WNBA Tuesday Evening Open Thread: LA. Sparks Visit Phoenix Mercury On ESPN2

by Nate Parham on Jul 5, 2011 5:59 PM EDT

After the long weekend, there are three WNBA games tonight that are bound to keep your head on a swivel.

Seattle Storm at Indiana Fever (7 p.m. ET on WNBA LiveAccess)
Washington Mystics at Chicago Sky (8 p.m. ET on ESPN3.com)
Los Angeles Sparks at Phoenix Mercury (9 p.m. ET on ESPN2)

Follow along with us in the comments for all, one, or part of the games. Links and previews available after the jump.

Seattle Storm at Indiana Fever 7:00 P.M. ET (WNBA LiveAccess)

Conseco Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, IN

WNBA.com preview

Storyline: Three keys for the Storm begin with continued scoring aggression from Swin Cash

Washington Mystics at Chicago Sky, 8:00 p.m. ET (ESPN3)

Allstate Arena, Rosemont, IL

WNBA.com preview

Storyline: Victoria Dunlap's breakout performance against the Storm.

Los Angeles Sparks at Phoenix Mercury

US Airways Center, Phoenix, AZ

WNBA.com preview

Storyline: Life Without Candace Parker Isn’t Sunny for Los Angeles Sparks

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Comments

How much will the loss of Briann January hurt the Fever?

I’m just throwing this out there – here are the “point guard numbers” for the Fever:

Name Ast Ratio Pure Point Rating
-——- -————- -——————————
Catchings 20.86% 2.25
Phillips 22.35 1.41
Bobbitt 27.47 1.01
January 29.69% 0.11
Douglas 14.84 -0.26

Not saying that January doesn’t matter – her +/- of +13.5 is 10th in the league – but I think the team might be able to make up for it as a collective as well as any to lose their point guard…

SwishAppeal.com for women's basketball...SB Nation Seattle for Seattle sports...and trying to maintain a Golden State of Mind about the Warriors. Twitter: @NateP_SBN.

by Nate Parham on Jul 5, 2011 7:04 PM EDT reply actions

Starters

Fever:
Phillips
Douglas
Catchings
Smith
Davenport

Storm
Bird
Wright
Cash
Little
Willingham

SwishAppeal.com for women's basketball...SB Nation Seattle for Seattle sports...and trying to maintain a Golden State of Mind about the Warriors. Twitter: @NateP_SBN.

by Nate Parham on Jul 5, 2011 7:08 PM EDT reply actions

End 1st 23-18 Indiana

Seattle looked out of sync again after a hot start…

Turnovers and launching threes…

SwishAppeal.com for women's basketball...SB Nation Seattle for Seattle sports...and trying to maintain a Golden State of Mind about the Warriors. Twitter: @NateP_SBN.

by Nate Parham on Jul 5, 2011 7:35 PM EDT reply actions

Halftime: Indiana up 42-27

http://seattle.sbnation.com/seattle-storm/2011/7/5/2260445/seattle-storm-vs-indiana-fever-halftime-score-storm-down-42-27

Turnover percentage:
Storm 30.72%
Fever 11.97%

The Storm are not likely to win if that continues.

SwishAppeal.com for women's basketball...SB Nation Seattle for Seattle sports...and trying to maintain a Golden State of Mind about the Warriors. Twitter: @NateP_SBN.

by Nate Parham on Jul 5, 2011 8:12 PM EDT reply actions

End 3: Fever up 58-47

Basically, Bird took over…Indiana offense stalling out:

FG%
Storm 50%
Fever 38.5%

SwishAppeal.com for women's basketball...SB Nation Seattle for Seattle sports...and trying to maintain a Golden State of Mind about the Warriors. Twitter: @NateP_SBN.

by Nate Parham on Jul 5, 2011 8:28 PM EDT reply actions

Watching this LA-Phx game now...

Much better game of basketball in my estimation…

SwishAppeal.com for women's basketball...SB Nation Seattle for Seattle sports...and trying to maintain a Golden State of Mind about the Warriors. Twitter: @NateP_SBN.

by Nate Parham on Jul 5, 2011 9:34 PM EDT reply actions

LA up 50-42 on Phoenix

Again, it’s all about their ball movement – they’re doing an outstanding job of spread the ball around, even if they rely somewhat heavily on Penicheiro to create shots off the drive…

SwishAppeal.com for women's basketball...SB Nation Seattle for Seattle sports...and trying to maintain a Golden State of Mind about the Warriors. Twitter: @NateP_SBN.

by Nate Parham on Jul 5, 2011 9:56 PM EDT reply actions

Wow, I've never seen Toliver get like that...

I know Swanier can be annoying, but you can’t clear out with your elbow like that.

by RP_45 on Jul 5, 2011 10:39 PM EDT reply actions

Yeah

That was surprising.. but it seems like frustration is just team-wide… on both teams… right now…

SwishAppeal.com for women's basketball...SB Nation Seattle for Seattle sports...and trying to maintain a Golden State of Mind about the Warriors. Twitter: @NateP_SBN.

by Nate Parham on Jul 5, 2011 10:40 PM EDT up reply actions

End 3: 79-65 Phoenix

18-0 run, did I hear that right?

And dare I say that Merc defense had something to do with that?

SwishAppeal.com for women's basketball...SB Nation Seattle for Seattle sports...and trying to maintain a Golden State of Mind about the Warriors. Twitter: @NateP_SBN.

by Nate Parham on Jul 5, 2011 10:44 PM EDT reply actions