After a weekend away from the regular WNBA schedule, it’s back to the grind for a busy second half that features 19 of the Storm’s 34 games. I hope you enjoyed All-Star Weekend, and especially Storm forward Swin Cash earning All-Star MVP honors for the second consecutive time. Here’s a look back, and ahead.

On WNBA.com, Brian Martin writes about Cash ending up MVP despite the West losing the game.

Jump back to 2011 and with neither team dominating the game, the amount of MVP candidates does not narrow itself down to the clear-cut winning team. With the game still hanging in the balance until the final minute, voters chose the player with the most dominant stat line, regardless of the result.

Cash, who voted in as was a starter for the West, wasted little time racking up the points. In the first two minutes of the game she had five shot attempts, one make, two free throws and three rebounds. When she exited the game midway through the first quarter she already had eight points and four rebounds. She finished the first half with 14 points and seven rebounds, well on her way to a double-double.

Also on the dot com, Scott Stanchak talked with most of the members of the WNBA’s Top 15 Players of All Time about the honor, including the Storm’s Sue Bird.

What were your initial thoughts when you found out you were named one of the Top 15 greatest players in WNBA history?

Sue Bird: “It’s an honor. It’s a huge honor. You walk into the room right before we got introduced to the crowd and look around, you look at the names. The same way when I got the call. I thought about the others who were probably going to make it. It’s just a tremendous honor just to be in the same breath as those names. There’s no way to describe it. It’s just surreal to be on that list.”

As Nate Parham noted for SBN Seattle, Cash stood out almost as much for her pregame dance routine during the introduction of starting lineups as for her play, while Bird tried her hand at lassoing.

2011 WNBA All-Star Game MVP Swin Cash might have deserved a second MVP award for her attempt to impersonate Michael Jackson during the shadow dancing routine during the player intros.

And her biggest competition might have been Seattle Storm teammate Sue Bird who was apparently trying to beat some anonymous stuntman up or something.

On the day of the game, Jayda Evans wrote in the Seattle Times about being cooked dinner by Bird (and helping in the process), getting to know the Storm’s point guard a little better off the court.

“This is the first time I get to boss you around. Just kidding,” Sue said after I equated her directing me in the kitchen to her being a point guard on the floor. “I’m kind, nice, until you mess up. Lauren, she’s just that good where she can mess up and it’ll be OK. But, yeah, she just loses her brain sometimes, that’s all. It happens to the best of us.”

Bird, 30, doesn’t like being bossy, claiming it’s why she could never appear on her favorite cooking show, “Top Chef.” Especially at crunchtime when we were lined up side-by-side plating the linguine, chicken and salad.

Looking ahead, ESPN.com’s Mechelle Voepel focused on what lies in store for the Storm the rest of the season.

And of the eight that currently are in position to be playoff teams, everyone has things to worry about … but also reasons for optimism.

“We’ve had a rough start, but we like our chances going into August,” Cash said of the Storm. “We’re definitely not down. If anything, we’re looking at the upside. I think a lot of people are going to be surprised in the second half of the season how much better basketball we’re going to play.”

This entry was posted on Monday, July 25th, 2011 at 12:29 pm and is filed under in the media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.