Final score: Storm 71 – Shock 84 (L) (5-5)

Submitted by Norwester

I don't know that there's much to say about this game that we haven't already cried and moaned about regarding other losses this season. Despite having all 5 starters playing with one another for the 3rd season, we don't seem to have any natural rhythm or offensive flow out on the court. I believe that we have great off-court chemistry. You can see that through player interactions when the game isn't in progress. But somewhere along the way we've lost something. Even Sue and Lauren aren't as connected on the court as we saw in the Open Practice. We seem to be thinking really hard as a team, rather than playing. So sure, the reffing was awful. There should be some kind of rule against putting a rookie ref out there against Bill Laimbeer, because you'd have thought we were in Detroit with the kinds of calls they were getting. I'm not saying that we weren't committing fouls, but particularly when you factor in the repeated offensive fouls Lauren was being called for when posting up (when she was still trying in the beginning) versus what Detroit was getting away with on my end of the floor 1st half, it was really rather lopsided and kind of ridiculous. Still, if we're going to be a contending team, we can't let the refs get into our heads like that. Did Lauren stop posting up because she was playing with several fouls and just didn't know what they'd call next? Would it have helped to have Anne show some of Bill's emotion and perhaps even take a T for the team in order to defend them from the officiating? Could Katie learn to shoot off the dribble a la Katie Smith?

LJ was the only Storm player on court shooting when we came in when the doors were opened. Sue wandered out, and then Katie Smith emerged and they met up with her near the scorers table at mid-court, hugs exchanged. Bill was sitting on the table not far away and broke into their chatting with some sort of trash talk, because they all responded and all were laughing back at him.

Also a bunch of kids were up in a suite and yelled, "Lauren!" She stopped and looked up and smiled and waved.

I quailed when I saw that June Corteau was one of our refs. Little did I know that by the end of the game I'd actually be looking to her to be the voice of reason! Is there no God?!

The Injury Report had both Betty (achilles tendonitis) and Cheryl Ford (sprained left knee) listed as game-time decisions. The PA guy speculated that Betty would tough it out, and at that point Betty emerged from the tunnel to cheers.

The Shock got a surprising amount of applause during intros. Come on, people, they're our enemies! Well, Bill Laimbeer got friendly boos upon intro, which also surprised me, but was not unexpected in retrospect. Ford was also announced in the opening line-up.

I like the choice of opening song. But the beat is so fast most people give up on trying to clap along. The crowd really gets going before the tip when they play the Can-Can song. That is the kind of tempo to look for. Just a friendly suggestion. I do like a lot of the clips of game-play they show during the opening montage on the Arenavision. It's put together well.

The game didn't start well. At 8:37 the officials already had to call a timeout because Lauren had blood on her. Bill was complaining to the refs and got booed by the crowd. It looked like LJ got a finger on her right hand treated, and some spots on her jersey sprayed with disinfectant. Apparently she got scratched while going for a block. A couple of minutes later the Storm called a timeout, down 0-8, crowd still standing and waiting for a bucket (though most rested during the timeout). We'd put up a couple of threes that missed (Sue and LJ) and one LJ turn-around that rimmed out. And while we were missing our outside shots, the Shock were making all of theirs, except one that sent them to the foul line.

Out of the timeout the crowd pretty much spontaneously got back to their feet, cheering in encouragement before the PA guy even had to say anything. It was pretty cool to watch the people standing in waves and hear the noise steadily build. And JB finally scored &1! I have to commend the crowd. They were really quick to reward good things (like effort), and when there was a long lull they responded by ratcheting up the noise in encouragement. There were some moments of spontaneity too. Also, the crowd wasn't shy about letting the refs know what they thought of their calls. I've tried to tone that down for myself the last couple of seasons, especially because I can't decide if a booing crowd distracts the players, or encourages them to go after the refs themselves rather than just playing, but even I was nearly physically ill with frustration in the third quarter, and there has to be some outlet for that.

LJ picked up two quick fouls and sat until the second quarter. Betty got knocked around some and she also sat. But Detroit picked up some weak fouls too. Nolan came up with a bloody nose, but no foul. Hey, that's what happens when you're grabbing onto the front of LJ's jersey when she's going for a rebound. Anytime Detroit got open in any way they were hitting their shots, and we were making our living at the foul line, and we were even missing plenty of those shots, early. It was the offensive fouls called that got to me the most. When we have possession we should get some benefit of establishing position. But we were in front of Bill's bench in the beginning, and he was right there to "help" the refs make the call. Like I said, it made a mockery of officiating. With 50 seconds to go in the 1st JB picked up another weak o-foul, and it was all bench on the floor down 12-23, but they didn't do too badly. T dribble-dribble-dribbled the clock down, but then squirted around the baseline and inside for an improbable lay-in. 1Q: 16-25 Applause.

LJ and Sue were back in with Katie, Ashley and Ely to begin the 2nd. PeeWee Johnson was flopping all over the court on our posts, and the refs bit every time. Sigh. (Please! ). We kept trying to chip away at the lead, but every time we'd make a play, Detroit would answer, often through Katie Smith on the outside. I thought we did a fairly good job of containing her early, but eventually we would go to a zone defense...which only works if the other team isn't hitting their outside shots, and Detroit was. But what do I know?

Halfway through the quarter, down 10, the De-fense prompt began up on the ArenaVision, and initially the crowd just ignored it until a couple of people started up the "New Refs" chant, and that really caught on. Rather than just being scattered liberally throughout the arena, pretty much everyone was chanting that, after Betty was called for carrying the ball. It's not that it's impossible that she was; we've also been told that they're going to call that closer this season. The problem was when they chose to make calls (because we all know they don't call it every time; there wouldn't be a game then), and it always seemed to come when we were trying to establish a rhythm. Every time we'd get some momentum, any kind really, we'd turn it over and Detroit would score 3. This just epitomized our frustrations.

All the starters came in. Betty went to the line, missed her first, and walked away from the line with her hand to her forehead ignoring LJ and JB who came to slap her hand. Whatever. A couple minutes later down 30-41 LJ picked up her 3rd or 4th foul, but Betty seemed about to go off on a scoring binge. LJ was a monster on defense the whole game. She was our interior defense. Sadly, Detroit was hitting from the outside. Anne kept LJ in the game and with 2 minutes to go Sue hit a 3 on a great offensive set where we passed with purpose, and probably every team member touched the ball, then LJ blocked the ball at the other end and Betty drove in for a lay-up to make it 35-41: Hurray! Standing ovation into the ensuing timeout. Then we got back to our feet due to exhortations from the PA guy out of the timeout, loud and cheering and LJ stole the ball! JB offensive foul. LJ block! Shock ball, foul on A-Rob. It looked like all ball on the replay, but those types of plays are often called as fouls unless your name is LLL, so of course this ref crew couldn't let it pass. But this was just the way of things: we'd start to get going, something would disrupt our rhythm (refs, turnovers) and Detroit would answer. And another thing I have to hand to Detroit, they are excellent at selling the fouls. Anyway with a minute to go, LJ sat down, suddenly we couldn't stop the paint scoring of the Shock. HT: 35-44. No applause.

The Shock out-rebounded us, doubled up on assists, and shot a blistering 50% from the floor. The Microsoft Play of the Game was a Katie Gearlds &1 play that was a thing of beauty. Overall I thought that we did an all right job in the first half shaking off the refs and other set-backs repeatedly. We started the 3rd pretty well, running LJ off some screens and such and getting the ball to her in motion in the paint. But the refs stepped right in it when LJ was called for a bogus offensive foul on a play that was pretty much just good, clean, honest effort in getting a rebound and putting it back up. Seriously. This is something we see every game, and it's just great effort, the kind of thing a rational ref lets go, and the refs killed it! Oh it was bad. It was awful. Even a bitter AD got in the ref's face on that one. #58 was a disgrace. On LJ. At home! Izi hit a 3 to mollify the crowd somewhat, but the LJ picked up a T for I guess arguing with the ref that she'd gotten hit in the face. He did turn around like he was daring her to say anything else to him, but you should be able to talk to the refs, particularly if you're the team captain. Perhaps she used a few colorful adjectives. But it was a pretty weak technical foul overall; they're handing them out like candy this year, apparently. Unless your name is Bill Laimbeer. If it is, then you can roam all over the court, crossing the line, arguing and complaining constantly. Not all of that is worth a T either, but there were definitely a couple of times that one could have been called that was at least at the level of Lauren's. She just laughed, but you could tell she was frustrated. The crowd, barely recovered from the first foul had to quickly open up the boo-cannon again, while simultaneously giving Lauren a half-standing ovation. And the real problem was that after that weak offensive foul on LJ, Detroit was getting away with murder (in comparison) over in front of the Storm bench. That's the real kicker. What, you have to flop to get a call in this League? With 5+ minutes to go LJ picked up another quick offensive foul. Offensive! Who ever heard of so many on one player in a game?! I need to calm down, and I will, but this was ridiculous. At least call crap both ways, rather than making it so one-sided. I guess they were trying to make up for the 7 FT to 18 FT Shock-Storm discrepancy from the first half, but they were shooting from the outside in the 1st half...you don't automatically get free throws for that.

Anyway, we couldn't buy a rebound at this point, particularly with LJ on the bench. And I know that JB had a good game scoring-wise, but she was not getting rebounds or moving to the ball like she had to. Too often she just stands there flat-footed and waits for the pass to get to her, and several times Detroit got there first and picked it off. The crowd was pretty consistently booing the refs by this time, and would have continued during the 5-minute timeout down 43-57 if the Dance Troupe hadn't come out. I'm sure they did it on purpose. You can't boo the little kids! Instead some guy held up a cobbled-together sign that said "Somewhere a high school is missing a ref" and he got BIG applause. Really. The positive crowd reaction was as loud as it had been all game. But this whole circus was worrying me because it was time for our players to forget the refs and get back into the game mentally if we were to have any chance of a rally. And we did start to show signs of life with JB working it on the block, and LJ back in with a bunch of fouls, but even as we started getting a rhythm again, Izi was mugged on the way to the basket on a fast break, and called for the inevitable offensive foul. Give us a break. There is some incidental contact in basketball, and I thought you had to be set in order to draw a charge, not just be slower and get in the way. Occasionally it seemed like June opened her mouth to be the voice of reason, but she always just let it go. It must be a sign of the apocalypse that I was actually half-way expecting her to show reason. 3Q: 54-69

And the fourth quarter really turned out to be wholly futile. LJ mostly floated to the outside. We'd make a brilliant defensive stop then squander it on the offensive side, then we'd sit in the zone while the ever-so-cut Katie Smith (do she and Deanna Nolan sit in the gym and egg each other on, or what?: lift! lift! ) picked us apart from the perimeter. There wasn't even any crowd reaction to the time out at 6 minutes, down 59-77. I did have a question about travel calls, though. Is it legal for a player to bobble the ball while moving and still retain possession? I thought that was traveling, and different Detroit players did it about three different times during the game, and I wondered at the no-call. But whatever. LJ didn't get called for anything at the end, and she was whacking a few folks around on our end. Sure, the refs swallow their whistles when it doesn't mean anything. I guess Bill stopped telling them what to call.

Frankly, we're playing like a .500 team. I'm not sure why. We have stretches of really good basketball, followed by stretches of Easter Island offense and Keystone Cops. 50-50 sounds about right. On one play Sue literally ran around the entire perimeter of the half court and no one else even changed position that whole time. Partially, we don't have that spark off the bench like we've had in the past. Who thinks we'd have beaten Sacramento if Alicia Thompson hadn't come in and started hitting 3s? There are numerous examples of a benchie sparking us in the past, and while we have some good players to come in right now, we don't have that "personality" factor, for some reason. We don't have Tully throwing her body around willy-nilly. We don't have Adia putting the hurt on defensively. We don't have Simone shimmying around and shocking opponents and delighting fans when she holds on to the ball and finds the hole. To reiterate, we all look like we're thinking way too hard. Meanwhile, Jenny Boo's team sits atop the West. How much impact do assistant coaches have? Are we still breaking ours in?

Oh, and Ely suddenly started showing energy in garbage time again: going after the ball, getting a 3 and a rebound. She didn't show that kind of energy when she was in earlier in the 2nd, though. See? I'm talking about spark.

Oh, and I rant more on losses, I guess, so read part two next.

Run-off

All of Adia's talk on air about licorice ropes drove me to buy and consume one. Yum.

Sue's hair is straight now. I like the look fine. I liked the previous one. Whatever. Her shot looked good in shoot-around. I think her knee is a bigger impediment at this point.

LJ had on the yellow shoes and a messy bun.

Anne wore a nice linen suit/dark blouse, Heidi some beige/khaki-colored cargo slacks with a like-colored jacket, and Shelley a blue & white blouse, blue jacket, and white slacks.

Detroit decided to start with offense on their side of the court, so we were playing the "wrong" way.

The anthem was sung by the Seattle Gay & Lesbian Chorus. They received a warm welcome and I thought the performance was pretty traditional and powerful. The Dance Troupe didn't come out on court with the big flag, so we had to face the one hanging in the rafters.

Jr. Captains: Sue and LJ and Swin Cash signed a ball for the lucky participant.

Tanisha was the only player who dribbled the ball out during introductions. Read whatever you want into that one.

Since she was WNBA Player of the Week, StormVision showed an old feature on Lauren from the end of the 2001 season (her rookie year), which highlighted foreign players. We were treated to a young, non-blonde LJ, starting out poking a fish at Pike Place Market squeamishly as the guys attempted to instruct her on the art of catching it, then it showed her with her mom talking about as a little kid she decided she was going to play for Australia like her parents, cut to footage of the Australian Olympic team and the young "basketball prodigy." LJ spoke about the differences in the US, how in Australia everyone is just so laid back and happy and themselves. She decided to play in the WNBA in order to improve her game, and also in some way to mirror her mom's overseas journey to play in college in the US. Her time away from home was tough, and she felt like she wasn't playing like herself, but her mom came to visit and that week she scored a career high 25 points in a game. The feature ended with her finally catching the fish. It was darn cute.

Alan & Adia Game Breakdown: Detroit the defending Champs and playing well; LJ having a great season and there should really be no limit to what she can do, that's why she's an MVP candidate this year; Izi has added dimension to her game. Detroit has a very balanced attack, with 5 players in double figures, fielding a lot of different weapons, which will be a tough test for the Storm.

Continuing the POW festivities, we were also treated to another FastBreak with LJ between the 1st and 2nd quarters: full name = Lauren Elizabeth Jackson; if she wasn't playing basketball she'd probably be working as a "check-out chick" living in Albury, Australia ; favorite food = Indian food; favorite Christmas present = drum set (except she never really used them), and a surf board (which got a lot more use); best Halloween costume = Mortisha Addams, except she didn't really look all that different from everyday, since she was in her goth phase at the time ; favorite comedic actor = Sacha Baron Cohen; she thought for a while and then said that she wasn't really good at any other sports besides basketball.

Mid-way through the 2nd quarter we were to vote on which of three songs (Gwen Stefani's "Wind it Up", Maroon 5's "Makes Me Wonder" or Red Jumpsuit Apparatus' "Face Down") we wanted to be played during some upcoming Fan Dance. The clapping and cheering was pretty even for each, so the PA guy called it for Gwen's song. And later in the quarter our very own 04wnbachamps and father won the Fan Dance!

We ran out of All-Star ballots again. If anyone has any, turn them in at the Team Shop before Sunday. And continue voting online.

Half time was a KISS 106.1 Jackie & Bender 6 on 6 (or something...I didn't quite get a pre-game count, and it's hard to count moving targets) showdown. Jackie's team was "representing" section 120, and Bender 106. "Jackie" won in a shut-out. So Section 120 got KISS 106.1 t-shirts thrown to them. Some surrounding sections got shirts as well from enthusiastic throwers (or perhaps they just misunderstood that it was a specific Section). It wasn't a pretty game to watch, and the couple of women out there weren't really aggressive. In the "playing to your audience" category it probably wasn't the most interesting thing, but it was fine. It was no Racing Dogs or Dunking Ushers, though.

Has anyone here ever tried to figure out who the WNBA Mystery Player of the Week is on aol.com/wnba? I'm just curious. Is it hard?

Between the 3rd and 4th quarters with nothing else in sight to cheer for Sections 113 and 103 (well, specifically certain Stormfans members in those sections) got into a trash-talking match over the Mini Races, in which Section 103's gold car won (beating 113's red car and 128's green car...but they were too far away to harass over losing). It was actually the most amusing thing that had happened in some time, which is sad, in a way.

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