***The Mystics are scheduled to arrive at National Airport on Delta Flight 1538 at 10:08PM. We think they deserve a BIG welcome. Join us!!!***

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The Washington Mystics --- 2010 Eastern Conference Regular Season Champions!!!!!

UNBELIEVABLE!!! AMAZING!!! The Mystics beat Atlanta . . . and finished the regular season FIRST in the Eastern Conference.

The team made history today. The Mystics have never, ever, ever, even gotten close to 1st place in the regular season before. We're still having a hard time getting our minds around this. Wow. And without Alana Beard. Before the season, most of the prognosticators were picking Washington to finish dead last! But this team didn't let the absence of their star faze them. No, they just worked that much harder. And they BELIEVED. They didn't finish last . . . they finished 1st. Who would have thought this would be the year they'd come so far? We confess, not even die-hards like the BCs saw this one coming.

When the game began today, the Mystics came out laser-focused, playing like they were on a mission (which they were). They totally dominated the Dream for the first 30 minutes: leading by 9 at the end of the first quarter, by 17 at the end of the half, and by 23 points (74-51) at the end of the third period. Despite the Dream's bigger posts, the Mystics were able to penetrate almost at will. Indeed, as the Atlanta announcers observed, Lang nearly had a double-double in the first quarter.

The Mystics seemed to be cruising to victory. But Atlanta is a playoff team; they did not give up, and they pushed and pushed and pushed during the last period, closing the gap to single digits. As the final minutes clicked away, the Mystics made the game just a little bit too interesting for their fans. And then, with about 22 seconds left, Live Access died! OMG. What happened? Fortunately, the final score quickly appeared on the WNBA's web site. Mystics WIN, 90-81!!!!!! We won! We won! We won!

Monique Currie led all scorers, with 20 points. Lang, who played only 29 minutes thanks to Washington's big lead for most of the game, had yet another double-double (18 points and 11 boards). Coming off the bench, Matee Ajavon and Nakia Sanford rounded out the Mystics' double-digit scoring, with 11 and 10 points, respectively. But today was all about the TEAM.

The TEAM won today's critical game. The TEAM finished 1st in the Eastern Conference. The TEAM secured home court advantage throughout the Eastern Conference Playoffs.

Congratulations to the entire Mystics TEAM . . . and a special congratulations to (our WNBA COY) Coach Julie Plank and to everyone in the wonderful Mystics organization. We've waited 13 years to see our favorite team reach this benchmark . . . and boy does it feel good.

Now, on to the playoffs!!!

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The WNBA has now posted the playoff schedule, here. The Mystics will play their first game, against the Dream, at the Phone Booth this Wednesday at 7PM. If you haven't purchased your playoff tickets yet, what are you waiting for??