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Friday, April 24, 2009

Lee breaks loose, shoulders load as Magic trudge along

ORLANDO -- As part of his season-long rookie hazing, Courtney Lee was locked in a bathroom stall and doused with baby powder on the night the Orlando Magic clinched their Playoff spot.

Good thing his teammates eventually unlocked the door, letting him out with nothing more than white hair.

Fernando Medina/NBAE via Getty Images

He is a baby no more. Lee has become the Magic's unlikely savior in this tougher-than-expected first-round Playoff series against the Philadelphia 76ers, filling a void left by the surprising struggles of high-profile, high-priced forwards Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu.

While his veteran teammates look like they are running in mud, Lee looks like he is wearing wings.

"Our other guys look like they have the weight of the world on them,'' said a relieved Magic coach Stan Van Gundy. "But Courtney is playing freer and looser. He's just playing. He was tremendous tonight.''

This series, tied at 1-1, moves to Philadelphia for Games 3 and 4 Friday and Sunday. The Magic won Game 2 on Wednesday night, 96-87, only because Lee led the charge with 24 points.

Lee, who averaged just 8.4 points this season, kept the Magic close in a Game 1 loss on Sunday when he scored 18 points in a team-high 41 minutes. He saved the Magic Wednesday from an insurmountable 0-2 deficit by playing the best game of his young career -- on the Playoff stage.

With Dwight Howard saddled with foul trouble -- he fouled out after just 30 minutes, 11 points and 10 rebounds -- and the Turkoglu/Lewis combination falling flat for the second consecutive game, Lee became the man. He made steals. He slashed to the basket. He caused havoc for the Sixers, who never expected this to happen.

"Most rookies would not want to be put in that kind of situation,'' Howard said. "But Courtney is different. If we're going to go deep in the Playoffs now, he has to do this every night. I just told him 'coach has given you the ball, now do something with it.'''

Lee, the 22nd pick of the draft from Western Kentucky, was never expected to become so important this soon in his career. Because the Magic were unsure of his talents, they signed veteran free agent Mickael Pietrus this summer to a $25 million contract to become their shooting guard.

Yet when Pietrus struggled with injuries and J.J. Redick still couldn't grab the spot, Lee stepped to the front by midseason. He was overmatched and burned throughout the year trying to guard people like Dwyane Wade, Ray Allen, Richard Hamilton and Joe Johnson, but it toughened him for this role.

"I never imagined anything like this. I just wanted the chance to work hard,'' Lee said. "But I'm grateful for the chance. When the opportunity came, I was ready.''

The Magic, No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference after winning 59 games, have been knocked off their game by the upstart Sixers. They relied all season on the dominating presence of Howard inside to open up their long-distance shooting. They averaged almost 10 3-pointers a game, second most in the NBA this season. Yet they made only five in the Game 1 loss and just six in the Game 2 victory. They look badly out of sync, winning Wednesday on grit, determination and the back of Lee.

A good shooting team has turned cold -- except for Lee. He made 8-of -17 shots in Game 1 and 10-of-17 in Game 2.

"We're just having trouble getting the ball in the basket,'' Van Gundy said. "We're struggling, but eventually, I think in this series, the ball will start going in for us.''

Lewis and Turkoglu, the Magic's second and third leading scorers, combined to hit just 7-of-24 shots Wednesday. Both missed the final two regular season games with nagging injuries, but both insisted they are healthy enough to play, although neither has looked good in the series.

The Magic have given away their home-court advantage, and now must win at least one in Philadelphia to win this series. They have been one of the best road teams in the league the last two years, winning 27 games each season.

Although the Magic beat the Sixers twice in Philadelphia during the regular season, they have given the Sixers confidence in Orlando in this series. In both games, the Magic led by 18 points late in the third quarter, then allowed the Sixers to fight back into the game.

On Sunday, the Magic just collapsed down the stretch. On Wednesday, Lee was there making shots and making plays, offsetting the game-high 30 points from Andre Miller.

"He [Lee] has the mindset that teams don't respect him,'' said Philadelphia forward Andre Iguodala. "But we've got to find a way to slow him now.''

Source From : NBA.com

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Nuggets, Lakers feature best benches in the Playoffs

Andrew D. Bernstein

Conventional wisdom states most teams will shorten their rotations going into the Playoffs. There are good reasons for this. During the regular season, when teams have back-to-backs and four games in five nights, having as many healthy guys as possible is paramount.

In the Playoffs, there is at least one day between every game, sometimes two and occasionally three. Players get more rest. Also, a coach is more apt to use only his best seven or eight players in the postseason. It's better for those players to get into a rhythm. Rare is the team that goes nine-deep in the postseason.

Still, having two or three bench players that can spell the stars for a solid 20 minutes a game is a must. For every Larry Bird, there's a Scott Wedman. For every Magic Johnson, there's a Bob McAdoo. For every Michael Jordan, there's a John Paxson or Steve Kerr.

Here are the eight best benches in the Playoffs:

1. Denver Nuggets

It's hard not to love J.R. Smith when his 3-pointers are falling. It's also hard not to love Chris Andersen's comeback story. Together, they help comprise one of the league's best benches. Save for the Mavericks, no team's bench averages more combined points (33.9), assists (8.0) and rebounds (16.3) per game than the Nuggets. (The Mavericks have a 58.9 combined points, assists and rebounds off the bench; the Nuggets are at 58.2.) Denver's bench leads the league in assists and rebounds per game.

Key stat: 2.46 -- Andersen's average blocks per game, second behind All-Star Dwight Howard.

2. L.A. Lakers

With Andrew Bynum's return to the starting lineup, the Lakers have moved Lamar Odom -- who started 32 games in Bynum's absence -- back to the bench. Having the versatile, 6-foot-10 Odom, who has started 605 of his 665 career games, come off the pine is one of the reasons the Lakers bench is great. Reasons Nos. 2 and 3 are Trevor Ariza and Shannon Brown, two underrated mid-season acquisitions by L.A. in each of the last two seasons. With Odom, Ariza and Brown (or Jordan Farmar or Luke Walton), the Lakers have quality in the post, on the wing and everywhere else.

Key stat: 4.0 -- Number of steals per game averaged by the Lakers' subs, most in the NBA.

3. Dallas Mavericks

Guard Jason Terry is the leading candidate for the Sixth Man award. Guard Jose Barea can be instant offense. Together they constitute the best bench backcourt in the postseason. Terry averaged 19.6 per game this season, by far the best of any reserve. Forward Brandon Bass gives the Mavs some bulk and boards.

Key stat: 110 -- Bench points per 100 possessions for the Mavs, third-best in the league.

4. Utah Jazz

Whenever you have Paul Millsap and Andrei Kirilenko coming off the bench, that's a good bench. Millsap received experience with the first team this season, starting 38 games for the injured Carlos Boozer. Now, he's Boozer's backup. Kirilenko, who isn't the stats sheet stuffer and defender of a few years ago, is still good and averages 11.6 points per game.

Key stat: +487 -- Plus-minus for the Jazz bench, second-best in the NBA this season

5. Portland Trail Blazers

Portland has a lot of firepower from the bench. Travis Outlaw and Rudy Fernandez have 10 starts between them; combined they average 23.2 points per game. The Trail Blazers' reserves averaged 35.3 points per game. Only the Mavericks' 37.9 was better.

Key stat: 9.1 -- Average 3-point attempts per game by Portland reserves, tops in the league.

6. Chicago Bulls

In Kirk Hinrich and Brad Miller, Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro can bring two former starters off the bench. Hinrich can run the point for the second unit and is a pest on defense. Miller might not have the offensive game he once did, but he adds bulk and can still corral the caroms with the best of them. Tyrus Thomas provides youthful energy and athleticism.

Key stat: 2.8 -- Steals per game averaged by Chicago reserves, fourth best in the NBA.

7. Boston Celtics

The defending champions don't play their reserves much (only three benches in this postseason play fewer minutes than Boston), but the Celtics' bench players make the most of their time. With a +522 plus/minus, no bench was more productive in the NBA. Eddie House can be instant offense, Leon Powe adds bulk and gritty postseason experience and Tony Allen and Mikki Moore give the Celtics good energy. And they're physical.

Key stat: 10.1 -- Average fouls per game by Boston's reserves, most of any team in the postseason.

8. Cleveland Cavaliers

Considering many of the teams ahead of them have set the bar pretty high, the Cavs' bench doesn't wow you with athleticism or an explosive sixth man. What they do, and do well, is maintain. The Cavs' starters get a big lead and the Cavs' bench, more often than not, holds it. Joe Smith, signed as a free agent in late February, and Ben Wallace give the Cavs experience and rebounding.

Source From : NBA.com

Best of the first round: Warriors, MJ and Rex's clutch three

Barry Gossage

The goal in mind for all 16 teams when the playoffs tip off every April is the same: Sixteen wins. Sixteen wins and the commissioner hands out the Larry O'Brien Trophy and Queen's We Are the Champions blares over the P.A. system. Sixteen wins and clips from your Playoffs run are embedded in historic postseason highlight packages for years to come.

But before a team can get to 16, it needs to get to four. Granted, the numbers have changed over the years. Back in 1949, only eight teams made the Playoffs and the first two rounds were best-of-three, with only The Finals being best-of-seven. So before a team could get to eight, it needed to get to two. But you get the idea.

While the greatest moments in Playoffs history tend to come on the grandest stage of The Finals, there have been plenty of classic performances in the first round. Here are some of the best.

Best first-round upset

2007 -- Golden State Warriors 4, Dallas Mavericks 2

The Warriors snuck into the Playoffs as an eighth seed while the Mavs won a league-best 67 wins en route to the No. 1 overall slot. Instead of sticking to what got him there, Dallas coach Avery Johnson changed his starting lineup before Game 1 to contend with Golden State's speed. By that time Baron Davis, Stephen Jackson and Nellie Ball already had won. Basketball people swear that Oracle Arena during that series was the best home-court advantage a team has ever had.

Runner-up: 1994 -- Denver Nuggets 3, Seattle Supersonics 2

Eighth-seeded Denver came back from an 0-2 deficit to shock the Sonics and Dikembe Mutombo was left crying tears of unbridled joy.

Honorable Mention: 1999 -- New York Knicks 3, Miami Heat 2

It's the only other 1-8 upset, but it doesn't have the same pizzazz as the other two because A) The final score in Game 5 was a brutal 78-77, B) It happened during the screwy lockout-shortened season and C) Allan Houston's game-winner was a leaner that got a lot of help from a lucky bounce on the rim.

Best of Michael Jordan

1986 -- Game 2 -- Boston Celtics 135, Chicago Bulls 131 2 OTs

After missing nearly all of his second season with a broken foot, a neophyte shooting guard out of North Carolina hangs 63 points -- the most ever in the history of the Playoffs -- on the eventual champion Celtics. "I think he's God disguised as Michael Jordan," said a prophetic Larry Bird afterward. "He's the most awesome player in the NBA." Jordan played 53 minutes, shot 22-for-41 from the field and 19-for-21 from the free-throw line. No retrospective video of his career is complete without showing the grainy video from that game of him yo-yoing the ball between his legs on Bird and pulling up for a baseline jumper.

Runner-up: 1989 -- Game 5 -- Chicago Bulls 101, Cleveland Cavaliers 100

It was one play that encapsulated everything Jordan ever was as a player -- clutch, confident and supremely talented. Jordan received an inbounds pass near half court with three seconds left, sprinted to the foul line, elevated over poor Craig Ehlo and guided in a dagger. Jordan scored 44 points and gave the Bulls a date in the second round. His high-jumping, fist-pumping celebration that followed is almost as impressive as the shot itself. It was Jordan's first Playoffs series win after going 1-9 in his first three trips to the postseason.

Honorable Mention: 1992 -- Game 3 -- Chicago Bulls 119, Miami Heat 114

Jordan scored 56 points and erased an 18-point Miami lead to sweep the Heat.

1997 -- Game 3 -- Chicago Bulls 109, Washington Bullets 104

His Airness' second-most famous double nickel (55 points) bounced his future team from the postseason.

Best near upset

2007 -- Phoenix Suns 4, Los Angeles Lakers 3

This series had it all, from the league MVP Steve Nash facing off against Kobe Bryant (who was snubbed for the award after averaging 35.4 points per game in the regular season) to Tim Thomas resurrecting his career to hit big shot after big shot to Bryant feuding with Raja Bell to Bryant hitting two dramatic shots in Game 4 to give L.A. a 3-1 series lead to the Suns storming back to take the series after Bryant attempted only two shots in the second half of Game 7.

Runner-up: 2008 -- Boston Celtics 4, Atlanta Hawks 3

Boston won 67 games in the regular season and faced off against a 38-win Atlanta team. The 29-game differential was the fourth-largest gap between first-round opponents in NBA Playoffs history. But the young Hawks pushed Boston to the brink and started a cold-blooded rivalry that carried over to this season.

Honorable Mention: 2002 -- New Jersey Nets 3, Indiana Pacers 2

The eighth-seeded Pacers took the top-tier Nets to double overtime in Game 5 before bowing out. Reggie Miller forced the first OT with a 40-foot bank shot at the buzzer.

Most underrated performance

1984 -- Game 5 -- New York Knicks 127, Detroit Pistons 123 OT

Bernard King led the Knicks to a 3-2 series win with 44 points in the clinching game. That's enough to make the game notable, but it becomes legendary when you sprinkle in the fact that King was playing with a 102-degree fever and two dislocated fingers. Isiah Thomas scored the Pistons' last 16 points in a span of 93 seconds to send the game to overtime, and the game also was notable because it was played in a sauna; the air conditioning at Joe Louis Arena was broken. King finished the series with totals of 36, 46, 46, 41 and 44 points to set an NBA scoring record for a five-game series.

Runner-up: 1994 -- Game 3 -- Phoenix Suns 140, Golden State Warriors 133

Charles Barkley went bonkers, scoring 56 points on 23-for-31 shooting and augmenting his line with 14 rebounds, four assists and three steals in the closeout game. Sir Charles, responding to an anything-less-would-be-uncivilized comment by a Warriors player who called him a "punk" during Game 2, came out sharp as ever and scored 27 points on 11-for-11 shooting in the first quarter to set the tone for the victory.

Honorable Mention: 1973 -- Game 1 -- Boston Celtics 134, Atlanta Hawks 109

John Havlicek fired in 54 points against the Hawks on April Fools Day.

Worst mental lapse

2003 -- Detroit Pistons 4, Orlando Magic 3

Up 3-1 against the Pistons, Tracy McGrady, fresh off the league scoring title, acted like a wide receiver who drops the pass because he's thinking touchdown. McGrady told a reporter how good it felt to "finally be in the second round." That's when the magic ran out on the eighth-seeded Magic's upset bid over the No. 1 Pistons. Detroit went on to win Games 5-7, all in blowout fashion. McGrady's teams have yet to make it out of the first round.

Best buzzer-beater

1997 -- Game 5 -- Seattle SuperSonics 122, Phoenix Suns 115 OT

Veteran Rex Chapman, who came into the league as a high flyer but had changed his game to a sharp shooter by this point, made the ultimate driveway shot to send the game into overtime. It's called a "driveway shot" because it had people across the country tossing the ball into the corner by the Buick and counting down "3...2...1" while imitating Chapman's leg-kick-and-swish motion. Neither team went on to win the championship, so history doesn't really care that the Suns ended up losing the game.

Best debut

2006 -- Cleveland Cavaliers 4, Washington Wizards 2

LeBron James had 32 points and a triple-double in Game 1, the first Playoffs game of his career, and joined Johnny McCarthy and Magic Johnson as just the third player ever to hang a triple-double in his first Playoffs game. James followed it up with 41 points and a game-winner in Game 3, 45 points and a game-winner in Game 5 and 32 points, seven rebounds and seven assists in the clinching Game 6 that the Cavs won in overtime.

Highest rated game

1995 -- Game 4 -- Chicago Bulls 85, Charlotte Hornets 84

Jordan, still wearing the No. 45 from his baseball days, closed out the Hornets in Game 4 with 24 points and averaged 32.2 points a game for the series -- his first since his first comeback. "You take him out of the lineup and we win this series easy," said Charlotte's Dell Curry. "His play isn't as important as his presence. You can see the confidence and the pressure relieved off Pippen and Armstrong. He took the pressure off everyone." The game registered a 5.6 rating on TNT. Some 3,606,000 households tuned in.

Best Performance Dwyane Wade is Likely to Replicate

1997 -- Miami 3, Orlando 2

In the Playoffs for the first time without Shaquille O'Neal as a teammate, Anfernee Hardaway put his team full of misfits on his back, scoring 42 points in Game 3 and 41 points in Game 4 to tie the series after the Heat started with a 2-0 lead. Orlando ended up losing in Game 5 by eight points, but Hardaway scored 33 points and had the Magic within three points with 14 seconds remaining. Look for Wade to pull a Penny in the first round against the Hawks this year.

Source From : NBA.com

Georgia Tech profs put heads together, pick an NBA champ

David Liam Kyle

The Playoffs are filled with talking heads. They're NBA veterans in nice suits, or hard-nosed reporters spending their lives in the locker rooms, all spewing opinions on who the next NBA champion migt be. Once in a while, they even turn out to be right.

What if there were some guys who were never in the league, though, and who never appeared on TV, and they turned out to be better analysts than your typical talking head?

And what if they could kick your butt in a game of Jeopardy, too?

Those guys are professors Joel Sokol, 37, Paul Kvam, 46, and George Nemhauser, 71, at the Georgia Institute of Technology's H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering. Together, the professors have invented an equation called the Logistic Regression Markov Chain (LRMC) that can predict the outcome of sporting tournaments. Using this highly complex mathematical equation, they can pick the NBA champion for the 2008-09 season without watching a game.

With the LRMC by their side, these group of mathletes claim to be better prognosticators than Charles Barkley, Gary Payton or any other talking-head analyst on the planet.

"I think we could take on Gary and the guys, when it comes to predictions," says Sokol, the mastermind behind the LRMC.

"We could give this talk about the LRMC to thousands of professors at universities who would love to hear the equation," says Kvam. "But most of them would probably say 'What are Cleveland Cavaliers and why are they playing Jazz in Utah?'"

The LRMC initially was designed to decide the champion of the NCAA men's basketball tournament. The professors were inspired by a last-second shot by Tennessee that knocked Tech out of the tournament in 2002.

Since that game, the LRMC has picked the correct NCAA tournament winner three out of five times, including this year, when North Carolina won. In addition to picking the champ, in 2008 the LRMC got all three of the final rounds correct, and it even got the NIT champion right, too.

"Everyone has this intuition just by looking at head-to-heads and blowouts for who is going to win," says Sokol. "All we are doing is making a more rigorous argument."

Because the professors seemed so sure in their equation, and did pretty well in the NCAAs, we decided to challenge them to see if they could predict the outcome of the NBA Playoffs.

They scoffed. They said they could do it in 20 minutes.

Which, when you think about it, easily beats hours of sports chatter from the talking-head analysts.

The professors took 16 years worth of NBA data from every team in the Playoffs and used that to determine the strength of each team and its ranking. The professors then picked random matches between teams from the past 16 years, took the outcomes and plugged them into a logistic-reasoning equation.

Georgia Tech profs put heads together, pick an NBA champ

David Liam Kyle

What if there were some guys who were never in the league, though, and who never appeared on TV, and they turned out to be better analysts than your typical talking head?

And what if they could kick your butt in a game of Jeopardy, too?

With the LRMC by their side, these group of mathletes claim to be better prognosticators than Charles Barkley, Gary Payton or any other talking-head analyst on the planet.

"I think we could take on Gary and the guys, when it comes to predictions," says Sokol, the mastermind behind the LRMC.

"Everyone has this intuition just by looking at head-to-heads and blowouts for who is going to win," says Sokol. "All we are doing is making a more rigorous argument."

Because the professors seemed so sure in their equation, and did pretty well in the NCAAs, we decided to challenge them to see if they could predict the outcome of the NBA Playoffs.

They scoffed. They said they could do it in 20 minutes.

Which, when you think about it, easily beats hours of sports chatter from the talking-head analysts.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Atlanta Dream Win Top Pick in 2009 WNBA Draft

-- Washington Mystics, Chicago Sky Round Out Top Three Picks --

NEW YORK, Dec. 9, 2008 - The Atlanta Dream won the eighth annual WNBA Draft Lottery and earned the top pick in the 2009 WNBA Draft, the league announced today.

The Atlanta Dream will get the ball rolling in the 2009 WNBA Draft after winning the lottery today in New York.

Ned Dishman/NBAE/Getty Images

The winning team had 420 chances out of 1,000 to receive the first overall selection. The lottery went exactly according to odds for the first time in WNBA history. The Washington Mystics will have the second pick in the draft followed by the Chicago Sky.

WNBA officials conducted the Draft Lottery in New York City, which included the five teams that did not qualify for the 2008 Playoffs and established the order of selection for the first five picks of the 2009 Draft. Additionally, the order of selection for the remainder of the first round as well as the entire second and third rounds is based on each team's finish during the 2008 regular season.

Following are results of the 2009 WNBA Draft Lottery:

PICK	TEAM	RECORD	CHANCE OF WINNING TOP PICK
	Lottery Teams
1	Atlanta Dream	4-30	42.0%
2	Washington Mystics	10-24	26.1%
3	Chicago Sky	12-22	16.7%
4	Minnesota Lynx	16-18	7.6%
5	Phoenix Mercury	16-18	7.6%

Following is the remaining order for the first round as determined by overall records from 2008:

	Non-Lottery Teams
6	Indiana Fever	17-17	--
7	Sacramento Monarchs	18-16	--
8	New York Liberty	19-15	--
9	Washington Mystics (from L.A.)	20-14	--
10	Connecticut Sun	21-13	--
11	Detroit Shock	22-12	--
12	Seattle Storm	22-12	--
13	Atlanta Dream (from S.A.)	24-10	--

The WNBA will feature 13 teams in 2009, with the Eastern Conference comprised of seven teams: the Atlanta Dream, Chicago Sky, Connecticut Sun, Detroit Shock, Indiana Fever, New York Liberty and Washington Mystics. Six teams will compete in the Western Conference: the Los Angeles Sparks, Minnesota Lynx, Phoenix Mercury, Sacramento Monarchs, San Antonio Silver Stars and Seattle Storm.

Source from :NBA.com

Top 12 Stories of the 12th WNBA Season

The 2008 season was one for the ages. From all of the pomp, circumstance and hype surrounding the April entry draft to the confetti streaming down on the Shock after they topped the Silver Stars for the WNBA title last weekend, there have been a great many stories that tell the tale of 2008. Here are the top 12, in no particular order.

The Candace Parker Effect

Thought I'd start out with a softy? Wrong! Candace Parker was the most highly touted player to come into the WNBA since Diana Taurasi four years ago… and possibly since fellow Lady Vol Chamique Holdsclaw entered the fray in 1999.

When the Los Angeles Sparks won the draft lottery, it was akin to actually winning the real lottery. Parker, a two-time Wooden Award winner and two-time NCAA Tournament champ at Tennessee, joined an already solid core in L.A. and paid dividends both at the box office and on the court for the Sparks.

Parker averaged 18.5 points and led the league in rebounding at 9.5 per game, not only becoming the unanimous Rookie of the Year, but also becoming the first WNBA player to earn that and the MVP award… And not only in the same season… ever.

And she can dunk. And she has. Twice. In back-to-back games.

The future of the league looks brighter than ever with Parker and the rest of the first-year class ready to take the baton. Speaking of the other freshwomen…

Candace Parker of the Sparks had a memorable
debut season, winning both Rookie of the Year
and MVP.Noah Graham/NBAE/Getty Images

Rookies Rule

No. 3 pick Candice Wiggins came off the bench to earn the Sixth Woman of the Year award and nearly helped the young and exciting Minnesota Lynx -- also featuring fellow rookies Nicky Anosike and Charde Houston -- to the verge of the postseason.

Second-pick Sylvia Fowles missed 17 games with a knee injury suffered on a play where she became the first player ever to earn a goaltending call. But when she was healthy Big Syl shone brightly, averaging 10.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game in earning All-Rookie status.

Some other highlights:

- Matee Ajavon brough offense and excitement to an up-and-coming Comets team.

- Amber Holt and Kerri Gardin started 49 games between them and helped make up for the Sun's loss of Katie Douglas, Nykesha Sales and Margo Dydek.

- Alexis Hornbuckle brought athleticism and incorrigible defense to the WNBA champs in Detroit.

- Essence Carson, Erlana Larkins and Leilani Mitchell all played valuable roles in the Liberty's run to Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

Betty Lennox and the Dream excited fans all over the country in their premiere season in the WNBA.

Scott Cunningham/NBAE/Getty Images

Dream Realized in Atlanta

No, they didn't win very many games, but the expansion Atlanta Dream had many positives to take away from its flagship voyage in the WNBA. The Dream sold out a bunch of games, played an exciting brand of up-and-down basketball and gave us all much to look forward to, especially given the burgeoning careers of Ivory Latta and Tamera Young.

Lisa Leslie Returns to La-La Land

After giving birth to beautiful Lauren Jolie on June 15 last year, Lisa Leslie worked her way back into shape and was raring to go for the Sparks on Opening Day 2008. And the legendary center didn't miss a beat in L.A., averaging 15.1 points, 8.9 boards and 2.9 blocks, earning the second Defensive Player of the Year award of her storied career.

Slew of Wins in Seattle

The team many thought would be the most improved heading into 2008 may have underachieved a bit. Offseason pickups Swin Cash, Yolanda Griffith and Sheryl Swoopes missed a total of 12 games due to injury and ended up ceding time to youngsters Tanisha Wright and Camille Little.

But a 22-12 season in which you earn the second seed in the West hardly seems like underachieving. And with Lauren Jackson continuing her stellar play prior to the Olympics (before she decided to undergo ankle surgery and miss the end of the season and playoffs) and USA point guard Sue Bird making a serious case for league MVP, Brian Agler has to be content with his first go-round in the Emerald City.

Diana Taurasi led the league in scoring, though her defending champion Mercury did not qualify for the postseason.

Barry Gossage/NBAE/Getty Images

Mercury Falling

It's hard to repeat in the professional ranks. It's even harder when you lose one of your most important pieces.

The moment forward Penny Taylor announced she would miss much of the 2008 season to train with the Australian Olympic team, the Mercury knew that the already uphill battle for a repeat would be even steeper. And despite having two of the game's most entertaining stars in Diana Taurasi and Cappie Pondexter, the Mercury struggled with consistency and finished with a 16-18 record, tied for worst in the West.

It wasn't an easy debut season for head coach Corey Gaines, but with the competitiveness and scoring firepower he has on his roster, something tells me that the Mercury will be back in triple digits in 2009.

Mohegan Sun Rising

As mentioned above, it was hard to tell how coach Mike Thibault would rebound from the losses of Douglas, Sales and Dydek. Sure, Lindsay Whalen and Asjha Jones remained from the previous title contenders, but with four rookies getting serious playing time, it was hard to have an abundance of confidence in the Sun.

But Whalen stepped up her game at both ends, earning her first All-WNBA first team spot and becoming a legit MVP contender. Jones, too, posted a career high 17.0 points and 6.1 boards a game. The rookies, too, overachieved in many fans' minds and after leading the East for much of the regular season, the Sun finished just behind Detroit for home-court advantage. Thibault too was honored, taking home his second Coach of the Year honor.

Yes, Connecticut fell at home to a hungry Liberty squad in a deciding first-round game at home, but given the amount of turnover and new faces on the Sun roster, 2008 was a major success in the Nutmeg State.

Big-Time in Beijing

While it wasn't officially part of the WNBA season, 41 current and former WNBA players participated for their homelands in the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing. There was Hamchetou Maiga-Ba and Mali making their first Olympic appearance… There was American-born Becky Hammon living her Olympic dream and earning bronze with Russia... There were Lauren Jackson and Penny Taylor earning silver with the Opals…

Oh, and there were 12 WNBA stars wearing the red, white and blue of the United States. A hearty congratulations are due to Seimone Augustus, Sue Bird, Tamika Catchings, Sylvia Fowles, Kara Lawson, Lisa Leslie, DeLisha Milton-Jones, Candace Parker, Cappie Pondexter, Katie Smith, Diana Taurasi and Tina Thompson.

And you shouldn't have any trouble spotting them. They're the ones with the sun glistening off those gold medals around their necks.

U.S. gold medalist Seimone Augustus also had another terrific season with the up-and-coming Lynx.

Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE/Getty Images

The Wild, Wild West

In perhaps the league's best yet example of parity, every team in the West was within shouting distance of a playoff spot until the final weeks of the regular season. In fact, only eight games separated first place from seventh place.

And even the teams that didn't qualify for the postseason -- Minnesota, Houston and Phoenix -- had positives to take from their 2008 campaigns. The Lynx and their super core of young players (Augustus, Lindsey Harding and Wiggins among others) will be postseason contenders for years to come. The Tina Thompson-led Comets showed promise thanks in large part to the vast improvement of Sancho Lyttle. And even the Mercury, despite their disappointing follow-up to their title campaign, looked like world-beaters at times and should be right back on track with the expected return of Penny Taylor in 2009.

Big Deal

There were plenty of key transactions that played major roles in the 2008 season: U.S. Olympian DeLisha Milton-Jones had another All-Star season in helping L.A. to within a win of the WNBA Finals. Belgian Ann Wauters returned to the WNBA from overseas to help bring a Western Conference title to San Antonio. Katie Douglas came home to Indiana to team with Tamika Catchings and lead the Fever to the playoffs where they took the Shock to three games in the Eastern Conference Semis.

But the biggest trade of all was orchestrated by… no shock… "Trader" Bill Laimbeer. While other GMs were enjoying the Olympic break in August, Laimbeer dealt rooke Tasha Humphrey, second-year guard Shay Murphy and a 2009 draft pick to Washington for veteran forward Taj McWilliams-Franklin. See, Cheryl Ford had gone down with a season-ending knee injury on July 22 and the Shock needed some strength and experience to make up for her loss. Well, after joining this Shock, Taj averaged 12.9 points and 7.0 rebounds a game in the playoffs. And we all remember how her season ended up: with Taj hoisting her first ever WNBA Championship trophy.

Silver Stars Shooting to the Top

Best regular season record in the WNBA. One of the most beloved players in the game in Becky Hammon. One of the league's most exciting young stars in Sophia Young. One of the league's most respected leaders, Dan Hughes, just a year removed from his first Coach of the Year prize.

It was an equation built for success in San Antonio. And succeed they did, overcoming the Monarchs in the first round of the playoffs and sneaking by the Sparks in the Western Conference Finals (thanks to a miracle, last-second heave by Young in Game 2… truly one of the league's most exciting plays in its history).

But with an injury-ridden bench, the Silver Stars were no match for the Shock in the Finals, falling in three straight. Still, the support and excitement in San Antonio were second to none and those fans will continue to cheer for their Stars in the seasons to come.

Katie Smith and the Shock celebrated their third title in six seasons on Oct. 5.

David Dow/NBAE/Getty Images

Triple Platinum in Motown

I remind everyone who will listen that I picked the Shock to win the title in 2008. Why? Veteran leadership. Determined coaching. Young talent. Size. Depth. Athleticism. Need I go on?

The midseason loss of Cheryl Ford to injury was obviously a major blow to the Shock's hopes of winning a third straight Eastern Conference crown. But Trader Bill worked his magic, extracting Taj from the Mystics, and had the Shock at the top of their game in the playoffs.

No, it wasn't easy getting through three-game series against both the feisty Fever and lively Liberty, but they did it. Then they came into San Antonio, took the wind out of the Stars' sails by earning two hard-fought victories and took the title with a comfortable win in Game 3. All of this despite playing three home games in at Eastern Michigan's Convocation Center, a good hour from their normal home at the Palace of Auburn Hills.

But with steady-as-a-rock Katie Smith leading the charge… Deanna Nolan being her scintillating self with her unparalleled quickness and monster blocks at just 5'9"… Taj McWilliams-Franklin stepping up her game in the postseason… Plenette Pierson working tirelessly on the boards… your Elaine Powells, Kara Braxtons, Kelly Schumachers, Alexis Hornbuckles and Olayinka Sannis contributing where they can… the big personalities of Laimbeer and assistant Rick Mahorn joining forces with remarkably effective assistant Cheryl Reeve… and even trainer Laura Ramus working 24/7 to keep everyone healthy, the Shock are a legitimate dynasty in this world of WNBA parity.

Wow, I can't wait for 2009.

Source from : WNBA.com

The Best WNBA Images of 2008

Another Snap Judgment Photo of the Year contest is in the books, and we have a worthy champion in photographer Jesse D. Garrabrant's amazing and poignant image of San Antonio superstar Becky Hammon (right), decked out in her Russian Olympic team uniform, with her hand over her heart during the Star Spangled Banner prior to her matchup in Beijing against her native United States.

Garrabrant's photo topped Gary Dineen's shot of Armintie Price reaching in during the contest finals 73% to 27% as a new record 137,316 votes were cast in the final round alone. In total, over 420,000 votes were logged in the two-month tournament.

Thanks for voting and be sure to tune back in next year!

Instructions: Click on each photo thumbnail to see the photos from each voting group, click on those thumbnails to see full-size versions of the photos and vote for your favorite.