Microcosm

The San Antonio Silver Stars and Seattle Storm, both playing on the road, both went into overtime tonight. The Silver Stars beat Indiana by eight; as you surely know, the Storm lost by one to Washington.

Tonight's results moved San Antonio, which leads the Western Conference, four games ahead of the fourth-place Storm. The Silver Stars have outscored their opponents by 47 points in 22 games for a +2.1 differential. The Storm has outscored opponents by 68 points in 24 games, a +2.7 differential.

San Antonio is now an insane 9-1 in games decided by single-digits. The Storm is 1-5, the only win coming Sunday when Sue Bird's three beat New York.

*sigh*

Lauren Jackson's unbelievable effort tonight qualifies as happier news, despite the outcome. I wrote extensively about the performance in my game recap, which also includes the other top single-game scoring efforts in WNBA history. If we discounted overtimes, Jackson (who had 41 points through regulation) would presumably rank tied for third in WNBA history. Cynthia Cooper has the best two scoring efforts in league history that haven't involved overtime.

Did you notice that virtually all of the 40-point games the WNBA has seen have been by players on the visiting team?

Because of the early start time, I listened to tonight's game in the office with my co-workers, and there was some scrambling of plans as Jackson's points piled up. She entered the game 61 shy of 4,000 in her WNBA career, and we were figuring that meant she would likely need three games to hit 4,000. I downplayed the possibility of Jackson getting there in two games as recently as this afternoon. By the end of the regulation, I was wondering if she might hit 4,000 by the time the game ended.

If you do the math, Jackson now has 3,986 career points, leaving her 14 away from 4,000. She stands an excellent chance of reaching 4,000, so I hope if you don't already have tickets you're planning to get them and join us as the Storm celebrates Women of Inspiration in the Seattle community - and one very inspiring woman wearing a No. 15 jersey.