Dream Crush Sun in Mohegan, Now Tied for First in East

Believe it or not...McCoughtry actually made the basket.

(As always, you have to see Larry Morgenweck's gallery for SportsPageMagazine.com, which is located right here on the website.)

Over the second and third quarter of their game against the Connecticut Sun, the Dream went on a 25-0 run over the second and third quarters to defeat the Sun 94-62 on the road. No, that's not a typo. That's twenty-five consecutive unanswered points.

The loss is the worst loss in the Sun's franchise history, stretching back to 1999 when the Connecticut Sun was the Orlando Miracle. The reason might have been Connecticut's 23 turnovers. Tina Charles was held to six points; Kelsey Griffin scored zero points in 19 minutes of play. Erika de Souza had 13 points and 13 rebounds; Angel McCoughtry scored 20 points and six rebounds.

The win puts Atlanta in a tie for first place in the Eastern Conference. The next game tomorrow will be at home against the other first place team, the Indiana Fever. Winner of that game walks off the court the Eastern Conference leader. The loser just walks off.

The box score is here.

The fallout:

The brief Associated Press blurb.

Matt Stout of the Norwich Bulletin gives his initial impressions.

John Altavilla of the Hartford Courant provides two pages detail and Hartford Courant says that Connecticut head coach Mike Thibault finds the loss a real head-scratcher.

Ned Griffin of The Day.com writes about Connecticut's long day.

The New Haven Register and Jim Fuller share some video of the press conference.

Bob Phillips of the Examiner gives his take on the massacre.

Dream-Sun Gallery

Oh yeah? Well God is my referee!

Larry Morgenweck has a gallery of Atlanta Dream images up at SportsPageMagazine.com.

See! Iziane's unfortunate haircut!
See! Renee Montgomery's kickline!
See! The Great Wall of Leuchanka!

(But you gotta click the links to see it.)

Dream Beats Visiting Sun in Amazing Overtime Game on Wednesday

The 'do makes Iziane look like Robert Blake.

(The picture above, of course, is from Craig Cappy of SportsPageMagazine.com. Click the link and check out Iziane's new hairdo!)

The Atlanta Dream saw the Connecticut Sun, and they showed that if you have a Dream...you can accomplish anything.

The 108-103 overtime win at Philips Arena set a score of records. Let me list all of them.

* Most points ever scored by the Dream in a game.

* Third most points scored against the Dream in a game.

* Most combined points scored in a Dream game.

* Career high for Iziane Castro Marques (32 points).

* Career high for Tina Charles (27 points).

* Most rebounds ever in a WNBA game (100 - Atlanta 51, Connecticut 49)

* Eighth most points ever scored in a WNBA game (211)

* Ninth twenty-point, twenty-rebound game in WNBA history. (Charles: 27 points, 20 rebounds)

* Fifth "teammates score 30 points each" game in WNBA history. - (Castro Marques 32, McCoughtry 32).

Box score is here.

Pierce W. Huff from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution tells us about the game.

Report from George Henry of the Associated Press.

Here's the report from the Norwich Sun.

Yeah, not much posting recently. Trying to squeeze real life in. At the end of the season, something's got to give.

Atlanta vs. Connecticut, Wednesday July 7

Who: The Atlanta Dream (13-5) take on the Connecticut Sun (10-7) in an Eastern Conference game.

The Dream are led by Angel McCoughtry, who is scoring 19.8 points per game and has been named to the USA Basketball women's team. Sancho Lyttle (14.2 ppg/10.6 rpg) and Iziane Castro Marques (17.1 ppg) were both named to the WNBA All-Star Team. Erika de Souza (12.1 ppg/8.4 rpg) will be playing on the Brazilian national team at the end of the season. The Sun have rookie sensation Tina Charles (15.2 ppg, 12.1 rpg) as well as Renee Montgomery (12.4 ppg, 3.9 apg), both Connecticut graduates who will also be playing for USA Basketball.

What: The second of four regular season games against the Connecticut Sun - the remaining games will also take place in July. The first game was on May 21, 2010 at Philips Arena and ended with a 97-82 Dream victory.

Where: Philips Arena in Atlanta.

When: Tip-off is at 7 pm Eastern time, Wednesday July 7th in Atlanta. You should be able to watch the game on Sports South in Atlanta. And of course, there's WNBA Live Access for those who have computers.

Why: Think about it: we have four All-Stars playing this game (for this year, USA Basketball roster members are treated as All-Stars). McCoughtry. Castro Marques. Charles. Montgomery. You're really seeing some of the best players that American basketball has to offer.

However, one name is missing - Sancho Lyttle. The last time we saw her, she was leaving the floor of Philips Arena after being knocked unconscious by Sylvia Fowles in the final quarter of the Dream-Sun game on Saturday. According to covers.com, Lyttle is not expected to play in this game and most likely, Alison Bales will start in Lyttle's place tomorrow night.

One bonus for the Dream - the Sun are coming off a back-to-back on the road where they lost 79-66 to the San Antonio Spurs. So the Sun get on a plane, fly to Atlanta and face the Dream less than 24 hours later. The Dream have had to deal with these fatigue-related issues; for once, the opponent gets to deal with the short end of the stick.

Covers.com has the game as a 5.5 point favorite for Atlanta. So does masseyratings.com. Of course, this is the Eastern Conference and anything can happen.

Dream Advance to 3-0 on Excellent Performance

The Dream pretty much crushed the Connecticut Sun 97-82.

Lyttle's 27 points were a career high. Erika was very effective. Iziane scored 18 points and was shooting 7-for-7 at one time. Lehning had 10 assists. McCoughtry had 32 points, a basket short of tying her career high.

The only other 3-0 team in the W right now is Washington. Here's Pierce W. Huff of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution breaking it down for you.

I go on vacation for five days. So posting will be even sparser than you expect it to. BTW: I don't think we've had a lower (announced) attendance than 4,092.

Atlanta vs. Connecticut, Friday May 21st

Who: The Atlanta Dream (2-0) take on the Connecticut Sun (1-0) in an Eastern Conference match-up.

What: The first of four regular season games against the Connecticut Sun. Last year, the Dream played four games against the Sun, going 3-1. The last time the two teams met was an 88-64 win at Philips Arena on September 11, 2009 that clinched both a playoff spot for the Dream as well as second place in the Eastern Conference.

Where: Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.

When: Tipoff is at at 7 pm Eastern time, Friday May 21st. The game will be televised on Fox Sports South and will be available on-line at WNBA Live Access.

Why: These two teams have already played in the 2010 pre-season, with Connecticut winning by nine points in Connecticut. Let's compare the rosters, but only list players on the current rosters who were playing in the preseason game.

Atlanta: Lehning, Price, McCoughtry, Raven, Bales, C. Miller
Connecticut: Walker, Charles, Lawson, Montgomery, Griffin, White, Gardin, Hightower

Atlanta lost by nine - on the road - where Connecticut had four starters and the Dream only had two. I wonder if de Souza, Castro Marques and Lyttle will make an impression?

The last time these two teams met - in preseason - Tina Charles scored 21 points and nine rebounds. In their 13 point win over the Sky she scored 17 points and 10 rebounds against Sylvia Fowles. Is Tina Charles the real deal as a #1 draft pick? Her great performance against Fowles and the Sky is a good argument, but you need more than just one WNBA game. If Charles does as well against de Souza/Lyttle, Connecticut might be a real problem for Atlanta.

The Dream, however, are 2-0 on the season...and without Chamique Holdsclaw, who was waived earlier this week. The Dream have found others to rely upon, including Alison Bales who had six blocks against Indiana. If the Dream beat Connecticut on Friday, the words on everyone's lips might be "Holdsclaw who?"

E1/2010 - Sun 86, Dream 79

The Dream have played their first game of the 2010 season. They headed back to Connecticut, but fell short. The good news is that they took eleven players with them; the bad news is that among those eleven players, only 2 1/2 could be called "starters" if you were generous. So you have to take the loss with a grain of salt. No Lyttle, no de Souza, no Castro Marques, no Holdsclaw.

Here's the report from John Altavilla of the Hartford Courant.

Here's the report from Jim Fuller of the New Haven Register.

And here's the Guru himself, Mel Greenberg.

All right. Even SportsPageMagazine.com doesn't have any pictures yet. There were only 3,779 in attendance - no, wait a minute. For a Tuesday game at 11 am in the morning in the woods of Connecticut, that's great attendance! Still, there weren't many people present. There was no WNBA Live Access, and frankly, the boxscore didn't update automatically. If you were able to follow this game minute by minute, you were either in Uncasville or you have a very long neck.

So let's take a look at the post-mortem. The Dream got off to a very good start - an 11-0 start in the first quarter, but any Dream fan from 2008 knows that you can never depend on an 11-0 lead, and not particularly in a "game of runs" as this one was called on RebKell. The Dream held on to a 48-46 lead at halftime, and Fuller's article tells what happened next:

Connecticut Sun coach Mike Thibault resisted the temptation to insert some of his more established players to get his squad back on course. Third-year forward Kerri Gardin, with 67 regular-season games to her credit, was joined by second-year guard Renee Montgomery and rookies Tina Charles, Kelsey Griffin and Allison Hightower.

What happened next was a surge propelling the Sun to an 86-79 win over Atlanta before 3,779 at Mohegan Sun Arena.

Charles, the former UConn star who was the top pick in last month’s WNBA draft, began and ended a 19-2 game-altering run with baskets. But she had plenty of help from her fellow rookies.

So 19-2 beats 11-0 hands down when it comes to runs. Furthermore, Angel McCoughtry scored 17 points in the first half, but only two in the second half.
Only three players played for the Dream for more than 25 minutes - Montgomery, Shalee Lehning and Armintie Price. Whereas the Sun had three players who played for at least 29 minutes. Tina Charles and Renee Montgomery each played 31 minutes.

Let's examine the box score in detail. We'll go into an article by Dean Oliver and how he examines a box score:

Pace:

Estimated possessions = {(72-11)+20+0.4*20)]+[(70-9)+19+0.4*22]/2 = ..approximately 89 for both teams.

The Dream's offensive rating was 79/89 = 88.8 and the Sun's offensive rating was 86/88 = 97.7. This sort of implies that neither team dominated offensively, and defensive skill made the difference.

Game flow: Quarter by Quarter, the game was decided in the middle, particulary in the third quarter when the Sun outscored the Dream 25-14. The Sun led 71-62 after three quarters. The Sun didn't blow out the Dream - if you look at the play-by-play results the Dream crawled to within seven points, 71-64 in the fourth quarter with 9:12 left - but after that, the Sun went on an 11-2 run to take a 16 point lead with about four minutes left. That run killed the Dream's chances of winning.

All of the big names: McCoughtry, Lehning, Charles, Montgomery - were on the bench in the fourth quarter, to return only briefly if ever. The only starter on the floor for significant time appears to have been Kerri Gardin. The 11-2 run was basically a testimony to the Sun's bench. No one particular Sun player dominated the fourth quarter.

Shooting percentage: Sun 47.1 percent (33-70), Dream 38.9 percent (28-72).
Effective shooting percentage: Sun 52.1 percent, Dream 43.1 percent. That pretty much did it. The Sun won because they could hit their shots, and the Dream (collectively) couldn't.

Turnovers: Sun 19, Dream 20. It was at best an average game for protecting the rock.
Offensive rebound percentage: Sun 25.7 percent, Dream 23.4 percent. No edge here, but the Dream definitely missed Lyttle and de Souza.
Free throw visits: Sun 22, Dream 20. However, the Dream hit 17 of their attempts, and the Sun shot a sad 59.1 percent from the stripe (13-for-22). I'd give the advantage to the Dream, but that wouldn't be enough to cool down the Sun's hot shooting hand.

And now, let's look at the Dream's individual perfomances:

Angel McCoughtry: Can you think of McCoughtry not coming to play? She led the team with 19 points. She had to take a lot of shots, but she hit 3 out of 4 3-point attempts. She kept personal fouls down, but unfortunately, it looks like Tina Charles's team beat Angel McCoughtry's team again. (See: 2009 NCAA Finals.) Even with the lost, McCoughtry brought her game to Connecticut and she was the Dreamer of the Game.

Armintie Price: A big question was whether or not Price or Shalee Lehning would be able to shake off the rust. Not only did Price have a 10-point game, but she hit four out of five free throws. Maybe she's been working on that in the off season. Price, furthermore, led the team in rebounds with seven total, and she picked up five assists as well. This whole Armintie Price thing might be working out, except for getting three of her shots blocked.

Shalee Lehning: Lehning must have heard me muttering "you have to shoot more" because she hit four out of five shots. However, she had two assists and four turnovers. I guess you can't do everything to please all people, but since Lehning's arm didn't fall off during the game, we can only count the result as a plus.

Britany Miller: For just 17 minutes played, the third Miller in Dream training camp - Britany Miller, a center who once played for the Detroit Shock - did an okay job. She had five rebounds and two blocked shots. However, her 1-for-5 shooting won't impress many people, but Britany Miller probably earned another day in training camp.

Chanel Mokango: The best you can say about Mokango's game was that it was average. Eight points on 3-for-7 shooting. However, in 15 minutes of play she picked up three personal fouls. Her -7 in raw plus/minus was the third worst on the Dream - the dream slid behind when Mokango was on the floor. But hey - it ain't easy playing in the W, not even in the preseason.

Erika White: Now, we're entering the realm of "meh". White played 20 minutes and had a grand total of four points. Negative plus/minus. Three assists, three turnovers. One rebound.

Brittainey Raven: Raven was the fourth member of the Dream that schored in double digits, but in 23 minutes she had four personal fouls. That led the team, and kept the Dream from making more effective use of her. No assists, one turnover. Raven will need to get herself in better control if she wants to make the Dream.

Shawn Goff: Goff only scored two points in 19 minutes of play. She did have four rebounds, which were counterbalanced with the four personal fouls she committed. She turned the ball over twice. This is the part of the list where the players will have to fight to stay alive in training camp. You might only get one shot at making an impression. However, Goff got to start and had a +7 in raw plus/minus, partially due to that 11-0 Dream run to start the game.

Coco Miller: EGAD. Coco Miller had a raw plus/minus of -15. Maybe she was playing with nothing but rookies on the court, but Coco only generated four points to go with her three assists. At least she only turned the ball over once, but that raw plus/minus is just horrible.

Alison Bales: She started, and in the Battle of the Centers, Bales scored four points - and Tina Charles scored 21. Bales went 1-for-5 in shooting but she did have six rebounds. I don't know; I'd hate to have to guard Tina Charles too.

Brigitte Ardossi: 20 minutes played. Only two points scored. 1-for-4 shooting. -11 plus/minutes. 3 personal fouls. I'm not going to call Brigitte Ardossi the Bad Dream of the game, as this is just an exhibition. But right now, given the limited statistical lines, Raven just moved ahead of Ardossi in terms of training camp security.

Atlanta vs. Connecticut, Tuesday May 4

Who: The Atlanta Dream (0-0, preseason) take on the Connecticut Sun (0-0, preseason) in the very first preseason game of the year for both teams.

Both teams have a cast of new training camp invitees. The Dream can take a few people, but we have no idea who is going to Connecticut. We also have no idea who they'll meet.

What: The first of two preseason games, both outside of Atlanta. The last time the Dream played the Sun in the 2009 regular season they won 88-64 in Atlanta. The win secured a spot in the post-season as they clinched second place. It was also the final game that the Dream won in 2009, as they lost to Washington and then lost both playoff games to Detroit.

Where: The Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.

When: Tipoff is 11 am on Tuesday, May 4th. The game will most likely not be available on TV, or on WNBA Live Access. Our fervent hope is that somehow, someway the fans will be provided with a box score.

Why: You have to ask? We've been starvin' for women's basketball around here, and the Dream will be back on the court. After several months of waiting, the season is back in full swing for Atlanta.

There are a lot of good plotlines here. The first is that this could be a matchup between the #1 WNBA Draft pick of 2009 - Angel McCoughtry - and the #1 WNBA Draft pick of 2010, Tina Charles. Furthermore, the win last year knocked the Sun out of the post-season, so you'd think that there would be the "revenge factor".

Unfortunately, this is a preseason game. It doesn't count. Nominally, the point of these games is to evaluate talent, and I have a list of 20 people who might or might not be on the Atlanta Dream's roster. So it could be Angel McCoughtry or Demetress Adams. Odds are de Souza and Lyttle won't be ready. Leuchanka is in Turkey. And you've got to give Chanel Mokango, Brigitte Ardossi and Brittainey Raven some time to play. It could be a real collection of spare parts on both sides of the roster.

Of course, WNBA fans will be poring over the box score intently, trying to divine the future from the results. If the Dream lose, don't take it too seriously. But if Angel McCoughtry is there, she's going to want to win.

Complete Atlanta Dream Preseason Schedule

The Atlanta Dream will be playing two preseason games. The second one will be Sunday, May 9th, in Cookeville, TN as indicated in the post below this one.

The first will be played at the Mohegan Sun Arena on Tuesday, May 4th at 11 am against the Connecticut Sun.

I'm glad we get two preseason games this year. I might road trip that game against the Mystics in Tennessee; the game in Uncasville, Connecticut is a slightly longer trip and a little more out of our way.

Connecticut and Minnesota Swap Draft Picks, Trade Montgomery and Whalen

The big news in the WNBA is that Connecticut and Minnesota have traded first-round draft picks. Previously, Minnesota had the #1 Draft Pick and Connecticut had the #2 overall pick.

Trade:
to Connecticut: Minnesota's first round draft pick (#1 overall) and Renee Montgomery (PG)
to Minnesota: Connecticut's first round draft pick (#2 overall) and Lindsay Whalen (PG)

What does Connecticut get? First, it gets the #1 Draft Pick, which gives the Sun the chance to pick up senior center Tina Charles out of the University of Connecticut. Since Montgomery is also a UConn player, it looks like the Sun is stocking up on local players to help draw a crowd at Mohegan Sun Arena.

However, Tina Charles is no slouch. She'd probably edge out Jayne Appel of Stanford as the majority #1 consensus draft pick. She was #10 in the Boxscores Values for 2008-09, and most of the players above her were seniors and WNBA draft picks in 2009. Furthermore, 11 of the previous 13 WNBA #1 picks have been stars.

My prediction? Charles will be a great player, but you don't need a metric to see that.

Now what about Renee Montgomery? The player most statistically similar to Montgomery after her first year of play is Stacey Dales. The point guard most similiar to Montgomery after her first year of play is Matee Ajavon. Dales was at least an average player in the years before her first retirement; Ajavon has been less impressive.

Montgomery's rookie year vs. Dales's rookie year.
Montgomery's rookie year vs. Ajavon's rookie year.

Whalen, on the other hand, has been really good. I have Whalen as #25 in WNBA history in player efficiency rating (PER) among starters. She's a two-time All Star and is mentioned with Becky Hammon and Sue Bird among the premier point guards in the WNBA. Furthermore, Whalen will be 28 next year, and if 28 isn't a peak age, it's close to it.

So the question becomes "how good is that second pick in the 2009 WNBA Draft going to be?" If it's good, then you'd have to give Minnesota the win in this trade. However, this year's draft is generally acknowledged as a weak one and only five of the thirteen overall #2 picks can be considered to be stars - Griffith, Cash, Beard, Pondexter and Fowles. Given that, I think that the balance tilts in Connecticut's favor.

Of course, I could be wrong. And being wrong is the fun part.

Dream Beat Sun to Clinch Playoffs and Second Place!!

We did it!! The Dream won 88-64 in Atlanta and they have clinched second place and home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs!!

Did you hear that?

WE'RE IN!!
WE'RE IN!!
WE'RE IN!!
WE'RE IN!!
WE'RE IN!!
WE'RE IN!!
WOOOOOOOO!!!!

I'm very tired, but very happy. But I don't want to be happy with just getting a ticket! Let's ride this train all the way to the freakin' FINALS!!!

Atlanta vs. Connecticut, Friday September 11

Who: The Atlanta Dream (17-15) take on the Connecticut Sun (15-17) in the final regular season home game of the 2009 season.

The Dream have a cast including Angel McCoughtry (12.4 ppg) and Sancho Lyttle (13.1 ppg, 7.6 prg). Iziane Castro Marques (14.5 ppg) leads the team in scoring. The Sun have Lindsay Whalen (12.7 ppg, 4.8 apg) and Sandrine Gruda (13.0 ppg, 6.4 rpg)

What: The final of four games this year against the Mercury. The Dream are 2-1 so far in the regular season against the Sun, with their last game a 72-67 win in July. Counting the preseason, this is the fifth time this year Atlanta has played the Sun.

Where: Philips Arena in Atlanta, GA

When: Tipoff is 7 pm Eastern on Friday, September 11th. (Note that this is not a 7:30 pm start time.) The game is available on WNBA Live Access.

Why: You might be a part of Atlanta Dream history if you're in Philips Arena tonight: what other reason do you need than "win, and we're in"? If Atlanta beats Connecticut tonight, they clinch not only a playoff spot after just two years of existence as a WNBA franchise, but home field advantage in the first round. It is still possible for the Shock to finish in second, but Atlanta would have to lose both games - therefore, "win, and we're in".

One question is whether or not Chamique Holdsclaw will be in. She'll certainly be at Philips to enjoy any festivities, but will she play? Holdsclaw is two weeks away from arthroscopic surgery on her right knee, and any return tonight will be an accelerated comeback. Undoubtedly, the hope of Head Coach Marynell Meadors is that the Dream can dominate Connecticut from the tip-off and Holdsclaw can remain on the bench.

If the Dream don't win (heaven forbid), not only does this give Detroit the opportunity to finish second (if they win their final game) but it puts Atlanta in a must win situation the following night in Washington. Atlanta is the worst team in the WNBA in back-to-back games, so Atlanta doesn't want - or need - to face that situation.

For the Connecticut Sun, there is still an outside shot of a playoff spot, but they have to win both games to do it - if they lose, it's over for Connecticut. The Sun have lost five of their last six games, a streak that almost coincides with the loss of their leading scorer Asjha Jones (16.7 ppg) with an injury to her Achilles tendon. Atlanta's only loss against Connecticut came when Jones scored 24 points and 12 rebounds. Connecticut's Tamika Whitmore might also not play as her grandmother is ill.

Important Things With Regard to Next Home Game

The DFO has sent out some information regarding the September 11th home game against Connecticut.

* The time has been changed. The game will start at 7 PM and not 7:30 PM.
* If the team keeps their playoff position, playoff tickets will go on sale:
Monday, September 14 @ 10AM and will be available online at www.Ticketmaster.com or by calling 800-745-3000.
* First 3000 fans get a team poster.
* This is "Fan and Military Appreciation Night" (It is September 11th, after all.) Giveaway stuff, too.

Glenn Hotel Complimentary Night Contest

From the Atlanta Dream website: a brand new contest!

If you visit the link, you could get a chance to win 2 VIP tickets to the Atlanta/Connecticut game on Friday, September 11th. Long drive? Stay overnight! Short drive? Don't worry about making your bed the next morning!

No problem. The Atlanta Dream will put you up at the Glenn Hotel overnight! But the contest ends on September 7th, so you have to enter.

13/2009 - Dream 72, Sun 67: Sweet, Sweet Relief

"Stand back, there's room enough on this court for everyone!"

The Dream dropped a 19-point lead down to a 2-point lead in the fourth quarter, but managed to pull off a win. The great thing about the win is that in 2008, the Dream would have lost games like this.

We're still not where we want to be. Someone once said, "Good teams sometimes lose to other good teams," and the Sun is a good team. However, when you're up by 19 points, you should absolutely punish that team. I know that the Dream is looking to "finish" games, and that means putting them out of reach in the late minutes when it's close. But why finish late when you can wrap up early?

Okay. Let's look at the Four Factors.

Field goal percentage: The Sun actually out-shot the Dream, 38.2 percent to 37.0 percent. Initially, the Sun were shooting under 30 percent and the Dream were shooting surprisingly well; sometime in the third quarter they switched places. The numbers are low for both teams, almost negating the influence of this factor.

Offensive rebounds: The Sun also won this stat, 10 to 9 and won in overall rebounding, 42 to 41. But the stats are so close you might as well call this a "tie".

Turnovers: The Dream were the clear winners here, 20 to 14. Coach Mike Thibault after the game blamed the loss on turnovers, stating that Connecticut was a low-turnover team and that they lost their way. The Dream's games this year have been marked with problems with turnovers and personal fouls; the Dream solved that first problem.

Free throw visits: Dream 19, Sun 15. Both teams shot 80 percent. It looks like the Dream solved their second problem, personal fouls - no Dream player had more than three fouls.

For the Sun players:

Asjha Jones: 14 points, 6 rebounds and 3 personal fouls. Jones's raw plus/minus: -6.
Tan White: Her 14 points and 6 rebounds were coming off the bench, and she had a raw plus/minus of +6.
Kiesha Brown: 11 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists.
Sandrine Gruda: 9 points and 6 rebounds. Gruda looked impressive in just her second game this year in the WNBA.

And now, for the Dream players:

Erika de Souza: Her 12 points were matched with 17 rebounds, one off her career high in rebounds. She also had four steals and was the dominant force. Erika is clearly the Dreamer of the Game.

Sancho Lyttle: Wherever Erika goes, Sancho follows, or vice-versa. Sancho threw in 14 points and 7 rebounds of her own, with 5 steals (but 4 turnovers).

Chamique Holdscalw: Chamique had 19 points and 7 rebounds, and played 34 minutes. She went 6-for-18, however, shooting 33.3 percent from the field.

Shalee Lehning: Only 4 points, but 7 assists. Furthermore, Lehning was 57 seconds short of playing for 30 minutes. In her last three minutes, she has played like a starter. If Lehning can keep this up for a couple of more games...can we start talking about having Lehning start?

Iziane Castro Marques: 14 points, but she had to work hard for those 14 points: she shot 6-for-17 and missed a couple of free throws.

Coco Miller: Only 5 points, but 3 assists and a raw plus/minus of +11. The team was certainly not worse when Coco was on the court.

Michelle Snow: The good news: 4 points in just 7 minutes played. However, she had 3 personal fouls. Snow was definitely playing with passion on Tuesday night.

Jennifer Lacy: Okay. This is the hard part. Generally, when you get down to this part of the list, you're assigning blame. But here's the trick...no one on the Dream really had a bad game. At least not in terms of "worse than average". These were just players who didn't get much of a chance to perform or do anything to hurt or help the team. Lacy played 5 minutes. No points.

Angel McCoughtry: 8 minutes. No points. A raw plus/minus of -8 might have had more to do with her company.

Ivory Latta: Latta is at the bottom of the list for one reason and one reason only: she played the fewest minutes. Three minutes, took a shot and missed it. Ivory Latta is Still Snoozin, and that's only because Marynell Meadors hasn't woken her up yet.

New Picture Gallery: Dream-Sun

"Mea cansada!"

Craig Cappy at SPMSportspage.com has a new gallery of pictures from the Dream-Sun game played on July 7th. Click the link for all of that visual goodness!

13/2008 - Dream 72, Sun 67

Shalee Lehning, Tan White, and Erika de Souza- all top performers this game.

Okay, my thoughts on the game...as they occurred....

1) It's good to see that Carol Ross is still out there working with the players. Last night before the game, she was working with Erika de Souza. The last time I saw the two of them work together, de Souza had a great game and I was hoping that she could do the same.

This time - for the first time ever - I saw Marynell Meadors out of the locker room during pre-game warmups. Granted, she was sitting on the bench but at least she was taking it all in.

2) This is the first time I've ever seen the "Claw's Crew" banner hanging up. Was it ever there before?

3) It appeared to be some sort of youth group night. I must have seen two or three youth groups in attendance. Usher's camp (yes, that Usher) was honored at halftime, but were all of these kids from Usher's camp?

4) Usually, the warm-up music is not much more than a collection of contemporary urban hits that leave an old man like me scratching his head - since I'm not familiar with any of the artists. However, oddly enough, they played the Steve Miller Band's "Rock'n Me". Was someone over 40 in charge of the music?

5) Before the game, the "After School All-Stars" were honored, and rightly so. They received the honor for reading the largest number of books. I don't care if they were reading US Weekly or if they were frankly lying about the numbers. The message is worth repeating: "reading a lot of books is good".

6) Interesting trivia fact: Coco Miller (Dream) and Kiesha Brown (Sun) are from the University of Georgia basketball team, class of 2001.

7) Singing the National Anthem before the game: the Ringgold High School Women's Ensemble. (I hope I got the name right.) Four young women, in choir dress, with the colors presented. Very nice job.

8) This is the very first time I've ever seen people at an Atlanta Dream game sitting in the luxury boxes. Were they the friends of the owner? Were they the friends of Usher? Did they just sneak in? It's great to see the luxury boxes getting some use - hey, if no one is using them, why don't you sell tickets to them? I might even pay!

9) Three words that will strike fear into the heart of any WNBA player or coach: "Referee Michael Price".

10) It looks like the intro film has finally been edited. It appears that nearly all the references to Nikki Teasley have been excised, and a clip of Ivory Latta has been inserted. It's a whole new ballgame.

11) Starters for Sun: Whalen, Phillips, Gardin, Jones, Gruda. Gruda is going to be a killer.
Starters for Dream: Lyttle, de Souza, Miller, Castro Marques, and Holdsclaw. Meadors has Miller in there because she needs to put points on the board.

12) I sighted a sign. "Welcome Back Latta #12". The crowd always cheers more loudly when any reference to Latta is made, even when its on the film or just an ordinary announcement. I suspect we should change our name to the Atlanta Ivorys.

13) We got off to a 7-0 lead. The Sun missed their first 8 shots. We had 8 rebounds in the first four minutes of play. Holdsclaw did a nasty behind-the-back dribble on the way to a layup. We looked sharp, and the Sun didn't.

Three of those seven points were from a 3-pointer by Coco Miller. Children's Health Care of Atlanta got $50 for the 3-pointer. I suspect that the tills at Children's Health Care of Atlanta are looking mighty empty this year. (We give Children's Health Care $50 for every 3-pointer we hit.)

14) We went up by 10 points in the first quarter. Of course, I've seen the Dream spot teams 10 points leads and lose, but it was a good sign. We led 23-13 after the first 10 minutes. Izi lost the ball as time expired when Kiesha Brown stole the ball from her, but as Kiesha heaved up her desperation shot - too late before the buzzer sounded - Izi delivered a punishing block. We were on fire.

15) Connecticut Sun only shot 25 percent in the first quarter. We were shooting 45 percent.

16) The Shooting Stars were wearing blue last night, and looked great - well, the Shooting Stars always look great. EXCEPT FOR THE MEN! Get them out of those short pants, someone, PLEASE! And get them a decent looking shirt!

17) Star, the hardest working mascot in the WNBA, was wearing a pear of flexi-stilts. Whoever is under that mascot costume must be a great athlete.

18) We got more of a chance to see Gruda in the second quarter, and it seemed that at times that only with Gruda's help could the Sun keep themselves above water. Lehning was in - she played for about 30 minutes - and she played smartly. We were keeping our 10 point lead and the Sun was only shooting 1-for-8 from the 3-point line.

19) And then, the Dream finished the quarter with 10-2 run! The last basket of the half was a breakaway layup from Shalee Lehning. Chante Black attempted another last second shot but Erika de Souza blocked it! (I will admit that Sancho Lyttle went over someone's back but she got away with it.)

20) The above brings me to another point. For once, Michael Price has swallowed his whistle. There was no one in foul trouble from either team, and it would stay that way for the entire game. (Maybe Michael and his two friends wanted to leave early.) The Dream and the Sun were going to be allowed to play tough basketball.

21) I'm sure Sun fans have made this observation multiple times, but it's new to me. At one point, the Sun had Kiesha Brown, Chante Black, and Tan White. If they had a player named Green, it would be a true Kodachrome, but all the Sun have for greenery is Kerri Gardin. Maybe "Gruda" is French for "blue", I don't know.

22) Even though the Sun were shooting under 30 percent for the half (10-for-35), I was worried. The sun had 26 total rebounds to our 24. I believe that every time we had played the Sun before, whenever we led in rebounds we won and whenever we lost the battle of the boards we lost the game. (Maybe that should have been a sign.)

23) Usher's "Camp New Look" finally got its honors. I had never heard of it. If you want to find out about it, you can go here. It appears to be a program that promotes motivating youth to get involved in their communities...in which case, I can't say enough good things about such a project.

24) The mystery has been revealed. Star is a HE!!

For halftime, Star did a trick where someone was sent out to do some double-dutch jumproping while blindfolded. The key was that Star would blow his little airhorn when the ropes got close to the volunteer's feet - the idea being that the jumper would then know exactly when to jump. Of course, one the airhorn sounded the victim was abandoned by the jumpropers, and whenever Star blasted the airhorn, the patsy would jump...surrounded by absolutely nothing.

A person turned to me and said, "I think I saw this halftime show in the NBA...in 1952."

25) Some Italian fans showed up and the Jumbotron gave them some love. Let me tell the WNBA, we could learn a lot from the energy and excitement that the singing, banner-waving European fans bring to sporting events. Unfortunately, no arena in the United States will ever allow that spontaneous excitement - God forbid a banner poke someone in the eye! - and we'll have to be satisfied with "Every-BODY clap-your-hands!" (CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP....)

26) In the third quarter, Asjha Jones began whittling down the Dream's lead to 13 points, but the Dream were still in control of the game. Jones would cross the double-digit mark in the third.

The Jumbotron pointed out the presence of John Abraham of the Atlanta Falcons in the stands. Abraham didn't so much as look up until the final seconds of his closeup. He appeared to be checking text messages on his cell phone.

27) Speaking of famous (or semi-famous) people in the audience, Van Chancellor was at the game. For you WNBA outsiders out there, you're probably scratching your heads and saying, "Who the hell is Van Chancellor?" The answer is that Chancellor's Houston Comets won the first four WNBA championships. If Chancellor wants to come back to the WNBA and coach the Dream - we'll take him!

Chancellor was not exactly styling. As the coach of the LSU Tigers, he was wearing a purple number - with brown shorts. His fashion disaster didn't stop young basketball players from lining up, getting their pictures with him, asking his autograph, etc. etc.

28) It was looking fine. The Dream had a 55-36 lead with 2:43 to go in the third quarter. This is about the time you think of texting your friends, going to the concession stands to see if they have any pizza, etc. etc.

And then the wheels came right off the wagon as the somnolent Sun woke up. The Sun threw the zone at the Dream and the Dream just stood around, a big mistake. The Dream forgot how to play offense and turned the ball over three times before the quarter was over. The Sun scored the next eight points, not missing a single shot as the Dream led by 11 points, 55-44, going into the fourth.

29) Like a stunned fish, the Dream refused to get up off the bottom of the boat in the fourth. The Sun managed to work our lead down into single digits. Up 61-51, Kiesha Brown hit a 3-pointer off an assist by Tan White. Sancho Lyttle missed a shot but Erika got one of her 17 rebounds that night. Then Izi tried a shot and she missed.

Five seconds later, Brown downed another jump shot. It was 61-56 Dream, and our lead had fallen by 14 points to just two possessions. Meadors wisely called a time out.

30) The Dream played the "Guess the Song" game on the Jumbotrown. The purpose of this game is to pick someone over 50 out of the audience as a member of the Dream sings a popular song - horribly - on the Jumbotron. If the oldster can guess the song, they win swag.

This time, it was going to be Ivory Latta singing, so the crowd was naturally happy. The song Ivory was given to sing was Beyonce's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)". Latta decided to do some dance moves to accompany the tune. Latta might have great basketball skillz, but when it comes to miming a video she has the coordination of a brain-damaged chipmunk with apoplexy. (The New York Liberty did it a lot better.)

Good thing for the oldster that there are newborn ants in the Peruvian jungles that have heard this song. Swag was appropriately awarded.

31) Also in the audience - Gerald Wallace of the Bobcats. Here's a question: I heard something about the ESPN show "Around the Horn" where one of the panelists said the NBA doesn't respect the WNBA. (This must have been in regard to Bill Laimbeer and the Pistons coaching vacancy.) Then tell me this: if this is true, how come I see so many NBA players at WNBA games? It can't be just promotional, because I don't think I've seen a game where there wasn't an NBA player in the house this year in Atlanta, even if it's an old NBA player like Dr. J.

32) Up 65-56, Izi attempted a 3-pointer and missed, then committed her third personal. However, we had people picking up the slack. Coco Miller was playing Tan White so closely that they're registered in Iowa.

Miller got the ball stolen by Whalen. Then Whalen got the ball stolen by Castro Marques. Both teams were fighting for this, the Dream to hang on and the Sun to steal the win.

33) Up 69-62, with just 1:31 to go, the Dream had their next episode of cardiac arrest. Tan White got open for a 3-pointer, to close the gap to 69-65 with 36 seconds left. Tan White then stole the ball from Coco Miller and made a running layup to close the gap to 69-67 with just 10 seconds left.

The last time the Dream led by just two points in this game? When Izi made the first shot 59 seconds into the game, giving the Dream a 2-0 first quarter lead.

34) However, the Dream would get the ball back, and this would force the Sun to foul. They fouled Lyttle, who was shooting around 66 percent in her career but is shooting around 80 this year. She hit both of her shots, putting the Dream up 71-67.

35) Eight seconds left. The Sun need a 3-pointer, so they give it to the player who hit the last 3-pointer for them...Tan White. She misses, and Holdsclaw gets the rebound - and the game with 1.6 seconds left.

She could have missed both of her free throws and the game would have been out of reach. She missed the first, hit the second, and the Dream escaped with a 72-67 win.

Okay. Enough of that. More about this game later.

Dream Hang on to Victory Against Sun on Tuesday

If you don't know - and judging by the size of last night's crowd, you might not - the Dream are now 6-7 on the season with a victory over the visiting Connecticut Sun, 72-67.

The AP writeup by Jonathan Landrum is here.

At one point, the Dream had a 19-point lead, but that all went to hell. If we had lost that game, what you would be reading here is an extended rant. However, we kept it alive, and now things are looking a lot better as we go on a three week road trip.

In the post-game on-court interview of coach Marynell Meadors by Art Eckman, Marynell called Erika de Souza, "the Beast from Brazil". Erika had 12 points and 17 rebounds for the Dream. She was certainly fantastico for the Dream.

Long writeup later.

9/2008 - Sun 82, Dream 68 - The Roulette Wheel

Okay, with what's going on at home and at work tomorrow, I'm probably not going to be able to do anything substantive with a writeup. However, I will be at the Dream games on Tuesday and on Friday. Yahoo!

The box score can't tell us everything, but what can it tell us?

Quarter by quarter: The Dream started out with a 27-20 point lead after the first quarter, but it fell apart in the second when they only scored eight points in the second. The Sun led at halftime 43-35 and outscored the Dream in every successive quarter. The Dream hung around 10-point land for much of the third, but in the fourth the Sun slowly extended their lead. A Michelle Snow jump seventeen seconds into the fourth closed the score to 60-52, but then both McCoughtry and Snow committed personal fouls - the second one a shooting foul - and Lindsey Whalen made a couple of free throws. After that, the Dream were never within single-digits again.

Dean Oliver's Four Factors: They are:

Field goal percentage: The Dream hit 47.1 percent of their shots, compared to just 40 percent from Connecticut.
Offensive rebounds: The Sun were winners here by a 12-5 margin, and led in overall rebounds 35-33. I believe it was Frisco Del Rosario who noted that every time Connecticut has won the battle of rebounding, they've won the game, and every time they've fallen short, they've lost. So it goes here.
Turnovers: The Dream coughed up the ball 20 times, compared to just 12 from Connecticut.
Free throw visits: The Sun visited the charity stripe 30 times compared to Atlanta's 21. They scored 21 points off free throws compared to 18 by the Dream - the Dream was more accurate at the line, but when you give the enemy multiple chances, she'll make use of them.

The above goes to show: you can outshoot your opponent and still lose the game.

Starter vs. starter: The theoretical matchups are:

De Souza vs. Whitmore - Whitmore was held to four points on 1-9 shooting - edge de Souza
Lyttle vs. Gardin - edge goes to Gardin, who had a double-double
Holdsclaw vs. Jones - edge goes to Jones, who scored 24 points and had the other double-double
Castro Marques vs. Phillips - even
Teasley vs. Whalen - edge Whalen - Teasley didn't score a single point

Was this the worst game we've played all year? I don't know. Game Two against the Mystics was worse, but this game was pretty bad.

Looking at the players from the Sun:

Asjha Jones: 24 points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists.
Kerri Gardin: 10 points, 10 rebounds.
Lindsey Whalen: 14 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists.
Erin Phillips: 17 points: 4-for-5 from 3-point range (the entire Sun - minus Phillips - was 1-for-10)

And now the Dream:

Iziane Castro Marques: Well, someone had to try to do a good job, and in this case, it was Izi. The last time Izi did this well was during Game 3's 81-73 loss to the Sky. 9I think the only good game that Izi had when we won this year was the game against the Shock on Friday.) She went 6-for-12 and had 16 points and 4 steals so I have to give the Dreamer of the Game to Izi.

Michelle Snow: I suspect that the reason Izi and Snow did such a good job was because the players who usually step up were flat out exhausted. Snow only had 6 points, but she had 9 rebounds in just 20 minutes of play to lead all Dream players in rebounding.

Angel McCoughtry: The great thing about playing back-to-back is that if you have awful experience the night before, you can try to erase it the next day. Angel had 12 points in 11 minutes of play, and a +4 plus/minus.

Erika de Souza: 12 points and 8 rebounds, but Erika's had some problems with turnovers in the last couple of games - de Souza turned the ball over five times.

Shalee Lehning: Lehning scored a couple of free throws, and she had 4 assists - tying her career game high - and four rebounds in just 20 minutes of play.

Coco Miller: Miller had 6 points in 11 minutes of play, but also had 2 turnovers.

Nikki Teasley: We are now entering the land of minimal or negative value - please fasten your seat belts. Zero points, 3 assists and 4 personal fouls in 21 minutes of play. Her -18 in plus/minus meant that nothing good was happening when Nikki was on the floor.

Chamique Holdsclaw: Ditto for the Claw. The Claw scored 10 points but turned the ball over 5 times.

Jennifer Lacy: One rebound, one assist and a couple of personal fouls in 13 minutes of play.

Sancho Lyttle: If you were to read the names I listed in reverse order - Lyttle, Lacy, Holdsclaw, Teasley, etc. - you might think that we won the game if those were our best performers. Lyttle only scored 4 points and was held to just 3 rebounds in 18 minutes of play. 1-for-4 shooting. Four personal fouls. Four turnovers. Sorry, Sancho, but you were the Bad Dream of the game.

Come to think of it, that entire game was a Bad Dream. As Ethan might say, when you enter a casino, never expect to win against the house. With the fatigue, the dice were loaded against the Dream anyway. Let's give the Dream two days rest before they play the Lynx on Tuesday.

Dream Lose to Sun 82-68 on Saturday Night in Connecticut

"Izi, Snow, where are we? Detroit? Cleveland?"

Well, Connecticut had...what, five days off?....and Atlanta was forced to play back to back games and go on the road for the second one. So really, this shouldn't have been a surprise. That schedule was just a killer.

Here's the take on the game by the Associated Press.

Here's the WNBA boxscore.

And finally, here's a gallery of images from SPMSportspage.com.

I'll scribble a few lines about this game. Couldn't watch it for two reasons: a) company at home out of town, and b) crappy internet connection. I miss Art Eckman on the radio. But at least I'll say something about it.