Insider Preview - Storm vs. Minnesota

While Seattle Storm Head Coach Brian Agler said after yesterday's practice that the team was preparing as if Augustus would be available, he cautioned against doubting a Minnesota squad sans its leading scorer.

"They obviously still scored a lot of points without her and had opportunities in the second half," said Agler. "They are a very good basketball team. They are not the Minnesota of what some people think on the outside. People within the league understand how good they are."

While Augustus has played a leading role in the Lynx's 4-2 start to the season, which has seen them atop the Western Conference much of the year, certainly she has not been alone. Last year, Minnesota improved its record by six games and made a run at the postseason behind the play of one of the best rookie classes the WNBA has ever seen, and now three of the Lynx's 2008 draft picks are in the starting lineup. Nicky Anosike and Charde Houston have been equal partners with Augustus in powering one of the league's top offenses, while it's only a matter of time before Candice Wiggins recaptures her rookie form.

A two-time national champion at Tennessee, Anosike stepped into the Minnesota starting five from day one a year ago and was the lone second-round pick to make the WNBA's All-Rookie Team. She's built on that strong rookie campaign and improved her game in the early going this year, averaging 13.5 points on 58.8 percent shooting. New Lynx Head Coach Jennifer Gillom, who replaced Don Zierden when he resigned days before the start of the regular season, has made Anosike a threat from the high post with her ability to find teammates. She is averaging 2.8 assists per game and has games with eight and five assists, though the Storm focused on taking away backdoor cuts and held Anosike without an assist in beating Minnesota on the road a week ago.

Houston was part of the Lynx's rotation a year ago, but has dramatically increased her role in her sophomore season. As an undersized starter at power forward, Houston is an early frontrunner for Most Improved Player. She has more than doubled her scoring average to 17.8 points per game, shooting 56.6 percent from the field. A big change in Houston's game is her ability to shoot the ball with range. After not making a single three-pointer all last season, Houston already has made six in 11 attempts so far this year.

With Augustus out, Minnesota will need more production from Wiggins, who averaged 15.7 points and 3.0 assists per game as a rookie, a performance which would have made her an easy choice for Rookie of the Year in a season where Candace Parker was not a competitor. Moving from a sixth woman role into the starting five and coming back from offseason knee surgery, Wiggins has gotten off to a much slower start. She's shooting 34.5 percent from the field thus far. She is now the Lynx player most capable of creating her own offense, especially from the perimeter, so Wiggins will have to step it up, and odds are she will.

Gillom has yet to indicate who will replace Augustus in the starting lineup, and has a variety of options. The most likely replacement is Roneeka Hodges, who spent training camp with the Storm a year ago. Hodges, a sharpshooter from the perimeter, got the extra minutes against Phoenix and scored a season-high nine points, all from beyond the arc. Houston could slide to small forward to make room for an extra post (either rookie Quanitra Hollingsworth or LaToya Pringle) or Minnesota could even go small and slide rookie point guard Renee Montgomery into a three-guard attack alongside Wiggins and veteran Kelly Miller.

The Storm returns to action tonight after three days of practice to refine the offense and defense and get newcomers, especially center Suzy Batkovic-Brown, back up to speed.

"I know some individuals made good progress, and I think we made progress as a team," said Agler.

The Storm's matchup with the Lynx last Friday in Minnesota was the team's most complete performance of the young season. The Storm did a terrific job of executing on offense, shooting 56.5 percent from the field. That forced the Lynx to take the ball out of the net and kept them from speeding up the tempo, as they would like to do. At the other end, Swin Cash took Augustus out of her game and Tanisha Wright did an excellent job defending Wiggins as Minnesota scored a season-low 71 points.

KEY MATCHUP
	It was Sue Bird who ran the Storm's attack against the Lynx, handing out a season-high nine assists in addition to scoring 15 points. Bird was able to control the matchup against Miller, who has split time at the point with Montgomery. Miller has yet to provide much offense, though it hasn't slowed her team's attack down. Montgomery, like Bird a UConn product who led her team to an undefeated season as a senior, is averaging 5.8 points per game and came off the bench to score 10 points against the Storm.

The Lynx had been the WNBA's hottest team this season entering last Friday. The Storm cooled them off. The Storm held a Lynx team that came in 3-0 and averaging 95.0 points per game to 43.5 percent shooting and shot a season-high 56.4 percent at the other end, controlling an 88-71 road victory from start to finish. The Storm took a 15-point lead by halftime and held off a 10-0 Minnesota run late in the third and early in the fourth quarters to win going away. The Storm got balanced offensive production anchored by Lauren Jackson. The two-time MVP scored 22 points (her fourth time over 20 in as many games in 2009) and grabbed 11 rebounds for her first double-double of the year. Wright supplied key buckets in the second half, including a pair of three-pointers, en route to 17 points and seven rebounds. Bird had 15 points and nine assists, and Cash scored 15 in her first start, while Janell Burse scored a season-high eight points off the bench. Cash and Wright led a defensive charge that held Augustus and Wiggins to a combined 22 points on 9-of-22 shooting.

INJURIES

Storm - None.

Minnesota - Forward Seimone Augustus (torn ACL, left knee) is out.