Now Reed This: All-Star Order Restored

Mercury maniacs are appeased, civil unrest on the sizzling streets of Phoenix has been thwarted and the WNBA is free to proceed with its lovefest this evening.

Even the Sisters of No Mercy are happy again.

When the league played its first All-Star game at New York a year ago, 18,000-plus filled Madison Square Garden and saw the Sparks’ Lisa Leslie lead the West to a 79-61 victory.

It would surprise no one if the same thing happens today before another full house, 19,023, at America West Arena.

All was laughter and happiness Sunday, during two relaxed, let’s-not-take-this-too-seriously basketball practices.

But it wasn’t that way last week, after the WNBA announced its Western Conference All-Star team without even one player from the host Mercury.

Not even Brandy Reed--the 6-foot-1 guard who ranks fifth in WNBA scoring.

Within hours, Mercury partisans lined up at the arena box office, demanding refunds. Some were made. Then WNBA President Val Ackerman intervened and placed Reed on the West team.

Here’s who left Reed out: The fans voted for the All-Star starters, and a balloting of the league’s coaches determined the reserves.

Reed, a fourth-year pro from Southern Mississippi, has prodigious scoring skills, but the West coaches picked the Sparks’ DeLisha Milton at the backup forward spot over Reed, owing to Milton’s superior defensive game.

E-mails, letters and talk-show calls of outrage poured out of Phoenix. “Look at the stats!” read one banner at a Mercury game.

One Western Conference coach (no, it wasn’t Michael Cooper), who requested anonymity and who voted for Milton, said it was an easy call.

“Brandy Reed isn’t even close to being the defender Milton is,” the coach said.

“It’s the reason why Milton is on the Olympic team and Brandy Reed is not.”

West Coach Van Chancellor said he voted for Reed, and that defense had nothing to do with it.

“Since when does defense have anything to do with All-Star games?” he asked.

“If defense is a criteria, then you got four Eastern Conference players who shouldn’t be here at all.”

No names, he said.

Reed, averaging 17.6 points a game, has led Phoenix in scoring 11 times. On June 22, she scored 24 points in the second half, finishing with 32 in a victory over Charlotte.

Phoenix Coach Cheryl Miller played it all the way to page one.

“I don’t know what those coaches were thinking about, but it certainly wasn’t about basketball,” she said.

Leading the outraged were two Mercury season ticket-holders who wear nun garb with “Sisters of No Mercy” emblazoned on their black T-shirts. They even have their own Web site.

“I think we can all calm down now--we can all resume seeking how best to lead useful lives,” said “Sister Mother Mary Hoops” (real name: Jan Newman), who attended both practices Sunday. Her sidekick is “Sister 3-PT” (real name: Beth Ells).

But Reed was still getting dissed Sunday.

The WNBA passed out a revised West roster Sunday--and Reed was listed as a representative of the Utah Starzz.

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WNBA officials told Chancellor not to name the starter who replaces the injured Houston Comet guard Cynthia Cooper until game time today, but he is expected to choose Minnesota’s Katie Smith.

The rest of the West’s staring team is composed of Leslie at center, Houston’s Sheryl Swoopes and Tina Thompson at forward and Sacramento’s Ticha Penicheiro at point guard.

The Sparks’ other all-stars are Milton and Mwadi Mabika.

The East starters are Washington’s Chamique Holdsclaw and Nikki McCray, New York’s Teresa Weatherspoon and Sue Wicks, and Orlando’s Taj McWilliams.