Weekly Look at WNBA Stats

Two teams, Connecticut and Detroit, have hit the midway point of their seasons. The Storm will be there on Thursday. Let's take a look at the numbers, shall we?

Team          ORating     Team          DRating
---------------------     ---------------------
Phoenix         106.6     Los Angeles      90.4
Minnesota       103.0     Indiana          90.8
Connecticut     102.3     San Antonio      93.7
Detroit         101.9     Seattle          94.9
Chicago         101.4     Detroit          96.3
New York        101.2     Washington       96.7
Los Angeles      99.2     Houston          96.9
AVERAGE          98.4     Connecticut      98.4
Seattle          97.4     AVERAGE          98.4
San Antonio      96.9     Minnesota        99.2
Sacramento       96.0     Sacramento       99.9
Houston          94.2     New York        100.6
Atlanta          93.0     Chicago         101.6
Washington       92.1     Phoenix         107.6
Indiana          91.3     Atlanta         110.4

The Mercury offense continues surging. A week ago, Phoenix's Offensive Rating was 104.5, and it was 102.8 a week before. I'm pretty sure there's a Mercury rising joke in there somewhere. Phoenix's defense continues to be as bad as ever. Who knew Penny Taylor was really a defensive specialist?

A change at the top of the Defensive Ratings leaderboard, with the Sparks passing Indiana for the title of stingiest defense. The Storm made a nice push forward on the strength of yesterday's dominant defensive effort against Washington. Connecticut's defense is slipping a little.

The Dream's offense has been pretty good lately. However, Atlanta's defense has been as bad as ever, keeping the team winless.

Team          ExpW    Team          ExpW
------------------    ------------------
Los Angeles   23.7    Connecticut   21.7
Minnesota     20.3    Detroit       21.5
San Antonio   19.2    New York      17.7
Seattle       17.6    Indiana       17.3
Houston       16.3    Chicago       16.6
Phoenix       16.2    Washington    12.7
Sacramento    13.6    Atlanta        2.6

For the first time all year, the Sparks lead the league in Expected Wins. That really has more to do with the Sun and Shock beating each other up than the Sparks playing well, given they lost last week. Minnesota '08 is like Storm '07 in terms of winning by a lot and losing by a little. (Also, the Lynx have a really good offense and an average defense, like last year's Storm. Maybe it's something about Alan Horton?)

The Western Conference isn't quite as close in terms of differential as in the standings, where two games separate second place and seventh. However, Minnesota and Phoenix are all very tight. The Monarchs remain the odd team out of this group by differential.

Player              Tm   PER
----------------------------
Diana Taurasi      PHO  30.5
Lauren Jackson     SEA  26.9
Candace Parker     LAS  25.9
Sophia Young       SAS  25.3
Lindsay Whalen     CON  24.9
Cappie Pondexter   PHO  24.8
Candice Wiggins    MIN  24.7
Janel McCarville   NYL  24.6
Lisa Leslie        LAS  23.5
Seimone Augustus   MIN  23.3

Sancho Lyttle      HOU  26.9  162 mins.
Sylvia Fowles      CHI  24.6  123
Tasha Humphrey     DET  23.8  166

In addition to the top 10 in PER, I've listed the players who would appear had they played enough minutes to qualify (I'm going with 200 as the current cutoff).

Taurasi has been hot, hot, hot lately and has pulled away from the rest of the league in PER. Parker also made a move up the charts, while Whalen has slumped a little.

The most interesting player here might be Lyttle. Her last two games in place of an injured Tina Thompson have been unreal: 38 points, 16 rebounds, six assists, nine steals, 17-for-21 shooting. Yikes! Find her some minutes when Thompson gets healthy.