Courtside Blog - June 2 vs. E-League

5:50 p.m. Sky players on the court going through some pregame shooting drills, while Bill Bellamy of the E-League is taking over his half of the court, doing a few interviews. He�s been very vocal about his intentions of dominating tonight�s game � we�ll see how well those predictions turn out.

Just talked to Frankie Muniz, he has a broken foot and he will not be playing tonight. Too bad to hear as I was looking forward to seeing the �little guy� drive the lane on all 6�6� of Sylvia Fowles. Muniz was kind enough to give out a brief scouting report on this team. He said that James Lafferty is one of the best players they have, Cory Hardrict is �an awesome shooter,� and that Brian McKnight is fresh off an E-League Championship.

6:08 p.m. Here�s a quick recap of my pre-game interview with Michael Clarke Duncan:

On playing in his hometown: �I am always happy to come back to Chicago. Any time that I can come back to the city is a welcome time.�

A scouting report: �I�ve been watching Fowles since she was at LSU. I was teasing her about the free throws she missed in the NCAA tournament last night at the ESPN Zone�don�t think she liked it too much, hopefully she doesn�t take it out on me tonight!�

Tonight�s game plan: �This is their domain, they are good. We�d be stupid to think that we�re going to be able to match them if we don�t play our game. That�s our game plan for tonight�we�re going to play our game.�

6:20 p.m. Judging by the screams from the crowd, Lafferty is going to be the most popular player on the court tonight for the E-League. Every time he walks out on the court just about every young girls voice fills the UIC Pavilions with some very high pitched screams.

6:25 p.m. After a fan wished him good luck, Jay Harrington replied with, �We�re going to get smoked!�

6:30 p.m. Tia Mowry, one of several coaches for the E-League, offered some of her thoughts on tonight�s matchup: �I have to be optimistic�but they did a practice run yesterday. To be honest, the boys are a little scared. The girls are so conditioned. They play this game for a living; the guys play it for fun. I�m going to predict that the fourth quarter will be trouble because the girls are conditioned very well.�

Mowry also said some of the players were worried about Chen Nan: �A lot of them had their eyes on [Chen]. She�s 6�5��they were asking, �who�s going to cover her?�

7:00 p.m. Who better to have sung the national anthem than Grammy-nominated artist Brian McKnight!? He performed an outstanding rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner. I have never heard someone hold a note as long as he did! AMAZING!

7:05 p.m. Just about tip-off time � NBA Stars�Luol Deng from the hometown Chicago Bulls and Tracy McGrady from the Houston Rockets are in the house tonight. Also, on the bench for the E-League is Tommie Harris of the Chicago Bears. Just from sitting a few feet from him, I have no idea how anyone blocks that guy�he�s huge�I�m scared!

7:10 p.m. A friendly exchange before the tip between Fowles and Duncan�but Fowles wins the tip easily�to no surprise!

7:07 left, first quarter � Fowles goes up strong and gets fouled by Duncan, who did not see that call the same way. Just heard E-League coach Steve Harris say that when Duncan comes out, McKnight will be covering Fowles�good luck, Brian.

4:14 left, first quarter � There�s little doubt that Duncan is going to be the most animated player all night. Every time the E-League scores, he�s the first one up off the bench in support.

End of 1st quarter � After Duncan got his second foul of the quarter, a fan yelled that they had to get him out of the game�Mowry turned around and said, �That�s what I�ve been saying, but no one listens to the girl!� After one quarter of play, it�s 22-16 in favor of the Sky.

5:12 left, 2nd quarter � Mowry�s prediction is coming true, a bit quicker than she�d thought however. The Sky has opened a 39-21 lead using their speed to find open shots. Also, the E-League is having trouble dealing with the height of Chen�another point Mowry made before the game. I�m very impressed with her insight to the game. Another NBA athlete sighting�Shawn Marion of the Toronto Raptors, also Waukegan native.

1:43 left, 2nd quarter � Tank just turned to his bench and said, �They aren�t missing.� He�s right�it�s 49-25 Sky!

Halftime � Sky leading, 53-26. Dupree leading all scorers with 15 points, while McKnight has 9 to lead the E-League.

For those of you that are not at the game, I hope you are checking out our first ever web broadcast of the game because the halftime dance-off was one of the best I�ve ever seen! Words can�t describe some of the moves I saw out there�simply fantastic!

Words from Duncan for the 2nd half: �We gotta get more aggressive!�

Early on in the third quarter Perkins nailed a three pointer in the face of Hardict. I glanced over at Coach Harris as they exchanged a look of I don�t know what else we can do to stop them. It�s simply the Sky�s game and the E-League is in awe.

3:08 left, 3rd quarter - Coach Steve Harris grabbed the score sheet and said, �I�ve got more points than most of the guys on my team.� Score: 74-38 Sky.

End of 3rd quarter � It�s becoming more evident that these guys aren�t really basketball players�they just play them on TV. Sky 81, E-League 47.

6:20 left, 4th quarter � Making a move Sky fans hope to see all year long, Chen drove right by the E-League defense on her way to an easy layup. The Sky is scoring at will now�as they have been for most of the game. 91-51, Sky.

2:00 left, 4th quarter � Here�s a brief exchange between Steve Harris and a fan:
Fan: �Hey coach, after this game we�re going to have to talk about your contract!�
Harris: �It�s okay, I�m going to coach the Clippers after this one!�

End of the game � And with a 2-pointer by Sylvia Fowles, the Sky have hit 100 points in the ball game. Your final score is 102-55 in favor of the Sky. Plenty of hugs and laughs as the teams go through the handshake line after this one�a fun night to be a part of!

There�s still time left to get tickets for our home opener, next Friday night, June 12, against the Atlanta Dream. For ticket information, call 866-SKY-WNBA and we look forward to seeing you soon!