Brian�s Courtside Blog - June 13 vs Washington

Hey Sky fans, Brian here from the scorer�s table again. Tonight the Sky looks to make it three wins in a row as we host the Washington Mystics. The Sky has never defeated the Mystics at home. I am interested to see how the Sky comes out of the gate tonight, as they have not played in six days.

Before tip-off, I overhead the Mystics radio announcer say, �Ill tell you what, the Mystics have got to get a win tonight to get rid of the frustration, but they take on a very good Chicago Sky team, which, despite their record, coming into tonight�s game one under .500, is an extremely good, young, athletic team.� A perfect description of the young and talented Sky, in my opinion -- I can�t wait to see this team gel over the season.

Right before tip, an adorable little boy timidly walked out to half court to present the referee the game ball. He got within about 10 steps, bounced the ball towards the ref, and quickly sprinted off the court. Jia�s daughter, Aalirah was in the ball exchange line during player introductions, and Jia kissed her on the head as she gave her a ball.

Sitting at the scorer�s table, I usually have one of the best views in the entire arena. Tonight, however, my view was slightly altered as all 7�1� of Mystics Head Coach Tree Rollins roamed the sideline, blocking my view of the court from time to time. Its always amazes me when I see someone that tall -- no wonder they call him Tree.

Midway through the second quarter, Tye�sha Fluker took the ball hard to the rim and ran over a Mystics player. The call on the play was a blocking foul. Rollins immediately jumped off the bench and looked at both the Mystics radio announcer and I, and said with a devilish grin on his face, �That ain�t right.�

As Fluker received the ball for her first free-throw attempt, one of the refs glanced at Rollins. He again stood up and yelled at the ref, �Don�t look at me, you�re the one who made that call, don�t look at me.�

I thoroughly enjoy listening to coaches complain to the refs throughout the game. It sometimes becomes the focal point of my attention when coaches like Bill Laimbeer come to town. He�s the most fun to listen to, because he literally does not lay off the refs from pre-game warm-ups until the final buzzer, keeping all of us at the scorer�s table entertained. Coach Key was talking to the refs a lot during this game, but I can�t hear him from where I sit.

The game itself was not characteristic of the run-and-gun Sky. At the beginning of the 4th quarter, both teams still remained under 50 points. The Sky came into tonight�s game ranking 5th among all teams in the league, averaging 77 points per game. It�s frustrating to watch your team struggle from the floor all night; it�s even more frustrating when both teams in the game struggle, resulting in a low scoring, blue collar game.

Perennial All-Star Alana Beard knocked down two gigantic three-pointers with under two minutes to go in the game. The nail in the coffin came when she hit a fade-a-way jump shot from the top of the key with 15 seconds left. Beard scored 12 of the Mystic�s last 14 points.

The Sky dropped a game I thought they could have easily won, 64-57. Anytime you score 29 points in a half, as the Sky did in the second half tonight, you are going to find it difficult to win a ball game. And missing 13 free throws didn�t help much.

At the beginning of the night I said I was interested in seeing how the Sky would come out of the gate after not playing in nearly a week. Well, they started the game well and took control of the game early, but let things get away at the end of the game.

Don�t miss our next home game on June 26 at 8pm as the defending WNBA Champion Phoenix Mercury come to town for their only trip to Chicago this summer. We are going to need your support for this one. The Sky plays 7 of the next 10 games away from UIC Pavilion, including the dreaded west coast swing � LA, Phoenix and Sacramento. You can listen to all of our away games on WVON 1690AM, or streaming at wvon.com or wnba.com.