Dolson's whole job is to defend Candace Parker. As long as Parker is out, we'll see little to no Dolson. They don't need her to match up with Stokes, anybody can do that.
New York's backcourt got exposed. Despite JJ's advantage on the block on any forced switch, Ionescu and CVS can't stay in front of anyone.
So now I'm serious. Kiah Stokes did not take a shot -- put Sabrina on her. Whatever guard Stewart matches up best with is now the MVP's assignment. (She can't do a worse job than Sabrina or CVS.) Then put Laney on the next most important player, and hope CVS can at least pretend to defend someone.
If nothing else, this will require an adjustment by LV. If they think the Sabrina/Kiah matchup is a mismatch, they still have to redesign their offense to get the ball to one of the worst offensive starters in the league.
And if it doesn't work, go back to getting torched again by the traditional matchups.
with Stokes a zero on offense, i wanted to see Stewie guard Gray in last year’s playoffs, and this year’s is no different.
i remember in the 2016 Lynx-Sparks Finals where Nneka Ogwumike was routinely guarding Lindsay Whalen, as it was when the Lynx would go small with Maya Moore at the 4 and Sylvia Fowles at the 5. (Beard and Parker would guard those two, respectively.) that’s the kind of creativity i want to see from the Liberty, but Brondello i think just doesn’t have it in her to get super creative.
in the postgame press conference, the Liberty players were quoted as saying “we’re just gonna keep doing what got us here.” if they really don’t think they’ve gotta switch something up seeing as they were underdogs coming into Game 1 let alone departing it, then congrats Aces, here’s your second-consecutive title.
Offensively, all four guards were shutdown in the second half (Sloot, Ionescu, MJ, Laney). Aces' defense was the best it looked in that second half. They also shutdown down Jones on rebounding in the second half as well. Stewart and Wilson essentially cancelled each other out. Thornton didn't do much yesterday either. Hopefully the Liberty respond similarly to how they did in game 2 against Connecticut.
Also, the league doesn't want a sweep in this Finals. How disappointing it will be if Vegas ends up blowing out New York in a matchup of the two superteams. Might as well hand Vegas their 2024 trophy as well.
So if you wonder why Sandy Brondello's acumen has been questioned at times, the Libs' plan, apparently, was to go under screens set for Jackie Young. Young, you might recall, made 44.9% of her threes this year.
So in game two, they'll likely hedge some more and try to stay up on Young.
And maybe even put Sabrina on Stokes when she's in the game -- but Alysha Clark, given her defense on Stewart, will likely get the bulk of the minutes. Even then, I'd still put Sabrina on Clark.
But it really comes down to Stewart. She needs to score on Clark and defend one of the Aces' perimeter players. She's the MVP, right? Isn't she supposed to be able to step up as needed? (And I'm a Stewart fan, but it's time ...)
And it would help if CVS could make open threes and/or stay in front of Plum.
So if you wonder why Sandy Brondello's acumen has been questioned at times, the Libs' plan, apparently, was to go under screens set for Jackie Young. Young, you might recall, made 44.9% of her threes this year.
So in game two, they'll likely hedge some more and try to stay up on Young.
And maybe even put Sabrina on Stokes when she's in the game -- but Alysha Clark, given her defense on Stewart, will likely get the bulk of the minutes. Even then, I'd still put Sabrina on Clark.
But it really comes down to Stewart. She needs to score on Clark and defend one of the Aces' perimeter players. She's the MVP, right? Isn't she supposed to be able to step up as needed? (And I'm a Stewart fan, but it's time ...)
And it would help if CVS could make open threes and/or stay in front of Plum.
terrible Game 1 gameplan was terrible. Young has been a proven, elite 3pt shooter for multiple seasons now. you really don't want to let any of the Aces' core 4 beat you, but even an average viewer could remember that it was Kelsey Plum who struggled the most out of any Aces player in last year's Finals/playoffs. you let Stokes and/or even Clark beat you if you can help it, but long story short, you don't pick Young.
defensive creativity is sorely needed for the Liberty, but imo so is offense to a lesser degree. i've learned the past couple years that Stewart has a tendency to press and try to play hero-ball too often; as superior as she is, she's honestly too streaky to be consistently doing it. imo she needs to be more of a playmaker and get more of her teammates involved – namely Laney (eight shot attempts in Gm 1, which is somewhat ok since she was expending lots of defensive energy guarding Gray) and Ionescu (seven shot attempts in Gm 1, which is the particularly egregious offense since she's only on the floor for her talent on offense). hell, i even start to side-eye Thornton's two shot attempts in eight minutes of action. if the shot's not there, Stewie, pass it or initiate enough contact to get the superstar calls.
as for Vandersloot... well, it can't get any worse than Game 1 for her, right? probably not, but in all seriousness, we'll see if she can even elevate herself to become a net-neutral presence for the rest of the series let alone a positive one. it starts with cutting down on the risky passes and making open jumpers & layups.
Sunday's game was Sloot's worst of the playoffs. She's been in a decline since August though.
She had 5 games in August where she scored under ten points and dished out 7 assists or less. 6 out of the Liberty's 7 losses that Sloot played in, she scored 11 points or less. She also had 7 assists or less in 6 out of 7 of those losses.
her averages for the playoffs are 9.4 ppg, 6.7 apg, 1.4 spg & 2.9 turnovers pg.
The worrisome part is that having Ionescu & Johannes on the court together creates a worse defensive backcourt. This is why they need to go with Laney & Thornton for long stretches if Sloot is going to be near useless tonight.
and Ionescu & Laney both have experience running point if needed. (ditto Johannès, but from what i saw in Game 1 from her passing-wise, she’s a deadlast-resort PG.) Laney & Thornton on the floor together isn’t even an offensively weak combination since they can both hit open 3s. if just one of the starting guards struggle from the field again, Brondello will need to use Thornton a lot more than she did in Game 1. not to mention, Johannès wasn’t even effective in the second half. (not much was, to be fair.)