Observations on Min/Tulsa Game

[EVPlus]

Tulsa, no surprise, is playing for pride.

Refs are...generous...towards Tulsa. Minn is getting visibly rattled.

Tulsa's aggressive D is working the first half. Although this could take it's toll by the 4th.

[EVPlus]

Follow up. Yes, I'm bumping my own thread, thank you very much.

Hindsight bias can be a sneaky little b1tch and anyone can say 'I had a lean on so-and-so and this-and that' AFTER the final buzzer. However, I would like to make a few observations after watching the wnba online the past few days (the season costs six buck, btw).

Any team that's repeatedly humiliated is going to play for pride. That means giving them double digits keeps the game far from being a lock, regardless of how over matched they may be.

With the Olympics right around the corner, it makes perfect sense the head coach will pull any Olympian out the minute she knows the final result is safe. After all, what coach wants to be known as the dipsh1t that got an Olympian injured right before the Olympics...?

Refs, being human, may give the over whelming dog, more lee-way. That was clear in the Min/Tulsa game.

Many of these players do not appear to have much of an off season. After the wnba, they will play in Europe. For the Olympians, they have London, the remainder of the wnba season, and then Europe.

Male pro athletes, IMO, will mail it in once they know the game has been won or lost because they tend to be lazy.

Female pro athletes, IMO, will mail it in once they know the game has been won to protect the chances of longetivity in their sport.

This, IMO, is the primary difference between the two leagues - with the common denominator being that back door covers are possible in both the nba and wnba.

The combination of the above theories is 2-1 in this last week of wnba before the Olympic break.

Again, I realize anyone can come off like a handicapping genius after the final buzzer. However, I do think that this is an important lesson in the importance of NOT just looking at past numbers or NOT just seeing how one team will continue to own another just because they have in the past. I absolutely believe that an insight into the human element is undeniably important.