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
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.
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