Final score: Storm 85 – Fever 81 (W) (12-2)

Submitted by | LaurenRules

Officials
Clarke Stevens (groan), Felicia Grinter (hmmmm), and Tom Mauer (BLECCCH!)

Attendance
9,803 (Woot!)

Pre-Game
Lines. Lines and lines and lines of people, stretched all over the block. I got there early to score my precious Sue Bird Bobblehead doll, but the lines were absolutely out of control. Guess the good people of Seattle really do like free stuff.

I got there early enough to watch some pre-team warmups. The trainer was helping Camille stretch. Man, that looked painful. Tanisha was doing some yoga-type poses. And Swin was shooting threes, running all over the court. Which is especially amazing, when you consider her game performance. But, I’m getting ahead of myself. Jenny Boucek, looking elegant even in baggy sweats, was shagging balls for her. Both Agler and Nancy Darsch were standing around midcourt, eyeing her critically. I’m not sure what they saw, would love to ask them later.

A nice Michael Jackson medley was playing over the PA. I later found out that the DJs respond to requests – I think you have to send them in through Twitter – and they’d received a number of requests to play MJ to commemorate his untimely death. Wow, it’s already been a year.
Someone was holding a sign entirely in Russian. I could tell that the first word was in “Svetlana,” but the rest of it was lost to me. Anyone see it and want to translate?

The teams came out and were warming up. The Fever were very high energy. Katie Douglas was pounding down insane shots from the perimeter. I actually wrote down “I hope she doesn’t do that during the game.”

LJ’s hair is now officially ORANGE. VERY bright. A-Rob’s hair shaggy, with gold streaks. Sue’s knee looked find from the way she was moving around the floor. At first, I thought T had done something strange to her hair, but she was just wearing a very narrow black headband.

Anthem
Caspian Coberly and his acoustic guitar. DARN IT! It’s my fault. I said that they anthems were so great this season, and then they went and brought back this kid. It’s not his fault – he plays very well, but it’s an ANTHEM, not a riff! And we were doing so well….

AARP was the community organization.

Sweet greetings between LJ, Sue and Tully at the half-court. One of the junior co-captains was wearing a lovely Doppler-style hat.

Fashion Statement
Agler in light gray suit, red and blue tie. Nancy Darsch back in brown. Jenny Boo in a surplice-style black sweater and above-the-knee patterned cream, brown and black skirt. On the other side, Linn Dunn was in a very nice royal blue and black jacket-style top.

Big ovations for Tully and Linn. Nice applause for Tamika and Katie. I was surprised January didn’t get a better welcome, because I thought she was local. Okay, enough rambling.

First Quarter
LJ won the tip. T drove to the basket as if she was scoring, but instead fed to Camille. SCORE! Everyone sat down. Ebony Hoffman put up a three. Missed it. Rebound Swin. Back the other way. Camille missed a layup. Reset offense and feed LJ for a three. Woot! The Fever came charging back. Hoffman with a jumper, made it this time. Camille went up for a shot with two players on her and Tammy Sutton-Brown picked the foul. Camille put down one of two. This was going to be the story of our night, with the free throws, sadly.

Hoffman grabbed the rebound and Indiana set up their offense. They moved the ball well, getting us to collapse under the basket and then feeding Catchings who sank a three. Swin missed a three. Rebound Tully. Douglas tried to shoot, was double-teamed, T whistled for the foul. KD sank both – and, just like that, Indiana was on top. Weird to see Lauren bringing the ball up, but she does it well. Short interval with missed shots from both. Hoffman fouled Swin, who put down both free throws. Seattle back on top.

KD put down an 18-footer. Turnover by Sue. TSB considerately tossed the ball out of bounds for Indiana, thanks to some monster pressure by LJ. Swin put up a layup, TSB blocked her and rebounded the shot. Pass to Tamika Catching for a running back shot. Ouch. 8 – 11 Indiana.
Fast break Seattle. T to Swin to Camille. Score! Lauren intercepted a pass from Tully, and fed T who passed it to Camille – Score! 12 – 11 Seattle. Catchings’ next shot over the backboard and out of bounds. Seattle ball. LJ at the top of the key, puts up a three – SCORE! Seattle fans dancing in their seats. LJ called on a reaching foul.

Timeout
Shellie announced the Pride Flag on top of the Space Needle. Pandemonium. More obligatory placement, of the “I <3 Sue Bird” T-shirts, done in “I love New York” T-shirt style. Awwwww. Alaska Airlines Seat upgrade.

Svet and Le’coe came in. Svet immediately whistled for a foul. KD scored. Le’coe whistled for traveling. Catchings scored. Ouch. Swin tossed the ball out of bounds. Ouch. Scramble under the basket , that looked as if it should have been a jump ball, but awarded to Indiana instead. Annoyed fans. Missed shots on both sides. Lauren hit a layup, was fouled and converted the three-point play. Moore made a very pretty turnaround bank shot. Really fine pass from Tanisha to Le’coe who was waiting under the basket, faked and put it in.

Le’coe fouled Moore, who put down both free throws. Sue put down a jumper at the top of the key. Le’coe stole the ball but wasn’t able to grab T’s pass on the fast break. Maybe it’s Indiana, but she didn’t seem like her usual self. A-Rob in, forced a bad pass and Swin stole the ball from Shay Murphy, and went coast-to-coast on a layup. T “fouled” KD (dumb call), who split the free throws. Le’coe grabbed the rebound. Swin put down a three. Woot! January put up a shot, A-Rob block.

SEA 27 – 20 IND

Interval
Sue Bird Superfan announcement. Very nice recognition and picture essays. The young lady who won received quite the stash: a netbook, jersey, signed ball, signed photo and an upgrade to courtside seats for the remainder of the game. Congratulations! I had the pleasure of meeting her and her father later that evening and she’s a lovely young lady.

Second Quarter
Zellous in for Indiana, and immediately turned the ball over, thanks to some inspired defense from T. T made her pay with a beautiful feed to LJ. Another mad scramble on the floor, ending with a jump ball between Svet and Jessica Davenport. Gee, I wonder who is going to win that? (eye roll). Svet stole the ball from Ebony Hoffman, but Swin was whistled for the foul. TC scored. Lots of missed shots on both sides, although Seattle did a great job crashing the offensive boards. TSB fouled Camille. LJ put down another three. Yay!

Indiana went on a little run – Davenport scored, Catchings stole the ball, fouled TC, who was awarded a shooting foul (huh?), and sank both free throws, and Douglas hit a three. Ouch. Davenport kicked the ball out of bounds. Camille turned the ball over, and dove for the ball, tripping Tully. Foul on Camille. JD spun against Lauren and whistled for traveling. Nice ball movement from Storm and Lauren sank another three.

That was the last good news for Seattle for awhile, as Indiana proceeded to demonstrate why everyone respects them so much. Off they went on a scoring run – a reverse layup from rookie Jene Morris, a running layup from KD, two hit free throws, also from KD, off of a foul from Tanisha – her third (wince); a running jump shot from Tully, and ANOTHER jumper from KD! Interspersed with that, Swin hit one of two free throws, off of a foul from Morris, and Sue hit a jumper, so we did maintain contact, it was just hard to watch.

Hoffman put up a jump shot, but Swin had a REALLY NICE BLOCK (go Swin!). Catching and Hoffman both scored, but just when we were afraid the Fever was going to run away with the game, Sue put down a three. GO SUE! Seattle down by two. Unfortunately, Morris also hit a three. Tanisha made a running bank shot. She went for a layup on the very next play, and was whistled for a charge. AWFUL call. Stupid, very bad, very frustrating call. AND her fourth foul. Fans up and SCREAMING. BOOOO!!!!

Of COURSE, Douglas had to hit her last shot of the quarter and of COURSE, it had to be a three. So, instead of finishing the quarter 45-46, we finished it 43-49. From my perspective, it looked as though T was fouled, too, not the other way around. Whatever.

SEA 43 – 49 IND

Interval
Jet City Jumpers. Mayhem with cute little dogs. Stats were insane – Indiana was shooting 64%? Who does that? We weren’t playing badly, either, they, especially KD, were just insane.

Third Quarter
Lots of missed shots to begin the quarter. Tully drove for a shot, missed, looked like she was traveling, no call. Agler whistled for a technical, but Catchings missed the free throw. Not sure if he was protesting Tully’s traveling or that Sue got hacked on a shot – or just the heinous officiating in general. I’m glad fans can’t get technical, or I’d have been permanently ejected VERY early in the season. Camille finally broke the scoring drought with a layup. KD hit a step-back jumper, off-balance and defended; Morris put down a three and TSB made a layup. Storm down by ELEVEN.

Timeout Seattle. I didn’t hear any shouting. That was the good news.

Le’coe and T both came in. Le’coe promptly turned the ball over, but redeemed herself with a very nice rebound off of a missed Catchings three. Swin put up three shots, grabbing her own rebound each time, before finally sinking the third. Go Swin! Catchings hit a jumper. T drove and scored. Wow, she is so strong. TSB put up a jumper, but Lauren swatted it away ferociously. T drove again – tremendously gutsy play for someone with FOUR FOULS and drew a foul against Catchings – and sank both free throws. Concentration personified.

Abruptly, the Storm clamped down on defense, contesting every possession, thwarting and hassling the Fever players, and forcing them to put up bad shots. It worked, too. We didn’t do much scoring ourselves (well, any, except for a split pair of free throws from Swin and Camille), but neither did they. Finally, with one minute to go, Zellous fouled Svet and racked up a technical – not sure why. Lauren sank the free throw and Svet and Swin each put down one of two (again). Wince. However, those free throws allowed us to creep within striking distance.

SEA 58 – 60 IND

Interval
Movie Magic, with a selection from “The Hangover.” The guy won.

Fourth Quarter
Swin hit a layup. SCORE TIED! T kicked the ball out of bounds. Lots of kicked balls from both sides, made me wonder if maybe the ladies hadn’t spent too much time watching the World Cup. Morris hit a three. Camille whistled for a three-second violation. Davenport hit a layup. Man, Indiana is really, really good at capitalizing on the smallest of mistakes and widening even the narrowest of openings. It’s like playing against a team of pretty sharks.

Catchings stole the ball from Sue, but was unable to convert. Camille stole the ball, but T whistled for traveling. They hate her – especially #43, Tom Mauer. I honestly think he has a crush on Katie Douglas, because every time T got within a foot of her, out came the whistle. More boos. Camille stole the ball again and fed Le’coe, who was hacked when she put up her shot, but missed BOTH FREE THROWS. Ow. Storm still down by five.

Around the seven-minute mark, Sue evidently decided that she’d HAD ENOUGH and hit a three. Douglas hit a jumper. Apparently unconcerned, our favorite point guard hit another three. STORM AHEAD! Fans up and screaming. Tully hit her own three, to put Indiana back on top, but the Storm were back in it now and they – and the fans – all knew it. Sue went on to feed LJ who hit a beautiful layup. Morris so rattled by this (or the stellar Storm defense), she tossed the ball out of bounds. Bad move, as Sue hit yet another three – her third in just about two minutes. Storm up again. More tough, gritty play on both sides. T clubbed to the ground when she shot, and missed both free throws – I have to think she was hacked hard, as she very rarely does that.

T sent a bullet pass to LJ, who put down a layup. Douglas and Swin both fouled, split the free throws. KD hit a three to tie things up. Swin retaliated with a three of her own. T picked up her fifth foul against January, who hit both free throws. LJ drew a foul against Catchings, put down both free throws. Storm up by two.

Really ugly play next – Lauren was defending at the top of the key and January threw a mean little elbow right into Lauren’s solar plexus. Our favorite All-Star MVP candidate dropped hard – and the idiot ref called a foul on HER. When Lauren recovered, she was up and shouting at the ref, but Sue interposed herself and, politely, yet vehemently pointed out to Mr. Imbecile that indeed having an elbow buried in one’s solar plexus is not generally considered a foul. When I saw the look in Lauren’s eyes, I thought, “Well, we’ll either win, or she’ll die trying.”

More inspired defense and few scoring opportunities. Catchings fouled out. Swin hit one of two free throws. Camille fouled KD who hit both. Storm up by two. T put up a crazy “Hail Mary” pass to LJ, who somehow corralled it and put it in. Storm up by four. KD fouled T, who hit one of two. Storm up by five.

We played careful defense – no fouls – and Morris hit a three. Storm still on top by two. KD knocked into Sue, knocking both her and the ball out of bounds. The Creamsicle Corps spent an unbelievable amount of time reviewing the tape, finally awarding it to the Storm. Weird play. Either KD fouled Sue – which is how it looked – so Sue should have shot – or they should have given the Fever the ball.

With 0.6 seconds to go, Tully fouled LJ – yet another inexplicable occurrence – and Lauren hit both free throws. Crowd started breathing again. Another one bit the dust.

Final score: SEA 85 – 81 IND

Notes
Swin was unbelievable. She played THE ENTIRE GAME, most often guarding Catchings or Douglas, and still managed 21 points, six rebounds, three assists and a block.

T was also unbelievable. For the first time this year, it was obvious when she wasn’t on the floor, because Svet was just a hint slower, less aggressive and less pesky. She also took over and brought the ball up when Tully was bugging Sue too much – and had TEN assists.

Sue was equally incredible. She single-handedly got us back into the game in the fourth quarter, reminiscent of last year’s games against LA. She also kept LJ from getting a technical or getting tossed, the way a floor leader should. I vote we have Sue Bird Bobblehead night every night.

LJ and Camille were superlative. What can one say about that crazy reverse layup shot, not to mention the way LJ carried the offense on her shoulders AND the way she shot the ball. Amazing. Camille did a great job on offense, especially early on, and passed the ball beautifully.

KD was on fire last night. Every time she touched the ball, it went in. They are a really, really good team. I’m astonished their record isn’t better, although one can assume that KD doesn’t scored 29 points every night – at least, I haven’t heard about it if she has.

Indiana soooo good at forcing teams out of their game. Fortunately, they were only partially successful with us. Also, Tully appears to have drunk from the fountain of youth, because she was both tireless and pesky.

A-Rob did a great job defensively during her brief stint. She did a really good job of putting the players back on their heels. Alison was in very briefly, did well, but seemed hesitant. Let’s hope she increases in confidence.

If this game had a worrisome note, it was that we did fall off when Svet and Le’coe came in and we only had two bench points. Of course, some of that might have had to do with Agler keeping the starters in FOREVER, but it seemed as though both of our extra starters were just a bit slow on defense. Also, our free throws sucked. I bet everyone shot 1,000 of them today.

Cute announcement of LJ’s bobblehead – showing Sue and Swin playing with theirs and LJ saying, “Don’t you girls think you’re too old to be playing with dolls?” Both Sue and Swin slink off sadly and LJ sits down and adds her bobblehead to the collection. Weird that they’re all the same size.

Although Sue said that she “isn’t a fan of her knee right now” (I’d think it would be the other way around), and was icing it after the game, it didn’t seem to affect her play much.

I heard that Coach Dunn was complaining about the foul disparity. Interesting. We drove to the basket a lot more than they did. The officiating really was terrible, though. You know you're in trouble when Clarke Stevens is the best ref (shudder).

More ref controversy when the Idiotic Mr. Mauer FORGOT IT WAS A SHOOTING FOUL and WE had to remind him. Good grief. Send him and Mr. Brewton back to the elementary school level! Please!

Swin tweeted earlier today that they were stuck in the Denver airport. Hope this doesn’t make them even MORE tired. On to Tulsa.

Submitted by | StormFanNo1

I went to the arena early to make sure I get the Sue Bird bobble-head before they run out. At a quarter to six, 75 minutes before tipoff, there were lines in front of ALL the entrances a mile long. Obviously a lot of other people thought the same way as I did. Save for the 2004 finals games, I had never seen lines around the arena this long for a Storm game. I knew we were looking at an almost full house at that point.

Much to my dismay a bunch of people in front of me showed their tickets, got their bobble-heads, and then LEFT the arena. Obviously they had no intention of watching the game. They had bought the tickets (probably the cheapest ones) just to get a bobble-head.

Both teams started the first quarter fast. We were getting rebounds and getting second third chances. Indiana was shooting like they couldn't miss. We made a run at the end of the quarter to go up by 7, which was very impressive considering how hot Indiana was. 47 points total in a quarter by two teams known for their defense is a little unusual though. I was totally expecting this game to be a low scoring one.

The referees treated T as a marked man in the second quarter. It was as if they were looking for a reason to call a foul on T. Indiana was in the bouns with 4+ minutes left in the quarter. The constant tick tack foul calling broke the rhythm of the game for the Storm while Indiana continued with their hot shooting. All throughout the quarter I kept thinking 'ok KD is going to miss the NEXT one', but she never did. She made all kind of circus shots, treys way behind the line, and all of them kept going in. LJs three pointers and Camille's putbacks were the only things that were keeping us in the game while Indiana took the lead and went up by 6 to end the quarter. Towards the end Agler lost his cool and got called for a technical. The refs were booed loudly all the way into the locker room.

Indiana continued scoring into the third quarter. They were successful in shutting down LJ in the paint, and keeping the ball out of Sue's hands. They looked invincible for a while when they stretched their lead to 11. At that point I was wondering 'how in the heck did this team lost 4 games this season'. 'Is this the game that ends our home winning streak.' 'As good as we are, we are going to be swept by a team this season', etc.. Even the rowdy crowd had quieted down a bit. But then the refs decided to call on them for ticky tack fouls they have been calling on us all the time. KD (FINALLY!) started missing some shots. One of their players (Shavonte) overreacted to a ticky tack foul called on her and ended up getting a technical. LJ scored the technical, and that was her only points for the quarter to date. After that, our team recollected, and we started nibbling away at their lead. Swin, Camille, LJ and Sue all scored points and made key defensive stops. T subbed in late and contributed to a few stops. The refs dismissed T's final shot at the buzzer and gave her an offensive foul instead.

We are only down by 2 at the end of the third. There is still hope for keeping our home streak alive!

Indiana retained the lead for much of the fourth quarter. But this time THEY were in foul trouble. We got into the bonus with about 3+ minutes left. Unfortunately we kept missing half of our free throws, so we couldn't close the lead. Just as the game was looking like a lost cause, Sue Bird decided she had enough. Back to back three 3 pointers, and the Storm gets its first lead since early second quarter. YAY! Sue Bird! Indiana came right back and nailed a few treys of their own. Swin countered with another trey. We put LJ on KD to stop her from shooting. T started feeding LJ in the paint where she kept scoring. Swin and LJ each had a crowd electrifying blocks. Camille picked up some very nice off rebounds and kept stuffing the ball in. Finally we went up by 3 points with 2 minutes left and never relinquished the lead after that. WHEW! Those missed free throws late in the fourth quarter were about to give me a heart attack!

Bench didn't help much in this game. Lecoe missed free throws and made some silly turnovers. Svet played good defense on KD, but her shooting was off. A-Rob and Allison played very little. Abby and Jana did not play at all.

This is the best team I have seen the Storm play so far. I know I am looking a little too far ahead, but if we meet them in the finals it will be an epic series.

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