Mod note: It's okay to discuss what went wrong and even be upset. However, please refrain from name-calling, be it the coaches, players, or each other. Thanks.
Her minutes probably should have been a bit lower, though, with some more Izzy or DB in the game. I think she was probably gassed by the 4th or maybe the finger not holding up, as she missed all 6 shots in the 4th. But, she looked very good in the first half. She took the most shots in the game.
When you have Rhyne and Gabby guarding each other and Gabby gets 7 minutes of rest (almost a whole quarter) and Rhyne gets only 2 minutes or rest, this is what happens. Gabby is fresher down the stretch and Rhyne is not. Similarly, in one of the regular season losses, Gabby played 22 minutes and Rhyne, I think 37, and Gabby took over the game in the 4th quarter, after Nakase had sat her a long time because she wasn't playing very well. But, she completely took over the game in the 4th.
The Valks don't even have great players. The coaching strategy for them is to shoot 3s, rest your players and have everyone give 100%. Atlanta looked tired at the end. If Kone, Walker Kimbrough, Borlase were on Golden State they would have played more minutes.
And that's why Dream struggles against teams like them. Fully loaded at the roster, bench included, and plays fast and aggressive defense. Dream are now 0-4 vs the Valks this year. It's not looking good.
These college coaches need to trust their bench players, especially the bigs. The Valks' biggest weakness is their lack of size, Okot would've at least grabbed some boards and maybe even discouraged/blocked shots.
Honestly, the Valks got lucky. Dream's shots weren't falling, and then they basically ran out of time after Naz's missed 3. Dream should've gone for the tie for OT instead of the win. Gabby sealed the deal with her 2 free throws.
This has been one of my biggest gripes about him. Just because Rhyne is a starter and a leader on the team doesnât mean she has to stay on the court when sheâs not performing. Like look at Nakase. In the last few games when Gabby Williams and Veronica Burton werenât performing she benched them. Gabby sat out a whole third quarter and the other game Veronica went to the bench halfway through the third quarter and didnât come back in for the rest of the game. Karl would never do that even when itâs needed.
Nakase can do that because Tiffany is an excellent defender and can come in for VB or Gabby. Dream does not have that kind of guard defender on the bench. They aren't in the same situation as coaches.
Smesko keeps Rhyne on the court because she does things that aren't reflected in the stats. Even with the lower FG% in the playoffs, Rhyne is still averaging 18 points, getting good assist rate and playing good defense. I don't see Nakase limiting Burton's minutes much and her stats for FG%, points and assist rate are way below her regular season averages.
i love Rhyne Howard and she's great defensively but we CANNOT afford her missing these threes. Bring in Okot or Paopao please just for the time being until Howard gets more consistent 3-pointers PLEASE.
Hopefully, she starts hitting some. But, today, her 3% was a little better than Allisha's, so it wasn't just Rhyne missing them. Rhyne was 2 for 9. Allisha was 1 for 8.
Dream were up 7 and Naz fouled on the 3 point line, which turned into a 4 pt swing. Then theyâre within 3, thatâs when momentum shiftedâŚHad that not occurred, youâre possibly looking at a larger lead. That said, definitely too much Howard. Was confused about Angelâs usage in the 2nd half. She wasnât even calling for it, stopped being aggressive, makes me wonder if that was the game plan coming out of the halftime?
On another note, we need another go to in clutch situations. I remember when the Liberty called back to back plays for a rookie. Not Stewart or JJ or SabrinaâŚA ROOKIE. Because she had the hot hand. Karl has to extend trust elsewhere, not to mention, they didnât even need a 3.
Just now in the press conference, Angel tried to take the blame for not being more aggressive in the second half, and then Karl said Angel had a great first half and then her teammates did not get her the ball in the second half.
I mean I saw Howard deliberately choose not to pass to her when she had a defender all in her grill. Led to a turnover. But I also didnât see posting up in the paint. Maybe thatâs cause she felt they wouldnât pass but her aggression level decreased after that 2nd foul.
I think the Valks also did a good job in the 2nd half limiting the passes into the paint.
As far as your comment on "too much Howard", it was Allisha that took most of the shots in the 4th quarter and also in the last 2 minutes.
Karl doesn't really call plays typically, for anyone, unless it's inbound plays. The regular offense is motion principles, read and react kind of stuff, not structured, scripted plays.
I can see why Angel took a step back from aggressiveness, they called fouls back to back on her within 1 minute. However, it seems like Rhyne has a big ego and itâs lowkey some tension between her and Angel. I feel like she wants to be the star of the team and each time she almost cost us the game. Sheâs great at free throws and seem to be good at getting points in the paint but for some stupid fuckin reason she wants to take shots from the perimeter Instead of going in for the layup and drawing fouls
There was definitely one play in the 4th where she had someone all in her grill, had a chance to pass to Angel who was to her left but instead ignored her. Turned around to look for someone else and had the ball stolen.
Thatâs what Iâm saying, where is her head? She cares more about self than about winning. Rhyne would rather b*rick out than pass the ball and someone else get the praise.
I can understand why they as a whole may be upset that Angel is getting all of the shine, but letâs be fckin real she brought a lot of fans and attention to the team. Yes they made it to the playoffs last year, but the level of support they have this year is UNMATCHED. It just seems like sheâs jealous and would rather be the downfall and I hate that for her. Because we donât hate her, but sheâs beginning to get a lot of hate now due to the dumb shit.
Just now in the press conference, Angel tried to take the blame for not being more aggressive in the second half, and then Karl said Angel had a great first half and then her teammates did not get her the ball in the second half.
Howard is the reason the Dream lost that game. I don't know why they kept putting the ball in her hands at crucial times. She has been terrible in the playoffs. I was screaming don't put ball in her hands. And almost every time it ended ip a negative play by her. She missed crucial shots, turned the ball over and played matidor defense. Just terrible.
Only reason im somewhat confident they still win the series is because they'll realize going away from Angel in the 2nd half was a mistake and maybe from here they adjust
When you inexplicably stop feeding the leading scorer from the first half during the second half, to the point that she only has the opportunity to take one shot, this happens.
Yeah, during postgame Karl - unprompted - mentioned not getting some calls on drives to the basket down the stretch. Not something Iâve heard very often from him.
Jordin didn't perform as well against the Valks defense as Liberty and Mystics, but tbh I thought if we could get through the physical ass young heauxs then we'd be able to handle GSV just fine... But ig not bc the Valks blew a lot of uncontested shots and we just seemed to take that as a challenge to shoot even worse?? Then Rhyne... Idk she just is not playing her best. Kaitlyn fucking Chen should not have been able to shut her down đ And her accuracy is just so unreliable.
To top it off the number one lesson we learned from the Aces was that you cannot rely on a small core, but Karl only brought a bench of THEEE PEOPLE. He needs to calculate some bench matchups and respond to Nakases subs and the dynamic changes that brings.
Not much to add in terms of what happened in this one, itâs mostly been said here & the other thread, but feels worth noting that our 16% 3pt shooting was the worst clip since August 3rd against Vegas. Thankfully itâs a 7 game series and Iâm pretty optimistic weâll shoot much better than that the rest of the way. We CANNOT get outrebounded if weâre gonna win this series tho, gotta step up on the boards!!
Howard would not try enough 3pointers. Neither did Bonner. They were afraid to shoot. Coach should tell Howard use your best shot OR you sit. Howard messed up a number of times with her errant passing and her lack of finesse in trying lay ups.
These are professionals- not high school kids who might get hurt feelings. These coach as to be aware of each of their talents.
If we're not running off of turnovers, our half court offense can be an issue. You'll see iso's, clock winding down and poor shots when the offense grinds down. The Valks didn't have many turnovers today. If our shots don't fall it could be a long series. Dream in 6 (or 7).
Karl doesnât want them doing iso like that but thatâs what Rhyne wants to do with âher team.â Karl said they need ball movement and to get into their actions. But the guards donât do it.
Karl needs to believe in his bench again. He had good rotations with them in the playoffs, except for this game. I mean he had Izzy in during crunch time against the Liberty, going at Sab. Then he had a line-up with Izzy, PaoPao ,Madina and DB. When Angel went on the run and Nat called timeout, Madina should've been subbed in alongside Angel to throw GS off their game. Instead, he kept our starters in the game the majority of the time and let GS rotate like hockey players, giving them fresh legs. He also needs to tell Rhyne to stop shooting when it's not falling. She should be getting to the rim, not shooting more threes.
4th quarter was awful, but they lost the game in the 3rd. Valks only scored 2 points for like 6 minutes and we were only up 4 then the Valks eventually took the lead. That was the time to take advantage and we didnât.
Karl is getting out coached (which most Dream fans have been screaming about all season) His rotations and adjustments are damn near nonexistent.
Weâve been getting by despite his subpar coaching. Itâs coming to a head now because Nat is an amazing coach. Also the Valks have had to dog fight back for a lot of their play off wins so they have that itâs not over til itâs over resilience
With all the money involved in sports and watching the questionable moves by coaches in all sports, there's a lot of times that I shake my head and wonder.Â
we were up! he played the hell out of his starters and they got no breaks whatsoever. The first loss in the playoff/final series has to be tough. Iâm so pissed that Rhyne continues to do the same dumb ass thing.. why keep shooting threes when they ain hittin?? Why no give Izzy the ball? She did miss like 2 of her attempts but sheâs clutch when needed. Rhyne shouldnât have attempted that last 3 pointer. It literally cost us the game. I hope the study the hell out of those tapes. Anyone going to the home games?
Rebounding has to be a priority for us next game IDC. If those shots arenât falling REBOUND. Valkyries has been a terrible offensive team for majority of the season. Purely got us because they out hustled and I know we werenât getting calls but every game we gave a shit about refs and didnât play our game, we lost
We can't play a 7 game series without the bench. Especially not when the opponent has a bench that could pass as starters on any other team. And the ball needed to be in Lish's hands those last 20 seconds.
Looking at our performance today... we are winning this series.
THREE players shot really bad and we still only lost by 4 points. We're winning if we can just lock in for a second. Pass the ball to Angel, she was scoring great. Bonner barely shot and barely played.
A combined 11 for 42 from three people, and still only lost by 4? If someone can step up for a few shots, we win. As long as they don't get in their head, no problems.
Karl getting out coached. Failing to make the correct adjustments, utilizing his timeouts or challenges, or using his bench like Madina went off in one of our games against Golden State in the regular season. I love Rhyne and everything but she doesnât play like a franchise player this is supposed to be your team and you decided to put up consistent stinkers in the playoffs. Karl needs to understand Rhyne doesnât need to take every shots.
I agree with most comments. They looked gassed especially Angel. She wasn't cutting hard to the basket after setting screens. The spacing was pour! They were literally on top of each other on several plays. I said that coach should have expanded his bench last game with Allisha out to give them more confidence down the stretch. Poor rotation schemes when he went to small ball they blew a 9 point lead I believe. All and all, they played well enough to win, defense was good, and they only need a game there and protect home court. We good!!! No need to panic!!!
Thank you for keeping the faith. But I better not see any of what we saw today for the rest of the series. đ And play Izzy and Okot. I guarantee they are not on the scouting report like that.
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u/Ok_Brick_793 4h ago
Mod note: It's okay to discuss what went wrong and even be upset. However, please refrain from name-calling, be it the coaches, players, or each other. Thanks.