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Post by Dream Moderator on May 17, 2008 12:37:53 GMT -5
Can you believe it??!? Here we are ... our first-ever WNBA game!
Tip-off is @ 4PM... talk about the game while watching on TV here ... or better yet... join us at ESPN Zone starting at 3:30 to watch!
LETS GO DREAM!!!!
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Post by tichayo on May 18, 2008 9:22:32 GMT -5
Well! Hardly an inspiring beginning, was it? IT looked good in the first couple of minutes. Then the Sun rose, bringing that dream to an end. What happened to all that good shooting? What happened to the passes that always seemed to find the right player under the basket? And the rebounds! Now there's some excuse for this. It seemed that nearly all the missed shots hit the hoop and bounded away from under the basket; but why is it that only Sun players seemed to be patrolling the area where those rebounds fell? Betty Lennox got some points, but considering how many shots she took, I don't find that impressive. Ivory Latta couldn't seem to hit anything, but she got two steals in a little over 10 minutes of play. Feenstra showed some signs of turning into a really good player. Haynie hustled, and spent some time on the floor, and got up and ran down the court, often beating the other players down there. We seldom left the basket unguarded in transition. There's hope, but overall, it was a pretty depressing experience. Anyone have some more optimistic thoughts?  |
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Post by vadreamfan on May 18, 2008 10:08:54 GMT -5
Must agree that I was overly optomistic at the beginning to the game, at which point the team seemed to be playing fairly well. However, I was also thinking at what point will the Sun sock it to the Dream.
Although my expectation was that this would be a loss, I did not expect it to be such a blow out. You are right in saying that rebounding was not a strong suit for the Dream in this game.
T. Young can rebound. My question is:, does anyone know why she did not play?
It could be a long season for the Dream, but they are a new franchise that just needs time to develop chemistry and experience. That being said, we just need to continue to support them!!! Go Dream!
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Post by lattafan on May 18, 2008 11:31:00 GMT -5
I'm checking in with some questions and thoughts. It's pretty difficult to post without actually seeing the game but here goes anyway. How did Haynie play over 20 minutes and not score any points? Why did Latta only get something like 10 minutes? I don't want to hear the experience excuse because we got blown out big time. BTW, how did that happen when we stayed with the Sparks pretty much until the end of the game? We need some rebounding and offense. We need scorers on the floor getting more minutes. I don't think I can stay excited about this team if they are going to get blown out every game. As you can tell, I am a Latta fan so I think she should get more minutes so that we can see what kind of offense she can bring. She seemed to be Miss Everything in Israel during the offseason. She needs more playing time.
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Post by atlDreamgirl13 on May 18, 2008 12:03:19 GMT -5
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Post by Bballfan0 on May 18, 2008 12:17:29 GMT -5
Must agree that I was overly optomistic at the beginning to the game, at which point the team seemed to be playing fairly well. However, I was also thinking at what point will the Sun sock it to the Dream. Although my expectation was that this would be a loss, I did not expect it to be such a blow out. You are right in saying that rebounding was not a strong suit for the Dream in this game. T. Young can rebound. My question is:, does anyone know why she did not play? It could be a long season for the Dream, but they are a new franchise that just needs time to develop chemistry and experience. That being said, we just need to continue to support them!!! Go Dream! She is overcoming tendonitis. And due to the rule that 13 players can travel but only 11 players can play she didn't dress out for the game. |
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Post by dream17 on May 18, 2008 12:39:54 GMT -5
People,,we have to remember this is a new team and they will be at the bottom. They will win maybe a few but not many this year. The coach and the players have to get use to each other,give them a chance and we will see result. In the mean time support them and be happy we have a team. GO DREAM!
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Post by lattafan on May 18, 2008 20:54:59 GMT -5
People,,we have to remember this is a new team and they will be at the bottom. They will win maybe a few but not many this year. The coach and the players have to get use to each other,give them a chance and we will see result. In the mean time support them and be happy we have a team. GO DREAM! dream17: You are right. I jumped the gun with my comment. I just don't buy into the theory that a new team has to have such a poor first season. GO DREAM! |
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Post by tichayo on May 19, 2008 7:56:53 GMT -5
Lattafan asked "How did Haynie play over 20 minutes and not score any points? Why did Latta only get something like 10 minutes?"
Well, Haynie didn't score because she took only five shots, missed them all, and never got to the foul line. She also picked up only two assists for all her time in there.
Latta scored more points, but still didn't shoot well. She was 1-5, with most of her attempts' falling short. She was more aggressive on defense, and got three assists, one more than Haynie, while playing fewer than half Haynie's minutes.
But there's something about point guards, some point guards at least. It doesn't show in the stats, and it isn't obvious when you watch on TV. The very best are valued not for their shooting nor even for their assists (sometimes). Bob Neal, announcing the Sun game, praised Haynie at the beginning of the game for how well she was reading the Sun's defenses and organizing attacks on them. Often, those attacks don't lead to assists: the ball gets passed around a couple of times after the point guard feeds it in, someone else scores, someone else gets the assist. I noticed this once when Haynie fed Lovelace, Lovelace quickly threw it cross-court to Castro Marques, and Castro Marques made the shot. Points to Castro Marques, assist to Lovelace, no stat at all for Haynie. But it was Haynie who recognized the situation, made a plan to take advantage of it, initiated the action, and fed the ball in to the right person. Even later in the game, I thought plays were working out well once Haynie started them, but the shooters weren't making the shots.
When I began watching WNBA basketball, I used to wonder why the announcers raved so much about Dawn Staley. I watched her play, and while she was fun to watch, she didn't seem to be doing much except keeping the ball in play until someone else was able to score. So much for what I knew! There's a reason she's called one of the greatest ever to play the game, despite stats that don't rank too high.
Once, it was expected that point guards would be the floor managers. And so, the honors went to the likes of Staley and Penicheiro. Then came a new generation of point guard, who could do it all, racking up assists and scores AND running the game, like Bird, Teasley, and Whalen. Soon, coaches were even taking scorers and moving them to point, as with Katie Smith and Becky Hammon.
Is Haynie perhaps a throwback to the old style point guard? If so, does Meadors recognize the value, especially for an expansion team, of having such a person on the floor?
I see Latta as potentially more of a "new" PG, like Bird, et al. Once she gets settled, I think she'll score and generate a lot of excitement while handling the ball well, making great passes AND harrying the other team when it has the ball. I'm sure she'll get her chances. But given that we're an expansion team, an as-yet-unjelled melange of good players (but few great ones yet), it might just be that Haynie gets her minutes because her strengths are more needed just now.
Whether those strengths will be equal to the task remains to be seen. Hey, we've only played one regular-season game so far!
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Post by scarab on May 19, 2008 12:13:29 GMT -5
I agree...they are a young team. And actually, I had managed my expectations prior to the game. The result? They did better than I expected and I saw a lot of potential. Of course they need some work on a lot of fronts, but that's to be expected.
I'm sure the owner and coaches have some short term goals, but they also (per more than one interview) have some long range goals, plans and benchmarks. And as a season ticket holder, I'm there with them.
We're going to have to be patient and allow them the chance to grow (which involves making some mistakes, etc.). And we'll grow along with them. Looking forward to the Dream fans establishing our own home court traditions like some of the other teams' fans.
I'll see you Friday against the Shock and Sunday against the Sparks.
Go Dream!!
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Post by jaye on May 19, 2008 20:01:53 GMT -5
so haynie passes the ball to a player....that player passes to another player.....who passes it to yet another player..... and haynie set the whole thing up.....??... yeah....ok..... lets see..... she also sat in a particular seat when she came out of the game....which kept it warm....so that when lennox came out of the game and sat in it...kept her warm and aided in her shooting.... so she's partly responsible for bettys' points..... haynie did nothing.... and latta looked better than she did....bottom line.... but to those that think that haynie should be the starting and playing pg.... anything she does is going to be grasped at as a positive.... dawn staley created opportunities....haynie brings the ball down and passes it.....and gets out of the way.....that's not even close to the same thing.... understand....i'm not trying to bash haynie..... but it seems that anything she does....whether it is constructive or not is used in the arguement that she is justified as the starting pg.... and truth is neither pg is making the world change spin.... but of the two....latta so far definitely looks the best.... optimistic thoughts..... well.....we've got young legs....young would have been a big help.... we won't always be that off....sooner or later our shots will start falling..... and there's always holdsclaw....  |
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