A Look at the Lynx: Mercury Rising

#2 posting 8.8.2006
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

The Phoenix Mercury scorched the Lynx in Phoenix last night. They led by as many as 42 points.

NUMBERS EXPLAINED
player, high school, points, possessions, pp100, floor %

MINNESOTA
STARTERS
Amber Jacobs 14, 9, 155.6, .667
Seimone Augustus 19, 16, 118.8, .563
Kristen Mann 3, 6, 50.0, .167
Tamika Williams 2, 7, 28.6, .143
Nicole Ohlde 7, 12, 58.3, .333
BENCH
Svetlana Abrosimova 6, 11, 54.5, .273
Adrian Williams 10, 9, 111.1, .556
Megan Duffy 5, 3, 166.7, .667
Vanessa Hayden 2, 6, 33.3, .167
Tynesha Lewis 0, 3, 0.0, .000

PHOENIX
STARTERS
Kelly Miller 10, 9, 111.1, .444
Cappie Pondexter 23, 21, 109.5, .476
Diana Taurasi 21, 11, 190.9, .818
Kristen Rasmussen 6, 3, 200.0, 1.000
Kamila Vodichkova 0, 2, 0.0, .000
BENCH
Penny Taylor 242, 16, 150.0, .688
Jennnifer Lacy 8, 9, 88.9, .444
Belinda Snell 5, 5, 100.0, .400
Jennifer Derevjanik 2, 1, 200.0, 1.000
Crystal Smith 0, 4, 0.0, .000
Kayte Christensen 0, 2, 0.0, .000

TRENCH PLAYER
Earlier in the year I ripped on Diana Taurasi for a sub par performance. Today she ripped it up on the court and is the trench player.

BY THE NUMBERS
Minnesota 68, 82, 82.9, .391
Phoenix 99, 83, 119.3, .530

Minnesota gave up the most points in a game this season in this game. If we check the pp100 we see the New York Liberty racked up 122+ in the June 24 game. This was the 9th time this season the Lynx offense was sub 90 pp100. Each time resulted in a loss.

Of course the long litany of faults again marched down the aisle:
MN had droughts of 5 and 8 in the second quarter, the only solid run they had was in the 3rd quarter with a five.

Phoenix had a run of 7 to start the second quarter and that spurt, for all intents and purposes, ended the game. Phoenix also had a run of six in the 3rd quarter. They did have a drought when the deep bench came in late in the fourth with 8 no scores in a row.

Nicole Ohlde made one field goal all game and that was on the initial possession in the whole game. Tamika Williams only had one field goal, same with Kristen Mann. So three starters combined for three field goals.

There is no defense for MN defense. Just looking at lay ups: MN scored 2, Phoenix 5 in the first quarter. In the second quarter: MN 1, Phoenix 7. So in the first half it was 12-3 in lay ups. Too much dribble penetration, not enough awarness of the situation as has been the case all year. The ball defense is usually too high, looks at the players eyes or some other body feature, but not the midsection that can not fake anything---this ain't the Honolulu Mercury, and their weight is too far forward.

Now let us look at the battle of the rookies. I will only use the Phoenix/Lynx three game series this season to compare #1 Seimone Augustus and #2 Cappie Pondexter.
Augustus had 25 points, 129.3 pp100, and a floor % of .603
Pondexter 21.3 points, 108.5 pp100 and floor % .458
There isn't a doubt in my mind who should be Rookie of the year.

Thanks to all the readers that make this site the first and last source of girls basketball news. Keep up the good work. Keep me fed.

Next up: later today the MN Sweet 16 semifinals between Champlin Park and Becker with bonus coverage of the tail end of the Cedar Mountain-Comfrey/Hopkins game.