Live From Press Row - Storm vs. Sacramento
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.
Jackson's Absence Hinders Storm
Final: Sacramento 74, Storm 61
Today was the second game Storm All-Star Lauren Jackson has missed this season and the 13th of her career. Seattle drops to 4-9 in those games, with three of the four wins coming at the start of the 2002 season (June 28 in Los Angeles was the fourth). Jackson's absence has really been crucial to the Storm this season. Her net plus-minus rating - the amount the Storm outscores opponents per 40 minutes with Jackson in the game (+9.3) minus how much the Storm is outscored by per 40 minutes with Jackson on the bench (-9.6) of +18.8 is third in the league, trailing only Los Angeles forwards Chamique Holdsclaw and Murriel Page. Any further questions on how valuable Jackson has been?
We'll hope to see Jackson in the lineup Thursday, when the Storm kicks off a four-game road trip in Charlotte at that unusual 8:30 a.m. start time. The Storm is back here at KeyArena on July 28 to take on the surging Detroit Shock. 
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We should take on more opportunity to credit a Sacramento bench that was simply incredible today, combining for 50 of Sacramento's 74 points. This is five straight wins and seven of eight for the Monarchs (since losing in Seattle on June 27) and this team is really rolling thanks to lockdown defense.
Monarchs Cruising
Fourth Quarter: Sacramento 68, Storm 54
The Storm still battling with a little less than three minutes left in this game, but Anne Donovan has basically conceded. Four reserves plus Tiffani Johnson, a makeshift starter tonight, are in the game. The Storm has improved its shooting to 41.7%, but 48 points from the Sacramento bench and 21 turnovers have been too much to overcome.
Bench Mob
End Third Quarter: Sacramento 54, Storm 37
A few years back, Jon Barry took to calling himself and his fellow Sacramento Kings reserves "the Bench Mob". Tonight, the Monarchs bench has been worthy of that or some other nickname. The Monarchs reserves have combined to outscore the entire Storm team 39-37 and account for nearly 75% of Sacramento's scoring. Both Rebekkah Brunson (11 points on 5-for-5 shooting) and Kristin Haynie (10) have scored double-figures, while DeMya Walker has seven points and seven rebounds.
Monarchs Surge
Third Quarter: Sacramento 46, Storm 33
If you defend like the Sacramento Monarchs do, you only need brief surges of offense to make life very difficult for opposing teams. That's what the Monarchs have gotten over the last two minutes, putting up nine straight points to push their lead to 13 with a little over two minutes left in the third quarter. DeMya Walker continues the great production the Monarchs have gotten off the bench with five straight points. The Storm has countered by going small, with Tanisha Wright at small forward and Barbra Turner at power forward with the rest of the starting five.
Look Out
Third Quarter: Sacramento 39, Storm 33
A DeMya Walker score in the paint plus the foul pushes the Monarchs lead back to six points before the free throws, but if I'm John Whisenant, I'm still nervous in the Sacramento huddle. Why? Betty's heating up. The Storm shooting guard has seven points in the second half and has made all three of her shot attempts, including a 3-pointer. Lennox now has a game-high 12 overall. With Jackson out, the Storm may need Lennox to carry them as she did in Los Angeles. We'll see how Whisenant counters.
Mascot Dodgeball
Halftime: Sacramento 31, Storm 22
What do you get when you take six mascots and about a dozen kids, put them in netting and add dogeballs? Chaos, of course. But you also get a fun game of dodgeball. I think the kids ended up taking all three matchups from the mascots, who are not, you might suspect, particularly mobile. Fittingly, Monty of the Monarchs was laid flat on his back as the last mascot out in the final game. All the kids were members of
Doppler's Kids Club.
Storm Missing LJ
Halftime: Sacramento 31, Storm 22
Without their MVP candidate and leading scorer, the Storm has yet to get it going this afternoon. Tiffani Johnson leads the Storm in scoring with six points and the 22 points Seattle has mustered as a team are the fewest allowed by Sacramento in a half this season. Despite yeoman's work from Johnson and Sue Bird, who have five rebounds apiece, the Storm has been pounded on the glass, with Sacramento coming up with nine offensive rebounds. That's a big reason why the Monarchs have a nine-point lead midway through this game. Can the Storm find its missing offense after halftime?
Benched
Second Quarter: Sacramento 24, Storm 15
Huge effort from the Sacramento bench tonight. The Monarchs starters have combined for just two points on 0-for-16 shooting. (Which is not to say they haven't contributed; Yolanda Griffith has nine rebounds.) The bench has stepped in with 22 points, including nine from Rebekkah Brunson on 4-for-4 shooting, six from Kristin Haynie and five from Kara Lawson. Turnovers are an issue for the Storm, with nine, but that's to be expected when you play against the high-pressure Monarchs.
Storm Drought
Second Quarter: Sacramento 15, Storm 10
So, you might ask, if the Monarchs have these long scoring droughts, how are they 13-8 and second in the Western Conference? Well, the answer is they cause a few of those droughts as well. The Storm has gone 5:47 without a score, as the Monarchs have gone on a 12-0 run to take the lead. The Storm is shooting 4-for-18 and hasn't gotten much offense from the paint in Lauren Jackson's absence.
Today is Doppler's Birthday, and several mascot friends are here to celebrate. In attendance are Charlotte's Buggsy, Chicago's Sky Guy, Connecticut's Blaze, Houston's Halley and, yes, Sacramento's Monty (not an especially popular guy at the moment). They're causing all the sorts of trouble that mascots do when they're in the same place.
Low-Scoring First Quarter
End First Quarter: Storm 10, Sacramento 9
Before the game, Sacramento Coach John Whisenant noted that both of these teams have a tendency to go through rough patches. In his team's case, he noted, it was usually because the team couldn't score. Well, he wasn't kidding. The Monarchs shot 3-for-21 (14.3%) in the first quarter; everybody except Kara Lawson was 1-for-17. The Storm wasn't a whole lot better, shooting 4-for-14. As a result, we saw two franchise records (which are just for this season) tied by the Storm - fewest points scored in a quarter AND fewest points allowed in a quarter. That's gotta be good defense.
LJ Out
First Quarter: Storm 7, Sacramento 2
Storm forward Lauren Jackson will not play today because of plantar fasciitis in her left foot. Jackson dressed for the game and tried to give it a go, running around pregame, but was apparently unable to play. Jackson underwent an MRI yesterday. Tiffani Johnson replaces her in the starting lineup, and so far the Storm hasn't needed Jackson. They've held Sacramento 0-for-12 shooting to star the game, and while the Monarchs have four offensive rebounds, they've only been able to convert on two Ticha Penicheiro free throws on a contested call.
Kids Day
Pregame
You didn't have to get far up lower Queen Anne Hill this morning to know that today is Kids Day at KeyArena. Campers were everywhere, packing the concourse as they prepared to come together to this game. They've all got sets of bright yellow bangers as well as the green bucket hats that were a pregame giveaway for fans and they are, yes, loud.
"It's a different game," said Storm Coach Anne Donovan, "because it's a different pitch in this arena or wherever we're at."
While it may cause a headache later in the day, Donovan is always excited to see the kids.
"As I'm driving in today and I'm seeing the school buses pull up and little kids skipping into the arena, this is what it's about," Donovan said. "Kids are getting to see us that have never seen us before or maybe have but get to do it once a year."
All sorts of kid participation today, starting with 11-year-old Jordan Bolden bringing the house down with the national anthem.
This is actually the first of consecutive Kids Days for the Storm. On Thursday, they'll play in Charlotte at 11:30 a.m. local time. With the Storm only back east for a day beforehand, that will essentially seem like an 8:30 a.m. start (and will be for radio here). That's early.
Signing On
Pregame
A little brighter and earlier than usual, we're at KeyArena on a Tuesday afternoon for Kids Day as the defending WNBA Champion Sacramento Monarchs to take on the Storm. This has been one of the WNBA's best rivalries over the last three or four seasons, including the 2004 Western Conference Finals matchup between these two teams, won by the Storm. The home team has dominated this series of late, with no road wins in the last nine games, starting with that playoff series.
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