WNBA, NBA, Euroleague ... it's all happening
TweetTHE WNBA’s 2014 season tips off tomorrow morning, our time, and non-committed basketball lovers can latch onto Phoenix Mercury as the club with the most Aussie content.
Just as many Aussies now follow the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA due to the involvement of Boomers Patty Mills and Aron Baynes (and previously also as an assistant coach, Brett Brown), the Mercury are being coached this season by Sandy Brondello.
A four-time Olympian as an Opal (it would have been five but Australia failed to qualify in 1992), four-time World Championship competitor, a WNBL MVP and two-time league-leading scorer who also enjoyed success in Europe, Brondello is in her second head coaching stint in the WNBA.
A healthy Penny Taylor – MVP of the 2006 World Championship at which Australia won Gold – and combo guard Erin Phillips, give Phoenix solid Aussie content to go with stars such as Diana Taurasi, Brittney Griner and Candice Dupree.
It also gives local fans of the women’s game a team to keep an eye out for, when not looking out for Jenna O’Hea at Seattle.
Had a healthy Lauren Jackson gone back to the WNBA, then the Storm too would boast two Opals but Loz is working back to full fitness for another Opals run at the World Champion title.
Phoenix opens its season against Seattle on Sunday but the Storm are in action already tomorrow, coincidentally for O’Hea against Los Angeles Sparks, her previous WNBA outfit.
Of course, Bendigo Spirit fans most likely will watch out for their two-time WNBL grand Final MVP Kelsey Griffin who is back for her fifth season at Connecticut Sun.
The season had an early game on Tuesday, with Chicago beating Washington 76-69. But the real action tips off tomorrow with the Sun up against a revitalised New York Liberty.
THE NBA is down to its top seeds, funnily enough, with Miami against Indiana for the Eastern Conference title, while in the West, San Antonio will take on Oklahoma City after the Thunder today put out the Los Angeles Clippers in Game 6 for a 4-2 series success.
It’s impossible not to wonder how much of a distraction the whole fiasco with Clippers’ owner Donald Sterling’s initial racist remarks followed up this week by his rambling attack on Magic Johnson’s character.
So much for Sterling’s “apology”.
OKC wrapped Game 6 104-98 with Kevin Durant finishing with 39 points, 16 rebounds and five assists after a slow start.
“It's not how you start, it's how you finish,” he said.
“I just tried to stick with it.”
Rookie Kiwi centre Steve Adams saw 39:52 of action for 10 points and 11 boards and frankly, the more I see of him and the less I see of the NBA’s most overpaid “look at me scowl” dud Kendrick Perkins, the happier I am.
Indiana took out Washington 93-80 to settle their series 4-2, David West leading the way with 29 points.
The Pacers still don’t look like last year’s emerging potential champs or the team they were for the first third of the regular season but have managed to keep their Conference Championship playoff date with the Heat regardless.
DUAL-Olympian Joe Ingles has his work cut out if Maccabi Tel Aviv is to advance beyond the Final Four to the Euroleague Championship in Milan.
Opponent CSKA Moscow is a European powerhouse but Ingles has done wonderfully well to be heading for his third straight Final Four and with his second club, having previously been there with Barcelona.
CSKA twice beat Maccabi during the season, including once by 35, and starts a heavy favorite.
To catch the action live, tune in overnight at 2am (AEST) on Fox 511 or maybe set your IQ and keep away from social media tomorrow morning.
BEN Madgen and Todd Blanchfield have been thrown a Boomers lifeline with Chris Goulding (NBA aspirations) and Damian Martin (injury) withdrawing from Andrej Lemanis’ Boomers’ squad for the four-match Sino-Australia Challenge with China.
Martin’s Achilles issues have flared again, rest and rehab being the operative course to keep him in contention for Australia’s World Cup team in Spain.
The squad now is: Todd Blanchfield (Townsville Crocodiles), Angus Brandt (University of Oregon), Ryan Broekhoff (Besiktas, Turkey), Anthony Drmic (Boise State University), Cameron Gliddon (Cairns Taipans), Hugh Greenwood (University of New Mexico), Matt Knight (Perth Wildcats), Ben Madgen (Sydney Kings), Rhys Martin (Wollongong Hawks), Brock Motum (Bologna, Italy), Luke Nevill (Taiwan Mobile), Clint Steindl (Cairns Taipans), Lucas Walker (Melbourne Tigers), Mark Worthington (Melbourne Tigers).
TOMORROW: Take a trip back in time with a Flashback!