Storm
Crowd proves to be a key Storm advantage

By Bob Sherwin
Seattle Times staff reporter

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For Sun guard Katie Douglas, Game 3 of the WNBA Finals against the Storm last night couldn't have been any worse.

"You want to have a nightmare," she said in the quiet Connecticut locker room, "step into my world right now."

Welcome to a world inhabited by a frenzied sellout crowd at KeyArena, constant Storm defensive pressure and shooting from the deep freeze.

Douglas, the former Big Ten Conference Player of the Year for Purdue, might never have a game as bad as this one, at least one on this grand a stage. She missed all 11 shots she took, including a couple of air balls. She was 0 for 6 from three-point range. She finished with just six points on free throws.

Both coaches had said before the game that the guards would be critical in determining the championship. It was. Douglas, Lindsay Whalen and reserve Debbie Black combined for 16 points, hitting just 3 of 21 shots, and had a combined eight rebounds.

Storm guards Sue Bird and Betty Lennox, and reserve Tully Bevilaqua, scored 34 points, shooting 11 of 26, with 11 rebounds.

"You have to credit their defense, closing out in a hurry. And not just me, but on everybody," said Douglas, in her fourth WNBA season. "It felt like the second you got the ball, someone was rushing at you. Give credit to them and no credit to me."

Sun coach Mike Thibault couldn't explain Douglas' 0-for-11 shooting night.

"She definitely had to expend a lot of energy on the defensive end of the court," he said. "But all our guards did, between Sue and Betty and Sheri Sam and (Chelle) Thompson, all of that is a lot of work.

"We expended a lot of energy trying to stop them."
 
Energy was what the Storm had in abundance when the players returned to the court to begin the second half. With the help of the high-decibel crowd, the Storm broke from a 37-36 edge to a 49-40 lead with 16:22 left.

Bird made the critical difference, despite a Douglas-like nightmare first half. She was 0 for 3 with no points in the first 20 minutes, but started the second half with three quick baskets, including a fast-break layin at 18:37 that electrified the sellout crowd.

"Obviously, it's frustrating to come out and start a half like that and they get a couple easy baskets on us. We just didn't come out focused," Douglas said. "Their first couple runs dictated the rest of the game.

"They were getting to loose ball after loose ball. Offensive rebounds. They hit shots. They wanted it."

The Sun cut the lead to 51-46 with 13:05 left, before Bevilaqua, who averaged 2.3 points during the regular season, hit a huge three-pointer that revved up the crowd. Within three minutes, the Storm's lead was back to 13 points.

"It's hard to sustain three or four runs in a half. That's what happens on the road. It has a snowball effect," Whalen said. "A layin on their end turns into a deflection on our end. They get the loose ball, and next thing you know someone's spotting up for a three. They got the momentum, and your flow kind of gets stopped."

Douglas added, "I don't know that their run ever ended."

The noise inside KeyArena certainly never did. As much as Thibault and the players tried to downplay the impact of the boisterous Storm partisans, they left an imprint on the championship trophy.

"They were so darn loud the whole game," Black said. "They deserved that. They won that home-court advantage during the regular season. That's their gift. It helped them, obviously. That was electrifying. It was awesome, actually."

Sun forward Nykesha Sales, who followed her career-high 32 points Sunday with 18 last night, said it seemed like five-on-six most of the evening.

"This is a pretty big arena," she said. "Having 18,000 people out there cheering for you, it gets kind of electric out there. And you say that the fans are your sixth man, it really means a lot to the athletes out there to see the crowd so wired up and so excited about things you do on the court.

"So I believe it definitely gave them an advantage."

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