revealed more about their own discomfort than th

Diana Taurasi and the surging Phoenix Mercury started the post-Olympic break in impressive fashion. The Mercury backed up a blowout of the Dallas Wings on Friday with an upset of the first-place Los Angeles Sparks on Sunday.Taurasi scored 26 points and the Mercury defense forced 21 turnovers in the win over the Sparks. Phoenix has won four of five heading into Tuesdays road test against the Indiana Fever.Unlike the Mercury, the Fever did not get off to the start they were hoping for after returning from the monthlong Olympic break. Indiana was blown out by the Washington Mystics 92-69 on Friday at home. The loss snapped the Fevers three-game winning streak.Im disappointed in our effort, Indiana coach Stephanie White told the Indianapolis Star after the loss to the Mystics. For whatever reason, we lost our energy and intensity in the second half.Indiana (12-13) is in sixth place in the league standings. The top eight teams, regardless of conference, qualify for the postseason. White said her team still needs to generate a playoff effort in the final 10 games of the season.We have to put that energy, that effort, that urgency out there, White told reporters. We cant turn that on when the lights turn on. We have to do that day in and day out.Phoenix (12-14) is in seventh place entering Tuesdays game, a half-game behind the Fever.Taurasi is fourth in the WNBA in scoring, averaging 18.9 points per game. She was held to 13 points in an ugly loss to the Fever in July.Indiana has won the two previous meetings with the Mercury this season, including a 78-60 rout on July 8 in Phoenix. The Fever turned 27 Mercury turnovers into 38 points and outscored them 30-10 in the third quarter to pull away.The Fever have won the last four meetings with Phoenix. The Mercurys last victory in the series came in August 2014.Tuesdays game marks the beginning of the final 10 games of Indiana standout Tamika Catchings career. The future Hall of Famer has announced she is retiring after the season. White is also leaving after the season to become the coach at Vanderbilt. Discount Nike React Shoes . Both players have lower body injuries that will keep them out of the lineup until at least January 31, which is the first game they can be activated from IR. Cheap Nike React China . -- Jacksonville wide receiver Cecil Shorts will likely be a game-time decision whether hell play Sunday in the Jaguars home game against the San Diego Chargers. http://www.cheapnikereact.com/ . Just not the game. Kyle Palmieri scored two straight goals in the third period to rally the Anaheim Ducks past the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 on Tuesday night. Wholesale Nike React Shoes . According to a report from the Winnipeg Free Press, the Bombers will name Acting GM Kyle Walters to the post full time. Cheap Nike React Shoes Online . Scott Kazmir allowed four hits in seven shutout innings, Michael Brantley hit a two-run homer in a three-run first inning and the Indians maintained their hold on an AL wild-card spot with a 4-1 win over the Houston Astros on Saturday night. Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin have counselled Australia against excessive sledging in the forthcoming Test series against South Africa, querying whether recent efforts to puff chests out detracted more from the teams performances than having any impact on the opposition.The Australia ODI team engaged in numerous verbal battles with South Africa over the course of a 5-0 series defeat on their recent tour, which followed captain Steven Smiths assertion that a quiet team needed to show more energy in the field. While Clarke and Haddin were both known for numerous verbal stoushes over their careers, they agreed that forcing the issue verbally would do more harm than good.Im probably contradicting the way I captained, because I loved that aggressive approach and while there was a line, I always liked the team I captained to head-butt that line, not overstep it but head-butt it. Thats how I thought we played our best cricket, Clarke told ESPNcricinfo. But the more I experienced got I believed it wasnt what you said it was what you did, so your performance wasnt dictated by your mouth.Im probably contradicting myself and my captaincy style because there were a couple of occasions where I did open my big mouth. The reason I did that with James Anderson was to stick up for George Bailey and the Dale Steyn one was sticking up for James Pattinson as well. But I shouldnt have said a word, in both situations there was no need for me to say anything.Clarke noted that numerous players from past eras were particularly talkative on the field because it is what worked for them, not because they felt compelled to do so out of some idealised image of the Australian cricketer. I think you need to do whats comfortable to you, he said. The team I grew up playing in that Australian team, they had Steve Waugh, Matthew Hayden, Shane Warne, these guys liked and enjoyed that verbal competition.That helped them perform. So if that helps you, as long as you dont overstep that mark, then go for your life. Theres a number of players around the world that enjoy that. I remember Kevin Pietersen loved that challenge against Mitchell Johnson or Shane Warne, whomever it was.So if it helps your game, do it, but I dont think you should force it. I think thatd be like me trying to bat like Ricky Ponting. The guys have got to work out what they feel is best for them individually and as a team and go for it. But if it doesnt suit your personality then I wouldnt try to be someone Im not. Haddin expressed the view that teams could make life uncomfortable for opponents without resorting to verbal abuse..dddddddddddd. Areas like aggressive fielding, running between the wickets and banter among team-mates - sometimes referred to as talking across the batsmen - could have the same effect without becoming a distraction from the primary goal - to win the game.I dont think its about what you say on the field, Haddin said. The best Australian teams Ive been a part of have been able to create an uncomfortable environment for the opposition with your body language, your movements around the game, and creating an atmosphere with each other where the opposition feels like theyre the only two people out there, or he [the batsman] feels like hes stuck out there by himself.Its the environment youre trying to create with your presence. That can be having the most athletic fielding team so the opposition feels uncomfortable there. Its about creating the environment to make the opposition feel they cant play their best. The best way you can do that is to create an environment where the opposition try to do something they dont normally do.Sometimes the best form of that is not to say anything - you wouldnt say anything to a Kevin Pietersen for example because hed dig his heels in and start taking it personally to hit us all around the park. One of the best things for him was to stay away from him.Conversely, Haddin felt that talking too much to opponents invariably led to a change in the power dynamic, as the sledgers revealed more about their own discomfort than those they were targeting. Talking too much to the opposition ... youve got to earn the right to play the way you want to play, Haddin said.Sometimes if youre just focusing on talking and trying to get a reaction it can have a negative effect on your team. The reason you create that uncomfortable environment there is to make the opposition do something they dont want to do. If it starts detracting from what youre trying to do then thats a problem.Asked to provide an example of a player who struck the right balance, Haddin mentioned Andrew Symonds. Andrew was one of the best team men I ever played with, he said. He didnt say a lot to the opposition, but his presence in the covers or when he had the ball he was always up for the contest.You knew if Andrew was there, the way he dived in the field and chased, the tempo he set running between the wickets, the opposition could look at him and says Hang on, the Australians are up for the fight today and that then puts doubt in their change room. ' ' '