2018 WNBA: April 12

UTSUgrad said:
Comets won the WNBA championship with one of the shortest (or The shortest) PG in the league, the late Kim Perot. League is considerably tougher now with so many more players competing for fewer spots, but Brooke has a chance. Hook'em!
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Debbie Black of the Miami Sol was shortest player in the league back then: 5'3". She always said her advantage was that she was closer to the floor. She was great at drawinf charges and spent as much time on the ground as Ariel. She was also an assist leader and the heart of the team. The Sol were one of the weaker teams and won a lot of the games at the line.
 
Always liked Kevin Garnett even though he never played on a team I liked.

"Female ballers don't get disrespected by NBA players," says (Candace) Parker. "They understand the time, effort and skill set to perfect the pull-up jump shot. You don't have to do a windmill [dunk] to perfect a midrange game or to shoot the three or to be able to handle. It's usually dudes that don't play basketball that disrespect the WNBA."

Full article:
http://www.espn.com/espnw/culture/a...ces-women-athletes?addata=espnw:womenbb:index
 
from the article:
One thing to watch right now

How ready is she to make an impact in a true 3-and-D mold? Delle Donne, Toliver and Currie are capable of shouldering the load to create for the group offensively. The bigger needs for one of last year’s semi-finalists may be surprisingly simple on surface: hit your open shots and stay solid defensively in the limited available minutes.
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For some reason, I think Ariel will be able to answer positively the questions put forward in the article.
Questions looking forward

  • Defending one-through-three for a team in win now mode
  • Attacking closeouts off the catch
  • Finding the next play when driving lanes dry up
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Congrats to Ariel on making the Mystics! :hookem2:You need to check out the Mystics' tweeter page for this tweet. I really like the rotating individual pictures of the players.
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Doesn't look like Carla Cortijo made it back to the WNBA after suffering an ACL injury to her right knee in late 2016 or early 2017. She was the first player from Puerto Rico to be in the WNBA.
 
If you get the NBA Channel (632/1632 on Uverse), the Dallas-Phoenix game will be broadcast at 9:00 tonight and the Chicago-Indiana tomorrow at 12:00, Ariel and the Mystics Sunday at 12:00 followed by Imani and the Dream immediately after at 2:00.
 
Based on what I saw in the Atlanta-Dallas game, unless something drastic happens, I don’t see Imani ending the season with Atlanta. She was the 3rd center off the bench after starter Elizabeth Williams and backup PF Damiris Dantas (who doesn’t necessarily set the world on fire at her natural position).
 
DFW_Horn said:
Based on what I saw in the Atlanta-Dallas game, unless something drastic happens, I don’t see Imani ending the season with Atlanta. She was the 3rd center off the bench after starter Elizabeth Williams and backup PF Damiris Dantas (who doesn’t necessarily set the world on fire at her natural position).
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I kinda feel bad for Imani. She started out in Chicago with Pokey Chatman, who drafted her and gave her plenty of playing time in her rookie season. Then the Sky had a coaching change, and something went wrong between Amber Stocks' coaching style and Imani. She got traded to the Dream when Michael Cooper was the coach, now she has another new coach.

Just feel bad for her, and having to adjust to so many different coaches and their styles.
 
I didn't see the Atlanta game but the stat line was a little curious. Imani only played 7 mins and took just one shot, which she missed. She also had 1 rb, 1 ast and a steal. Williams played 25 mins and was 1-10 from the field, with 5 fouls, and Dantas plays 15 mins and takes one shot, a miss. So the posts are a combined 1-12 from the field. You'd think Imani would have played more mins, but then you see the 3 fouls and 2 TO's in those 7 mins and perhaps her limited play is a bit more understandable. But overall not a very impressive outing for the Dream bigs.
 
Cambrage had something to do with Dream’s centers woes. She had a good all-around game and at 6’-8” effects all things inside. She was an all-star before she went back to Australia and is only 26.
 
Other than one really ill-timed foul (hey, it’s Ariel), she was nails in the second half. Thibeaux left her on the court in a close game throughout the 4th. Mystics had to win this game - Aces are playing without Jefferson, McBride and Plum so it would have been a terrible loss.
 
Really nice words about Ariel in the game writeup:
http://mystics.wnba.com/news/four-quarters-mystics-move-to-2-0-with-narrow-win-over-vegas/
Rookie and the Vet lead the way back

If Delle Donne kept the Mystics in the game, it was the bench that won it. Tianna Hawkins (17 points, seven rebounds) and rookie guard Ariel Atkins (15 points) scored 10 points apiece in the fourth quarter to rally Washington to a victory in a game where they trailed by as many as 16. Combined, the duo hit four 3-pointers in the fourth (Washington hit eight total on the night), and made plays on both ends of the floor to grind out a victory. Natasha Cloud also added seven points on the night and was critical to upping the Mystics’ tempo in the second half. Her driving layup with 13.6 seconds remaining helped put the game on ice.

Third-quarter run proves critical

Trailing by eight in the final two minutes of the third quarter, Atkins showed nearly every reason the Mystics drafted her in less than 30 seconds. After a steal that led to a nice pull-up jumper, she hit a 3-pointer in the following Mystics possession and saved a ball from going out of bounds on the defensive end that led to an Aces shot clock violation. Natasha Cloud capped the third with a 3-point play on a lay-in, tying the game and finishing an 8-0 run to close the frame. That two-minute span gave Washington the shot in the arm it needed to finish an ugly game strong.
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Good for Ariel. She’s going to be a very good player in the WNBA for a long time. I’m pretty sure she’s happy with the spacing that she has in the WNBA because of the longer 3pt line and also the defensive rules. It also helps that she doesn’t have to worry about school which allows her time to work on her game even more.
 
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