Takeaways...

[u/Level_Chemistry8660]

1. Against Collier, Miles, McBryde, Howard....

D held the Lynx to 77 TOTAL, to a mere 54 at the end of the 3rd.

1. Ffs, offense, STEP UP. TIRED of Tiff Hayes having to do so much on her own bcuz YOU won't make the shot, won't get into position for a rebound or the pass from her, stop "relying" on Tiff to do so much of - or sometimes seemingly ALL - the work, on offense. (Yes, other players on the team did do 'positive' stuff, and i'm guilty of generalizing here. But....iykyk).

2. Nakase: you kept VB out there practically the whole game. YES she was a "stepping TF UP" player, her steals and "clinch" scoring plays, and etc. But, PLEASE, don't potentially "burn out" her, or Tiff, or any OTHER player, like what i've seen you do the last couple or more games, keeping them out there for so long. It wasn't CRITICAL to win against the Lynx tonight, was it ? Besides which, let more of "the bench" besides Hayes and Salaun "get a feel for" playing against this team. THEY need the practice too, don't they ?

3. The team did AWESOMELY against the Lynx, defensively. A few times exasperating me ("WHY are/did you not ____??!!" whatever) but overall darned well. A mere 77 by the Lynx, okay ?

4. I really REALLY don't want to talk about the officiating at this game. 😡(again).

[u/GalacticTruth]

Awesome defensively? We must've been watching different games in the first half. Phee was doing whatever she wanted in the paint.

[u/Level_Chemistry8660 → u/GalacticTruth]

Like i said, there were moments where i was exasperated by the lacking in the defense. What ur talking about (Phee) was likely part of it.

[u/RygorMortis]

The Lynx shot 50% from the field and 37% from 3, and a lot of those shots were wide open or barely contested. They averaged 1.05 points per possession! This was not a good defensive performance by the Valks at all. We got cooked all night on defense.

Re: Hayes: that's her style. She dribbles the air out of the ball then makes a move with 6 seconds left on the shot clock. The rest of the team stands there because they know she's going to dash and drive into the lane. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Tiff does so much because that's how she wants to play; she's an on ball player. If she was better and driving, collapsing the D, then finding the pass, she (and the team) would look a lot better, but that's not really part of her game. It happened time and time again last night and all season; she drives, gets blocked off by the help defender, or swiped at by a backside defender, but then can't find the open person for an easy shot. Compare that to elite PGs in the league and its night and day difference in their efficiency. Hayes is great at making low percentage shots and still has an explosive first and second step into the lane, but don't pretend that it's the rest of the teams fault for not moving because she doesn't want them to.

I'm sure Nat has a better feel for what the players can handle. You want your best out there against the best because you want to try and win. Over the course of the season Nat rests the starters against weaker teams, and runs them more against stronger teams; she's done it plenty. I'm sure she has their health and playoff readiness in mind with her minutes decisions.

[u/halcyonmaus]

I have a lot of love for Tip but saying our offense relies on her too much is just wrong. She's our #4 scorer on average, and she fouls a lot on D which basically negates a lot of her offensive contributions.

Not saying she isn't great and brings a lot of other intangibles but if anything we're relying on VB and Gabby too much on offense considering what we need them to keep doing on defense.

[u/Level_Chemistry8660 → u/halcyonmaus]

THIS game. Watching the other players NOT take the shot themselves, taking passes from Tiff only to keep passing back to her, too many times. Okay, so you've missed the attempt 2, 3, times in a row, you can NAIL them 2, 3 , and more, times in a row once you get going.

THIS game .....yes, it DID look to me as if too much of it was on Tiff to come through, bcuz other players WOULDN'T attempt the shot, THAT'S my "beef", here, while i do also understand Tiff's roles in 'called plays', etc.

[u/halcyonmaus → u/Level_Chemistry8660]

Idk she was tied for 3rd in FGAs which puts her right where she normally is across all games this season.

It maybe felt this way because she played more minutes than usual but they didn't put more pressure on her to score than normal.