Live From Press Row - Storm vs. San Antonio
For the Seattle Storm, Seeing is Believing. Want to enjoy the electricity of at KeyArena even if you're thousands of miles away? storm.wnba.com's Live From the Press Box in-game blog is your best bet. All night and all season long, Kevin Pelton will be bringing you pregame quotes, analysis and observations from the game. E-mail Kevin at stormconnection@sonics-storm.com. Make sure to keep coming back or refreshing so you get the latest content.
Tough Loss for Storm
Final: San Antonio 92, Storm 88
I suppose this is fitting. As I reported in Insider Preview today, San Antonio came into tonight 12-5 in games decided by 10 points or fewer - the league's best record in such games - while the Storm was a league-worst 1-7. Both of those trends continued tonight as the Storm fell 92-88 and was unable to execute down the stretch.
The Storm had all five starters score double-figures led by 29 points from Lauren Jackson. Sue Bird had a good shooting night with 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting and handed out five assists, but the Storm's defense was unequal to the task, allowing the Silver Stars to shoot 51.6% from the field and score a season-high 92 points.
There's no time for the Storm to lick its wounds. The Sacramento Monarchs will be here Tuesday for another crucial game in the battle for playoff positioning in the Western Conference. 
Click here to get your tickets for Be Fit Night at KeyArena and don't miss any of the action.
Desperation Time
Fourth Quarter: San Antonio 90, Storm 86
Becky Hammon misses a three, but a Vickie Johnson offensive board forces the Storm to foul and Hammon hits two free throws to make it a four-point game with just 14.7 seconds left.
Costly Turnover
Fourth Quarter: San Antonio 88, Storm 86
The Storm drew up a play for Lauren Jackson to go backdoor - similar, I think, to the one that tied the game at Washington just five days ago. This time, Iziane Castro Marques' lob was a bit too high and Lauren Jackson bobbled it out of bounds to the Silver Stars, who still lead by two with 35.7 seconds left.
Storm Needs a Score
Fourth Quarter: San Antonio 88, Storm 86
Becky Hammon and Sue Bird traded threes, but two Hammon free throws have given San Antonio a two-point advantage with 41.5 seconds left. The Storm committed two costly turnovers, but got a break when Marie Ferdinand traveled after pulling down an offensive rebound in traffic.
The Storm has taken its final full timeout and has just a 20-second remaining the rest of the way.
All Square
Fourth Quarter: San Antonio 83, Storm 83
After Izi Castro Marques' free throw, Lauren Jackson returns to the game for a runner that ties the score at 83 apiece. With 2:48 to play, we're headed for an incredible finish after San Antonio takes the game's final mandatory timeout. The Storm has one full and a 20 left while the Silver Stars have a full and two 20-second timeouts.
Jackson is a bucket away from another 30-point game and has shot the ball with incredible efficiency again. The Silver Stars have gone four scores without a possession. To try to rectify that, Marie Ferdinand has replaced Helen Darling in the lineup. They may be rotated for offense and defense the rest of the way.
Storm Fighting Back
Fourth Quarter: San Antonio 83, Storm 80
I'm not sure the Storm deserves to be in the game after a series of offensive miscues, but here we are down just three with 4:19 left on the clock and Izi Castro Marques headed to the free-throw line to complete a potential three-point play. The Silver Stars, still shooting 53.4% from the field, have not executed well of late as the Storm has gone to a zone.
Crucial stretch here as Lauren Jackson is getting a quick rest with Wendy Palmer stepping in. LJ has been frustrated much of this game ... but she has 27 points on 9-for-15 shooting.
Silver Stars Retake Lead
End Third Quarter: San Antonio 71, Storm 69
In a reverse of the second quarter, this time the Silver Stars overcame a bad quarter with a strong finish. The Storm had taken a 69-66 lead - their first of the second half - on a Sue Bird three-point play in transition, but Shanna Crossley hit a three and then scored two points a the free-throw line to give San Antonio a two-point lead heading to the final period.
The intensity is palpable in KeyArena right now. Both teams want and need this game badly. For whatever reason, that hasn't translated into any kind of defense. The two teams are shooting an identical 53.2% from the field, are both hitting 50% of their three-pointers. Then again, maybe it is just hot shooting, as both teams are also nearly perfect at the free-throw line (the Storm 14-of-15, San Antonio 15-of-16).
Shootout
Third Quarter: San Antonio 57, Storm 54
So much for defense. The Storm is trying to simply outscore the San Antonio Silver Stars tonight. The Silver Stars are 6-of-8 from the field after halftime, but so is the Storm, keeping San Antonio from pulling away. Certainly that's not a formula Anne Donovan endorses, so I'm sure she's focusing on defense during this timeout.
Interesting that Marie Ferdinand-Harris is the first player off the San Antonio bench in the second half. Ferdinand-Harris played six and a half minutes in the first half and hit a couple of jumpers, which are as rare for her these days as sunny afternoons in Seattle this month. We'll see if she can keep it up.
Teddy Bears Everywhere
Halftime: San Antonio 43, Storm 42
The Storm's halftime "Teddy Bear Toss" was a great success, with tons of bears flying onto the court from all over KeyArena t the start of halftime. The bears are going to a great cause, as Warm 106.9's Teddy Bear Patrol uses them for children in emergency situations.
Lennox Beats Buzzer
Halftime: San Antonio 43, Storm 42
The Storm was outscored 23-20 during the second quarter, so why did they end the period with the momentum and huddle up near midcourt? To congratulate Betty Lennox, who beat the buzzer from just across the midcourt stripe with a three-pointer to pull the Storm within one. Lennox wasn't certain of the time on the clock after rebounding Kendra Wecker's miss with a little over five seconds left on the clock. By the time she looked up, Lennox only had time to get to halfcourt before halving to fire. Still, she got nothing but net
The Storm went without a point for over four minutes as the Silver Stars used a 14-2 run to take a lead as large as seven points, but Lauren Jackson rallied the Storm with a couple of buckets and Seattle finished the half on an 8-2 run to take the momentum to the locker room.
There's no question the Storm has to improve on defense after allowing 48.5% shooting in the first half, but it's easier to do that from down just one. The crowd knows how important this game is and was at postseason volume as the Storm went on its late-half run. The KeyArena fans could come into play down the stretch.
Going Green
Second Quarter: San Antonio 33, Storm 32
Lots of green in the KeyArena stands tonight to match the Storm's road green jerseys. Doppler is sporting a tie-dyed green and yellow t-shirt, but the clear Go Green winner is Betty Lennox's brother, Clarence. He's sporting one of his patented suits in lime green head to toe.
Jackson Getting Going
Second Quarter: Storm 32, San Antonio 29
The Silver Stars have defended Lauren Jackson as well as anybody in the WNBA this season and held her scoreless in the first quarter. Jackson has committed a couple of turnovers in this period and was furious with the officiating, but she's also scored eight of the Storm's 10 points in the period, including a three-pointer and a gorgeous three-point play. You can't stop Jackson, you can only hope to contain her.
The Silver Stars are still shooting an even 50% from the field and the Storm has struggled to defend San Antonio this season.
"Our perimeter players have to really chase Hammon, chase Ferdinand, chase Crossley and not get separation so when they come off post screens there's not a lot of separation and it doesn't necessarily force a switch," Anne Donovan said before the game. "We've defensively broken down against this team. Hopefully tonight's the night we get it done."
Charity Stripe Friendly to Storm
End First Quarter: Storm 22, San Antonio 20
The San Antonio Silver Stars shot 53.3% from the field in the first quarter and the Storm 38.9%. So why does the Storm have the lead? In large part because Seattle has shot 7-of-8 at the free-throw line, drawing 10 fouls on the over-aggressive Silver Stars (who would likely put some of that blame on the officiating). Betty Lennox did a good job of getting to the basket and the free-throw line as the Storm outscored San Antonio with Sue Bird and Lauren Jackson (scoreless on 0-of-3 shooting) on the bench at the end of the first quarter.
Chantelle Anderson has checked in for the Silver Stars for her first action this season. Anderson tore her Achilles while overseas and was just recently activated. The San Antonio Express-News recently had a good feature on Anderson's comeback.
Burse Big Early
First Quarter: San Antonio 12, Storm 10
Storm center Janell Burse, playing with three torn ligaments in her left wrist, looks good in the early going tonight. The Storm has featured Burse in the post in the early going and she has seven points and a couple of rebounds. Burse has also drawn three fouls on San Antonio center Ruth Riley, which could end her first half very early. The Silver Stars have gone very small with Riley out of the game. Right now, the team goes 5-6, 5-6 in the backcourt, 5-9 and 6-2 at forward and 6-1 in the middle.
Big Fans
Pregame
Before launching into an excellent rendition of the National Anthem, the
A Cappella Joy Chorus quickly harmonized "We love the Storm!" Nice.
One-Sided Series
Pregame
The Silver Stars have dominated the head-to-head series with the Storm this season, winning all three matchups to date. The Storm has been swept in plenty of season series over franchise history, but has never been beaten four times in the regular season by the same opponent. Especially given the possibility of facing San Antonio in the postseason, Storm Head Coach Anne Donovan would love to play well tonight.
"For us, playing everybody that we potentially might see in the playoffs, it's important you show well," Donovan said pregame. "Three times not showing well, this is our last chance to get a good one under our belts against San Antonio - although I thought our second half in San Antonio last time out without Sue was outstanding. This is our time to take care of KeyArena and really see if we can get our first win against them."
Signing On
Pregame
The Seattle Storm returns to KeyArena for a big game tonight against the San Antonio Silver Stars. If the season ended today, this would be one of your first round playoff matchups in the Western Conference. It's "Go Green" night at the Key and we have the odd sight of the Storm wearing their road green warmups and jerseys. The Storm is looking to continue the momentum of Friday's blowout win over Indiana and move up in the West standings.
Live From Press Row Archive