Doggydaddy's Den: DoggyDaddy's Dailies 6/21/16

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Tough news. Crystal Dangerfield will miss the U-18 world championships after it was announced that she will have hip surgery. She is expected back for UConn's pre-season but it's a back break for the incoming UConn freshman. I have few links in the UConn area of the blog.

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No WNBA games Monday, but the big game of the season is finally here.

The 11-0 Minnesota Lynx are visiting the 11-0 Los Angeles Sparks.

Minnesota is the defending champs and playing like it but LA is showing that they are every bit as good. this game will be the first matchup ever in WNBA history with two 11-0 teams.

LA is a terrific shooting team, led by Nneka Owumike, who shot 12-12 from the field against the Dallas Wings to break the WNBA record for field goals made in a game without a miss. She has been fantastic, shooting 69.2% from the field while scoring a team leading 17.6 ppg and 8.8 rpg.

In an unusual circumstance, Candace Parker is playing Robin to Nneka's Batman. She is second in scoring and second in rebounding but she is passing as good as ever (although she does get fancy and careless at times) in leading the team in assists. And Parker is shooting a solid 39.5% on threes.

The guard trio of Kristi Tolliver, Amanda Beard, and Essence Carson have been deadly from the outside shooting 46.6%, 38.9, and 38.9 percent on threes. They also all shoot close to 50% from the field. And they have positive assists to turnover ratios.

Minnesota is led by all-world Maya Moore, who is having another great season. She is averaging 19.7 ppg, 5.4 rpg and 5.0 assists per game. Her three point shooting is down a little at 38.3% but in the games I have watched, she looks as spectacular as ever. Syliva Fowles doesn't seem to age. She is solid at 14.9 ppg and 8.3 rpg. Seimone Augustus does look like she is aging. Her scoring average is down, but she has been injured for some of the season, playing hurt.

The fun aspect of the Minnesota team has been the great play off the bench of Renee Montgomery. Renee is averaging a solid 8.9 ppg and adding 3.1 assists in only 21 mpg. She has been a terror on defense leading the team with 1.8 steals per game. She will have her hands full with the LA guards, but if she can get the best of her matchups, I like the Linx chances.

LA is leading the league in shooting at 49.8% and Minnesota is right behind at 48.7%. LA leads the league in assists per game at 21.1 but against Minnesota is right behind them at 20.7. Which doesn't make surprising the fact that Minnesota and LA are 1-2 in scoring at 87.8 and 86.9 ppg.

LA also leads the lead in points against, giving up only 71.4 ppg, but Minnesota is right behind at 74.2. They are also 1-3 in rebounds against with Minnesota only giving up 30.6 and LA at 33.1.

They also have terrific numbers in FG% against with the Lynx at 41.1 and LA at 41.4. They also are 1-2 in three point FG defense with 25.4%and 25.6%.

The overall numbers are so close, it's really hard to pick a winner. Very evenly match teams. I'd guess I'd have to give the edge to LA for playing at home. But this one really could go either way. If you have NBA-TV, the game is on at 3:30 Tuesday. Tune in if you can!!! One of these teams will set the WNBA record by point 12-0 to start the season. The other team??....won't.

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Please go to this site and vote for Brianna Pulido for "AAC Celebration of the year".

In case you don't remember -

Keep visiting that site. She will need your support to move along in the brackets!

Polly made it to the second round and is up 16-4 over Tulsa Women's Softball!!!!! Keep on voting!

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