One player admits she hasn’t been at her best. The other, suffering from a nagging injury, barely plays — well, aside from dropping a team-leading 18.9 points a night in games, not to mention 3.3 assists and 2.2 steals.
But DeLisha Milton-Jones and Alana Beard were named to the WNBA Eastern Conference All-Star team on Monday, the Washington Mystics’ two representatives for festivities this week that will culminate in Sunday’s WNBA All-Star Game at Verizon Center.
Beard, in an ongoing battle with shoulder soreness, didn’t practice Monday — sitting out has been a regular occurrence this summer — and Mystics head coach Tree Rollins said her participation for the All-Star Game would be “100 percent up to her.”
“She’s got so much pressure to play, if you will,” said Rollins. “But the smart thing would be to say, ‘I’m banged up, I’ll make an appearance, and thank you very much,’ and go ahead a take a little break to rest her shoulder.”
Milton-Jones’ 14.0 points per game, a career-high, has been offset by her team-high 3.5 turnovers. She has one more chance before Sunday to improve both figures against the struggling Lynx, who have lost four straight.
“I’ve showed signs of greatness, and I’ve shown signs of mediocrity,” said Milton-Jones. “I’mvery happy about the fact that the coaches saw something in me throughout my inconsistent play and selected me for a team like this.”
Washington, who will be without Gillian Goring (back) and Coco Miller (knee), can close to within one game of fourth place in the East with a win and a Chicago loss at Detroit.
Minnesota Lynx (5-14) at Mystics (6-12)
When » Tonight, 7
Where » Verizon Center
Radio » 1260 AM
