Final score: Storm 60 – Sparks 73 (L) (4-4)

Attendance | 6964

Anthem Xtra Notes | None

Anthem High Note | Perfect

Anthem Style | Inspirational

Fan Noise | Girl Scouts

Signs | Stomach signs

Fan Psyche | Not surprised

Halftime | We got ice cream

So much to cover… so little time. What a minute, this is the web!

Buckle up.

The first order of business has to be the highly anticipated, much-ballyhooed, bad-blood-a-brewin’ rematch between Lauren Jackson, our hero, and Lisa Leslie, the hair-extensionless arch villain. We come prepared and pass out our full supply (60 or so) of “hair extensions” to fans under the north basket. Leading up to the game, the few news articles and reports we saw all comment about the first post-Olympics meeting between the two (although both downplay the hair extension pulling incident).

Well, don’t believe the hype. Because Coach Dunn has Lauren playing the 4 spot, she plays and is guarded by DeLisha Milton (Sparks #8) the whole night. It seems the only times Lauren and Lisa really play directly against each other is when they are going up for rebounds (Lisa wins), tip-offs (Lisa wins) and a few times when one or the other is going for a layup. In the cases of the layup meetings, it is never one-on-one. Any time Lauren gets the ball in a scoring position, she gets smothered by 2 or 3 Sparks and Lisa usually happens to be one of the defenders. When Lisa is on offense, Lauren comes in to provide weak-side help for Simone (or whoever is playing center at the time). The two really don’t get any one-on-one play. Anyone looking for fireworks from this part of the game is disappointed.

On to the rest of the game.

The crowd is finally a respectable size. The Storm host a “Girl Power” event for the Girl Scouts before the game, so the Key is echoing with the high-pitched squeals of a thousand Brownies. The anthem is powerfully and movingly delivered by a Girl Scout. This is the way the anthem should be sung. This girl’s performance is by far the best we have heard this year, and maybe last year as well. We think the Girl Scouts must be doing something right.

Much has been written and said about the Sparks this year. Michael Cooper, their coach, has come out and proclaimed that not only will this team win the championship this year, but they will do so undefeated. We desperately want to be the team that spoils that undefeated manifest destiny. Last year, the Storm played the Sparks very competitively and took one game into overtime (the best game of the year, for us). We believe, we believe…

…and the Sparks dominate the entire game until the last few minutes. It seems that they can do whatever they want and score at will. Lisa Leslie hits four 3-pointers, for crying out loud. The Sparks play a zone defense seemingly most of the night to similar results that Seattle had against Cleveland. While the Storm are a little more successful against the zone tonight, a little isn’t close to enough.

There are some good signs that surface during the game for Seattle. As already mentioned, they do play better against the zone. Physically, the Storm give as good as they got . It is obvious that while the Sparks may be more talented and deeper, the Storm aren’t intimidated. On several occasions, Lisa Leslie gets mugged under the basket and has to pick herself up off the floor or out of the first row. And, the team ends the game well. Michelle Marciniak, Jamie Redd, Stacey Lovelace and Charmin Smith come in during the last part of the game and crank things up. Instead of a 30-point loss, it’s a 13-point loss. While a case could be made that the Sparks had the game firmly in hand and relaxed in the last few minutes, we prefer to recognize the scrambling, never-say-die attitude that exudes from our bench. We wouldn’t be surprised if this four minute burst doesn’t carry into Monday’s game against the Sting. One thing about the end of the game – why weren’t Jamie, Stacey and 3M put in sooner (say with 15 minutes left instead of 4) to provide a jump start?

Even though we lose this game, the mood is much better than after the Cleveland loss. Everyone seems to recognize that a/ the Sparks are that good, and b/ we are getting that much better.

We normally sit towards the top of the seating bowl (row 18). For this game, I (Scott) bought a second row seat under the north basket to get better images for this game. Any one who thinks this game is soft or weak or easy needs to sit this close. I was blown away at how physical this game really is. Any player driving to the basket is getting pummeled. How a foul is not called during every play is amazing. I have a whole new respect for these athletes.

Notes:

During the game, another episode of Starbucks tic-tac-toe is played by two boys who need to quit playing video games and get back to basics. The goal is to get three-in-a-row. Blocking the other person isn’t going to help. Sigh.

Our “hair extensions” (black yarn tied into bunches) went nowhere. Lisa didn’t shoot a free throw at our end, and we really only gave out 60 or so. Maybe next time.

A little girl who was sitting in front of me down on the north end kept vainly trying to get Doppler’s attention every time he came out. She was particularly distressed when he was tossing out t-shirts and walked right past her. She almost cried when she had to come back to her seat. Come on Doppler, look out for the little guys (or girls).