The Seattle Storm win their first playoff series since 2004 in Game 2 of the best-of-three Western Conference semifinals over the Los Angeles Sparks.
After the Seattle Storm's 81-66 win over the Los Angeles Sparks, forward Swin Cash and center Ashley Robinson celebrated winning their first round playoff series since 2004 in perfect fashion: they went to Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles.
And Robinson was apparently very excited about her order of three wings and a waffle (which fills me with jealous hunger even as I write this).
Yet if their response to a season full of reaching milestones and setting records is any indication, that is probably about as much celebration as we're going to see from this team about their first round victory. Although the franchise's return to the second round is certainly significant, if we've learned anything about this season it's that these small non-championship milestones are not the kind of the thing that this group is going to dwell on very long. As a team that has four veterans who already have at least one championship under their belt, a first round win is not a big deal to this team, no matter how significant it feels for fans to "get the monkey off their back".
"We've been here before in the first round -- it's nothing new -- but we also have experience," said Cash after Thursday's practice. "Not only in Lauren (Jackson) and Sue (Bird) and myself, but also in Le'coe (Willingham). And so I think the focus in our locker room is still that we're just taking it game by game. Not really looking too far ahead."
Yet even when putting the first round playoff win in the broader perspective of the team's championship aspirations or Bill Russell's sage advice to the team on Thursday that "every year is different", there is at the very least some symbolic significance to the second round matchup that will put this aspiring championship team up against the defending champion Phoenix Mercury. It's only fitting that the best team in the 2010 regular season should have to knock off the team that actually won the championship last year before even earning the right to play for their own championship glory. And it promises to be an exciting season not only because of what Phoenix accomplished last season, but also because they have already engaged in three rather exciting contests already this season -- two overtimes in Phoenix -- including a triple overtime -- and a thrilling 18-point second half comeback in Seattle.
So as much as there might be an effort to dismiss the significance of finally overcoming this first round hex that has plagued them since their last championship and doing it against the team that has knocked them off in three of the last four years, there should be some anticipatory excitement among fans about the prospect of a Storm vs. Mercury second round matchup that starts on Thursday.
Nevertheless, although a first round win against a Sparks team that snuck into the playoffs in the final days of the season is probably low on the Storm's list of pre-season priorities, there is some value to looking at their Game 2 victory this afternoon simply as yet another reminder that this team is more than just Lauren Jackson and the Jacksonaires. Although Jackson is unquestionably the MVP of the team, over and over this season it has been the contributions of other players across the roster that has made this one of the league's greatest regular season teams ever.
Today, that was Cash who finished with 16 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and certainly earned that celebratory and, more importantly, delicious Roscoe's dinner.
For a breakdown of the game's biggest contributors, visit SBN's Swish Appeal.
Much has been made of the Seattle Storm’s trouble overcoming the Los Angeles Sparks in the first round, losing three times in the last four years to Lisa Leslie’s former team.
But with Leslie retired and the Storm playing the best basketball in franchise history, things were different this year.
The Storm completed a two game sweep of the Sparks, winning 81-66 at the Staples Center this afternoon. It was their first playoff series victory since 2004 when they last won a WNBA title.
Lauren Jackson had an outstanding game with 24 points, 9 rebounds, 3 steals, and 3 blocks while point guard Sue Bird had big shots in the second half with 15 points, 4 assists, and 3 rebounds.
After a slow start to open the game, the Storm just overwhelmed the Sparks in the paint. The Storm frontcourt, particularly Jackson, forced the Sparks defense to collapse and when the Sparks weren’t able to rotate out to the perimeter shooters, the Storm burned them.
Swin Cash’s first half shooting — she shot 4-4 from the three point line — got the Storm going in the second quarter in which they tied a WNBA record with seven three point shots.
A combination of Storm turnovers in the third quarter and Tina Thompson’s shooting kept the Sparks within striking distance as the entered the fourth quarter down 10, but the Storm simply turned up the intensity in the fourth quarter.
For more on the game, see the game thread at SBN’s Swish Appeal.
For a brief look at their second round opponent, the Phoenix Mercury, see our Storm playoffs storystream: Seattle Storm WNBA Playoff Push: The Quest For A Title Extends To Second Round
After getting off to a rough start with poor defensive intensity, the Storm got a familiar story in the second quarter.
Similar to the first game, when the Sparks were forced to double Lauren Jackson in the post, they left three point shooters open. In Game 1, it was Jana Vesela getting hot from behind the arc, but today it was Swin Cash who went 4-4 from three point land and has 14 points at halftime. Jackson has a game-high 16 points.
To follow the game, check out the game thread at SBN Seattle.
Everyone in the veteran-heavy locker room of the Seattle Storm recognizes that every game means a bit more than usual In the three game playoff series format in the WNBA.
"Every game in a short series like this is very important," said Storm coach Brian Agler after the Storm's 79-66 win in Game 1 against the Los Angeles Sparks at KeyArena. "Someone asked me before the game if this was a must win and they're all must wins in a short series. They're all extremely important. We like playing here at home, but we've also had a lot of success on the road so we're looking forward to going down to LA on Saturday."
However, the difference this season for the multiple veterans on both sides that have won championships in the past is that the league changed its format from a 1-2 format to a 1-1-1 format. Although that swings the travel advantage to the higher seed who doesn't have to travel for the first game of a series at the risk of a letdown putting them on the brink of elimination, Sparks forward Tina Thompson comes into Game 2 confident in their chances to push this series to a third and deciding game back at KeyArena. If the fourth-seeded Atlanta Dream's surprising rout of the first-seeded Washington Mystics means anything, anything could happen in a one game elimination scenario.
"I think this is the way it should have been the entire time," said Thompson, a veteran who won four WNBA championships with the Houston Comets. "I mean, teams play the entire season to get home court. It's not necessarily home court when you have to play away initially. In most professional sports, when you win home court you play at home first. So I definitely think going home will put us back in the series and going into Game 3, if there is one, then we're basically evenly matched and everyone will have a bit of nerves. So I don't have a problem at all with the series this way -- I think it should have been this way the entire time."
Nevertheless, the Storm are ready to head into Staples Center and finish the series without coming home.
STORM: Storm's Mentality Won't Change in Game 2
The last two seasons, the Storm split the first two games with Los Angeles. Both teams won at home, but because the Sparks hosted Game 1 this is the first the Storm has led in a series since 2006, also against L.A."I applaud the WNBA," said Cash. "This is one thing I can say that they really got right because for so many years it was a struggle for players. It's a mental struggle to have home court advantage and then go back home and you're down. That's always tough. I'm happy that we got to this format and I think it's going to be a plus for us. The way we look at it is we take care of business at home and then try to steal one on the road."
If Wednesday's Game 1 victory at KeyArena is any indication, this should be another physical contest with the Sparks. And that's exactly how Agler wants it.
"You know, we shot the ball well at times," said Agler after Thursday's practice. "But playoff games are going to be ugly -- you scout each other so much, you know each other's tendencies so well, that you sort of muddy up the waters for your opponents, make it difficult. So for somebody that liked watching us play early in the year, they're not going to see a lot of consistent just up and down smooth play. And in all honesty, we like our defensive end to be muddy -- we like to clutter things up down there. So the main thing is for us is to get stops and play a little bit out of transition and if we don't get that we have to execute."
In addition to executing better -- which would seem difficult given that the team ended up shooting a franchise playoff record 56.1% for the game on Wednesday with 5 of their 13 turnovers coming in the second quarter -- the Storm could probably be expected to do at least a little bit better on the offensive boards. The Sparks -- who were the worst rebounding team in the league during the regular season -- held the Storm to four offensive rebounds on Wednesday, which was the lowest of the Storm's 2010 season. If the Storm do better on the offensive boards, they could be expected to get more than seven second chance points, which could help them win this game in a hostile road playoff environment.
On the other side of things, the Sparks had 6 of their 13 turnovers in the first half in what Thompson attributed to anxiety of starting the playoffs. Although the Sparks gave up the third most points of turnovers during the regular season, if they can continue to play the way they did in the final three quarters, they'll certainly have a better chance to push this series to three games. However, something not likely to change is Lauren Jackson beating the Sparks in the paint -- the Sparks tried to make up for their size disadvantage in the paint by switching and double-teaming Jackson, sometimes leading to leaving shooters open, like rookie forward Jana Vesela who went 3-3 from behind the arc in the second quarter. On the positive side, they managed to keep the Storm off the boards with this strategy, holding Jackson without an offensive rebound in the game. On the negative side, they weren't able to rotate and cover Storm on the perimeter who shot 7-16 from the three point line. Better rotations by the Sparks or colder shooting from the Storm could change the course of the game.
Ultimately, although one might expect Game 2 to look considerably different than Game 1, the Storm are hoping for a similar outcome and hope to finish out the series in LA and avoid third and final game in KeyArena.
"I'm not going to say I'm more confident, I just think it makes the way you prepare a lot easier than going on the road first," said Cash, who won two championships with the Detroit Shock. "I expect them to come out [with energy] -- it's do or die. I don't expect anything less. They have some veterans - Tina and DeLisha (Milton-Jones) -- that have won championships obviously and have veteran leadership. But for us, I think we're going to come out just as energetic. We don't want to bring back to the Key -- I mean we love our fans, but we don't want to back on Tuesday. As much rest as possible, as much practice time as we can get is always a good thing going to the next round."
For more, see SBN Seattle's Storm Playoff Push storystream: Seattle Storm WNBA Playoff Push: The Quest For A Title Continues In LA
Game Photos: WNBA Western Conference Semis, Storm Vs. Sparks Game 2
Photos from the Seattle Storm's 81-66 win over the Los Angeles Sparks from Craig Bennett/112575 Media.
Full gallery available at the Facebook page for SBN's Swish Appeal.
Aug 29 12:57p by Nate Parham - 0 comments