Good Night and Goodbye

The photo above currently graces the frontpage of storm.wnba.com, but I thought it was worth a quick comment as well. Is there anybody who enjoys a good win better than Sue Bird and Lauren Jackson? Seemingly every time the Storm puts away an opponent early, there is a photo of the two All-Stars and good friends yukking it up on the bench or cheering on their teammates. For Storm fans, there is no better image, no clearer sign that a game has gone well.

The story of tonight's game can probably be told pretty well with two players, Jackson and Minnesota's Seimone Augustus. They came into tonight 1-2 in the league in scoring, with Augustus narrowly in the lead. Jackson, back after missing Thursday's game with an illness, had 30 points on 12-of-15 shooting, nine rebounds and two blocks. Augustus scored only five points after the first quarter and was held to 5-for-17 shooting by the Storm (credit goes to Iziane Castro Marques and very effective help defense). As a result, Jackson and Augustus are still 1-2 in scoring, but now it's the Storm's Aussie that has the advantage.

Both teams had balanced scoring, with five players in double-figures a side, but Jackson's advantage over Augustus was a big reason Bird and Jackson were on the bench for the final five minutes or so.

I also want to spotlight the performance of the bench in the first half. The bench never lost any ground and in fact made up some late in the first quarter and early in the second. That allowed the starters the chance to spurt ahead with a 14-0 run midway through the second period. From there on out, the Storm was never threatened.

Tonight's game had a tinge of sadness because it was the last for Jennifer Carroll with the Storm after four-plus seasons, including the 2004 WNBA Championship campaign. In multiple different roles in the PR Department, working with the Sonics but focused on the Storm, JC has been a big reason why Seattle is the best market in the WNBA in terms of media coverage. Unfortunately, she's moving on to a new position in corporate PR. Goodbye and good luck, Jennifer. We'll miss ya.