Storm-Mercury Preview

By BRETT HUSTON
Posted Jul 25 2011 4:58PM

The Phoenix Mercury wound up having an outstanding first half after dropping their first three games, and they could find themselves atop the Western Conference by the end of Tuesday night.

There's a pretty menacing obstacle standing in their way, however.

The Mercury have lost eight straight to the Seattle Storm, a drought they'd love to end as they return from the All-Star break to host a Seattle team that's dropped four in a row away from home.

Phoenix (10-5) lost its first three games, a stretch that began with a 78-71 defeat to the Storm on June 4 despite 31 points from Diana Taurasi.

Struggling against Seattle (8-7) is nothing new for the Mercury. Phoenix lost all seven meetings in 2010, including a two-game sweep by the Storm in the West finals.

The Mercury can wind up on top of the conference by day's end Tuesday with a win and a Minnesota loss, but they blew a chance to go into the All-Star break with the lead Wednesday. Phoenix shot 51.6 percent and got a combined 47 points from Taurasi and Penny Taylor, but committed 17 turnovers and let the visiting Lynx shoot 56.3 percent in a 106-98 defeat.

"We didn't really value the ball today," Taylor said. "We had a few too many turnovers and it cost us."

Taylor and Taurasi were teammates with Storm starters Sue Bird and Swin Cash in the All-Star game Saturday, and Cash's performance stood out despite the West losing 118-113. Seattle's leading scorer at 15.9 points per game, Cash had 21 points and 12 rebounds to earn All-Star MVP honors for the second year in a row.

The Storm were facing the prospect of heading into the break with four consecutive losses, but Cash and Tanisha Wright kept that from happening. Cash had 15 points and Wright scored a game-high 17 to help Seattle cruise past visiting San Antonio 73-55 on Thursday.

"(This) was a must-win for us," Cash said. "Any home games are a must-win, but tonight having just lost three on the road and going into a break you want to go out on a high."

If the Storm want to beat Phoenix for a ninth straight time, they'll need to improve their play away from KeyArena. Seattle has been held to 64.5 points per game and 40.5 percent shooting in its four consecutive road losses.

Dictating the pace Tuesday may be critical, as the Mercury average a league-high 92.7 points while Seattle is 11th at 71.3 per contest.

Even if the Mercury can't impose their up-tempo style on the game, though, they should still have a good chance with Seattle's Lauren Jackson sidelined. Not counting a game late last season when both teams had their playoff seeds locked up, Jackson has averaged 23.3 points and 10.7 rebounds in a seven-game stretch versus Phoenix.

The Storm, consequently, have outrebounded the Mercury by 10.3 per game in that span.

Bird leads Storm to 83-77 win over Mercury

Posted Jul 27 2011 1:47AM

PHOENIX (AP) Sue Bird had 18 points, seven assists, five rebounds and three steals as the Seattle Storm held off the Phoenix Mercury 83-77 on Tuesday night.

Camille Little added 15 points and five rebounds for Seattle (9-7), winner of two straight after a three-game skid. The Storm beat the Mercury for the ninth straight time.

``For us, this is just a really good road win against a very good team,'' Bird said. ``We're kind of hovering around .500, so for us it's about making a push in the second half of the season to move up in the standings.

Diana Taurasi scored 26 points and added four assists for Phoenix (10-6), which has lost two straight after winning six in a row. Candice Dupree and DeWanna Bonner each had 10 points for the Mercury.

``At stretches I think we played really well,'' Taurasi said. ``There was a lull in that third quarter where they raised intensity a little bit and we didn't match it. Then in the fourth quarter again you saw that when we play with that intensity we looked pretty good again. We just have to find a balance throughout a 40-minute game.''

Phoenix went on a 17-6 run to get within a point with 1 minute remaining, but Little took the ball away from Taurasi and made a breakaway layup with 24 seconds left to help secure the win.

``I just tried to jump in her path and distort her movement and make her go in a different direction,'' Little said. ``I happened to get my hand on the ball and it didn't go out of bounds, so I just tried to keep patting it and keep going the other way and I got a tough layup and made a tough finish.''

Taurasi missed the second of two free throws, leaving the Mercury down 79-77 with 20 seconds remaining. Bird slipped on the subsequent possession and was forced into a jump ball. Bonner won the tip but Tanisha Wright got possession for Seattle and made two free throws after being fouled by Temeka Johnson with 14 seconds left.

Belinda Snell hit two 3-pointers during a 14-0 run in the third quarter that gave Seattle a 63-52 advantage with 1:21 left.

Taurasi scored 13 points and had three steals in the first half as the Mercury took a 43-40 lead at the break. Bird had 10 points, five assists and three steals in the first half to help keep Seattle close after the Storm trailed by as much as 11.

Phoenix missed nine of its first 13 shots in the third quarter and made four key turnovers that turned into seven Storm points.

``We didn't come to play,'' Mercury coach Corey Gaines said. ``I talked to the team, they listened. We just didn't come to play. Just didn't play well.''

Swin Cash, named the most valuable player of Saturday's All-Star game, was held to six points on 3-for-13 shooting but grabbed eight rebounds.

• Storm: --
• Mercury: --

• Storm: --
• Mercury: Braxton

• Lead Changes: 9
• Times Tied: 5

• Arena: US Airways Center, Phoenix, AZ
• Officials: #39 Michael Price, #13 Cameron Inouye, #7 Clarke Stevens
• Attendance: 6108
• Duration: 1:53