Final score: Storm 69 – Sting 54 (W) (14-10)

Attendance | 6289

Anthem Watch | Back to the Christian Aguilera school of delivery.

Fan Psyche | MVP! MVP! MVP!

Game Highlight | LJ for 23 and 20 - and smiling ear to ear at the end of the game.

Halftime | Fan skills challenge - of course the girls did best.

Game Photos | Game Photos (Scott Larson)

It was pointed appropriate for the Key Arena music person to play "Love Rollercoaster" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers during the game. It has been a thrill ride being a fan of this team lately. They ratchet you up to great heights, drop so fast that you feel like your stomach is coming out your feet, and then back up again.

The only given over the last few games - regardless of how the bench is producing, how well the Storm is able to execute on offense or how well they are able to stop the other team - has been the Thunder from Down Under and legitimate MVP candidate Lauren Jackson. She uncorked one tonight and set a team record for rebounds and scored the first 20/20 game in Storm history. David Locke said that he thought there had only been a few others scored in WNBA history.

The thing is, we needed a performance like this from LJ tonight. The Sting played the Storm straight up and kept the game close through the first half and then went on a scoring run to start the second that ended up giving them as much as a 5 point lead. The Storm played through their drought and with a breakout offensive game by Tully and LJ's MVP-like performance overcame the Sting's energy and pulled out the win.

Contrasting this game with the one at Sacramento - everything that went wrong there went right here. The Storm were still bobbling the ball at times, but it seemed to end up in Storm hands more often than not. The Storm went cold at times, but upped their defensive pressure and turned things around instead of allowing the Sting to take over the game completely. And most importantly, the bench produced a little more than a third of the Storm's total points. Even without counting Tully's 14, the rest of the bench scored 15.

The Sting had their chances. They were getting a lot of calls made their way that were questionable at best. At one point, someone asked if the refs were calling the game or Dawn Staley. She was talking, cajoling and almost seemed to be conferencing with the refs more than I've seen any other player this year. She ended up going too far in the second half and got a technical called. Personally, I think she is too smart and crafty as a player to lose it and get a technical - she did it on purpose to get the refs attention (like she didn't already have it) and to motivate her teammates. She got it with about 6 minutes left in the game - right about when Seattle was reestablishing their tempo and flow. By then though the Storm had the momentum and were able to hold off the Sting and pull away.

I also have to give a lot of credit to the Storm for their defense tonight. I think they forced 4 shot clock violations. Amanda Lassiter was again getting all the blocked shots. One in particular was super sweet - she fell down and Stinson took advantage by heading toward the basket on the baseline. Amanda recovered, picked her spot and cleanly swatted the ball into the first row.

Tully was also up to her usual tricks. She was knocked to the floor after being in for only a minute or so - it's not a real game unless Tully is on the floor at least once. She banged her knee somehow in the first half and started the second half on an exercise bike at the entrance to the tunnel. I yelled down, "Just think Tour de France, Tully," which got a head nod and pumped fist in return. When she went back into the game, she exploded for 14 points with two 3-pointers. I am finding that I appreciate the defensive game more so that the offensive game and Amanda, Tully and Adia (heal quickly!) are becoming my favorite players (in addition to LJ of course - she's the complete package).

This was a big win, there is no doubt. The Storm withstood the Sting's comeback and put one of their own together to win the game. Lauren is in domination mode and when the bench contributes we win. This was a great bounce-back win after the Storm's performance in Sacramento.

The games only get bigger from here on out.

Sing it with me now:
Rollercoaster of love - say what?
Rollercoaster of love - step right up and get your ticket.
Your love is like a rollercoaster, baby, baby.
I want to ride.

Other notes:

Before the game, Angie and I saw one of the Autograph Gang walking through the seating with one of the "Bring It" street banners tucked under his arm. Since the only way to get one of those banners is to steal it, we let one of the Storm staffers know about it. We pointed him out and I also got a couple photos of him (he goes by New York John or some similar dumbass nickname). This is the same person who was illegally selling reproduced images from Sports Illustrated of Sue Bird on EBay. I don't know if he's getting away with this crap or not, but if there is any justice out there, he'll be getting what is coming to him and soon.

During the pregame warmups while the Storm staffers were doing one of the fan shooting contests, the Sting guards were taking half-court shots. Of course Dawn Staley was the one to make it.

Sign recycling award goes to the person who had the "We Want Michelle" sign from last year. They took off the "Michelle" and instead were holding up a small head shot of Adia.

Doppler had a remote controlled car with a Sue Bird bobblehead as its passenger and was driving it around during a timeout. He nearly got one of the refs to trip on it and hastily tossed the controls to a fan in the first row. He also showed up later with tan suspenders holding up his shorts. He's a weird one.

Ray Allen was once again at the game. I refuse to think that he is there any longer on some sort of forced "show your support for the WNBA" community service. He's been to more games than Howard and seems to be enjoying himself.

Eclair and her bro got to sit in the first row under the basket near the Storm bench (thanks to Bloodnfire and seatmate giving up their seats for a game) and got a sweaty Tully in their laps. A highlight for sure.

Shed got her first taste of Key Arena style Storm basketball. If the Storm win like this with her in attendance, maybe she needs to find a summer job in Seattle.

One other dumbass note to report - one of the timeout activities had the Groz and Gasman from KJR shooting free throws for some charity thing. As they left the court after it was completed, they took turns spanking each other. I think someone needs to make a nice big sign for the next game that says something like, "KJR is a Class Act - too bad it is a 6th grade class."

Our early season dominance at jump balls has left the building. I don't know if anyone has ever kept jump balls as a stat, but the Storm were winning nearly all of them during the first part of the season. Now, zilch.

The crowd was smaller than usual and was fairly laid back for most of the game. I wonder if people thought this was going to be an easy one or something. Say what you will about Seattle fans, but the crowd was paying attention to LJ big time and knew that she was doing something special out there, even before they flashed that she had set the team record for rebounds on the big screen. The crowd came to life in the second half and finally made some big time noise.

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