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ORIGINAL: TJSweens

Not to be a whiner, but Griner gets away with an incredible amount of contact. She just led the ball handler up the lane like a fullback driving the Lynx defender under

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Griner is a huge factor, but our age is looming larger.

Griner is going to be a problem for the whole league, not just the Lynx. There’s just not many 6’ 8" WNBA players, especially those that are quite athletic. McCarville is ideally suited for a role as the 7th player who can come off the bench, play physical, and facilitate on offense. But her days of matching up against Griner or Fowles or DeSouza are over.

The even bigger problem is that the run might be over, despite what coach Reeves suggests. Brunson is almost 33; Whalen is 32; McCarville is 32; and Augustus is 30. Monica Wright took a step back this year, when she needed to take a step forward. Same with Deveroux. Dantas is the X factor. She actually matched up fairly well with Griner in game 2. Somehow, someway, the Lynx need to find a couple of players to surround Maya Moore.

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It will be interesting to see how quickly It’s Timberwolves! will creep into Lynxville once Augustus, Whalen, and McCarville ride off into the sunset. Nobody should forget that Roger Griffith is also a Taylor son-in-law in charge of a team. The bench is non-existent and their last few picks have been underwhelming. It’s Maya and not a lot else if the older players hang it up or if the minutes have finally caught up (they have already with Agustus and McCarville and Brunson).

Phoenix was the better squad on both ends of the court by a long shot. If it wasn’t for Whalen, this series would have been over in 2 with blowouts in both contests. Agustus has aged into fade-away jumpers and Moore isn’t able to play with the ball in her hands like Taurasi or Whalen for extended periods of time in order to be the sort of perimeter based double threat that can consistently break down the defense and set up the in/out action that drives top women’s teams. Whalen is their most important player by a long shot and Maya could score 40 a game and they won’t win much without Lindsay to run the offense—at least not with backups like Wright or whoever else they will likely have if Whalen walks away.

The Lynx’s defense last night was atrocious but the roster creep has probably already shut the window. They ended up a lot like the Heat. 2 championships in a 4 year window with a blowout ending it all. Also, the second their fantastic wing players weren’t able to be heads and shoulders above the competition in transition, it all kind of fell apart.

Finally, the WNBA needs to do something about its po-dunk refs. You can’t have rec league calls in your showcase games. I don’t think it tilted the balance of the series or really even favored one team over the other. It was just really bad and far too noticeable.

All of that being said, they still played awesome ball this year that was a blast to watch. These last 4 years have been just great.

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ORIGINAL: David Levine

A few posts from a couple regulars at Canis:

quote:

Griner is a huge factor, but our age is looming larger.

Griner is going to be a problem for the whole league, not just the Lynx. There’s just not many 6’ 8" WNBA players, especially those that are quite athletic. McCarville is ideally suited for a role as the 7th player who can come off the bench, play physical, and facilitate on offense. But her days of matching up against Griner or Fowles or DeSouza are over.

The even bigger problem is that the run might be over, despite what coach Reeves suggests. Brunson is almost 33; Whalen is 32; McCarville is 32; and Augustus is 30. Monica Wright took a step back this year, when she needed to take a step forward. Same with Deveroux. Dantas is the X factor. She actually matched up fairly well with Griner in game 2. Somehow, someway, the Lynx need to find a couple of players to surround Maya Moore.

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It will be interesting to see how quickly It’s Timberwolves! will creep into Lynxville once Augustus, Whalen, and McCarville ride off into the sunset. Nobody should forget that Roger Griffith is also a Taylor son-in-law in charge of a team. The bench is non-existent and their last few picks have been underwhelming. It’s Maya and not a lot else if the older players hang it up or if the minutes have finally caught up (they have already with Agustus and McCarville and Brunson).

Phoenix was the better squad on both ends of the court by a long shot. If it wasn’t for Whalen, this series would have been over in 2 with blowouts in both contests. Agustus has aged into fade-away jumpers and Moore isn’t able to play with the ball in her hands like Taurasi or Whalen for extended periods of time in order to be the sort of perimeter based double threat that can consistently break down the defense and set up the in/out action that drives top women’s teams. Whalen is their most important player by a long shot and Maya could score 40 a game and they won’t win much without Lindsay to run the offense—at least not with backups like Wright or whoever else they will likely have if Whalen walks away.

The Lynx’s defense last night was atrocious but the roster creep has probably already shut the window. They ended up a lot like the Heat. 2 championships in a 4 year window with a blowout ending it all. Also, the second their fantastic wing players weren’t able to be heads and shoulders above the competition in transition, it all kind of fell apart.

Finally, the WNBA needs to do something about its po-dunk refs. You can’t have rec league calls in your showcase games. I don’t think it tilted the balance of the series or really even favored one team over the other. It was just really bad and far too noticeable.

All of that being said, they still played awesome ball this year that was a blast to watch. These last 4 years have been just great.

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ORIGINAL: kgdabom

I think these posts were a bit too negative coming after a tough loss. It was anybodies game with a couple seconds remaining in the third quarter.