Dream Playoffs: Off to a Great Start, As Usual...

[lethalweapon3]

Up 1-0 on Indiana and can close it out on Sunday at the Highlight Factory. Convincing win, complete with a stifling defensive team effort, Angel in beast mode, and the resurgence of Lindsey Harding. More on it later. Game 1 Recap: http://sports.yahoo.com/wnba/recap?gid=20120928013 Go Dream! ~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

Tweet du Jour:

https://twitter.com/BobRathbunTV/status/251755008587091968

Stunned that Angel McCoughtry, gold medalist, league scoring and steals champ, is being shunned by @WNBA post season awards voters.

Not entirely true (Scoring champ trophy coming), but she did get the Tyson Chandler treatment... 2nd in Defensive Player of the Year voting, but no All-Defensive 1st or 2nd team. All-WNBA teams haven't been named yet, but if Angel gets snubbed it's because of all the games she missed (about a third of them altogether).

Bob and LaChina Robinson have been the perfect summer cure for Bob and Nique withdrawal. Hopefully he'll get to simulcast on SportSouth for Conference Semis Game 2.

~lw3

[Gray Mule]

Bob has a much prettier partner in LaChina Robinson and she knowsher basketball. They make a great pair, don't they.2nd in defensive player of the year but didn't make first or second team?How stupid can they get? And, she had 9 steals last night in the victory.She's from the Atlanta team. What else could we expect?GO DREAM!!!

[PSSSHHHRRR87]

Go Dream! Hope they can get that title this year. Been right there the last few years. Time to hurdle that hurdle!

[lethalweapon3]

The Dream will tip off right after the Dirty Birds tame the Panthers today, at 4 PM Eastern (ESPN2).They'll want their next road trip to be to Uncasville rather than Indianapolis. The Connecticut Sun wrapped up their series last night with a 2-game sweep of the New York Liberty and will await the winner of this series. Look for a wild, close-to-the-vest contest as this veteran-laden Fever squad will not go out without a fight.Indiana is an older team (their two leading scorers are 33 years old, starting center Tammy Sutton-Brown is 34) that has yet to prove they can react quick enough to handle the Dream in transition. A 2-0 sweep will likely lead to a shakeup in the offseason, including probably their iconic head coach, Lin Dunn.For Indy to save their season, point guard Briann January has to play smarter, relying less on physical play than she did in Game 1. She was roughed up in the first half trying to stick with Angel near the perimeter and fouled out of the game in the second trying to keep Lindsey Harding and Armintie Price out of the paint. In Game 1, coach Dunn mistakenly went with Jeanette Pohlen at first to replace January, and the Dream's Harding took full advantage of that matchup. Don't expect that error again; look for Australian Erin Phillips to be first off the bench.Tamika Catchings struggled mightily with her shot and getting the ball inside. Playing much of this season at the PF position, she was well covered by Sancho Lyttle (5 steals). There might be a lineup shift to return Tamika to SF, bringing Erlana Larkins into the starting lineup and allowing the now 5-time Defensive Player of the Year to try and put the clamps on Angel McCoughtry.I said, "try." Angel was out there relishing the double teams in Game 1, making decisive moves with the ball before the second defenders could close in on her. She was also right there at the rim to clean up her teammate's misses, something Catchings could help to stem in Game 2. The 5'9" Price played superb perimeter D and even out-quicked Fever bigs on the boards (8 rebounds). Center Erika DeSouza plays well in front of a lively home crowd, and will get a lot more touches if she can resist getting in foul trouble early in the game. Look for former Georgia Tech star Sasha Goodlett to be deployed to help slow DeSouza's roll.Atlanta was characteristically 1-for-10 from the 3-point line (including two characteristically poor trey attempts from Sancho), but staying in front of perimeter shooters left Indy, the league's best 3-point shooting team, with an off-night, too (3-for-13). Atlanta also shot very well from the free throw line as well (80%). The Dream have to avoid the temptation of heroic three-point shooting, especially to keep up with Katie Douglas (league's leading 3-point shooter, just 1-for-5 in Game 1), instead doing what they do well and get their threes the old-fashioned way.Go Dream!~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

Oh well! Get em back in Indy for Game 3! The Fever did exactly what they needed to do and it's now it's the Dream's turn to adjust. More later!~lw3

[Dnice]

That was a busy sports Sunday in downtown Atlanta, I didn't see too much of the game, I did see it was close at the half and then the wheels fell off later.

[lethalweapon3]

Just about one more hour until the decisive Game 3! No ESPN action tonight, but the game will be aired on NBA-TV at 7 PM.In Game 1, the Fever's sluggish play proved to be a disadvantage for them. In Game 2, their moxie and guile proved to be an advantage. Which version of this older team will show up in Game 3, and how will the Dream adapt?Defensively, the Dream have to get back to controlling the tempo by pestering Indiana's guards and forcing the ball inside to Fever bigs NOT named Tamika Catchings. My predicted adjustment to bring Erlana Larkins off the bench (16 points) for a shorter but quicker lineup worked well for the Fever, and it's unlikely they'll get away from that. Briann January (24 pts, 10-for-17 shooting, 7 assists) had a field day in Game 2 with her shift to shooting guard, so the pressure will be on Armintie Price to stay in front of her and create turnovers. This also means Harding will have to switch onto Katie Douglas (just 3 points in Game 2; 2-for-9 from three-point range in the series), who we're all still waiting for to have a breakout game. Despite shutting Douglas down so far, wide open threes from Catchings and open jumpers off screens from January stemmed any attempt at a Dream comeback in Game 2; the forwards need to step out and help when Indy sets the screens. Erika DeSouza and Sancho Lyttle will both need to make their presence in the paint felt early and often with steals, blocks, and especially defensive rebounds.Indy also packed the paint in Game 2, daring Atlanta's guards to shoot from long-range (Angel McCoughtry and Lindsey Harding just 2-for-11 from 3-point range) while keeping them from creating havoc on the boards. Some judicious passing and a few big shots from the guards will help draw the defense out, allowing Atlanta to work its real dribble-drive gameplan on offense. Indy also got back quickly on defense, limiting Atlanta's ability to score quick buckets off of transition.McCoughtry lost her composure in the third quarter of Game 2 after some bad whistles and blown defensive assignments, tossing her mouthpiece away at one point. Expect lots of minutes for her, but she'll need to remain at even keel in Game 3 so she'll have a chance to close it out by game's end. When Indy double teams (probably triple teams), somebody is going to have to step up and make smart shots. Will that be person Sancho Lyttle, or maybe Tiffany Hayes?'Freddy Bass' Williams' job is probably pretty safe so long as he presents a gameplan that either wins tonight or at least keeps the Dream close in the final quarter. In my opinion, whichever of these two teams is victorious tonight will be thoroughly capable of getting past Connecticut as a road underdog to get to the Finals.Go Dream!~lw3

Edited October 2, 2012 by lethalweapon3

[lethalweapon3]

Oh well!Those of you who watched last night's game got to see what a mature roster of veteran leaders can do when they're healthy. Catchings was bloodied but unbowed! In and out of the game to deal with a mid-game scratch on her chin (courtesy of Angel, it appeared) that was hard to stop bleeding, Catchings managed to get back in and make multiple huge plays, including lockdown D on Angel and offensive putbacks. As the TV/radio crew mentioned, they might as well name the DPOY award the Catchings Trophy, she's won it 5 times and showed why last night. And how about Erlana Larkins? The X-factor in the series had been out of the WNBA for two seasons before coming back and coming up big with something like 20 rebounds! Larkins was the breakout performance that sealed the series for the favorite Fever.We also got to see "Lori Ann" rear her ugly head in the pivotal 3rd quarter ("Lori Ann" is Angel's self-professed alter ego). Angel closed the first half in isolation with a huge three to know the game up. But "Lori Ann" showed up in the third hoisting a shot that might have well been taken from Terre Haute, leading to an easy Fever rebound and outlet for a layup on the other end. Then, after getting tripped while stealing the ball, "Lori Ann" gave her opponent an icy glare from the floor during the stoppage in play, then got up and smacked the ball violently from the tripper's hands. That produced a technical and led to a nice third-quarter benching as the Fever began to pull away.I think Fred Williams will be back as coach unless the new owners have other ideas (GT's Machelle Joseph?) Whoever it is cannot coddle Angel when she wants to go into "Lori Ann" mode. I'm not sure Freddie wants the GM duties, too.Angel is a restricted free agent next season, and despite the "Lori Ann" temper tantrums, her talent is simply too good to pass up in this league -- if she has to mature, it might as well be here. Lindsey is unrestricted but will likely get the WNBA version of a "franchise tag". I'd like to see a shakeup in the frontcourt -- might Liz Cambage be available for DeSouza? Sancho, despite her shot selection, can be useful to a team seeking a spark in defensive play. Tiffany Hayes can work on her offensive repertoire in the offseason and come back ready to make a big difference. Armintie Price isn't going anywhere, but they'll ideally want her coming off the bench next year, as the quality of the reserves needs to continue improving.Next year the Dream has to come in with the mindset of wire-to-wire championship contention: half-baked seasons won't do anymore if they want to grow their fanbase. They do have a mindset instilled from Marynell that opponents "can't stop what they can't catch," and have most of the core athletes they need to build on that philosophy. We'll see how they look next spring!Go Dream!~lw3