Twenty-seven turnovers. Not many teams can win a game that way — and it was no different for the Seattle Storm on Sunday.
The Storm’s three-game winning streak was snapped with a 70-53 loss to the Atlanta Dream. It was the Storm’s first visit to Atlanta since their series-clinching victory over the Dream to win the WNBA championship last September.
The Dream were able to slow down the Storm’s offense that had been a strength during their recent streak. The Storm shot just 19-for-50 (38 percent) as a team and scored just 53 points. The Storm’s leading scorer Sue Bird was held to just two points on 1-for-3 shooting.
“That was one of the best team wins we have had,” Dream head coach Marynell Meadors said. “We led from start to finish and the most we lead ws by 21 points. It was a great team win because everyone made valuable contributions. Seattle fought hard, but we just outfought them.”
The Storm reverted back to their road woes in the defeat.
“We’ve gotten better on the road recently, but we didn’t play really well tonight,” Storm head coach Brian Agler said. “Atlanta had time to prepare, I think they had four or five days to practice. And they were hungry. They see their playoff hopes in limbo, so they played with a lot more urgency than we did.”
The key to the loss was without question the turnovers.
“We had 16 turnovers in the first half,” Agler said. Ten of those were in the first quarter. “We are not a team that can overcome stuff like that. We have to be efficient with the basketball.”
Bird and Tanisha Wright both turned the ball over six times.
Atlanta defense created its offense in the first half and helped the Dream build a lead.
“Atlanta is a very athletic team,” Bird said. “They like to be creative and just get out there and play — they did that. Early on they were turning us over and turning that into points. Every time we cut the lead, they would make another run. They were pretty much just in control of the game and we never got into it.”
Angel McCoughtry scored 17 points to lead the Dream (9-11).
Swin Cash paced the Storm (12-9) with 16.
Things don’t get much easier for the Storm, they continue their road-trip on Tuesday in New York against the Liberty.
“You have to learn from losses and move on,” Bird said. The next game will be a challenge in a different way, we play New York. Hopefully this game helps us prepare for the defensive intensity that we will face against New York.”
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