Great news! Ideally we'll have a comfortable lead in the 4th and we'll be able to rest her, Soni and Kiki for the most of the 4th quarter at least.
Huge congrats to all 3 Mystics. I'm sure it helped them gain much needed confidence and that will help us in the playoffs for sure.
Florez in particular. She got solid minutes for Spain and had positive contributions. Winning the MVP award against a team like Australia, even if Australia had some injury issues, in a quarterfinal game alone must have given her a huge boost. Her FTs were much better. 75% compared to 53% while shooting them at a higher volume. I hope she brings that back. Her 2 and 3 point % were up too and she hit a really tough buzzer beater 3 in one match.
Soni is second in team USA in FG% and that's great. She continued to play great defense. Practicing with all those players has been helpful too, as she'll face most of them in the playoffs. Kiki averaged more rebounds per minute than anyone on USA roster. That's a huge positive as well.
9 points (joint game high for Spain), 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 4/5 shooting, 1/1 for 3, +16 in 9 minutes on the floor against Australia in the quarterfinal.
Edit:quieter half from her and from Spain as a team. She finished with 10 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 4/5 shooting, 1/1 for 3, 1/2 FT, +21 in 19 minutes on the floor in a win against Australia. Next up, a match up with Soni, Kiki and the rest of team USA.
She won the MVP award!
Huge congrats to Soni, Kiki and Alicia!
The height really shouldn't be a problem.
Average height according to to the heights listed on the official FIBA website:
1:CHINA-6'2"(187.25CM)
2:GERMANY-6'2"(187.17CM)
3:USA-6'1"(186.50CM)
4:NIGERIA-6'1"(185.42CM)
5:SPAIN-6'1"(184.58CM)
6:TURKIYE-6'1"(184.17CM)
7:AUSTRALIA-6'1"(184.17CM)
8:FRANCE-6'0"(183.00CM)
9:HUNGARY-5'12"(182.50CM)
10:CZECHIA-6'0"(182.00CM)
11:BELGIUM-5'12"(181.92CM)
12:ITALY-5'11"(181.25CM)
13:PUERTO RICO-5'11"(180.67CM)
14:MALI-5'11"(180.42CM)
15:JAPAN-5'10"(177.58CM)
16:KOREA-5'10"(177.17CM)
I also looked at the roster, and if you look at our 4 "bigs" (Boston, Stewart, Iriafen, Reese) they are listed as forward or power forward. So I went on to every roster and calculated the average height for other teams' forwards, power forwards and centers and this is what I got:
1:CHINA-6'6"(197.17CM)
2:HUNGARY-6'4"(193.25CM)
3:SPAIN-6'4"(192.25CM)
4:GERMANY-6'4"(191.80CM)
5:USA-6'3"(191.25CM)
6:CZECHIA-6'3"(190.25CM)
6:ITALY-6'3"(190.25CM)
8:TURKIYE-6'3"(190.00CM)
9:AUSTRALIA-6'3"(189.67CM)
10:FRANCE-6'2"(189.00CM)
10:NIGERIA-6'2"(189.00CM)
12:BELGIUM-6'2"(188.80CM)
13:PUERTORICO-6'2"(188.60CM)
14:MALI-6'1"(186.50CM)
15:JAPAN-6'1"(185.60CM)
16:KOREA-5'11"(180.75CM)
USA'S still 5th.China is obviously huge, but the size isn't an issue generally speaking. Team USA's roster is still one of the biggest.
Congrats to Alicia! We'll have a player at the World Cup after all!
It has no adds or anything like that, and I gain no profit from it, so I don't think it clashes with the sub rules.
You pick the winner of each remaining game and it shows you where your team will end up. I added tiebreakers too. It's possible I made a mistake and if someone notices a mistake, tell me and I'll fix it.
I think we have a shot at home court advantage now.
We can't go above Lynx(mathematically impossible), Valkyries(we'd have to win every remaining game and they'd have to lose every remaining game) or Aces (they're not losing 3 of their last 5 games, they have the easiest schedule remaining), but we definitely have a shot at getting that 4 seed.
If we win out (not entirely impossible), we're 5th at worst(Liberty and Wings would have less wins than us, Fever would at best have the same record but we'd have the h2h advantage), and we'd need Dream to lose 2 of their last 6, which isn't that unlikely, considering the fact that they play Lynx, Liberty x2(they lost the first game of that match up, and convincingly so), Fire (split the series so far with them and Fire always play hard), Sky(they haven't been bad in recent games) and Sun. I think they do get two losses there.
If we get one non-Fever game loss then things change slightly but it's still possible. Fever would have to lose one other game and they play Lynx twice, Dream would have to lose 3 and not 2 (also not impossible) and Liberty would have to lose one game (they have a tough schedule remaining and their players could be fatigued from the FIBA World Cup).
It's a really tough task, but it's not impossible!
Game Status Report: MIN vs WAS (8.21.26)
Emma Čechová - OUT (Right knee)
Napheesa Collier - OUT (Rest)
Olivia Miles - Probable (Left ankle)
Per Lynx PR
I'm so pumped up after that win. I kind of which there was 0 break between now and our next game. This is maybe even the most fun I've ever had watching WNBA. It's so fun and impressive to watch this young team fight and play so well and win. I can't get enough of it.
I kind of wished they were on the same team, so I could cheer for that team, but I guess this'll be fun too.
And start with something like Florez, Cotie, Prosper, Dugalic, Betts?
Even if we start with our usual starters, I'd restrict their minutes and give our rookies a proper go, considering how physically demanding this Portland game was.
That's realistic. Considering this has become a secondary topic in two different topics here, I thought it deserved a topic of it's own.
Which upcoming free agent PG would you sign next season or which PG would you trade for, if Hannah stays another year at college/we can't get her at draft?
Also a question for those who are more knowledgeable in terms of finances, what kind of deal could we offer to a free agent PG? Would it be enough to attract a top point guard?
Someone mentioned Plum in one of the posts and I think she would be the best option. She'd compliment the team perfectly. However, that is probably a long shot.
