Tuesday nights games proved to be bad news for the home teams. Usually home court is to your advantage because you know the surroundings and yes, the fans are there to support you. So where was the love last night for Los Angeles, Washington and San Antonio?! Say what? All three home teams lost? Two of them had the bottom feeders winning.
The Los Angeles Sparks were shocked by the New York Liberty, 65-61. This is the first time I can say that the Liberty looked like a solid team, all season long. Something that has plagued the Sparks all season is their turnovers, they had 18 of them last night. And the Liberty was actually able to take advantage of those turnovers. Plus, the Liberty stopped relying on the ineffective perimeter game and took the ball inside. Gee, what happened? The Liberty outscored the Sparks 32-20. The Sparks out rebounded the Liberty, but only 35-30 and with the added Sparks turnovers, well, that would probably balance out to a 4 point Liberty win. Shameka Christon had 11 points and Loree Moore had 10 for the Liberty but the other players were close to double digits so that certainly helped in the victory. Tina Thompson looked a little lost at times in the paint, very uncharacteristic but credit to the Liberty defense. Anytime she got the ball there was a hand attacking it. She finished with 9 points and 6 boards. Lisa Leslie had 12 points and 5 boards. Candace Parker had a double-double, 11 points and 11 boards. The inside defense for the Liberty was relentless, both Thompson and Leslie led the team in turnovers with 4 (Thompson) and 5 (Leslie). So with the loss the Sparks remain 1 game back from San Antonio, thanks to Sacramento beating them last night. And I would just like to comment on Los Angeles sports teams: Why don't the fans show up until nearly half-time? Is that a "California" thing?
Sacramento Monarchs won easily, 90-73, over the San Antonio Silver Stars. The difference? The Monarchs had 37 rebounds, to San Antonio's 27. That played well for the Monarchs as they outscored the Silver Stars in the paint 42-20. The Monarchs were led by Rebekkah Brunson who hit for 19 points and 9 boards. Your All-Star Nicole Powell had 17 points, Scholanda Robinson had 13 points and coming off the bench, the spark plug, Kara Lawson had 12 points. Ticha Penicheiro had 11 assists for the Monarchs as she just kept pounding the ball inside for easy buckets. The Silver Stars had 27 points in the first quarter then scored 46 over the next three. They only hit 20 points in a quarter once, that was the first quarter. Sophia Young and Vicki Johnson both kept the scoring going for the Silver Stars but they were about it for them, scoring 14 and 12. The Silver Stars keep faltering, they've lost 4 of their last 6 games. What needs to happen? It just seems like they are not clicking on all cylinders and playing as a team, together. With the Sparks right behind them, look out Silver Stars!
The final game had the Detroit Shock win over the Washington Mystics, 81-77. This game was tight from the start but an explosive 35 point fourth quarter by the Shock put the Mystics down. It seems that the Mystics play 33 minutes of a game, they forget about the last 7 minutes, you know, when the clock is ticking to the end of the game! The Mystics had a 12 point lead at one point but squandered it and allowed the Shock to make a nice comeback for the win. I'm sure this gives the Shock a lot of confidence for the rest of the season. Perhaps the difference was the resurgence of Deanna Nolan. She dropped in 23 points for the Shock. Taj McWilliams had 17 points and that rookie nobody is talking about, Shavonte Zellous from Pittsburgh, had 16 points. What else helped the Shock? The return of Cheryl Ford starting to play to her potential. 10 points and 10 boards, 6 boards on the defensive end. The Mystics were led by Alana Beard with 17 points and Crystal Langhorne had 15 points. Nobody seemed to take charge for the Mystics on the rebounding side of the game and that ended up hurting them in the end!
So in conclusion, home team advantage is not an advantage at all. Not when you are 13 games from the end of the WNBA season and the standings are to tight to call! Let's keep up the great games, let's have a few more upsets...it makes the game more interesting!
Tonight's Games
None at all! Day off for the ladies.
Showing posts with label Sparks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sparks. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Friday, August 7, 2009
I fell asleep...and I had a very good DREAM.
What is up with the Dream? They beat San Antonio last night, 92-84. It was a tight game throughout, 18 lead changes, but Atlanta really played well in the 4th quarter to capture the 8 point win. I would just like to say I am so happy for Chamique Holdsclaw. She is such a great player that had some bad luck and to see her rebound so nicely is just a happy story. She was the team leader with 21 points for the Dream and the team has one 4 in a row. FOUR in a row! I really like this team, it's a collection of great players that compliment each other so well. I had them out of the playoffs until next season but look out, they are coming on strong now! They only had 10 turnovers in the game and forced San Antonio into 18! They scored 50 in the paint, showing that Erika de Souza and Sancho Lyttle are really catching their groove. Michelle Snow and Angel McCoughtry each dropped in 11. Just a great game; multiple double digit scorers, protected the ball, got the rebounds. If they keep playing like this, look out Chicago, Atlanta is taking your seat!
The Sparks won a big game in the West, they beat Seattle by 4 in Overtime. Noelle Quinn had a career high 23 points in the game (8 in overtime) to help the Sparks knock off Seattle (who have lost 2 tough games in a row). Even though Katie Gearlds might not be the bigtime player for the Storm, losing her for the next four weeks is big. It's been confirmed that Gearlds tore her posterior cruciate ligament in her left knee Tuesday night against Phoenix. She does so much off of the ball that losing her will hurt the Storm. But, the Storm are resilient, they will rebound. With the LA win and San Antonio loss, the Sparks have pulled to within 1 game of 4th place in the West. The Sparks are on a roll, they had 4 players in double digits; Lisa Leslie came back and had 15 points, Candace Parker had 18 points. They out-rebounded the Storm by 11 (42-31) but they still can't hold onto the ball (14 turnovers, 4 by Parker). Where did the Storm go? I know it was a close game but it seemed like in the end it seemed like the usual that showed up for them: Sue Bird and Lauren Jackson. Someone else needs to step up in the final moments to help this team come together.
Tonight's Games
So we have a few good ones:
Detroit @ Washington (7:00 pm)
Connecticut @ Minnesota (8:00 pm)
New York @ Sacramento (10:00 pm)
Washington, Minnesota and New York will win (first win under Donovan).
Other News:
The Tuesday announcement that Sacramento Monarchs/Indiana Fever forward Yolanda Griffith has retired brought a sense of sadness to me. I always felt that Yo-Yo was under-rated as a player. I mean, she did play on 2 Olympic Gold Medal teams (2000, 2004) but I never felt she really got the respect she deserved. Perhaps it is because she didn't play for media friendly teams? Or perhaps she's just a quiet woman on and off the floor. You know, the player that scores 30 points and you go, "When did that happen? Where was I?" She's also the type of player that gets things done without the ball, she can pass and defend. I would always say that I would never drive to the hoop if Yo-Yo was standing there.
She had originally signed to play for the University of Iowa in 1989 but had to remove herself from her signed contract due to the birth of her daughter. She went to Junior College and eventually transferred to Florida Atlantic University (a Division II school) where she graduated in 1993. From there she played overseas in Germany and in 1997, she finished as the top scorer and rebounder in the EuroLeague, averaging 24.7 points and 16.0 rebounds per game. In 1997 she was the ABL's first pick in the players draft going to the Long Beach Stingrays. She was the 1997-1998 ABL Defensive Player of the Year and a member of the All-ABL first team. She finished second in MVP voting to Natalie Williams (her future 2000 Olympic team mate). She scored 1,133 points for the ABL, in 2 season!
Her 11 year WNBA stats tell the story:
The Sparks won a big game in the West, they beat Seattle by 4 in Overtime. Noelle Quinn had a career high 23 points in the game (8 in overtime) to help the Sparks knock off Seattle (who have lost 2 tough games in a row). Even though Katie Gearlds might not be the bigtime player for the Storm, losing her for the next four weeks is big. It's been confirmed that Gearlds tore her posterior cruciate ligament in her left knee Tuesday night against Phoenix. She does so much off of the ball that losing her will hurt the Storm. But, the Storm are resilient, they will rebound. With the LA win and San Antonio loss, the Sparks have pulled to within 1 game of 4th place in the West. The Sparks are on a roll, they had 4 players in double digits; Lisa Leslie came back and had 15 points, Candace Parker had 18 points. They out-rebounded the Storm by 11 (42-31) but they still can't hold onto the ball (14 turnovers, 4 by Parker). Where did the Storm go? I know it was a close game but it seemed like in the end it seemed like the usual that showed up for them: Sue Bird and Lauren Jackson. Someone else needs to step up in the final moments to help this team come together.
Tonight's Games
So we have a few good ones:
Detroit @ Washington (7:00 pm)
Connecticut @ Minnesota (8:00 pm)
New York @ Sacramento (10:00 pm)
Washington, Minnesota and New York will win (first win under Donovan).
Other News:
The Tuesday announcement that Sacramento Monarchs/Indiana Fever forward Yolanda Griffith has retired brought a sense of sadness to me. I always felt that Yo-Yo was under-rated as a player. I mean, she did play on 2 Olympic Gold Medal teams (2000, 2004) but I never felt she really got the respect she deserved. Perhaps it is because she didn't play for media friendly teams? Or perhaps she's just a quiet woman on and off the floor. You know, the player that scores 30 points and you go, "When did that happen? Where was I?" She's also the type of player that gets things done without the ball, she can pass and defend. I would always say that I would never drive to the hoop if Yo-Yo was standing there.
She had originally signed to play for the University of Iowa in 1989 but had to remove herself from her signed contract due to the birth of her daughter. She went to Junior College and eventually transferred to Florida Atlantic University (a Division II school) where she graduated in 1993. From there she played overseas in Germany and in 1997, she finished as the top scorer and rebounder in the EuroLeague, averaging 24.7 points and 16.0 rebounds per game. In 1997 she was the ABL's first pick in the players draft going to the Long Beach Stingrays. She was the 1997-1998 ABL Defensive Player of the Year and a member of the All-ABL first team. She finished second in MVP voting to Natalie Williams (her future 2000 Olympic team mate). She scored 1,133 points for the ABL, in 2 season!
Her 11 year WNBA stats tell the story:
- 2nd in rebounding in the WNBA with 2,444 (second to, you guessed it, Lisa Leslie)
- 4,238 points
- 323 blocks
- 2005 WNBA Champion
- 1999 second overall draft pick (from the ABL)
- WNBA MVP & Defensive Player of the Year Award winner in 1999 (her first year in the WNBA)
- seven-time WNBA all-star
- not counting this season, she started every game except 1 in her 11 year WNBA career
Right now she is the Assistant Coach for Indiana and her expertise will come in handy for the team. Best of luck to you in the future, Yo-Yo, your game will be missed.
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