Going into the playoffs, Karl Smesko decided that he would stick with a seven-player rotation: The starting lineup of Jordin Canada, Allisha Gray, Rhyne Howard, Naz Hillmon, and Angel Reese, with DeWanna Bonner and Isobel Borlase coming off the bench. It’s a very versatile defensive rotation, but it’s also undersized, especially when Reese is on the bench and Bonner and Hillmon play the four and five.
Nevertheless, Smesko has not trusted 6’6” Madina Okot, a rookie who only played two seasons of college basketball before coming to the W. Even in the regular season, Okot averaged just 9.1 minutes per game. In the first two playoff series, she saw seven minutes of action in a blowout Game 1 win against the Washington Mystics and four minutes in Game 2 of that series. After that, she never logged more than two minutes in a game.
Smesko gave her a shot in Game 5, throwing her in the game in the second quarter. She traveled when trying to get to the rim against Kiah Stokes, and Smesko immediately subbed her out again. Okot wasn’t ready for the moment, and, after not playing meaningful minutes since a 103-59 win against the tanking Connecticut Sun in September, who can really blame her?
With the Dream’s offense falling apart completely in Games 4 and 5, Okot’s size could at the very least offer Atlanta a different look and throw off the Valkyries’ defense. But she was never truly given the chance to play through mistakes earlier, learn from them, and prepare for such an important series.
Stokes has been a nightmare to deal with. She recorded at least three blocks in every game, for a record-setting 17, and has locked in on taking Angel Reese out of the game in the last two meetings. If Okot were on the floor with Reese, the Valkyries would have to make a choice: move Stokes off Reese or leave Okot with a notable mismatch against Kayla Thornton, Cecilia Zandalasini, or Kalia Charles.
Karl Smesko is still learning, too
This finals series is a matchup of first-time contenders. Players like Canada, Bonner, Kiah Stokes, Tiffany Hayes, and Thornton have been to the finals before, but both teams only launched themselves into the contender conversation this year. For players like Reese, Howard, and Gabby Williams, this is their first time leading a team on a title run in the WNBA.
It is also a battle between two second-year head coaches who both lost in the first round last year. Both Smesko and Natalie Nakase are learning on the fly, figuring out how to navigate the high stakes of the finals, make adjustments in a best-of-seven series, and maximize their rotations.
The biggest difference between the two coaches is that Smesko came from college, coaching at Florida Gulf Coast for two decades. Nakase, meanwhile, was an assistant coach in the NBA and WNBA before taking over in Golden State. She may not have led a team to the WNBA Finals before, but she was around Becky Hammon for two of the Aces’ three titles.
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