My first perk up of the day was when I picked up my oldest from his day camp at the neighborhood community center. The day camp is run by the city and they have a list of key activities for each week of camp. I was looking over the list and saw that next week was Storm week. Thursday is camp day at the Key and the city has bought tickets for the kids enrolled in the day camps. That, right off the bat, made me feel like the city has mad a first step towards backing up Mayor Nickels comment that he was dedicated to making sure that the Storm do well in Key Arena.
I was still a little testy, and my kids were a bit out of control, so I ended up a half hour late to the arena while I dealt with disciplinary (time out in your room until you are ready to treat everyone with more respect, young man!) measures at home. I get to my parking garage only to find that the pay meter is broken. I decide to pay the extra dollar to park at the arena parking garage (which turns out to be the best idea I had later on that evening.) As we are walking past the east box office a familiar woman walking by smiles and says "Nice shirt!" with regards to the Perfect Storm promotion shirt I have on. I stop and ask, "Are you one of the owners?" She smiles and replies, "Yes, I'm Lisa."
I walk over to shake her had and say with, likely more emotion than I intended, "Thank you so much!" I want to say more, but I realize that I will probably start balling. I introduce her to Eamon (who rolls his eyes and pretends to be asleep) and Connor (who is running around in circles) and tell them that this is one of women who saved us from going through what the Sonics are right now. Of course, I am so emotional, that I can't remember the name of the Sonics. I am in too much denial.
Finally, though, there was the game. Someone remembered that LJ is dominant on the block and decided to get her the ball there early and often. It was a vintage Storm night with LJ dominating down low, Bird penetrating and hitting pull up jumpers from the free throw line or busting through for a layup. I even saw a few pick and pops and pick and rolls thrown in there. As one fan's "GO DEATH!" sign reminded us, the NBA may be dead in Seattle, but Basketball is alive and kicking.
It makes me want to do the happy dance...
Storm
Most Effective Shooters
Player | True Shooting Percentage | Effective FG% | Floor Percentage | Points |
| Ashley Robinson | 100% | 100% | 100% | 2 |
| Sue Bird | 80% | 77% | 72% | 23 |
| Lauren Jackson | 70% | 65% | 63% | 33 |
| Sheryl Swoopes | 57% | 57% | 64% | 9 |
| Katie Gearlds | 50% | 50% | 38% | 3 |
Poor Ashley. It took an injury to get her to the top of this list. It is nice to see Katie back on the shooters list. Sue Bird with a 72% floor percentage is just fantastic given how many possesions she has per game.
Top Ratings
| Player | Offensive Rating | Individual Rating |
| Ashley Robinson | 202.18 | 202.29 |
| Sue Bird | 149.36 | 145.02 |
| Lauren Jackson | 137.17 | 122.97 |
| Sheryl Swoopes | 127.22 | 114.61 |
| Katie Gearlds | 113.78 | 92.52 |
Offensively the bench did not contribute much tonight, but their defense was adequate.
Raw Plus/Minus
Sheryl Swoopes: +18
Lauren Jackson: +18
Sue Bird: +16
Swin Cash: +10
Yolanda Griffith: +7
Ashley Robinson: +7
Tanisha Wright: 0
Katie Gearlds: -1
Camille Little: -3
Shyra Ely: -4
Kristin O'Neil: -3
Most Effective Lineups
Bird-Swoopes-Cash-Jackson-Griffith: +9
Bird-Swoopes-Cash-Ely-Robinson: +5
Bird-Wright-Swoopes-Jackson-Robinson: +5
Bird-Wright-Swoopes-Jackson-Griffith: +4
Liberty
Most Effective Shooters
Player | True Shooting Percentage | Effective FG% | Floor Percentage | Points |
| Lisa Willis | 75% | 75% | 27% | 6 |
| Erlana Larkins | 68% | 60% | 58% | 8 |
| Shameka Christon | 63% | 62% | 50% | 19 |
| Katherine Kraayeveld | 56% | 56% | 39% | 11 |
| Essence Carson | 54% | 50% | 47% | 16 |
The Liberty look really good this year. I really like the additions of Larkins and Carson. When they have their whole roster, they look darn good. Moore and Mitchel make a great tandem at the point, and they have depth at every position. They don't have a superstar yet, though McCarville and Christon are close to become stars.
Top Ratings
| Player | Offensive Rating | Individual Rating |
| Erlana Larkins | 124.99 | 110.73 |
| Shameka Christon | 121.27 | 112.80 |
| Leilani Mitchell | 113.45 | 85.71 |
| Essence Carson | 97.78 | 84.86 |
| Katherine Kraayeveld | 92.15 | 81.76 |
Mitchell didn't score a point, but she racked up 6 assists in 14 minutes earning her a solid offensive rating. She was finding open shooters.
Raw Plus/Minus
Leilani Mitchell: +11
Lisa Willis: +7
Erlana Larkins: +7
Ashley Battle: +3
Erin Thorn: +3
Janel McCarville: -9
Katherine Kraayeveld: -10
Tiffany Jackson: -14
Essence Carson: -17
Shameka Christon: -22
Loree Moore: -24
Most Effective Lineups
Mitchell-Carson-Christon-Kraayeveld-McCarville: +5
Mitchell-Willis-Battle-Larkins-Jackson: +4
Mitchell-Thorn-Willis-Kraayeveld-Larkins: +3
My question to Coach Coyle is...why didn't Mitchell play more?
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