MINNEAPOLIS -- Lindsay Whalen hobbled through the regular season last year. She hobbled through the playoffs. She even hobbled through the Minnesota Lynx championship celebration.And so when it came time to head overseas for an 11th straight winter to go cash in on a cant-miss opportunity to make the kind of money that just isnt available to womens basketball players in the United States, Whalen decided she had enough.Her ankle, Achilles tendon and back were telling her to stay home. So were family members who had grown so accustomed to her being gone through the holidays. As her career enters the final few years, she decided to give her body a mental and physical break from the year-round grind she had been doing for so long. And it was one of the best decisions shes ever made.It was hard sometimes. But about a week into training camp I was so thankful, Whalen said. I was so fresh. I felt great. I felt healthy. I felt I was really enjoying everything. Playing for years upon years straight, at times it will be a little much.A rejuvenated Whalen helped push the Lynx to the best record in the WNBA and homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs, which continue when they host the Phoenix Mercury in Game 1 of the semifinals on Wednesday.Last year at this time, Whalen had missed four straight games in the regular season and was a question mark going into the postseason. She found a way to gut through the pain in her legs, which culminated with the franchises third championship. But at 34 years old, it was time to take a step back.Whalen had played overseas for a decade, often earning $600,000 a year or more in Russia or Turkey. Its life-changing money, and for players with finite careers, it can be difficult to pass up.Ive been juggling this decision for about three years, Lynx guard Seimone Augustus said. More often than not, at the end of the year we start talking to teams overseas about new contracts, and the money is just so good, youre like, `All right I was thinking about taking time off, but ... .It can actually go in reverse. Mercury star Diana Taurasi sat out the entire WNBA season last year at the behest of her team in Russia, which paid her nearly $1.5 million in 2015.They offered to pay me to rest and Ive decided to take them up on it, Taurasi wrote in a letter to Mercury fans at the time. I want to be able to take care of myself and my family when I am done playing.Taurasi returned to the WNBA this season, and also teamed with Whalen, Augustus and Team USA to win gold at the Rio Games. And while the Mercury struggled to find their footing early in the season, they have taken off in the playoffs with wins over Indiana and New York in the first two single-elimination rounds of the tournament, setting up the five-game series with Minnesota that will feature 11 Olympians.The WNBA is the more prestigious league for the players, but the maximum salaries stateside are $111,500. Good money, but not overseas money.She made a very tough decision because making money overseas, opportunities to earn that kind of money once these players are done playing isnt going to be there, Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said of Whalen. There is no job theyre going to transition into that is going to pay them $600-700,000. So you cant blame them for wanting to earn that as long as they can.The 32-year-old Augustus said being home with family during the holidays, and seeing how well Whalen has played this year, have her thinking she will finally stay home this winter.Lindsay looks amazing, Augustus said. The quickness, the speed, the agility. Thats how I want to feel coming into next year.The way Whalen sees it, there was no decision to make.My body showed me last year when I wasnt able to play, Whalen said. Thats what showed me when it was time to stop. Each player will have to make that decision when its time to go. Javon Wims Jersey . -- Peyton Manning will have all of his wide receivers available for the first time in a month when the Denver Broncos begin their playoff run Jan. Steve Fuller Jersey . The showiest items on Calgarys lot were forwards Mike Cammalleri and Lee Stempniak. Both will be unrestricted free agents this summer. http://www.custombearsjersey.com/custom-deon-bush-jersey-large-3066t.html .J. Ellis hit two-run homers and the NL West champion Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the San Diego Padres 4-0 Saturday night. Chase Daniel Jersey . -- Eastern Kentucky thrives off creating havoc for others. Fred Evans Jersey . World champions Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov of Russia won the gold medal with 237.71 points, Moore-Towers and Moscovitch followed at 208.45 and Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov of Russia were third at 187. Allrounder Carlos Brathwaite, who has played only eight T20Is, has been appointed the new West Indies T20 captain for the two matches against India later this month in Florida. Darren Sammy, who led them to two World T20 titles, was sacked and also left out of the 13-man squad. Sammy had recently posted a video on his Facebook page saying the chairman of selectors had called him about the exclusion from the squad. A WICB release said: With regards to Sammys omission from the squad, the Chairman [of selectors Courtney Browne] noted that the named-squad was selected purely on players performances.Sammy hardly made an impact during the World T20 in India: he faced 13 balls in his three innings, scoring eight runs, and bowled three overs, taking one wicket.The selection panel has expressed its thanks to former captain, [Darren] Sammy for his leadership of that format of the game for the two World Championship titles in 2012 and earlier this year, the release said.Brathwaite had struck four consecutive sixes to win West Indies their second World T20 final, in April this year, and has played seven ODIs, the CPL and a Test against India in Antigua since then.Brathwaite is one of the most talented players in the T20 format of the game and his humble and committed approach to the game can inspire young and upcoming players, Browne said. We are looking forward to a competitive series against Inndia in these matches.ddddddddddddSunil Narine and Kieron Pollard, who had both pulled out of the World T20 squad for different reasons, returned to the T20 squad. While Pollard had withdrawn because of lack of sufficient progress in his rehabilitative work after a knee injury, Narines reason was insufficient progress in the rehabilitative work on his bowling action. They had both played in the tri-series against South Africa and Australia in the West Indies in June. Narine had finished as the second-highest wicket-taker in the series and Pollard scored 205 runs from seven matches at an average of 41.Denesh Ramdin, Sulieman Benn, Ashley Nurse and Jerome Taylor were left out of the T20 squad. Ramdin had recently been dropped from the Test squad too. He scored 135 runs in eight CPL matches recently after the 197 runs he scored during the tri-series at an average of 28.14. Benn took only three wickets in seven matches in the tri-series and had an unimpressive CPL with four wickets from seven matches with an economy rate of 9.19. Taylor played four tri-series matches for only two wickets but collected 13 wickets from eight CPL matches, but it wasnt enough for him to retain his place in the national squad. Nurse played only three CPL matches without any wicket. ' ' '