Silver Stars-Storm Preview

By MATT BEARDMORE
Posted Sep 20 2012 1:09PM

The Seattle Storm and San Antonio Silver Stars are locked into their playoff seeds.

Both teams still want to finish their final two regular-season games on a positive note.

With three-time MVP Lauren Jackson likely back from injury, the Storm will go for a 10th straight home win over the Silver Stars on Friday night.

Earlier this month, Seattle (14-18) became the first team in league history to qualify for the postseason in nine consecutive seasons. As the fourth seed in the Western Conference, the two-time WNBA champs will open at league-best Minnesota next Friday before hosting Game 2 two days later.

The Storm, who close the regular season at Phoenix on Sunday, are expected to have Jackson available as they go for a 10th home win. The seven-time All-Star has missed the last three contests, including a 90-66 loss at San Antonio last Friday, with a strained hamstring.

Jackson is averaging 11.0 points and 6.6 rebounds in 11 games after missing the first half of the season to train with the Australian Olympic team that took bronze in London.

She's eight points shy of becoming the fourth player in WNBA history with 6,000. Jackson only trails teammate Katie Smith (6,218), Lisa Leslie (6,263) and teammate Tina Thompson (7,003), who scored 10 in Tuesday's 75-60 victory over Chicago to become the first to reach the 7,000-point plateau.

More importantly, the Storm ended a season high-tying four-game slide.

"We definitely came into this game wanting to win," said point guard Sue Bird, who had eight assists after missing the previous three games with a hip flexor. "We want to continue to prepare for the playoffs and kind of get that chemistry going."

The Silver Stars (20-12) are coming off Tuesday's 77-66 win over New York, limiting the Liberty to 4-of-17 shooting in the fourth quarter while outscoring them 22-9. Coach Dan Hughes called it "some of the best defense" the club had played all year.

San Antonio is finding a good time to improve on that side of the ball as it prepares for a first-round playoff matchup against second-seeded Los Angeles. The Silver Stars fell to No. 3 largely due to a five-game losing streak Aug. 28-Sept. 9. Since giving up 87.4 points per game during that stretch, the team is allowing an average of 69.8 points while winning three of four.

San Antonio point guard Becky Hammon had four of the team's season-best 15 steals when these teams met last week.

"Playing good basketball this last week is important to us this year," said Hughes, whose team ends the regular season Sunday against the Lynx. "... We want to get that taste of what playoff basketball is really like."

The Storm, an 82-76 winner in the Silver Stars' last visit June 22, have won nine in a row at home in this series since a 92-88 loss July 29, 2007.

Smith scores 16 as Storm beat Silver Stars 84-75

Posted Sep 22 2012 1:56AM

SEATTLE (AP) Lauren Jackson thought it was just a nice shot. She had no idea it was a milestone.

Jackson scored 11 points and became the fourth WNBA player to reach 6,000 career points in the Seattle Storm's 84-75 victory over the San Antonio Silver Stars on Friday night.

Jackson, who now has 6,003, points reached the milestone on a fastbreak layup with 8:16 left in the second quarter, giving Seattle its first double-digit lead at 27-17.

``I didn't think about it. Nobody said anything,'' she said. ``I didn't even know until the timeout (right after her basket) when I heard all the cheering, and I thought, `Yeah, that was a really nice lay-up, that was an awesome lay-up.'''

Jackson missed the first half of the season to train with the Australian national team for the London Olympics, then was sidelined with a strained left hamstring for Seattle's past three games.

Katie Smith scored 16 points to lead Seattle (15-18), Ann Wauters had 14 points and 13 rebounds, and Camille Little and Sue Bird each had 12. The third-place Storm close the season Sunday against defending champion Minnesota, and then open the Western Conference playoffs at Los Angeles on Thursday.

Jackson's milestone was second for a Storm player this week. On Tuesday, veteran Tina Thompson, in her first year with Seattle after starring previously with Houston and Los Angeles, became the first WNBA player to surpass 7,000 points. Jackson, a three-time league MVP, has played her entire career with the Storm.

``The nice thing with her is she has done it all for Seattle,'' said coach Brian Agler, who limited Jackson to just 11 minutes to avoid aggravating the hamstring again. ``Hopefully, she'll get a chance to catch up with Tina.''

Danielle Adams had 16 points and 10 rebounds for San Antonio (20-13), and Sophia Young added 12 points and 11 rebounds.

The Storm scored the first four points of the game and led all the way, increasing the advantage to 21 in the second quarter. Seattle led 48-29 at halftime.

The Silver Stars closed the gap in the third, getting as close as five before Seattle stretched it back out to a seemingly safe 12 points at 77-65 with 2:41 left. However,San Antonio pulled to 79-75 on a 3-pointer by Shameka Christon with 39 seconds left. However, they didn't score again and Seattle hit five free throws to seal the win.

``We might have relaxed a little bit, and they hit a couple of tough shots,'' said Smith, whose 16 points put her within 32 of catching Lisa Leslie for No. 2 on the WNBA's all-time scoring list. ``It's hard, because they're still battling, setting good picks, and they have shooters. You slip up a little bit defensively and give them space, and they can knock it down.''

Silver Stars coach Dan Hughes was happy with the second-half performance, if not the final result.

``I just felt like we were a play behind there in the first half, especially in the second quarter,'' Hughes said. ``And Seattle shot the ball extremely well at that point. Our players did a good job of coming out in the second half. They gave a great effort and better execution.''

The Silver Stars close the season against Los Angeles on Saturday before facing the Lynx in the opener of their first-round series next Friday.

• Silver Stars: --
• Storm: --

• Silver Stars: --
• Storm: --

• Lead Changes: 0
• Times Tied: 1

• Arena: Key Arena, Seattle, WA
• Officials: #39 Michael Price, #45 Tom Mauer, #43 Brenda Pantoja
• Attendance: 8494
• Duration: 1:52