espnW Women's Basketball

Atlanta's Iziane Castro Marques talks about having back center Erika de Souza and how that impacts her role and the rest of the Dream.

Minnesota's Maya Moore talks about the adjustments she expects both teams to make for Game 2 of the WNBA Finals.

Los Angeles' DeLisha Milton-Jones didn't try to avoid the obvious recently when asked about the struggles the Sparks have had this summer.

After Lisa Leslie retired, Candace Parker was going to be the team's undisputed centerpiece. But Parker's season ended after 10 games because of a shoulder injury.

"You know, you go through the whole list of clichés to try to make it seem like it won't be that bad," Milton-Jones said. "Like, 'It doesn't matter; one player doesn't make the whole team.' But at the end of the day, that one player is vital.

"When it's someone who is also one of the faces of women's basketball … that is not just a hole. That is an astronomically large crater that we have to fill. What that player brought to us is something that can't be replaced. The way teams had to formulate defenses to stop Candace when she is in transition, when she is setting a pick, when a pick is set for her, when she's on the block, when she's on the 3-point line …"

Yep, Parker is a multifaceted nightmare for defenders. Milton-Jones knew as soon as she found out that Parker was done for the season that the Sparks were in trouble. It was an additional blow to L.A. to lose guard Betty Lennox to injury, too; she appeared in just 11 games.

But Milton-Jones held on to the hope that the Sparks would find a way to still get into the playoffs. She expected it would be kind of like dragging several large pieces of heavy luggage -- which had the wheels fall off -- to an airport gate that seemed five miles away. Oh, and don't even think there is a luggage cart available to help.

Well, on Friday night, the Sparks finally made it to that gate. And they didn't miss their flight. L.A. is going to the postseason. A 98-91 win over the Minnesota Lynx put the Sparks in the playoffs.

Milton-Jones had a season-high 24 points. Her fellow "old ladies" on the Sparks were also critically important. Tina Thompson led L.A. with 26 points, while Ticha Penicheiro had 12 assists. All three players are 35; Milton-Jones and Penicheiro will be 36 in September.

Thompson, who became the WNBA's career scoring leader last week, also had nine rebounds, while Milton-Jones had seven.

"We're feeling very, very good, but we know the hard part is about to begin for us," Milton-Jones said. "This win tonight … we can't get too high off it because we want to go in [to the postseason] and represent ourselves well."

Actually, they should take some pride in just making the playoffs. Thompson, Milton-Jones and Penicheiro have all won WNBA titles, and their resolve and leadership carried the Sparks in the worst times. When the going got rough this season, they kept on going.

The Sparks' victory added one more piece to the playoff puzzle, which is still not fully formed. Now we have seven of the eight postseason teams, but the matchups remain to be determined.

There was a fair amount of drama Friday in that regard. The San Antonio Silver Stars, despite losing Chamique Holdsclaw to an Achilles tendon injury earlier this week, scrambled for an important 75-61 victory over the Indiana Fever. It put the Silver Stars closer to the last Western Conference playoff spot, while the Lynx were pushed a little further away by the loss to L.A.

Speaking of pushing, a little of that went on in D.C., as the Washington Mystics edged the New York Liberty in a 75-74 thriller that ended New York's 10-game winning streak. There was a bit of a postgame scuffle that fortunately didn't last long or amount to much … but it did show that passions are more than a little inflamed at this point in the season.

Going into the final two days of the regular season, Washington, New York and Indiana are all at 21-12 and tied for first place in the Eastern Conference.

Ready for the big finish?

It's really folly to believe in the idea of franchises being jinxed, isn't it? In any professional sports league, if you consistently struggle, it pretty much has to come down to it being your fault, right? There's no such thing as just perpetual bad luck. There is such a thing as continual management missteps that seep down to coaching moves and player performance, though.

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AP Photo/A.J. OlmscheidCandice Wiggins, Nicky Anosike and the Lynx (2-7) play just one more home game in June.

Yet, it can feel like a team is under a constant hex. And while it's probably still too early in the WNBA's history to proclaim any of its franchises to be, say, "Clippers-like" in terms of never-ceasing bad mojo, if any WNBA team were to be proclaimed as such, it would have to be the Minnesota Lynx.

Oh, I know. It's still too soon this season to begin burial preparations for the Lynx. After all, if there's generally one truism about the WNBA, it's that often just when a team appears unequivocally headed in a certain direction, it changes course.

It's just the start of June, and so a lot can still happen in the remainder of the regular season to take the pain out of what right now appears to be a giant toothache of a season for the Lynx.

But it might be as bad as it looks. Or … yikes … it might get worse. Although despairing Minnesota fans might say to that, "Really? How?"

Admittedly, the Lynx technically don't have the league's worst record. That belongs to the 1-6 Sparks, who also are obviously unhappy. But Los Angeles has lost its games by an average of just 7.7 points, including two excruciating one-point losses to Phoenix. The Sparks should be very irritated, but not completely dispirited.

The Lynx, though, might be only a step away from demoralized. They are 2-7, and while that's one more victory than the Sparks, Minnesota's losses are by an average of 16.9 points. And the misery was punctuated by Sunday's 38-point defeat at home to Indiana -- the 89-51 blowout being the Lynx's worst pounding this season.

Yes, Lynx guard Lindsay Whalen missed the game because of an "undisclosed" illness, and forward Seimone Augustus is still out after abdominal surgery. Plus it's a bad time right now to face the Fever -- it might stay that way the rest of the season -- as the defending Eastern Conference champs have won three in a row and five of their last six.

Still, this is exactly opposite of what the Lynx were hoping for this summer. After an offseason trade to bring home-state legend Whalen home, Minnesota looked poised to change its fortunes. The Lynx have made the playoffs just twice in their previous 11 seasons, but a young, talented team with Whalen's leadership at point guard was supposed to make 2010 a very different story.

And, as mentioned, it still could be. Hey, it was just a week ago -- June 1 -- that the Lynx defeated 2009 WNBA champion Phoenix. After a rough start to the season, that looked like a potential turning point.

But then came a 92-79 loss to Tulsa on Friday, followed by the truly awful game against the Fever. How bad was it versus Indiana? Try 20.7 percent shooting from the field by the Lynx (12 of 58).

Admittedly, Indiana's defense is very good. But come on. The Lynx should be able to shoot as if they're not catastrophically visually impaired even against the Fever, and even without Whalen.

This was primarily a guard/wing problem, with three principle offenders: rookie Monica Wright (1 of 13), recently back-from-injury Candice Wiggins (1 of 8), and sometimes-also-went-cold-at-North Carolina Rashanda McCants (0 of 6).

Wright started her first WNBA season well, scoring 18 points at Tulsa in a victory on May 15. And in the Lynx's other win, against the Mercury, she had 32 points. But there have been some rough waters otherwise for Wright, who finished college as the Virginia program's all-time leading scorer.

She has taken more shots, 127, than any Lynx player thus far, but has made just 40 of them (31.5 percent). As a team, Minnesota is shooting a league-worst 37.7 percent from the field, while allowing its opponents to shoot 44.4 percent.

Coach Cheryl Reeve summed it up Sunday by saying, "We are a bad basketball team," and you've got to figure nobody is more surprised about this than she is. Reeve apprenticed under Bill Laimbeer at Detroit and seemed very ready to have her chance at running the show with the Lynx. Which she got when Jennifer Gillom left to coach the Sparks.

Reeve didn't dodge high preseason expectations. To the contrary, she embraced them, saying it was time for the Lynx to take some big steps forward, including making the playoffs. And she fully endorsed the Whalen deal that sent the No. 1 pick to Connecticut, which used it to select Tina Charles (who -- no surprise -- is leading all rookies in scoring, rebounding, field goal percentage, blocks and efficiency rating).

Reeve might have underestimated the effect and duration of the various injuries Minnesota has dealt with. And team chemistry perhaps has been more elusive because of that.

And, unfortunately, we've saved the worst part for last, Lynx fans. Minnesota has only one home game left in June, which will be on the 18th, against Tulsa. From Thursday, June 10, through July 1, the Lynx have six of their next seven games on the road. Which could be lethal for a team trying to right itself.

Then again, considering how horrible Sunday's game must have looked to the home fans at the Target Center, maybe the road is not such a bad place after all for the Lynx.

Editor's note: ESPN.com senior writer Elizabeth Merrill spent the day with Connecticut Huskies senior Tina Charles, who was the top pick in Thursday's WNBA draft.

3:27 p.m. ET

About four hours ago, Tina Charles said she wasn't nervous. All that changed in the moments before the draft, when Charles said her heart was about to pound out of her chest.

She composed herself and stood in front of about 15 media members and told them that going No. 1 to the Connecticut Sun was "a dream come true."

She'll stay close to her home in Queens, N.Y., and will get to play in front of the same rabid fan base that cheered her on with the Connecticut Huskies.

"My family is Connecticut now," she said.

3:10 p.m. ET

Well, it's official. Tina Charles goes No. 1 overall to the Connecticut Sun. She hugged her mom and dad, then Geno Auriemma, and grabbed her new jersey.

2:20 p.m. ET

Basketball players do not roam around in 4-inch heels with perfectly sprayed hairdos very often. That's why a couple of WNBA reps are running the draftees through a pre-draft rehearsal, sort of a walk-through, just before the draft.

"Make sure you're standing up straight," one WNBA official says.

"When your name is called, take your time … hug it out [with friends and family]."

No cell phones, the players are told. No gum chewing, either.

Each player will sit at her own table with a select group of loved ones. UConn coach Geno Auriemma is expected to be perched at Tina Charles' spot, which is positioned in the middle of the room.

A number of Huskies players are making the trek to New Jersey, too, to show their support.

"I miss my team," Charles says. "I miss waking up and seeing my teammates. That's my comfort zone."

12:29 p.m. ET

Here's a strange scene: Tina Charles has just arrived at the WNBA draft, and in the players lounge, she's laughing and chatting it up with Jayne Appel. You remember Appel? Two nights ago, the Stanford center was battling Charles in the national championship game. Now she's Charles' buddy?

Actually, they've been friends for years, since fighting for rebounds on the AAU circuit, and Appel and Charles are BlackBerry Messenger friends and chat all the time. A few hours after Tuesday's game, Charles and Appel texted and eventually met up and hung out on the River Walk in San Antonio. They also had talked before the Final Four semifinals, wishing each other luck.

Appel's boyfriend thinks it's kind of strange how Appel and Charles can be fierce competitors on the court, then hang out after a game. Then again, Appel's boyfriend is Chris Marinelli, a 6-foot-7, 301-pound offensive lineman from Stanford who's gearing up for the NFL draft.

"A lot of male athletes don't have that [camaraderie]," Appel says. "I think it's special."

Marinelli will be here for the WNBA draft, and Appel could no doubt use somebody to lean on. She's hobbling around with a stress fracture in her foot and a twisted ankle. Appel says she feels fine thanks to some pain medication and is eager to play regardless of where she's drafted.

Still, she needed a few hours to compose herself after Tuesday night's 53-47 loss. When she finally met up with Charles and some of her UConn teammates, Appel tried to turn away when highlights played on the TV. But Appel was glad she spent her last night in San Antonio with her old friend.

"Tina is a great person," Appel says. "A very classy player."

11:30 a.m. ET

OK, so it's not even noon yet, and Tina Charles has shaken at least 20 hands and done four interviews. But the thing she dreaded the most about today? Getting dressed up.

"Getting all dolled up … this is a drag," Charles said as she fidgeted in her seat.

Charles will head over to the draft in a few minutes.

A little-known fact: Charles, a Queens, N.Y., native, is a Mets fan, and actually thought as a kid that baseball would be the sport she'd play the longest.

Charles won her first trophy in baseball and kept it displayed prominently in her family's house.

9:15 a.m. ET

The alarm on Tina Charles' BlackBerry went off a little bit ago. Most Thursdays, it wakes her up for a morning class at UConn. This morning, she glanced at it and hit the off button.

Charles has been up for a couple of hours, and it's a big day. In six hours, she's expected to be the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft.

Charles says she isn't nervous, because, really, this is nothing compared to the past month or so. Her Huskies have carried the weight of a two-year winning streak and just made it 78 in a row Tuesday night with a win over Stanford in the national championship game.

Critics said UConn's dominance was bad for women's basketball. Charles bristled at that. "Because we knew all the hard work we put in at practice," Charles says. "People were still diving on the floor for loose balls.

"We take pride in what we do. That was ridiculous."

This has been a whirlwind week for Charles. There was the late-night national championship reception in San Antonio, the flight back to Connecticut, the pep rally on campus. Charles rolled into Secaucus, N.J., late Wednesday.

Today, she's doing the media circuit in Manhattan before ending up back in New Jersey to hear her name called.

Traffic has been the only headache so far. She spent an hour in an SUV with her mom, Angella, and passed the time by fiddling with her phone, reading e-mails and playing games.

So Tina Charles seems to be making a regular habit of extinguishing suspense. Her UConn team was predicted to win the past two NCAA titles. And despite things looking shaky for a while against Stanford on Tuesday, the Huskies did just that.

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AP Photo/Eric GayProjected No. 1 draft pick Tina Charles led UConn to the NCAA title and its second consecutive unbeaten season on Tuesday.

Similarly, Charles has been the cinch No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft pretty much all her senior season. Thus, we can be certain how things will get started in Thursday's draft (ESPN2/ESPN3.com, 3 p.m. ET).

"With the first pick of the WNBA draft, the Connecticut Sun select … Tina Charles."

After that, it's hard to say who's going to go where. But it's not difficult to recognize how to label this draft. Someone like Charles aside, it's not regarded as a superstar-potential senior class.

In a teleconference last week, coach Nolan Richardson of the relocated Tulsa Shock said, "I may have to move my pick. We've got a lot of gaps and things we need to do."

Meaning he didn't think that at No. 7, he was going to get what he needed. So, indeed, on Wednesday the Shock sent their 2010 first-round pick and a 2011 second-round selection to Connecticut for Amber Holt and Chante Black.

Which one could assume is Richardson's way of saying, "Kinda slim draft pickings."

Richardson is, of course, getting a crash course on the women's game and is trying to rebuild a Shock team that isn't the same squad that was in Detroit. Several of those veterans seem to have treated Oklahoma as if it's rampant with the plague and wanted no part of going to Tulsa. Kudos to those Shock players who are giving the new WNBA city a chance.

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AP Photo/Charlie NeibergallVirginia guard Monica Wright is among the players rumored to be picked not long after Tina Charles goes first in the WNBA draft.

Richardson, understandably, would prefer experienced average players to rookie average players. And if that sounds like a harsh assessment of the class of 2010, it's not meant to be. Just realistic.

With only 12 teams and jobs at a premium, rookies will find it hard to make rosters unless they bring specific needs to teams. Being a good role player, though, is indeed filling a need.

Minnesota has the second and third picks, and new Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve suggested a couple of weeks ago that she thought she had her mind made up about who the franchise needed to take. We'll see if she has had second thoughts since then, in the wake of NCAA tournament performances.

"I think the people we've all projected to be solid players in the league are still solid," Reeve said. "How deep is this draft? It's an interesting time with the contraction. With the way we shape our rosters, positional need is becoming more important.

"I use the word 'serviceable.' There are a lot of serviceable players in the draft. There's not the Cappie Pondexters and the Candace Parkers. But still some good players. We have two high draft picks. We'll try to maximize them."