2010 WNBA Playoffs, Western Conference Finals, Game 1

Final score: Storm 82 – Mercury 74 (W) (1-0)

Submitted by | Norwester

I know that I haven't produced a typical "downpour" since returning from overseas. I'm honestly still reintegrating, but while I didn't take notes during the game, I can give my impressions to the best of my memory.

This was a brutal game. Very physical. You could see that in LJ's face and body language as she sat on the scorers table--still rather out of breath--for her post-game interview. The good thing: despite uncharacteristically bad shooting and just seeming out of sync as a team the whole game, we kept our composure as a team and came up with the big plays when they were needed. That, along with a quintessentially MVP performance from LJ, jumping out to a quick lead and pretty much controlling the tempo all game helped us stave them off.

The mood in the arena seemed odd from the beginning, but I can't pin point the reason. Maybe it was just because I was sitting in a different seat than normal (though I promised to switch back to my regular seats if the Storm started losing...my parents were sitting there ). We were all standing up cheering in preparation to welcome the team to the floor for shoot around, watching the traditional shot on the Arena Vision of the team gathered in the hallway...and we waited, and waited, and waited. There were only a couple of players there initially, but slowly the rest gathered. It was really odd. I don't know what was throwing off our timing, but they finally reached critical mass and jogged out onto the court...all except for Swin , which had some of us panicking in the stands. Thankfully she came jogging out several minutes later, and seemed pretty energetic and spry. Whew.

But the out of sync feeling didn't abate.

Brandi Carlile gave a nice rendition of the anthem. Much purer and more confident than the last time she sang it for us.

I liked the simplicity of the pre-game awards presentations. LJ seemed honestly emotional and touched as she turned around to wave to us all. But she also returned to business-like very quickly. Coach Agler also seemed happy for the support, but also very Brian Agler in that he shook off any distractions. I was worried about having pre-game festivities, because traditionally they thow us off our game. But I wouldn't have wanted to miss the presentations for what they mean to the team and the players and coaching staff and their accomplishments this year. Whether we ever make headlines on WNBA.com or Plays of the Day or whatever, but we got what actually matters.

Nice interlude, but we jumped (or not as the case may be) right into a weird game. 3 times it took us to jump it up initially, though the Storm finally gained possession. Our passes didn't look very crisp, and we seemed to be confused on offense. LJ wasn't getting touches initially, we were missing chippies, and fortunately Phoenix was missing too (our defense had shining moments, but the Mercury were also missing shots they normally make), so we just watched what seemed like ugly play for the first few minutes before the Storm seemed to decide to forget about the 2-point shots and go to the 3. Suddenly we string together a run and happy times are here again.

LJ was a BEAST which was awesome, particularly her rebounding (in my mind), and may have cured my fear of pre-game ceremony. She was playing like the MVP, and it warmed the cockles of my heart. Sadly, there were plenty of miscues and missed shots that we usually make and missed free throws that allowed the Mercury to get back into the game, and stay there the rest of the way.

I actually wasn't worried when LJ and Sue started yelling at one another. There were multiple times in the game in which LJ worked and worked to establish good post position, and they didn't get the ball to her. I'm certain it's because the Mercury were playing so close they were making it hard for the ball handler to see. I was frustrated, so I can't imagine how LJ felt, but the timeout after she and Sue yelled back and forth, Brian didn't hold forth initially because LJ stuck her head right into the huddle and started speaking very passionately...and we know from past interviews that while Lauren doesn't speak often, when she does they all listen. Then Sue took up the gauntlet and spent the next little bit having her say. The effects didn't last the entire game, but the communication and teamwork we've shown all season, with the poise to continue to compete even when things aren't going quite our way (i.e. calls, or shots falling) got us this win, and actually gave me more confidence than I had prior to this game, before which I was very nervous.

In conclusion, I tend to agree with Scott's game report that Taurasi fouled out on purpose. And even if she didn't, it would be really cool if she did. Because those refs were terrible. Kurt after all these years can frankly go either way, but Darrel and Sue have never impressed me, and were just the type of crew that could drag Kurt down.

Plus, I frankly don't care if Diana Taurasi "goes off" as everyone is predicting. History favors that theory, but we've also shown that we can beat Phoenix when that happens. We've shown that we can beat them in Phoenix. We've shown that we can win on the road, even when things don't go our way. We can win both pretty and ugly. I just don't see the Mercury beating us two times in a row, even if they get us in Phoenix. They could; I mean I don't want to sports-jinx us. But I think we control our own destiny at this point.

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