Storm Tested by Surging Sun
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The statements just keep coming from the Connecticut Sun. Monday, starting a West Coast road trip at Los Angeles against the Sparks, winners of three straight, the Sun breezed to a 90-70 victory, their eighth straight since losing on opening day at Detroit. Since then, Connecticut has won a rematch with the Shock and beaten the Seattle Storm in a 2004 WNBA Finals rematch as well as defeating the Sparks.
That makes tomorrow's battle between the Sun and Storm at KeyArena (7:00 p.m., 
) - their second and last of the regular season - a marquee matchup in the WNBA.
"90 points in L.A. when L.A.'s been playing really, really well says a lot, I think," said Storm Coach 
Anne Donovan after her team practiced Tuesday in preparation for Connecticut.
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Nykesha Sales 3-point attempt of winning the WNBA Championship in Seattle last fall and especially not after the Sun's 81-69 victory in Connecticut on June 7.
Donovan feels transition is the key for the Sun, which is averaging a league-best 77.8 points per game - nearly six better than anyone else in the WNBA.
"They're just a great transition team, if not the best in the league this year," said Donovan. "Detroit is a great running team as well and we shut their running game down, so we just need the same kind of concentration on Connecticut."
That worked against the Shock because Detroit has struggled in half-court this season. While the Sun is most dangerous in transition, Connecticut also boasts a potent half-court offense with six players averaging at least 8.0 points per game and league-best 46.0% shooting from 3-point range.
"I think they're really good with off-ball cuts and keeping you busy off ball so you're not as aware of showing help ballside," explained Donovan. "The two things we didn't take care of were our off-ball defense and our transition defense. We've got to be solid helpside and be really aware of what's going on with the ball."
Defensively, Connecticut has benefited from off-season pickup Margo Dydek, who leads the WNBA with 3.2 blocks per game.
"Regardless of Margo's line at the end of the night, whether she has two rebounds or ten, four points or 14, her presence is felt," said Storm guard 
Sue Bird. "Even if she only has two blocked shots as opposed to her average, which I think is like four, she changes shots. She changes the way a game is played. Her presence is definitely felt regardless of what she does in the stat sheet."
Even though they respect how well the Sun is playing, Donovan is confident in the improvement her team has made since the first meeting - playing without Bird, who broke two bones in her face late in that game and will return to action tomorrow - and in what the Storm has learned from that loss.
"Our chemistry is better. Our bench is more experienced than it was the Connecticut game, for sure," said Donovan. "
Tanisha (Wright) and 
Fran (Zara), 
Suzy (Batkovic) have more experience. I think our depth is a little bit better, and against a team that runs as well as they do, you need a little bit more depth. Hopefully we're more prepared."
The Storm would also like to avoid a season sweep at the hands of the Sun. The last team to sweep the Storm was the Shock in 2003, when Detroit won the WNBA Championship. Last year, Donovan made a point of saying she didn't want any team to own the season series against the Storm, but she's not yet to that point this year.
"It would be nice going into the playoffs," said Donovan. "Connecticut's a team that's going to make a run if not be there in the Finals against somebody from the West. I'm not as big on the owning thing at this point in the season yet because we're still making strides, but of course it comes into play. You don't want to go into the postseason 0-2 against anybody."
