It really is nice to watch a good, old-fashioned blow out. Swin is the only starter who doesn't have at least three games with less than 30 minutes played yet this season. Now the team has earned two days off...all this rest is great for LJ and Sue. Other teams will get better as the season wears on and they will be needed.
Top Performers
| Name | Floor % | eFG % | TS % | Points | +/- |
| Lauren Jackson | 72% | 63% | 75% | 16 | +28 |
| Jana Vesela | 69% | 100% | 100% | 8 | -14 |
| Sue Bird | 68% | 60% | 60% | 12 | +38 |
I don't read much into Vesela's +/- for this game. She was +16 until the fourth quarter.
| Name | Floor % | eFG % | TS % | Points | +/- |
| Candice Dupree | 75% | 71% | 63% | 10 | -29 |
| Brooke Smith | 100% | 100% | 66% | 5 | +13 |
| Taylor Lilley | 44% | 100% | 150% | 12 | +11 |
Bird-Wright-Cash-Little-Jackson: +19
Bird-Abrosimova-Cash-Little-Willingham: +7
Wright-Abrosimova-Vesela-Bishop-Robinson: -13
Top Mercury Lineups
Lilley-Swanier-Holmes-BSmith-Ohlde: +11Swanier-Taylor-Dupree-Bonner-Ohlde: +6
Top Mercury Lineups
Lilley-Swanier-Holmes-BSmith-Ohlde: +11Swanier-Taylor-Dupree-Bonner-Ohlde: +6
The Mercury used 13 unique lineups in this game with the starters performing the worst overall. Only two other lineups offered positive values, one at +1 and the other at +2.
Johnson-Taurasi-Taylor-Dupree-TSmith: -12
Johnson-Taurasi-Dupree-Bonner-TSmith: -8
Swanier-Taurasi-Taylor-Dupree-Bonner: -7
My family missed the whole first half of the game striking a SIFF event across the way at the Alki Room, but they did remember to bring the BRICK! bullhorns just in time for Mercury free throws at our end of the floor.
Stormfans.org stuffed the cup holders with instructions for this game and it seemed to help somewhat with keeping the noise down prior to the brick yell. Our timing is still a bit off, but we got a great reaction from Nicole Ohlde. We forgot to "BRICK!" her first free throw (we were busy celebrating the HUGE lead (95-60 at the time.) She seemed very surprised and missed her first free throw and then looked up at us. For her second we got her with the "BRICK!" and she flinched at the last second missing that one, too which had her shaking her head and smiling.
Everything just seemed to work for the Storm. They were fighting for rebounds, getting to all of the 50/50 balls, hitting their shots and making great rotations on defense. It was beautiful to behold. They just weren't making that many mistakes, and Phoenix seemed so flustered by the display that they barely were able to take advantage of the mistakes that were made. The team really showed a ruthless commitment to each moment of the first three quarters.
The season is far from over, and I still believe that other teams are going to get better. If the Storm keep performing at this level, with this much commitment, though, it won't make a difference in the Win/Loss column how much better those teams get. The games will be tighter, but the Storm will keep on winning. They are making many of us have visions of upper bowl sell outs, confetti and parades.
For now, though, I am just satisfied to enjoy some of the best live basketball I have seen in my lifetime.
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