WNBA
Sun notebook: No big fixes for Game 3, Thibault says

By Bob Sherwin
Seattle Times staff reporter

JIM BATES / THE SEATTLE TIMES Seattle's Betty Lennox harasses Katie Douglas in the second half last night. Douglas hit a couple of clutch shots, but Lennox's 27-point night fueled the Storm's win.

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Now everyone understands.

For these two teams, the Sun and the Storm, both without much playoff experience, they know what to expect tomorrow night in the WNBA title game.

"Game 3 is a whole new game," said Sun coach Mike Thibault. "Both teams will try to look at the film and make a couple of adjustments. I don't think you can make anything major. I think it comes down to who comes out and handles the pressure of the game better.

"Obviously, it's two pretty even teams."

The Sun opened the best-of-three series with a 68-64 win Friday in Connecticut. But last night the Storm's intensity level rose with the crowd's noise level.

"Now we understand more how they're going to come out," said the Sun's Nykesha Sales. "They didn't have that same intensity in Connecticut, so we'll be more prepared for that."

Clearly, the Sun need to start better than it did last night, trailing 22-10 halfway through the first half.

"I think that's partly their defense and partly maybe the adrenaline of the game," Thibault said. "And the crowd was certainly loud. We had a couple turnovers early, and they capitalized on them."

The crowd was a factor, he said, for "maybe the first five or six minutes. I think our players will have a better feel on how to handle it (tomorrow night)."

Hurting in the middle
 
Suns forward Wendy Palmer-Daniel, who averaged 11 points and 6.1 rebounds during the season, injured her right shoulder at 18:29 of the second half and did not return.

"We miss Wendy," Thibault said. "I think she'll be fine for (tomorrow). It certainly changed our rotation a little bit tonight."

Palmer-Daniel's departure left the Sun with 6-foot-2 center Taj McWilliams-Franklin as the primary experienced inside force. She was held in check, however, by 6-5 Storm center Lauren Jackson. McWilliams-Franklin scored just two points, shooting 1 for 11.

Douglas is clutch

Sales hit some huge shots for the Sun in the second half but not all of them. Guard Katie Douglas kept the Sun alive twice in the final eight minutes when it appeared the Storm was about to pull away.

"The crowd was extremely loud and played a big part for Seattle, but I just tried to block it out, stay in my routine and pretend that there is nothing there," Douglas said. "In order to silence them, you have to come up with the big shot."

Bob Sherwin: 206-464-8286 or bsherwin@seattletimes.com