Final score: Storm 75 – Liberty 65 (W) (12-9)

Attendance | 8003

Anthem Watch | That kid has some pipes.

Fan Psyche | EEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!

Game Highlight | The MVP-to-be scoring 22 in the 2nd half.

Halftime | Doppler and "friends."

Game Photos | Game Photos (Scott Larson)

To the earsplitting squeals of 3000 screaming camp kids, the Storm won their first game against the New York Liberty, and except for one slow patch in the second half they did it with authority.

Today's game was almost two separate games: the first half which showcased the Storm's defense and an offensive show by Amanda Lassiter; and the second half which quickly became the Lauren Action Jackson Extravaganza.

If the Storm finish out the season strongly and not only win the games they "should" win but also win the games they need to win - Minnesota, Houston, Sacramento and THEM - I think Lauren Jackson has to be considered a top 3 candidate for the regular season MVP. She is flat out dominating other teams. Someone said after the game (I think it was Jrod) that the Storm need to have the mindset that they "own" the other teams, not just that they can keep up. I think LJ knows that she owns the other forwards and centers in the league and when she gets it going, she is unstoppable.

The Liberty bigs were relatively helpless in the second half against Lauren. Even Tari Phillips' best Diva impressions - you know, flopping, crying to the refs over every call against her and every call she didn't get, elbows and fists flying - didn't dent LJ's ability to score. It's fantastic to watch her able to move and play without 3 players draped over her like damp blankets. The opposing defenses have to respect Sue, Sandy (even though she's colder right now than a hockey puck left at center ice overnight on an outdoor ice rink in Saskatchewan), Kamila and which ever other player steps up in a given game. Tonight, that person was Amanda. When LJ gets that kind of support, she can score 27 a game.

One more superlative laden paragraph about Lauren. After the game, a bunch of people were talking as is our wont and we all agreed that this is LJ's team. Without Sue there is no doubt we wouldn't be where we are, but this is LJ's team. She is the go-to player. She is the player that gets the ball when we need a score to stop the other team's run or to reestablish the Storm's tempo. She is the number one option any time she is on the court and she is taking on that role very comfortably. Comfortable is a great word to describe her right now. Even when she is intensely focused on the game, pissed off at the refs, whatever - she is under control and plays with an ease that is just fun to watch. You only have to contrast her with other established centers and forwards in the league to see what I mean. She doesn't flop. She doesn't cry to the refs. She may stare them down, but she isn't yapping at them after every play. She uses her elbows, yes, but she isn't dirty when she does it. In short, she doesn't have to do any of that crap because she's that good. Those that do resort to all the theatrics, well, maybe they're trying to compensate for something...

While I'm on the subject of our amazing center/forwards, I have to talk about Kamila and Simone. Having Anne Donovan as a coach has had to be energizing for them because they both are playing with a confidence that was missing before. Simone has developed some wicked up-and-under moves that are catching the defenders by surprise every time. She is also rebounding with a lot more intensity that she has in past years. Kamila is driving with authority to the basket any time she has a glimmer of a lane. Her shot mechanics are always near-perfection (she ought to do instructional videos) and now she's putting the ball on the floor and forcing her defenders to back pedal all the way to the basket. Intensity, confidence, determination - I give you our three leading big players.

For only playing 3 minutes in the Minnesota game the other day, Sue looked surprisingly mobile. While she didn't put up huge numbers, she played a solid game and helped make LJ look good with timely assists, rebounds and defense on Weatherspoon. Actually, she didn't have to work that hard on Spoon, who is even colder than Sandy. Spoon is more like the hockey puck that the 1912 Scott expedition left at the South Pole as a marker. What TSpoon lacks in offense though, she makes up for on defense and she was making Sue work very hard. Sue was juking and jiving the whole night and most of the time all the way down the floor. It's not surprising that Sue didn't get a lot of points, but then she didn't have to. This is one aspect of how Sue plays that I think shows her leadership. She takes shots when she needs to or when she has a good opportunity. She doesn't force the game and instead works to support the hot shooters. If LJ is the focus of the Storm offense, Sue is the lens that brings the offense into focus.

It seems like every time the Storm are playing well it is because there is a fourth player who scores big. I say a fourth player because you know that LJ, Sue and Kamila are going to get their shots. Having one other player take some of the attention away from the main three is one of the consistent keys to Storm wins. Tonight, Amanda Lassiter starred as the 4th Player by hitting 4 huge 3-pointers in the first half. I don't think the Liberty knew what was going on. I'm sure they weren't expecting 16 first half points out of Amanda. In doing so, she paved the way for LJ to go off in the second half. We are still missing Adia for sure, but Amanda is a legitimate offensive threat and certainly a good defender and has elevated her game since being added back to the starting line-up - where she was at the end of last season.

What can I say about the Liberty? They seemed to be a step behind the Storm for most of the game. They did put together a decent run at about the 12 minute mark in the second half, but otherwise they were playing catch up. They were also cranky. Tari Phillips and Vicky Johnson were both really going after the refs. Tari, as I said earlier, looked like a goldfish spilled out of its bowl and flopping for its life. She was also not being too subtle about throwing her elbows and fists around. One on play in the second half, she punched out and hit the ball after a miss. She was not trying to rebound the ball and just hit it instead - she outright punched it. If she had connected with Kamila's or Lauren's head (I can't remember which one was playing her at the time) it would have been a knock-out. TSpoon was calm and collected, but she was pulling a few veteran tricks here and there. On one play, she and Rita Williams ended up on the floor under the Storm basket. Theresa made sure she kept Rita on the floor until the other Liberty players had collected the ball and gotten down the court. Spoon then calmly got up and gave Rita a hand. Nice you say - maybe, but Spoon made sure that if she was out of the play then so was Rita.

This was the Storm that we all want to see every game. They were on, confident and playing together. The team that needed a near-heroic bailout by LJ in Minnesota stayed in the midwest. This team is the one that is going to contend for the Western Conference title this year.

Other notes:

Today was the early afternoon camp kids game. Angie brought and used earplugs. It wasn't so much that the kids were loud, it was the high pitch of their squeals. The sound resonated and created actual pressure against my eardrums that felt like atmospheric pressure rising and falling too quickly. Ah, kids.

Today was Doppler's "birthday" which meant that several of his mascot buddies came to the game and helped him celebrate. There was one mascot in particular who looked very familiar. His name was Tado and he represented Title IX - I'm sure the first piece of equal rights legislation to have a mascot. He was a dog. He gave both Tully and Alisa quick pats on their shoulders while ignoring the other Storm players who never played in Portland. His coloring was a light brown - I'm thinking RIT dye #20 Cocoa Brown on a former white pelt with black spots. Boy, he looked familiar...

Mascot violence is one of my top 5 favorite things of all time, so I was very happy with the two main mascot activities during the game. During a first half timeout, the Storm had several people try to replicate Michelle Marciniak's coast-to-coast game winning shot she made against Orlando - all the way down the court in 5 seconds and make the layup. John Curley gave it a try and was mugged by Doppler at about the 3-point line. A couple of the fans who tried actually did it. Then it was Doppler's turn, and John returned the favor and tried to tackle Doppler. All of the other mascots came in and gang tackled John Curley. It was beautiful. The other instance of unbridled mascot violence was during halftime. They played a game of musical chairs with large inflated pool chairs. Doppler won the game of course, but the best part was that each of the losers would take a discarded chair and beat each other with it. Some people enjoy the Three Stooges - I enjoy mascots getting the snot beat out of them.

We enjoyed a new scoreboard display on the big screen... for about 5 minutes of the game. Then it went blank and stayed that way. We had to rely on the small screens in the the mid-level video "band" that circles the arena for the score. It wasn't even working that well. I hope they get this stuff fixed soon because this is getting out of hand.

Speaking of things breaking down, the blimp took a dive into the stands right behind where we sit. Actually, if we had kept our seats from last year I would have been the unfortunate recipient of a blimp noogie. It was before the game started and after the anthem (good job kid). The blimp guy had the contraption hovering above 114 during the song and had the engines on "high" the whole time - it would have drowned out the anthem if the kid singing didn't have the volume of 10. Right after the lights came back up, I see the blimp guy running up the aisle next to us. I remember thinking, "Why would he be running up the stairs?" Answer: the blimp crashing into 113, rows 20-17, seats 1-5. We are definitely experiencing technical difficulties at the Key.

One thing that is working really well are the new lights. It looks like the Key staff replaced all of the main lighting since the last game. I had to adjust my camera settings and adjust my color correction for the game photos. A lot of stuff that was too fast for me to get before I was getting now. Thanks, lighting guys.

Several east coast Storm fans were at the game - Kate from WNBATalk.com and Aci79 and a friend. Kate wore a Liberty jersey during the first half and changed into a Storm jersey for the second half. At least she finished with the better team.

Angie and I made some signs for the first time in a long while. But because we did them right before the game, the marker smell was overwhelming so we ditched them at the half. We got up on the big screen once and at least Simone saw them, so we were happy.

The only thing this game lacked was a Bungie Ball rematch between Doppler and John Curley. I'm thinking they may be saving it for a big game, but they have to know that Bungie Ball is the all-time best timeout activity. It's time to bring it back.

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