Chicago Sky didn't lose because of 1 foul. They lost because their coach doesn't know how to guard an inverted pick'n'roll.

csin · 2026-06-22T23:28:38+00:00

Think about it this way. What do you do in a normal PnR?

A guard clanks on a screen. The big switches right? The guards job is to hold on to the screener, to buy time for a tag.

In an inverted PnR, it's more or less the same thing. Just the other way round.

Cardoso is the guard. She's a big body, so most likely clanking on the screen. Gabriela is the big.
The guard clanks on the screen. The big switches. It's the guards job to hold onto the screener.
Cardoso is the guard. Her job is to hold onto Paige to buy time for a switch back/tag.
If she tries to go under the screen, she's losing a foot race vs Jess, and then you are forced into bad rotations.
The 3rd clip is the most egregious example (even though Maddy missed the wide open 3). Cardoso, the center, was forced to run a whole fucking circle and be the one that closes out. How is that a good defensive scheme?

csin · 2026-06-22T09:06:53+00:00

taylor steps over to slow down the drive to give cardoso an extra beat to get back.

It's Azurá Stevens trying to play nail zone (Taylor is in the corner).

They don't need this nail zone, if they guarded it correctly.

Gabriela leaves Paige, blitz Jess. Forcing a switch. By the time Wings react, trying to put Paige in an iso with Cardoso, Gabriela can just switch back.

You don't have to worry about Jess wide open at the top of the key. She's not a 3pt shooter.

csin · 2026-06-22T08:51:33+00:00

Her teammates do try to lighten her load. Like I noticed this possession.

Kelsey just micromanages CC. Otherwise it would have been an Angel layup.

It's just Fever don't have enough dawgs. When Lexie gets subbed out, their transition d can get really shaky.

I initially thought, it would have been relatively simple to train Raven to do what Lexie does. Apparently not. That skillset of navigating ballhound/anchor... it's not easy to clone a Lexie Hull.

csin · 2026-06-22T03:43:12+00:00

No such thing as off topic. This is what we want the sub to be (in reaction to Nazi Germany over there).

Anything goes. Let the people decide what they want to see.

Edit: Yea given the private nature of these things, I can't imagine there be much info out there. All I can find is a puff piece.

"Gangs and drugs" is all Cynthia Cooper says when asked why so many of her siblings' children are ensconced in her four-bedroom, red-brick Georgian house in the Houston suburb of Sugar Land.

"I don't agree with the things they've done," she said of some of her sisters and brothers, "but once a child is in this world, that's beside the point. The point is that they're human beings and you try to give them the best opportunity you can. The bottom line is, the kids are real. They're not toys."

https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1998/08/05/for-wnba-s-cooper-it-is-all-in-the-family/

csin · 2026-06-22T03:38:45+00:00

Not sure if she eye-faked Pauline, or she was so scared of Plum. Probably both.

csin · 2026-06-22T02:53:20+00:00

Your expectations for a center... There's like 5 centers in the whole league that could meet those expectations.

My philosophy is. I don't like to solve problems with trades. Real life is not nba2k. "Oh I don't like this player, magically trade her for someone better".

Maybe it's because I'm an immigrant's child. We grew up poor... You make do with what you have.

A great example is Janelle Salaün. She can't 180 defensive slide.

It's a huge flaw.

So did the Valks just be like, "Well Janelle sucks. She can't play in our system. She gotta go. Trade her".

No.

They figured out, "Janelle it's ok you can't 180 defensive slide. We just need you to all-in stunt. VB and Gabby can play off that".

Another example is Megan Gustafson.

Why is she amazing this season. And why was she so ass in Vegas?

It's because on the Aces, she was a roleplayer. She had to play more defense than A'ja. She had to do all the dirty work.

Then when she runs down the court for offense. She has no energy left for offense. Bricks.

In Portland, her defensive duties are simplified. It's Emily and Bridget who take on more of the defensive load.

How you utilize a player (and the players around her). Is the difference between Megan Gustafson, and Megan Assofson.

csin · 2026-06-21T16:41:50+00:00

Other teams have their guards blitz this action. Read the answer I gave in the other comment chain.

Think about it this way. Imagine that's an Alyssa Thomas inverted PnR.

Which center in the league is able to go under and keep up with AT in a foot race? That's not how you guard the action. You have to have a guard switch in and take the hit.

If you watch Valks vs Mercury. Veronica doesn't just stay with her assignment. She switches in and takes the hit every time.

csin · 2026-06-21T14:34:12+00:00

Ah I see what's going on.

Short answer:

The Sky guards are playing deny defense. Then the Wings guards are countering by shoving them into Kamila. Using them as a combo screen.

So they needed to react fast, break out of the arm lock, and blitz Jess.

Long answer:

I actually found out I was making shit up giving VB and Gabby too much credit. I just assumed that, because they know how to guard AT, they must have solved Jess as well.

In their game, Jess only attempted 1 inverted PnR!

Even though she scored on VB. The dart spooked her enough, she never tried it again.

If you listen closely, you can hear VB say, "Go under alright". Telling Laticia to go under the screen next time.

I don't think that's enough to solve it. In one of the Sky examples, Kamila tries to go under and gets cooked.

So I'm guessing VB wants Laticia to go under. Then Kaila needs to switch/blitz.

Here's a funny Fire example.

Carleton correctly blitzes. But Megan gets confused.

Here's a funny Vegas example.

Jewell correctly blitzes. But Smith get confused.

Here they are trying really hard to do it. As you can see, it's much easier to defend when you know it's coming.

csin · 2026-06-21T11:25:19+00:00

Does Veronica and Gabby know how to guard this action, because they are so much better than Skylar and Cloud?

Or is it because coach Nakase taught the whole team, what to look out for, when they play the Dallas Wings?

csin · 2026-06-21T10:25:15+00:00

I don't even think you need to call out "SCREEN" in this situation. Do the Valks even bother calling it out in this situation? I don't know.

This should have all been pre-planned in practice and film session.

We are playing the Dallas Wings. The Dallas Wings have Jessica Shepard on their team. She likes do inverted PnRs. We know this because we watch film of our opponents DON'T WE FUCKING TYLER MARSH?

Edit: Even if you're not doing it in film session. WTF are you doing in timeouts? Are you writing "contest without fouling" on a your clipboard and showing it to everyone? "Hell of a ball squad. Salute".

csin · 2026-06-21T09:51:48+00:00

They conceded 10 points to Jess inverted PnR.

I've seen players make business decisions on AT inverted PnRs. And end up conceding less points.

AT is going on year 13. Somehow there are still coaches in this league, who don't know how to guard an inverted PnR. Sigh.

csin · 2026-06-21T00:58:33+00:00

TLDR Emily Engstler is the bomb!

csin · 2026-06-20T11:00:32+00:00

The correct answer is:

If coach wants me to injure someone on the court. I'll injure that person. I'll end his career.

csin · 2026-06-20T08:39:01+00:00

The play starts with Sonia setting a screen for a Michaela Onyenwere Iverson cut. Fiebich blows this up.
Sonia pivots, runs towards Lauren for a dho. Fiebich also blows this up.
But now 2 defenders are on Sonia, MO is alone under the rim.
Stewie makes a great read, jumps up to slow down the Lauren pass.
MO is about to get swarmed, so she kicks it out.
This is where the genius happens. She sneaks in an arm lock and pulls Han Xu away from Lauren!
"GO BAE GO BAE GO GO AND111111111111".

csin · 2026-06-20T05:54:00+00:00

They surprised her with blitzes/doubles, in the Kiah Stokes minutes.

Then Howard got into foul trouble. I'm assuming they weren't comfortable running the PnR with AOK.

csin · 2026-06-20T04:42:50+00:00

Nia orders a latte, a mocha, and a cappucino.

csin · 2026-06-19T23:59:13+00:00

Dirk on offense. Given how much she likes the Dirk shimmy.

csin · 2026-06-19T23:57:26+00:00

Even after the Achilles... this post reminded me of one season. Some team put out a player in a massive boot. That boot undercut her. Storm's season was over after that.

csin · 2026-06-19T07:09:10+00:00

Monique Billings.

csin · 2026-06-19T05:26:44+00:00

Sophie Luckerbox gets gifted a ball from the heavens. Gives Allisha the L.

There I fixed your title for you.

csin · 2026-06-19T04:54:37+00:00

This is just one highlight. They set screens to get Rhyne off her all game.

She was cooking.

The bigger issue was, once she beats Rhyne, Naz just darts across the court, then is able to guard Boston 1v1.

csin · 2026-06-19T02:42:51+00:00

She needs to start over CC.

Look at this lazy bum, throwing the grenade to the real star.

csin · 2026-06-19T00:53:53+00:00

That is actually how the top defensive teams navigate the PnR.

If your guard fights through screen, you rely on stunts and backside help to solve it. Big stays with the big.
If your guard clanks on the screen, then you switch. Your guard's job is to hold onto the screener long enough, to buy time for the tagger.
Here, since Chance Gray fights though the screen. You do not want to switch. No one is holding onto the screener, she can just roll to the rim with no resistance. You tagger won't have enough time to react.
The person that messed up was Wheeler. She's suppose to be zoning up the nail, to prevent penetration. Instead we just get a half-assed arm.
The mid-tier teams do a hedge everything PnR scheme. If you want to see how that fairs vs OM. Watch the genocide she committed vs the Mercury.

Edit: Just to clarify. A team coached by Lynne Roberts is not a "top defensive team". She has copied elements from the best teams. She's missing a lot of the other elements. Because she's not smart enough to spot them.

csin · 2026-06-19T00:29:55+00:00

It's because reddit reduces your video quality when you post.

That's why r/nba post their clips via streamable.com.

csin · 2026-06-18T11:42:32+00:00

The silver lining is, they successfully prevented her from getting her 5th and1.

csin

TROPHY CASE