Basketball Diaries Google Drive

[Darth Gupta]

The whole series was a spectacular contrast of styles that built up to an exhilarating Game 5. If you still think the WNBA is bad basketball for some reason, watch this series and get back to me. All five games are out there on YouTube).

Seattle is up 1-0 in the series after an entertaining Game 1 victory. The fabulous five start for the Storm. Phoenix counters with its big 3 of Diana Taurasi, Brittney Griner, and DeWanna Bonner, along with defensive ace Briann January and shooter Stephanie Talbot.

That comes in handy against Griner, the kind of low-post star SOS was designed to contain. On this sequence, Loyd is already double-teaming Griner before she even gets the ball, which theoretically means someone is open. But the Storm coordinate a simultaneous switch where Clark takes January and Loyd travels the shorter distance to Taurasi.

This was wonderful. I signed up knowing you would mostly cover the NBA, and your piece on the Lakers in transition was great, but some coverage of the W like this is awesome. I really really also hope Stewart can come back healthy.

Take all the real-life issues complicating the NBA\u2019s return \u2014 COVID-19\u2019s spread in Florida, systemic racism, a majority Black league owned by mostly White owners, player amenities in the bubble, and lasting physical effects from going so long without playing \u2014 amp them up exponentially, and you get the WNBA\u2019s current situation. The living conditions in the \u201Cwubble\u201D are actually terrible, many prominent players have already dropped out, and there\u2019s that whole mess with Trump-supporting senator and part-Atlanta Dream owner Kelly Loeffler. (This goes without saying, but Lindsay Gibbs is right about what must be done).

If it\u2019s at all possible to get past the above and focus on the court, one mouth-watering storyline stands out. Breanna Stewart is healthy again, and so too is the core of one of the most thrilling teams in league history.

The 2018 Seattle Storm were loaded and revolutionary. Their starting lineup \u2014 Sue Bird, Jewell Loyd, Alysha Clark, Stewart, and Natasha Howard \u2014 featured five interchangeable players blending their talents to create a whole that was even more than the sum of its parts. Their collective speed, shooting, creativity, and unselfishness molded the best offense in WNBA history. Stopping them was a fool\u2019s errand: if you cut off one part of the operation, they\u2019d just beat you a thousand other ways. They were modern basketball nirvana.

That\u2019s also a good way to describe Stewart, the team\u2019s star. Fuse Kevin Durant\u2019s scoring balance, Dirk Nowitzki\u2019s pick-and-pop game, and Hakeem Olajuwon\u2019s post footwork together, and you get Stewart. She can score at all three levels (post, mid-range, three), play on or off the ball, and shift easily from dangerous decoy primary scorer at a moment\u2019s notice.

At least she could in 2018 before tearing her Achilles playing for her Russian pro team during the WNBA\u2019s \u201Coffseason.\u201D Will Stewart ever be the same player she once was? We can only hope, but it\u2019s reasonable to fear that Stewart\u2019s all-around brilliance requires delicate footwork that may no longer be possible without healthy Achilles tendons.

I hope that\u2019s not true, but since that grim possibility exists, I\u2019m devoting this game diary to a moment when Stewart and the Storm were at their peak. This is Game 2 of the Storm\u2019s 2018 Conference Finals series against the Phoenix Mercury, a wild affair in which Seattle dominated for 35 minutes, fell apart in the final five, then regained control in overtime.

This game showcased Stewart\u2019s all-around impact. She scored 27 points, but also facilitated many others with her mere presence. Plus, it speaks to the Mercury\u2019s resilience that they nearly stole the game anyway.

2:05 \u2014 Phoenix makes its first big adjustment, switching January onto Loyd rather than Bird. Though Bird is a bigger name, Loyd is a key barometer to Seattle\u2019s offense. She too easily got into the paint in Game 1, and Phoenix doesn\u2019t want that to happen again.

Stopping Loyd means preventing her from getting to the middle of the floor on curls and/or dribble handoffs. That\u2019s not easy because the Storm use their offensive fluidity to tilt the defense one way and then give Loyd a running start. But it\u2019s clear early on that January is up to the task.

This intricate set is challenging to defend. You have Bird sprinting off a double drag screen \u2026 which is really a decoy for Howard to set a flare screen for Stewart \u2026 which is really a decoy so Stewart can hit Loyd in stride looping from the corner. But January gets herself so low to the ground that Stewart is unable to screen her off, which blows the whole play up.

6:07 \u2014 The Storm\u2019s lead assistant coach and defensive coordinator is a man named Gary Kloppenburg. (He\u2019ll be the team\u2019s interim head coach this season after Dan Hughes opted out of the wubble due to underlying health conditions). That last name should sound familiar to regular readers. Gary is the son of Bob Kloppenburg, who created the famed SOS defense of the 90s Sonics. The Storm don\u2019t run exactly the same system, but under Gary, they have installed many of its core ideas.

But the real problem is that Talbot takes too long to read the play and cut to the basket. If she went a beat sooner, Loyd would have to cover a cutter and a shooter at the same time. Because she waited, Griner\u2019s passing outlet isn\u2019t there at the right moment and Loyd is able to check both players at once.

13:25 \u2014 This is art. Taurasi gets Howard, a terrific switch defender for a big, isolated beyond the arc. She opens Howard up juuuust a bit to get to her right hand, then slowly drives her shoulders into Howard\u2019s chest to get her body in front and cut back to the left.

17:00 \u2014 The Mercury are using Bonner in a stretch 4 role at the top of the key to create room for Griner. That makes sense in theory, but the downside is that Bonner is getting antsy from not touching the ball much. With Taurasi and Griner out of the game, Bonner meanders on a middle pick-and-roll and throws up some junk after picking up her dribble. \u201CGotta trust your teammates there,\u201D says ESPN analyst Rebecca Lobo, correctly.

But Turner misses. In fact, Phoenix doesn\u2019t hit a three until the fourth quarter. Five minutes later, Jordin Canada, the Storm\u2019s backup point guard and an 18-percent three-point shooter, nails a triple after Phoenix correctly goes under on a pick-and-roll. Make or miss league.

25:44 \u2014 Seattle uses SOS to disguise its coverage on a Griner post-up. Bird stunts early from the top of the key to make it look like she\u2019s double-teaming. In reality, Loyd comes from the wing, Bird races immediately to Loyd\u2019s man, and Stewart sinks into the middle to stop Bird\u2019s man from cutting. It looks like a football zone blitz.

This is a timing play, and Bonner starts where she does for a reason. She\u2019s supposed to be looping to the wing \u2014 the \u201Cslot,\u201D in basketball parlance \u2014 at the exact moment Griner dives to the hoop. That way, Bonner becomes an additional passing outlet for Taurasi when she\u2019s trapped.

But Bonner is slow to make her cut, in part because she stands upright after not receiving the ball in the post. Maybe she\u2019s frustrated because she didn\u2019t get a touch. Maybe she\u2019s fatigued. Either way, she\u2019s too slow to present herself and Taurasi is forced to pass to the other side.

As a point of comparison, notice the spacing on this pick-and-roll later in the half. Taurasi pass leads the highlight reel, but she\u2019s only able to make it because she can use the threat of Bonner spotting up to freeze Stewart.

30:29 \u2014 Stewart doesn\u2019t get an assist on this Howard bucket, but she may as well have. Bonner and Griner are so focused on stopping Stewart\u2019s dribble handoff that they get caught flat-footed when Howard keeps the ball instead.

32:49 \u2014 Bird, who has been looking to pass off the pick-and-roll all half, chooses the perfect time to drive hard to the hoop off Stewart\u2019s screen. As Phoenix hugs Stewart, Bird throws the ball ahead with her left and takes advantage of the open lane. It looks like an awful defensive breakdown, but only because Bird picked her spot to attack. Remember this play for later.

35:02 \u2014 We\u2019ve already seen how challenging it is for the Mercury to defend any sort of Stewart/Howard two-man action. They appear to shut down this curl nicely by switching Griner onto Stewart, forcing Seattle to reset. The tempting move is to give the ball to Stewart and let her take Griner one-on-one, but that\u2019s not how the Storm play.

Instead, they space Stewart out to pull Griner away from the hoop, run a pick-and-roll with Bird and Howard, then pitch back to Stewart so she can attack Griner with a running start. Stewart\u2019s versatility opens that option.

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