MINNEAPOLIS — Sue Bird and the Seattle Storm returned to form.
Bird scored 22 points, Swin Cash added 17 points and 11 rebounds, and Seattle used a team effort to lock down two of the league’s top scorers and hold on for a 76-73 victory over the Minnesota Lynx on Tuesday afternoon.
Seimone Augustus and Candice Wiggins helped the Lynx hustle back from a 17-point deficit midway through the third quarter, but their early struggles were ultimately too much to overcome.
The Storm’s seven-game winning streak was interrupted rather rudely on Sunday by a 32-point loss to the Washington Mystics, in which Seattle allowed 10 3-pointers and scored a season-low 57 points.
Though Minnesota had a chance to take the lead in the closing seconds after a late push, Seattle re-established its strong defensive principles and moved into a first-place tie with San Antonio in the Western Conference at 16-8 while at the same time making sure that last game was just an ugly aberration.
“Maybe a blessing in disguise,” Bird said.
Augustus shot 3-for-16 from the floor and finished with 10 points. Wiggins went 3-for-11 and had 14 points — including eight free throws. Her closely guarded, off-balance 3-pointer from the top of the key hit the back of the rim and bounced back right before the buzzer, leaving the Lynx with their 11th loss in their past 16 games after a 6-1 start.
“That was our game plan, to try to shut down Candice and Seimone as much as possible, which is a very difficult task,” Bird said. “You can’t do it with just one person.”
This was Seattle’s third game without All-Star center Lauren Jackson, the league’s third-leading scorer who left to join the Australian national team in preparation for the Beijing Olympics next month.
Another starter, Yolanda Griffith, was also out because of a migraine headache. Sheryl Swoopes played less than 12 minutes because of a hamstring injury that sidelined her for the second half.
But Camille Little and Tanisha Wright — starting in place of Jackson and Griffith — contributed 17 points and 12 points, respectively. The Storm, who allow an average of 69.9 points per game, the second-fewest in the WNBA, played solid help defense on pick-and-rolls and rarely let Augustus or Wiggins get clear shots.
“I’m just really proud of our team today,” coach Brian Agler said. “It obviously gives us a great deal of confidence.”
Lynx coach Don Zierden was back on the bench, having missed the past two games due to illness. Despite the fourth-quarter comeback, he didn’t feel much better. After winning at San Antonio by 13 points on Saturday, Minnesota didn’t have enough to beat the Western Conference’s top two teams in consecutive games.
“We need to become a team that starts with our defense first,” Zierden said, adding: “When we play with energy, we can beat good teams and when we don’t play with energy, we can lose to anybody.”
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