The Storm Do That Horse Drawing Meme In A Win But Just Like The Ears Are Drawn Bad And It Doesn't Matter Because The Rest Of The Horse Is SO BEAUTIFUL!
Could I have picked a better metaphor? NO!
The Storm ran the Minnesota Lynx out of the gym for three quarters and then decided to run a very bad practice session in the fourth. Really it was the actual Storm’s most complete performance of the year, until of course the bizarro all bench Storm spent the last 10 minutes of the game just like farting around out there. The pick and rolls were worked to perfection and seemed to scramble the poor brains of Minnesota’s interior players. Hard dives to the hoop by Stewie and a very excellent Mercedes Russell bamboozled the Lynx defense to the point where the Minnesota bigs were laying off the guards anticipating passes and allowing free reign (NO PUN, dear god I would never) to get all the way to the basket and finish with ease. The defense was active and connected, holding Sylvia Fowles et al to just 50 points in the three quarters of the game that were real and not a very fake thing that happened that thankfully will only be seen again in a very depressing film session for the Storm bench. The Storm also had 7(!) blocked shots and 8 steals to go along with countless passes deflected which they turned into transition baskets and when the Storm are playing like that well… they kick a ton of ass.
We will discuss the fourth quarter here, very briefly, so if you feel like not reading about 10 minutes of garbage ass basketball by 5 humans who hopefully will not see a moment of meaningful basketball together for the rest of the season feel free to jump past this ‘graph. OH BOY WAS THAT BAD! The unfortunate truth is once you take Epiphanny Prince out of the bench group the Storm really don’t have anyone who can get their own shot. There are a number of fantastic complementary players on the Storm bench, Candice Dupree again displayed her crafty veteran gym rat moves and Kennedy Burke showed some signs of life too while on the court with at least one of the starters, but they cannot fly on their own…yet. Again, I will say that this group will be a little more complete when Katie Lou Samuelson gets back from playing a WHY ON THIS DAMN PLANET EARTH IS IT HAPPENING THREE ON THREE TOURNAMENT for the also WHY ARE WE STILL DOING A GIANT INTERNATIONAL EVENT WHILE MUCH OF THE WORLD IS STILL IN THE THROES OF COVID OLYMPICS and Stephanie Talbot shifts to the bench. I still think they need to find creative bench scorer but then again who doesn’t! Regardless (again, not a pun, we don’t do that here) that 4th quarter should be thrown into a pit, buried, and have the ground above it salted to nothing might grown there again.
OTHER THOUGHTS!
I do not know what has/is happened/happening to Jordin Canada! It’s possible opposing defenses are sagging way off her due to her let’s be charitable and call it “in development” outside shot thus keeping her from her usual heroic drives to the basket. It’s also possible that without a stretch 5 on the floor to clear the lane she just isn’t an effective player. Whatever it is, the Storm need to figure it out quick because outside of the previous game against the Lynx, Jordin’s minutes have been not good! Don’t get it twisted, when Jordin’s on she fucking rules but I’d like to see the on-ness more this year.
On the other hand Epiphanny Prince was chopping people UP! She got to the basket, distributed the ball well, and was extremely ephicient (hahahaha I LIED! OF COURSE I DO PUNS! I’M OLD AS SHIT!). That’s the kind of creative bench scoring that this team needs, more please!
MERCEDES RUSSELL WAS GREAT! She’s come back from the offseason a much more confident player and it showed last night. Her post defense was fantastic against Sylvia Fowles and she finished at the rim strong when she got the chance. This is a welcome development as Ezi Magbegor, who we all (I mean me) should remember will not be 22 till nearly the end of the season, has not as of yet made the exponential leap in improvement that we all (again I mean me) expected after such a strong rookie year.
For some deeply insane reason the CBS Sports broadcast often decides to show free throws from an angle under the basket where you cannot see the hoop and thus cannot see if that free throw has gone in or not. Look, I took media studies in college and understand that sometimes hiding the action can lend a sense of mood to a film BUT I DO NOT WANT THAT LEVEL OF MOOD WHEN WATCHING FREE THROWS, I WANT TO SEE IF THE FREE THROW WENT IN OR NOT! Perhaps there is a cabal of angry ex-film students masquerading as broadcast producers hiding in production trucks across the country attempting to force us all to watch an avant garde version of sports where they don’t show us the sport itself (another notable example) but it has to STOP!
THAT’S ALL FOR THIS TIME! See you after the Storm take on the somewhat hapless Indiana Fever!