Life on the court has been rough in Atlanta for former Storm starters Betty Lennox and Iziane Castro Marques. Doubt it gets any better tonight when the expansion Dream (0-10) hosts San Antonio (6-4). But if you’re missing the duo, you can catch the game tonight on NBA-TV at 4 p.m. PST. Local papers focused on G Becky Hammon’s decision to play for Russia in the upcoming games and Lennox extended her support, stating, “I’ve been coached by Anne Donovan and it wouldn’t surprise me the things she’s saying abut Becky.” Incidentally, for those concerned about Donovan’s health after seeing clips of the former Storm coach on TV, I spoke with Connecticut coach Mike Thibault, who said she’s in good spirits and is in good health from what he knows. Thibault will serve as one of Donovan’s national team assistants and said he spends about one day a week dealing with USA Basketball during the WNBA season. As for his opinion on Hammon, he’s staying out of it. “I don’t really have an opinion about the whole thing,” Thibault said. “I don’t know, is Anne getting as much criticism as Becky? I don’t know. It has become an issue that nobody will totally understand on either side. That’s all I’ll say. There’s been things that haven’t been talked about and there’s no point in doing it. It’s a different generation and the money in Europe is so different. At this point, I just really don’t have an opinion on it.”
Conditions for Redmond, OR at 9:56 pm PDT
Current Conditions: Fair, 56 F Forecast: Tue - Clear. High: 74 Low: 37 Wed - Sunny. High: 75 Low: 37 Full Forecast at Yahoo! Weather (provided by The Weather Channel)
Photo: Insects in the woods - Video
Downloadable file is a mpg. High Quality. Screen demo is flash. Frame size is 720 by 480. Frame Rate is 24. TV Standard. Please Note You may email us for other file types. supportstockphotoandvideostore.com . Video taken by Rob Scribner.Keywords: woods insects forest landscape background Photo: Steal […]
Party at Ely’s
Storm F Shyra Ely’s mother and aunt are in town this week and they’re hooking the team up. After practice this afternoon at KeyArena, Ely made an announcement that all her teammates had to do was write down on a sheet of paper what they wanted for dinner and Momma Ely would whip it up tonight. Now that’s a pre-game meal. “They’ve done it since college,” said Ely, a Tennessee alum. “They usually unpack me, too, but it’s been a month. But they cook and clean and everything. We’ll have catfish and cornbread and chicken — everything.” Storm F Lauren Jackson said she requested macaroni and cheese and fried chicken. “I love fried chicken,” she said with a big grin. The native Australian almost put in a request for chitlins (pig intestines) and cracklin (fried pork fat), but didn’t because her mother “makes the best cracklin.” I had to put the breaks on, wondering where an Aussie finds those traditional southern American foods. “I’ve been around,” Jackson said coyly before adding that she’s had friends that have cooked the dishes for her and her mother did play at Louisiana State University, picking up the bayou spices in college. Plus, chitlins are just as salty and nasty as Vegemite, so…yeah, that comment got me a playful slap from Jackson. The dinner is well deserved after the two days of practice the Storm had this week. Jackson estimated that coach Brian Agler held two hours of meetings, discussing a need for the Storm to be more aggressive with the hustle plays and rebounding. The team tweaked a lot of offensive problems and veteran Yolanda Griffith should return from a left knee and ankle injury. “I still have some soreness in my ankle and that’s the concern right now,” said Griffith, who will wear a knee and ankle braces on both feet for Friday’s game. She tore her ACL in her left knee while playing in Germany in 1995 and injured her right knee in 1999 during the playoffs with Sacramento. “But it’s my judgement if I can tolerate the soreness in my ankle. The good thing is, since it happened, I haven’t had a lot of swelling. I’ve been getting treatment twice a day and we’ll see. I know it’s important for me to help this team and be the center they need me to be. But it’s also important that we be smart about the situation because we’re 13 games in and still have more games left. This means that everybody has to step up even more.” The Storm (7-6) faces an Indiana (6-4) squad that’s finally at full strength 10 games into the season. F Tamika Catchings has returned from a torn right Achilles and Tammy Sutton-Brown is back in the lineup. Coach Lin Dunn, seattle’s original coach, said Catchings is only 75 percent healthy and will be limited to 15 minutes of play. The Fever is 1-1 since Catchings’ return. “I’m just excited about being out here with my teammates,” she said. “The first game [Sunday] was a struggle, but [the win against New York Wednesday], was a lot better. Hopefully I’ll be able to keep rolling those minutes and stay out there. The end of the season is more important than the beginning.”
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Storm to host clinic
Storm F Shyra Ely will host a basketball clinic on June 28. Here are the details directly from the team: STORM AND ALLSTATE TO HOST YOUTH BASKETBALL CLINICS Storm player and coach to teach fundamentals and team play at Renton/Skyway Boys and Girls Club seattle, Thursday June 19, 2008 — The seattle Storm, the Boys and Girls Clubs and Allstate Insurance will host a youth basketball clinic for youth ages 7 — 15 on Saturday, June 28, 2008. Led by Storm forward Shyra Ely and assistant coach Shelly Patterson, participants will learn the same drills Storm players use during their practices including shooting, ball-handling, defense and team play. They will focus on fundamentals of the game and the importance of having fun while on the court. Following the clinic Ely and Patterson, the team will host a Q&A and autograph session where participants can learn more about how these positive role models achieved the success they enjoy today. WHEN: Saturday, June 28, 2008 3 p.m. — 4:30 p.m. Renton/Skyway Boys and Girls Club 12400 80th Avenue South seattle, WA 98178 COST: Free of charge Pre-registration is encouraged and participants should arrive at least 15 minutes early. For more information regarding pre-registration, contact the Renton/Skyway Boys and Girls Club at (206) 436-1920. About the seattle Storm: The seattle Storm is one of seven independently owned teams in the WNBA, the world’s preeminent women’s professional basketball league. Established in 2000, the Storm is committed to bringing outstanding professional basketball to a diverse and rapidly growing fan base. The team also plays an active role in promoting literacy, health and fitness, support for women and girls and youth basketball in local communities. About Allstate: The Allstate Corporation (NYSE: ALL) is the nation’s largest publicly held personal lines insurer. Widely known through the “You’re In Good Hands With Allstate” slogan, Allstate helps individuals in approximately 17 million households protect what they have today and better prepare for tomorrow through approximately 14,800 exclusive agencies and financial representatives in the U.S. and Canada. Customers can access Allstate products and services such as auto insurance and homeowners insurance through Allstate agencies, or in select states at allstate.com and 1-800 Allstate. Encompass and Deerbrook Insurance brand property and casualty products are sold exclusively through independent agents. The Allstate Financial Group provides life insurance, supplemental accident and health insurance, annuity, banking and retirement products designed for individual, institutional and worksite customers that are distributed through Allstate agencies, independent agencies, financial institutions and broker-dealers.
Sun game thread
SUN SHINES: It’s rare in seattle, but folks are headed for the doors as the Sun puts the final touches on a 74-67 win. It’s deafeningly quiet in KeyArena. A few people have decided to clap, but most are upset. Turner just pumped a fist at press row and is screaming as she heads back into the locker room. Guess she wanted this one, finishing with 13 points. NO CHANCE: Part of the Storm’s problem is not getting second-chance shot opportunities. seattle is getting outscored in that category 24-7 by the Sun. Jackson has tied the game, again, this time at 63 points apiece with 2:39 remaining. BASIC LAYUP?: The layin isn’t a friend of the Storm. The team has many this season and none has hurt more than the dozen missed in this game. Wright missed one in the fourth quarter that could have tied the game at 59. But Swoopes was just fouled on a fast break, so possibly she can tie the game with 5:21 remaining. TURNING IT UP: The Sun bench is way more productive offensively than the Storm’s. Turner has 10 points and two rebounds to help Connecticut build a 52-50 lead. It’s an exciting back-and-forth type of pace, though. seattle just needs more than average defense from its bench. They need to score and pull of a couple of stops, too. LJ-4-THREE: Jackson just gave the Storm the lead with a three-pointer off a dish from Bird. But Turner, who worked on her three-point shooting during the offseason, just took it back with her own. Turner looks great physically, but Shyra Ely has been playing well for the Storm. Ely is off tonight, though, missing two attempts in 11 minutes. She does have two assists and one rebound. Storm is down 42-41. BYE-BYE BIRDY: Bird collected her fourth foul, apparently hooking Whalen on a play. Rookie Kimberly Beck replaced her with 0.5 seconds remaining in the half. Whalen gave the Sun the lead 37-36. That foul is going to hurt. TIE GAME: Whalen found her shot and tied the game at 34 with a jumper. Bird is shooting well at 5 of 7 from the field, but the team is getting called for fouls and isn’t playing smart, aggressive defense. SUN RISING: The Sun is on a 10-4 run behind the play of their starters, which have finally joined the game. Anderson has led with five points during the spurt. Storm shooting has dropped to 47.8 percent while Wright is making mistakes, collecting her third foul with 5:51 remaining in the half. Storm leads 28-27, and Bird just committed an offensive foul to turn the ball over again. GIMME THAT: Jackson just took the ball from Sun G Barbara Turner, who was trying for a late-second shot. The Storm couldn’t convert, but is off to a good start and leads 24-15 at the end of the first quarter. The Storm is shooting 52.6 percent from the field and outscoring the Sun 16-6 inside. Not hard when Connecticut’s tallest player is 6 feet 2. The Sun is winning the rebounding battle, 12-9. QUICK CHANGE: Connecticut coach Mike Thibault changed out his entire starting five at the 5:32 mark for a 3-for-12 start while the Storm breezed to the hoop. The bench pulled the Sun back into the game, but Connecticut is still down 13-6 at the first timeout. FYI, the technical difficulties have been fixed and if you like, you can catch Connecticut’s feed of the game on NBA-TV. NKOTB: If you know that acronym you’re just as cheesy as the game crew at KeyArena (and me). Wright is still playing with fire and the game crew gave her a tag song, New Kids on the Block’s “You got it (the right stuff)” Wright has scored four of the Storm’s opening 11 points and collected a steal which she passed ahead to Cash for a layin. seattle leads 11-2. Stopped by the Sonics’ rally outside the downtown courthouse today and it was an emotional sight. About 1,200 people decked in green and gold were there with Gary Payton, Spencer Hawes, and Xavier McDaniel participating as celebrity speakers. Green and gold balloons and various homemade signs peppered the crowd and you could hear the chanting all the way up on the 18th floor, where the proceedings were taking place. As I watched the crowd, all I could think is I’m glad the Storm isn’t tied up in the mess anymore. And, hopefully, something is worked out so that a NBA team remains in seattle. It’s just wrong to have one and not the other. The Sonics rally, beautiful (and rare) 70-degree weather, plus a Mariners game may hurt the Storm’s attendance tonight. The crowd is modest so far, as players go through introductions. One good sight is the return of F Kelly Santos from her Brazilian national team. She helped her country grab the last berth for the Beijing Games. Sun G Barbara Turner received a warm and extended welcome from the KeyArena crowd due to some technical difficulties that delayed the Storm intro. Things are still trying to be worked out, cancelling the Storm intro, so here are your starting lineups. STORM F Swin Cash F Sheryl Swoopes C Lauren Jackson G Tanisha Wright G Sue Bird SUN F Tamika Whitmore F Asjha Jones C Amber Holt G Jolene Anderson G Lindsay Whalen The officials are Michael Price, Kevin Sparrock, James Williams
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Comets game thread
STORM LOSES: Tight quarters prevent me from getting the whole locker room experience, but talking to Swoopes, Bird, Jackson, and Agler outside was enough. The Storm is peeved about officiating and Agler said the league “will get some calls.” Talked to Houston coach Karleen Thompson about it and she gave the predictable, you’ve got to play through it response. She said her team focused on this game with its week of practice. The Comets also honed in on defense, collecting their second win of the season 68-60. CALLING DEE KANTNER: Seriously, you have to take a look at this tape and evaluate this crew. I know Gulbeyan is one of your better dudes, but really? He just tossed a jump ball above Mabika’s head, making it easier for her to get possession on a jumpball against the 6-foot-5 Jackson. The two even laughed about it afterward, telling you there was an issue there. Then, there was the buzzer incident and a few other whoppers in this critical game. Not good for the league. I understand why Agler couldn’t keep his cool and was called for a late tech. OFFICIALS MISS ANOTHER: One problem with this arena is that the buzzer is real light. That proved to be a problem when the shot-clock horn appeared to sound before Thompson made a three-pointer at the top of the key to pull the Comets ahead 62-58. Cash blocked Thompson’s first attempt, which Thompson recovered and flung at the hoop for the miraculous make. The crowd of 7,023 went nuts. NOT MONEY II: The layins are giving Cash trouble as of late. Wright scored two quick buckets to pull the Storm close and a fast break layin by Bird made the score 59-55, but the Storm could have used the points from Cash. seattle has not led and with 1:09 remaining the have the ball. Nope, they just turned it over. THE WINNER IS: I’m giving dirtiest player to Mwadi Mabika. She’s pulling out all of the moves tonight and isn’t even really trying to hide it. Earlier, she did some warm-ups right in front of me and I thought she might say something about my earlier post. (I doubt she reads, but I know others in the league do and could have passed along word) I just smiled because I thankfully don’t have to play against the woman. Well, she’s taking it all out on the Storm, clothes lining Cash and Bird on fast breaks. The Storm is down 55-48 with 5:58 remaining in the game. WRIGHT STUFF: If only the Storm could stop Thompson. Otherwise three-pointers from Jackson and aggressive layins by reserve Tanisha Wright had the Storm back in the game. I said had, because as I typed this entry, the Comets scored two buckets and outrebounded the Storm to pull back ahead 46-37. Snow has 16 boards, by the way, a season-high. ROBINSON LIMPING: A-Rob is walking a little gingerly on her right foot as the third quarter starts. She’s still on the court, but missed a rebound and committed a foul that seemed to be because she’s favoring the foot. No baskets have been scored as of yet, just a lot of sloppy play. OFFICIALS MISS ONE: F Sancho Lyttle clearly traveled with the basketball, grabbing a rebound and jumping twice without it being swatted or a dribble in between, and scored on a putback to make the score 29-25 at the break. The Storm is continuing the fourth-quarter trend from Friday, missing shots that could put them ahead. Hopefully that changes in the second half. NBA FRIENDS: Haven’t spotted Steve Francis, who’s a normal regular at Comets games, but J.R. Smith is seated courtside. Franklin High alum and current Rocket G Aaron Brooks is also courtside with his daughter on his lap. Storm defense has picked back up and they only trail 27-20 with 2:56 remaining before halftime. PASCALAU CHECKS IN: The Storm is using all of their players tonight in absence of Griffith. seattle is shooting horribly at 20.6 percent, while the Comets have found their stroke and lead 21-13. END OF FIRST QUARTER: There is some great defense going on from both teams, especially Johnson’s play on Bird. The Comets denied the Storm a final shot at the buzzer and lead 16-11. This matchup resulted in a one-point decision in favor of seattle at KeyArena earlier this month and it looks like the same is going to happen tonight. RADIO TROUBLES: Yeah, if radio sounds funny, that’s because the crew is delivering the call via cell phone. Like I said, things are different here. But you gotta give it to Dick Fain for his dedication. Adia Barnes is just chilling until the technical crew gets things going hopefully for the second half. FEELING GREEN: Swoopes made her first bucket as a Storm on her old Comets court at the 5:51 mark of the opening quarter, a rebound putback off her own miss. seattle is tied with Houston at six points apiece. DIXON OUT: Should have mentioned earlier that Houston G Tamecka Dixon is out on personal leave. FIRST DIS: While Swoopes received a rousing applause during the quick visitor introductions, one fan directly across from the bench held up a sign that read, “Sheryl Who?” And local media complained of her attitude last season, saying if they were a fan, they wouldn’t care about her return. Storm C Yolanda Griffith will not start tonight due to soreness in her left knee and ankle. She suffered the injury in the opening half of seattle’s loss to San Antonio on Friday. Storm coach Brian Agler said he would play Griffith is it were a significant game, such as the playoffs, but since it’s the second of a back-to-back set and early in the season, he’s going to be cautious. Storm C Ashley Robinson will start in Griffith’s place. Robinson was feeling pain in her right Achilles on Friday, but told her coach she is feeling better today. The Storm may also have to dip deep to use Romanian Florina Pascalau. Reliant Arena is real, hmm, different. You can see potential, but I’m told its normal use is a rodeo site and something else with horses. You can tell because the flies are everywhere. OK, that’s a slight exaggeration, but they’re really bothering the typing. The Storm’s locker room looks like your average high school gym locker room. Nothing special and nothing unexpected because teams rarely treat visitors well. But Houston’s locker room, while featuring nice chairs and wooden lockers, it’s very tubular, too. The arena seats are orange and green. The Comets decorated by hanging the championship banners and retired jerseys. The standard “Make Some Noise” and player name banners are also sprinkled about to bring in the Comets blue and red coloring. Storm F Sheryl Swoopes is taking shots while the arena fills with fans. Some are waving to her, possibly parts of the 25 friends and family she snagged tickets for. She’s not the only Houstonian making a homecoming, though. The New York Yankees are staying at the same hotel as the Storm and pitcher Andy Pettitte claims Houston as home, playing for the Astros from 2004-06. Well, here are tonight’s starters: STORM F Swin Cash F Lauren Jackson C Ashley Robinson G Sue Bird G Sheryl Swoopes COMETS F Hamche-tou Maiga-Ba F Tina Thompson C Michelle Snow G Shannon Johnson G Matee Ajavon Tonight’s officials are Roy Gulbeyan, Amy Bonner, and Shelley Nakasone.
