Final score: Storm 63 – Fire 70 (L) (3-3)

Attendance | 3715

Anthem Xtra Notes | Yes, lots

Anthem High Note | Ummm, kind of in a low register

Anthem Style | Gladys Knight

Fan Noise | Disappointing, but can you blame us?

Signs | We liked the big "Loz"

Fan Psyche | We were supposed to win this one

Halftime | Dogs, dogs, dogs

I don't know what to say. What the HELL was that? Players running into EACH OTHER like it was the first time they've ever stepped onto the court together. The opponent's centers left open time and time again under the basket for easy lay-ups. Bad shots going up with little chance of going in and no rebounders in position. Players who are stinking up the gym are left in while the players the coach has herself called the energizers and sparks languish on the bench. The Storm should be embarrassed by this performance. This was not only a loss, it was a horrible loss. If this had been the Sparks or the Comets, this would have by 30 or 40 instead of 7.

Let me go on. This was not the team that beat the Sting or the Lynx. This wasn't even the team that lost to the Liberty. I've been slow to hitch on to the anti-Dunn bandwagon that has been building steam for the last two years, and I'm not ready to completely take that plunge yet. BUT, Coach Dunn called every offensive play the Storm stumbled through tonight. Every time the plays went awry, she would turn to Coach Klopp or Coach Graf and point at her head and complain that the players screwed up. Well, I think you may be pointing in the right direction Coach. It's not your fault that your players are missing wide open shots, but you've got to let them use their skills and give them the freedom to create something when the called play isn't working. Too many times tonight it seemed that the Storm stuck with the play no matter what, perhaps fearing the one-mistake-and-you're-on-the-bench rule.

That was true for all of the players, except one. At the risk of bringing down the wrath of the state of Connecticut, the Boneyarders and Sue Bird fans everywhere - Sue Bird should have been riding pine tonight. Yeah, yeah - she's the best thing since hightops, but she had a horrible game tonight. Don't let her point total mislead you. She had too many unforced turnovers - and I don't mean passes to teammates that weren't caught. I mean bouncing the ball off her foot. Losing the dribble. Running into other players. Also, except for a couple of big shots, she was stone freakin' cold again. I'm sorry, but if you are going to sit players for making mistakes, then #1 draft pick or not she's got to sit down. The email address is scott@stormfans.org. Keep it civil please.

And another thing, why did Felicia Ragland and Adia Barnes get 2 and 5 minutes respectively? Why when the Fire were on their way to a 14 point lead do you keep two of your most tenacious defenders and potential scorers (if they got playing time that is) on the damn bench? When they were finally put in, they both actually contributed positively. Felicia had a steal. Adia hit a bucket. They both were playing tough defense and were up in the mugs of the Fire players and being disruptive. Oh, you're doing what the team desperately needs right now? Sorry - back to the bench.

In the wins that the team has had, their defense has been able to compensate for their crappy shooting. Tonight, even the defense started to fail. Yeah, the Storm had more steals, more blocked shots and forced more turnovers than the Fire did. But the Fire not only hit more shots, they had more easy shots and they easily outrebounded the Storm. The rebounding is one thing I don't get at all. The team knows they are in a shooting slump. You would expect that they would be looking for rebounds. You would be wrong about that. The final stats show that the Fire only outrebounded the Storm by 5. It seemed like it was a lot more than that.

Ah, Lauren. For a time there she had more fouls than points. In her defense, it definitely seems like the refs have an LJ scouting report and are just waiting for the slightest touch or bump. The refs took her out of the game tonight.

I was so disgusted by this game that when I wasn't screaming incoherently, all I could do was sit there dumbfounded. I couldn't even get back into it when the Fire started to collapse and the Storm got back to within 4. Even then, the Storm committed a couple dumb turnovers and the score was immediately back to 8, then more. The scouting report for the rest of the league has to read something like this. "If you hit your shooting average, or even a little less, you have a good chance of beating the Storm even if they outplay you defensively."

I hope the Storm figure it out. Because if they don't, this is going to be a very frustrating season.

I am so off my game because of this debacle that I forgot the SPoG - the Stormfans Player of the Game. This week's award has to go to... Kate Paye and Danielle McCulley for getting zero playing time and not being tainted by this game. Kate and Danielle, this SPoG is for you!

Notes:

We talked to the "Larry Who?" guys before the game and they said that they are going to do the t-shirts in some way soon. They will let us know as soon as they've got things in place and we will let you know where to buy and how much.

The majority of the UW Husky women's basketball team sat about 3 rows in front of us tonight. I told them after the game that Angie and I will probably be season tickets holders with them next season and that I promise to yell for them like I was yelling for the Storm tonight. I pride myself on having at least one frothing-at-the-mouth outburst per game and I can certainly do that at Hec Ed just as easily as I do at the Key.

Bungie ball made an appearance. Just to illustrate how demoralized I was about tonight's game, I couldn't even get excited about bungie ball. That's just sad.

The jumping dogs did their thing during halftime. One of the dogs took a header into a jump. He shook it off and got right back in the game. Good dog.