Where oh Where Have the Mercury Gone?

I have to start this blog out this way rather then talk about my predicted game of the night being that and more! Complete shocker in Hot-lanta last night as the Mercury were HANDILY defeated by the Dream, 106-76. This is the biggest win in the Dream's young franchise history and will go down as their biggest win of the year, regardless of if they beat the rest of the teams on their schedule. Why? Because the Mercury have two in the top 3 in scoring and have the highest field goal & free throw percentages as well as points per game averages, assists and blocks! Okay, so where do the Dream stand in comparison? As a team, not that far behind them....2nd to the Mercury in PPG. But a big category that the Dream lead the league in is rebounding and as many great coaches have stated, "Rebounding wins Championships".

Angel McCoughtry stepped it up and dropped 17 on the Mercury, Iziane Castro Marques had 16 and Ivory Latta also chipped in with 16. Latta has really stepped up her game over the last 3 contests which means to me that maybe she has gotten her stroke back and is playing smarter basketball. I admit, I wrote her off but I have no problem saying that I could be wrong on her. Way to help your team, Ivory! A great game for Atlanta and hopefully a learning experience for the Mercury, who don't return home until August 8 against the Fever.

Which brings me to....the game of the night. The Fever beat the Sun in OT, 94-85. Katie Douglas was sure not to have a repeat performance like the last time these two teams met. Douglas put in 32 points, shooting nearly 50% from the floor for the game. Tamika Catchings came up big, like she always does, and tied the game up for the Fever with with 11.6 left in regulation. She got fouled but missed the free throw, Lindsay Whalen missed a shot at the other end to send the game into OT. The Fever just took over in the OT session, outscoring the Sun 10-1. The game of the night was just great, too bad it was not on national television. The media needs to be more involved in broadcasting games, when will the stigma end that women's games are boring? I am sorry, I have digressed...that rant is for another day.

In other games, the Liberty were a total disappointment and fell to the Mystics, 78-75. But so close you say? No, the game was a blowout and Washington got a little lazy and stopped playing their game, I also think Alana Beard was on the bench too long but who am I? Anyway, the Liberty looked awful until about mid-way through the third quarter when they finally woke up and realized they were playing in a basketball game. It's about time for some changes in that organization.

Sacramento beat the Silver Stars, I predicted the Silver Stars to win but I had a weird gut feeling that the Monarchs were going to beat them (don't ask my why). It was another OT thriller with Becky Hamon hitting a one-handed shot (so awesome) with 17 ticks to play in regulation. In OT the Monarchs went on and outscored the Silver Stars 14-6 to take the victory. DeMya Walker played a great game (nice to see her doing well after her numerous knee injuries...and she's a Jersey girl) and scored 14 points for the Monarchs.

The only game that jumbled the standings up a bit was the Atlanta game. With the win the Dream are tied in 4th with Chicago Sky (they meet up on August 8th in Atlanta). Seattle is only 2 games back on Phoenix now so look for them to make a run, you can never rule out our Pacific Northwest team.

Only one game tonight: Minnesota Lynx @ Detroit Shock. Look for Minnesota to beat Detroit for the first time in 5 years in Detroit. Detroit has lost their last 4 at home which could be motivation but even without Seimone Augustus, look for the Lynx to win at Detroit.