Atlanta @ Washington; Los Angeles @ Phoenix - WNBA Conference Semifinals, Game 2

Last night's game answered the question, "Out of Atlanta and Washington, which team wants to go to the Eastern Conference Finals the least?  In this case, it was Washington's turn to stink up the joint, by default sending this Eastern Conference Semifinals to a decisive Game 3 in Atlanta on Monday night.

The good news is that we only have three games in a semifinals; there might have been riots if it went to five games.  Generally one dead quarter (<10 points) will kill a team, and the Mystics had two of them.  (We can name those quarters "suck" and "blow" respectively.)

Atlanta shot a high-school 35.2 percent FG percentage, but Washington topped that with a 25 percent (14-for-56) "effort".  I don't know much about the mental game of basketball, but in golf that would be a serious case of the yips.  Frankly, it's hard to lose a game when you opponent only makes 1 out of 4 attempts, and I wonder how much of that can be attributed to Atlanta's D.

One change was Willingham did not start.  She hurt her right knee (how can you tell?) and was replaced in the lineup by Aneika Henry.  Henry scored 10 points and 12 rebounds against the Mystics, and with Willingham looking doubtful for Game 3, if Atlanta wins that game the story is going to be why didn't Senor Fred start Henry sooner over Willingham?

Some statistics, copped from Paul Swanson:

Lowest field-goal percentage, playoff game
.224 -- Phoenix vs. New York, August 28, 1997 (15/67)
.250 -- Washington vs. Atlanta, September 21, 2013 (14/56)
.260 -- New York at Connecticut, September 27, 2012 (20/77)
.267 -- Atlanta vs. Washington, September 19, 2013 (20/75)
.268 -- Sacramento vs. Utah, August 19, 2001 (15/56)

Lowest field-goal percentage, both teams, playoff game
.299 -- Houston (.288) vs. New York (.309), September 5, 1999 (32/107)
.301 -- Connecticut (.278) vs. Washington (.324), August 20, 2006 (43/143)
.307 -- Washington (.250) vs. Atlanta (.352), September 21, 2013 (39/127)
.314 -- Indiana (.281) vs. New York (.354), September 1, 2005 (33/105)

Fewest field goals, playoff game
14 -- Washington vs. Atlanta, September 21, 2013
14 -- Charlotte at New York, August 27, 2001
15 -- Sacramento vs. Utah, August 19, 2001
15 -- Houston vs. New York, September 5, 1999
15 -- Houston vs. New York, September 4, 1999
15 -- Phoenix vs. New York, August 28, 1997

Most rebounds, playoff game
53 -- Atlanta at Washington, September 21, 2013
52 -- Indiana at Connecticut, August 23, 2007 (3OT)
50 -- Detroit vs. Phoenix, September 8, 2007
49 -- Seattle vs. Phoenix, September 15, 2011

So Henry's rebounding performance doesn't look that great.  Everyone got a chance at the boards for Atlanta - de Souza had 15, Henry had 12, Hayes had 11.  Even Armintie Herrington had 7 rebounds, and she only friggin played 20 minutes!   

McCoughtry came out knowing that she'd have to carry the team on her back, but after a while it became clear that that was unnecessary.   Crystal Langhorne evaporated.  Zero points, 3 rebounds.  Atlanta did whatever it wanted to do on the glass.

I'll be there Monday night, obviously.  

As for Los Angeles @ Phoenix, I was impressed with both Brittney Griner and Diana Taurasi.  That game was a nice contrast to the sucky Atlanta-Washington series.  Parker had 31/11 rebounds, Ogwumike had 15/11 rebounds, and clearly, Los Angeles wasn't going to disappear into the desert night.  This has been a good series; a shame I won't get a chance to see it live on Monday night.