Tag Archives: Atlanta Dream

WNBA Today, 06/21/2011: First Ever WNBAlien Pseudo-Live Game Diary!

Nothing to write about from yesterday, five games today that’ll drive me crazy if I try to cover them all tomorrow, and the first camp day game of the year. You know what that means? It’s Pseudo-Live Game Diary time! I figure this’ll get one of the five out of the way, give us a closer look at the Chicago Sky and Atlanta Dream, and might even be mildly entertaining along the way. So I’ve got Wimbledon on mute on the TV, LiveAccess linked up to my gorgeous IPS monitor, and plenty of Diet Coke and snacks ready to go.

All we need now is for some actual basketball to replace this ‘Game has not started’ screen…

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Pregame

Phew, the feed’s actually started. I wasn’t looking forward to coming up with something else for the update today. Also a positive, this game’s on Fox SportSouth in the US, so we get some halfway decent production values for once. Our Atlanta broadcasters, Bob Rathbun and LaChina Robinson, focus on the Sylvia Fowles-Erika de Souza matchup in the introduction. That’s reasonable, considering the Dream perimeter went 0-a million in their last game and Sancho Lyttle is still somewhere in Poland. Expect LaChina to say something completely nonsensical at some point this afternoon, just to keep us entertained. Or possibly because she doesn’t know the rules of basketball. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 06/20/2011: Blowouts and Beginnings?

Firstly, apologies for the late hour of posting. Once in a blue moon I actually have other things to do besides watching and writing about the WNBA. Another quadruple-game day yesterday, and three of them ended up in blowouts of one description or another, so let’s start with the only one that didn’t. Indiana visited Phoenix, the last team left in the league without a win (and it’s kind of embarrassing to lag behind Tulsa, even if the Merc had played three games fewer than the Shock due to the quirky WNBA schedule). The Mercury were desperate for a win to get their season started, and after being held to a miserable 54 points on 29% shooting by the Storm in their previous game, the Fever will have been salivating at the prospect of facing some nice friendly Phoenix ‘defense’.

The Mercury got off to their now-customary early lead, pushing out to an eight-point edge behind some transition scores and Kara Braxton actually managing to make a few layups. That made a nice change, after the number of point-blank efforts she’d missed in the opening three games. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 06/18/2011: Four times the Fun

Four games last night, and the first to tip off was one of two that turned out to be somewhat competitive, with the shorthanded Dream travelling to Minnesota. With Sancho Lyttle off playing for Spain for the next couple of weeks, everyone and their dog was predicting yet another big game for Rebekkah Brunson, and we weren’t to be disappointed. Atlanta went big to start, replacing Lyttle with 6-7 behemoth Alison Bales, and it was reasonably successful for a while – but it didn’t last. A fun back-and-forth first half between two teams that are happy to push the tempo ended up 39 apiece, but in the third quarter the Lynx made their move. With Whalen pulling the strings and Brunson racking up the rebounds, Minnesota went from 43-41 down to a 54-43 lead in the blink of an eye. Brunson made a couple of typically athletic plays, Augustus hit a pretty jumper, Whalen dropped in a couple of buckets and Maya Moore had a steal that led straight into a breakaway layup. That’s the scary thing about this Lynx team – they can hurt you from essentially any spot on the floor. Even when they go to the bench, you’ve got the likes of Candice Wiggins and Monica Wright coming in, but it’s that Whalen/Augustus/Moore/Brunson/Taj starting lineup that’s doing most of the damage. Stop one or two pieces, and they’ll just come at you from another angle.

Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 06/15/2011: Lucky Fever (and Dream stuff Libs)

Okay, hands up anyone who thought Tulsa in Indiana was going to be the competitive WNBA game last night. Yeah, that’s what I thought. The Shock showed up to play the Fever with their prized rookie center Liz Cambage in street clothes, shielding her eyes from the bright arena lights. Guess that concussion she received at the hand of teammate Tiffany Jackson on Sunday was a little more serious that it may have initially appeared. Yet despite Cambage’s restriction to cheerleading duties, this one was tight all night long and actually provided some decent entertainment for the watching public on ESPN2. As for the people who searched out the Atlanta-New York game online and the dozen or so that appeared to be in the Prudential Center in New Jersey, well, they probably wished they’d watched the other game.

Cambage’s injury meant Tulsa’s fourth different starting lineup in their first five games, with Jackson, Jen Lacy and Kayla Pedersen making up the frontcourt. Your guess as to who the small forward, power forward and center were in that lineup is as good as mine – whether you saw the game or not. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 06/12/2011 (Part Two): She’s on Fire!

Part One of today’s coverage was posted earlier here, if you missed it

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Friday night, the San Antonio Silver Stars blew out that rec-league team from Oklahoma again, moving to a completely meaningless 2-0 record. Saturday night, they finally had to play a real basketball team, when the 0-2 Atlanta Dream came into the AT&T Center searching for their first win of the season. Atlanta finally had their full roster available, with Angel McCoughtry starting for the first time this year after recovering from her knee sprain. The first play of the game was McCoughtry’s layup attempt being smacked right back in her face by Ruth Riley, but Atlanta still took the initiative early, opening up a six-point lead by the end of the first and a 35-28 advantage by halftime. As the scoreline might suggest, this was by no means the prettiest game of basketball you’ve ever seen.

As expected by anyone with eyes and a modicum of sense, Atlanta’s size was giving San Antonio problems, especially on the glass. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 06/10/2011: Broken Streaks, Broken Dreams

Two interesting games in the WNBA last night, not that I could blame you for being a little distracted by Mavs-Heat Game 5. Of course, the first major breakdown in the WNBA’s LiveAccess system this season meant that no one outside of Key Arena could watch the first half of the late game, which made the choice to go with the NBA game even easier. But more on that one later. First up was the ESPN2 game in Atlanta, where the shorthanded Mystics came in as heavy underdogs against the home town Dream. This one was ugly early, with sloppy passing and terrible shooting at both ends sending the ball careening back in the opposite direction. The first quarter eventually finished with a reasonable-looking scoreline of 22-19 to Atlanta, but that was more through scores off breakdowns, turnovers and defensive mistakes than anything resembling decent offensive execution by either team. Continue reading →

WNBA Today, 06/06/2011: Mone makes me eat it, and the Libs are alive! Aliiive!

 Yes, we’re going with sub-headings now. Figured it might make things a little more interesting.

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Now that’s more like it. Our first game of the season with a grandstand finish; the first upset road win that confounds expectations; and the first game of the year where LaChina Robinson makes me talk to a computer monitor – now the WNBA season is really underway! Continue reading →

WNBAlien 2011 Previews: Atlanta Dream

Here we go, folks: 12 teams, 16ish hours because I got up a bit late. As tradition dictates, Eastern Conference first, then the West, both in alphabetical order to show no favourites. With a bit of luck I’ll be done before the Lynx and Sparks tip-off in LA tonight, then manage to stay awake through the game.

First up, conveniently enough, just happens to be the team I watched practice last weekend…

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PG: Lindsey Harding/Shalee Lehning

SG: Iziane Castro-Marques/Coco Miller

SF: Angel McCoughtry/Armintie Price

PF: Sancho Lyttle/Sandora Irvin/Brittainey Raven

C: Erika de Souza/Alison Bales (plus eventually Yelena Leuchanka)

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Head coach: Marynell Meadors

Significant additions: Harding.

Significant losses: Yelena Leuchanka and Lyttle for part of the season, Kelly Miller if you stretch ‘significant’.

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As the reigning Eastern Conference champions, we know the Atlanta Dream can be pretty damn good. Continue reading →