Game Three: Storm @ Mercury 22 May, 2008

This team doesn't like to make it easy for themselves. For the third game in a row they allowed themselves to slack in the second quarter and fall behind by double digits requiring extra efforts in the second half. One interesting point is that Coach Agler seems to rely heavily on veteran Center Yolanda Griffith in the first half of games and prefers to go small with Jackson at the five spot in the second half.


STORM
MOST EFFECTIVE SHOOTERS

Player	Floor %	Eff FG %
Wright	76%	67%
Jackson	61%	58%
Cash	60%	53%
Gearlds	52%	57%

Tanisha Wright and Lauren Jackson busted out of their early season slumps. Cash continues to play incredibly well for this team as does Katie Gearlds. Ely and Bird were reasonably effective shooting as well.

BEST RATINGS

Player	Offensive Rating	Indiv Rating
Wright	154.20	139.59
Jackson	137.31	121.59
Gearlds	134.23	114.56
Cash	125.52	107.39

Boy, when Tanisha breaks out, she really breaks out. On top of this she has been credited at being the defensive stopper on the unstoppable Cappie Pondexter.

BEST NET PLUS/MINUS
Cash: +24 (+14 on floor)
Bird: +16 (+10 on floor)
Jackson: +8 (+6 on floor)
Wright: +8 (+6 on floor)
Ely: +8 (+6 on floor)

The bench continues to provide a lift as the team is performing well with them in the lineup.

MOST EFFECTIVE LINEUPS
Bird-Gearlds-Cash-Ely-Jackson: +7
Bird-Wright-Cash-Jackson-Griffith: +6
Bird-Wright-Cash-Ely-Jackson: +3

MERCURY
MOST EFFECTIVE SHOOTERS

Player	Floor %	Eff FG %
Miller	57%	83%
Willingham	57%	50%
Smith	52%	58%
Taurasi	44%	48%

BEST RATINGS

Player	Offensive Rating	Indiv Rating
Crockett	150.13	113.64
Miller	138.20	136.39
Willingham	122.25	95.04
Smith	121.84	106.38

When neither of your stars make this list, and the most effective player barely played, you know you are in trouble.

BEST NET PLUS/MINUS
Farris: +40 (+18 on floor)
Mazzante: +32 (+14on floor)
Crockett: +28 (+12 on floor)
Oga: +12 (+4 on floor)

Ouch. The Mercury bench really pounded on the Storm in the first half, but these four barely saw floor time in the second half as the Storm surged back. Agler's frequent rotations allowed the Storm to punish a tired set of Mercury starters to close out the game.

MOST EFFECTIVE LINEUPS
Miller-Mazzante-Taurasi-Crockett-Farris: +5
Miller-Pondexter-Mazzante-Farris-Smith: +4
Miller-Mazzante-Taurasi-Farris-Smith: +4
Miller-Pondexter-Taurasi-Crockett-Farris: +4

Last game Jenny Boucek used 24 different lineups, here rookie coach Corey Gaines only used 12 and didn't use any of the lineups from the winning second quarter in the losing second half. The starters were a horrid -19 for the game.

Final Thoughts

I think that Dick Fein and Adia Barnes were right on the broadcast last night. Coach Agler is definitely taking advantage of these young coaches to start off the season. He is creating matchup problems and truly presenting two different teams in the first half and the second half. He is adjusting the game at half time and forcing his opponents to adjust in the game, a place where they appear to be struggling.

I feel for Coach Gaines and his team. It is very hard to follow up a championship season. Too many people thought the Mercury were going to be better than this, but as I said in my season preview, the Mercury need Penny Taylor. She is the key to creating the mismatches that allow "Paul Ball" to work.

Next up is a more experienced coach and Coach Agler's former boss. There was a nice article by Jayda Evans in the Seattle Times season preview that discussed how San Antonio's Dan Hughes approached former San Antonio Spurs assistant coach, and current Seattle Sonics coach PJ Carlisimo about how Greg Popovich had prepared a "failed" head coach to return to head coaching in the NBA. Hughes apparently took the advice and it provided identical results as Agler also moved from assistant coaching in San Antonio (for the Silver Stars) to head coaching in Seattle. (I know, it is a little bizarre how this happened for both coaches in the same cities, but at least it is working out better for Agler than it did for Carlisimo!) Let's hope Coach Agler doesn't thank Coach Hughes until AFTER the next game.

Seattle vs. Sacramento: Game Preview

Sacramento surprised me, and likely a few others, with their sharp play on opening day. Their defense was no surprise, as they shut down San Antonio's perimeter players, allowing 32.4% shooting and 21.1% from three point range. In fact, only young post Sophia Young was very effective going 10-18 in the game. Becky Hammon, who made a strong bid for MVP last season was held to 4-19 and 3-11 from three. She was not able to penetrate which is one of her strengths.

Sacramento also controlled the defensive boards, grabbing 63% of the available defense rebounds while corralling 50% of their own offensive rebounds.

What really made Sacramento work though, was their scoring. They got duble digit scoring from 4 players. In my season preview I asked who was going to score the points, and the answer was a little bit from everyone. The only player who played and failed to score was rookie A'Quonesia Franklin, but she provided in other ways with her serious hustle play off the bench producing two steals, two assists and a rebound. Adrian Williams-Strong also came up big with 13 points. Rookie Laura Harper was a surprise with 10 points and 5 rebounds, and Charel Allen hit her only shot of the game. Kim Smith came off the bench in the first half and immediately put the ball in the basket.

Their offense, however is not that potent, and Seattle has always been able to score points in bursts against Sacramento. Seattle's new defense should be able to shut down the Monarchs when they need to do so. Bird struggles agains Penicheiro, and Brunson is tough for LJ down low, but given Youngs production for San Antonio, I believe LJ will score points. I think there are enough scoring options on the Storm to find ways to put up points, and Griffith should wipe up the floor with whoever they match her up against. Brunson can't guard LJ and Yo at the same time.

Keys to the Game

Offense

• Execution and focus.
• Rebound and run to allow quick scores before Sacramento can set their defense.
• Patience in the half court. Sacramento wants to force you into a bad shot with their "white line" defense that loads the ball side of the court. Keep swinging the ball and find opportunities to penetrate and collapse the defense.
• Use your post players and get those offensive boards. Use the size advantage to control the offensive glass and get second chance points.

Defense

• Trust your post defenders, the Monarchs don't have a true offensive threat down low.
• Beware the perimeter shooters. Sacramento likes to trick you into doubling or collapsing to free Powell, Lawson and the rest of the shooters.
• Use your size to keep Brunson off the offensive glass. They can't win if they don't rebound.

Game One: Storm vs. Sky 17 May, 2008

MOST EFFECTIVE SHOOTERS

Player	Floor %	Eff FG %
Swoopes	61%	50%
Bird	60%	55%
Griffith	59%	43%
Ely	58%	75%

BEST RATINGS

Player	Offensive Rating	Indiv Rating
Bird	133.00	122.33
Swoopes	124.04	100.65
Cash	117.21	98.56
Ely	116.63	107.65

BEST NET PLUS/MINUS
Gearlds: +30 (+18 on floor)
Bird: +24 (+15 on floor)
Jackson: +22 (+14 on floor)
Swoopes: +16 (+11 on floor)

MOST EFFECTIVE LINEUPS
Bird-Gearlds-Swoopes-Cash-Jackson: +10
Bird-Gearlds-Cash-Ely-Jackson: +6
Bird-Swoopes-Cash-Jackson-Griffith: +5

After running the plus/minus numbers, it is clear that the Storm were able to take control of the game whenever Jia Perkins sat down. Perkins was a net +12, but when Joens came in for Perkins at the 3:10 mark of the third quarter the Sky completely fell apart. They went on a -16 interval until the 6:45 mark of the fourth quarter while Perkins sat out. By then things were out of control and the Storm were hot. The Storm went small in that interval with Gearlds, Swoopes, Cash and either Bird or Wright along with one post, Jackson or Robinson. In the fourth Ely was the four with either Jackson or Robinson at the five. Griffith sat down at the 5:15 mark of the third and Agler went small and quick the rest of the night. I am not certain whether it was the matchup that forced Chicago to sit Perkins, or if she was just tired, but it led to a blowout run that was disguised by the reserves giving up 9 points in the last two minutes of the game.

Overall, the evening was very satisfying.

We got to thank Force 10 Hoops for keeping our team and we got to welcome some great new veterans. The savvy experience of Swoopes and Cash were a big factor during the run and may have made the difference. We saw nice play from Shyra Ely, I like the way Agler is choosing to use her. Tanisha struggled, as did Beck, and Ashley wasn't on top her game at either end of the floor, but it was only the first game of the season, and no starter needed to play more than 34 minutes despite the struggles of the bench. Katie didn't score much, but the team fared very well when she was on the floor. Any win that doesn't require 40 minutes from Sue and LJ and 30+ minutes from Sheryl and Yo is a very good win.

Storm Pick Purdue's Katie Gearlds

The Storm get the shooter they were looking for in Purdue's Katie Gearlds, and if they DO play her at the two guard, they will finally have some length at that position with the 6'1" forward. Given that Izi, Barb and Gortman all play the three, it is likely that AD intends Katie to play behind Betty. AD has gone with a rotation which then adapts in game based on matchups and player performance which opens up playing time for whoever is playing well in the game.

Found a Gearlds slideshow on youtube. She also has her own website. Jayda Evans has a nice piece in the Times about the draftees. Sounds like Brandi Hoskins, the injured third round pick who will sit out the 2007 season is the most excited person in the draft.

Hear about the draft on the new stormcast which also introduces us to the voice of David Locke's replacement on play by play, Alan Horton. For those of us fearing the airing of Storm games this season on conservative 770 KTTH (nothing is worse than turning on the radio for a Sonics game and catching the tail end of Rush Limbaugh), the Storm have announced that KKNW 1150 AM will be the Storm's radio partner. Thank you basketball deities for that little gift.

If you haven't seen The Heart of the Game, then rent it or buy it now. More on that on another day.

Fumbling Towards Cognizance

I am not quite sure what happened. Perhaps it was the depressing start to the Sonics 2005-2006 season. Perhaps the death of my mother or the sale of my teams to an out of town ownership group. Possibly it was influenced by a really boring WNBA ASG and the second first round playoff collapse by the Storm. Perhaps it was the news that I had skin cancer. Likely it was some bizarre chemical/intellectual/spiritual combination of all these things. Somehow I fell into a mental funk from which I could not dig myself out. I simply could not find the motivation or the interest in crunching numbers or researching and writing about basketball.

I may be working myself out of the funk now, however. I am writing for a Sonics blogging site, SonicsCentral.com and have rediscovered a little of the passion I have for writing about basketball. I will pick up working on my individual and lineup +/- numbers for the 2006 Storm season. It will take a while since there are some big discrepancies between my numbers and those provided by the Lynx organization, so I am double checking discrepancies game by game. Some were typos on my part in my spreadsheet, others were different ways of crediting free throws to lineups. I always credit the player on the floor when the foul occurs not when the free throw is taken.

In the mean time, Storm season ticket renewals went out and I plan to double my ticket purchase this year from two seats to four seats as part of my commitment to showing the ownership that I want these teams to stay here in Seattle. Sign up for season tickets now if you haven't already done so, you will get to pick your seats in January (I believe) if you order your tickets now, so get on it and show your support for the WNBA, for the Storm and for keeping YOUR teams in YOUR region.