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Anne Donovan and her players maintained after practicing Tuesday.
"One big win against Sacramento, a great win, and I think we'll carry that to Phoenix," said Donovan. "This team does not want to drop below .500. They're very focused on that and focused that Phoenix is a team that has nothing to lose at this point of the season. They have nothing to lose and everything to gain with every win."
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Sue Bird. "But it's all about getting back on track, building on what we did against Sacramento."
Bird, forward 
Lauren Jackson, Donovan and assistant coaches Jenny Boucek and Jessie Kenlaw will fly to Connecticut directly from Phoenix Thursday morning, and no one wants to do that coming off of a disappointing defeat.
"I can imagine it would be a real downer to go to Connecticut and be festive when this is where my focus is," speculated Donovan.
In the big picture, sitting in fifth place in the Western Conference and a half-game out of the playoffs if the season ended today (but only a game and a half out of second place in the parity-filled West), the Storm needs every win it can get.
"It's key to keep ourselves competitive and still trying to catch Sacramento for the top spot in the West," said Donovan. "We're not just looking at the playoffs, we're looking at home-court advantage and those sort of things. We've got work to do, and we know that. Another win before the break would certainly help."
The Storm confronts a Phoenix team expected to contend in the Western Conference after signing center Kamila Vodichkova away from the Storm. Instead, the Mercury sits last in the Western Conference at 3-12. Donovan still believes Phoenix is very dangerous after adding Russian center Maria Stepanova into the mix in a loss at Los Angeles on Saturday.
"Every game (Stepanova) will get better," said Donovan. "Kamila is playing very well for them. So I think their chemistry will continue to come together."
Still, Donovan, "Wouldn't want to be in (Phoenix Coach) Carrie (Graf)'s shoes."
A slow start was perhaps inevitable for the Mercury, who have played only four of their first 14 games at home and were without Vodichkova for six games because of overseas commitments and starting forward Penny Taylor for four games. All the early losing has produced frustration.
"I think that there's frustration there," said Donovan. "There was frustration for us when we lost four games. It mounted; every game we lost, there was more frustration. They've had three wins and 12 losses. You can imagine how much frustration is there. These are highly competitive athletes that are used to winning. Phoenix, we all thought, was going to be more competitive this year, so the frustration from them - players and staff - is significant."
