Saturday, June 24, 2006

6/23 Storm vs. Silver Stars

Ok...my littlest guy made it to the game last night. Early in the game Lauren got fouled and hit her shot...she stepped away from the altercation facing us as the rest of the players moved to position for her to shoot the free throw. Suddenly I hear...

"That's LJ. LJ shoots the ball." from my two year old.

This is the first time he actually recognized a player. I was bouncing off the ceiling the rest of the game.

I am becoming more and more impressed by Shaun's defense. At times her positioning and reach are just stunning. She is EXCELLENT at denying a player the ball. She did it to Taurasi on Wed and did it to VJ on Fri.

For those who think Bird is a poor defender. Give it up. The woman plays excellent defense. She has broken up at least three 2 or 3 on 1 breaks with her fast break D this year alone. She showed her defensive intelligence continues to improve. She has the ability, but has, at times, made the wrong choice on defense. In the past that happened more often than not. She is slowly sliding the pendulum the other way. She still makes mistakes, and they are glaring when she make them, but it is because she commits to what she thinks the other player is doing. As she becomes better at reading her assignment she will continue to play better.

Izi started to remember what it is like to play at home.

Tanisha finally had some brilliant plays, both scoring and passing that may bring her confidence back and get her out of her funk.

Sheri was a seasoned vet. She knew when she got beat or embarassed on one play or one game, she was too good to let that mean anything. Our young players haven't figured that out yet. Games like this will help them realize it.

I love Barb Turner. I can't explain it yet. I just love her.

Betty got really ticked early. She wasn't getting calls on her end that the refs were giving at the other. At one point in the first half, she walked toward the Storm basket after getting called for a foul after a series of no calls on her play and she was ready to blow. I yelled out, "Don't worry Betty, you've got her!" I am not saying she heard me. But she must have realized the same thing. She calmed down and just showed VJ up. This was after the technical. And it was vintage Betty. Get her fired up and she turns it into a focused attack on your team. I am seeing the Betty I fell in love with in 2004. I still love her, always have, but last night I started to remember WHY I love her. It was like one of those moments when nothing special is happening and you catch your partner out of the corner or your eye and you are like..."Whoa! Who is that? Wait a minute, I know her." Then all the reasons you bonded in the first place flood into your mind. When we are mad we see all the bad stuff lined up with all the good stuff edited out. Happens every time. The times when that happens for the good stuff, with all the bad stuff edited out...that doesn't happen quite as often. For me it happened with Betty last night. I remembered her fire, her passion, the spark that made the championship possible. Last night I saw that hint again and I remembered.

JB continues to impress.

LJ. Sigh. Why aren't there more LJ's in the world?

TJ stepped up last night, but to be honest...I still miss Wendy. Can somebody find some magic juju that will instantly heal her achilles? Please?

I promise to post the numbers, but it will be tomorrow. I have limited time today, and while they have been run...the html to publish them in a tabular form is lame. Takes way too much time.

Summary
Bird, Jackson, Burse and Gortman were AWESOME.
Lennox, Castro, TJ and Wright were GREAT.
Cisti and Lawson, well ladies, I like the potential, but you got nothing but garbage time to show it to us.

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