Filed under: WNBA

Two and a half weeks ago, the Atlanta Dream was reeling, having dropped six of their final seven games to close the WNBA regular season, looking to all like a prime candidate to get bounced from the first round of the playoffs.

A lineup adjustment here, a few days off there and the Dream suddenly find themselves in the Finals, with a 105-93 win over the New York Liberty in Atlanta Tuesday to complete a sweep of the best-of-three Eastern Conference championship series.

Second year forward Angel McCoughtry had a career high and WNBA playoff record 42 points in the Dream’s win, as Atlanta broke a 73-all tie after three quarters with a 32-point fourth period.

“You can’t do it without your teammates,” said McCoughtry, the 2009 WNBA Rookie of the Year. “Everybody played their butts off. Now, we’ve gotta get this ring, this championship ring. It’s not over.”

McCoughtry, whose 42 points topped the 41 scored by Indiana Fever forward Tamika Whitmore in a 2006 playoff game, outdueled New York guard Cappie Pondexter, who posted a playoff career high 36 points and nine assists to lead the Liberty.

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McCoughtry Powers Atlanta’s WNBA Finals Dream Into Reality

Filed under: 76ers, Raptors, Rockets, Spurs, FIBA, FIBA World Championship

ISTANBUL — While Manu Ginobili is busy tweeting 6,000 miles away, a new superstar is emerging in Argentine basketball.

Yes, Luis Scola has been around the national team for years, including being part of the 2004 Olympic gold-medal winning outfit. But this is the first time “Senor LScola,” which is what he was dubbed in one of Ginobili’s retweets, truly has been “El Hombre” for Argentina.

Ginobili, the star guard for the Spurs, is back home in San Antonio and not playing here in the FIBA World Championship. Instead, he’s tweeting about the event to his 308,000-plus followers, and Scola is giving him plenty to write about.

The Houston Rockets forward scored 37 points Tuesday and took charge down the stretch as Argentina beat archrival Brazil 93-89 at the Sinan Erdem Dome to earn a berth in the quarterfinals. Next up is Lithuania on Thursday, with the winner in a Saturday semifinal to face the victor of Thursday’s Team USA-Russia quarterfinal.

Scola made all four of his field-goal attempts and scored 10 points in the final 3:06 as Argentina held off Brazil and his former coach. Brazil’s Ruben Magnano had coached the nation to the south to that 2004 gold medal.

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Luis Scola Anchors Argentina’s Attack

Filed under: Nuggets, Raptors, FIBA, NBA Free Agents, FIBA World Championship

ISTANBUL — When Linas Kleiza was last seen in the NBA, he was hanging out beyond the arc. In the 2009 Western Conference finals for Denver against the Lakers, 19 of his 30 field-goal attempts were three-pointers.

But then Kleiza went to Greece for a season to play. He got stronger. He got smarter. He grew a scraggly beard that makes him look tougher.

Like an advertisement for a laundry detergent, Kleiza can claim to be new and improved. But the truth is he is.

This refined version of Kleiza was on display Tuesday in a knockout round game in the World Championship at the Sinan Erdem Dome. The forward scored a game-high 30 points and grabbed nine rebounds for Lithuania in a 78-67 win over China to advance to a Thursday quarterfinal against Argentina, which beat Brazil 93-89 later Tuesday.

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Linas Kleiza, New and Improved, Looks Forward to NBA Return

Filed under: Celtics, Hawks, Pistons, NBA Rumors, NBA Free Agents

Many were surprised when Shaquille O’Neal, long a proud, proud superstar, agreed this summer to subjugate himself not only in a pecking order by joining the Celtics, a professed team of equals, but also by taking an ego hit in his pocketbook, signing a minimum value contract.

Of course, O’Neal is at the end of his career, preparing his ride into the twilight, hoping to finish with more titles than Kobe Bryant (who is one ahead) and/or Tim Duncan (knotted at four). The Celtics provide a better opportunity than most suitors would, or at least in comparison with suitors who would agree to bring Shaq back. (The Heat and Lakers need not apply.)

But did Shaq actually have high-dollar options out there? We know Shaq flirted with the Atlanta Hawks — FanHouse’s own Tim Povtak reported that the team offered O’Neal a two-year deal starting at the mid-level exception. FanHouse’s Chris Tomasson later reported that after signing Joe Johnson, the Hawks were reticent to cross the luxury tax threshold, and thus had ruled a money-hunting Shaq out.

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Shaq Claims to Have Turned Down More Money From Hawks, Pistons

ISTANBUL (AP) — Linas Kleiza scored 30 points Tuesday to help send Lithuania into the quarterfinals of the basketball world championship with a 78-67 win over China.

Lithuania won its sixth straight game in the tournament after going undefeated in group play, but had to recover from a poor start this time.

China, which advanced despite winning just one group game, jumped out to a 16-5 lead in the first four minutes.

That “kind of knocked us back on our heels a little bit,” Lithuania guard Martynas Pocius said, but his team responded with a 16-2 run in the second quarter to take a 36-31 lead.

Lithuania coach Kestutis Kemzura said the turnaround came after he told the team during a timeout to focus on scoring inside rather than from long range.

“Don’t try to make it a 3-point contest, keep attacking the paint. Basically that’s what I said in not such a nice way as I’m saying now,” Kemzura said.

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Lithuania Knocks Off China to Reach FIBA Quarterfinals

Filed under: Magic, NBA Fans, The Bonus

ORLANDO, Fla. — This is one NBA promotion that should leave everyone flush with excitement, although the environmental lobby won’t like it very much. It’s not exactly the best example of going green.

In an effort to promote their soon-to-be-open, palatial downtown arena — particularly the spacious, sparkling restrooms — the Orlando Magic will hold a “Royal Flush” on Wednesday at 10 a.m.

Enlisting the help from children at a nearby elementary school, along with the mayor of Orlando, the team president and possibly superstar center Dwight Howard, all 443 toilets inside the Amway Center will be flushed simultaneously.

No plungers are expected for the Big Toilet Test and no foreign objects will be permitted. (The Magic might be tempted to bring the bloated contract — 3 years, $66 million remaining — of Rashard Lewis if they thought it would disappear).

The official purpose of The Flush — which will take an estimated 1,000 gallons of water — is for engineers to observe the sanitary sewer flows, water consumption and pressure in and around the arena.

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Magic Part of Potty Party Promotion

Filed under: Trail Blazers, USA Basketball, Thunder, FIBA World Championship

ISTANBUL — Portland coach Nate McMillan wouldn’t mind at all seeing Rudy Fernandez stay with the Trail Blazers.

McMillan, a Team USA assistant, was asked by FanHouse if his hope is the disgruntled swingman will remain with the team.

“He’s a great player,” McMillan said. “He’s a good player. A talented player. Very talented.”

Asked further about the subject and McMillan said, “He is in my notes for training camp. All right.”

Fernandez, unhappy with his role in McMillan’s offense, wants to be traded and already has been fined $25,000 by the NBA for that demand having been publicly issued. Through his agent, Andy Miller, Fernandez told The Oregonian two weeks ago he intends to not report to training camp even though he has two years left on his contract.

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Team USA Notebook: McMillan Preparing to Have Fernandez in Training Camp

Filed under: Bulls, Knicks, Pacers, Trail Blazers, FIBA, USA Basketball, FIBA World Championship

In The Works today: when “out-athleting” makes sense, but doesn’t; Kevin Love, secret weapon or boring garbageman?; and the heartbreaking rumor of a potential Anthony Randolph trade.

But first, Oscar Robertson speaks truth on LeBron James.

The Great Cynic: The ranks of basketball royalty haven’t been universally opposed to the Miami Three — it’s just seemed like it. Legendary former Georgetown coach John Thompson spoke highly of LeBron James’ decision to join the Heat, and even Isiah Thomas — a not-so-undercover Knicks operative — appreciated that LeBron exercised his right to choose.

Most other Hall-of-Famers who have spoken, though, have panned the move. Michael Jordan razzed LeBron for not being willing to do it on his own; Magic Johnson and Larry Bird also slipped on their tough-guy pants to assert they would never have teamed up with a top rival in the quest for glory. But all three of those legends are currently affiliated with teams in some capacity — Magic as a partial owner, Jordan as a majority owner and Bird as a general manager.

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The Works: Oscar on LeBron, Depressing Anthony Randolph Trade Rumors

Filed under: USA Basketball, FIBA World Championship

ISTANBUL — On Sept. 9, 1972, David Blatt was a 13-year-old kid living in Framingham, Mass., who bled red, white and blue.

On that day, the U.S. Olympic basketball team suffered a shocking and controversial 51-50 loss to the Soviet Union in the final of the 1972 Olympics in Munich, to fail to win the gold medal for the first time. It’s something Blatt never will forget.

“I was one of those kids crying when the Americans lost the game in the Olympics, when (Alexander) Belov made the shot at the end,” Blatt said of the ending in Munich in which the Soviets scored on a third inbound attempt with three seconds left on a length-of-the-court pass to Belov. The American players believe to this day they were cheated and have refused to accept their silver medals.

Flash forward exactly 38 years, and on Sept. 9, 2010 — which is Thursday — and the American-born Blatt, who now lives in Israel, will coach the Russians against Team USA in a World Championship quarterfinal at the Sinan Erdem Dome.

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For Russian Coach, Game Against U.S. Comes Full Circle

Filed under: Nuggets, USA Basketball, FIBA World Championship

ISTANBUL–Nobody has attached a nifty slogan to it such as “Win or Go Home.” But the knockout round in the World Championship is like the playoffs in the NBA.

And we’ve all seen how Chauncey Billups transforms when the playoffs start.

The guard was the Finals MVP when Detroit won the NBA crown in 2004 and was in line to claim the award again until the Pistons blew a nine-point second half lead in Game 7 of the 2005 Finals against San Antonio.

Billups’ career regular-season scoring average: 15.4.

His postseason career scoring average: 17.8.

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Veterans Billups, Odom Pace Team USA in Rout of Angola