In a nationally televised championship series game between teams who have been playing otherwise exciting basketball this season, you hate to see the referees dominate the game.
And it was almost impossible to ignore the refs in this one.
Of course, when the calls are so arbitrary that the amped up KeyArena crowd ceases booing or applauding and instead responds to fouls with bewildered silence, I suppose you can say that ultimately it was a wash.
Somewhere in between whistles, there was a game of basketball played and the Seattle Storm managed to win that 87 – 84 in Game 2 of the WNBA Finals to take a 2- 0 lead and sit one game away from the WNBA title that they’ve been working for all season.
Once again, the Dream did manage to establish their style of play early in the game, pushing the tempo with quick shots early in the shot clock and hitting the offensive boards hard – the Storm went into the half up 49-47 after the Dream held them to one offensive rebound and none in the second quarter.
Although the Storm never really overcame their rebounding struggles against an aggressive and athletic Dream squad, the game never really escaped the influence of the refs with the Storm winning on the strength of free throw shooting: the Storm had 37 free throw attempts to the Dream’s 23 and made 27. Storm center Lauren Jackson was the biggest beneficiary of those free throws going 13-for-17 and finishing with 26 points and seven rebounds. Forward Swin Cash rebounded from a Game One marred by foul trouble with 19 points on 6-for-10 shooting and going 5-for-7 from the line.
Iziane Castro Marques and Angel McCoughtry tied for a team-high 21 points and McCoughtry added nine rebounds but shot a rather inefficient 7-for-23.
The Storm now head to Atlanta for Game Three on Thursday with an opportunity to pull off a sweep for the franchise’s second title.