Submitted by | eclair

Frodo my ass. My 15 year-old son has a much better white boy fro than Luke Ridnour. And can somebody spare a sandwich for that boy? Looks like he hasn't eaten in an age.
 
A mess of young girls, around 12 or 13 years old sat behind me, and spent the whole first half squealing in unison, "Ray Allen! Ray Allen! Ray Allen!" The more frenzied they became, the more he ignored 'em. Lauren Jackson and Sue Bird are busting it on the court, and all these girls can pay attention to is Ray Allen not doing anything.
 
Lauren had everybody giggling during player intros. She surprised the heck out of her teammtes by chest bumping each of  them. I thought Amanda was going to rupture something, she was laughing so hard.
 
And wasn't that National Anthem refreshing!
 
Doppler desecrated the flag any number of ways tonight. He had them hanging off his booty, for goodness' sakes. I'm starting to believe he's an exhibitionist. I see his furry red behind every single game. Does he think he's some sort of dirigiblesque Chippendale dancer?  
 
If I ever win the purple couch, I'm saying, "Wander around if you want to, red boy, I'm sitting down over here." But I did like the fact that he handed the popcorn to the ornery ref.
 
I love the choo choo train. I love it because it freaks the living daylights out of the Nazi ushers.
 
Jessie Kenlaw? The best dresser I ever saw! She looked just plain smashing. And she can coach hoops, too!
 
You'll notice I'm heavy on peripherals, and light on the game details. I found the game unbelievable frustrating. It annoyed me. But here goes:
 
Good on ya, Section 113! Refs said the ball last touched one of the Storm. Our friends went nuts, and the refs changed their minds, possession Storm.
 
The girls in white shot 32% in the first half. I think Coco Miller left the half with more points than the Storm. (BTW, there's been a divine error. Coco Miller got the arms I reserved. Or deserved. Anyway, I ought to look like that.)
 
At one point, Sue, who was traversing the baseline, chucked the ball into LJ's arms. Which would have been nice, but LJ was in terrible position, and was standing amid three blue jerseys. As long as I live, I'll never forget the look on LJ's face: It was a cross between "What did you do that for?" and, "Wtf am I supposed to do now?" No worries, chickie! Just post up and put it in. And she did.
 
All in all, the pace was frenetic, and sloppy as you can imagine. My seat mate thought it was a great game, because there was weird and interesting stuff going on. The whole affair just gave me a migraine, and it looked like AD was reaching for the Midrin, too.  
 
Seems like, in the past, Chamique's been able to take it to Lauren at will--there's been some resistance, but Holdsclaw always got the best of her. No more. Chamique ran up against a big, talented, mobile Aussie wall.  
 
Kamila only got called for 2 fouls! There were a few times when I was sure she was gonna get nailed, like any time there was any sort of incidental contact under the rim. They let our Thrilla play. The Mystics looked pretty damned surprised, too. I think the teams in the league have taken note that Kamila gets called for fouls, deserved or undeserved, and are taking it to her. I also get the feeling that the refs have been counseled about the way they call the game. Seems they've been mighty inobtrusive lately. After awhile, the Mystics gave up.
 
But that didn't stop them from getting in their licks. Poor Kamila just gets beaten and bruised. I love our stalwart post. And I respect her even more.
 
Miss Priss Stacy Dales Schuman plays like a friggin toothless pugilistic hockey player. Elbow here, big push there. Really, I felt like I was supposed to throw an octopus on the court or something. Guess it's the pure Canadian air or something.
 
Sue Bird at the end of the game: "It's like we're sisters, best friends, family."
 
Winning ugly is still winning. Good thing. Maybe this was the wake up the girls need for Saturday. I hope so anyway. It would be a shame for Sass, jezzie, New Socks, Stormin in Cali and everybody else to die in vain Saturday.

Submitted by | connvex

We came out too flat, too mellow. The Claw was ON. With a bit'o help from Coco "bangs" Miller, DC pulled away. Sue dropped some nice assists to Loz under the hoop and loz can handle herself under tight defense like no one else, But no one else could drop 'em. You know — all board, no net.

And then AD sticks in our entire bench! And then she doesn't take them out! For like 5 or 6 minutes... while we're down by round 11 points! Connvex is thinkin "what the?"

But you gotta give the Big AD her props. The new 'n' improved bench held down the 4rt. Really they weren't any worse than the starters except there wasn't any bird-to-Loz connection. So somewhere near 3 minutes left in the 1/2, Vody replaces Simone, 30 2nds later and all the rest of the starters are in they upped the tempo enough to pull with in 5 before 1/2time. They left with a standin-O even though they were down. It was Sweet.

Quick note: Right before the horn, Voddy got SUPPLEXED but the three blind mice turned a deaf and dumb ear away from a very rowdy crowd. It was unreal. Some elbows got hooked and Kamila was chucked up and then down by Murriel Page. They coulda at least called Page for Up-and-Down!

The second half was just a real solid battle by the Storm to get back ahead. It seemed like constant dynamic action by the whole group highlighted with lottsa assists (sue and adia) and excellent ball movement around the perimeter. The ball moved around the outside so much sometimes, though, I could here everyone around me just thinkin "someone shoot" or "bird, put up a three". Only dowside that stands out in my head was Burras' buttery grip. Almost all of Sue's TO's were to Alisa.

Every time we felt safe (by like 4 points), Cocoa and Meek would remind us the game twasn't over.

Tuff loss for the Mystics, Solid Rally by our Storm. Both teams were excellent and it was tense and I have no fingernails left.

Submitted by | JRod

Well, that was certainly heart stopping.  We have to learn to come out firing, every game. We were just flat, no energy and a serious lack of focus. I was beginning to wonder if they had put quicksand on the floor. Ditto what Sass said. AD was livid! And, she was right. I'll do my best to let you know what the timeouts were like.  During the first awful minutes of the game, AD would pace back and forth talking to Kenlaw and Boucek. "Where's the energy, they look terrible!" And, she was right.  When AD started making substitutions, it went from (just an example, but was really said a couple of times) "Tully, go get Sue," to "Amanda!, Adia!" During timeouts, the conversation would sound like--What do you guys think you're doing. You can't play off Miller that way, GUARD HER!  And, to tell you the truth, at times it got more heated from there.
 
AD was right. We sagged off of Miller way too much. CoCo can and will shoot the 3 at the drop of the hat. This was very reminiscent of the way we played Teasley on opening night. Ya just can't do it. If you do, that player WILL get hot and stand out there bombing you with 3s all night long.
 
I have never seen AD so p*ssed off before, but hey folks, she can and does get there. And, Thank God she can. Did anyone other than me have a Lin Dunn flashback with the mass substitution?

The second half was a total turn around. The team came out more focused and with more energy. All in all, the Storm played the first half like they were playing the second game of a back to back, instead of the Mystics.
 
SDS is really having a down year. As eclair pointed out in her creamy fillings, lots of elbows. This has to be a frustration thing. What can you say about Holdsclaw? She's a great player, yep. But, I don't ever remember her being injured at UT. Yet, now I can't remember a year where she hasn't been. If her hammy is still bothering her, you couldn't tell last night. Coco Miller had a great game as well. Now for Muriel Page and the refs: GIVE ME A FREAKIN' BREAK! I've seen less dirty take downs on WWE! And, no whistle. A number of us were going nuts behind the bench.
 
Last but not least. The anthem. I'm as quietly patriotic as the next person. I don't wear it on my sleeve, but hey, it's there. The rendition of the national anthem, last night, gave me chills and brought tears to my eyes *sniff* That was absolutely beautiful.

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