Weeks 7 and 8 of WNBA 2017 offered little in terms of truly
competitive basketball – not a single one of the 23 games played was decided by
fewer than five points. Additionally, five separate teams allowed their
opponents to shoot 40+% from three-point land – unsurprisingly, those teams went
a collective 3-8 against the rest of the league.
As a whole, the league is making just over one in three
(.335) on its treys, which this season represent just over one in four (.256)
of all FG attempts.
Playoff Positioning
While the Washington Mystics and Phoenix Mercury have been
swapping the No. 2 position in these rankings, the new-look, defending champion
LA Sparks sport a better record and hold two victories apiece over both in the
race for the coveted No. 2 playoff seed. Under the “W’s” geographically neutral
post-season format, only the top two seeds are spared the single-game
“guillotine” rounds.
The contenders would be wise not to sleep on the surprising
Connecticut Sun. The absence of stud Chiney Ogwumike triggered an 0-4 start,
but Curt Miller’s ladies have notched a dozen victories thereafter, including
handing the peerless Lynx their only defeat – on their home floor, to boot.
The following rankings reflect play through Friday, July 7.
An explanation of the criteria is available
here.
An index of the season's b-weekly rankings is available
here.
No.
1 Minnesota Lynx, 13-1 (9)
[2-week Abacus Rank: No. 1
4-week Abacus Rank: No. 1
6-week Abacus Rank: No. 1]
KK: +6; (7 Road Wins
– 1 Home Loss) / No. 1 overall
Flow: +5.07; (44.3 stops
OF opp [No. 1] – 39.2 stops BY opp [No. 2] / No. 1 overall
Striping: +0.25;
(+1.14) conversions [No. 4] – (+0.89) opp conversions [No. 8] / No. 6 overall
SPOR-t: +152; (646
[No. 1] – 494 [No. 1]) / No. 1 overall
Abacus Revelation:
Through 14 games, the Lynx have outscored the opposition by 15.3 points per 100
possessions.
No.
2 Washington Mystics, 10-7 (13.5)
[2-week Abacus Rank: No. 2
4-week Abacus Rank: No. 3
6-week Abacus Rank: No. 4]
KK: +1; (3 Road Wins
– 2 Home Losses) / No. 4 overall (tied)
Flow: +3.00; (43.1 stops
OF opp [No. 4] – 40.1 stops BY opp [No. 3] / No. 3 overall
Striping: +0.53; (+2.12)
conversions [No. 1] – (+1.59) opp conversions [No. 12] / No. 3 overall
SPOR-t: +45; (591
[No. 3] – 546 [No. 6]) / No. 3 overall
Abacus Revelation:
The Mystics are outscoring their opponents by 5 points a game at the free throw
line on the season.
ABACUS INFOMERCIAL
Masters of the Craft
(Part 1)
Which teams are performing
the rudimentary skills of the game most proficiently at both ends of the floor?
Let’s consider six elements of play: FG shooting, three-point shooting, Points
per Game, Offensive Rebounding, the matter of turnovers and the SPOR-t score of
our ratings. These teams hold a Top Four rank offensively and defensively:
FG%: NONE
3FG%: Minnesota
PPG: Los Angeles,
Minnesota
OR%: Connecticut,
Minnesota, Washington
TO%: Atlanta, Indiana
SPOR-t: Connecticut,
Minnesota
No.
3 Phoenix Mercury, 9-6 (14.5)
[2-week Abacus Rank: No. 7
4-week Abacus Rank: No. 2
6-week Abacus Rank: No. 2]
KK: +1; (5 Road Win –
4 Home Losses) / No. 4 overall (tied)
Flow: +2.87; (43.3 stops
OF opp [No. 3] – 40.5 stops BY opp [No. 4] / No. 4 overall
Striping: +0.60;
(+0.90) conversions [No. 6] – (+0.30) opp conversions [No. 3] / No. 1 overall
SPOR-t: +14; (553
[No. 7] – 539 [No. 5]) / No. 5 overall
Abacus Revelation:
The Mercury lead the league in defending the three-ball (.291).
No.
4 Connecticut Sun, 9-7 (17)
[2-week Abacus Rank: No. 11
4-week Abacus Rank: No. 7
6-week Abacus Rank: No. 3]
KK: +3; (6 Road Wins
– 3 Home Losses) / No. 3 overall
Flow: +0.38; (41.6 stops
OF opp [No. 6] – 41.2 stops BY opp [No. 7] / No. 7 overall
Striping: +0.47;
(+1.22) conversions [No. 3] – (+0.75) conversions [No. 6] / No. 5 overall
SPOR-t: +93; (619
[No. 2] – 526 [No. 3]) / No. 2 overall
Abacus Revelation:
Over the past four weeks, the Sun have made exactly half (318-636) their FG
attempts (73-161, .453, from beyond the arc.
ABACUS INFOMERCIAL
Scoring Pace 23 games
[95 overall]
100+ points: 1 games
[6 overall]
90-99 points: 7 games
[37 overall]
80-89 points: 19
games [66 overall]
70-79 points: 12
games [57 overall]
60-69 points: 5 games
[19 overall]
<60 points: 2
games [5 overall]
No.
5 Los Angeles Sparks, 12-4 (19)
[2-week Abacus Rank: No. 8
4-week Abacus Rank: No. 5
6-week Abacus Rank: No. 5]
KK: +5; (5 Road Wins
– 0 Home Losses) / No. 2 overall
Flow: +3.19; (41.03
stops OF opp [No. 7] – 38.1 stops BY opp [No. 1] / No. 2 overall
Striping: -0.09;
(+0.94) conversions [No. 5] – (+1.03) opp conversions [No. 9]) / No. 8 overall
SPOR-t: -5; (575 [No.
4] – 580 [No. 7]) / No. 7 overall
Abacus Revelation:
The Sparks’ loss in Minnesota last week was just the third time they’d shot
below 30% on threes this season – two of them losses.
No.
6 New York Liberty, 8-7 (27.5)
[2-week Abacus Rank: No. 5
4-week Abacus Rank: No. 7
6-week Abacus Rank: No. 6]
KK: 0; (3 Road Wins –
3 Home Losses) / No. 6 overall (tied)
Flow: +0.60; (42.8 stops
OF opp [No. 5] – 42.2 stops BY opp [No. 8] / No. 6 overall
Striping: -0.60;
(+0.23) conversions [No. 10] – (+0.83) opp conversions [No. 7] / No. 11 overall
SPOR-t: +39; (555
[No. 6] – 516 [No. 1]) / No. 4 overall
Abacus Revelation:
The Liberty converted less than 42% of their possessions during Weeks 7 & 8.
No.
7 Atlanta Dream, 7-8 (29.5)
[2-week Abacus Rank: No. 4
4-week Abacus Rank: No. 4
6-week Abacus Rank: No. 7]
KK: 0; (3 Road Wins –
3 Home Losses) / No. 6 overall (tied)
Flow: +1.40; (44.3 stops
OF opp [No. 2] – 42.9 stops BY opp [No. 10] / No. 5 overall
Striping: -1.27;
[-1.07) conversions [No. 12] – (+0.20) conversions [No. 2] / No. 12 overall
SPOR-t: +6; (538 [No.
8] – 532 [No.4]) / No. 6 overall
Abacus Revelation: The Dream discovered their shooting stroke in
the last two weeks (.453, up from .401).
ABACUS INFOMERCIAL
Scoring Differential
23 games [95 overall]
1-5 points: 0 games
[21 overall]
6-10 points: 13 games
[37 overall]
11-15 points: 5 games
[16 overall]
16-20 points: 1 games [9 overall]
>20: 4 games [12 overall]
No.
8 Seattle Storm, 7-9 (30)
[2-week Abacus Rank: No. 9
4-week Abacus Rank: No. 5
6-week Abacus Rank: No. 9]
KK: -2; (2 Road Wins
– 4 Home Losses) / No. 10 overall
Flow: -0.56; (40.2 stops
OF opp [No. 9] – 40.8 stops BY opp [No. 6] / No. 8 overall
Striping: +0.59;
(+1.81) conversions [No. 2] - (+1.22) opp conversions [No. 10] / No. 2 overall
SPOR-t: -78; (522
[No. 11] – 600 [No. 10]) / No. 10 overall
Abacus Revelation:
The Storm have attempted exactly as many (314) treys as free throws – and so
have their opponents (294). Weird, huh?
No.
9 Dallas Wings, 9-9 (32.5)
[2-week Abacus Rank: No. 3
4-week Abacus Rank: No. 9
6-week Abacus Rank: No. 8]
KK: -1; (4 Road Wins
– 5 Home Losses) / No. 8 overall (tied)
Flow: -2.33; (40.1 stops
OF opp [No. 10] – 42.4 stops BY opp [No. 9] / No. 9 overall
Striping: 0.00;
(+0.61) conversions [No. 8] – (+0.61) conversions [No. 4] / No. 7 overall
SPOR-t: -27; (568
[No. 5] – 595 [No. 9]) / No. 8 overall
Abacus Revelation: The Wings ranked Top Three on both backboards
for Weeks 7 & 8.
ABACUS INFOMERCIAL
Masters of the Craft
(Part 2)
Are not the
exceptionally inept worthy of some recognition? Here are the teams that hold a
Bottom Four offensive and defensive ranking in our key elements of play: FG
shooting, three-point shooting, PPG, Offensive Rebounding, Turnovers and
SPOR-t.
FG%: Dallas, San
Antonio
3FG%: Indiana
PPG: Chicago, Indiana,
San Antonio
OR%: Indiana, Los
Angeles, Seattle
TO%: Chicago, Seattle
SPOR-t: Chicago, Indiana,
Seattle
No.
10 Chicago Sky, 3-12 (39)
[2-week Abacus Rank: No. 11
4-week Abacus Rank: No. 10
6-week Abacus Rank: No. 10]
KK: -4; (3 Road Win –
7 Home Losses) / No. 11 overall
Flow: -5.33; (40.6 stops
OF opp [No. 8] – 45.9 stops BY opp [No. 12] / No. 12 overall
Striping: +0.50; (+0.47)
conversions [No. 9] – (-0.03) opp conversions [No. 1] / No. 4 overall
SPOR-t: -87; (519
[No. 12] – 606 [No. 11]) / No. 12 overall
Abacus Revelation:
Sky opponents shot a sizzling 42% (20 for 48) on threes during Weeks 7 & 8.
No.
11 Indiana Fever, 7-9 (39.5)
[2-week Abacus Rank: No. 6
4-week Abacus Rank: No. 12
6-week Abacus Rank: No. 11]
KK: -1; (2 Road Wins
– 3 Home Losses) / No. 8 overall (tied)
Flow: -2.50; (38.1 stops
OF opp [No. 12] – 40.6 stops BY opp [No. 5] / No. 10 overall
Striping: -0.56;
(+0.81) conversions [No. 7] – (+1.38) conversions [No. 11] / No. 10 overall
SPOR-t: -84; (533
[No. 10] – 617 [No. 12]) / No. 11 overall
Abacus Revelation: The Fever rank dead
last in FG defense (.490) and 3FG defense (.376).
No.
12 San Antonio Stars, 1-16 (41)
[2-week Abacus Rank: No. 12
4-week Abacus Rank: No. 11
6-week Abacus Rank: No. 12]
KK: -8; (0 Road Wins
– 8 Home Losses) / No. 12 overall
Flow: -4.76; (39.4 stops
OF opp [No. 11] – 44.2 stops BY opp [No. 11] / No. 11 overall
Striping: -0.44;
(+0.21) conversions [No. 11] – (+0.65) opp conversions [No. 5] / No. 9 overall
SPOR-t: -53; (538
[No. 8] – 591 [No. 8]) / No. 9 overall
Abacus Revelation:
The old-school Stars are the “W’s” most reluctant three-point shooters.
Abacus Revelation for
the Road / Random Ranking – per-game missed three-point shots
Through 95 games, WNBA players have attempted 3,262
three-point shots. They have been off-target on 2,169 of them – an average of
11.4 misses per game per team.
Connecticut 9.38
missed treys [3Par: .233, No. 8]
Indiana 9.56 missed
treys [3Par: .211, No. 11]
San Antonio 9.65
missed treys [3Par: .209, No. 12]
Los Angeles 9.81
missed treys [3Par: .248, No. 6]
Chicago 9.93 missed
treys [3Par: .215, No. 10]
Minnesota 10.43
missed treys [3Par: .242, No. 7]
New York 11.53 missed
treys [3Par: .252, No. 5]
Atlanta 11.87 missed
treys [3Par: .230, No. 9]
Seattle 12.63 missed
treys [3Par: .316, No. 2]
Dallas 13.44 missed
treys [3Par: .285, No. 4]
Phoenix 13.47 missed
treys [3Par: .309, No. 3]
Washington 14.88 missed treys [3Par: .318, No.
1]
