2007 Playoffs, First Round

Final score: Storm 84 – Mercury 101 (L) (0-1)

Submitted by | Norwester

I know a lot of people are probably going to complain about the refs and the other things that went wrong tonight, but the bottom line really is that Phoenix quite simply out-played us. It seems like when we've beaten them before, we've beaten them at their own game. We excell at transition basketball, and that's what they basically play. But from the beginning it was clear that our game plan was to slow it down and run a set offense. That might work if our shots are falling and the other team isn't shooting lights out, but it wasn't working in the first half (I don't think Lauren even shot the ball in the whole second quarter ), and I really didn't see any adjustment.

I will say that the effort was there on the player side. I think that Sue had an excellent game; she really seemed to be everywhere, on defense, getting rebounds, slapping at the ball. There's also not much more Lauren can do than she did, though she seemed very tired out there (she was bodied around enough...I guess Phoenix finally learned the SASS style of defense that keeps LJ frustrated all game); who can do much with a ball passed to you in desperation when the shot clock is winding down and you're buried in the corner beyond the three-point line with a body on you? Sure, we can turn that play well enough, but when you realize that it's the only play we get Lauren time after time, I hope that you also have bad flashbacks to Opening Day 2005 and realize that unless we change something, we aren't going to win the game. Is that a coaching stick-to-the-plan failure, or a players-aren't-executing failure?

I felt all right about our defense, we had several outstanding stops when we needed them (coupled with disastrous lapses), but sick about our rebounds (though miraculously I'm told the stats were pretty even). It didn't matter if we had hands in their faces, after starting the game rather cold the Mercury caught on fire to the point where even Tangela Smith was a three-point threat. Yeah, they got us more than once with that first step to cause us to collapse and give them a wide-open three, but like with the reffing, it was our timing on defensive lapses that cost us. Every time we'd start to rally, Phoenix would roll in a couple of uncontested or contested-but-heart-breaking shots. I really started to enjoy watching them play from an objective stand-point, because every time we collapsed on Taurasi or Taylor in the paint they'd shovel a pass to a teammate flashing the lane for an open look. The loudest points the Storm scored all night were during a rally when LJ flashed the lane and Sue got her the ball and she laid it in for &1. There was precious little of that kind of transition action tonight for the Storm. Were we tired? Were we conserving our energy? For what?

One thing about the refs: there were a lot of bad calls, but it wasn't atypical. I think that the fouls at least were called pretty evenly both ways. The frustrating thing was that you never knew (I'm sure as a player or as a fan) what was going to be called a foul when, so you kind of had to go out there playing blind. It kind of messed up the rhythm of the game, and certainly our offensive rhythm, which is what I think got Ashley taken out of the game, unfortunately (though Wendy gave us excellent minutes), but we let it get in our heads and I do think the Storm got the short end of the stick when it came to traveling and out-of-bounds calls. There were some awful ones there, though a lot of them stemmed from the Mercury's all-swarm all-the-time style of play, which we've seen the refs give the benefit of the doubt to time and time again. They were in there tipping and scrambling for every possession, like you should be in a play-off game, and though we tried to be that way, they just seemed to get the better of us time after time.

So perhaps you can blame the refs a bit for our lack of rhythm, for never calling traveling on Phoenix, for letting Lauren get mugged, then calling her when she reciprocates, but bottom line is that Phoenix shot 10 more field goals than we did, and had a ton more assists, and the shots we did shoot we weren't making, while they were hitting everything they threw up (and if not, they were getting 2 and 3 tries consistently). I'm firmly convinced that we'd have been in the upper 30% if Betty hadn't finally gotten some shots to fall in garbage time. It reminded me of how Russia beat us in the World Championships: they were making shots they usually don't make and we couldn't match that.

The positive: we never gave up. Until they were yanked with just over 2 or 3 minutes (or whatever) left in the game, Sue and Lauren were out there playing like they still expected we could win this thing, to the point where I'd lost track of the time and was actually surprised when they were pulled. Perhaps we can reverse our fortunes from the last two seasons where we won the 1st and lost the next 2. We have it in us to win both in Phoenix; it will be interesting to see if we adjust, take the reins off, and run with them.

ETA: it was also fun to watch Lauren turn bright red while we cheered her for receiving not one, but three crystal obelisks at center court before the game (two smaller ones for the scoring and rebounding titles, and one big for for Defensive Player of the Year ); it's also good that we have now once again dispersed the "pre-game ceremony and we lose" mojo.

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