Insider Preview - Storm vs. Connecticut

Jones, the Sun's lone representative in this year's All-Star Game played at Mohegan, has missed the ensuing four games and did not travel with the Connecticut for tonight's opener of a four-game West Coast swing (she's expected to join the Sun in Phoenix, where the team travels next). Jones' absence hasn't exactly been devastating to the team, which has gone 2-2 without her. However, Connecticut has played a very different style.

Ordinarily, the Sun would have replaced Jones with veteran forward Tamika Whitmore, a starter for 33 games last year who played extended minutes alongside Jones in a small frontcourt early this season. However, Whitmore is herself returning from arthroscopic surgery to remove bone chips from her right knee. Whitmore has played no more than 13 minutes in the seven games since coming back to the lineup.

That has left Connecticut Head Coach Mike Thibault to go small, putting 6-1 forward Kerri Gardin into the starting lineup. Gardin has replaced Jones' production on the glass, and her ability to shoot from the perimeter has improved the spacing of the Sun offense. On defense, Gardin's height means she is simply overmatched by many opposing forwards, which has hurt a defense that has been Connecticut's strength this season.

The numbers tell the story. Before Jones' injury, the Sun's defense was second in the WNBA, allowing 95.6 points per 100 possessions. Over the last four games, Connecticut's Defensive Rating has ballooned to 105.1 points per 100 possessions. The last two games - a win over Minnesota and a loss to Detroit - opponents have shot 52.6 percent from the field.

At the same time, the Sun has actually scored slightly better without its All-Star. The big key has been how well center Sandrine Gruda has played. Gruda, enjoying a breakout sophomore WNBA campaign, has averaged 21.3 points over the last three games, shooting 59.6 percent from the field in that span. In Jones' absence, Gruda has become Connecticut's go-to player on offense. She is dangerous from the high post because of her shooting range but can also score in the post.

The injury to Jones was poorly timed because the Sun is in the midst of a fierce battle for playoff positioning in the Eastern Conference. At 14-13, Connecticut still has a reasonable chance of securing home-court advantage in the first round, sitting just a game back of the second-place Atlanta Dream. However, the Sun is also 1.5 games away from falling out of the postseason altogether. With seven teams still in contention for four spots, Connecticut can't afford to slip up over the season's final two and a half weeks.

It is against that backdrop that the Sun kicks off its challenging current road trip. Over the next five days, Connecticut will play the top three teams in the Western Conference as well as the Sacramento Monarchs. How the Sun fares on the trip will go a long ways toward determining whether Connecticut secures its seventh consecutive playoff berth under Thibault to extend what is tied for the WNBA's longest streak.

The Seattle Storm defeated the Sun in the 2004 WNBA Finals, the first of two losses on the league's biggest stage for a Connecticut team that consistently dominated the regular season from 2004-07 but did not come away with any hardware to show for it. Since then, the Sun has extracted some measure of revenge by dominating the head-to-head series with the Storm. A 95-86 win in a Finals rematch the following June was the last Storm victory over Connecticut, which has won seven straight meetings and won at KeyArena each of the last three years. In 2008, the Sun was the only team to defeat the Storm at home during the regular season.

That means one streak will have to give tonight, since the Storm is riding a three-game winning streak that has tied the team's longest of the season. Even with Lauren Jackson ailing because of a bad back that leaves her status for tonight somewhat uncertain, the Storm has been playing well at both ends of the court over the last week.

KEY MATCHUP
	When the Sun and Storm get together, it means a matchup of two of the WNBA's top point guards. The Storm's Sue Bird is poised to lead the WNBA in assists per game for the second time in her illustrious career, averaging 5.8 per game (Sacramento's Ticha Penicheiro is next at 5.2 apg). The more cautious Whalen, meanwhile, has the best assist-to-turnover ratio (2.47) amongst players averaging at least three assists. (Bird, at 2.29, is fourth). Both players are capable scorers, though with different styles. Whalen is a physical presence who uses a quick first step to get into the paint, while Bird does most of her damage from the perimeter.

Facing the league's second-best defensive team, the Storm had a difficult time scoring in a 64-53 loss July 13 at Connecticut. The Storm mustered just nine points in the fourth quarter and finished with 53 for the game, a season low. The team shot 30.4 percent from the field and committed 20 turnovers. What made the poor offensive output especially frustrating is that the Storm did a solid job at the other end of the floor, including holding the Sun to a matching nine-point fourth quarter. Yet after a 19-8 Connecticut run pushed the lead from two to 13 during the third period, the Storm was never able to put together enough points to pose much of a threat.

The Sun did a terrific job defensively against Jackson, who missed 13 of her 16 shot attempts. Jackson finished with 12 points, leaving her one shy of 5,000 in her WNBA career. The other Storm player in reach of a milestone, forward Swin Cash, had little more luck. Cash, 10 points away from 3,000, managed but two on 0-of-7 shooting. The other three starters all reached double-figures, but the bench was ineffective on offense, totaling two points. Connecticut wasn't much better, but scored enough to win with Sandrine Gruda's 14 points leading the way.

INJURIES

Storm - Forward Katie Gearlds (torn left posterior cruciate ligament) is out.

Connecticut - Forward Asjha Jones (strained left Achilles) is out.