1) Why was Katie Gearlds sitting on the bench? Her first half performance, as you will see below, was fantastic. She had the top spots in shooting and rating but did not play in the second half until the final 27 seconds of the game. I understand that the Wright/Swoopes tandem was playing well at both ends of the floor in the second half, but Gearlds CANNOT be lost in the rotation with Swoopes and Cash playing again. She is too valuable as a shooter.
2) Can we do away with the big lineup experiment, please? Start Swoopes or Gearlds at the three spot. Ashley played very well, but the big lineup is not working.
3) Where is Kimberly Beck? Her end of season play should have earned her some time. Bird only sat four times all game, the first three replaced at the point by Tanisha Wright. The Storm were +3, -4 and +1 during those three lineups and +2 with Beck in garbage time. With Wright turning the ball over at an alarming rate (about 30% of her possessions resulted in turnovers in this game compared to 10% resulting in an assist) Beck's sure hand is a better choice to rest Bird.
There were good signs. The Storm dominated the second half with only two negative intervals, both at the end of quarters. Bird was fantastic again after a slow start. Swin Cash and Sheryl Swoopes looked pretty good, though Sheryl's shooting was putrid (29% eFG%). The big three were controlled the entire game, and I don't imagine the Sparks guards can replicate their amazing shooting on the road.
There were caution flags as well. Camille Little performed horrendously in her first post season game as a starter. She shot a game worst 13% eFG%, being outperformed by the struggling Shannon Bobbitt and with only one rebound in 35 minutes of game time, she was the lowest rated player in the game. Tanisha Wright had 6 turnovers to go with her 4 steals and 2 assists. That is too many turnovers. The good news is that they were all in the first half. I am hoping that both these players are able to shake it off for today and let the Key Arena crowd cheer them on to victory.
Storm
Most Effective Shooters
Player | True Shooting Percentage | Effective FG% | Floor Percentage | Points |
| Katie Gearlds | 69% | 75% | 69% | 4 |
| Sue Bird | 67% | 60% | 68% | 23 |
| Tanisha Wright | 52% | 39% | 37% | 13 |
| Swin Cash | 50% | 50% | 52% | 4 |
| Kelly Santos | 50% | 50% | 60% | 2 |
| Ashley Robinson | 50% | 50% | 46% | 4 |
Katie and Kelly need more minutes to generate offense. Tanisha Wright was only able to make this list because she hit her only three point shot and went 6-8 from the line, she was only 2-8 inside the arc.
Top Ratings
| Player | Offensive Rating | Individual Rating |
| Katie Gearlds | 162.62 | 153.43 |
| Sue Bird | 142.84 | 127.23 |
| Kelly Santos | 119.86 | 95.73 |
| Swin Cash | 103.23 | 88.15 |
Raw Plus Minus
Sheryl Swoopes: +2
Kimberly Beck: +2
Shyra Ely: +2
Kelly Santos: +2
Katie Gearlds: -1
Swin Cash: -3
Yolanda Griffith: -6
Ashley Robinson: -6
Camille Little: -9
Sue Bird: -10
Tanisha Wright: -13
Most Effective Lineups
Bird-Swoopes-Little-Robinson-Griffith: +4
Wright-Swoopes-Gearlds-Little-Robinson: +3
Bird-Wright-Swoopes-Robinson-Griffith: +3
The experimental starting lineup was a miserable -9.
Sparks
Most Effective Shooters
Player | True Shooting Percentage | Effective FG% | Floor Percentage | Points |
| Marie Ferdinand-Harris | 94% | 100% | 62% | 11 |
| Kiesha Brown | 92% | 90% | 79% | 10 |
| Tamecka Dixon | 80% | 80% | 52% | 8 |
| Raffaella Masciadri | 60% | 60% | 41% | 6 |
| Delisha Milton-Jones | 59% | 50% | 40% | 11 |
| Lisa Leslie | 51% | 38% | 31% | 10 |
Both coaches got what they wanted here. Parker and Leslie were controlled forcing the ball into the hands of the guards just as Agler wanted. Unfortunately, the guards shot amazingly well exactly as Cooper wanted. Brown sat most of the second half, with their lead allowing Cooper to play with Masciadri, Ferdinand and Spencer. Hopefully that will smash her confidence as she wonders why her coach benched her when she thought she was doing well. Leslie only made this list because of her 4-4 free throw shooting.
Top Ratings
| Player | Offensive Rating | Individual Rating |
| Kiesha Brown | 180.01 | 176.87 |
| Marie Ferdinand-Harris | 145.19 | 154.64 |
| Rafaella Masciadri | 121.88 | 110.09 |
| Sidney Spencer | 120.06 | 90.88 |
| Temecka Johnson | 104.42 | 106.41 |
Not a single inside player made the list.
Raw Plus Minus
Delisha Milton-Jones: +18
Temeka Johnson: +8
Lisa Leslie: +7
Candace Parker: +3
Sidney Spencer: +3
Muriel Page: +3
Kiesha Brown: +2
Marie Ferdinand-Harris: +2
Shannon Bobbitt: 0
Jessica Moore: 0
Most Effective Lineups
Bobbitt-Brown-Milton-Parker-Leslie: +4
Johnson-Ferdinand-Milton-Page-Leslie: +4
Johnson-Brown-Milton-Parker-Leslie: +3
Bobbitt-Masciadri-Milton-Parker-Leslie: +3