Those of you who haven’t brushed up on their Latin lately might not be able to translate this with ease, so here you go: ‘Moreover, I advise that Carthage must be destroyed.’ He felt that the existence of Carthage was a dagger pointed at the heart of Rome in the second century BCE, and that only by constant reminders could he rouse the Senate and people of Rome to a necessary action.
My foray into ancient history may not seem to have much to do with 21st century women’s basketball, but I have to confess I have been tempted to end every story, regardless of topic, with ‘Moreover, Anne Donovan must be fired as the coach of the Olympic team.’ This particular piece, however, will require no shift in subject, as it addresses the quick demise of the Seattle Storm in the 2007 playoffs, though it will be more about Seattle’s shortcomings than the Mercury’s skills.
As usual since that 2004 WNBA title, Seattle exited in the first round of the playoffs despite the presence of Lauren Jackson (the best player in the world) and Sue Bird (who’s pretty good when the spirit moves her). In this case, the sweep by Phoenix may well have been merely a case of the better team winning, but the response to that is simple: Seattle should not have been playing the top seed in the first round. The Storm should have finished second or third, ahead of wounded San Antonio and Sacramento, and then faced Phoenix in the Western Conference finals.
But this dispirited group had to win its last two games to get to 17-17, and then put up only a marginal effort in the playoffs. In game one, the Storm defended their home court with all the élan of the French stopping the Germans in World War II – which is to stay, it was over pretty much before it started.
Oh, the Storm made a second-half run, but only because they couldn’t miss three-pointers for a while, and kept getting within nine or so. But then Diana Taurasi or Cappie Pondexter or Penny Taylor or Kelly Mazzante would be given a wideopen look and pad the margin once again.
But the fault doesn’t necessarily lie with the players, though Donovan, who selected this team, hasn’t exactly put together a juggernaut. (And, in yet another choral repeat, Jackson and Bird came to Seattle before Donovan got there – thank you, Lin Dunn.) For example, the aforementioned Jackson, the best player in the world, shot the ball 10 times in game one. Ten whole times.
Betty Lennox, on the other hand, jacked up 20 (making seven), and with typical Lennoxian flair, was unconcerned with the quality of the shot, the score of the game or the fact that Jackson was also wearing a white jersey. Oh, and the immortal Iziane Castro Marques took 16 shots. And Wendy Palmer came off the bench to take 10 shots, in just 14 minutes.
As TV commentator, and former WNBA coach, Carolyn Peck pointed out in game two, Donovan should have been telling her team that Bird and Jackson should take the shots, and that Jackson needed to touch the ball on every possession. But either she didn’t tell them that (bad strategy) or they didn’t do it (no control of the team).
And in game two, which the Mercury dominated except for about eight minutes spanning the third and fourth quarters, Donovan appeared to just quit coaching her team. Both she and Paul Westhead were miked, and Donovan’s voice was simply never heard.
This is exactly what happened in Brazil in 2006, when the Donovan-coached Americans finished third. Her passivity was communicated to the team, and in Seattle’s case, it allowed Bird to consistently criticize her teammates for their lapses, when Bird’s play was hardly above reproach. She took only eight shots in the first game, and got the free-throw line a whopping four times in two games (of course, she only took 26 free throws all summer, so it wasn’t like she was willing to take some contact for the good of the team during the regular season). So Bird whined about the officiating and called out her teammates while Jackson vainly hoped someone would pass her the ball (she got 13 shots in game two (two in the last minute), three less than either Bird or Lennox – and made more baskets).
This is, simply, bad coaching. And late in the game, after Seattle made a great run to tie the game (give credit to Donovan here, though it’s unclear that she did much except let the players play), the Storm called a timeout. When they got out on the court, Bird was once more upset: Either Donovan’s team didn’t run the play it was supposed to, or Bird’s petulance boiled over for no reason. If the former, Donovan’s fault; if the latter, Donovan’s fault for letting Bird do whatever she wants (or doesn’t want, as in defend anyone).
Meanwhile, Paul Westhead was guiding his Mercury with a sure and steady hand (he would be a far superior Olympic coach, even with his unorthodox system). His players never carped at each other, and they played with confidence. Tangela Smith was just one for 10 from the field, but she kept shooting – and she didn’t have a point guard who yelled at her when she made a bad play. Instead, she had Diana Taurasi, who had 20 points, six assists and no turnovers, and buried a three after the Storm had worked so hard to tie the score at 85.
And that three was the result of poor defense. It’s probably not fair to blame Donovan completely for the fact that Tanisha Wright and Ashley Robinson couldn’t figure out who was going to take Taurasi, but a well-prepared team most likely doesn’t make that mistake in the clutch.
But Seattle was not well prepared. Of course, the Storm weren’t well prepared during the season, and missing post Janell Burse late in the summer, weren’t at full strength either. Nonetheless, they should not have finished fourth, and they should have played with heart and passion, not whining and ignoring their superstar, in the postseason.
Instead, they played just well enough to lose two straight to a team that hadn’t won a playoff series since 1998, and looked disorganized and uninterested while doing so.
Much like the 2006 National Team at the World Championships.
Moreover, Anne Donovan must be fired as the coach of the Olympic team.
(Maybe if it were written in Latin, someone would actually listen.)