Rec’ing on…Monarchs vs Sun Preseason

The WNBA came to town for a visit on Tuesday. This wasn’t the most stellar basketball game I’ve ever seen, but it was certainly entertaining. A few quick notes:

Based on how Lindsay Whalen was hobbling about (in street clothes), I’m not seeing her suiting up and hitting the boards by the season opener–at least, not if she wants to be a useful contributor for how ever much of the season she plays. Two weeks, maybe…but three would be better.

Erin Phillips is definitely a keeper for the Sun. This Aussie has the kind of spunk you’d like to see in a point guard. I think she’d make a great backup for Whalen.

Kim Smith certainly made a case for herself to suit-up for the Monarchs for the season. I don’t have a box score available, but she has the ability to get to the line, and is a decent scorer. My only reservation comes from noticing in the second half that she wasn’t getting up the court quite as fast as the veterans (but even her coach this year at Utah said that in the NCAA tournament she was tired…or was that Thorburn…nope, I’m pretty sure it was about Smith).

For the most part, this was a kind of lackluster game. Frankly, Sacramento was getting skunked until the fourth quarter. Then they got serious, and put their starters into the game. They pulled out the win. Even so, I don’t think it would have been close if the Sun had the services of Whalen or Taj McWilliams-Franklin (still overseas).

The 24-second clock? Not loving it. The offense seemed rushed. The lack of jump balls at the beginning of quarters? Not a problem. If I wasn’t specifically paying attention, I’d have never noticed (now, if they’d gotten rid of jump balls after held balls…that I would have noticed). Four quarters? Eh. Doesn’t really seem to make much difference. As I mentioned before, if they can get it to four 12-minute quarters, then they might have something.

All-in-all, a nice start of the WNBA season for me. I haven’t had the chance to catch a WNBA game, pre-season or not, for two years–since the last time the Monarchs came to town, and I was trying to help bring a WNBA franchise to Albuquerque (but that’s a ‘nother story). It’ll be interesting to see how things shake out.

Oh…one last thing: Air Monty, the inflatable version of the Monarch’s mascot, is freakin’ hilarious. Totally perked the crowd up from their lethargy in the fourth quarter.