Final score: Storm 68 – Sparks 80 (L) (4-5)

Attendance | 6410

Anthem Xtra Notes | The most ever

Anthem High Note | And it kept going higher

Anthem Style | Smooth Jazz

Fan Noise | Appreciative of the effort

Signs | Lots, but you aren't supposed to hold them up the whole game

Fan Psyche | More good than bad even with the loss

Halftime | Karaoke

Lisa Leslie sat out tonight's game with "food poisoning" or "stomach flu." I'm always surprised to hear that world-class athletes who are in top shape and under a training regime can get "food poisoning" - and then still have the strength to travel with their team. I'm not buying it. In my honest paranoid opinion, I think the Sparks and Michael Cooper thought so little of the threat Seattle posed that they chose to rest the Diva instead of play her in a sure-win. You may say that I'm reaching with this one, but as Coach Cooper himself claims, he is modeling this team on the Showtime Lakers - and I've seen this tactic before. I worked at the Portland Coliseum during my college days for 3 years and worked every Blazer home game. The last game of the regular season in '89 (I think), the Lakers, who had their playoff spot cemented in stone while the Blazers needed the win, sat 3 players - Magic Johnson, Kareem and I think James Worthy. The fans were furious. They paid to see the best and were snubbed by Pat Riley. The Blazers responded and gave the Lakers their worst defeat ever. Who was in the lineup that night? Michael Cooper. The league fined the Lakers' organization and even Riley personally (I think). Their argument was that the game was a throwaway anyway and they didn't want to risk injury. I can understand that to a point. My counter argument is that the fans pay to see the best players on the court. I don't care that the Sparks may have been confident that they would win. I don't care that there were only about 6,000 fans in attendance. Unless you have a legitimate injury, you are obliged to play the damn game. Her not playing, again in my opinion, was a slap in the face of the Storm and the Storm fans.

Amanda Lassiter had a decent debut in her first Storm game. Her first couple of shots were off, but she played well and contributed later in the game. Not having any real knowledge about her game or what her skills are, when she took that first three point shot and missed, I was immediately questioning Coach Dunn's trading abilities (while she can apparently draft and scout well, her trades have been stinkers). But, Amanda showed several things tonight that bode well for the team. First, she aggressively followed her shots. This is something the other Storm players don't do very well, even when they know their shots are more likely to not go in (sub 40% shooting and all). Second, Amanda quietly racked up some good rebounds. She wasn't flashy about it, but she got a couple that we normally wouldn't have gotten. Third, she apparently knows how to pass into the post. One of the weakest parts of the Storm offense is getting the ball into the post in such a way that allows the post player to have a chance to score. Time and time again, the post player will be guarded by one defender with the other defenders too far away to help and the passer will back out and not get the ball to the post. By the time it does go in, the defense is ready and the post player has 2 or 3 defenders hanging off of her. On at least two occasions tonight, Amanda passed the ball into the post at the right time. The first time she did it, I was actually surprised because I expected her to swing it around like everyone else. Hopefully she will retain that impulse and not get too indoctrinated into the over-pass plan. Lastly, I know this was only one game, but if she can bring 5-10 points and 5-10 rebounds a game, we'll take her.

Michelle came off the IR and had some good minutes. She looked comfortable and moved well. Her shot was off, but she drove to the basket a couple of times and was very active.

Takeisha Lewis got some time as well, but should have had more. If there is one player on our team that should have been in there banging with Byears, it is Takeisha. Why wasn't she in more? Don't know. Why was she pulled when she was actually contributing in a positive manner? Don't know.

Sue had an off night. 5 fouls, the recipient of some hard core defense from the Sparks guards, and another bad shooting night had her looking a little bewildered. On the good side, she did have some great passes that her teammates are finally catching.

Lauren went for a double double, but 2 of her points and one of her rebounds counted for LA. Now I appreciate the tenacity she showed tonight at fighting for rebounds, but she got a rebound after a missed free throw and put it immediately up in the basket - only it was an LA free throw and the LA basket. I hope her teammates don't let her forget that one.

The Storm played a fairly even game tonight and stayed with the Sparks through most of the game. They kept it close throughout the first half and into the second half. But the even nature of their play tonight that kept them in the game early also helped contribute to them losing in the end. That burst of energy that the Storm have used to overcome second half leads never really materialized tonight. They didn't consistently press on defense. They did force shot clock violations (2 I think) which was amazing. They did force the Sparks into some turnovers. But it didn't feel like it was with the same energy or urgency that we've seen in other games. You might say that they were playing at a higher level the whole game and didn't have the gas to turn it on even more in the second half. I don't know, I think they had some opportunities late in the game that were squandered. The Sparks got off a mini-run with about 10 minutes left in the game and kept the Storm down by 10 points or so the rest of the way. Whether you want to blame it on bad calls (for instance, how can one ref who is halfway down the court on the side make a call on an out-of-bounds ball when her view was clearly blocked?) or a string of sloppy Storm turnovers (and bad rebounding late in the game), the Storm weren't able to get back into it.

Latasha Byears fouled out. Delisha Milton should have fouled out in the first few minutes of the second half. She seemed determined to live up to her nickname - D-Nasty. She put some hits on Lauren, Kamila, Michelle, Felicia and Sue that were harder than they had to be and weren't called as fouls nearly enough. I'm not going to rant about the refs, but I will say this: I would just like to see consistency. If you're going to call the ticky-tacky stuff then you've got to call the muggings too. If you take a "play on" attitude when things get rough in order to let the game flow, then why call the little stuff that ends up hobbling the players from getting into a flow? There were 3 teams out on the court tonight and one of them was too much into the game. In my opinion, you should never really notice the refs. They should do their jobs and keep the game clean and within the rules. If done correctly, their presence is not overt or intrusive and contributes to the flow of the game instead of disrupting it. It's like when you go to a good restaurant and the waiter knows exactly when to give you more water, or quietly and efficiently remove your plate. A good waiter can make the meal better by their service, or they can ruin it by constantly asking you questions or never being around when you want them. Tonight, the refs of this game dropped my linguini alfredo in my lap and still expected a tip.

The LJ bobblehead looks a lot better in the flesh, or plastic, than it does on the website picture. The wait in line was mostly for naught - people who arrived as late as 6:30 were still getting bobbleheads. Oh, and dumbasses, when there is a line of a couple hundred people in front of you, it's not okay to take your family and cut in front of everyone else, regardless if there are bobbleheads at stake or not. On the west side of the Key, the line was quite long and for some reason the staff split it into two and pulled the second part up a bit. They still intended for the second line to go in after the first, just as if there was one line - everyone gets in in the same order. Well, as soon as the first line started moving, a bunch of people from behind us (in the second line natch) jumped up to go in. Luckily, the staff were on top of it and stopped most of them (after I called one guy an asshole, and other things - hee). You know, we all got the damn bobblehead, but it was the justice of the thing that yanked my crank. I don't care if you do have 3 kids in tow, you act like an asshole, I call you an asshole.

Tonight's SPoG - Lauren Jackson, no contest. LJ played a great game and was aggressive start to finish. She of course got into foul trouble and had to back off a bit in the second half, and she did have the "incident" as it is being called, but she still played an overall great game. Besides, we know have a cool new bobblehead to sit on our desks and nod in agreement when we ask it if Coach Dunn should put Adia Barnes back on the active roster (not as a starter, but where was that missing second half surge?). LJ, this SPoG is for you.

Notes:

Karaoke for halftime. Please, never again.

A large group of kids sat in front of us. Well, that's not completely true - they weren't sitting about half the time and seemed to have no clue that we couldn't see through them. Oh, and their father was sitting in a different section about 10 rows away. Nice.

Finally, I was sick sick sick and had a hard time getting pumped about the game. Once we heard that Lisa "I'm starring in Juwana Mann 2" Leslie was not playing, it kind of took the edge off the game even more. I almost glad that I didn't have the time to fully prepare for the Diva and make the sign I had planned. It would have been wasted. There's always the July 11 game.