Pregame notes, Fever vs. Dream.
The Indiana Fever open the regular season at 7 p.m. against the Atlanta Dream. Here are some things to watch for:
-Shavonte Zellous will start for just the eight time in her four-year career. Her speed and athletic ability add an important element to the Fever squad. She has averaged 7.8 points per game in her career.
-Briann January is back. It will be her first regular-season game since tearing her right ACL last year. She was solid in the preseason, averaging 10.5 points and 3.0 assists while shooting 45 percent from the field. She played 31 minutes at San Antonio in the preseason opener, then 19 minutes in the preseason home game against the Silver Stars.
-January won’t start. Erin Phillips, who stepped in and led the Fever to the Eastern Conference Finals last season after January got hurt, gets the nod tonight.
-Reigning league MVP Tamika Catchings will play power forward. Catchings has played some power forward during her WNBA career, but she has primarily been a small forward. She gives the Fever an amazing degree of versatility by moving, similar to LeBron James moving to power forward for the Miami Heat after Chris Bosh’s injury. All-Star guard Katie Douglas will move to small forward.
-Erika de Souza will not play. The 6-foot-5 center is a part of Brazil’s national team, and she will not play for the Dream until after the Olympics.
-Iziane Castro Marques is not with the Dream. She’s an unrestricted free agent, and she can’t sign right now because she’s with Brazil’s national team.
-Atlanta rookie forward Aneika Henry will start.
-Starting lineups: Fever-Zellous, Catchings, Davenport, Douglas, Phillips. Atlanta-McCoughtry, Henry, Lyttle, Price, Harding.
-Indiana and Atlanta both went a combined 3-0 in the preseason.
-Laurie Koehn scored 21 points in Atlanta’s 91-89 preseason win over Tulsa.
-Indiana center Sasha Goodlett debuts. The 6-foot-5 rookie from Georgia Tech scored eight points on 3-for-9 shooting in the preseason and grabbed five rebounds in a combined 32 minutes.
-Cathrine Kraayeveld now plays for Atlanta. She played for the Chicago Sky last year and started 15 games, averaging 5.9 points and 2.6 rebounds per game.
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Follow Cliff Brunt on Twitter: www.twitter.com/cliffbrunt_isl.
