Mechelle and Kevin: What are the keys to Game 3? Storm can clinch but Dream-Mystics is all even
Atlanta at Washington: Who will step up for Mystics?
The good news for the Mystics is that the door is at least still open for Delle Donne to play in the series. But that doesn’t mean she will. Even if she does, we can’t be sure how effective she will be. No matter what, Washington is going to need someone else to have a huge game Friday.
Dream: Atlanta Travel to Washington for Game 3 of WNBA Semifinals Friday
Hero Sports, Rachel Galligan: WNBA Round 2 Keys: Phoenix Mercury vs. Seattle Storm
Listen up! In case you missed WNBAInsidr: “I’m glad to see everyone is OK and functional after Game 2. Join us here on the latest @WNBAinsidr pod where Aryeh and I react, recap, predict and ramble about one of the most intense nights in the #WNBAPlayoffs so far.”
Listen up! @LynxCoachReeve offers blunt talk on the playoffs, Taurasi, awards and… Elastigirl. w/ @SouhanStrib
.com: Sparks’ Alana Beard Named 2018 Defensive Player Of The Year plus a little somethin’ somethin’ about it from Mechelle and the OC Register Sparks’ Alana Beard named WNBA Defensive Player of the Year again
Get a beverage and have some arguments: 2018 All-Defensive First Team
Flashback: How do you like’em now? Breaking Down the Top WNBA Venues: Which Women’s Basketball Arena is the Best?
College
Cr@p: Delaware senior forward Nicole Enabosi will miss the 2018-19 season after suffering a torn ACL. She was the 2018 Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Year after leading the league in PPG (18) and RPG (11.8).
The State: Missouri women’s basketball coach says she and Dawn Staley are ‘in a good place’
International: Three reasons women’s basketball continues to shoot itself in the foot
It’s amazing isn’t it? I have somehow managed to come up with only three reasons why women’s basketball is shooting itself in the foot.
Of course there are many more reasons and scope for improvement across the board, but in a summer which has been extraordinarily hot and therefore I have been additionally grumpy, it feels like the time lay down my three biggest frustrations with the women’s game. And, I am not holding back. (Photo – FIBA)
CAN’T SHOOT, WON’T SHOOT
Over the years, it feels like I am having to say through my own teeth that the attractiveness of women’s basketball is the team-ethic, the passing and the shooting. Well, I don’t think I am going to be able to rave about the shooting anymore, since in recent years the perimeter shooting in particular has become an absolute joke.
Real life
Ramona Shelburne: Why we should be living pregnancy and motherhood out loud
There’s this scene at the end of the second episode of “Being Serena,” the five-part HBO series documenting Serena Williams’ life as she becomes a mother, that I just can’t shake. She’s back on the tennis court for the first time since giving birth, hitting groundstrokes with her training partner, Jarmere Jenkins, to “see if I still got it” or if “I need to find another career.”
Her doctors have cleared her for some light running and hitting, but nothing too intense on her legs and midsection, which is still healing after an emergency C-section and several surgeries to deal with post-operative blood clots and a hematoma that nearly killed her. But Serena can feel her competitiveness start to come back almost immediately. She reminds herself to be patient — or at least, she tries to.
“Was it bad?” she asks Jenkins after the workout.
“Just now?” he responds, trying to read her obviously trying-not-to-be-disappointed face. “No, no. I don’t know how much more you can ask for. Just keeping the ball on the court for now.”
Serena doesn’t answer. She knows he’s right. This was always going to be a long road back.
Laura M. Purtell and Anna Katherine Clemmons: Athlete-Mom Confidential: How the pros manage motherhood
Becoming a parent is a monumental step for anyone. But for women athletes, the decision can be substantially more complex. We wanted to hear from the women who became mothers during their careers, so we surveyed 37 athletes anonymously who reached or returned to professional competition after having children. We spoke to mothers across different sports, races, ages and sexual orientations — asking them questions that are unique to motherhood, but also those that could apply to any parent. (For more on our methodology and presentation, scroll down or click here.) Here’s what they had to say: