Springfield Spirit vs. Chicago Blazer
Springfield Civic Center, MA - 2/13/03

 

With 23 turnovers, it was not pretty night for the Spirit. They were certainly sloppy at times, losing the ball easily, giving Chicago Blazer free points to convert into. Another part of the game they still need to work on is "Defense". Too many open shots were given to the opposite team, which is not a good thing if they want to go far.

The absence of Tamika Catchings might be one of the factors why the Spirit was able to pull the win. Time surely needed for Spirit players to really blend and build their chemistry as a team. Leaning solely on star power like Sue Bird, Swin Cash and Rebecca Lobo is not the answer. They need support from the rest of the team, and the stars themselves need to adjust playing with each other.

Sue and Swin played full 40 minutes in this game, but still could not shut down the opponent like their glory days back at the University of Connecticut. With those minutes on the floor, they were the leading scorers for Springfield Spirit, but they were also the ones who had the most turnovers in the game. We all hoping that as the season progresses, they will play more comfortably with less turnovers and some minutes to rest.

It was great to finally being able to see a game upclose, where I could actually hear what the players were saying on the court. We all know about Sue Bird leadership, but seeing how exactly she directed the traffic amazes me. There were some miscommunication with her new teammates, but she had a great play in mind.

The Spirit will face the Miller twins and the Birmingham Power on Valentine's Day. I am hoping to see a better game with more crowds at Mohegan Sun.