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:

• 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.

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.