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.

Chanel Mokango Signed by Sparks

Chanel Mokango, the Atlanta Dream's #1 Draft pick in 2010, has been signed by the Los Angeles Sparks. The Sparks cut Tiffany Stansbury and signed Mokango the same day.

It seemed as if Mokango would never play in the WNBA. Mokango, as the #9 overall draftpick in 2010, would have been the highest ranking draft pick never to play in the WNBA. She still hasn't played yet, but if Mokango steps onto a WNBA court then Molly Creamer's record will remain safe.

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.

Dream-Sparks Gallery

I'd call this a "mismatch".

This is from Eric Wade over at SportsPageMagazine.com.

Some great pics, so come over and take a look.

Atlanta vs. Seattle, Tuesday June 1

Who: The Atlanta Dream (6-0) take on the Seattle Storm (5-1) in an interconference game.

The Dream are led by Angel McCoughtry, who is scoring 24.0 points per game. Sancho Lyttle (15.3 ppg/10.5 rpg) and Erika de Souza (13.5 ppg/11.0 rpg) are averaging a double-double per game for Atlanta. Seattle has Lauren Jackson who is scoring 20.3 points per game. Sue Bird is scoring 10.2 points per game and averaging 6.5 assists per game.

What: The first of two regular season games against the Seattle Storm. Atlanta is 1-3 all-time versus the Storm. The two teams split the difference last year, each winning at home. The second of those two games was a 91-84 double overtime loss at Key Arena in Seattle on August 29 where the Storm scored 11 points in the second overtime period.

Where: Key Arena in Seattle, Washington.

When: Tipoff is at at 9:30 pm Eastern time, Tuesday, June 1st. The game will be televised nationally on ESPN2.

Why: As the league begins its second month of play, the WNBA brass couldn't have designed it better. The top team in the Eastern Conference and the top team in the Western Conference play on national television. The winner of this game becomes the early season favorite to win it all.

Atlanta is coming off six straight wins. Every team that has started the season with at least six straight wins in the 13-plus years of the WNBA has gone to the WNBA Finals - and with the way the Dream are playing, one can't blame the schedule or some other statistical aberration. The Dream are winning games by nine points per game, their 86.8 points per game is second only behind the Mercury, which has the same running, gunning style. But the biggest difference is in rebound differential. The Dream average 41.6 rebounds per game and their opponents only average 32.5 rebounds per game. The Dream run, but they also muscle, and Sancho Lyttle and Erika de Souza are deadly in the post.

The Storm, on the other hand, are no slouches. The Dream might win by 9.2 points per game, but the Storm are right behind them with an 8.0 points per game differential between the Storm and their opponents. The Dream might have early MVP candidate Angel McCoughtry, but the Storm have three-time MVP Lauren Jackson, a more all-around player than McCoughtry. The 29-year old Jackson is at the peak of her career, and her 20.3 points per game and 8.0 rebounds per game aren't far off her career averages.

Both teams, furthermore, are deeper than just one or two marquee players. Camille Little is playing like a Top Ten player this season, averaging almost four more points a game than her career average. (Every year, Little's points per game have increased - she's shooting 45 percent from the field and averaging 11.2 points per game this year.) Tanisha Wright has similarly blossomed over her last two years. Alison Bales of the Dream might be the Sixth Woman of the Year. After taking a year off, she seems to have recovered both her shooting and her enthusiasm.

Can the Dream advance to 7-0? It will be difficult. Not only are the Storm a good team, not only are the Dream ending a four-game road trip but Seattle's Key Arena is mentioned by many players as the toughest place in the WNBA in which to play: the fans might be the most spirited fans in the WNBA. The Dream could lose, but if they win - they will be wearing the title of Team to Beat for the rest of 2010.

Dream Advance to 6-0 Over Memorial Day Weekend

For most of us during Memorial Day weekend, activities fell under the heading of vacation/obligation. For players in the WNBA, it was just one more working weekend. The Dream made sure that business was good when they beat Los Angeles last night 101-82 in Los Angeles, extending their record to a perfect 6-0.

Los Angeles is a favorite destination for the Dream. In all three years of the Dream's existence, the Dream have headed to Los Angeles for their single away game of the season against the Sparks in L. A. and come back winners each time.

This win sets up a match against the Seattle Storm (5-1) on Tuesday night in Seattle. It's the end of the Dream's three-game road trip and this game might be a preview of the WNBA Finals if the Dream and the Storm - the Storm lead the Western Conference - keep up their winning ways.

The Dream have won their six games by an average of 9.2 points per game. For those who have to compare everything to the NBA, that would be an 11 point per game victory margin. (The Storm are the next biggest winners, winning by 8.0 points per game.)

The game will be on ESPN2. Let's hope the game is as great as we believe it will be, and that it continues the Dream's amazing win streak.

Only five other teams in WNBA history have started the season with at least six consecutive victories. Here's the list and how each team ended the season.

Most Consecutive Wins to Start a WNBA Season
(minimum five wins)

2001 Los Angeles 9-0: WNBA Champions
2003 Los Angeles 9-0: WNBA Finals
1997 New York 7-0: WNBA Finals
1999 Houston 7-0: WNBA Champions
2007 Detroit 7-0: WNBA Finals
2010 Atlanta 6-0
1998 Houston 5-0: WNBA Champions
2007 New York 5-0: Playoffs First Round
2008 Minnesota 5-0: Did not make playoffs

You Ever....

...had to wrangle three brand new nine-week old kittens, get them to the vet and deal with an influx of Memorial Day visitors?

Yup. That's why there's no Dream-Mercury preview posted. I'll be lucky to see the game.

Go Dream!

Vacation is Over

Angel McCoughtry surveys her world.

Every molecule of my body aches. But I'm back.

I didn't get a chance to see Atlanta's victory over the New York Liberty at Madison Square Garden. Rebecca saw the game, however, and her report is here. Tara Polen over at SportsPageMagazine.com took a lot of pictures, all of which are right here.

Did I say every molecule of my body aches? Yes, I'm did. Have a few things to take care of, but regular (??) posting should resume.

Vacation, All I Ever Wanted

Day 1 of Vacation was a blast. Spent much of it on my feet, unfortunately.

The WNBA Hollinger Ratings should be up at RebKell soon. I wanted to wait until teams had an average of three games under their belt. Today's slate of games should do it.

I won't be able to see how Dream/Liberty turns out...well, not live, anyway. Dream to Make a Difference!

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.

Holdsclaw: "It was a personal thing"

Chamique Holdsclaw gives an interview to the Silver Stars web site where she talks briefly about leaving Atlanta and the circumstances behind her departure.

"In my situation, I had a great team last year and I loved the players on my team. It was a personal thing between me and the coach. It had nothing to do with my teammates, it wasn't about basketball. You know, all my teams that I've played on in the past, everybody'll tell you I'm great in the locker room, we have a lot of fun and you know, early on it was because of my situation off the court, it was a personal reason which I could not control.

But, you know, this [inaudible] situation in Atlanta was something I didn't expect to happen. I mean I have a house there, you know, I lived there before the team was there and that's where I want to retire. But you know, you don't get everything you want so you can move on and you know, you welcome the new experience."

My translation: we don't know why Holdsclaw left, and we'll never know. "Personal thing" covers a hell of a lot of ground.

UPDATE: Holdsclaw talks to the Associated Press rep in San Antonio.

But Holdsclaw said she asked for a trade before training camp this year because of a dispute with coach-general manager Marynell Meadors.

Holdsclaw would not elaborate, only saying that it wasn’t about basketball and that it “was a thing of principle.”

“It was a lose-lose situation for me,” Holdsclaw said.

Okay, enough of the cryptic crap. Either say the reason, or stop hinting that there was one but that you won't tell anyone what it is. And you decide to throw all of this stuff only after you've landed safely in San Antonio?

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?"

Alison Bales Makes the AJC

Pierce W. Huff writes an article about Alison Bales and the turnaround of her career at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

From the article:

Bales re-joined the Dream this season and has made an instant impact. She had five rebounds and gave the team some needed energy off the bench in Saturday’s season opener at the San Antonio Silver Stars. She scored eight points and had four rebounds in Sunday’s home opener against the Indiana Fever.

Dream coach/general manager Marynell Meadors said this Alison Bales is completely different than the Alison Bales who played on the team during its inaugural season three years ago.

“I think two years ago she wasn’t real sure if basketball was in her future, and some things happen for a reason,” Meadors said. “I think when she got cut in Phoenix and didn’t have basketball, probably for the first time in her life, she decided she really missed it.”

Definitely give it a read.

Interview with Marynell Meadors at

Rose Scott interviews Marynell Meadors at WABE about Meadors's basketball life and her approach to coaching.

According to Meadors in the interview, this might be the final stop in Marynell Meadors's career. She'll stay as long as Kathy Betty wants her and as long as she still enjoys the job.

So where will she go after leaving basketball? She'll spend time on her twin interests...golf and interior decorating.

Great interview. Give it a listen.

2/2010 – Dream 66, Fever 62: A Tall Glass of Water

Okay, time to look back on that second game and start thinking about Friday.

Quarter-by-quarter box score: The by-quarter totals tell the whole story: tight first half, mini-surge by the Fever in the third quarter, complete and total collapse in the fourth.

Effective field goal percentage: Fever 42.8 percent, Dream 35.3 percent. In most cases, that would give the game to the Fever right there. Our shooting was horrible.

Turnovers: Dream 16, Fever 19. The Dream creep a little closer, but it isn't much of an advantage.

Offensive rebound percentage: Dream 41.8 percent, Fever 32.1 percent. You know it's a bad night when Armintie Price has more offensive rebounds (3) than any other single member of the Fever (2).

Free throw visits: Dream 20, Fever 13. The Dream only made 65 percent of those shots. The Fever made 61 percent. These last two games have showcased some horrible free throw shooting.

Now, let's look at the members of the Indiana Fever:

Ebony Hoffman: 17 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals. Great game for Hoffman.
Tamika Catchings: 18 points, 4 assits, 3 steals. The only other member of the Fever to score in double-digits.
Tammy Sutton-Brown: 8 points and 9 rebounds.
Katie Douglas: 6 assists.
Bench Players: Contributed only 10 of Indiana's 62 points.


Alison Bales: I'll bet you're surprised to see Alison Bales up this high - and I'm not writing about her height, either. Bales actually played 25 minutes. So did McCoughtry. Only de Souza and Lyttle played more minutes, with 26 and 28 respectively.

Bales scored eight points going 2-for-2 from the 3-point line. But she was impressive across the board. Her raw plus/minus of +13 led all players. She had four rebounds and three steals, and an amazing six blocked shots. If Bales keeps playing like this, she'll play herself into a rotation. Bales, in my opinion, was the Dreamer of the Game.

Erika de Souza: This was a game ruled by height. De Souza used that height to her advantage to pick up a second-straight double-double: 14 points and 11 rebounds. If it weren't for her four personal fouls and six turnovers, she'd be the Dreamer of the Game instead of Bales. De Souza is just simply fantastic.

Kelly Miller: It looks like Kelly Miller woke up after the Still Snoozin' designation from the previous game. She had six assists, a +11 raw plus/minus and had four steals. Her 1-for-6 field goal shooting puts her performance in the category of good, but not great.

Armintie Price: Price is the player that got the most attention, appearing back in double-digits for the first time in a long time with 14 points, and could have had 20 if the clock/the referees had looked the other way. 5-for-14 shooting, however, isn't that great. A rarity: Price hit 4 out of 5 free throws (her lifetime completion is 53 percent.)

Brittainey Raven: We now drop back into mediocrity, which is to be expected for a game where the team shooting percentage was 33 percent. Raven was part of that, going 0-for-4 for the night, but she had five rebounds and really hustled.

Angel McCoughtry: 11 points and 7 rebounds, but it was a mighty ugly way of getting them. 4-for-13 shooting, four personal fouls, three turnovers. However, like Raven above, it certainly can't be attributed to a lack of effort - McCoughtry was playing with a busted lip for part of the game.

Sancho Lyttle: Lyttle's five points was an atypical outing for the Spanish League MVP. She went 2-for-9 from the line and missed two free throws.

Shalee Lehning: Before Lehning fans string me up, there wasn't much difference between Lehning's game and the games of McCoughtry and Lyttle, save in baskets. With two points and 1-for-3 shooting, Lehning is now averaging 1.0 ppg in the regular season. She had two assists and only played 15 minutes.

Iziane Castro Marques: What a difference a day makes! Castro Marques went from Dream to Dud in just 24 hours. She shot 2-for-9, including 0-for-5 from the 3-point line. Her -9 in raw plus/minus was the worst of the game, and Iziane only played 18 minutes.

I'm sorry, Iziane - but you're Still Snoozin'. Maybe the game the night before wore you out. Get your beauty rest.

Exit The Claw

It's official now: Chamique Holdsclaw has been waived by the Atlanta Dream. I don't know if her salary counts against the Dream or not, but according to the press release, "The team actively pursued a trade per Holdsclaw’s request but was unsuccessful."

Yelena Leuchanka is finally with the team. She will make her debut against the Sun at Friday night at Philips Arena. It looks like Leuchanka will take the roster spot vacated by Holdsclaw.

(So what do we call Leuchanka? The Bear Claw?)

New Indiana Fever Blog

All: for those visitors who are fans of the Indiana Fever, you might want to check out Fever Week, the newest member of the blog family.

My dream: that every WNBA team has a dedicated fan blogger. And I suspect that it's going to happen soon.

2/2010 – Dream 66, Fever 62

Preach it! Atlanta is 2-0!

(Once again, great pictures from SportsPageMagazine.com!)

Ah, for opening day in Philips Arena. There’s nothing like sitting with a bunch of fans to remind you that basketball season is here. One can watch games on television, but no matter how loud I scream at my TV my chances of catching a thrown T-shirt are zero.

1) Something different in the air…starting out with the choice of music. The warm-up music has gotten a little more “poppy”. In the last two years, the warm-up music was by a lot of obscure (to me) rap artists. (The good thing was that the music was so catchy that I wanted to look up who the performers were. How else would have I have discovered Soulja Boy?)

The first song pounding out of the speakers was the inescapably catchy but auto-tuned “Party in the USA” by Miley Cyrus of all people. Funny, when I think of Miley Cyrus I don’t think of WNBA warm-up music. “Telephone” by Lady Gaga also made an appearance, which begs the question: do the players pick their warm-up music or is it someone else?

2) Jordan showed up from the “Armed With a Dream” program. For those of you who haven’t heard of it, the Dream has teamed up with the Children’s Hospital of Atlanta (through Aaron’s Inc.) to wear the name of a patient at Children’s Hospital as a stick-on tattoo. Jordan, the honoree for this game, was rocking a mini-Dream jersey and was walking the court and surveying the 2010 Atlanta Dream.

3) The staff seems to be a lot more polite than usual. Maybe it’s just because of the first home game, but DAMN they were on the ball.

4) There were a few fans sitting in the upper bowl. I thought that the goal for the 2010 Dream was to have everyone sit in the lower bowl of Philips Arena to increase the intimate feeling. I guess season ticket-holders just like their seats.

5) The Aaron’s Inc. name is on the court.

6) With ten minutes before tip-off, the crowd is rather thin looking. There were some traffic issues, definitely – I saw more than a few orange cones on my way to parking – but I thought we’d really have a better turnout.

As it turned out, announced attendance was 7,337 – not a sellout, even under the guidelines of WNBA sellouts. My wife thought that with the following day a school night, that really kept a lot of families from attending a 7 pm Sunday night game. I agreed, but now I’m really rethinking that. What other sport would make such an excuse? Just remember, if you don’t show up, the only thing the bean counters will conclude is that no one cares.

7) Nerae Bailey – forgive the spelling – was the National Anthem singer. I was distracted, but she seemed to do an okay job.

8) And now, it’s time to announce the players. We had DJ-E doing…something…and as the players came out onto the court, there were literally fireworks. As in big explosive BOOMS! with a cascade of sparks from the sky!

My God! I thought this game was taking place in Poland, where they know how to celebrate women’s basketball! That got the crowd up on their feet, and fast! More, please! It was going to be a party atmosphere.

9) We got a guest appearance from WNBA President Donna Orender. Supposedly, she was supposed to be at a season-ticket holder function but didn’t show. Apparently, she made it to the game just in time to introduce new Dream owner Kathy Betty.

Betty thanked our new sponsors, Aaron’s Inc. and Coca Cola Enterprises. She then introduced the Dream fans as the “12th Player”. My question is that is the WNBA roster expand again, will the fans lose their “12th Player” status?

10) The starters:

Atlanta: McCoughtry, de Souza, Castro Marques, McCoughtry, Lehning

Indiana: Catchings, Sutton-Brown, Douglas, Hoffman, Bevilaqua

11) The Dream come out of the gate fast, perhaps fearing more fireworks. The first quarter will set the tone for the rest of the game – a very close game, with neither team separated from the other by more than a couple of baskets.

The Dream set an athletic pace, and manage to build a momentary 10-4 lead. I was watching Iziane Castro Marques, who was matched up against Tully Bevilaqua. By this point in the game, Tamika Catchings hadn’t yet scored and if the Dream could keep that from happening we had a good chance of winning. Angel McCoughtry was a real problem for Indiana as they tried to move the ball without her getting her hands on a pass.

12) Halfway through the first quarter, the game shifted back in the direction of Indiana but the Fever could never go up by more than a basket.

Regarding Iziane Castro Marques – if she wants to shoot, she’ll shoot and defense be damned. I watched her go one-against-three, driving to the bucket for a basket. A friend of mine said, “Izi’s going to shoot, and she doesn’t care.”

13) Entering the game around the end of the first quarter – Armintie Price and Brittainey Raven. Raven officially enters the WNBA record books as this is Raven’s first WNBA game.

14) First quarter stats were a pretty even match-up. Both teams shot equally well. Atlanta had more rebounds, but Indiana had eight assists to the Dream’s three.

15) For the entire second quarter of the game, the margin of any team’s lead would be no greater than three points – a single WNBA basket. Alison Bales, in her second game since the end of the 2008 season, got a piece of a block. She blocked the shot, passed the ball to Kelly Miller, who was fouled by Jene Morris. Miller would hit both free throws and tie the game.

16) However, the Dream often found themselves trying to grab a greased pig of a ball. The glittering diamond for the Dream was Armintie Price, who scored back-to-back baskets – she was in top form during this game – and found herself alone again in the back court when the Fever called a quick timeout to keep Price from scoring six straight points on them. Price single-handedly turned a 23-22 deficit into a 26-23 lead.

17) For a few brief moments of the second quarter, both Alison Bales and Erika de Souza were on the court. Big athletic women who can move (well, Bales can move some of the time). The thought of both Bales and de Souza had to be giving Indiana fits.

One of the reasons that Bales is so dangerous is that despite being a 6’7” big woman, Bales can actually hit a three pointer. An equivalent height in the NBA would be 7’1”. Indiana left Bales alone behind the arc, and Bales calmly set up and sank a 3-point shot that restored the lead to Atlanta again, 33-31.

Of course, Tully Belivaqua answered with a three of her own and Atlanta was down again.

17b) During a commercial break or timeout or whatever, the Dream had a celebrity dads three-point contest. One participant was Roi McCoughtry, Angel McCoughtry’s father. The belief was that Angel inherited her athletic prowess from her father, but if I recall correctly Roi McCoughtry was a forward at Coppin State and looked positively awkward trying to sink a 3-pointer. He managed to sink one, but he definitely had both feet on the boundary line, turning it into a long two.

I suspect daughter could beat dad in a 3-point shooting contest.

18) The end of the second quarter marked both sides swapping pairs of free throw attempts, with players usually hitting just one of two and not breaking the logjam. With the Dream up 37-35, Indiana’s last shot of the first half came on a 3-pointer by Katie Douglas – a shot that required a lot of passing by Indiana just to set up as McCoughtry was on the prowl. Douglas’s score puts the Fever up 38-37 at halftime.

19) McCoughtry had been missing for a big stretch of the second quarter. Only at halftime did I learn where McCoughtry had been. Apparently, she had taken an elbow to the face. She lacerated her lip, and the resulting injury required three stitches. (Marynell Meadors would later say five stitches but everyone else says three.)

Of course, athletes suffer injuries like this all the time, but if I had taken an elbow to the lip that required three stitches, I’d be squalling like a 3-year old girl, and you better believe I wouldn’t be back on the court. All together now: WNBA players are tougher than you are, Pet.

20) Halftime stats had both teams shooting evenly: Indiana 46 percent, Atlanta 44 percent. The Dream had 11 turnovers but also 18 overall rebounds to Indiana’s 14. There wasn’t much room in the box score anywhere for one team to gain an advantage.

Ebony Hoffman led the Fever with 11 points and Tamika Catchings had 10. Erika de Souza and Armintie Price had eight points each, and Kelly Miller had four first-half assists.

20b) One thing I noticed a couple of times – Douglas wanted to sneak up behind Lehning a couple of times and strip the ball from her. She almost succeeded. Lehning better learn to watch her back.

21) Halftime entertainment was from some performers named…Craig? I don’t really know how that’s spelled. I don't know what Craig? is all about. It seemed like a whole lot of dancing, but nothing really spectacular. Then again, I wasn't paying attention, trying to get updates on McCoughtry’s injury and answering questions from people who wanted to know the truth about Holdsclaw’s holdout.

22) In the third quarter, for the first time since the first quarter one of the teams managed to pull out in front by four points or more. Unfortunately, that team was Indiana. Ebony Hoffman hit a mid-range jumper, Tammy Sutton-Brown scored from point blank range, Catchings hit a jumper and before you know it, Indiana was up by five, 44-39.

Erika de Souza still looks beat. Didn’t someone at the Painel do Basquete Femenino Blog say that de Souza looked overweight? I don’t think that’s it, but she looked tired. She was fresh enough to score off a backdoor pass from Iziane, but when Izi missed her fourth three-point attempt of the night, Meadors decided she didn’t like what she was seeing and called a time out.

23) One problem was that Angel McCoughtry couldn’t get her shots going.

24) Indiana was charged with a 24-second violation this quarter. Remember that.

25) Both Angel McCoughtry and Sancho Lyttle went to the line for two shots, each hitting just one free throw. If Lyttle had hit both the Dream would have tied the game, but the miss of the second shot left the Dream behind 44-43.

Ebony Hoffman followed up with a long two-pointer just inside the arc. Tamika Catchings would hit a mid-range jumper to put the lead at five.

Shalee Lehning got the ball inside, but instead of taking the shot – which she should have done – she dished the ball back out to Iziane Castro Marques, who never met a shot attempt she didn’t like. Her 3-point attempt was an airball.

Ebony Hoffman would be fouled by Erika de Souza on the next possession. Hoffman sank both of her free throws, and the Fever led 50-43, the biggest lead of the night.

26) With Izi helpless from long range and with McCoughtry adding another 3-point airball, it was up to Alison Bales to hit the Dream’s second three-pointer of the night to bring the Dream back to 50-46.

27) It was about this time that Price really went to work. I was surprised at how aggressive and athletic Price was. When Price was one-on-one, she was…unstoppable. This was the Armintie Price that everyone thought would come out of the 2007 draft. She basically willed it in, picked up a foul from Allie Quigley, and got the free throw to close the score to 50-49.

28) With less than three minutes left, McCoughtry was called for a foul and spent some time jawing with the referee. I was later told that you don’t really feel the pain of stitches in your lip until the next day.

29) The Dream then gave up the next five points. Part of the problem was that the Dream were over the limit in fouls. Indiana got to the foul line for two visits and hit three of four free throws.

The only highlight of the last couple of minutes was Price scoring on a breakaway, all along on Indiana’s side of the court. Price almost closed the gap to one point on a long buzzer-beater that was marked as a 24-second violation. Briann January ended the quarter by making the final shot, and Indiana was up 58-55 going into the last quarter.

The Dream’s shooting had slipped to about 40 percent by this time while Indiana still held strong at 45 percent. The rest of the box score was the same old log jam.

Ebony Hoffman had 17 points for the Fever, with Catch right behind at 16. The Dream’s scoring leader was…Armintie Price with 13. Kelly Miller has six assists at this point in the game.

30) And then, suddenly out of the sky, hundreds of dogs appeared…. It’s Dogmaggedon!

…no, you’re not reading science fiction. It was the Aaron’s Inc Dog Drop! Several miniature Lucky-the-Dogs – the mascot of Aaron’s Inc. – parachute dropped individually from the roof of Philips Arena down into the stands.

The crowd absolutely ate it up. I loved it. It was just a great reward, and it got the crowd in a fantastic mood for the fourth quarter.

31) A side note: my wife and I have Comcast, which uses a DVR system. The box that allows us to change channels also has a hard drive that allows us to record shows for later viewing.

However, there can be…delays between our box at home and the home Comcast server located down in the depths of Mordor. Every hit pause on your DVR and then be unable to play anything for five minutes? That was the Indiana Fever during the entire fourth quarter.

32) To describe the fourth quarter would be like trying to describe the moon landing with the introductory vocabulary list of Let’s Learn English Significantly! used in Japanese grade schools. The only vocabulary that comes to mind is that from Doctor Who, where temporal mechanics are described as “wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff”.

Suffice it to say, the Fever just…stopped. Paralyzed. Immobile. Oh, Atlanta wasn’t doing anything either for long stretches of the fourth quarter. You’d look up at the scoreboard and see a 58-56 Fever lead and then you’d come back two minutes later and it would be 58-56 and there would be a timeout or someone would ask you for the popcorn, and you’d look at the score later and it would be the same one – 58-56. I almost thought I was in the movie Groundhog Day and expected to hear “I Got You Babe” playing over the speakers at Philips.

Even I don’t know what happened! And I was there!

32) During the approximate five minutes of time-lock, the Dream were just all over Indiana defensively. They acted like that little sister with you in the back seat who keeps going, “I’m not touching you!” while violating every other boundary of social distance. Indiana looked completely flat, like the older brother remaining perfectly still, trying not to be provoked into something stupid that would earn a smack on the back of the head.

33) An Armintie Price drive was negated on a foul by Briann January that, in my opinion, would have resulted in a basket.

Price had at least three shots taken away from her. One on a buzzer-beater that didn’t beat the buzzer according to the refs, that Briann January foul and a later shot that rolled around in the rim before being coughed out by the basketball goddesses.

34) During Slow Time, Indiana had not one, not two, but three 24-second violations. Over a minute of that Slow Time was caused by Indiana just not doing anything. If the plan was for Indiana to hang on the ball for long enough for the Dream to make a mistake, that plan wasn’t working.

35) While the Philips Phaithful hoped for someone (preferably the Dream) to score, we got our first Karaoke participant – Armintie Price, jamming to “Proud River”. For those who don’t know, Price is really cool up close and personal.

In the house, undoubtedly listening to karaoke – Steve Smith of the Hawks. We were glad he was there, but I’m sure everyone at Philips was wishing he would have been on the court in an Eastern Conference Finals game. Maybe next year.

36) About the crowd – it wasn’t a big crowd, but it stayed until the end. The crowd was in a better mood that I’ve seen in a long time. Everyone was happy. No one was sitting on their hands. The joint was jumping. I think the crowd’s energy was contagious – a positive for the Dream and a negative for the Fever.

37) At 5:15, the logjam was broken. Erika de Souza took a shot and missed it, but got the tip-in on her own offensive rebound. The game was tied at 58-58.

38) Armintie Price was still performing magic tricks. I’m sure there are better 1-on-1 players in WNBA history – but for this game, at least, Armintie Price is the best 1-on-1 player I’ve ever seen in a game.

Chamique Holdsclaw beats you with her timing. Price beats you with her lateral movement, able to go either direction in a flash and able to twist her limbs in such a way that there’s a free path from her release to the basket. Amazing.

Price picked up the foul on the drive. She hits one of two free throws and the Dream lead 59-58. It is the first Atlanta lead since late in the second quarter.

39) The Fever answers back on a Catchings jumper. Brittany Raven takes the second shot of the night from her that I thought was badly timed – the kind of shot that has no prayer of going in.

Raven might not have figured out how to shoot in the WNBA, but you can’t doubt her work ethic. In my last game writeup I complained about how Lehning would stand around in the back court. Raven, needing to make it to the other side of the court to assist defensively, simply took the long way around, following the path of the three point arc.

40) We have less than three minutes to go. Indiana, the defending Eastern Conference Champions, have been held to two fourth-quarter points.

The Dream does its “Cam Dance” feature to the tune of the Sugar Hill Gang’s “Apache”, a crowd pleaser. An eighty-plus (?) year old woman in a white shirt hiked up to her rib cage does a handkerchief dance that wins the Cam Dance competition in a rout.

41) The Dream manage to force a turnover. McCoughtry hits a long two-pointer to give Atlanta back the lead, 61-60. With less than two minutes remaining, the Fever bring the ball back across the court…slowly….

…too slowly. EIGHT-SECOND VIOLATION. Dream ball. The crowd goes wild.

42) Brittainey Rave attempts another 3-pointer – and once again, misses, but gets her own rebound. Alison Bales manages to sink the jumper for Atlanta and the score is 63-60.

One minute left.

44) Indiana tried in vain to tie the score. They worked the clock as much as possible. Ebony Hoffman tried a 3-pointer and missed, and Atlanta got the ball with
37 seconds left. This time, it was Atlanta's turn to work down the clock.

Unfortunately, Tamika Catchings showed why she's a great defender. She stole the ball from McCoughtry and attempted a 3-pointer...and missed. Team rebound to the Dream.

45) The Dream crowd is kicked into frenzy as “Apache” plays once again, with video clips of the Rockin’ Granny of Atlanta.

46) Indiana has to foul. With 8.8 seconds left, Kelly Miller comes to the line for two free throws. She manages to sink both shots giving the Dream a 65-60 lead with a few seconds left.

Katie Douglas sinks the lay-up at the other end three seconds later. 65-62 Atlanta. With just 4.2 seconds left, Indiana has to foul again on the inbounds and hope that Atlanta misses both free throws.

47) The Fever foul McCoughtry. If McCoughtry sinks one free throw, the game is pretty much over….

…McCoughtry…misses the first one. But she hits the second. 66-62 Dream.

In the brief amount of time left, Indiana can’t do anything. The final buzzer sounds, McCoughtry embraces Price and this game is in the record books.


(* * *)

Wow. What a game! I really feel pity for anyone that missed it. I know, maybe a game on Sunday night would be impossible for a lot of out-of-towners. But Tina Charles and Connecticut come to Atlanta on Friday night, so you don’t have any excuse to miss that one.

1/2009 - Dream 75, Silver Stars 70: Effective Izi

Okay. We now remove all the fun from the win by taking a surgeon's scapel to it. Hopefully you didn't forget that game on Saturday. You know, when we went to the Silver Stars home court and beat them?

Dean Oliver's Four Factors gets heavy play:

Field goal shooting. We don't use the normal field goal percentages around here. Us statheads use "effective field goal percentage", where every 3-point shot counts as 1 1/2 ordinary shorts. For those mathetmatically inclined:

Effective field goal percentage = (FG + (1/2)*3P)/FGA

The final numbers:

Dream: 45.5 percent
Silver Stars: 44.3 percent

Shooting really wasn't the key to the Dream winning. The edge is a slight one. Maybe in some other stat.

Turnovers: San Antonio 20, Dream 22. Sort of a wash, really. Neither team held on to the ball well.

Offensive rebounding: The Dream had 13 rebounds and the Silver Stars had seven. But what was the Dream's offensive rebounding percentage?

The formula would be OR/(OR + Opp DR), where OR = "offensive rebounds" and DR = "opponent's defensive rebounds".

Dream Offensive Rebound Percentage = 13/(13 + 23) = 36.1 percent
Silver Stars Offensive Rebound Percentage = 10/(10 + 28) =26.3 percent

The real key to the Dream's win was that we outrebounded San Antonio. San Antonio really struggled on the offensive boards. Put it this way: the entire San Antonio team only had three more offensive rebounds than Erika de Souza.

Free throw visits: Dream 25, San Antonio 16. Both teams shot horribly: the Dream hit 52 percent of their free throws...but the Silver Stars hit just 50 percent. Incidentally, the Dream's +5 margin in free throws was exactly the margin of victory.

(* * *)

We give some props to our noble opponent by looking at the San Antonio Silver Stars:

Becky Hammon: 20 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists. Hammon certainly wasn't tired, but as Erika de Souza can tell you, Hammon certainly didn't wear herself out in Spain.
Sophia Young: 15 points, 2 rebounds. And she was tired. She might have had 25 points if she had some oomph.
Michelle Snow: 11 points, 3 rebounds, 3 steals, 5-for-7 shooting. The ex-Dream player made a good impression in San Antonio.
Megan Frazee: 5 points, 3 rebounds. Her +9 raw plus/minus was the best on the San Antonio team. Why didn't they play her more?

And now, we'll take a look at the Atlanta Dream performance, from toppermost to bottommost:

Iziane Castro Marques: 23 points, 3 assists, 4 steals. 9-for-18 shooting. I've written before about the "Izi Effect" where Iziane's best performances come when the Dream is losing. Not this time. Izi carried the Dream. Maybe Iziane's one of those players that looks perpetually forward to new starts. But you have to give her credit despite her +2 raw plus/minus - Iziane was by far the Dreamer of the Game.

Angel McCoughtry: 20 points, 4 rebounds, 4 steals. Nice numbers, but with some caveats. First, it took 25 shots to make those 20 points - 20 field goal attempts and five free throw attemps. Also: three personal fouls and six turnovers. Maybe McCoughtry was trying a little too hard. Even with those asterisks, it was a pretty good game that lots of WNBA players would have loved to have.

Sancho Lyttle: 16 points, 7 points. She had five personal fouls, however, which kept her on the bench for long stretches of the first half after she picked up two quick personal fouls in the opening minutes. Her 6-for-9 shooting was impressive; imagine what she could have done without the foul trouble.

Erika de Souza: 11 points, 15 rebounds. A double-double looks impressive on any stat line. Her shooting however was just 5-for-14, which is quite low for The Beast from Brazil - she can usually bank them in from point-blank range. Her +10 raw plus/minus was the highest of the team - the Dream just did better on the court when Erika de Souza was on it.

All of this despite the fact that de Souza was obviously tired. A double-double when exhausted. She is clearly The Beast in the best sense of the word.

Shalee Lehning: One of Lehning's goals for 2010 was to be a better shooter. Her goal wasn't in range for this game: she took three shots and missed them and took three free throws and missed them. We take away credits for stuff like that. (That and four personal fouls.) But she had six assists - the most of any player on either team - and she had five rebounds, including the offensive rebound than ended the game.

Armintie Price: Here is where we sink into mediocrity. It's to be expected: of the Dream's 75 points, the five players above scored 70. Price had some good shooting - she was 2-for-3 with 4 points - but she wasn't a firebrand on the court. At least...not this game....

Alison Bales: Bales was actually decent in the sense that she wasn't embarrassing or inept - what you'd expect of a marginal player after a one-year layoff. Bales had one point but had five rebounds and a +9 raw plus/minus. Bales might come along this season if Leuchanka doesn't take her job on Wednesday.

Coco Miller: She's the Miller twin who played with the Dream last year. Frisco del Rosario said that he expected a "double billion" sometime this year from the Miller twins. (A "billion" is a line of nothing but zeroes in the box score.) Coco Miller has one steal and avoided ignominity.

Brittainey Raven: Didn't play. Coach's decision.

Chamique Holdsclaw: Didn't play. Holdsclaw's decision.

Kelly Miller: She played six minutes. No points, and three turnovers, averaging a turnover every 190 seconds. Those aren't pro numbers. So Kelly Miller gets the Still Snoozin' award. That's okay...it looks like we can set the alarm for this Friday, at the latest.

1/2010 - Dream 75, Silver Stars 70

The secret of Izi's success? Blow on your opponent's hair.

(By the way, that picture above came from a cool gallery from SportsPageMagazine.com which you can find here.)

Before I start, I have to say that Fox Sports South rules. They broadcast the Atlanta-San Antonio game from San Antonio, so I didn’t get to miss a moment of high-definition Atlanta Dream goodness. There’s a major difference between watching a game on WNBA Live Access and watching it on a broadcast network. When watching it on WNBA Live Access (at least last year) the graphics were…well, let’s just call them primitive. They usually reminded me of junior high AV graphics…and I went to junior high a lonnnnnnng time ago.

So let’s jump in as if the last seven months never happened…..

1) The announcers for the game were Andrew Monaco and Tai Dillard. I suspect that this was a San Antonio feed of Fox Sports sent directly to Atlanta, unless they have a lot of Aaron’s Inc. commercials in San Antonio.

Yes, it looks like the Dream’s partnership with Aaron’s Inc. is paying dividends, particularly if you like watching the Dream on TV. Aaron’s – in case you didn’t know – leases furniture. Way back when Hector was a pup, I was in Germany and I found out how convenient renting-to-own was – I wasn’t going to be in Germany for the rest of my life and I wanted creature comforts without the hassle of owning furniture. So if you’re going to Aaron’s, tell me how it’s working out for you.

2) The announcers listed that Becky Hammon was fifth in MVP voting. I don’t want to take anything away from Hammon, but fifth-place finishers in MVP voting are usually trailing farrrr behind the leader. So I probably wouldn’t have mentioned that. That’s like saying that Joe Shlabotnik is the American League Leader in Wednesday night triples.

3) The Silver Stars have an interesting coaching situation, with Associate Coach Olaf Lange as the acting coach. Lange looks….well, he looks as if he’d be carded if he tried to buy a beer.

4) Starting lineups:

Silver Stars: Hodges, Hammon, Young, Riley, Lawson-Wade.
Dream: De Souza, McCoughtry, Lehning, Castro Marques, Lyttle.

5) Once again, we’ve been treated with various pronunciations of Erika de Souza name. I thought it was “de-SOZA”, with the “soza” sounding a lot like “sofa”. But Monaco pronounces the name “de-SOWZA”, with the “sow” part sounding like “cow”.

You know what? To hell with it. I give up. I’m going to do what the Brazilians do and just call her “Erika”... all of their athletes seem to go by their first names like “Pele”.

6) And now, the 2010 Atlanta Dream regular season gets off to a start. The Silver Stars take a 4-0 lead, but it’s a momentary blip. The Dream look very strong in the first quarter, and even Erika looks good despite getting off the plane on Thursday.

Sancho Lyttle suffers two quick personal fouls, so she sits down. Alison Bales appears on a WNBA court in the regular season for the first time since 2008. Down 5-2, Iziane Castro Marques makes a jumper and Erika follows with a smooth fade away to put the Dream up 6-5. The score seesaws, with Erika getting her hands on a block.

I’m surprised that Bales is playing relatively well, despite her disappointing pre-season outings.

7) After about four minutes, the Silver Stars bring in Michelle Snow. I’m worried that she’ll try to seek revenge against her former team. But the person I should be worried about is Becky Hammon, one of the greatest players ever.

Falling to the floor, she heaves up the ball and makes an impossible basket. But if you’ve watched Hammon for any period of time, her impossible baskets are routine.

8) Down 13-12, Atlanta responds with an 11-1 run. San Antonio can’t get into the groove, turning the ball over six times. (After the game, Hammon’s excuse was that the team hadn’t jelled enough. In pre-season, McCoughtry swore not to make that an excuse because every team in the league has players coming in late.)

Seven of those points on that run belonged to Angel McCoughtry. McCoughtry is stepping up in a big way.

9) While San Antonio was getting knocked around the court, the camera focused on two matters of interest:

a) A couple of what appeared to be superannuated hippies watching. (Peace out, baby!) and
b) Sandy Brondello in all of her nine-months-going-to-give-birth-any-minute-now glory. So if Lange is the coach, what is Brondello doing on the bench? Why not let Lange do his own coaching? Will the players listen to Brondello or Lange?

10) During this time, the Dream have both Kelly Miller and Coco Miller on the court. They seem to play very well together. You know, some identical twins can’t bear to be separated, so maybe this is what both their careers needed.

(BTW: The play-by-play for the game simply has “Miller” listed as a player. Talk about identical twins being close.)

11) The first quarter ends 25-16 in favor of Atlanta. San Antonio is shooting 43.8 percent, but the Dream are shooting 57.1 percent – 12-for-21. Sometimes, all it takes to win a game is a hot hand…for four quarters.

12) At the game: Tony Parker. I have no idea who Tony Parker is, but I suspect he’s an NBA player. (Helpful Wikipedia helps me. He’s a player for the San Antonio Spurs, and from France. I suppose no one told him that all red-blooded he-men of America are supposed to hate the WNBA.)

13) With Atlanta hanging on to its lead in the second quarter, we see Jayne Appel in street clothes sitting on the bench. Frisco del Rosario commented on a post at Pleasant Dreams about why Appel’s draft stock fell enough for the Silver Stars to pick her – it was because of Appel’s history of injuries. Sure enough, there’s an injured Appel sitting on the bench.

14) Atlanta seems to be falling into a pattern of turnovers. Shalee Lehning isn’t helping. Lehning is matched up against Edwige Lawson-Wade, and Lawson-Wade gets the better of Lehning…twice. An eight-point Dream lead is whittled down to four points on at least one teal by Lawson-Wade against Lehning.

15) Atlanta has scored only two points in the first five minutes of the second quarter. Things are looking tight. At some point, the Dream pulls out Lehning because Edwige Lawson-Wade is taking Lehning to school.

Something I don’t like – Lehning standing around in the backcourt, waiting for a play to finish, NBA style. As someone new to basketball, this might simply be what point guards are asked to do – “stand over there and keep out of everyone’s way”. Compare this to, say, Kelly Miller, whose eyes dart back and forth like a cat after a mouse or to Angel McCoughtry who loves picking off passes from unwary opponents.

16) An illustration of San Antonio’s problems. With just over two minutes left in the half, the Dream attempt a shot and miss it. So they rebound it. And miss it. And rebound….

…Atlanta must have gotten five or six second chance opportunities and San Antonio was only saved by the Dream not able to sink the ball. That, and the fact that the Dream committed at least 13 turnovers in the half. De Souza picked up three of her rebounds for the night on that sequence.

17) The Dream begin to stretch the lead back to what it was. McCoughtry hits a pair of free throws. Bales hits a free throw. McCoughtry scores again – her 13th point of the game – and Iziane beats a double team to extend the lead to 40-29. Only Megan Frazee’s last shot of the half – a 3-pointer – kept the Dream from taking a double-digit lead into halftime.

18) The Dream are leading about 48 percent to 40 percent in this game. That’s enough to explain their 40-32 halftime lead. McCoughtry has 13 points, Iziane Castro Marques has 11 and Erika de Souza has 8 points and 10 rebounds.

19) Both teams’ combined free throw shooting at the half – 8 for 20. Atlanta 5-10, San Antonio 3-10.

20) The same starters come in for the second half, and it looks like Iziane Castro Marques must have thought Paulo Bassul was wearing a Silver Stars uniform. She gets a steal and drive, and follows it up with a steal and drive. The Dream are now leading 44-32.

Three minutes in, the Dream look solid. Mid-range spin shot by Lyttle. McCoughtry spin jumper and foul. McCoughtry hits the free throw, Iziane is fouled and hits one of her two free throws and suddenly the Dream have a 52-36 lead, the biggest lead of the game.

21) Sophia Young is looking just a little tired out there. Sancho Lyttle lays it up over Young who makes a weak effort to stop her. With the Dream up by double-digits, San Antonio’s announcers are talking about Michelle Snow. As they tell it, Snow was busy reporting to her new team about all the things that Atlanta would do and the best ways to stop the Dream. If that’s the case, then Snow needs her coaching pass revoked….

22)…or maybe not. As the third quarter passes its halfway point, the Silver Stars go on a 10-3 run. They manage to close the gap down to 10 points again, and a loose ball 3-pointer by Becky Hammon closes the gap to 57-50. After Erika de Souza hits a free throw, Hammon scores the final points of the quarter to bring the Silver Stars within two baskets again, 58-52.

San Antonio was clearly shooting better in the last part of the third quarter, or we were defending worse.

23) In the fourth quarter, Lyttle picked up her fourth personal foul. We got to see Iziane Castro Marques use some smarts. Ahead 62-54, Iziane thought to call a time out before falling out of bounds, retaining possession of the ball for Atlanta.

24) Michelle Snow has a couple of nice early fourth quarter baskets but a pair of free throws from Iziane gives the Dream a 68-56 lead. The two free throws are Iziane’s 20th and 21st points of the game.

The Dream manage to keep a double digit lead as they go into the final five minutes of the quarter. Lehning has four assists so far in the game and will pick up another two in the final quarter.

25) Down to the final two minutes. The Dream lead 73-63. All the Dream has to do is, in the words of the philosopher RuPaul, to earnestly strive to avoid error. (*) This combined effort has a wrench thrown into it by a R. Hammon who hits a 3 pointer and, after Lehning misses on the other end, picks up a couple of free throws on a foul by McCoughtry. The Dream’s lead is now cut to 73-68 with about a minute left.

26) Sophia Young has some smarts of her own. She throws the ball off Angel McCoughtry’s leg to retain a San Antonio possession, but the follow-up 3 point attempt by Megan Frazee is too strong. Sancho Lyttle rebounds, and the Dream have a 73-68 lead with 37.8 seconds left.

27) …and this is the part of the game were it gets thrilling.

With 37.2 on the clock, Lehning is fouled on the inbounds play. Clearly, San Antonio is willing to give fouls in order to get the ball back. Lehning steps up for two free throws. The first one misses. The second one hits…but Sancho Lyttle steps into the lane. Lane violation, free throw negated, and the ball is back in San Antonio’s hands again.

28) Another three-point play is drawn up by San Antonio’s Lange/Brondello crew. This time, Roneeka Hodges hurls the three but it rolls off the rim. Lyttle picks up the rebound again, and the Dream have the ball with 22.3 seconds left.

29) This time, Lyttle is fouled. She hits the second of her two shots and the score is 74-68 Atlanta. Hammon tries the three pointer but misses, but Snow gets the rebound and the quick put-back and it’s now 74-70 in favor of Atlanta.

Lyttle sees Iziane Castro Marques on her way to San Antonio’s undefended basket. Lyttle…overthrows. There’s no way that Iziane could catch that pass, and San Antonio gets the ball back again.

30) So who will make this attempt at a San Antonio three pointer? Big Shot Becky is given the task…and fails. Sancho Lyttle is there for the rebound yet again, and the Silver Stars have no choice but to foul her.

31) With 12.9 seconds on the clock, Lyttle hits the second of her two free throws. 75-70, Atlanta. Hammon makes a running jump shot, but misses. Shalee Lehning gets the rebounds, and Edwige Lawson-Wade is forced to foul Lehning. There are 1.6 seconds left on the clock, and if Lehning can sink two free throws this game is over.

32) Lehning misses the first free throw…and she misses the second! It’s time to hang a goat horn on Lehning…

32b) …but wait! Lehning gets the offensive rebound on the second missed free throw! (It’s her only offensive rebound of the game.) The game is over, and my heart can start beating again!

(* * *)

That’s it. The inevitable post-mortem follows. Which Atlanta Dream players are “dreams”…and which ones are “duds”, at least for this game? Read on!
___

(*) Or as Ru puts it, “Don’t f**k it up.”

Dream Wins 66-62 in Home Opener

Pierce W. Huff reports about it here for all of you who weren't there. Frankly, I had a blast.

Okay. Two games need to be written up. Since the next Dream game is on Friday night, that gives me a few days to put something together.

The Dream are 2-0. We held the Fever to four points in the fourth quarter. Everything is good.

Atlanta vs. San Antonio, Saturday May 15th

Who: The Atlanta Dream (1-0) take on the Indiana Fever (0-1) in Atlanta's home opener.

Here are the final rosters of both clubs:

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

Indiana: Tully Bevilaqua, Tamika Catchings, Jessica Davenport, Katie Douglas, Ebony Hoffman, Briann January, Jessica Moore, Jene Morris, Shay Murphy, Allie Quigley, Tammy Sutton-Brown

What: The first of four regular season games against the Indiana Dream, who are the defending Eastern Conference champions. Last year, the Dream played three games against the Fever, going 1-2. The last time the two teams met was an 84-79 loss by Atlanta at the Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on July 17, 2009.

Where: Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.

When: Tipoff is at at 7 pm Eastern time, today. (May 16, 2010.) The game is supposed to be televised on Sports South, but I don't know if you'll be able to see it in Atlanta. This game should be available on WNBA Live Access.

Why: Last year the Dream started their march to the playoffs with an 87-86 double-overtime thriller in Atlanta in the Dream's opening game, with Chamique Holdsclaw scoring 23 points, Erika de Souza scoring 16 points and 17 rebounds and Angel McCoughtry debuting for 15 points. And hey, if a win against Indiana worked once, it will work again, right?

The previous game against San Antonio implies that the Dream might use Angel McCoughtry and Iziane Castro Marques as a duo to stretch enemy defenses - defenders can either let McCoughtry and Izi roam the perimeter and give up 3-pointers, or they can hunt down the two in vain as either one feeds the ball to Sancho Lyttle or Erika de Souza. But the Dream can't depend on that plan for long - the starting five scored 70 of the Dream's 75 points in the win against San Antonio, and Erika de Souza didn't look too sharp despite Erika hammering the Silver Stars for 11 points and 15 rebounds.

For Indiana, the question is whether or not Indiana's Tamika Catchings can stay healthy. That, and if she can put behind her a 72-65 loss to Washington where she scored 12 points on 5-for-12 shooting and had four personal fouls. Those are good numbers, but they are not Tamika Catching numbers. Everyone is present on the roster - there are no holdouts and Indiana isn't waiting at the airport for anyone - so the Fever will be trying to avoid an 0-2 start to the season.

Chamique Holdsclaw still remains on the Dream's roster. Not suspended, not traded, and not showing up. Sooner or later, the Dream might have to consider suspension or release, but two wins without Holdsclaw will ease the pressure for an immediate resolution to the Holdsclaw drama. Brittainey Raven, who played Holdsclaw's forward role in training camp, is the only member of the Dream (besides Holdsclaw) to get no time in yesterday's game. With Leuchanka still on her way to Atlanta, expect to see more of Alison Bales.

Dream Wins in San Antonio; McCoughtry, Izi Score Big

Last night, the Atlanta Dream got off to a good start with a 75-70

Here is the Associated Press article. Angel McCoughtry scored 20 and Iziane Castro Marques scored 23.

I'll have more to write about this later. It's a busy day, and there's a game tonight at 7 pm at Philips Arena. If you love the Dream as much as I do - and I'm sure you do - be there tonight as we take on the Indiana Fever. Last's years playoff run got off to a good start with a win against the Fever, so let's do it again.

Live Blog at Swish Appeal

I will be live blogging about this game at Swish Appeal. Here is the link to the Live Blog. I'll be watching from Fox Sports South, and I hope that weather permits to give me access to the internet - my connection is fickle during wet weather.

Digest 05-2010

With all the breaking news, there's not much of a digest this week.

* de Souza signs with Perfumerias
* What Helmut Says About the Dream
* (The Last of the) Dream Games Overseas


EnCancha.com reports that Erika de Souza will be playing in Perfumerias (Salamanca) next year in the Liga Femenina - the Spanish League. The agreement appears to be for one year.

"Even the best teams in Turkey and with more money were put into contact with it, but Brazil already had the idea of playing in Salamanca and desires are met. This will form a formidable inside game with Sancho Lyttle, plus his partner in the Atlanta Dreams of the WNBA."

Forgive the translation, but with both de Souza and Sancho Lyttle playing for Perfumerias, expect Perfumerias to be a Euroleague contender next year. Another article from EnCancha.com stated that Fenerbahce was the team in Turkey that wanted de Souza, which would have put de Souza on the same team with Diana Taurasi if the deal had gone through.

(* * *)

SportsMemo.com's "Helmut" gives his betting preview of the Atlanta Dream.

Shalee Lehning played the quarterback role but was basically left unguarded because she couldn’t score (3.0 ppg) or shoot (20% 3-point). Unfortunately, the Dream didn’t do much to address the issue. They signed Kelly Miller who has a little more offensive punch to her game but while in Minnesota, Miller had her job snagged from her midseason by rookie Renee Montgomery.

To read the rest - or to get betting preview of eight other teams - visit the link. Yes, Helmut writes about a mysterious Armite Price...but if the readers get their money's worth they won't care about how first names are spelled.

(* * *)

The overseas season for the Dream is finally complete.

Fenerbahce 82, Galatasaray 78. Fenerbahce - which will be even stronger with Diana Taurasi next year - sweeps the Turkish League finals three games to none against Galatasaray despite Galatasaray playing the final game at home. Fenerbahce finished 22-0 in the regular season and swept the playoffs.

GAL: Douglas 22, Young 15, Catchings 13
FEN: Taylor 28, Vardarli 17, Hoffman 16 (Ajavon 10, Yilmaz 6, Sutton-Brown 2)
Yelena Leuchanka: 12 points, 5-for-8 shooting, 4 rebounds, 3 offensive rebounds, 2 steals, 26 minutes played

Leuchanka should be in Atlanta on Tuesday.

Atlanta vs. San Antonio, Saturday May 15th

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

Here are the final rosters of both clubs:

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

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

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

Where: The AT&T Center at San Antonio.

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

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

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

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

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

Why Condoleeza Rice Loves the WNBA

Former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice shares her love of the WNBA with the greater universe.

This might explain why my sport of choice was figure skating (despite my 5’8” frame and 5’10” legs). Dressed in pretty sequined costumes and make-up, I twirled and jumped my way to a decidedly mediocre competitive career. Well, it was actually worse than that—my best finish was third in one competition.

Oh, if only someone had put a basketball in my hand when I was an already lanky 5’5” 10-year-old.

I read this to my (liberal) wife and her first comment was, "I'd say a lot of people would agree with her."

The WNBA's Dream Media Day Gallery

The new Kate, Jaclyn and Farrah?

There are some professional pictures taken by the WNBA photographers of the Atlanta Dream for yesterday's Media Day. Where's the link, you might ask? Why the link's right here! Click along to see all 19 pictures!

* See Erika de Souza's new look!
* Solve the mystery of Chanel Mokango's number!
* See the amazing barefoot owner!

De Souza Also Ready for Opener

Pierce W. Huff of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports on Erika de Souza's arrival in training camp. She literally arrived in camp on Media Day:

Meadors said the only change she will make to help de Souza early in the season is to limit her practice time instead of her game time. Her goal is to conserve the wear and tear on de Souza's legs.

De Souza talked about Brazil a little bit....

“Rio is like having a country inside a city,” she said. “You can find everything there, nice people, wonderful nature, beach, friends, and this is my eternal home. People in Brazil poke fun on cariocas [citizens of Rio], telling them that we are ‘players,’ and this happens because in Sao Paulo and south Brazil, as it is colder, they have a different way of having fun, to see life.”

But to me, this was the most important part of the article. De Souza plays basketball for something beyond the love of the game - there are a lot of people depending on her....

De Souza uses some of the money earned from playing in the Euroleague and the WNBA to provide for her younger brothers, grandmother and father back in Rio.

“It is important that they have the opportunity to have a better chance in life,” she said. “In Brazil, the private schools are expensive, and it is important to invest in it in order to have the best scholarship as possible. Talking about my grandmother, I must confess I spoil her, everything she wants and I need I buy for her. She is my mom right now.”

What's the rule? IF YOU DON'T CLICK ON THE ARTICLE, THEY DON'T THINK YOU'RE INTERESTED. So show the lugnuts at the AJC something and click like a mad person. (End of rant.)

Dream Roster Finalized - Holdsclaw In, Mokango Out

The Dream were coming down to the wire - at 3 pm ET today, the Atlanta Dream would have to finalize its roster. Marynell Meadors made her list, checked it twice, and sent it in to the league office.

Here are the members of the Atlanta Dream as of this writing:

#0 - Brittainey Raven, guard. Raven most likely will be playing small forward, replacing Chamique Holdsclaw in camp. Raven was a third-round draft pick for the Dream in the 2010 WNBA Draft. She spent her senior year from the University of Texas. Raven will be the fifth youngest player on a roster in the WNBA this season, at 21.79 metric years.

#1 - Chamique Holdsclaw, forward. Holdsclaw did not appear in training camp, requesting a trade three days before camp started. It appears that Chamique Holdsclaw will remain on the Dream's roster until she's either suspended/released or until another team acquires her.

#2 - Kelly Miller, guard. The identical twin sister of Coco Miller. Kelly Miller played for the Minnesota Lynx last year and was acquired as a free agent. This will be Kelly Miller's first season with the Dream and the first time that both Kelly Miller and Coco Miller have played on the same WNBA team.

#5 - Shalee Lehning, guard. This is Lehning's second year with the Dream and her second year in the WNBA.

#8 - Iziane Castro Marques, forward-guard. This is Iziane's third year with the Dream.

#9 - Coco Miller, guard. The identical twin sister of Kelly Miler. This is Coco Miller's second season with the Dream.

#14 - Erika de Souza, center. This is Erika's third year with the Dream. She and Iziane are both native Brazilians. Furthermore, they are the only active Brazilian players in the WNBA.

#20 - Sancho Lyttle, forward. Lyttle was acquired through the Houston Comets dispersal draft and played with the Dream during the 2009 season, her first in Atlanta.

#22 - Armintie Price, guard-forward. Price was acquired in a mid-season trade with the Chicago Sky in 2009. This will be the first time that Price has been on the Dream's opening day roster.

#33 - Alison Bales, center. Bales came back to Dream training camp after an extended absence. She played the back half of the 2008 season and was there when the Dream won its very first game. She was let go in 2009 and hooked up with Phoenix, but was cut during training camp. She started taking med school classes at Wright State but was hoping to be picked up by some WNBA team, and without Leuchanka in camp the Dream needed another post. I suspect that Bales will depart when Yelena Leuchanka arrives next week.

At 6'7", Bales is the tallest woman currently on a WNBA roster.

#35 - Angel McCoughtry, forward. McCoughtry was the #1 pick in the WNBA Draft in 2009. She was the WNBA's Rookie of the Year that same year. This is McCoughtry's second year with the Dream.

Team captains have not been named.

What's more interesting is who isn't on the roster. Next week Yelena Leuchanka, a center from Belarus who attended West Virginia, will arrive in Atlanta. Someone up on that above list will probably be booted, so don't laminate your roster just yet.

The most surprising news...today...is that Chanel Mokango did not make the roster - she failed to make the team. Mokango was the team's first round draft pick and the #9 overall pick in the WNBA Draft. If this is the end of Chanel Mokango's career, then Mokango will become the highest-drafted player never to make a WNBA team. The record was formerly held by Molly Creamer, drafted #10 overall by the New York Liberty in 2003. If Mokango catches on with a team, the record will revert back to Creamer.

Despite the fact that the Dream have the highest ranking person in the 2010 Draft that didn't make the team, they have the lowest ranking pick in the 2010 Draft that did make the team. Brittainey Raven was the #33 pick, and when Holdsclaw failed to show up for camp, Raven was asked to play Holdsclaw's position. Raven apparently managed well enough to earn herself a spot. Raven must be the Hardest Working Player in Show Business, and I'm sure that she must be walking on air right now.

As for former Dream players, it looks like both Ivory Latta and Jennifer Lacy were cut by Tulsa and Washington respectively. With both players having at least three years in the WNBA and not catching on with a tame this season, it's likely that we won't see either of them on a WNBA team until 2011...if ever again.

Tomorrow, the Dream's ten players (Holdsclaw ain't coming) will travel to San Antonio to take on the Silver Stars in their first regular season game. But don't worry - on Sunday the Dream return to Atlanta for their home opener at Philips Arena. More on that later.