Final score: Storm 95 – Sun 86 (W) (7-4)

Attendance | 8120

Anthem Watch | A cello player... it was... odd.

Fan Psyche | Can we ever get past that 4 point lead?

Game Highlight | Several — Sue starting the game, Izzy with some super clutch shots, Suzy lighting it up, Janell and LJ kicking butt on the boards.

Halftime | Kids who attended the Hip Hop workshop thingy performing their newly acquired skills.

SF.O Keyword of the Game | YEAH! (where's that deciblemeter?)

Game Photos

Connecticut has been playing like they have been thinking "We lost the Championship by one basket" every day, every hour and every minute for the last 10 months. They more than any other team have been playing with the kind of consistent drive and determination that, to me anyway, squarely puts them in the favorite position to get back to the Finals this year. This is what a supremely confident team looks like — they execute every play, they never give up on defense, they push for 40 minutes, there is little or no letdown when bench players come in and they seem to be working just a little bit harder in every category than all their opponents. Every fan in the league should be looking at the Sun with major respect right now.

The same things can't be said about the Storm over their first 10 games on a consistent basis. Yes, the Storm have had standout games where they've played like the Championship team they are, but they've also allowed the other team to dictate the pace or allowed the other team to disrupt their game plan often enough that the four losses we've had have been very frustrating. The Sun haven't had those kinds of letdowns — even tonight. If the Finals began right now, the advantage would be in Connecticut's corner regardless of the home court situation.

That said, tonight the Storm not only matched the Sun in drive, determination, intensity and hard work but they found a way to do the Sun one better, or should that be nine better.

The Sun came out like they had already played 10 minutes of basketball. Everything was clicking and it seemed like they were hitting every shot. They were finding mismatches too easily on offense and exploiting them. The Storm were missing in action on their weak side defensive and inexplicably leaving Sun post players completely open under the basket. Connecticut was running the floor, driving to the basket and getting every loose ball.

On the other end, the Storm were hitting baskets, but they were working a lot harder to get those points than the Sun were and most of them were perimeter jump shots thanks to Dydek's presence. Even when Margo picked up a flurry of quick fouls and went out, Asjha Jones came in a started scoring immediately. Having Dydek gone got the Storm into the paint more often, but Jones and the other Sun posts were still denying everything and then scoring way too easily themselves.

At 16-6, with all of us thinking if not saying aloud, "Aww CRAP," Coach Donovan called a timeout and went to work on the team. I wish I could say I heard what she said, but I didn't. Whatever it was, it worked. Even though the Storm still made some mistakes — turnovers here and there, allowing the Sun to win the loose ball scrums, or leaving Sun shooters crazily open — they clawed their way back in and were able to keep the Sun within 4-6 points through the first half. I have to admit that several times in the first half, I'd look up at the scoreboard and be amazed that we were only down by a few points.

You know that my game report wouldn't be complete with a rant about the refs, so here goes: What the hell where those three smoking? It was almost a whole game of Bonita "Yep, I missed it" calls, on both sides. I guess my desire for officiating consistency has been rewarded with horrible calls all around. The most frustrating thing about these calls were that they'd ignore the punishing hacks, elbows and pushes going on in the post and then call the slightest touch on the perimeter. How many times did a post player — LJ or Taj — get physically abused with no call and then turn around on the next play and a guard dribbling around the perimeter gets a call against her defender because the defender breathed too hard? Sue gets body slammed at the end of the first half - no call. LJ touches Taj's hand after the ball is half way to the basket - foul. Calling the ticky tacky crap and ignoring the potentially player injuring crap is how brawls get started (re: PHX v WAS). Be consistent not by sucking on both ends, but by calling a clean game. Why is this so hard?

So I expected the Storm to come out in the second half and take control of the game. They had played through their mistakes in the first and despite a near perfect performance from the Sun were only down by five. I figured that the Storm would make a couple adjustments — namely that weak side defense — and come out with more energy and really take it to the Sun. Kinda like the way the Sun started the game (as I said, they started looking like they already played part of a game and had worked out their adjustments). It didn't quite happen that way. In fact, the Sun did a bit of a repeat and opened the half with the slight edge in energy and aggression. The Storm were much quicker to match the Sun's effort and kept the game at the same 3-6 point spread most of the way.

Every time the Sun got the lead back up to 6 and seemed poised to go on a run and blow the game open, someone from the Storm would come up and hit a huge basket. Izzy with a three-pointer. Betty with a drive, score and foul. Janell with an offensive rebound. Sue with her drive, stop and pop in the middle of the lane. LJ with a killer move to the basket. Suzy with her wrong-looking left handed jump shots that seemed to float in. But even with all the big shots, the Storm couldn't seem to get over that 3 point cushion because as soon as they'd hit the big bucket, so would the Sun on the other end.

The Storm tied it at 65 at about the 11:00 mark, but the Sun pulled away again. The Storm finally took the lead with about 4 minutes left on a couple free throws from Sue. At this point, the Key was pure mayhem. The crowd had been into the game from the early parts of the first half, but started reaching playoff-level loud with that first tie and stayed there. When Sue hit those 2 free throws to FINALLY get us the lead, we had to be hitting 105+db. I honestly think that 8000 with the curtain up on the upper bowl is louder than 11000 with the curtain down.

Buoyed by the fans and finally being able to take control of the game from the Sun, the Storm slowly built a lead and pulled away. The Sun weren't able to answer in the last couple minutes as the Storm got all the rebounds and kept hitting their baskets.

It took the Storm scoring their highest point total ever to win, but they out-worked, out-hustled and out-lasted the Sun to win the game. If we're fortunate enough to make it back to the Finals — and the Sun's chances of that seem better right now than the Storm's — I think the 5 game series between these two teams will be one for the ages.

On to the player commentaries:

Sue was the one starter who had a bad night. She looked frustrated and is clearly not comfortable with the mask, not that anyone could blame her. But, while her personal numbers were low, she definitely had her teammates clicking and helped them to perform at their highest. The offense was back in the hands of the master and Sue led the team to this win.

I think Sue's presence was mostly clearly evident in Betty's performance tonight. BettyBall™ at its worst includes forced shots, drives into set defenses and lots of turnovers (see the last game's OT). BettyBall™ tonight was all about scoring within the offense, finding the open seams in the defense and punishing all defenders who sat back and waited for drop-the-shoulder Betty to make the expected move. I think the difference is directly related to Sue being back. Betty, I think, needs a certain structure in order to succeed. She needs to be the wild factor, but can only really do it if she can roam around without the ball. When she is called upon to initiate the offense, she gets caught doing too much. When Sue is initiating the offense, Betty can be Betty and we get wins.

Janell has an edge to her on the court that catches her defenders off guard. When she gets the ball in the post, she is one of the most tenacious players out there. She got inside, up-and-under, spin this way, spin that way, go under the basket for a reverse kinds of moves that are a bit shocking from someone who seems so, well, dainty. She was a couple points away from a double double.

LJ was her dominant self, even with the Taj/Asjha/Margo crew defending her.

Izzy turned on the jets late in the second half and hit some monster baskets to help get the lead and then help keep the lead. She also had the task yet again of defending the opponent's best player in Nykesha Sales. Izzy helped keep Sales playing like a normal human with only 15 points while scoring 15 herself. When our 3 can equal out their 3 when their 3 is their best player, we're in damn good shape.

Suzy gave us a 5th scoring threat tonight, but was also a foul magnet. To her defense, the fouls were mostly of the crazed phantom types that seemed to be more a case of the ref saying, "Hmmm. The Sun player is making a move. That big rookie must be fouling so I'll go ahead and blow my whistle. I don't see a foul, but there has to be one in there somewhere."

The rest of the bench - Simone, Francesca, Tanisha and Chelle - didn't get much playing time and didn't do a whole lot while they were out there. Zara had a couple assists and a basket, but that is it. So much for Coach Donovan feeling more confident in the back-up guards so that she could give Sue more rest. Tonight would have been a good night for Zara and Wright to get more time since Sue was somewhat off and still adjusting to the mask.

So we're 7-4 and in 2nd place in the West. Now the real test begins...

The Storm's next 4 games are on the road against their prime conference rivals, all are teams that have a legitimate chance at the playoffs. Now is the perfect opportunity for the Storm to reestablish their place in the conference and put the other top West teams back a few notches. Hopefully, the team will build off of this win and the effort that they put forth, reconfirming to themselves that they are the defending Champions and they can still play and win against the best in the league, and kick some conference butt.

Other Notes:

LJ had another bloody knee incident. I swear this is becoming the new Tully hitting the floor indicator for when the game is finally "on."

The house audio went out during pregame after what seemed to be an alarm of some sort went off. There were emergency lights flashing in the luxury boxes (nice that THEY get some sort of emergency warning while us plebians get nothing) and the public address system cut out. No one seemed to care — the teams continued their warmups and we all did our pregame thing.

The Storm Dance Troupe (the young kids) didn't perform. The Hip Hop group did and led a series of different age groups of kids during the halftime as they showed off skills and moves learned in a recent dance clinic.

Doppler was sporting a giant-sized Sue nose band-aid.