Game Sixteen: Storm vs. Mystics 29 June, 2008

It was nice to have a game where the win was not in doubt for the entire 40 minutes of game time.

Sue Bird has shot well the past couple of games and continues to be aggressive with the ball. It is still wierd to have the Storm play at such a slow pace and have such low scoring games. I really enjoyed the hustle and gutsy attitude displayed by newcomer Camille Little. She is going to work Shyra Ely out of the lineup. At the start of the year we saw less of Swoopes and more of Cash. As the season has progressed and Sheryl has improved her conditioning while Cash has struggled with her shot, that situation has reversed itself. Ashley is seeing increased minutes since she and Shyra were warned to improve by Coach Agler, but Shyra is slipping out of favor and not helping herself when she is on the floor.

For those interested, Tanisha Wright is -23 for the season at the point guard position. Kimberly Beck was -14 in significantly less minutes. At the shooting guard position Tanisha is +20 with Bird at the point and -19 with Beck at the point. She is also -1 in her limited time at the small forward slot.

Beck was not really playing any better than Tanisha at the point. Tanisha has huge upside playing side by side with Sue. If the coach needed to cut someone, Beck was the only choice that made sense. Sue is playing the most minutes per game of her career (not that I approve of that) so it doesn't really matter who plays poorly at the point while she sits. It won't be for long, and everyone stunk in that role. The more glaring needs for the team were three point shooting and rebounding, as well as post depth for the last five games before the break when LJ is off in Australia. Picking up a good rebounder who is shooting 40% from three and can play both forward spots was the smart choice.

Yes, the Storm need a solution at backup point. No, it isn't their biggest problem.



Storm
Most Effective Shooters

Player	True Shooting Percentage	Effective FG%	Floor Percentage	Points
Shyra Ely	100%	100%	100%	2
Sue Bird	70%	70%	51%	14
Yolanda Griffith	60%	50%	48%	9
Sheryl Swoopes	55%	55%	57%	11
Swin Cash	52%	43%	48%	10

Lauren Jackson was solid here as well but missed a number of her signature turnaround jumpers on the block that kept her off this list by 1%.

Top Ratings

Player	Offensive Rating	Individual Rating
Shyra Ely	200.00	183.05
Sheryl Swoopes	124.43	117.78
Sue Bird	115.73	120.04
Lauren Jackson	100.93	86.88
Swin Cash	93.82	83.06

Ely had her best offensive showing in a while, but it doesn't hurt your percentages and ratings when the coach pulls you after your first basket. Swoopes started the season with mostly defense and free throws and is warming up nicely to the player the Storm needed when they signed her. I look forward to seeing her in the playoffs. If only Swin weren't struggling so much.

Raw Plus/Minus

Yolanda Griffith: +20
Sue Bird: +19
Lauren Jackson: +19
Sheryl Swoopes: +16
Katie Gearlds: +8
Swin Cash: +7
Tanisha Wright: -2
Camille Little: -2
Kelly Santos: -2
Shyra Ely: -3
Ashley Robinson: -5

Most Effective Lineups

Bird-Swoopes-Cash-Jackson-Griffith: +12
Bird-Gearlds-Swoopes-Jackson-Griffith: +7
Bird-Wright-Swoopes-Jackson-Griffith: +3
Wright-Gearlds-Swoopes-Jackson-Griffith: +2

Mystics
Most Effective Shooters

Player	True Shooting Percentage	Effective FG%	Floor Percentage	Points
Crystal Langhorne	100%	100%	71%	6
Crystal Smith	51%	50%	32%	5
Taj McWilliams-Franklin	47%	43%	37%	7
Alana Beard	45%	41%	31%	16

The Storm defense was dominant and set the 6th lowest score allowed in WNBA history (since the 24 second shot clock) per pd-swanson.

Top Ratings

Player	Offensive Rating	Individual Rating
Crystal Langhorne	143.69	140.68
Nakia Sanford	82.71	73.84

Amazingly, there is no other Mystics player with more than an 80 points per 100 possession rating or better than a 70 point individual rating.

Raw Plus/Minus

Kendra Wecker: +3
Nikki Blue: 0
Bernice Mosby: -3
Laurie Koehn: -5
Crystal Smith: -6
Nakia Sanford: -6
Crystal Langhorne: -9
Alana Beard: -11
Taj McWilliams-Franklin: -12
Coco Miller: -12
Monique Currie: -13

Most Effective Lineups

Miller-Beard-Wecker-McWilliams^Franklin-Sanford: +3
Smith-Miller-Beard-McWilliams^Franklin-Sanford: +3
Blue-Beard-Currie-McWilliams^Franklin-Sanford: +2
Smith-Wecker-Koehn-Mosby-Langhorne: +2

More Expect Great ads...

The next generation of the "Expect Great" ad campaign is making the rounds with league marketing using the Rebkell forum as a focus group. These ads are intended to air during WNBA televised games and are targeted at the core audience of W fans which have them taking a more positive spin than the first generation which were targeted at male NBA fans during the NBA Playoffs.

The Diana Taurasi ad is about being "in the zone," and seems a touch forced. Diana moves a little too much and her voice is almost too strong.

The Sue Bird ad is about a desire to win. It works and has good footage that lines up with what Sue is talking about. She is a tad to cute at the end for my tastes.

I like the response the league has had to the strong negative response from the fanbase with regard to the ads. Advertising is an imperfect profession and it can be quite difficult to hit the right spot with the right audience at the right time. When they hit they can be brilliant. More often than not, they simply miss the mark.

More new blogs

So, womenshoops blog asked the question today as to why readers might not be reading the new "Rethinking Basketball" blog, my answer is...I didn't know it was out there. I agree with them, well worth the read. Quality writing, insightful topics and worth spending some time getting caught up on something cool you may have missed.

There are some great new blogs out there. I am amazed each day by the brilliant, creative and passionatr fans the WNBA attracts. We are blessed to have such a rich community.

On another note, I got a ping from a new site called current.com which happens to have a quick blip of an interview with Candace Parker after her first dunk earlier this week. Kudos to the site for carrying the topic and more kudos to them for reaching out to the community to introduce themselves.

Game Fifteen: Storm @ Sparks 24 June, 2008

0:57 [LAS 74-58] Parker Driving Slam Dunk Shot: Made (22 PTS)



Ouch. That is the first time I have read that in a Storm play by play. Two dunks in three days. The game is changing.

The Sparks used a LOT of size against the Storm and it hurt them in the second half.


Storm
Most Effective Shooters

Player	True Shooting Percentage	Effective FG%	Floor Percentage	Points
Kimberly Beck	150%	150%	40%	3
Kelly Santos	100%	100%	43%	2
Katie Gearlds	75%	75%	34%	6
Sue Bird	56%	50%	38%	11
Sheryl Swoopes	51%	40%	43%	6

Yolanda Griffith had strong shooting percentages (75% ts, 100% eFG) but her floor percentage was a miserable 19%. It is nice to see Sue and Katie on this list.

Top Ratings

Player	Offensive Rating	Individual Rating
Kimberly Beck	112.53	151.40
Katie Gearlds	102.59	107.87
Sheryl Swoopes	94.16	87.62
Lauren Jackson	91.47	71.47
Swin Cash	88.16	70.31

The bench looked pretty good in their expanded minutes, but man, Ely and Robinson have not been bringing it to the floor of late.

Raw Plus/Minus

Kelly Santos: +4
Katie Gearlds: +2
Kimberly Beck: +1
Shyra Ely: -3
Ashley Robinson: -6
Lauren Jackson: -10
Sue Bird: -10
Sheryl Swoopes: -10
Yolanda Griffith: -11
Swin Cash: -12
Tanisha Wright: -15

Not much to like here.

Most Effective Lineups

Bird-Gearlds-Swoopes-Cash-Jackson: +5
Beck-Gearlds-Ely-Santos-Robinson: +5
Bird-Wright-Swoopes-Jackson-Griffith: +2

Why did we see so few minutes for the effective lineups?

Sparks
Most Effective Shooters

Player	True Shooting Percentage	Effective FG%	Floor Percentage	Points
Delisha Milton-Jones	69%	63%	64%	19
Marie Ferdinand-Harris	62%	63%	56%	16
Candace Parker	59%	50%	59%	22
Kiesha Brown	51%	40%	62%	6

Lisa Leslie had a horrible night, but the three new starters made the difference.

Top Ratings

Player	Offensive Rating	Individual Rating
Delisha Milton-Jones	142.19	121.73
Kiesha Brown	133.47	109.52
Candace Parker	127.90	111.65
Marie Ferdinand-Harris	116.71	106.50

Delisha Milton-Jones looks like she had a great game.

Raw Plus/Minus

Candace Parker: +27
Delisha Milton-Jones: +13
Marie Ferdinand-Harris: +11
Lisa Leslie: +6
Kiesha Brown: +6
Christi Thomas: +5
Temeka Johnson: +4
Rafaella Masciadri: +2
Sidney Spencer: 0
Shannon Bobbitt: -5

Most Effective Lineups

Brown-Ferdinand^Harris-Milton^Jones-Parker-Leslie: +6
Brown-Masciadri-Milton^Jones-Parker-Page: +6
Ferdinand^Harris-Milton^Jones-Parker-Page-Leslie: +5

Storm make a trade...

I love getting something for nothing. That is essentially what Seattle has done with their recent trade of next year's second round pick for Atlanta's Camille Little. Seattle has not done well with their second round picks under any coach/GM, but Little has proven that she can be a valuable contributor off the bench for San Antonio last season and Atlanta this season.

She seems to be fairly solid at putting some points on the board and grabbing a few rebounds. When she gets around 20 minutes of playing time she has averaged 7.5 points per game and 4.5 rebounds this season.

The Storm waived seldom used, and mostly ineffective forward, Florina Pascalau to make room on the roster for Little.

Kevin Pelton raves about Little's ability to defend both forward spots in his blog.

She has not rebounded exceedingly well, but is averaging around 7 rebounds for every 40 minutes played.

Little does fit Agler's model of having flexible players who can play the wing and the post at both ends of the floor. Little is shooting 40% from long range this season having made more three pointers at this point than she did all of last season. The Storm could use a little scoring punch from the bench, and Little may add some of that.

On a side note. Sue Bird is scoring more points per game this season than she has since 2005. How is she managing that while shooting her absolute worst career percentages (36.8% and 27.1% from three)? She has made more free throws so far this season than she attempted all of last season. It is great to see Sue's aggressive play return. She is on pace to take more free throws this season than she has in any season since her rookie year where she was 102-112 (91%). She has averaged 63 free throws per season since 2003 with only 26 taken last season. She is shooting 32-39 (82.1%) in the first 14 games this year. Her all around shooting numbers are way down.

	2008	Career
FG%	36.8%	42.2
3FG%	27.1%	37.9%
FT%	82.1%	87.2%

If she can raise her percentages closer to her career numbers and continue her aggressive play, she can exceed her career high average of 14.4 points per game set as a rookie 2001.

Minnesota has come back down to earth of late and is merely the .500 team we expected. Phoenix is struggling even more than I expected, but LA and San Antonio are rolling.

Candace Parker became the second woman to dunk in a WNBA game against Indiana last night.

New York looked spectacular last night as they brutalized the reigning champion Phoenix Mercury last night in High Defintion on NBA TV. They were raining threes and nothing was falling for anyone in purple unless their jersey had Taurasi printed on it. Maybe the whole team should change their names. Loree Moore was great in her first game back in the starting lineup with 12 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, a steal and only 3 turnovers in almost 20 minutes of playing time. I was very glad that I got the chance to record this game.

Game Fourteen: Storm vs. Fever 20 June, 2008

First of all, Storm website, you stole my poll. :)-

Secondly, that was quite a game. Both my kids stayed awake for the first time this season, since Connor fell asleep on the bus on the way to the game. When we got home he said, "I'm happy, do you know why? We went to the basketball game and the Storm won." I know how you feel kid.

I really like the Storm dance troupe this season, they are doing a nice job. It is fun, entertaining and doesn't have all the excessive age-inappropriate choreography it once had. The choreography is far superior this season (I like it better than the Sonics choreography in terms of how it fits the overall evening) and the kids are really sold from end to end. I still see a couple of glances to see where they are supposed to be in routines, but they are never far off and the kids have their game faces on through the whole thing.

The Storm are lucky that Tamika Catchings is currently limited to one half of basketball. I hope that Tan White is OK. I really like her game. I like our team this year, but boy do I miss Tully.

One more reason to love Lauren Jackson from Jayda Evans:

UPDATE: Jackson said all she said was the bull fecal matter comment, "One of my lighter moments. That's Australian for I love you. I'm putting it down as he is sensitive," she said.

How about Sue Bird's defense? Welcome back Tenacious Tanisha.


Storm
Most Effective Shooters

Player	True Shooting Percentage	Effective FG%	Floor Percentage	Points
Sheryl Swoopes	60%	55%	57%	13
Tanisha Wright	59%	50%	54%	12
Lauren Jackson	56%	42%	44%	18
Sue Bird	52%	50%	52%	17
Swin Cash	47%	36%	49%	12

Ok, it is hard to lose games when Sue, Swin and Sheryl are all on with their shooting and scoring. Tanisha Wright is leading the team this season with a 57% true shooting percentage, trailed by Lauren Jackson with 56%. She is also leading effective field goal percentage and is second in floor percentage. Go T. Can we say SHOOTING GUARD?

Top Ratings

Player	Offensive Rating	Individual Rating
Sheryl Swoopes	128.21	112.45
Lauren Jackson	125.23	104.77
Tanisha Wright	118.57	97.65
Sue Bird	117.28	101.02
Swin Cash	106.90	86.03

Did I mention how well Tanisha Wright is playing? She has the fourth best offensive rating and third best individual rating on the team this season. Brian Agler is right, she is playing like a starter.

Raw Plus/Minus

Sue Bird: +12
Swin Cash: +12
Sheryl Swoopes: +8
Tanisha Wright: +7
Lauren Jackson: +7
Yolanda Griffith: +6
Katie Gearlds: 0
Ashley Robinson:-1
Kimberly Beck: -3
Shyra Ely: -8

Swin comes back in this category.

Most Effective Lineups

Bird-Wright-Swoopes-Cash-Jackson: +11
Bird-Wright-Cash-Jackson-Griffith: +5

That +11 lineup was our closers last night.

Fever
Most Effective Shooters

Player	True Shooting Percentage	Effective FG%	Floor Percentage	Points
Tully Bevilaqua	113%	113%	51%	9
Tammy Sutton-Brown	89%	86%	54%	14
Allison Feaster	75%	75%	57%	3
LaToya Bond	75%	75%	53%	9
Ebony Hoffman	58%	50%	64%	8

The Storm defense shut Katie Douglas down.

Top Ratings

Player	Offensive Rating	Individual Rating
Allison Feaster	162.08	155.97
LaToya Bond	153.77	149.64
Tully Bevilaqua	147.82	171.12
Ebony Hoffman	139.97	109.95
Tammy Sutton-Brown	113.80	113.46

Tully rocked, two consecutive games where former Storm players just pounded our team. Should we stop cheering for them at introductions? Fever had some effective offensive players, but they just didn't play them.

Raw Plus/Minus

Sherill Baker: +9
Allison Feaster: +3
Tamika Catchings: +3
LaToya Bond: +2
Bernadette Ngoyisa: -4
Tammy Sutton-Brown: -5
Tan White: -11
Katie Douglas: -11
Ebony Hoffman: -13
Tully Bevilaqua: -13

Most Effective Lineups

Bond-Baker-Douglas-Catchings-Sutton^Brown: +6
Bond-Baker-Feaster-Hoffman-Sutton^Brown: +3
White-Baker-Feaster-Hoffman-Ngoyisa: +3

Just a note of thanks.

Special thanks to Pleasant Dreams: An Atlanta Dream Blog for doing a better job tracking down other WNBA fan blogs on the net than I have done. Blogging is a "hobby" which garners much more enthusiasm when you begin than when you do it for a long time, and it is inspiring to see a new blogger really doing some of the things I have thought about before but never gotten around to doing. My blogroll has been updated with some of the blogs I found over at this site.

It has been really exciting watching the growth of WNBA coverage via the fan blogging community over the past four years. Many of my old favorites have fallen into neglect (I miss your insights into the Australian leagues and the Opals, Keegan!) but some real bright spots have moved in to take their place. Bloggers write mostly for themselves, but I think we all are inspired when we know that our work is being read and, hopefully, enjoyed by others. I know that for the first few years I had little to no comment/interaction with readers, and that I do appreciate the feedback and questions that I get. I have also made the electronic acquaintance of some people for whom I have developed a great respect with regards to their knowledge of and passion for the sport. I encourage everyone to traverse the blogrolls of this and other blogs and interact with the writers, it keeps us thinking and inspires new ideas for us.

As a niche sport, the internet offers a unique way to build and grow fandom which the WNBA has wisely chosen to nurture. It offers a way to build even more devoted, enthusiastic current fans and a way to nurture new fans that come along. Forum sites like Stormfans.org and Rebkell's Junkie Boards offer great places for fans to congregate, bicker, rejoice and commiserate with a large international community that exceeds the local fan bases and enriches our enjoyment of the sport.

So in addition to thanking the other bloggers, I want to take a moment to thank people like Crow, Norwester, TDAO, pd_swanson, shesgotgame, everyone at Women's Hoop Blog and others who have take the time to say hi in person at Storm games, drop an email to chat about the league or general statistical analysis or just to toss out constructive commentary, ideas and/or questions.

Of course, most importantly, I want to thank you for taking the time to read this blog entry, whether you are a regular reader picking it up by RSS feed or a browser bookmark or a new reader who got here from a Google search (the majority of unique hits to this site come straight from Google.)

Game Thirteen: Storm vs. Sun 17 June, 2008

I apologize for missing the game preview yesterday, we are starting a rennovation project on the house and we spent the entire day with our contractor buying windows and floors.

Last night was a tough blow for the team and the fans. The Storm's lack of shooting and rebounding has left them in quite a tough spot. Teams are sagging off the perimeter to stifle Lauren Jackson. She is still scoring, but nothing comes easy and she just doesn't get enough help. Post play should improve with the return of the promising Kelly Santos and the improving health of Yolanda Griffith, and Santos has shown she can score off the bench. The Storm need those extra points right now. Florina Pascalau looked lost at both ends of the floor last night.


Storm
Most Effective Shooters

Player	True Shooting Percentage	Effective FG%	Floor Percentage	Points
Sue Bird	65%	65%	45%	13
Lauren Jackson	58%	47%	58%	26
Tanisha Wright	55%	50%	44%	8
Katie Gearlds	50%	50%	42%	5
Sheryl Swoopes	34%	20%	46%	8

Sheryl continues to get to the free throw line, convert and play great defense, Tanisha continues to perform well, but we need Swin Cash back.

Top Ratings

Player	Offensive Rating	Individual Rating
Lauren Jackson	134.13	111.47
Katie Gearlds	120.30	101.43
Sheryl Swoopes	101.60	70.51
Sue Bird	97.96	97.22
Tanisha Wright	88.37	79.07

Two of the posts who played last night had ZERO values for all shooting and rating categories...that is scary and a big reason the team is struggling. They are able to win games when they have a little more rebounding and post scoring. If they get that and the shooters start knocking down shots they could dominate.

Raw Plus/Minus

Katie Gearlds: +5
Shyra Ely: +2
Florina Pascalau: +1
Kimberly Beck: -1
Shyra Ely: -2
Ashley Robinson: -2
Sue Bird: -3
Tanisha Wright:-3
Sheryl Swoopes: -10
Swin Cash: -14

Two games in a row with Swin as the lowest plus/minus value and Katie Gearlds as the top value.

Most Effective Lineups

Bird-Wright-Gearlds-Swoopes-Jackson: +4
Bird-Wright-Gearlds-Ely-Jackson: +3
Bird-Gearlds-Swoopes-Ely-Jackson: +2

Sun
Most Effective Shooters

Player	True Shooting Percentage	Effective FG%	Floor Percentage	Points
Tamika Raymond	114%	0%	70%	2
Barbara Turner	78%	86%	51%	17
Asjha Jones	50%	50%	47%	12
Lindsey Whalen	48%	36%	48%	13
Tamika Whitmore	35%	27%	39%	10

The Storm were outclassed again in the post with Griffith out of the lineup.

Top Ratings

Player	Offensive Rating	Individual Rating
Tamika Raymond	159.18	126.05
Barbara Turner	136.12	136.55
Lindsey Whalen	96.20	79.77
Asjha Jones	93.26	79.84
Tamika Whitmore	91.96	71.80

Barbara Turner has been let go by two teams, Seattle and Houston, but she is proving those team gave something up. Is there something besides her play that is wearing out her welcome?

Raw Plus/Minus

Barbara Turner: +17
Asjha Jones: +12
Sandrine Gruda: +7
Jaime Carey: +5
Kerri Gardin: +4
Lindsey Whalen: +3
Tamika Whitmore: 0
Ketia Swanier: 0
Jolene Anderson: -2
Tamika Raymond: -5
Amber Holt: -6

Most Effective Lineups

Carey-Swanier-Turner-Jones-Gruda: +5
Whalen-Gardin-Turner-Jones-Whitmore: +4
Whalen-Anderson-Turner-Jones-Gruda: +3

Game Twelve: Storm @ Comets 14 June, 2008

The Storm really gave this road trip away. Houston gets its second win of the season by simply outplaying the Storm. A few bad calls may have sealed the deal, but their poor play put them in a position to lose.


Storm
Most Effective Shooters

Player	True Shooting Percentage	Effective FG%	Floor Percentage	Points
Tanisha Wright	74%	72%	71%	14
Lauren Jackson	54%	47%	44%	18
Sue Bird	42%	33%	30%	9
Sheryl Swoopes	34%	30%	45%	8
Shyra Ely	32%	17%	32%	5

It looks like Tanisha has bounced back, but what is going on with Swin, Sheryl and Katie?

Top Ratings

Player	Offensive Rating	Individual Rating
Tanisha Wright	154.37	150.31
Lauren Jackson	103.51	92.09

The rest of the team was so bad, I couldn't even list them.

Raw Plus/Minus

Katie Gearlds: +3
Tanisha Wright: +2
Kimberly Beck: -1
Florina Pascalau: 0
Shyra Ely: -2
Lauren Jackson: -5
Ashley Robinson: -8
Sheryl Swoopes:-9
Sue Bird: -9
Swin Cash: -13

Most Effective Lineups

Beck-Wright-Cash-Ely-Jackson: +2
Bird-Wright-Gearlds-Jackson-Pascalau: +2
Bird-Swoopes-Ely-Jackson-Robinson: +2
Bird-Wright-Gearlds-Swoopes-Jackson: +2

Comets
Most Effective Shooters

Player	True Shooting Percentage	Effective FG%	Floor Percentage	Points
Mistie Williams	77%	67%	45%	6
Shannon Johnson	73%	79%	39%	14
Hamchétou Maiga-Ba	58%	50%	64%	9
Tina Thompson	52%	47%	45%	10
Sancho Lyttle	50%	50%	38%	2

The Storm were outclassed in the post with Griffith out of the lineup.

Top Ratings

Player	Offensive Rating	Individual Rating
Hamchétou Maiga-Ba	128.95	108.16
Tina Thompson	102.01	93.52
Mistie Williams	97.63	92.40
Shannon Johnson	91.32	97.29

Houston was not much better than Seattle offensively, but they were good enough to win. The Comets controlled the offensive and defensive glass with a +16 rebounding edge.

Raw Plus/Minus

Hamchétou Maiga-Ba: +13
Michelle Snow: +12
Tina Thompson: +10
Shannon Johnson: +6
Mwadi Mabika: +6
Erica White: +2
Matee Ajavon: -2
Sancho Lyttle: -3
Mistie Williams: -4

Most Effective Lineups

Johnson-Mabika-Maiga^Ba-Thompson-Snow: +9
White-Ajavon-Maiga^Ba-Williams-Snow: +3
Johnson-Ajavon-Mabika-Maiga^Ba-Thompson: +3

Game Eleven: Storm @ Silver Stars 13 June, 2008

Sigh. The post game interviews peppered with "we let this one get away" say it all. The Storm controlled this game in the first half as Sue Bird broke free of her shooting slump. None of the usual scorers stepped up, though, with Swoopes, Cash and Wright all having off nights. In the end, it was a few specific runs that killed the Storm. In the third quarter the Storm gave up -5 and -4 runs to the Silver Stars, and San Antonio used a dominant +7 run to close out the fourth quarter.

The Storm did what I asked from them in terms of rebounding, but the Silver Stars found a way to win when they lose the battle on the glass.


Storm
Most Effective Shooters

Player	True Shooting Percentage	Effective FG%	Floor Percentage	Points
Ashley Robinson	100%	100%	0%	2
Sue Bird	63%	60%	45%	21
Shyra Ely	57%	57%	67%	8
Lauren Jackson	52%	47%	59%	18
Katie Gearlds	41%	50%	53%	2

Another solid performance by Shyra off the bench, and hey, Katie hit a shot. We still need to see either Cash or Swoopes with Wright on this list. Tanisha had a terrible game with a 17% floor percentage.

Top Ratings

Player	Offensive Rating	Individual Rating
Shyra Ely	136.92	119.14
Lauren Jackson	119.11	98.38
Katie Gearlds	108.29	99.84
Sue Bird	108.15	106.77
Swin Cash	80.44	65.44

Swin had another bad game, she has not been the same since the team left for New York. Given how much Tanisha was struggling should we have seen more minutes from Gearlds?

Raw Plus/Minus

Katie Gearlds: +3
Kimberly Beck: 0
Ashley Robinson: 0
Sue Bird: -1
Yolanda Griffith: -1
Swin Cash: -1
Shyra Ely: -4
Lauren Jackson: -5
Tanisha Wright: -7
Sheryl Swoopes:-9

I think Tanisha and Sheryl played more minutes in this game than they earned.

Most Effective Lineups

Bird-Swoopes-Cash-Jackson-Griffith: +7
Bird-Wright-Cash-Ely-Jackson: +5
Bird-Gearlds-Cash-Ely-Jackson: +3

Silver Stars
Most Effective Shooters

Player	True Shooting Percentage	Effective FG%	Floor Percentage	Points
Becky Hammon	66%	63%	57%	17
Morenike Atunrase	63%	63%	51%	5
Vickie Johnson	58%	54%	53%	16
Sophia Young	53%	45%	61%	15
Anne Wauters	46%	43%	45%	8
Ruth Riley	43%	43%	37%	6

WNBA original Vickie Johnson has struggled this season, but the Storm let her break out last night.

Top Ratings

Player	Offensive Rating	Individual Rating
Becky Hammon	140.45	130.85
Morenike Atunrase	124.16	119.79
Sophia Young	123.03	107.02
Vickie Johnson	122.77	111.56
Erin Buescher	118.66	89.88

Did Buescher get six fouls or was everyone just crazy but the refs?

Raw Plus/Minus

Sophia Young: +7
Vickie Johnson: +6
Becky Hammon: +4
Erin Buescher: +4
Helen Darling: +4
Ruth Riley: +2
Anne Wauters: +2
Edwige Lawson-Wade: 0
Morenike Atunrase: -2

Most Effective Lineups

Hammon-Johnson-Buescher-Young-Wauters: +3
Hammon-Darling-Johnson-Young-Wauters: +3
Hammon-Darling-Buescher-Young-Riley: +3
Hammon-Darling-Buescher-Wauters-Riley: +3
Hammon-Johnson-Buescher-Wauters-Riley: +3

Storm @ Silver Stars Preview

Like the Mercury game this week, I believe this game boils down to something simple. Rebounding. The Silver Stars have won every game where they have led in rebounding and lost every game where the opponent led in rebounding. The Storm have struggled to win in San Antonio in recent years, their last win on the Silver Stars court was August 23, 2005. This game is of particular importance since it will be the season series determiner which could come into play at the end of the season and in the playoffs.

Last time around Seattle's defense shut down the perimeter players from San Antonio holding the team to 27.6% shooting while shooting 48% themselves. Seattle had a +12 rebounding advantage including grabbing 68% of the available defensive rebounds. In the loss of the prior game, Seattle allowed 49% shooting from San Antonio and were -7 on rebounds grabbing 68% of the defensive rebounds there as well.

Keys to the Game
Offense

• Rebound the ball on the offensive end, Yo is not missing her chippies and LJ has raised her rebounding numbers as of late.
• Swin and LJ carried the team offensively that last two times these teams played. They could use a little help from the improving Swoopes, and continue solid bench production. Given the back to back game schedule, I expect the reserves to get more play tonight. They need to deliver.
• Attack their posts. Riley and Wauters are both prone to fouling.

Defense

• Rebound the ball at this end, too. Do not let San Antonio get second chance opportunities, they have too many scorers.
• Keep Swin on Becky, that worked well last time and the three guard lineup San Antonio uses will allow that without creating a mismatch for Sue.
• Don't let Becky get going early. Make her take tough, contested shots from the outset and rely on Young for their scoring. Pretend she is wearing her Russian uniform and trying to steal the gold from you.
  

Game Ten: Storm vs. Mercury 11 June, 2008

It was a great game for Storm fans, and likely for UCONN fans as well, the Storm followed the script perfectly, avoiding fouls while getting to the free throw line all night long. They significantly out rebounded the Mercury and forced the league's leading scorer into a tough shooting night. They did allow Diana Taurasi to simply abuse them, but heck, it was her birthday...she probably didn't even have to pay for Sushi despite the loss.

On a personal note, this was the third consecutive game that Connor has fallen asleep by the 5 minute mark of the first quarter. The kid won't go to bed until after 9 at home, but bring him to a Storm game and he just zonks out despite the noise. I simply don't get it.

Storm
Most Effective Shooters

Player	True Shooting Percentage	Effective FG%	Floor Percentage	Points
Sheryl Swoopes	67%	64%	69%	17
Tanisha Wright	64%	67%	69%	10
Shyra Ely	62%	33%	76%	4
Yolanda Griffith	57%	43%	39%	11
Lauren Jackson	51%	44%	54%	20

Top Ratings

Player	Offensive Rating	Individual Rating
Kimberly Beck	210.71	200.00
Shyra Ely	159.70	124.42
Sheryl Swoopes	153.21	129.08
Tanisha Wright	150.67	138.10
Lauren Jackson	115.98	88.56

Bench efficiency for this Storm team is truly impressive. They are not playing a lot of minutes, but they are consistently effective in the minutes they play, particularly Wright and Ely though Gearlds, Beck and Robinson have contributed at times as well.

Raw Plus/Minus

Tanisha Wright: +10
Lauren Jackson: +9
Yolanda Griffith: +5
Shyra Ely: +4
Sue Bird: +2
Kimberly Beck: +2
Katie Gearlds: +2
Sheryl Swoopes: +1
Ashley Robinson: -1
Swin Cash:-4

Swin had 17 points, but the Storm were stronger with Ely at the SF slot last night and we saw new lineups used which reflect her success against Phoenix.

Most Effective Lineups

Bird-Wright-Ely-Jackson-Griffith: +4
Bird-Wright-Swoopes-Cash-Jackson: +4
Bird-Swoopes-Ely-Jackson-Griffith: +3

Mercury
Most Effective Shooters

Player	True Shooting Percentage	Effective FG%	Floor Percentage	Points
Diana Taurasi	85%	83%	65%	37
LeToya Pringle	50%	50%	60%	4
Le'coe Willingham	50%	50%	43%	4
Cappie Pondexter	41%	41%	41%	18
Barb Farris	37%	20%	41%	5
Kelly Miller	30%	22%	29%	6

Taurasi was not only a high scorer, she shot the ball will blistering efficiency on her birthday. No more opponent birthday games allowed. Katie Smith did the same thing on her birthday...the Storm are giving too many presents.

Top Ratings

Player	Offensive Rating	Individual Rating
Diana Taurasi	163.29	158.40
LaToya Pringle	123.59	89.39
Cappie Pondexter	93.59	81.13
Le'coe Willingham	90.51	71.52
Jennifer Derevjanik	57.12	40.00

After the top two, the drop off in offense is glaring.

Raw Plus/Minus

Kelly Miller: +5
Le'coe Willingham: +3
Allie Quigley: +1
Diana Taurasi: -2
Barb Farris: -4
Cappie Pondexter: -5
Kelly Mazzante: -6
Jennifer Derevjanik: -11
LaToya Pringle: -11

Most Effective Lineups

Miller-Pondexter-Taurasi-Willingham-Pringle: +4
Miller-Pondexter-Taurasi-Willingham-Farris: +2
Miller-Pondexter-Mazzante-Willingham-Farris: +2
Miller-Mazzante-Taurasi-Pringle-Farris: +2

Storm vs. Mercury Preview

It is no secret that the defending champions have struggled at the start of the 2008 season. Not since LA won back to back championships in 2001-2002 has a team been able to repeat in consecutive seasons. Detroit has made it to the finals three times since then, 2003, 2006 and 2007 but only won two of those. League parity has made repeating a tough prospect with both conferences grabbing victories during the interval. In my season preview I had Phoenix struggling with the loss of power forward, Penny Taylor. They have indeed struggled, finally earning a pair of back to back wins against the Mystics and the Sparks.

Looking at the box scores, there is not a lot to tell you what the difference is between the wins. Scoring has ranged in both their wins and losses, with consistently strong scoring from team leaders, Diana Taurasi and Cappie Pondexter. While the individual person has changed, the Mercury have consistently had a third scorer in the starting lineup and bench play has been erratic across both the victories and defeats. Rebounding isn't the answer, they have lost when leading that category and won when losing it. The Mercury did move rookie guard Yuko Oga to the end of the bench and have brought veteran guard Jen Derevjanik (who did not play in the first four games) in to substitute for Kelly Miller in the past two games.

The one clear cut difference between the Mecury wins and their differences has been free throws. In their two victories they got to the line more often (50-36) than their opponents. In their four losses, the opponent got to the foul line more often (126-75). The Mercury's defense has either gotten tighter so as to avoid fouling, or the referees are adjusting to their style of play. They are getting to the line a little bit more, but as they have cut back on sending the opponent to the line, they have shifted to winning. During their four losses, the Mercury had an average of 18.5 free throw attempts while allowing their opponents and average of 31. In the past two victories, the Mercury have averaged 25 free throws while holding their opponents to an average of 18. That is a swing of 20 potential points and has meant putting W's in the win/loss column for the Mercury.

Keys to the Game
Offense

• Get to the line. Force Phoenix to foul you. Play an aggressive low post game with your bigs. Run the guards off screens. Milk the half court offense when you can't get a fast break, force Phoenix to play lots of defense.
• Seattle has better rebounders in the front court than Phoenix, use that to control the offensive boards and force their defenders to try going over the back for more fouls.
• Lauren Jackson. Get her the ball on the block. Phoenix has never been able to defend her, and she will draw the rover from Phoenix's zone off Cash or Swoopes leaving them open for mid and long range shots.
• Sue often plays well agains Phoenix, and Swin should show her former coach he should have played her more in last year's finals.

Defense

• Le'Coe Willingham is a solid offensive rebounder. Box her out and keep her off the boards. She is not trying to score, but is waiting to put back missed shots by Taurasi and Pondexter.
• Defend and pressure Miller, she is the engine for the "Paul Ball" style of basketball the Mercury play.
• Keep Taurasi and Pondexter out of the paint. They are both going to score 20+ points anyway, but make them do it on 25-30% shooting rather than on layups.
• DON'T FOUL!!!! Yolanda may need to sit more not only because of the pace the Mercury play at, but because she is fouling too frequently in the past few games based on the way the officials are calling the game this season.

Game Nine: Storm vs. Shock 7 June, 2008

The +/- numbers for Detroit were changed to reflect differences in the play by plays from ESPN.com (which I used Saturday night since the W's was not yet posted) and WNBA.com. While the Storm substitutions and scores were the same, the Shocks times and scores were different in several places resulting in miscalculated free throw assignments. Thanks to pd_swanson for pointing this out. The biggest victim was Alexis Hornbuckle who went from a 0 on ESPN to a +4 on WNBA.com.

Seattle lost the rebounding battle in a big way, but strong shooting, lack of turnovers and a wretched shooting night for Detroit saved the day and kept the Storm unbeaten in Key Arena this season. I never got the chance to make the sign I wanted for the game tonight...but it would have read...

"Bill- In Seattle, we know that Cash is money." Even though Swin had her second off shooting night, she still contributed in a lot of ways with rebounds, assists and defense.

Storm
Most Effective Shooters

Player	True Shooting Percentage	Effective FG%	Floor Percentage	Points
Shyra Ely	100%	100%	100%	2
Lauren Jackson	91%	86%	72%	24
Yolanda Griffith	79%	75%	49%	7
Sheryl Swoopes	75%	75%	74%	15
Tanisha Wright	67%	67%	31%	4

Top Ratings

Player	Offensive Rating	Individual Rating
Shyra Ely	200.00	180.91
Lauren Jackson	158.09	157.05
Sheryl Swoopes	141.69	145.80
Ashley Robinson	124.17	113.64
Sue Bird	106.92	99.17

Raw Plus/Minus

Sheryl Swoopes: +19
Lauren Jackson: +14
Yolanda Griffith: +9
Sue Bird: +8
Swin Cash: +8
Kimberly Beck: 0
Katie Gearlds: -2
Shyra Ely: -3
Tanisha Wright: -6
Ashley Robinson:-7

Most Effective Lineups

Bird-Swoopes-Cash-Jackson-Griffith: +16
Bird-Wright-Swoopes-Cash-Jackson: +5

Shock
Most Effective Shooters

Player	True Shooting Percentage	Effective FG%	Floor Percentage	Points
Elaine Powell	100%	100%	100%	4
LaToya Thomas	100%	100%	100%	2
Sheri Sam	83%	83%	63%	5
Kara Braxton	59%	38%	55%	14
Plenette Pierson	51%	43%	47%	9
Tasha Humphrey	50%	50%	52%	2

Top Ratings

Player	Offensive Rating	Individual Rating
Elaine Powell	201.42	195.96
LaToya Thomas	200.00	186.66
Sheri Sam	157.52	156.98
Kara Braxton	116.75	99.28
Katie Smith	105.87	84.89

Raw Plus/Minus

Alexis Hornbuckle: +4
LaToya Thomas: +4
Plenette Pierson: +2
Sheri Sam: +1
Kara Braxton: 0
Tasha Humphrey: -3
Deanna Nolan: -5
Olayinka Sanni: -7
Katie Smith: -9
Elaine Powell:-11
Cheryl Ford: -16

Most Effective Lineups

Smith-Hornbuckle-Nolan-Pierson-Braxton: +7
Powell-Nolan-Sam-Pierson-Braxton: +4
Hornbuckle-Powell-Sam-Thomas-Humphrey: +2

Seattle vs. Detroit: Game Preview

I don't have much to say that I didn't already say for the game on Wednesday. The only difference is that the Storm will have the crowd behind them to help them rally. Detroit showed that the Storm can beat them. Katie Smith shouldn't have another game like the last one, but the Storm need to make sure she doesn't heat up early.

KEYS TO THE GAME
Offense

• LJ needs to keep up the solid work from the game in Detroit. She mixed up inside and outside play well.
• Swin needs to settle down and let the game come to her.
• Either Bird, Swoopes or Gearlds needs to find their outside shot. LJ needs some help, and the Shock have been weak against strong shooting perimeter teams.

Defense

• Control the defensive glass. That is how Detroit is winning games. They are getting too many second chances.
• Get the perimeter under control. Smith, Hornbuckle and Nolan are going to put a lot of pressure on the Storm at the other end, they need to return the favor at this end.
• Get physical with Katie Smith. She struggles more when you run her off screens and push her around.

Season Numbers

Eight games marks just under a quarter of the WNBA season, and thanks to some process changes and new spreadsheets that I made in the offseason, I can actually track my season data automatically as it progresses rather than trying to run all the numbers manually at the end of the season. I thought the quarter mark would be a good place to take a look at where the team is so far in the season.

Team Numbers

Offensive Rating: 98.38 points per 100 possessions
Field Goal Percentage: 41%
Three Point Field Goal Percentage: 27%
Offensive Rebound Percentage: 31%
Free Throw Percentage: 77%

Offensively, the Storm are about 6 points per 100 possessions worse on offense than they were in 2007. They have not had an offensive rating below 100 since the 2002 season when they were 98.83. Their pace has dropped by 4 possessions per game from 2007 as well which is down to their 2005 pace before the 24 second shot clock. 24% of their shots are three pointers this seson, down from 29% in 2007, which is probably good, since they are shooting 8 points worse from long range this season. Their offensive rebounding is the same as it was last season, while their field goal percentage is down 2 points.

Defensive Rating: 97.52 points per 100 possessions
Defensive Field Goal Percentage: 40%
Defensive Three Point Field Goal Percentage: 31%
Defensive Rebound Percentage: 67%

Seattle's defensive rating is improved significantly, down 6 points per 100 possessions from last season and their best rating since their 2004 championship season (95.06). Unfortunately, in 2004 they also had a much better offensive rating (102.32). They are holding teams field goal percentage three points lower than in 2007, and 5 points lower from long range. There defensive rebound percentage is three points worse than last season however.

As a team, if Seattle wants to make a serious push, they must improve their offense significantly. They need to improve their defensive rebounding, and they need to improve their three point shooting.

Player Numbers
Shooting/Scoring

Player	True Shooting Percentage	Effective FG%	Floor Percentage	Points Per Game
Kimberly Beck	87%	75%	42%	0.6
Shyra Ely	56%	54%	44%	3.6
Tanisha Wright	56%	50%	46%	5.75
Swin Cash	56%	54%	44%	14.25
Lauren Jackson	56%	47%	46%	19.37
Kelly Santos	51%	40%	56%	1.20
Sue Bird	46%	40%	45%	11.25
Sheryl Swoopes	45%	39%	42%	6.75
Yolanda Griffith	42%	39%	50%	5.25
Katie Gearlds	41%	41%	32%	3.0
Ashley Robinson	26%	30%	26%	0.75

Ratings

Player	Offensive Rating	Individual Rating
Kelly Santos	120.60	94.70
Swin Cash	110.51	93.82
Kimberly Beck	108.43	102.49
Lauren Jackson	103.64	88.29
Sue Bird	99.04	86.14
Tanisha Wright	97.54	87.03
Yolanda Griffith	95.67	74.43
Shyra Ely	92.36	79.46
Sheryl Swoopes	91.77	87.03
Katie Gearlds	82.32	69.68
Ashley Robinson	53.65	35.77

Plus/Minus

Player	On	Off	Net
Bird	+29	-26	-55
Cash	+29	-26	+55
Griffith	+19	-16	+35
Jackson	+18	-15	+33
Gearlds	+1	+2	-1
Swoopes	-3	+6	-9
Pascalau	-4	+7	-11
Ely	-4	+7	-11
Wright	-11	+14	-25
Santos	-13	+42	-55
Beck	-14	+17	-31
Robinson	-32	+35	-67

Most Effective Lineups (with >2 minutes of playing time)

Bird-Wright-Swoopes-Cash-Jackson: +17
Bird-Wright-Cash-Jackson-Griffith: +14
Bird-Gearlds-Cash-Ely-Jackson: +9
Bird-Gearlds-Cash-Jackson-Griffith: +8
Bird-Gearlds-Swoopes-Cash-Jackson: +7
Bird-Swoopes-Cash-Ely-Jackson: +6
Bird-Wright-Gearlds-Cash-Jackson: +5

Least Effective Lineups (with >2 minutes of playing time)

Bird-Wright-Cash-Jackson-Robinson: -12
Beck-Wright-Cash-Santos-Robinson: -9
Wright-Gearlds-Swoopes-Ely-Robinson: -7
Bird-Wright-Swoopes-Jackson-Griffith: -7
Bird-Gearlds-Cash-Jackson-Robinson: -6
Bird-Swoopes-Cash-Jackson-Griffith: -4 (That is our starters folks.)

Top Player Pairs
Cash-Jackson: +41
Bird-Cash: +37
Gearlds-Cash: +28
Bird-Griffith: +23
Swoopes-Cash: +23
Bird-Jackson: +20
Cash-Griffith: +18
Jackson-Griffith: +16
Wright-Griffith: +14
Bird-Wright: +14

Game Eight: Storm @ Shock 4 June, 2008

The game went better than I predicted, with strong first and fourth quarters from the Storm, but they dug too big a hole for themselves in the third quarter, and after pulling within 3 points at the 2:10 mark of the fourth on a Jackson free throw they stopped playing defense and were too tired to score. They lose by 10. They allowed the Shock to out rebound them at the offensive end of the floor, giving up 13 rebounds for 34%. They only got 20% of their own offensive rebounds. They failed to control Nolan, and then let Katie Smith embarass them with 33 points and seven rebounds. LJ did a solid job inside and out, executing the game plan with seeming ease, but the perimeter players came up short. The perimeter players I called out in yesterday's preview (Cash, Swoopes, Bird, Wright and Gearlds) totaled 24 points while LJ had 27 on her own.


STORM
MOST EFFECTIVE SHOOTERS

Player	True Shooting %	Eff FG%	Floor %
Beck	150%	150%	0%
Griffith	102%	100%	77%
Ely	67%	67%	39%
Jackson	58%	55%	43%

Welcome back to the shooting list, Lauren. Again, where is Katie Gearlds? Ely is playing very well this year. She and Tanisha are forming a solid bench. Beck hit her only shot, but it was a nice one. When Santos returns, and if Katie can find her shot again, this team could be potent.

BEST RATINGS

Player	Offensive Rating	Individual Rating
Griffith	163.64	157.65
Jackson	96.71	90.45
Wright	90.17	81.67
Cash	87.35	75.92

Tanisha continues to be solid offensively, but the Storm can't have Bird, Cash, Swoopes and Gearlds all having off days at the same time.

RAW PLUS/MINUS
Beck: -1
Robinson: -2
Swoopes: -3
Griffith: -3
Bird: -3
Ely: -3
Gearlds: -6
Jackson: -8
Wright: -8
Cash: -13

MOST EFFECTIVE LINEUPS

Bird-Wright-Swoopes-Robinson-Griffith: +5
Bird-Swoopes-Ely-Jackson-Griffith: +2
Bird-Swoopes-Ely-Jackson-Robinson: +2

Shock
MOST EFFECTIVE SHOOTERS

Player	True Shooting %	Eff FG%	Floor%
Smith	68%	58%%	59%
Hornbuckle	63%	63%	42%
Thomas	50%	50%	52%
Nolan	43%	36%	54%

Katie and Alexis were spot on shooting and Deanna and Katie got themselves to the line.

BEST RATINGS

Player	Offensive Rating	Indiv Rating
Smith	138.19	122.27
Nolan	110.33	93.26
Thomas	103.53	85.28
Hornbuckle	102.70	88.43

People always harped than Lambier didn't use his rookies in past seasons. Perhaps his previous rookies just weren't good enough. This year's draft has to be the most productive in league history.

RAW PLUS/MINUS
Thomas: +12
Smith: +10
Pierson: +8
Powell: +7
Sanni: +7
Hornbuckle: +2
Nolan: +2
Sam: +1
Ford: 0

Katie wanted to stay 33, she refused to score that last point on her 34th birthday.

MOST EFFECTIVE LINEUPS

Smith-Powell-Nolan-Ford-Sanni: +7
Smith-Powell-Nolan-Pierson-Braxton: +7
Smith-Hornbuckle-Nolan-Pierson-Thomas: +5
Smith-Hornbuckle-Pierson-Ford-Thomas:+4

Storm @ Shock Preview

I do not expect much good to come out of today's game. It is not just because of recent poor play against struggling teams like Houston and New York. It is more about the team the Storm are facing. I actually expect the Storm to raise their level of play against a strong team like the Shock. I just don't think the odds are in their favor.

Detroit has all the pieces which are causing trouble for the Storm. They have strong post play and rebounding with long, athletic guards and a solid bench. This leaves little room for error, and I believe that the Storm are still too rough to go without error.

KEYS TO THE GAME

Offense

• Offensive rebounding is always critical against Detroit. The Shock play solid defense and there will not be a lot of open shots. Second chance points are key.
• LJ needs to play down low more, but Cheryl Ford will make that a tough proposition. Ford is not as strong away from the basket, and Yo is a better rebounder than Braxton, so the Storm may need LJ to work that elbow and draw Ford out of the paint.
• Swin needs to have a solid game, but Pierson knows her well and may present difficulties.
• The offense needs to come from Bird, Swoopes, Cash, Wright and Gearlds. Minnesota is the only team to beat Detroit, and they had huge games from Augustus and their three solid rookies, Wiggins, Anosike and Houston. Wiggins and Houston had as many shot opportunities as Augustus. That is a product of Detroit's defense, so the perimeter players better be ready to knock down the shots that do come their way.

Defense

• Stop Nolan. That is a tough order, but either Swoopes or Cash needs to make life more difficult for her. In the Lynx game Nolan was held to 4 points on 2-8 shooting and no free throws.
• Don't let Detroit have second shot opportunities, they are just too good for that. They had 23 offensive rebounds against Indiana in their last game but were limited to 9 in their loss to Minnesota. The games where they are held under 10 offensive boards were either close or a loss. When they had double digit offensive rebounds it was a 10+ victory.
• Braxton and Ford are not big...use size to frustrate them and then run them into the ground with the smaller lineups.

Game Seven: Storm @ Liberty 3 June, 2008

This was a really tough game to listen to on the radio. I am sure it was even harder to be there in person. The Liberty are a better team than their record indicates, but they are still a team that the Storm should beat. The Storm were out rebounded by a weaker rebounding team. Swoopes, Griffith and Cash did fine but LJ was pulled out of rebounding position on both ends of the floor. It is unacceptable that last season's league leader in rebounding is averaging a career low 6.3 rebounds per game. The Storm let the Liberty win both the paint (30 to 20) and the three point (9-5) game. No one guarded Shameka Christon from beyond the arc. Offensively I still think LJ is not in the offense. She should not be shooting at 41% after two consecutive years shooting over 50%. She has not shot this poorly since her first two seasons in the league when she played too much around the perimeter under Coach Lynn Dunn. Despite the resurgance of Sheryl Swoopes, the team could not survive a below average offensive game from Swin Cash. She did what you want a great player to do and continued to offer other benefits, like rebounding , but we needed her shooting. Finally, the team can't survive 5 turnovers in 17 minutes from Yolanda Griffith or having every starter with at least 3 turnovers. As you will see below, Agler finally found a workable lineup and then he didn't use them in the fourth quarter and it crushed the Storm's chances of recovering.

STORM
MOST EFFECTIVE SHOOTERS

Player	True Shooting %	Eff FG%	Floor %
Wright	82%	75%	54%
Swoopes	77%	75%	53%
Ely	69%	50%	55%
Bird	51%	50%	44%

Tanisha continued her strong play and Swoopes broke out of her season long shooting slump in basketballs most famous arena. Unfortunately Swin Cash disappeared from this category for the first time this season. Where is Katie Gearlds?

BEST RATINGS

Player	Offensive Rating	Individual Rating
Ely	121.90	112.67
Swoopes	121.02	114.91
Wright	115.11	108.67
Bird	96.28	85.54

Did I mention how good Tanisha Wright has been playing recently, and why didn't Ely play more given how Swin Cash was faring offensively?

RAW PLUS/MINUS
Wright: +5
Beck: -2
Swoopes: -3
Pascalau: -4
Robinson: -5
Ely: -8
Gearlds: -9
Bird: -9
Cash: -11
Jackson: -11

Other than Tanisha, it really didn't matter who played. The Liberty abused most all of the lineups that Agler attempted to utilize.

MOST EFFECTIVE LINEUPS

Bird-Wright-Swoopes-Cash-Jackson: +16
Bird-Wright-Swoopes-Jackson-Robinson: +2
Bird-Gearlds-Swoopes-Ely-Jackson: +2

Really, only the first of the above three lineups was effective, given that the other two were only on the floor for 90 and 30 seconds respectively. The magic combo was dominant, they won every interval that they were played. Unfortunately, they didn't play in either the first or the fourth quarters where the game was lost. The impact was most clear in the third quarter when the team lost the start, put this lineup in to move forward, substituted Gearlds for Wright and fell back, put Wright back in to surge forward, then rested Swoopes to fall even further back. In the fourth quarter they continued to fall as either Swoopes, Bird or Wright was rested.

Liberty
MOST EFFECTIVE SHOOTERS

Player	True Shooting %	Eff FG%	Floor%
Christon	82%	79%%	52%
Larkins	77%	67%	49%
Willis	67%	67%	48%
McCarville	62%	57%	64%

Nice job by Coyle, in having such depth to provide solid scoring from the starters and the bench...this team is better than their record.

BEST RATINGS

Player	Offensive Rating	Indiv Rating
McCarville	129.43	122.03
Willis	128.39	122.13
Christon	127.71	125.84
Kraayeveld	122.15	84.70

There was not a spectacular player in this game, but the balance in bench and starter play of solid players is a real advantage to the Liberty, particularly against a team with such unbalanced, veteran heavy rosters as that of Seattle.

RAW PLUS/MINUS
Carson: +15
Kraayeveld: +12
Battle: +10
Jackson: +8
Moore: +7
Mitchell: +7
Larkins: +5
Christon: +4
Willis: +4
McCarville: +3
Thorn: -5

Did I mention balance already?

MOST EFFECTIVE LINEUPS

Moore-Carson-Christon-Kraayeveld-McCarville: +4
Moore-Willis-Battle-Kraayeveld-McCarville: +4
Mitchell-Carson-Christon-Larkins-Jackson: +4
Moore-Willis-Battle-Kraayeveld-Jackson:+3

If the balance issue wasn't clear to you before, I certainly hope it is now.

Storm @ Liberty Preview

Why are all eyes in the media on tomorrow's game against Detroit when our team still needs to get past a gutsy New York Liberty this afternoon.

The Liberty marketing team has posted an ad saying "It's time to quiet the Storm" on their website to sell tickets to the game today. Good for them. Their website is pretty darn cool by the way, and they have their preview up. They are an innovative group, in fact, they will host the first professional OUTDOOR WNBA game on July 19th vs. the Indiana Fever. Arthur Ashe Stadium is a pretty huge (23,157) I hope it doesn't look to silly with only 10,000 fans there. Here is a description of the venue from Slate...

It's not a gem. Arthur Ashe Stadium is a disaster, possibly the worst sports
venue in America. Some stadiums are unfriendly to fans. Some are disliked by
players. And some come across poorly on television. Arthur Ashe Stadium
accomplishes all three at once.

I hope it works out better for the Libs than it does for tennis fans. One of my favorite fan blogs, The Libertine has their preview of the game up as well.

The Liberty have only won a single game this year, despite the fact that I had them climbing the food chain in the East in my season preview. That win did come against the Mystics who were at the bottom of the East in that same preview. Their losses were against the top two eastern teams, losing twice to Connecticut and once to Detroit.

Keys to the Game
Offense

• Lauren Jackson. We need to see play start with LJ and have the perimeter players play off of her. It has always worked against New York, and is the primary reason why Izi had such great games there.
• Out rebound New York and the game is yours.
• Sue Bird has struggled in her home town at times, it would be good for her to start aggressive like she did against Houston. That should help free LJ up a bit as well.
• We need to see continued strong bench play from Tanisha, and Katie Gearlds needs to get that outside shot going. Izi got a lot of open looks in New York, Katie needs to take those when she is on the floor.
• New York has a tendancy to foul...get their starters in early foul trouble and it will make the second half much easier.

Defense

• It starts in the post. The Mystics let the posts from New York go to work and it cost them the game. Shut down McCarville and Kraayeveld and make the guards face the stifling perimeter defense we have seen of late.
• Don't let Kraayeveld and Christon have open looks at the three. They have been shooting and hitting quite a few.
• Rebound. In their only win, they out rebounded Washington.

The game is on MSG (channel 651 on DirecTV) tonight, but for some unknown reason the station has frequently been blacked out for Storm games in our area despite the fact that there was no local broadcast.

Game Six: Storm vs. Comets 1 June, 2008

Before I talk about the game, let me just say that this year's Storm Dance Troupe is fantastic. The kids are great dancers (in the past there has been a real mix of talent) and the new choreography is great. The numbers are playing to the strengths of the whole troupe, they are exciting and they are well executed. This has been the best work by the dancers in the six years I have been attending games regularly.

Ok, back to the ugly, frustrating and difficult experience that was last night's game. There will always be games like this. Tonight was a combination of a struggling team that tends to foul paired with officials who are fond of blowing the whistle. I must say that the game was definitely consistently inconsistent. Fouls were called on either team that were not called the same way for the other team. I did lose my temper at one point and holler out, "If you got it right the first time you wouldn't need the blatant make-up call!" Teams have to adapt and deal with those type of circumstances, but it does not make the game much fun for the players or the fans.

Tina Thompson knows LJ too well, and LJ was well guarded individually and by the team. The whole focus of Houston's defense was to shut Lauren down, and they really succeeded. Lauren has reached double figures in all but a few career games in the WNBA. I don't believe more than a small percentage of those turned into wins for the Storm. They have won games without her playing, but to have her play significant minutes without scoring and still win the game is a major accomplishment for this team.

My eldest son, the basketball hater, came to the game last night (his second of the season) and brought two friends with him. My little guy decided to stay home with an exhausted mother. The three boys had a blast, and were standing, cheering and chanting at various times during the game. The oldest of the three actually went on the court for the train. Hopefully Eamon is learning to enjoy basketball games a little more than in the past.


STORM
MOST EFFECTIVE SHOOTERS

Player	True Shooting %	Eff FG%	Floor %
Wright	61%	56%	52%
Cash	55%	45%	56%
Bird	46%	38%	44%
Griffith	44%	0%	54%

Whatever has happened between Tanisha Wright, Coach Agler and the team is fantastic. She is playing the best, most consistent stint of WNBA basketball of her career. Keep it up T, you are re-earning the Tenacious Tanisha nickname I gave you in your rookie season. Swin Cash is the top vote getter in this week's poll, and she continues to be the Storm's most consistent player. Her ability to score in various ways and find ways to put points on the board is invaluable to this team. In my opinion, those two players won this game for the team.

BEST RATINGS

Player	Offensive Rating	Individual Rating
Wright	107.80	94.96
Cash	106.96	91.15
Ely	100.27	76.73
Griffith	92.67	72.46

Sue Bird started the game scoring but her offense dwindled off in the second half, she did earn a strong individual rating, however coming in third with a 90.66.

RAW PLUS/MINUS
Wright: +9
Ely: +6
Griffith: +4
Beck: +2
Cash: 0
Bird: -1
Jackson: -1
Gearlds: -2
Robinson: -4
Swoopes: -8

Sheryl really struggled, and she did not play after the 2:43 mark of the third quarter. Wright was spectacular and made things happen at both ends of the floor proving she deserves her roster spot, and perhaps also that she belongs at the 2 guard spot. While she handled the ball on various possessions, she was always on the court with true point guards, either Bird or Beck.

MOST EFFECTIVE LINEUPS
Bird-Wright-Cash-Jackson-Griffith: +7
Bird-Wright-Gearlds-Cash-Jackson: +3
Beck-Wright-Swoopes-Ely-Jackson: +2
Beck-Wright-Cash-Jackson-Robinson: +2

Again, we saw some truly unusual lineups, with the real stinker being the -5 performance of Beck-Wright-Swoopes-Jackson-Robinson.

Comets
MOST EFFECTIVE SHOOTERS

Player	True Shooting %	Eff FG%	Floor%
Johnson	72%	65%%	69%
Williams	64%	67%	60%
Thompson	55%	50%	46%
Maiga-Ba	51%	43%	53%

Rookie Mate Ajavon made things happen, getting 10 free throw attempts, but she was a miserable 1 for 8 from the field.

BEST RATINGS

Player	Offensive Rating	Indiv Rating
Johnson	175.03	143.89
Williams	117.07	98.54
Maiga-Ba	112.28	85.94
Thompson	91.50	78.85

Thompson and Ajavon were close on offense rating, with Ajavon having an edge, but Thompson was 9 points better on Individual rating forcing her off the list.

RAW PLUS/MINUS
Ajavon: +10
Williams: +4
Shields: +1
Johnson: +1
Lyttle: 0
Holmes: -2
White: -3
Thompson: -3
Maiga-Ba: -4

Here is where the rookie difference is made. While she shot poorly, the team was simply better by a significant margin when Ajavon was on the floor. In fact, the Comets lost this game during the fourth quarter when they went -6 after Dixon came in for Ajavon at the 8:26 mark until Ajavon replaced Maiga-Ba at the 4:39 mark. We can point to last minute luck, and veteran experience, but the lineup analysis shows clearly that the Comets played better as soon as Ajavon subbed in and worse after she subbed out.

MOST EFFECTIVE LINEUPS

Johnson-Ajavon-Maiga^Ba-Thompson-Williams: +7
Johnson-Dixon-Ajavon-Thompson-Snow: +3
Johnson-Shields-Ajavon-Williams-Lyttle: +2

Only two Houston lineups without Ajavon had a positive value, both at +1.