Live From TOJ - Storm at Los Angeles (Game 3)
And So it Ends
Final: Los Angeles 68, Storm 63
The Storm had a chance. Page missed the first before making the second, leaving L.A. up 66-63. Betty Lennox dribbled upcourt and into the left corner, where the Sparks trapped her. Lennox stepped away from Lisa Leslie's defense, but still had to force up a potential tying 3. It was short, Jessica Moore rebounded and Moore hit both free throws to seal the win.
Let the record show that the Storm, having been outplayed for the last six quarters, responded with an impassioned fourth-quarter comeback that they can take immense pride in going into the off-season. Playing a 25-win team, the top seed in the Western Conference, the Storm ended up outscored in the three-game series by just one point. Home-court advantage, ultimately, is the reason the Sparks won this series, though they did have to deal with playing without Chamique Holdsclaw for all but two minutes of the two games in L.A.
Let the record also show that Lauren Jackson led the comeback and outplayed Lisa Leslie in this series. Ultimately, both players were right in that this series would be decided by their teammates. The Sparks got great series from Temeka Johnson and the Moores Jessica and Tamara and a dominating performance from their zone, and that's why their season continues.
Thanks to everyone involved with the viewing parties here at Theatre off Jackson for being such great hosts to me the last two games, and thanks to everyone who came here and made it a KeyArena-esque atmosphere. Thanks to the rest of the Storm fans that make this team's place in the community so special. Tonight was David Locke's finale as Storm play-by-play broadcaster, and while we'll have plenty more chances to work together in the future, I want to personally thank him for his dedication to the Storm over the last seven years and for his work in helping make storm.wnba.com the best team site in the WNBA.
We now begin an off-season that will undoubtedly seem entirely too long, but storm.wnba.com will be there every step of the way, starting with season recaps in the next couple of days. Remember that you have an opportunity to help send off the 2006 Storm tomorrow, when they return to The Furtado Center from Los Angeles at approximately 10:45 a.m. I'll be there, and I hope you will as well.
An Open Look
Fourth Quarter: Los Angeles 65, Storm 63
Sue Bird gets a great look off the screen-roll, but can't put it down. Still, the Storm has a chance if Murriel Page (a 76.1% shooter) misses one of two. No timeouts left, however.
Defining Possession
Fourth Quarter: Los Angeles 65, Storm 63
Tamara Moore hits the first and misses the second. The Storm trails by two with 19.4 seconds left and will take a 20-second timeout. It all hinges on this.
Moore Big Free Throws
Fourth Quarter: Los Angeles 64, Storm 63
Tamara Moore to the line. She's an 80.3% free-throw shooter without an attempt tonight.
Time to Foul
Fourth Quarter: Los Angeles 64, Storm 63
Lauren Jackson with the runner off glass with 22.5 seconds left in the game and the Storm is within one.
Chance to Tie
Fourth Quarter: Los Angeles 64, Storm 61
The Storm has had two chances to tie - a Sue Bird layup in transition that resulted in one of two free throws and then a Bird 3 attempt that looked good but didn't fall. Still, after forcing a Jessica Moore miss, the Storm has another chance to potentially tie with a 3 with 31.3 secondd left. Anne Donovan takes timeout. She's only got one left - a 20.
We Have a Game!
Fourth Quarter: Los Angeles 62, Storm 58
How about this. With 2:21 left, we have a ballgame that is going to come right down to the wire. The Storm has gotten as close as two, including just a moment ago on a brilliant play that started with Lauren Jackson - for the second time in this series - going straight up with Lisa Leslie and sending Leslie's shot back in her face (and getting the Storm the rebound) and ended with a patented Izi layup in traffic. Jackson, who has absolutely dominated this fourth quarter, had another block on L.A.'s subsequent possession, but a great screen-roll with Leslie got Temeka Johnson an open jumper that she buried to make it a four-point game.
I talked in my pre-series feature about Leslie and Jackson squaring off one-on-one with a game and the series on the line, and right now that's exactly what we've got.
Foul trouble is an issue for the Sparks - Johnson and Mwadi Mabika both have five.
Turn of Events
Fourth Quarter: Los Angeles 56, Storm 50
All of a sudden, the nervousness and desperation has shifted to the Sparks side. Meanwhile, it's Seattle that has all the energy and aggressiveness. With the Storm going on a 10-2 run, they're back within six points and now have all the momentum. Here at TOJ, the Defense chants have started, towels are waving, t-shirts are being thrown into the crowd and faith has returned in full force. The Storm still faces an uphill battle, but as we head to the under-six timeout at 5:59, the Storm is very much alive.
It's a Start
Fourth Quarter: Los Angeles 56, Storm 45
Fast-break layup by Barbara Turner and 3-pointer by Sue Bird and Joe Bryant wants a 20-second timeout with a little more than nine minutes left in this game.
Doesn't That Say it All?
End Third Quarter: Los Angeles 54, Storm 40
With time running out on the third quarter, Murriel Page forces up a 3-pointer against heavy defensive pressure. Naturally, it goes in. How many 3s did Page have in the regular season, you ask? Zero. ESPN2's Dave Pasch calls it a microcosm of the game, but I think he means that a little differently than Storm fans do.
The Storm's season low this season for scoring has been 59 points. Right now, they'd need 19 in the fourth quarter just to reach that mark. I don't think the Sparks aggressive zone defense has been given enough credit, because people are talking about what the Storm needs to do differently. But Joe Bryant might just have found a defense that the Storm simply can't solve.
Make a Play
Third Quarter: Los Angeles 44, Storm 33
At some point, you can talk about zone offense and shooting too many 3s and quick shots all you like. At some point, you've got to make plays. The Storm has got them sporadically over the course of this game - getting within four points early in this half - but not with enough regularity to sustain a run or find any kind of offensive mojo. Who's going to step up for the Storm?
Storm Gets Momentum
Halftime: Los Angeles 34, Storm 27
After the Sparks opened up their largest lead of the game at 31-19 on some kind of a ridiculous run, the Storm responds over the last couple of minutes of the first half. 3-pointers by Betty Lennox and Sue Bird and a Bird transition layup sandwiched around an ill-timed Lisa Leslie three-point play got the Storm within seven and the "crowd" here back in the game. It's very similar to what Los Angeles did at the end of the first half of Game 2.
While all of the commentary on ESPN2 has focused on the Storm's number of 3-point attempts, the team shot 5-for-14 from 3-point range (35.7%) as compared to just 4-for-18 (22.2%) on two-pointers. The issue isn't the Storm's 3-pointers, it's the fact that Los Angeles is basically playing five defenders in the paint and keeping the Storm from getting any good looks in the paint. I don't see how you can change that without hitting some 3-pointers to make Joe Bryant think twice about his strategy. Of course, the Storm can also benefit from getting out and running and not letting the Sparks get set.
Storm Living or Dying By the 3?
Second Quarter: Los Angeles 26, Storm 19
Last week, as part of the media's revealing conversation with Lisa Leslie, she told us about the difficulty the team had under former Coach Henry Bibby. Bibby's theory, as described by Leslie, was that women cannot shoot particularly well, leading him to go big and pack his defense in the paint. Ultimately, that strategy was a failure, but for one glorious day Bibby looked like a genius - and that day, I'm sure you recall, was May 21 in Seattle, when the Storm shot a dismal 6-for-32 (18.8%) from 3-point range, setting a WNBA record for 3-pointers in a game. The last two games haven't been a lot different, with the Storm shooting 3-for-12 from downtown thus far today. Of course, when the Storm has worked the ball inside the line, it's been a turnover as often as not. Ultimately, the Storm is going to have to hit open 3s to make Los Angeles come out of this zone. They certainly have the ability to do so.
Of course, for L.A., the 3s have been daggers, with Lisa Willis hitting two early in this quarter to stretch this lead and also stretch the Storm's zone. With a hard closeout coming, Willis drives and finds an open Lisa Leslie for a layup. That's why you shoot 3-pointers. Los Angeles has pushed the lead to seven and the Storm desperately needs some energy, but I'm not sure where it's going to come from.
All Tied
End First Quarter: Los Angeles 14, Storm 14
You think this game has been close so far? It's been tied at 10, 12 and 14 and the final one is our score at the end of first quarter. I feel pretty good about this game so far, even though the Storm started much better in Games 1 and 2. In those cases, the shooting felt likely to reverse at some point; this game feels more real. The Storm did very well during 2:39 with Lauren Jackson on the bench, holding Los Angeles to just one basket in that span.
Izi's defense in the post on the bigger Mwadi Mabika, blocking the shot followed by tying up the Sparks, draws a loud ovation at TOJ. Any shot of Lisa Leslie, on the other hand, is basically an excuse for everyone here to boo.
Sue Bird generally looks like the mask isn't giving her much difficulty, though she did have one pass go between her legs that might have been related to the blind spot created by the mask.
Birdy Band-Aids
First Quarter: Los Angeles 8, Storm 7
The Sue Bird Band-Aids have made their way to TOJ. You know the ones - distributed during the WNBA Finals by an intrepid Boy Scout, as immortalized in a WNBA commercial last season:
I can't say it's a good look, but it's good to show our sympathy for Sue. Bird comes out and hits an early 3-pointer along with a great defensive stop in transition on Temeka Johnson. I totally agree with David Locke, as expressed on the broadcast - nobody is better in that situation than Bird.
Aloha?
Pregame
Nothing indicates the success of our campaign at storm.wnba.com to convince people to wear Hawaiian shirts to Storm games better than the number of questions about them the last few days. The initial idea was that the Hawaiian shirts were a home-only good-luck charm, which is why David Locke was sans Hawaiian shirt Sunday in Los Angeles. I gave mine a shot because I happened to be wearing it at Detroit when the Storm clinched a playoff spot, but it didn't work, so tonight I'm wearing a Storm polo over the "Seeing is Believing" T-shirt. We save the Hawaiian look for, hopefully, Thursday.
Tonight our good luck charm is the mask.
Signing On
Pregame
Welcome to Theatre Off Jackson. It's about a half-hour until tip-off and there are a couple-dozen die-hards who have beaten Yankees-Mariners traffic to make it here already. TOJ is re-running Game 1 of this series. It surprises me that even though I already know the outcome of this game, I'm still cringing every time the Storm misses and excited now that team is in the midst of its 7-0 fourth-quarter run that broke the game open.
The intensity will only increase in a half-hour when the Storm and Sparks start doing it for real.
