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The Phoenix Mercury have played well on the road recently, and they just hope to get a full game out of their stars when they play at the slumping Atlanta Dream on Sunday.Guard Diana Taurasi and center Brittney Griner were ejected in the third quarter of Friday nights home loss to the New York Liberty, ending a three-game winning streak for the Mercury.Two of those victories had come on the road -- at the hot Washington Mystics and at Eastern Conference-leading New York.Because of those ejections, Phoenix (7-10) might have a chip on its shoulder against Atlanta, which has lost five consecutive games to drop to 8-8.Griner was tossed from Friday nights game after arguing her fourth foul. WNBA scoring leading Tina Charles had been her main defensive assignment.Brittney, she gets hacked all the time, Mercury coach Sandy Brondello said after the game.Tina Charles, I mean shes a great player, but shes getting calls I dont think she should. Brittney Griner never gets those calls. I get frustrated, too. ... Brittney usually doesnt complain too much. I mean, she just lost her cool, which is understandable.Taurasi had some words for the officials before picking up her second technical, although Brondello said her star guard didnt swear.Taurasi is fourth in the league in scoring at 19.1 points per game. Griner averages 13.6 points and 6.5 rebounds. Phoenix has lots of other firepower, including forward DeWanna Bonner (15.2 points per game) and guard Penny Taylor (13.3).Atlanta guard Tiffany Hayes, who missed Tuesdays loss at Seattle because of a hamstring injury, returned with a career-high 32 points in Thursday nights loss to the Los Angeles Sparks. Forward Sancho Lyttle, who also missed the game in Seattle because of a hamstring, only played two minutes at Los Angeles.Forward Angel McCoughtry leads Atlanta with 19.4 points per game. Hayes averages 15.4. Center Elizabeth Williams averages 13.1 points and 7.3 rebounds.Atlanta is the worst 3-point shooting team in the WNBA at 24.9 percent.This is the first of three meetings between the teams in the regular season. . Numbers Game looks into the Canadiens securing the services of Thomas Vanek in a trade with the New York Islanders. The Canadiens Get: LW Thomas Vanek and a conditional fifth-round pick. . 1 position. The Mustangs (6-0), who beat Queens 50-31 last weekend, earned 17 first-place votes and 287 points in voting by the Football Reporters of Canada. Western was last ranked first in the country in October 2011. . Nigeria beat surprise package Ethiopia 2-0 in the second leg of their playoff for a comfortable 4-1 aggregate victory. Victor Moses converted a 20th-minute penalty after an Ethiopian handball, and Victor Obinna made certain of Nigerias place in Brazil with his powerful free kick in the 82nd at UJ Esuene Stadium. .Y. - Nelson Mandela will be honoured by the New York Yankees with a plaque in Monument Park. . Louis Blues teammates who would also be participating in the Olympics, Alex Pietrangelo felt right at home, no different in some ways to the travel experience of any old road trip – save for the length of the journey, that is. MILWAUKEE -- Two of the National Basketball Associations hottest teams face off Monday night when the San Antonio Spurs visit the Milwaukee Bucks at the Bradley Center.The Spurs come to town having won two in a row and 11 of their last 12 games while the Bucks extended their winning streak to a season-high four games Saturday night with a 112-103 victory over the Nets.Giannis Antetokounmpo has been a driving force during Milwaukees winning streak, but Jabari Parker has been a big factor as well, averaging 16.0 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists during those four games.Hes played real well, Antetokounmpo said. Hes leading us out there. I hope that he can keep playing the same way.The two building blocks of Milwaukees rebuilding efforts are starting to develop their own rhythm and that chemistry is spreading to the rest of the Bucks young roster.It was evident Saturday, when the Bucks watched a 16-point lead turn into a back-and-forth affair in the fourth quarter. Head coach Jason Kidd decided to let the guys on the floor figure out how to stop the bleeding on their own, and the move paid off.I wasnt going to call timeout, Kidd said. I wanted to see if they were going to talk themselves through it because thats what good teams do.Milwaukee has won five of its last six games since falling just short against Golden State Nov. 21. During that stretch, the Bucks have beaten the Magic twice, knocked off the defending champion Cavaliers and then beat Brooklyn in back-to-back games.That success, especially against good competition, has led to increased confidence.ddddddddddddWinning games we can (be in) control and sneak up on other teams that are really good, Parker said. Wins like that carry over. Its all about using these habits we get in each win.San Antonio owns the second-best mark in the NBA this season but has struggled out of the gate at times.We cant get it going, Manu Ginobili told ESPN.com. Its taking us a while to get into the rhythm, into the aggressiveness that we need to get leads. Yeah, we are not playing well, but the good thing is that meanwhile were getting wins and were maintaining a good record.San Antonios defense has been a big boost so far. While the Spurs are 19th in scoring this season with 103.0 points per game, theyre allowing just 98.2 -- the fourth-best mark in the league.It seems like in the second half our defense always picks up and we get back into the games because of the defense, coach Gregg Popovich said. Thats a good thing, I guess, that it gets better as the game goes along.Point guard Tony Parker sat out the Spurs victory Friday over Washington with a bruised left quad. Hes missed seven games this season and is considered day-to-day as San Antonio kicks off a three-game swing through the Upper Midwest.We have got a how much better are you meter? Popovich told the San Antonio Express News. We will check it out. ' ' '
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