Lynx Win on Road, LaVine Has Fun in Pro-Am

The Minnesota Lynx defeated the Tulsa Shock on the road last night 79-72, behind a monster night from Maya Moore. Moore scored 32 points overall, 30 in the 2nd half to set a franchise record for scoring in a half. The Lynx move to 12-3 on the season and continue to hold the best record in the WNBA.  The Shock, who were the early season front runners continue to reel after the loss of Skylar Diggins to an ACL injury.

Lindsay Whalen only played 17 minutes and was not on the bench for a large part of the game, but the team made no announcement about an injury, so we'll await word. Already without Seimone Augustus and Monica Wright, losing another guard, especially an all-star quality performer like Whalen, would be tough.

Meanwhile, as I documented yesterday, Zach LaVine put on a show for the home folks at Jamal Crawford's Seattle Pro-Am. He dunked and bombed his way to 49 points including a double-clutch, game winning three. A perfect setting for LaVine's talents, and he didn't disappoint those in the crowd.

The Rockets acquired point guard Ty Lawson from the Nuggets yesterday in exchange for some parts, including Pablo Prigioni, who they will waive or trade, Kostas Papanokoulaou, and Nick Johnson. Ultimately, the Nuggets just wanted to move on from a player who was recently arrested for his second DUI and around whom they no longer could build, and hand the keys over to impressive rookie Emmanuel Mudiay.  Still, if you had asked Nuggets fans a year ago whether this haul was acceptable for Lawson, they would have laughed.

The Rockets get a potential needle-mover, giving them a terrific pair of point guards with Patrick Beverly immediately becoming one of the best back ups in the league. Ty Lawson is someone who can break the defense down and create the open threes and looks at the rim that Houston craves. A terrific risk for them in my opinion.

We've entered the quiet period of the NBA calendar. Most business is done, summer league is coming to a close, and nothing goes on from now until training camp opens.  We'll keep the content coming, but there is unlikely to be significant news. The NBA pretty much goes on vacation for August.

Today in History

1738: French explorer Pierre Gaultier reaches western shore of Lake Michigan. Where he finds a bar selling cheap draft beer, brats, and featuring an "All You can Eat Friday Fish Fry." 
1810: Citizens of Bogota declare independence from Spain
1861: Confederate Congress opens first session in Richmond
1871: British Columbia joins Canadian Federation
1877: Military fires on striking RR workers in Baltimore, kill nine
1881: Sioux chief Sitting Bull surrenders to federal troops
1944: Hitler survives assassination attempt
1969: Man's first step on moon (Armstrong and Aldrin)
1976: Hank Aaron hits final career home run
1977: Documents reveal CIA's involvement in mind control experiments
1990: William Brennan resigns from Supreme Court 
2000: Leaders of Salt Lake City Olympic Bid Committee indicted for fraud and corruption

Today's musical birthday is guitarist Carlos Santana, born in 1947

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