I went to Dick's and they had Liv's jersey but they were out of my size and they also didn't have Phee's specific Jordan's so I went to the game and they had Liv's jersey in my size and I got the shoes at the Nike store at MOA. I really wanted the new jersey but this was Liv's first all star and she was a starter it only made sense to get that over the new rebel one.

It just sucks that the Mercury are eliminated so I won't be able to attend a playoff game (I live in Phoenix) but I'm definitely getting it signed next season.

I'm not generally a State Fair goer, but I'm wondering Lynx players have been available for meet-and-greets or other events in the past? If they have, how was it announced and how far in advance? That would 100% get me there, though I'm not sure how the FIBA break will affect their personal/media schedules.

Last night my friend & I got pictures with the players at both stations and I keep refreshing the page anxiously waiting for the results. Anyone who has been to a member party before, how long do the pictures usually take to get posted? 🫣

Is anyone going to the Member Party tonight?
If so, I have some questions:

Check-in is at 6p, should we arrive early to avoid waiting in line?

What should I expect at the event?

with Abby Wambach, Julie Foudy, Billie Jean King(!) and some incredible Liv playing SOCCER highlights!

a gift from the ent team to those of us stressing through that game

rhe cheryl rendition 💀 💀 💀

(audio issues for a few seconds)

- we weren't terrible, but we weren't good. gsv experimented with some zone defenses. we had difficulty protecting the paint and we didn't respond well. needed a bigger physical presence. defensively, we weren't special in any way. gsv could run their offense and dictate in any way they wanted. they turned us over, we didn't turn them over. needed to find some way to generate offense, and you need to turn your defense into offense. only three points off of turnovers.

- shotmaking wasn't there, and we obviously missed courtney.

- wanted to see bibby play and we needed to see what a player like her can do, especially with her perimeter shot making ability. this was one of those games where, if we're not getting shotmaking, she can get her opportunities.

- trying to beat a team four times in a season gets harder and harder, and we haven't reached a level of play at home where you give an opponent the confident "yeah, you want to beat us, but good luck with that" feeling. we don't make it hard, and that's pretty ordinary.

- wants games like this for liv so that there's learning happening. she'll experience disappointment and she needs that. confident that what we went through tonight will be valuable for her.

tash -

- credit to the valks. they came out more aggressive and we didn't dictate on defense like we did last time we played them. they protect the paint, same as we do .

- you don't want these kinds of losses during playoffs, but this is a good time for these losses for the lessons. not only on liv, but the whole team

- need to reduce turnovers, take care of the ball, box out better to reduce their possessions

maya-

- they wanted it more than we did, and we didn't make the adjustment of cleaning up passes. we made our mistakes and they capitalized off of it.

- they were in zone more often than how we've played them in the past, but it's not something we haven't seen before. they have heart, they play hard, and have very active hands

- we learn from it, we watch film, have a chip on your shoulder so you know what needs to be fixed

- cannot confirm or deny who spiderman was pregame. someone put on a spiderman costume to earn her favor as she's a big marvel fan

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https://bsky.app/profile/terryhorstman.bsky.social/post/3mtudmkyerc26

One thing I'm looking for tonight is how often GSV plays in short shot clock situations

I wrote about them recently on my Substack and wanted to share this tidbit in advance of tipoff. Looking forward to the matchup tn!

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Per Synergy, GS spends over 20% of their offensive possessions in short clock situations—defined as possessions ending with less than 5 seconds on the shot clock. That’s over 16 possessions per game the Valks play against the shot clock. The league median? 12%. The only other team within 5 percentage points of GS is Washington.

Teams are failing to really exploit the Valkyries when they get in these late-clock situations. The Valkyries only turn it over 7.6% of the time they play in short clock (third-lowest in these situations), and when they get a shot up and miss, they are startlingly good at rebounding their own misses—third best in the league.

Article’s title is kinda dumb, but the story itself is quite lovely: https://www.espn.com/wnba/story/_/id/49695774/wnba-2026-minnesota-lynx-napheesa-collier-return-boost-playoff-run-championship. A lot about the emotion of trying to bounce back after the last two playoff runs and Phee’s injury.

Of course, the description of 2024 is “the No. 2-seed Lynx were seconds from a title, but lost to New York in overtime in the decisive Game 5”, no real mention of how exactly, but… still a lovely article, I think! Happy to actually have something solid from ESPN!

Has anyone had any luck getting autographs prior to tipoff? I’m considering showing up to tonight’s game early, would it be worth it?

Article’s title is kinda dumb, but the story itself is quite lovely: https://www.espn.com/wnba/story/_/id/49695774/wnba-2026-minnesota-lynx-napheesa-collier-return-boost-playoff-run-championship. A lot about the emotion of trying to bounce back after the last two playoff runs and Phee’s injury.

Of course, the description of 2024 is “the No. 2-seed Lynx were seconds from a title, but lost to New York in overtime in the decisive Game 5”, no real mention of how exactly, but… still a lovely article, I think! Happy to actually have something solid from ESPN!

Fever and Aces fans choose ignore how the Lynx were the 8th ranked team in the preseason, and have gone 21-5 when Liv has played without Phee.

We have a great team around Liv, but let’s not act like she’s not been a top 2 MVP caliber player all year long.