Live From Press Row - Storm vs. Phoenix
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Offense Fails Storm
Final: Phoenix 87, Storm 80
Three free throw misses by the Phoenix Mercury provided some brief hope for the Storm, but Kelly Miller hit a pair with 19.7 seconds left to seal this one as Phoenix wins it 87-80, snapping a seven-game losing streak at KeyArena and an eight-game road losing streak that dated back to last season. All of a sudden, Phoenix, which has won four of its last six games, has some serious momentum. Cappie Pondexter (27) and Diana Taurasi (26) were as brilliant as advertised, combining for 53 points. But this one was about Phoenix's defense and the Storm's offense, which shot just 37.8% from the field. The frontcourt duo of Lauren Jackson (brilliant as ever with 28 points and a season-high 14 rebounds) and Janell Burse (19 points) played well for the Storm and Betty Lennox scored 14 points, but no one else stepped up to score double-figures. After the progress the Storm made on the road, this one feels a lot like a step back.
Comeback Derailed?
Fourth Quarter: Phoenix 75, Storm 63
As the chaos that is The Train descends on the KeyArena floor, we wonder whether the Storm's comeback is still on track. After a Belinda Snell 3-pointer and a couple of empty Storm possessions, it looks like a mini-8-4 run by the home team has lost its steam. This is a reminder of how tough it is to come back in the WNBA and why you don't want to put yourself in situations where you need to rely on a run. There's still time - 4:53, to be exact - but the Storm has little room for error.
Storm Offense MIA
End Third Quarter: Phoenix 67, Storm 53
Tonight's game was a matchup of two of the three best offenses in the WNBA entering tonight (the league's leader in Offensive Rating, before losing DeLisha Milton-Jones for the season and losing tonight in an upset to New York, was the Washington Mystics). Phoenix has lived up to that reputation. The Mercury has gotten 39 points from Cappie Pondexter and Diana Taurasi, who scored an amazing 16 in the third quarter on 4-for-4 shooting from downtown. But the Storm is shooting just 32.7% from the field. Janell Burse, Lauren Jackson and Betty Lennox have done well, but the rest of the team is just 2-for-20 from the field (that's, um, not good). /The bench has contributed but five points to 15 from the Phoenix subs.
Phoenix Blitz
Third Quarter: Phoenix 58, Storm 45
With Lauren Jackson scoring seven points early in this third quarter, the Storm seemed to be on its way to taking control of the game. Then things changed in a heartbeat. It was 46-45 Phoenix with 7:27 left in the third after Jackson split two free throws, but thereafter the Mercury went on a 12-0 run to silence this KeyArena crowd and take control of the game. The Storm seems not to know what to do to turn things around, but as always the answer is to keep it simple - work the ball inside against this smaller Phoenix frontline and play solid defense on Cappie Pondexter and Diana Taurasi.
Storm Needs Bird
Halftime: Phoenix 39, Storm 36
The big story of this first half has to be Sue Bird's impact on the game. If my calculations are correct, the Storm has outscored Phoenix by seven points when Sue has been on the court. During the 9:40 she's spent on the bench, it's been Mercury by 10 - 22-12. Over a full game, that would translate to about 50 points for the Storm. Clearly the offense has struggled without Bird. In her absence, Phoenix has gone into a zone look that has really stifled the Storm. Better ball movement and better player movement will help alleviate those issues, but so too would getting a solid 15-17 minutes out of Bird in the second half.
Defensively, the Storm has really done pretty well. Phoenix is shooting 41.7% from the field, though that's augmented by 6-for-14 3-point shooting. Another area where the Mercury has made up ground is on the glass. Phoenix enters this game one of the worst rebounding teams in the league, the Storm one of the better teams, so it's a major surprise that they have been basically even thus far tonight.
Offense Quiet
Second Quarter: Phoenix 39, Storm 36
Big offensive first quarter, as the teams combined for 47 points. Not so much in the second quarter; the teams have played even, getting 14 points apiece for a combined 28. The Storm's offense has been ice cold since the middle of the first quarter; 7-for-11 at the first timeout of the game, Seattle has shot just 4-for-21 (19.0%) since then.
JB Rolling
Second Quarter: Phoenix 34, Storm 30
Great game so far for Janell Burse for the Storm. Burse is 5-for-7 from the field and has hit both of her free-throw attempts to give her a game-high 12 points. It's really been wonderful this season to watch Burse's development. She is hitting that midrange jumper with remarkable consistency. Paul Westhead doesn't seem to have updated his scouting report, and Burse has gotten about three wide-open looks from 15-18 feet and made them all.
One-Two Punch
Second Quarter: Phoenix 29, Storm 26
No pair of WNBA players is scoring more combined points than Cappie Pondexter and Diana Taurasi. They're a fun group to watch, and Anne Donovan is no exception in enjoying the show.
"She is a pleasure to scout," said Donovan. "It's almost like she has radar. I have never seen anybody put the ball in the hole as consistently as her."
Taurasi has struggled a little bit, however, at KeyArena this season. Iziane Castro Marques and others held her to 5-for-13 shooting the last time Phoenix was up here, and Taurasi has started just 2-for-8 tonight. The same cannot be said of Cappie Pondexter, who has scored a team-high nine points, all of them from beyond the 3-point line.
Phoenix in the Zone
End First Quarter: Phoenix 25, Storm 22
A zone defense has totally changed this game for the Phoenix Mercury, which is currently on a 12-2 run that ended the first quarter. The Storm scored on just one of its last eight possessions ending the quarter. Not a lot of movement against the zone; I'm sure Anne Donovan would like to see her team execute its zone offense better. On the other side, Phoenix is awfully explosive. The Mercury entered tonight second in the WNBA in Offensive Rating, but that was almost entirely with Kelly Miller sidelined. She's not 100%, which Paul Westhead says will take about a week to 10 days, but she hit a 3-pointer shortly after entering the game during the first quarter.
The Show Is On Already
First Quarter: Storm 20, Phoenix 13
A little more than five minutes into the game, the Storm has already rolled up 20 points and is on pace to shatter the franchise record for scoring set against these selfsame Phoenix Mercury just 19 days ago. Eight early points from Lauren Jackson, who has made three of her four shots, while Cappie Pondexter has a pair of 3-pointers already to lead Phoenix.
Storm Back at Home
Pregame
How glad is the Seattle Storm to be back at KeyArena? Coach Anne Donovan shared before the game that she was longing for the Key when she was watching film of the Storm's last game against Phoenix, a 97-87 win on June 2. Donovan said she had a "good feeling" just watching the Storm in its home whites with a boisterous crowd cheering the team on. Eight of the Storm's next 10 games are at home. It was during a similar stretch last season that the Storm won six straight and really got on track for a 20-win season. Can this stretch jumpstart this season?
"One game at a time," says Donovan.
Signing On
Pregame
Seattle Storm basketball at KeyArena. It seems like forever since we've been here, but really it's been only two weeks since the Storm defeated the Chicago Sky here on June 7. Since then, the Storm went 2-3 but made progress defensively and returns as a better team than the one that left. That will be tested tonight against the Phoenix Mercury and the one-two scoring punch of Diana Taurasi and Cappie Pondexter.
