Mercury-Storm Preview

By KATE HEDLIN
Posted Jun 03 2011 2:26PM

No WNBA team has repeated as champion since 2002, but the Seattle Storm believe they are in good position to do so.

The Storm begin the defense of their title as they host the Phoenix Mercury on Saturday night in a rematch of last year's Western Conference finals.

Seattle ran away with the conference's regular season title, finishing 13 games ahead of second-place Phoenix. The Storm won their final three regular season games and went 7-0 in the playoffs, sweeping the Mercury in a best-of-three series in the West finals before defeating Atlanta to win their second league title and first since 2004.

Seattle was led by Lauren Jackson, who won her third MVP award after averaging 20.5 points and 8.3 rebounds during the regular season.

Only two franchises have won consecutive championships in the WNBA's first 14 seasons - Los Angeles in 2001-02 and the now-defunct Houston Comets winning the league's first four titles.

"We don't talk about it, but that doesn't mean you guys won't bring it up and ask; people from the outside will ask," coach Brian Agler told the Storm's official website. "From our approach, it's a totally new year and our desire is to play for this season."

After their last championship, the Storm failed to make it out of the first round for five straight years before 2010's championship run. However, unlike after their last title when the team made some roster changes, this year's club brings back all five starters and added some scoring off the bench with the acquisition of Katie Smith, who averaged 9.5 points and 2.6 assists for Washington last season.

While Jackson was fourth in the league in scoring last year, the Storm relied heavily on their defense, holding teams to 73.9 points per game.

"We had a lot of lessons last year. Obviously, we saw that if we work together and stick to the game plan, and everyone plays their role within our system, it works, and it can produce a championship at the end," forward Swin Cash said. "Hopefully, we're individually a little bit better and that will translate into collectively as a team."

The Mercury, who won the title in 2009, have led the league in scoring in each of the last five seasons. Diana Taurasi won her fourth scoring title in that stretch by averaging 22.6 points last season.

However, Phoenix's focus in the offseason was improving its defense after giving up a league-worst 93.8 points per game. The Mercury ranked fourth in rebounding (35.7), but gave up a league-high 37.7 per game and were last in steals (7.0).

Phoenix's biggest offseason move was bringing in Nakia Sanford, who averaged 6.0 points and 4.2 rebounds with Washington last year.

Besides the playoff series loss, the Mercury dropped all five regular season meetings against the Storm. Jackson had two 30-point performances against them.

"I think it's good," Penny Taylor said of facing the Storm in the season opener. "It's definitely a measuring stick to see where you are and how well we've prepared. ... They're defending champions, so obviously they're going to come in with a lot of confidence."

The Mercury play six of their first eight games on the road.

Storm open title defense with 78-71 victory

By TIM BOOTH
Posted Jun 04 2011 5:10PM

SEATTLE (AP) Sue Bird scored 13 points and handed out 10 assists, Camille Little led Seattle with 18 points and the defending WNBA champion Storm opened the 2011 season with a 78-71 win over of the Phoenix Mercury on Saturday.

Lauren Jackson added 15 points and seven rebounds as Seattle built a big fourth-quarter lead and then watched Phoenix's Diana Taurasi try to rally the Mercury in the closing seconds.

Taurasi scored a game-high 31, including 11 in the closing minutes as Phoenix trimmed a 19-point deficit to within five with 16 seconds left.

The six returning members of Seattle's championship team from a year ago received their title rings, then went out and beat Phoenix for the eighth straight time and ran the Storm's regular-season home win streak to 18 after going undefeated at home a year ago.

Seattle led by just five at halftime but scored the first eight points of the second half and led by as many as 19 in the fourth quarter.

Seattle's six returning members from last year's title team received its championship rings in an elaborate pregame ceremony that took most of 20 minutes and was capped by the unveiling of the second championship banner in team history. Seattle also won the title in 2004, when Bird and Jackson were still in the infancy of their careers.

It took six years, but they finally added another crown. And with the addition of veteran Katie Smith in the offseason, Seattle is considered again the team to beat.

The Storm looked pretty strong in the opener, despite some opening-game sloppiness that resulted in 16 turnovers. Seattle controlled the glass, outrebounded Phoenix 38-28 and outscored the Mercury 46-32 in the paint.

And much of that came with Jackson as a non-factor offensively for the first 12 minutes. She eventually warmed up and made 4 of 9 shots and all six of her free throws.

But it was Little taking advantage of Jackson's quiet start. She made 8 of 13 shots and grabbed nine rebounds while most of Phoenix's defensive attention was placed on Jackson.

Little received a scare in the fourth quarter when she collapsed under the Phoenix basket and grabbed her right knee, but was able to walk off the court under her own power.

Smith added eight points in her Seattle debut, and capped a key 14-2 run in the first half with her second 3-pointer. Jackson had just three points at half, all at the foul line, but her presence opened up chances for Little and cleared room on the perimeter for Bird, who scored Seattle's last six points of the half and also handed out six assists.

Taurasi made 11 of 20 shots and was Phoenix's only offense for stretches of the first half, despite having three fouls just 15 seconds into the second quarter.

Penny Taylor added 13 points and Candice Dupree scored 12 for Phoenix.

• Mercury: --
• Storm: --

• Mercury: Johnson
• Storm: Smith

• Lead Changes: 4
• Times Tied: 4

• Arena: Key Arena, Seattle, WA
• Officials: #39 Michael Price, #7 Clarke Stevens, #43 Brenda Pantoja
• Attendance: 11548
• Duration: 1:53