24 June 2015 - Chicago Sky 100, Atlanta Dream 96 (OT)

Random comments about last afternoon's game in Chicago:

* Eric Collins and Stephen Bardo are a good announcing team.  I really enjoyed their play-by-play and particularly the comments of Bardo.  Furthermore, Bardo will give the visiting teams credit and will point out bad calls that favor the home team.

* There was one point at the end of the first quarter where Ajavon was under the basket, and McCoughtry noticed it and passed her the ball. Problem was, Ajavon stopped looking for the ball and McCoughtry's pass led to a turnover.  McCoughtry was not a happy camper.

* Pondexter can shoot off the bounce.  I suspect that a lot of the great shooters can.

* Pokey Chatman has an interesting phrase that I've heard her use and that the announcers reminded me of - whenever she wants to see multiple defenders on a offensive dynamo (like McCoughtry) she uses the phrase "We want to take a team picture whenever X has the ball".  This means that if you were to snap a picture of McCoughtry with the ball, you want to see a lot of Sky players next to her.

* An interesting comment from the announcers.  According to Chatman, without Fowles the Sky are "offensively better and defensively worse".  I suspect they're offensively better because they don't have to worry about Fowles's (relative) lack of speed on transition.  However - and this proved to be a problem - Chicago couldn't get de Souza in foul trouble because they had no dominant post player to challenge her.  The Dream should do what they did in the fourth quarter, push the ball to the posts and make Chicago work.

* How many players fouled out of that game?  Vandersloot, Ajavon, Hodges....

* The game ended with Delle Donne blocking McCoughtry's final shot.  How apropos.  I think Delle Donne set a career records in blocks, too.

* If Elena Delle Donne keeps playing like this - and if she stays healthy, which is a BIG if - it might be the most amazing season in professional basketball, men's or women's.  Her PER is like over 40 right now.

Atlanta Dream Finally Make it to Playoffs, Thump Chicago 98-74 on Road

For those of you out there still reading the blog, the long wait is over. The Atlanta Dream's 107-69 win over the Sky on the road finally clinch another playoff spot for the Atlanta Dream, snapping a four-game losing streak where the Dream sometimes played so poorly that I despaired of them winning another game. Currently Atlanta is in fourth place with two home games left - each one against a team that has beaten us at home (Tuesday the 17th against Chicago, Sunday the 22nd against Washington). Trust me, the regular season isn't over yet; home field advantage will be crucial and we don't have that yet.

The box score is here. If you read closely, that box score is a thing of beauty - five players in double figures, Brittainey Raven finally getting over 10 minutes in the game, Alison Bales with a double-double, the Dream shooting 56.1 percent. The Sky's shooting of 55.9 percent at teh line was absolutely horrible, with Dominique Canty missing seven times in 11 attempts.

In the same link above under "GAME STORY" you'll find the AP writeup. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, not sending Pierce W. Huff, simply grabs the story off the AP wire. At least they reported it.

``They decided that that was enough,'' Atlanta coach Marynell Meadors said. ``They came out and played like they have been playing throughout the season, with a lot of enthusiasm and passion for the game. They shared the ball extremely well and played some really good defense.''

The Chicago Daily-Herald had the best headline: "Sky Rolls Over, Plays Dead in Loss". Quoteth Sylvia Fowles:

"Tonight we came out and played like boo-boo. I thought we were going to be ready to play." The Sky played like Boo-Boo; the Dream played like Yogi and the Park Ranger.

The Chicago Tribune reports "Coach 'embarrassed' by Sky's play in loss to Dream". Jack McCarthy writes it up:

"We should be embarrassed for (this) kind of play" Sky coach Steven Key said. "The hard part is that we know that's not us as a team. That's not the way we practice, that's not the way we played all season long."

I think Steven Key's going to have a lot to worry about in the off-season, more than just some embarrassment.

Canada.com provides a simple report.

I'm not so much excited as I am...relieved. We're in again, and thank God. We'll worry about where we're in later.

Dream Lose to Sky, Lyttle Knocked Unconscious

More on this later.

Atlanta vs. Chicago, Saturday July 3

Who: The Atlanta Dream (13-4) take on the Chicago Sky (7-9) in an Eastern Conference game.

The Dream are led by Angel McCoughtry, who is scoring 19.8 points per game. Sancho Lyttle (14.5 ppg/10.6 rpg) is an All-Star caliber post, and Iziane Castro Marques (17.1 ppg) will be playing on the Brazilian national team at the end of the season with Erika de Souza (12.0 ppg/8.0 rpg). The Sky are led by Sylvia Fowles (18.7 ppg, 8.8 rpg) who is an MVP attender, and the Sky are backed up by Jia Perkins (10.4 ppg) and rookie Epipphany Prince (9.8 ppg, 19.6 mpg).

What: The third of five regular season games against the Chicago Sky and the last meeting until the middle of August - out of three three final games of the regular season for the Dream two will be against Chicago. The teams have split so far this season, with Chicago winning in Atlanta 80-70 on June 4 and Atlanta returning the favor in Chicago for the Dream's first win in the Windy City, 93-86 on June 15th.

Where: Philips Arena in Atlanta.

When: Tip-off is at 7 pm Eastern time, Saturday, July 3rd in Atlanta. You should be able to watch the game on Sports South in Atlanta and on NBA TV elsewhere. Comcast 100 in Chicago should also be showing the game. And of course, there's WNBA Live Access for those who have computers.

Why: Atlanta and Chicago might not be rivals, but the Sky always seem to know the answer for any question Atlanta poses. The Dream have won five straight and six out of their last seven but this is the Dream's fourth game in seven days and the only thing anyone can talk about is fatigue. It's something that Dream fans should be worried about given Chicago's success against Atlanta - the Sky are the only reason the Dream are undefeated at home this year. The Sky have won three of their last four games including an impressive 92-80 win against Connecticut in Chicago .

Something to look out for: the first half score. If the Dream are leading at the half, it's a good portent. The Dream have a 5-0 record in games where they've led at halftime...which means that 12 times this year the Dream were behind at halftime.

Another thing to watch is free throw performance. The Dream shoot 68.1 percent from the free throw line. It's not the worst of all time, by far - the 1998 Mystics shot 64.5 percent from the free throw line - but it is pretty bad, 11th out of 12 teams in the league. Iziane Castro Marques is hitting 62.5 percent from the free throw line and Erika de Souza is hitting 51.4 percent of her free throw shots. (Last year Erika hit 65.3 percent of her free throws.) You know it's a bad year for Erika when Armintie Price is outperforming her at the stripe.

Atlanta is favored by 6 1/2 by covers.com...but is only favored by one point by masseyratings.com. If you can get out there tonight and support the Dream, they'd appreciate it.

New Dream-Sky Gallery

"Izi's the one you should worry about!"

SportsPageMagazine.com is breaking the photographic barrier with a new gallery of Dream-Sky photos. Click the link and show you love the Atlanta Dream...and Atlanta Dream pictures!

Atlanta Beats Chicago 93-86, First Ever Dream Win in Chicago

We needed to prove we could win in Chicago...and we did. Great win by the Dream!

(Didn't see it. Screw WNBA Live Access. It doesn't work for me.)

We have five players in double figures in the box score. Iziane Castro Marques shot 10-for-16 and had 31 total points.

The Dream go to Indianapolis on Saturday. Let's win there!

Atlanta vs. Chicago, Tuesday June 15

Who: The Atlanta Dream (8-3) take on the Chicago Sky (4-6) in an Eastern Conference Game.

The Dream are led by Angel McCoughtry, who is scoring 20.8 points per game. Sancho Lyttle (15.3 ppg/10.6 rpg) is an All-Star post, and Iziane Castro Marques (15.3 ppg) will be playing on the Brazilian national team at the end of the season with Erika de Souza (12.2 ppg/9.4 rpg). The Sky are led by Sylvia Fowles (19.3 ppg/8.1 rpg) and rookie Epipphany Prince (9.1 ppg).

What: The second of four regular season games against the Chicago Sky. The Dream lost the first of these games this year at home against the Sky 80-70 on June 4th.

Where: Allstate Arena in Chicago.

When: Tipoff is at at 8 pm Eastern time, Tuesday June 15. The game will be available on Live Access.

Why: With the Dream back on top in the Eastern Conference and hitting free throws, the next question should be - how come the Dream can't beat the Chicago Sky? The Dream are 1-7 all time against Chicago, and after losing to the Seattle Storm the Dream lost their second straight game of the season against the Sky at home.

The Sky have been streaky this year - starting the season off 0-4 and then winning the next four games, including beating the Storm and the Dream. The Sky have now lost two straight again, and both of those losses were double-digit losses against Eastern Conference teams (L 85-70 vs. New York, L 95-78 vs. Mystics). It might be a little bit tougher for Chicago as Shameka Christon got hit in the face with an elbow in the Washington game three minutes in and her status is still questionable. Christon averages 8.5 points per game.

Over those two losses by the Sky their opponents have shot 57 percent against the team, so Atlanta should feel hopeful that they might get their first win ever against Chicagon on their home ground. A good team should be able to beat anyone. However, the Sky are favored by 2 1/2 against Atlanta by covers.com.

8/2010 - Sky 80, Dream 70

"Arthur, we're not always this bad."
"I believe you. I'm still waiting for MY ring."

All right. I'm going to have to revisit this one, but God knows what I'll write about it. It's just one of those memories that you don't want to return to, when you were at some teen function and someone insulted you to uproarious laughter and you came up with the perfect comeback - two years later. In this case, it was the Sky that insulted the Dream and the Dream had no comeback, just shriveling away.

My observations, again:

1) Tonight was "Green Night" for the Dream. The last time we had a Green Night at Philips Arena we beat the holy heck out of the Phoenix Mercury 106-76. Maybe we needed the exact same color of green, but hey, we were 1-0 during our attempts to improve environmental awareness, and we were 1-6 all time against the Sky. If the Green Mojo was going to work, it would be for this game.

2) My first concern was Iziane Castro Marques. Usually, the Dream do some sort of shootaround before the game, one of those weaves where a player shoots, then runs over to a forming line of players on the opposite side of the court to make her next shot. Most players jog through these drills, trying to get some pep going.

Iziane was walking through drill. (This will not be a "practice" rant that most NBA fans have used regarding Allen Iverson.) I thought, "wow, if Iziane can't get into this game who else can't?"

3) The National Anthem was sung by Dream season ticket holder (called STHs in WNBA parlance) and Dream ambassador Emile Worthy. He did a servicable job, singing most of it in a low baritone. He wasn't a professional singer, but at least I should give him credit for not trying (and failing) to stretch the song into a two-octave range: the man knew his limitations.

4) Looked for Dream fan pilight. I never saw him in the crowd. Later, I learned that he arrived late due to traffic. He didn't miss anything.

5) Dream starters: Lehning, McCoughtry, Lyttle, Iziane, Erika.
Sky starters: Canty, Perkins, Christon, Kraayeveld, Fowles

6) There's usually a Dream ceremonial ball exchange, where the Dream come storming out of the tunnel, get a basketball and hand it off to some deserving fans. This time, the ball exchange invitees were from Williams Sullivan High School. When the name of the school was announced, there was a roar from the crowd. Williams Sullivan High School has their own entourage! Represent, Williams Sullivan!!

7) The announcer made note of two celebrities in the crowd. I believe they were here for the "Celebrity Dads and Daughters" promotion.

The first one was owner of the Atlanta Falcons Arthur Blank. I was glad to see him here, helping out the Dream just by showing up even though he didn't have to. The other one was Mike Smith, the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons. As he was announced, he got a scattering of applause, except for one man who waited until the applause died and screamed "BOO!!"

Maybe Mike Smith needed to bring his own entourage, or at least give Williams Sullivan High School a call.

8) The first sign this was going to be a bad game for Angel McCoughtry was very early in, about two minutes in. Jia Perkins of the Sky and Angel McCoughtry were going at it and McCoughtry just shoves Perkins out of her position. It was an offensive foul, McCoughtry's fault on the touch, and yet McCoughtry had some words for the officials. Two shots for Perkins, and it's later 6-2 Chicago.

9) Someone sent me some mail recently asking a question so I rewatched the part of the first quarter up until the 5:34 mark. This is when the Sky had a 12-6 lead and McCoughtry was suddenly yanked. McCoughtry had made a grand total of one shot, and the Dream failed to get the ball to her when she was open on at least one occasion.

Looking again, the matchup was clearly McCoughtry vs. Perkins. McCoughtry looked very tired, sort of jogging rather than sprinting. I don't know if it was lack of effort or just exhaustion but Perkins clearly knew that McCoughtry wasn't going to give her any problems. During the time McCoughtry was on the court, Perkins was 3-for-3, contributing six points of the Sky's twelve.

10) When McCoughtry was yanked for Price, it seemed to wak up Atlanta. A pair of drives to the hoop by Price and then by Iziane, and Atlanta was just down 10-12. A 3-pointer from Kelly Miller gave the DReam their first lead of the game, 15-12.

11) Mike Smith learned the perils of sitting courtside - Armintie Price knocked a ball into Mike Smith's direction, and the coach of the Falcons almost had a souvenir.

12) The lead didn't last long. An Epipphany Prince jumper was followed by a layup by Sylvia Fowles, who got fouled and picked up the free throw. The Dream were down 16-15.

Both teams were beginning to bring their second units in. Tamera Young - remember her, Dream fans? - attempted a drive to the basket and Sancho Lyttle just hacked Young. Lyttle had her second personal foul, seemingly always starting the second quarter with two personal fouls. Young got one of two free throws to make it an 18-15 game.

13) With the first quarter winding down and Sylvia Fowles off the court, it seemed that the Dream couldn't catch a break. With no time on the shot clock, Erin Thorn uncorked a basket as the 24-second buzzer sounded to give the Sky a 22-15 lead. Armintie Price was fouled while shooting for two shots with 22.9 seconds left.

Price hit the first shot. She usually only hits one of two. Every time the announcer says, "Armintie Price shooting two," I mutter back, "and hitting one."
She got the first shot but the second was wiped away when Yelena Leuchanka stepped into the lane too soon.

Thorn's final shot missed, and the Sky led 22-16 at the end of one. Both Angel McCoughtry and Erika de Souza were scoreless, and the Dream had eight turnovers.

14) McCoughtry came back out at the beginning of the second quarter but she was still having a few problems. Tamera Young came out to guard McCoughtry.

McCoughtry went right. Young went right.
McCoughtry went left. Young went left.
McCoughtry went right. Young went right.

McCoughtry's initial drive was negated. She ended up missing her first shot, but she helped with a mini-rally. Down 25-18 after a 3-pointer from Erin Thorn, McCoughtry found Yelena Leuchanka who scored and then hit a 3-pointer of her own to close the gap to 25-23.

15) However, Shameka Christon fired a long three of her own and the Sky were further away again. It seemed that the Dream were going to stay within about 6-7 points of the Sky - never getting a run long enough to close the gap but never allowing the Sky to sprint away. And so it went.

16) The Dream are still wearing their "Armed With a Dream" tattoos. This is a promotion with Aaron's Inc. and the Children's Hospital of Atlanta where Dream players will wear a stick-on tattoo of a patient's name during the game. On the name of the upper arm of every Dream player was "Catrina", this game's honoree.

Someone told me that McCoughtry had hers on upside-down. I have no graphic evidence, not yet anyway.

17) We had another celebrity in the house: Vivica Fox. I thought she was known as "Vivica A. Fox", myself. Don't try to visit her website unless you have a computer that can handle Matrix-level graphics.

Hmm. I wonder if she's here in Atlanta to film a show. "Kill Bill Part Three?" "Tyler Perry's Vivica A. Fox?"

18) I happened to catch Kathy Betty (owner of the Dream) hobnobbing in the front row with Arthur Blank (owner of the Falcons). It would be interesting to know what they were chatting about, even if it were only small talk. Maybe Blank is telling Betty that what the Dream needs is a brand new stadium somewhere in Doraville.

19) I always seem to be of three minds regarding Iziane Castro Marques. When both she and Angel are on fire, the Dream can't be stopped. I'm perplexed, however, at her sometimes indifferent defense and her attempts to shoot in front of three defenders.

However, Izi can amaze you. She hit a 3-pointer to close the game to 33-28 and when she got the ball back she executed a beautiful behind-the-back dribble in motion that left me amazed. Clearly, Iziane Castro Marques is a skilled player, but how do you get the best out of her?

20) Dominique Canty got the ball from Sylvia Fowles on a drive to the basket to put the Sky up 35-28. When Canty got the ball back again, Angel committed a shooting foul that sent Canty back to the free throw line, where she hit one of two.

36-28 Sky. 4:22 left. Meadors yanked McCoughtry once again, and we didn't see her for the rest of the first half.

21) With the second quarter winding down, the Dream tried to provide at least some defensive intensity. It was the offense that the Dream couldn't get right - they just couldn't move the ball in the halfcourt. All in all, the Dream committed 13 first-half turnovers.

The only thing that saved the last few minutes of the second half was Coco Miller. Not Kelly Miller, Coco Miller although it's hard to tell because each player has the name "MILLER" on her jersey with no initial. (They might simply be wearing the same jersey, with one Miller hidden in the wings for the hand-off while the other claims the need of a bathroom break.) Coco Miller hit a sweet 3-pointer and then saved an Erika de Souza miss on a putback with 11 seconds left after the offensive rebound to close the Dream within five points, 40-35 at halftime.

22) At least the halftime show was interesting. Human bowling. At the end of the lane an ersatz bowling alley was set up with gigantic plastic pins. Contestants pushed their partners down the court while they rode a platform with wheels on it - one person was the bowler and the other sitting on the platform was the ball. I think one of the contestants lost her slipper.

The Dream was outshooting the Sky, 44.4 percent to 41 percent. However, the Sky had taken 12 more shots than the Dream had. Furthermore, the Sky were leading the offensive rebounding battle which is unheard of. Atlanta's rebound game had disappeared. Erika had six rebounds, but Sancho Lyttle only had two. The Dream had been held to just two offensive rebounds in the first half...and Coco Miller had one of those.

23) Other announcements. Brian Finnerman was announced as being in attendance late in the second quarter. I had no idea who Brian Finnerman was. He's a wide receiver for the Atlanta Falcons.

24) There was more halftime joy from the High Velocity Super Dunking Crew. This was the third or fourth time I've seen the Crew, and let me tell you, they can put on a shot. However, the Dream's bad luck seemed to rub off on them, as they missed two point-blank dunks. The Super Dunking Crew is usually more sure-handed.

25) Recieving the handoff in the beginning of the second half - some kids from Walker High School. They didn't seem to have the entourage that the Williams Sullivan High School kids had.

26) Angel started again in the third quarter. Her line from the first half: 1-for-4, 5 points, 10 minutes played. She spent ten seconds on the dribble against Jia Perkins and couldn't move the ball against her. Perkins was on McCoughtry like Teflon on a non-stick griddle.

As it turned out, no one else was going to move the ball either. The Dream looked like they were sleepwalking - always a half-step off, never in rhythm. They lacked fluidity, the sign of a well-running team. When a team is in the zone, it seems that every pass is crisp and every rebound decisive. Every opportunity falls into their hands. None of those descriptions characterized the Dream.

The Sky went on a 16-6 run to start the third quarter. Sancho Lyttle picked up a blocking foul, her third. Erika de Souza picked up a blocking foul. De Souza still hadn't scored. The Dream simply couldn't find her on the court, and when you can't find Erika de Souza on a court, you know that you're going to have problems.

The run ate up almost five minutes of the third quarter. If it weren't for Sancho Lyttle - who scored all six points for the Dream in the first five minutes of the third - it would have been a 16-0 Chicago run. All the Dream had to show for it was two turnovers, two personal fouls and three missed shots.

The Dream only took four shots in that five minute Chicago run. You can't win games that way. The Dream's lack of activity just killed the crowd.

27) To keep the crowd interested, Mike Smith and Brian Finnerman faced off with a 3-point challenge. Finnerman proved to be the winner, hitting a single 3-pointer in the alotted time.

28) Tonight's Karaoke singer was Brittainey Raven, who sang Keri Hilson's "Knock Me Down". I didn't recognize the song, and definitely not due to Raven's singing. Raven's vocal range is two notes.

So why wasn't Raven in the game with the Dream down 56-43 and 4:13 left on the clock? That's the life of a third-round draft pick that makes the team - the only time you're going to get is when you're up - or down - by twenty points.

29) What I didn't like: on a possession both Alison Bales and Shalee Lehning passed up shots that I thought either of them could have made. Ladies, you're down by double-digits, what on earth are you waiting for?

30) The officiating: not good. I'm not going to whine too much about it, but it was clearly substandard. It's not to blame for our loss, though.

31) For a few moments, there was a raw of hope. Down 58-46 and with about 2 1/2 minutes left, Iziane hit a 3-pointer off an assist from Shalee Lehning. Thirty seconds later Price found Iziane all alone and Iziane downed another three.

58-52 Chicago! There was still hope!

32) And then, twenty seconds later, hope disappeared. Alison Bales was called for a phantom foul - Shameka Christon tripped without any contact from Bales and the ref from the other side of the court called an illegal screen. The ball went back into the Sky's hands, and Bales was called for a foul trying to defend Sylvia Fowles. The Sky had the momentum again.

Fowles would get one of two free throws. Lehning would get a couple of free throws and Prince would score under the basket. The Sky had a 61-54 lead at the end of the third quarter.

33) The Dream were still outshooting the sky. Even without the help of Angel McCoughtry or Erika de Souza, the Dream were shooting 46.3 percent from the field - but the Sky were shooting 44.4 percent and had taken 13 more shots. The Dream put together a 13-5 run to end the third quarter, which is why they were only down by seven. The Sky was still winning the battle of the glass.

34) As the fourth quarter started, the hope was that the Dream could stir from their doldrums. McCoughtry was sitting on the bench as the fourth quarter started. Lyttle scored the first points of the fourth with a layup that closed us within five points - but Shameka Christon fired a rainbow 3-pointer that put the Sky up 64-58.

It was time for another Sky run. The Dream would go cold to start the fourth as the Sky took a 10-4 run over the first four minutes to take a 73-61 lead. The Dream was back down by double digits again. The hope was that either Cathrine Kraayeveld or Shameka Christon - each with four personal fouls - would hit foul trouble and that Chicago would need more of their second unit.

The crowd certainly wanted to jump in. They screamed when Kelly Miller hit a 3-pointer for the Dream's 61st point. But it seemed that the Sky would stay up by double-digits for a little while. The Sky only had five minutes left in the fourth quarter and Chicago was entering RuPaul territory - the man who advises his aspiring drag queens to "Don't f**k it up." If the Sky didn't screw up, they'd have the win. Who knows, this was the Chicago Sky...the Sky might indeed f**k it up. We could only hope.

35) With 3:48 left in the fourth, McCoughtry had been back on the court for around three minutes. She hit a 3-pointer, her ninth point, to bring Atlanta back up to 76-66.

Steven Key, the Chicago coach, has a new nickname from me: "Pope". It's because when he complains to the referees, he has both arms outstreched as if he's giving an imaginary benediction.

36) A pair of free throws by Atlanta closed it back to 76-68. With 2:15 left, McCoughtry committed foul #4 of the game.

37) Over the final three minutes of the game, only six points were scored. I suspected that both teams wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible. The Sky wanted another win. The Dream players just wanted to forget.

The crowd was starting to head for the exits at Philips Arena. They weren't leaving. They were fleeing. Fleeced once again by Chicago. Beaten by Steven Friggin Key.

38) With 13 seconds left, McCoughtry broke into double digits in scoring. A layup closed the Dream to 80-70. But we needed a lot more than 13 seconds. The game was over.

Thank goodness! Let's hope for a win tonight against the Mystics!

Dream Lose Second Straight Against Sky, 80-70

With much love to audsquad, the blogger at the Chicago Sky Blog, man do I hate the G*******d Chicago Sky.

Pierce W. Huff is off the block with the first post-mortem from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Score Atlanta tells you the score, Atlanta.

The Dream lost 80-70. Don't let the score fool you. The Dream weren't in it all game. Angel McCoughtry looked lost. Erika de Souza was held scoreless. And to top it off, we go to Washington and play the Mystics back to back.

That was a game I just don't want to think about anymore. What the hell happened?

Atlanta vs. Chicago, Friday June 4

Who: The Atlanta Dream (6-1) take on the Chicago Sky (2-4) in an Eastern Conference Game.

The Dream are led by Angel McCoughtry, who is scoring 22.9 points per game. Sancho Lyttle (14.6 ppg/9.9 rpg) and Erika de Souza (11.95 ppg/10.0 rpg) are Atlanta's All-Star posts that provide any team trouble. Chicago is led by Sylvia Fowles (18.0 ppg, 7.0 rpg) and Cathrine Kraayeveld (10.2 ppg)

What: The first of four regular season games against the Chicago Sky. In 2009, the Dream were swept over the course of the regular season by the Sky, losing all three games against them. The last loss was an 82-80 loss at Philips Arena on August 8th, 2009.

Where: Philips Arena in Atlanta, GA.

When: Tipoff is at at 7 pm Eastern time, Friday, June 4th. The game will be televised on Fox Sports South, but it could also be blacked out/delayed depending on attendance. If you flip the channel and the game isn't on, come back at about 10 pm.

Why: When the Atlanta Dream played the Seattle Storm this Friday, Seattle was coming into the game with a single loss. That loss was an 84-75 road loss against the Chicago Sky. The Sky can be tough when they want to be, but now, they're 2-4 and sitting at the bottom of the Eastern Conference.

This game is a "mental toughness" game - can the Dream bounce back on their home court after such a big loss to Seattle on the road? If so, it will confirm that in the Eastern Conference the Dream are still the team to beat, one reason being that the Dream beating the Sky is a rarity. The Dream are 1-6 all time against their Eastern Conference sisters, with the only win being the first win ever by the Atlanta Dream franchise in 2008, one that broke a 17-game losing streak to start the 2008 season.

The Sky have at least one good player - Sylvia Fowles, a player that might be the WNBA's true MVP despite all of this talk about McCoughtry and Jackson. Fowles's 18 points per game might not look so impressive compared to McCoughtry's 22, but Big Syl is shooting 63 percent from the floor - 38-for-60 over the season. For the Dream to get that win, Lyttle and de Souza are going to have to negate Big Syl under the basket. Chicago Rookie Epipphany Prince is averaging 9.5 ppg despite playing only 20.5 minutes per game.

PER and the Triple Trade

The biggest thing in WNBA news is a three-team trade centered around the Phoenix Mercury's Cappie Pondexter. With Phoenix struggling with cap space, they send Pondexter and Kelly Mazzante to the New York Liberty. The Libs send Shameka Christon and Cathrine Kraayeveld to the Chicago Sky, and the Sky's Candice Dupree finds herself in a Mercury uniform.

I decided to look at the weighted Player Efficiency Ratings (PER) of all parties involved in the trade. The parenthesis indicate the minutes played by the given player - the resulting career PER is weighted by minutes.

Weighted Career PER

Dupree: 19.85
Pondexter/Mazzante: 21.63 (4110)/12.24(2852) : 17.78
Christon/Kraayeveld: 15.19 (5382)/13.24(3915) : 14.37

It look like at least in the short term, the winners are going to be the New York Liberty. If they can figure out a way to not play Kelly Mazzante - the weakest player involved in the trade - it's an even bigger win, but I suspect that the Libs need all the players they can get. Pondexter is entering the peak years of her career and as they say, "Pondexter can move product" - she's popular and fun. New York seems to have an affinity for players that have names that others find hard to spell, but I think that Pondexter is less likely to be misspelled than Cathrine Kraayeveld.

In the long term, the winner might be the Phoenix Mercury. Dupree isn't as good as Pondexter, but she's two years younger and there's more upside. Dupree is already a three-time All-Star and playing for a WNBA champion can't hurt her pedigree.

I suspect the losers are going to be the Chicago Sky. They lose their franchise player and Christon is two years away from the red light going off in her palm. However, Christon's last two years have been better than the previous years. Kraayeveld will just be glad to play.

Chicago Sky Seals Cable TV Deal with Comcast

Chicago WNBA fans that have Comcast cable will be very happy campers, as almost all of the Sky's 2010 games will be broadcast on channel CN 100:

From the press release:

The Sky and CN100 have reached a groundbreaking agreement in which CN100 will carry 28 out of 34 Chicago Sky basketball games, including 15 Sky home games at Allstate Arena and 13 road games. Plus, the Sky will provide unique content, including extensive game-highlight videos and feature stories that will be available to Comcast customers via On Demand.

"Our fans deserve the best," said Margaret Stender, President and CEO of the Chicago Sky. "To that end, we are thrilled to be aligning with Comcast the market leader, and together providing comprehensive coverage of world class WNBA action and athleticism. It is a great growth statement for our fans and our franchise."

Add the two ESPN2 games and that's 30 out of 34 games televised this year - an increase of 600 percent over the previous year. Hey, maybe the Dream can swing a deal like that with Comcast Atlanta.....

(Tip provided by an anonymous commenter.)

Steven Key Gets Two Year Contract Extension

From the Chicago Tribune:

"[Chicago Sky Head Coach Steven Key] did a great job of tackling the season's many challenges and injuries with flexibility, creativity and confidence. There is no doubt in my mind that he will continue to move the team forward," Sky president and CEO Margaret Stender said.

I'm sure the Chicago Sky Blog will have something to say about that.

Sky Blog in the House!!

It looks like the Chicago Sky have a new fan blog. The author, Audrey, is a Sky season ticket holder and as she writes, "I’m just gonna start writing and we’ll just have to wait and see what this blog evolves into."

It looks...awesome. The layout is a pleasure to look at, the use of color is great and the wordpress platform adds a lot of zing. You need to go over and take a look. I'll definitely be following this, and I hope you do too.

SLAM Examines the WNBA

SLAM Online has one of the best articles I've read about a WNBA game. John Krolic covers the Sky/Sparks game and this is what he has to say:

So, what did I learn from this foray into the highest levels of women’s basketball? First off, don’t let all the jazz about how the women’s game is a fundamental, almost Marxist affair on the court fool you — this is just as much of a league of stars as the NBA. The division between the money players and the role players might be even more pronounced than it is on the men’s side of things, and the stars are just as impressive to watch. Watching Dupree explode from the high-post and look at once forceful and serpentine as she got an and one, Leslie work like a professor in the paint at both ends of the floor, and Candace Parker do just about everything that can be done with a basketball is just as impressive as watching the LeBrons, Wades, and Kobes of this world, believe me.

The other lesson, and this is one that could inform how we watch the men’s game, is that the WNBA really is a bastion of all the skills that many have lamented no longer exist in the men’s game — post moves, floaters, bank shots, mid-range jumpers, weak-side feeds, ball rotation, flex sets that take three screens and five passes before a good shot. But it’s also apparent that women utilize all of these things because they’re forced to — as beautiful as a made basket ends up looking in the women’s pro game, it cannot be ignored that the baskets also come far less frequently. The women can’t explode to the rack or drain three-pointers as well as the guys can, so they’ve been forced to adapt with mid-range strategies. The mid-range game in the NBA is a casualty of logic — dunks and threes are the focus in the NBA because they work, to put it simply. The WNBA game is wonderful to watch because the women have to show the kind of ingenuity and perseverance to get buckets that was necessary in the NBA’s early days, but it should be realized that the nostalgia for these skills in the NBA game is what it is — a desire for strategy to take a step backwards on the macro level, even if the game appears dumbed-down on the micro level.

Sky is Movin' On Up

The Chicago Sky have announced that the team will be changing arenas next year. The move will be from the UIC Pavilion to the Allstate Arena. Allstate Arena has a capacity of 17,500 for basketball; the UIC Pavilion only seated about 7,000 max.

I'm sure Chicago Sky fans are glad about two things - they're moving to a bigger arena and you can be sure that the Sky aren't going to Tulsa.

22/2009 - Sky 82, Dream 80: Balanced

An interesting fact from the Dream/Sky game on Saturday: every player on the Dream got at least 10 minutes of playing time. I don't think this has happened this year, and it's very interesting to see.

The first thought would be that the reason was that Marynell Meadors was emptying out the cupboard in desperation - but at least, there's food in the cupboard. Everyone on the Dream is capable of giving good minutes more often than not. The Dream has some great depth, but it didn't seem to do us much good on Saturday.

Let's look at each of the Four Factors:

Shooting percentage: This was one of the first games in a while where the Dream were simply out-shot. The Sky hit 49.2 percent of their field goal attempts, and their effective field goal percentage was 52.5 percent. It's very hard to beat a team that's shooting that well. The Dream's effective shooting percentage was 43.2 percent.

In particular, it was Erin Thorn that killed us. Thorn has only averaged 4.7 points per game over her 7-year career, but she had 20 against us. Part of the problem was that she was hot from the floor, and there's nothing you can do about it. Part of it was that Iziane Castro Marques and others were supposed to be defending her, and they just didn't.

Turnovers: WNBA teams generally have the same number of possessions. The Sky turned the ball over three more times than the Dream, 19 to 16. The Dream have managed to control the ball better over the last few games.

Offensive rebounds: The Dream had 15 offensive rebounds, and a 41.7 percent offensive rebounding percentage. The Sky had 10 offensive rebounds and a 32.2 percent offensive rebound percentage. Conventional wisdom is that the Dream match up poorly against the Sky, but the Dream maintained their rebounding dominance.

Free throw visits: The Sky went to the line 33 times and the Dream went only 21 times - however, we hit 81 percent of our shots and the Sky hit only 60 percent of theirs. The Sky particularly had problems finding the basket at the end of the game.

So the Dream scored 17 free throw points and the Sky scored 20 free throw points. That's a 3-point difference, suspiciously like the difference in the final score.

Note that the Dream had zero personal fouls in the first quarter. This kept the Dream from visiting the free throw line in the second quarter. I bet that if Chicago had fouled in the first quarter, we might have gotten a couple of points off free throws.

And now, let's take a look at the Sky:

Erin Thorn: 20 points and 3 rebounds. Her 20 points off the bench not only led all scorers, but she helped spark a second-quarter run that put the Sky in control of the game almost till the end. Furthermore, Thorn's 20 points was a season high.
Candice Dupree: A double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds.
Jia Perkins: 14 points and 5 assists, but 5 personal fouls.
Dominique Canty: 10 points and 4 steals.

As for the Dream....

Ivory Latta: We've been waiting for Ivory Latta to WAKE UP! for these last two games, and she does so with a vengeance. She scored 18 points, and hit 3 of 5 3-point attempts. Her raw plus/minus of +13 led all players and she was clearly the Dreamer of the Game.

Erika de Souza: Latta might have been asleep, but Erika de Souza has been a little drowsy during the last few games. De Souza had a great rebounding game with 15 rebounds, most of those coming in the first quarter. She only shot 5-for-15, though.

Coco Miller: 8 points and 3 assists. The three assists tied Ivory Latta in that category. No rebounds, but then again, rebounding isn't expected from Miller.

Michelle Snow: She only played 10 minutes, shot 1-for-4, and she had a -19 plus/minus. However, she picked up four rebounds in 10 minutes.

Tamera Young: Finally, Tamera Young got out of Marynell Meadors's dog house. In just 11 minutes, she scored 5 points, had a couple of assists and a +9 raw plus/minus. In particular, she was on the floor during the Dream's fourth-quarter comeback. If this isn't the best game that Young has played all year, it's close to it.

Sancho Lyttle: Lyttle had 10 points and 11 rebounds. We had two double-doubles on the Dream. So why isn't Sancho Lyttle the Dreamer of the Game? Well, she shot 4-for-12, and had four fouls, three turnovers...and had two of her shots blocked.

Angel McCoughtry: 10 points is about Angel McCoughtry's average. However, she fouled out. Racking up fouls was a problem that McCoughtry had at the beginning of the year; hopefully, The Angel isn't backsliding.

Iziane Castro Marques: Castro Marques only played 13 minutes or so. Six points, with two missed three pointers. And she let Erin Thorn wreak havoc on the court.

Jennifer Lacy: Only 2 points in 15 minutes of play. 1-for-5 shooting. That's a substandard game.

Chamique Holdsclaw: Holdsclaw only scored four points in 20 minutes of play. She was pretty much a non-presence and was not on the court at all in the fourth quarter. Luckily, the Dream was able to put together a comeback without The Claw - but her absence was notable. She has a excuse however...knee pain that she had before the game.

Shalee Lehning: Two quick personal fouls in the first two minutes took Lehning right out of the game. There's no excuse for that. Zero points in 12 minutes. So who's absence hurt us the most, Holdsclaw or Lehning? We'll call this one a draw and give both Holdsclaw and Lehning the Bad Dream award.

Okay. No more nightmares. The Dream Believers will shake it off, get some Pop-Tarts and play hard on Thursday.

22/2009 - Sky 82, Dream 80

The last time the Dream defeated the Sky was on July 5th, 2008. The Dream had started the season with 17 losses - a WNBA record - but got their first win at home against the Sky 91-84. Since then, we have been 0-and-4 against Chicago, which apparently harbors some sort of grudge. Come on, Chicago, just let it go. Unless we meet the Sky in the playoffs, we will not play the Sky again until 2010 - this was our last chance this year; they swept us in the 2009 regular season.

A few notes from the game:

1) Carol Ross continues working with the players, but tonight she wasn't doing much other than feeding them the ball. Next year, there can only be one WNBA head coach and one assistant coach per team. (On the bench, that is...there can be all sorts of unofficial assistant coaches but they won't be allowed to sit on the bench.)

Let's assume that Marynell Meadors moves to general manager and Carol Ross takes over as head coach in 2010. The other two Dream assistants are Fred Williams and Sue Panek. So who stays, and who goes?

2) School starts Monday in Atlanta. I don't know how this is going to affect attendance, but there you go.

3) A message board poster once said that Erika de Souza is very emotional, but she's always struck me as very cool on the court. However, this was the first time that I've seen de Souza frustrated. She was practicing her mid-range jumper and she just couldn't get it to fall. Angrily, she lept in the air and stomped her feet like a frustrated five-year-old.

4) Iziane Castro Marques, meanwhile, was working on her 3-pointers. She was a lot better from the left side of the basket than the right side. I don't know how she is from the top or the arc, but I saw Castro Marques nail 10 3-pointers in a row. On nine of them, it was "nothing but net". It was fascinating to watch.

Meanwhile, the only member of Sky who worked out for very long before the game was Brooke Wyckoff.

5) Maybe someone who has played ball or coached it can answer this question: why does it seem so hard to get players to do calisthenics? I've seen this for both home and visiting teams. Each player seems to take the warm up with different degrees of seriousness. I can understand why Chamique Holdsclaw didn't want to flex - her knees aren't great and after the game she said she had felt pain during the shoot-around. (Thankfully, her doctor said it was a false alarm.) Other players, however, seem to give flexibility perfunctory attention.

6) It appears that Tamera Young has abandoned the two-pigtail look. I think the era of Pigtail Power might be dead. Since she hadn't been playing, clearly something new was in order to change her luck, and she appeared in the pre-game workouts wearing straight hair.

7) Michael Brown from the Suwanee Sports Academy sang the National Anthem. He did a nice job.

8) Tonight was "Family Fun Night". Someone told me that tickets had been given to a lot of summer camp participants. You could identify them easily - they would all sit together in clumps, wearing multicolored T-shirts.

9) Starters for the Sky: Canty, Dupree, Perkins, Wyckoff, Fowles.
Startes for the Dream: Lehning, Castro Marques, Lyttle, de Souza, Holdsclaw.

10) Before the game, Angel McCoughtry was awarded the WNBA Rookie of the Month award by Marynell Meadors. You can't say that McCoughtry hasn't been doing good things for the Dream, and the award proves it.

11) For the announcements, they didn't bother to lower the house lights, but they brought out the running lights. Every time Angel McCoughtry is announced, Chamique Holdsclaw pretends to push her and McCoughtry flops to the floor. I don't quite get it; it must be an in-joke. Either that, or The Claw is teaching McCoughtry how to fine-tune the methods of a flop.

12) With just 1:22 into the first quarter, Shalee Lehning picked up her second personal foul. The first one was off a Jia Perkins rebound, the second one was on a Dominique Canty shooting attempt. Marynell Meadors was forced to bring Coco Miller in off the bench.

13) Atlanta had a lot of foul trouble early on. By 6:27 in the first quarter, they had already picked up their fourth team foul. Both teams were struggling, but the score was virtually tied. Part of the problem was Chicago's slow start shooting - they started the game 3-for-10 in field goal shooting.

However, Atlanta managed to keep from fouling for the next three minutes or so. Jia Perkins hit a pair of free throws that tied the score 10-10 with 3:38 to go. It looked like Erika de Souza and Sylvia Fowles were having a real battle under the basket.

14) The Sky were caught napping in the first when Erin Thorn made a jump shot and missed it. I'm sure that the Sky were so sure that the shot would go in that all five players headed back to the defensive end, giving Erika de Souza an easy rebound. De Souza would have eight first-quarter rebounds.

15) One could see both Marynell Meadors and Carol Ross yelling out instructions to the Dream. Candice Dupree tied the score 16-16 with 13.4 seconds left, giving Ivory Latta a chance for a quarter-ending 3-pointer. But she missed, and the score was tied.

16) Interesting first-quarter stat: Chicago committed no personal fouls in the first quarter. Despite Atlanta hitting 40 percent of their field goal attempts, the Sky were at the free throw line 7 times in the first quarter. The Dream would not visit the free throw line until 10:27 into the game.

17) Iziane Castro Marques started the second quarter with two baskets in the second quarter to put the Dream on top 21-16. Chen Nan of the Sky lost the ball to Ivory Latta (it would be easy for Chen Nan to lose Ivory Latta), and Latta stole the ball and made the running lay in. The Dream were up 24-18.

18) Then, disaster struck, and the name of that disaster was Erin Thorn. Chicago started an 11-0 run, with nine of those 11 points being scored by Erin Thorn. It was an incredible display by one player.

How was Erin Thorn able to score 9 out of 11 points in three minutes? Part of it was that Thorn had simply entered "the Zone", where no shot you take can miss. Part of it was that Iziane Castro Marques was supposed to be guarding Thorn, and defense has never been Castro Marques's strong suit.

Our lead disappeared. Formerly up 24-18 we found ourselves down 29-26. Thorn now had 13 points.

19) McCoughtry only hits 22.2 percent of the 3-point shots she makes. So why does she keep shooting them?

20) I saw a couple of signs in the audience: "Go #9 Coco Miller" - okay, that tells me who the people were who wanted to give Miller the lion's share of point guard minutes. The other sign simply read "Let's Go Dream". I can't disagree.

21) This left the Dream and the Sky the right to fight it out for the halftime lead. The Sky slowly began to put distance between themselves and Atlanta. Down 31-30, the Sky's defense forced four Atlanta turnovers. Those led to at least 5 points, and the Sky were up 42-36 going into halftime.

22) Halftime: Chicago had recovered their shooting touch. They were now shooting better than the Dream. (16-33 vs. 15-33). They were winning the battle of the rebounds, and Erin Thorn had 15 points. Erika de Souza had 9 points and 9 rebounds.

23) I was busy chatting during halftime, so I didn't see the dancers. There appeared to be some male dancers in pink shirts; I wasn't paying attention. A friend said, "I'd like to call myself a progressive sister, but I wouldn't let my son do that for a living." Maybe it was just the color of the shirts. It wouldn't bother me if my son were a dancer; at least he'd be around beautiful women for a living.

The other halftime performance was by the Flight Velocity Crew, a trampoline-and-basketball act. I've seen them once, and they're certainly good, but they don't bear much repeat viewing. After you've seen a guy bounce off a trampoline and dunk a basket, there are only so many times you can watch it before you are no longer surprised.

My suggestion: let spectators volunteer to try it. Just make sure they sign the medical waiver first.

24) Chicago occasionally had problems getting their offense going - they were called for what was at least the second 24-second violation of the game in the third. (A 24-second violation is where a team does not make a shot in the 24 seconds allotted. Failure to do so is to turn over the ball.)

25) In the third quarter, the Dream's problems had not yet ended. Down 47-40, the Sky sparked another 9-0 run on us. The Sky had managed to force the Dream to play their game and had managed to stop both the Dream's interior game and the ability of Dream guards to slash to the basket. I believe Steven Key said somewhere that the goal for the game was to force the Dream's guards into the perimeter and keep them there.

It looked about as bad for the Dream as it could look. Miller's second personal foul with 5:23 remaining already put the Dream over the limit. The Dream were already down 53-40 and the Dream managed to fall behind by sixteen points, 56-40. McCoughtry was still trying the magic 3-pointer that wouldn't fall. Brooke Wyckoff stole the ball out of Ivory Latta's hands. The Dream just looked punch less.

At that time, the attendance was announced: 5,474 in attendance. I believe - but can't prove - that that was the lowest announced attendance ever for a Dream game.

Maybe the Sky isn't a draw. Maybe it's the roadwork on Southbound I-85 that is scaring people off. Maybe it was those misleading articles in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that implied that the Dream was two seconds away from being turned into an off-Broadway musical. Maybe it's the fact that school starts on Monday and parents went elsewhere with their kids. "At least," I muttered, "the people not watching the game in person can't see this." Then I remember the 6,000 or so that were watching it on WNBA Live Access.

26) The Dream struggled in the bottom of the third. Erika de Souza picked up her fourth personal foul to the sound of loud booing from the crowd - at least they were still in the game. The Dream woke up from its languor and started to play some ball. Ivory Latta shot a 3-pointer. Jennifer Lacy hit a basket and Ivory Latta capped a couple of free throws at the end to bring Chicago's lead down to a single digits again, 62-54 going into the final frame. (And Angel McCoughtry had picked up her 4th personal foul.)

27) With 1:05 to go in the third quarter, Tamera Young finally made a reappearance. Her last appearance in a Dream game was during garbage time in our blowout of the Phoenix Mercury. Meadors had run out of options and was forced to take Young out of the doghouse.
27b) Some Atlanta Dream fans have a new name for Philips Arena - "the Doghouse", because so many Dream players end up there at one time or another.

28) In the fourth quarter, the Sky managed to get the lead back into double-digits. For the third and the fourth quarters, it seemed like the Sky had simply nailed the basket shut on Sancho Lyttle. With 6:47 to go, the Sky led 73-62 and I'm sure that Sylvia Fowles and company were thinking about getting a nice hamburger after the game.

29) And then, the Dream simply decided "we ain't going out like that" - as Cypress Hill might put it. The Dream went on a 11-0 run of their own, which was sparked by two things:

a) The fact that the Sky had just hit the four foul limit and any infractions were going to send the Atlanta Dream to the free throw line, and
b) Tamera Young's appearance on the iPod Challenge. Little Smooth sang "I Believe I Can Fly" by R. Kelly. Her attempt to hit notes in a register so low it would have made Barry White envious must have struck fear into the Sky. "Anything! We'll give back the lead, just make her stop singing!"

30) During the run, the crowd was on its feet, screaming "DEFENSE! DEFENSE!" Defense wasn't just a word either. For four minutes, the Sky were held scoreless, despite some questionable calls by the referees, such as

a) Fowles absolutely clobbering Lyttle under the basket. And of course, with Lyttle lying on the floor in agony....Lyttle is the one charged with the personal foul.
b) With the breakup of a play, the ball rolled into Chicago's back court. Both Young and a Chicago player chased after the ball, but the ball rolled out of bounds past the end line before either could get to it. So guess who was charged with touching the ball? You got it.

31) With 2:52 left in the fourth, Young found McCoughtry with a killer pass to end the run and tie the score 73-73. The crowd was on its feet. Maybe the faithful fans of the Powder Blues would see an astonishing comeback...and this time, it would belong to the Dream.

32) However, the Dream could just not get the ball to fall into the basket. Sancho Lyttle and Erika de Souza found the basket nailed shut by the Sky. The Sky creaked out to a 78-75 lead with 35.4 second left. However, Tamera Young found Angel McCoughtry again to close the score to 78-77 with 26.1 seconds left.

33) The Sky were just horrible at free throws in the last could of minutes. The Dream needed to foul the Sky to get the ball back, and we sent Jia Perkins to the line. Perkins only hit one of her two free throws to make it a 79-77 Sky game and a basket would send the game into overtime.

However, Perkins got her revenge. She stole the ball from Ivory Latta with 14 seconds left and the only way for us to get it back was to foul Chicago again. Angel McCoughtry would have to steal the ball - which she attempted - or at least commit a foul while doing so. It was her sixth foul of the game. McCoughtry had fouled out and we no longer had her defense.

34) With 11.3 seconds left, Perkins hit both of her free throws. It was an 81-77 game and we needed something magic to happen. The goal was to give the ball to a 3-pointer shooter, and this time, Iziane Castro Marques found Ivory Latta, who made an attempt...

...and it went in! 81-80 with 3.7 seconds left! But the ball would go back to Chicago. We would be forced to send them to the free throw line, and pray for at least one miss.

35) Candice Dupree was send to the charity stripe. The first shot...a miss. The second shot...another miss! But it would be Jia Perkins who got the critical rebound, and a quick foul by Tamera Young sent Perkins to the line again.

36) Perkins's first free throw? A hit. The score was 82-80 Chicago. Perkins missed the second free throw. The ball was rebounded by Erika de Souza, but with less than 0.7 seconds left there was simply no time to get the shot off in time....

...we had lost again. Our last two losses to Chicago were decided by a grand total of three points. But as they say, "almost doesn't cut it in horseshoes and hand grenades". We could hold our heads up high during the comeback, but a loss is a loss is a loss.

The post-mortem for the game will probably be tomorrow.

McCoughtry Honored with WNBA Rookie of the Month Award

A new gallery of images from the Dream/Sky game is here at SPMSportsPage.com, thanks to photographer Craig Cappy.

Congratulations to Angel McCoughtry for winning Rookie of the Month. She looks happy.

Dream Loses At Home 82-80 Against Sky; Winning Streak Ends

We almost had it. Ivory Latta hit a 3-pointer with 3.7 seconds left to close the gap to 81-80, but we coudn't make it happen at home. The Sky have swept us this year...but our hope is that we'll meet them in the playoffs.

Charles Odum of the Associated Press has his writeup here. Our four-game winning streak has come to an end.

More later, but now it's time to sleep.