Derek Clark

Day later and still in shock. CANNOT BELIEVE I GOT A CHANCE TO CALL THIS LIVE!! Unpredictable finish to another INSANE edition of Mountain West after dark. Best writers in Hollywood couldn’t have drawn this up. Redemption from Jarod Lucas, gutsy win for Nevada without Blackshear.

Valkyries have missed WAY too many easy point blank layups, and Gabby Williams has been a big culprit in that. They take their cues from their best player. She can’t wait till the 3rd quarter to get going any more. Can’t afford for her to be passive in the first half.

No excuses for JJ Redick now. LeBron James, Rui Hachimura and Deandre Ayton are no longer on this roster. They got younger, faster, and more versatile defenders. There’s no reason they should be giving up 136 to the Portland Trail Blazers. Lakers gotta fix that ASAP.

I’m surprised in a series where buckets have been hard to come by, Natalie Nakase hasn’t found any minutes for Janelle Salaun. She’s the 6WOTY for a reason. You mean to tell me she couldn’t help the Valkyries put the ball in the hole with every point being a chore?

That should have been a flagrant foul on Angel Reese or a review at the LEAST. She can throw an elbow straight into Kayla Thornton’s face and we get no look at the call? What are we doing? You ALWAYS take a look at contact above the head especially in a physical series like this.

Lakers offense looks sloppy. I’m not concerned about that yet. A whole new group of folks playing together for the 2nd game. JJ Redick is gonna have his hands full figuring out roles. But the length and their ability to fly around on defense is a huge change from last year.

Walker Kessler changes EVERYTHING defensively for the Lakers. Like the pairing with him and Ziaire Williams down low. That’s length they haven’t seen since AD and JaVale McGee. If he can figure out how to get a couple post moves he’ll be a dominant big man for a decade in LA.

I know it’s only the first game of the season but it just feels like it’s too many mouths to feed offensively for the Sixers. This isn’t 2017 Golden State where 3/4 stars don’t need to dribble and can play off each other. Embiid, Brown, LeBron and Maxey are all rhythm players.

That’s a playoff foul at WORST on Kaitlyn Chen. Not sure why we’re wasting time reviewing this. Officials reacting to the reaction by Bonner. Even in the regular season that’s barely a hard foul. Ball up top

That FIBA trip really flipped a switch in Angel Reese. Gotta give her credit. She’s been locked in ever since she came back from overseas. Now if only she could get the rest of the team to show up with her, the Dream might actually have a chance.

UCLA firmly defeated Wisconsin. That means all eyes are on Lincoln Riley and USC next week. They have to win convincingly, and they CANNOT lose. UCLA already has more signature wins this season than Riley has had his entire tenure. Bob Chesney’s shadow is starting to loom in LA.

I’m about to love the NBA again if they keep this up. Now they just gotta get traveling under control and it might actually become watchable

If you’re James Cook you gotta go down before scoring the TD. That’s what the Rams want. They’d have been able to run the clock down under 20 seconds so the Rams wouldn’t have any timeouts to go the distance for a FG. Now Stafford is getting the ball with plenty of time.

Glad Alabama scored that TD right there on a gutsy call by Kalen DeBoer, but he should have had way more time. Whoever was operating the clock was asleep at the wheel. They lost 4 seconds when it should have been immediately stopped at 11. Should have had another play at least.

Masterful job done by Natalie Nakase and Valkyries FO. The additions of Kiah Stokes and Gabby Williams gave this team an identity and put them over the top. Fever gotta look at how this team was defensively constructed and model accordingly. They’re the blueprint right now.

Just not sure how Gabby Williams didn’t get more consideration for DPOY. Her versatility has been on full display in this game, a strip of A’ja Wilson, refusing to switch off Jackie Young and clamping her up. She’s the WNBA version of Kawhi Leonard.

Why is Brian Schottenheimer going for 2 right there? You just stopped the Bucs on the goal line, went 99 yards in 2 minutes to get right back in the game snatching momentum, why make it harder on yourselves instead of making it a 7-pt game? JUST PLAY FOOTBALL!

It’s been now 21 games into the Kellen Moore era and I’m still not sure if he’s a good coach or not. But the Saints gotta figure out these slow starts. Give Tyler Shough some help. Run the football in the 1st half. Can’t just throw all day and play action with no run threat.

Bryce Young is the walking example of not giving up on a QB too early because of organizational failures and lack of winning. Looked like he was on his way out of the NFL and to being a bust. Then the Panthers got right and got him structure. That’s where Cam Ward is now.

Wings gotta be kicking themselves collapsing like that. But I don’t understand the coaching down the stretch. In 3 of the last 4 possessions, the hottest player on the floor in Arike Ogunbowale touches the ball ONCE? And when you need FTs you allow Clark to get fouled as a 65%?

In the latest episode of WNBA refereeing … ref was staring RIGHT at Gabby Williams as she re-established herself inbounds. She clearly got one foot in. In the WNBA you only need ONE foot to establish. Something tells me that ref didn’t know the rule and thought she needed 2.