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We've heard before the Coach Agler that loves him some ugly games and he certainly got it last night. Both teams shot around 38% from the field and neither team got much done in the paint or on the break.
The Storm clogged up the lane and rotated beautifully against the Mercury pick and roll while the Phoenix zone and double teams forced the Storm into outside shots.
Welcome to playoff basketball.
It came down to the Storm jacking up 25 three-point attempts and hitting 10 (40%) which sounds nice except the Mercury hit 9 three's on only 15 attempts (60%). Efficiency is the name of the game in shooting so it's hard to say the Storm won this game from behind the arc.
The teams were even in second chance points as well (13 each) and the Mercury had a 10-to-5 advantage in points off turnovers and 11-to-6 advantage in fast break points.
So where did the Storm win this game? From the line.
Seattle had 29 FTA's to 17 for the Mercury and scored 9 more points from the line. The disparity was interesting though considering the Mercury only had two more fouls called against them (22-20).
What it came down to was the Storm fouling on the perimeter as a tactic to slow Phoenix down while the Mercury were getting called for hacking in the lane on shot attempts.
Almost all of Tangela Smith's 5 fouls came against shooters as she reached or leaned in with her long arms instead of standing straight up. Several of Taurasi's fouls where against the arms of Seattle shooters.
The Storm defenders were certainly aggressive and physical against the Mercury drivers (Taurasi and Taylor) but for the most part used their bodies and not their hands.
The officials were pretty consistent in allowing that kind of contact but the reaching and slapping was called and that's something the Mercury do far too much.
More recaps:
Nate credits the Storm bench and rightly so. It will be interesting to see if these role players can hit those shots on the road though.
Gritty Win In Western Conference Finals Opener Reaffirms Value Of Storm Bench - SB Nation Seattle
So if anything positive is to be taken from this game, it’s that a Storm team that finished last in the league in points off the bench and has had notoriously erratic bench play for the past few years was able to rely on their bench to contribute 26 of their 82 points and outscore the opponents’ bench by eight points in a game of this magnitude.
And you know it's always all about Diana.
Mercury Cold Shooting And Interesting Tactics Lead To Game 1 Loss - SB Nation Arizona
When Diana Taurasi goes 2-for-15 shooting and finishes with six turnovers and six fouls and only one assist then you know the Mercury are going to have a hard time winning.She was aggressive early attacking the paint but the Storm made a concerted effort to put several defenders in front of her. Taurasi clearly was looking for calls that didn't come and it seemed to impact the rest of her game.
0 recs | 7 comments
Taurasi looking for calls
Thanks for the insightful analysis. Regarding Taurasi, it’s obvious that the officials watch her more closely than other players. Normally you would think that would balance out, i.e. you would get more fouls called against you, but you would also be the recipient of more free throws. It didn’t seem to work out that way for her last night. That could well have been the difference in the game.
I’m just wondering if you are still picking the Mercury in 3?
OVJ - September 3, 2010
The recipient of more free throws?
Diana got 5 attempts. Lauren got more than anyone else, but she still only got 7. This isn’t the NBA, where certain players will regularly go to the line 10+ times a game. The refs aren’t going to call fouls for you if you heave off-balance shots and land awkwardly or if you touch someone’s stationary arms while in the air.
Basketball isn’t a beautiful game. In a 3 game series, the pressure is more intense than you can imagine, and nobody cares how they win.
WaveOcean - September 3, 2010
Sure
no reason to change now…figured Merc would lose this one, win at home and steal game 3
Didn’t really see anything that makes me change that. The game was really pretty close despite the big gaps at times.
I don’t understand why, but I don’t think Corey used hit “A” stuff for that game and of course DT was horrible.
The Storm rely a LOT on those three’s which have a tendency to fail at some point but we’ll see. Seattle’s rotations are so good the Merc definitely need Johnson and Bonner to hit more shots
Seth Pollack - September 3, 2010
Piqued my interest
WaveOcean piqued my interest. What the heck, there’s no game for a couple of days. Let me start by saying that this is all hypothetical, since I didn’t see most of the game.
During the regular season, Taurasi averaged 16 attempts and made 7 field goals; she also averaged about 7 free throws. You could blame it on a bad shooting night, or you could argue that she was fouled but it wasn’t called. In any case, Diana hit only 2 field goals whereas on an average night she would have hit 6 or 7 out of those 15 shots. So let’s assume (I admit this is totally hypothetical) that she was fouled on 4 of those shots, even though it wasn’t called. Had she gone to the line, with her 90% free throw accuracy, that could have been another 7 or 8 points. That’s a huge difference in a relatively tight game. And by the way, it’s not that uncommon for Taurasi to score in double digits from the free throw line; sometimes she does get the calls.
That said, I agree with you that basketball is not a beautiful game when it’s played in Key arena ;-) I can only hope that the game in Phoenix is not quite as ugly, and that Phoenix can finally break into the win column. I know it’s going to be a dogfight, because Seattle will want to close it out.
OVJ - September 3, 2010
Ha ha ha
I’m glad my arguing fired you up.
I like you. I always wanted to have a compelling foil on Swish Appeal while watching the WNBA playoffs. This site can grow bigger, and more activity is what’s going to help that.
WaveOcean - September 4, 2010
The feeling is mutual
I like your style as well. It’s good to have someone with a different perspective to test your ideas against.
OVJ - September 4, 2010
i hope you're here on Sunday
WaveOcean - September 4, 2010
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