A Look at the Lynx: Defense vs Washington

#5 posting 7.5.2006
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This is a defensive look at what happened tonight. Wrapping up the possession is crucial, so defensive rebounds and steals/forced turnovers are highly valued. The Lynx turned it up a notch.

NUMBERS EXPLAINED
player, defensive points, defensive possessions, pp100, floor %

MINNESOTA
STARTERS
Amber Jacobs 15, 15, 100.0, .400
Seimone Augustus 9, 8, 112.5, .500
Kristen Mann 8, 10, 80.0, .400
Tamika Williams 6, 6, 100.0, .500
Nicole Ohlde 17, 16, 106.3, .500
BENCH
Adrian Williams 7, 7, 100.0, .429
Svetlana Abrosimova 8, 8, 100.0, .375
Megan Duffy 2, 2, 100.0, .500
Shona Thorburn 0, 1, 0.0, .000
Vanessa Hayden 2, 1, 200.0, 1.000

WASHINGTON
STARTERS
Coco Miller 13, 10, 130.0, .600
Crystal Robinson 14, 15, 93.3, .467
Nikki Teasley 23, 11, 209.1, 1.000
Nakia Sanford 14, 16, 87.5, .375
Chasity Melvin 8, 14, 57.1, .286
BENCH
Laurie Koehn 4, 4, 100.0, .500
Nikki Blue 3, 1, 300.0, 1.000
Latasha Byears 3, 4, 75.0, .500
Zane Teilane 1, 1, 100.0, 1.000

BY THE NUMBERS
Minnesota 74, 74, 100.0, .446
Washington 84, 77, 109.1, .532

The initial match ups:
Teasley guarded by Augustus
Robinson guarded by Mann
Melvin guarded by Ohlde
Miller guarded by Jacobs
Sanford guarded by T Williams

The Lynx tightened up and played their best defensive effort since June 18th which is also their last win. They are 4-1 with a D Floor % of .450 or under.

Their weakest Lynk (intentionally mispelled) is the 3 ball as they gave up 8 on the night. Coach McConnell-Serio was not pleased when in the Washington was stroking five in the third quarter. Amber Jacobs, who last home game had a 150 pp100 knocked 50 points off her effort tonight. Not as many penetrations, plus she was more active with helpside action. Kristen Mann cut half off her pp100 with a 162.5 to 80 pp100. Her D floor % dropped from .750 to .400.

Overall rebounds allowed were fewer and far between, and they didn't do as much damage as in the past with only 6 points a direct results of missed block outs.

As far as causing droughts MN came out in the 1st, 2nd and 4th quarter with 4, 4, & 5 forced droughts. They also closed off the game with a 1/5 defensive effort. The score was 73-71 at the time and a key play, perhaps the key play in the game was the forced 5 second call in front of the MN bench with Svetlana Abrosimova on the ball as Crystal Robinson was trying to pass it in. The windmilling Abrosimova did her part, but the others closed off any easy options as well. The next two possessions Washington missed their initial and only shots. Amber Jacobs wrapped up the possession with the key defensive rebounds.

If you notice Nikki Teasley gave up over 200 points tonight. ouch.

It should be noted Alana Beard, and Delisha Milton-Jones did not play tonight. They are the top two scorers for Washington. Since these two were out all tonight's starters had more shot attempts making it harder to determine if the defense was making it more difficult for the offense to get their shot quota.

Now the trick will be to maintain the defensive focus for the rest of the season. To me the WNBA is wide wide open. No team has established great consistency.

Next up: tomorrow morning with the general news, plus the quarterfinals of the Dakota Showcase with Iowa Select I vs MN Triple Threat; and SD Elite vs ND ECI West.