Tamika Catchings, DeLisha Milton-Jones and Kara Lawson have earned the final three spots on the U.S. women’s national team, “a person familiar with the choices” told the Associated Press Wednesday. According to the report, the person spoke on condition of anonymity because an official announcement was planned for Thursday.
The report did not say who would be named alternates, but Whalen seems like a no-brainer to be named.
The official notice is expected to happen tomorrow during a Team USA conference call. We’ll have confirmation when we get it.
It’s almost over, and while the Becky Hammon saga continues, so does the hypocrisy.
Over the past few weeks, another basketballer has made it known he would be playing for another team rather than his home country. Chris Kaman of the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers received his German citizenship and will play for their team in the Olympic qualifying tournament, but I fail to see the uproar and righteous indignation at his decision. Why is that?
Is it because Kaman wouldn’t have had a chance in hell at making Team USA, whereas Hammon had a legitimate shot based on her ability (many will argue she had no shot based on coach Anne Donovan and Team USA’s actions)? Is it because it’s the Russians and more people still have the Cold War memories? Is it because Hammon is a legitimate face of the WNBA while Kaman (up until a few days ago) wasn’t even the first or second face of his franchise?
While I think there’s truth in all those statements, something did strike me as I read the LA Times article I linked above.
As for Kaman, when reached Thursday at his mother’s home in Michigan, he declined to comment.
Becky’s been totally different, as evidenced by this quote from the Rocky Mountain News.
“It’s hard to balance everything,” Hammon recently told the Rocky Mountain News. “I have to keep my well-being intact and I’m trying to focus on playing for the Stars. We’ve been trying to be a little bit selective on talking to media outlets just for my own sake.
“When I get over there, I’ll be glad to be just with my team and family. I’m not going to do much media when I get over there. I’m trying to get it over with while I’m still here. As it gets closer, I realize the media will get beefed up even more. We’ve done everything. Every magazine, newspaper outlet, ESPN. You name it, we’ve pretty much hit it.”
Now, is it because Becky’s been asked to comment or because she put herself out there? I think avoiding the media pressure would have only made it worse for Becky, but you have to wonder if this is wearing on her. I would assume it is, but she’s still performing well so far this season.
After a league-record 17 straight defeats to begin the franchise, the reserves were the stars of the show, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
For the second game in a row, Atlanta’s reserves pulled their team out of a deep hole.
After the starters fell behind 21-9 in the first quarter, Iziane Castro-Marques sparked her team to a comeback.
Castro-Marques drained a 3-pointer, stole the ball on the next possession and capped it with a layup in a span of 10 seconds.
“It could have killed us or could have helped us,” Gaines said. “In my mind, we didn’t want to dig too much of a hole.”
He did not share that thought with his players, and the Mercury finished the trip 4-1.
The lone blemish came in New York on June 22 when the Liberty buried the Mercury with a 105-72 defeat. It was the highest point total in franchise history for New York as every player scored - six finished in double figures - and put an exclamation point on the Mercury’s early season woes.
“That was one of those nights,” Gaines said. “It was the perfect storm. They shot the hell out of the ball. We were a little tired, played horrible and didn’t shoot well.”
Yet Gaines’ players since have strung together a four-game winning streak, their longest of the year.
There’s no doubt the early slump was due in part to fatigue and the lack of Penny Taylor, but with the recent revelation that Taylor will sit out the entire season, the Mercury won’t be able to fall back on that anymore. They’ve got to put up or shut up (not that there’s been any talk or anything), but I think they’ll crack down on the defensive side and be in the playoffs.
Bob Corwin of Scout.com revisited his Western Conference predictions this week, and with a tip of the hat to the Women’s Hoops Blog, I present a bit of those recaps to you.
Update:(Candace) Parker continues to live up to the hype, drawing larger than average crowds for away games. However, she has failed to reproduce her initial effort against the Mercury. This is in a large part due to the balance in scoring of the Sparks front line, however. Parker’s versatility, though, shows just how good she is. Through her first 14 games, per game CP3 was ninth in scoring, second in rebounds, ninth in assists and third in blocks. Overall, she ranks second in Efficiency Rating. Throw in 50% from behind the arc (but only about one per game taken). Best in the world? Maybe not yet, but easily top five. Who would you take to start your team with tomorrow?
If you don’t read it completely, you should, but Corwin makes some great points that can’t be ignored right at the finish.
So far still true …
Biggest surprise out West: Houston coming back into playoff contention after its miserable start, particularly with injuries to Thompson and Dixon.
Conference MVP through June: Diana Taurasi.
While you can argue about his conference MVP pick (cases can be made for Sophia Young and Candace Parker), you have to admit that Taurasi’s play this season has kept the Mercury in playoff contention after their horrible start.
From the shameless self-promotion files comes David Zingler and Internet Broadcasting’s latest sit-down with a WNBA star, all via KSAT.com. This time, it’s recent WNBA player of the week Janel McCarville of the New York Liberty, who talked about her past health issues and how she battled back in becoming 2007’s Most Improved Player.
Q: Last year you won the Most Improved Player award. What was the key to your turnaround?
A: Confidence, overall — just having people believe in me and also getting the playing time I needed. I got a lot of confidence overseas, which carried over into the WNBA season.
Q: You also had health issues with your back. How did that affect your game?
A: My first two years I played injured in Charlotte — a herniated disc that turned into a ruptured disc … it was to the point where I couldn’t walk. I didn’t quite have tingling sensations in my legs, but it limited my mobility and overall flexibility as well … I am obviously never 100 percent healthy with minor injuries here or there, but I am back to where I was in college.
Don’t forget to check out McCarville in the Liberty’s Outdoor Classic game later this month. There’s something else from that article, though, that makes me ponder some questions. I’ll address those in a near-future blog.
There’s been talk for a while, but with the recent success of the NHL’s outdoor game last season, the New York Liberty will be the first to take the plunge by holding a regular-season game outdoors on July 19 at Arthur Ashe Stadium, home of tennis’ U.S. Open.
Here’s the team’s promotional video at YouTube.
I’ve got an e-mail out to see if this game will be livestreamed. As of now, there doesn’t seem to be any national broadcast of the game listed on the team’s Web site.
This year’s Olympics (less than two months away now) are going to be much different for the United States, especially when you consider they’re the three-time defending gold medalists. Teams from Australia, Russia and Brazil are thought to be top contenders for Olympic Gold, as well as the Americans, but as Bob Kravitz of the Indianapolis Star via USA Today states, it’s definitely not going to be easy to repeat.
The American women lost a semifinal game to Russia in the 2006 World Championships, their first major international loss in 12 years, opening the door for Australia to win the title. And most recently, the national team — a watered-down version of the team, mind you — went only 4-2 during a pre-Olympic tournament in Beijing.
“We’d always felt like it was just us and the Russians, but when Australia won the (world) title, that was the breakthrough, and it sent a message that things had changed,” said Indiana Fever coach Lin Dunn, an assistant with the U.S. Olympic team in the 1992 Barcelona Games.
“This is something that’s evolved and it’s good for the women’s game, but I’m not so sure it’s good for the United States. Basically, we’re helping develop our biggest competitors.”
If the U.S. women lose a game (or more) in the Beijing Games, let’s just say you were warned.
The Olympic basketball competition gets going on August 9.
Yet despite being double- and triple-teamed by opponents, the 5-foot-6 guard’s play has remained effective.
“Becky is one of the best students of the game that I’ve been around,” Silver Stars coach Dan Hughes said. “If a team is going to show her a lot of attention in a certain way, she knows she can hurt that scheme by her distributing the ball well, by being patient.
“I think it’s just a maturation.”
The evolution has seen Hammon add passing, rebounding — even being a decoy — to her scoring tag. The diversity has been a key to why the Silver Stars (9-6) can stake a claim as one of the WNBA’s top teams.
Thomas goes on to note that the rest of the team has started to pick up the scoring slack as Becky’s been harrassed more and more.
They first knew it in Wiggins’ hometown of San Diego. Then we learned it in the Bay Area. When she led Stanford to the Final Four in Tampa, Fla., last April Wiggins was discovered by the national media. It was swiftly engaged by Wiggins’ infectious enthusiasm and her joy at finally making her sport’s biggest stage.
And now, two months into her professional career, Wiggins is converting a whole new audience into the Cult of Candice.
“Professional basketball is a big adjustment,” Wiggins, recently said by phone from the Minneapolis airport. “I’m getting used to it.”
Apparently. The rookie sensation is averaging 17.3 points per game, seventh in the league and tops among rookies (the other Candace, Parker, the No. 1 draft pick of the Los Angeles Sparks is averaging 17.1 points while also averaging four more minutes per game). Wiggins is ninth in the league in assists.
One of the statements I’ve seen on other blogs or on message boards has been, “Why is Candice Wiggins not starting?” Honestly, I can agree that she certainly has the stats and game knowledge to do so (she got her first start of the season in a loss to the San Antonio Silver Stars on Saturday), but as she puts it and I’ve always been a firm believer in… it’s not who starts the game, but who’s on the court at the end, and that’s where she’s been.
“In the pro game it’s not so much how you start as how you finish,” (Lynx head coach Don Zierden) said. “For a rookie in the league it’s a bit of an adjustment. I felt it was better to bring her off the bench two or three minutes into the game.” Wiggins, 21, has embraced her role. She tries to provide the same things she looked for from her Stanford bench.
“You need that spark, that energy,” she said. “That’s how I am. I try to bring a lot of energy to the team.”
She’s definitely going to give Candace Parker a run for her money in the Rookie of the Year voting, especially if Minnesota can turn their season around and contend for the top spot in the West.
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