Ups and downs

I watched what I could (mostly the first half) of Thursday's Lynx-Fever game. It started off slow, but ended up being an interesting game; hopefully I'll be able to catch the rest on WNBA.com's free webcast service relatively soon. I had several reactions while I watched:

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

I'm not exactly bashful about how much I love Minnesota's rookie sensation Candice Wiggins. So, imagine my dismay when I watched her, almost immediately upon entering the game for the Lynx in the first quarter, hit the floor hard after getting called for a charge. She was subsequently taken off the court in a wheelchair with a lower back injury and never returned to the game. I'm left here hoping that she'll be alright with a hasty return.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!

The Lynx managed a gritty 84-80 win in overtime against Indiana. Minnesota has had trouble managing close games throughout the season, much due to their collective inexperience, and it was refreshing for them to buckle down in the clutch and come out with a victory.

NO!

Minnesota had 17 turnover throughout the course of the game, more than their (best in the league) 13-per-game average thus far. On the bright side, most of these came in bunches when the team hit some particularly ugly offensive slumps.

YES!

Again harping on the growing maturity of the team, it was interesting to see that despite several sloppy turnovers, bad shot selections, and the early exit of Wiggins, Minnesota kept it close. The game announcers for FSN Indiana would have had you believe that the Fever were absolutely dominating their opponents through the first half, but the Lynx hung in and kept the game close (usually no more than 5-point deficits). Sometimes you have to just grit your teeth and play through the slop to come out on top, and they did a good job of keeping the energy up.

YES!

The potential of the Lynx's young talent was on display. Particularly promising was the 12-point performance of Lindsey Harding, who has had a tough time coming back from the injury that scuttled the first half of this season.

Let's look at it this way. If I were to take the talent on that roster and assemble them into the traditional 1-2-3-4-5 positions for a starting roster, it would look like this:

PG Lindsey Harding
SG Candice Wiggins
SF Seimone Augustus
PF Nicky Anosike
C Vanessa Hayden-Johnson

I might even consider rotating in F Charde Houston, as she's been performing extremely well off the bench as of late. Those five starters have a combined 6 previous seasons of experience; half of that is represented by Johnson, while two of those players are rookies. Throw in Houston and you've got... 6 years. Despite all this youth, the Lynx are second in the league in scoring with roughly 80 ppg, second in FT%, and best in the league in turnovers. Just imagine once this team truly gels. The only thing stopping them, aside from their inexperience, is a lack of depth behind all of this talent.

80 ppg is second in the league? Women can't score, can they?

You only adopt that viewpoint if A) You have an irrational hatred of women's athletics and write them off without actually watching, or B) You haven't stopped and put this in proper perspective. I'm hoping for the latter, but if you fall under the former and are still reading this article after this long, there's still hope for you.

Remember that the women's game has only 10-minute quarters, as opposed to the 12-minute quarters used by the NBA. Extrapolate Minnesota's 80 ppg, and a 48-minute game would yield 96 points. That would still net them near the bottom of the NBA, yes, but I don't hear too many NBA fans complaining about 96-90 games. (Consider the Mercury's league-leading 89 ppg; this would be roughly 107 ppg with 12-minute quarters, or fifth in the NBA behind only Golden State, Denver, Phoenix, and the Lakers. Not too shabby).

Considering all of this left me curious. Why does the women's game limit itself to 40 minutes of play? It seems to me that it would help the marketability of the WNBA by at least helping to eliminate the perception that women can't score. It's not as if these athletes aren't conditioned well enough for a longer game; there has been some great overtime play throughout the season. I really can't think of an answer to this question. Do any of you have any thoughts regarding the issue? Let me know what you think either way. 10-minute quarters or 12, and why?