's Defense

Tammy Sutton-Brown received little post-game interest from the media corps. As another struggling starter with an odious stat-line of 1 point on 0-1 shooting and 5 turnovers, what was easily forgotten was her defense against Sylvia Fowles, one of the best bigs in the game.