Last Night's Game: Washington @ Atlanta

Thoughts on last night's Mystics-Dream game

* I had the chance to sit courtside last night, and let me tell you, it is worth it.  If you ever get a chance to get courtside seats, or even have to pay for courtside seats, do not pass it up.  You will not regret it.  Hearing all the little conversations, hearing the coaches yelling, the players talking, adds a new dimension to the game.

* I got to shake hands with WNBA referee Eric Brewton.  He must have thought I was someone important.

* About the Dream's woes.  One of the people (not a coach or a player, by the way) I spoke with thought that the Dream's problems stemmed from their lack of 3-point shooting.  The theory goes that the only player on the roster who can beat anyone off the dribble is Angel McCoughtry, and in order for McCoughtry to get rolling opponent defenses have to be spread.  But without anyone shooting threes, defenses can just pack the lane and kill any momentum that McCoughtry might get in a drive to the basket.

* I believe McCoughtry has four technical fouls now.  Shades of Taurasi a couple of years ago?

* Only seven players played last night for the Dream, and Burdick was among them.  The current roster looks like:

McCoughtry *
Lyttle *
de Souza *
Hodges *
Ajavon *
Wheeler *
Burdick *

Carter
Colhado
Logic
Milton-Jones
Schimmel

Tiffany Hayes and Aneika Henry will return to the roster.  So who goes?

Hodges will stay since she's a vet and was a significant free agent signing.
Ajavon will stay since she's healthy this season.
Wheeler will stay because a) Coach Cooper seems to like Wheeler, and b) she's from Rutgers, which gives Ajavon someone to chat with.
Burdick will stay because a) Coach Cooper wanted to draft Burdick, but she wasn't available, and b) according to Cooper, Burdick gives him the opportunity to try different things on the court.  He's played Burdick a lot, he likes her, and the fans like her.

So that leaves the bottom five players listed as targets for cuts.

My personal theory is that Carter is gone.  But who is the other player?

Colhado?  Nope.  Colhado can back up de Souza when Atlanta needs size.
Schimmel?  Nope, not unless we get something for her in a big trade.

That leaves Milton-Jones, who has been in the league since what, 1999, or Logic, a player who was probably in diapers when Milton-Jones was graduating high school.  Use your common sense.  Who do you think is going to go?

Last night's game: Los Angeles @ Washington

I watched last night's Los Angeles / Washington matchup on ESPN. I was hoping for a Los Angeles win simply to keep Washington from picking up any speed in the Eastern Conference.

I don't have any deep analysis to give you.  I still can't identify the pick and roll when it happens.  I can tell you that:

* Nneka Ogwumike, still recovering from a high ankle strain, can single-handedly bring an abysmal Sparks team up to the level of the San Antonio Stars.  Who can figure what she can do when she's fully healthy?

* Emma Meesseman is the real deal.

* It is funny when a player whose hair is dyed purple puts on the "what, lil' ol innocent me?" look when called for a foul.  That's the same player that made a stupid foul on a buzzer-beating shot in the first quarter that sent the player to the line.

* Yes, Ivory Latta can come up big in games, but there are nights when she won't hit anything.  She a "high variance" player in statistical lingo.  Generally, it is better to have a player who will either score 5 points or 25 poitns on a night than a player who will score 15 every night - those 25-point games will bring you closer to a championship if you have a good bench.

* Big game for Tierra Ruffin-Pratt.

* Everyone really hates Carolyn Peck/Pam Ward.  I can see why they do, sometimes they get caught up in their own little universe and completely ignore the play-by-play aspect of the game.  But they also tell you things that you might not have known - that Meesseman is as quiet and unassuming as Latta is talkative (and Latta is very talkative), that Thibault looks for high IQ basketball players and that he doesn't buy into the "Power 5 Conferences Only" theory of drafting.  Useful information to know.

Dream Win Only One of Three Over Last Week: Split Series With Fever, Lose to Mystics at Home

Let's give a brief summary of how the week went:

August 1st: The Dream got on top of the Fever 90-74 which was a big win for Atlanta. That win split the series 2-2 and set up the final regular season game to take place on Friday. Winning team takes the tie-breaker in the Eastern Conference. Four Atlanta Dream players scored in double-digits. Atlanta's win continued the pattern of each team winning its games at home. With the win, Atlanta took over first place again in the East.

The box score is here.

A blurb from Sports Network can be found here.

The Associated Press blurb is here.

August 3rd: The Dream lose to the Mystics at home, 86-78, becoming only the second team this year to beat Atlanta at home. The Dream hit a dead zone in the fourth quarter after leading by six points at one time, and the last minute of the game was an exchange of free throws after exchange of free throws after exchange of free throws. It was one of those games you joke about where the last minute takes fifteen minutes, but the result was no joke for our beloved Dream.

The loss ended Atlanta's four-game win streak. The win gave the Mystics posession of second place, albeit briefly.

The box score is here.

Here's the Associated Press writeup.

Lauren Harper of The Examiner tells her side of the story from the Dream perspective with some quick hits. Andrew Tomlinson from the Washington branch of the Examiner tells the story another way.

Jshuane Melton of the DC Sports Box tells the whole story from the Mystics perspective.

August 6th. The Dream lost a heartbreaker in Indiana last night, 95-93. This loss gives the Indiana Fever the season tie-breaker, beating Atlanta in the season series three games to two. The Atlanta loss threw the Eastern Conference into turmoil, with four teams separated from each other by just a single game. The Dream and Fever are tied for first place, but if the season ended today Indiana would finish first and the Dream second due to the tiebreaker.

With less than a minute left, Alison Bales hit a free throw to put the Dream up 93-92. Ebony Hoffman of the Fever would hit one of two free throws to tie the game 93-93 with 30.1 seconds left. The Dream got the ball back but Katie Douglas stole the ball from Sancho Lyttle with six seconds left. The Fever put the ball in the hands of Tamika Catchings - who would score 30 points that night - and Atlanta was forced to foul.

Catchings hit both shots. 95-93 Fever. With 1.1 seconds left, Alison Bales managed to get off a shot and get the foul from Loree Moore. Bales needed to hit both shots to give the game a chance of going overtime.

She missed the first one...and the second one. Game over. I'm glad I wasn't there, I probably would have broken down in tears.

The box score is here.

David Woods of the Indianapolis Star writes it up.

Pat Lovell of the Examiner gives his impressions.

Hopefully, more blogging later. Next home game is this Tuesday, against the Seattle Storm. We don't need a "statement win". We just need a win.

Dream Drop Fourth Straight in Loss to Mystics, Fall Out of First

So where did Price's right hand go?

(Donna H. Perry of SportsPageMagazine gives us a bevy of pictures. And SPM has great photographers, so they're all worth seeing. Click the link.)

What we feared has come to pass. With an 82-72 loss in Washington, the Dream were swept on their four-game road trip, losing to Minnesota, Connecticut, Indiana and Washington in succession. With their fourth straight loss, the Dream fall out of first place and are now in third, 1/2 of game behind both Washington and Indiana.

It has been two years since the Dream lost four straight games or four straight road games (*). That's right, the last time the Dream performed this poorly was the horrible 2008 season. The last time they lost four straight was at the tail of a 10-game losing streak where they lost fourteen of fifteen along the way.

The further bad news is that Shalee Lehning has injured a quadricep. She didn't play in the Washington game and the recent news - Lehning is out for two weeks. For those out there who claimed that Lehning brought nothing to the Dream and that Kelly Miller would have been a better choice at point guard...well, your theory is going to face the acid test.

The box score for those who wish to see.

Here's the write-up from the Associated Press.

Another write-up from the Washington Post posting the sad tale.

I'm going to be at the game on Sunday, cheering on the Dream. It's time to get past this bump in the road and beat the Libs. After all, New York and Atlanta have a historical animosity, don't they?

_____

(*) If you count the final loss of the 2009 season at Gwinett as a "road" game - which it really was - we had four straight road losses the previous year.

Dream Win in Overtime 86-79 in Washington

The Dream head to Washington and come back winners. Atlanta was behind for large stretches of the game, but they came back when it counted. With the game tied 75-75 after regulation, the Dream outscored the Mystics 11-4 in the overtime period.

All info is here from the Associated Press.

The Dream are 7-2, and the losing streak is over. Hallelujah!

Atlanta vs. Washington, Saturday June 5

Who: The Atlanta Dream (6-2) take on the Washington Mystics (4-3) in an Eastern Conference Game.

The Dream are led by Angel McCoughtry, who is scoring 21.4 points per game. Sancho Lyttle (14.5 ppg/9.3 rpg) is an All-Star post, and Iziane Castro Marques (14.4 ppg) has really stepped up. Monique Currie (18.1 ppg) leads the Mystics in scoring and Crystal Langhorne (15.0 ppg/9.4 rpg) provides the rebounding punch.

What: The first of four regular season games against the Washington Mystics. In 2009, the Dream split the series with the Mystics 2-2, winning both games at home and losing both games on the road. The last time these teams met was an 82-64 loss in Washington in the final game of the 2009 regular season.

Where: The Verizon Center in Washington, DC.

When: Tipoff is at at 7 pm Eastern time, Saturday, June 5th. The game will be available on WNBA Live Access.

Why: The Dream have lost two straight games, and the gut-check might turn into a case of full-fledged nausea. After a tough 80-70 loss to the Sky last night, the Dream head immediately to Washington to take on the Mystics. A third loss in a row will lead to questions as to whether or not the Dream's 6-0 start was simply a hot streak that has now cooled down.

The Eastern Conference will be tough. Washington will not be a "gimme" game. The Mystics are 4-3 and they went to the playoffs last year, and they know a win will bring them to within 1/2 of a game of the Eastern Conference lead.

Right now, the Dream have four principal scorers: McCoughtry, Lyttle, De Souza, and Iziane. Two of those players didn't show up on Friday and it showed. As for Washington, they broke a losing streak against Connecticut last Sunday and have had six days to prepare for this game. Four Washington players scored in double figures and Crystal Langhorne had 17 points and 16 rebounds. The Dream need to find Langhorne's "off" switch or it might be a long day today for the Dream.

E2/2010 - Mystics 77, Dream 58

Okay. The Dream have lost a lot of games in their history by 19 points or more. Hey, last year we lost games by 19 points or more. The last game that we lost that badly was...no, wait, we didn't lose by 19 points last year. The biggest losses we had were by 18 points. You have to go back to August of 2008 to find a loss of that magnitude, where the Dream lost to Connecticut 98-72 at Philips Arena.

But even that game had high points. Betty "Big Buckets" Lennox scored 19 points. Katie Mattera had 13 points and six rebounds. And we don't even have those players on the Dream anymore. Looking at the box score, high points are few and far between.

* The Dream shot 27.1 percent from the floor. First half shooting was 22.2 percent. Thank goodness this was the preseason. We still didn't have Sancho Lyttle, or Erika de Souza or Chamique Holdsclaw...and where on earth is The Claw? She's becoming harder to find around the Dream training camp than Waldo.
* Atlanta had 12 first quarter turnovers. Alison Bales turned the ball over four times in the first quarter.
* This was a Michael Price officiated game, and he must have purchased a brand new whistle. The Mystics were whistled for 36 personal fouls. The Dream were whistled for 28 personal fouls. The Dream had 37 foul line visits and the Mystics had 27. Price must have needed an oxygen tank after the game.

I've not seen a report on the game. Maybe everyone's trying to pretend that it never happened. I know I am. If there was a high point to this game, it can't be found anywhere in the box score. The "high point" is that it didn't happen during the regular season.

We'll take a look at the game flow a la Dean Oliver.

Pace:

Estimated possessions = [(69-15+23+0.4*27)+(59-10+21+0.4*37)]/2 = ...approximately 86.

The Dream's offensive rating was 58/60 = 67.4 and the Washington's offensive rating was 89.5. The Dream's offensive rating comes from the fact that the Dream couldn't hit the side of a barn offensively.

Game flow: The Dream's cold start put them behind early on in the game and they pretty much stayed behind by double-digits for most of the game. The Dream were never in it. In the second half of the third quarter the Dream closed Washington's lead to single-digits but the closest the Dream were able to come were eight points.

Shooting percentage: Mystics 37.7 percent, Dream 27.1 percent.
Effective shooting percentage: Mystics 39.9 percent, Dream 28.8 percent. Neither team had much of a range. The Mystics went 3-for-16 from 3-point range, the Dream went 2-for-18.

Turnovers: Dream 21, Mystics 23. Not the best game when it came to moving the ball around.
Offensive rebound percentage: Mystics 45.4 percent, Dream 24.3 percent. Having neither Lyttle nor de Souza hurts in these games.
Free throw visits: Dream 37, Mystics 27. However, the Dream's big advantage at the free throw line was negated when they shot 65 percent from the line. Atlanta only hit two more free throws than Washington.

All in all, it was easy for Washington to dominate. The Dream simply didn't show up.

And now, let's look at the Dream's individual performances.

Chanel Mokango: We'll get something straight right off. There were no great individual performances - the best performances were mediocre. Therefore, there was no "Dreamer of the Game"...there were merely survivors.

Mokango was one of the players who actually reached the level of mediocrity. Four points, one rebound. 1-for-4 shooting, and three personal fouls - but she did have a couple of steals and a blocked shot, so there you go.

Iziane Castro Marques: Castro Marques is back! And sure enough, she went 5-for-13 and missed every 3-point shot she made. (She tried six of them.) She went 3-for-6 from the free throw line. 13 points scored, but 19 scoring opportunities. She led in points, but gave the Mystics a lot of opportunities with what she missed. Bleah.

Armintie Price: Price got the start...and scored one point. She returned to her old free-throw shooting ways, going 1-for-4 at the free throw line. However, Price had three assists and a steal so it wasn't all bad.

Brittainey Raven: Raven scored 7 points - five of them at the free throw line. She went 1-for-5, including 0-for-3 at the 3-point line. Four rebounds helped, a -14 raw plus/minus did not.

Alison Bales: She managed to recover from the previous awful game into a mediocre one. She played 25 minutes and had the most time on the floor than any player. She scored 7 points, but had five turnovers to lead the team. Five turnovers to lead the team, with four in the first quarter. Three personal fouls. Not the kind of game you want to add on your resume.

Angel McCoughtry: 11 points and six rebounds. McCoughtry shot 3-for-12 to match the team's fortunes. She had four personal fouls, falling into the same kind of pattern that we saw in 2009. On the other hand, her +1 raw plus/minus led the team.

Shalee Lehning: 18 minutes played. Two points. Three assists. 1-for-3 shooting. Two personal fouls.

Erica White: She had the smallest amount of time on the court - 8 minutes, 52 seconds. She went 4-for-4 from the free throw line for four total points. She was 0-for-2 shooting from the court with one turnover.

Coco Miller: Coco Miller isn't going to help herself in camp with this kind of game. Miller went 0-for-3 and scored both of her 2 points at the free throw line. She had three rebounds and two assists, but scored three personal fouls - an average of one every four minutes.

Kelly Miller: She played 13 minutes and scored only three points. One rebounds, one assist, one personal foul. Her -17 in raw plus/minus was the worst on the team.

Brigitte Ardossi: Less than ten minutes played. Two points on 0-for-2 shooting. One rebounds, two fouls, two turnovers. "There's no emoticon for what I'm feeling."

Shawn Goff: 2 points. Believe it or not, it wasn't the worst offensive output of any of the starters - Price only scored one point. Two rebounds, two personal fouls...but four turnovers. Only Alison Bales had more turnovers than Goff did. Goff would have gotten the Bad Dream of the Game award, but it wouldn't be fair to give that award to her since she was helped by so many people.

(* * *)

Okay, between now and Friday evening, the Dream have to begin cutting players. It looks to me like Marynell Meadors will have some tough decisions to make.

The next game for the Dream will be on Saturday, in San Antonio as they open the 2010 regular season against the Silver Stars on the road. Afterward, they fly right back to Atlanta for the home opener against the defending Eastern Conference champions, the Indiana Fever. The new Dream is about to go on-line - we can only hope that we've finally worked some of the bugs out.

Atlanta vs. Washington, Sunday May 9th

Who: The Atlanta Dream (0-1, preseason) take on the Washington Mystics (1-0, preseason).

Here were the training camp rosters for each team in the previous preseason game:

Dream: Angel McCoughtry, Shawn Goff, Alison Bales, Armintie Price, Shalee Lehning, Coco Miller, Chanel Mokango, Brittainey Raves, Erica White, Brigitte Ardossi, Britany Miller.

Mystics: Monique Currie, Jennifer Lacy, Nakia Sanford, Katie Smith, Lindsey Harding, Marissa Coleman, Kristin Mann, LaTangela Atkinson, Nikki Blue, Ewelina Kobryn, Shanavia Dowdell. Lauren Ervin and Alexis Gray-Lawson, participants in the game in the link above, have already been cut.

What: The second of two preseason games, both outside of Atlanta. The last time the Dream played the Mystics in the 2009 regular season they lost 82-64 on the road in the Dream's final regular season game. Atlanta had already clinched, but the Mystics needed the win. Unfortunately, Shalee Lehning was hurt in that game and she could have been of help in the postseason against Detroit.

Where: The Hooper Eblen Center on the campus of Middle Tennessee State University in Cookeville, Tennessee.

When: Tipoff is 4 pm on Sunday, May 9th. The game will most likely not be available on TV, or on WNBA Live Access. Maybe there will be a live update of the box scores, maybe not. I'm sure we'll at least know who won. It is also the final competitive game before the Dream travel to San Antonio on Saturday, May 15th to kick off the 2010 regular season.

Why: In the first place, if you wanted an excuse for a road trip, this is it. For Marynell Meadors, it's a return to the place where she started her coaching career - she was a women's basketball player at MTSU between the years of (approximately) 1961 through 1965. Back then, says Meadors, their coach Sue Gunter left after their sophomore year and Meadors offered to take over duties as a player-coach as Middle Tennessee State didn't want to pay money to have someone coach women's basketball. (My, how much things haven't changed in fifty years). So your going to this game supports women's basketball, which is a good thing.

For players on the edge - Brittainey Raven, Alison Bales, Brigitte Ardossi, Britany Miller, Shawn Goff, Erika White - even Coco Miller, maybe - this is the final chance to show their stuff to Marynell Meadors, because she has to have this roster cut down by Friday, May 14th to just eleven players. Media Day for the Dream is the morning of Thursday, May 13th and the Dream might wish to showcase who they think will be the final roster. Meadors hasn't made too many cuts - there are theoretically twenty people who could call themselves members of the Atlanta Dream, including Demetress Adams and Dalma Ivanyi - so the axe will have to come out.

The Mystics have it tougher. Alana Beard, injured for the 2010 season, is still technically on the roster because Washington doesn't want to cut her and...oh Spencer Pratt, even I don't understand the WNBA roster rules. That means that Washington will have an active roster of only 10 players, one of which might be Jennifer Lacy, the former Atlanta Dream player that the Dream did not re-sign out of free agency.

Atlanta Dream Preseason Game to Be Played at Tennessee Tech

More has been revealed about the 2010 Atlanta Dream season. The Dream will be playing a preseason game on Sunday, May 9th at 3 pm. However, it will not take place at Philips Arena in Atlanta. Rather, it will take place at the Eblen Center in Cookeville, Tennessee - the home of Tennessee Tech basketball. The Dream will take on the Washington Mystics in their second pre-season game of 2010.

The Mother's Day game will be the first professional basketball game ever played at the Eblen Center.

Why there? Well, let the article tell you:

Meadors was a head coach at Tennessee Tech and Florida State for a combined 30 years. She was the first head coach in Tech history, establishing the women’s program and posting a .723 winning percentage. She was twice named OVC Coach of the Year, leading Tech to four Ohio Valley Conference championships and was the first major women’s college coach to win 350 games at one school.

Meadors wasn't just a head coach at Tenneseee Tech, she started the women's basketball program there, along with other sports programs. She's virtually the Founding Mother of Tennessee Tech women's sports.

The game does have some Dream fans riled up, particularly those who don't want to make the trip. Furthermore, with the threat of a relocation hanging over the Dream's head at the end of 2009, fans are undoubtedly hesitant about the Dream showing itself off to Tennessee.

However, you have to remember that fans from the University of Tennessee came out to fill Philips Arena during the Atlanta/Los Angeles game last year. The people of Tennessee showed interest and it makes sense for the Dream to cater to that interest. Coach Meadors gets to help out her former university. It all makes sense to me.

And of course, it also means...ROAD TRIP!

Dream/Mystics Gallery

"What happened to Lehning, Erika?" "Eu acho que ela machucou o ombro."

Karen Hermann of SportsPageMagazine.com has a gallery of pictures up from the Washington-Atlanta game.

Generally, I just say the pictures are cool - and they are cool - but some of these are really interesting. There's a great one of Snow getting a block and one of McCoughtry suspended in mid-air that is one of those pics you give the player to autograph. Take a look!

Dream Falls 82-64 in Washington - Lehning Hurt?

Tried to watch the Dream's final game against the Mystics tonight, but Live Access absolutely refused to cooperate. I just gave up. Hopefully, ESPN2 and NBATV won't conk out on me.

We lost 82-64. We've not won a back-to-back all season. To top it off, Shalee Lehning went down in the first half. I'm hearing "shoulder separation" and "shoulder dislocation", which are two separate things.

Let's hope Lehning gets better and that everyone is healthy for the playoffs on Wednesday, wherever they might be.

33/2009 - Dream 88, Sun 64

What's that I see in the stands?

Indiana was the first team to cross the finish line, but the runners behind the Fever were all bunched up. Atlanta edges out in front and manages to get across the finish line a split second before the other runners - if you want to stretch this analogy to excruciating proportions.

Here are my thoughts about the game:

1) I didn't see Connecticut working out much at all. They weren't even shooting until they were announced and came onto the court as a group. Maybe coach Mike Thibault was afraid that one of his players would break something.

2) There were a lot of young people in the crowd - they must have been waiting for the weekend. The problem that Atlanta has is that on Friday nights, the Dream have to compete with high school football.

It seemed that people were pouring in to Philips Arena throughout the game. I wonder how many of them were mistaken about the start time, believing the game started at 7:30 pm instead of at 7 pm.

3) Also noted: when the Sun ran out onto the court as a team, there was virtually no applause. The Sun would be receiving no Southern hospitality.

4) Someone was carrying a sign that read, "Happy Birthday Angel" - it was actually was McCoughtry's belated birthday, as her birthday falls on September 10th. Whoever made this sign had the right idea:

* Multiple colors were used
* Consistent font/writing
* The letters were large, at least an "inch thick" in dark, rather than light colors. This is the kind of sign you can read across the court. It appeared to be written on paper, which means easy transportation as the sign simply rolls up when not being used

If you're thinking of a sign, remember these tips.

5) This was "Fan and Military Appreciation Night" and an honor guard brought the American flag out to center court. Roselin J. Johnson sang the National Anthem. My understanding is that Ms. Johnson is a member of the Atlanta police force. She was very good; it might have been the best rendition of the National Anthem I've heard this year.

6) Before the game started, coach Marynell Meadors presented Angel McCoughtry with her Rookie of the Month award for August. There was another sign: "Congratulations Rookie of the Year: Angel McCoughtry".

7) There were two players showing up that I didn't expect to show up: one was Tamika Whitmore, who had been tending to her sick grandmother from what I understand. The other was Chamique Holdsclaw. Holdsclaw wasn't dressed for the game but her hair was in a bun and she was attired pretty smartly.

8) Atlanta starters: McCoughtry, Lyttle, de Souza, Castro Marques, Lehning. Holdsclaw was there to "shove" McCoughtry on the court, which is sort of becoming a tradition.
Connecticut starters: Jekabsone-Zogota, Gardin, Gruda, White, Whalen. No Asjha Jones.

9) In the first quarter, the game got started fast. It seemed like Atlanta wanted to run. Aside from a brief point where the Sun led 4-2 after a steal by Gardin and a basket by Whalen, the Dream took the lead. Sancho Lyttle picked up six quick points before four minutes had passed.

What I didn't like: Lehning made three bad passes in the first five minutes or so. If I recall correctly, all of them were overthrows. However, it only counted as two turnovers for Lehning as Lyttle tried to save one of those passes but Tan White fouled Lyttle when Lyttle was still (1/2) in control of the ball.

10) The Dream promotional staff decided to have a 3-point shooting contest. One of the participants was a young kid named Conor...

...and let me tell you, this kid was a freak. His tiny little body was just sinking 3-pointers left and right, absolutely killing them. It seemed that it took every bit of his strength to shoot from behind the arc, but he nailed shot after shot after shot. He was amazing. Hopefully, word has gotten back to the Atlanta Hawks.

11) Amber Holt hit a couple of buckets, and the score was 19-16 Atlanta. On Holt's second shot, Holt outraced Iziane Castro Marques to the bucket. It looked like Connecticut was going to make a game of it.

12) But then...no. Up 19-16, the Dream went on an 11-0 run. Shalee Lehning drove to the basket on a breakaway, scoring four seconds after an Erika de Souza rebound. Then, Erika scored on an assist by Angel McCoughtry.

And let's talk about McCoughtry and an amazing first quarter sequence. Up 27-16, Angel McCoughtry had what I call a "real steal" - not one of those steals which is nothing more than just catching a bad pass, but a steal where you break up the opponent's dribble. It's amazing to see McCoughtry get those steals, because McCoughtry is moving in the opposite direction and it ends on a "one-on-zero" break to the opponent basket.

So McCoughtry is all alone with the Connecticut Sun galloping behind her. Firing point blank - she misses. By that time, Kiesha Brown has arrived, but McCoughtry gets the offensive rebound. And then, she makes the basket, gets the foul and McCoughtry sinks the follow-up free throw. Steal + Missed Field Goal + Offensive Rebound + Field Goal + Free Throw. That's how you fill up a stat line.

13) Atlanta hit 13 of its 18 attempts for 72.2 percent shooting in the first quarter. They held the Sun to four total rebounds. (The Dream had 14). Clearly, the Dream had something to say in the first 10 minutes of the game, and they said it.

14) Connecticut went into the zone defense for the second quarter, and it seemed that Atlanta had trouble breaking through. The Sun scored the first points of the second quarter and trailed 30-21. The Dream had a hard time adjusting and made a couple of bad passes. One of Atlanta's problems was the outlet pass; there were at least three passes that ended up with turnovers (out of bounds, whatever) during the game.

15) Then, the Dream began to turn it up. McCoughtry got another "real steal" and would have had a basket if she hadn't lost her balance when in the middle of a Sun logjam of players. Ivory Latta came in for the first time and hit a 3-pointer. Ninety seconds later, Latta hit an underhanded layup to put the Dream up 43-27. It was all a part about an 8-0 run that gave Atlanta a 20-point lead, 47-27.

16) During the run, Sandrine Gruda earned a technical foul. Why, I have no idea. She had been called for a foul a few moments earlier, maybe she said something to the referees. Listening to the WNBA Live Access archive, Art Eckman provides no information - I don't think he even knew one was called.

17) With the score 47-31, a fan was quizzed on the Jumbotron and was given this question:

Which Atlanta Dream player is getting married next month?
a) Armintie Price, b) Ivory Latta, c) Shalee Lehning

The answer, if you didn't know, is "a". The fan answered "b". (The fan won the swag anyway.)

18) It seemed that we could do no wrong. Armintie Price - probably planning her nuptials - took the court. Up 49-34, Price had the ball, drove to the basket and got the defensive foul. Unfortunately, "Half Price" - she only hits 50 percent of her free throws - missed the gimme free throw. Price had five points before the end of the half.

19) Halftitme. The Dream led 53-36. Atlanta was still shooting over 50 percent, hitting 23 out of 40 shots. Lyttle had scored 14 points and Erika de Souza had 6 points and 7 rebounds.

20) The person wearing the pink Lehning jersey was back again. Hello!

21) I was very glad to see a commerical for Georgia State women's basketball. I think that as women's basketball fans, we need to support our local college teams and I recommend that you attend either a Georgia State game or a Georgia Tech game. I saw a lot of Georgia Tech games last year; Alexander Memorial Coliseum is a cool place to see a game.

22) With the season over, I think the Shooting Stars dancers - or was it the Dream front office workers - began giving out a lot of swag, whole boxes of it. They gave out a lot of water bottles - and pens? Were they pens? I never got a pen!

23) The third quarter started. Angel McCoughtry picked up her third personal foul early in the third quarter. Iziane Castro Marques picked up her first two fouls in the first two minutes of the third.

But we continued to roll. Lehning hit a 3-pointer to jump the score to 58-38. Ninety seconds later, Lehning hit another 3-pointer for her 13th point as Atlanta took a 62-41 lead.

24) Despite some lapses - Iziane attempting to drive 1-on-3 against Connecticut was one of them - the Dream maintained its 20-point lead and proceeded to extend it. It was then that I caught the Brazilian flag in the stands. I took a snapshot, and that's where the picture at the head of this blog post comes from. (Can you make out the flag?)

25) Cierra Burdick took part in a competition on court. A friend of mine - who has forgotten more about women's basketball than I've learned - pointed out to me that Burdick is a member of the USA's under-16 women's team that just won the 2009 FIBA Americas U16. Burdick will be eligible to play for a college team in 2011.

Here's her profile. The site says that she's considering North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Maybe she's thinking Tech or Georgia?

26) With 4:50 to go in the third quarter, de Souza picked up her 11th point. She now had a double-double. Lehning was already having a career high game. The Dream went on a 14 point run in the third quarter and with 30 seconds left in the third Atlanta led 78-46 - a 32 point lead that effectively ended the game before the fourth quarter had even started.

27) Someone told me that Ivory Latta would be playing in Turkey next year. I can't say who. So I'll keep an eye on Turkish news and see if I can't find out anything. Latta started the first part of the season in Turkey last year then transferred to Israel in mid-season.

28) Erika de Souza had 15 points and 14 rebounds. Sancho Lyttle had 16 points and 7 rebounds. Lehning was in double-digits. There really wasn't much of a point in playing the fourth quarter...but the players were pros, and that's what they're paid for.

29) Sure enough, the fourth and final quarter started out sloppy. Coco Miller turned over the ball on a bad pass to Erin Phillips - and then, immediately after, Ivory Latta was called for a foul despite that it appeared that Phillips drove into Latta.

Boy, did the crowd boo! Atlanta fans - we're up by 31 points with nine minutes left. Does it really matter if Ivory Latta gets a ticky-tack foul or not?

30) For almost three minutes, the Dream did not score. Not to say that the Dream weren't involved in the game. Erika de Souza was standing and waving towels from the bench.

When Jennifer Lacy was called for a foul with seven minutes left in the game, the boos just rained down. I guess a lot of the booing fans must have been 2008 season ticket holders - after 2008, we don't even trust the Dream when they're up by 30.

31) With 6:16 left in the game, Michelle Snow was called for a technical foul. I believe that she had fouled Sandrine Gruda while she was shooting but according to Art Eckman - and looking at the replay - Snow really didn't do anything to deserve the technical. Eckman stated that Snow didn't say anything that objectionable - it was most likely that Snow had been complaining non-stop and the ref just decided he had enough of it.

32) It was now time for iPod Karaoke. This time, however, there was no player to sing the song. Instead, they had one fan sing a song to another fan. The song was a song called "Bubbly" which I had never heard.

I don't like this development. I like to see the players do stuff, not fans.

33) During the back half of the fourth quarter, it seemed that Jennifer Lacy kept calling for the ball. Atlanta's lead was in the mid-20s because they really weren't shooting anything. The Dream couldn't get the ball in to Lacy - they wanted to give Lacy some points - but Connecticut wasn't going to let Atlanta do that. Lacy would go wanting.

34) With 3 1/2 minutes left, both teams went over the limit. However - thank goodness - neither team fouled for the rest of the game, preventing that inexorable March of the Free Throw Lines you sometimes see at the end of game.

McCoughtry got another steal and another "one-on-zero" drive. It was McCoughtry's 18th point.

35) With 49 seconds left, the Dream took their final shot of the game - an airball by Armintie Price. Angel McCoughtry would get the ball back from Anete Jekabsone-Zogota but they would work the clock down to nothingness. The ball was turned over on a shot clock violation.

With 17 seconds left, the Connecticut Sun had the ball back, but they weren't going to do anything with it. Erin Phillips dribbled down the remaining seconds...and the Dream were in the playoffs for the first time in their history!

It might be a while before we get a statistical post-mortem: the Dream take the court in Washington an hour from now.

Atlanta vs. Washington, Saturday September 12

Who: The Atlanta Dream (18-15) take on the Washington Mystics (15-17) in the final regular season game of the 2009 season.

The Dream have a cast including Angel McCoughtry (12.6 ppg) and Sancho Lyttle (13.2 ppg, 7.6 prg). Iziane Castro Marques (14.3 ppg) leads the team in scoring. Washington has Lindsey Harding (12.2 ppg, 4.7 ppg) and Crystal Langhorne (12.2 ppg, 8.0 rpg).

What: The final of four games this year against the Mystics. The Dream are 2-1 so far in the regular season against the Mystics, with their last game a 72-65 win in July.

Where: The Verizon Center in Washington, DC.

When: Tipoff is 7 pm Eastern on Saturday, September 12. The game is available on WNBA Live Access.

Why: Well, Atlanta might be interested in this game because if they win it, it eliminates Washington and determines the four Eastern Conference playoff contenders. A win, furthermore, would secure an incontestable 19-15 record and clinch second place outright. (Atlanta clinched second place by winning the head-to-head tiebreaker against Detroit if the two teams finish with the same record.) And as they say, "winning is a habit".

Outside of that, a win by Atlanta would be nice but a loss won't bring disaster. Atlanta is locked into the second place in the Eastern Conference playoffs. There's an outside chance that Washington could win the third seed if Chicago beats Detroit in the final game of each of those teams and Washington beats Atlanta and then wins against New York on Sunday. But most likely, Atlanta's opponent will be Detroit - and that's a match you want to be completely ready for, so why risk injuring anyone in a meaningless game?

Speaking of injuries, leading scorers from both teams are suffering. Chamique Holdsclaw is still day-to-day and the chances of her not playing on Saturday's game are 99.99 percent. Alana Beard, who averages 16.2 ppg, has only just come back from an ankle injury, appearing in the Mystics' previous game where she shot 2-for-9 from the field against Indiana and finished with just six points.

Washington has to win this game, and Atlanta doesn't. Is it time for Atlanta to knock a team around? Will Washington fold under the pressure? This game will be interesting, at least for that.

Atlanta's Mission: "Win, and You're In!"

With the defeat of the Washington Mystics by the Indiana Fever, the playoff picture is suddenly a lot clearer.

The Dream have 17 wins. The Mystics and the Sun - the 5th and 6th place teams - have 17 losses. Which means that the very best the Mystics or Sun can do is tie Atlanta - which would require both teams to sweep and Atlanta to lose its final two games. Even so, Atlanta wins the tiebreaker against the Sun and with the Mystics it would go to "Best Conference Record."

However, an 18th win by Atlanta ends all speculation - there would be no way the Mystics could catch up (although Washington might still be in the hunt for a lower level playoff spot). But....

...if Atlanta beats Connecticut at home on Friday, September 11th or beats Washington on the road on Saturday, September 12th - we are in the playoffs. Where, we can't say but we will definitely be there. It's just that simple now..."win, and you're in."

11/2009 - Dream 72, Mystics 65: Clawing Our Way to the Top

Crystal might have gotten more than she bargained for with Angel.

We'll take a look at a few of the stats from the Dream/Mystics game and designate our winners and losers.

Four Factors

Field goal shooting: The Dream win this category, 41.2 percent to 38.5 percent. This is a low shooting game for the Dream, which has exceeded 50 percent shooting in a few games. It's an even worse showing for the Mystics.

Worthy of note: The Mystics went after us on the perimeter, but only sank two of their shots, shooting 2-for-11. The only player who hit a 3-pointer for the Dream was Shalee Lehning. We were 1-for-4 in the long bomb.

Offensive rebounds: We lost the battle 16 to 8, and we lost the overall rebounding battle 40 to 29. The problem is that in order for us to dominate the boards, both Lyttle and de Souza have to have a good games. De Souza has been off her mark the last couple of games, we hope she comes back.

Turnovers: Washington had 28 turnovers, which led to the Dream's 17 steals being a franchise record. You can't turn over the ball 28 times and win...although I suspect that the Mystics could have come close. The Dream had 18 turnovers of its own, leading to a lot of sloppy-looking play out there.

Free throw visits: Both teams were about even - we visited the stripe 21 times; the Mystics had 20 visits. We picked up two extra points off free throws, but we only shot 71 percent. Washington's 65 percent shooting was horrible.

Let's look at the Mystics players:

Alana Beard: 16 points on 18 shooting attempts. Clearly, Beard was the Mystics best player but she went AWOL in the second quarter for some reason. Beard led the Mystics in turnovers with six.
Lindsey Harding: 11 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists.
Crystal Langhorne: 10 points and 8 assists. Four turnovers.
Monique Currie: 1-for-8 shooting. Five points.
Chasity Melvin: 7 points with a -18 in raw plus/minus.

And now for the Dream....

Sancho Lyttle: The Dream organization named Chamique Holdsclaw the Player of the Game, but in my opinion, that honor belonged strictly to Sancho. Lyttle scored 16 points to Holdsclaw's 18, and had five steals. Furthermore, she scored all of her points in only 15 minutes of play. This makes Lyttle the Dreamer of the Game.

Chamique Holdsclaw: ...on the other hand, I'd certainly give Holdsclaw credit for a night where she had 18 points and 8 assists. The eight assists tied her personal best. However, Lyttle shot 8-for-11 from the field and The Claw had five turnovers.

Angel McCoughtry: Maybe Angel is finally out of Meadors's doghouse. 14 points for Angel with a raw +/- of +13. Not a bad night for the rookie.

Michelle Snow: If Snow can keep having good games and meeting the standard she set last year with the Comets, the Dream can win games. 8 points, 8 rebounds with Snow stepping up where Lyttle and de Souza were absent on the boards.

Shalee Lehning: Lehning has played better in these last three games. She might be more comfortable with her role, but she needs to shoot more, or defenses will lay off her and begin defending players she'll want to dish to if they figure that she won't take the shot anyway. Lehning had 5 points including her first 3-pointer.

Jennifer Lacy: 4 points, but 8 rebounds. Unfortunately, she shot 1-for-6 from the field.

Ivory Latta: You can guess that we're getting into the realm of "didn't hurt/didn't help". Latta only played 1:03, so there wasn't much more that Ivory could contribute beyond the steal. But at least the steal took the ball out of Washington's hands.

Coco Miller: 4 points. Her 1-for-8 shooting was even worse than Lacy's.

Erika de Souza: What happened, Erika? De Souza went 1-for-5 with just two rebounds and three personal fouls in only 13 minutes played. Erika has been off her game these past two games - let's hope for a wake-up call tonight in Indianapolis.

Iziane Castro Marques: 18 minutes played. 0-for-5 shooting. Three turnovers, including one to start off the game. Two points. Iziane is at least used to being at the bottom of these list. Call Iziane Still Snoozing and hope that she can wake up and put some points on the board.

11/2009 - Dream 72, Mystics 65

So, who wants the ball more?

Happy Fourth of July! "Freedom, freedom, freedom, Oi!" Today we celebrate the country's victory over the British, yesterday we celebrated the Dream's victory over the oppressive Washington Mystics. I suspect that Washington was simply honoring the struggles at Valley Forge as they struggled on the court in Atlanta.

SPMSportsPage.com's writeup of the game is here, and the gallery of game pictures can be found here.

I'll pass on my thoughts regarding the game:

1) It was so odd watching Ivory Latta practicing her long-range shots before the game. As this year's Dream team is so different from the one before it, it was almost as if she were an anachronism.

2) It was good to see Carol Ross out there working with the Dream. Ross is definitely a hands-on coach. Before the game she was working with the players, dishing the ball out to players at the perimeter as they took their shots. I've only see a few pre-game practices, but this is the first time I've seen a coach really working with the players even at pre-game.

3) I suspect that Michael Jackson's music will be a staple at Dream games at least until the end of the 2009 season. It's good to see Jackson's music make a resurgence - my wife said, "it's almost as if he's been rediscovered." I suspect that Jackson's death has closed the chapter on the weirdness and scandal associated with the two final decades of his life; when one listens to his music one is reminded less of Wacko Jacko and more of that kid from the Jackson 5.

4) I got the chance to meet some Dream fans that I had only met on the internet before. It's so odd meeting people in person. The only one I had a chance to talk to at length was Scarab - you sort of draw a picture in your head of someone without meeting them, and Scarab matched this mental image to a "T". And now I know where she hangs out! Taco Mac!

5) Tamera Young is still not ready to play. I saw her hanging out down at the bench, incognito. I'm slowly learning how to recognize her without her pigtails.

6) I'm glad the Dream is still supporting Nothing But Nets. Nikki Teasley would donate so much cash for each of her assists; the program was most closely associated with Teasley when she was with the Dream. Even though she's no longer the front, I'm glad the the Dream are supporting this worthy cause.

However, the opening film of Dream players that precedes the introduction of the players still has Teasley in it. I know it's probably going to be a while before the film can be edited...but it sort of looks creepy now.

7) I like the white warm-up wear of the Shooting Stars. However, I'll keep repeating: the men's uniforms are awful. Nothing but a sort of beige looking shirt and some shorts. I don't know what needs to be done to give the Shooting Stars men something standout to wear...but please, DFO (Dream Front Office), make it happen!

8) Today's National Anthem singer: someone from the Ebenezer Baptist Church. I didn't catch the young man's name, but I give his rendition two thumbs up.

9) The Washington starters: Harding, Beard, Currie, Sanford, and Melvin.
The Atlanta starters: Castro Marques, Lyttle, de Souza, Holdsclaw....and Miller. I guess the question of "who would start: Latta or Lehning?" was answered with the third option.

10) The Dream started with Iziane Castro Marques making a bad pass right into the hands of Alana Beard. Total time elapsed: 0:08.

11) In the first quarter, two players were going to carry their respective teams on their backs - for the Dream it was Sancho Lyttle and for the Mystics it was Alana Beard.

12) Washington took the lead in the first quarter. Immediately, I got the impression that ball handling on either side was not going to be good. Erika de Souza starting 0-for-3 in the first quarter wasn't going to help. For anyone concerned about how the Dream does, this game was going to be a nail-biter.

13) Atlanta slowly began to contend with the Mystics. Izi was still turning over the ball with passes that make you suspect if she had large bets of money on the Mystics. Angel was a mess starting out, shooting 0-for-3. The score was 20-20 at the end of the first quarter.

14) In the second quarter, the Dream took off. They went on a 10-3 run which established a lead that the Dream would never relinquish for the rest of the game. We were getting a lot of bizarre calls from the referees, though. I think this is the first WNBA I've seen where we've had three separate calls for Palming the Ball - the first turnover of this kind was by Chamique Holdsclaw.

15) Guess who led the Dream in second quarter points? Shalee Lehning. However, I still have two complaints about Lehning. The first is that she tends to walk the ball instead of driving to the basket. The second is that when she gets close to the basket - she kicks it out. I saw Shalee within eight feet of the basket with the ball, and only one defender in front of her who couldn't have stopped the shot. What does she do? She kicks the ball out! Shalee, take the shot! Marynell will forgive you if you score points.

16) Shalee scored five points in total, which tied her career high. When was the last time Shalee scored five points in a game? Against Washington. Say it with me, Dream fans: The Mystics are Shalee Lehning's bitch.

17) The Dream build their lead up to 10 points, 37-27, with a shot by Erika de Souza. During a timeout with 2:35 remaining in the second quarter, Dream mascot Star came out and did the "Peanut Butter Jelly" dance while wearing a banana costume - a banana costume looking suspiciously like the one worn by that weird "mascot" during Mascot Day in 2008.

I suspect that Star killed him for the costume.

18) The back end of that second quarter looked awful. There was a lot of weirdness going on, in the personal foul department, the strange referee calls department, and the generally-standing-around-and-looking-puzzled department. Washington was on its way to its 15th turnover of the game....

19) With 1:03 left in the second quarter, Ivory Latta came back on the court to the cheers of the crowd. Her steal of the ball from Crystal Langhorne was that 15th Mystics turnover. Latta would only play 1:03 in the game, and finish with the lone steal on her statline.

20) The Mystics had clawed their way back to within five going into halftime, 38-33. However, the Mystics were shooting 36.7 percent in the first half and had 15 turnovers. Atlanta wasn't shooting much better, though, and under no circumstances did I think that this game was money in the bank.

Very pleasing to me: Angel McCoughtry's +9 in raw plus/minus at the end of the first half.

21) The halftime show was from Gamma Alpha Psi, a step team. If I have the Greek letters wrong, forgive me, but I didn't catch the name. Probably because I didn't think much of their routine, although I am about as far as you can get from an expert on step dancing.

22) Star gets second half kudos: he was not only wearing the banana suit, he was on a skateboard. That's it, DFO. PAY STAR MORE. He might be the hardest working mascot in show business, next to the Famous Chicken...and Maddie.

23) Did you know soda costs $4 at Philips Arena? If you want a souvenir cup, it's $5. I simply consider it my contribution to the vitality of the Dream, and am willing to pay it.

24) A Dream fan came up to me to chat at halftime. I'm guessing she's one of those who is not an Ivory Latta fan, and was unhappy with the acquisition. "I thought we were done with that silliness" was what she said.

25) Question: why were all of the referees bald for our game? Was it some sort of secret training ritual, or did the combined screaming of the fans blow the hairs off their scalps?

26) Dwight Howard came back to visit the Dream. Josh Smith of the Atlanta Hawks was with him. They've been at a lot of these games. Either: a) they are both secret WNBA fans, or b) they're dating someone on the staff or the team.

27) God, that third quarter. Lots of fouling. It was like watching two teams play in a mud pit. Fouls, fouls, fouls. The Mystics had visited the free throw line for the 19th time. They had 22 turnovers and were shooting at 34 percent. Both teams were shooting under 70 percent at the line at the time. The third quarter was completely indecisive, and the Dream got lucky and added two more points to their lead, leading 54-47 at the end of the third.

28) One thing I enjoyed about this game: the Dream were playing some defense. No more standing around defensively. They were in Washington's face at the start of the first quarter, the third quarter, and the fourth quarter. The Dream went on a 10-0 run to start the fourth, and had a 17 point lead. However, there was 5:48 left in the fourth and you have to remember...I'm a veteran of the 2008 season. I've seen the Dream blow sure leads, and I was still sitting at the edge of my seat.

29) One of the many games through which the Dream organization gives away its precious swag is a game where a Dream player sings - or, more properly, butchers a popular song. This time, it was Shalee Lehning's turn. She sang "Oops, I Did it Again", an interesting counterpoint with the most squeaky clean player of the Dream singing a song from the same musician who is now singing "If You Seek Amy". Even the older woman who was quizzed could get this one right.

30) We got to see Star Spangled Star. Star, as we all know, is a master quick change artist. This time, he was sporting a number which might have last been spotted on Apollo Creed.

31) Unfortunately, it looks like the Dream was Seeking Amy on the court, if you know what I mean. Matee Ajavon hit a three to knock the lead down to 70-60, and then Nikki Blue stole the ball from Coco Miller on the throw-in, and Kristen Mann (remember her?) scored two quick points to cut the lead down to eight, 70-62 with two minutes left. With 47.3 seconds left, Ajavon hit us for another three-pointer and the Dream led by seven, 72-65.

The Mystics are a team that can definitely score seven points in a minute. However, the Dream managed to hang onto the ball for 22 seconds and missed their shot. With 18 seconds left, the ball went back into the hands of Tasha Humphrey...but Sancho Lyttle stole the ball.

That was it. "Dream wins! DREAM wins!"

That was the fireworks. Now for the cleaning up after. I'll post the post-mortem soon. Chamique Holdsclaw was named the Player of the Game by the Dream organization. She definitely had a good game.

Dream Get Win Over Mystics on Friday Night

In case you don't know, the Dream won 72-65 over the Mystics last night. We started the fourth quarter with a 10-0 run that boosted Atlanta's lead to 17 points, a good enough cushion for a win.

Chris Vivlamore's writeup from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution is here.

The AP story is here.

The good: we showed a lot of defensive intensity and had 18 steals, a franchise record.
The bad: the Mystics had 28 turnovers and shot less than 40 percent.
The ugly: a whole lot of fouling going on. Parts of the game are still being played.

Since it's a holiday, I might not write anything right way. I might just have some fun.

5/2009 - Dream 93, Mystics 81: The Mighty Mighty Walkthrough

As it turns out, I missed this game. I'll miss the one on Sunday and I'll miss the one on Tuesday as well. Blame the first miss on my wedding and the second on the hour of the game. Can't see all of the games in a year, it seems, no matter how hard I try.

As it turns out, even if you can't watch a game, the box score can tell you a lot about the score besides the obvious. Just looking at the quarter-by-quarter score implies a close first quarter, then implies the Dream establishing its lead in the second and third quarters, with the Mystics trying to fight their way back in the last quarter.

The Dream pretty much took the lead in the bottom of the second. The Mystics led 26-22 at one point in the second but were outscored 19-8 for the rest of the quarter. Looking at the play-by-play, I can see that Holdsclaw had nine points at the half...and five of those nine points were in that 19-8 Dream run.

Michelle Snow and Shalee Lehning were also working it during that run. Snow had four rebounds during the run, and Lehning had two points (her third and fourth points career) and two assists. Lyttle was working it, too, but no more or no less than she had been working it during the whole game.

As for Washington's "comeback," Atlanta led 65-49 going into the final quarter. Washington managed to close the lead to 11 points, but only in the final minutes of the quarter where the victory was effectively conceded by the Mystics.

Now, we'll look at the Dean Oliver's Four Keys to Victory:

Shooting percentage: Atlanta 45.9 percent, Washington 39.7 percent. The Dream has had at times 10 point leads in the stat, but has come close to losing.

Offensive rebounding: Atlanta 17, Washington 12. A lot of stat-heads say that defensive rebounding should be given more attention by Oliver acolytes, and overall Washington was crushed 46-31 in the rebounding department.

Turnovers: Atlanta 14, Washington 15. Atlanta has had major problems keeping the handle on the ball this year. Keeping turnovers down made the Dream look great.

Free throw VISITS: Washington 37, Dream 29. The Dream are still a foul-prone team - Iziane Castro Marques had five personal fouls and de Souza and Teasley had four each.

Washington could have presented the Dream with some real trouble here...but they only hit 67.6 percent at the line. As a result, they only scored three more points at the charity stripe than the Dream. In short, the Dream beat up the Mystics...and then got away with the assault.

Looking at the starter vs. starter matchups: it looks like the Mystics starters were having a tough time of it, particular Chasity Melvin who only scored 2 points and 2 rebounds in 15 minutes played. However, both Monique Currie and Lindsey Harding had 7 assists each and Alana Beard scored 20 points against the Dream (but with a -17 plus/minus).

In terms of shooting efficiency, no one was particularly efficient for the Mystics: only one player made more points than shots attempted (FGA + FTA), and that was Alana Beard: 20 points, 17 shots attempted. For the Dream, Erika de Souza had 13 points on 11 attempts, Nikki Teasley had 12 points on 8 attempts, Michelle Snow had 9 points on 9 attempts, and Jennifer Lacy had 4 points on 4 attempts. With the exception of one Dream player, most of the Dream were hitting their mark and shooting hot.

Before the Dream begin patting each other's backs, a reminder: only nine players played for the Mystics. Coleman was out with an ankle injury. Kristen Mann didn't play at all. The outcome could have been a lot closer if the Mystics had Coleman, at least.

Two conclusions:

1. A message board poster somewhere said that Sancho Lyttle and Erika de Souza might be the best front court combination in the Eastern Conference. The question is will they fulfill the "Star Hypothesis"? That hypothesis states that there is no such thing as a "star" on a losing team. If your losing team becomes winners, the losers become stars; if your all-star team flounders, the all-stars lose their luster and become losers.

I'm not saying that Lyttle and de Souza have gone unrecognized, but they definitely haven't gotte press. That might change.

2. An interesting fact: Lyttle, de Souza and Michelle Snow are supposedly all 6' 4" and taller. Their height and their mobility present significant problems to teams that will try to shove the ball down the Dream's throats like they did last year. Most teams will try to beat the Dream with the 3-pointer, which the Dream isn't good at defending, rather than face down Lyttle and de Souza. They are intimidators who beat you not with a snarl, but who scare you with their quality of play.

So let's look at both teams:

Alana Beard: 20 points and 5 rebounds, but she had four turnovers two.
Matee Ajavon: 13 points, but only one rebound and four fouls.
Crystal Langhorne: Great off the bench with 10 points and 10 rebounds for the only double double of the Mystics. Normally a double-double would make you the player of the game -- but not tonight.

And now, let's look at the Dream:

Best Players

Sancho Lyttle: I think of Sancho in the same way that I think of Sancho in that video of "Santeria" by Sublime: big and imposing. 20 points and 13 rebounds with stats as if the Washington Mystics were Gran Canaria of the Spanish League. She's clearly the Dreamer of the Game.
Erika de Souza: The red-haired terror had 13 points, 5 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks. Lyttle and de Souza in the paint cause woe. De Souza also had a +9 plus/minus.
Nikki Teasley: She had 12 points with the help of a couple of 3-pointers. Four assists, but four personal fouls.

The Murky Middle

Chamique Holdsclaw: Why would I have ever put someone who scored 13 points and 10 rebounds in the murky middle? Well, there were the four turnovers to account for. Holdsclaw also needed 12 FGA and four free throw tries for all those points. Don't think that I'm knocking The Mighty Claw: a great performance, but not like the three above. She can take solace in her +16 plus/minus.
Michelle Snow: 9 points and 7 rebounds - the Dream could have had three double-doubles. Snow only got 16 minutes of play but she had a +6 plus/minus and was a big part of that run I was mentioning.
Shalee Lehning: FINALLY they allow Lehning to shoot. I was in the middle of a post before I left for New York, looking at players who had taken low percentages of shots per minutes played, and determining if those players were successful in the WNBA. (Answer: No. ) 5 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists and some defensive hustle from what I understand.
Angel McCoughtry: It might not be a case of Angel in the doghouse as a case of too many good games and someone had to lose out. Angel only played nine minutes.
Coco Miller: The same story as Angel. She only had two points in nine minutes played.

Not Up to Snuff

Jennifer Lacy: Okay folks, philosophical question: if a player doesn't actually do anything to hurt her team, but is simply out-competed by her teammates, is she "not up to snuff" or "murky middle". In Jen's case, it just the case that not doing bad herself but everyone doing better. She played 11 minutes, and scored 4 points. The four personal fouls really hurt her.
Tamera Young: It's kind of unfair to put a player who only played three minutes down here. But she did take a shot and miss it, so no pie after the game for you.
Iziane Castro Marques: Clearly at the bottom. Yeah, she had 12 points - but she had 16 field goal attempts. If you take away Izi's crappy 5-for-16 field goal shooting, the Dream goes from 34/74 to 29/58 - the rest of the Dream was shooting 50 percent! Izi lowered the team's shooting percentage by four points all by herself. She had five personal fouls and three turnovers. Since the Dream won the game instead of losing it, I'm giving Izi the Still Snoozing award and asking coach Meadors to please set Izi's wake-up call.

Game Five Dream-Mystics Gallery from June 19

Nikki: "Stop! In the name of love!"

SPMSportsPage.com has posted a brand new game gallery of our 93-81 win against Washington.

Craig Cappy is getting some good snaps. Check it out and see.

Dream Gets 93-81 Win over Mystics on Friday

Marynell: "A winning team? How am I supposed to cope?"

As you might have known - or perhaps not - I'm on vacation in the New York area. Actually, I'm attending a wedding, so it's more of a working vacation.

I'm busy catching up with everything, but today was the first day I heard of the Dream's 93-81 win over the Mystics. During the Liberty-Silver Stars games, they announced some halftime scores and announced that the Dream were up 41-34 at halftime. I don't think the Dream have ever lost a game when they were up at halftime, and I told myself, "I think the Dream are going to win this one, particularly without Marissa Coleman." And so, it occurred.

The 93 points scored is the second-highest number of points ever scored by the Dream.

This gives the Dream their first ever win against the Mystics. (And this calls up a trivia question: "Which WNBA team will always have a perfect W-L record against the Dream?" Can you answer it?)

Some updates:

* The Washington Post's take on the game is right here.
* Since I'm on vacation, I probably won't have time to watch the game itself, not until I get back home. However, I'll probably have some chance to do some post-mortem analysis. (Ignores groans of readers.)