Final score: Storm 62 – Fever 74 (L) (10-9)

Attendance | 8222

Anthem Watch | A gospel-ish choir and several soloists. I didn't care for it.

Fan Psyche | I think the number of that truck was 41, or maybe 24.

Game Highlight | I don't want to talk about it.

Halftime | A jump rope team.

SF.O Keyword of the Game | Sigh.

Game Photos

The only possible good thing that we can maybe take away from this game is that the Storm were able to make a 31-point loss almost winnable. If the team had woken up just a few minutes earlier than it did, that lead might have been wiped out. As it was, Indiana did just enough to keep the Storm from getting any closer than 9 points at the end of the fourth quarter.

So there you have it. The good news is that this game wasn't an embarrassing home loss — it was just another home loss.

Statistically, the two teams weren't that far apart. The factor that really separated the Storm and Fever tonight was energy — the Fever had bucket loads of it early and the Storm had none until the end of the game when it was too late.

The Fever came out jabbing and slapping at every pass and were very successful at keeping the Storm off balance and out of their normal offense. Sue was rarely able to take the ball up the court due to Tully's defense. The Storm responded by being tentative instead of pressing. The refs were calling the game extremely tightly, but the Storm didn't really take advantage of that until late in the game.

The other deciding factor in my opinion was the Storm's unbelievable inability to get the ball to Lauren or Janell in the post through the first three quarters. Time and time again, LJ would be set up in decent position with a single defender while the guard would have the ball on the perimeter also against a single defender. Instead of dumping the ball into LJ, the guard — Tanisha was the biggest offender, but Shaun, Sue, and Barbara were all guilty of this — would swing the ball around to the other side and take it away from LJ. Maybe her teammates don't realize this, but LJ with the ball is good for about 50% shooting, usually against 2 or more defenders. When she's got one defender on her — GET HER THE DAMN BALL. LJ with 4 points at the end of the half is insane.

There was one other head scratcher that stood out tonight — Edwige. In the limited minutes she got, she did a solid job. She had 3 steals, no turnovers (in a turnover heavy game) and played straight up defense. Every time she did something good though, she got yanked. It made no sense. I don't like to dog specific players and I don't think I've ever openly criticized the coaches, but Tanisha should not be allowed to play the point guard position the rest of the season. Let Edwige get 10-12 minutes and let's see what she can do. Right now, when T is at the point the Storm flounder badly. The few short minutes that E has been at the point, the Storm have maintained their flow. It's time for another rotation change. Give Edwige a chance as the number one back-up for Sue.

Other Notes:

The "New Refs" cheer got going, led by the bottom rows of 106. I've not commented at all this season about the refs — it goes without saying that they suck and I'm not going to waste any pixels on them. However, Brian Enterline has almost... almost taken over one of the spots in the Legion of Doom (Roy, Fonzie, Darla).

The video people need to quit putting me and Angie on the big screen during the Fan Dance thing. It ain't gonna happen. If you want to do a Fan Disdain cam, I can do that. Dancing — no go.

The Storm needed to check their memory banks a bit. The Fever were playing some classic Lin Dunn offensive sets. Even Angie recognized a few of the plays and was yelling what the Fever was doing.

An Angie postgame quote, "Ashely Robinson was in for what, 26 seconds? She's going to call home to Mama tonight." She then quickly said that I couldn't put that in my Gameday report.