6/4 Storm vs. Silver Stars

After holding their own against the potential vengeance of the Phoenix Mercury, the Seattle Storm collapsed in the third quarter last night against a resurgent San Antonio franchise.

Despite essentially holding the Johnson & Johnson backcourt in check, allowing only 14 points between them, the Storm surrendered the paint to Silver Stars for scoring and rebounding. San Antonio grabbed 49% of their available offensive rebounds and only surrendered 19% of the Storm's available offensive rebounds on defense. They allowed four posts and a reserve guard to outscore their season averages. The absence of veteran Wendy Palmer was palpable. They allowed the stars to score 32 points in the third quarter, losing the scoring battle to two different San Antonio lineups giving San Antonio a +8 and a +6 burst in the third quarter of play. This was followed by failure to execute their offense in the closing minutes and a disregard for defense to close out the game.

Betty Lennox didn't understand why she was sitting on the bench in the game? Her team low 14% floor percentage and 25% effective field goal percentage were part of the problem. Her team high 43% turnover ratio was the another part. The Storm was a team low -10 with Betty on the floor.

This team will not make the playoffs, let alone repeat a championship if it is going to play with this level of effort. Championship caliber teams don't falter in the last 2 minutes on their home court. The Storm were -6 in the last 2:06 of this game.

By the Numbers
Possessions: 72.22
Off Rtg: 120.95
Def Rtg: 123.74

Individual Ratings

Player	Floor %	Eff FG%	Ast Ratio	Tov Ratio	Stop %	Off Rtg	Net Points	Pts Prod	Pelton IR	Plus/Minus
Lennox	14%	25%	0	42.86%	36%	27.65	-5.61	1.75	23.09	-10
Bird	63%	95%	28.15%	5.63%	31%	177.33	11.57	20.71	144.78	+5
Jackson	64%	73%	25.88%	0%	44%	168.96	12.71	22.91	152.21	+8
Castro	64%	75%	22.19%	7.40%	44%	156.74	8.18	15.72	136.41	+5
Burse	56%	33%	8.68%	8.68%%	47%	121.53	4.57	11.79	102.57	-5
Gortman	60%	70%	16.67%	0%	33%	142.47	2.64	5.80	131.48	-6
Wright	31%	50%	0%	25.25%	27%	82.44	0.34	8.49	59.26	+5
Johnson	42%	33%	17.01%	17.01%	35%	96.57	0.87	4.37	82.81	-7
Turner	57%	50%	33.33%	0%	43%	124.37	0.93	2.37	104.40	-5

Most Effective Lineups

Bird-Wright-Turner-Jackson-Burse: +8
Bird-Wright-Castro-Jackson-Johnson: +7
Bird-Gortman-Castro-Jackson-Burse: +6

Least Effective Lineups

Wright-Gortman-Turner-Jackson-Burse: -6
Bird-Lennox-Castro-Jackson-Burse: -5
Bird-Wright-Turner-Jackson-Johnson: -5