Final score: Storm 96 – Lynx 71 (W) (11-7)

Attendance | 7553

Anthem Watch | Dude has sung it for 4 presidents — he knew what he was doing.

Fan Psyche | Holy crap, we're down by 13. Holy crap, we're up by 29.

Game Highlight | There were lots, but the Tanisha no-look over the shoulder pass to LJ for a lay-up was pretty damn good.

Halftime | A martial arts group doing dragon dancing. No "slips" of any kind.

SF.O Keyword of the Game | Bench play.

Game Photos |

What a fantastic game.

In just about every way, the Storm dominated the game after the first few minutes. The Lynx looked like they were going to break the string of teams who win at Staples and then lose their next game at the Key. They jumped the Storm at the beginning of the game and built a shocking 15-2 lead. I know that I was worried about this game since Minnesota has played some great games this season and it looked like the Storm were playing like they expected the Lynx to win the game.

Then things changed.

The Storm not only clamped down defensively — something that they can almost do at will — but they also put a smackdown on the Lynx offensively at the same time.

After the Lynx lead got to 15-2, the Storm turned around and outscored the Lynx 94-56.

Every aspect of the game — domination.

Inside? LJ dominated.

Outside? The Storm dominated.

Rebounding? Yep, dominated.

Energy off the bench? Dominated.

We got some incredible production off the bench tonight. Katie was unconscious and matched her career high. Tanisha, except for a couple bone-headed fouls, played an overall solid game. Camille came in and brought some energy on defense and with rebounding. The amazing thing was that the bench was basically in for the whole fourth quarter plus a little of the third and maintained the lead. In fact, the Storm won the fourth quarter by one point. How many times have we ever been able to say that?

The only negative out of the bench's fourth quarter performance was that all of them weren't able to score. Shyra had the ball and had opportunities, but couldn't get it to fall. Kristen was playing point and really wasn't looking to score. Other than that, giving the bench some significant playing time was exactly what they all needed. All of them were in long enough to get over their jitters and settle down into a decent playing rhythm. I hope their performance means more playing time in games the Storm isn't leading by almost 30. When LJ leaves, they will have to produce so why not get them used to producing now instead of waiting for it to be a necessity?

LJ was nearly unstoppable, which when it comes to the Lynx has not always been the case. The mix of Ohlde and Hayden in the past always seemed to put LJ into a passive mode that let the two of them take over the paint. Not tonight. Ohlde was a non-factor. Even Katie was able to guard her and keep her from getting comfortable in the post. Hayden came in off the bench, and other than some harsh language was unable to get LJ off her stride.

The LJ/Hayden scuffle was pretty funny, actually. In the third quarter, LJ and Vanessa got tied up and LJ gave Hayden a push after the play had been whistled dead. Hayden started working the refs, saying the LJ had "disrespected" her. LJ, who was by this time lining up to rebound for a free throw, has laughing and smiling. Pretty much continuing the disrespecting. Of course, on the next play down the court, Hayden got the ball and LJ got called for a foul. She pointed at the big screen and politely suggested that the ref take a look since he got the call wrong. She got a T instead. Didn't matter though — LJ kept rolling like nothing happened.

There were lots of other high points to the game — big threes, a couple of blocks, steals, fastbreaks. Really, a little something for everyone. The only question is how to you bottle this kind of all-around performance and take it on the road? The Storm have 10 road games left. If they go even 5 and 5 through those ten games, they are a lock for the playoffs. If they can do better than that, then we can start talking about home court advantage, which this year is turning out to really mean something.

Hopefully, the Storm can finally translate their home success into a road win coming up in Sacramento.

Other notes:

Note to Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels — whoever it was on your staff that suggested making an appearance at KeyArena should be fired, immediately. That person has horrible judgment, but then your judgment has been epically bad lately so you can't really point fingers.

It was apparently night of the politicos with a couple state legislators sitting courtside with the Force 10 super women. Oh, and Darcy Burner was sitting behind the Storm bench.

WNBA blogging royalty at the game: Queenie was sitting in 113. She was here for the NY game too, but since I missed that game (first miss ever, I think), I have to mention her for this game. It was great to finally meet her face-to-face.

A few of us went up to Pagliacci's after the game. Kristen O'Neill came in with some family. I wanted to start the Husky chant. Leighway wouldn't let us. She is a killjoy.