2022 WNBA Finals Game 4 Observations

For each game during the Finals, I will take notes of random things I observed or thought throughout the game and will post it within a couple days of each game.  These are my notes regarding Game 4, which the Aces won 78-71 in an exciting closeout game.

This is a special set of observations because I was actually at the game!  My girlfriend surprised me by getting a ticket to the game, which I discovered less than 2 hours before tipoff.  I want to shout her out/thank her for that surprise!  It was an exciting game and was an absolute blast to be there.

 

 

1^st Quarter

• There is absolutely amazing energy in the arena.  The game is sold out and the fans seem to be so excited
• Connecticut has started this game aggressively offensively for the first few plays, which is a good sign for them
• Vegas seems to be pressuring the ball a lot on defense.  I’m guessing this is in direct response to Connecticut’s historic offensive performance in Game 3
• There seems to be a lot of Vegas fans at this game, which surprises me a bit
• Even though the pass went out of bounds, I thought DeWanna Bonner passing to a driving Alyssa Thomas was a nice play
• Two controversial foul calls have left Courtney Williams in a bit of foul trouble early, which isn’t the best thing to see
• Connecticut is operating by double teaming some of Vegas’ stars and leaving Kiah Stokes open.  I think that is the right idea
• After a timeout, Connecticut called an isolation play with Jonquel Jones.  I didn’t like the play at all since Vegas had their defense set out of the timeout, resulting in a poor shot
• Connecticut appears to be trying to force fouls and contact early.  While that is normally a fair strategy, the contact is being initiated by the offense, meaning the refs will not call them
• Connecticut had a really nice defensive play on Kelsey Plum.  While it might appear that they just double teamed her as she picked up her dribble, the defenders also positioned themselves to clog her passing lanes, resulting in a shot-clock violation
• Alyssa Thomas just had an absolutely beautiful chase down block after a turnover that I don’t think most players would have tried
• Vegas finally picked up their first foul after around 7 minutes; needless to say, the fans are a bit antsy due to the lack of fouls against them
• Bonner just had a shot that I really didn’t like; it was a contested challenging jumper and made no sense to take
• Chelsea Gray just had a nice bucket that I think Dijonai Carrington misplayed.  Carrington had gotten into her face and, while it is good to use your hands while defending, she was focused on getting her hands in position and missed Gray’s quick burst in response to her lack of awareness
• While I love seeing Thomas be aggressive, she seems to be the most aggressive Connecticut player when shooting; this isn’t always the best sign for their offense
• Carrington seems to be a bit hesitant with her shot today.  She had a couple of wide-open shots that she paused before shooting
• Vegas had picked up their pace for a good chunk of the quarter but seemed to slow down at the end of the quarter.  I’m not quite sure how much of that was Connecticut’s doing versus Vegas’ decision
• After some contact and a hard fall, I hope Bonner is okay
• With Williams, Natasha Heideman, Carrington, Thomas, and Brionna Jones, they have a small ball lineup on the court.  That’s an interesting decision
• Everyone in the arena seemed ecstatic when Carrington took a 3 in transition except for me.  She isn’t the best shooter and had the room to get a little closer, albeit probably not to attack the rim
• In the last few minutes in particular, Vegas seemed to run through Gray and largely ignore A’ja Wilson on offense.  This is an interesting decision and Connecticut even exploited this by leaving Wilson wide open on a few plays without Vegas noticing

2^nd Quarter

• Connecticut had some really nice collapsing defense (I want to say it was guarding Jackie Young, but I might be wrong).  She could have had an open floater, but instead she was met by 2 bigger defenders at the rim
• Vegas has had a couple plays where they were forced to slow down the game due to Connecticut’s defense but were still able to drill some shots.  There’s only so much Connecticut can do in that case since Vegas is so good at shooting
• Wilson just had a nice shot against Brionna Jones, but Jones misplayed it.  She gave Wilson too much room to start an initial drive.  While there’s a case to be made that Wilson could have run past Jones, I think Jones could have been a bit more physical to prevent the straight drive
• I’m not surprised that Plum and Heideman got a double technical, but Connecticut can use that to their advantage (though I don’t expect it).  Plum is aggressive and can have a shorter fuse, so I would put someone in her face anytime she’s on the court
• After Williams somehow missed a layup that she would normally make, I feel safe saying that nobody can hit anything right now
• There have been so many Jonquel Jones-Kelsey Plum jump balls this series and it is so weird
• Williams made a midrange shot that wasn’t too easy, but I’m just thrilled their scoreless streak ended
• Young is really struggling this game.  She’s been shooting so well during the playoffs, but Connecticut is leaving her open, yet she can’t hit even open 3’s
• Jonquel Jones just had an amazing block on a Wilson shot.  Her blocks are so much fun to watch
• Jonquel Jones finally hit a difficult bucket after being held scoreless; that is massive for her
• Connecticut has put Bonner on Gray for the last couple games, and I love it.  Bonner’s length has made it difficult for Gray to get into position compared to when she’s guarded by smaller guards
• Jonquel Jones just had another incredible block against Wilson!  She is such a fantastic athlete
• I’m a bit surprised by Bonner’s take foul at half court since it wasn’t a fastbreak and I thought Connecticut had more players past half court than Vegas did
• After a stretch of being unable to score, Connecticut has been on a nice run, suddenly making this game within reach
• Game 2 has been a low scoring outing for both teams, which is good for Connecticut

3^rd Quarter

• Even though I just commented on it not long ago, it is funny seeing Bonner guarding Gray.  While both are strong and great athletes, Gray looks so much stronger than Bonner while Bonner is so much longer
• There’s been several attempts to kick the ball on passes inside and I kind of like it.  If there’s a nice pass available, it makes sense to stop the play and ruin momentum a bit
• I wrote down that it was an odd play at 8:25, but I couldn’t remember what the play was.  I even turned on the stream and was puzzled what the play was, only to realize that I was looking at the wrong quarter.  Apparently I wrote it about a pick where Young set a screen on Bonner so Gray was guarded by Williams, but Gray didn’t do anything after that, Young couldn’t get out of the way, and Bonner was trying to get around the screen but kept pushing Young into Gray.  It was really weird, but not sure it warranted all that effort
• Wilson has been quiet all game, but she has been a bit aggressive to start the quarter, which can be big for them if she gets going
• I love Connecticut having Thomas guard Stokes and then act as a rover
• Connecticut has had so many plays tonight where it seemed as though they were perfect on the double team.  I love watching their defense
• It seems like there have been so many jump balls today; it’s weird to watch
• Vegas just had such nice defense with intense coverage to force a shot clock violation.  Connecticut struggled to find any shot to get off
• Jonquel Jones is in a bit of foul trouble now.  While an awesome player, Vegas has been able to do that at points this series
• That was a really smart foul by Williams against Plum.  She would have made that shot had the foul not come
• I love when Connecticut has Thomas bringing the ball up.  It’s just fun to see a forward with her physical build bringing it up
• That was a heads up play by Williams to crash the boards after her shot missed and then knocking it out when she couldn’t get the rebound, where Thomas could get it
• I’m not sure why Brionna Jones’ offensive foul is being reviewed.  Was the contact to the face?
• Connecticut has been sloppy with fouls this quarter.  That could be detrimental to them
• This game has still been a slower, lower scoring game.  I’m surprised Vegas hasn’t picked it up more quite yet

4^th Quarter

• Plum just made in a shot that I have no idea how she got off.  Her shot making ability is insane
• Williams has had several plays this game where she has been smart with positioning.  She is a better defender than she gets credit for in my opinion
• Now with the big lineup for Connecticut!  I can’t wait to see what they do on this one
• Stokes was just called for an offensive foul, but I didn’t understand it.  It looks like Williams just fell, which is probably the only reason one was called
• Connecticut has had so many fastbreak opportunities when it’s 1-on-1, but they keep slowing it down in those cases.  I wish they played a bit faster in those situations
• Thought it was a heads up play by Thomas to disrupt the pass, Connecticut needs to be ready to crash the corner when someone is open there and Vegas gets the ball back.  The ball literally was tipped to the corner for an open 3
• It took so long for the first foul against Connecticut, almost 6 minutes.  Wow, that’s rare
• Geez, again Bonner is on the floor after Plum’s foul.  Hopefully she’s okay again
• Plum landing on Bonner’s foot being called a flagrant foul is probably the textbook example of the implementation of this rule.  I wasn’t surprised by that call
• I can’t believe the ref forgot about the 3^rd free throw after the flagrant!  A WNBA Finals game is not the time for that kind of brain fart
• Williams had some really nice defense again by being so smart with positioning and cutting off a drive
• The ESPN halftime crew has been having quite the time this game and are loving it.  Natasha Cloud is certainly feeling the energy.  I have also loved her analysis in the other halftime shows; if she opts to go down this route post-retirement, she has such a bright future in it
• I might have been a part of the most relentless wave ever; it went around the arena like 4 times during a timeout and it was so much fun
• It didn’t work out, but I loved the play off the inbounds by Vegas.  They had Wilson iso until she was double teamed, where she dished it out to an open Young in the corner
• Connecticut appears to be going big while Vegas is going small; this will be interesting
• Connecticut just had a massive defensive lapse where Riquna Williams was left open.  I haven’t written about her much this series, but she’s a good shooter who is having a nice game and half; you can’t leave her open
• Connecticut got lucky that Vegas called a timeout when Wilson looked like she was in trouble on the double team; as the timeout was called, Wilson found an open Young cutting to the rim
• Riquna Williams just hit another huge 3!  Even though I want Connecticut to win, I cannot understate how amazing of a shot that was!
• Connecticut had such a bad inbound play off a timeout where they managed to give up the ball pretty much as soon as they let go of it.  Nobody was moving around, and Vegas just looked at them and thought ‘thanks for making our job easier’
• Plum just had a basket that probably sealed the game
• Again, Connecticut had a bad inbounds play because they didn’t move around
• I’m not sure what happened the first inbound attempt that made them replay the inbound
• I’m not sure why Vegas called a timeout after getting the rebound on the missed shot with a few seconds left, but hey, why not
• I wrote down “and that’s the game”, but I’m not sure exactly what I was referring to at that moment, whether it was the end of the game, a missed shot, a free throw, etc.

 

Ultimately, that was quite the exciting game, and I am so glad I was able to go.  Again, a thank you/shoutout to my girlfriend for finding the ticket!  While both teams were worthy, Vegas had the perfect offense to get passed Connecticut and was able to do enough defensively.  Congratulations to the Las Vegas Aces!  They were such an exciting team to watch during the season and were so competitive and talented throughout.

 

Bonus:  A few funny/awesome ones that happened in activities in between the game

• During the T-Shirt Toss, one hit NBA Commissioner Adam Silver in the head
• Fatman Scoop performed the halftime show
• They had a 60+ dance group performing in a timeout called The Pacemakers
• They had a couple competing against each other in a Mario Kart style tricycle race.  The mascot tossed a pillow/stuffed shell at the woman who was in the lead…and tackled the man
• There was one woman shooting 3-pointers for up to $17k, where each was worth $1k and the final was worth $10-12k (I can’t remember how many balls there were, which would dictate the value of the last one).  She hit all but 2, including the final ball, winning $15k

 

What did you think of this game and the series?  Let me know in the comments!