Atlanta vs. San Antonio, Saturday May 15th

Who: The Atlanta Dream (0-0) take on the San Antonio Silver Stars (0-0).

Here are the final rosters of both clubs:

Atlanta: Alison Bales, Iziane Castro Marques, Erika de Souza, Chamique Holdsclaw, Shalee Lehning, Sancho Lyttle, Angel McCoughtry, Coco Miller, Kelly Miller, Armintie Price, Brittainey Raven

San Antonio: Jayne Appel, Helen Darling, Megan Frazee, Becky Hammon, Roneeka Hodges, Crystal Kelly, Edwige Lawson-Wade, Ruth Riley, Belinda Snell, Michelle Snow, Sophia Young

What: The first of two regular season games against the Silver Stars. Every Eastern Conference team (Atlanta) plays a home-and-away during the regular season against each Western Conference team (San Antonio). Last year the Dream swept the season series against San Antonio, winning in San Antonio 92-84 on August 6th and then winning at home in Atlanta 93-87 on August 20th.

Where: The AT&T Center at San Antonio.

When: Tipoff is at at 8 pm Eastern time, today. (May 15, 2010.) This game should be available on WNBA Live Access.

Why: We get our very first, for-real-honest-and-for-true look at the Atlanta Dream, as this game counts. Chamique Holdsclaw will not be suiting up - she never came to Training Camp and she wants a trade - but until the Dream can deal her she takes up roster space. With Alison Bales having not played in the previous year, with rookie Brittainey Raven, and with Erika de Souza literally having got off the plane two days ago, it will be interesting to see how the Dream handles the adversity of playing in San Antonio against a packed house for the Silver Stars home opener. (And the next day, the Dream opens in Atlanta.)

The Angel McCoughtry tour continues as McCoughtry will compete against rookie Jayne Appel out of Stanford. Appel was a highly-touted player for Stanford - some thought she had a chance to being drafted #2 - but a poor national championship game caused Appel's draft stock to fall. The last game McCoughtry played was against Connecticut and Tina Charles in the pre-season; we'll see how well Appel fares against Atlanta.

San Antonio has a few changes. The most important is at the coaching level. Dan Hughes, a great WNBA coach, has moved up to General Manager. His successor, Sandy Brondello, is out on pregnancy leave, so associate coach Olaf Lange will try to steer the Silver Stars to victory.

There's a revenge factor in this game as the Dream face center Michelle Snow for the first time wearing an enemy uniform since Snow played for the Houston Comets in 2008. Snow was a back-up in 2009 for the Dream after many thought she'd be a starter. Snow starts over in San Antonio, who needs a center after Ann "The Belgian Waffle" Wauters decided to sit out the season. Snow has the opportunity to make Meadors look like a fool or a genius depending on how well Snow can do against the All-Star Duo of Sancho Lyttle and Erika de Souza.

Michelle Snow Traded for Dalma Ivanyi and Second Round Draft Pick

Michelle Snow is no longer with the Atlanta Dream. She just got traded to the San Antonio Silver Stars for a second round draft pick and the rights to Dalma Ivanyi, a player out of Hungary.

The news is right here.

So what is this trade about? When Leuchanka finally showed up and with the signing of Demetress Adams to training camp, it looked like one of the posts was going to be going. In that case, it was Snow.

Snow is a better than average player, but last year she declined to average territory and had trouble breaking the lineup. Over her career she's averaged 9.2 points a game, but last year she only averaged 4.5 and only started two games.

Dalma Ivanyi has been kicking around the WNBA since 1999 when she played for the Utah Starzz. She's played in 1999, 2000, 2003, 2005 and 2006 - a guard that's nobody's answer to anything. And furthermore, a second-round draft pick isn't worth that much, although there's a chance of getting lucking and finding a Nicky Anosike or a Tammy Sutton-Brown (or a Shalee Lehning).

So why make this trade? Probably because it clears Snow out of the roster. Furthermore, according to the writeup from the AJC:

Ivanyi, a 5-foot-9 guard, is the starting point guard on the Hungarian national team and averages 11 points and six assists for MiZo Pecs in the EuroLeague. Meadors said Ivanyi probably won’t play for the Dream this season because of prior European commitments.

Wanna bet Ivanyi doesn't play in 2010 either? Also according to Marynell Meadors:

“This trade gives us the opportunity to have a veteran point guard who will be waiting to come to Atlanta,” Meadors said.

In short, the trade was to clear out cap space. I expect more changes to come soon.

Russia Superleague A 14/2009 - Dynamo Kursk 63, Spartak Moscow-SHVSM 39

Looks like I put the wrong Spartak Moscow team on the schedule. Michelle Snow's Dynamo Kursk team didn't play the Spartak Moscow team that has Janel McCarville is a Euroleague semifinalist. Dynamo Kursk is playing the other Spartak Moscow team - the one that doesn't have a lot of WNBA stars on it. Dynamo Kursk beat The Other Spartak Moscow 63-39.

The box score is here.

In front of an audience of 1200 in Kursk it looked like a normal game with the hometown team beating The Other Spartak Moscow 37-26 by halftime. However, The Other Spartak Moscow would only score thirteen points in the second half - six in the third quarter, and seventh in the fourth.

For the losers, Catherine Chistyakov scored 14 points and nine rebounds for Spartak Moscow-SHVSM. Victoria Medvedev scored 12 points for Spartak Moscow-SHVSM, scoring 2-for-5 from the 3-point line.

Jillian Robbins shot 9-for-13 from the field and scored 19 points and eight rebounds. Michelle Snow also had a good game:

16 points
13 rebounds
6-for-12 shooting
32 minutes played

Russia Superleague A 13/2009 - Dynamo Kursk 80, Dynamo Moscow 69

It took me a long time to find this result, but it couldn't stay hidden. On Monday, the Eurocup semifinalists traveled to Dyanmo Moscow and came back big in the second half to win 80-69 in front of a crowd of 500 in Moscow.

The box score is here.

According to an interesting writeup, Dynamo Moscow used to be a Superleague headliner before the financial troubles facing all Russian clubs set in. Dynamo Kursk took off to a 21-17 lead in the first quarter, but Tatiana Popova and Katerina Keyru managed to help Dynamo Moscow pull ahead by one point, 40-39 at halftime.

However, the second half was all Dynamo Kursk, thanks to Barbara Psareva and Michelle Snow. Dynamo Kursk won the remaining quarters to advance to 6-7 in a tough Russian League. Dynamo Moscow falls to 4-9.

"Marina Cousin" led Dyanmo Moscow with 24 points and nine rebounds rebounds, with Tatiana Popova contributing 14 points and five assists.

As for Dynamo Krusk, Barabara Psareva had 16 points and eight rebounds, and Svetlana Maksimenko contributed 15 points by going 5-for-7 from 3-point range.

Michelle Snow had an impressive shooting day.

15 points
6-for-12 hooting
13 rebounds
38 minutes played

Eurocup Games on Thursday

So since I couldn't write anything in detail - long days at work Thursday, Friday and today! - here's what happened in Eurocup if you didn't already know.

Orenburg 66, K. V. Imperal 61: Orenburg wins the second game of its best-of-two Eurocup quarterfinals series, and moves on to the Eurocup semifinals. K. V. Imperial - Chamique Holdsclaw's team - is eliminated. K. V. Imperial led 51-40 late in the third quarter, but Monique Currie helped the Russians close the gap and the Russians went up for good with four minutes left.

Holdsclaw had 15 points and 7 rebounds, but the high scorer of the game was Currie who had 30 points for Orenburg.

Dynamo Kursk 76, Targoviste 55. Dynamo Kursk recovers from their loss in Romania to roll over Targoviste in Russia. Even though the series was split 1-1, Dynamo Kursk advances on total points.

All Targoviste had to do was not to lose by more than 18 points, their margin of victory in the first game. However, Dynamo Kursk went on a 14-2 run in the last ten minutes and both sides were looking at the scoreboard carefully - Dynamo Kursk needed an 19 point win. Allready up by 19 points, the last fourteen minutes generated into a foul fest with each team trying to secure the ball - apparently by unarmed combat. Targoviste ran out of fouls first and Sandra Linkeviciene hit a pair of free throws that put Dynamo Kursk up by 21. Monika Boriga of Targoviste tried a 3-pointer with four seconds left, but the ball didn't go in.

Michelle Snow had 18 points and seven rebounds.

Dynamo Kursk advances to the semifinals of Eurocup where they will play Greek powerhouse Athinaikos. Orenburg plays German team Saarlouis.

Eurocup Quarterfinals 1/2009 - Targoviste 75, Dynamo Kursk 57

Tina Thompson works her way through the Dynamo Kursk dance floor.

Well, it's a problem in a best-of-two series when you go on the road. You're on a different court, with fans shouting stuff at you in a completely different language. And then, there's the travel. All of that might have combined for a 75-57 loss by Dynamo Kursk in the "best-of-two" Eurocup Quarterfinals. The next game takes place in Kursk on Wednesday in Russia.

Michelle Snow sums it up on Twitter:

@snowtyme Our game plan matched the definition for insanity. If we don't change we're done next week leaving me 3 months in Russia w/ no travel

The photo gallery and a write-up, box score and play-by-play can all be found here.

Dynamo Kursk scored the opening basket and then gave up an 11-0 run to Targoviste. The Russians came back and closed to within three points by the end of the first quarter, 19-16. Unfortunately, the Romanians would put together a 14-3 run in the second quarter for which Dynamo Kursk had no answer. Targoviste was up 45-29 at halftime. Dynamo Kursk was never able to get back into the game or put together a run that lowered the gap to single digits.

Nothing to be ashamed of - Targoviste is a really good team. You might have heard of Tina Thompson and Shay Doron, or maybe Linda Frohlich? They all play for Targoviste. Tina Thompson has 15 points and 10 rebounds for Targoviste and Linda Frohlich had 14 points and nine rebounds.

For Dynamo Kursk, only two players scored in double figures, but Varvara Psareva got close to a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds. Jiillian Robins led all scorers with 16 points and seven rebounds.

Michelle Snow didn't have a good game, but she did hit double digits.

11 points
5-for-16 shooting
5 rebounds
2 assists

Russia Superleague A 12/2009 - Orenburg 69, Dynamo Kursk 56

Despite having 1200 fans and home court advantage, Dynamo Kursk ended up losing the thread and fell to Orenburg by the score of 69-56.

The box score is here. The loss drops Dynamo Kursk to 5-7. Orenburg advances to 9-4.

Kursk got off to a 16-12 start in the first quarter, but it fell apart in the second quarter, with Dynamo Kursk limited to just nine points. Down 34-25 at halftime, Dynamo Kursk couldn't get a break in the third quarter either and Orenburg built their lead to 15 points: it was just too much for Dynamo Kursk to overcome.

There was blame, both self-blame...

@snowtyme Okay I'm over the loss. Preparation was the difference. They were prepared and we were not. You have 2 practice how ur going 2 play.

...and blame from others....

"The efforts of some Kursk Americans, apparently, lacked."

Sheana Mosch out of Duke scored 23 points despite six turnovers. She played the full forty minutes of the game. Anastasia Veremeenko, one of the most heralded players in the world, scored 12 points and 11 rebounds in just 28 minutes. Dynamo Kursk was out-rebounded 41 to 29.

Jillian Robbins scored 17 points and four rebounds for Dynamo Kursk. Unfortunately, only two players scored in double digits for Dynamo Kursk. The other player? Michelle Snow.

21 points
9-for-18 shooting
7 rebounds
4 personal fouls

Eurocup 8th Finals 2/2009 - Dynamo Kursk 85, Györ 44

Dynamo Kursk won their first game against Györ 85-56. Even with Györ playing at home, Dynamo Kursk won easily 85-44, insuring their advance to the quarterfinals.

The box score and play-by-play are all at this link.

Dynamo Kursk started 29-9 and never looked back, winning all four quarters. The big stat is in 2-point shooting - Dynamo Kursk went 27-for-38 from short range, a dizzying clip of 71 percent.

No player from Györ scored in double digits. The best of the least was Zsofia Horvath, who scored seven points and five rebounds in 26 minutes of play.

For Dynamo Kursk, Jillian Robbins led all scorers with 18 points and 4 rebounds. Sandra Linkeviciene scored 10 points and eight rebounds in the win.

Michelle Snow had a good game as well:

15 points
6-for-8 shooting
5 rebounds
26 minutes of play

Eurocup 8th Finals 1/2009 - Dynamo Kursk 85, Györ 56

I'm told this is Michelle Snow. So what do YOU think?

Dynamo Kursk jumps into another "best of two" aggregate score competition, this time against Hungarian team Györ. The winner of the series is the team that scores the most points over two games. Dynamo Kursk, playing at home, got off to a big jump, winning 85-56 in Game One.

A game report, box score, and play-by-play report can be found here.

Kursk played in Russia to a crowd of 1000 and got off to a 20-12 lead after one quarter. Györ, a Hungarian team, managed to close to 30-24 by halftime, but in the second half it was all Dynamo Kursk.

Hadjana Radunovic led Györ with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Orsolya Englert had 12 points and four assists, but also seven turnovers.

Svetlana Maksimenko led Dynamo Kursk with 23 points. Sandra Linkeviciene had 13 points, 11 rebounds and six steals for Dynamo Kursk.

Michelle Snow's scoring line for Dynamo Kursk:

7 points on 2-for-5 shooting
7 points
7 rebounds
5 turnovers
28 minutes played

Michelle Snow: Blogging About Motivation and Racism

Michelle Snow's blogging at MichelleSnowLive.com has suddenly come to life. There are three new recent posts by Snow.

One about the dangers of GPS:

The thieves had used the GPS to guide them to the house. They then
used the garage remote control to open the garage door and gain
entry to the house. The thieves knew the owners were at the football
game, they knew what time the game was scheduled to finish and so
they knew how much time they had to clean out the house. It would
appear that they had brought a truck to empty the house of its contents.

Even though the above tale is a urban legend with elements of truth, GPS and other devices might give malefactors more information about you than you'd like to have known.

Another more serious post is about a personal incident that happened to Snow at a sushi restaurant while waiting for a train to Kursk: dealing with an obnoxious drunk whose behaivor escalates to racial slurs:

I said a silent prayer about how I really wanted to keep my spiritual center balanced. I knew this was only a test and if there was anyway possible I wanted to pass it. At the same time no man will ever put there hands on me and I just stand there and take it. Abusive men nauseate me so imagine my disgust at an abusive racial man. I turned my disgust towards good thoughts. That was not easy to do, but it was what had to be done. I just thought about the pain that he must be going through to even be that drunk at seven in the morning. I said a prayer for him and sent out several tweets for others to do the same.

The newest post is about Will Smith and how he uses fear as a motivational fuel. Attached in the post is a YouTube clip of Smith speaking.

Will Smith has no special powers or secret devices that are unavailable to any of us. He simply understands that we are all given certain talents yet some of us chose not to develop our talents. I would be a perfect example of this. I'm a beautiful 6'5'' woman who plays, professional basketball for the WNBA, yet if I had not honed my skills throughout my life there is a pretty good chance that I would not be playing professionally sports. My height is a talent given to me but that talent had to be developed properly in order for success to ensue.

There are some great posts and you need to be reading them. I just hope that Michelle Snow can keep up the blogging - but I don't want the blogging to get in the way of her game.

Russia Superleague A: St. Petersburg 68, Dynamo Kursk 67

Michelle Snow commented recently about how cold it was in St. Petersburg. Well, it just got colder as Dynamo Kursk lost its second road game in a row by less than a single basket, 68-67. Dynamo Kursk falls to below zero itself with a 5-6 record, while St. Petersburg crawls out of the snow at 4-6, avenging an 81-77 loss at Kursk earlier this year. The only good point: only 550 people saw the game, understandable if the temperatures are -35.

The box score is here.

What killed Dynamo Kursk? A horrible first quarter where they found themselves down 26-12. From that point on, Dynamo Kursk had to dig itself out of the snowbank - they were down 38-31 at halftime, and they made a valiant fourth quarter comeback but fell short.

I can't find any pictures or other kind of write-up. If I find something, I'll let you know. I did find an interesting interview with the St. Petersburg coach - in Russian - and I got to hear the words "Michelle Snow" spoken in a Russian accent.

For St. Petersburg, Anna Petrovka led all scorers with 22 points and 15 rebounds. Catherine Savel'eva had 10 rebounds for St.Petersburg, but only three points.

Michelle Snow's line:

22 points
9-for-15 shooting
7 rebounds
2 assists

It Sure Was Cold In Those Days

From Michelle Snow on Twitter:

@snowtyme Ok this is an all time low. It is -35 in surburban St. Petersburg, Russia. I would cry but my tears would only freeze

Russia Superleague A 10/2009 - Ekaterinburg 75, Dynamo Kursk 72

Michelle Snow vs. Candace Parker

Five thousand people showed up in Ekaterinburg to watch the undefeated UMMC squad - now supplemented by Candace Parker take on a Dynamo Kursk team that was barely above .500. Ekaterinburg and Spartak Moscow are usually so tough that they win in walkaways, but Dynamo Kursk came within a couple of baskets of a major upset, 75-72.

The box score is here. Ekaterinburg's team is virtually a list of WNBA all-stars. Ekaterinburg will remain undefeated at 11-0 while Kursk falls to 5-5.

However, Kursk led after the first quarter 28-21 and managed to hang on to a first half lead by a score of 40-37 and it looked like Kursk was going to steal the win. Unfortunately for Kursk, they were held to just 10 points in the final quarter as opposed to 21 points from Ekaterinburg.

Cappie Pondexter led all Ekaterinburg players with 19 points. Maria Stepanova had 13 points and 14 rebounds for the home team.

As for Dynamo Kursk, Anastasia Bocharova scored 17 points and Sandra Linkyavichene scored 13 points and 10 rebounds. Michelle Snow had a good game, too.

Michelle Snow's line:

12 points on 5-for-13 shooting
9 rebounds

UPDATE: Sports Page Magazine came through with a gallery of pics! Lots of good snaps of Michelle Snow!

Eurocup 16th Finals 2/2009 - Dynamo Kursk 93, Besitkas 72

In front of a crowd of 900 spectators, Dynamo Kursk clinched a move to the 8th Finals, or the "Sweet Sixteen" of Eurocup with a 93-72 win over visiting Besitkas. Dynamo Kursk won both of their games against Besitkas, by a factor of 188-141.

Information about the game can be found here.

An interesting quote from Dynamo Kursk coach Algirdas Paulauskas:

Now we are qualified to the 8th finals and that is what we wanted, but I am not satisfied with the team. It may sound strange, but it was harder to play at home, than to play in Turkey. When we played in Turkey all the girls were motivated to win and today many of the players relaxed and in the second period we began to lose the game, but found the way to recover to the fourth period and win.

Indeed, at halftime the score was 39-37 in favor of Besitkas. In the back half of the game, however, Dynamo Kursk outscored Besitkas 56-33.

For Besitkas Nykesha Sales had 29 points and five rebounds. Jillian Robbins was the leading player for Dynamo Kursk with 21 points and 12 rebounds...but Michelle Snowhad a game almost as great as Robbins's was.

Michelle Snow's line:

19 points
13 rebounds
5 assists

Dynamo Kursk will face Györ, a Hungarian team, in the 8th finals, in another "best of two" aggregate matchup. Eurocup teams will have one week off before the next round.

Russia Superleague A 9/2009 - Spartak Moscow 101, Dynamo Kursk 79

In most national leagues, there is a huge gap between the best teams and the worst teams. The Russia Superleague A has more parity, but it doesn't matter if you have big stars on your team - other teams have big stars as well. Algirdas Paulauskas's Dynamo Kursk team lost to Pokey Chatman's Spartak Moscow team 101-79, despite a home crowd of 1200. Even though Kursk has Michelle Snow, Spartak Moscow has Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird and Janel McCarville.

Dynamo Moscow falls to 5-4 on the year; Spartak Moscow is 8-1 and is in second place behind undefeated Ekaterinburg.

The Eurobasket box score is here. The raw translated box score is here.

Jillian Robbins led Kursk in scoring with 19 points. Sylvia Fowles had 18 points for Spartak Moscow.

Michelle Snow's line:

9 points (2-for-3 shooting, 4-for-4 at the free throw line)
8 rebounds
4 assists

Next up for Dynamo Kursk: undefeated Ekaterinburg, on the road.

Ten Best Dream Games from Individual Players in 2009

The Angel or the Beast?

10. Michelle Snow: In Game 18 of the regular season - a 98-95 overtime victory in Detroit - Angel McCoughtry and Ivory Latta combined to score 42 points. However, the only player with an honest-to-goodness double double was Michelle Snow, who scored 16 points and 12 rebounds. She shot 5-for-9 from the field, and with the game tied 87-87, a hook shot from Snow at the buzzer appeared to win the game. However, the video showed that the shot came just after time expired. Snow would pick up 1 point and 2 rebounds in the overtime period. Detroit almost sent the game into a second overtime, but Katie Smith's 3-pointer missed at the buzzer in overtime.

9. Erika de Souza: The Beast from Brazil would have two games in 2009 where she had 17 rebounds. Game 13 against Connecticut at home was one of them, a 72-67 win at Philips where she scored 12 points and 17 rebounds. De Souza also added four steals. Despite a 19 point halftime lead, Connecticut almost crawled back into the game, when Tan White closed the game to two points with 9 seconds left, 69-67. However, the next four scoring opportunities - all free throws - belonged to the Dream, where they hit three of four.

8. Sancho Lyttle: Lyttle was another explosive force, and she scored 20 points and eight rebounds in an 88-79 win over Seattle in Game 24 during a Philips Arena homestand. In the last minute of the game, Seattle's Sue Bird found Swin Cash to close the gap to 83-79, but Lyttle hit one of two following free throws, and with McCoughtry missing a pair of free throws after a loose ball foul, there was a scramble under the boards. Erika de Souza rebounded and missed, but Lyttle got the next rebound for a putback layup and her 20th point of the game, putting the Dream up by 7 points with half-a minute. Sue Bird missed a 3-pointer, and Lyttle got the follow-up rebound again, essentially sealing the game for the Dream.

Trivia: This was the game where Lauren Jackson scored her 5,000th career point.

7. Chamique Holdsclaw: Game 15 was a breakout game for Holdsclaw, and was truly the best of the year for her - a shame it had to happen in Minnesota. Holdsclaw looked like the old Holdsclaw, with 28 points, 7 rebounds and shooting 11-for-16 from the field in a 91-77 win over the Lynx. The Dream started the game with a 13-2 run and never looked back. Minnesota got to within one point in the fourth...and then The Claw scored eight more points. This was the second game where Holdsclaw scored 28 points this year, and it was the best one.

6. Angel McCoughtry: In Game 33, the Dream needed a win against visting Connecticut in the final regular season home game. The Dream got off to a hot start, scoring 30 points in the first quarter, and leading 53-36 at halftime. By the end of the third quarter the lead was 21 points.

Instrumental in the win was McCoughtry, who had 18 poipnts, 6 rebounds...and six steals, a defensive force that stymied the Sun. The win not only put the Dream in the playoffs, but would prove to be enough to secure second place in the Eastern Conference. Unfortunately for the Dream, it would be the very last win of the 2009 season as the Dream lost their final game against Washington and were swept by the Shock.

5. Erika de Souza (and 3. Angel McCoughtry): In Game 31, the Dream had to travel to Sacramento the night before playing Phoenix on the road - a team itching for revenge after losing 106-76 at Philips. If the Dream lost the first game of the back to back against the Monarchs, they likely wouldn't win the following game against the Mercury.

The Monarchs took a 54-51 lead into halftime, but the Dream pulled away with the road win, 98-90. (In Phoenix, the Dream wouldn't be so lucky.) Atlanta finished strong in the end. Angel McCoughtry had 26 points and 10 assists and Erika de Souza had 27 points and 13 rebounds. Combine those two performances and the Monarchs were doomed. Atlanta finished strong in the fourth quarter, and Sacramento faded away.

Let's look at each "line":

McCoughtry: 11-for-15, +12 plus/minus, 5 rebounds, 10 assists. (And only one personal foul!)
de Souza: 13-for-19, +18 plus/minus, 13 rebounds.

Unfortunately for Sacramento, there would be no hope of a 2010 rematch. The win was the final game played between the Dream and the Monarchs, as Sacramento folded during the off-season.

4. Angel McCoughtry: It seems that the Sky had Atlanta's number in 2009, and during Game 7, the Dream would take the Sky to overtime at Philips Arena. Angel McCoughtry was still earning the right to start, and she managed to put on a show for the Dream fans. With 15 seconds left and the Dream down 87-85, McCoughtry hit a pair of free thorws to tie the game at 87-87. Steven Key would put the ball in the hands of Jia Perkins, but her jump shot missed sending the game into overtime.

Unfortunately in the overtime, McCoughtry went 1-for-2 and picked up a personal foul. Down 99-96 in the overtime, McCoughtry's 3-pointer with 6 seconds left missed. Jennifer Lacy tried a three and missed as well, and Sancho Lyttle made a meaningless putback layup as time expired as the Dream lost 99-98.

McCoughty, however, had 26 points coming off the bench. She shot 9-for-16 and she had eight assists for the Dream that night. It was the first time in McCoughtry's career that she scored more than 20 points in a game - a feat she would match six other times in 2009.

3. See #5.

2. Angel McCoughtry: Remember that thing about Angel McCoughtry having several 20 point games this year? Well, we hadn't seen anything yet. As Atlanta was getting ready to finish a six-game homestand, Game 25 against the Silver Stars showed that even off the bench, McCoughtry would be an explosive force that put other teams in danger.

She would score 34 points against San Antonio in a 93-87 victory. She scored 10 points at the free throw line - and if she had hit her other seven free throw attempts, she would have had a 40+ point game. She also had seven rebounds and four assists.

Believe it or not, Marynell Meadors still wasn't quite ready to start her, Meadors saying that she liked the energy McCoughtry brought off the bench. Total time played by McCoughtry? TWenty eight minutes, 51 seconds. If she had started and not had foul trouble - McCoughtry finished with five fouls - who knows what McCoughtry might have accomplished?

1. Erika de Souza: Game 16 against the Indiana Fever in Indiana would end with Dream loss, but the Dream almost pulled off the win. The Dream were down 43-31 at halftime, but closed to 64-55 by the end of the third quarter.

Unforunately, the Dream could never get closer than five points in the fourth, and the Fever won 84-79. It was the Fever's 11th straight win after two opening losses. However, Erika de Souza did all she could do to break the Fever's winning streak, scoring 23 points and 14 rebounds - five of those rebounds taking place in the final quarter. Out of her 14 rebounds, seven were off the offensive glass. She shot 10-for-15 for the game.

If the Dream had beaten the Fever, two of Indiana's hypothetical three losses would have come aginst Atlanta. The Beast From Brazil's 23 points were a career high. One week later, de Souza played in her very first WNBA All-Star Game.

Eurocup 16th Finals Game 1: Dynamo Kursk 95, Besitkas 69

Dynamo Kursk, which is where Michelle Snow is playing, won big in Game 1 of their "Best of Two" series. All of the info you need is here.

Note that this is a "best of two" series. Since Dynamo Kursk won by 26 points, Besitkas needs to win by 27 points or more next week to move to the next round. And with Game 2 in Kursk, I don't think that's going to happen.

Interesting note #1: only 200 spectators in Istanbul. Turkish basketball usually draws good crowd. I wonder why the attendance to this game was so low?
Interesting note #2: Nykesha Sales's name translated in one article into "Nike Salesman".

Michelle Snow's stats:

20 minutes played
16 points, 7-fo-14 shooting, 0-for-1 from 3-point range
2-for-5 at the free throw line
4 rebounds
2 assists

Nykesha Sales scored 28 points for Besitkas, and Jillian Robbins had a 20 point, 12 rebound game. Snowtyme's game, however, was not that bad. There will be pics, if I can find them.

Michelle Snow Blogging

Atlanta Dream player Michelle Snow has a new blog up in Beta stage. She posts about her drug-testing experience while playing in Russia Superleague A:

I hold my breath as though that will keep the germs from getting on me. Don't ask me why. I really didn't have the luxury on thinking clearly at this point. I try to make sure I don't touch anything. I am really about to break down and cry. Is this really worth it? Do I need this job that bad? All of a sudden all of my mortgages for my investment properties began to flash. 8 K a month in mortgages alone is enough to make anyone gladly pee in a plastic cup in a moldy bathroom that is literally falling apart. I pee I cry I pee some more. I want to go home!

Wow. As Snow writes later, "I sit there quietly and begin a prayer of gratitude. Thoughts of all the luxuries we take for granted everyday. Things like clean water, toilet paper, life-size brooms, etc."

Thursday's Eurocup Game

"Secret deoderant. Strong enough for a man...."

Dynamo Kursk 78, K. V. Imperial 52: Dynamo Kursk needed this game to stay alive and hope to go to the Round of 32.

Well, they did it. The preliminary round of Eurocup is over. The 26-point win catapulted Dynamo Kursk to first place in Group H at the end of opening round play.

Dynamo Kursk: 4-2
Targoviste: 4-2
K. V. Imperial: 4-2
Samsun 0-6

With a 14-13 lead in the first quarter, Dynamo Kursk scored the next nine points and finished the quarter 23-14. By halftime, the lead was 41-22, and in front of the 1000 spectators in Kursk, Dynamo Kursk extended their lead in every quarter. They were never challenged. The only question was whether Dynamo Kursk would ever lead by 30 points at any time in the game - they didn't, but they came close.

Jillian Robbins led Dynamo Kursk with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Sandra Linkeviciene scored 19 points and Ausra Bimbaite added 12. Michelle Snow scored 9 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists in the game.

K. V. Imperial was led by Tanasha Wright with 15 points. Wright is a guard with the Seattle Storm. Neda Duric scored 10 points and Marissa Little (a graduate of North Carolina) had 4 points and 7 rebounds.

(* * *)

The win brings Dynamo Kursk to the next round of Eurocup play. Dynamo Kursk will be paired off against Besitkas in a best of two series.

What does that mean? If a team wins both games, they advance to the next round. If they split the series, then the team having the greatest margin of victory in their win advanced. In short, if Team A loses by five in the first game, they need to win by six in the second to advance.

The first game takes place at the home of the lower seeded game. Dynamo Kursk will play Besitkas in Turkey on January 7, 2010. The second game will be played in Kursk on January 14, 2010.

Kursk is scheduled to play in the Russian League against Chevatka on December 21st. However, Michelle Snow says that she'll be returning home this Sunday. I don't know if this means the end of Snow's participation in Euroball this year, but I'll try to keep you posted.

Today's Euroleague/Eurocup Games

Nicole Ohlde vs. Janell Burse

Krakow 74, Pécs 71: Wisla Can-Pack Krakow continues its amazing Euroleague run, remaining undefeated in Group B today with a narrow 74-71 win against Pécs in Hungary.

Krakow's win guarantees that the Poles will advance to the round of sixteen. Only Rivas Ecopolis and Spartak Moscow remain undefeated in Euroleague.

Krakow scored the first six points of the game and lead 26-19 in the first quarter, but Pécs continued the struggle. They closed to 36-35 with the first of two free throws by Allie Quigley (she missed the second one) and were only behind 42-39 going into halftime. Down 48-43 with 7:33 left to go, Pécs went on an 8-0 run to take the lead.

However, Pécs could never get the lead above two baskets. Shots by Ewelyna Kobryn and Janell Burse tied the game at 67-67 with 2:52 to go. Nicole Ohlde of Pécs found Dalma Ivanyi for the next basket to retake the lead at 69-67, but Kateria Zohnová hit the only 3-pointer by Krakow in 12 attempts to go up 70-69 with 1:41. Zsófia Fegyverneky of Pécs closed the gap to 72-71 with a basket, but a shot by Janell Burse with 9 seconds left put Krakow up 74-71. With the final possession, Pécs tried four times for a shot - one shot was blocked by Burse - but nothing would fall in.

Despite outrebounding Krakow 40-28 and despite 18 offensive rebounds from the Hungarians, Pécs fell short. Krakow went 17-for-22 at the free throw line.

Anna Vadja had 18 points and 6 rebounds for Pécs. Nicole Ohlde of the Phoenix Mercury had 17 points and 8 rebounds. For Krakow, Marta Fernandez was the top performer with 25 points. Janell Burse hit double digits with 13 points and 6 rebounds, and Iziane Castro Marques went 4-for-5 with 15 points.


Jillian Robbins of Dynamo Kursk looks for the hoop.

Dynamo Kursk 82, Targoviste 70: Dynamo Kursk kept its Eurocup postseason hopes alive with a win over Targoviste, a Romanian team. The Russians won 82-70 at home in Kursk in front of a crowd of 1200.

Kursk got off to a slow start, but an 11-0 run in the first quarter helped Kursk to a 25-16 lead after one quarter. The Russians were able to build their lead to 14 points at one time in the second quarter, and went into halftime with a 48-37 lead. For most of the rest of the game, Kursk led in double-digits.

The win helps Kursk a lot. With the win, here are the standings in Group H in Eurocup:

K. V. Imperial: 4-1
Dynamo Kursk: 3-2
Targoviste: 3-2
Samsun: 0-5

With only the top two teams of each of the 11 groups guaranteed a place in the round of 32, Kursk would need to win against K. V. Imperial next week to be assured to advance. (They play at home.) If Kursk loses at home, they have to pray that Samsun wins on the road in Romania, and failing that, they have to hope that they're among the top ten teams that don't finish second in a group.