Which WNBA teams have used the most starting lineups this season? The W's Northeast corridor is seeing a lot of lineup traffic, while the Western Conference contenders have been pretty stable through almost 30 games.

Mystics runs some inverted PnRs for Austin in general. Good sequencing where Citron showed a screen, drew a foul, and then WAS set up a would-be inverted screen look off the SLOB that Citron just frontcut for a layup (rare that Williams concedes these! 2/2)

Couple of clips that didn't make it (1/2): here's Veronica Burton (as promised) making a couple big plays in isolation on Georgia Amoore late-clock, winning a few rare opportunities presented for isolation drives

One defensive strength of Azzi Fudd: gapping the weakside at the nail. Always attentive off ball and has a knack for finding the right spacing to add uncertainty to the popper's decision-making off the catch.

New York Liberty - Iverson Marine Johannes sees the low route from Aziaha James guarding the first one (on which Johannes draws a 3PT foul) and knows she can tee up a first-time shot when the Liberty run it again a minute later.

The Sky also found success getting into their high-low passing from a variety of concepts, including a Wide Rip action, Roll Replace, and Horns. Strength with concepts that initially look horizontal but turn vertical (e.g. Wide into Rip).

The Sky, especially Aicha Coulibaly and Gabriela Jaquez, were active cutters in last night's win over the Mercury. Chicago saw so much room in Phoenix's weakside gapping that they sometimes didn't know whether to take the cut behind the help or 45 cut behind the sink. Post/cut flow from CHI:

Broadcast audio sometimes picks up more from the court than just the bounce of the ball. Sarama Sound from Seattle: - A talkative May Coach of the Month - Defensive encouragement - Defensive calls More around the W in Tuesday Morning Point Guard: riseofthevalkyries.substack.com/i/205713456/...

What does the future of offense look like for the Seattle Storm? Time to think about it. - Post ups & post splits - Bigs in 5 out/delay on & off the ball - The Awa Fam/Dom Malonga storm, gathering More around the W in Tuesday Morning Point Guard: riseofthevalkyries.substack.com/i/205713456/...

As long as she, you know, "ROLL"(s) Hilarious Mystics bench clip for @ericapricot.bsky.social, this time with audio too

Betts continuing to look really good offensively early against Golden State. Feels like she's been invigorated with the break. Was as active as I've seen her offensively against the Dream, looking like more of the same against the Valkyries.

Don't let a loss to the Liberty fool you—Minnesota Lynx Coach of the Month Cheryl Reeve came prepared. - Overloading the NYL 2-3 zone - A SLOB and BLOB the Lynx might use in the postseason More around the WNBA in Monday Morning Point Guard: riseofthevalkyries.substack.com/i/205462764/...

Kayla McBride's ability to catch and, in the same motion, pop fluidly off two feet is incredible

Aces are at their best defensively when they're active and actively communicating on the weakside: they have a very high rotational ceiling with so many smart defenders, and if they can execute consistently they're in a good spot to take away the Liberty delay looks etc.

Discussed more fully in the post, there's some room to score against the Aces' switching, either by taking advantage of a mismatch directly or by moving the ball quickly to pre-empt (or capitalize on) a scram switch out of a mismatch

Couple of clips that didn't make it: in their quest to keep the Aces out of the paint, a well executed peel switch by Johannes and Astier that resulted in a difficult miss at the rim by Young

Speaking of that weakside space and running into catches (perfect for Chen), GSV took advantage of NYL's heavy strongside help (either zone or man) at the right times by swinging to (and converting on) the weakside. Gardner transition overhelp leaves Fiebich to play 1-on-2, GSV three.

Kaila Charles led GSV in scoring, at her best playing with speed—either stampeding into catches for shooting fouls or buckets, running out in transition, or attacking weakside zone gaps. Among other factors, GSV turned the ball over at a very low rate and made middies at a high rate—success vs NYL.

Quick three points from the Valkyries win: they did an excellent job breaking whatever press permutations the Liberty threw at them (2-2-1, 1-2-2, etc.). Passed over the top to 3rd level and spaced at the 2nd level against the halfcourt trap (press becomes 3-1, giving 2 findable options 2nd level).

WNBA team net rating by game. Lynx consistently high-quality, Storm and Sun recent improvement, two Sky all-time games against the Fire, recent slumps by Atlanta and New York.

WNBA team shot selection through June 28: the Valkyries are back on top from deep, the Aces, Wings, and Courtney Williams move into the midrange, and the Dream, Mystics, and Fever get to the paint (in very different ways).

Yup. Disappointment from the suits. Not ideal in a such a time-and-score situation. But all's well that ends well! Just amusing that one of my few videos labeled "reaction" was another of the same SLOBs. Speaking of great coach reactions and the Mystics...

@ericapricot.bsky.social for my comment response—actually a perfect clip, with the stagger for the guard into a reversal and a pindown option just like in the post.

Marina Mabrey's ability to split hedges or snake & fire off high screens is such a great pairing of technique meeting tactic for the Tempo. Can do it in either direction and finish at the rim with some quality ball control. All the more important for Toronto with Sykes sidelined.

One adjustment the Sparks made in the second half was really leaning into their Pistol actions (medium.com/thebasketbal...), up from just once in the first half. Mixed success, but something they felt comfortable with and went to on ATOs and in key possessions.

The little stuff: Plum and Ogwumike space the perimeter beautifully after New York ices the overload, making the closeout tougher (DeMarco is not happy they left the pop, I think). Compare Stewie's ability to shrink the weakside against another Sparks overload earlier.

Sparks draw up a nifty zone-beater BLOB, which the broadcast unfortunately doesn't fully capture, but there's a decoy step-in for the inbounding Hamby before Atkins sneaks out to the strongside corner with an exit screen. Nice work from Astier to come down and help the team rebound.

Think you can hear some callouts of "T" here, the current New York Liberty call for the screen-the-screener BLOB (cf. the Chris DeMarco hand signal in the second clip). Great work from Satou Sabally to read the under path from Atkins and change her route to get a look from deep.

My working thesis: - Charles has the strength for Clark assignment but not quite the speed - Hayes has the speed but not quite the strength (which Valks compensated for by hedging, which Fever countered by ghosting) - Burton kind of best of both worlds, but not perfect

No one swallows up space in the backend of pick-and-roll defense like A'ja Wilson. The ball screen, notionally, creates an advantage; the backend defender's ability to take away a portion of that advantage is the critical countermeasure.