Browsing articles tagged with " Nneka Ogwumike"

Chiney Ogwumike's Winning Character Shaped By Relationship With Sister Nneka

Aug 19, 2014   //   by admin   //   Basketball  //  Comments Off on Chiney Ogwumike's Winning Character Shaped By Relationship With Sister Nneka

Connecticut Sun v Los Angeles SparksWith Round 2 of the Ogwumike battle about to commence, Chiney Ogwumike confidently moved through the Connecticut Sun layup line, as her best friend and older sister, Nneka, stretched at midcourt. More important than a matchup of star siblings, it would be a game between two teams desperately fighting for playoff berths.

A few hours later, 22-year-old Chiney was finished carrying a young team on her back for 37-plus minutes. Despite the rookie’s brilliance, especially in the second half where she scored 17 points, her inexperienced squad squandered a six-point lead with 29.8 seconds left, only to lose by a single point. The Connecticut Sun forward recorded her 13th double-double (23 points, 12 rebounds) of the season, good for third in the league, yet still came away unsatisfied.

“Ugh, I just want to punch her in the face right now,” Chiney joked after the loss, referring to her sister Nneka.

She vented with a smile on her face, but wasn’t able to hide an underlying sense of exasperation. Read more >>

2014 LA Sparks Season Preview: The Quest for a Title

May 16, 2014   //   by admin   //   Basketball  //  Comments Off on 2014 LA Sparks Season Preview: The Quest for a Title

10308123_10152080796178045_3821139540042722202_n-2Last postseason ended in heartbreak, as Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner’s late turnaround jumper over Candace Parker sent the Sparks into an early offseason. In a decisive Game 3, they had lost by a single point on their home court, losing the chance for a Western Conference Finals rematch with the Minnesota Lynx.

It represented the second straight year, in which the Sparks finished 24-10 but failed to emerge from the West and make the WNBA Finals. In 2012, the Lynx similarly eliminated the Sparks by one point at Staples Center.

“To me as a coach,” said Sparks head coach Carol Ross, “I think heartbreakers are always the ones that stick with you the longest, and they have the greatest lessons to be learned.”

In sports, as tough as the defeat(s) may be, typically you have a chance for redemption, a chance to grow from your past failures. Well, the LA Sparks almost didn’t get that chance, at least in Los Angeles.

In December, Sparks owner Paula Madison notified the WNBA that her family could no longer afford to invest in the team. Thus, the WNBA took temporary control of the team. In the ensuing months, it became increasingly likely that the Los Angeles Sparks, one of four still-standing original WNBA franchises, would be bought by the Warriors’ ownership group and moved to the Bay Area.

In early February, however, an investment group led by Lakers legend Magic Johnson and Mark Walter swooped in and saved the day. The team would be remaining in the City of Angels, where it would have more opportunities to compete for titles.

“Magic buys the office lunch all the time,” said Sparks general manager Penny Toler, “and every time he’s getting ready to say his prayer, he’s always like, ‘Penny, the team gotta win, the team gotta win.’” Read more >>

Fire and Ice

Oct 1, 2013   //   by admin   //   Basketball  //  Comments Off on Fire and Ice

Nneka and Chiney Ogwumike Are on Their Way to WNBA Stardom

Screen Shot 2013-11-20 at 12.04.32 AMIt’s easy to get overlooked when playing alongside 2013 WNBA MVP Candace Parker, who has been the face of the league since she was drafted first overall in 2008 out of powerhouse Tennessee. While Nneka Ogwumike may not garner the name recognition of, say, Candace Parker, Brittney Griner or Elena Delle Donne—few do—since entering the league two seasons ago, she has undoubtedly morphed into one of its top interior players. The scary part? She may not even be the best player in her family when all is said and done.

Nneka and her younger sister, Chiney, started out as gymnasts. When they grew too tall for the sport—Nneka, 11 years old, and Chiney, 9—their mom’s coworker recommended they try basketball.

Having never played basketball before, both girls were extremely raw. Nneka persevered through the awkwardness and continued practicing with the other players. Her younger sister, however, felt too embarrassed to continue. “I ran away,” Chiney recalled. “I hid in the bathroom for the rest of that practice.” Read more >>

2013 LA Sparks Season Preview

May 26, 2013   //   by admin   //   Basketball  //  Comments Off on 2013 LA Sparks Season Preview

The Sparks Hope to Fight for a WNBA Championship This Year

Screen Shot 2013-11-21 at 8.53.04 PMThe Los Angeles Sparks open their 2013 season Sunday evening with lofty expectations, one year removed from a tremendously successful season that was halted by the Minnesota Lynx in the Western Conference finals.

In 2012, Carol Ross’ first year at the helm, the squad improved by nine wins, a considerable jump in winning percentage from .441 to .706. Surprisingly, for a franchise that has experienced so much success throughout the WNBA’s history, it was its first 20-win season since 2008, Candace Parker’s rookie year. In fact, ’08 and ’12 are the only seasons Parker has played at least 30 games.

Last year, the Sparks cleaned up, winning most of the league’s biggest awards. Ross earned Coach of the Year honors, first-overall pick Nneka Ogwumike won WNBA Rookie of the Year and guard Kristi Toliver was recognized as the league’s Most Improved Player after increasing her scoring average from 11.2 to 17.5 points per game. Meanwhile, she managed to raise her field-goal percentage to 49.1, including 42.4 percent from three-point range. In the most important individual category, Parker finished second in MVP-voting, earning 253 points, just behind Connecticut’s Tina Charles, who got 345.

Parker put the team on her back last postseason, averaging 28.8 points per game on 57.3 percent shooting. In Game 2 of the Western Conference finals, the MVP runner-up played all 40 minutes and scored 33 points to go along with 15 rebounds, five assists and four blocks. Even so, the Lynx won by a single point, effectively eliminating the Sparks from title contention. Parker didn’t touch the ball once on her team’s final possession. Read more >>

BIO

Aaron Fischman is a sports writer, editor and multimedia journalist, who currently hosts the On the NBA Beat podcast, a weekly interview show he co-founded with fellow USC alums Loren Lee Chen and brother Joshua Fischman in advance of the 2015-16 NBA season. On the podcast, he and the crew interview some of the league’s best reporters on their particular beat. Fischman is also currently hard at work on his first book, a nonfiction baseball story. Read more.