Sun Stop Stewie, Storm 96-89

By Bob Phillips
                                                                                                                                                Photo by Bill Harper

Alyssa Thomas scored 17 points and added a
career-high nine assists in the Sun's 96-89 win
over the Seattle Storm on Thursday.

UNCASVILLE – Jasmine Thomas scored a career-high 29 points to lead the Connecticut Sun over the Seattle Storm, 96-89, before 8,668 fans at the Mohegan Sun Arena on Thursday night. The sixth-year guard out of Duke had a lights-out kind of night, banging in 12-of-16 shots (75 percent) from the field, including 4-for-6 from beyond the three-point arc. Alyssa Thomas added 17 points and a career-best nine assists.

Shekinna Stricklen chipped in with 14 points and four boards. It was the sixth time this season the fifth-year pro from Tennessee has scored in double digits. Jonquel Jones finished with her third straight double-double—the 11th time this season she has scored 10 or more points, and it was her eighth Double-D of the season.

The Sun jumped out to a 31-26 lead at the first turn, and doubled their advantage to 10 points, 48-38, at intermission. The Thomas girls led the Sun scoring parade in the first half with Jasmine putting up 15 points followed by Alyssa with 13.

Connecticut held a seemingly insurmountable 17-point lead early in the fourth period when Seattle mounted a furious comeback.

“They ran in transition and hit the open three,” said UConn legend Breanna Stewart. “We know they are a three-point shooting team, but Strick (Stricklen) and Jasmine Thomas… they caught fire.”

 “In this league, you have to keep going; you have to keep playing," said Sue Bird, herself a legend in Storrs—albeit a generation (or two) before Stewie. “Seventeen points sounds like a lot, but because of the level of play and parity in this league, in reality it's just one good run and you're back in it. We just stayed with it, and were able to make a run at the right time, but they made some plays at the end to secure the game."

When Crystal Langhorne nailed two from the charity stripe with just 1:19 left in regulation, the Sun lead had virtually vanished, with Connecticut holding the slimmest of leads, 90-89.

But Stricklen hit a clutch jumper from the baseline giving the Sun a three-point advantage with 1:06 remaining in regulation.

“I’m a shooter,” said the 6-2 forward. “I knew they were going to run out at me. I had hit four threes already. We moved the ball very well before that, so people don’t really know who’s going to take the shot.” 

After a Seattle turnover—Courtney Williams picked Jewel Lloyd’s pocket—Jasmine Thomas drove the nail into Seattle’s coffin with a layup giving Connecticut a 94-89 lead with 33 ticks left on the clock.

Stewart (she of four national championships in four years) led the Storm with a 22-point 10-rebound effort. Loyd added 21 points, and Bird moved within two assists of 2,500 for her career. Ticha Penicheiro, the only player ahead of Bird, holds the WNBA record with 2,599.

Connecticut has now won seven of its last 10 games, and improves to 7-7 on the season, tied with Indiana for third place in the Eastern Conference, one-half game behind second place New York and 2.5 games behind first-place Washington. Seattle dropped its third straight game, falling to 6-8.

“It was a big win for us in this stretch,” said Sun head coach Curt Miller. “It’s not easy to win in this league in a stretch where this is our fourth game in seven days. Our players mustered up the energy to make plays in the fourth quarter when that game got tight. Give credit to Seattle. It was a really, really well-played game. I’m proud that we found a way to the finish line when Seattle made that run.”

“They have strengths, and they played to those strengths,” said Bird,  four-time Olympic gold medalist, of her opponents. "Both of the Thomases played really well today, and they try to get them the ball—especially Alyssa Thomas. What makes her tough is she has guard abilities, and when she plays the ‘4’ [power forward] in the free throw line area, she's able to make plays for herself or her teammates, and it opens things up for the shooters.”

The Sun now head to Indianapolis where they will take on the Indiana Fever on Saturday. Tip-off is at 4 p.m. ET, and the game will be televised on CSNNE and streamed on League Pass.

—with staff reports

Knicks, Jax Part Ways

The Zen Express has left The Garden as Phil Jackson and the Knicks
have parted ways.

By Bob Phillips

NEW YORK – Phil Jackson’s “Reign of Error” in New York has mercifully come to an end.

Jackson, who started is professional career with the Knicks in 1967—and likely ended in with the team—is out as president. That’s to good news for Knicks fans. The bad news is that Charles Dolan will be choosing Jackson’s successor.

Dolan, who purchased the Knicks after making a fortune inheriting the Cablevision empire from his daddy, might best be known—certainly to Knicks fans—as the man who hired Isaiah Thomas to run the team, then stood by him when Thomas was accused of sexual impropriety with a female employee. Indeed, in retrospect, Thomas was as equipped to run an NBA team as Donald J. Trump appears to be in running a country.

Now, some may say that loyalty is a good thing. And in many instances, it is. But in Dolan’s case, it is stupidity that seems to be his calling card.

But I digress… Back to the Jackson situation.

A few days before his ouster, Jackson voiced his desire to trade aging superstar Carmelo Anthony, and said he was willing to listen to any (and all) teams about a deal for Kristaps Porzingis, the 21-year-old, 7-3 Latvian who, by anyone’s standards, should be the cornerstone of the franchise’s future.

Anyone except for Jackson, that is. But that point is now moot. On Tuesday, Dolan opted to cut ties with Jackson who was responsible for coaching dynasty teams in both Chicago and Los Angeles. The NBA’s leading proponent of the triangle offense—a system that the New York Times, referred to as “an existential strategy” (which, of course, was favored by the man referred to throughout his coaching career as the “Zen Master”), the scheme, often called the “triple post offense,” is predicated on setting up a physical triangle at the strong-side post, wing and corner, and is designed to expose and take advantage of weaknesses in the opposition’s defense.

Jackson began his pro career with the Knicks in 1967.

Hugely successful with the Bulls and Lakers—11 world championships in all—the triangle is dependent on having two superstars in the mix. In Chicago, that pair was Michael Jordan in Scottie Pippen. In LA, it was Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal. In New York, a reluctant Carmelo Anthony and Kristaps Porzingis didn’t quite cut it. As a result, the Knicks went 80-166 in Jackson’s three-year tenure at the top of the Knicks’ totem pole, not once coming close to securing a postseason playoff spot.

And so on Monday, Dolan pulled the plug on yet another failed Knicks experiment, with two years and $24 remaining on Jackson’s contract.

“I had hoped, of course, to bring another NBA championship to the Garden,” said Jackson said in a statement upon his departure. [Editor’s Note: The Knicks’ last world championship came in 1973. Walt Frazier, Earl Monroe, Bill Bradley, Dave DeBusschere, and Willis Reed were the starters, with Dean Memminger, Henry Bibby, Hawthorne Wingo, Jerry Lucas, John Gianelli, and yes, Phil Jackson, coming off the bench. Richard Nixon was president. Vietnam was over, but Watergate was brewing. Gas cost 39 cents a gallon. A lifetime ago, in other words.]

“As someone who treasures winning, I am deeply disappointed that we weren’t able to do that,” continued the statement. “New York fans deserve nothing less. I wish them and the Knicks’ organization all the best—today and always.”

The triangle offense brought Jackson 11 rings in Chicago and LA where
he had two of the best players in NBA history—Michael Jordan (left) and
Kobe Bryant.

Surviving the purge (thus far, at least) is Knicks’ head coach Jeff Hornacek, who now will be free to throw off the shackles of the triangle—and develop and execute an offensive scheme more suitable for the talent he has to work with.

On Wednesday, Hornacek, issued a brief statement after the team’s summer-league practice in Orlando, Fla.

“It’s a tough day for us,” he said, “but really our focus is to get this team better.”

Hornacek’s future with the team will be reliant on whomever Dolan chooses to be his next president. Said to be on the short list: Masai Ujiri, the general manager of the Toronto Raptors; Michael Winger and Sam Presti, both currently executives with the Oklahoma City Thunder; Mike Zareen, the assistant GM with the Knicks’ archrival Boston Celtics; and Allan Houston. While Ujiri is thought to be the favorite, Houston would certainly be the most popular choice. A popular member of the Knicks in his playing days,  the former throw-'em-up shooting guard is currently the Knicks’ assistant GM and general manager of the Westchester Knicks, the parent team’s entry in the NBA Gatorade League (formerly known as the Developmental League).

One native New Yorker, it seems, has reached his limit.

“It's like a total train wreck,” tennis Hall of Famer and lifelong Knicks fan John McEnroe told The Associated Press last week. “I mean, he's known as the Zen Master, like a master talker, and then he's not talking to anybody,” McEnroe said of Jackson. “So this whole thing seems to have gone completely off the rails.”

Hey, here’s a novel idea: Given Dolan’s love of high-profile athletes, how about Johnny Mac for GM? (Wouldn’t you love to be a fly on the wall when those to Irish tempers clashed?)

Nah. Don’t count on that one. But be all means, stay tuned…

—With Staff Reports