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Published on July 6, 2004 under Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) News Release


7/6 – Indiana (9-7, T1st in East) at Connecticut (9-7, T1st in East) – 7 p.m. ET

PRIOR MEETINGS Second of four meetings.
June 22 at Indiana Sun 63, Fever 58
http://www.wnba.com/games/20040622/CONIND/boxscore.html
http://www.wnba.com/games/20040622/CONIND/recap.html

PLAYER TRENDS The Indiana Fever's Tamika Catchings offensive numbers have slipped slightly when compared to last season. Her scoring average is down two points per game (19.7 to 17.8) and her rebound average is down 1.0 per game. Her field goal percentage (43.2 to 39.9) and three-point field goal percentage (38.7 to 33.3) have dropped off as well.

The Connecticut Sun are one of only two teams with four players scoring in double figures – Nykesha Sales (15.4), Katie Douglas (11.8), Taj McWilliams-Franklin (11.3) and Wendy Palmer (10.4). The other team is the Detroit Shock.

After hitting 39.5 percent of her field goal attempts and 21.7 percent of her three-pointers in 2003, Wendy Palmer is connecting on 46.6 percent of her field goal attempts and 36.4 percent from beyond the arc in 2004. She is also averaging more rebounds per game (6.4) than she has since 2001, while her turnovers per game are at an all-time low (1.06).

Sun rookie Lindsay Whalen is currently second in the league in assists per game with 5.6 and 11th in three-point field goal percentage (40.0).

Indiana needed a third-scoring option this year, and Kelly Miller, acquired in a trade from Charlotte in the offseason, has filled the role averaging a career-high 10.1 points per game while hitting 36.7 percent of her three-point field goals.

None of the Fever's starters is shooting better than 40.6 percent from the field –Catchings (39.9), Natalie Williams (40.6), Ebony Hoffman (34.0), Miller (36.6) and Deanna Jackson (34.1).

TEAM TRENDS Connecticut plays at the second fastest pace in the league (71.6 possessions per 40 minutes), while Indiana is the second slowest (66.1).

The Fever rank second in the WNBA in offensive rebound percentage (37.7) while the Sun is first in defensive rebounding percentage (72.7). Indiana is the best rebounding team in the W with a 54.1 rebound percentage, while the Sun are seventh at 49.9.

Both the Fever and Sun are among the best in the league at holding on to the basketball ranking second (18.9) and third (19.0) respectively in Turnover Percentage.

Connecticut and Indiana rank third (14.7) and fifth (13.8) respectively in the WNBA in three-point field goal attempts per game.

The Sun have won five straight games, and are outscoring the opposition by six points per game during that win-streak.
KEY STATISTICS
Indiana Offensive Efficiency – 98.1, 3rd Defensive Efficiency – 96.4, 11th
Scoring Differential – +0.8, 6th Pace – 66.1, 12th
Reb Pct. – .541, 1st Off. Reb. Pct. – .377, 2nd Def. Reb. Pct. – .705, 4th

Connecticut Offensive Efficiency – 94.7, T6th Defensive Efficiency – 93.9, 6th
Scoring Differential – +1.1, 4th Pace – 71.6, 3rd
Reb Pct. – .499, 7th Off. Reb. Pct. – .270, 11th Def. Reb. Pct. – .727, 1st
7/6 – Houston (8-9, 4th in West) at Detroit (7-8, 4th in East) – 7 p.m. ET (NBATV)

PRIOR MEETINGS First of two meetings.

PLAYER TRENDS Detroit has four players averaging double figures in scoring – Swin Cash (17.8), Deanna Nolan (13.5), Ruth Riley (11.1) and Ford (10.9). The only other team in the WNBA with that many double-figure scorers on its roster is Connecticut.

Comets point guard Sheila Lambert is enjoying her best WNBA season averaging career-highs in scoring (5.9), assists (2.4), field goal percentage (52.5) and three-point field goal percentage (57.1).

The top rebounder in the game takes the court in Detroit's Cheryl Ford. She is the league leader in rebounds per game at 10.1, and also ranks first all-time in rebounds per game (10.3).

Houston's Tina Thompson (out with an injury the last seven games) and Sheryl Swoopes are second (20.6) and eighth (16.2) respectively in points per game, and second (37.3) and first (37.5) in minutes per game.

Comets' center Michelle Snow is averaging 9.1 points and 9.3 rebounds over her last seven games.

TEAM TRENDS Houston ranks second in the league in defensive efficiency allowing just 91.1 points per 100 possessions. They ranked second in the WNBA in 2003 (94.1), first in 2002 (88.4), third in 2001 (92.4), first in 2000 (91.0), first in 1999 (92.4), first in 1998 (88.3) and third in 1997 (90.5).

After winning six of seven games, the Shock looked like they were ready to run away from the pack in the East, but they have lost their last four games and five of their last six. Their last six losses have come by 8, 1, 2, 4, 6, 2 and 3 points.

Detroit's Achilles Heal on offense last season was turnovers, as they averaged a league-high 17.9 per game. This season, they are averaging just 13.8 turnovers per game – third lowest in the league.

Losses in five of their last seven games have dropped the Comets to fourth in the West. The team is 11th in the league in Offensive Efficiency (90.1 points scored per 100 possessions) and has cracked the 70-point barrier just twice this season.

KEY STATISTICS
Houston Offensive Efficiency – 90.1, 11th Defensive Efficiency – 91.1, 2nd
Scoring Differential – - 0.9, 7th Pace – 67.7, 9th
Reb Pct. – .485, 10th Off. Reb. Pct. – .267, 12th Def. Reb. Pct. – .703, 5th

Detroit Offensive Efficiency – 97.3, 4th Defensive Efficiency – 96.0, 9th
Scoring Differential – +0.9, 5th Pace – 71.3, 5th
Reb Pct. – .509, 4th Off. Reb. Pct. – .342, 4th Def. Reb. Pct. – .677, 9th











7/6 – Sacramento (6-8, 6th in West) at New York (7-9, 5th in East) – 7:30 p.m. ET

PRIOR MEETINGS Second of two meetings.

July 1 at Sacramento Monarchs 73 – Liberty 47
http://www.wnba.com/games/20040701/NYLSAC/boxscore.html
http://www.wnba.com/games/20040701/NYLSAC/recap.html

PLAYER TRENDS New Head Coach Pat Coyle goes for her first win at the helm of the Liberty.

The Monarchs 34-year-old Yolanda Griffith is 13th in the league in scoring (14.1), fourth in field goal percentage (49.3), fourth in rebound per game (7.9), eighth in blocks per game (1.36) and third in steals per game (2.21).

New York's Elena Baranova is enjoying her second season for the Liberty. She is leading New York starters in rebounding (6.6), field goal percentage (49.6), three-point field goal percentage (46.7) and blocked shots (2.06).

Sacramento's Ticha Penicheiro has led the W in assists per game in each of her six seasons on the league, but she currently ranks fifth in the league with just 4.7 assists per game.

Two rookies are making names for themselves with New York. DeTrina White is second among rookies, and third on the Liberty, in rebounds per game with 4.8, and Shameka Christon's 5.4 points per game rank fifth among rookies.

TEAM TRENDS Sacramento is last in the WNBA in three-point field goal percentage (30.7) and 11th in field goal percentage (40.6), while New York is ranked sixth in field goal percentage (41.5) and ranked 10th in three-point field goal percentage (33.8).

Despite the Liberty's recent losing streak, they are first in the league in defensive field goal percentage holding the opposition to 39.3 percent shooting, the only team holding opponents under 40 percent from the field.

The Monarchs force the most turnovers per game at 18.1 while the Liberty rank second to last in the category averaging only 13.3.

Sacramento ranks second in rebound percentage (52.7) and first in offensive rebound percentage (38.8), while New York rank last in the league in both rebound percentage (46.7) and offensive rebound percentage (26.5).
.
KEY STATISTICS
Sacramento Offensive Efficiency – 93.3, 9th Defensive Efficiency – 93.8, 5th
Scoring Differential – +0.1, 7th Pace – 69.1, 8th
Reb Pct. – .527, 2nd Off. Reb. Pct. – .388, 1st Def. Reb. Pct. – .666, 11th

New York Offensive Efficiency – 89.8, 12th Defensive Efficiency – 94.4, 8th
Scoring Differential – - 2.8, 11th Pace – 69.5, 7th
Reb Pct. – .467, 13th Off. Reb. Pct. – .265, 13th Def. Reb. Pct. – .669, 10th











7/7 – Seattle (10-4, 1st in West) at Washington (6-8, 5th in East) – 7 p.m. ET

PRIOR MEETINGS First of two meetings.

PLAYER TRENDS The Two off-season additions to the Storm roster have made major contributions to the team in 2004 – Sheri Sam and Betty Lennox. Lennox is second on the team in scoring (13.5) and rebounding (5.8). Sam is fourth on the team in scoring (10.4) and third in rebounding (4.9), and the pair respectively ranks second (1.50) and first (1.64) on the team in steals.

Washington's Chamique Holdsclaw is trying to become just the third player in WNBA history to score 20 or more points in back-to-back seasons. Cynthia Cooper accomplished the feat in 1997-99 and Katie Smith duplicated the feat in 2000-01. Holdsclaw is leading the league averaging 21.4 points per game.

Seattle point guard Sue Bird among the league leaders in three-point field goal percentage this year (8th at 43.1), and is also ranked sixth in the league in field goal percentage (48.4) and third in assists per game (5.4).

The Storm's Lauren Jackson is posting MVP-like numbers again ranking third in the W in points per game (19.6), eighth in rebounds (7.1), second in blocks (2.14) and a career-best 44.8 percent from beyond the arc (4th in the league).

Washington's Stacey Dales-Schuman is averaging 12.5 points per game and connecting on 65.2 percent of her field goal attempts over her last six contests.

TEAM TRENDS The Storm has the most efficient offense in the league this season averaging 103.1 points per 100 possessions while Washington ranks eighth at 93.5.

Washington has struggled defensively this season permitting opponents to connect on 42.2 percent of their field goal attempts (8th in the league) and 39.5 percent of their three-point field goal attempts (13th).

Seattle got back on the winning track after a two-game slide. After averaging 59.5 points in their two losses, they bounced back by scoring 76 points in a 24-point win over San Antonio and 75 points in a 14-point win against Sacramento and have now won 8 of their last 10 games.

Three of the Mystics four wins have been by three points or less, and their 3-1 mark in Close Games is second only to the Los Angeles Sparks' 4-0 mark and Charlotte's 2-0 record.

Seattle rank third in rebound percentage (52.4), third in offensive rebound percentage (34.9) and sixth in defensive rebound percentage (69.8), while Washington ranks second in defensive rebound percentage (71.3), 10th in offensive rebound percentage (27.8) and ninth in rebound percentage (49.6)

KEY STATISTICS
Seattle Offensive Efficiency – 103.1, 1st Defensive Efficiency – 90.8, 1st
Scoring Differential – +8.7, 1st Pace – 71.4, 4th
Reb Pct. – .524, 3rd Off. Reb. Pct. – .349, 3rd Def. Reb. Pct. – .698, 6th

Washington Offensive Efficiency – 93.5, 8th Defensive Efficiency – 96.9, 12th
Scoring Differential – - 3.2, 12th Pace – 72.6, 2nd
Reb Pct. – .496, 9th Off. Reb. Pct. – .278, 10th Def. Reb. Pct. – .713, 2nd



7/7 – Phoenix (8-8, 3rd in West) at Los Angeles (11-6, 2nd in West) – 10:30 p.m. ET

PRIOR MEETINGS Second of four meetings.
June 18 at Phoenix Sparks 76 – Mercury 74
http://www.wnba.com/games/20040618/LASPHO/boxscore.html
http://www.wnba.com/games/20040618/LASPHO/recap.html

PLAYER TRENDS Sparks Head Coach Michael Cooper was named an assistant coach with the NBA's Denver Nuggets and will only coach Los Angeles through the team's July 10 game at Houston.

Phoenix's Diana Taurasi has been every bit as good as advertised this season, and ranks fourth in the WNBA in scoring (18.3), 15th in three-point field goal percentage (37.5), ninth in assists (3.9), and third in minutes played (36.1).

Sparks point guard Nikki Teasley is threatening to unseat Sacramento point guard Ticha Penicheiro's stranglehold on the top spot on the league's assist-per game charts. Penicheiro has led the league in assists per game in each of her six seasons in the WNBA, but Teasley is leading the league in 2004 at 5.7 per game.

Mercury guard Anna DeForge is proving her 2003 season was no fluke ranking 13th in the WNBA in assists (3.6) and third in three-point field goal percentage (46.5) while averaging 14.2 points per game. She is the reigning WNBA player of the Week for games played June 28 through July 4, 2004.

Sparks' center Lisa Leslie is averaging 10.7 rebounds over her last 14 games and now ranks second to Detroit's Cheryl Ford for the league lead in rebounds (9.8). She also is leading the W in blocked shots (2.71), threatening to end San Antonio's Margo Dydek's six-year stranglehold on that title.

The Dispersal Draft was kind to Phoenix as they picked Penny Taylor who is averaging 12.8 points per game, hitting 47.6 percent of her field goal attempts and 43.6 percent of her three pointers.

TEAM TRENDS The Mercury have the second most efficient offense in the league this season averaging 99.5 points per 100 possessions while the Sparks rank fifth in the league at 95.3.

The Sparks have won their last three games and have won 8 of their last eight. After allowing 75.3 points per game during the first seven games of the season, Los Angeles had held the opposition to 66.7 points per game over its last ten games.

The Mercury is first in the WNBA in field goal percentage (44.1) and three-point field goal percentage (40.5), while Los Angeles ranks third in the league when shooting behind the arc (37.2) and are eighth in field goal percentage (42.3)

Phoenix rank 12th in opponents field goal percentage, permitting the opposition to connect at a 43.7 percent clip, while Los Angeles ranks third (40.2).

KEY STATISTICS
Phoenix Offensive Efficiency – 99.5, 2nd Defensive Efficiency – 96.3, 10th
Scoring Differential – +2.1, 2nd Pace – 67.2, 11th
Reb Pct. – .470, 12th Off. Reb. Pct. – .284, 9th Def. Reb. Pct. – .656, 13th

Los Angeles Offensive Efficiency – 95.3, 5th Defensive Efficiency – 93.2, 4th
Scoring Differential – +1.9, 3rd Pace – 73.2, 1st
Reb Pct. – .506, 5th Off. Reb. Pct. – .302, 7th Def. Reb. Pct. – .710, 3rd


EXPLANATION OF STATISTICS

OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE EFFICIENCY – Points Scored and Allowed per 100 Possessions
Points Per Game and Points Allowed Per Game can be greatly influenced by the pace at which a team plays leading to inaccurate representations of team's strengths and weaknesses. Using Points Scored Per 100 Possessions (Offensive Efficiency), or conversely, Points Allowed Per 100 Possessions (Defensive Efficiency), takes the pace at which a team plays out of the equation, illuminating which teams are the most efficient at using their offensive and defensive possessions.

Points Per 100 Possessions is used rather than Points Per Possession because it has more of a traditional Points Per Game look to it.

PACE – Possessions Per 40 Minutes
Different teams play at different paces whether it is the run-and-gun style of Bill Laimbeer's Detroit Shock, the more methodical pace that has characterized many of the recent Charlotte Sting teams, or somewhere in between.

Beginning with the 2004 WNBA Season, official Possessions Per 40 Minutes statistics are available. The per-40-minutes version of the statistic is used as opposed to the per-game version to eliminate the additional possessions that are accumulated in overtime games.

OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE REBOUND PERCENTAGE
Offensive Rebound Percentage is defined by the following formula . . .

TmOReb / ( TmOReb + OppDReb )

Defensive Rebound Percentage is defined by the following formula . . .

TmDReb / ( TmDReb + OppOReb )

Using a percentage, rather than total number of rebounds is a much more effective way to determine which teams are winning the rebound battle.

The reason for this is simple. A team can only get a rebound if somebody misses a shot. Here is an example to illustrate that point.

Team A misses 100 shots vs. Team B. They grab 35 of those possible offensive rebounds. Team B, on the other hand, not only is a great shooting team, but they grab all 25 of their missed shots vs. Team A.

Ranking Team A and Team B by total offensive rebounds would give us the following leader-board.

Team A 35 Team B 25

Team B, despite the fact that they grabbed every single available rebound, would be ranked behind Team A. If we rank the teams by Offensive Rebound Percentage, however, we get the following . . .

Team B 1.000 Team A .350

And Team B assumes its rightful place at the top of the list.

REBOUND PERCENTAGE
Rebound Percentage is determined by averaging Offensive Rebound Percentage and Defensive Rebound Percentage



WNBA Offensive Efficiency Rankings

Offensive Efficiency
Team OER (Lg. Avg. - 94.5)
Seattle 103.1
Phoenix 99.5
Indiana 98.1
Detroit 97.3
Los Angeles 95.3
Connecticut 94.7
Charlotte 94.7
Washington 93.5
Sacramento 93.3
San Antonio 90.2
Houston 90.1
New York 89.8
Minnesota 89.0

Defensive Efficiency
Team DER (Lg. Avg. - 94.5)
Seattle 90.8
Houston 91.1
Minnesota 93.1
Los Angeles 93.2
Sacramento 93.8
Connecticut 93.9
Charlotte 94.3
New York 94.4
Detroit 96.0
Phoenix 96.3
Indiana 96.4
Washington 96.9
San Antonio 97.3

WNBA Pace Rankings (Possessions Per 40 Minutes)

Team Poss/40Min (Lg. Avg. - 69.2)
Los Angeles 73.2
Washington 72.6
Connecticut 71.6
Seattle 71.4
Detroit 71.3
Minnesota 70.1
New York 69.5
Sacramento 69.1
Houston 67.7
San Antonio 67.3
Phoenix 67.2
Indiana 66.1
Charlotte 62.0

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Women's National Basketball Association Stories from July 6, 2004


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