Live From Press Row - Storm vs. Indiana
For the Seattle Storm, Seeing is Believing. Want to enjoy the electricity of at KeyArena even if you're thousands of miles away? storm.wnba.com's Live From the Press Box in-game blog is your best bet. All night and all season long, Kevin Pelton will be bringing you pregame quotes, analysis and observations from the game. Make sure to keep coming back or refreshing so you get the latest content.
Storm Falls Short
Final: Indiana 74, Storm 62
Before tonight's game, Storm Coach Anne Donovan said something typically perceptive.
"If you play well today, it was great rest," she said, referring to the Storm's week off between games. "If you don't play well today, it probably was too long."
With the Storm losing by double-figures and having a three-game winning streak snapped, the natural answer will be that the break was too long. It's tough to really say how much of a factor rust was. Indiana is always a good defensive team and the Storm did not start that poorly, really struggling between the five-minute mark of the second quarter and the same point in the third quarter. At the same time, when you put up 35 points in the first three quarters and set a franchise record with 28 turnovers, that does sound fairly rusty.
Really, this was a bizarre game start to finish. The best explanation I can give - fitting on the day Italy defeated France to win the World Cup - is this was the basketball equivalent of a soccer game: lots of contacts, lots of players ending up on the ground, perhaps some diving, lots of turnovers, wild shifts in momentum. Kudos to the Storm for sticking with this one in the fourth quarter and getting within double-digits at one point.
The Storm is off now for the 2006 WNBA All-Star Game presented by Vonage on Wednesday (4:00 p.m., ESPN). Seattle returns home Friday to take on the New York Liberty. Get your tickets now!
Trying to Climb the Mountain
Fourth Quarter: Indiana 67, Storm 54
The Storm has gotten as close as 11 points, but the difficult thing about trying to make a comeback like the one the Storm is attempting is that each bucket by the other team seems like it counts for about 12 points. Indiana has gotten back-to-back scores to match the Fever's four points in the first six minutes of this period, and the result is the Storm now trails by 13 points with 2:59 left and Tiffani Johnson headed for the free-throw line. If nothing else, you've got to credit the Storm for staying in this game.
Storm Keeping it Interesting
Fourth Quarter: Indiana 63, Storm 45
Since Indiana's lead peaked at 31 points, the Storm has gone on a nice little run of the 19-6 variety. Unfortunately, the Storm dug itself an awfully large hole, so Seattle is going to need a lot of scoring in a hurry. However, the crowd is into this game, Indiana has scored just two baskets in this period (one coming when the Fever nearly turned the ball over in the backcourt, leaving Tan White all alone in frontcourt) and Tamika Catchings has five fouls with nearly six minutes left in the game. Can the Storm make it real interesting?
Storm Makes a Run
End Third Quarter: Indiana 59, Storm 35
A 9-2 run by the Storm late in the third quarter is the best stretch for the home team since the second quarter. Lauren Jackson put up a couple of baskets plus the foul, while the bench offered some energy at both ends. Today's bizarre stat is that the Storm is outrebounding Indiana 23-22. Usually, that's been a big problem for the Fever; Indiana is 10-1 when outrebounding opponents, 2-6 when being outrebounded. Of course, 24 turnovers - one off the Storm franchise record - will do funny things like that.
Turnover Trouble
Third Quarter: Indiana 55, Storm 26
Turnovers have just been absolutely disastrous for the Seattle Storm tonight. The Storm has 22 turnovers with a little more than four minutes left in the third quarter, and that is already within three of the team's season high (25 at Sacramento on June 17). Indiana has scored 27 points off of those turnovers, outscoring the Storm 27-8 in terms of points off of turnovers. Every Storm starter has at least two turnovers (so, for that matter, do three of the five Indiana starters; only Tully Bevilaqua (0) and Ebony Hoffman (1) have been sure-handed). During this third quarter, the Storm has eight turnovers and just four points. Yikes.
Lightning Strike
Third Quarter: Indiana 44, Storm 22
The Indiana Fever came out of the locker room on fire. Indiana's first three possessions: Tully Bevilaqua 3-pointer, Anna DeForge three-point play, Anna DeForge 3-pointer. In between, the Storm did not score, with Lauren Jackson drawing an offensive foul, her second of the game. Indiana has pushed its lead to 22 points and doubled up the Storm. Looks like one of those nights.
Storm Stifled
Halftime: Indiana 35, Storm 22
Tough close to the first half for the Storm. Over the last 6:28 of the first half, the Storm scored four points on 2-for-8 shooting with five turnovers as Indiana exploded for 17 points on 6-for-12 shooting during the stretch to take command of this game at halftime. The Storm finishes the first half with 22 points, a season low - again breaking a season low previously set in Indiana (as well as in Chicago). The difference in these games is the Storm held Indiana to 25 points in the first half in Indiana. Here, the Fever has gotten 13 points from Tamika Catchings and seven apiece from Ebony Hoffman (showing much-improved range on her jumper) and Tamika Whitmore for a solid offensive half.
The Fever is putting pressure on the Storm in everything Seattle does, whether full-court pressing or in the halfcourt, and the result is that Lauren Jackson has once again been a non-factor, scoring four points on 1-for-4 shooting. Betty Lennox, who led the Storm with 20 points in the first matchup between these two teams, is the only Storm player with multiple field goals - she's got 10 points on 5-for-8 shooting.
During the first half, the Storm scored at a rate of 53.7 points per 100 possessions. Ouch.
Fever Larceny
Second Quarter: Indiana 23, Storm 18
Nobody ever told the Indiana Fever that stealing is wrong. The Fever boasts two of the league's top four thieves in Tamika Catchings (who leads the league in steals) and Tully Bevilaqua. They've got four of Indiana's eight steals tonight, as the Fever has forced 11 turnovers and gotten 10 points off of them (Indiana's 20 other possessions have resulted in just 13 points). Indiana has had surprising success pressing the Storm full-court, which is odd because the Storm has been working against a full-court press in practice, one that Anne Donovan is installing for the second half of the season.
Before the Fever came out of the last timeout with five straight points, a couple of funny moments. First, during "Doppler's Pot of Gold," Ashton, one of the youngsters here on the kid-themed Storm Summer Sundays, found Doppler with the crowd's help despite being blindfolded and proceeded to tackle Doppler to the floor. Afterwards, Doppler came over to present David Locke with a Barbara Turner jersey. Why? Because Locke has been very vocal on storm.wnba.com and radio broadcasts about the need to get Turner jerseys because he quickly realized the rookie would become a fan favorite. Locke has gotten his wish, and the Turner jerseys are in the Sonics and Storm Team Shop.
Battle of the Stars
Second Quarter: Indiana 18, Storm 18
One of our things to watch entering this game was when and where Lauren Jackson and Tamika Catchings would match up tonight. In Indiana, a key to the Fever's comeback was moving Catchings to power forward and away from the Storm's defensive specialists. At the other end, she drew a couple of fouls on Jackson, who fouled out. Brian Winters downplayed the importance of where Catchings played when I asked him about it before the game, noting that Catchings frequently goes back and forth between the two forward positions.
To start this quarter, Winters came out with Catchings at power forward against Jackson. Anne Donovan quickly moved to change the matchups, putting Barbara Turner at power forward and moving Jackson to center. Still, the two stars matched up on a play a little more than a minute into the second period, with Catchings going down when Jackson drove. Both ended up on the floor, but Catchings was called for the shooting foul.
I've Got a Fever, and the Only Prescription is More Offense
End First Quarter: Indiana 14, Storm 12
The Indiana defense really seems to be effective against the Storm in the first quarter. With just 12 points, the Storm tied its lowest-scoring first quarter of the season - a record previously set in Indiana. The Storm shot 6-for-18 from the field (33.3%) and committed seven turnovers. One spark for the Storm was Edwige Lawson-Wade, who played a little less than two minutes spelling Sue Bird at the points and had two points and a pair of steals in that time. It looks like Lawson-Wade will get a little more run to star the second quarter.
Sloppy Start
First Quarter: Storm 6, Indiana 6
After a phenomenal performance by the Voices of Praise choir from Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Baptist Church in Renton and a rousing ovation for Tully Bevilaqua when she was introduced, the KeyArena crowd was ready to get going. It's been a little slower for the teams and, perhaps, our trio of officials. A little more than five minutes in, we've got nine turnovers, eight personal fouls and just 12 points on the board. This is probably not too far from what Brian Winters wants from his team, which shoots just 39.8% from the field and wins with defense, but Anne Donovan would like to see some crisper offense.
This game has been very energetic and very physical in the early going, and the officiating crew of Bryan Enterline, John Fullilove and Scott Twardoski is looking to keep things in check.
There was a fun moment when Tully ended up in the front row on the baseline after trying to deflect a ball away and took a quick break. Good thing Evening Magazine's John Curley and his family were a little late tonight so she had someplace comfortable to land.
Looking Ahead to All-Star
Pregame
While Anne Donovan assuredly hopes her team's attention is fully focused on tonight's game, everyone else has in the back of their mind the fact that tonight's game is the Storm's last before the All-Star break. On Wednesday at Madison Square Garden in New York, the WNBA will celebrate its 10th Anniversary with the 2006 WNBA All-Star Game Presented by Vonage. Storm forward Lauren Jackson expects to be in the lineup. Jackson playing had been something of a question mark because of her ongoing battle with a stress fracture in her left shin. However, Jackson told reporters before the game she's been cleared to play about 15 minutes in the game so long as she does not practice with the West All-Stars on Tuesday.
Betty Lennox will not be in New York after being passed over for the West squad. We'll see how Lennox responds to that omission tonight.
Signing On
Pregame
After a week off, the Seattle Storm is back in action tonight at KeyArena, taking on the Indiana Fever. There's plenty of familiar faces with the Fever, including 2004 Championship team member Tully Bevilaqua and the Storm's first Head Coach, Lin Dunn. There's also a couple of All-Stars in addition to the Storm's Sue Bird and Lauren Jackson. The Fever's Tamika Catchings led all players in voting to start for the fourth straight time, while Tamika Whitmore earned her first trip to the All-Star Game yesterday when she was named to the East squad as a reserve.
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