Sports Talk: Not Just a Dream

FOLLOWING A GAME IN WHICH they were out-rebounded 50-22, the Washington Mystics made a rather curious move: They traded their dynamic starting center, Chasity Melvin — an offensive threat who led her team in rebounding each of the past two seasons — for a guard/forward, Monique Currie. Melvin, now playing the post for the Chicago Sky, returns to town Friday for a 7 p.m. game against the Mystics.

Currie is a D.C. native who starred at The Bullis School and was a two-time All-American at Duke — where she teamed with Mystics' All-Star Alana Beard. Following the trade, she told The Washington Post that playing for the Mystics is a "dream come true."

Meanwhile, her team hopes to wake up any day now. The 0-4 Mystics, off to the worst start in franchise history, are desperate to generate some positive momentum tonight against the 1-2 Sky, an expansion team.

Despite the Mystics' rebounding difficulties and turnover problems this year, they have been in a good position to win each of their games through the fourth quarter when Washington has either been slightly outplayed, or has utterly collapsed.

This inability to deliver the kill — or "lack of execution," as coach Richie Adubato put it — is surprising, as it comes from a veteran squad that, after going a franchise-best 18-16 and making the playoffs last year, returned almost wholly intact and with championship aspirations.

After a brief preseason full of lofty goals, the Mystics find themselves with their backs against the wall in just the fifth game of the year. If, after giving up three competitive games to the WNBA's elite, the Mystics are unable to defeat an expansion team tonight, Washington will likely be in for a nightmarish summer indeed.

Written by Express contributor Tim Follos
Photo by John McDonnell/The Washington Post