A Look at the Lynx: Los Angeles, June 8

#8 posting 6.9.2007
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

LOS ANGELES sparks 90, MINNESOTA lynx 87

A close call...the Lynx are playing better, but the still need to play 40 minutes. Also the defense is something to question.
1. STARTS: Minnesota out of the gate in all four quarters beat LA 29-20. This is something that has definitely turned around. They are ready to play. Now they need to make the other team pay.
2. FINISHS: LA took this title 23-17. The disastorous 2nd quarter finish doomed the Lynx's chances.
3: RUNS: LA had five runs, 5 in the first quarter (10-4); 8 in the second quarter (16-4) and 6 in the fourth quarter (12-6). Add it up and it is 38-14. The Lynx never had more than four possessions strung together. The good news for the Lynx was the droughts were also limited.
4: LAY UPS: LA had more lay ups, driving lay ups and reverse lay ups according to the play by play 19-12. Translated that means LA had 38 points on chip shots to the Lynx 24.
Why is this happening? breaking it down four (8 points) are on second shots/put backs. For some reason the WNBA calls these lay ups. One came on a missed Lynx shot, one came on a Lynx turnover. Most --eight--come on general half court offense, not transition. This means the defensive positioning is probably off balance, help is non existent, and awareness is pretty small.
5: POST PLAY: If Lindsey Harding as a point guard leads the team in defensive rebounds there are problems. Harding must be A. pound for pound the toughest player the Lynx have. B. knows and understands angles and where missed shots will go, C. lucky because the ball takes odd bounces. My bets are on A and B. Why others can't dominate or pick up more than 2 boards when they are nearer the basket is beyond me.
6. TIME OUT EXECUTION: Against Phoenix, the Lynx were golden in the fourth quarter. At LA they were 2/4 with the last two coming up empty when the score was LA 88-87. Harding was blocked by McWilliams-Franklin with 10 seconds left, then an Augustus 3 attempt was off. LA was 1/2 after their time outs in the 4th.

Mwadi Mabika almost blew it for LA with a technical with 1:20 left. Augustus delivered the toss and then LA turned it over. Ohlde made a layup with 46 seconds for MN to go up 87-86. Mabika redeemed herself with two free throws to reclaim the lead and added two more on the last LA possession of the game for the final margin.

The Lynx are in Seattle tonight. We will see if the back to back takes its toll.

MINNESOTA
STARTERS
Nicole Ohlde 15, 17, 88.2, .471
Seimone Augustus 28, 18, 155.6, .778
Lindsey Harding 11, 10, 110.0, .500
Tamika Raymond 1, 1, 100.0, 1.000
Svetlana Abrosimova 8, 6, 133.3, .667
BENCH
Eshaya Murphy 3, 2, 150.0, .500
Noelle Quinn 4, 5, 80.0, .400
Kristin Mann 15, 10, 150.0, .600
Katerin Ress 0, 1, 0.0, .000
Tiffany Stansbury 2, 2, 100.0, .500
team 0, 3, 0.0, .000

LOS ANGELES
STARTERS
Taj McWilliams-Franklin 20, 13, 153.8, .769
Christi Thomas 10, 9, 111.1, .556
Chamique Holdsclaw 12, 12, 100.0, .500
Marta Fernandez 19, 15, 126.7, .667
Mandi Mabika 8, 9, 88.9, .444
BENCH
Jessica Moore 4, 6, 66.7, .333
Lisa Willis 5, 2, 250.0, 1.000
Murriel Page 0, 1, 0.0, .000
Sidney Spencer 4, 3, 133.3, .667
LaToya Thomas 8, 4, 200.0, 1.000* The stats never indicated which Thomas was which so their numbers are off big time

TRENCH PLAYER
Taj McWilliams-Franklin, her team won

BY THE NUMBERS
Minnesota 87, 75, 116, .560
Los Angeles 90, 74, 121.6, .595
made 3s: MN 6, LA 2
made fts: MN 13, LA 12
assists: MN 22, LA 19
bench: MN 24

DEFENSIVE WRAPS
MINNESOTA
Lindsey Harding 4
Seimone Augustus 4
Nicole Ohlde 3
Svetlana Abrosimova 3
Tiffany Stansbury 3
Eshaya Murphy 1
Noelle Quinn 1
Kristin Mann 1
totals: 16

LOS ANGELES
Taj McWilliams-Franklin 4
Mwadi Mabika 3
Murriel Page 3
Christi Thomas 2
Chamique Holdsclaw 2
Marta Fernandez 2
Jessica Moore 2
Sidney Spencer 2
Lisa Willis 1
LaToya Thomas 1
totals: 22

Next up: tomorrow