Submitted by | Shobe

Next time we are going to get blown out, please don't let it be at a day game.

Afterwards, I had nine hours of images of missed three pointers, blown layups, passes going out of bounds, and Lisa Leslie (Eeeeeeehhww!) inside my head. At least with a night game, I would have only had to deal with this for a couple hours before I went to bed.

I know we were all giddy after the ring ceremony and the Storm's early dominace of the half (19-6 lead with eight minutes to play), but there were even then, dark clouds brewing on the horizon.

In the first half alone, Lauren Jackson was out of synch. She was only 3-9 from the field.

Lisa Leslie get three fours by the eight minute mark, and the Storm practically left her alone after that. What's up? LA only had seven players suited up, so Heny Bibby had to play Leslie even with three fouls.

So why did Anne Donovan not take advantage of this? Send in Stevenson, Castro-Marques, Battle, or even Edwards to draw more fouls on the Diva and rip the heart out of LA?

Even with our early spurt, the Storm ended the first half scoring only 29 points. This is not the stuff it takes to beat a team expected to win the West.

In the second half, the Sparks opened with a mini run that looked to have the Storm discomboulated. This was when LA won the game. Then the Sparks went on a 35-13 run to push the pedal to the medal and that was the end of the competitive phase of the game.

Where was our inside game? I have heard that part of the reason Anne switched Lauren to the three position, was to save wear and tear on her reconstructed ankle and get her out of the paint. What?

Sure Lauren has a nice outside shot, but that is not the foundation of her game. Leaving her on the perimeter, conceeded the lane to the Sparks all day. This led to a 42-14 lead in points in the paint for LA.

This lack of an inside game forced the team into way too many peremeter shots. The Storm took 32 three point attempts (the most in WNBA history), yet only mad 18.8% of those shots.

This just emphasised the poor shooting in the game. The Storm hit a rock bottom 23.7% of their filed goals, a franchise low.

While all this was going on, Leslie and Chamique Holdsclaw ran rampant. Leslie finished with a game high 23 points (while not fouling out) and Holdsclaw hit 16 points and snared 14 rebounds.

To put that into perspective, Lauren, Sue Bird and Betty Lennox combined for an 11-44 shooting from the field.

Although Betty finished as the Storm's leading scorer, she was only 5-18 from the filed.

This had to be one of the worst games for LJ in a Storm jersey. We all know her cosecutive double figure scoring game ended at 80 something games. This is not surprising when you only go 3-15 from the field.

With about 10-15 minutes left in the half, when maybe we still had a chance, and should have started our run at LA, Anne was bringing in a variety of players, trying various combinations and roatations.

During the time Francesca Zara was in, I counted her making two turnovers and commiting a foul. Zara played like, well, a player who had only been with the team for a week.

Explain something to me. Anne sings Shaquala Williams praises all through training camp, then brings in Zara at the last minute, then releases Shaquala.

Like I said, Anne the coach and knows more about basketball than me, but what Anne said in the paper has left me confused.

Anne said she kept Zara over Shaquala because with such a young team, it was important to have an older player on the team for experience.

Well if that's the case, why realease Adia Barnes? She is the same age as Zara (they are both twenty eight years old), plus Adia knows Anne's system and is familiar with the returning players? This makes no sense.

Now we have a hole at the backup point guard position that is as large as the day Tully Belivaqua signed with Indiana.

Random Notes

The championship banner celebration was truly wonderful and made all the more special by Betty's reaction. This was worth the wait since October 12, 2004.

Thank you to the Storm management for the replica rings given to the fans. They are gold color and, made of metal and really nice. They even mangage to fit on my ring finger. These are definatley not some plastic, Cracker Jack Box type knock off's.

Here's a big Boooo to the Seattle Times (Sorry, Jezzie). In today sport's section, they have a blurry color picture of the Storm players acutal rings. Inside they have another photo of the ring, but it's in black and white! Way to drop the ball on this one guys.

Could you guys all see the championship banner from your seats? Since I'm behind the basket by the Storm bench, all we could see was the back of the banner. I would say, maybe a quarter of the people in the Key could not see it's front.

Also, I would hope the banner does not stay where they had it during the game. I would think that with the speakers and the scoreboard blocking it, it would seem like an obsructed view for most of us.

Welcome to our newest Stormfans.org members. I finally got to meet Hou2Sea (great handle) in person. IT was so nice to meet you, and I look forward to chatting with you all season long. I know you will love it living here in Seattle, our little blue oasis. Welcome Peg.

Also, it was my pleasure to meet Collegegirl13 and her dad. She came all the way up from Eastern Oregon University for the game. The first thing she told me was she could not wait to get back up here again. Way to represent! She was wearing her University of Oregon sweatshirt.

Just when you thought the Diva could not be more insufferable, did you see where she back out of the center court circle until the ABC camera lights flashed on?

The video of Sue doing the Elaine Bennes "full-body dry heave" dance has to be the funniest thing the Storm has put together.

Since the off season is so long, there are times when I almost forget why we are on this site. It all came rushing back as I got into my seats at the Key yesterday. I'm so glad the season is here, and the best part of it is sharing this experience with all you guys.

Submitted by | eclair

Wright made quite a few rookie mistakes yesterday. And she's a guard who uses her body like a post. Go figure.

I believe LJ's at the 3 because her rehab is not at the point where she can take a lot of banging in the low post, and they're not telling us. She doesn't look healthy yet.

Yeah. WTF was up with LL down three fouls early in the game, only 7 players suited up, and we leave her alone? I'm just a moron in the stands, but even I knew that was ridiculous.

Stevenson didn't so much control Holdscaw, as Holdsclaw looked out-of-synch, kind of like the whole LA team. They just weren't playing well. Once Holdsclaw found her game, the rest of the team fell in and played ball.

To be fair, LA didn't play all that well, even in the second half, and they gave us a shameful booty-kicking. I've already done that first year of a five-year plan, and I'm not interested in doing it now. (Although the second half was very nostalgic and reminiscent of those first two years. Think of this: for all the craptastic games we all sat through at the Key all those years, for all the halves where our team was brutally outshot, the Storm never shot so badly as they did yesterday. Boggles the mind, don't it?)

For Betty's game to be as brilliant as its potential, she needs to not feel as if things are going in the toilet, and that she needs to do everything or else. That's when things go terribly awry for her. (Catty note: This winter, I was watching an NFL game. The sideline reporter asked a coach on his way in at halftime why everything was going awry. But she pronounced it "AWW-ree." I will never forget that as long as I live.)

Simone was the one bright spot, I thought. When I saw her line up against Leslie, I feared the worst, but Simone got the job done, performing exactly as a solid bench post ought to. Janelle was the one without a handle on S. Bird's passes yesterday. While Sue threw a few that looked like First Game of the Season passes, she also threw some laser beams into traffic that should have been converted, but were instead turnovers.

Sue Bird hates losing with every fiber of her being.

I think I'll have to consider this another preseason game (thanks whoever posted that). Because those girls don't look like a team yet.

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