WNBA playoff previews: Thursday’s games

Former Pitt stars Brianna Kiesel and Shavonte Zellous are set to make a run at the WNBA title when playoff action begins this Thursday night. Coach Fred got me comfortable starting or coming off the bench.

Like Kiesel, Zellous put up a season-high in points in her last game of the regular season by scoring 22 in an 81-76 victory over the New York Liberty. “If I’m blocking shots or changing shots or even preventing players from taking shots, I’m helping the team and we are likely to win when our defense is playing well”.

Game one of the three game series with Phoenix (20-14) tips off this Thursday, September 17, at 10 p.m. EST.

The league on Thursday announced Griner as the 2015 Defensive Player of the Year, marking the second consecutive season Griner has come away with the award. Her average was also almost 2.0 blocks per game more than LaToya Sanders of Washington who finished second in the league with an average of 1.95 blocks per game. Tulsa counters with the backcourt of Odyssey Sims (16.0 ppg, 3.8 apg) and Riquna Williams (15.6 ppg), though Williams is listed as questionable (calf). “We need to get her away from the rim”. In the spring, a domestic violence arrest earned her and then-fiancée Glory Johnson each a seven-game suspension by the league.

Griner has found herself making regular appearances in the tabloids, and having newspapers and television stations covering her contentious divorce proceedings.

“You can defend it or you can lose in the first round”, Brondello said.

“I know what kind of person she is and she’s a really good person at the core”, Pitman said. She always draws the toughest defensive assignment. “They had our backs, and now, we’re going to the playoffs”. Griner totaled 105 blocks in just 26 games.

“Don’t worry”, she told her boss.