Final
score: Storm 79 Sparks 60 (W) (9-10)
Attendance
|
6357
Anthem
Xtra Notes | With all the harmony, at least
they were good extra notes
Anthem
High Note | Dude, that was higher than a guy
should sing
Anthem
Style | It was the California Raisins!
Fan
Noise | I'm not sure what was louder, "Beat
LA," "Boooooooo," or "3M! 3M!"
Signs
| A lot, but I couldn't read most of them
Fan
Psyche | Take that you smug, arrogant poor
sports!
Halftime
| Seafair clowns
It's
a good thing I had my Rally Towel handy. I needed to wipe
down after that game.
I
know that we don't have the fourth playoff spot yet, nor does
LA have the first spot sewn up. Either way, this game felt
like a statement game for both teams. The Storm wanted the
almighty Sparks to know that this team is no longer a push
over, an easy win, or one of the worst teams in the league.
The Sparks looked like they wanted to remind the Storm who
was top dog in the West and what it would feel like in a first-round
playoff game.
I
think our message was delivered with a little more oomph.
We
knew it might get ugly fairly early on in the first half.
Both teams were playing hard and aggressively, ripping the
ball around, slapping hard on fouls and going at each other.
At that point, word hadn't gotten around about the morning
shoot around confrontation, so we just chalked it up to the
fact that these teams just don't like each other. Not that
they needed any new reasons for added animosity, but during
the morning shoot around the Sparks came on the court at 11:00
on the dot and demanded the Storm clear out. The Storm refused
and stayed to finish a free throw drill. The Sparks stayed
on the court and, from the short video clip shown on KING
5, clapped the whole time. I don't know if the Sparks are
really that arrogant or just hold Seattle in such contempt
that they thought they could come into the Storm's home court
and push the Storm around. It backfired.
Everything
that normally goes against the Storm - loose balls, sloppy
turnovers converted into quick points, broken plays that still
manage to get the ball into scoring position - tonight went
for the Storm. I didn't watch the first half of the Houston
game on the Oxygen tape delay, but I imagine that the two
first halves looked a lot alike. The Storm were defending
very well, hitting their outside shots, and successfully taking
the ball inside. The Storm built and maintained a double digit
lead. As we neared halftime, I joked to a couple of people
that an 18-pt lead wasn't enough against the Comets the other
night - maybe a 22-pt lead would do the trick tonight.
One
thing from the first half that gave me hope for the second
(because we all know what happens in the second half) was
that at about 11:00 minutes in or so, the Sparks went to a
zone defense to try and stop the Storm offense. It didn't
work. The Storm kept finding ways to score. After a couple
of minutes, the Sparks went back to man-to-man coverage. The
reason this gave me hope was because making this kind of defensive
adjustment is exactly what teams do to the Storm after the
half. Typically, the Storm don't seem to make their own adjustments
and get stymied. Because the game was getting so out of hand
early, Coach Cooper went to his bag of tricks early to no
avail. My hope was that because the Storm got through it in
the first half, they could withstand the LA adjustments in
the second.
We
all know what happened. The Storm did indeed hold off the
LA comeback. We all knew that LA would start hitting their
shots and start getting the loose balls and all the calls
(at one point Seattle had 5 fouls to LA's 0). Whatever you
or I think of them, they are still the defending champs and
know how to win games. Mabika started going off. Lisa "at
least I wasn't the one wrestling with Marcinak this time"
Leslie started blocking everything and hitting her free throws.
I think the Sparks got it down to 16 or 17, but no farther.
The Storm found a way to keep scoring and to fight off the
Sparks' defense.
And
oh yeah, Michelle and Latasha "Original Gangsta"
Byears got into a scrap.
I
can't really give you a blow by blow eyewitness account because
I was focused on Lauren who had received some sort of hit
from Leslie that left Lauren writhing on the floor and staying
on that end while the Sparks ran the court after a rebound.
Next thing I know, 3M is on the floor and has to be forcibly
restrained by one of the refs. Amanda Lassiter was wading
in and looked like she was ready to finish what Byears had
started. (side note - it was great to see Amanda ready to
throw down after being on the team for just a few short weeks).
After the dust settled, both Michelle and Byears were ejected.
For some reason (probably because they didn't want to start
a riot), the replay was not shown on the big screen. Once
we got home and saw the replay (on KONG, KING, ESPN Play of
the Night, and KIRO - yes we flipped channels like mad), here
is what appears to have happened:
Byears
had the ball on a mini-fastbreak and Michelle fouled her hard
to prevent the easy layup. Inadvertently (I say that because
I seriously doubt Michelle meant to do this), Michelle caught
Byears on the face. Latasha landed and did a chest pass throw
at Michelle's head. She flinched enough so that it hit her
shoulder. She reacted by rushing Byears and it looks like
she pushed Byears and didn't really punch her. Byears tied
3M up in return and pushed her to the floor. The refs and
other players stepped in and separated the two combatants.
I think that on further review, the WNBA will have to say
that Byears initiated the fight by throwing the ball at Michelle.
Michelle reacted poorly, but I don't think that any "real"
punches were thrown. Your interpretation may be different.
The
worst thing about this whole altercation wasn't the fight
itself or even the ejections. The worst part of it was when
3M left the court and headed into the tunnel. She was crying,
a lot. I hope she heard us cheering for her, because we were.
About
the time that the refs were conferring and deciding what to
do, Beancounter started the "Beat LA" chant - and
it grew into a beautiful and deafening thing. Now, I know
that LA hears this all the time. I'm sure that they get that
and all kinds of things screamed at them in every arena. I
don't know if it had any effect on them, but it felt damn
good to be doing it.
So
many things went right tonight, I don't want to end on the
fight. Felicia Ragland - 5 monster 3s. Adia Barnes - 8 monster
rebounds. Lauren - had DeNasty Milton for lunch. Sue - pinpoint
assists and timely baskets in the second half. All of the
Storm - heads up play, nice recovery when the ball was bobbled
or the play broke down. Takeisha "Tiki" Lewis -
a couple of badass moves and buckets during garbage time.
This was a great game to watch.
SPoG
(Stormfans Player of the Game) - man, this is a hard one.
We have another shared SPoG tonight - Lauren, Felicia and
Michelle. Lauren for taking on the league's best forwards
and beating them. Felicia for hitting those awkward looking,
high arching, momentum building threes. Every time she put
one up, I and just about everyone else would slowly rise out
of our seats ready to explode as the ball went in. And Michelle,
not for fighting - after all that really was a boneheaded
thing to do - but for not backing down. How can I have it
both ways? 'cause I'm a fan, and I think the Storm need to
show some backbone against the unnecessarily physical teams
in the league. Michelle could have kept her head a little
more and stayed in the game while Byears got ejected for throwing
the ball. Ladies, this SPoG is for you. And, unlike the stupid
ESPYs, each of you will get time to thank anyone you want
at the SPoGs.
Notes:
As
I posted on the Forum, the "Larry Who?" t-shirts
will be on sale Friday before the Cleveland game. Big Lo and
Ian will be in the Nikko restaurant parking lot at 4:30 (across
the street from the West entrance of Key Arena). The shirts
will sell for $12. They are not currently selling the shirts
on the web. The two said that for now, they want interested
fans to approach them personally to get the shirts. I will
keep you up-to-date if anything changes.
We
will be collecting donations for the Michelle Marciniak Fund
tomorrow night at our seats. We know her fine will probably
be $1,000 (or more), but we want her to know that we are behind
her all the way. Besides, we told her at the end of last season
that we would pay for any fines incurred during LA games.
There
were 4 or 5 LA fans sitting a couple rows in front of us.
They got up and left with about 8 minutes left in the game.
I guess they were more certain about the loss at that point
then we were about the win (Angie didn't feel comfortable
until about 1:30 on the clock). They also gave us dirty looks
when we were doing the "Beat LA" chant.
Some
fool (and obvious first timer) behind us kept telling us "down
in front" at the beginning of the game and the second
half when it customary to stand until the Storm score. The
announcer needs to go back to saying something about this
custom because fewer and fewer people are doing it. Also,
he used to lead the "1. 2. 3. Go Storm!" cheer after
the first score and has quit. The lame ass Seattle fans haven't
picked up on it or something because no one is doing it. Announcer
guy - go ahead and assume most fans are apathetic rubes who
need reminding each game on what to do. Otherwise, those of
us who do keep the tradition look like jerks and get to hear,
"Down in front" a lot.
As
further proof that section 113 is THE place for the cream
of the Storm Fan crop, Seattleguacho has joined us and now
sits directly in front of me and Angie. I guess this means
I really will have to be careful about eating those big french
fries during the game (yelling + fries = spewage). Seattleguacho,
I promise - no spew (comforting, I know). |