I think it was anyone’s ballgame after watching the season go the way it did. After watching the first two games of their series tho? My impression after game two was Laney can’t guard all three of their guards and JJ can’t do it all. IMO, LVA has four incredible full court starters and NYL has only 3…Sloot and Ionescu can’t keep up with the likes of Plum/Gray/Young. AND on top of that, struggle offensively when guarded by them. (On a side note, I am no fan of Ionescu, she is inconsistent, doesn’t shoot terribly well when defended and is not a top tier defender) After watching Stewie with the Storm, I have never thought she was clutch in moments like last night. She would have amazing all around games in big games, but never (or at least seldom enough that I can remember more of the times we tried to force feed her and lost the game vs her shooting and hitting) that clutch game winning shot…in my memory that was way more often Jewell or Sue that had that ice…but I digress…
I think the finals showed that chemistry is EVERYTHING. Hell, the entire playoffs did. Aces slammed through a messy Chicago team, swept but fought a Dallas team that is imo heading in the right direction as far as team play. Liberty had to battle against a Mystics crippled by injury but steeped in chemistry, and they had to play to beat the Sun who have been a consistent team-even making it deep through key injuries each of these last 3 years. That all showed in the finals too. I read an Athletic article about the charter flight back to NYC and these two paragraphs really stood out to me:
“Las Vegas took its first charter flight of the playoffs to Dallas, ahead of playing the Wings in Game 3 of the semifinals. Chelsea Gray deejayed, playing Jay-Z songs and R&B. Teammates played games like Bananagrams, Pirates and Phase 10. Reserve guard Sydney Colson, unsurprising to those on the Aces roster, was enthused throughout. “Really, we just listened to Syd be annoying,” Bell said.”
“ The Liberty’s flight to Las Vegas for the finals was vastly different in energy than its opponent’s first playoff charter. “It’s dark. It’s quiet and everybody is sleeping,” Vandersloot said. “Which I love to be completely honest.” Stewart noticed several teammates napping, but she spent much of the trip watching the show “Suits.” She was in the middle of Season 6. “I’m just kind of smashing that while I’m away from (my wife) Marta because she doesn’t watch,” Stewart said.”
Not saying that you shouldn’t have decompression time, and everyone approaches things differently, but clearly, the connection in LVA goes deep into their bench even if those players don’t get many in game minutes.
Terrific insights and comments; I couldn't agree more. Even though the final game was riveting, I'm kinda glad the season is over with; I've found the whole "superteam" narrative tiresome since, oh, April. Watching a foregone conclusion play out isn't all that compelling for a lot of fans whose allegiances are elsewhere.
Of course! My end-of-season relief is mainly about the whole two team league thing. If the Storm started play tomorrow, I’d be there. As painful as much of their season was to watch, they were more interesting to me, watching more with an eye to the future.
I think it was anyone’s ballgame after watching the season go the way it did. After watching the first two games of their series tho? My impression after game two was Laney can’t guard all three of their guards and JJ can’t do it all. IMO, LVA has four incredible full court starters and NYL has only 3…Sloot and Ionescu can’t keep up with the likes of Plum/Gray/Young. AND on top of that, struggle offensively when guarded by them. (On a side note, I am no fan of Ionescu, she is inconsistent, doesn’t shoot terribly well when defended and is not a top tier defender) After watching Stewie with the Storm, I have never thought she was clutch in moments like last night. She would have amazing all around games in big games, but never (or at least seldom enough that I can remember more of the times we tried to force feed her and lost the game vs her shooting and hitting) that clutch game winning shot…in my memory that was way more often Jewell or Sue that had that ice…but I digress…
I think the finals showed that chemistry is EVERYTHING. Hell, the entire playoffs did. Aces slammed through a messy Chicago team, swept but fought a Dallas team that is imo heading in the right direction as far as team play. Liberty had to battle against a Mystics crippled by injury but steeped in chemistry, and they had to play to beat the Sun who have been a consistent team-even making it deep through key injuries each of these last 3 years. That all showed in the finals too. I read an Athletic article about the charter flight back to NYC and these two paragraphs really stood out to me:
“Las Vegas took its first charter flight of the playoffs to Dallas, ahead of playing the Wings in Game 3 of the semifinals. Chelsea Gray deejayed, playing Jay-Z songs and R&B. Teammates played games like Bananagrams, Pirates and Phase 10. Reserve guard Sydney Colson, unsurprising to those on the Aces roster, was enthused throughout. “Really, we just listened to Syd be annoying,” Bell said.”
“ The Liberty’s flight to Las Vegas for the finals was vastly different in energy than its opponent’s first playoff charter. “It’s dark. It’s quiet and everybody is sleeping,” Vandersloot said. “Which I love to be completely honest.” Stewart noticed several teammates napping, but she spent much of the trip watching the show “Suits.” She was in the middle of Season 6. “I’m just kind of smashing that while I’m away from (my wife) Marta because she doesn’t watch,” Stewart said.”
Not saying that you shouldn’t have decompression time, and everyone approaches things differently, but clearly, the connection in LVA goes deep into their bench even if those players don’t get many in game minutes.
Terrific insights and comments; I couldn't agree more. Even though the final game was riveting, I'm kinda glad the season is over with; I've found the whole "superteam" narrative tiresome since, oh, April. Watching a foregone conclusion play out isn't all that compelling for a lot of fans whose allegiances are elsewhere.
Thanks and I feel this. I will say tho, as rough as some of those games were this season I did enjoy watching the Storm quite a bit.
Of course! My end-of-season relief is mainly about the whole two team league thing. If the Storm started play tomorrow, I’d be there. As painful as much of their season was to watch, they were more interesting to me, watching more with an eye to the future.