6/2010 - Storm 90, Dream 72

Former Connecticut player Iziane Castro Marques wishes she were back in Brazil.

(Picture above comes from Chuckarelei's gallery at SportsPageMagazine.com.)

Yesterday, I spent most of the day counting the minutes to Atlanta-Seattle. I have two cats who are not Atlanta Dream fans - yet - and I wondered how much of my time I'd have to spend corralling one or the other of them.

Maybe I should have spent the time with the cats instead. The Dream lost 90-72 on the final game on their four-game road swing. Don't let the score fool you - that could just have easily been 100-72 if the Storm wanted it that way. The Storm got into the car, climbed into the driver's seat, and simply zoomed off into the distance leaving Atlanta to chase behind like a dog after a car.

1) You'd think that Key Arena would have been packed to the rafters, but I was surprised. The crowd was what I'd call "average to good" without having any other standard by which to measure. I wonder why? Was there some sort of NBA game on to compete?

2) ESPN2 started with a look into each team's locker room. Generally, there's not a lot to be learned from these visits. Locker room talk isn't like that of Vince Lombardi even in the most dramatic of situations...you might learn a little bit but it's usually a pedestrian reinforcement of points the players should already know.

For Brian Agler of Seattle, the emphasis was to put pressure on Atlanta's passers. Meadors was committed to the transition game: "They can't defend what they can't catch." Agler wants to deny the transition game; Meadors wants to emphasize it.

3) There was some brief discussion of Chamique Holdsclaw's departure, a loss that seems like it happened a year ago instead of a month ago. The motto of the Dream players? "Play on" - Holdsclaw never showed up in training camp and the players simply assumed that she'd never be back and prepared for the post-Holdsclaw era. Wise decision.

Regarding the Holdsclaw hullabaloo - fans thought that, "yes, this is it, Meadors has let another player go and is destroying the Dream." I am inclined to invoke a rule called "Stengel's Law" after Casey Stengel of the New York Yankees.

Stengel's Law: On any team, 20 percent of the players love the coach. Another 20 percent of the players hate the coach. The other 60 percent of the players are indifferent - they just want to play basketball.

Most likely, the bulk of Atlanta's players stayed out of the Holdsclaw brouhaha - they would have played ball with Maddie (the Liberty mascot) if you could get her into a Dream uniform. Meadors also seems to have mastered the Corollary to Stengel's Law: The secret to a long life as a coach is to keep the 20 percent who hate you away from the 60 percent who are indifferent.

4) Atlanta starters: Lehning, Iziane, McCoughtry, Lyttle (Sancho, not Camille), Erika
Seattle starters: Bird, Wright, Little (Camille, not Sancho), Cash, Jackson

5) Seattle in dark green, Atlanta in home white. I've not seen enough games to know if this is a general rule for Storm games.

6) And the game is underway! It took a few glitches - a Sue Bird overthrow to Lauren Jackson, followed by a travel by Erika de Souza - before some points were put on the board with a pair of free throws by Jackson. 2-0 Seattle.

7) Shalee Lehning had two quick turnovers - she turned over the ball, but Erika de Souza saved the first turnover when Camille Little made a bad pass. Then Lehning got the ball back and turned the ball over again. Egad. Lehning followed her two turnovers with a blocking foul shortly thereafter.

8) Almost immediately, one could tell that something wasn't quite right. It seems that the Dream were relying on bank shots instead of jumpers, trying to play pool against the Storm instead of basketball. Part of the problem was that the Storm were all over Angel McCoughtry. Lauren Jackson stripped the ball from Iziane Castro Marques...when it's usually the other way around.

9) The announcer said something to the effect that "Iziane Castro Marques is an eight-year player out of the University of Connecticut...." To which I replied "say what?"

I've got a post percolating in my head regarding the relative value of WNBA coaches. Part of that post is the idea that WNBA players are relatively "finished" when the arrive to a league in that their game is pretty much what it's going to be forever. However, I think the only coach that could make Iziane stop shooting is Geno Auriemma, who would cause Iziane to return to Brazil when Geno benches her and Iziane refuses to return late in the second half of a UConn-Rutgers game.

10) As we approached the halfway point of the first quarter, the Storm were up 7-4. The Dream had five turnovers, and Sancho Lyttle had picked up her second foul. I wasn't worried about the second foul, as in a lot of games it seems that Lyttle picks up two quick personal fouls. (The five turnovers, on the other hand....)

11) Meadors to a referee: "They're pushing us into the screens!" The refereeing was...pretty bad. Not the worst I've seen, but bad nonetheless. If we had lost by six or less, we might have been able to blame the refs for the loss, but in this case, it wasn't the refs that did us in.

12) The Dream then went on an 0-8 cold shooting streak. Seattle increased its lead to 12-4, taking advantage with a mini-run. Kelly Miller came in and took a 3-pointer that a blind man could see wasn't going to fall.

13) The supporting cast of the Dream was switched out. Price came in. Leuchanka came in. But the supporting cast wasn't the problem. The problem was McCoughtry taking crazy shots. McCoughtry would find herself double (and maybe triple-teamed once or twice) and simply fail to kick out, trying a bank shot that was destined not to go in. She started cold, ending the quarter 1-for-8 from the field. She hit a 3-pointer later in the quarter to close the score to 15-9, but Swin Cash followed with a rolling in shot at the end to finish the quarter with a 17-9 Storm lead.

14) It could have been worse - the Storm only shot 37.5 percent from the field (6-for-16) but the Dream only shot 18.2 percent in the first quarter (4-for-22). McCoughtry was 1-for-8 and Iziane was 1-for-5. When the two hottest shooters on your team are 2-for-13, you know it's going to be a looooong night. Swin Cash and Lauren Jackson had seven points each.

Meadors told her team that "we're not pushing the ball". But as we'd found out, that was easier said than done....

15) McCoughtry appeared to calm down at the beginning of the second quarter. She got a steal, and a pass to Yelena Leuchanka closed the gap to 20-13. She followed with a travel call, but the Dream would get the ball back and Kelly Miller would find that 3-pointer to close the score to 20-16.

It could have been 20-18 if Armintie Price was not mugged by the Storm on the way to a drive. It was clear that Atlanta had finally picked up the aggressiveness they needed. Would Seattle wilt like so many other teams?

16) The Dream were on their way to a 11-2 run of their own. McCoughtry drove to the basket. Leuchanka banked it in past Lauren Jackson. McCoughtry hit a fade away prayer and the score was tied, 22-22.

17) Seattle surged ahead. The Dream were determined to get that three pointer against a determined Storm defense, and missed a couple of attempts. That misguided agression let Seattle score the next six points. Kelly Miller got another 3 pointer to fall and it was back to 28-25 Seattle.

Erika de Souza, having two personal fouls, returned to the game. Almost immediately after her return she was tagged with a third personal foul. By this point of the game, Erika had zero points.

18) With With the score 30-27 after Iziane hit a shot just as the 24-second clock expired, it looked like Atlanta would hang around for a while, never more than a basket or two away from Seattle.

Then...the Lauren Jackson show started. Jackson hit a three, and Iziane and McCoughtry couldn't answer. McCoughtry looked clearly frustrated. Jackson got loose near the basket and the Storm were up now by ten points, 37-27. The half ended with a pair of Jackson free throws

What happened? Jackson scored nine of Seattle's last 11 points. Swin Cash and Tanisha Wright pretty much had McCoughtry wrapped up with a bow, and the Storm took a 39-27 lead into halftime.

19) Seattle was shooting 50 percent compared to just 29.3 percent by the Dream (12-for-41). This surge in scoring was caused by Lauren Jackson...who now had 18 points after her mini-explosion at the end of the first half. Camille Little had eight points, and Swin Cash had seven.

McCoughtry had gone 3-for-14 in the first half and had seven points to show for it. When Kelly Miller and Yelena Leuchanka are your second leading scorers - six points each - it's not a good sign. Lyttle and de Souza had been negated by foul trouble. Kelly Miller's six points came from 2-for-4 shooting, each shot from behind the 3-point arc.

20) Chantelle Anderson officially weighs in on Atlanta coaching. From Twitter:

@MissChantelle I love how Marynell acts like she's the coach when it's really Carol Ross.

21) Even after a dismal first half, the Dream hadn't had the fight beaten out of them. Not yet, anyway. A 3-pointer by Lehning finally got the Dream back to within single digits, 43-34.

It was then that the announcers began to talk about an "old style point guard" or "old fashioned point guard" when they talked about Lehning. It's a meme that I've picked up on. "Lehning is an old style point guard."

The announcers helpfully provide a definition. That is, an old style point guard is looking to distribute during the first seventy percent of a possession and looking to score during the final thirty percent. That would mean that an old style point guard only looks to score during the final seven seconds of a 24-second possession.

I'll have to run some numbers to see which WNBA players are "old style point guards". My suspicion is that Lehning's so old-style she predates Naismith.

22) An interesting announcement: Shalee Lehning, Angel McCoughtry and Sancho Lyttle have been named Atlanta Dream team captains. Lyttle is a surprise; McCoughtry and Lehning are certainly not. Lehning and McCoughtry (writers of several Beatles songs) can definitely lead a team in the charisma/management sense of the term.

24) The Dream were at least keeping it interesting. McCoughtry closed it back to within single digits again with a 3-pointer to close to 47-39. She would have to do it alone for a while, because we were halfway through the third quarter and Erika still hadn't scored.

25) We were still managing to stay within about 10 points of Seattle. Lauren Jackson hit a bucket midway through the third quarter to put the Storm up 51-40. It was Jackson's 20th point of the night.

The game was getting a little bit weird, though. Lehning had the opportunity on a drive to the basket. Iziane passes to Lehning, Lehning is shooting at point blank range - and misses. I've seen it more than once in Lehning's career.

Yes, I'll get five mail messages that say that Lehning can shoot and that Lehning just doesn't want to shoot and that that missed gimme was an aberration. So I won't go there, for now. I will say this - Lehning is definitely no finisher. You give Armintie Price point blank range and it's two points, for all of Price's other perceived failings.

26) Lehning, however, might have just gotten hacked. She gets a visit to the free throw line for two shots.

The camera pans to Marynell Meadors talking to Iziane Castro Marques on the sideline. Meadors tells Izi, "We get two shots and the ball." This is incorrect. This hypothetical four-point play becomes a one-point play when Lehning hits the first free throw and misses the second.

27) A Sancho Lyttle jumper beings it the closest we've come in a long time: 51-44 with around four minutes left in the third.

28) 3:31 left in the third. Erika de Souza picks up her fourth personal foul. I hope that she found some coffee in Seattle that she liked.

29) The Smart Play Highlight: Lehning picked up a steal from Lauren Jackson on a drive - which is rather amazing given the difference in height and how smart and accomplished Jackson is as a player. Later, when Wright tried to drive to the basket, Lehning planted herself perfectly and Wright was charged with the offensive foul.

30) The score was down to seven points again, 53-46. McCoughtry was being defended with the same fiery intensity that she was being defended in the first quarter. And then...

...for some inexplicable reason, the Dream decided that they'd play zone. And leave Lauren Jackson out on the perimeter, challenging her to take 3-point shots.

Swish! Storm 56, Dream 46.

Swish! Storm 59, Dream 46.


There were less than two minutes left and the Dream had gone from a three basket deficit to a six basket deficit, all from two shots by Lauren Jackson. It was a mistake that the Dream wouldn't recover from. The Storm finished the third quarter with an 8-2 run and led 61-48 going into the final quarter.

31) Seattle was shooting at 51.1 percent, thanks to Lauren Jackson. The Dream had managed to crawl into mediocre territory - 35.7 percent shooting. However, in offensive rebounding - Atlanta's major strength - the Dream actually fell behind Seattle due to the prolonged absences of Lyttle and de Souza. Yes, they had two more offensive rebounds overall at this point, but the Storm was winning the battle of the glass on the Dream's end of the field.

Jackson had 26 points. Little had 14. McCoughtry had finally crawled up to 16 points, but when you take a lot of shots to do it and when the Storm are pulling down the defensive rebounds the points McCoughtry was putting on the board weren't making the Dream stronger.

32) There was still the slim chance of a Dream comeback in the fourth quarter. A couple of minutes passed, however, and the Dream were no closer than they were at the end of the third. With the Storm up 67-55, Jackson got the ball again, hit the basket and then picked up a foul from Armintie Price.

And one. Storm up 70-55. And then Bird found Jackson for the three pointer. 73-65. But that's okay? McCoughtry would answer with a 3-pointer, right?

Nope. Abrosimova got the rebound, Cash drove to the basket and it was a 75-55 game.

33) With the Dream down by 20 points and 5:58 left in the fourth, Meadors released the franchise...Brittainey Raven! Raven scored six points in the final quarter (and three personal fouls) but it was against Seattle's second string.

34) For the rest of the game, I had one single hope - not to be utterly embarrassed. There's not much to say, I simply defined in my own mind what "utterly embarrassed" meant, which would be not losing by twenty points.

With 49 seconds left, Svetlana Abrosimova hit a pair of free throws. 90-67 Storm. It looked like the Dream were going to go home whippped.

However, Kelly Miller saved the game for us - or at least for me, anyway. Miller hit two free throws after a foul by Ashley Robinson. Leuchanka stole the ball from Abrosimova, Bales made the pass and Kelly Miller hit the three pointer with 20 seconds left to keep the Dream from losing by twenty on the road.

Storm 90, Dream 72. Game over, and thank goodness. More on the game later, just to help us all forget.

Dream Win Streak Ends at Seattle 90-72

It wasn't going to last forever, and playing against the Storm on their home court at the end of a four-game road swing was just too much to take. The Dream lost 90-72 last night. They have never won at Seattle's Key Arena, and it will be either 2011 or the WNBA Finals before they get a chance to try again.

With the Atlanta loss and the Seattle win, both teams are 6-1 and leading their respective conferences.

Jayda Evans writes about it here.

Here's the AP writeup posted in Sydney, Australia.

All it all circumstances can't be blamed - the Storm are damned good. McCoughtry taking bad shots and Lyttle and de Souza getting into early foul trouble didn't help.

Let's beat up the Sky on Friday night at Philips Arena to express our displeasure.

Dream Fever Hits Atlanta and Other Places

With the Dream at 6-0 on the year and the Dream heading into Seattle against the best team in the Western Conference, everyone seems to have caught Dream Fever.

1. Mechelle Voepel's newest article for ESPN is called "It's a dream of a start in Atlanta." And it definitely is:

McCoughtry was last season's rookie of the year, an honor she was expected to contend for after being the league's No. 1 draft pick in 2009. McCoughtry was a can't-miss prospect and is living up to those expectations. She has started this season making a case for already being in the WNBA's elite despite being just 23.


...

I think of Lehning as like that person in an office whom you might overlook … until something goes wrong with the copier, and she's the only one who knows how to fix it. Or a file is misplaced, and she's the only one who can find it.

2. Kathy Betty showed up for a Dream of an interview on The Zone in Atlanta at 790 AM. You can listen to the entire interview on the Atlanta Dream Facebook page. I liked the interview, it's worth a listen.

3. Angel McCoughtry got named as the Eastern Conference Player of the Week for the second week in a row. (Someone named Candace Parker won the Western Conference Player of the Week award.)

4. SLAM magazine and Ben York tells us that "Angel McCoughtry Has Arrived". McCoughtry has arrived, her feet are up on the table, and she's watching television, and it's her house now.

Enjoy the Dream love...and enjoy the game. Tonight. 9:30 pm. ESPN2.

Outdoor Classic II: Sparks, Storm to "Play Outside" on June 5th

Maybe Phoenix vs. Indiana in 2011?

From the Associated Press via USS Today:

The Los Angeles Sparks will host the Seattle Storm in the WNBA's second outdoor game.

The Sparks said on Monday that the night game on June 5 will be played in the Home Depot Center's tennis stadium, which has a capacity of 8,000.

Before we begin open celebration of Outdoor Classic II, let's review Outdoor Classic I, which took place two years ago in July 2008 when the New York Liberty hosted the Indiana Fever at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, NY. Even though the court was the same, the conditions were very different - 90 degree weather in a stadium whose sightlines were built for tennis.

And we didn't exactly see the greatest basketball game in the world. The Liberty shot 28 percent from the field and were held to eight first-quarter points. They were held to seven third-quarter points. Both teams had over 20 turnovers and it was probably of one of the worst games played that year.

Shameka Christon shot 2-for-13. Janel McCarville shot 3-for-10. Tiffany Jackson led the Liberty with six rebounds. Indiana was shooting well from behind the arc, but 3-points don't bring people back.

I'm hoping that Outdoor Classic II is better than Outdoor Classic I. And if it threatens not to be, I hope it rains.

Dream Lose to Storm in Double Overtime

My understanding is that the Dream had a sad loss last night, losing in double-overtime 91-84 to Seattle. Sancho Lyttle had a chance for a last-second shot that could have won the game clearly for Atlanta, but she missed it.

Ow. Detroit and Seattle have proven to be missed opportunities. I suspect that the Sparks won't be offering Atlanta much hospitality, either.

Today is a travel day. The blog should be on its regular schedule by Monday.

Atlanta vs. Seattle, Saturday August 29

Who: The Atlanta Dream (15-13) take on the Seattle Storm (17-11) as both teams try to cement a second place finish in their respective conferences.

The Dream have Angel McCoughtry (12.3 ppg) as well as All-Star Team members Sancho Lyttle (13.1 ppg) and Erika de Souza (11.2 ppg). Seattle has perennial MVP candidate Lauren Jackson (19.2 ppg) and the very popular Sue Bird (12.3 ppg, 5.8 apg)

What: The second of two games this year against Seattle. Atlanta won the first game two weeks earlier, 88-79.

Where: Key Arena in Seattle, Washington.

When: Tipoff is 10:00 pm Eastern on Saturday, August 29th. The game can be seen on WNBA Live Access.

Why: This game might be a glimpse of how our road swing will turn out after the loss to Detroit. Yes, Seattle's second place position is more secure than the Dream's - you'd hope that Seattle might slack off - but Seattle is 12-3 as a home team. Key Arena is a notoriously tough place to play; a win here would show that Atlanta can win anywhere in any circumstances. And once again, Atlanta has to play a team on a hot streak - Seattle has won four straight games.

Furthermore, I'm sure Sue Bird wants to forget that first game against Atlanta - 12 assists was great but only eight points was not so great. Shalee Lehning chased Sue Bird all around Philips Arena and I'm sure that Sue Bird will have her own plans for Shalee Lehning.

Seattle's bench scored only 13 points in that first game. Katie Gearlds and Ashley Walker were out in the first game with various maladies. Gearlds's knee is still bad but Ashley Walker has recovered.

For Iziane Castro Marques, it's a return to Seattle - Iziane played in Seattle from 2005 to 2007. She'll want to show off for the home fans.

24/2009 - Dream 88, Storm 79: Who Gets The "McCoughtry"?

The Dream's 88-79 win over the Seattle Storm on Saturday was interesting on a few levels:

1. It was the Dream's sixth win in the last seven games. The Dream is playing about as hot as anyone can play in the WNBA.
2. It was the fourth time the Dream has beaten a Western Conference team. The Dream is 4-1 against the West this year (they're only 9-10 in their own conference). We've never swept any of the Western Conference teams during the course of a year, but we might be able to pull that off Thursday against San Antonio - we beat the Silver Stars 92-84 on their home ground on August 6th.

The Dream have to stay hot, though, and hope that Detroit and New York can be happy with the role of spoiler rather than actually contending themselves. Out of our last seven games, six are on the road - that might be where our season gets decided.

Let's look at Dean Oliver's Four Factors for this game:

Field goal percentage: Overall, Seattle had a 50.8 percent accuracy rate compared to 46.8 percent from the Dream. Looking at effective field goal percentage, Seattle shot 54.0 percent and the Dream shot 49.3 percent. It's not often that you can beat a team with that kind of accuracy.

Turnovers: Atlanta 15, Seattle 19. We won that battle. Swin Cash actually turned the ball over eight times.

Offensive rebounding: As I wrote earlier, we held the Storm to just one offensive rebound in the first half and four overall. Seattle's offensive rebound rate was 16 percent, the Dream's was 38.9 percent.

That was the game right there. We took 16 more shots than the Storm simply because the ball was in our hands more often. Having more chances to shoot can overcome lower accuracy.

Free throw visits: That one was a wash: Seattle 18, Atlanta 17. They hit one more free throw than we did; both teams shot in the low 70s. Nothing to write home about.

Now, let's look at the individual Seattle players:

Lauren Jackson: 25 points, 9 rebounds, 5 steals, 4-for-9 from free throw range. Lauren Jackson is almost a one-player team by herself. She's a threat on the court anywhere she stands.
Tanisha Wright: 12 points. She also had five personal fouls and four turnovers. Those personal fouls limited her effectiveness and weakened the Seattle defense whenever she wasn't on the court.
Swin Cash: 12 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists. However, she had four personal fouls and eight turnovers.
Sue Bird: 8 points...and 12 assists. That was her season high and two off her career high. Shalee Lehning might have kept Bird from scoring, but not from passing.

And now, a look at each of the Powder Blues:

Sancho Lyttle: Lyttle's games almost sneak up on you with their simplicity - she does nothing flashy. 20 points, 12 rebounds, and 3 steals. 9-for-17 shooting. She probably denied Seattle a lot of offensive rebounds to. I agree with the DFO and make Lyttle the Dreamer of the Game. She also had a +11 in raw plus/minus.

Erika de Souza: However, de Souza's performance deserves a lot of respect. 13 points and 12 rebounds for her eighth double-double of the season. 6-for-12 shooting, only a couple of fouls, and de Souza was playing with a lot of passion. When Lyttle and de Souza are both on - and they often are - the Dream is hard to beat.

Angel McCoughtry: 16 points in 25 minutes, so she doesn't earn a "McCoughtry" (10-plus points in 20-minus minutes). 6-for-12 shooting, 5 assits, 4 steals. Four turnovers, though.

Shalee Lehning: 6 points and 6 assists. 31 minutes played, and a +11 raw plus/minus to tie Lyttle. If there's any contention in the locker room between Lehning's role and Latta's role, it doesn't show up on the court.

Chamique Holdclaw: 9 points and 5 rebounds is an "okay" game for Holdsclaw. She was 4-for-11 from the field.

Coco Miller: 8 points, 3-for-7 shooting and a +5 plus/minus. Could Miller be moving up to the second option at point guard?

Iziane Castro Marques: 11 points in 14 minutes - it was Iziane's turn to earn the "McCoughtry". 2-for-4 in 3-point shooting, but 3 personal fouls and 3 turnovers.

Michelle Snow: Three minutes played. Scored a bucket, got a rebound.

Ivory Latta: Eight minutes played. Took three shots, missed two, and hit the other one - a 3-pointer. Picked up a couple of personal fouls.

Armintie Price: Price's first game in an Atlanta uniform - a pink uniform with #11 on it, but she got to play. Played 3 minutes and scored a line of zeroes.

Jennifer Lacy: Nine minutes. Missed all three shots. Three rebounds. Normally, I would call Lacy Still Snoozin'...but she didn't do that much worse than Price, and Price didn't really do anything that hurt us or helped us. So I'll avoid tagging Lacy with the demerit and call it even-steven.

24/2009 - Dream 88, Storm 79

Angelica Suffren (#22) tries explaining the double technical to Marynell Meadors.

Wow. What a game. It wasn't the greatest game in the world, but it was the atmosphere that made it great. For a purpose as deadly serious as increasing breast cancer awareness, the attendees showed up and were determined to have a good time. Maybe it was just the pink pom-poms that were handed out, but people brought signs and they said, "Hey, the Seattle Storm are in town. Let's party!"

The fact that we won? Even more reason to celebrate. Hey, Paul McCartney was singing about it, too. (Well, he was just at a concert in Atlanta. I don't think he was singing about the Dream specifically.)

So my thoughts, observations, comments.

1. Carol Ross is still out there with the Dream during practice, but I don't know if she was doing anything specific with the Dream or if she was just feeding them the ball for a drill. But I also got to see Brian Agler standing around while his team shot around. Agler was wearing a T-shirt and sweatpants but wasn't doing anything specific. He was just watching the Storm shoot around. Hey, if Lauren Jackson was just standing around and shooting I'd watch too.

While the Dream were shooting around, they were just killing 3-pointers. Just killing them, every shot going in. Even our bigs were hitting 3s from the top of the key. Our 3-point game is horrible, but I'm sure we must have given the Storm some pause if they were watching us practice.

2. They brought one of the Dream's exercise cycles out to the side of the court. I think Armintie Price was working with it. Which makes me wonder, why drag that thing all the way out to courtside?

3. On the other hand, Seattle was definition of sang froid. They looked very relaxed in their warm-up - that comes with confidence. Michelle Snow exchanged a high-five with Sue Bird as they passed on the court. Lauren Jackson was stretching and looking out of the corner of her eye at Atlanta's practice.

4. Two of the very first fans that entered the Crash Pad were wearing "Bird #10" jerseys, leading me to wonder if part of our crowd consisted of Seattle Storm fans. Someone was wearing something that looked like a Storm jersey with #2 - Roulliard on it, a name and number corresponding to no Storm player.

A lot of people think that it's nerdy to wear a personalized team jersey with your own name and number on it. ("What, you think you play for the team now?) Let me state for the record: I think personalized jerseys rock.

5. Is there actually a band in Philips Arena? (Note to DFO: I think a "fan band" would be a great idea. Just throwin' it out there.) I saw a drumkit in the corner somewhere, I know it.

6. Before the game, there was the "I Gotcha Girl International Pre-Game Fashion Show" with young kids of all ages and shapes performing a schoolwear fashion show. My fear was that it was going to turn into something like "Toddlers and Tiaras". However, it was all in good taste. I thought the clothes themselves were a bunch of multicolored glop, but those kids can sure work the runway.

7. A first: Someone brought a sign with a "D" next to a drawing of picket fence. "D-(fence)". You know, like those nuts carry in the NFL.

8. Storm starters: Cash, Jackson, Little, Wright, and Bird. The Storm had two of their players hurt - Ashley Walker with her posterior cruciate ligament tear (say that three times fast) and Katie Gearlds with her broken toe.
Dream starters: Holdsclaw, Lyttle, de Souza, Castro Marques, Lehning. This would be a real test of Lehning, to go up against Sue Bird.

9. Singing the anthem were the ""I Gotcha Girl International" models as singers. As singers, they should stick to modeling.

10. Kathy Russell of Club 13 was the honorary team captain for the Dream. Club 13 is the volunteer grass roots sales force of the Dream. I think Club 13 deserves all of the recognition in the world.

11. Angel McCoughtry and Dream mascot Star were throwing a few light punches at each other after the intros. Frankly, in a fight, my money's on McCoughtry.

12. It took a while for Atlanta to get itself on track. Castro Marques started a game with her first 3-pointer. Twelve seconds had elapsed, and she missed. Chamique Holdsclaw threw a pass right into the hand of Camille Little. By the frist two minutes of the game the Dream had three personal fouls.

13. Castro Marques, however, got us back on track. She made a jump shot and drew the foul from Tanisha Wright, hitting the free throw. About thirty seconds later she sank a 2-pointer to put us up 12-7 in the first quarter. The crowd was behind us and the Dream was responding to the carnival atmosphere. Claw's jumpshot halfway through the first quarter game the Dream an eight point lead, 17-9.

Lehning drove into a strangely open Seattle defense, only to find Lauren Jackson at the end of the path. However, Lacy set a screen for Castro Marques, and Castro Marques hit her second 3-pointer of the corner. Wright had picked up her third personal foul before the quarter was up. The Dream were up 20-11 and I was thinking in the back of my head, "I wonder if this is going to be like the Phoenix game?"

14. The answer to that question was "no". Seattle went on a 7-0 run. Holdsclaw was still making bad passes. Atlanta went over the limit in fouls. Coco Miller stripped the ball out of Tanisha Wright's hands but Lehning blinked on the lay-up and the ball didn't go in. Seattle had closed the game to two points, 20-18.

The Dream slightly recovered. Angel McCoughtry was in, and the Preacher's Kid saved a missed Jennifer Lacy shot with a put-back layup. The Dream lead 23-18 after the first. Seattle shot 7-for-14 in the first quarter, but we almost matched it. Seattle didn't have a single offensive rebound in the first quarter and Castro Marques already had nine points.

15. Seattle would have a lot of trouble with offensive fouls in the game. Seattle would set up, drive, and then be forced to walk down to the other end of the court in ignominy. Cash would pick up her second personal and the Dream began to bump its lead to seven points.

16. Armintie Price entered the game for the very first time in a Dream uniform. (It was actually the uniform that had been prepared for Tamera Young, and Price wore #11 for the only time in her WNBA career.) In 3:35 worth of play, Price would rack up a "trillion" - a statistical line of zeroes.

17. It could get weird. At 6:47 in the second, Michelle Snow and Lauren Jackson got called for a double technical foul. I have no idea what happened, I suspect the two were ratchet-jawing, as they say in CB slang. Art Eckman said that Lauren Jackson was mouthing off, and if there's anyone you can trust to get the facts right, it's Art Eckman.

18. A 3-pointer by Ivory Latta gave us an eight point pump, 32-24. However, Lauren Jackson erased it with back-to back layups. Suzy Batkovic-Brown - the second of Seattle's two massively tall blondes - scored five points during an 8-2 Seattle run that saw Iziane Castro Marques make a bad pass to Swin Cash, who cut the Dream's lead cut to one, 36-35.

19. At 1:51, Price got hurt and went down. It was nothing serious, she was just shaken up it seemed. The Jumbotron regaled the attendees with showing Marvin Williams of the Hawks and Sean May of the Kings in attendance. I thought I heard someone in the audience say, "Boy, Sean May looks out of shape."

20. Sue Bird scored with 1:17 on the clock to give the Storm the lead again. However, Shannon Johnson would get a technical foul and the Dream got the momentum back. They carried their momentum on the way to a 43-39 halftime lead.

21. Seattle shot 55 percent in the first half - and they were losing. Why? Because we were killing them on the offensive boards. Seattle only had one offensive rebound in the first half, and we attempted nine more shots than the Storm. We shot 45 percent, but when you take more shots than your opponent and are allowed to snatch the ball out of your opponent's hands, sometimes 45 percent is enough.

22. Kay Yow was honored at halftime. She got quite a bit of applause. There was a presentation of some sort to breast cancer survivors at halftime, but to my shame I wasn't paying attention. I was engrossed in a conversation with someone about the legends of the WNBA - Teresa Edwards, Ruthie Bolton, Andrea Stinson, etc.

23. It was very interesting to watch Lehning during the game. Lehning was chasing Sue Bird around the court like a dog chasing a car - whenever Bird would cut cross court, there would be Lehning weaving her way through Jackson, Lyttle, et. al trying to catch her.

An example of Lehning's athleticism: I could swear that Lehning was trying to make a pass or a shot and Lauren Jackson blocked the shot. (Don't bother looking at the play-by-play, you won't find it there.) Normally, a Lauren Jackson blocked shot ends up on the upper deck, but somehow, Lehning was able to grab that rejected shot and keep control of it.

24. Athleticism alone, however, won't help you against the Storm. The Storm started an 8-0 run to close them to 49-48. For 3 1/2 minutes, the Dream were held scoreless.

Iziane Castro Marques tried a 3-pointer that was definition of "airball" - the shot didn't even make it halfway to the basket. Holdsclaw attempted a 3-pointer that fell just short of the rim.

Sue Bird got hit in the face.

25. Lauren Jackson capped off the run with a 3-point shot. Someone from behind me shouted, "Who's guarding Lauren Jackson?!?"

To which I wanted to respond, "Look, this is Lauren Friggin Jackson you're talking about. She's a power forward that can shoot 3-pointers, and that qualifies as a freak of nature in the WNBA. What do you want? Do you want Lyttle to go all the way out to the perimeter to guard Jackson? What, is Shalee Lehning supposed to jump 24 inches in the air and block Lauren's shots? C'mon already! It's just a fact of life that Jackson will down threes, and you just have to deal."

26. By the middle of the third, Tanisha Wright had picked up her fourth personal, and Brian Agler was juggling his bench to keep his players out of any foul trouble. Angel McCoughtry came in for Castro Marques, and provided the punch for the Dream. She hit a bucket, got the foul (but missed the free throw), hit a driving shot, and then assisted de Souza on a layup.

We were back up 55-50.

27. Sancho Lyttle's jump shot put us up 59-53 with less than a minute left. Suzy Batkovic-Brown tried to do too much by herself. She tried a long jump shot - almost a 3-pointer - and missed it. Lehning fouled Batkovic-Brown, who only hit one of her free throws. With 10 seconds left in the quarter and the ball in Atlanta's hands, Batkovic returned the favor. Lehning hit both of her free throws and the Dream led by seven points, 61-54, at the end of three quarters.

28. The Storm came back strong in the fourth. Lauren Jackson hit back to back 3-pointers and closed the score to 63-60. Erika de Souza answered with a turnaround jumper. Tanisha Wright elbowed Angel McCoughtry out of the way for a jump shot and there was no foul. However, McCoughtry found de Souza who made the driving layup. We were up 67-62.

I must have missed this, but someone wrote that de Souza "pulled the name" out on her jersey. This is where you take the front of your jersey with both hands and flip it out, emphasizing the team name. That's a pretty brassy move, because it's usually considered an insult to the other team.

29. And then, up 68-64...the Dream went on a sweet 9-0 run. McCoughtry found her 3-point shot. Lehning made a brilliant pass to Coco Miller, a long bullet that Miller managed to keep under control. Lyttle answered with another two of her 20 points on the night and McCoughtry finished it up by a quick rebound and a shot by Lehning.

The Dream were up 77-64 and there were only 5:21 left in the game.

30. Wright scored a couple of baskets to close the score to 79-70. With the score 81-70, Seattle committed a 24-second violation. It was funny to see all of the Shooting Stars dancers patting their heads simultaneously - the "pat your head" signal is the referee sign for shot clock violation.

31. Wright wasn't done. She scored another basket. Bird followed shortly after, and Lauren Jackson hit another one of her 3-pointers to close the score to 83-77 with 1:20 to go.

Now, it was Atlanta's turn to violate the 24-second shot clock rule. Eight seconds later, Swin Cash would score and our 13-point lead had been cut down to four points, 83-79 with just 44.2 seconds to go.

32. Okay, you're a basketball coach. You're down by four points, there are 44.2 seconds on the clock and the opposing team has the ball. Do you foul to get the ball back? And if so, when?

Just five seconds in, Lyttle got fouled. She hit one of two of her shots. It was now 84-79 with 39.5 seconds left. The Storm needed a 3-pointer and a follow-up basket.

33. Lauren Jackson tried to hit another 3-pointer - if she hit it she'd have had 28 points - but she missed it. Atlanta got the rebound and Swin Cash was called for a loose ball foul.

All that was needed was for Angel McCoughtry to hit both of her free throws to make it virtually impossible for the Storm to come back. However, McCoughtry missed both of her shots...

...but on the offensive rebound, we were unstoppable. De Souza got the rebound, and what she wasn't able to accomplish Lyttle could. The score was now 86-79, and there was just 26.5 seconds left.

Bird tried a 3-pointer, but missed it. Lyttle got the rebound again with 18 seconds left, and Wright fouled Coco Miller to stop the clock.

Miller took careful aim. The first shot? Good! The second shot? GOOD!!

88-79. 16.6 seconds left. Seattle knew that the game was over. They had the ball, but there was no point in doing anything with it and the Storm simply dribbled down the clock. Atlanta had its very first victory - ever - against Seattle.

Nice win. There will probably be a statistical post-mortem tomorrow, but we'll just celebrate for now.

Pretty in Pink: Dream Wins 88-79 Over Storm

Tonight, we got the first win against the Storm in front of an announced crowd of almost 9,000. Let me tell you in case you missed it - the Crash Pad was jumping!

The win puts us in second place in the Eastern Conference, all by ourselves. Furthermore - we're tied for the third best record in the WNBA.

The Beast from Brazil. The Sainted One. Dizzy Izzy. Preacher's Kid. Shay-Lo. If they don't have nicknames, well, they oughta!

Who would have thunk it? We've come a long way, baby!!

Atlanta vs. Seattle, Saturday August 15

Who: The Atlanta Dream (12-11) take on the Seattle Storm (13-10) as Atlanta tries to hang on to second place in the Eastern Conference.

The Dream have Chamique Holdsclaw (14.8 ppg) as well as All-Star Team members Sancho Lyttle (13.1 ppg) and Erika de Souza (10.8 ppg). Seattle has perennial MVP candidate Lauren Jackson (19.3 ppg) and the every popular Sue Bird (11.9 ppg, 5.6 apg)

What: The first of two games this year against Seattle. The Dream is 0-2 all time against the Storm, losing 83-69 at Philips and 77-72 at Key Arena in Seattle in 2008.

Where: Philips Arena in Atlanta, GA.

When: Tipoff is 7:00 pm Eastern on Saturday, August 15th - tonight. Be there or b^2.

Why: There are a multitude of reasons why.

1. The most obvious reason is that this is going to be the only chance to see Sue Bird and Lauren Jackson in person - miss this game and you'll have to wait til next year.

2. This is as good a chance as any for our first win against Seattle. Ashley Walker has a fractured left toe and Katie Gearlds has a left posterior cruciate ligament tear. The Storm are essentially playing with only nine players. Atlanta has a deep bench, and could get a satisfying win against one of the best teams in the West.

3. The Storm only shot 30 percent in their 64-53 loss against the Sun two nights ago. It was a season low for the Storm. Winning on the road is touch; that performance showed how tough it is.

4. Camille Little was the first player to bail out of the Dream. So there's that. Seattle was able to acquire Little at the cost of giving up their second round draft pick in the 2009 WNBA Draft. Who did we get for that pick? Shalee Lehning.

5. The Dream are going to wear pink uniforms, and that's always amusing. Armintie Price will be wearing Tamera Young's old number, #11 - the trade happened so close to gametime that there was no opportunity to get a new uniform made.

6. There will be a silent auction pre-game. If you've not heard of such a thing, a "silent auction" is where you walk by and write down your bid on an item. Among the items bid for are some pink shoes from Ivory Latta and Lisa Leslie and other interesting paraphernelia. Proceeds will benefit the DeKalb Medical and Kay Yow Foundations.

7. The Dream host the Decatur Women's Sports League. Other organizations will be benefited, including the Atlanta Lesbian Health Initiative and Georgia Equality.

8. First 3000 fans get pink pom-poms. So come out and shake your money maker.

Preseason May 21 2008: Monarchs at Storm

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

The box score is here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Storm Practice Video

From StormTracker - the Official Blog of the Seattle Storm. Just about thirty minutes of practice with the storm on tape.

What's interesting is that the practice squad playing against the Storm is a male practice squad. They might have been setting up like a specific opposing WNBA team, but at least for 30 seconds or so, they weren't doing so good.

Kasha Terry Added to Storm Training Camp Roster

From the Seattle Storm website:

SEATTLE - Seattle Storm Head Coach and Director of Player Personnel Brian Agler announced today the addition of 6-3 center Kasha Terry and 5-9 guard Melanie Thomas to the Storm’s 2009 training camp roster.

Terry, selected by the Indiana Fever in the second round (26th overall pick) of the 2006 WNBA Draft, played in 20 games for the Atlanta Dream and two games for the Indiana Fever in 2008, averaging 4.3 points and 3.1 rebounds per game. Terry holds career averages of 3.1 points and 2.4 rebounds in three WNBA seasons. The Georgia Tech graduate was a member of the All-ACC Tournament team in 2005 and an All-ACC Rookie team honorable mention in 2003.

I'm glad that Kasha Terry still has a chance in the WNBA, and that she's landed on her feet.

Worst WNBA Teams of All Time: #10 Through #6

Earlier, I hinted that the use of standard deviation - a statistical concept - might help determine which teams historically have been the worst WNBA teams of all time.

Every year, there is a different sort of "scatter" among wins and losses in the WNBA. In one year, you can have extremes like 1998, in another year you have a lot of teams that have .500 records, like 2004. Every year in the league is different, but there is something called "standard deviation" - the idea that a certain percentage of teams will be within a certain range of a .500 record. (Since the number of games has differed from year to year in the W, we'll be looking at the standard deviation of winning percentage.)

About 67 percent of teams are within one standard deviation of the mean winning percentage. About 95 percent of teams are within two standard deviations. It's very rare to find a team in any year that's more than two standard deviations away from the mean of winning percentages. Undoubtedly, winning percentage is not distributed binomially, but the concept gives us a running start.

Ten Worst Teams in WNBA History

10. 1998 Washington Mystics: -1.682. This team finished with the worst winning percentage of any team in WNBA history - .100, a 3-27 record. The reason that they're not the first team on the list is because the "scatter" of teams was great in 1998 - two other teams, Sacramento and Washington, went 8-22. The average margin of victory was an amazing -15.4 points. They were at the bottom of the league in two of the four keys to victory: field goal percentage (.395), turnovers (625, 98 more than the 9th place team), and shot .645 from the free throw line.

At the time, it was the worst performance by an expansion team in the brief two years of WNBA history. It was a horribly young team, about 25 years old on average. At least the fans supported the "Mistakes" at the gate. They got Chamique Holdsclaw the following year as their number one draft pick, so the argument could be that they did a tank job. But if you look at their Pythagorean Percentage, this team actually overperformed.

9. 2000 Seattle Storm: -1.695. Another expansion team, this one finishing at 6-26 in its first year, at the bottom of the league. Like the 1998 Mystics, it too lost games by an average of about 10 points. Only the Miami Sol (another expansion team) shot worse from the field and the Storm were at the bottom of the league in offensive rebounding.

Coach Lin Dunn had to acquire and release players frequently in an attempt to keep the team in games. At least, the fans supported the "Drizzle" and at least they knew their audience. The WNBA was one of the first teams every to hold a "Gay Pride" night. The next year, they'd get Lauren Jackson as the first pick in the WNBA Draft and the team would never win less than 10 games again. Coach Dunn is still coaching (with the Fever) and the Storm clouds eventually cleared with a WNBA championship.

8. 2005 San Antonio Silver Stars: -1.715. Unlike the first two teams, the Silver Stars didn't have the excuse of expansion to explain their 7-27 finish. Nor did they lose games by more than 10 points.

It was Dan Hughes's first year as the San Antonio head coach. Hughes had been hired because the 2004 Silver Stars, believe it or not, were even worse. This was a good while before the Silver Stars had Becky Hammon, and they were not media darlings in any way. Hughes's job was to convince his players that the bad old days were over and things would be different. That was, until he could get rid of them - the top five scorers on the team in 2005 wouldn't be on it in 2007. Now, it looks like the Silver Stars are everyone's favorite team - but it wasn't always like that.

7. 2003 Phoenix Mercury: -1.867. Ever since 2000, the Mercury were on a downward slide, going from winning 20 games to a record of 8-26. A good 21 players saw time on a Mercury roster that year, including Plenette Pierson and Iziane Castro Marques.

It was the first year for head coach John Shumate, who implemented a new defensive scheme. The Mercury would lose eight games by five points or less, giving fans heartache pains and possibly serving as one of the reasons Shumate would flee to the NBA the following season. The only attraction was that Lisa Harrison was the sexiest babe in basketball. (Playboy wanted her to pose nude for them in 2001, but she turned them down.) In 2004, the Mercury would get a #1 draft pick, who would be Diana Taurasi, and four years later, they'd be WNBA champions without any help from Hugh Hefner.

6. 2005 Charlotte Sting: -1.886. 2005 was a banner year for the WNBA, with two worst teams of all time.

It would also be a heartbreaking year in another sense, as coach/GM Trudy Lacey dealt away Dawn Staley in the middle of the year. Lacey didn't last long, as she was kicked upstairs after a 3-21 start and Muggsy Bogues, an ex-NBA player with no coaching experience (he was working in real estate) was asked to turn the team around.

Management bet that the opening of a new arena, the Charlotte Bobcats Arena, would help turn things around. They selected Janel McCarville with the first pick in the 2005 WNBA Draft, but that Janel McCarville wasn't the Janel McCarville of the 2008 Liberty - she started only 3 games and shot a horrible 34 percent from the field in her rookie year and was best known for adding personal fouls rather than points.

In 2006, the Sting got their new arena, and finished 11-23. The next year, owner Robert Johnson did not wish to keep the club running, and with no purchasers, the Sting faded out of existence.

2008/34 - Storm 77, Dream 72 (Part Two)

And now, the "Tale of the Tape" as they call it. All of these comparisons, mind you, are massively misleading. Sue Bird didn't play. Yolanda Griffith didn't play. Sheryl Swoopes didn't play. Swin Cash and Lauren Jackson were injured. These stats are the Dream vs. the Seattle "White Team", as I think one of the players said on the radio last night. (I assume there is a "white team" and a "green team" for Seattle's intrasquad scrimmages, the green team being the starters.)

Shooting: Seattle's B squad smoked us, 47.5 percent to 41.3 percent. However, note that 41.3 percent. When we shoot over 40 percent, we have a good chance of winning, and the final score shows we hung in there.
Offensive rebounds: Basically even, 11-10. Overall rebounds were basically even, 32-30. Seattle's rebounding was highly commended for their second unit.
Turnovers: Seattle beat us 12-14. Not much to say there.
Free throw visits: Virtually even. Seattle B squad went to the line 21 times, we went 20. We also shot virtually even, with the B's leading 76 percent to 75 percent.

Flow of the game: Looking at the quarter by quarter score is really misleading - it suggests a game where the lead swung back and forth a lot. We won the second and third quarters, they won the first and fourth quarters. However, we only had the lead one time in this game, a brief one point lead in the bottom of the third quarter that evaporated in ten second. Most of the game, we were limited to being tantalizingly in reach, but never getting there.

Shooting efficiency: Us, then Them

Us

Young: When Betty Lennox went out of the game with achilles tendonitis, Young stepped up in a big way. She scored 20 points in 16 attempts. Tamera Young was the Dream's Player of the Game.
Feenstra: 16 points, 12 attempts, 5 rebounds. I was tempted to give Kit POG honors, but Katie can't drive an offense. Tamera did.
Izi: 10 points, 19 attempts. Absolutely horrible, and sort of like Izi all year. If she gets hot, she stays hot and if she starts slow, she disappears.
Latta: 7 points, 9 attempts, 4 assists. One three pointer. I don't know what to think of that.
De Souza: 5 points, 4 attempts, but only three rebounds.

Them

Little: 21 points, 18 attempts. A career high. Also six rebounds and four assists. I'd name her Seattle's Player of the Game, easily.
Gearlds: 20 points, 21 attempts.
Wright: 14 points, 15 attemps, 4 rebounds.
Santos: 8 points, 7 attempts, 5 rebounds. The Seattle announcers gave her a lot of credit for her defensive intensity. However, that might just be hyperbole. That man was screaming his head off every time the Storm touched the ball.
Ely: 7 points, 12 attempts. Horrible shooting, but great rebounding. Eight rebounds.
Robinson: 5 points, 6 assists, 6 rebounds.

Southern Belle Milk Carton of the Game: To give it to Kimberly Beck of the Storm is very tempting, but I have to give this one to Izi for her horrible shooting. Izi was 3 for 15 on the night.

(* * *)

Whew. That's it. No more games until next year. Very sad. No lessons to be learned, either. They'll be forgotten by the end of the year.

Here's the near post-season in a nutshell. Today, the Dream will be returning to Atlanta around 3 pm EST. There will be a contingent of fans to meet them there and say their final goodbyes and thank them for their work this season.

On the 14th and 15th of this month, I understand there will be "exit interviews". Meadors will talk to each of the players individually, probably with either suggestions ("you need to stop going for the dribble drive, Ivory") or with the sad news ("Chioma, we have no plans to resign you. You'll have to fight for a spot on the roster in training camp like everyone else.)

After that...the Dream will scatter. European seasons, like the Spanish (Young), Polish (Terry) and Turkish (Latta) begin in October. The Dream will be playing ball for their new teams, and it's my hope to find out how well they're doing and report back.

(* * *)

Now, a few comments about our record.

Our record of four wins is about a .100 winning percentage (.117 to be exact). The old Washington Mystics of 1998 had a .100 winning percentage (3-27). The 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers of the NBA had a historical bottom of 9-73, for a .109 winning percentage. There have also been a couple of NBA teams that have crossed the 70 loss mark.

Let's look at the best records of WNBA teams. The 1998 Houston Comets went 27-3 for a .900 record, and the 1999 and 2000 Los Angeles Sparks had 28-4 records for two years in a row, an .875 winning percentage. In the NBA, the amazing 1995-96 Chicago Bulls went 72-10, for a .878 winning percentage, the best ever in the WNBA. The amazing 1971-72 Lakers - who won 33 straight games at a time - went 69-13, for an .841 winning percentage.

In baseball, the rule is that "you'll win a third of your games, you'll lose a third of your games - and the rest is up to you." It's very rare for a baseball team to either win more than 108 games or lose more than 54. Teams that cross either benchmark are rarely encountered.

So it looks that the Dream's experience in 2008 has given us a rule for basketball like the rule for baseball: "you'll win a tenth of your games, you'll lose a tenth of your games - and the rest is up to you".

Basically, the only games we won were "random gimme games". It wasn't so much that we were playing brilliantly, it was either a) our time to win our one out of ten games that every basketball team gets to win, or b) the other team's time to lose its one out of ten games that it's destined to lose. (This rule does not apply to college basketball, as teams can be of wildly divergent strengths).

We have to face the cold truth. The Atlanta Dream was about as talentless as a WNBA team can be and still be called a WNBA team. That's okay. We'll get better.

But, there's also a truth for the Seattle Storm, who just beat us with their B squad: "Don't get cocky." For Los Angeles, it just might have been one of those statistical one-out-of-ten games where nothing was destined to go right for them. Our win over the Sparks might have not testified to talent on our part, but failure on theirs.

My suggestion for the playoffs: you might want to start Sue Bird this time....

2008/34 - Storm 77, Dream 72 (Part One)

No Art, this is Betty's BROTHER. See the sign? Brought to you by SPMSportsPage.com. Go see 'em.

It's the very last game of the season. So rather than go for accuracy, I'm going to go with familiarity and tune in to the great Art Eckman.

1) The Dream start Latta, Lennox, Castro Marques, De Souza, and Bales. It looks like Meadors has finally found a consistent starting lineup.

The Storm start Little, Ely, Gearlds, Wright, and Santos. I guess they're saving Bird for the playoffs. According to Art, Seattle is starting their second unit.

2) Betty's father is courtside, which is kind of cool. Even though Betty is no longer in Seattle, he is still supporting the Storm (when they don't play the Dream). Also very cool that both Betty and Izi have gotten standing ovations, and according to Art, the ovation brought Betty to tears.

UPDATE: It's not Betty's father, it's her brother (see the comments below). Oh well, Art Eckman's not exactly Wikipedia.

3) Lauren Jackson is back, which is cool. Art's microphone cuts out to complete silence when he's not speaking, which makes me suspect that the game is being broadcast by ham radio.

4) "Politics has moved the Seattle SuperSonics franchise to Oklahoma, where the state tree is a telephone pole." - Art Eckman

5) Art says that he's having to broadcast from far up. I think he means it. So much for Art. I'm switching to the Seattle feed.

6) Kelly Santos is just whipping up on Atlanta. She's scored four of Seattle's 10 points, and Marynell is calling a time out. The Storm lead 10-4. It doesn't help. Santos scores over Feenstra. Before we know it, it's 15-4 Seattle, the Storm going on a 9-0 run.

7) Feenstra walks, and turns over the ball. According to the Storm announcers, the Atlanta Dream are just dead, playing listlessly. The announcers state that the Seattle Storm's defense has just clamped down on Atlanta. The Seattle Storm remain resolute, and they lead 17-10 at the end of the first. The Storm lead in every sense of the term, and the Dream have four turnovers to the Storm's one.

8) Now the Dream are on an 8-0 run to close it to 17-14 in the second quarter. The announcers say that Marynell Meadors said that they'll have Chantelle Anderson next year. Interrrrresting.....

9) Pass to a wide open Kasha Terry in the second. She fumbles it. Out of bands, Atlanta. Good thing Gearlds has missed her last four shots. However, the Dream get three wide open layups, and two offensive rebounds. Result: 0 for 3.

10) Seattle continues to go cold. Seattle is missing a ton of shots and the Storm's poor shooting is keeping Atlanta in the game. Feenstra is leading all Dream shooters with eight points, and she's playing great defense.

11) Kevin Pelton will be back for 2009, according to Seattle. That's great news; I enjoy reading his website.

12) In the first eight minutes of the second quarter, the Dream have outrebounded the Storm 10-2. The Dream is hanging anywhere from within two to seven points throught the quarter. With one minute left, a Castro Marques free throw closes it to 28-27, but the Storm score the next basket. The Dream get the basket with 14 seconds left, but Latta is forced into a desperation shot.

At halftime: Seattle Second Unit 30, Dream 27.

13) Minutes played by:

Sue Bird: 0:00.

14) Atlanta is being outshot 41 to 33 percent at halftime. The Dream have taken nine shots from behind the three throw line and missed all of them - a major difference from the Los Angeles game.

15) HOLY CRAP. The starting lineup for the second half for the Dream is Latta, Izi, Young, Feenstra....and Lacy. The Seattle announcers speculate that Betty might have hurt her ankle...but Betty has been in Meadors's doghouse before.

16) Izi finally hits her three. We tie 32-32 early in the first quarter. The Dream are in a 1-2-2 fullcourt press. The Storm score six straight, but we answer with five straight. We're still hanging in there, pressing like crazy. We manage to hang within one point in the third quarter for what seems to be forever, about the first five minutes. Brian Alger still hasn't brought in his big guns, and Betty is now out for the game with achilles tendonitis. It seems that no one has scored in like...forever.

17) Tamera Young steps up and ties the game again, 43-43. At this time, she's leading all Dream scorers with 12 points.

18) By 2:48 left in the third, the Storm is only leading by three points. The Storm is starting to rebound much better. The game seems interminably dull. It's probably the fact that I know that if we get close, Agler can put in the starters whenever he wants to. Swoopes, Griffith and Bird are still perfectly rested. Furthermore, We've seen the last of Betty Lennox for this season.

19) Listening to the Seattle announcer, my first thought is "Boy, is this guy loud!" It's not at all like Art. Art manages to keep this composure whenever the Dream score; this guy sounds like he's going to drop a load with excitement.

20) Tamera Young scores another three to close it to 51-50. She's now taken over the role of Betty Lennox, leading all Dream scorers with 18 points. It has been Tamera Young who has kept us in the game in the third quarter. With 15 seconds left, a bucket by Erika de Souza puts us in the lead 52-51, but Camille Little answers back and grabs the lead back, 53-52 at the end of three.

21) Latta is having another horrible night. Three points. A bounce pass to nobody. Feenstra inexplicably on the bench. The Storm pull out to a five point lead early in the game, 57-52.

22) The Storm lead by about five or six, but can't really pull away. The Dream still have a chance to win it if he doesn't put Bird in. Latta hits two free throws and we're down 65-61 to the Storm. However, Seattle is shooting much better.

23) A pair of free throws put the Storm up by 10, but Young hits a shot with 3:40 keeping the Dream within eight points.

24) Late in the game, the Dream have the advantage that Seattle's over the limit in fouls. Seattle's announcer is swearing with every bucket, "That might just do it!" but Seattle's lead has been tenuous at best this quarter. We're down by seven with 1:18 left, 75-68. Then Young hits another shot to close it to 75-70 with just 59 seconds left. Can the Dream steal another game?

25) In the last minute, Feenstra grabs the rebound on a missed Storm shot, but she dribbles the ball on the endline. However, Kristin Haynie gets the steal and has the ball with just 25 seconds left, still down by five.

26) The ball makes it into Young's hands, and she shoots for a three...but misses. The Storm get the rebound, Katie Gearlds gets the two free throws. The Dream get a couple more points, but the Storm get the win, 77-72 and the Dream become the first team in WNBA history to lose 30 games in a season.

It's a sad moment. No more Dream basketball until next year. It's late. I'm tired. Tomorrow for the post-mortem.

2008/30 - Storm 83, Dream 69

The Junior Shooting Stars in Action! (See note below.)

I pegged this game as one of two upcoming games we had a chance to win. Betty and Izi know the Storm about as well as anyone can. And for about 25 minutes, we played the Storm very well. Then, the roof collapsed and the Dream was left digging itself out of the rubble one more time.

Get your coffee. Let's talk.

1) One warning should have been that "GO STORM" sign I saw one of the spectators wearing. I also saw a cute, thin, short-haired girl wearing a Storm jersey. Clearly, there are some displaced Seattle fans living in Atlanta.

2) Last night was "Mascot Night". There were mascots from the following organizations:

Atlanta Thrashers
Atlanta Hawks
Georgia State
Georgia Tech
Atlanta Falcons
Georgia Force.

There was also a man dressed in a gorilla costume and another dressed in a banana costume. Banana Man was intent on forcing a conversation with me. I asked him what organization he represented, and he said he represented "bananas around the world".

The people setting next to me were wondering who the hell this guy was. The other mascots seemed to treat him as radioactive. I think he must have represented some mental institution somewhere in Atlanta.

3) We got to see the return of Camille Little (#20), this time in a forest green uniform. No one from the Dream spoke to her. The entire Dream team marched into the locker room after warming up and I don't think a single one so much as threw her a glance. She got cut off, baby!

Whereas Betty Lennox and Sue Bird embraced at the start of the game just before tipoff. If the Storm hated Lennox, I never saw it on the court.

4) The pre-tip off entertainment was the Osborne Marching Band from Cobb County. I thought they were quite good, despite the fact that they had to squeeze a marching band onto a basketball court. This restricted what they were able to show us.

The sad part is because it was pre-tipoff, they were shoved into the 6:30 p-6:40 p slot, which is when the seats are deserted. This really can't be helped. There's so much mad running around just before a game starts among officials, players, mascots, and announcers, that the band can't be moved to a timeframe when the crowds are more full.

5) For once, we didn't have a celebrity (pseudo or real) singing the National Anthem. We just had a local high school girl. That girl should have been on American Idol. Or maybe, she will be.

6) When Yolanda Griffith was announced, I was informed that she played for UConn. I think Huskies alumni would be surprised by that; Yolanda most of all.

7) When Erika de Souza was introduced as a starter and ran out to mid-court, she did a little shuffle, sort of a half-tap-dance-half-dance. Of course, the other players weren't going to let Erika outshine them. Everyone else added some dance moves, except Betty who was all business.

8) Starters for the Dream: Castro Marques, Latta, DeSouza, Lacy, Lennox. Another day, another new lineup.

9) GAMETIME! Izi lit it up at the very beginning. Betty Lennox was cold, however. We started 3-11 overall.

Of particular concern is Ivory Latta. She has completely forgotten her mid-range jumper. Instead, she has now taken to try drive in for layups, a bad idea when you are COUGH five-six.

How small is Latta? I saw her inadvertanly crushed between two Seattle Storm players while everyone was running to the enemy basket. I don't think the two Storm players saw Latta; it was as if two semi trucks inadvertantly crushed a Volkswagen.

10) Lennox was hitting nothing to start the game. That's when I noticed it. The QUIET of the crowd. Granted, many of the seven thousand or so were disguised as empty seats, but this crowd did not have any energy. I'd say after 26 losses much of the energy is depleted. The crowd had resigned itself to another loss; the only question was how would the Dream lose this time?

11) After one quarter, we actually led, 18-17. Part of that lead was the result of six Seattle turnovers. We were only shooting 35 percent after one quarter.

12) I noticed in the last game that Katie Feenstra has started to look for the ball, rather than desperately search out Lennox somewhere in the backcourt to dish it off to. However, Kit only played 2:44 this game. The second Ann Strother got close to that basket, she was desperately looking to get rid of the ball.

She succeeded. Over three minutes of play, zero points for Ann Strother.

12a) Could this be our problem? We only score when we have no other choice? No wonder the reserves played so well when Betty Lennox was in that slump.

13) Kit was eager to get the ball. Myself, I would keep Kit for another year. I think I'm in the minority of Dream fans, however, as Kit has become the brand name for "slow and awkward".

14) If there was any player eager to put on a show for the Atlanta crowd it was...Camille Little. She had 16 points and six rebounds, so thanks for nothing, Little. Little was playing like Michael Jordan (relatively speaking) in the second, making some acrobatic moooooves to the basket.

Someone was wearing a Camille Little jersey in the front row. If that person wasn't related by blood to Camille Little, then that's Double Treason. I suggest the death penalty.

15) The lead seesawed back and forth. Seattle looked pretty lost out there without Lauren Jackson and Sheryl Swoopes. As a result, they kept the Dream in the game.

16) FAMOUS VISITOR #1: Marvin Williams of the Atlanta Hawks. He didn't even bother to acknowledge the crowd.

17) Halftime. Seattle was leading, but it wasn't a blowout. 39-34, Storm.

At halftime, we had the "Junior Shooting Stars". The Atlanta dance team, called the Shooting Stars, put on their own clinic sometime last week. It looks like their clinic attendees - young girls - got the chance to dance with their teachers. It was fun watching the girls trying to match the steps of their much-older sisters in spirit.

18) Betty and Izi were in double figures by this point. Lennox had 14, Izi had 12.

19) In the starting possession of the third quarter, Griffith loss the ball as it was stolen by DeSouza. The ball ended up in Ivory Latta's hands, who passed it to Betty for the bucket. With just 9:16 left in the third, Brian Agler called a full time out.

20) The timeout didn't stop the Dream from going on a mini-roll. They led 40-39 after scoring six straight to start the second half. It would be the last time the Dream saw the lead in the game.

21) Then, Sue Bird took off. She scored a three-pointer. And then another bucket. Essentially, she shook the Storm out of their doldrums.

Little took a shot. She hit it. The Storm rolled off 11 straight points and the Dream found itself (again) ten points behind. Meadors called a time out to stop the bleeding.

22) Having little choice, Meadors unleashed Kasha Terry, who amazingly did not foul two times in her first minute of play. Betty Lennox hit a three pointer and it was time to announce....

...FAMOUS VISITOR #2. Julius Erving is in the house AGAIN! Hey, Dr. J., you can stay in the Place Where Dreams are Made Of as long as you want! I only wish you could see us do a little bit better.

23) By this time, everyone around me was chatting about Sue Bird. I don't know how much Sue Bird had to do with it, but the Storm weren't letting us back in the game. The quarter ended 62-50, Storm.

24) Now you have to give Kasha Terry credit. By the beginning of the fourth quarter, she had three fouls on her.

25) The Storm went on a mini- 6-0 run. They started at 65-54 and by the time I looked again it was 71-54. The Dream were starting to turn their bellies up in submission again.

26) Mascots Gone Wild! The mascots began throwing shirts to those in attendance. Banana Man was not given a shirt to throw, in fear that he might steal it, eat it or set it aflame.

27) I learned that a recycled aluminum can saves the three hours worth of energy it takes to make a brand new aluminium can. But wouldn't it take as much energy to recycle it. I must admit, the Jumbotron was not forthcoming with details.

28) With the score at 73-56 with 5:46 to go, I got a strange sensation. The fans had started exiting. It looked like a Dodgers game, with fans wanting to hit the Interstate instead of hang around for the eventual loss.

The Atlanta fans were voting with their feet. The place started to look bare. It was ominously quiet. Atlanta fans are infinitely forgiving of their beloved Dream, but I can understand why some fans felt the need to flee with more than five minutes left. The fans, like the players, can only take so much psychic battering before collapsing.

Meadors had "crossed arms" body language. She had this pissed-off look at her players like, "Hell, what do you expect me to do? Wave a magic wand and make it all go away?" At least the coaching staff is disgusted.

29) The Storm lead reached 21 points at high tide. Ivory Latta FINALLY started shooting, but no rational person expected her to undo a 21 point deficit with 2:57 left. Gee Ivory, maybe you should have found your "on" switch about two hours ago.

30) Final score. Storm 83, Dream 69.

31) Art Eckman came out to do the post-mortem. Meadors had the usual things to day. "We didn't play defense." How do you explain the 27th loss in some different way than the other 26?

They interviewed Betty. Betty looked like she was going to cry. I could see little patches of water at the corners of her eyes. She mumbled through an interview with Eckman, emotionally choked out "I love you, Atlanta!" and rapidly exited the court.

(* * *)

Good god. Good god, good god, good god.

Let's look at the horrible paper.

Shooting percentage: The Storm hit 48.4 percent of their shots. The Dream hit 32.4 percent. The last peformance I can remember that was that bad was when the Sparks held us to under 30 percent at home.
Offensive rebounds: About the same. 10 on both sides. The Storm got more rebounds overall, however, and Meadors blamed the loss on lack of rebounding.
Turnovers. The Storm actually turned the ball over more, 22-16. However, if we can't make anything happen from the turnovers, then who gives a rat's ass?
Free throw visits: Seattle 25, Atlanta 21. The Storm even beat us there.

Flow of the game: We held them for one quarter, and then the Storm pulled away a little bit more each time. If they hadn't let us score a little bit in the bottom of the fourth, this would have been a 20-point loss.

Starters minutes: Pretty much about the same.

Scoring efficency: Us, then Them.

Us

Lennox: 25 points on 28 shots. An average game. Betty scored the most, but Betty took most of the shots.
Castro Marques: 12 points on 15 shots. Not that impressive.
DeSouza: 8 points, 8 shot attempts, eight rebounds. You get that kind of consistency from Erika.
Kasha Terry: 8 points, 6 shots. And only three fouls! This is a banner game for Kasha!

Them

Sue Bird: 21 points, 16 shots, 9 assists. Easily the player of the game.
Camille Little: 16 points, 17 shots.
Yolanda Griffith: 16 points, 17 shots.
Swin Cash: 11 points, 13 shots.
Tanisha Wright: 11 points, 13 shots:

Southern Belle Milk Carton of the Game: Ivory Latta, who seems to have mentally folded up. She went 2-13 for the floor. She went 2-4 from the line. That's 7 points on 17 shots. We would have shot 4 percent better without her "contribution".

What has happened to Ivory? Has her brain finally imploded from the pressure?

(* * *)

I might have more to say about this particular game later. However, writing the facts alone was an emotional chore, actually stating my opinion on it might require heavy drinking.

New Postscript: The pic of the Junior Shooting Stars up above comes from this blog. The Dream will be glad to have her, either as a Dream player, or in cheering us on to another victory!

It Happened Elsewhere!

Silver Stars 68, Monarchs 67. With five seconds left, Sophia Young of the Silver Stars hits a bucket that ties the game, and is fouled by Adrian Williams-Strong of the Monarchs in the act. Young hits the free throw that wins the game. Ticha Penicheiro of the Monarchs missed a shot with seven seconds left, a miss which led to the Silver Stars win.

Storm 84, Liberty 71. Lauren Jackson of the Storm scored a season high 33 points in a game the Storm led from the beginning. The Storm shot 46.5 percent from the field. The Liberty managed to cut the Storm's lead from 20 to seven with 3:40 left on the clock, but the Liberty would not hit another basket for the rest of the game.

Lynx 88, Sparks 70. The Lynx started a 12-0 run at the top of the fourth quarter that put the game out of reach for the Sparks. The loss put the Sparks in second place in the Western Conference. Candace Wiggins had 19 points and Seimone August scored a season high 36 points.

It Happened Elsewhere!

Mercury 87, Sun 80. Despite turning over the ball 14 times, the Mercury (7-7) picked up the road win in Connecticut. Diana Taurasi led the Mercury with 25 points. The Sun (12-5) managed to cut the Mercury lead down to a single basket in the third, and got to within four points in the fourth, but couldn't close out. The Sun only shot 35.4 percent from the field and missed 22 of 28 three-point attempts.

Storm 64, Mystics 49. Four Storm (9-7) players scored in double figures in Seattle against the Mystics (6-9), whose only scorer in double digits was Alana Beard with 16. For Washington, their 49 points was a season low and four of the 20 turnovers committed by the Mystics were shot-clock violations.

It Happened Elsewhere! (or, Dunkalicious, Part II)

Sun 85, Shock 68. The Sun (11-3) -- losers of their last five games against the the Shock (10-4) -- finally break a streak extending into 2006. The win puts the Sun in first place in the Eastern Conference. Amber Holt scored a career high 19 points for the SUn. Cheryl Ford of the Shock had 13 points and 11 rebounds for yet another double-double. The Sun took away Detroit's rebounding strength, beating them on the boards 42-32.

Mercury 98, Mystics 90. Once again, it's the combination of Diana Taurasi (31 points) and Cappie Pondexter (28 points) as the Mercury (5-7) beat the Mystics (5-8) in Washington, obviously enjoying the mojo of the Rose Garden ceremony from the day before honoring them as 2007 WNBA champs. Washington's Taj McWilliams-Franklin scored 31 points, a career high, in the loss.

Fever 78, Monarchs 73. The Fever (7-6) came back from an 18 point deficit to beat the visiting Monarchs (6-7). Katie Douglas of the Fever scored 20 points after starting 0 for 6, and 10 of Douglas's points were in the fourth quarter. Ebony Hoffman had 23 points for Indiana.

Lynx 91, Liberty 69. A five game losing streak comes to the end as the Lynx (7-6) beat the Liberty (6-6) back home in Minneapolis. Seimone Augustus came one short of a double-double, scoring 21 points and nine rebounds. The Lynx were motivated by a comment from Janel McCarville of the Liberty (four points, seven rebounds) who implied that Minnesota should have taken her in the 2007 dispersal draft.

Comets 82, Silver Stars 81 (OT). Tina Thompson of the Comets (5-8) hits a 13 foot jumper with 1.2 seconds left in overtime to get the victory on the road against the Silver Stars (8-5). Thompson scored 16 points for Houston (despite a fracture suffered to a finger on her non-shooting hand) and Michelle Snow scored 17 points with 11 rebounds for the Comets.

Sparks 76, Storm 72. You thought there were two dunks in regular season history in the WNBA? Make it three. Candace Parker dunked for her second consecutive game as the Sparks (10-3) beat the Storm (8-7) for theirr sixth win in their last seven games. The Sparks scored 17 offensive rebounds against the visitors, with Parker collecting 22 points and 11 rebounds.