We are less than five minutes away from tipoff, and KeyArena is bustling. It's Kids Day, and the arena is full of colorful T-Shirts, thundersticks, mascots and excitement.
The only thing missing is storm.wnba.com beat writer Kevin Pelton, who is on assignment in Las Vegas.
Brandie Hoskins, the Storm's third-round pick this April who will miss the entire 2007 season because of a torn Achilles tendon, is working her way back. The Dayton Daily News covered Hoskins' trip back home to speak to area prep prospects along with former Minnesota guard Megan Duffy.
"I'm going to be doing some workouts in the pool," Hoskins told the paper. "But no swimming — I can't swim. Just balance exercises."
Hoskins is expected to return to the court near the end of the year and plans to play overseas before joining the Storm for 2008 training camp.
Hat tip to the RebKell board.
LAS VEGAS - I'm sitting outside a Sonics practice at the Athletes' Performance facility in Las Vegas, listening to the online webcast of the Storm's game against the Los Angeles Sparks. Isn't the Internet grand?
Somewhere in Seattle, Sue Bird is also tuned in via storm.wnba.com, as she blogged about in the latest installment of the Bird and Dee Blog at WNBA.com:
So far since I have been away, I have been IMing, texting, calling and emailingThe Storm closes out the first half of the 2007 season with tomorrow's Kids Day against Connecticut. I hope you've got your tickets for that one. Regretfully, I won't be there. It's the first Storm game at KeyArena I've missed since July 2004 and only the second since I first started following the Storm in 2002. The good thing is the Storm only plays that one home game while I'm in Vegas, and the rest of our coverage should be uninterrupted.
my teammates and coaches as much as I can. I am so used to being a part of a
team, and then to not be there, I have FOMS. Fear of missing something. It's a
serious case. I want to be a part of everything. Tanisha Wright has been doing a
great job of recapping everything. Unfortunately we haven't been on NBA TV so I
had to listen on the internet via radio webcast (which is awesome, by the way).
Thanks to Adia Barnes and Alan Horton. It's interesting to listen and be a fan.
I'm living and dying on every possession. I'm just glad I can follow it. It's
like what you had to do during your time off ... of course, neither of these
times have been our choice.
The Storm had lost 12 times in 13 regular-season visits to Houston. The Storm was without starting point guard Sue Bird. With Bird, the Storm lost at Houston eight days ago. It all added up to a loss tonight at the Toyota Center.
Nope.
Instead, the Storm controlled most of this game and took care of business in the second half for a 71-55 win over the Houston Comets.
Lots of kudos tonight. Lauren Jackson was, of course, brilliant. Jackson was two points shy of another 30-point effort, but shot 11-for-17 from the field and grabbed 13 rebounds despite occasionally facing a box-and-one defense. (That reminds me of how New York Coach Pat Coyle joked before Sunday's game she would defend Jackson: A box-and-one with the box on LJ.)
Betty Lennox was outstanding, hitting four three-pointers, and Iziane Castro Marques hit two to supply the needed outside shooting. Wendy Palmer gave big minutes off the bench, putting up six points and six boards in 15 minutes.
Still, I think Alan and Adia were right to bring Tanisha Wright over for their postgame interview on 1150 AM KKNW. Starting in place of Sue Bird, Wright wasn't perfect - as she pointed out afterwards, her five turnovers were too many, though tempered by the presence of pesky Crystal Smith - but she gave the Storm everything you could ask for. Wright had some big offensive boards and a big steal, handed out five assists and scored eight points. The Storm can win with play like that.
The only disappointment - and there isn't one, really, but bear with me - was Shona Thorburn did not get in and I'm excited to see Thorburn get some run. The newly-signed point guard won me over with her play for the University of Utah during the 2006 NCAA Tournament, when the Utes advanced within an overtime of the Final Four.
Now it's off to San Antonio. Frankly, by winning one game on this road trip, the Storm has met my expectations. A win tomorrow against the Silver Stars or Tuesday in L.A. would make this an incredible trip.
- After the game, Sue Bird talked to the media about her decision to undergo surgery. Bird explained that she might have been willing to fight through the injury, but when her doctor told her the injury could get worse, that was the deciding factor.
I thought Bird's most telling comment came when she said, "It may look normal, but it doesn't feel normal." Under the surface of apparently strong play, Bird is clearly dragging a little bit. She shared for the first time that the injury has also been very painful off the court, acting up at night.
So Bird will have the surgery done by Dr. Michael Joyce, the UConn team physician who performed the previous two surgeries Bird has had on her left knee (to repair a torn ACL during her freshman year of college and a microfracture procedure after her second WNBA season) and knows her knee better than anyone. Dr. Joyce knows Bird's knee so well, in fact, that he predicted after the microfracture that Bird would need a clean-up surgery in four years.
The hope is that Bird can recover quickly enough to return after the All-Star break, though it's possible she'll miss more than the four games the Storm has between now and the break. Bird is thinking bigger picture. Her eye is toward being at full strength in time for the playoffs.
- With three blowout wins in the last four games, the Storm's reserves have gotten plenty of playing time. I think the action has been useful from a confidence perspective. We're also seeing Wendy Palmer look more and more comfortable all the time, as she confirmed in her postgame interview with Alan Horton. I love watching Palmer play when she's using her veteran tricks to beat younger opponents. The sum is that the Storm's bench is playing as well as it has in some time.
- New Sparks owners Kathy Goodman and Carla Christofferson were in the KeyArena stands tonight. I had read they like to sit in amongst the crowd and saw the L.A. PR representative taking box scores up into the stands after the first quarter, but couldn't pick out Goodman and Christofferson. I did spot them after the game, not exactly thrilled with the result.
- Thanks to everybody who helped put Bird and Lauren Jackson into the All-Star starting lineup and helped make Bird the leading vote getter in the entire league.
As for Janell Burse, fingers crossed on her chances of making the Western Conference roster as a reserve.
Latest WNBA stats as we near the midway point of the season ...
OFFENSIVE RATING
Team ORatingWhat a strange distribution. There are three elite offensive teams in the league - the Storm, Phoenix and Indiana. Then the difference between them and anyone else is larger than the difference between fourth and 13th (last).
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Seattle 104.5
Phoenix 103.4
Indiana 103.3
Los Angeles 97.9
Detroit 97.3
Minnesota 97.1
Washington 97.0
Sacramento 97.0
Chicago 96.8
Connecticut 96.2
San Antonio 95.7
Houston 94.2
New York 93.4
Team DRatingAnother strange distribution. There are several distinct groups. Sacramento and Indiana are elite, Detroit is a slight bit off that pace, San Antonio and New York are above-average and Minnesota and Houston are bad. Everyone else is right about the same. The Storm's Defensive Rating has shown tremendous improvement since the last time we looked at these numbers. Holding New York to 53 points has a way of doing that.
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Sacramento 90.6
Indiana 90.9
Detroit 92.6
San Antonio 95.1
New York 96.3
Seattle 99.2
Connecticut 99.2
Chicago 99.2
Phoenix 99.3
Los Angeles 99.8
Washington 101.0
Minnesota 104.4
Houston 105.1
WEST ExpW EAST ExpW
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Sacramento 22.3 Indiana 26.3
Seattle 20.4 Detroit 21.5
Phoenix 20.2 Chicago 14.5
San Antonio 17.4 Connecticut 14.2
Los Angeles 15.8 New York 14.1
Minnesota 12.9 Washington 13.9
Houston 8.3The Fever is far and away the league's top team with Detroit slipping lately. In the East, while the official standings show Washington and Connecticut well back off the back, differential shows them as right with Chicago and New York.
Of course, it's worth noting that one lopsided victory can have a big impact on point differential.
With WNBA player contracts becoming guaranteed for the season on Wednesday, today is what the league terms its "midseason cutdown." As part of that, the Storm waived center Tye'sha Fluker after last night's win over the Liberty.
Storm Head Coach Anne Donovan confirmed after today's practice that the Storm is looking to use that roster spot to sign a player, likely a guard. Nagging injuries that have bothered Sue Bird (sore left knee) and Betty Lennox (right Achilles tendinitis) make depth in the backcourt potentially a bigger need right now, especially since the Storm's backup guards have not been as productive as reserve posts Wendy Palmer and Ashley Robinson.
"Our guard play is something that we're looking at," said Donovan. "Obviously, that's why we let a post player go."
Donovan expects to sign another player, most likely to a seven-day contract, within the next week. Though Donovan was not asked about experience, salary-cap considerations will likely limit the Storm's options to non-veteran players, those with three or fewer years of experience.
- Lauren Jackson talked after practice about being named Western Conference Player of the Week for the second time this season.
"I feel pretty good about it," she said. "I think I'm playing a little bit better. I think there was other very deserving players - I think Penny (Taylor) definitely deserved it also. It's an honor to get it."
Wanted to call out something from the press release. Did you realize that, with Cheryl Ford falling below the number of games needed to qualify for the league leaders, Jackson now leads the WNBA in points, rebounds AND blocks per game? Wow.
- Jackson sat out the last part of practice, just to rest, while Palmer did not practice for precautionary reasons after experiencing some bursitis (swelling) in her right elbow.
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