MINNEAPOLIS — The Seattle Storm have made a habit of digging themselves first half holes on the road this season. They nearly avoided it in Saturday night’s 69-62 loss to the Minnesota Lynx.
Leading 24-23 midway through the second quarter, things were looking good for the Storm — then the w
heels fell of the wagon.
The Lynx used a 24-2 run that carried over into the third quarter to put away a Storm team that dropped to 2-5 away from KeyArena this season.
“It’s definitely something we’ve talked about (falling behind),” Storm point guard Sue Bird said. “We know we have to fix it. We can’t go into those lulls because it gives teams opportunities to get big leads on us. Even though we do come back, it’s a lot of energy to do that and then sometimes it’s difficult to get over the hump, tying it or taking the lead.”
But Bird said fatigue isn’t the problem down the stretch.
“We’re fine at the end. That’s when you’re supposed to be tired,” Bird said. “I don’t know what happens. If I knew, I think I’d fix it quicker.”
It was the third time this year that the Lynx and Storm have played a game that featured extended runs by one of the teams that ultimately decided the game. In an 81-74 loss on June 9, the Storm fell behind 22-0 to start the game and despite their efforts in the second half, were unable to comeback. In a 65-55 victory for the Storm on June 24, Seattle jumped out to a 21-8 lead after one quarter that the Lynx could never recover from.
Minnesota’s victory on Saturday gave them sole possession of second place in the Western Conference.
The Storm — just two days removed from having a shot at the No.2 seed in the West themselves — meanwhile, fall to 7-6 on the season, just a 1/2 game ahead of the Los Angeles Sparks for the fourth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
Last season, the Storm became known for their comeback ability. Nearly half of their 28 victories in the regular season came when trailing after three quarters.
This season is a different story. The Storm are becoming known for falling behind early, making a comeback to get back into the game, but ultimately still losing.
Saturday’s game was no different. The Storm trailed by as many as 21 points, but cut the deficit to five late in the fourth quarter behind the strong second half of Tanisha Wright. Wright scored 16 of her 18 points after halftime.
But the Storm fell to 0-6 on the season when trailing after three quarters.
“I like the way that we’re playing, the way we can defend,” Storm head coach Brian Agler said. “When you can defend, you can stay in games and you can win games. We didn’t have a lot of depth tonight. We played a solid game — we didn’t play a great game, but we played a solid game. I think I can see our team getting better. I just think that our best basketball is going to be ahead of us — I believe that.”
The Storm couldn’t shake their season-long shooting woes on the road. As a team they shot 22-for-58 (37.9 percent), Wright was the only Storm player to shoot better than 50 percent from the field.
“It’s obviously disappointing because I feel like we have the people in her to close games,” forward Swin Cash said. ” A few games this year, we had opportunities down the stretch after making a big comeback to really make a push and take the lead or tie it up and we haven’t been able to do that.”
Seattle continues to need more offensive production from Katie Smith. Smith, usually the first player off the bench for the Storm, started on Saturday for the first time this season. Her spot in the starting lineup didn’t help break her slump. She shot just 2-for-11 from the field with only five points. For the season, Smith is averaging 5.4 points per game.
Seimone Augustus led the Lynx with 19 points, Rebekkah Brunson added 16 and Lindsay Whalen added 13.
Seattle fell to 0-2 on their current three-game road trip, which concludes in Chicago on Tuesday against the Sky.
Despite the struggles on the road, Agler said the team still believes in themselves.
“They’re competitors. Obviously, we think we’re going to win every game,” Agler said. “Tonight we think we should have come in here and won, and we think we could have won. They’re going to be upset right now, but most athletes are optimists, too. We talk about what can happen for us and we’re going to stay on that path.”
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