Colby's Weekly Commentary
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Hello Sports fans. Today is September 20, 2025. I will be providing commentary daily during the playoffs.
Ok, so the first round of the WNBA Playoffs are finished. There were some surprises. I predicted the Dream to win it all and they fell short, but I will give my opinion why in a few minutes. The Valkyries put up a good fight as I knew they would. They had the Lynx on the ropes for 3 quarters. The Lynx looked confused and panicky, but they regrouped in the 4th quarter and came through like champions. Congratulations to the Valkyries for an outstanding season as a expansion team. The Liberty played their best with all the injuries they faced during the season. I think they never had enough playing time as a team to develop the chemistry needed to come together efficiently. The Aces and Storm turned out to be a better series than expected. Nneka Ogwumike and Skyler Diggins gave the Aces all they could handle, but in the end, Aja Wilson was just too much for Dominique Malongo to handle being a rookie. Now, back to the Dream and Fever. Indiana pulled off an upset. Even though the Fever have a good team overall, the Dream have a better team. But the Fever deserve a lot of credit because they pulled it off with injuries to their key players.
I am going to give my honest opinion on why I think the Dream were defeated. First I will say, without naming any names, I see some big egos and jealously issues on the Dream. And the Coach has to get this under control for them to win a Championship. Good luck coach, you have your work cut out for you and you have my sympathy. Second, me personally, I would have positioned Griner down low, almost under the goal. All she would have to do is catch, turn and kiss the ball off the square on the glass. I would also have Brittney to dunk it a couple of times. There is no one in the WNBA that could stop her, not even Aja Wilson. Griner is 6'9" with an over 7'1" wing span. This would have taken some of the pressure off of Brionna Jones. Naz is a good talent, lots of hustle, but she is not the intimidating factor as Jones and Griner. Third, Te-Hina Paopao ended the season with a 40% 3 point field goal percentage and a 45% overall field goal percentage. Paopao came into the game in the 4th quarter, second game and hit 11 points. Why was she not inserted earlier? I think she could have won the game. She was on fire when the others did not shoot well. I noticed Paopao does not take a lot of shots for fear of offending the veterans and I will not name names once again. I also have never seen Paopao take a bad shot. I think some plays should be designed for Te-Hina Paopao for certain situations like the final game on the inbound play. I saw what happened, but I can't believe it would happen to veterans as such. I see Te-Hina get positioned and set calling for the ball sometimes and she gets ignored. In my opinion that's jealously. And one last time, I will not mention any names. The Dream have a great team with great talent. I think Griner and Paopao are an incredible inside and outside duo and they need to be used differently.
But as I mentioned at the beginning of the commentary concerning the Dream, the egos and jealously have to be checked and put under control. Coach Karl Smesko is a fantastic coach and I congratulate him on the great job he did this season. I am sure he will make the adjustments for next season. I will make my prediction now, the Dream will be Champions next season, providing they resign Griner and Jones. And finally, if Griner resigns, I would hope that she stipulates playing more with Paopao because they have such good chemistry and make a great inside, outside duo.
See you in a couple of days. Enjoy the games.
Anthony D. Colby
Columnist
Sports Consultant
TDG Sports Marketing
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