ABCDE D SPORTS sunday, july 18, 2010 PRO BASKETBALL
Wall show rolls on Wizards’ top draft pick draws a crowd despite sitting out his team’s summer league finale. D2
Mystics’ success is a team effort
Minus Beard, Washington has relied on others for its best start in eight years
by Jorge Castillo
When it was announced less than two weeks before the start of training camp that Alana Beard, the Mystics’ four-time all-star, would miss the entire season with an ankle injury, 2010 became a question mark for the team. Eighteen games in, it isn’t much of a
mystery anymore. Fueled by the league’s second-best scoring defense, the Mystics are off to their best start since 2002 and lead the Eastern Conference with a 12-6 record, percentage points ahead of the the Atlanta Dream (14-8), as they head into Sunday afternoon’s game against Chicago. “Our goal from the start was to win the
East,” said Julie Plank, the team’s second- year coach. “We got a taste of the playoffs last year and I think our team is very con- fident with getting back to the playoffs and making a deep run. I have very high expectations for our team. “We lost Alana Beard early but I think our team responded really well. We’ve had different people step up.” Filling in for Beard has been a team ef-
fort headed by 2009 WNBA most im- proved player Crystal Langhorne and veteran Katie Smith, who the Mystics signed in the offseason. A first-time all- star this season, Langhorne has devel- oped into one of the league’s most pro- ductive players. After struggling through her rookie season in 2008, the 6-foot-2 forward averaged 12 points and 7.9 re- bounds per game last season. June’s East- ern Conference player of the month, Langhorne is shouldering more of the scoring load this season and is averaging 17.1 points to go with 6.4 rebounds per game. Washington originally signed the 5-
foot-11 Smith believing she would add backcourt depth and championship ex- perience off the bench for a roster that al- ready featured Beard, Marissa Coleman of Maryland, Lindsey Harding and Matee Ajavon. Instead, with Beard out, the 36- year-old veteran has started 17 of the team’s 18 games and is averaging just un- der 10 points in more than 32 minutes per contest. Smith isn’t the only Mystic playing more minutes than expected. Due to in- juries and the WNBA’s 11-player roster limit, installed prior to the 2009 season, the Mystics suit up just nine players per game. Since teams do not have injured reserve spots on the roster, Beard and Ja- cinta Monroe, who’s been out with a frac- tured left hand she suffered on June 19,
mystics continued on D2 Secret to their success
The Mystics’ improvement on defense has propelled the team to its best start since 2002. (All statistics through 18 games.)
Record Scoring
Points allowed
2010 2009 12-6 10-8 77.1 77.8 73.1 76.3
SOCCER
Carrying MLS’s flag World Cup hero Landon Donovan tries to bring momentum to MLS. D2
BASEBALL
Nationals singled out Team has 11 hits but none for extra bases in 2-0 loss to the Marlins. D5
British Open has a first-time feel
Oosthuizen 4 shots clear of contending pack devoid of previous major winners
by Barry Svrluga
st. andrews, scotland— Scan down the leader board after three rounds at the British Open, golf’s most ancient major championship, at the Old Course at St. Andrews, golf’s most ancient course. Look for a player who has won a major championship. Come on. Keep looking. There is two-time U.S. Open champion
Retief Goosen, but his 3-under-par 69 Saturday included a double bogey at 17, so he is just tied for eighth. Peruse some more. Get down to Tiger Woods, the man who won the last two Opens on this course, the man with 14 major titles to his credit. He is tied for 18th place, bat- tling a disagreeable putter. Lucas Glover, the 2009 U.S. Open champion, is mud- dling back there with Woods, a dozen shots behind. So unless Goosen strides forward, or Glover catches fire, or Woods does some- thing he has never before done in a major — come from behind on the final day to win — it is quite likely that, for the fifth time in the last six majors, a newbie will be champion. The most likely candidate, it appeared as the sun sank low over St. Andrews Bay, is matter-of-fact South Af- rican Louis Oosthuizen, widely regarded as a first-round fluke after his opening
british open continued on D6
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SALLY JENKINS
A tough name with lots of game
know what they’re thinking: “Who is this guy, and how do you pronounce his name? What is he doing here, and why doesn’t he get out of the way?” So what do you do? You hold up. Lodewicus Theodorus Oosthuizen is
P WARREN LITTLE/GETTY IMAGES
“It was great fun for me, and hopefully tomorrow will be the same,” said unheralded British Open leader Louis Oosthuizen. 139th British Open Third round
0 for 116
The combined record in majors of the top seven players on the leader board. (Worth noting: first-time major winners have taken four of the last five.)
LEADER BOARD Louis Oosthuizen Paul Casey
Martin Kaymer Henrik Stenson
Alejandro Canizares Lee Westwood Dustin Johnson
65-67-69 201 -15 69-69-67 205 -11 69-71-68 208 -8 68-74-67 209 -7 67-71-71 209 -7 67-71-71 209 -7 69-72-69 210 -6
0 for 8 in majors 0 for 29 0 for 10 0 for 20
First major 0 for 43 0 for 6
Complete results and tee times, D5
FINAL ROUND Time, TV: 6 a.m., ESPN.
MORE ONLINE Check out our
hole-by-hole guide to St. Andrews. Follow @barrysvrluga
on Twitter for constant updates.
something of an inconvenience in the British Open. No one can quite deliver the correct inflection in his name, or explain how the gap-toothed South African has managed to outscore all of the European Ryder Cup team, as well as Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. All around him are more popular players — the entire United Kingdom no doubt wishes he would move aside and let Englishmen Paul Casey and Lee Westwood have the glory. Everyone keeps talking about who the real leader is going into Sunday’s final round at St. Andrews.
“I know nobody expected me to be up
there,” he said, after his 69 gave him at least a four-stroke lead by himself for
jenkins continued on D6 st. andrews, scotland
ractically everybody on earth expects you to fold. All of the roars are for someone else, not you. You
After Tour, Armstrong may face another obstacle Cycling legend and former associates could be
dogged by ongoing federal doping investigation by Amy Shipley
he won’t be leaving the sport behind. A federal investigation into doping in cy- cling threatens to dog him and his for- mer U.S. Postal Service team associates for at least the next year, and could po- tentially jeopardize his legacy. Since Floyd Landis claimed publicly in
S
May that he participated in a secret dop- ing program with Armstrong and others
even-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong will wind down his competi- tive career and ride up the Champs-Élysées in Paris for the last time as the 2010 Tour concludes next weekend, but
on the USPS team between 2002 and 2004, federal investigators have sought information from some of Armstrong’s closest teammates and the bicycle manu- facturer that sponsored his team, trying to determine whether drug-related or other crimes were committed. At least two people have corroborated some of Landis’s sweeping claims re- garding doping, according to an individ- ual with knowledge of the investigation, who along with several others spoke on condition of anonymity for this story be- cause they were not authorized to pro- vide information. The additional evi- dence has caused the probe — which,
LEGACY AT STAKE: Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong: “I will be happy to cooperate, but I’m not going to participate in any kind of witch hunt.”
JOEL SAGET/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE VIA GETTY IMAGES
when it officially opened in January had nothing to do with Armstrong, accord- ing to sources — to pick up the pace in recent weeks.
Armstrong has repeatedly denied tak- ing performance-enhancing drugs and has passed hundreds of drug tests. At the Tour this past Wednesday, he expressed frustration at the swirl of rumors, telling reporters in France that, “as long as we have a legitimate and credible and fair investigation I will be happy to cooper- ate, but I’m not going to participate in any kind of witch hunt.” Armstrong and his attorney also have
attacked Landis’s credibility in the after- math of the recent allegations. Landis, who lost his 2006 Tour de France crown because of a positive drug test, had staunchly denied taking drugs for years, going so far as to write a book proclaim- ing his innocence while collecting dona- tions from fans for his legal defense. Tim Herman, Armstrong’s Austin-
based attorney, said he found it hard to believe the government would believe Landis since he has lied repeatedly and under oath. “What is so reprehensible is this guy bilked his best friends out of $2 million to fund a bogus defense,” Her- man said. “I can’t believe anybody would want to take Floyd Landis to the prom.” Landis, through his attorneys, de- clined to comment for this story. The investigation, overseen by pros-
ecutor Doug Miller in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of Califor- nia, has been conducted largely by Jeff Novitzky, a special agent in the FDA’s Of- fice of Criminal Investigations who led a previous federal drug investigation that ensnared track star Marion Jones, base- ball legend Barry Bonds and others. Subpoenas have been issued for docu- ments and at least one former cyclist. Greg LeMond received a subpoena on
armstrong continued on D3 Cyclist caps return from drug ban with stage win in Tour. D3
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