As Expected, the Phoenix Mercury brought their high-octane offense into the Phone Booth tonight. In their second meeting of the 2008 season, both the Mystics and the Mercury once again broke the 90-point barrier. Unfortunately for the Mystics, the outcome was the same, as again they came up short, losing 90-98.The home team was down by only one point at the half, and put up a respectable 22 points in the third quarter. But the defending WNBA champs scored 33 in those same ten minutes. Although the Mystics made a run at closing the gap in the final quarter, they were unable to make up the entire deficit.
On a night when Alana Beard couldn't seem to find any way to jump start her game (taking all of 3 shots in the first half), Mama Taj came up BIG for the Mystics, notching a career-high 31 points! Taj got significant help from Mo Currie, who finished with 19 points and 5 assists. But when the stars of the opposing team are also the two highest scorers in the league -- Diana "Bun of Death" Taurasi, and Cappie "Patch Doll" Pondexter -- and those two are bettering their averages (finishing with 31 and 28 points, respectively), the Mystics needed a third scoring punch and simply could not find one. The Mystics were particularly cold from behind the arc, hitting a paltry 25% (5 of 20), while Taurasi hit 4 of her 5 three-pointers . . . some of them bombs from NBA range!
Kendra Wecker made her Mystics debut tonight, playing a little over 4 minutes, scoring 2 points. Unfortunately, she did not bring her javelin. The BasketCases love Kia . . . which is the only reason we are sending this plea to our readers: if you happen to have Nakia Sanford's offense, would you please return it to the Lost and Found! Kia took no shots from the field and missed her only 2 free throws.
With tonight's loss, Washington drops to 5-8 (and has yet to beat a team that is not named the Dream, the Comets, or the Sky). The Mystics now embark on a challenging road trip during which they will face Los Angeles, Seattle, and Sacramento. It's unfortunate that they won't be able to pack any momentum as they head out for their test in the west.
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The Charm Factor: Two Bunnies
A decent Anthem by Aubrey Adams, the usual time out fare (nothing new or special), and an energetic half-time performance by a "competitive dance team" called the Adrenaline All-Stars -- who, if truth be told, were not up to the standard set by our own Mystics Mayhem. But we give them a Bunny for trying.
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Special BasketCases (exclusive) Photo: If you arrived at the Phone Booth as early as the BasketCases did, then you may have caught a glimpse of two very talented players engaged in a little pre-game chat: future UConn Husky star Elena Delle Donne, and one former Husky and current WNBA star, Diana Taurasi:.jpg)
Photo Credit: DC BasketCases
posted by BasketCases @ 11:09 PM
12 comments
12 Comments:
cool photo. did you ask them to pose for you, or were they posing for someone else and you caught the shot?
Did anyone else think the coaching was particularly bad? Why didn't we foul intentionally at the end of the game to stop the clock? I mean, we did, but not until only 20 or 30 seconds were left. And why didn't Laurie Koehn come in until then either? She's there for these end-of-the-game situations--why give her only 20 seconds when we're down by 8? Finally, it seemed like we missed some key free throws. That game was not out of reach until the last two minutes or so, if then--intentionally fouling to stop the clock combined with making our free throws could have made the difference. And there was more than once when we could have used a time-out but didn't get one--like when Mo Currie hurt her ankle and Tree didn't even seem to notice. These are coaching issues (yes, even the free throws), don't you think?
Also, did you make it to the pre-game chalk talk? I wanted to, but had to stay at work. What did our GM say about our struggles?
SBL
"did you ask them to pose for you, or were they posing for someone else and you caught the shot?"
We spotted EDD and DT engaged in a very friendly chat during pre-game warmups and went over and asked if they'd mind if we took their picture. They graciously obliged.
"did you make it to the pre-game chalk talk?"
No we didn't. Had we, though, we'd have missed the "photo op" of the night.
-- BC
Let's see.... Diana Taurasi or Linda Hargove? Difficult choice there, BC!
The chalk talk was more of Linda's explanation of what a genius she is.
Nice lady? Seems to be. Competent basketball executive? NO WAY.
If a Tree falls in a phone booth and no one is there to hear it does it make any noise....
I am sure that he is a very nice guy but I feel like we are headed toward the all too familiar panic coach replacement.
Can we turn in UConn for contact between a pro and a soon-to-be NCAA athlete? Seems like this Maryland fan could find something that violates NCAA rules in this photo!
We think the Mystics ought to have an all-fans-come-on-down-courtside-for-the-fourth-quarter movement. All those empty seats close to the floor could be filled for all the fourth quarter efforts we seem to fall short on!!
Maybe we could inject some energy into the team.And some good will for fans!
SRob
From the Washington Times:
Rollins said he will stir things up for the West Coast trip that begins Thursday at Los Angeles.
"We gotta do something with our lineup," he said. "I'm just not happy with our lineup. We're in this fog, this mud. Each and every game it's the same thing. So one thing you can do is try to get a different combination in there."
Does this mean Lang might get the chance to start and show what's she can do. If the guards actually look to the post early and pass the ball Lang has been wide open, especilly in transistion after defensive rebounds or TOs by the other team. This happened a few times last night.
According to the Washington Post, early in the second half, Tree pleaded with the team to take care of the ball and to execute their scheme. But the team lost focus. He didn't know why.
I say.. play the players who are focus and take out the ones who are not. This team is not hungry for wins. They just go through the motions of playing.
It's an insult to the fans.
The only constant in our multi-year quest for the bottom of the league standings is Linda Hargrove.
No one asked, but here's the combination I'd like to see on the floor for more than 5 minutes:
AB
CoCo
Currey
Langhorne
Taj
I wish I liked our #1s better, and Alana can be one of our "sleepwalkers" until she decides to come to the party. I know she's playing the 2 spot these days, but I'm just not in love with any of our point guards.
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