Dance-Off! Preseason: May 30, 2009

Longtime Dream fan Scarab went to the practice today which was open to Atlanta Dream season ticket-holders and she copped the video that you see below:



I suspect that Ivory Latta is on caffeine.

Ice Ice Baby - Preseason: May 29, 2009

Guess who is resting those knees in the hot tub above? I'll give you a hint: it's "Big Smooth". And she's included another Twitter pic of Little Smooth's car, which finally has its rims.

I suspect that Big Smooth is just jealous. She wants that car.

We Won

How many times did I have a chance to write that last year? Four?

We won our first preseason game against the Connecticut Sun, 76-73. Trust me, there will be a full post-mortem. But not right away. Busy day at work tomorrow.

I will say this. It was a lot different than watching the incompetence that marked last year's Dream. I don't know how to deal with games where we're not down by 10 in the first quarter.

Preseason May 21 2008: Monarchs at Storm

There was a contrast between the announced crowd of 15,000 at Madison Square Garden versus the announced crowd of 4,875 at Key Arena last night - making me wonder how many really showed up as the Storm beat the Monarchs 64-55.

The box score is here.

For the Monarchs, Nicole Powell led all comers with 15 points. Courtney Paris made her debut in a WNBA uniform, only scoring two points but picking up five rebounds in 16 minutes of play. Ashley Walker of the Storm had a better go of it, with 10 points and 5 rebounds in 26 minutes of play.

Miao Lijie showed up for the Monarchs for the first time since 2005. She played six minutes and scored three points.

Kasha Terry is already at her seasonal form. 11 minutes played, 3 points, and four personal fouls. (Kasha Terry holds an interesting WNBA record - fewest minutes played in a game before fouling out.)

The Monarchs turned the ball over 23 times. Gonna be a long season in Sacramento.

I suspect that the reason the attendance was so low is because, oh, Sue Bird didn't play. And Lauren Jackson didn't play. And Swin Cash didn't play.....

UPDATE: It appears that Q at Rethinking Basketball was actually at the game last night. And his analysis is a lot better than mine is. Go to the website. GO!

First Preseason Game: Liberty 77, Mystics 71

The box score is here.

The attendance for the game was 15,958. A poster at RebKell stated that the majority of that 15,000 were probably kids, though, but you gotta admit that 15,000 is impressive for a meaningless pre-season game.

Nakia Sanford led the Mystics with 17 points and 8 rebounds - however, she shot 11 for 19 at the free throw line. Shameka Christon led the Liberty with 12 points and 2 rebounds.

Remarks:

* Marissa Coleman debuted in a Washington Mystics uniform. She shot 3-for-8 with no free throws and one 3-pointer, scoring 7 points and 7 rebounds in 27 minutes of play.

* Kia Vaughn did not play. Twelve other members of the Liberty did play.

* The Mystics outrebounded the Liberty 39 to 27. However, they only shot 36 percent from the field compared to the Liberty's 43 percent. At the free throw line the Mystics were 27-for-37 compared to the 24-for-28 of the Liberty. The Mystics had more opportunities for points from free throws and couldn't capitalize. The Libs only turned the ball over 11 times compared to 19 turnovers from the visitors.

There will be another game tonight at 10 pm ET with Sacramento visiting Seattle.