Silver Stars-Storm Preview

By BRETT HUSTON
Posted Jul 20 2011 2:27PM

The San Antonio Silver Stars held off the Seattle Storm at home a week ago thanks to a big performance from Danielle Adams, but they'll have to overcome some rocky recent history in Seattle to do it again.

The Silver Stars have lost their last five trips to KeyArena heading into a visit Thursday night, when the Storm look for a fifth straight victory on their own court after returning home from a winless three-game road trip.

It's been a first half full of streaks for San Antonio (9-4), which had winning runs of four games from June 4-17 and three from June 24-28, but it lost its first three games in July.

The Silver Stars have bounced back behind their two leading scorers, both of whom were named All-Star reserves Tuesday. Adams scored 15 of her game-high 23 points in the fourth quarter in last Thursday's 69-66 win over Seattle, then Becky Hammon - who had totaled 10 points in her previous two games - had 26 in a 79-69 victory Monday at Los Angeles.

"It's only a matter of time before you start getting the ball to go down," said Hammon, who will be an All-Star for the sixth time in Saturday's game at San Antonio. "You go through those dry spells but you get in the game and try and make those shots. Hopefully you will find your stroke again but you have to shoot confidently."

Adams has provided a serious spark off the bench. The second-round pick leads all rookies with 15.7 points per game, second on the Silver Stars behind Hammon's 16.2.

"She's tough," Storm guard Sue Bird said. "She's a rookie, so hopefully we'll get used to her game."

Adams may have more trouble leading her team to a win in her first visit to KeyArena. The Silver Stars are averaging 65.0 points during their skid in Seattle.

While San Antonio is second in the league with 85.2 points per game, Seattle (7-7) is 11th at 71.1.

After averaging 89.0 points in home wins over Los Angeles and Washington, the Storm were held below 70 in all three games on their trip. They led by a point heading into the fourth quarter Tuesday at Chicago but were outscored 24-14 in the final 10 minutes of a 78-69 defeat.

"We turned it over in critical times, we missed some free throws, defensive breakdowns," coach Brian Agler said. "But we are not sitting here feeling sorry for ourselves. We have a lot of the season to be played, and we are going to keep working on it and get ready for the next one."

Bird had 26 points in the loss - she'll join teammate Swin Cash as an All-Star starter - but she certainly wasn't on top of her game against San Antonio, missing 12 of 16 shots and scoring 10.

Wright pumps in 17 as Storm roll past Silver Stars

Posted Jul 22 2011 1:06AM

SEATTLE (AP) Tanisha Wright wasn't about to let Seattle suffer its longest skid in six years.

So the Storm guard took over, scoring 11 of her 17 points in the third quarter to lead Seattle to a 73-55 victory over the San Antonio Silver Stars on Thursday night.

Swin Cash added 15 points, and Camille Little had 10 for the Storm (8-7), who snapped a three-game losing streak - their longest slide since late in the 2009 season.

``That's the kind of basketball we want to play right there - I don't know any way else to put it,'' Wright said. ``That's the kind of basketball we want to play, we need to play, and in order to be successful, we have to play. We wanted to go into the (All-Star) break on a good note after that three-game skid.''

The Storm haven't lost more than three in a row since 2005.

Sophia Young led the Silver Stars (9-5) with 12 points. San Antonio missed a chance to record what would have been the best start in franchise history had it won on Thursday night. Becky Hammon chipped in 11 points, and Jia Perkins had 10.

``This is one of the most physical teams in the league, if not the most physical, and we just didn't handle it very well,'' Hammon said. ``It was one of those nights where everything went wrong. They came out with a purpose and really focused and put it on us.''

The Storm, whose losing streak started with a 69-66 defeat at San Antonio last Thursday, effectively put the game away at the outset of the third quarter.

Seattle had a 38-22 lead at halftime, then forced the Silver Stars into turnovers on their first five possessions of the second half. The Storm converted four of those turnovers into baskets, pushing their lead to 24.

The closest San Antonio came after that was 17 late in the fourth quarter.

``On the road, we've had some lulls coming out in the second half, not playing up to our standards,'' said Cash, who will start for the West in Saturday's All-Star game at San Antonio. ``So we really wanted to focus on that and make sure we came out with a lot of energy. We did that on the defensive end, which turned into offense for us.''

Silver Stars coach Dan Hughes cited that same Seattle defense as a difference-maker.

``I thought they were extremely tough-minded defensively and physical,'' Hughes said. ``They really congested the paint. They made shots and had an aggressive nature that we had to deal with for most of the game, so give them credit - they got it done.''

Said Storm coach Brian Agler, ``We didn't play as well as we would have liked down there, and they played well down there. So this was an important game for us. I'm glad we addressed it that way, approached it that way - and played it that way.''

Seattle went ahead for good with an 8-1 run to close out the first quarter, taking a 19-14 lead. San Antonio fell behind while missing 11 straight shots from the floor over a 7-minute stretch from late in the first to midway through the second quarter. Their only points were on three free throws.

After not shooting better than 41 percent in any of their three straight losses, the Storm shot 49 percent on Thursday (27 of 55). The Silver Stars suffered through their worst shooting night of the season at 28 percent (18 of 65).

• Silver Stars: --
• Storm: --

• Silver Stars: --
• Storm: Agler

• Lead Changes: 4
• Times Tied: 4

• Arena: Key Arena, Seattle, WA
• Officials: #8 Daryl Humphrey, #39 Michael Price, #62 Jeff Wooten
• Attendance: 6922
• Duration: 1:46