WNBA: New York Liberty at Phoenix Mercury
The Mercury faced the Liberty for the second game of their season, winning 91-84 despite the slow start. Cappie Pondexter put up 26 points, and Diana Taurasi had 21, albeit on 6-15 shooting, in the victory.
Despite the shooting woes, Diana contributed in other ways, grabbing five boards and five assists, as well as two steals and two blocks, rounding out her stats.
When one of the bigger names on the team is having an off game, or even the entire team seems to be in a funk, what do you do? I mean, you gotta show something for being there. So what do you do? Just like players can contribute in other manners, we can look for something other than the usual “player driving to basket” shots.
Read on to for more pics, a gallery, and the type of shots I look for besides the usual peak action.
If you can’t already tell, Diana, or the team for that matter, wasn’t too thrilled with the officiating. So I went for shots that represented that frustration. To be honest, it’s fairly easy to catch those shots, if you know to look for them. Let me explain.
I usually try to shoot a player as they drive or take a shot at the basket, then switch over to the paint, looking for rebounds and hustle plays. When I see that a player is frustrated though, I stick with them. They missed, but maybe they felt they were fouled. They feel sleighted, like the officials aren’t calling anything in their favor. So I wait for it. And it happens. For some players, it’s a rare outburst (like Grant Hill), and for others, it’s as common as breathing (Rasheed Wallace). But you can see it build. So wait for it. It will happen. And tonight, it happened a lot. Enough so that I got every combination of frustration (single player, team, coach, ref, and every combination of those). Just check the gallery.
Besides that, I try to get hustle plays, like a loose ball dive, known to many as the scrum. For those, I’ll usually keep on the defender instead of the ballhandler, waiting for them to make their move. Again, it’s a matter of patience. You might miss a great pass or cut for an easy score, but those happen so often (I mean, it’s the point of the game). So you stick on the defender. And wait. Eventually, something happens. And you get it.
Yes, sometimes you get lucky. A great shot happens right where you were, and it’s awesome. But if you want to make it happen again, you need to anticipate. Learn the mannerisms of the players, the style of the team, get a general feel for the vibe of the game. If you do that, you’ll see that every sport has more than just peak action, and getting those different images is what rounds out the body of your work.
Gallery link is below. As always, comments are welcome.