Eric Clapton - Change The World

WNBA - Top 10 Plays in First Half of 2006

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The Mystics Go Down Fighting

I am proud to be a Mystics Fan. Congratulations Mystics for making it to the Semi-Final round. This is a great accomplishment for a team many counted out before the season got started. Feel good about your performance and know that us season ticketholders look forward to seeing what this team will do next season.

Higlight Award - Alana Beard

Up until the last few minutes of the game, I was unsure who would get this award for todays game. Frankly, all the starters played amazing defense in keeping Connecticut off the board, but in the end it was Alana's ability to create plays in offense that got my attention. From the 3 point shot jumper with 14 sec on the clock, to the Layup completed with 7 sec left and the steal with 5 sec left. All in all a stellar 9 sec performance in the most pressure cooker time of the game. Unfortunately, the last jumper at 3 seconds left failed to connect, but shit happens. Good luck in Brazil and Korea. Mystics fans will have to wait for next season.

Mystics are Ready for the Playoff

In case you didn't know, after the 78-66 spanking that the Mystics, it is clear that the Mystics are ready for the playoffs. Well, I could go on and on, but lets just get to it.

The Hightlight Award goes to (drumroll)...

NAKIA SANFORD

Two words for you "double-double", nuff said.

Connecticut get ready, we are on the way!!!!!

The Night of the 3-Point Shot

Let's start with the obvious....the Mystics obliterated the San Antonio Stars 91 -79. We could talk about the game play by play, but for that you can review the box scores. I want to focus on 3 important aspects of tonight's game....

1. the Stars were awful;
2. the Mystics are playing in "Playoff" form;
3. the 3 point shot could not be stopped, period!!!!!

Okay, first the Stars were more than bad, they were pitiful. This represents a six game losing streak for a team that is assured not to have a playoff spot. And while the Mystic's 3 point shot was on fire, the Stars's 3 point shot was just a fizzle. And the worst part, they kept trying to make it work. If I didn't know better, I would have thought it was ploy. Their outside shots were so off, it was a suprise to me (and the Mystics for a minute) when they finally gave it up late in the 2nd quarter and early in the 4th to start driving into the paint. Although, to be fair, this may have been used to test bench players as one of their lead players, Vicki Johnson played a mere 13:21 minutes.


This leads us to the second aspect. The Mystics played well. I am optimistic about our chances in the 1st round of the Eastern Conference Championship, if we bring the defense of this game, which demonstrated agility and flexibity to defend against the game being played. The Mystics drove this point home with Stars, as they kept the Stars out of the paint and aggressively rebounded their poorly executed outside jumper. They are playing well as a team, on offense they had 25 assist on 34 completed field goals. On individual recognition, the headlines will credit AB (Alana Beard) for her 22 points and 5 assist, but I have to give it up to Chastiy Melvin, who made her presence felt under the basket scoring 18 points. However, the real story is her 6 of 7 free throws. For a player who ranks 17th in the league on free throws, shooting 66%, I was glad to see her shooting well from the line. (Melvin ranks 5th in WNBA in field goal percentage). All credit should be given for her free throw performance. All I can say, is "you go, girl" I want to see that in the playoffs against the Sun.

Now, let's get to the real success of the game...the Mystic's 3-point shot. Credit goes to the 4 (Nikki T, AB, D-Nasty and Coco) of the 5 starters who shot the 3 point shot at 50% or greater. This contributed greatly to all five starters scoring in double digits for first time this season.

Now, for the Award:
In an effort to highlight players who are not getting the credit they deserve. I will award one player each game, with the blacklaw96 blog "Highlight Award". Most often this will go to the player, who has overcome or improved on some weakness in their game.

In the Mystics v. Stars, the Highlight Award goes to (drum roll, please)
CHASITY MELVIN for her 6 of 7 FT in this game.

Honoralbe Mention to Nikki Teasley for her double - double (14 pts and 11 assts).

America Don't Fall for the Okie Doke

The US Senate today considered a measure which would raise the minimum raise. Only there is a catch, in order for 14.9 million Americans to get a raise, rich Americans would not have to pay taxes on their inheritence and America would plunge further into debt, then as if this wasn't bad enough Republicans went to work trying to bribe the waivering dems with "pork" projects for their districts. Ironic, since Republicans are constantly trying to convince Americans that "pork" projects are bad and corrupt. Luckily, activists groups like ACORN and union memebers like SEIU and HERE, went to work in these languishing democrats' districts.

And guess what.....most of them listened. Now, let's look at the Dems that we need to take out....

Lincoln (D-AR)
Nelson (D-FL) - His state passed mim wage by 71% of popular vote
Nelson (D-NE)
Byrd (D - WV)

But, all is not lost because where we have villians, we also have heros. So, while this may be the only time I ever do this....hats off to the following Republicans for standing up to their party and defending the interest of the working poor.

Chafee (R-RI)
Vonivich (R-OH)

I hope you weren't expecting a long list, just be glad we have a list.

Okay, this post is coming to an end and here is the lesson. America don't be fooled, Republicans will try to spin this issue to their advanatage, but the truth is this vote was not about giving Americans a Raise, it was a cheap political ploy to neturalize the strength of this issue to bring out voters in November. They know if voters stay home, they win.

Make their worst dream come true.....VOTE.

Mystics Extinguish Sparks

Oh My God......the Mystics beat the Sparks 84-74. Not only did we beat the team with the best WNBA record, we beat them by 10 ponts!!!!! Now, the rest of the WNBA will know what Mystics fans have known all season, we have a solid team with amazing chemistry. While many sports writers will focus on the 29 points AB put on the board or the consistency of Delisha's outside shot. I want to hightlight, the superb execution of Laurie Koehn's back to back 3-point shots. While she only played for a short time, a mere 1:52, this is exactly the performance that she delivered for Kansas State. As a midwesterner and life long Big 12(although it was Big 8 when I was young), I have seen Koehn in action and am happy, after a whole season of trying to get it right, Richie has devised a play to key her up to execute the shot that got her drafted in the WNBA. Good Job, Laurie. Thank you, Richie.

This win and the Fevers lost to Detroit, helps move us that much closer to the # 3 spot. We have a real shot at the Eastern Conference championship, as we have beat each of the top three teams once this season. However, the Mystics ability to pull out a win will depend on their ability to focus on basketball fundamentals. I attribute this to our great mix of seasoned vets, accomplished mid career players and solid rookies. The truth is that when the Mystics focus on fundamentals, they can beat most teams in the league. So my advice, leave the fancy stuff at the practice gym and bring the ABC's of basketball to the game.