WNBL 2019

[MMAPride Scott]

My go-to site is this one: http://www.basketcasepodcast.com.au/wnbl-offseason-tracker/ … which shows Mansfield, Ebzery & Heal as definite multi-year deals (Asia might be too, though I would be surprised if we had signed a new (to us) import for multiple seasons)

And I agree we could beat the Boomers, but they would still have to go in as favourites given home court advantage.
Caps … I just don't see it. Not now that Tolo has settled in and Mitchell is healthy and in form. They've got star power everywhere. I mean nothing is impossible if the Lynx really get on fire, twice, but the odds of that feel very low to me. Melbourne regularly manage to play well below their talent level, but Canberra seem far more mentally strong. I think Griffin + Tolo would tear us a new one in the paint, and if we send help then they've got more than enough perimeter firepower to make us pay.

thanks for that...... Dam just got the semi fixtures midweek ahhhh guess that what coming 3rd or 4th gets you, Work night shift so these games kill me lol, gotta do what you gotta do. Will be there Saturday night lets go Lynx

 

[Luuuc]

Well that was a disaster. Had 'em on the ropes and just choked on our own lead. 47 points in the first half, just 25 in the 2nd.
Now we're stuck with Canberra - who should flog us - in the semis, rather than Melbourne, who are beatable.
The Melbourne-Adelaide series should be a good one.

 

[DEVO]

I'm a little concerned about the Caps recent form, they have taken their foot off the throat of their opponents and let them back in the game, although the fact they were able to pull out wins is still a good sign.
Kelsey Griffin is in the form of her career at the moment with 24pts and 20rbs in the double overtime victory Bendigo, surely she will be the league MVP this season. Tolo and Mitchell both look to near their best and Nurse who was quiet on the weekend, has been in good form previously. Wilson has been a bit of an unsung hero for the Caps this season, quietly average a career highs 6.19apg and 4.62rpg.
I'm confident the Caps can win a record 8th Championship, but I was disappointed to hear we were playing Perth and not Adelaide, I think Perth will be the tougher opponent.

 

[Luuuc]

Yeah, pretty average night for Canberra. They probably should have lost that game, and that's against a Bendigo team without both of their imports and also their leading scorer, who at one stage were within a point despite having 3 players fouled out and only 6 left available to play. And I saw on Twitter some footage of a potential game-winner that was literally one video frame away from being released from the hand before the clock expired. The Spirit have come so close so many times this season and come up short on every occasion. It's crazy how unlucky they've been.
(Personally I also think they're unrealistic with the expectations they are putting on their coach, considering their budget combined with Bendigo not exactly being a "destination city" for top players who are willing to change teams, or foreigners looking to play in Oz. It'll be interesting to see what happens there over the off season)

From a Canberra POV I think it's pretty easy to write that game off as an aberration though. Until last weekend they had won 29 of their last 32 quarters played, which is amazingly consistent. I won't hold a lapse in a meaningless game against them too much. Maybe it will be a source of extra hope for opponents, which would not have existed had they smashed Bendigo the way they have smashed everyone else lately, but you can't be concerned about recent form! Their previous games were wins by 20, 12, 40, 43, 29, 26, 27 and 32. That's as dominant as any WNBL team ever.

Looking at the regular season matchups as a guide to playoff hopes is a little meaningless IMO, because Canberra were late to get healthy, and Adelaide were late to gel and find form. But for what it's worth
CAN were 2-1 vs MEL, 1-2 vs ADL, 1-2 vs PER.
MEL were 1-2 vs CAN, 3-0 vs ADL, 2-1 vs PER.
ADL were 2-1 vs CAN, 0-3 vs MEL, 3-0 vs PER.
PER were 2-1 vs CAN, 1-2 vs MEL, 0-3 vs ADL.

The interesting one to me there is that Melbourne, who have dropped games to some of the lower teams this season, are 3-0 against Adelaide.

 

[Goldust]

Harrower will return as coach of the Spirit ..... bank on it!

 

[MMAPride Scott]

was pretty disappointed on Saturday nights performance, first half felt like everyone was gelling i felt really good about our prospects then the 2nd half melt down. as in terms of the regular season teams have teams they seem to struggle against, for us I feel it was Adelaide and Melbourne Def have our Number. we match up well against the caps but its norm a bruising encounter. Watched Melbourne against adelaide last round melbourne just seem to have there number. Think it will be a Melbourne v Caps or praying Lynx final

 

[DEVO]

With the retirements of Suzy Batkovic and Belinda Snell on the weekend, the careers of the final two players who were members of the AIS Team that won the WNBL title in 1998/99 has come to a close. Our greatest basketball era has officially come to end.
All the best Suzy and Belinda.

Besides Suzy and Belinda, players from that team included Lauren Jackson, Kristen Veal, Penny Taylor, Desiree Glaubitz, Deanna Smith and Tammy Hoare. An unbelievable team, and all under 18.

 

[Luuuc]

Snelly is amazing. Still putting up near-triple-doubles regularly at this age. It really is freaky how much talent landed in that one graduating class.
(and denied Perth a 2nd title )

 

[DEVO]

Three of them (Jackson, Veal and Smith) went to The Caps the following season and lead the wooden spooners to their first title.

 

[MMAPride Scott]

With the retirements of Suzy Batkovic and Belinda Snell on the weekend, the careers of the final two players who were members of the AIS Team that won the WNBL title in 1998/99 has come to a close. Our greatest basketball era has officially come to end.
All the best Suzy and Belinda.

Besides Suzy and Belinda, players from that team included Lauren Jackson, Kristen Veal, Penny Taylor, Desiree Glaubitz, Deanna Smith and Tammy Hoare. An unbelievable team, and all under 18.

my grandfather was a pretty big coach at Nunawading back in the day Junior development and womens, he coached Taylor and a lot of others the only one left on the system in Ohea. he passed away in 2001

 

[DEVO]

The Caps have taken our game one 95-76. Perth led at halftime but a 34-13 third quarter killed the contest. Nurse went on a tear in the third and her girls followed, it was one of the best quarters I’ve seen for some time.

 

[MMAPride Scott]

yep was a crazy game caps came out firing not alot could stop them, Lynx came back like a fury but like the last half of the season had a 2nd half fade. Britt was great rest well kind of went missing. Need Ezberry, Taylor, and Scwag all firing to make a game of it. props to Caps they have one hell of a team to stop.

its prob just not out year team lacks a little omph see what thursday and the rest of finals brings. Sunday think boomers take care of buisness against the Lighting

 

[Luuuc]

All season the Boomers have been flaky, losing games they really should not have lost. I get the feeling that they'll focus now that it's business time. I do still worry about their reliance on perimeter shooting (which they really shouldn't have, considering the ability of some of their personnel). But if they settle for too many threes again and they aren't dropping then Adelaide are more than capable of winning it.
Really looking forward to this series & hoping it lives up to its potential.

 

[MMAPride Scott]

All season the Boomers have been flaky, losing games they really should not have lost. I get the feeling that they'll focus now that it's business time. I do still worry about their reliance on perimeter shooting (which they really shouldn't have, considering the ability of some of their personnel). But if they settle for too many threes again and they aren't dropping then Adelaide are more than capable of winning it.
Really looking forward to this series & hoping it lives up to its potential.

do you think Lynx would pay to focus going inside with the likes of scwag and asia rather than going so much on the outside?

 

[Luuuc]

do you think Lynx would pay to focus going inside with the likes of scwag and asia rather than going so much on the outside?

Against Canberra? Going inside seems suicidal against them since Tolo & Griffin are two of the best bigs in the league and we have no size at all. Schwag is pushing it to even be a 3, and Taylor is at best a 4 (and a smaller one than Griffin). Which isn't to say that if we attack the paint intelligently we can't score and/or get their bigs into some foul trouble, but it's a big ask. We have to do that to some extent, because otherwise we're just predictable moving the ball around the perimeter and that won't beat anyone. What we really need is some high energy disruptive defence to generate some cheap fast break points. That's when we become a chance to beat a good opponent. Canberra as well as being good are also experienced and poised, so that's a big ask as well.

I've had such a busy weekend I haven't even had the chance to watch game 1 yet.
Did catch Melbourne-Adelaide today though after the Wildcats and was again impressed with Adelaide and thoroughly disappointed with the Boomers. My last hope for Melbourne that maybe the finals would focus them came up empty as well. I'll admit to some schadenfreude from that because I do enjoy seeing a stacked team take a fall. Wonder what the Boomers have got in store for game 2.
Nicole Seekamp going from strength to strength after 2 excellent WNBL seasons. Net step: Australian Opals.

 

[DEVO]

Game 2 of the Adelaide/Melbourne and Perth/Canberra semis are on tonight. What is the possibility of both series finishing 2-0 tonight?

Adelaide were a bit of surprise last week, so you would think Melbourne would come out all guns blazing and try and take the crowd out early. Melbourne are the better team, but Adelaide are probably playing the better basketball at the moment.

Canberra are currently on a ten game winning streak and are pretty close to fully fit. Their starting five is one of the best I can remember in all the years I've been watching the women's game, and while they might not be too deep on the bench with Wallace out they still have three or four players who are strong competitive players who can hold their own. Perth started the season the strongly but have looked as consistent in the second half of the season. They played one good quarter last week, but were totally out played in the first and third.

I think home court advantage may be enough to see Adelaide pull off a surprise series victory, and I think Canberra have the height and momentum to pull off a series victory in Perth.

 

[Luuuc]

Lynx are always a chance at home because if we get on a roll we seem much better at sustaining it here, but realistically I reckon if they played this game 4 times we would win one of them. (Hopefully that 1 is tonight!) The scary thing is that Tolo was poor in game 1 and we've got no one who can stop her, so as much as I'd like to think game 2 will be closer, the potential is there for the margin to be even bigger. I'll say Caps by 9 because surely Mitchell & Nurse won't be quite as deadly from the perimeter as they were in the first one. No opponent could have withstood that barrage.

There is no such talent/size gap in the Adelaide-Melbourne game so I think the chances of it being a close contest are much better. Garrick went AWOL, O'Hea had a poor one, and Talbot was below her best too in game 1, so that is 3 quality players with a lot of potential improvement in them for tonight. Melbourne would be furious about how poor they were at home so I expect them to bounce back hard. Still leaning slightly towards Adelaide though only because they're at home.

 

[DEVO]

The Grand Final will be between the Canberra Capitals and the Adelaide Lightning after both teams were able to win their Semi-Finals series 2-0.
Canberra go into the Grand Final series on an 11 game winning streak and Adelaide have won 12 from their last 14, so both teams are in amazing form.
Adelaide don't have the height to match it with the Caps, so it will be interesting to see how they combat the likes of Tolo and Scherf, and who is going to match up against Griffin. Griffin was relatively quiet at the scoring end last night, but she didn't need to set the world alight as the Caps had so many offensive weapons, Adelaide will struggle to control them.
Canberra will be favourites but I'm not going to discount Adelaide, they have been brilliant in the second half of the year and Canberra's last two defeats were at the hands of Adelaide.

 

[DEVO]

Game 1 of the final series has gone the Caps way 88-67. Adelaide got off to a fast start leading 25-18 at quarter time but after that the game was dominated by the Caps, blowing the Lightning away 30-13 in the second and extending their lead further after halftime.
Not sure what Adelaide can do to get back into this series, expecting the Caps to win it 2-0, they just have too many weapons in top form.

 

[MMAPride Scott]

Caps way too strong, as we found out in the semi's you can hold them even take advantage for a quarter or 2 but to hold them for the whole game is dam near impossible. Loved the turn out and support

 

[DEVO]

Game 2 has just begun.

GO CAPS!!!

 

[DEVO]

Adelaide score on the buzzer to defeat the Caps 74-73. BUMMER!

 

[MMAPride Scott]

Adelaide score on the buzzer to defeat the Caps 74-73. BUMMER!

was a great game bit unlucky on your part at the end but well deserved for Lighting too,

 

[brucetiki]

What an epic finish.

These Lightning girls are a bloody inspiration. Thrown under the bus by their own ownership, they just fight and fight. They never gave up tonight, though I don't think they ever looked like winning either, and yet they somehow found a way to win in the most dramatic way possible.

Felt like an eternity watching that ball bounce around the rim - especially as so many of them bounced out during the game, then it was pandemonium at TSA!

What a game, and what an atmosphere at TSA tonight!

 

[DEVO]

Saw a replay of the final 5 seconds this morning, and the Caps can consider themselves a little unlucky. The officiating was atrocious, they allowed a travel, a double dribble and the score to stand even though the backboard lit up with Seekamp still had possession of the ball.

The only silver lining is the final game is at home and the Caps can win in front 4500 hometown fans. Hopefully they will put this behind them and blow the Lightning out the water early. And cruise to an eighth title.