Dream-Storm Preview

By NOEY KUPCHAN
Posted Aug 12 2011 1:26PM

Playing at home as opposed to on the road seems to make all the difference for the Seattle Storm.

They're hoping that holds true as they try to avenge a road loss to the Atlanta Dream earlier in the week and extend their season-high home winning streak to nine games Saturday night.

Seattle (13-10), which has dropped nine of 13 on the road, improved to 9-1 at home and a league-best 11-2 when scoring at least 70 points with their eighth consecutive victory at KeyArena, defeating hapless Tulsa 77-63 on Thursday. The Storm raced to a 50-28 halftime lead and never looked back.

"I thought we got off to a great start. I was really happy with our first half," coach Brian Agler said. "But we're a team that's still trying to get better. Being efficient with the offense and with the basketball was one of those, and we made some strides there."

The Storm, who have outscored opponents by an average of 12.4 points during their eight-game run at home, previously suffered back-to-back losses on the road. After turning the ball over 27 times in a 70-53 loss at Atlanta on Sunday, Seattle fell 58-56 to New York two days later.

"Obviously, we play much better at home -- it's just one of those things," said forward Camille Little, who scored a team-high 19 points Thursday. "We lost two games (earlier this week at Atlanta and New York), and the last one went down to the wire. We just wanted to try to get a good win."

Seven-time WNBA All-Star Sue Bird was held to two points on 1-of-3 shooting and committed a season-worst six turnovers last week in the first game between the teams since the Storm swept last season's WNBA finals against the Dream (10-12).

Bird, however, will likely be motivated to come out with a better effort - the team is honoring her 10 seasons with the Storm with a bobblehead giveaway.

"When I think about being with this franchise for 10 years, I really feel like I've grown up here," Bird told WNBA.com. "From year 21 to now I'm 30, a lot happens in your 20s. Basketball-wise, the fans, the community, they've embraced me and they've watched me do that. It's something special."

Atlanta, meanwhile, is in an eight-game stretch during which it plays seven on the road. The Dream began their trek with Tuesday's 72-70 win at Washington on Sancho Lyttle's game-winning shot with less than a second remaining, but dropped to 4-6 away from home with a 109-95 loss to Phoenix on Thursday.

"I thought we really fought hard," coach Marynell Meadors said.

Angel McCoughtry, who ranks second in the league with 20.1 points per game, scored 25 along with five rebounds and three assists. She's averaging 30.0 points over her last five road games.

McCoughtry, Castro Marques help Dream rout Storm

Posted Aug 14 2011 1:22AM

SEATTLE (AP) Angel McCoughtry knew it right from the start: This game would belong to the Atlanta Dream.

McCoughtry and Iziane Castro Marques each scored 17 points on Saturday in Atlanta's 92-63 victory over the Seattle Storm.

Lindsey Harding added 12 points for Atlanta (11-12), and Sancho Lyttle and Armintie Price had 10 apiece.

Atlanta beat the Storm (13-11) for the second time in seven days in a rematch of the 2010 WNBA championship series, which Seattle swept in three games.

``You know how you just have that feeling?'' McCoughtry asked. ``I felt good before the game. We came out very focused. Everyone was good and we weren't dwelling on (Thursday's 109-95) loss in Phoenix. This was just an all-around team effort. Things like this don't happen all the time.

``Why dwell on a loss? McCoughtry said. ``Dwell on this.''

Katie Smith scored 15 points for the Storm, who suffered their most-lopsided loss of the season and their third by more than 20 points. Swin Cash had 14 points, and Sue Bird - honored for her 10 years with Seattle in a pregame ceremony - finished with 10.

The Dream hit their first three shots of the game and finished at a season-high 58.8 percent (40 of 68). That also was the most field goals they've made this season.

``I knew we were ready to play yesterday (during practice) when we worked on a lot of shooting,'' Atlanta coach Marynell Neadors said. ``We're beginning to get a little bit healthy, and we took a lot of shots yesterday, and I thought that helped us tonight. When we were taking shots tonight, we were taking those same shots yesterday, and those shots went in. We've had numerous games when they haven't gone down.''

Atlanta took a 50-42 lead into halftime and was just the second team this season to put up 50 first-half points against the Storm's league-leading defense.

``Defensively, we never played well all night long,'' Seattle coach Brian Agler said. ``We stayed in the game because we did shoot the ball pretty well early. But it isn't that we didn't take notice of that. We recognized that early on.''

The Dream scored the first eight points of the second half, building their lead to 60-42. The Storm never came closer than 13 after that and trailed by 20 or more points for the final nine minutes of the game.

``We knew what their strengths were going into it, and they played to their strengths, and we just never got them off of that,'' Bird said. ``They definitely hit some tough shots, but they have some players who can do that.''

After causing 29 Seattle turnovers in last Sunday's 70-53 Dream victory at home, Atlanta forced 20 more on Saturday, leading to 32 points.

``We really watched a lot of tape and we've played Seattle a few times since last year, so we know how they like to play,'' Castro Marques said. ``We just worked on getting things done that they don't like to do.''

The Storm had an eight-game homecourt winning streak snapped. It was just their second loss at home this season after going 17-0 in 2010 at home.

• Dream: --
• Storm: --

• Dream: --
• Storm: --

• Lead Changes: 2
• Times Tied: 5

• Arena: Key Arena, Seattle, WA
• Officials: #27 Penny Davis, #18 Kurt Walker, #62 Jeff Wooten
• Attendance: 9686
• Duration: 1:50