Final score: Storm 61– Liberty 78 (L) (0-1)

Attendance | 7482

Anthem Xtra Notes | Yes, but mainly because it was a duet

Anthem High Note | They both hit it

Anthem Style | Slow, very slow

Fan Noise | Not as ear splitting at the Girl Scouts

Signs | A multitude

Fan Psyche | Dammit!!

Halftime | Some street acrobatic thing - didn't watch it

After being beaten so completely as the Storm were tonight at the hands of the New York Liberty, I find my self waxing a bit philosophic. Tonight’s game was a classic compare and contrast exercise – veterans and rookies, comfortable confidence and uneasy nervousness, a team at or close to its peak and a team that in many ways still feels like it is just starting out. Tonight we saw a confident, veteran team who controlled their younger opponent at every turn. We saw players comfortable in themselves and in their teammates. We saw what the Storm will be once Sue Bird, Lauren Jackson and Semeka Randall have played together for 4 or 5 years.

I don’t want to imply that the Storm were run out of the Key – there were definite signs of improvement over aspects of last year’s team and flashes of brilliant things to come –but make no mistake that the Liberty were in complete control. Every time the Storm started to make a run, get a 3-point play or have some little bit of success, the Liberty struck back so fast that they were able to score on a couple of occasions before the cheers had died down from the last Storm play. The Storm would score 3 or 4 points and one of the Liberty would hit a 3 of their own or get a basket and a foul. The Storm would get a steal and then turnaround and commit two or three turnovers themselves. And the Liberty took advantage of every opportunity the Storm gave them. I was continually surprised to look up at the stat board and see that the Storm were only 3 or 4 rebounds behind the Liberty the Liberty seemed to be getting every loose ball and every rebound even though they really weren’t.

So, we saw a team who may be able to make one more run at the championship before they start to lose a step to the younger teams and fade back to the middle of the pack. We also saw a team that will be happy to make the playoffs this year and is looking to start making up ground on the old timers and eventually pass them by. I will enjoy putting the hurt on other teams when it gets to be Seattle’s turn to be the veteran team.

Now to the good stuff. I think that it is an interesting sign that the leading scorers for tonight’s game were our new players and guards. Sue, Semeka, Felicia and Adia led the way in scoring, rebounding and overall energetic tenacity. Felicia Ragland was fearless. If she can set herself before she shoots – money. And don’t think she won’t go into the tall timber to steal a rebound (she had 8 tonight). This woman is tough and plays like she is 6’ 7”. Adia Barnes – how was she ever cut from another team? She can hit from outside (again, if she can set herself), play defense against just about any post or shooting guard and isn’t afraid to mix it up. Once Semeka Randall seemed to decide to be aggressive, she started scoring. Unfortunately this didn’t happen until late in the second half, but she did make some nice plays and was under a lot more control than she was last year.

It was pretty clear that New York had extensively scouted Sue Bird as was reported in the press. They had a game plan to keep the ball out of her hands and to muscle her as much as possible and they executed it fairly well. She still scored 18 points, but she also had 5 turnovers. The Liberty double-teamed her up the court on every possession and forced her into a few bad passes. Now, you could argue that they would have been good passes if the other Storm players would have caught them, but it seemed like Sue was doing the no-look thing a little too much with players that she has only know for a few weeks. Swin and Asjha would have caught and scored – Kamila and Takeisha got an orange and white blur flying past their heads and through their hands. A note to the Storm players – when you are on a 2-on-1 fastbreak and Sue Bird has the ball, you better have your hands up and be looking for a bullet because the ball is coming your way.

A couple of other things I noticed – the Storm didn’t execute pressure on the opposing ballhandler very well and didn’t respond to pressure on their ballhandlers. When the Storm played pressure, they would double team the point guard and cover one of the other players behind the half court line, but would leave someone else open every time. It was almost better to not put up any pressure because the Liberty would beat it so easily each time that they would end up with a 3-on-2 at the other end and score quickly. On the other side of it, when our point guard was pressured, she would get trapped and no one would come back to help her. Or, even worse, someone who shouldn’t be handling the ball would get it and then panic a little and produce a turnover. I try not to be a backseat coach, but this is something that I noticed tonight and in the two preseason games as well. I think the Storm could use a new plan for executing and defending the full-court press.

Another thing that points to knowing your teammates better – the Storm ended up fighting each other for rebounds on several occasions only to lose the ball to the Liberty. It was great that they were going after the ball, but they need to talk more or just get to know who is going to be where on the floor.

All in all, we lost but there were enough good things that we could see that we are still encouraged for this season. And maybe the most important thing – we lost to the Liberty by fewer points than Portland did. It’s a small thing, but we’ll take it.

Oh, and one more thing – Lauren was on the bench. This game would have been very different with The Big Bad in there giving Sue “Sportsman of the Year – no, I’m serious” Wicks a taste of her own medicine.

Notes:

Several groups of girls’ basketball teams from around the Sound were in attendance. They paraded in before the game and were recognized for how many tickets they sold for this game. The winning team sold more than 100 tickets. The top two teams were able to make a video message to the Storm that was played on the big screen during the game.

The first half of the second half – our old nemesis. We stood for more than 3 and a half minutes before the Storm scored a bucket. It was nearly 5 minutes in before they scored any more points. Grrr.

Stacey Lovelace was at the game and left at about 6 minutes remaining in the second half. We said “Hi” as she walked past and up the stairs. Hmmm, interesting.

Semeka introduced the team as they entered the stadium and came down the stairs. No offense to Steven Killbreathe (the KeyArena announcer), but she did a good job and they ought to have her do it more often.

There were new “Go Storm” signs placed in all the seats before the game – except the brown Club seats on the sides where we happen to sit. We all pay the same price for the section – what’s up with the brown seat exclusion? (We still ended up with 8 of them - they make good autograph material).

There was an ice cream tent set up outside the Key before the game. Of course, it was coffee flavored. I’m just surprised that it is still called KeyArena and isn’t the Starbucks Fieldhouse or The Latte Center or Frappacino Garden yet. It’s only a matter of time…

Gary Payton was sitting courtside, but left at the half.

The women who were sitting in front of us didn’t get up and leave even though I got to screaming incoherently at one point after a particularly bad call (Simone for an offensive charge on Becky Hammon when the Beckster was standing so far under the basket I thought at first she was one of the sweeper kids). Last year, Angie and I successfully cleared out the three rows in front of us on a regular basis because we were so loud.

We got to meet and say hello to Adia Barnes’ mother after the game. We told her that we are all very happy that her daughter is on the team. Someone made a huge sign for Adia and had it hanging on the wall behind section 113. Adia’s mom, sitting in 112, definitely saw and appreciated the sign.