Final score: Storm 78 – Fever 51 (W) (3-3)

Attendance | 5638

Anthem Watch | A new anthem speed record!

Fan Psyche | Defense! Defense!

Game Highlight | Amanda Lassiter with 2 big blocked shots.

Halftime | Storm Star Search featuring Sir Mix A Lot as a judge! Even white boys got to shout!

Game Photos | Game Photos (Scott Larson)

Wow.

This is not the same team that lost to San Antonio or Houston. Coach Donovan nailed it after the game when she said that the Storm have gotten better with every game. In just about every way, this game was a defensive gem. Before the game, they flashed each teams' current averages for scoring on the big screen. The Storm held the Fever 26 points their scoring average. That is simply amazing.

The great thing about tonight's game was that everyone got in on the action.

Amanda Lassiter played a magnificent defensive game. In addition to the 2 blocked shots, she was in on a number of tipped passes, rebounds and steals. She may not have gotten the statistical credit for all the plays she contributed to, but she had a big impact on the game and really came alive tonight.

It was also satisfying to see Kamila get out of her early season slump. She has been a foul magnet the last few games and while she still got called for some hardly-there fouls, she worked through it and was able to get her scoring going.

Sue too seemed to finally break through a little bit offensively. True, she was still only 2 for 7, but those 2 were big ones. Her best shot was on a fast break. Previously, any time she went to the basket the Fever would swarm her and keep her out of the paint or foul her - the same tactics she's faced the last few games. On this fast break, she had one Fever player ahead of her and another coming up the middle. Instead of slashing all the way like they expected, she stopped and hit a monster three. After that, even though she didn't score much, her seemed to get her flow back and was looking more confident with her shots.

The continued good news is that the scoring burden is not on Sue's shoulders this year. Lauren and Sandy again took that on and went to town.

Sandy did most of her damage again in the early first half. It is almost like as soon as she sees that Sue or Kamila aren't getting their shots she finds a way to get some points to take the pressure off. Once Kamila and / or Sue does get their mojo working full-time, not only will the Storm have 2 or 3 scoring threats, we'll have 4 or 5 - and become a defensive nightmare for the other teams. Mmmm, defensive nightmare. Arghghgh (Homer drool).

The only real nit that needs to be picked is Alisa Burras and missed scoring opportunities. Looking at the box score, she no turnovers attributed to her. I'm not sure how turnovers are scored, but she missed handled, bobbled and plain dropped at least 4 passes. The painful thing was that each time she was in scoring position and was either completely open or only had one defender on her. I think it is safe to say that Alisa can muscle most other players one-on-one. Instead of the 6 points she ended up with, she could have had 12 or 14 if she had been able to convert on those "easy" opportunities. I'm just calling it as I saw if from the 9th row.

If I had the chance to ask Coach Donovan a question after this game, I would ask her if the first 2 games of the regular season ought to be looked at as quasi-preseason games. If you think about it, the Storm only had 2 preseason games and a shortened training camp. They didn't start coming together until the LA game, and even then they didn't put together a complete game (it would have been a W if they had). Add in the fact that the Storm have had long stretches off between games - more time off than they have had between games at the beginning of any other season - and now they are playing cohesively and, as Coach D said after the game, with a purpose. I'm thinking that given a real training camp and preseason schedule, the Storm may not have lost to San Antonio and certainly wouldn't have lost to the Sparks. I know, it's all speculation, but you have to admit that the team looks completely different now than in games 1 and 2.

Finally, just to show I can be fair when I need to be, he officiating didn't suck as much as normal. There were a couple of calls that made me want to buy the grey shirts all gift certificates at LensCrafters, but for the most part the refs were seen and not heard.

Other notes:

Beancounter and husband got the seat upgrade and got to lounge on the big purple couch for most of the game. Angie and I took our time getting into the stands and they said we missed our chance to make a play for the upgrade. I was so jealous. Hopefully Beancounter will give us a complete report for her cushy purple vantage point.

Tonight's game was televised on Oxygen. I tell you, those TV timeouts were killers. They also messed with the start of the game somehow and the refs had the players jump the ball 3 times. One of those was for a violation, but it seemed like the others were due to some broadcast problem.

Also, the main scoreboard was still screwy. The stats for the players on the floor weren't always correct and at times players had the wrong number of points next to their names. What is going on with the scoring and timing at the Key?

Tamika Catchings came down on Sue's foot after trying to get a rebound and twisted her ankle. See seemed to be in extreme pain and was eventually taken in to the locker room. We didn't expect to see her back in the game, but she came back and only had a slight limp. She wasn't nearly as effective so it had to be bothering her. One other thing, her shoes have these silver inserts in the souls that are a bit distracting. Maybe if Sue had gotten the ROY last year she could have had distracting shoes this year too.

It was nice to see Sonja once again. She didn't get to have a proper reception because the bench players for each team weren't introduced because of the broadcast. As soon as she did come in, we gave her a cheer, but tit would have been better if she had been introduced.

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