Thursday, August 29, 2013

Storm headed for tenth consecutive playoff berth?

Tina Thompson and Camille Little each scored 18 to lead the Storm past the Sun tonight, 78-65. They need one more win to clinch a playoff berth, which would be a WNBA record tenth in a row. Nobody expected this of Seattle, which lost Sue Bird and Lauren Jackson prior to the season.

Few foresaw the league's lone original season player, Tina Thompson, having a final year like this, either. The 38-year-old is the Storm's leading scorer.

I remember the last time the Storm didn't make the playoffs, in 2003. I forget whom they lost to that night, at Key Arena, but it put them out of the running. A friend and I sat in our seats for the longest time afterward, not wanting to let the season go. The next year - 2004 - I watched Seattle's season end standing under confetti falling from the Key ceiling, the marquee blazing "WNBA Champions!" while Jackson cavorted on court barefoot, drinking champagne from the bottle.

I hope the Storm make their tenth consecutive playoff appearance this year.

Team news:

Sparks....Candace Parker and Nneka Ogwumike pitched at yesterday's Dodger game.

Lynx....coach Cheryl Reeve set the tone for Catwalk for a Cure.

MVP:

I like Slam's MVP rankings way better than the WNBA's:

1. Candace Parker
2. Tamika Catchings
3. Sylvia Fowles
4. Angel McCoughtry
5. Maya Moore
6. Elena Delle Donne
7. Diana Taurasi
8. Lindsay Whalen
9. Liz Cambage
10. Tina Thompson

Tomorrow's game previews:

Fever at Liberty

Silver Stars at Shock

College news:

Nicole Powell joins the staff at Gonzaga as an assistant coach.

1 comment:

TreeHugger & LePewMan said...

Those rankings make a ton more sense. I've been thinking for a while now that Tina Thompson was being overlooked. To my way of thinking, somebody got it right.