Was an interesting battle between the 2 young bigs. Neither had an easy time scoring against the other - clearly they're not too used to coming up against an opponent their size.
Liz continues to mature though. She copped quite a beating through that game but to her credit spent a lot more time fighting through it and a lot less time whining about it than she would have in the past. Ultimately she stayed on the court and kept scoring after Griner had fouled out.

Both players need to tone back a little on trying to block everything. Sometimes intimidating but legal defence is just as effective as swatting at the ball, and it doesn't cost you personal fouls.

Big win for Phoenix. Nice start for them under the new coach. They actually played defence today :O

Her development and continued improvement is great news for the Opals...

Liz is scoring well - not a lot of boards - but as many have said - Liz will draw the double allowing players like Glory to get the rebound.

I look forward to Liz and Brittney match ups in the future as two of the premier 5 players in womens basketball move forward.

dan - i have not watched the game on live access yet - any dunks ?

No dunks. I don't think Brittney has dunked since the couple she did in the first game of the season.
With her recent knee injury and the ankle she just came back from, might be a while before we see the next one.

Let's hope that J0yce makes Liz the focal point going forward with the Opals & she get's plenty of touches in good scoring areas. As good as LJ has been for the Opals she needs to become the 3rd option behind Liz & O'Hea if the Opals are to become a force again in World Women's Basketball. Not sure LJ will accept a lesser role but it's about time she did IMHO.

If Liz does get good looks inside what do you think opposition coaches are gonna do?

They will double on her and that will release some outside looks, also bring into the game someone like LJ and you can't double two players...

Looking forward to watching them play, bring it on!

Making Cambage the focal point and ensuring she gets plenty of early touches is pretty much from chapter 1 of the Duhhh Book of Basketball Coaching, so no argument from me there. Not sure I'm on board with the O'Hea as the #2 option though. She's really not a create-her-own-score type of player. Not at a good efficiency anyway. She's one of our better outside shooters and will benefit from the extra attention to our bigs though.

In the last month or so, Cambage is getting a good amount of ball and an increasing amount of attention, and she is having to get used to passing out of double- and triple-teams, which is good news for the Opals.
While her moves with the ball aren't much different to what we're used to seeing, I think it's her patience that has improved lately. I noticed that after having things not all go her way against Griner in the paint she stepped out and went with a couple of medium-range jumpers, which have been very rare for her in the WNBA. She can knock those down so I was happy to see her attempt them.

EDD rookie of the year for sure - just about MVP.

sky would have to be happy - cant recall any years where 2 rookies would have to locks for national team straight up.

EDD is erin phillips in laura hodges size + 1 or 2 more inches

EDD is awesome. Your Erin Phillips comparison isn't quite right though because Elena is a pure scorer. Off the dribble, open jumpers, turnarounds, everything. Offensively I'd say she is very much like Lauren Jackson in her early years (before she had fully developed her post game) but with better handles and a better mid-range game.
And yes, an absolute lock for ROTY, and still not without an MVP chance if Chicago keeps winning (atm there are probably a few ahead of her but there is no clear leader yet)