Good news on Shyra Ely. The Storm’s basketball staff got in touch with Ely from Cyprus, and it appears her injury sounded worse in translation than it really was.
Ely reports colliding with a teammate in last week’s game and suffering whiplash. She’s been cleared to play and is already back at practice for her K.V. Imperial AEL team in preparation for Thursday’s completion of the aggregate series with Rivasecopolis.
The Actionled blog has a translation of a local article indicating Storm forward Shyra Ely may have been injured in last week’s EuroCup playoff win over Rivasecopolis. Ely played just 17 minutes and apparently suffered an injury just after halftime.
I’ve asked around but haven’t gotten any more information. I’ll pass it along if I do.
Wednesday and Thursday marked the start of the EuroCup’s postseason with the Round of 32 or 16th-finals. Under the EuroCup format, teams play a home-and-home series with the winner determined by total differential. That’s not uncommon in soccer, but I’m not sure any other basketball league in the world uses aggregate scoring. Anyways, this week sent the higher-seeded teams on the road to start things off.
Dynamo Moscow enters the playoffs as the top seed and did nothing yesterday to lose that distinction, defeating Solna Vikings 75-58 to take a commanding aggregate lead. Nonetheless, Janell Burse said, “We hope to play better at home in Moscow. It was important to win this first game.” Burse scored 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting and pulled down seven boards.
Tanisha Wright’s Tarbes Bigorre Elite squad picked up the week’s most decisive victory, crushing Baschet ICIM by 52 points, 110-58. Something tells me Tarbes will be moving on. The game was so lopsided Wright was barely needed. She played 16 minutes, scoring three points and handing out four assists.
As Katie Gearlds blogged about, her Athanaikos squad started solidly with an 11-point road win by a 68-57 final at SK Cesis. Gearlds knocked down three triples en route to 11 points, adding four rebounds. She went the distance, playing all 40 minutes.
The only team with Storm ties to host the opening leg was Shyra Ely and K.V. Imperial AEL. For some reason, Ely was limited to 17 minutes, scoring six points and grabbing five boards in that span. Despite Ely’s short night, Imperial held off Rivasecopolis 62-58 and can advance by winning the next leg or even playing within three points.
Over in the Euroleague, pool play is just wrapping up. This was round nine out of 10, with playoff play starting when the league resumes after the holidays. On Wednesday, Spartak assured itself the top spot in Group D by doubling up an overmatched Broker Kosice squad 100-50. Lauren Jackson remains locked in, scoring 23 points in 18 minutes and needing just nine shots (eight of them makes, four from three-point range) to do so. That’s uber-efficiency.
Sue Bird delivered nine assists in 23 minutes (presumably at least a couple to Jackson), scoring 12 points without a turnover. Not too shabby, I dare say.
The results were not as good for ZVVZ USK Praha. Facing a difficult matchup at UMMC Ekaterinburg, USK Praha got blown out 103-57. It didn’t help that an already short-handed squad was without leader Lindsay Whalen. Swin Cash had 13 points and eight boards, but it was not nearly enough. Michaela Feranciková was the only other USK Praha player to score double-figures as the team shot 30.2 percent.
Going into the final round, USK Praha is tied for the fourth and final spot in Group D with Union Hainaut Basket. Union will play Ekaterinburg in the finale, so USK Praha will almost certainly advance with a win over Lotos Gdynia and would tie Lotos for third.
Storm Photos
Seattle Storm star Sheryl Swoopes and mascot Doppler donned Santa hats and headed to the downtown Nordstorm Tuesday afternoon for a good cause. Swoopes and Doppler joined other Seattle sports figures, media members and local celebrities as part of the Salvation Army’s Celebrity Bell Ringing Day.
Working alongside the Mariner Moose, Doppler offered hugs to kids and plenty of smiles besides exhorting passers-by to donate. Swoopes was a hit even with the other bell-ringers when she arrived shortly later, chatting with Seahawks Head Coach Mike Holmgren and Hall of Famer Warren Moon (at right), amongst others, in addition with fans who wanted an autograph or just a chance to talk to the three-time WNBA MVP.
Despite the persistent seasonal Seattle rain, the event was a major success. Doppler, Swoopes and company raised a grand total of nearly $20,000 for the Salvation Army’s Red Kettle holiday campaign. While it’s too late to donate to Doppler and Swoopes, you can still do so at local retailers throughout the holiday season.
Storm Photos
Let me start this off by first saying that I am safe! The riots that are going down here in Athens are not too close from where I live, but they aren’t really that far away either. I could probably drive and be there in less than 10 minutes – part of me wants to go to get a first-hand look, but the smarter part of me is saying to stay away!!!! I haven’t seen any riots in person, only those that have been on CNN. Everything is taking place mostly in the center of Athens, but it has began to spread to other parts of the city and country as well.
You all probably know that the riots started because of the 15 year old being shot and killed last week. Well, here, my teammates tell me that the boy being shot was kind of like the tip of the iceberg that set everything off. The rioting is actually rather normal here, but never has it gotten this out of control. It’s unbelievable what these people are doing – shops being burned down, cars set on fire … it really is crazy here!
The basketball side of being here is going great! We are undefeated in the Greek league – our next tough games will be in January. In EuroCup, we advanced with the 11th seed in the Round of 32 and we played Cesis in Latvia on Wednesday. We were able to sneak out of there with a win by 11 points, so hopefully we can take care of business next week at home and advance again. This is my team’s first experience at playing in Europe and we are doing pretty well (knock on wood)!!!!
But when we travel as a team on the plane, we have to wear these three-piece suits – yep, the pants, the jacket, and a scarf! We get a million looks wherever we go – we look straight up like British Airways flight attendants (pictured at right) and the things are so uncomfortable! During our last trip, we were in Frankfurt and a woman asked Toya Davis (Texas Tech ‘06) if she worked there because she needed help finding her flight!
Outside of basketball and riots, everything is pretty cool here. But I did get a parking ticket here and I have no idea how!!!! If you have ever been to Athens, you know there are no parking rules! People just park wherever they want. As long as you aren’t blocking someone in, it’s a good parking spot! I drive a little smart car (it’s funny to watch people’s faces when three 6-feet-tall girls get out of this tiny thing!) and usually it’s relatively easy to find a spot or make my own spot like the Greeks. This one time, I thought I had a done a great job of making my own spot and the next morning I come out to find an 80 Euro ticket on the windshield! 80 Euros!?!? For a parking ticket?!?! In this country?!?! Oh well, I still park in that very same spot almost every day and nothing since – I guess cops have bad days here, too!
I wish everyone Happy Holidays and may your New Year be all that you want it to be!
KG
The story of Sue Bird and Lauren Jackson in Russia playing for Spartak and (eccentric?) owner Shabtai von Kalmanovic has been relatively well-trod over the last couple of years, but Alexander Wolff’s feature in the current issue of Sports Illustrated (with Florida QB Tim Tebow on the cover) reveals some further details while making von Kalmanovic the center of a look at sports in Russia and why the country’s oligarchs have invested so much money in sports.
With von Kalmanovic in particular, that translates into care for his players that goes above and beyond the norm.
“Don’t ever sneeze around him,” says Bird. “He’ll pull out five different medications. The way he treats us, it really makes you want to play hard.”
While the article is available online, the magazine itself offers photos, including one of Bird, Jackson and Diana Taurasi with von Kalmanovic and part of his art collection.
What is interesting about Wolff’s feature is that it largely glosses over the impact of the financial crisis, which put CSKA Moscow’s future in jeopardy within the past month. A much more pessimistic perspective is offered by the International Herald Tribune.
The global financial crisis has forced many of Russia’s professional sports teams to trim costs, bringing to a halt a spending spree that was fuelled by soaring oil and gas prices over the past few years.Many of the country’s top clubs in soccer, ice hockey and basketball are owned or sponsored by individuals or companies which have made their money from producing raw material such as oil and gas.
The crisis has forced big clubs to cut their budgets next year and threatened smaller ones with extinction unless they find other sources of income in the changing financial climate.
I suspect the reality of the situation, as it usually does, falls somewhere in between those two extremes.
Closer to home, Eric Williams of The News Tribune chatted with Karen Bryant about the Storm’s future in the wake of last week’s news about the Houston Comets, getting updates on offseason developments on and off the court. I think I was remiss last week with the Houston news not mentioning how lucky the Storm is to have a committed local ownership group that has made the transition to being an indepent organization as smooth as possible.
Also, Seattle Times sports columnist Jerry Brewer points out that when people say 2008 has been a terrible year for Seattle sports, that’s largely only true of the men’s teams. The women, including the Storm, have shined throughout the year.
Lastly, exciting news from Australia. Former Storm assistant Carrie Graf has been named head coach of the Opals National Team through the 2012 London Olympics, a dream job for her. Graf will attempt to guide the Aussies to an upset of the U.S. and a breakthrough after three consecutive losses to the Americans in the finals.
The WNBA held its annual draft lottery this afternoon via conference call and the results, for the first time in recent memory, held completely to form. The Atlanta Dream earned the first overall pick in its second season of existence, the Washington Mystics will pick second in the 2009 WNBA Draft and the Chicago Sky third.
From the Storm’s perspective, it is good news to see the top picks all going to Eastern Conference teams. The West has historically done very well in the lottery, both thanks to a little luck (see Phoenix getting the No. 2 pick and Cappie Pondexter in 2006) and because traditionally the West has featured the league’s very best and very worst teams. This year, there was far more parity in the West and that meant lower odds of a top-three pick for the two West teams in the lottery, Minnesota (which will pick fourth) and Phoenix (fifth).
The big-picture takeaway is that the Dream is going to add a lot of talent to its roster between getting Sancho Lyttle in yesterday’s Houston Comets Dispersal Draft and whoever they take first in the amateur draft. The last time a team got the No. 1 pick in both drafts, the Phoenix Mercury added Penny Taylor and Diana Taurasi and went from 8-26 to 17-17. While that turnaround will be tough to match – there’s good talent in the draft, but not a Taurasi-esque superstar – Atlanta should be much, much, much improved in 2009.
Tarbes Bigorre Elite and Bourges Basket have established themselves as France’s top two teams, and they met for the first time Saturday. Tanisha Wright’s Tarbes squad built a 16-point halftime lead and fought off a Bourges comeback attempt for a 64-56 victory. Wright’s 17 points tied her for game high honors, and she added six rebounds and three assists. The win means Tabes and Bourges are now tied atop the French LFB at 12-1 apiece.
After a couple weeks off in Russia, Spartak resumed Superleague play yesterday with an 83-62 win over Vologda-Chevakata. The visitors were able to keep things reasonably close in the first half before Spartak outscored them 28-13 in the third quarter to blow the game open. Lauren Jackson continued her hot shooting, scoring 19 points on 6-of-11 from the field in fewer than 18 minutes of action. Sue Bird, with 15, was Spartak’s second-leading scorer. She knocked down all three of her attempts from long distance and added four rebounds and three assists.
Earlier in the week, Vologda-Chevakata also took on Dynamo Moscow. It was a closer matchup, but Dynamo ultimately prevailed 78-73 on the strength of a 21-9 fourth-quarter advantage. Janell Burse paced Dynamo with 16 points and eight rebounds.
Kelly Santos had one of her best games of the season Saturday, scoring 24 points on 8-of-10 shooting (with a matching 8-of-10 effort at the free-throw line). Alas, it wasn’t enough as Cadi La Seu fell 79-73 to a Joventut Mariana squad which got 22 points from Armintie Price.
Similarly, TED Kayseri Koleji saw Camille Little’s high-scoring effort go for naught. Little scored 27 and Lisa Willis added 18, but their teammates combined for just 21 points in an 81-66 loss to Mersin. By contrast, Mersin’s balanced scoring saw five players score at least nine points, led by 17 from new Chicago Sky post Mistie Williams. Little shot 11-of-22 from the field and added seven rebounds.
ZVVZ USK Praha played extremely short-handed over the weekend, with Swin Cash one of four regulars sitting out. As a result, a game against second-division squad Karlovy Vary was more exciting than anticipated, with USK Praha hanging on for the 82-74 win behind 22 points from Lindsay Whalen.
In Greece, Athinaikos cruised to 9-0 in league play, crushing Ano Liosia 100-65. Katie Gearlds was one of five Athinaikos players to score double-figures, finishing with 11 points on 5-of-11 shooting. She added three rebounds.
In the wake of a year in Seattle sports that – despite the Storm’s success – has undoubtedly been a long one, Sports Northwest Magazine attempted to resurrect hope in its December issue, naming 20 players and/or coaches who will make 2009 better. Included on the list: Storm guard Sue Bird, as written by your humble blogger. A taste:
For years, coaches tried to get Bird to subdue her natural desire to set up her teammates and look more frequently for her own offense. Turns out all they needed to do was bench Lauren Jackson. With her superstar teammate missing the last month of the season after ankle surgery, Bird adapted her game to pick up the scoring slack, averaging 17.5 points while improving her shooting percentages during an 11-game stretch that saw the Storm go 7-4 without Jackson. The late push propelled Bird to a third-place finish in MVP voting.
You can find Sports Northwest Magazine at local newstands or bars, or you can read the whole thing (including a recap of the year in sports perfect for those with a high tolerance for pain) online here.
It’s been a week and a half since our last look overseas, first delayed by the holiday and then a number of other stories that required our attention. In that span, there have been two rounds of Euroleague play and one of EuroCup (strangely, Europe doesn’t break for our Thanksgiving) and a weekend of play in the national leagues.
During that span, Spartak has strengthened its position at the top of Group D in Euroleague. With an 85-41 win over TEO Vilnius and a 100-76 victory Wednesday at Fenerbahce, Spartak has improved to 7-1 and a two-game lead in Group D over Vilnius, Fenerbahce and Maxima Broker Kosice. With two games left in group play, that means Spartak can do no worse than tie for first place.
The win over Vilnius avenged Spartak’s only loss of the season, and Spartak clearly took out its disappointment in that loss, taking a 52-18 lead by halftime. Vilnius was held to 20.6 shooting from the field and 2-of-21 from beyond the arc. Lauren Jackson scored 13 points in 15 minutes and Sue Bird had six and five assists. It was all Jackson against Fenerbahce. She scored 33 points on 12-of-19 shooting – including five three-pointers – and eight rebounds. Bird set her teammate up with 11 assists, adding 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting herself.
Yesterday also saw ZVVZ USK Praha come up with a needed 102-78 home win over Jolly JBS Sibenik. Swin Cash scored 10 points and eight rebounds, but it was Evanthia Maltsi who stole the show. Maltsi finished an assist shy of a triple-double, posting 29 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists. The win lifted USK Praha a game ahead of Sibenik in the standings and into a three-way tie for third place in Group C. The top four teams from each group advance to the elimination round. The victory also helped remove the bad taste of an 88-69 loss to Ros Casares the previous week despite 18 points and six boards from Cash.
In between, USK Praha remained undefeated in Czech play by beating Valosun Brno 98-71 in a game where Cash sat out.
Group play is complete in the EuroCup, where all four teams with Storm players advanced to the Sixteenth-Finals round (made up of 32 teams).
Dynamo Moscow (with Janell Burse) and Tanisha Wright’s Tarbes Bigorre Elite team both finished atop their group and undefeated at 6-0. Dynamo will face the Solna Vikings in the EuroCup’s soccer-style home-and-home aggregate playoff series. Solna features Sacramento guard A’Quonesia Franklin. Tarbes takes on Baschet ICIM.
Athinaikos suffered its first loss of the year in the group finale at CB Feve San Jose by a 90-67 final, with Katie Gearlds scoring 12 points in the loss. San Jose won the tiebreaker and thus the group. Athinaikos will go up against SK Cesis, which has one-time Storm player Wilnett Crockett. (Crockett never got in a game and spent just a day on the roster, but she still goes down as a former Storm player officially.)
Lastly, K.V. Imperial AEL qualified for the Sixteenth-Finals as one of the top third-place teams. That means a difficult first-round matchup for Shyra Ely and company – Rivasecopolis and Cathy Joens, which was 4-2 in Group C.
Elsewhere, UL Aughnish suffered its second loss in Irish Superleague play by a 60-56 final to Tolka Rivers BC. Tolka Rivers was able to hold Kristen O’Neill to 18 points on 8-of-22 shooting, and the rest of the squad was unable to pick up the slack. O’Neill added seven rebounds and four steals.
You are currently browsing the StormTracker blog archives for December, 2008.
StormTracker, the official blog of the Seattle Storm, features daily updates from Storm practices and games as well as overseas updates on players competing during the WNBA offseason.
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