Final
score: Storm 97 – Mercury 87 (W) (3-2)
Attendance
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7753
Anthem
Watch | Ft. Lewis trio who are heading back
to Iraq soon.
Fan
Psyche | Will someone please put a hand in
Pondexter's face?
Game
Highlight | Sue going coast to coast for a
quarter ending buzzer beating layup.
Halftime
| Young girls' bball scrimmage
SF.O
Keyword of the Game | Okay, we can beat Phoenix.
Anyone else?
Game
Photos | Rick
| Scott
E | Stalker
23 | Scott
L
The
Storm missed breaking their scoring record a few days ago
in their game at Phoenix, so I guess it's no surprise that
the Storm did break their record tonight against the same
team. I guess Paul Ball only works if the opposing team can't
out run you, which is what the Storm did in both games.
The
bad news for Phoenix, other than there 0-4 losing streak,
is that they are still missing a good center/power forward.
Diana Taurasi and Cappie Pondexter are going to be fighting
each other, along with LJ, for the scoring title all season.
Kamila is a rock and always dependable. The Mercury's recent
pickup in Derevjanik seems like a steal. She looked like she'd
been playing with the team for a couple years instead of days.
With all of that, they are still thin in the middle and not
too deep in the bench.
Tonight,
it looked like Pondexter and Taurasi might have been enough
to win the game. They unfortunately picked the last few minutes
of the game to start missing shots and, amazingly enough,
free throws. I wouldn't call it a choke, but they had the
momentum, enough time and another late game timid stretch
from the Storm and blew it by missing the gimmies.
Other
than the last couple minutes, Pondexter was unstoppable from
anywhere on the court. I think we have a legitimate Rookie
of the Year race on our hands. Augustus may be the early penciled
in favorite, deservedly so, but Pondexter has to be right
up there too. It didn't matter if she was wide open, under
pressure, getting fouled, fading away or driving the lane
— she was hitting it all. I don't have my stat book
handy (I actually don't have one, but if I did, it would be
handy), but I don't think we've had too many opposing players
put 30 points up on us, let alone rookies in their 4th WNBA
game. If the Mercury tank this season, as it appears they
might, and end up with another lottery pick, they're going
to be too dangerous to play. We might have to petition to
send them to the Eastern Conference or something.
The
Storm played another all around solid offensive game. They
were executing well, getting offensive rebounds and everyone
who played scored. I can't say that their defensive game was
as good. I can remember one Phoenix shot clock violation that
was caused by excellent Storm defense. During that possession,
the Storm were switching on defense and quickly establishing
position after the switch. They were rotating so well it seemed
they knew where the Mercury were passing the ball before the
ball left anyone's hands. They were closing out on shooters
and denying open jump shots. It was one of the best defensive
possessions the Storm have had so far this season in the Key.
They unfortunately weren't able to match that kind of defensive
intensity throughout the game or especially late in the fourth
quarter. I would like to say that they are doing better than
what we saw here against Houston or LA, but the Mercury aren't
the Comets, and the Storm's defense against the Monarchs just
a couple days ago was horrendous. I'm still concerned about
which Storm team will appear for each game, especially against
the elite teams. I'm a bigger fan of a team's ability to shut
down their opponents than I am of their ability to out run
their opponents. It would be great to see the Storm hold the
other teams' score under 70 instead of holding them under
90.
That
said, if you like an offensive show, tonight was a good one
for you. LJ, and Wendy were both 1 rebound away from double
doubles. Janell got one with 12 and 10. We had 6 players in
double figures and got better than usual production from our
bench. There were several wicked passes from the perimeter
to players cutting to the basket — passes delivered
by Sue, Shaun and Tanisha. Betty and Izi both had decent games
— not flashy but seemingly back to their normal selves.
This
game had some great matchups. LJ and Kamila were going at
it all game long. They may be great friends, but the elbows
were flying, including an inadvertent karate chop to Kamila's
neck that had her looking to Roy for a foul on LJ. Derevjanik
and Sue were interesting to watch. On the play ending the
third quarter in which Sue ran the ball up with something
like 3 or 4 second on the clock and scored, Jen was able to
stay alongside of Sue and somehow kept her hand in Sue's face
all the way through Sue's drive. Sue made the layup anyway,
but Derevjanik's defense was almost perfect. Another match
up that was fun to watch was the short time Barb Turner was
playing Taurasi. We also nearly had a full on UCONN reunion
with Sue, DT, Barb and Strother, but all four of them were
never on the court at the same time.
Looking
forward to the next game, I hope the Storm forget their past
with San Antonio and take the Silver Stars very seriously.
SASS beat the Monarchs tonight, in Sacramento. They've beaten
both teams — Houston and Sac — that demolished
the Storm. I don't think San Antonio is a pushover team anymore
and I'm a little concerned about Sunday.
Other
Notes:
The
latest New Girl — Cisti Greenwalt — was on the
bench in street clothes. Edwige Lawson was in uniform, but
didn't play. Neither did Tiffani Johnson.
Seattle
Sonic Damien Wilkins was at the game. He was given an All-Star
ballot and made a good show of looking at it when he was introduced
and put up on the big screen.
The
camera people were on the lookout for the more buxom fans
in the stands during the "Fan Dance" timeout thingy.
After watching a few of the fans do their dances, I was wondering
if I needed to back and make sure I'd paid the right cover
charge to get it and to refill my $9 drink. Yikes.
Doppler
had a remote controlled Mini Cooper out on the floor. He took
special care to open the hood, doors and trunk so the cameraman
could get a good look inside. It wasn't overtly stated, but
I'm thinking Mini is a sponsor or something.
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