Seattle Storm vs. Washington Mystics

Storm- 86
Mystics- 78

Kindly excuse me as I get my heart to function normally again.

This was another close game that really kind of made me feel sick from the opening tip. Despite an early 12-1 run by the Storm, I still wasn't feeling very optimistic. Hopeful, yes. Sure enough, the Mystics caught up and by halftime they were up by 1 point. While the Mystics are a good team, I knew that the Storm were just better than them, which made me worried as to the halftime score. It wasn't just the halftime score that worried me though. I thought that Lauren Jackson had played a significant amount of minutes in the first half already, which must mean that she'd play less in the second half due to her limit of thirty minutes a game (Actually, I'm not sure how her minutes played out because the scoreboard thing on wnba.com wasn't exactly working for me).

If you guys aren't familiar with women's basketball, let me try to explain to you what this means. Lauren Jackson is, simply put, the best player currently playing and possibly the best player to ever play the game. Lauren Jackson wills the Storm to win most of the time. I forgot exactly what the stat is but it's something around a +166 rating for the Storm when she is on the court and a -88 when she is off the court. As such, limited play for LJ in the second half was not something I was particularly looking forward to.

The Storm played better in the second half and we managed to get a win. In fact, while I was worried at the beginning, I have to say that the Storm WON that game. They took it when they could and they secured a win. This ends a horrendous losing run at home, thankfully.

Big keys for the game and big stats for bigtime players.

Iziane Castro Marques had a fantastic night with 22 points and 2 steals. She shot 7 of 10 from the field. Apart from this, I think she was really the difference maker because she just kept making shots at the right time for the team.

Lauren Jackson had 27 points, 3 blocks, 2 steals and shot 13-13 from the free throw line. This was in only about 31 minutes with plantar fascitis and stress fractures on her shins. Seattle's extremely lucky to have such a gifted player with an even better attitude.

Janell Burse had 18 points and 6 rebounds. I'm SO happy JB is back. In fact, I'm ecstatic. When JB is in the game, it just feels like we have a much higher chance of winning. She shot 70% from the field as well. When I first saw JB starting in 2005 (preseason game in New York), I'll admit I wasn't too high on her. She just kept dropping too many passes that were in her hands already. MUCH IMPROVED. I used to cringe whenever they'd pass the ball to her in the paint. Since about the middle of last year, I'd feel confident with the ball in her hands. As much as she can score, the best thing about her is that she usually goes up and gets the rebound when she misses. Ridiculously good. I can't wait to see her completely healthy next season. She should be even better.

Sue Bird had 13 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists, and 4 steals. This was an awesome overall game for Sue. She only had 1 turnover the whole game. Scary moment of the game: Sue gets popped in the nose. She immediately grabs at the nose and has to foul someone to get out of the game, still looking like she's going to cry and holding her nose. At this point, you could hear the arena let out a nervous gasp. I was screaming over here too. No more broken noses, please. She went back in the game a few moments later after determining that it wasn't broken and a relieved cheer rose from the crowd. I started thanking my lucky stars over here. After breaking her nose two seasons in a row (2004 and 2005), she was obviously very nervous and concerned about it. Storm fans like me are nervous as well. The last thing that the team can take right now is an injury to their floor leader. It would just break the season, in my opinion. I wonder if she can wear her mask just for sure without affecting her game too much. For some strange reason, she keeps getting hit in that general area a lot.

Bad spot of the night was that the bench just scored 2 points. Then again, they didn't shoot a low field goal percentage and they didn't commit a lot of turnovers. This means that they didn't really take bad shots or make errors. They just didn't get a lot of time but I think they still gave "quality" minutes, although I'd like to see them get more aggressive offensively when they are in. The two bench players I'd like to see more aggressive would be Barbara Turner and Edwige Lawson, particularly because I think that they can really do damage. BT can basically just power inside the lane when she wants. As For Edwige, she can take really nice jumpers from just within the three point line or from beyond it. I really think they can do it. It would be awesome to have both of them next year. I'm not sure about what the contract situation is but I feel confident in Edwige as our backup point. She's a smart player and she's a true point guard. What else can you really ask for? I might change my opinion depending on the offseason next year but as of now, I'd like to stick with Edwige.

Next game is the final home game vs. Charlotte on Saturday. It should be a packed Key Arena

Go STORM!!